Speaker 1: It's really more fundamental. I think that that maybe what
Speaker 1: you're suggestion, which is this tour made you who you are.
Speaker 1: The opportunities that this PGA Tour gave you made you
Speaker 1: who you are, and you're turning your back on it.
Speaker 1: I got in my head. Can't get Jan nothing think
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about. Can't get him not to think
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about. Hello, this is Alan Chip Knock
Speaker 1: back for another Fire Drill podcast. I am joined by
Speaker 1: Ryan French and Michael Bamberger. We want to convene convene
Speaker 1: this discussion because it's the opening day of the new
Speaker 1: PGA Tour season, which sounds impossible since they just put
Speaker 1: it out at the Tour Championship. It feels like anyway,
Speaker 1: lots of big stuff happened at Wentworth. UH Live Chicago
Speaker 1: is going to kick off later this week. Just seemed
Speaker 1: like this was the moment to get up to up
Speaker 1: to date on everything happening in the golf world. So Michael, Ryan,
Speaker 1: thank you for being here. Um, Mike, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the finish at Wentworth. It was it was a bang
Speaker 1: bang finished. You had you had Rory McElroy, you had
Speaker 1: John rom and then Shane Lowry prevailed. I mean it
Speaker 1: seems like like somehow the Wentworth Event has really become
Speaker 1: elevated to a different stratosphere in recent years. What is
Speaker 1: your take on on that tournament and where it fits
Speaker 1: into the larger golf landscape. Was that a registered trademard
Speaker 1: trademark you said the word elevated, Yeah, Capital E. Craig. Okay,
Speaker 1: it felt like an elevated event. I mean except for
Speaker 1: one big except fifty four holes. It's like everything plays
Speaker 1: towards live in the end. But it was great. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a well known and excellent golf course,
Speaker 1: a well known, excellent field, and it kind of proves
Speaker 1: the point that less would be more if we had
Speaker 1: fewer events with more named players on courses you know,
Speaker 1: don't care about, you would have better professional golf. That's
Speaker 1: not where we are. But for that one week, it
Speaker 1: was great and it was neat to see the difference
Speaker 1: to the Queen. Uh. Ryan and I have been talking
Speaker 1: about it. We don't really get it, but we get
Speaker 1: we get that they get it and they're doing what
Speaker 1: they're doing. So it was it was a great moment
Speaker 1: for golf in an unexpected time. Yes, Bryan, what's the
Speaker 1: view from Middle America about postponing a golf tournament in
Speaker 1: UH in mourning of the passing of the Queen. My
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to spend twelve hours in a
Speaker 1: car over the last two days prior to Friday and
Speaker 1: setting Wednesday and Thursday with Michael Bamberger, and we discussed
Speaker 1: a wide ranging things. But obviously the Queen came up,
Speaker 1: and I mean, I just she was ninety six. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's I don't get it. So and so
Speaker 1: we broke out into the song. Yeah, we're saying Elton John. Okay,
Speaker 1: you can say the sex pistols that Elton John's more preferable. No,
Speaker 1: we we yeah, but we don't get it, but we yeah,
Speaker 1: Michael said it perfectly. We don't get it, but we
Speaker 1: get that other people get it. Uh, delaying sports and
Speaker 1: all that seems wild to me. Uh, but I mean
Speaker 1: I'm not English, So I mean I heard this, you
Speaker 1: know about Pete Roselle, the old the longtime NFL commissioner
Speaker 1: like the biggest regret of his career was that they
Speaker 1: played football after JFK's assassination and that he felt like
Speaker 1: they should have shut it down, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think the discourse that I landed onto it
Speaker 1: wouldn't have really been disrespectful to play the golf tournament,
Speaker 1: but it was a gowing of respect, not too and
Speaker 1: so in that regard, you know, a president getting shot
Speaker 1: in the ninety six year old woman dying are two wild?
Speaker 1: Just I mean, you know, okay, we don't have to
Speaker 1: go down this rabbit hole, but okay, it was. What
Speaker 1: I loved about the event is that golf has like
Speaker 1: true drama now and Taylor Gooch being in the mix,
Speaker 1: and and and Patrick read being in the mix, like
Speaker 1: it's somewhat kind of wrestling, like I mean, it is,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, it's it's really wild that in golf
Speaker 1: we have like true drama, true hatred, like true I mean,
Speaker 1: I was, I I'm kind of indifferent on live, but
Speaker 1: like I was rooting for a live guy just to
Speaker 1: see the awkwardness of the the trophy exchange and the
Speaker 1: awkwardness of the of the interview and awkwardness of Pelly
Speaker 1: giving him the check. I was rooting for just Al
Speaker 1: and that's what we like to hear is new to
Speaker 1: the business, but he's rooting for the story. Well played,
Speaker 1: young man. Well played indeed, Yes, yeah, Ryan is is
Speaker 1: he gets it. We root for chaos. That's our only.
Speaker 1: We don't care what the humans evolved. We're just rooting
Speaker 1: for anarchy. Yeah, that was that was funny. I mean,
Speaker 1: Taylor good, I don't think they showed a shot of
Speaker 1: his the whole final day with unbelievable He's raising on
Speaker 1: the board same as read the pettiness is unbelievable. I mean,
Speaker 1: what you know, Patrick Reid has actually been a great
Speaker 1: supporter of the European Tour. He's been playing over there
Speaker 1: a lot in the last five years, and he's he's
Speaker 1: got the box office from all the Ryder Cup dust ups.
Speaker 1: Like I would think that the global golf audience would
Speaker 1: kind of like to see him hitting a few shots.
Speaker 1: But alan with all do hold hold on, I gotta
Speaker 1: make a quick point here, right if I may, With
Speaker 1: all due respect, he is not a great supporter of
Speaker 1: the European Tour or anything except for getting paid. He
Speaker 1: plays there to get paid. It all goes, it all
Speaker 1: goes the other way. Uh. I don't think he's buying
Speaker 1: the flag of the United States or anything other than
Speaker 1: his his bank accounts. So I do take exception of
Speaker 1: that if I may, But you comment away as you
Speaker 1: may wish. But I do have a quick question for you.
Speaker 1: Had this tournament come the full seventy two scheduled holes,
Speaker 1: who do you? Who do you? How do you think
Speaker 1: it might have played out? Probably wrong? Wins by five um,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's interesting both Rom and Rory
Speaker 1: have been playing at such a high level, but they're
Speaker 1: just not getting the winds. I mean, there's I've seen
Speaker 1: all these graphs about McIlroy's play since the Masters, and
Speaker 1: it's terrific. It's nothing but but but he's been in
Speaker 1: contention every single week, but he's won only twice, which
Speaker 1: you know, including getting skunked at the Majors. It's like,
Speaker 1: it's so, I know it's hard to win. We all
Speaker 1: know it's hard to win, but when you're up there
Speaker 1: that often sometimes you just gotta grab the MOFO trophy.
