Speaker 1: Welcome back to Fire Drill UH, the first one of
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty three. I hope you all had a
Speaker 1: good new year. I hope you're back into your podcast
Speaker 1: listening days. I know everybody's probably catching up at work,
Speaker 1: but find time for the Fire Drill real quickly. I
Speaker 1: get a lot of questions about what the song that
Speaker 1: you just heard prior to right now is and UH,
Speaker 1: our producer Jake Muldowney said told me that UH, and
Speaker 1: I always make him answer it on Twitter because people
Speaker 1: ask me. I always forget it's by Griffin House and
Speaker 1: then in the name of the thing, the name of
Speaker 1: the song is trying not to think. And Jake has
Speaker 1: just told me that he's a huge golfer and if
Speaker 1: he comes into town, shoot him a d M or
Speaker 1: shoot him a UH message on Instagram. He might play
Speaker 1: golf with you. UH. But everybody loves the song. I
Speaker 1: get tons of messages about it. So thanks to him
Speaker 1: for being our opening song. UM first one of two
Speaker 1: thousand twenty three. Our plan was to do a preview
Speaker 1: of the major's and we did, but we also, as
Speaker 1: all fire Drills do, got totally off the rails. There's
Speaker 1: a Natalie Goldbis story forgot Natalie goldbas what was the
Speaker 1: thing I didn't know that it was that she dated
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson. Didn't know that allan ship Nick may or
Speaker 1: may not have had something to do with them breaking up.
Speaker 1: Uh great story. Why I love this podcast, so stay
Speaker 1: tuned for that. We talked about Tiger possibly not being
Speaker 1: at some of the places that did the Masters and
Speaker 1: how important it is we think for live guys to
Speaker 1: play well early and kind of legitimize everything that they're
Speaker 1: doing over there, um if they don't play well. We
Speaker 1: talked about Capeloo, talked about the elevated events, what we're
Speaker 1: excited about leading into this ear up until the Masters,
Speaker 1: when Corey Connors wins the Masters. Just my take on that.
Speaker 1: Uh So that's it. This is the Fire Drill, first
Speaker 1: one of the year. Uh I haven't had sleep in
Speaker 1: like two days. Pretty tired, but it was a great podcast.
Speaker 1: There's a like Michael just tells a little anecdotal story
Speaker 1: joke at the end. I mean, it's just what the
Speaker 1: fire Drill is. Uh So, everybody, thanks for the support.
Speaker 1: In twenty two, we hope to have more and all
Speaker 1: of you back from the people who listen in twenty
Speaker 1: two and twenty three. Before we get into it, I
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Speaker 1: Without further ado, here's the three of us talking golf.
Speaker 1: I got got in my head, can't get jan nothing
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about. Can't get them out nothing, think
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about. Well, guys, it's two thousand and
Speaker 1: twenty three, but looking at your faces, it feels like
Speaker 1: two thousand and twenty two. Deja vu. We've thought a
Speaker 1: lot of podcasting it. Um, it's a new year, it's
Speaker 1: a new US. Let's uh, let's talk about the two
Speaker 1: thousand and twenty three golf season. How excited are we?
Speaker 1: Anyone didn't the season? Just has? It? Was there an
Speaker 1: off season? It's like twenty minutes. I mean, the bigger
Speaker 1: conversation is this golf needed a off season? The answer
Speaker 1: is obviously yes. Uh, but it's hard to be excited.
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, I love golf, so I'm as excited
Speaker 1: as I would be for normal But golf season has
Speaker 1: been going the entire year. So uh no, is anyone
Speaker 1: really excited about the Tournament of Champions ever? Uh I'm not? Uh?
Speaker 1: Well I am. Why are you excited? Michael? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: mean I I do think it starts the year. I
Speaker 1: for myself, I feel like I did have a break
Speaker 1: from golf this year. I don't know particularly why. Um,
Speaker 1: I didn't play a lot in December and Uh, we
Speaker 1: had some really cold, uh nasty weather here and think
Speaker 1: it played once. I did play yesterday in January one,
Speaker 1: and uh, I love that start of the season thing. Um.
Speaker 1: I love watching Capelo I always have. I just think
Speaker 1: it's a great event. Actually, well yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: to me, it's one of the most fun courses of
Speaker 1: the year. It's just it's all about geometry and and
Speaker 1: angles and um obviously the scenic backdrops. But it's a
Speaker 1: live event with less players. Well lived by about thirty
Speaker 1: or forty years, I understand, but now it's now it's
Speaker 1: twenty million for thirty nine guys. So basically everyone's getting
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what last places and uh
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean, no one's really into the
Speaker 1: season because a lot of the guys aren't playing Sony.
Speaker 1: They're like kind of ramping up for Tory, you know.
Speaker 1: But I don't. You know, Ron, you are old enough
Speaker 1: to remember when the All Star Game was meaningful in baseball,
Speaker 1: especially since you are in proximity of both Detroit and Chicago.
Speaker 1: You had both, you had teams on both sides of that.
Speaker 1: That's Capelu, It's it's it's our our. If I may
Speaker 1: use the phrase, it's it's our all star game. Alan
Speaker 1: has been going for a long time. I've gone a
Speaker 1: number of times. Um. Is that the course Alan that
Speaker 1: put Crenshaw on the Crenshaun core on the map. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was their first design? Wow? Not first Yeah, And
Speaker 1: they built such an interesting golf course on the side
Speaker 1: of a mountain and it's not easy to do. But
Speaker 1: I mean, more to your point, Ryan, this is the
Speaker 1: start of the new world order for the PGA Tour.
Speaker 1: I mean, in recent years, the term and champions that
Speaker 1: had been pretty sleepy because, as as you note, a
Speaker 1: lot of guys had skipped it. They just didn't want
Speaker 1: to make the trip in Florida or they they just
Speaker 1: they just weren't that motivated. They wanted to have a
Speaker 1: longer offseason. They wanted to, you know, get crunk on
Speaker 1: a New Year's at home, whatever it was. But now
Speaker 1: all the top PGA Tour guys are going to be there. Now,
Speaker 1: clearly we're missing some of the lived players, but you know,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have what's that and Rory he's a game
Speaker 1: Well yeah, I know, but you're still gonna have You're
Speaker 1: still gonna have a tremendous field. Um, that's a lot
Speaker 1: of guys who hadn't hadn't played Caplu in a long time.
Speaker 1: So I think it's going to be a m I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a good show. You know. I'll
Speaker 1: be curious what the tour does as far as hoop la.
Speaker 1: You know, I know Monahans are gonna be there. He's
Speaker 1: gonna meet the press. Um at some point, I'll be
Speaker 1: I've been trying to get a one on one with
Speaker 1: Monahan for a very long time for my my live book,
Speaker 1: and he keeps dodging me, even though he looked me
Speaker 1: in the eyes and shook my hand and said, yes,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll sit down and talk now, you know,
Speaker 1: citing the lawyer's concerns like wanking motion. But I'm so
Speaker 1: my only chance talked to me at these press conferences,
Speaker 1: So I'm you know, I'm that's I got to hit
Speaker 1: him with the questions there. It'll be interesting. But um,
Speaker 1: I think it's a big deal for the tour. I
Speaker 1: expect that they will they will do some things to
Speaker 1: blow it out and maybe some more announcements. You know,
Speaker 1: that's kind of a tricktional time they did the torch action.
Speaker 1: This year, but often they've they've made some sort of
Speaker 1: structural announcements At Kapalua, I won't be surprised if Live,
Speaker 1: just because they love to be the skunk in the
Speaker 1: garden party will announce the signing. You know, that would
Speaker 1: be so typical on the Thursday morning of the Tournament Champions,
Speaker 1: they're gonna announce the side player x So not Xander Shoffley.
Speaker 1: I didn't mean that. I know he's got an ext
Speaker 1: in his name, but no, just a player we don't know.
Speaker 1: And so do you do you feel like you've been
Speaker 1: there a lot? Do you feel like there's any like
Speaker 1: I'd never pay attention to the Tournament of Champions, so
Speaker 1: I don't really feel any difference. But do you think
Speaker 1: that there's any more like build up? Do you feel
Speaker 1: anything social media wise or anything that you normally don't
Speaker 1: because of like it's an elevated event. Obviously more of
Speaker 1: the stars, you know, all of the PGA Tour stars
Speaker 1: besides Rory will be there. Do you feel like it's
Speaker 1: different or maybe back to what it was, you know,
Speaker 1: back in the nineties, Not yet, I think today's and
Speaker 1: it will start obviously it's um it's the start of
Speaker 1: the work week for some people on today, on on Monday,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'll be I'm clear if you know
Speaker 1: the backdrops. I'm here at home in Carmel. I'll be
Speaker 1: in Maui by tonight and um, you know, once I'm
Speaker 1: on the ground really tomorrow on Tuesday, I'll have a
Speaker 1: better feel for if the energy is different. But I mean,
Speaker 1: it's always been a very sleepy feeling when you're at
Speaker 1: the event. Michael knows that. I mean, it's it's very intimate.
