2026 PGA Tour State of the Union with Trevor Immelman

<v Speaker 1>I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When
<v Speaker 1>I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
<v Speaker 1>And when I find my.
<v Speaker 2>Ball in a fried Egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida
<v Speaker 2>Egg Friday Fridagg.
<v Speaker 3>Brian Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of
<v Speaker 3>the up course.
<v Speaker 2>Welcome back to the Frida Egg Podcast. I am your host,
<v Speaker 2>Andy Johnson. Today I am joined by a Master's champion,
<v Speaker 2>CBS's lead analyst, chairman of the ow g R Board,
<v Speaker 2>Trevor a moment Uh. This is always fun to chat
<v Speaker 2>with Trevor. He'll be back on this year regularly after
<v Speaker 2>majors uh. And it is always just a pleasure to
<v Speaker 2>check golf with such a marvelous golf mind. So we
<v Speaker 2>chopped it up last week. Full disclosure, this was before
<v Speaker 2>the OWGR announcement that Live Golf would be getting OWGR
<v Speaker 2>points for its top ten finishers. So that's the announcement,
<v Speaker 2>you know. To be completely honest, I don't know how
<v Speaker 2>much Trevor and I would have talked about this if
<v Speaker 2>we had waited. We talked about maybe waiting understanding that
<v Speaker 2>the announcement was coming soon, but I think this worked
<v Speaker 2>out better We talked just kind of about the upcoming
<v Speaker 2>golf season and it was really fun. Obviously, they had
<v Speaker 2>their first telecast at Tory Pines and it'll be We
<v Speaker 2>talked a little bit about the new CBS kind of
<v Speaker 2>configuration of personalities as well as Johnson Wagner coming on
<v Speaker 2>and then the golf. So I hope you guys enjoy
<v Speaker 2>this is always big. Thanks to Trevor for the time.
<v Speaker 2>And before we get to Trevor, let's talk about our partner, Mobjack.
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<v Speaker 2>to Trevor a moment, all right, Trevor, Uh, you are back.
<v Speaker 2>You're back at the saddle. I gotta ask. A couple
<v Speaker 2>of weeks ago, I had had a you know, three
<v Speaker 2>week break from podcasting. The first the first podcast back,
<v Speaker 2>I felt rusty. I felt like I was a little
<v Speaker 2>bit uncomfortable. Are you little nervous about getting back in
<v Speaker 2>the booth?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Absolutely, I definitely am. You know, there's so many
<v Speaker 3>things that you're kind of running through your mind. And obviously,
<v Speaker 3>you know the job that I'm in is mainly reactionary,
<v Speaker 3>but there are some things that you know that are
<v Speaker 3>going to happen, so you try and get your thoughts
<v Speaker 3>around that, particularly the opening of shows. I would say
<v Speaker 3>the first segment of a show is fairly structured and
<v Speaker 3>there is some sort of outline. But like I said,
<v Speaker 3>you know, it's live sport and reactionary. So if we
<v Speaker 3>come on the air and fifteen seconds later Scottie Scheffler
<v Speaker 3>makes a hold in one or chips in for eagle
<v Speaker 3>or something like that, obviously we'd jump right there and
<v Speaker 3>you get into that. But I'm a little nervous for sure.
<v Speaker 3>It's been a long while since I called any action.
<v Speaker 3>In August of last year at the Windham Championship was
<v Speaker 3>our last golf event on CBS, and so we kick
<v Speaker 3>it off here at the Farmers this week. The thing
<v Speaker 3>that I keep going back to actually have the golf
<v Speaker 3>on the background, you're trying to keep track of it.
<v Speaker 3>But the thing that I always go back to is
<v Speaker 3>just relax. You're sitting next to Jim Nantz, so you're
<v Speaker 3>probably gonna be fine.
<v Speaker 1>I was gonna say.
<v Speaker 2>One of the other dynamics here is you've had a
<v Speaker 2>nice break and Nance is coming in off of football season,
<v Speaker 2>throwing ninety nine, hitting ninety nine on the radar from
<v Speaker 2>being like, you know, just dialed in from football.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like you've got a break.
<v Speaker 2>But your co host, you know, you're you know that
<v Speaker 2>not co host, but your partner in the booth is
<v Speaker 2>coming in, you know, Peyton the black and and, and
<v Speaker 2>it's really dialed in. I'm gonna you know, this is
<v Speaker 2>just a curious question here. Obviously, you know, your first
<v Speaker 2>week back on tour, you know you've got a bunch
<v Speaker 2>of fresh faces. I was, you know, I was watching
<v Speaker 2>golf this morning. I think a lot of the golfs
<v Speaker 2>that goes this is Thursday. We're recording this Thursday afternoon.