Speaker 1: And so I mean all credit to Rory for flying
Speaker 1: across the ocean and bringing his a game again. You know,
Speaker 1: he's playing in Italy this week. It's not a terman
Speaker 1: he has to play, but he is a supporter of
Speaker 1: the European Tour. But it's um it's kind of frustrating
Speaker 1: to see him in contention all the time but not winning.
Speaker 1: Our expectations too high. I don't know, Michael, tell you,
Speaker 1: I don't know who ruder mc roy is. Well, you
Speaker 1: know I this has been said before and probably by
Speaker 1: all three of us. Um. The one that got away,
Speaker 1: of course is that British Open and it didn't really
Speaker 1: get away. The guy shot thirty on him in on
Speaker 1: the back nine, and you know, no lead to safe
Speaker 1: when when the guy who's uh staring down his his
Speaker 1: shooting thirty on the back nine. Um, but he can't
Speaker 1: not say he doesn't have a Sunday problem. A fifty
Speaker 1: four whole events a little different and it would have
Speaker 1: been very interesting to see how to play it out. UM.
Speaker 1: I have the feeling he might well have risen to
Speaker 1: the occasion, but Guch might have as well, so who knows,
Speaker 1: But it can't not be in his head at this point.
Speaker 1: And of course, when you're a mega talent uh like
Speaker 1: wory Roy is and you're not getting it done with
Speaker 1: the regularity that you should when you're in contention holes
Speaker 1: or sixty three holes like Tiger was. Literally let's say
Speaker 1: a hundred and ten times in his career and got
Speaker 1: it done three quarters of those times. Let's say, um,
Speaker 1: I can't not be in his head and it's gonna
Speaker 1: show up at the most in opportunity moments like it
Speaker 1: did at the Old Course. Yeah, real quickly one Michael
Speaker 1: Bamberger just called the Open Championship the British Open too. Uh.
Speaker 1: Do you think that there's this is a real question
Speaker 1: that that. Do you think there's more pressure on Rory
Speaker 1: now because of this divide in progolf that he is
Speaker 1: truly the face of the PGA Tour for the most part.
Speaker 1: I think people look to him as obviously with Tiger
Speaker 1: not playing that Rory's the true face of the tour
Speaker 1: now that these have they've divided. Do you think there's
Speaker 1: more pressure any any than there was even before. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's possible, but just feels like with
Speaker 1: this divide that he's become kind of the face and
Speaker 1: him not cleaning up on Sundays seems to maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: hurt a little bit. I asked him basically that same
Speaker 1: question at the Tour Championship few weeks ago, and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, all this advocacy and putting myself out there
Speaker 1: it's energizing when when you get things done and things
Speaker 1: are going your way, and it's really draining when when
Speaker 1: it goes the other direction. And so I think there's
Speaker 1: something there. What you're what you're What you're hinting at,
Speaker 1: Ryan is I think it's easy for you know, Roy's
Speaker 1: been doing this for a long time, and I think
Speaker 1: this is this has gotten his his engine rebbed a
Speaker 1: little bit and he's fired up and he's probably more
Speaker 1: ready to play than he has been. But yeah, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you keep throwing yourself out there and
Speaker 1: it's not happening in that internal battle that Michael was
Speaker 1: talking about. Um, I think I think it's helping him
Speaker 1: and it's hurting him simultaneously, if that makes sense. I'd
Speaker 1: just like to say I'd love Shane Lowry. He's all
Speaker 1: in on like the discourse in between the two tours.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's all in. He's like, I don't talk
Speaker 1: to those other guys. Uh. He has taken this, it
Speaker 1: seems pretty personally as I think a lot of players have,
Speaker 1: but maybe not publicly, and and Shane is fully in
Speaker 1: publicly that this is. Yeah, He's like, Hey, I don't
Speaker 1: talk to those people. Anymore that some of them means
Speaker 1: to be my friends and now I don't talk to
Speaker 1: him at all. So I love that that he's kind
Speaker 1: of taking a personal edge and taking it publicly too. It's,
Speaker 1: as you say, it's fun to dive into Bryant. Bryan,
Speaker 1: do you have an insight into why he feels so
Speaker 1: strongly because he didn't grow up on that, He didn't
Speaker 1: grow up on our pH A Tour d pH A Tour.
Speaker 1: Do you have any insight as to why he feels
Speaker 1: that way? No, I don't, but I mean I think
Speaker 1: through all of this, the dp World Tour or the
Speaker 1: European Tour has I mean, they've kind of admitted that
Speaker 1: they're a feeder tour, and I think if you grew
Speaker 1: up on like, wouldn't Shane and Uh, those guys grew
Speaker 1: up they didn't think of it at all like that,
Speaker 1: And the PGA tour has kind of made him feel
Speaker 1: like that in my opinion, they've kind of accepted it,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and so the defections have hurt most.
Speaker 1: I would say of the three tours we're talking about,
Speaker 1: live PGA Tour and the European the European Tour that
Speaker 1: it's hurt the European Tour by far the most, and
Speaker 1: so maybe he takes it more personally because it's really
Speaker 1: affected the tour, the European Tour the most in minds.
Speaker 1: That's good insight, but it's also weird because like Michael
Speaker 1: and I both worked at Golf Magazine golf dot Com
Speaker 1: in the last few years. We both we both left
Speaker 1: it um for a better situation, clearly, but we see
Speaker 1: our old colleagues in the press room and we we
Speaker 1: wrap out with them like we you know, we bumped
Speaker 1: him on a golf course during the Open week, and
Speaker 1: we're happy to see each other. Like there's no animosity
Speaker 1: even though we're repudiating their place of business and we
Speaker 1: may in fact put them out of business at some point.
Speaker 1: But um, it's like I'm on some level that all
Speaker 1: these players are taking it so personally. I find it
Speaker 1: a little weird, Like who cares? Like you're making money,
Speaker 1: they're making money. Everyone's playing golf for living, Like what's
Speaker 1: the big deal? Like it's great, it's a gift from
Speaker 1: the content gods. Yet again, but when when you you know,
Speaker 1: people change jobs all the time, and I don't I
Speaker 1: agree with that. I mean, you can agree disagree with
Speaker 1: it on a political sense obviously, like the Saudi Arabia
Speaker 1: standpoint that's been you know, like hashed out. But like,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, is anyone really mad
Speaker 1: that Harold Varner got thirty million and took it or
Speaker 1: whatever that number was, Like, is anyone mad? Like you
Speaker 1: can be mad that he left the PGA Tour, but
Speaker 1: like Harold was amazingly honest about it. He's like, hey,
Speaker 1: I will never be able to make this money on
Speaker 1: the PGA tour. It's going to change my kids and
Speaker 1: my kids kids life. It's generational money, and I took it.