Speaker 1: Everyone stays at that same hotel. It's kind of That's
Speaker 1: another why it's a fun week. The observational reporting is
Speaker 1: fantastic because you bump into the players and their significant
Speaker 1: others all over in the gym and the elevator, at
Speaker 1: the restaurants, and so it's fun to be there. For reporters.
Speaker 1: You get to see a lot and you get to
Speaker 1: have a lot of quiet conversations in the hallway. I
Speaker 1: think I've told this story. I was staying next to
Speaker 1: yes for Parnavic one year. That tells me how long
Speaker 1: ago this was. And every night that they would leave
Speaker 1: a gift for the for the players in the field
Speaker 1: and outside the door and needless to say, the reporters
Speaker 1: were treated very well, but there were no gifts. And um,
Speaker 1: so one time there was this incredible array of like
Speaker 1: cookies and sweets, and it was there when I went
Speaker 1: to dinner and I'm walking back to my room. Is
Speaker 1: still there? I figured, yes, there is probably already asleep.
Speaker 1: And we know at that point he was a real
Speaker 1: health food financial volcanic sand at that point. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: thats exactly. So to help, yes, for out, I liberated
Speaker 1: this this goody basket and it caught me through the
Speaker 1: entire week and I have no regrets. It was delicious. So, um,
Speaker 1: have you ever told yesper of that part of that story.
Speaker 1: I don't think I have. I think you just I
Speaker 1: told me his wife, so he probably heard about it.
Speaker 1: This is years later my guilty conscience statue of limitations,
Speaker 1: and rightly I researched with the Hawaii statue limitations was
Speaker 1: for grand theft, but it was probably the same about
Speaker 1: the hotel right on the Honolulu course, uh the Hi
Speaker 1: Hilt And I think, yeah, yeah, right yeah, right there
Speaker 1: where they play the Sony open Um. I think that's right.
Speaker 1: I can picture. I don't know the name anymore. But
Speaker 1: it has it has an old time me name. And
Speaker 1: I once saw I was dating breakfast next Yes, for there,
Speaker 1: I'm wearing, you know, just regular reporter clothes. He came
Speaker 1: to breakfast in a robe. That would be so great
Speaker 1: if it was just his his biker hat and his rope,
Speaker 1: it would be amazing. Well, I mean Cafalua is particularly
Speaker 1: intimate because I would say, there at the Ritz Carlton,
Speaker 1: and they usually give us a decent media rate. So
Speaker 1: I've stayed there too, and um, the things you see,
Speaker 1: I mean I've had a run there in like the
Speaker 1: the mid two thousands where I broke the Adam Scott
Speaker 1: Um Kate Hudson um story. They were frolicking on the
Speaker 1: beach that and then the next year it was Um
Speaker 1: Dustin and Natalie Gulbis, and the year after that it
Speaker 1: was Dustin and Paulina. Like I was like TMZ because
Speaker 1: you just you can't hide people there. It's um, it's
Speaker 1: really funny, like you just you just you're down at
Speaker 1: the pool like it's it's a eight. It's a great
Speaker 1: Michael and I especially the kind of reporting me like
Speaker 1: to do, or you're just kind of hanging out and
Speaker 1: observing in the shadows. It's fantastic. And that was in
Speaker 1: the aftermath of your Chad Campbell Mrs Chad Campbell reporting,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's that's that was a classic golfs story.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've told this before. Do you want to
Speaker 1: hear my the full Dustin Nalie Goulds story, because it
Speaker 1: is quite funny, I know bits of course. Yeah, here here,
Speaker 1: here's the whole thing. I don't think I do think,
Speaker 1: with fair warning, we should probably tell the current Mrs
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson ump had about three minutes. I think maybe four. Um, well,
Speaker 1: we'll try and keep it tidy. But so whatever this
Speaker 1: there's like probably two thousand and twelve ish. You know,
Speaker 1: Dustin was clearly one of the best players in the
Speaker 1: world but had not reached his potential yet and and
Speaker 1: so I went out to hang out with him in
Speaker 1: South Carolina. This was like probably October, and he had
Speaker 1: to live in girlfriend and we went to some meals
Speaker 1: and we played with the dog, and he seemed very
Speaker 1: settled and very happy, and you know, that was part
Speaker 1: of the story, like, oh, hey, Dustin's growing up and uh,
Speaker 1: little did we know? And so um. Now the story
Speaker 1: was conceived as as like a master's preview. But that
Speaker 1: was that was when Dustin I could get some time
Speaker 1: with Dustin was in the the off season, as it were.
Speaker 1: And so so now fast forward to Cappelua and I'm
Speaker 1: just standing out there in front of Clouds and Nalie
Speaker 1: Goulds walks by. And I've known Natalie for years and
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, what are you doing? Um, because it's
Speaker 1: a long way to be on you know, Thursday or
Speaker 1: Friday of of the tournament week. And she's like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of hanging out with Dustin and she was
Speaker 1: all giggly about It's like, oh really, um and she
Speaker 1: said yeah, yeah, you know, we're kind of I don't
Speaker 1: know what to call it. And um, I said, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously this is like this is this is
Speaker 1: this is peak Nalie Gouldvis right, this is like this
Speaker 1: is a big deal. And I said, well can can
Speaker 1: I you want to? I would like to write about this.
Speaker 1: She's like, well, all that dust and handle our PR,
Speaker 1: which tells you how little she knew about Dustin because
Speaker 1: Dustin doesn't do PR right, So any I. Um, So
Speaker 1: then she goes out and she walks, she she walks
Speaker 1: the eighteen holes watching and play golf, and Golf Channel
Speaker 1: had her on camera, but they didn't show it. That
Speaker 1: that was like the sensibilities of the Golf Channel, like
Speaker 1: they didn't want they didn't know what. Oh this is
Speaker 1: too this is too sexy. So no Natalie appeared, so
Speaker 1: it's still a secret. So I go down to catch
Speaker 1: Dustin as he comes off of eighteen and you've never
Speaker 1: seen anyone signed their scorecard and bolt up a hundred
Speaker 1: yard hill like Dustin did because they hadn't seen each other.
Speaker 1: So now he's back at the hotel room. Dustin is
Speaker 1: like in a hurry to go see her, right like ship.
Speaker 1: That was my chance to confirm it with Dustin, and
Speaker 1: he's literally like ran up the hill like Carl Lewis
Speaker 1: in his prime. It's like damn. So but of course
Speaker 1: everyone's staying at the hotel. I know where Dustin is
Speaker 1: staying and kind of figured Dustin might not have an
Speaker 1: assumed name. You know a lot of people, a lot
Speaker 1: of the players check it under different names protect their privacy.
Speaker 1: So I called the operator how they were Dustin Johnson
Speaker 1: Lee after waiting like, you know, half an hour, and
Speaker 1: so they oh, yeah, sure, let me connect you. So
Speaker 1: it's ringing and ringing and like, god damn it. And
Speaker 1: then Dustin answers the phone. He's like hello. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh hey, Dustin, it's Alan Schifnuk. I want to ask
Speaker 1: you a couple of questions. I can't talk right now.
Speaker 1: Coming back in our click, I'm like, oh God damn it.
Speaker 1: So so now I'm I've got this this problem because
Speaker 1: you can't hide as discussed, you can't hide n Allie
Speaker 1: Golds at this hotel where all the reporters are, the
Speaker 1: whole golf world like it's all going to get out.
Speaker 1: And so um I call him back in an hour,
Speaker 1: no answer. Uh, I'm like, well, someone's gonna break this story.
Speaker 1: So you know, I sort of had Natalie's confirmation. I
Speaker 1: did some more snooping around talk to other people. So anyway,
Speaker 1: this story goes up on golf dot com, and of
Speaker 1: course it goes crazy across the golf world, you know,
Speaker 1: because this is like a very you know, appealing power
Speaker 1: couple in golf. Yea, Natalie was a big I mean
Speaker 1: like you know he was painting, yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: she was for better for worse. She was the biggest
Speaker 1: star on the LPGA back then along with Attica, even
Speaker 1: though On had about seventy more victories. And um so,
Speaker 1: now fast forward, Dustin is defending champ at Pebble Beach
Speaker 1: and they fly him in for this media day in
Speaker 1: like February, and I haven't seen him since all this
Speaker 1: stuff happened. And meanwhile, Natalie has called me. Her agents
Speaker 1: called me because things ended with Dustin abruptly. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know I had to do with my story
Speaker 1: or not. But and like Natalie's people wanted me to
Speaker 1: to send out a a tweet saying, well, Natalie's shown
Speaker 1: so much, you know, class to all of this, unlike Dustin,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not gonna get the middle of this. This
Speaker 1: lover's quarrel. Like she has her own Twitter, she can
Speaker 1: do it, like I'm not no, and so so I
Speaker 1: know there's some energy around there. So I get Dustin
Speaker 1: after the press conference. I'm like, hey man, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I didn't mean to blow up your spot. You know,
Speaker 1: it was just I ran in Natalie like it's it's CAPITALUA.