<v Speaker 2>You know, Brooks Kopka comes back.
<v Speaker 3>It.
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's a big, you know, reason for everybody
<v Speaker 2>turn on the golf today. But you know, you look
<v Speaker 2>at I was looking through the leaderboard. You know, there's
<v Speaker 2>a bunch of new names. What what does your prep
<v Speaker 2>look like to acquaint yourself with the new faces on
<v Speaker 2>tour when you're getting ready to get back calling golf like,
<v Speaker 2>how do you learn the new people on tour learn.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, you know, I pretty
<v Speaker 3>much just try and stay on top of it at
<v Speaker 3>all times. One of the ways I do that is
<v Speaker 3>I listened to the Shotgun Start and the Friday Egg,
<v Speaker 3>so I keep up with what's going on.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if that's a good idea.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, you guys lead me astray many times,
<v Speaker 3>but for the most part, it allows me to have
<v Speaker 3>like a loose understanding of what's going on. Reading articles
<v Speaker 3>and you know, listening to other podcasts. Got a bunch
<v Speaker 3>of people that researchers that send me stuff as well,
<v Speaker 3>so I'm up to date on everything that's going on.
<v Speaker 3>But really, the beauty about my job Andy with CBS
<v Speaker 3>is we for the most part, only cover Saturdays and Sundays.
<v Speaker 3>So this week is a little different because it's my
<v Speaker 3>first week. So I've come out here early. I got
<v Speaker 3>in on Wednesday night. That's I would call it abnormal.
<v Speaker 3>Ordinarily for me, what I would do is I would
<v Speaker 3>fly Friday morning first thing, spend the majority of Friday
<v Speaker 3>on site at the golf course, just getting a feel
<v Speaker 3>for it, picking up any nuggets that I can and
<v Speaker 3>Thursday out to watch the golf at home. Friday afternoon,
<v Speaker 3>I'll watch the golf in the hotel, and whilst I'm
<v Speaker 3>watching the Friday afternoon coverage, I will prepare for like
<v Speaker 3>the top twenty on the Leader book. So you know,
<v Speaker 3>the beauty about only working Saturday and Sunday is you know,
<v Speaker 3>we know the majority of the players that are going
<v Speaker 3>to be on our coverage. Now. Look, every now and
<v Speaker 3>then somebody goes out and Bertie's you know, five of
<v Speaker 3>the first seven holes or something like that, and jumps
<v Speaker 3>up and you may need to get some nuggets or
<v Speaker 3>some info on that player. But for the most part,
<v Speaker 3>I know who's going to be in our coverage and
<v Speaker 3>who we're going to be focusing on, and so I
<v Speaker 3>just dial all of that up and understand as much
<v Speaker 3>as I can. And we've got a great team behind us.
<v Speaker 3>And I got a great researcher by the name of
<v Speaker 3>Josh Pick that sits next to me during the shows.
<v Speaker 3>Just because I love him so much, I'm going to
<v Speaker 3>give him that shout out, but he's extremely helpful to me.
<v Speaker 3>He has a direct line into my ear and so
<v Speaker 3>while the action is going him and I can have
<v Speaker 3>conversations and he can feed stuff to me at any moment.
<v Speaker 3>So him along with the producer that can talk to
<v Speaker 3>me at any moment. I'm listening to all the other announcers.
<v Speaker 3>There's a lot going on, but I find it kind
<v Speaker 3>of exhilarating, to be honest. It's it's something I thoroughly enjoy.
<v Speaker 2>The one time I call the live golf event. I
<v Speaker 2>think I struggled the most with somebody being in my
<v Speaker 2>ear while I'm talking, you know, like the idea of
<v Speaker 2>losing my dream of thought because somebody's telling me something different.