Speaker 1: Like I don't know who on the PGA Tour would
Speaker 1: be like, wow, what an asshole? You know, they'd be
Speaker 1: like yeah, I kind of get it. Yeah, it's an
Speaker 1: interesting phenomenon. And like I'm so I'm going to live Chicago,
Speaker 1: and my intention is to write about Taylor Gooch, who
Speaker 1: was basically a nonentity on the PGA Tour. He was
Speaker 1: a nice young player that nobody knew about or cared about,
Speaker 1: it seemed like, and now he's at the center of
Speaker 1: every storm, and you know, his contract got leaked to
Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal He figured very prominently in the
Speaker 1: temporary restraining order hearing when when he was trying to
Speaker 1: barge his way into the FedEx Cup, goes over to Wentworth,
Speaker 1: where it's been made clear to him that a lot
Speaker 1: of players don't want him there. He plays his ass off.
Speaker 1: Has risen now back to the mid thirties in the
Speaker 1: world ranking, probably has enough points that he'll secure a
Speaker 1: Master's bid by by still being in the top fifty
Speaker 1: eight years end. And it's like Taylor Goocha somehow become
Speaker 1: the most important people in professional golf all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: It's wild and I'm here for it. Well, you see,
Speaker 1: I would. That's a good point, and it's interesting. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know how to pronounce scooches surname or
Speaker 1: we given name prior to this whole thing. Uh so,
Speaker 1: I you're right, it's just a kind of a nice player.
Speaker 1: It was interesting that Davis, I think, even Alan when
Speaker 1: you and I had him on Davis, you know, I
Speaker 1: can't recall the timing, but I know what Davis this
Speaker 1: at one point like I really hope this kid doesn't go.
Speaker 1: And that was interesting to me that Davis cared so much.
Speaker 1: But ran just go back to your point for a second.
Speaker 1: I see Harold Varner or anybody else differently. This partly
Speaker 1: reflects my own my own feeling about the thing, and
Speaker 1: partly reflects those who are super traditionalists. I support the
Speaker 1: PGA tour types like a Fred Couples or Davis Love
Speaker 1: or any number of any number of other people. It's
Speaker 1: really more fundamental. I think that that maybe what you're suggesting,
Speaker 1: which is this tour made you who you are. The
Speaker 1: opportunities that this PGA tour gave you made you who
Speaker 1: you are, and you're turning your back on it um
Speaker 1: And I think some people, just in the most basic level,
Speaker 1: some people resent that. Michael, I agree with you. I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not again. I mean, I obviously don't support
Speaker 1: like I first of all at the Saudi government side,
Speaker 1: but let's just go with no cut, fifty four holes
Speaker 1: guaranteed money you everyone knows listening. That's not my cup
Speaker 1: of tea. So I have no support of the live tour.
Speaker 1: But this is true in any other sport, I mean,
Speaker 1: every other sport, Like there is no loyalty that that's gone,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I know Albert Pools is back
Speaker 1: with the Cardinals. But he left the Cardinals, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, every major sports star in every
Speaker 1: major sport besides golf leaves. I mean, for the most part,
Speaker 1: very few people play one place in one career. It's
Speaker 1: new to golf. So I get that people are torn. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the the political side of it makes it even more.
Speaker 1: But like at the end of the day, is is, uh,
Speaker 1: if Stephen Curry leaves the Warriors, is anybody on the
Speaker 1: Warriors are really gonna be mad? No, Because when they're
Speaker 1: in a free agent and they get a big check
Speaker 1: to go to another team, they're gonna go. So I
Speaker 1: I appreciate what you're saying, Michael, I agree with what
Speaker 1: you're saying. I just don't think that. I just don't
Speaker 1: think it's that Like, I just don't see why the
Speaker 1: players are so mad about it. The franchise in the
Speaker 1: NBA is the NBA, not so much the individual team.
Speaker 1: Individual fans of individual cities are going to be annoyed
Speaker 1: and and upset. Um, but the NBA is not gonna
Speaker 1: not gonna hurt as a result. Here is more in
Speaker 1: the front to the actual league itself. Leaving the league
Speaker 1: to go to another league. You know pool hosts had
Speaker 1: gone to Japan and then wanted to come back, come
Speaker 1: back from Major League Baseball, that would be roughly more
Speaker 1: of the equivalent not not staying within the major league
Speaker 1: team fair. Yeah, that's that's that is a distinction. But
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, if if you grew up
Speaker 1: rooting for a team and they draft a young player
Speaker 1: and they nurture him, they develop him, and they pour
Speaker 1: all these resources into make him a great player, and
Speaker 1: then he leaves for another team like that, that's sort
Speaker 1: of analogous as well. So I think the metaphor of
Speaker 1: works either way. But it's um, it's just yeah, it's
Speaker 1: amazing how this just keeps going and uh, the you know,
Speaker 1: all the guys playing over the pettiness is amazing, Like
Speaker 1: taking camp Smith's picture down, Like what are we doing?
Speaker 1: Like we're we're children. Were like it's amazing and I'm
Speaker 1: here for it. I mean, like, is that really what
Speaker 1: we're doing? Like we have to go out now. The
Speaker 1: PGA tour has a million things to worry about. And
Speaker 1: that someone called somebody at at Sagrass and was like,
Speaker 1: you gotta take camps parking passed down? I mean, is
Speaker 1: the next level pettiness. Um, well, Ryan, how how would
Speaker 1: you have voted on Player of the Year Shuffler versus
Speaker 1: Cam or anybody else you might suggest? I would have
Speaker 1: voted for Carl you want from the corn Ferry Tour.
Speaker 1: Don't I'm not voting for uh. I mean it's probably Scottie,
Speaker 1: but I don't. Honestly, Michael, this is the honest truth.
Speaker 1: I don't watch outside of the majors. Don't watch very
Speaker 1: much PG tour golf unless a a the grinder of
Speaker 1: some sort is in in place like Wentworth is. I
Speaker 1: watched three holes. I just don't have much The rich
Speaker 1: getting richer is just not that much interest that of
Speaker 1: interest to me. I understand. I always say this is
Speaker 1: people get on this and go oh, I can't believe it,
Speaker 1: Like I understand why people want to watch it. I
Speaker 1: get it. I'm talking personally. Watching the million dollars he
Speaker 1: wanted Wentworth changes his life zero. The only reason it
Speaker 1: has a little more meaning is because of the drama
Speaker 1: in UH in golf right now, and and the fact
Speaker 1: that he people really really even the top players really
Speaker 1: really want to win now. To stick it to the
Speaker 1: other tour it lived, guys want to live, you know,
Speaker 1: stick it to the PGA guys and the European guys
Speaker 1: and vice versus. So I do like that part of it.