Speaker 1: Everyone saw her, like someone had to write it. And
Speaker 1: he's like, oh man, that's cool. Whatever, I don't care.
Speaker 1: And um so then if you recall, after Dustin was
Speaker 1: blowing major championships at a furious pace, everyone's like he
Speaker 1: hasn't he nothing bothers him? Like I was like, well,
Speaker 1: that's the proof, Like I may have cost him his
Speaker 1: romance with Natalie Gulbez, the old girlfriend back in South Carolina.
Speaker 1: And he was like, whatever, man, it's no big deal.
Speaker 1: So that's always been some important insight to me into
Speaker 1: the Dustin Johnson Psyche. I'll tell a really quick follow
Speaker 1: up on on the Natalie go upside of things. Alan
Speaker 1: has heard the serve before. Ryan probably has not playing
Speaker 1: golf with Trump. We're walking down a ferraway. He's always
Speaker 1: got his phone out and Trump calls Natalie Gulbson says,
Speaker 1: uh a wroten page six that h that Ben Roethelsberger.
Speaker 1: Is that pronunciation correct? Run? Yeah? Sure for Trump, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that Ben roethels That's funny that Ben Roethlisberger broke up
Speaker 1: with you. I want you to call page six and
Speaker 1: to him, that's wrong. You broke up with Ben Roethelisberger.
Speaker 1: No one breaks up with you, You break up with them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all been well, that's another thing. So then I
Speaker 1: was doing a story on Natalie. And we were in
Speaker 1: an elevator, um from the hotel or whatever, and I
Speaker 1: this there's been some some buzz about her and Ben Rothsberger,
Speaker 1: So I asked her. She's like, no, no, no, there's
Speaker 1: nothing there. And we're in the elevator and I see
Speaker 1: her phone. She pulls out her phone and she's like
Speaker 1: right in front of me, like not snooping, she just
Speaker 1: did it, and there's like miscall, misscall, miss all from
Speaker 1: Ben and then she like seven texts of like oka, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: nothing's going on there now, Lizer Alan, have you ever
Speaker 1: done a psychological comparison and biographical comparison between Natalie's father
Speaker 1: and Dustin Johnson's father? Um? Yeah, Now, he's father was
Speaker 1: a trip. I mean he looked like like a heartly
Speaker 1: maybe like a member of the Hell's Angels, right, and
Speaker 1: he followed every hole, which I don't blame him. He
Speaker 1: was sort of like low key security and he was
Speaker 1: very watchful and very stand officers reporters, but a smart
Speaker 1: guy and certainly helped create this this brand that, Um,
Speaker 1: where is Natalie Gulbins? Does she do TV? A little bit?
Speaker 1: Didn't he do one of the matches? Or something. She
Speaker 1: um yeah, I mean she had a lot, she had
Speaker 1: back injuries and she just was just to hanging on
Speaker 1: and she stopped playing. But she yeah, g graphic. I
Speaker 1: think she's in Las Vegas. I see her on the
Speaker 1: social every now and then. But she kind of paved
Speaker 1: the way for Alexi Thompson with that very tall, very
Speaker 1: athletic slug. I don't mean that in the pejorative way.
Speaker 1: It sounds like it, but I mean that's kind of
Speaker 1: what they both did. They just slugged it well. We
Speaker 1: both had i mean really funky moves like yeah, but
Speaker 1: somehow you know, hit the ball pretty well. Um yeah.
Speaker 1: And you know, Dustin Johnson's dad has always been out
Speaker 1: of the spotlight, right, you know, he's never he's never
Speaker 1: in the galleries. As the story goes, after the parents
Speaker 1: split up, it was it was, it was not a
Speaker 1: pleasant divorce, and Dustin and and Austin kind of became
Speaker 1: distant from their dad. So he has not I mean,
Speaker 1: he's super tall and he comes from a family of
Speaker 1: of of athletes. I believe Dustin's dad is in the
Speaker 1: South Carolina Hall of Fame as a basketball player. He
Speaker 1: was like six seven and so clear the dad gave
Speaker 1: him a lot of athletic tools, but I don't know
Speaker 1: how much of a factor he is in in his
Speaker 1: life anymore. So it's interesting though, I mean the um,
Speaker 1: you know, the dads are often the key to to
Speaker 1: these golfers and what on the PGA Tour or the
Speaker 1: LPG Tour. But um, yeah, Dustin's dad is a little
Speaker 1: a little bit of an enigma. All right. Well, so yes,
Speaker 1: the Terman champions is gonna be interesting. I'm gonna be there.
Speaker 1: I'll be writing a lot for fire Pick Collectors dot com,
Speaker 1: doing social stuff. Um, maybe some podcasts. Who knows. So
Speaker 1: that that's gonna be Interesting's gonna be different that you
Speaker 1: have a media credential. Can we talk about that on
Speaker 1: this podcast or not? We're gonna I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a full disclosure podcast. Um. This is also funny when
Speaker 1: people have accused, you know, us at there are times
Speaker 1: of being shields for the PGA Tour. What they don't
Speaker 1: realize is they weren't credential in US all year last
Speaker 1: year because we were at loggerheads with the tour for
Speaker 1: a few differ things we don't have to get into,
Speaker 1: but we had maybe just battling the tour off and
Speaker 1: on that some of their some of their media regulations
Speaker 1: are onerous in the extreme. And for example, just as
Speaker 1: an example, hypothetically, you cannot live tweet about the eight hundred,
Speaker 1: eight hundred and thirty seven ranked player in the world
Speaker 1: as he is t thirty nine at the A T
Speaker 1: and T Pebble Beach program hypothetically, the field of which
Speaker 1: was totally ravaged by the Saudi event. That was that
Speaker 1: weak and before it was desperate for attention and we
Speaker 1: were trying to promote their product hypothetically. Hypothetically, Alan, I
Speaker 1: am sitting on the edge of my see here are
Speaker 1: you telling me you don't have a national press credential
Speaker 1: from the PGA tour? I do as of a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago. So I'm I'm back in the good graces
Speaker 1: with the tour theoretically, but it took some time. On
Speaker 1: what basis did you struggle to get it well? So
Speaker 1: there was there was two things. I mean, it goes
Speaker 1: back to um whatever thirteen months ago, the Wishbone brawl
Speaker 1: when we decided to live stream it. That was in
Speaker 1: Freddie and Xander were in the field and the tour
Speaker 1: was of the position that we needed they needed to
Speaker 1: get releases, and as we know that the getting a
Speaker 1: release is a big deal, that's what's keeping guys from
Speaker 1: playing the live tour, and the tour takes it seriously.
Speaker 1: They didn't tell us that until the morning of the
Speaker 1: Wishbone Brawl, Like we felt like it's a charity event,
Speaker 1: it's all the money is going to junior golf. UM.
Speaker 1: But that was the week of UM the RSM tournament
Speaker 1: in Sea Island, and so you know, Xander's gold medalist,
Speaker 1: he's obviously a star. Freddie's Freddie and so um at
Speaker 1: like the minutes before we were gonna go with this
Speaker 1: live stream, which took an incredible amount of work, and
Speaker 1: if you've been promoting for weeks, the tour had said nothing,
Speaker 1: and they finally like and there was already a thousand
Speaker 1: people on the grounds, and so we're on Literally Zander
Speaker 1: and fred are talking to top guys on the tour
Speaker 1: while they're hitting ball, like Fred is holding his phone
Speaker 1: and warming up with one arm. Is actually really cool,
Speaker 1: and the tour people are calling us and making all
Speaker 1: these threats and it was like, well, we're it's too late,
Speaker 1: We're too far down this road. And so we live
Speaker 1: stream that they were very upset about that, and uh,
Speaker 1: and then you know, a couple of months later was
Speaker 1: the Crosby clam Bake where Ryan was catting from Mark
Speaker 1: Baldwin and we didn't I had COVID, I was even
Speaker 1: on the grounds, but the rest of our crew did
Speaker 1: not have credentials. They came in as fans, and you know,
Speaker 1: fans are allowed to post videos and do all kinds
Speaker 1: of fun stuff that reporters are not. And so it's
Speaker 1: kind of a gray area. If you work for me
Speaker 1: to company, but you don't have a media credential, what
Speaker 1: can you do? It was it was not it was
Speaker 1: not settled law, as um Brett Kavanaugh would say, and so, um,
Speaker 1: we wanted posting some fun content about Mark Baldwin. The
Speaker 1: tour took exception to that. UM and so, yeah, they
Speaker 1: weren't credentialing us. It wasn't that big a deal because
Speaker 1: you know, then we got into the major seasons and
Speaker 1: obviously they don't control the major championships, so we were
Speaker 1: on site for all of those. UM and then after
Speaker 1: a lot of backchannel communication, I wounded up at the
Speaker 1: Tour Championship and that was really the first tour event
Speaker 1: I covered in two thousand and twenty to UM, but
Speaker 1: I got shut down Michael from taking pictures inside the
Speaker 1: ropes as a caddy, which it does say you sign
Speaker 1: a thing when you take a catty, but it is
Speaker 1: very much a rule that is overlooked. If you go
Speaker 1: and follow two or catties on social media, there is
Speaker 1: never not a week where there is a video of
Speaker 1: a practice round or shots from the range or something
Speaker 1: from the above. I was not taking pictures obviously during rounds.
