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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 2: Mike One, thank you so much for joining us. The

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Speaker 2: timing could not be better, so just put us in

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Speaker 2: your position. Where were you when you learned the big

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Speaker 2: news of the merger between PGA Tour and Live Golf.

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Speaker 2: What was your first reaction?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, we're a week out from the

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Speaker 3: US Open at LA Country Club. So I was in

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Speaker 3: a critical path meeting with about twenty employees ghost going

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Speaker 3: through every department in our readiness for next week when

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Speaker 3: we bring the world to LA and somebody from our

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Speaker 3: PR department walked in and said, you know, hate to

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Speaker 3: interrupt you in the middle of this, but I need

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Speaker 3: you to read something real quick. And then as I

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Speaker 3: was reading it, I got a call from j Monahan

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Speaker 3: at the PGA Tour. Couldn't take it because I had

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Speaker 3: twenty five people in the room, but it was a surprise.

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Speaker 3: I think like everybody else in the golf world, we

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Speaker 3: were surprised by the news. And if this proposed consolidation

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Speaker 3: can resolve these conflicts and get the world of golf

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Speaker 3: back focused on the opportunities and the growth that exists

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Speaker 3: for the game, then that's an important step. Mike.

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Speaker 1: I think you just hit the nail on the head here.

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Speaker 1: You just said the world of golf. I mean this

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Speaker 1: is now global, right. I mean that's the beauty of

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Speaker 1: this deal if it actually does indeed go through, right.

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Speaker 1: I mean the fact that we now have global sponsorship

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Speaker 1: here at the PGA. You know, we're going to take

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Speaker 1: this thing across the world in whatever shape or form

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Speaker 1: it chooses to, you know, kind of manifest itself in.

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Speaker 1: But there's gonna be a lot of unhappy people here,

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Speaker 1: I imagine as well. I wonder as we head into

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Speaker 1: you know, the US Open and obviously twenty eight years

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Speaker 1: since we've been in you know, the Los Angeles area

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Speaker 1: with a major you know, what do you think is

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Speaker 1: going to be the vibe surrounding the event?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean the game of golf is global, even

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Speaker 3: if everybody in America doesn't really understand that. I came

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Speaker 3: here after twelve years as the LPGA commissioner, where you know,

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Speaker 3: when we played in seventeen countries a year and televised

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Speaker 3: one hundred ninety countries. I mean here I game with

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Speaker 3: the US Open this year we had almost ten two

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Speaker 3: hundred people entered to try to play in the US Open,

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Speaker 3: and they came from We had entries from all fifty states,

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico District of Columbia, but also eighty seven other countries.

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Speaker 3: So not just viewership, you know, they'll watch the US

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Speaker 3: Open in one hundred and ninety countries, but even in

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Speaker 3: terms of participants trying to play their way in, I

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Speaker 3: mean they literally come from all over the world. So

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Speaker 3: that's an exciting time for the game. I mean, not

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Speaker 3: only has the growth exploded in America over the last

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Speaker 3: four or five years, but it's really exploded globally. And

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Speaker 3: the best thing I can tell you about the game

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Speaker 3: right now is it's never been more female, it's never

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Speaker 3: been more junior, and it's never had more people of color.

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Speaker 3: So if you'd asked me five years ago, if you

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Speaker 3: could have your druthers, you know, how much would the

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Speaker 3: game grow? I wouldn't have guessed this much. And then

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Speaker 3: if you said, how about if all that growth was

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Speaker 3: driven by women, junior and people of color, I would

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Speaker 3: have said that's you know, we're now we're dreaming too big.

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Speaker 3: And both of those things have come true.

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Speaker 2: I know that it's still early days and we still

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Speaker 2: don't know all the details of this combined company that

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Speaker 2: will be formed between the PGA Tour and Live Golf.

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Speaker 2: But given that you brought up development, what about the

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Speaker 2: pipeline of golf players? Does this mean that Saudi Arabia

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Speaker 2: would play a role in funding development of future talent?

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Speaker 3: I think I think everybody has taken, and myself included.