Speaker 1: There is a sense of uh drama that um that
Speaker 1: wasn't there before. I mean when Billy Horshell won last year,
Speaker 1: no one really cared, you know. I mean it's all
Speaker 1: these tournaments have some meaning because of the discourse. And
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that point up, Michael, because you
Speaker 1: wrote an excellent column for Firepit Collective dot com about
Speaker 1: the Player of the Year voting and um, I personally
Speaker 1: would have given the award to camp Smith. I mean,
Speaker 1: he had one of the signature blowouts of the year,
Speaker 1: um to start in at Cappela, which is I think
Speaker 1: one of the best courses on tour. And then you know,
Speaker 1: the PGA Tours hurting themselves in this debate because they've
Speaker 1: insisted for so long now that the Players should be
Speaker 1: a major championship. Well, in that case, camp Smith won
Speaker 1: two majors. You know, he won the Players and and
Speaker 1: he won the biggest term of the year, which is
Speaker 1: the Open at St. Andrews. That's bigger than the Masters,
Speaker 1: It's bigger than the US Open. When the Open is
Speaker 1: at St. Andrews is a crown jewel of the support
Speaker 1: and every player talked about it, and and Cam won
Speaker 1: that and a legendary performance. And you know, Scheffler was terrific,
Speaker 1: but um, he could have ended the debate at the
Speaker 1: Door Championship and he kind of shrank from the moment.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, for me, camp camp Smith is
Speaker 1: a Player of the Year. And when the writers Associate
Speaker 1: of America we get our ballots, that's what I'm gonna
Speaker 1: vote for, um, And so we once again the writers
Speaker 1: may have to rectify or wrong, but there was there
Speaker 1: was a, of course, a political undercurrent to the player
Speaker 1: of that you're voting is Ryan is suggesting like tease
Speaker 1: that out a little bit, Michael, like, how did how
Speaker 1: did this current moment get reflected in the Player of
Speaker 1: the Year. You know it really it's a really interesting debate,
Speaker 1: and I'm totally with you. And open anywhere is obviously
Speaker 1: a great, great achievement, but an open up the old course,
Speaker 1: rises to to another level. And I would say, just
Speaker 1: in term of a crowning achievement of one's career, it
Speaker 1: is more significant to win an open. It's kind of
Speaker 1: ridiculous to say, but it's harder to win an open
Speaker 1: up the old course. It's a bigger field, it's a
Speaker 1: tougher field, it's a quirkier golf course. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: as you know, because you're you're in the piece. And
Speaker 1: we had this discussion. Uh, we've been down this store
Speaker 1: before where where these votes have gotten politicized and all
Speaker 1: on to your point, not to rehash the whole thing,
Speaker 1: but two thousand and thirteen, tire at a funky year
Speaker 1: won five times on the PGA Tour and by a
Speaker 1: vote of his PGA Tour brethren, was named player Player
Speaker 1: of the Year. But the writers who look at or
Speaker 1: in our case, uh, the golf writers descciation of America. Um,
Speaker 1: we're supposed to look at the whole year, playing the
Speaker 1: whole world, and we voted for Adam Scott is Player
Speaker 1: of the Year. I have a big memory that he
Speaker 1: won in Australia once or maybe more than once that year. Um.
Speaker 1: But as as we've been discussing allan, it shows how
Speaker 1: this live PHA tour thing has been has politicized and
Speaker 1: its tentacles are reaching all through golf and we're definitely
Speaker 1: gonna see it at the next Major, which not the
Speaker 1: Prisidon's Cup, which not major, but the uh but the
Speaker 1: Masters if it's down the stretch, if it's Taylor Gooch
Speaker 1: and Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson, and then you know
Speaker 1: Rory McElroy and you know guys who are bedrock PHA
Speaker 1: Tour supporters. Uh, you know that Augustine National is gonna
Speaker 1: be rooting its body muff for a PGA Tour player
Speaker 1: to win. Uh where that would not have been the case,
Speaker 1: you know, hid Deck or anybody else, that would not
Speaker 1: have been the case a year ago. Well and yeah,
Speaker 1: the the it's in your piece, but like to me,
Speaker 1: this player of the year, the result is the beginning
Speaker 1: of how we have to rethink all these traditional status
Speaker 1: markers in golf, because what does it mean to get
Speaker 1: the world to number one in the world ranking right
Speaker 1: now when the best player in the world, Kemp Smith,
Speaker 1: is not going to be a cruing points? And what
Speaker 1: does you mean to get in the top fifty when
Speaker 1: there's a dozen top fifty players playing live who are
Speaker 1: who are not getting points and so um, if you
Speaker 1: if you win, if you win PGA Tour events going
Speaker 1: forward doesn't have the same meaning. Is in in the
Speaker 1: old days, you know, like to say the peak Tiger, Like,
Speaker 1: let let's say some kid comes along next year and
Speaker 1: uh or any player for that matter wins like nine times,
Speaker 1: and they're comparing it to like the great PGA Tour
Speaker 1: seasons of all time. Well, it doesn't have the same
Speaker 1: meaning because some top players aren't there now. Um And
Speaker 1: so yeah, no that's or no, so we got when
Speaker 1: when you were posting that, were you saying I'm the
Speaker 1: pH A Tour or or on the Lift Tour. Well
Speaker 1: either way either Yeah, winning at PGA Tour event doesn't
Speaker 1: mean as much if you don't have to beat Dustin Johnson,
Speaker 1: Brooks Kepka and Cam Smith and all these other guys. Um.
Speaker 1: And of course, you know, I saw some discourse around
Speaker 1: Taylor Goots how well he's playing, you know, great finish
Speaker 1: that wentworth and he's finished top ten and all four
Speaker 1: live events, and it's really the first time I've seen
Speaker 1: that even cited where someone someone used live results in
Speaker 1: a serious way. But like Taylor Gooch is playing in
Speaker 1: an extremely high level. I mean, to finish top ten
Speaker 1: four in a row against a short field fifty four
Speaker 1: hold is not easy to do, Like you have to
Speaker 1: you have to do. You can't afford even one bad round,
Speaker 1: and so, um he's playing great. But do do we
Speaker 1: cite those live results as having a meaning or not?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know where we are on
Speaker 1: this thing, you know. Uh no, go ahead, Michael, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna listen to you. No stalemate, I refuse, I refuse, Okay,
Speaker 1: Uh real quickly? Uh why why we can interrupt each
Speaker 1: other and stand all over court our great producer Jake,
Speaker 1: who's behind the scenes you can't see us. I would
Speaker 1: like to remind us that uh par Points app that
Speaker 1: is the sponsor that makes this all possible. Look at yeah,
Speaker 1: look Vamburgers give me the thumbs up for this transition
Speaker 1: into our sponsor. But Part Points is a great, uh
Speaker 1: app awesome new way to play golf. Uh usually Alan
Speaker 1: does this, and I usually make fun of him. So
Speaker 1: uh I hate that I have to do it now
Speaker 1: that Jake text me because I'm gonna probably screwed it
Speaker 1: up and now I'm gonna make fun of me. But
Speaker 1: power Points is an awesome way, a new way of
Speaker 1: scoring on the golf. Download the app right now and
Speaker 1: uh make part so thanks to Part Points Michael. Your
Speaker 1: turn now, Ryan, Ryan, have you met the guys I have?