<v Speaker 2>I of course cannot do two things at once. That
<v Speaker 2>is something I cannot do as a human being. Is
<v Speaker 2>that something that was a big hurdle for you with
<v Speaker 2>like the idea of having somebody in your ear and
<v Speaker 2>like they talk to you while you're talking.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's absolutely something you've got to get used to
<v Speaker 3>and get comfortable with. You know. You see from a
<v Speaker 3>lot of people that haven't done much TV, they actually
<v Speaker 3>start saying what the producer is telling them in their ear,
<v Speaker 3>and so that's where it kind of can get humorous
<v Speaker 3>and you can see that somebody is struggling. But one
<v Speaker 3>of the things I learned from from Nance is never
<v Speaker 3>to be in a rush and to take your time
<v Speaker 3>and you know, use the opportunity of when to make
<v Speaker 3>the correct pause to take in the information and then
<v Speaker 3>go ahead and share your thought with the audience. So
<v Speaker 3>there's many ways to get around it. But at the
<v Speaker 3>end of the day, if you feel like you're on
<v Speaker 3>the right track with something and a point you're trying
<v Speaker 3>to make, or something that you just observed or noticed,
<v Speaker 3>just go with it. You know. At that point I
<v Speaker 3>kind of tune it out unless it's extremely important. And also,
<v Speaker 3>the producer is such a massive, massive part of the show,
<v Speaker 3>I mean steering the ship, and you start to create
<v Speaker 3>such a great relationship with the producer as a sealer Shy,
<v Speaker 3>he's one of the best in all of sport. He's
<v Speaker 3>got a ton of experience. He's been with CBS for decades,
<v Speaker 3>and he he kind of knows if it's if it's
<v Speaker 3>something that can wait, he'll wait before telling me. You know,
<v Speaker 3>if it's something that he really needs to help me
<v Speaker 3>out with or something that I urgently need to know,
<v Speaker 3>then he'll go ahead and start talking to me while
<v Speaker 3>I'm talking. But the skill of the producer and the
<v Speaker 3>director is a massive part to putting on a great broadcast.
<v Speaker 1>You guys are adding to your team this year.
<v Speaker 2>Big news in the off season with Johnson Wagner, who
<v Speaker 2>you know, he could make quite a name for himself
<v Speaker 2>over on Live from with I Love Johnson. You know,
<v Speaker 2>you know he would go out and do these ridiculous things.
<v Speaker 2>My favorite was when he was pelting golf balls in
<v Speaker 2>a bank to show you know where something might go.
<v Speaker 2>I asked him, yeah, at the players, what if Rory
<v Speaker 2>hitded over near the in the water?
<v Speaker 1>You know?
<v Speaker 2>I remember asking like, you know, what do you think
<v Speaker 2>you hit on the radar on on on those throws?
<v Speaker 2>And he said, I think I got to like I
<v Speaker 2>touched seventy one seventy two on one of those. But
<v Speaker 2>I'm curious, U, how is it adding someone in? I
<v Speaker 2>think something that I've admired as someone who watches golf
<v Speaker 2>every week, I think, like, what one thing that I've
<v Speaker 2>kind of thought about the CBS crews, It seems like
<v Speaker 2>you genuinely like each other and you guys kind of
<v Speaker 2>have a chemistry about you. What's it like adding Johnson
<v Speaker 2>into the team and where how do you how do
<v Speaker 2>you foresee him fitting in with the dynamic of the
<v Speaker 2>long standing people that you guys have, like obviously Amanda
<v Speaker 2>and Colt and and Dottie, And how do you see
<v Speaker 2>him fitting in there?
<v Speaker 3>I think he's going to be great. You know. We
<v Speaker 3>we feel like we had a home run at CBS
<v Speaker 3>getting him to join out team. And I think you
<v Speaker 3>touched on what for us is priority number one and
<v Speaker 3>the most important thing is team chemistry. And I think
<v Speaker 3>we see every possible addition to our team through that
<v Speaker 3>lens first, which is how is this person going to
<v Speaker 3>fit in? Is it going to disrupt the chemistry amongst
<v Speaker 3>the team? And you know, we've we've thoroughly enjoyed getting
<v Speaker 3>to know Johnson, and I mean from a broadcast standpoint
<v Speaker 3>when he started doing some early coverage work for Golf
<v Speaker 3>Channel last year, so we would hang around him earlier
<v Speaker 3>in the week and get to see him before the
<v Speaker 3>weekend shows, and so we understood the process that he
<v Speaker 3>would go through to get ready for the broadcasting aspect.
<v Speaker 3>I've had a long relationship with him with us playing
<v Speaker 3>together on tour for a period of time. The two
<v Speaker 3>caddies that we had were best friends, and so we
<v Speaker 3>played a bunch of golf together, a bunch of practice rounds,
<v Speaker 3>and he's just always been an easy going guy that
<v Speaker 3>doesn't take himself too seriously. He always kind of sees
<v Speaker 3>the funny side of things. And on top of that,
<v Speaker 3>he has the credentials of playing on tour for many
<v Speaker 3>years and multiple winds and all that kind of stuff.
<v Speaker 3>So he's somebody we are extremely excited about. I actually
<v Speaker 3>ran into him last night when I was checking into
<v Speaker 3>the hotel I flew in from Florida, and he had
<v Speaker 3>the biggest smile on his face when he saw me.