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Speaker 3: You can't help it. You read this and you start

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Speaker 3: trying to figure out all the all the stuff we

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Speaker 3: don't know, and so exactly what this means in terms

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Speaker 3: of who's in charge of what I think is uh

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Speaker 3: is a lot to be uncovered. So I'm gonna I'm

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Speaker 3: gonna wait like the rest and kind of figure that out.

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Speaker 3: But I think I think people read this and they say, Okay,

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Speaker 3: Saudi's in charge of this. So maybe the PGA Tour

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Speaker 3: is in charge of this. But I think I think

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Speaker 3: a lot of that will come out in the detail.

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Speaker 3: And I'm not smart enough at this point to kind

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Speaker 3: of fill you in on that.

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Speaker 2: That's a very politic answer, and I appreciate your your

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Speaker 2: giving us your your take on it or non take.

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Speaker 2: At this point, you know, in trying to figure out

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Speaker 2: who comes out ahead or who wins out of this

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Speaker 2: it's hard not to see Live as coming out on top.

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Speaker 2: Was the PGA kind of pushed into doing this?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, Scarlett, I don't know if you're

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Speaker 3: if you're comments writer or not. I mean currently, if

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Speaker 3: you think about Live, it's a it's a golf tour

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Speaker 3: that has about a billion dollars of expenses and and

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Speaker 3: very little, if any revenue. Yeah and so and nobody

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Speaker 3: nobody really concerned about that, because as long as the

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Speaker 3: Saudi Fund wanted to keep funding it bottomless podcasts, we

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Speaker 3: keep funding it. If this turns into the business that

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Speaker 3: I read about in the release, where you really have

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Speaker 3: a business, an investment, and a and a and a

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Speaker 3: planned and anticipated rate of return on that investment, you

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Speaker 3: have to look at you have to look at every

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Speaker 3: asset in the portfolio. Would say, is this one returning?

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Speaker 3: You know returning? So time will tell. But I the

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Speaker 3: other side of me reads that and says, you know,

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Speaker 3: if I was sitting on a tour that had no

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Speaker 3: revenue and a billion dollars of expenses and now there's

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Speaker 3: a joint group owning that, would I feel more or

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Speaker 3: less enthused about my future? I'm not sure what the

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Speaker 3: answer to that is, but I think those are questions

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Speaker 3: that aren't getting asked as well.

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Speaker 1: Well, Mike. One thing we do know for sure, and

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Speaker 1: there's gonna be plenty of content for the Longest Drive

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Speaker 1: on Netflix this season. No but but no seriousness. You know,

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Speaker 1: prior to your role here CEO of the USGA, you

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Speaker 1: were you were the commissioner of the LPGA, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I'd love to talk about, you know, Nelly Corter,

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Speaker 1: the new alpha in female golf. But you know, you

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Speaker 1: have to kind of think about this, you know, this

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Speaker 1: potential merger between between Live and the PGA. You know,

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Speaker 1: what do you think that means for women's golf.

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know if women's golf is

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Speaker 3: on the is on the horizon for that group or not.

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Speaker 3: I mean I can tell you that as the commissioner

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Speaker 3: of the LPGA, I've always said in my twelve years,

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Speaker 3: almost every major breakthrough we had came at the hands

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Speaker 3: of a partner that had more resources and a bigger

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Speaker 3: vision than we could add. Whether that was that was

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Speaker 3: adding a women's PGA Championship as a major, whether that

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Speaker 3: was getting the RNA to take back over the Women's

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Speaker 3: British Open, and take it to new levels. And so

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Speaker 3: these bigger entities, in many cases men's golf entities getting

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Speaker 3: more involved in the women's game tended to always have

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Speaker 3: a really big lift for the women's game. Whether or

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Speaker 3: not this one will as well, I don't know. I mean,

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Speaker 3: at this point there hasn't been a lot of involvement

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Speaker 3: on either of those parties on the on the women's side,

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Speaker 3: but certainly be exciting if it could, because the resources

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Speaker 3: that they could bring would be really would be really

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Speaker 3: dramatic and a difference maker in the women's game.