Speaker 1: It was on the range prior to the round, or
Speaker 1: on the putting green, or pictures of stars as they
Speaker 1: walked by, like Mark was warming up next to Ray
Speaker 1: Romano and you know, things like that. And they said
Speaker 1: I couldn't and I emailed them back with seven pictures
Speaker 1: of catty caddy's taking pictures, but they didn't look too
Speaker 1: kindly in my response. So yeah, so you know, we
Speaker 1: here at the fact that collective we're it's a rock
Speaker 1: and we're a punk rock operation. We you know, we
Speaker 1: kind of like to do things our way, but that
Speaker 1: will get you in running a foul of various PGA
Speaker 1: to regulations. So um, but I think we're we're they've
Speaker 1: seen the kind of coverage you want to do and
Speaker 1: they want us to be there, so we're I do
Speaker 1: have a season credential as of you know, for it
Speaker 1: for this season, which is I'm it's it's helpful from
Speaker 1: bureaucratic standpoint, but the big deal is that if you
Speaker 1: can still apply on a weekly basis, like this is
Speaker 1: what I did for the Tour Championship. But those people
Speaker 1: don't get into the clubhouse and I don't think they
Speaker 1: have they don't don't have practice facility. Um access and
Speaker 1: as as you guys know, and probably a lot of listeners,
Speaker 1: most of the best interviews you get either the locker
Speaker 1: room or on the driving range or on the putting green,
Speaker 1: and so it made the hotel or the hotel or
Speaker 1: on the phone or on the phone occasional weeks like that. Um,
Speaker 1: but I do have another I do have another rich
Speaker 1: Carlton CAPITALU story. We can we can side by that
Speaker 1: for next week. But um so, yeah, it's helpful to
Speaker 1: have the season long badge because they just lets me
Speaker 1: do my job more effectively and I'm grateful for I'll
Speaker 1: try and follow the rules, I really will. We'll see
Speaker 1: how it goes. Um. So let's look ahead a little
Speaker 1: bit into the twenty three season. Um, there's I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of great events. Obviously, the Phoenix Open
Speaker 1: elevated the same week as the super Bowl. That's going
Speaker 1: to be an absolute melee and that should be fun. Um.
Speaker 1: I think the l A Open might be the best
Speaker 1: tournament golf personally. Um. Of course, I'm always looking forward
Speaker 1: to Pebble Beach. But um, between now and the Masters,
Speaker 1: let's say, what are you guys excited about? Can I
Speaker 1: quick questions? You both now have used the word elevated.
Speaker 1: Are you telling me that this is now in the
Speaker 1: lingua franca of PGA tour conversation, because unfortunately I'm not
Speaker 1: using it. I love it. I mean the question, except
Speaker 1: for in this instance, is Pebble Beach elevated? I assume
Speaker 1: not no. But this this is a sad information. It's
Speaker 1: going to be next year. Um, not more. But what
Speaker 1: the tour is realized is by what's the sitting room
Speaker 1: for elevator what should we call it special? We'll call
Speaker 1: them these creating these special tournaments. Um. You know, for
Speaker 1: whatever a dozen of them, they're leaving behind two thirds
Speaker 1: or three quarters of the schedule. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: you know, in elementary school they used to have that
Speaker 1: gifted and talented education. They pull a few kids out. Hey,
Speaker 1: they're the smart kids, and all your kids have got
Speaker 1: left behind. You're the dumb ones. Like they just banned
Speaker 1: the whole program because it was bad for the self
Speaker 1: esteve with the other students. It's exactly like that on
Speaker 1: the PGA tour, Like, um, so they have to they
Speaker 1: have to sprinkle around the gifted and talented tag to
Speaker 1: the other tournaments in the coming years, or what's the incentive,
Speaker 1: Like why pay eight million dollars to not get any stars,
Speaker 1: not get any love, get no media. So I think
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear that they're gonna have to They're gonna
Speaker 1: have to rotate that that tag, which if if everyone's elevated,
Speaker 1: then no one is elevated. I don't know, it gets
Speaker 1: it gets really funky. Minor hand's gonna start sending out
Speaker 1: stickers that reads, every tour player is a what has
Speaker 1: that middle school thing? You know? Is it honorable? Is
Speaker 1: an honorable picture tour? On this PGA tour. It's kind
Speaker 1: of useful for us because it's, uh, it shows how
Speaker 1: naked this whole thing is, you know, We've all discussed
Speaker 1: this all last year, you know, since they came up
Speaker 1: with this, uh, this scheme. It's their way of being
Speaker 1: live light. Really is these elevated tours. So I guess
Speaker 1: you know, when you think about it that way, it
Speaker 1: is a legitimate thing. It's killing their own word. I
Speaker 1: cannot stand to use product because, uh, instead of having
Speaker 1: a series of events, which is the PGA Tour, it's
Speaker 1: now like watch us this week, don't bother for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, watches this week. And that's not really that,
Speaker 1: that's not really tour. But everything is changing, like even
Speaker 1: this start of the season, Cappe Louis, this was the
Speaker 1: way golf. Here's your mellow start to the mellow new year.
Speaker 1: Will work always slowly to the floridast wing and then
Speaker 1: the Masters will come and then kind of ramp ramp
Speaker 1: up to the U s Open. Then after the US Open,
Speaker 1: really the golf season was over. That's all over. Now
Speaker 1: everything is special all the time, because that's how life
Speaker 1: is special or special. Every child that this middle school
Speaker 1: is special. I love. Yeah, I don't know, like I
Speaker 1: can't top that. What are you looking forward to? You
Speaker 1: were starting to say, Okay, seriously, and I'm not joking,
Speaker 1: the Waste Management Monday Qualifier will be the greatest Monday
Speaker 1: qualifier in the history of the PGA Tour, not joking.
Speaker 1: That's not an exaggeration, not hyperbole, nothing. Hundred thirty hundred
Speaker 1: player field, so it's a field that's short. It's elevated events,
Speaker 1: so all the top players outside of the players that
Speaker 1: use their one they don't have to play, but most everyone,
Speaker 1: so that the field is always good anyway. Now it's
Speaker 1: gonna be even better. It's a twenty million dollar purse.
Speaker 1: Everybody's gonna come to the Monday that is not eligible
Speaker 1: because they want to get in on a twenty million
Speaker 1: dollar tournament. Make some for some great stories. It's always
Speaker 1: a great Monday qualifier anyway. Legitimately, there might be two
Speaker 1: d players in the Monday Qualifier. How can you get
Speaker 1: two and your guys on on one course. Well, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to do it in two waves over two days.
Speaker 1: Oh really, Monday always few days. That always Michael, that
Speaker 1: Monday always goes into Tuesday. Anyway, there's usually you know,
Speaker 1: six or seven groups left on the on the course
Speaker 1: for Tuesday morning. That it's always a huge Monday anyway, Um,
Speaker 1: everybody lives there, proximity blah blah blah blah. Um. But
Speaker 1: you know a lot of like former PGA Tour winners
Speaker 1: that are like, I don't know if I want to
Speaker 1: go to a Monday. Are gonna go to this one?
Speaker 1: I would think, because it's a twenty million dollar purse. Jonathan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I will. Jonathan plays a lot of them, but yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Ben Crane, He's not gonna travel all the
Speaker 1: way across the country. Probably will because it's a twenty
Speaker 1: million dollar perse. Uh. I just got a text yesterday
Speaker 1: from the Southwest PGA Section director and there's already four
Speaker 1: players signed up for the pre qualifier. There's nine pre qualifiers,
Speaker 1: so it'll be seven hundred players in the pre qualifier. Uh. Basically,
Speaker 1: if you're in the pre qualifier, you have to shoot
Speaker 1: back to back sixty threes to get into the waste
Speaker 1: management open. Um, Ryan, are you gonna cover that live
Speaker 1: in in the flash? Yes, percent, I'm going to be there. Uh.
Speaker 1: I have a great story about the waste management vera
Speaker 1: Scott Berliner who is a like kind of legendary UH grinder,
Speaker 1: but he's a pro in uh New York I believe.
Speaker 1: So the waste management uh used to have Monday qualified.
Speaker 1: There's no pre qualifiers. Back in the day, they had
Speaker 1: uh three sites for Monday Qualifier with one spot at each, okay,
Speaker 1: and they always used to fill up. And Scott Berliner
Speaker 1: has a so you can imagine a one spotter. You're
Speaker 1: playing in a hundred person field for one spot. Scott
Speaker 1: burn Leiner has like a two o'clock t off time.
