Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 1: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my ball.
Speaker 2: In a brid egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Friday Friday
Speaker 2: fridagg Friday Bride Egg, Lie.
Speaker 1: I'm about ready to run off of thelf course. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: your host Andy Johnson. Today I am joined by Ryan Labner.
Speaker 1: He is a senior writer at the Golf Channel also
Speaker 1: a co host to The Golf Channel's Rex and lab
Speaker 1: Show Golf podcast. So I have one to have Ryan
Speaker 1: come on and just talk about everything going on in golf. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we get Tiger Woods back this weekend at the Hero
Speaker 1: he gave a press conference talked in detail about his
Speaker 1: comeback as well as the framework agreement. So figured it
Speaker 1: was time to kind of catch up on what's going
Speaker 1: on on the PGA Tour, and then we do just
Speaker 1: a little bit of a recap of the year in
Speaker 1: golf as well. At the end, I have to apologize
Speaker 1: this was a very early.
Speaker 3: Morning recording in California and I.
Speaker 1: Forgot to switch on the audio onto my mic, so
Speaker 1: it recorded through my computer, So it might be a
Speaker 1: little bit of a throwback episode in terms of audio
Speaker 1: quality to the early days of the Friday Golf Podcast.
Speaker 1: For those listeners that have been with us for a
Speaker 1: long time, I apologize for that. It's not terrible. It's
Speaker 1: it's far from our worst audio. But that is why
Speaker 1: my audio is not like the audio you're.
Speaker 3: Hearing right now.
Speaker 1: So thank you guys, and we will be back next
Speaker 1: week with some new episodes.
Speaker 3: But here is Ryan Labner.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back, Ryan Labner On, senior writer at
Speaker 1: Golf Channel, co host of the Golf Channel podcast with
Speaker 1: Rex and Lav. Ryan, it'spent a minute. It spent since
Speaker 1: the PGA Championship when we were talking about garbage plates.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my Hometowl Major grew up about thirty minutes south
Speaker 2: of there. I did not actually have a garbage plate
Speaker 2: this year. I was not writing it for the indigestion,
Speaker 2: but maybe maybe next time I go home.
Speaker 1: Did you think about it? Was there a moment in time, oh,
Speaker 1: when it was like president and you opted for another dish?
Speaker 4: Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Like when I boarded the flight back home, I typically
Speaker 2: go to Bill Gray's like right before, and I decided
Speaker 2: I was going to be a grown up and not
Speaker 2: subject to fellow passengers to a post garbage plate experience.
Speaker 1: That's uh, that might be TMI. It might be tm I. Anyway,
Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, there's a lot going out of
Speaker 1: the golf world. I feel like this is like becoming
Speaker 1: a full calendar year. Uh uh, sport, I think much
Speaker 1: like a lot of sports. I think I think almost
Speaker 1: every sports writer would say that with like, you know,
Speaker 1: popularity of free agency. I you know, I was going
Speaker 1: to bring you on to talk about what you thought
Speaker 1: Graham mcdell's addition to Smash brings, but I really h
Speaker 1: you know, Tiger jumped on that news. Tiger's back at
Speaker 1: the Hero. Uh, what did you think of its press conference?
Speaker 1: And uh, what are your kind of expectations for Tiger
Speaker 1: moving forward?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I thought the press conference was interesting.
Speaker 2: It was essentially two different press conferences, and it's very
Speaker 2: rare that Tiger's health, the state of his game, his form,
Speaker 2: his expectations for the following year like kind of take
Speaker 2: a back seat. But I thought it was it was
Speaker 2: definitely a secondary story to what we had When Tiger
Speaker 2: addressed the media on Tuesday, it was the first time
Speaker 2: we'd heard from him, obviously since the June sixth deal
Speaker 2: was announced.
Speaker 4: And Rex asked me the other day, like.
Speaker 2: What's the first word you would use to describe Tiger's
Speaker 2: mood when described? And I said, he was pissed, Like
Speaker 2: he was definitely condemning PG tour leadership more than I thought.
Speaker 4: Like.
Speaker 2: I think his silence over the past several months spoke
Speaker 2: volumes in the sense that he didn't give a vote
Speaker 2: of support or confidence for PG torur Commissioner j Monahan.
Speaker 2: But to hear him say repeatedly that can't happen and
Speaker 2: it won't happen again in regards to the players being
Speaker 2: left out of any crucial decisions regarding the PGA Tour's future,
Speaker 2: I thought that was very striking you.
Speaker 1: As somebody on the inside, I think this is an
Speaker 1: interesting you know, with him talking about the players being
Speaker 1: left out. I feel like one of the reasons they
Speaker 1: were left out is that the tour is kind of
Speaker 1: a leaky auset. If you let players in, then within
Speaker 1: a couple you know, a couple hours, everybody's in. You know,
Speaker 1: there are really no secrets. It's kind of like high
Speaker 1: school that it's like a high school gossip scene. So
Speaker 1: do you think that there's a way that, you know,
Speaker 1: you can get a deal done without everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: it becoming discussed greatly? Is that? Is that where we're.
Speaker 4: Heading to that point? Like I remember the Delaware meeting
Speaker 4: last year.
Speaker 2: I was covered the BMW Championship and the morning after
Speaker 2: that there was a pro am at the golf course
Speaker 2: and I remember going up to a bunch of guys
Speaker 2: and this was like eight or nine am, and it
Speaker 2: was like, oh, like we signed a we signed a
Speaker 2: blood oath, like we absolutely cannot talk about this. And
Speaker 2: then like the more time you gave them, they're like, okay,
Speaker 2: we can, we can shed some details, and like by
Speaker 2: by the afternoon and then certainly by Thursday morning, like
Speaker 2: all the details, all the details what was actually discussed,
Speaker 2: had been put out in the open.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I find I find it interesting in a couple of
Speaker 2: different respects. Like Tiger is clearly frustrated at the pace
Speaker 2: that this is going.
Speaker 4: Roy McRoy has left the board.
Speaker 2: The reasons that he did so were understandable, but the
Speaker 2: timing of that decision I think just just prompts so
Speaker 2: many other questions. You know, was the private equity piece handled.
Speaker 2: He knew that, and he felt like it was the
Speaker 2: right time to step away. Was he in that marathon
Speaker 2: meeting on Monday of RSM week and then decided, Oh
Speaker 2: my god, Like we're nowhere near the finished line, Like
Speaker 2: I'm getting out before I get dragged into something for
Speaker 2: the foreseeable future that's dragging deep into twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Like it just leaves so many questions. And I don't
Speaker 2: know how you feel about this, Andy, Like PJ Tour
Speaker 2: players are not they don't have the background, They're not
Speaker 2: educated enough to make this deal. You know, this is
Speaker 2: a deal that needs to be done between savvy businessmen. Now,
Speaker 2: should pg tour players have input on what a worldwide
Speaker 2: schedule should look like, what the what the flow of
Speaker 2: the schedule should look like, where they should be playing,
Speaker 2: how much is adequate to be playing for absolutely but
Speaker 2: to but to make business decisions still just seems a
Speaker 2: little a little wild to me that Tiger Woods is
Speaker 2: kind of at the at the forefront of this when
Speaker 2: he doesn't necessarily have that sort of background.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there are a lot of super intelligent
Speaker 1: PGA Tour players, But like, I think I agree with
Speaker 1: what you said and I think it's like coming out
Speaker 1: in a lot of comments, and obviously I think it's
Speaker 1: important to remember like the loud of the squeakiest wheels
Speaker 1: in all the wheels, like the Lanto Griffin comments, like
Speaker 1: recently where he's talking about, you know, the tours paying
Speaker 1: off Rory with like these sponsors. It's like, well, sponsors
Speaker 1: want a sponsor or high profile players who are on TV, right,
Speaker 1: like you know, but I think some of the players
Speaker 1: are the louder players are generally the ones that are
Speaker 1: like might be giving all the players a bad rep.
Speaker 1: But in general, I think this deal needs to be
Speaker 1: done with a little bit of input from a few
Speaker 1: select players, but it mostly needs to be done at
Speaker 1: the business level because it's it's interesting, Like I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that I thought ran counter right
Speaker 1: with what what this business? What this deal has to
Speaker 1: be about? And Tiger's press conference was Tiger talking about
Speaker 1: like how he's trying to retain the tour, like we're
Speaker 1: trying to like keep the tour and and the values
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. If you're if somebody's going to
Speaker 1: give you a couple of billion dollars, like they're talking
Speaker 1: about the tour to change, right, Yeah, And I don't
Speaker 1: think I think that's like the right now. The real
Speaker 1: problem here is that the vest majority of players don't
Speaker 1: want anything to change, which is, you know, the top
Speaker 1: players want to get paid more money. The bottom players
Speaker 1: don't want the top players to get paid more money.