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Speaker 1: You know, Mike, I really appreciate your Candidas there. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is about the economics, right, I mean, golf is

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Speaker 1: not an expensive sport to play to be a part of.

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Speaker 1: You know. One of the things that you know, I've

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Speaker 1: heard about this roll up is you know that they're

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Speaker 1: going to try and make golf more accessible to those

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Speaker 1: that really can't access it, you know, and that would

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Speaker 1: be a wonderful thing if this actually is able to

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Speaker 1: do that, right. I mean, but you know, now that

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Speaker 1: we're on the economics and the US opens right around

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Speaker 1: the corner, you really think John Rahm's got it in him.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you've got Shuffler and Rahm at

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Speaker 1: plus eight hundred to win it all. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: you've got Rory Meckroroy, who can't be happy right now

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Speaker 1: right behind him, you know, and Brooks Kapka obviously. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I mean, god, I mean, the storylines are going to

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Speaker 1: be unbelievable. You know, what do you think thoughts going in?

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Speaker 1: How's the Los Angeles Country Coup playing? What can we expect?

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Speaker 3: Well, then the fun thing for us is we haven't

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Speaker 3: been to LA for seventy five years for a US Open,

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Speaker 3: So it's amazing that we haven't. But bringing the US

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Speaker 3: Open back to LA and the excitement that's been built

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Speaker 3: up there is through the roof. So for all these players,

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Speaker 3: they may have played LA Country Club in their in

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Speaker 3: their lifetime, they've never played a major championship at it

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Speaker 3: because there hasn't been one. It hasn't been one there

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Speaker 3: for a long time. Some of them might have been

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Speaker 3: lucky enough to play in a USGA Walker Cup two

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Speaker 3: years back, but so most are going to be walking

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Speaker 3: on that golf course either for the first time or

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Speaker 3: for the first time in a major championship setting. So

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Speaker 3: this is very different than where they might be walking

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Speaker 3: on the pebble at Pinehurst or Oakmont and some of

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Speaker 3: what they would consider more of the regular stops from

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Speaker 3: a US Open perspective. So this is this is going

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Speaker 3: to be an unveiling and I think it's going to

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Speaker 3: be great for the for the worldwide audience. LA Country

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Speaker 3: Club is, you know, starting in eighteen ninety seven, so

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Speaker 3: it's really a year year or two after the USDA

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Speaker 3: got started. So this venue has been around a long

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Speaker 3: time and it's an incredible risk reward venue, meaning you'll

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Speaker 3: finish one of the most difficult holes you've ever played

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Speaker 3: in golf and be followed by one of the greatest

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Speaker 3: opportunities to really score great on all It's really back

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Speaker 3: and forth. Somebody told me the other day, what's the

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Speaker 3: hardest part about holding a US Open there? And I said,

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Speaker 3: the what we call standard bearers, the little guy that

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Speaker 3: walks behind the group and changes the score, because the

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Speaker 3: scores are going to change from each player virtually every hole.

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Speaker 3: So it's going to be If you think it's going

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Speaker 3: to be one of those championships where nothing ever changes, that,

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Speaker 3: then buckle up, because this US Open at LACC is

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Speaker 3: going to be filled with risk reward drivable par fours,

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Speaker 3: you know, followed by two hundred and sixty yard par threes.

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Speaker 3: It's really going to be a combination of having to

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Speaker 3: really hold on on some holes and really try to

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Speaker 3: trying to go low and when the opportunity exists.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to jump on what you said

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Speaker 2: about changes and how that's going to be a part

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Speaker 2: of the sport now, especially, I believe in twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 2: when this new combined company really gets going. Liv slogan

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Speaker 2: is golf. But louder, I know that there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of unknowns. But I'm curious, from your point of view,

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Speaker 2: should that idea, should that vibe be part of the

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Speaker 2: new combined company. How should the game of golf adapt

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Speaker 2: to incorporate some of the elements that live really presented

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Speaker 2: to people, you know, a shorter game three days instead

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Speaker 2: of four days, fifty four holes, that kind of thing.