Speaker 1: He shows up and a guy has shot fifty eight.
Speaker 1: He's knowing that he has to shoot a fifty eight
Speaker 1: to get into a playoff, to get into the Monday qualifier,
Speaker 1: and he spent like, you know, three hundred dollars or
Speaker 1: a thousand dollars to get there. Uh. So that's the
Speaker 1: waste management. That's what I'm looking forward to. Pre Corey
Speaker 1: Connor is winning the Masters. I I I hear your reservations, Michael,
Speaker 1: but definitely the West Coast wing is is going to
Speaker 1: be juiced this year because um because of of this
Speaker 1: new energy around around these these events. So, uh, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a fun one. The Masters, of course is
Speaker 1: always a big deal, but it's gonna have extra um
Speaker 1: significance this year. Really bringing together all these players. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Fred really put that statement out a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago saying what we were the only position the
Speaker 1: Masters could take is if you're if you're qualified, you
Speaker 1: can come play. It would have been a travesty if
Speaker 1: if they start banning players. I mean, they don't need
Speaker 1: to get involved in this turf war. The Masters, they
Speaker 1: get one week a year there. The mandate of August
Speaker 1: National Golf Club is to put on it its best
Speaker 1: possible tournament. So so you're you're bringing together these live
Speaker 1: guys and the tour. You know, it will have been
Speaker 1: the first time since since St. Andrew's when things were
Speaker 1: still unsettled. Me at that point Camp Smith and not
Speaker 1: officially jumped to live um, even though we felt like
Speaker 1: it was coming um and the battle lines of Harden.
Speaker 1: So um, it's gonna be interesting. A place that that
Speaker 1: strives for this artificial gentility and this very controlled environment
Speaker 1: like the friction there is going to be delicious. How
Speaker 1: much you're looking forward to this Masters, Michael, You know,
Speaker 1: I think I don't know how they're gonna do it,
Speaker 1: but I think Fred Ridley and company will rise to
Speaker 1: the occasion and we'll use the Masters to create some
Speaker 1: kind of olive branch between these warring factions. Because you
Speaker 1: know this is a cliche, but it's born in truth.
Speaker 1: You know, there always as themselves. What would Bobby Jones do?
Speaker 1: Bob Jones would do whatsever best for golf, and this
Speaker 1: whole situation is not best for a golf um, And
Speaker 1: I don't know what the answer would be, but I
Speaker 1: think this Master is gonna be very significant in trying
Speaker 1: to bring together the warring parties. I mean, it's not
Speaker 1: like these guys haven't mixed. You know, they were at
Speaker 1: the Jpmick Mass pro Am. They were they were at
Speaker 1: at the Open Championship. There's been some of these European
Speaker 1: Tour events where some of the some of the lived
Speaker 1: players have been able to play because of this this
Speaker 1: temporary restraining order. So I don't expect any catfights. But um,
Speaker 1: the Master's dinner on Tuesday night for the past champions
Speaker 1: is going to be quite interesting. When you put in
Speaker 1: a small room and you know Phil about out of
Speaker 1: the festivities at St. Andrew's um, but he's not gonna
Speaker 1: miss that. So you're gonna have Tiger and Phil in
Speaker 1: the same room with with Jordan's and and you know
Speaker 1: these tour loyalists, and you have Gary player, who's who's
Speaker 1: on Phil side, and you know he's not wanted to
Speaker 1: bite his tongue. And and then you have you have Dustin,
Speaker 1: you have Bubba, Patrick Reid, have Patrick Reed, you have
Speaker 1: all these these. You know they're probably gonna put him
Speaker 1: on in the corner sitting together. But it's just that
Speaker 1: is going to be great theater. And oh man, maybe
Speaker 1: I could parents parings will be interesting a lot, I mean,
Speaker 1: parents will be super interesting. Yeah. So I wonder about
Speaker 1: Sergio and a lat football. I wonder, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of balls such traditionalists, and uh, I wonder how
Speaker 1: that relationship has evolved. You know what's interesting, though, Michael is,
Speaker 1: as I've been tunneling deep into the the Greg Norman
Speaker 1: World Tour debacle, the one player who really supported Norman
Speaker 1: from start to finish was Jose Maria. And you know
Speaker 1: that that was the first real attempt at disruption of
Speaker 1: the PGA tour. Moddele and he facts, he facts Norman
Speaker 1: his support and Norman held up, waived this paper around
Speaker 1: and read from it it at critical times. So I
Speaker 1: can see Sevy's fingerprints all over that one. Well, that's
Speaker 1: true because there was this kinship between Sevy and Norman
Speaker 1: because they were both raging against the machine in the
Speaker 1: eighties of trying to be international players, trying to get
Speaker 1: get status on the PGA tour. And you know, back
Speaker 1: then Dean Beeman wanted Sevy to play fifteen events in America,
Speaker 1: like in addition to playing Europe and the may it was,
Speaker 1: and so you know, Sevy got suspended from the tour
Speaker 1: for a year, and so there's you're right about that.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Sevy Sevy had no love for the tour,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure that was an influence on Jose Mario.
Speaker 1: But um, so yeah, he's he's an interesting person in
Speaker 1: all of this. And I've been trying to get an
Speaker 1: audience with him too, and he's very elusive, as you know.
Speaker 1: But um, that's the one week so uh it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be in a hotel lobby. Yeah, well yeah, we've seen.
Speaker 1: That's how we knew. So Michael and I are sort
Speaker 1: of gormand it's like we like a good meal and
Speaker 1: the major championships, Um, you wind up in these random places.
Speaker 1: No one really knows the city that well, and and
Speaker 1: so especially like the pre yelf days, like in the nineties,
Speaker 1: it was all word of mouth, so we'd often wind
Speaker 1: up at these restaurants where there was a lot of
Speaker 1: tour players. That's how we knew we were in the
Speaker 1: right one. If Jose Maria was there pouring red wines,
Speaker 1: like Okay, we're definitely in the right place because yeah,
Speaker 1: or or my only butter comment or future players. But
Speaker 1: if but if at the Ball was there, you knew
Speaker 1: you were in the right place. That's like I love
Speaker 1: Thai food and so um like three three tournaments in
Speaker 1: a row, I wound up at at the same Thai
Speaker 1: restaurant as Um Thong Hai j D And that's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: then I know I'm in the I'm in the spot,
Speaker 1: like I mean, like finally I started nodding at him.
Speaker 1: He's like, okay, I see you, like you know, you
Speaker 1: know what's up. There was a real, a real moment there.
Speaker 1: But uh, anyway, really real quick about the masters. Why
Speaker 1: we're on it? Uh, Jake are producer, wonderful producer. What
Speaker 1: shout out? Jake asked me to bring this up because
Speaker 1: it's very good just happening on social media right now.
Speaker 1: Scott Stallings hasn't played in the Masters, uh since two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen. Had to look that up just now run it.
Speaker 1: But uh, I mean, guys, as you guys know and
Speaker 1: everybody listening probably knows, gets super excited, especially when they
Speaker 1: haven't been to the Masters in a long time, waiting
Speaker 1: for the official infight. And so Scott Stallings tweeted today
Speaker 1: that he has been running out to the mail the
Speaker 1: last four or five days waiting for his infight that
Speaker 1: never came, and got a d M today from a
Speaker 1: guy named Scott Stallings who has the same name as
Speaker 1: his wife, who got Scott Stallings Master invite. So I
Speaker 1: have an man, I'm going, yeah, that's what I said.
Speaker 1: I said, why did he Why did he message him?
Speaker 1: Just like, hey, I gotta dude. But second of all, uh,
Speaker 1: I have met a guy messaged me at a Monday
Speaker 1: qualifier and said, hey, man, I'd love to meet you.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan. In his name Ryan French and
Speaker 1: Jake put in a picture right here we look kind
Speaker 1: of the same, and uh it's kind of crazy and
Speaker 1: um so yeah, so Scott Stallings, some guy in some
Speaker 1: town got Scott Stallings Masters in fight in the mail.
Speaker 1: That's spectacular. Well, you know, there's there's a golfriender named
Speaker 1: Adam shue Pac which sounds a little bit like Alan Schipnuk,
Speaker 1: and so we often get confused, probably to the detriment
Speaker 1: of poor poor Adam. And but I got like, I
Speaker 1: didn't write about Phil okay exactly know, he gets a
Speaker 1: lot of blowback. It's so great. But sometimes every now
Speaker 1: and then tweets thank you so much for this kinds
Speaker 1: You know, Adam is a great guy and he's a
Speaker 1: tender soul, so it's like, thank you for this very
Speaker 1: kind story you wrote about. Be like, hey, no problem,
Speaker 1: happy to help you out. But the other day I
Speaker 1: got a call from notable gay and um, I mean
Speaker 1: I know, notice casually I haven't talked to him a
Speaker 1: long time. I was like, hey, no, no, what's up.
