Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: A true peak experience that at the moment of life
Speaker 2: when you want everything to come together, everything came together
Speaker 2: for this guy.
Speaker 3: I got thoughts in my head, I can't get him
Speaker 3: join and not the thing well I'm thinking about, can't
Speaker 3: get him out join, not the thing well I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome back to another Fire Drill podcast. You
Speaker 1: right again, Michael Bamberger, Alan Chipnuk here and it was.
Speaker 1: It was quite a week at oak Hill at the
Speaker 1: PGA Championship. Brooks Koepka he rides again as well. Fifth
Speaker 1: major championship. One hell of a performance. Michael, talk to me,
Speaker 1: what did you think about this week? What stands out
Speaker 1: from the one hundred and fifth PGA Championship.
Speaker 2: I mean, I loved it. We've been here before for
Speaker 2: different things. It's really you know, people get confused between
Speaker 2: Oakmand and Oakland Hills and oak Hill. There's actually three
Speaker 2: very different courses and three very different cities. I would
Speaker 2: actually say this is my favorite of the three. Actually
Speaker 2: maybe by a lot.
Speaker 1: That's a big statement.
Speaker 2: How about for a course that you would want to
Speaker 2: play from the appropriate tea Definitely Rochester, great town, wonderful people,
Speaker 2: and it was you know they of course they did
Speaker 2: get a little lucky with the weather, unlucky with Saturday.
Speaker 2: That can always happen. It was fantastic that they were
Speaker 2: able to get it in and just an absolutely compelling
Speaker 2: week of pure golf. Really, don't you think, Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pure is a good word. This golf course is pure.
Speaker 1: It was an old school test. I mean the thick rough,
Speaker 1: the the extreme greens. I thought it was great. And
Speaker 1: actually you think the weather on Saturday was unlucky, I
Speaker 1: thought it was fantastic. Like my dream week at a
Speaker 1: major is three sunny, nice days and one day of hell.
Speaker 1: That just pushes the players to the breaking point. You
Speaker 1: had guys out there flinging drivers, flipping off the cup.
Speaker 1: Jordan Speith of all people like Eddie Haskell dropped an
Speaker 1: f bomb. You know, that's what you want in your
Speaker 1: major championships, is you want to put extreme stress on
Speaker 1: the players, and that that certainly happened with the foul
Speaker 1: weather on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Thirty mile an hour wind is more fun than half
Speaker 2: an inch of rain or an inch of rain.
Speaker 1: It was, Yeah it did, and yeah, I mean the
Speaker 1: reborn o kill. You know, they took it back to
Speaker 1: the future. I thought it looked so cool that the
Speaker 1: square greens were really neat because they could put the
Speaker 1: pins in the corners. They were ultra tucked and some
Speaker 1: fun little fingers like the eighth hole today. And I
Speaker 1: love the sort of the berms, the raised up berms
Speaker 1: behind the greens that just framed them so beautifully when
Speaker 1: you're looking down the fairway or even on TV and
Speaker 1: it was I mean, you look at Brooks, Koepka, He's
Speaker 1: now conquered Oak Hill, Beth Page, Shinnacock. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: really macho. Those are three of the hardest courses in
Speaker 1: championship golf. You just what a resume, and of course
Speaker 1: five majors now he's These are the geniuses who have
Speaker 1: won five major championships Seth A Reno, by Astero's Lord,
Speaker 1: Byron Nelson and Peter Thompson, I mean all timers. I
Speaker 1: mean those are generational talents. Those are icons. And Brooks
Speaker 1: is right there and is not done. I mean he's motivated,
Speaker 1: he's healthy, he's fired up, and it's just so impressive
Speaker 1: to watch him because he keeps it very simple. You know,
Speaker 1: It's like every putt has the perfect speed, every every
Speaker 1: approach shot is pinned high, it's a bad drive. He
Speaker 1: just gets back in play like he really, he's he's
Speaker 1: he's reduced the game, the championship level, to the most
Speaker 1: basic parts. I mean, it's impressive. It's it's it's a
Speaker 1: reputable formula.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, his swing now looks exactly like it
Speaker 2: did when when he was at his prime. It doesn't
Speaker 2: look any different. Ale, it's a big strong man's golf
Speaker 2: swing like they all are today. You know. He takes
Speaker 2: it back and then he lets it go and he
Speaker 2: kind of holds on and it's nothing but fade shots.
Speaker 2: It's high and it's in play, and if it fades
Speaker 2: too much, you know, or if he pushes it, it's
Speaker 2: in the right rough. But otherwise it's in the in
Speaker 2: the faraway and in play. So he does make it
Speaker 2: very simple. It's sort of low, low stress golf the
Speaker 2: way the way he goes about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he does. He does play a cut off the
Speaker 1: tee almost exclusively. But I think it was interesting because
Speaker 1: I was right behind the fourteenth tee. That's that incredible
Speaker 1: drivel Part four that just looks so you stand in
Speaker 1: the t box and it's such a panorama, and I
Speaker 1: love that tabletop green and I think it's just one
Speaker 1: of my favorite holes Championship golf all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: but he played a big high draw. He needed a
Speaker 1: extra carry and he just let that club go and
Speaker 1: uh to having you know, hit nothing but fades and
Speaker 1: then you come to a doer die hole and it
Speaker 1: leads down to one and to pull that shot off
Speaker 1: and put it up there on the green. I mean
Speaker 1: that that was macho. That that is real lot.
Speaker 2: Then where where did that shot pitch?
Speaker 1: I mean landed right at the center of the green.
Speaker 1: It just trickled about one step off, but nice flat, easy,
Speaker 1: easy tuput and I mean it was yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was one of those things it's hard to tell
Speaker 1: on TV sometimes of ball fight. It's one of the
Speaker 1: great things about being inside the ropes. And I was
Speaker 1: sitting right on the t box and just majestic and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, credit to Victor Hovlind. I mean he uh
Speaker 1: he played lights out for fifteen holes, like he didn't
Speaker 1: give in at all, and he even you know, Brooks
Speaker 1: came out. I tweeted it was like it reminded me
Speaker 1: of Secretary to the Belmont. You know, he is performing
Speaker 1: like an incredible machine like Birdie Birdie. Birdie opened up
Speaker 1: a three shot lead and looked like he might shoot
Speaker 1: fifty five and win this thing by one hundred and
Speaker 1: but Hoblin he never backed down and he just kept
Speaker 1: coming and he you know, he had he had got
Speaker 1: within one stroke and then had some bad luck in
Speaker 1: the fairway bunker. But even that was was cool. You know,
Speaker 1: Hobblin's making a mess in the sixteenth hole and kept
Speaker 1: had to wait out there for a long time in
Speaker 1: the faraway and then when it was his turn to hit,
Speaker 1: he's knocked the flag stick over and that was like
Speaker 1: it was a real exclamation point on the wind that
Speaker 1: gave him a four stroke lead. And it was a
Speaker 1: neat moment. I mean, it was sort of the signature
Speaker 1: shot and it just speaks to his kind of ruthlessness,
Speaker 1: like you you know, and Hoblin said, he's tough because
Speaker 1: he doesn't give you anything. He just doesn't give you anything.