Speaker 1: But in a way, the bottom players are doing the
Speaker 1: same thing the top players are doing to the other
Speaker 1: levels of golf. They don't want to go anywhere either,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't want to have real relegation. They
Speaker 1: want as many ways to save their career. So you
Speaker 1: have all of these, like with the PGA Tour, you
Speaker 1: have all these individuals who have effectively the same self interest.
Speaker 1: They don't want a lot of changes, and they want
Speaker 1: extreme job security, right and if at the top end
Speaker 1: of the at the top end of the game, they
Speaker 1: don't want to have to be subjected to a rigorous
Speaker 1: like you're here schedule. They want to still have the
Speaker 1: autonomous nature of like I get a pick where I play,
Speaker 1: and they want to play for more and more money.
Speaker 1: But like anybody that's investing a lot of money into
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour is investing money into the PGA Tour
Speaker 1: because they see potential if you if you kind of
Speaker 1: renovate the PGA Tours model, if you rethink it, could
Speaker 1: this sports league be worth billions of more dollars than
Speaker 1: it's worth today. So I think that's the tricky thing
Speaker 1: here is had you had Tiger Woods up there talking
Speaker 1: about how he wants to keep it, like kind of
Speaker 1: keep it the same as it is and take on
Speaker 1: this money, I don't think that works.
Speaker 2: I agree with Andy, Like it's obviously a great time
Speaker 2: to be a pg Tour player. Like what did Victor
Speaker 2: Hoblin make this year with all the bonuses, like something
Speaker 2: like thirty seven million dollars, Like he has very little
Speaker 2: incentive to want to see the PGA Tour model change.
Speaker 2: And I think this Scottie Scheffler's, the Roy mcroy's, the
Speaker 2: John Rams of the world probably agree with you. But like,
Speaker 2: if a private equity firm is dumping a billion or
Speaker 2: two billion dollars into the PGA Tour, like they're expecting
Speaker 2: a return on their investments sometime in the next two
Speaker 2: to three years, Like that's just how they operate. And
Speaker 2: there's this general assumption that if the PIF invests in
Speaker 2: the tour, like they're playing the long game. There's just
Speaker 2: a bottomless pit of money and they don't care about
Speaker 2: a return. No, these are these are incredibly savvy businessmen
Speaker 2: who are expecting a return.
Speaker 4: They might have a longer runway.
Speaker 2: Than a private equity firm, but it's looking for a
Speaker 2: quicker return. But they obviously do want a return at
Speaker 2: some point. The PGA Tour scheduled right now if you
Speaker 2: look at the signature events and these full field events,
Speaker 2: and like, I'm obviously curious to see how it's going
Speaker 2: to go in twenty twenty four. I do kind of
Speaker 2: like the cadence that they've come up with, and I
Speaker 2: think it could potentially be a success. It's but it's
Speaker 2: hard to imagine that it could be a success where
Speaker 2: you're somehow returning a billion dollars right in revenue all
Speaker 2: of a sudden for the PGA Tour, just because you
Speaker 2: have the top players playing together more often, Like, there
Speaker 2: needs to be whole sale changes to the PGA Tour model.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you feel how it should be,
Speaker 2: but like, in my opinion, the PGA Tour has to
Speaker 2: be scaled down to like a twenty five event schedule,
Speaker 2: just the best, the best, almost every top player would
Speaker 2: be playing because it's not too heavy of a workload
Speaker 2: you think you would have. You would borrow some of
Speaker 2: the European Tour's best events and incorporate them into kind
Speaker 2: of this worldwide schedule. You would have some element of
Speaker 2: team golf sprinkled throughout the year, similar to what the
Speaker 2: Ramcode series is for the l E t That is
Speaker 2: potentially a way that you could get a return, right
Speaker 2: you have you have companies that either the own the
Speaker 2: teams or invest in the teams, Like, that's a great.
Speaker 4: Way to do it.
Speaker 2: So that is what you know, pieing the sky stuff
Speaker 2: the PG Tour should look like. But those are really
Speaker 2: difficult decisions to make. Like, there are clearity charities who
Speaker 2: are involved here. There are sponsors who want to put
Speaker 2: on a PGA Tour event. Right they're willing to pooney
Speaker 2: up eight nine, ten million dollars to put on a
Speaker 2: regular PGA Tour event. But if you're j Monahan or
Speaker 2: you're Tiger Woods and you're saying, no thanks, keep it.
Speaker 4: We're good here and we're just going to scale.
Speaker 2: Down the schedule, it's it's hard to imagine they could
Speaker 2: get to that place, even though I think that's the
Speaker 2: place that they eventually need to get to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that sentiment, and I think the
Speaker 1: reason that you take on you know, it's insane to
Speaker 1: be talking about this, the reason you take on a
Speaker 1: couple billion dollars is that so you can say, hey,
Speaker 1: we're rethinking our broadcast, we're rethinking where we go with
Speaker 1: our tournaments, we're rethinking our entire structure of this of
Speaker 1: this tour, and we're doing that because we have enough
Speaker 1: money in the bank to do whatever we want. Like
Speaker 1: this is effectively you take on the money to reset
Speaker 1: the PGA tour as we know it and come out
Speaker 1: with a new structure. It is not This is not
Speaker 1: like a put a band aid on the situation, like, hey,
Speaker 1: we got a bunch of money in and we're going
Speaker 1: to redistribute it to all the players. That's not what's happening.
Speaker 1: And I think there's like some belief on tour that that's
Speaker 1: what's happening.
Speaker 2: Right, So just like just like making the just like
Speaker 2: making the pebble event like a thirty million dollar person
Speaker 2: like that's that. That doesn't that doesn't do anything. Like
Speaker 2: you have the exact same players you're going to have,
Speaker 2: regardless they're just getting paid just a boatload more.
Speaker 1: That's not that's not what these like, that's not what
Speaker 1: a private equity company is interested in. Right, they are interesting,
Speaker 1: I agree, just paying the players for.
Speaker 2: And making the same more entertaining product. The question is
Speaker 2: how do you get there? And do you have the
Speaker 2: right people on the board with that sort of vision
Speaker 2: who can do it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1: Agree, Like to me, it doesn't it doesn't make sense
Speaker 1: that there's forty five or forty seven whatever the exact
Speaker 1: number of events there are, right, It's just you know,
Speaker 1: if I turn on the TV, and I think, like
Speaker 1: Rory's Rory's said this a lot of times, like if
Speaker 1: I turn on the TV. It was particularly like after Delaware,
Speaker 1: like I should know that Rory Jordan Speith, Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Patrick Cantley, Xanderschoffley, John Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, I should know
Speaker 1: every time I turn on PGA Tour Golf, those are
Speaker 1: the guys playing, right, and you turn it on, you
Speaker 1: know at r SM lovely event, Right, r SM lovely event.
Speaker 1: Super convenient for guys, But it's like, who am I watching?
Speaker 1: Like this is and this is like kind of the
Speaker 1: it'd be like if they if they televise you know, uh,
Speaker 1: Canadian Football League games as NFL games.
Speaker 4: They do, like well they they do? They do you
Speaker 4: televise those I'm saying, I'm.
Speaker 1: Saying like it. But it was when you went on
Speaker 1: your TV guide it said NFL football and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: NFL football and you clicked on it, and then it's
Speaker 1: the Canadian Ball League, right. Like That's so I think
Speaker 1: like in terms of how you get there, the Worldwide
Speaker 1: Tour makes a lot of sense, right, Like the markets
Speaker 1: that you should be going to are the big markets
Speaker 1: and are there twenty five massive markets across the world
Speaker 1: that would that can pay up for a big event?
Speaker 1: And could it be a real schedule that you go to.