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Speaker 3: Well, it said from the beginning. I mean, golf's a great,

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Speaker 3: big game, and there's room for all kinds of formats.

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Speaker 3: You know. What wasn't really helpful is really kind of

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Speaker 3: divisive conflicts at the highest level. I mean, we were

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Speaker 3: spending I've said this many times. But in the middle

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Speaker 3: of golf's greatest boom, I mean really, in one hundred years,

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Speaker 3: golf's greatest growth boom, we were spending ninety percent of

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Speaker 3: our time talking about the conflict between a few about

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Speaker 3: four hundred people. And that's okay, I mean, you know,

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Speaker 3: those people had choices to make in terms of where

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Speaker 3: to play. But while that was going on, we were

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Speaker 3: leaving no watching in the room to talk about more

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Speaker 3: juniors than ever before, more women than ever before, more

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Speaker 3: people playing the golf course off a golf course, at

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Speaker 3: top golfs and driving ranges than ever before, more more

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Speaker 3: people playing the game outside the US and inside the

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Speaker 3: US in the last couple hundred years. So it's it's

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Speaker 3: been an amazing, you know, amazing run in terms of

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Speaker 3: the sport. But unfortunately, a conflict that the very highest

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Speaker 3: couple hundred, right, is all we really seem to talk about. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: we're probably gonna talk it seems like we're gonna be

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Speaker 3: talking about it.

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Speaker 2: No, no, I hear what you're saying. But at the

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Speaker 2: same time, the innovations.

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Speaker 3: That live, so maybe we can get back to the game, right, But.

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Speaker 2: The innovations that live really put out there and made

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Speaker 2: part of its product is something that maybe the PGA

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Speaker 2: Tour can incorporate, should it.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, you know, I'm not really sure, to

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Speaker 3: be honest with you, because, like you, I mean, I've

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Speaker 3: read it, but I'm not sure, you know, will the

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Speaker 3: PGA Tour be operating live? Will will it be some

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Speaker 3: sort of combination? But I do think that there. I

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Speaker 3: do think that in all likelihood a year from now,

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Speaker 3: they'll still be They'll still be professional tours as we

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Speaker 3: know them, and there may be there may still be

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Speaker 3: you know, live team oriented sports that are that are

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Speaker 3: slightly different formats. I'm not sure that's I'm not sure

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Speaker 3: that's ever been a bad thing, as long as it

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Speaker 3: wasn't a constant conflict.

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Speaker 2: I just want to know, Damian, whether the Chainsmokers are

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Speaker 2: going to be, you know, at the at these tournaments.

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Speaker 1: Right throwing beer, throwing beer cans down into the field

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Speaker 1: when somebody gets a home campaign he kept, his brother

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Speaker 1: gets home.

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Speaker 3: You know, if you've ever been to the waste management

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Speaker 3: in Phoenix, you have about that.

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Speaker 2: That's true, that's not.

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Speaker 3: Just that's not just a live thing, that's right.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, Mike, one thing I do want to

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Speaker 1: say here, and it's it's it's not live related at all.

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Speaker 1: It's it's more about some of the changes that you

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Speaker 1: know the game is potentially going to have to make,

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Speaker 1: because my god, these players are just so incredible. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the fact that they can golf, that they can drive

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Speaker 1: the ball three hundred and fifty yards, and and and

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Speaker 1: I mean one of the things that I think you've

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Speaker 1: been sort of an advocate of, or the USGA has

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Speaker 1: been an advocate of, is a potential golf ball rollback, right,

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Speaker 1: creating new rules to make the ball travel shorter distances,

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Speaker 1: I believe. So I wonder if you could just comment

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Speaker 1: briefly on that. Is that something that you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: the USGA is supportive of, or is it more just

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Speaker 1: about you know, making the courses that much more challenging

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Speaker 1: in order to contend with you know, today's golfer.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So, I think a lot of your listeners may

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Speaker 3: or may not know, but the the USGA, combined with

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Speaker 3: the RNA, we've been we've been putting product conformity rules

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Speaker 3: in place for for over eighty years. So I mean,

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Speaker 3: we've we test five thousand pieces of equipment a year.