<v Speaker 3>He was like a he was like a seven year
<v Speaker 3>old on Christmas morning. I mean, he was just so
<v Speaker 3>excited at starting with the CBS family and getting here
<v Speaker 3>after the break to the Farmers and joining the team.
<v Speaker 3>So he's pumped up. We're excited to have him, and
<v Speaker 3>I think that along with Coult moving up to the tower,
<v Speaker 3>it's going to provide a slightly different dynamic. And you know,
<v Speaker 3>we'll just have to see how it goes when that
<v Speaker 3>red light goes on tomorrow. But I have full faith
<v Speaker 3>in those guys. You know, the guys that know the
<v Speaker 3>game intricately. The they know the players and caddies extremely well,
<v Speaker 3>and they just know how to talk golf, and maybe
<v Speaker 3>most importantly, they're just authentic people. They're not going to
<v Speaker 3>try and be something they're not. And I've always felt
<v Speaker 3>something that I learned from Charles Barkley many years ago,
<v Speaker 3>is you've got to be yourself. I mean, if you
<v Speaker 3>want to be on TV as some sort of analyst
<v Speaker 3>or somebody that provides opinion, if you want to do
<v Speaker 3>it for a long time, you better be yourself. Otherwise
<v Speaker 3>the audience is going to see through you real quick
<v Speaker 3>and understand that you're being fake. So those guys, they
<v Speaker 3>are perfectly authentic and I think they're going to crush it.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm looking forward to our season. We've got a
<v Speaker 3>lot of cool stuff coming up this season at CBS.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yes you do. I think that's great advice.
<v Speaker 2>I get people that reach out and ask me about
<v Speaker 2>advice for podcasting, and I might just be yourself. It's
<v Speaker 2>the only thing that's going to allow you to do it,
<v Speaker 2>you know, talk for however long you want, for as
<v Speaker 2>long and as many years as you want. Is if
<v Speaker 2>you're just yourself, Yeah, because then you don't have to
<v Speaker 2>like reimagine the wheel every couple of years.
<v Speaker 1>Which you know you just can't do.
<v Speaker 2>I think like you hit on something that is so
<v Speaker 2>so amazing, like the idea of fun, like you guys
<v Speaker 2>have fun, and that just genuinely, genuinely brings out the
<v Speaker 2>best product in the entertainment space. You can tell when
<v Speaker 2>people labor through things, and and I think like that's
<v Speaker 2>the thing that has stood out in the last you know,
<v Speaker 2>a couple of years, you know, a handful of years
<v Speaker 2>with CBS is just how fun it seemingly has become
<v Speaker 2>for everybody to work together and call golf. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>it's it's an amazing job to get to do. Uh,
<v Speaker 2>there's been huge golf news in the world. Actually, before
<v Speaker 2>we get there, we talked about this earlier. I'm curious
<v Speaker 2>of the newcomers. Is there is there a plar newcomer,
<v Speaker 2>whether it's DP World or corn Fairy Grad that you're
<v Speaker 2>keen and excited to watch.
<v Speaker 3>Well, a couple of guys that I'm keeping my eye on.
<v Speaker 3>One might not be as much of a newcomer, and
<v Speaker 3>that's thor Beyonsen. Michael thor Beyonsen. I was impressed with
<v Speaker 3>what he did last year. He's got a really cool
<v Speaker 3>vibe about him. I love the way he carries himself.
<v Speaker 3>I love his golf swing. He hits it a mile
<v Speaker 3>and you know, he started to already play some good,
<v Speaker 3>solid golf last year and I feel like, you know,
<v Speaker 3>at twenty four years old, he still has such a
<v Speaker 3>long runway and now that he's got some experience under
<v Speaker 3>his belt, he's in a cool spot to really kick
<v Speaker 3>it on to the next level. And so he's somebody
<v Speaker 3>that I'm keeping a very close eye on. Somebody from
<v Speaker 3>the DP world too, would be Marco Pinch. I was
<v Speaker 3>actually watching him warm up this morning on the range
<v Speaker 3>and when he gets to that driver, man, it it's
<v Speaker 3>a little different. It's coming out there quick and it's
<v Speaker 3>got a really solid ballflight, and so it's going to
<v Speaker 3>be interesting to see how he adjusts. I mean, we've
<v Speaker 3>seen players come from from other tours and be rookies
<v Speaker 3>on the PGA Tour and it's a big adjustment. This
<v Speaker 3>is by far, you know, by far from me, the
<v Speaker 3>most competitive tour in the world, with the most depth.