Speaker 1: I think like one of the things that's super interesting
Speaker 1: that you talked about is like the idea of cities
Speaker 1: and franchises and teams. Obviously Live you know is doing
Speaker 1: the team thing, but the Joe Ogilvy was on on
Speaker 1: this podcast and he talked about the idea of like
Speaker 1: cities having franchises, like the franchise tournament and you have
Speaker 1: a tournament course in your city, and it's like everything's
Speaker 1: built around this, right, And that's like you start to
Speaker 1: build more equity, right, Like the pros play this course
Speaker 1: once a year. Everybody knows thet It's kind of like
Speaker 1: becomes like the F one. You start to hear these
Speaker 1: like the F one fans. I'm not like a big
Speaker 1: F one person, but I like I kind of pay
Speaker 1: attention to it. But it's like, oh, they're going to
Speaker 1: to this city that tracks like this, it's super favors this,
Speaker 1: Like you know, all of a sudden you start to
Speaker 1: build like value more value in these tournaments. Then it's
Speaker 1: just like the like right now, it's kind of crazy right,
Speaker 1: Like it's like it's the RSM Classic right, Like what
Speaker 1: you know the sponsor is getting value for that, but
Speaker 1: like what value is the PGA tour getting for that?
Speaker 1: Like they they don't have an identity. This sponsor changes.
Speaker 1: It's like the NAPA event, I don't even you know,
Speaker 1: it's like is it the Fortinet still it was the
Speaker 1: safe Way, it was the Fries Like you are doing
Speaker 1: your brand disservice, like when you have all these changes, right,
Speaker 1: Like imagine if like you know, the University of Georgia
Speaker 1: Bulldogs like change in their name every three years because
Speaker 1: they have sponsor change, right, and I think think this
Speaker 1: is the thing with this opportunity is it's resetting the
Speaker 1: whole deck and it's you know, I think like as
Speaker 1: a golf fan, the last couple of years have been
Speaker 1: really hard for golf fans because of like everything going on.
Speaker 1: I do think like this this framework thing is super
Speaker 1: probably a little bit annoying, could be a little bit boring.
Speaker 1: I think that like at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's very exciting because you could get when the dust settles,
Speaker 1: end up with like a way better version of pro
Speaker 1: golf than we've ever had. Now for a quick word
Speaker 1: from our sponsor, Club Champion, this is the biggest sale
Speaker 1: the Club Champion ever does. So we've got just a
Speaker 1: couple more days for you guys to get in on
Speaker 1: this deal.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: What you could do is you can get a one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars full bag fitting or a fifty dollars any
Speaker 1: other fitting with a club purchase.
Speaker 3: So you just need to buy a club.
Speaker 1: Like I one of the things I think with this
Speaker 1: is like if you're if you're smart, go get your
Speaker 1: full specs done for one hundred bucks, buy a club
Speaker 1: or two or a cent irons or you know, if
Speaker 1: you're in the market for Farowiwin and Hybrid. Just go
Speaker 1: get your full bag fit. Then you got your specs
Speaker 1: and you can chip away at it over the course
Speaker 1: of the year if that need be, or get everything done.
Speaker 1: But this is the cheapest fitting that they offer. They
Speaker 1: are the premier club fitter in America. They have locations
Speaker 1: all across America and if you book a fitting before
Speaker 1: the fourth of December you can get this offer. Use
Speaker 1: the promo code fried Egg and go to club Champion
Speaker 1: dot com. They've got locations all over the place. I've
Speaker 1: been using them my basically entire life, and they do
Speaker 1: an amazing job with fitting. You get really dial is
Speaker 1: an awesome experience. Frankly, like one hundred bucks. It's like
Speaker 1: kind of like a fun day to go get fit.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking about a couple hours of hitting
Speaker 1: golf balls and trying out all the equipment and figuring
Speaker 1: out what's the best for you. It's a tour level fitting.
Speaker 1: So use the promo code Frida Egg, go to Club
Speaker 1: Champion dot com and book this before twelve four, So
Speaker 1: you need to book it by twelve four and you
Speaker 1: have to complete the fitting by January thirty, first of
Speaker 1: next year in order for this promo to apply, So
Speaker 1: club Champion dot com and thank you to them for
Speaker 1: sponsoring the show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you listen to Jordan's peace press
Speaker 2: conference on Tuesday, like he's he said, he has full
Speaker 2: confidence that the PGA Tour will end up in a
Speaker 2: better place than it's ever been. The PGA Tour has
Speaker 2: just never done scarcity particularly well. They've always had a
Speaker 2: bloated schedule. They want to dominate. They said, if we
Speaker 2: got sponsors who want to put up the money, like,
Speaker 2: we're going to have a tournament. If they don't play
Speaker 2: on the PGA Tour, they're going to go play somewhere else,
Speaker 2: whether it's in Europe, whether it's in Africa, whether it's Australia,
Speaker 2: whatever the case may be, and so you might as
Speaker 2: well put on a tournament. Their ethos has always been
Speaker 2: to cater to the members of the pg Tour. Now
Speaker 2: we've started to see that shift a little bit in
Speaker 2: recent years, right by catering to the top fifty whatever
Speaker 2: it may be, with these signature events. It just they
Speaker 2: need to lean into it, like the PGA Tour should
Speaker 2: be basically the elitist golfer, like the absolute best golfers
Speaker 2: in the world, whatever that number is, whether it's seventy five,
Speaker 2: whether it's one hundred, and they play these twenty five events,
Speaker 2: and they play them around the world, and they're playing
Speaker 2: for a lot of money. And I do think the
Speaker 2: team element, Like did you hear the Jay Monahan CNBC
Speaker 2: spot on Wednesday, Like he was talking not if they're
Speaker 2: going to get a deal done with PIFF when and
Speaker 2: it's going to be this combo deal with the PIFF
Speaker 2: and a private equity firm and they're both going to
Speaker 2: be pumping money into the PGA Tour. That leads me
Speaker 2: to believe that that Live will just be reincorporated into
Speaker 2: the PJ Tour schedule. I see what you're saying with
Speaker 2: the with the kind of the city model. I think
Speaker 2: they're intrigued by what Live has done with with the
Speaker 2: team model, and there certainly is interest there. I still
Speaker 2: think like when it comes to Live, like lives more
Speaker 2: interesting off the golf course, whether it's the free agency talk,
Speaker 2: whether it's the threat of relegation and what's going.
Speaker 1: To happen to you know, That's what what I'm worried about.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a burning question. At the forefront of
Speaker 2: my mind as well. But like so I think I think.
Speaker 1: That Richard done in the off season, right, what was
Speaker 1: holding it up?
Speaker 2: But like if I if you're the PJ Tour and
Speaker 2: you can get the best players, right, if you can
Speaker 2: have kind of this Dallas area team with a Jordan
Speaker 2: Speeth and a Scottie Scheffler.
Speaker 4: And a Tom Kim and.
Speaker 2: A Will zal Tours, right, Like if if that's your
Speaker 2: Dallas Area live slash PGA Tour team, Like I do
Speaker 2: think there's potential there, And if you can scatter that
Speaker 2: either throughout the PGA Tour schedule or put it in
Speaker 2: the fall where it's kind of this four to six event.
Speaker 4: Showcase series. Like, I do think there's potential there.
Speaker 2: The PGA Tour has just never done scarcely well, and
Speaker 2: they would have to make really hard decisions to pare
Speaker 2: down their schedule to get to a place that I
Speaker 2: think would most benefit fans and make it the most
Speaker 2: entertaining product possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, saying no is a hard, hard thing. I think,
Speaker 1: Like what would excite me is the idea of taking Okay,
Speaker 1: we're taking away events on the PGA Tour, right or
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, we're taking away events.
Speaker 1: We're making this a lot smaller, a smaller schedule, but
Speaker 1: we're expanding what is today the corn Ferry Tour and
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour B And I think there's a way
Speaker 1: for them. I think obviously what you guys have done
Speaker 1: at Golf Channel with the college game and starting to
Speaker 1: elevate the college game, they have the structure to be
Speaker 1: able to make a very compelling second level tour, and
Speaker 1: you make it super compelling with real relegation and promotion,
Speaker 1: like not like this golden like one of the other
Speaker 1: challenges the tour has. It's like they like are never
Speaker 1: It's like you lost your card, but you still have
Speaker 1: conditional status.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, likes be like a shorter window for
Speaker 2: for these guys, Like it's got to be like a lifelin.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's got to be like your in
Speaker 1: or you're out right like relegation relegation, right, And I
Speaker 1: think like that's like because that's gonna make the promotion
Speaker 1: really exciting, and it's going to make event to event
Speaker 1: really exciting as to who's on the cut line. Like
Speaker 1: last year, Justin Thomas doesn't make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: If you have you want Justin Thomas and Adam Scott
Speaker 2: to no longer be a part of the PG Tour
Speaker 2: in this new model.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like and then all of a sudden you can't
Speaker 1: well you've got he's finished, like what fifth or six
Speaker 1: in the pit. I'm just saying, then you have real juice.