Speaker 1: They're wonderful. Uh you did? You did well? Ryan, And
Speaker 1: whatever you messed up, I wouldn't. I wouldn't bring it
Speaker 1: to light because I have respect for the process and
Speaker 1: I have respect for the sponsor. My post a question, Yes, please, Okay,
Speaker 1: this conversation, it's interesting, slash tetious. It shows the conversation
Speaker 1: itself is proof that live golf has been a tremendously
Speaker 1: disruptive factor in golf already. Disruption does not happen on
Speaker 1: its own. Disruption. You know, let's not go political, but
Speaker 1: we all know what I could say here, disruption. Disruption
Speaker 1: happens willfully with the goal. And I know I've been
Speaker 1: down this road before. Alan. I know you're reporting it
Speaker 1: as best you can, and it's difficult to report. Who
Speaker 1: is benefit benefiting from this disruption and what is their endgame?
Speaker 1: That's my question to either of you. All the players
Speaker 1: are benefiting because literally billions of dollars is getting poured
Speaker 1: into professional golf that didn't exist before. So clearly the players,
Speaker 1: their families, their agents, the caddies, the swing coaches, the
Speaker 1: entire ecosystem professional golf is benefiting UM, and that that
Speaker 1: trickles all the way down to the Asian Tour and
Speaker 1: their national series, which is now much better capitalized, has
Speaker 1: become a launching pad for a lot of young players
Speaker 1: who are trying to make it UM. You would think
Speaker 1: at some point the tours we have to pour more
Speaker 1: money into the corn ferry and and Latin America and
Speaker 1: Canada try and keep up. I mean, so professional golfers
Speaker 1: are benefiting. I don't think there's any question about that.
Speaker 1: Our fans benefiting. I mean, it's certainly it's been a
Speaker 1: very juicy year. There's been a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of UM energy around the sport that didn't exist before.
Speaker 1: And we know from our own metrics when these stories
Speaker 1: come out about live golf, people are reading them. So
Speaker 1: right now they're getting to watch on you you commercial
Speaker 1: free high level golf. I think some of them are
Speaker 1: enjoying it. UM. The tours are gonna have to improve
Speaker 1: its product clearly, So the players are definitely benefiting. I
Speaker 1: think the fans are probably benefiting. The typing class like us,
Speaker 1: is certainly benefiting because it's been it's been so much
Speaker 1: to talk about UM. But yeah, I mean I know
Speaker 1: what you're getting at from a geopolitical macro sense, Michael
Speaker 1: like that that becomes anising question. Is no one really
Speaker 1: knows the Saudia's endgame because they haven't said it out loud.
Speaker 1: I've been I've been trying to get interviews with some
Speaker 1: some of the top guys who are involved in this
Speaker 1: live effort. Hopefully that will still happen. I would like
Speaker 1: to hear from them. But um, you know, the sports
Speaker 1: washing is it's It's interesting because there's been more scrutiny
Speaker 1: around Saudi Arabia and it's influence in the world than
Speaker 1: ever before in a sporting context because people are asking
Speaker 1: hard questions and they're looking at this stuff. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if the sports washing is working or not
Speaker 1: and maybe backfiring because there's been so much criticis is
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabian people are tuned in and and have been
Speaker 1: forced to think about it in a different way. But
Speaker 1: certainly the um, you know, the Saudi's have gotten to
Speaker 1: see the table professional golf was, which is what they
Speaker 1: really wanted, and so in that regard has been successful.
Speaker 1: So um, I don't know, a lot of people are benefiting,
Speaker 1: but how it's gonna play out in in the long
Speaker 1: long term is it's still unknown? What are your thoughts, Ryan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I agree with everything you said the the
Speaker 1: I think in the short term, the answer is everyone
Speaker 1: has won. We've won. Obviously, the media has tons to
Speaker 1: talk about this time of year. Would be very, very
Speaker 1: boring if it If it was not this fight. Players
Speaker 1: have won. Players that either left or stayed have one UM.
Speaker 1: But I I'm concerned in the long run that we
Speaker 1: are headed for to live tours UM and or the
Speaker 1: Saudis believe that they don't want to do this anymore
Speaker 1: and they're sick of spending money and they get out,
Speaker 1: and then there's a huge fight of where these players
Speaker 1: go and there might not be allowed back, or they
Speaker 1: are allowed back, or the PJ tour doesn't exist and
Speaker 1: somebody's keep going. I don't think this is sustainable as
Speaker 1: it as it stands. So I'm concerned about obviously, the
Speaker 1: guys I cover UM, I'm concerned for them because they are,
Speaker 1: whether people like it or not, they're getting squeezed out.
Speaker 1: And I'm afraid that this tour within a tour model
Speaker 1: just doesn't have a lot of legs. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: why these sponsors would want to spend millions of dollars
Speaker 1: for an event with no top players. They already have
Speaker 1: that that's called the corn Ferry tour um And I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's sustainable. The short term answer, everyone wins. Uh.
Speaker 1: The long term answer, maybe a lot of people don't win.
Speaker 1: So uh, I think right now everyone wins. I mean,
Speaker 1: Harry Varner just got thirty million dollars. Uh, Taylor Goods
Speaker 1: got fifty or whatever. Uh, everybody's getting paid. All the
Speaker 1: top players are getting paid. In fact, guys that I cover,
Speaker 1: if they got their card, they're getting five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: I mean, like just handed to him right now. And
Speaker 1: uh that's wild. Um. So I hope that all the
Speaker 1: money doesn't love touch with what a lot of us
Speaker 1: love about pro golf. So the short term, everyone wins.
Speaker 1: In the long term, I hope, I hope not just
Speaker 1: a small group of Well, Ryan, I think that last
Speaker 1: point for me is the key one. I think professional
Speaker 1: golf has taken a hit through this, and I think
Speaker 1: it showed a greedy underbelly professional golf. And and I
Speaker 1: know I probably have romanticized my attachment to professional golf
Speaker 1: for a lot of years now, but this has to mean,
Speaker 1: this whole thing has to mean professional golf to me.
Speaker 1: So I think I think professional golf is in a
Speaker 1: worst place because of all this disruption, rather than a
Speaker 1: better place. I would take a different view. I've yeah,
Speaker 1: I think very short term. I've also been appointed Michael
Speaker 1: with uh and Alan with like some of the top
Speaker 1: players kind of forgetting where they came from. Um I
Speaker 1: used I used Billy Horshall a lot. You know, Billy
Speaker 1: likes to say that, you know that the top players
Speaker 1: should get paid and all those kind of things. Uh,
Speaker 1: Billy Horshell went to que school four times. Okay, he
Speaker 1: couldn't literally sniff keeping his card, And now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden he's all for you know, seventy guys and
Speaker 1: limited field offense and all that kind of thing. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I had this. I had this discussion with John Maganeese
Speaker 1: on Twitter, and he said, you know, if you finished
Speaker 1: sixty on the on the Canadian Tour, you shouldn't make money,
Speaker 1: you should you should probably just quit. And and then
Speaker 1: I just sent a list of them of people that
Speaker 1: have finished you know, Joel Damon or Maxima or whatever.