Speaker 1: And it was a very it was a very relentless
Speaker 1: performance by Kepka.
Speaker 2: And it was made all the more impressive because of
Speaker 2: course he could have won at Augusta this year and
Speaker 2: he didn't have this Sunday that he wanted, wants you
Speaker 2: to have and really, had he gone the first two
Speaker 2: Sundays of the year, you know, not, it would have
Speaker 2: been Greg Norman like to be the you know, right
Speaker 2: there through fifty four whole and then sort of cough
Speaker 2: it up on Sunday. And you don't want your name
Speaker 2: associated with Greg Norman's name in that. In that sense,
Speaker 2: I think your insight about the t shot on fourteen
Speaker 2: is great. I feel like I've never seen him hit
Speaker 2: a draw shout of my life, so I'm really interested
Speaker 2: to hear this. And of course it brings to mind
Speaker 2: Nicholas in his prime, because you know, everyone you stuck
Speaker 2: by Nicholas's prime at Nicholas's distance in his prime, and
Speaker 2: it was he was way longer probably than you know,
Speaker 2: most everybody else. You know, a couple of weird odd exceptions.
Speaker 2: But what people don't know is Nicholas fade fade, fade,
Speaker 2: fade fade, and then when he had to turn it over,
Speaker 2: you know, thirteen and at August National in his day,
Speaker 2: for sure he did. And I actually did not know
Speaker 2: that Kopka could do that under that kind of pressure.
Speaker 2: But what you're describing is that you're and swing ten yards.
Speaker 2: In other words, the draw shot has a chance of
Speaker 2: carrying and the fade shot doesn't. And it's ballsy because
Speaker 2: if you hit into that bank, you don't know what's
Speaker 2: going to happen. Uh, you know, it could be a bogey.
Speaker 2: So it's impressive what.
Speaker 1: You're saying. Well, And and then another crucial moment was
Speaker 1: the hole before that, you know, really long par five.
Speaker 1: Nobody could reach it today Hovelin did with the birdie
Speaker 1: Kepkaz hit a couple less than precise shots. He's got
Speaker 1: this terrifying six or seven foot straight down the hill
Speaker 1: to save par to only lose one stroke. If he
Speaker 1: misses that putt, they're tied. This was to stay out
Speaker 1: in front and a putt like that, man, it has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with the technical proficiency, is just you
Speaker 1: just have to will it into the hole. It's just
Speaker 1: it's an x ray of the soul. And I mean,
Speaker 1: he just he just gutted that putt and and he
Speaker 1: kind of he swaggered of in this really neat empathy
Speaker 1: to there at thirteen. I mean, it was a super
Speaker 1: cool setting and the place went crazy when he made it.
Speaker 1: And the way you know, we Brooks the physicality, just
Speaker 1: the way he carries himself, the way he moves. You know,
Speaker 1: he has a presence which is really rare. And there
Speaker 1: was a little extra swager coming off with that green
Speaker 1: and it was like, okay, this is getting real. And
Speaker 1: then he went to the t and he hit that rope,
Speaker 1: and if you're hobbling, you're like, man, what do I
Speaker 1: have to do? Like I thought I had him, but
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: He doesn't. He doesn't, you know, over seventy two holes,
Speaker 2: it's not enough. Fifty four holes. Yeah, albind can play
Speaker 2: with there. Habn's terrific and he's a great kid, and
Speaker 2: he's got a great attitude. But just for pure talent,
Speaker 2: you can just see it. If you watch it, you
Speaker 2: can see it.
Speaker 1: He's at it.
Speaker 2: He is at another level. I don't think we should
Speaker 2: go crazy just to one quick thought here. You know,
Speaker 2: you say pure will, I would say, it's right out
Speaker 2: of the Tiger school. It's actual technical perfection. But once
Speaker 2: the technical perfection is all organized your mind what you're
Speaker 2: actually going to do, then that just that hyper drive,
Speaker 2: like Jimie was talking about with us earlier today, the
Speaker 2: hyper drive of the elite athlete of like I deserve this.
Speaker 2: That does I think that does kick in and we've
Speaker 2: seen it, and that's one of the glories of golf.
Speaker 2: I've seen with seven, we've seen it, Tiger definitely, so
Speaker 2: with Nicholas Arnold and his day, this guy and that
Speaker 2: he kind of can't imagine Victor Hoblin, who's a really
Speaker 2: nice player and we'll have his chances and might win
Speaker 2: a major maybe someday, but you can't see that part
Speaker 2: in his game now. Justin Leonard weirdly had it, but
Speaker 2: he didn't have it for the rest of the game.
Speaker 2: You know, very few get everything, but the guys we're
Speaker 2: talking about, John Rom, Rory and Brooks Skopka. I would say, really,
Speaker 2: John Rom, you know, I mean for sure really do
Speaker 2: have it. Seems pretty much everything plus drive, I mean
Speaker 2: drive is that's really really it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, it's funny you mentioned Rory because
Speaker 1: he was he was obviously a big focus of this week.
Speaker 1: It's his in laws live in Rochester and he's a
Speaker 1: member at Oak Hill and it's just the perennial, you know,
Speaker 1: psychodrama of being a Rory maclroy fan. He just can't
Speaker 1: like he was there, but he wasn't quite there. I
Speaker 1: mean just a classic tie for seventh, kind of back
Speaker 1: door performance by Rory. And you know him and Brooks
Speaker 1: were tied with four majors for the last few years.