Speaker 1: It's the way the Premier League works. Like teams get relegated,
Speaker 1: and it's like the fear of God of relegation for fans.
Speaker 1: For like it's like, I mean Justin Thomas is playing poorly,
Speaker 1: Adam Scott's playing poorly, they might get relegated. That is
Speaker 1: just like when you talk about general interest in the sport,
Speaker 1: how do you make somebody care about an event that
Speaker 1: is the most people can care, right, And and it
Speaker 1: also boosts your your bottom, your product underneath, because all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, there's interest in every event that Justin
Speaker 1: Thomas is playing on beach PGA Tour b is like,
Speaker 1: can Justin Thomas like get back up? Like this is
Speaker 1: this is insane that he's down there. If you had
Speaker 1: cutthroat real relegation, I think that the sport has so
Speaker 1: much interest we can week out and you could have
Speaker 1: like the way golf is. I think like there's this
Speaker 1: other illusion with PGA tour players, this off season thing.
Speaker 1: They all wanted off season, but then none, like this
Speaker 1: year they had an off season. None of all of
Speaker 1: them are playing.
Speaker 2: I mean most most of them have have sprinkled at
Speaker 2: least some sort of start. But you like you had
Speaker 2: Max and JT going to Africa, you know, obviously for
Speaker 2: for a hefty appearance fee, but like a Scotti, Scheffler
Speaker 2: has literally gone away since the Ryder Cup. He actually
Speaker 2: took a break, like he popped the money playing play.
Speaker 1: Took.
Speaker 2: But I also think I also think PG tour players,
Speaker 2: especially elite PG twre players, they're a little bit paranoid
Speaker 2: in thinking like if if they don't play ye for
Speaker 2: three months, like all of a sudden, their magical gifts
Speaker 2: are going to wag. So like I actually think Scotty's
Speaker 2: six week break was perfect. It was enough for him
Speaker 2: to go on vacation, go do other things, appear on ESPN,
Speaker 2: playing pick a ball against the number one player and
Speaker 2: actually pairing quite well, and then like you start ramping
Speaker 2: up again and now he's actually excited to play golf.
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone actually wants a Yeah, no.
Speaker 4: I don't want it. I don't want it. You don't
Speaker 4: want it. The top players don't want it.
Speaker 2: But we need we just need scarcity and a chance
Speaker 2: to catch your breath throughout the year. Like it all
Speaker 2: comes down to Scarcy, I'm with you. I think there
Speaker 2: are too many PG Tour members. I would I would
Speaker 2: trim it down from one to twenty five two hundred.
Speaker 2: I think seventy five or seventy is probably a little
Speaker 2: bit too few. But like I'm with you, scarcity makes
Speaker 2: a more compelling product in both the players and the
Speaker 2: tournament's But again, you talk about people, you're talking about
Speaker 2: people's livelihood, you talk about them losing their jobs.
Speaker 4: You're intentionally threatening their careers.
Speaker 2: Show you're turning down one hundred plus million dollars.
Speaker 1: They're going to play if they if they don't. If
Speaker 1: you have this relegation system, they're going to play a
Speaker 1: lot of events. There's twenty five of those events. Let's
Speaker 1: just say in the purse is four million bucks or whatever,
Speaker 1: and you have checkpoints through the year that people go
Speaker 1: up and down, Like if there's a quarterly relegation promotion
Speaker 1: piece to this, I think it's like extraordinarily compelling. Like
Speaker 1: one of my biggest gripes with the with the designated
Speaker 1: event is these like THESEUS signature.
Speaker 4: Events, these that's five that's five bucks in the jar.
Speaker 1: That'd be amazing if they did that to media. We
Speaker 1: had to contribute every time we miss, every time we
Speaker 1: didn't PG tour in all caps, we had to donate.
Speaker 4: Some of Ben's cupe cup one word.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the things like they didn't go they
Speaker 1: didn't go for it with the like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: how you qualify and only qualifiers are here. Like to me,
Speaker 1: that was a big miss, right, Like, this is this
Speaker 1: is stuff that roads to the trust of Atlanto Griffin. Right,
Speaker 1: this is how you appease everybody is like it is
Speaker 1: a true meritocracy. We're going with a true meritocracy. I
Speaker 1: was talking to a someone associated with a signature event
Speaker 1: recently and I said, hey, I got just like an
Speaker 1: off the wall question. Would you would the sponsor have
Speaker 1: left if they didn't get the four sponsors exemptions. He's like, no,
Speaker 1: they don't really care about those, like we have to
Speaker 1: talk about them now, but we don't care about the
Speaker 1: about the sponsor exemptions. And it's like those sponsored exemptions
Speaker 1: are under the guise of oh, the sponsor would have
Speaker 1: done this, but really what it is is like the
Speaker 1: players want those sponsors exemptions because now it's like Adam Scott,
Speaker 1: Jason Day JT. They didn't qualify, which, like in any
Speaker 1: other sport, you're washed, You're you're out. It's it's the
Speaker 1: most cutthroat thing in the world. Like look at the NFL.
Speaker 1: Look what's happening to running backs is like this guy
Speaker 1: was awesome, but literally he doesn't have it anymore. He's gone.
Speaker 1: I'd rather have the twenty two year old, right, Like golf.
Speaker 1: Golf is the most accommodating and and they I mean
Speaker 1: they do everything to keep people around, and I get
Speaker 1: why it's like part of like the fan interest thing,
Speaker 1: but like if they could just get a little bit
Speaker 1: more about, hey, performance is the big thing here, I
Speaker 1: think it would go a long way, because then all
Speaker 1: these other events have JT Adam Scott Jason Day as
Speaker 1: the headline stories can get back into the signature events.
Speaker 1: And instead we have this world where they didn't qualify,
Speaker 1: but there's no ramifications for them not qualifying because they're
Speaker 1: just gonna gobble up every single sponsor's exemption, like if
Speaker 1: you're if you're a tournament committee and you don't take
Speaker 1: those guys, you're you're just hurting your tournament, right.
Speaker 2: Like I think we're I think we're arguing. I think
Speaker 2: we're arguing at the same point. Like we saw the
Speaker 2: uproar from from when they made the playoffs one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty five to seventy Like the tours the tour's
Speaker 2: middle class, Yeah, was was furious because they were potentially
Speaker 2: jeopardizing them whether the whether the tour can actually make
Speaker 2: the decision to limit the number of overall cards. Like
Speaker 2: I'm with you, like I think there's I think there
Speaker 2: needs to be a more severe punishment, more compelling relegation.
Speaker 2: And you do that to me by bringing down the
Speaker 2: number of cards from one to twenty five to one
Speaker 2: hundred or ninety.
Speaker 4: I think that's the way to go.
Speaker 2: I think I think the big question not to not
Speaker 2: to belabor at this point, like how much confidence any
Speaker 2: do you actually have that the PGA Tour leadership at
Speaker 2: the executive level and the board level will actually come
Speaker 2: up with a solution that's similar to what you're saying,
Speaker 2: that is more compelling, that is a pair down schedule
Speaker 2: that does have a more intense and compelling relegation product.
Speaker 4: You actually have confidence.
Speaker 2: That the group that is in place, who are either
Speaker 2: longtime PGA Tour players or longtime PGA Tour executives, you
Speaker 2: think they can actually get to a place in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five where that's where that's the PGA Tour present.
Speaker 1: I think my hope is in the private equity money
Speaker 1: that comes in forcing this. I don't think I have
Speaker 1: hope in the existing leadership. What about you?
Speaker 2: I agree with you, Like, if you're bringing in like
Speaker 2: a Fenway Sports Group, which is one of the firms
Speaker 2: that's that's bidding to invest in the PGA Tour, like
Speaker 2: they have experience in promotion and entertainment and branding.
Speaker 4: Those folks know what they're doing, and.
Speaker 2: In collaboration with a Tiger or a speef like, I
Speaker 2: think they can get to a place. I think the
Speaker 2: hardest part is going to be pairing down the schedule
Speaker 2: and whether they actually want to do that.