Speaker 1: The long list of players that take time to develop. So,
Speaker 1: um yeah, it's been I agree with you, Michael, I
Speaker 1: think very short term it is, but uh, we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens. Well that that's that's really well said. Um
Speaker 1: So in addition to we have the live of in Chicago,
Speaker 1: were coming off of Wentworth. There's another big thing happening,
Speaker 1: which is the start of the new PGA Tour season
Speaker 1: in NAPA and today is the first Monday qualifier. And Ryan,
Speaker 1: as I understand it from talking to you offline, this
Speaker 1: this is a this is a mega Monday. Like why
Speaker 1: are these Mondays in this fall going to be so stacked? Yeah? Um,
Speaker 1: first of all the Monday's. Uh so if you lost
Speaker 1: your corn fish, so it's going to be deep in
Speaker 1: the Monday weeds. So I can just hear people that's
Speaker 1: why you're here, not nerds. Yeah they're not nerds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're like, oh this is this is the end of
Speaker 1: the podcast. Um. So the so if you're if you
Speaker 1: finished below seventy technically before below technically lost your corn
Speaker 1: ferry card, but uh you keep it to the end
Speaker 1: of the calendar year and to get into a Monday
Speaker 1: you must be a one ferry member. So everybody who's
Speaker 1: was on the corn Ferry Tour but lost their card
Speaker 1: is technically a still member. So they're trying to take
Speaker 1: their last shot at a glory by getting into a Monday,
Speaker 1: getting into a PGA event and you know, changing their life.
Speaker 1: So you have all those guys, you have every current
Speaker 1: corn Ferry member. They don't have anything to do, They
Speaker 1: don't play anything till January, so they might as well
Speaker 1: go take a shot at a Monday. Uh, and you
Speaker 1: know you have. I mean, so that makes up like
Speaker 1: great great Mondays right now. I mean it's basically a
Speaker 1: mini corn corn Ferry event uh every week. And then
Speaker 1: you have the mixture of normal vets. Uh. Aaron Badley,
Speaker 1: five time PGA Tour winner, is a Monday grinder nowadays. Uh,
Speaker 1: Grayson Murray, the all the everybody loves to hate. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's a long list of of of
Speaker 1: people that you know, you you would know, d J.
Speaker 1: Trey Han, uh, Ted Purdy, Allen, Steve Allen, Brian Davis,
Speaker 1: the regular veterans. So, um, these are always great Mondays.
Speaker 1: And then I will also say this is obviously the
Speaker 1: end of the uh the fall series. Now whatever next
Speaker 1: year is going to be But these events are vital
Speaker 1: to these fifty guys that just got their tour cards
Speaker 1: either back or earned it on the corn Ferry Tour.
Speaker 1: The they have to move up in the reshuffle or
Speaker 1: they don't want to move down if they're up, and
Speaker 1: so uh, it's kind of wild the two weeks after
Speaker 1: their season ended. They're gonna play some of the most
Speaker 1: important events of their season in the next couple of
Speaker 1: weeks because they're gonna get into all the events and
Speaker 1: they have to play well because the reshuffle comes uh
Speaker 1: in five or six weeks, and they need to get
Speaker 1: multiple starts. If they finished down, if they miss all
Speaker 1: these cuts, finished way down, they're not. They're gonna get
Speaker 1: ten starts the rest of the year, twelve starts the
Speaker 1: rest of the year. So um, these are these are
Speaker 1: This is a very important week. I love that there's
Speaker 1: a week off in between. He used to be just
Speaker 1: roll from the corn Ferry finals to this week a
Speaker 1: lot unfair to these guys, but um, yeah, this is
Speaker 1: an important weekend and great and the Mondays this fall
Speaker 1: are are all always great. Yeah. Well, and it's it's
Speaker 1: um a little bit of preview of of the two thousand,
Speaker 1: twenty three tour s cancel. Right, There's gonna be these
Speaker 1: mega events that all the stars are committed to, but
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot more of these other events,
Speaker 1: which are, um, in some ways the purest form of
Speaker 1: golf competition. It's it's saving two holes, it's stroke play,
Speaker 1: it's guys playing for their livelihoods. Um, there's an era,
Speaker 1: you know, an air of of desperation and um, and
Speaker 1: it is it's really the ultimate meritocracy. So while while
Speaker 1: these fields are not gonna have many big name players,
Speaker 1: they're still it's gonna be super compelling golf. So this
Speaker 1: will be the test, like, are you a hardcore golf
Speaker 1: fan or are you watching the fort neet Championship this week? Um,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get Rory, You're not gonna get j T.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna get any of the live guys obviously,
Speaker 1: and um, but there's there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of good accomplished players and um, you know,
Speaker 1: fighting hard. So this is this is the beginning of of,
Speaker 1: you know, the new reality on the PGA Tour where
Speaker 1: two thirds of the events are going to feel like
Speaker 1: the super Ryan in the weed question. But these Monday qualifiers,
Speaker 1: they're not the property to the PHA Tour or it
Speaker 1: tell me if that's correct. Are they typically run by
Speaker 1: uh sectional PGA of America's sections And if that is
Speaker 1: the case, can they run by yes? Can the sections
Speaker 1: prevent a lived player from Monday qualifying is as unluckily
Speaker 1: as that is. So so that is a great debate
Speaker 1: because the article, the letter sent to players uh JA
Speaker 1: said you can't get into a field based on your
Speaker 1: status or a sponsors exemption or any other way, So
Speaker 1: there is some I my the best guests from the
Speaker 1: people I talked too is that even if the section
Speaker 1: allowed them to play, they would just not be allowed
Speaker 1: to play in the PGA Tour event if they got through.
Speaker 1: So um, yes, yes they're run by the section, but
Speaker 1: there I mean, there's very little debate that they would
Speaker 1: ever get into the event even if they were allowed
Speaker 1: to play in them Monday. So um, that was the
Speaker 1: question I wanted to ask Phil at the at the
Speaker 1: press the original US Open Press conference, and Christine Brennan
Speaker 1: ruined my thunder and took read a paragraph and a
Speaker 1: half question And I didn't feel like after that asking
Speaker 1: about Monday qualifiers it was appropriate. Well, this is again
Speaker 1: in the education of Ryan French, like you have to
Speaker 1: overcome all of all press room challenges, including a Christine
Speaker 1: Brennan filibuster, So that's on you. You should have rose
Speaker 1: the occasion. I apologize um this this again since since
Speaker 1: we're in the wee it's with the czar of all Mondays.
Speaker 1: Why does the PGA Tour not take over the Monday qualifiers?
Speaker 1: And to me, it's kind of weird that they farm
Speaker 1: them out to the PGA of America, which is a
Speaker 1: totally different organization. You're not gonna believe this. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna believe this everybody. But it's because the PGA Tour
Speaker 1: makes a shipload of money on Mondays and there's no
Speaker 1: reason for them to do it. They let other people
Speaker 1: do it. They take most of the entry fee from it.