Speaker 1: And imagine when when Rory won at Valhalla, you know,
Speaker 1: he had four majors and Brooks had zero, and you
Speaker 1: could have gotten pretty long odds about who is going
Speaker 1: to get to five first, and Brooks did it. And
Speaker 1: it's like, if you it's it's it's not set in stone,
Speaker 1: it's not definitive. But when you talk about the best
Speaker 1: player of sort of the post Tiger era, I mean
Speaker 1: it's Rory, it's Brooks, it's Speed, and it's maybe Dustin
Speaker 1: or the four guys in the conversation. Rom could play
Speaker 1: his way in maybe Scheffler, But right now, when you
Speaker 1: look at the resumes and you got to give it
Speaker 1: to Brooks, I mean that the five majors is monumental.
Speaker 1: It's really it really separates him. And so he's, you know,
Speaker 1: you get to six, you're talking Trevino and Faldo. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's scaling, he's heading towards the Mount Rushmore of
Speaker 1: modern golfers here. If he can, he's basically of his
Speaker 1: last twenty two major championship. He's won five of them,
Speaker 1: you know, basically that's basically one a year, and so
Speaker 1: if he can.
Speaker 2: And two he sort of semi gave in, two semi
Speaker 2: gave away.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, he's I mean, no one wins them
Speaker 1: all except for Tiger. But you know, Brooks is now
Speaker 1: four for five converting fifty four hole leads at the majors.
Speaker 1: You know, he's he's a closer, and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: fun to see where he goes from here because he's
Speaker 1: clearly motivated and fired up. And you know, swing coach
Speaker 1: Claude Harmon said to me, you know, this is Koepka
Speaker 1: two point zero, and it's like he had all his injuries,
Speaker 1: he's kind of re found himself. He's he's made the
Speaker 1: jump to live. His wife's pregnant, he's married, Like he's
Speaker 1: really in a different place as a golfer, as a
Speaker 1: human and completely settled and healthy and hungry. So this
Speaker 1: is a big this is a big one.
Speaker 2: Let's go back to something here because I haven't heard
Speaker 2: you on this. We haven't had a chance to really
Speaker 2: talk since since it all wrapped up. What's your emotional
Speaker 2: response as someone who loves golf and writes about golf
Speaker 2: and is writing a book about live you you've you've
Speaker 2: write about this guy a long time. You know, you're
Speaker 2: probably when he was before what his first major? Maybe
Speaker 2: you know you went deep with this guy. What is
Speaker 2: your emotional response to him winning? And I and I
Speaker 2: could add the part that you know that I'm thinking of,
Speaker 2: which is his handling of that situation at Augusta National
Speaker 2: on the on the fifteenth pole when the caddy clearly, clearly,
Speaker 2: clearly said that to Carrie Woodland's caddy that his managers hit.
Speaker 1: Five or yeah, that was a missed opportunity for Brooks
Speaker 1: to do something really special. He could have elevated himself
Speaker 1: into the Bobby Jones category of sportsmanship if he had
Speaker 1: called that penalty on himself. And I think you know,
Speaker 1: for him, he's he obviously refers back to team sports
Speaker 1: as his frame of reference. And I think he took
Speaker 1: that like, hey, man, you know, no one in Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball or then be, no one calls a penalty
Speaker 1: on themselves. They don't, they don't tip off the ref
Speaker 1: they stepped out of bounds. And I think he felt
Speaker 1: like his little ticky tack he wasn't totally involved, whether
Speaker 1: he believe the glove hand or not. And but it
Speaker 1: was a missed opportunity. I mean, Bobby Jones, you know,
Speaker 1: called penalties on himself and back to back us opens
Speaker 1: in the twenties and we're the nineteen twenties, we're still
Speaker 1: talking about it, you know, his I think it would
Speaker 1: have been amazing if Brooks had done it. But setting that aside,
Speaker 1: and we'll come I want to hear your thoughts on that.
Speaker 1: We'll come back to that for you. But I think
Speaker 1: I think this was this was a really impactful victory.
Speaker 1: The larger landscape, you know, is this this ongoing battle
Speaker 1: between the tour and Live Golf. This is meaningful. I
Speaker 1: mean that Live Golf now has has two of the
Speaker 1: reigning major championship winners with Brooks and and Cam Smith.
Speaker 1: It looks like Brooks is gonna is gonna be the
Speaker 1: alpha of the sport here for a while, and so
Speaker 1: it definitely recalibrates things. And he could also be the
Speaker 1: bridge because he's gonna play his way onto the Ryder
Speaker 1: Cup team just through points. They're not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to keep him off of it, and uh, that opens
Speaker 1: the door to maybe pick Dustin as you know who
Speaker 1: he could play his way on through points as well,
Speaker 1: but he's not. He has been doing it in the
Speaker 1: majors and that that would that would sort of tear
Speaker 1: down the wall a little bit. And you know, Brooks
Speaker 1: has not talked any trash in this, in this battle
Speaker 1: between the tours. He's kept a low profile and he
Speaker 1: was not a party to the lawsuits. You know, he
Speaker 1: has not stirred it up. He's not been like a
Speaker 1: Poulter or a Westwood or a Garcia. He just kind
Speaker 1: of kept his head down. He made a decision for
Speaker 1: him that he thought was best, but he hasn't been
Speaker 1: trying to stick it to the man. And so I
Speaker 1: think his credibility as as a human, but especially as
Speaker 1: a player, you know, he could he could he could
Speaker 1: be a bridge to help, you know, get in trying
Speaker 1: to reunify the sport in some way. And so I
Speaker 1: think it's a huge victory for him his place in
Speaker 1: the pantheon, but also for the what's happening in this
Speaker 1: in the sport. I was rooting for him because it's
Speaker 1: obviously good for the book, but I also just think
Speaker 1: Brooks is he's this cool I mean, there's just something
Speaker 1: about him. He has a mystique, and I think there's
Speaker 1: a there's there's something magnetic about him that that attracts
Speaker 1: casual fans. Uh. And you know, he's his wife has
Speaker 1: a very high profile on social media. She kind of
Speaker 1: adds a little star dust to their whole their whole life.
Speaker 1: And he's alviously, he's a good looking guy. He's got
Speaker 1: the Nike deal. You know, they'll they'll they'll get a
Speaker 1: lot of mileage out of this. So I think I
Speaker 1: think it's really impactful. So let's talk about your thoughts, because.
Speaker 2: Just before, let me ask this because everyone thinks they know,
Speaker 2: but you might know more than others. To what degree
Speaker 2: did he join live so that his brother could could
Speaker 2: make a living playing professional golf? And for those who
Speaker 2: don't know Chase Keepka, it is what is Chase Keopka's
Speaker 2: live status right now? Alan?