Speaker 1: And I just you know, real quick, right back to it.
Speaker 1: You talked about like how the playoffs, how big of
Speaker 1: a deal, how how arduous it was to go to
Speaker 1: one twenty five to seventy Immediately, like What were the
Speaker 1: reactions of at Windhom of going to seventy. What were
Speaker 1: the general reactions from fans about the change when they
Speaker 1: saw it play it out?
Speaker 2: I mean Justin Thomas was must see TV to see
Speaker 2: if he can get inside the playoffs. Yes, so like
Speaker 2: making making this and you didn't and you difficult that
Speaker 2: at the RSM, which was supposed to be the cutoff
Speaker 2: right for the one twenty five that was essentially the
Speaker 2: new Windhom Championship, right, like like that's where the new
Speaker 2: cutoff is. And you either have the to the corn
Speaker 2: for a tour, you gotta go to Q school, whatever
Speaker 2: the case may be. Like you didn't have that same
Speaker 2: sort of buzz now. Is seventy Is seventy cards too
Speaker 2: few for the PGA Tour probably, Like you still have
Speaker 2: to fill out these fields somehow.
Speaker 4: That's why I think ninety or one hundred is a
Speaker 4: little bit better.
Speaker 2: But I'm I'm I'm with you. I think we're I
Speaker 2: think we're totally in agreement here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's like I think just in general, last point
Speaker 1: is like why people are drawn to sports in general
Speaker 1: is the moments of people, the tension and the moments
Speaker 1: of these unbelievable athletes overcoming obstacles. And so if you
Speaker 1: think about sports just from that lens, what you need
Speaker 1: to make the PGA Tour have is tension and obstacles.
Speaker 1: And and with with the current system, there's no tension.
Speaker 1: There's like JT could play terrible for like six years, like, oh,
Speaker 1: he could be the he could be the twelve hundred
Speaker 1: thranked player in the world and he's still going to
Speaker 1: get starts for six years. Like the length of the clip,
Speaker 1: Like think about like Smiley's doing an awesome job in
Speaker 1: the second act of his career, but think about how
Speaker 1: long Smiley was still getting like eight to ten stars
Speaker 1: a year when he was like done playing, right, Like
Speaker 1: you know you see this, And so there has to
Speaker 1: be tension. There has to be obstacles for all these
Speaker 1: guys because that's what's gonna make a really compelling sports product.
Speaker 1: That's why we love the Majors' there's tension, there's like
Speaker 1: the courses are you know, present obstacles and you know
Speaker 1: there's only four of them. The scarcity of the majors
Speaker 1: creates this like, oh, if this guy doesn't like I
Speaker 1: think that's what like the secret sauce of the majors
Speaker 1: is is that there's only four and there's twenty five
Speaker 1: players that we feel like that guy's got to get
Speaker 1: a major or that guy's got to get another major,
Speaker 1: And it's like, oh, there's only four of them, and
Speaker 1: there's twenty five guys that we think should get a
Speaker 1: major this year.
Speaker 4: You know, scarcity.
Speaker 2: Scarcity is compelling because there's a feeling like if you
Speaker 2: miss out and you don't nab one by the Open,
Speaker 2: you gotta sit around and wait for eight and a
Speaker 2: half months before the Masters rolls around. And then when
Speaker 2: you get when the Masters rolls around, like the anticipation
Speaker 2: and the hype and the sense of urgency kicks it again.
Speaker 4: Like I all think those are very powerful motivators.
Speaker 1: All Right, I gotta ask the cliche question here, like
Speaker 1: what can Tiger Woods win again?
Speaker 4: Can he went again? Oh? Certainly, Yeah, I definitely. I
Speaker 4: definitely think so.
Speaker 2: Working Working against him, though, Andy is the is the
Speaker 2: fact that he's only playing like these incredibly elite events
Speaker 2: against the against the very.
Speaker 4: Best players, Like we're not talking about.
Speaker 2: No, because that's not full FedEx Cup points. And if
Speaker 2: he wants to qualify for the FedEx Cup, plays playoffs,
Speaker 2: the culmination of the FedEx Cup season.
Speaker 4: That's not how he should go about doing it.
Speaker 2: But like so, like the hero is about to start
Speaker 2: in like an hour and a half, And I thought
Speaker 2: the last I thought the last two years were really
Speaker 2: like a monument to Tiger's toughness and his grit and
Speaker 2: his commitment and dedication, but like it wasn't a fun watch,
Speaker 2: like seeing him grit his teeth just to get through
Speaker 2: seventy two holes or to make the cut, or like
Speaker 2: dragging his right leg up the hills at Augusta National,
Speaker 2: Like that was not fun to watch. And so it'd
Speaker 2: be great if we can get back to a point
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: Four where we're.
Speaker 2: Judging his golf and not like his pain tolerance. Like
Speaker 2: a very compelling question that we could hopefully have answered
Speaker 2: next year is can he still hang at forty eight
Speaker 2: years old against players who are half his age, who
Speaker 2: are bigger, stronger, faster, who hit it farther, who hit
Speaker 2: it closer, who are better chippers and putters of the
Speaker 2: golf ball.
Speaker 4: Than he is at this age.
Speaker 2: And he's really relying mostly now on his IQ and
Speaker 2: his and his guile. And so I think I think
Speaker 2: that's the most compelling question. And to hear Tiger on Tuesday,
Speaker 2: I mean that was one of the most optimistic that
Speaker 2: we've heard him in a long time. Now. I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people ran with the you know, I'm
Speaker 2: trying to play four to six times and you know,
Speaker 2: played monthly from February until July, like that's been the
Speaker 2: goal for the past two years. It just has it
Speaker 2: come to fruition. It's not just playing the semi two
Speaker 2: holes of tournament golf. It's it's the ramping up for that.
Speaker 2: It's the playing, it's the it's the cooling down from
Speaker 2: that and recovering and then getting ready again. You know,
Speaker 2: the top players in the world don't have those sorts
Speaker 2: of physical limitations when it comes to practice of preparation
Speaker 2: time that Tiger Woods is dealing with. But from a
Speaker 2: from from a skill standpoint, he could he could certainly
Speaker 2: still win.
Speaker 1: Is just amazing that he wants to play golf, like
Speaker 1: after all this, Like I can't imagine all the stuff
Speaker 1: he's gone through and all the stuff he has to
Speaker 1: do to play golf, Like, you know, like he has
Speaker 1: to get up like four hours before tea time you
Speaker 1: got eight tea time he's gonna start getting ready for
Speaker 1: the round because of all of the body things at
Speaker 1: like four am, like I mean, like and then when
Speaker 1: he played, like him playing a tournament round of golf,
Speaker 1: and I would guess that him playing any round of
Speaker 1: golf is like a full day of work for his
Speaker 1: ramp up to get the body ready and then the
Speaker 1: cool down like getting the body ready to be done
Speaker 1: playing golf. Right, It's just I find it just amazing
Speaker 1: that he still has the will. I think that like
Speaker 1: speaks the volumes to the level of like competitor he is.
Speaker 1: Is that like he just he wants to play so
Speaker 1: badly that he's I don't know how many people would
Speaker 1: subject themselves to everything he has to do in order
Speaker 1: to just play golf.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you certainly have to admire the grit
Speaker 2: and the intensity and the dedication to his craft.
Speaker 4: I think there's I think there's two things at work.
Speaker 2: One is that I don't think he knows how to
Speaker 2: do anything else. Like now he's obviously more involved in
Speaker 2: PG tour matters, and I think that's obviously been very
Speaker 2: fulfilling for him, Like he has enough downtime to really
Speaker 2: dive into this and the TJL stuff that got obviously
Speaker 2: delayed for a year. Like that's the sort of thing
Speaker 2: that can occupy his mind and his time that typically
Speaker 2: PG Tour tournaments would do as he tried to get
Speaker 2: ready for that.
Speaker 4: And secondly, I.
Speaker 2: Think as a as a as a stubborn and a
Speaker 2: proud champion, they all want to go out on their
Speaker 2: own terms and on the highest note possible. I think
Speaker 2: if Tiger knew what he knows now and how his
Speaker 2: leg is and what would happen in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: like he probably would have walked away after winning the
Speaker 2: Masters in twenty nineteen. And yet now there's sort of
Speaker 2: this this this wonderment about him of can I still
Speaker 2: do it again? Can I put Umpty Dumpty back together again?