Speaker 1: He's like, man, you know, I can't thank you enough
Speaker 1: for everything you did. And it was like so heartfelt.
Speaker 1: I almost I was almost gonna go along with it.
Speaker 1: But because Adam had just done a story about notice
Speaker 1: foundation all that I had, so I had to tell him.
Speaker 1: And but I have to say no to man, like
Speaker 1: what a professional? He said, Oh yeah, you're right, I'll
Speaker 1: call him but I gotta tell you, and he like
Speaker 1: went in this whole like a long discourse about how
Speaker 1: much he appreciates me and the work I'm doing. I
Speaker 1: was like, wow, that was like that's the TV gen
Speaker 1: right there. He got a producer in his year, you
Speaker 1: got new information, you got Shipnick, you got shipnick on.
Speaker 1: He just went with it. That's so funny. Um, that
Speaker 1: was a drimic piece that Adam did on a notabile a.
Speaker 1: There's a lot there, you know there there's I mean,
Speaker 1: that's an underrepresented community in golf. If ever there was one,
Speaker 1: uh Native Americans, and he's had a rough life. I
Speaker 1: mean he said, yeah, very good story. And reading Adam's
Speaker 1: book about Dean Beamon in the Formation of the PGA Tour,
Speaker 1: it's really good. I mean, I've learned a lot that
Speaker 1: a lot of it is just super esoteric and it's
Speaker 1: a small audience it would care, but like some of
Speaker 1: the inner workings of how it all happened is really
Speaker 1: well done. So shout out to Adam Shue Punc who's
Speaker 1: not part of this podcast but maybe should be. Um
Speaker 1: all I got he's got the same hair as Michael,
Speaker 1: Like we could probably we could probably sneak him in
Speaker 1: once in a while and people, you know, especially with
Speaker 1: Michael's normal poor lighting, you know, we could sneak him
Speaker 1: in and no one would know. Yeah, I'll talk to shop.
Speaker 1: Can you send um, can you, said Adam, a pair
Speaker 1: of Christine's glasses, and so you can. Yeah, if we
Speaker 1: back back, No, don't have any idea silhouette most likely
Speaker 1: to be a successful rapper among the Gulf media. Ada,
Speaker 1: that's a great name. Um, all right, So the PJ
Speaker 1: Championship as we press ahead with what's supposed to be
Speaker 1: semi preview of the year, even though our heart Yeah, second,
Speaker 1: we said we were going to keep this to forty
Speaker 1: five minutes. We're at forty one already. No, we're not. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are. Look in the top right corner one minutes.
Speaker 1: PJ Championship is at oh Kill. It's gonna be cold. Um,
Speaker 1: the US opens at l A country Club, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be warm. And the British opens said at Hoylake. She's
Speaker 1: gonna be windy. That's gonna be Thanks for listening. No,
Speaker 1: uh uh, but I mean honestly, the PG Championship in
Speaker 1: early May and Rochester's a roll of dice. It could
Speaker 1: be cold like this May May two thousand twenty two,
Speaker 1: on the same date the pg is supposed to start,
Speaker 1: it was like thirty nine degrees or something. It was chili.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna be fun. I can't wait for the complaining.
Speaker 1: You know who was really pissed when they changed the
Speaker 1: dates on the p JH Championship for for just this reason?
Speaker 1: Who herb Color? Yeah, yeah, you're knocking out definitely Northern venues.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is really an experiment. It's
Speaker 1: going to be fun. I mean, um, I always root
Speaker 1: for chaos, so obviously I want to live guy to
Speaker 1: win the Masters, and I wanted to snow during the
Speaker 1: PGA Championship, Like that's the best possible scenario for this
Speaker 1: this golf season. Alan some of these lived stars from
Speaker 1: yesterdear cam Smith is an exception, but a brooks Kepta
Speaker 1: or Patrick Read I mean, in a normal year, had
Speaker 1: they not jumped to live, they'd be in the conversation.
Speaker 1: We are hearing almost nothing about them. How do you
Speaker 1: think I don't know if you're reporting would have gone
Speaker 1: this far yet, but how do you think they viewed
Speaker 1: their lives? Now they've taken the money, they're going to
Speaker 1: keep making the money. But they're really not in the mainstream,
Speaker 1: not of our golf conversation anyway. UM, I don't know
Speaker 1: of anybody's I think it probably hurts Brooks's pride a
Speaker 1: little bit because he liked to be the man and
Speaker 1: he was puffed up about it and um at the
Speaker 1: same time, you know, like Pat Perez, for instance, has
Speaker 1: said this to me. He's like, I don't have to
Speaker 1: care about anything anymore. He's like, I'm good, I'm rolling
Speaker 1: with live. I don't have to do the interviews. I
Speaker 1: don't have to get sucked into the drama like I'm
Speaker 1: He's like, it's such a relief. You can just opt
Speaker 1: out of everything. You can just say no to everything,
Speaker 1: like you and sucked into the drama. He was an
Speaker 1: aging player who had you know, long, long run and
Speaker 1: made a lot of money. What does he even mean? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: but he was also a go to guy because he
Speaker 1: was such a good talker. So when there'll be some
Speaker 1: little flare up on tour like um, and you know
Speaker 1: he was close to Tiger, he was emphas on was
Speaker 1: and so there was just that's a just one example.
Speaker 1: But you know, I mean brook because he's out on
Speaker 1: a yacht in the Italian rivieria um and he flies
Speaker 1: straight into a live event, probably no practice round, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think he has any regrets. Um,
Speaker 1: and I still think they're in the honeymoon period. Whether
Speaker 1: you think it's going to be a success or not.
Speaker 1: I would assume the guys that are on the live
Speaker 1: tour are like, hey, this is part of the growing pains. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're not part of the golf conscience on top of
Speaker 1: mind right now, but we will be in X amount
Speaker 1: of years or next year or whatever. I mean, I
Speaker 1: assume there's part of that. And again for those that
Speaker 1: are saying that we hate live, we don't. We well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if we do. I do, I kind
Speaker 1: of do. But they're definitely part of the golf conscious.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying they're not top of mind, as Alan
Speaker 1: and Michael just said, Like, you're not going to Brooks
Speaker 1: and hearing from them week after week. You're not hearing
Speaker 1: from Bryson as much outside of like social media stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not just not prominent. Well, they're just
Speaker 1: the press, isn't at the live events? I mean, Um,
Speaker 1: Doug Ferguson hasn't been a single one. You know, he's
Speaker 1: basically the voice of of of golf for for many outlets,
Speaker 1: you know, like Doug Ferguson's copy shows up in the
Speaker 1: Monterey Herald sometimes as the associated press writer. You know,
Speaker 1: all these newspapers that don't cover golf. Really they will,
Speaker 1: they will, they will plug in Doug stuff when when
Speaker 1: they feel like it, and he's just he's just opted
Speaker 1: out of Live entirely. And you know, actually I stopped
Speaker 1: going to the events last season because they were shutting
Speaker 1: down players from doing interviews. And that's really why I
Speaker 1: didn't go to Thailand and Saudi Rabe more than anything
Speaker 1: is it's a long way to go to not be
Speaker 1: able to get people to talk to you. But they
Speaker 1: just they were they kind of put a corporate chill
Speaker 1: on doing interviews and so there there, I know, they
Speaker 1: have to be rethinking that strategy because they need they
Speaker 1: need the oxygen that the media provides. And everyone kind
Speaker 1: of buzzed in for the one what's happening with Live
Speaker 1: Golf story or the big picture you know, think piece.
Speaker 1: But that's done now for in season two, you're not
Speaker 1: gonna get the New Yorker they're not gonna show up.
Speaker 1: You're not going to get some of these other people
Speaker 1: who who helped stoke the conversation, like, you really need
Speaker 1: the golf press and if you can't attract if you
Speaker 1: can't attract any of the writers to go to the
Speaker 1: to the events and the podcasters, and um, they're they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be a little more inclusive and and
Speaker 1: play ball more. I mean they were obviously was like
Speaker 1: the siege mentality, um, and I know they felt under attack.