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, Yeah, I mean he's they're
Speaker 1: on he he's they're on the same team. He has
Speaker 1: to finish. If you anyone who finished in the top
Speaker 1: twenty four of their money list this year is guaranteed
Speaker 1: a spot next year. But Brooks, being the captain of
Speaker 1: the team can more or less pick anybody they want,
Speaker 1: anybody he wants, and Chase is a really sweet kid.
Speaker 1: Everyone loves him. Like I would say that Chase is
Speaker 1: going to be on Live as long as his brother
Speaker 1: is on Live. And so that's for for a young
Speaker 1: playerho's never been able to find his footing on any
Speaker 1: major tour, it's a huge deal. And you know Brooks
Speaker 1: loves his brother, and that that was I equate it to.
Speaker 1: You see this in college basketball where there's an incredible
Speaker 1: prospect and a score hires the kid's dad as an
Speaker 1: assistant coach so they can get That's kind of what
Speaker 1: Lived did with with Chase. They signed up Chase first.
Speaker 1: That was an inducement to make sure Brooks came over.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's something sweet about it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that was definitely a factor in Brooks's decision.
Speaker 1: Like he's kind of like, I'm gonna be fine either way,
Speaker 1: but I can set my brother up for life as
Speaker 1: a golfer. And you know, they they won one in
Speaker 1: uh in Jedda last year. They won as a team,
Speaker 1: and Brooks had promised Chase, you would buy him a
Speaker 1: new car if they if they won, the team element
Speaker 1: happens to be a lime green Lamborghini because that's how
Speaker 1: they roll in the Koepka family, and I live golf.
Speaker 1: But you know that that was a big deal for them,
Speaker 1: like he was. I think Brooks was more excited about
Speaker 1: the team victory than his own individual one because they
Speaker 1: had this whole little thing with his brother. So it's
Speaker 1: kind of a.
Speaker 2: Cute story that Chase Koepka looks like a Honda Civic
Speaker 2: driver exactly.
Speaker 1: I know it's so great, But Michael, you've written about this,
Speaker 1: you've talked about it, But why why is it so
Speaker 1: fundamental to you what happened in the in the fifteenth
Speaker 1: fairway to Gusta National.
Speaker 2: Well, it's just so basic. If you don't play golf
Speaker 2: by the rules, the whole thing follows apart. It's been
Speaker 2: said a million times and it is a rule of golf.
Speaker 2: People who I don't want to be critical, people who
Speaker 2: think about the game differently than I am, not saying
Speaker 2: I quote think about the game the right way. But
Speaker 2: there's there's a reason why you're not allowed to share
Speaker 2: what the robo claus advice, which is actually information about
Speaker 2: the club that you just hit. There's a reason why
Speaker 2: there's lots of reasons why. They all make sense if
Speaker 2: you start to think about them. But if you're giving
Speaker 2: information in your group and another group's not, it's not
Speaker 2: a team sport, it's an individual sport. So if you're
Speaker 2: if information is being exchanged in your group, then it's
Speaker 2: not being changed in another group. It puts you at
Speaker 2: an unfair It puts you at a the other group
Speaker 2: has an unfair disadvantage. The idea of the rules of
Speaker 2: officer to create a level playing field. It was so
Speaker 2: obvious to everybody that the caddy said to the other
Speaker 2: caddy that Kepkaz caddy said to Woodland's caddy that he
Speaker 2: hit a fiburn the rule books. So some might say, oh,
Speaker 2: but that's just the caddy, it wasn't the player, But
Speaker 2: that's not what the rule book says. So if you're
Speaker 2: not going to simply go by what the rule book says,
Speaker 2: you're kind of really just sort of kissing off something
Speaker 2: that's actually at the very core of the game. And
Speaker 2: it would have been just so great for him to say, yeah,
Speaker 2: I didn't know what the caddy was doing. He's a
Speaker 2: great caddy, but he crossed the line. There other guys
Speaker 2: do it, but the fact is nobody should do it.
Speaker 2: That's really what should have been said, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: I don't like to use the word should. But of
Speaker 2: course that's not what happened. What very likely happen, and
Speaker 2: I'm not saying I know what happened because I don't,
Speaker 2: is that they went in, they watched the tape and
Speaker 2: they said, yeah, what you think you saw isn't actually
Speaker 2: what happened. But we know what happened because we saw it.
Speaker 2: So I think he really hurt the game. I know
Speaker 2: it a ghosta national there was no one who It's
Speaker 2: hard to imagine someone was rooting for brooks Kopka to
Speaker 2: win that Masters, So by extension, it was hard for me,
Speaker 2: even though I think he's an impressive golfer. Of course
Speaker 2: physically I find him to be an impressive person. I
Speaker 2: like watching him on the range. I like the way
Speaker 2: he carries himself. I like his no bullshit quality. But
Speaker 2: real no bullshit quality is to stand up and say, yeah,
Speaker 2: something went wrong there, to give me the two shots
Speaker 2: I deserve him. That would have been just appropriate, not
Speaker 2: even like great, just appropriate really, So when he didn't
Speaker 2: do that, it just makes me think very differently about him.
Speaker 2: And actually I can feel even in me this whole
Speaker 2: notion of everybody loves the winner, because like the area
Speaker 2: was interviewing, you know, the way I was in a
Speaker 2: group interviewing the Ricky that his caddy afterwards and kept
Speaker 2: as impressive in victory. People love a winner. But the
Speaker 2: fact is he kind of hurt golf actually in a
Speaker 2: significant in a significant way, because it's another it's another
Speaker 2: pin in the value system of what makes golf golf
Speaker 2: in the first place.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, probably the best thing that ever happened
Speaker 1: to Brooks Cupic was not winning that Masters, because when
Speaker 1: Rom took the green jacket, that kind of faded away
Speaker 1: and it became a one day story and something that
Speaker 1: followed him for the rest of his life. But it's
Speaker 1: and it's interesting that Augusta. I almost feel like they
Speaker 1: could have imposed the penalty. They have the power to
Speaker 1: do that, but it was almost like, we're gonna leave
Speaker 1: this up to you. Do you want to be Bobby
Speaker 1: Jones or not that it was almost like they just
Speaker 1: it was a test. But I love that you're so
Speaker 1: passionate about this because everyone else has already moved on.
Speaker 1: But It's part of what makes me who you are,
Speaker 1: Michael is you care so deeply and these things stick
Speaker 1: with you. So I think it's valid. It's worth discussing it.