Speaker 2: It could I sum at the mountaintop one more time,
Speaker 2: and then I can officially be satisfied and I can
Speaker 2: be done.
Speaker 4: And so that's kind of that's kind of what I.
Speaker 1: Think that mountain Top is. Do you think it's a major,
Speaker 1: Do you think it's a regular PGA Tour event.
Speaker 2: I don't think he's going to play enough regular PG
Speaker 2: Tour events for that to even.
Speaker 4: Be a factor.
Speaker 2: Like he's probably, like he's probably that's that's that's just
Speaker 2: like the holy grail for him, Like it's it's it's
Speaker 2: obviously it's obviously not gonna happen uh at River. But
Speaker 2: like I wouldn't totally discount him contending at Augusta Nashville.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't totally discount him contending at an Open championship,
Speaker 2: like you could do that at advanced age, assuming that
Speaker 2: his body can at least stay in one piece. Now
Speaker 2: if if, if walking, like one of the most foundational
Speaker 2: aspects of tournament golf is no longer the primary hindrance
Speaker 2: for him, and he just has to deal with some
Speaker 2: assorted knee or hip or back pain. Like I think
Speaker 2: that's actually a boon to Tiger's prospects moving forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we see him continue to make cuts
Speaker 1: at Augusta National when he can't walk, So this is
Speaker 1: like the where you have to have optimism. It's like
Speaker 1: if he can, I mean we watched him last year.
Speaker 1: I mean that was like the last the four holes
Speaker 1: of that of him playing to make the cut was
Speaker 1: like excruciatingly painful to watch. It was just pouring rain.
Speaker 1: He was you could he slipped in it. You could
Speaker 1: tell he just like something got really messed up when
Speaker 1: he slipped. And it's just like, if he can make
Speaker 1: the cut in that state, is it, If he's four
Speaker 1: shots better, he's in contention.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, Like that's that's what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 2: there's that's that's why discounting him if if walking is
Speaker 2: not the main concern anymore, I think is. I think
Speaker 2: it's just foolish and and and it'd be an appropriate
Speaker 2: end if you know, arguably the greatest player of all time,
Speaker 2: certainly the greatest player that I've seen in my lifetime,
Speaker 2: he should be the oldest major champion in history.
Speaker 4: Like that just feels that just feels appropriate.
Speaker 1: Coming for Phil's uh Phi, Phil's title once once again Phil,
Speaker 1: if Tiger has any say about it, Phil will not
Speaker 1: have that record to himself. All right, Now for a
Speaker 1: quick word from ag one. Listen, I I've been battling
Speaker 1: a little bit of a cold, and you know, really
Speaker 1: I think back to about a year ago. I wasn't
Speaker 1: feeling my best. I had just gotten done with a
Speaker 1: big year of travel. I was I was sluggish. I
Speaker 1: just didn't I didn't feel great. And lately I've been
Speaker 1: dealing with a cold with my daughter, and if you're
Speaker 1: a longtime listener, you might know that. You know, the
Speaker 1: thing I turned to was ag One. I've been drinking
Speaker 1: it for about a year, and when I started drinking
Speaker 1: ag one daily, I just noticed a lot more zi.
Speaker 1: I felt better, I was, you know, my health just
Speaker 1: felt like it was in a better place. I had
Speaker 1: more energy, I was able to focus on things more.
Speaker 1: And that's because ag one is a foundational nutrition supplement
Speaker 1: that supports your bodies universal needs like gut optimization, stress management,
Speaker 1: and immune support. Since twenty ten, ag One has led
Speaker 1: the future of foundational nutrition, continuously refining their formula to
Speaker 1: create a smarter, better way to elevate your baseline health.
Speaker 1: Not only did I replace my multivitamin with ag one,
Speaker 1: but I love that every scoop includes prebiotics, probiotics and
Speaker 1: digestive enzymes for gut support, and magnesium and b vitamins
Speaker 1: for energy support. So I recommend this to my family,
Speaker 1: my friends, everybody. Ag One is the supplement I trust
Speaker 1: to provide the support my body needs daily, and that's
Speaker 1: why they've been a partner for so long. If you
Speaker 1: want to take ownership of your health, it starts with
Speaker 1: ag one. Try ag one and get a free one
Speaker 1: years supply of Vitamin D three, K two and five
Speaker 1: free ag one travel packs. Super handy things they have
Speaker 1: especially around the holidays. With your first purchase, go to
Speaker 1: drinkag one dot com slash the Frida Egg. That's drinkag
Speaker 1: one dot com Slash the Frida Egg.
Speaker 3: Check it out. Now back to Ryan Lavner, all right,
Speaker 3: I wanted.
Speaker 1: To talk about other Tiger, the other stuff other than Tiger,
Speaker 1: just kind of at the end of the year. What
Speaker 1: were your three favorite moments from twenty twenty three?
Speaker 2: Three favorite moments personally, Like, I think back to the Masters.
Speaker 2: I did a long story on Sam Bennett, the former
Speaker 2: y Texas at M player who had great Masters that
Speaker 2: did work out for me. I thought that was something
Speaker 2: that like it would run on like a Tuesday or
Speaker 2: Wednesday and never again. Instead he ended up playing and
Speaker 2: like what the penultimate group on the weekend. But seeing
Speaker 2: Sam Bennett's mom on Friday at the Masters, that was
Speaker 2: the first time we'd actually spend time in person, Like
Speaker 2: I did that whole interview over zoom on camera because
Speaker 2: she had COVID and it was a whole thing and
Speaker 2: so seeing the impact that that had on her was
Speaker 2: kind of a great personal reminder.
Speaker 4: Of of how many people do read.
Speaker 2: Or do listen to us and and actually care what
Speaker 2: we do. So that was kind of personally satisfying. A
Speaker 2: couple other b a great story just in general, well.
Speaker 4: Thank you, and I would I would kind of package
Speaker 4: these other ones.
Speaker 2: I thought like one of the themes of the I'd
Speaker 2: be curious if you if you agree was was one
Speaker 2: of like personal satisfaction and you think of the examples
Speaker 2: of like Victor Hovelin overcoming a dire weakness in his
Speaker 2: game to become a complete player and arguably the best
Speaker 2: player in the world as we sit here on the
Speaker 2: November thirtieth a Brian Harmon, who this former phenom, this
Speaker 2: all everything, is a senior player.
Speaker 4: I mean, we got we got a big game on set.
Speaker 2: Let's let's be honest like like like like validating all
Speaker 2: the promise from from two decades ago and becoming a
Speaker 2: major champion and a dominant one at that at the
Speaker 2: age of thirty six, I thought.
Speaker 4: Was really cool.
Speaker 2: And then kind of like one of the I think
Speaker 2: defining moments for me was was Roy mcroy's Ryder Cup
Speaker 2: you know, we all remember the the tearful exit at
Speaker 2: Whistling Straights, feeling like he let himself down, feeling like
Speaker 2: he let his teammates down, all the turmoil and the
Speaker 2: tumultuous nature of golf over the past two years. And
Speaker 2: to see the impact that it had on him in
Speaker 2: some of the quiet moments when Europe won this past
Speaker 2: year at Marcos Simone, and to have his best Ryder
Speaker 2: Cup ever, to be the leading points getter for Europe,
Speaker 2: just to see the impact that that had on him
Speaker 2: personally and tears for different reason, you know, one of
Speaker 2: personal satisfaction.
Speaker 4: I thought that was one of the highlights for me
Speaker 4: at least in this job.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I think that's those Those are all
Speaker 1: great moments. I uh, something that made me trigger your
Speaker 1: Hobland comment. Right, So he becomes this great chipper and
Speaker 1: almost at the same time, when this player goes from
Speaker 1: having this glaring weakness to no weaknesses. Right now as
Speaker 1: we sit here today, it's like, wow, is he the
Speaker 1: best player in the world? Almost running parent like cross
Speaker 1: like two ships passing in the night? Is who we thought?
Speaker 1: Was this the best player in the world with no weaknesses,
Speaker 1: having like this giant, gaping hole in their game appear
Speaker 1: was Scottie Scheffler with the putter, and at the same time,
Speaker 1: like Hobland, like his arrival was at at the PGA. Really,
Speaker 1: I think that's where it was like, whoa this guy is.
Speaker 1: You know, he's getting better, he's doing it under the gun.