Speaker 1: They get very wealthy from it. Uh, And that's that's
Speaker 1: the fact of the matter. The PGA section has to
Speaker 1: give a large portion of the entry fee to the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour, then the rest to the golf course, very
Speaker 1: little to themselves. Uh. Most PJA sections that I've talked
Speaker 1: to that if they have to travel, if they have
Speaker 1: to have their staff travel um away from their base.
Speaker 1: They break even at best on Monday's. The person who
Speaker 1: gets wealthy that would be the PGA Tour. So that's
Speaker 1: the reason. It's Uh, it's quite quite shifty of the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour to be able to collect a large portion
Speaker 1: of an entry fee that for an event they don't run.
Speaker 1: I am shocked. I am absolute shocking. It's shocking news.
Speaker 1: But I mean again, like Monday, Tuesday Wednesday are the
Speaker 1: deadest days of the golf week. Like you would think
Speaker 1: that if the tour took these over, they could play
Speaker 1: them at t pc s and more legit courses and
Speaker 1: it could be like a whole thing. Like um, it
Speaker 1: just seems like a missed opportunity in their business model,
Speaker 1: Like these are their players and they're trying to get
Speaker 1: into their events. I don't really understand why they haven't
Speaker 1: invested more in the Mondays. Yeah, I mean, they've definitely changed.
Speaker 1: We don't want to get into that story. But a
Speaker 1: person made helped in the and his followers helped make
Speaker 1: Monday at a thing, and now they cover it. They
Speaker 1: cover it by themselves from social media perspective, So, um,
Speaker 1: I first see a time. I'm mean obviously the landscape
Speaker 1: of golf is changing greatly, so who knows what's coming
Speaker 1: up next with only seventy players exempt And does that
Speaker 1: mean Monday's are back to the rabbit days and all
Speaker 1: those kind of things. So it's an interesting thing, but
Speaker 1: um yeah, I don't I can see that happening at
Speaker 1: some point, Alan, I mean, you know I always have
Speaker 1: said is that the guys that I cover and and
Speaker 1: girls on the LPGA side are so much willing more
Speaker 1: willing to do other things that it wouldn't have to
Speaker 1: be a traditional broadcast or anything like that. But guys
Speaker 1: would wear Mike's and they don't give a ship. You know,
Speaker 1: you can make up their caddie and them they don't
Speaker 1: have anybody to answer to. Uh, you could interview them
Speaker 1: in the middle of the round. I've done all of
Speaker 1: these things, so you I mean, I think from a like,
Speaker 1: whether it's social media wise or you know, a ten
Speaker 1: minute clip about one Monday's do, I think you could
Speaker 1: do it a lot of interesting things broadcasting wise. Uh.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't be surprised to see them do more stuff.
Speaker 1: Go Ryan, what what is Ryan? What is Patrick Reid's
Speaker 1: standing among in the culture of Monday Qualifiers, and maybe
Speaker 1: you could sum up for our listeners why he's a
Speaker 1: legend in Monday, in the in the annals of Monday
Speaker 1: qualifying in the first place. I mean he is, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean he's the ultimate Monday qualifier. He turned it
Speaker 1: into who he is now. I mean he wasn't. He
Speaker 1: got a few sponsors exemptions, but his reputation was was
Speaker 1: not great back then and so U exemptions were hard
Speaker 1: to come by. He qualified six times I think in
Speaker 1: eight tries. Justine was on the bag for him. Uh
Speaker 1: and a lot of that time was I mean he
Speaker 1: played well after that, Michael too, So he would make
Speaker 1: the cut on Sunday, fly to the next course, you know,
Speaker 1: late Sunday night, get in early Monday morning, get up
Speaker 1: and shoot sixty six again, and do it again and again. Uh.
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's the ultimate successful Monday quality fire
Speaker 1: for sure. Um. You know t J Vocals, someone I
Speaker 1: talked about all the time, made eight in one year
Speaker 1: but didn't do much with it. Uh So, but yeah,
Speaker 1: he's the ultimate Monday qualifier for sure. Uh. Have people
Speaker 1: tagged me since this Matt More story came out and
Speaker 1: made me try to find who we played within those
Speaker 1: Monday qualifiers and whether everything was on the up and up. Yes,
Speaker 1: A lot of people have diag me in that and
Speaker 1: asked me that I was just gonna go there. I
Speaker 1: was just gonna go because no fans, no TV cameras,
Speaker 1: His fiancee is his caddy. Like this is the problem
Speaker 1: with when you when you have a series of rules
Speaker 1: violations like Patrick Reid has, makes you rethink everything. And
Speaker 1: Monday qualifiers are quite frankly, quite easy to cheat at
Speaker 1: Uh it's you and at most at most six people
Speaker 1: in a group meaning most of the time, not every
Speaker 1: but he has a caddy. There. There's two rules officials
Speaker 1: covering the entire front nine Uh, I mean the entire eighteen.
Speaker 1: There's no very often no volunteers. There's you know, between
Speaker 1: three and six people in a group. You hit it
Speaker 1: left and the other two guys hit it right, like
Speaker 1: pretty easy. I would like to point out that this
Speaker 1: is protected free speech and that we are no way
Speaker 1: suggesting that we have any evidence of any story that
Speaker 1: Patricks anything or any other time except for the one
Speaker 1: in Albany where we all saw it on TV. And no,
Speaker 1: it's I mean and the time and the books and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. But no, it's it's I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess you don't think about you said earlier in
Speaker 1: the pod Michael about professional golf has been diminished. And
Speaker 1: it is interesting. You know, Ryan's beat, unwittingly has become
Speaker 1: about uh, these shysters, we're stealing money running these mini
Speaker 1: tour events and they just disappear, and then cheating, cheating incidents,
Speaker 1: and then you've got all the players, you know, just
Speaker 1: slavishly chasing after the dollars, not all, some of some
Speaker 1: of have taken a somewhat principled stance, although they've been
Speaker 1: induced by PGA tour dollars to stay. But it is
Speaker 1: it is an interesting moment in the game where I
Speaker 1: guess some of that romanticism has been exploded. And um,
Speaker 1: maybe it's part of professional golf growth, right, like as
Speaker 1: if it's going to really reach this global audience and
Speaker 1: it's going to have these two different tours and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be on the business page and the front page.
Speaker 1: Um as time as time that we moved past our
Speaker 1: romanticism and see it for what it is, which is
Speaker 1: a game full of human beings who are inherently flawed
Speaker 1: and there's gonna be some messiness. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: know it makes you melancho, it does. I know I've
Speaker 1: said there's a million million times, but it is the
Speaker 1: underpinion of the whole thing. If we don't believe the scores,
Speaker 1: we don't have professional tournament golf in the first place.