Speaker 1: It did reveal a certain value system for the people involved.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's like, it's not like Brooks, It's
Speaker 1: not an issue of cheating. It was more it was
Speaker 1: more of an issue of personal responsibility, right, Like, this
Speaker 1: was a moment to do something really special and the
Speaker 1: moment passed.
Speaker 2: Cheating sort of implies a willful attempt to gain an advantage.
Speaker 2: But in the end of the day, he did get
Speaker 2: the advantage because he didn't get the two shots, and
Speaker 2: of course he desperately needed those two shots. Believe me,
Speaker 2: if I if the penalty had been well, this is
Speaker 2: your warning, but next time you're going to get the
Speaker 2: two shots. He said, Okay, accept the warning.
Speaker 1: You're right.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, I don't think people honestly care
Speaker 2: what I think. I mean, not personally what I think.
Speaker 2: But I think this whole thing about oh, you're so
Speaker 2: into the rules. Anybody who was like, oh you're so
Speaker 2: into the rules, they just see golf differently. They and
Speaker 2: so it's kind of hard, you know, it's kind of
Speaker 2: like where the political divide is now in this country.
Speaker 2: It's like it's so hard to talk to somebody who
Speaker 2: has differing different politics than you do. Everyone's so hardened
Speaker 2: in their positions. But to me, this is what golf is.
Speaker 2: It is what makes golf special. And what you said, Alan,
Speaker 2: I believe is correct. Like Augusta does have a tradition
Speaker 2: of saying, let's see if you'll just do the right
Speaker 2: thing on your own, we don't want to force you
Speaker 2: into it. They do have Aerian tradition doing that.
Speaker 1: Well. The interesting thing is so often the player doesn't
Speaker 1: do the right thing. I mean, tigers drop in twenty
Speaker 1: thirty and he could have decued himself, but he just
Speaker 1: they kind of gave him an out, you know, Ernie
Speaker 1: with the stacked wood one hundred yards into the forest
Speaker 1: like you took that free drop and a heart beat.
Speaker 1: It's the players, you know that they're always pressing advantage,
Speaker 1: the pressure of the masters, the desire to win. It
Speaker 1: is run so deep, it's it is revealing in those moments.
Speaker 1: But let's let's talk about what was undoubtedly a feel
Speaker 1: good story this week, which is Michael Block, who You're
Speaker 1: You're typing about for firepay Collective dot com this evening.
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy didn't make a birdie today, and
Speaker 1: somehow we stole the show, Like, what was your read
Speaker 1: on on this character?
Speaker 2: He didn't make a birdie, but he made an eagle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he made an I know it was pretty you
Speaker 1: could you hear it?
Speaker 2: Alan?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah? Yeah yeah. Where where were you were you on? No,
Speaker 1: it was he was more groups ahead. We were, I
Speaker 1: think on twelve, so we were pretty geographically a little
Speaker 1: far away, but it was like it was a It
Speaker 1: was definitely it was. It was not a bird you roar.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even really an It wasn't even even like
Speaker 1: a lot. It was something unique and if any other
Speaker 1: player in the field had made that, he said, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been as loud. But there was something cathartic
Speaker 1: about Block doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean you were a thousand yards away and
Speaker 2: you could hear oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: People are looking each other raising their eyebrows like wow,
Speaker 1: something just happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was loud. I talked to a guy who
Speaker 2: was on the tea spectator, guy who's been to Augusta
Speaker 2: a lot, who's heard ones at twelve and sixteen at Augusta,
Speaker 2: and he said that this was as loud as anything
Speaker 2: he's ever heard at Augusta. But anyway, on the chance
Speaker 2: that anybody who is listening hasn't heard Michael Block, a
Speaker 2: true club pro and a public course in southern California
Speaker 2: was between he's been playing his bottom of first off.
Speaker 2: You know, for those who don't know, I think most
Speaker 2: do Twenty club pros get to play in the PGA Championship.
Speaker 2: It's put on by the association, the Professional Golfers Association America.
Speaker 2: It used to be forty before that, it was way
Speaker 2: more than that. Now it sounded twenty club pros what
Speaker 2: the US what what amateur golf is to the masters,
Speaker 2: and what sectional guys who play their way in in
Speaker 2: the US is to the US Open. The club pro
Speaker 2: is to the PJA Championship, fundamental part of the game.
Speaker 2: But there were many years when no clip pro he
Speaker 2: makes the cut. Now you got a club pro who's
Speaker 2: playing with Rory McElroy, you know, fighting for like a
Speaker 2: top fifteen position in the in the final round of
Speaker 2: a really difficult golf course, and this guy hits it
Speaker 2: way shorter. This is not hyperbolic than Alan chipnook and
Speaker 2: by the way, the guy's forty six. The guy's forty
Speaker 2: six swings slow anyway. He was between a chipping a
Speaker 2: six iron and as his guy he told me chipping
Speaker 2: his six iron and a driving range seven iron. He
Speaker 2: hit the driving seven ron on the fly into the
Speaker 2: back of the cup. Now, often when you hit a
Speaker 2: when you hit a driving range seven iron and towerything
Speaker 2: into the back of the cup, it will not go
Speaker 2: in the hall because a lot can go wrong. By
Speaker 2: everything went right, because everything went right, because everything was
Speaker 2: going right. And he seems like an absolutely great guy,
Speaker 2: is kat He seems like an absolute great guy. He's
Speaker 2: playing next week in colonially, just got a special exemption
Speaker 2: sponsors exemption excuse me into the Colonial Tournament next week.
Speaker 2: So it's absolutely fabulous for golf to see this happen,
Speaker 2: because this is really what this particular championship is all about,
Speaker 2: but really really what golf is all about, you know
Speaker 2: part of it. By that, I mean the dream machine
Speaker 2: of golf that Tom Layman had, you know, in his thirties,
Speaker 2: finally starting to playing Hogan in his thirties, finally starting
Speaker 2: to play good golf. Just Jack Fleck against Hogan. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's been many examples over the years of this guy having,
Speaker 2: you know what, Michael Murphy Cold in Golf in the Kingdom,
Speaker 2: a true peak experience that at the moment of life
Speaker 2: when you want everything to come together, everything came together
Speaker 2: for this guy.
Speaker 1: And he also he radiated so much gratitude. He was
Speaker 1: such a fun character and he let people in. You know,
Speaker 1: a club plow, a club pro playing that well is
Speaker 1: is a cool story. But it must have had nearly
Speaker 1: the traction if he wasn't. He was kind of a ham.