Speaker 1: Everybody kind of thought you're gonna see that he was
Speaker 1: like he was.
Speaker 2: He was second to last group of the Masters though too,
Speaker 2: like he had a hit a great master's performance as well.
Speaker 4: And then obviously the bunker.
Speaker 2: Happened at the PGA, but he was in the thick
Speaker 2: of everything like all year long.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and at that PGA Brooks comes out of
Speaker 1: like I just think like in general, it's like this
Speaker 1: what's beautiful about golf as is like it's on it's unconquerable,
Speaker 1: except for like the only person we've really seen conqueror
Speaker 1: as Tiger. Right. It's like these fa these these phases
Speaker 1: and it you know, you saw Brooks at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year on that full swing, just like I
Speaker 1: mean he went to Oman and he shot seventy four,
Speaker 1: seventy eight, and it's like, is this guy toast? And
Speaker 1: he comes back and he wins and it's like this
Speaker 1: this frigility, the fragile nature of the sport where it's
Speaker 1: like and then you see it all play out. Brooks
Speaker 1: comes back, Victor ascends Scotty. Like now it's like can
Speaker 1: he win? Can he win a major with the putter?
Speaker 1: Right eight? And like, honestly like something that it gets
Speaker 1: to me excited. I asked you to put together some
Speaker 1: things that you're excited about for twenty twenty three. I'm
Speaker 1: fascinated about the Xalatorus group. Stick like it like I am.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to watch the hero today because if
Speaker 1: Xalatorus has it becomes a plus putter. Is he the best.
Speaker 2: Player in the world, Like I'm I'm not gonna do
Speaker 2: your little silly game of predictions because I'm literally the
Speaker 2: worst at them possible.
Speaker 4: Rex was Rex was giving me grief this week.
Speaker 2: My player of the year for twenty twenty three at
Speaker 2: the beginning of the year was Xander Schoffle.
Speaker 4: He is currently winless.
Speaker 2: My breakout player, like a player is going to become
Speaker 2: a household name and just absolutely elevate to the next
Speaker 2: level was will Zalaturus. Like I thought he'd given himself
Speaker 2: enough time coming off the injury in the summer.
Speaker 4: Of twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: All my years are running together, and that obviously wasn't
Speaker 2: the case with his back giving out on the range
Speaker 2: of the gust and ashle like that's literally the worst
Speaker 2: pace possible.
Speaker 4: But like I think, I think Will.
Speaker 1: Could be You could say that I am.
Speaker 4: I've picked Sander.
Speaker 2: I've picked Xander to win a major, like every year
Speaker 2: since his breakout of the twenty seventeen US Open.
Speaker 4: Uh. And I sit here at the end of twenty
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three still waiting. Uh.
Speaker 2: Just just a fine point on Willsel tours. Like, I
Speaker 2: think he is a massive asset to the PGA Tour.
Speaker 2: I think he is incredibly talented. I think he's is
Speaker 2: incredibly intelligent. I think his golf course is is golf
Speaker 2: i q is absolutely off the charts. And if if
Speaker 2: this broomstick putter, the one that now has resurrected the
Speaker 2: career of Lucas Glover, it can if it can just
Speaker 2: turn Wills al tors as you say, into an above
Speaker 2: average putter, like I think that could unlocked, could un
Speaker 2: lock his greatness. And like Wills al Torris has has
Speaker 2: always been a great player, right, US Junior champion, multiple
Speaker 2: winner in college, put on a Walker Cup team, like
Speaker 2: he's he's done a lot in in just a very
Speaker 2: short window.
Speaker 4: You hope that his back is healthy.
Speaker 2: You hope that this can kind of get out some
Speaker 2: of the he b gbs from from inside four feet.
Speaker 4: Uh, there's no problem.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for a few though. The thing Ie, one
Speaker 1: of the things that I love about will Zeld Torris
Speaker 1: most is that he's got like he's got like a
Speaker 1: little bit of attitude like it is he has.
Speaker 4: There's a competitive there's a competitive arrogance.
Speaker 1: It is out of them, and it's like what you
Speaker 1: what you want from your best players. Like is like
Speaker 1: somebody that is like there is just supreme, supreme self
Speaker 1: belief in that man. And I think like that it
Speaker 1: comes out as like a little bit arrogant, and I
Speaker 1: think that is a delightful. It's what you want from
Speaker 1: your very best golfers. It is something like that Phil
Speaker 1: Nicholson has and spades, and what makes Phil Michelson so
Speaker 1: just uh interesting to listen to is that like there's
Speaker 1: this supreme confidence in real like arrogance about what they
Speaker 1: can do on a golf course, and I think that
Speaker 1: that Xel Tours has that. And if the putter, like
Speaker 1: he doesn't believe he's a bad putter with a regular
Speaker 1: putter right like he doesn't. It's a problem, which is like.
Speaker 2: Like it's like like in if you look at his
Speaker 2: major championship performance, like he actually does put better when
Speaker 2: the greens are harder, the greens are faster in the
Speaker 2: in the the greens are more undulating. His Major Championship
Speaker 2: performance on the greens is great. I think of will
Speaker 2: Zel torres Andy. I don't know if you view the
Speaker 2: same way as like an American version of John Rahm.
Speaker 2: John ram I would describe as competitively arrogant, but he's not.
Speaker 2: He's not disrespectful, he's not boastful on the golf course.
Speaker 2: But you know, when you see him on the golf course,
Speaker 2: he knows more than likely he is the best player
Speaker 2: inside the ropes that day he could hit all the shots.
Speaker 4: He's incredibly eloquent when.
Speaker 2: It comes to our job and kind of diagnosing the
Speaker 2: problems of of the day or talking about his round
Speaker 2: or future matters of the PGA Tour. Like I would
Speaker 2: put those guys on the same pedestal in terms of
Speaker 2: uh eloquence off the golf course and uh just incredibly
Speaker 2: uber talented.
Speaker 4: And also insightful inside the ropes.
Speaker 2: To me, they're they're they're virtual of the same makeup competitively.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that that is a huge
Speaker 1: boon for the PGA Tour to xal Torus back. I mean,
Speaker 1: like you get you get Tiger back for maybe one
Speaker 1: tournament a month, and you get will zal Torus back,
Speaker 1: and they they definitely are in a better spot than
Speaker 1: they were last year just from a product standpoint, because
Speaker 1: they are two supremely watchable players. And I mean, like
Speaker 1: it'll be it'll be really cool to see here. Like
Speaker 1: I think it breathed some life, Like you get hero
Speaker 1: going into December and then right out of it. I
Speaker 1: assume that what sale Tours is standing. Does he have
Speaker 1: does the medical get him into the signature events or
Speaker 1: is he going to be relying on the sponsored exemption?
Speaker 2: So there's another he's going to be relying on sponsor exempt,
Speaker 2: So he's not gonna be he's like he's like to
Speaker 2: be playing a capoloo. I think he said on Tuesday
Speaker 2: his first start is going to be at the American Express.
Speaker 1: So it's like, as soon as he's back going, it's like,
Speaker 1: is is this guy? I wonder like with the back?
Speaker 1: Did that? You know last year he was talking about
Speaker 1: swing changes right and how he was making some changes,
Speaker 1: and that's a little scary with like in terms of
Speaker 1: like what he was before, is that is that ball
Speaker 1: striking at the same level with what he needs to
Speaker 1: do to protect the back and then that putter right
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, then you might have you know,
Speaker 1: you're talking about uh. I think like last year going
Speaker 1: into the majors, like zeal tors is, like, where is
Speaker 1: he in terms of the packing order of favorites at
Speaker 1: a major and it's you know, rom Rory total in Scottie.
Speaker 1: It's not crazy to think that that will z l.
Speaker 1: Torris is right there with his major championship pedigree so far.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could make the case that will Zel
Speaker 2: Towrs is the more compelling watch this week at the
Speaker 2: Hero than Tiger.
Speaker 4: Like you know what you're going to get from Tiger.
Speaker 2: He's likely to be competitively rusty, having not played in
Speaker 2: seven months, but you also know he's going to hit
Speaker 2: enough shots and produce enough speed on enough dribes. They're like, well,
Speaker 2: like I could see him being competitive in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 2: But will zl Torris, who is itching and ready to go.
Speaker 2: He has admitted that he came back too quickly and
Speaker 2: wasn't one hundred percent healthy when he started in January.