Speaker 1: And obviously me getting tossed out of the first event
Speaker 1: at London like that the things that get off to
Speaker 1: a great start. So I will be curious how Live
Speaker 1: as an institution handles the press, because they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to actually build some bridges. For instance, I I've sent
Speaker 1: multiple texts to the head of their communications, this guy
Speaker 1: named Jonathan, and I've sent multiple emails to Ari Fleischer,
Speaker 1: who's kind of their de facto vetter of things that
Speaker 1: haven't even responded to me. It's like, that's not the
Speaker 1: best way to um to deal with a reporter who
Speaker 1: wants to write about you. I think back to the majors, guys,
Speaker 1: I think it's so important. Obviously Cam is probably the
Speaker 1: best player in the world, one of the two best
Speaker 1: players in the world for sure. But I think it's
Speaker 1: it's important if you're live from a live perspective, that
Speaker 1: guys win or play well in the majors because it's
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just like if everyone if Brookes and
Speaker 1: Bryson and and Dustin I'll come to you, Um, I'll
Speaker 1: come to Augusta and missed the cut, that is a
Speaker 1: huge hit. I mean they have to be relevant in
Speaker 1: order to say like, hey, we're relevant, you know, because
Speaker 1: they're so top heavy on the Live Tour that their
Speaker 1: top guys just have to perform. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: there is a lot of pressure. Like Camp again, probably
Speaker 1: the best player in the world will probably perform, uh,
Speaker 1: but the other guys have to perform too, and those
Speaker 1: guys are kind of the outside of Cam. The guys
Speaker 1: are starting to be out of the conscious, like Brooks
Speaker 1: has had a lot of injuries. Dustin's you know, not
Speaker 1: a top like Bryson's had a lot of injuries, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't that long ago he was the best player
Speaker 1: in the world. And uh, and I just think Augusta
Speaker 1: is huge for the Live tour. I just really really
Speaker 1: think to be a part of the conscious the rest
Speaker 1: of the year, they need to play well. Completely agree
Speaker 1: with that, uh and camp Smith, especially because Dustin Johnson
Speaker 1: you kind of never know with him, but of course
Speaker 1: to you know, historically speaking, separate Tiger and Big Jack
Speaker 1: guys don't follow up your career years with career years,
Speaker 1: so expecting too much from cam Smith is is unrealistic.
Speaker 1: But I I completely agree with you Ryan, for them
Speaker 1: to for to the mainstream golf fan, for live golf
Speaker 1: to look relevant on this few chances when those guys
Speaker 1: all do get to play in the same field, which
Speaker 1: is basically the four majors, they've got to perform. And
Speaker 1: I also think they can gain a huge amountment, you know, momentum.
Speaker 1: If it's cam Brooks and Bryson at Augusta, everybody's gonna
Speaker 1: go like, whoa, Nillie. The PGA Tour isn't deep ship,
Speaker 1: you know, like on some levels ridiculous. That's such a
Speaker 1: small sample size, we know, and Greed agreed. I'm just
Speaker 1: thinking just fan doesn't think that way, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: but along those same lines, so this hasn't really come up,
Speaker 1: So tell tell me if I have this right, I
Speaker 1: guess I do the Uh, this will be the first
Speaker 1: Players Championship where you're really missing all the name players.
Speaker 1: The defending champion for instance, Yeah, uh, they took this
Speaker 1: parking doesn't even they took camp Smith's parking lot parking
Speaker 1: spot down. So I mean that event takes a very
Speaker 1: big hit without its defending champion, without Dustin Johnson, without
Speaker 1: Brooks Keptico, even without Patrick Reed fills fills the past
Speaker 1: champion of the players. I mean, you know, um, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I agree. The majors are huge, and I will say
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about US Open at l A Country
Speaker 1: Club because that is such a cool course and um,
Speaker 1: we don't get new venues that often, and when we do,
Speaker 1: they you know they it was Chambers Bay and it
Speaker 1: was Aaron Hills and um, you know I was rewatching
Speaker 1: the Chambers Bay Open and that was such an unbelievable finish.
Speaker 1: I mean, so much great stuff happened there. It was
Speaker 1: to me, that's one of the best opens in a
Speaker 1: long time. But it was wonky because of the greens
Speaker 1: and um, but the court from Ta Green. That course
Speaker 1: looks so good on TV and and and l A
Speaker 1: Country Clubs super visual and it has a long pedigree,
Speaker 1: even though it's at has this renovation now, so um
Speaker 1: to get to go to to go to that course.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be really fun. The architecture nerds
Speaker 1: are gonna love it. It's gonna look incredible on TV.
Speaker 1: The players are gonna love it. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be at fantastic open. And you know l A, they
Speaker 1: don't really support the l A Open that much like
Speaker 1: I think it's the It's just it's never been a
Speaker 1: part of the sports culture in that town. But l
Speaker 1: A does love a big event, and the US Open
Speaker 1: is a big brand. And I think I think the
Speaker 1: crowds will be great. I think there'll be a lot
Speaker 1: of flashy people in the gallery, and I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a fun tournament. So that's that's I'm more
Speaker 1: excited about this US Open than than you know, some
Speaker 1: of the other recent venues. I just think I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be It's gonna be cool. If someone has
Speaker 1: who has spent as you have a lot of nights
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and been around l A Golf a lot,
Speaker 1: how do you think the COGNIZENTI compare the idea of
Speaker 1: having uh a lot the US open in the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles at l A country Club versus Riviera. Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 1: You know. L A Country Club is such a proud
Speaker 1: institution and it's really it's kind of the it's the
Speaker 1: blue bloods of l A. They forever they've they've been
Speaker 1: prideful that they have no actors among the members. Like
Speaker 1: it's really it's um it's it's it's lawyers and it's politicians,
Speaker 1: and it's it's people who run the city outside of
Speaker 1: the entertainment industry. And excuse me. So whereas Rivera has
Speaker 1: has got celebrity members and but l A Country Club
Speaker 1: is a place where where there's there is there's so
Speaker 1: much pride in their courses and the um. Whereas riv
Speaker 1: you know, it's very corporate like um, it's it does
Speaker 1: it doesn't. Revere is the best course with kind of
Speaker 1: the worst membership in l A. I think it's how
Speaker 1: people look at it. And whereas l A Country Club
Speaker 1: is is just it's it feels. It feels like an
Speaker 1: East Coast joint in a lot of ways, and um
Speaker 1: for better and for worse. So uh, I think the
Speaker 1: golfing community, I think thinks this is really cool. It's
Speaker 1: become kind of the crown jewel of l A Golf
Speaker 1: in some ways, and it's gonna get it's gonna get
Speaker 1: the recognition it deserves. And I mean, let's face it,
Speaker 1: revere that. I mean, they can't get people to turn
Speaker 1: out even to that event. We you know, year after
Speaker 1: year when they had the PGA Championship. There was kind
Speaker 1: of famously a disaster when el Kington one and so um,
Speaker 1: you know, l A Golf has not been on the
Speaker 1: map as far as the big time tournaments, um for
Speaker 1: a very long time. So I think, I think, I
Speaker 1: think this will become one of the one of the
Speaker 1: anchor courses. Do you really yeah, I mean, in other words,
Speaker 1: in other words, uh, well, I mean you've got pebble
Speaker 1: and are you saying in Sedatry Pines you would see
Speaker 1: you'd expect to see a lot more of this. And
Speaker 1: it's it's such a better golf course than Tori And
Speaker 1: it's the big time energy of of Los Angeles. If
Speaker 1: if you know they've they've sold out all the corporate stuff.
Speaker 1: I think they've sold out the tickets, Like I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be It's gonna be a home run, and
Speaker 1: I think that you'll definitely bump aside Tory Pines, and
Speaker 1: um so, I think it's gonna be impactful in the
Speaker 1: US Open for sure. Um Well, can I give you
Speaker 1: a quick my quick shorthand on is it Eli? Is
Speaker 1: it North or South? Here's my quick shorthand in ell
Speaker 1: A North. If you like Augustin National and you like
Speaker 1: Pine Valley, you're gonna love this l A North because
Speaker 1: it's really got elements of both. But and this is
Speaker 1: a very significant but it doesn't look like the US
Speaker 1: Open course at all. I mean when I was last there,
Speaker 1: there were basically no trees whatsoever. I don't know what
Speaker 1: they're gonna do for rough. When I was there, it
Speaker 1: was like Augustin National used to be. It was just
Speaker 1: a wide open playing field with very little rough. Uh So,
Speaker 1: it's a different kind of US Open. And it doesn't
Speaker 1: have that super traditional that that Riviera definitely could. It
Speaker 1: doesn't have that superdertional US Open values. But as you say,
Speaker 1: is as its acculate place, it's definitely spectacular place to me.
Speaker 1: Tory Pines on the Pacific Ocean was spectacular on TV
Speaker 1: and its spectacular to be there. Maybe not a great,
Speaker 1: great golf course, but certainly a very good golf course. Well,
Speaker 1: Tori is enigmatic because, um, a lot of people hate
Speaker 1: it as as a championship venue because it's such a
Speaker 1: basic design, Like the whole most of the holes are linear,
Speaker 1: there's bunkers on both sides. It's very prescribed golf. Whereas
Speaker 1: as you're saying, l A. North, there's different ways to
Speaker 1: play every hole and there's more decisions to make, and um,
Speaker 1: I think it will appeal to that that kind of
Speaker 1: golf viewer. But um, yeah, there's no doubt it's gonna,
Speaker 1: I think surpass Tori. And the odd thing about Tory Pines,
Speaker 1: it's had t u s opens and both have been
Speaker 1: epics or decide on the last hole by you know,
Speaker 1: when rom One he was the best player in the world.