Speaker 1: He was loving the attention, he was playing to the crowd.
Speaker 1: He was just spooning up the whole thing and it
Speaker 1: was fun. It made it made it fun for everybody
Speaker 1: because you could really feel what he was feeling. You know,
Speaker 1: he kind of he's a very expressive, emotive personality and
Speaker 1: and today you know he was there was so much
Speaker 1: at stake, like he was never gonna win the tournament.
Speaker 1: That was too big an ask. But if you could
Speaker 1: finish top fifteen, he earns an automatic invitation back to
Speaker 1: the PGA Championship next year. Top ten would have got
Speaker 1: him into a PGA Torvet. Top four get to Itto
Speaker 1: the Masters. And then there's the actual money. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if the guy's salaries about one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars one hundred and twenty, you know, which doesn't
Speaker 1: go very far in California. And you know, if you
Speaker 1: fit his top ten, you're gonna make half a million here,
Speaker 1: like actual life changing money. That term gets thrown around
Speaker 1: a lot, but in this case it really could be.
Speaker 1: And and so he was struggling out there. He hadn't
Speaker 1: made a birdie, and he was he was fighting so
Speaker 1: hard and getting up and down, and then to make
Speaker 1: that ace was so cathartic, and that's really what pushed
Speaker 1: him into the top fifteen and punched his ticket to
Speaker 1: the PGA next year. And so it was it was
Speaker 1: a neat moment, and he you know, he really was
Speaker 1: one of the stars. And it was cute to see
Speaker 1: Rory who was and his caddie were both, you know,
Speaker 1: so into it and the hugs and the tears, and
Speaker 1: it's it's the golf is funny because you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a huge basketball fan, but I can I can watch
Speaker 1: him big playoffs and know that I could never step
Speaker 1: out on the court and hang with those guys, right
Speaker 1: i'd be a joke. But for this guy to walk
Speaker 1: out of the pro shop and to be inside the
Speaker 1: ropes like it was, it was really everyone was living
Speaker 1: vicariously through him, and it was it was special. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And there have been there have been club pros who
Speaker 2: play at a really high level, you know, almost like
Speaker 2: a tour level, But this guy isn't really one of them,
Speaker 2: you know, from what I could see. He pitches it
Speaker 2: and chips it and puts beautifully, but he's so short,
Speaker 2: you know, he's just I know, Rory's really long. But
Speaker 2: Rory was literally forty fifty yards best this guy. You know,
Speaker 2: at least twenty yards best this guy.
Speaker 1: So I think like seventy I think Rory was seventy
Speaker 1: yards in front of him.
Speaker 2: But he was, Oh he happy with some of the drugs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, But this is a good golf course
Speaker 1: because hitting in the ferry was such a big advantage.
Speaker 1: And he is this guy Block is really, i mean
Speaker 1: really precise with his irons and his hybrids, and I
Speaker 1: mean he's dangerous. At Colonial you went, you at Quail Hollow,
Speaker 1: we'd have no chance, or one of these courses that
Speaker 1: really if you can fly at three ten it's cool.
Speaker 1: Colonial is cool. I mean, if he could ride this
Speaker 1: way for another week, who knows. I mean, I'm sure
Speaker 1: he's exhausted. But like of all the courses on tour,
Speaker 1: you know, a Colonial or a pebble or like a
Speaker 1: you know, a whilea something like that, there's only a
Speaker 1: handful that a guy that as short as him it
Speaker 1: could even be in the conversation. So yeah, it was
Speaker 1: talking about a star. I mean, he just he was.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. I mean, to anyone who would be so
Speaker 2: cheap as to say that there should be fewer than
Speaker 2: twenty club pros and this thing, I mean, I can't
Speaker 2: even begin to tell you how much I disagree with that.
Speaker 2: I know, And forty probably was too many because you
Speaker 2: had even forty had you had years or you know,
Speaker 2: maybe one or two or making the cut and they
Speaker 2: were finishing at the very bottom. But twenty is a
Speaker 2: good number.
Speaker 1: There's one hundred and thirty six tour players in here.
Speaker 1: If you're not one of the one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: six best guys, we can do without you, no offense
Speaker 1: to whoever was one hundred and thirty seventh, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like, yeah, but there's there's myriad ways
Speaker 1: you can play your way into this, and if you haven't,
Speaker 1: I think you forfeit the right to complain about it. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was, and you know we should we
Speaker 1: should acknowledge our calling. Matt Chanella. He just put out
Speaker 1: this week a podcast about the club pro crisis, because
Speaker 1: it's really a job, that's how. It's very demanding, and
Speaker 1: a lot of courses and clubs are having trouble attracting
Speaker 1: and retaining talent. And you know, Matt did a tremendous
Speaker 1: job pulling a lot of different voices together, Sethwa who
Speaker 1: runs a PG of America, butch Harmon, a bunch of
Speaker 1: others and it's really interesting and insightful and obviously timely.
Speaker 1: Part two will come out next week on Tuesday, And
Speaker 1: I would encourage anyone who was sort of charmed by
Speaker 1: by Michael Block to listen to these podcasts because it
Speaker 1: probably a lot of us think, oh man, the club
Speaker 1: pro job would be so cool. All you do is
Speaker 1: hang out and drink beer with your members, and you
Speaker 1: go and play Skins games and you get to hit
Speaker 1: balls for two hours on your lunch and happy that
Speaker 1: if it was ever like that, it's not like that anymore.
Speaker 1: It's a tough it's a tough job.
Speaker 2: Most people know. It's nothing like that. It's get there,
Speaker 2: you know, it's rise and be there at sunset, and
Speaker 2: if the kid doesn't show up, you're sweeping the cart
Speaker 2: burn because nobody else will do it. I think they're
Speaker 2: low wages, tough jobs. As Michael Block was saying, six
Speaker 2: hundred bosses. The accountant thinks he's an agronomist, and the
Speaker 2: lawyer thinks he's a chef.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: At the very yeah, he was funny as hell, but
Speaker 2: he really he really knows golf in ways that others don't.
Speaker 2: So yeah, they bring.
Speaker 1: A lot to it.
Speaker 2: This is a weird kind of nod. I don't even
Speaker 2: know if it was wilful. But not to the PG
Speaker 2: America And okay, well, first one quick, not to Carrie Haig,
Speaker 2: who sets up the courses for the PG of America.