Speaker 2: He said he cant at all the shots. He's shooting
Speaker 2: some super low numbers at home in Dallas. Like he's
Speaker 2: ready to go. I think he's he's curious to see
Speaker 2: how he's going to play this week. But no, so,
Speaker 2: no more serious than than you and I are to
Speaker 2: see what I believe is one of the best players
Speaker 2: on the PGA Tour finally go back at it full time?
Speaker 1: All right, laugh? What do you got coming up? What
Speaker 1: do you got to plug?
Speaker 4: Well, I was supposed to be. I mean, I'm just
Speaker 4: talking today.
Speaker 2: I want you to know that you've got to be
Speaker 2: very special to me to throw off my barbecue schedule
Speaker 2: that I was supposed to have. I was supposed to
Speaker 2: have a marathon smoking session on my workhorse. Offset has
Speaker 2: been derailed. We're now we're taping in this now mid morning.
Speaker 2: So I just want you to know how special you
Speaker 2: are that I would sacrifice that for you other than that,
Speaker 2: a bunch of stuff with Rex to close out the year,
Speaker 2: a bunch of year end stuff. I'll be covering at
Speaker 2: least a couple of days of PGA Tour Q school
Speaker 2: back in the old school days.
Speaker 4: Where all the all the dreamers and schemers can.
Speaker 2: Actually get their PGA Tour cards that week for Christmas. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Sawgrass Country Club and Dyes Valley across the street are
Speaker 2: going to be sharing duties.
Speaker 4: I think that's gonna be great.
Speaker 2: Like it's it's like those guys aren't going to have
Speaker 2: great status, but like it's still a cool story to
Speaker 2: think that if you shoot the numbers, like you could
Speaker 2: have a PGA Tour card, Like I think.
Speaker 4: I think like Eric.
Speaker 1: Cole this year, right, Like Eric Coles like should be
Speaker 1: the poster boy for everything. I mean this time last
Speaker 1: year he was playing Minor League Tour events, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: last year during PGA Tour schedule, he's playing Minor League
Speaker 1: Tour one thousand dollars still winter the tournaments and uh
Speaker 1: and now he's now he's in every signature event, right, I.
Speaker 2: Like, and like you think of how the you think
Speaker 2: of how the flow is going to go? Right in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four with the fullfield events, if you play
Speaker 2: well and there's a cutoff, and then you get promoted
Speaker 2: signature events. Like in theory, theoretically, a guy who earns
Speaker 2: their card at this PGA Tour Q school, who may
Speaker 2: have no status anywhere else, somehow parlays.
Speaker 4: That into a top fifty spot on the p J Tour.
Speaker 2: So that's that's something cool that we'll be looking forward
Speaker 2: to watching over these next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: I see the blackstone in the background. How much does
Speaker 1: that eat into like their standard grill? And and and
Speaker 1: do you have you found since you got that blackstone
Speaker 1: that you use your regular grill? Very little?
Speaker 4: That's grill's plural.
Speaker 2: I have five grills in the backyard and that's not
Speaker 2: to mention the other three that I keep in my
Speaker 2: in law's place. And so I have I have a
Speaker 2: blackstone brittle. So you're looking at you know, breakfast, smash burgers, fajitas.
Speaker 4: That sort of thing. Uh this direction.
Speaker 2: I have a pellet grill, I would like I would
Speaker 2: actually consider that more like my everyday grill than a blackstone.
Speaker 4: I have a drum.
Speaker 1: Smoke like grill. Is the every day grill.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a pellet grill. It's so like, I'm assuming
Speaker 2: you have a you have a gas grill.
Speaker 1: I've got a gas grill and a blackstone. I would
Speaker 1: love to get another, you know, get a smoker or something.
Speaker 2: I feel like I feel like, I feel like you
Speaker 2: gotta diversify your your grilling options and so like I
Speaker 2: always say that people do not get it a gas grill,
Speaker 2: Get a pellet grill. It essentially takes the same amount
Speaker 2: of time to heat up to your desired temperature, and
Speaker 2: it's just way more versatile. You could either grill steaks
Speaker 2: on it, or you can smoke a pork butt for
Speaker 2: twelve hours. So I would I would definitely invest in
Speaker 2: a good pellet grill. I also have a Gateway drum smoker.
Speaker 2: I have a PK charcoal grill.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: And I have a workhorse offset that's a stick burner.
Speaker 4: That you literally feed with with wood splits. And that's
Speaker 4: just that's just here. I got three more the I
Speaker 4: got three more in loss house.
Speaker 1: That's just just a man and his grilled It's aspirational.
Speaker 1: Your after kitchen is aspirational.
Speaker 2: I mean to me, it's it's therapeutic. This is like
Speaker 2: I live in Ponta Vidra. This is one of them.
Speaker 5: Live.
Speaker 4: I live in Nakty.
Speaker 2: I live in nays Like this is one of the
Speaker 2: six months that you actually want to be outside. I
Speaker 2: was actually thinking when you when you mentioned earlier in
Speaker 2: the podcast of having like these city teams that that
Speaker 2: that you can that you can brand and you can
Speaker 2: have different owners of Like how about a knockety team,
Speaker 2: how about a nackaty team.
Speaker 4: How about how about Tyler Duncans.
Speaker 1: Like the Jupiter team. You got San Francisco, l A, Boston,
Speaker 1: New York, Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I could I could be, like I could be like
Speaker 2: the general manager of this team. It could be Tyler Duncan,
Speaker 2: hank Ley Biota, Adam shank lives here at least part time.
Speaker 2: I could I could be I could be the GM,
Speaker 2: and we could we could we could be tearing up
Speaker 2: the hot stove season.
Speaker 4: Who knows, that's.
Speaker 1: Uh you know. I I'd like the team of of
Speaker 1: of golfers that don't live in uh Panavidra, Jupiter or
Speaker 1: or Scottsdale or Dallas, like the team of like people
Speaker 1: that live in other places. Like obviously Leishman would have
Speaker 1: been like the All Star with the Virginia Beach, you
Speaker 1: know selection but that Yeah, like no Sea Highland right
Speaker 1: like you just like you make this team of of
Speaker 1: golfers who live in just weird places.
Speaker 2: DJ Pie is like the is like the GM of
Speaker 2: the Milwaukee the Milwaukee team.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like I think I think we I think we
Speaker 4: would just love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So all right, thanks lev And people can follow
Speaker 1: your work obviously you're you're on Twitter, but the Golf
Speaker 1: Channel dot com. It's an easy spot to find and
Speaker 1: listen to the Rex and Lab Show.
Speaker 2: Enjoyed it, Andy, Always a pleasure being with you and
Speaker 2: look forward to doing again in the new year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll see you. I'll see you probably at the Masters.
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe maybe Riviera.
Speaker 2: You can be at riv I will be at riv
Speaker 2: I look forward to seeing your entry in the Master's Troop.
Speaker 4: I know that'll get me excited for the twenty twenty
Speaker 4: four edition.
Speaker 5: All right, see you, see you, see you in La.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to another edition of the Friday
Speaker 1: Golf Podcast. Today's episode was edited and produced by Matt Ruschis.
Speaker 1: Thank you Matt. As a quick reminder, check out Club TFE.
Speaker 1: This is an awesome gift if you have a friend
Speaker 1: that's like really into golf, this is a great gift.
Speaker 1: What we just put up this week, we put up
Speaker 1: our November monthly member video. It was Angela Moser talking
Speaker 1: about the new Pinehurst number ten.
Speaker 3: It was a really beautiful video. It was shot and.
Speaker 1: Edited and put together by Cameron heard us from our team.
Speaker 1: We recorded it while we were down at Pinehurst a
Speaker 1: couple couple weeks ago getting ready for next year's US Open,
Speaker 1: and we also got a chance to go out and
Speaker 1: play pineher s number ten. That place is gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1: But this was a beautiful video. Camera did a great
Speaker 1: job on it. And Angela Moser is a rising start
Speaker 1: in the golf architecture space and it was really fun
Speaker 1: to hear her talk about the project that she's been
Speaker 1: the lead associate on.
Speaker 3: So go check that out.
Speaker 1: Join Club TF and if you're looking for like a
Speaker 1: gift for one of your golf go friends. Club TF
Speaker 1: is an awesome gift. So thank you guys, and we'll
Speaker 1: be back next week with another edition of the Friday
Speaker 1: Golf Podcast.