Speaker 1: And I would put that's one A. But one B
Speaker 1: is if it's only about the money, then why should
Speaker 1: we care because we're not getting We're not getting anything
Speaker 1: out of it. In other words, if it's and the
Speaker 1: reason a lot of us are still attracted to the
Speaker 1: old equipment is because golf was harder when we had
Speaker 1: Alan and I had a conversation with a with another
Speaker 1: writer recently. I'm not gonna reveal his name for reasons
Speaker 1: Alan will understand. Who talked about one particular shot played
Speaker 1: by Tommy Bolt, was that do I have the name correct?
Speaker 1: Was a bolt that he was describing, and it was
Speaker 1: the lie and what he was gonna do with it
Speaker 1: and how he was going to fly it. And that
Speaker 1: is the attachment for us to professional golf. What they're
Speaker 1: going to do with the golf ball, what they're gonna
Speaker 1: do to beat the course, to beat the other guy,
Speaker 1: whatever it might be, the money comes as a result,
Speaker 1: and the starting point has to be the score is sacred,
Speaker 1: we believe it, and the money is a byproduct of
Speaker 1: the excellence. Those are the one and two factors that
Speaker 1: make us drawn to professional golf. The reason Ryan's beat
Speaker 1: is so great, it's because they still have that Himie
Speaker 1: our friend Himie Diaz used to say this all the
Speaker 1: time that if you wanted that spirit of the PG tour,
Speaker 1: it says to me, Michael that you grew up on
Speaker 1: in the seventies, Now you're going to find it on
Speaker 1: corn Ferry. And that's what Ryan is kind of in
Speaker 1: his own way discovering now. So yes, I think you're
Speaker 1: right about a sort of melancholy tone for me, because
Speaker 1: I do think there's something under attack. You're fundamental about
Speaker 1: the greatness of the game, and we've already seen it.
Speaker 1: Not already, that's be unfair. I fear we're going to
Speaker 1: see it filter down to a great institution like the Masters.
Speaker 1: Say what you want about Augusta National, and we can
Speaker 1: all say a lot about it, but they do put
Speaker 1: on a great springtime tournament. It does welcome us to
Speaker 1: the new golf season and We do have special attachment
Speaker 1: to the guys who have won it. We know what
Speaker 1: they did to win it because we watched it and
Speaker 1: it's hard and it's interesting. And then they gather as
Speaker 1: comrades or colleagues on that Tuesday night for that dinner,
Speaker 1: and now that dinner is different. So there is a
Speaker 1: lot going on here and I don't view it as
Speaker 1: a positive at all. Where's Gary player gonna sit. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say he's gonna he's gonna be seated with the
Speaker 1: live guy. They might as well put up a fence
Speaker 1: and put him right on it because he's been teetering
Speaker 1: back and forth. Don't fall down, Gary whole. That was heavy, Michael.
Speaker 1: Michael got heavy on us right there. It's it's a
Speaker 1: gift from the content gods, because this is just a
Speaker 1: boring Monday in September. The Masters many months away. It's
Speaker 1: not a Wryder Cup year. What would we really be
Speaker 1: talking about. But this has been quite a lively podcast.
Speaker 1: You know. There used to be a Saturday a live
Speaker 1: bit where they'd have like the two Fuddy Duddy Ladies
Speaker 1: on some PBS type show in New England and they
Speaker 1: had a listenership about three and it was so bad
Speaker 1: and so obscure that Saturday Live could turn it into
Speaker 1: a bit. I'm afraid they might turn our whole thing
Speaker 1: into a bit. Like these guys think they're I think
Speaker 1: they're talking to an audience. There is there is no audience.
Speaker 1: There's just each other. I was I was telling Michael Bamberger,
Speaker 1: and this is really this is how our podcast go.
Speaker 1: They get off the they get off the rails. Uh,
Speaker 1: Michael Bamberger. I asked him as we were playing together
Speaker 1: on last Monday, I said, how many presidents have you met?
Speaker 1: And he countered him up and he's said five or
Speaker 1: whatever he said. And then I mean, a rolodex is
Speaker 1: a who's who of who's who? And uh. And I said, man,
Speaker 1: you are now playing golf at Alpina Golf Club with
Speaker 1: Monday q info. I'm not sure this is a testament
Speaker 1: to where your career has gone. And it's just like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, you've interviewed Jerry Ford. You've uh. I mean, man,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, Michael. I I don't even know what
Speaker 1: to say. I'm I I feel so inadequate around your presence,
Speaker 1: by the way, the twelve hours and this is honest,
Speaker 1: this is the truth the greatest. I tried my best.
Speaker 1: I don't shut up often. I tried my best to
Speaker 1: shut up and just listen. And the guy has to
Speaker 1: hp me a lot. Both of these people on this
Speaker 1: on this podcast, that taught me a lot. That's very nice.
Speaker 1: The only the only thing I'm gonna say in response
Speaker 1: to that is I did have multiple telephone numbers for
Speaker 1: Sam Sneed. That's a podcast in itself that Sam Steed
Speaker 1: had multiple phone numbers. Yeah, he had the Burner his
Speaker 1: time on the Burner phone. Yeah, he had a second
Speaker 1: phone ahead of everybody else. I think that's true. He
Speaker 1: had yet he had a summer residence and a winter
Speaker 1: residents likely story. All right, well a signal. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it is. Second Oh god, no, no, oh no,
Speaker 1: oh my god, please be somewhat amazing, Please be somewhat amazing.
Speaker 1: It's Sam Sneed. I've got I'm having lunch with my dad,
Speaker 1: all right. Despite what you said earlier, Despite what you
Speaker 1: said earlier, people do listen to these podcasts, and I
Speaker 1: think it's time to release them. So this have been
Speaker 1: another fire drill. God, I would I would like to
Speaker 1: just say, hid Mr ship Breck. They years ago, twenty
Speaker 1: years ago, there was a US open an Olympic and
Speaker 1: the guy came around and he was spit and he
Speaker 1: looked like he had been rock climbing or surfing that day.
Speaker 1: And I said, your ship, who's your buddy? And Alan said,
Speaker 1: it's my dad anyway, your dad A two still going strong.
Speaker 1: All right, this was good fun. We'll see what Jake
Speaker 1: leaves in the edit or not, because it was the
Speaker 1: few diversions, but that's what that's what we do. Uh.
Speaker 1: We will keep these fire drills coming. And U for
Speaker 1: Ryan French and Michael Bamberger. This is Alan Schipnuk signing off.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, Thank you part points and we'll do
Speaker 1: it again soon. Big and doing made a fortune. I
Speaker 1: ran the table and thought them a wintertime hit me
Speaker 1: like a cannon the ball and now I can't shake
Speaker 1: this losing the street. Every road I take is a
Speaker 1: dead end stream. I got thoughts in my head, can't
Speaker 1: get him out, trying not to think what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: I got thoughts in my head, I can't get him out,
Speaker 1: and trying not to think what I'm thinking about