Speaker 2: It's been said many times, it really is true. This
Speaker 2: is how you set up a golf course. It was perfect.
Speaker 2: The part fives are perfect, Part three is perfect. The
Speaker 2: green speed was just right, the rough was just right,
Speaker 2: the fairly with was just right, the tea times, the
Speaker 2: groupings or the pairings. Everything made sense. So you can
Speaker 2: say about the Page America every year, but this year especially,
Speaker 2: but this was the thing, and Allan and I commented
Speaker 2: a few times there was a co mingling of fan
Speaker 2: and player and caddy and reporters. They in the parking
Speaker 2: lot around the clubhouse out on the golf course. In
Speaker 2: recent years, in part because of the security, which is an
Speaker 2: underspendable thing, everyone's been sort of cordoned off in like
Speaker 2: some years literally if you want to get a you know,
Speaker 2: if a kid wants to get an autograph, there's like
Speaker 2: a fence or something. And this wasn't like this. So
Speaker 2: it was much looser, kind of but not disorganized, but
Speaker 2: appropriately loose, and it was great. It was great for
Speaker 2: us as reporters, but beyond us, I think it was
Speaker 2: great for fans. They could be just leaving and there
Speaker 2: were the players walking to their cars and it's kind
Speaker 2: of like it just sort of makes the player in
Speaker 2: a regular human being, which of course he is, except
Speaker 2: for his skill.
Speaker 1: It was so refreshing coming out of a gust or
Speaker 1: everything so up tight and regimented. It was a freewheeling
Speaker 1: element to this, and there was a couple of times today,
Speaker 1: following the last group where they just let the fans
Speaker 1: walk down the fairway behind the players, you know, and
Speaker 1: it was it was orderly, it never got crazy, and
Speaker 1: it was neat. I agree. And you look at Brooks
Speaker 1: like he made he made seven birdies today like this
Speaker 1: course rewarded good shots, but he also made four bogies.
Speaker 1: If you got out of position, you hit a bad shot,
Speaker 1: then you were punished severely. And that's cool. I mean,
Speaker 1: you don't want to you don't want to course so
Speaker 1: hard that the guys can't make birdies and it's flawed,
Speaker 1: but you don't want you don't want it to be
Speaker 1: a pushover, like it's a hard balance to strike. It
Speaker 1: really is. And as you said, they nailed it this week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, the ordinary thing can't be expected
Speaker 2: to know this sort of thing. But the stakes are
Speaker 2: so high now with everything in life, it seems so.
Speaker 2: The pat of America made a big decision. Their hand
Speaker 2: was forced to some degree by the PJ Tour to
Speaker 2: move their championship from August to May, and in so
Speaker 2: doing they might algically said, well then we can't. Then
Speaker 2: we already have a date for Rochester for okill but
Speaker 2: we're just going to have to change it because the
Speaker 2: weather is too unpredictable, which it is. But they rolled
Speaker 2: the dice and it worked out beautifully. But there's a
Speaker 2: lot of that in golf. Has been said many times.
Speaker 2: It isn't after sport. It is unpredictable. But it makes
Speaker 2: you think that you could come back here. Maybe if
Speaker 2: you hadn't one week later and May it would be
Speaker 2: even even more maybe predictable, and it wouldn't be graduation
Speaker 2: season with such a stress on the on the hotels.
Speaker 2: But well, like I said, when it works since you
Speaker 2: get to Memorial Day. But the point being is that
Speaker 2: they rolled the dice. It takes balls to do it.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Pipabaqua was the CEO of the PGF Americ at the time,
Speaker 2: and and and he he okay, the idea approved the
Speaker 2: idea of of of even when switching to me in
Speaker 2: the first place, I was dubious about it. I think
Speaker 2: it's working out well. And then sethwell, the current CEO,
Speaker 2: you know, kept it in place, and hats off to them.
Speaker 2: You know that I think this organization because it has
Speaker 2: a sort of fussy history. A lot of it dates
Speaker 2: back to you know, the Caucasian only clothes and other things.
Speaker 2: But they are really trying hard, and I'm sure Matt
Speaker 2: got into this sentence podcast. They are really trying hard
Speaker 2: to modernize and just make the game accessible to really
Speaker 2: anybody who wants to play it. And that's a really
Speaker 2: really I mean, if you love golf like we do,
Speaker 2: that's a really important function. And I'm glad to see
Speaker 2: the PGA of America, the organization and their championship, you know,
Speaker 2: really have a week to celebrate what they do, because
Speaker 2: it was it was great. It was a great week
Speaker 2: of golf. Even if I'm in Biflin Belt the lead,
Speaker 2: the winner, it was terrific.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I root for the pg of America. There's
Speaker 1: some of the governing bodies, some of the some of
Speaker 1: the institutions I root against just instinctively, But the pH
Speaker 1: of America, like they try hard. You know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's not they have two of the five biggest events
Speaker 1: professional golf, including the Ryder Cup, but it's not what
Speaker 1: they do, you know, fifty one or fifty fifty weeks
Speaker 1: a year, and so there's always a little free wheeling
Speaker 1: element to these things, and it's things are a little
Speaker 1: loose to goosey, but it makes it more fun and
Speaker 1: I think it sets the tone for the whole week.
Speaker 1: So I agree it was fantastic. But before we go,
Speaker 1: just a couple of quick shoutouts on the leader board.
Speaker 1: We should recognize Bryson Deshambo back from the dead. I
Speaker 1: mean he he had four solid rounds, finished tied for fourth,
Speaker 1: and we had some fun interactions. I know you you did.
Speaker 1: You were impressed by Bryson's normalcy and humanity.
Speaker 2: I don't know what they did with him, I know,
Speaker 2: I even saying about that of you. Of late, Allan's
Speaker 2: had a thing here lately for the listener. Oh, Michael,
Speaker 2: you take the bed with you know the facility on
Speaker 2: suite Michael, you choose the restaurant, like I talk to
Speaker 2: myfe Christine. I don't know what they've done with Alan shitnuck.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I'm trying to be accommodating.