Speaker 1: So it's produced the leaderboard you want. It's just it's
Speaker 1: not the most artful canvas if you're if you're into
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, but if you want to an
Speaker 1: exciting finish with the top players like Tori's delivered. So
Speaker 1: I don't know, we'll see, but I I do think
Speaker 1: that Ellen North is gonna This is not gonna Its
Speaker 1: only US Open and let me. Let me correct myself here,
Speaker 1: because I could see that in your knowing nod. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you knew this, God willing will all be covering it.
Speaker 1: The nine US Open is scheduled for l A Country
Speaker 1: Club on its north course. Yeah yeah, and those are
Speaker 1: those U S and g A things are interesting, Like
Speaker 1: I would like to know what the wiggle room is
Speaker 1: on you know, the schedule these tournaments, you know, twenty
Speaker 1: five years out, Like what is the outclause? If? Um,
Speaker 1: there's like who knows what? Like if valleys underwater? What
Speaker 1: does exactly what do you do? Yeah? The San Andreas
Speaker 1: fault runs right below the third fairway of and I'm
Speaker 1: just I just made that up, but like you just
Speaker 1: you never know. So um But anyway, Um, all right,
Speaker 1: let's let's go to hoy Lake, which of course is
Speaker 1: the scene of one of tigers great performances. Will even
Speaker 1: show up there, we haven't. We're deep into a preview
Speaker 1: about the two thousands ray three seasons. We haven't even
Speaker 1: mentioned the words Tiger Woods. Unbelievable. But I guess that's
Speaker 1: the sign of the times. Um. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be be melancholy if he's not there because that
Speaker 1: that really I know you're you're on site for that
Speaker 1: for that tournament, Michael so was. I there was something
Speaker 1: sort of magical about burnt out moonscape of the golf
Speaker 1: course and Tiger's hitting four irons close to the most
Speaker 1: guys a hidden wedges, and um, you know that was
Speaker 1: that was that was a transcendent performance. But what'll what'll
Speaker 1: it be like to you know, if there's no Tiger
Speaker 1: when we go back there. Well, we we've had a
Speaker 1: lot of that over the years, you know, Patrick Carrington
Speaker 1: one uh to open, so that Tiger in the field
Speaker 1: and open is an open uh And as we found
Speaker 1: out last year, you can spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: building up some I did crazy expectation of about what
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods can do at an open because the course
Speaker 1: is flat relatively he said of walk. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: you know St Andrews was St Andrew's. So I'm expecting
Speaker 1: absolutely nothing from from Tiger at Why Lake. Um, just
Speaker 1: the name Hoy Lake, Liverpool, the history of Jones, history
Speaker 1: of Tiger there. Um. Uh, it's neat that it's neat
Speaker 1: to be going back there. Uh, No one does the
Speaker 1: rote Asian of course, aren't that many but how the
Speaker 1: r n A organized its rotation is really like nothing
Speaker 1: else in golf. It's known with such confidence, and even
Speaker 1: when it goes to these sort of tried and true
Speaker 1: courses like Hoylake, they somehow have this magic formula of
Speaker 1: allowing just enough time that you're like, oh, I'm happy
Speaker 1: to be back here. It's an exciting golf course, but
Speaker 1: it's just really neat to be there, you know. I
Speaker 1: mean you and I were both there. We both saw it.
Speaker 1: You know, Tiger just hit links. Golf has been said
Speaker 1: a million times. It's not really about putting. It's about
Speaker 1: hitting irons on the face and play in the wind. Uh.
Speaker 1: There's a majesty and that just like seeing Tiger play
Speaker 1: that second shot into fifteen the year that he won
Speaker 1: at Augusta uh um one most recently two. Uh, it's majesty.
Speaker 1: Really is golf. So I'm already I hadn't been part
Speaker 1: of this conversation, but just having this conversation does make
Speaker 1: me excited about going back to Hoylake. We better book
Speaker 1: our rooms for that downtown Marriott. Now it's probably too late, No,
Speaker 1: did Yeah, that's yeah, that's a good call. This is
Speaker 1: what we care about fire pit is not not the
Speaker 1: best at booking outside like we're we're not the timeliest people,
Speaker 1: and we know the dates. In fact, we could book
Speaker 1: our hotel for the U S Open today. I think, Um,
Speaker 1: that's a good reminder, yes, uh uh. And I will
Speaker 1: say I'm planning to go to the first If you
Speaker 1: want an offseason, how about Live Golf. I mean they've
Speaker 1: just shut down for months and months, But um, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to the first event and at mycoba. That's
Speaker 1: my that's my intention because I think that's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: I think there'll be a lot of news coming out
Speaker 1: of that week. And let's say Live wants to be disruptive.
Speaker 1: Is that a true or not true statement? Yes? What
Speaker 1: could be more disruptive for these Lived people than to
Speaker 1: have an event opposite the Masters for mega mega mega bucks.
Speaker 1: And this would be my caveat and invite to this
Speaker 1: one off tournament not part of the lip series anybody
Speaker 1: who has ever won the Masters or finished or finished second,
Speaker 1: by which you would get Johnny Miller and all the
Speaker 1: you know, various other lend matiss. I think all the
Speaker 1: uh Lees Louis use tis in uh all the various
Speaker 1: people who have either one or not one. They're going
Speaker 1: to get a massive paycheck just just to show up.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh, I don't know how closely you follow
Speaker 1: Indie car racing. But it never worked out for the
Speaker 1: Michigan five h The Michigan five hundred was opposite of
Speaker 1: the Indie five and uh, that's what they did. They
Speaker 1: put on a high priced five opposite of the indie
Speaker 1: and uh, it didn't work and it and it basically
Speaker 1: has ruined IndyCar racing. And it is a great uh
Speaker 1: look into the scary future of golf. It at the
Speaker 1: breakup of I r L and CART. This is super deep.
Speaker 1: For people that don't know Indy car racing, this is
Speaker 1: super nerdy. But I r L and CART were the
Speaker 1: two warring factions, and it ruined Indy car racing. It
Speaker 1: has never regained the popularity of one. Well, that's right,
Speaker 1: I did not know any of that. That's that's very telling, Ryan,
Speaker 1: and that's why that's why fred Ridling Company have have
Speaker 1: such a big mandate here to try to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get golf on one page. If it can
Speaker 1: be done, if you know, based on the example you decited,
Speaker 1: I've been reading about the USFL. You reading about the
Speaker 1: A B A like, it's there's rarely enough stars in
Speaker 1: any sport to support two leagues. There's just there just isn't.
Speaker 1: And um, golf, especially where you're rooting for the individual
Speaker 1: and not not the you know, the team or the
Speaker 1: franchise like it's, um, there's there's not much precedent. I mean,
Speaker 1: cricket did go from this this very long, onerous four
Speaker 1: or five day matt and they introduced kind of a
Speaker 1: one day, um, sort of sort of fast and furious
Speaker 1: kind of version of cricket, which had become hugely popular,
Speaker 1: and that would be the one the one sport that
Speaker 1: reinvented itself successfully. But anyway, yeah, okay, we we should
Speaker 1: probably end this this preview before it's two thousand and
Speaker 1: twenty four, but um uh it's always fun to talk
Speaker 1: off with you guys, and uh, we'll see what we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens. Luckily, we'll we'll offer weekly updates on
Speaker 1: how the twenty three season is going here on the
Speaker 1: Fire Drill podcast. So any any parting thoughts where we
Speaker 1: we release the listeners. Yeah, um, my sleeper for the
Speaker 1: PGA Championship, olaf Leftson the highest ranked Icelandic golfer in
Speaker 1: the world. Since it's possibly snow, that's the kind of report.
Speaker 1: He's probably not eligible. He's probably not eligible, but it's fine.
Speaker 1: He might. It's got four months of plays away, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good. It's fine. Michael. Uh. The actor Victor Mature,
Speaker 1: if I'm pronouncing that correctly, tried to get into the
Speaker 1: Country Cup. They told him that they didn't take actors.
Speaker 1: He said, I have twenty eight films to prove that's
Speaker 1: not the case. I'm not sure how to talk that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't, that's Michael. I mean, that's why it's just
Speaker 1: unreal to be on this play. I love it, all right,
Speaker 1: all right, Well for Michael Bamberger and Ryan friends, this
Speaker 1: is allan allan, thank you, yes, aloha and uh we'll
Speaker 1: do this again next week. Thanks for listening. That's the end.
Speaker 1: By I'm Ben Big play to win made a fortune
Speaker 1: within my ship game. I ran the table and thought
Speaker 1: I could fall. Then the win hit me like a
Speaker 1: cannon ball, and now I can't shape is losing the street.
Speaker 1: Every road I take isn't dead and stream I got
Speaker 1: thoughts in my head. Can't get him out, trying not
Speaker 1: to think what I'm thinking about. I got thoughts in
Speaker 1: my head, can't get him out. Trying not to think
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about