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Speaker 3: We decide what's you know, what's conforming within the rules

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Speaker 3: of golf. So and with regards to distance, whether it's

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Speaker 3: golf balls, golf clubs, that's something we really look at

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Speaker 3: all the time. And the last time we made a

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Speaker 3: significant change in sort of golf ball regulations two thousand

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Speaker 3: and four, and if I was being honest, between two

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Speaker 3: thousand and four and maybe twenty twelve, distance state it's

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Speaker 3: fairly flat at the highest level. It's not just the

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Speaker 3: PGA Tour, but i'd say elite men's golf across the

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Speaker 3: board since twenty thirteen till now. It's it's it's on

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Speaker 3: a path on a new slope that we haven't seen

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Speaker 3: in a while in terms of growth. And that's you know,

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Speaker 3: you can see that yourself. That's athleticism. That's what they

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Speaker 3: call speed training and golf and everyone trying to figure

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Speaker 3: out how can I play at a higher speed, I mean,

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Speaker 3: how can I swing the club faster and still be

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Speaker 3: in control enough to compete at high levels. And that's

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Speaker 3: really become kind of an art form, and that art

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Speaker 3: form has resulted in significantly longer distances, not just on

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Speaker 3: the PGA Tour, the VP World Tour Live or anywhere else,

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Speaker 3: but really across all high end eleait golf, and it's exciting,

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Speaker 3: it's fun, and at the same time, golf courses are

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Speaker 3: feeling the constant pressure to respond to that distance. And

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Speaker 3: respond to that distance means more land, more yardage, more manicuring,

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Speaker 3: more water, all things that for the long term sustainability

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Speaker 3: of the sport. We don't want to be viewed as

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Speaker 3: a bad land tenant. So we just need to make

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Speaker 3: sure that we don't get so excited about said this

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Speaker 3: many times. You know, baseball, football, basketball, you picked the

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Speaker 3: sport they typically don't. You know, they don't ask the

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Speaker 3: stadiums to get bigger, you know, because the athletes have

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Speaker 3: gotten stronger. I mean, there's a reason why the NFL

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Speaker 3: football that Tom Brady threw is a little bit larger

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Speaker 3: than the one he through in college, and that one

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Speaker 3: was a little bit large they through in high school,

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Speaker 3: all to make sure one hundred yards was still relevant.

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Speaker 2: Mike, as we get ready to wrap up this conversation,

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Speaker 2: I know that there's still a lot of unknowns. What's

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Speaker 2: the biggest question you're curious about getting answered in the

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Speaker 2: next I know, hopefully next couple of days. What do

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Speaker 2: you want to know about when it comes to this

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Speaker 2: unexpected development you're talking about.

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Speaker 3: On the on the announced merger today. M hm. Who

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Speaker 3: who is running the professional tours that have come together?

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Speaker 3: So PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Live Tour, Asian Tour.

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Speaker 3: Who's in charge?

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Speaker 1: Such a great I mean, that's the answer, isn't it? Right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? The question mark right now.

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Speaker 1: I mean that is the question market.

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Speaker 2: We don't even know the name of the company.

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Speaker 1: It's an unbelievable time, it really is.

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Speaker 3: Well.

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Speaker 1: I mean, look, you know, Jay Moon has got his

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Speaker 1: work cut out for him just in convincing the rest

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Speaker 1: of the world that this is the right move. But

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Speaker 1: my goodness, I mean, if this can get you know,

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Speaker 1: golf global and bring the game to more people, I

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Speaker 1: mean I think I think it'll be a huge success.

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Speaker 1: Mike Wan, Chief executive Officer, US Golf Association, thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for joining us here today ahead of you know,

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Speaker 1: next week's US Open.

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Speaker 3: All right, Carling dam it, have a good day.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. H m hm