Speaker 2: I don't know what they did with this Bryce and
Speaker 2: d Chambeau. But he went from nutjob. And I'm not
Speaker 2: saying that in a literal way, So please don't assume
Speaker 2: me if you've got Patrick Reid's lure from nutjob to
Speaker 2: like totally saying human being. Like everything you said this
Speaker 2: week you could understand. There was no hieroglyphics or foreign
Speaker 2: language or you know, Archimedes principles. It was just golf
Speaker 2: and it was kind of neat.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. And Scottie Seffler, I mean it seems like
Speaker 1: he played terrible yesterday and you wound up finishing the
Speaker 1: tide for second. Like I think this is thirteen straight
Speaker 1: top tens for Skyty Scheffler, the second longest streak the
Speaker 1: sight of Tiger Woods, and you know in the last
Speaker 1: whatever quarter century.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this before we click off here,
Speaker 2: what this really is this week is a even like
Speaker 2: it feels like a feel good week, and it is
Speaker 2: and it was. But in terms of the geopolitics of golf,
Speaker 2: which I think people are bored of talking about, but
Speaker 2: it is a real thing. It complicates golf. You have
Speaker 2: to live golfer win a major, you can put to
Speaker 2: rest the argument, oh they can't. You know, there are
Speaker 2: fifty four hole golfers now, they're not going to win
Speaker 2: seventy two. It complicates Ryder Cup golf. It complicates the
Speaker 2: Deaton or not the daytape, the war really between the
Speaker 2: PGA Tour nobody wants war for too long you get
Speaker 2: tired of it. He kills people. What do you think
Speaker 2: this tournament means in the short long term? In other words,
Speaker 2: this year, Ryder Cup, going into next year, lawsuits and
Speaker 2: the rest, this particular their PJA Championship with this Live
Speaker 2: Golf winner, what do you think it means for the
Speaker 2: future of the of the fight between the PJ Tour
Speaker 2: and Live.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a lot have to see how it
Speaker 1: plays out. I feel like the stronger the position that
Speaker 1: Live is in, the more likely the tour is to
Speaker 1: compromise and the tour. The tour is holding a hard line.
Speaker 1: You know, they have to because otherwise they'll lose more players.
Speaker 1: So they they've been hard asses all the way through,
Speaker 1: and I understand why it makes business sense. But you know,
Speaker 1: if Live is struggling, if if they're not, if they're
Speaker 1: their players aren't playing well, if they're if they're not
Speaker 1: getting world ranking points, then then there's the tour can
Speaker 1: just keep going and feel like they can win this
Speaker 1: war of attrition and they can produce. They can pick
Speaker 1: up the best players come out of college and this
Speaker 1: and that. But if Live is coming from a position
Speaker 1: to strength I think it makes a compromise more likely,
Speaker 1: and I think ultimately compromises what's going to what you
Speaker 1: want and what a lot of golf fans want where
Speaker 1: we can just kind of move on from this. So
Speaker 1: I think the more these guys play well the majors,
Speaker 1: the more that they assert themselves, I think that brings
Speaker 1: the PJ Tour to the table, not imminently, but just philosophically,
Speaker 1: Like this is you know, j J. Monha must have
Speaker 1: heartburn tonight because I mean he went to Brooks Kepka's
Speaker 1: wedding last June, like they were clothed, and Brooks made
Speaker 1: a business decision and now he's return to the front
Speaker 1: rakes of the game. And it doesn't serve the pgs
Speaker 1: or not to have access to Brooks Koepka, you know,
Speaker 1: it really doesn't. It's a huge loss as they're trying
Speaker 1: to attract sponsors and if you're sponsored an event and
Speaker 1: you're like my favorite guys, and I mean to me,
Speaker 1: the players I enjoy watching most in golf are Cam Smith,
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson, Phil Micholson, Jordan Spieth, Scotti Scheffler. But I
Speaker 1: would say live as three of the five guys I
Speaker 1: think are the most fun to watch, and you know,
Speaker 1: if you're a tournament director, you want those guys in field,
Speaker 1: and now you have Brooks. It's just like, I think
Speaker 1: that this is a setback for the tour, but that
Speaker 1: makes it more helpful for the big picture. That's my feeling.
Speaker 1: But you know there's ebbs and flows, but certainly you
Speaker 1: know the live guys brought the heat at Augusta. You
Speaker 1: know you have Brooks finishes fourth here, Bryson's fourth, Cam
Speaker 1: Smith is ninth, Mido Pereira is eighteen. Patrick reiders on
Speaker 1: the board for a long time. He just fell off.
Speaker 1: But it's not like only one guy that's carrying the flag.
Speaker 1: I mean they've there. Brooks has been the keynote player,
Speaker 1: but there's other guys who are who are making making
Speaker 1: a run. So this this definitely, as you say, complicates things,
Speaker 1: but it might also clarify. Like, Okay, if you're Jay
Speaker 1: Wantaghan and you're and you're Rory and you're Tiger, you
Speaker 1: know the guys were setting policy. Like it's like what
Speaker 1: are we doing here? Like we've we we we've reshaped
Speaker 1: the tour, We've made it more attractive where all the
Speaker 1: top guys are getting paid, but we're missing out on
Speaker 1: so many players that folks care about, and so I
Speaker 1: think this could hasten some sort of some sort of
Speaker 1: larger conversation. But we're still a long way from an
Speaker 1: actual compromise. But it's got to start with the desire
Speaker 1: to make it so, and I think this helps achieve
Speaker 1: that well. I think not only has this been an
Speaker 1: excellent podcast, but I'm going to miss the last bus
Speaker 1: out of here, so I got to go. People are
Speaker 1: backing up. I'm getting the stink guy from the security guys.
Speaker 1: But Michael, this is so fun. I missed podcasting with you,
Speaker 1: and I enjoyed our week together. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: read your story on mister Block. I'm writing about Brooks
Speaker 1: and Hoveland and what it all means. So that'll be
Speaker 1: all over Firepit Collective dot com. Hope you guys check
Speaker 1: those stories out. Thanks for listening. We appreciate your fidelity.
Speaker 1: Michaelot will be at the US Open and points in between.
Speaker 1: So for Michael Bamberger, this is Alan ship Nike. This
Speaker 1: was a fire drill podcast and I appreciate you listening.
Speaker 1: That's the end.
Speaker 3: I'm that big and I played the wind made a
Speaker 3: fortune when my ship came. Now, I ran the table,
Speaker 3: never thought I could fall down.
Speaker 2: The winter time hit me like a cannon. The ball.
Speaker 3: And now I can't shake this losing streak. Every road
Speaker 3: I take is a dead end street. I got thoughts
Speaker 3: in my head, can't get them out, trying not to
Speaker 3: think what I'm thinking about. I've got thoughts in my head.
Speaker 3: I can't get them out, trying not to think what
Speaker 3: I'm thinking about.