<v Speaker 3>And when you're somebody and I and I say this
<v Speaker 3>as as an as another international player, when you when
<v Speaker 3>you're somebody that has to leave what you used to leave,
<v Speaker 3>what you're comfortable with, move to another country, get surrounded
<v Speaker 3>with all of those life aspects of moving yourself and
<v Speaker 3>your family or your wife or your girlfriend, whatever it
<v Speaker 3>may be. And then on top of that, you're playing
<v Speaker 3>on the super competitive golf tour. You're having to learn
<v Speaker 3>new golf courses. That is a lot to handle. And
<v Speaker 3>then for him, you throw in there that he's changed
<v Speaker 3>all his equipment as well. That's another thing that he's
<v Speaker 3>trying to figure out here on the West Coast to
<v Speaker 3>make sure that everything is operating the way he would want.
<v Speaker 3>So there's some variables there. But when you just talk
<v Speaker 3>about pure raw talent, this guy has it in spades.
<v Speaker 3>I remember watching him for the first time last year
<v Speaker 3>at the Scottish Open when he was in the hunt
<v Speaker 3>down the stretch and I was like, Ga, Lee, this
<v Speaker 3>kid is good. And so I look forward to seeing
<v Speaker 3>what he does. And I think if he has some
<v Speaker 3>good finishes, the American fans are going to fall in
<v Speaker 3>love with him because he's got that something different. He's
<v Speaker 3>not afraid to engage, he's not afraid to tell you
<v Speaker 3>what's on his mind. And uh, I think American fans
<v Speaker 3>get a kick out of that.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, we saw it this week with him opening
<v Speaker 2>up about how he didn't get.
<v Speaker 1>You know, his first PGA Tour press conference.
<v Speaker 2>He's talked about how how he didn't get into some
<v Speaker 2>clubs and Flori was trying to get into you.
<v Speaker 3>Should get itself. It might be even hot to.
<v Speaker 2>Now, you know, a little unsubstantiated rumor. You know, this
<v Speaker 2>is bringing a little shotgun start to this show. Is
<v Speaker 2>you know, he showed up to one interview and a
<v Speaker 2>T shirt, so you know that could have been could
<v Speaker 2>have been part of it.
<v Speaker 1>So but I'm glad. I'm glad he found a home
<v Speaker 1>at Old Palm. I'm really excited.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, he with what has happened. You know, in
<v Speaker 2>recent years with the DP World Tour does not get
<v Speaker 2>enough shine, but he was outstanding on that tour last year.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I just I think, you know, we've
<v Speaker 2>seen for the most part, if you dominate a tour,
<v Speaker 2>you usually come out and have success on the PGA Tour.
<v Speaker 2>You think about your you know, the likes of Sung JM.
<v Speaker 2>You know, he was unbelievable on the Corn Fairy Tour
<v Speaker 2>the year leading into his rookie year on the PGA Tour.
<v Speaker 2>Awesome Scottie Scheffler unbelievable on the Corn Fairy Tour, you know,
<v Speaker 2>comes in and you know, now we know where he is.
<v Speaker 2>I think in that mold too, you have to look
<v Speaker 2>at like Johnny Keefer, who put together an incredible Corn
<v Speaker 2>Fairy Tour season and that's one player that I'm excited
<v Speaker 2>to see a lot more of this year on the
<v Speaker 2>PGA Tour and kind of you know, see see how
<v Speaker 2>he stacks up. I think it's it's an amazing time.
<v Speaker 2>I kind of like, you know, I think you're gonna
<v Speaker 2>lament that, like not one of these younger players has
<v Speaker 2>really like separated themselves and it's like this is the
<v Speaker 2>guy or could you know it? But it also is
<v Speaker 2>this fun of like the there is a truckload of
<v Speaker 2>young talent that's very promising and this year it feels
<v Speaker 2>like it is going to be the year where one
<v Speaker 2>of them, or two of them or a couple of
<v Speaker 2>them separate from the pack and it's like, Okay, this
<v Speaker 2>is kind of the next group of challengers to the
<v Speaker 2>you know, the Scotti Xander generation.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean that is a
<v Speaker 3>that's a great call on Kiefer, what what a season
<v Speaker 3>he had. It's so delicate. It's so delicate, this game,
<v Speaker 3>and when you play it for a living, I think
<v Speaker 3>that's why all of us at some point go just
<v Speaker 3>completely crazy. But it's so delicate. And these guys, you know,
<v Speaker 3>all these guys that you just mentioned, the guys we've
<v Speaker 3>been talking about, they have so much talent, and really
<v Speaker 3>at this point now it's just takes that little scratch
<v Speaker 3>of belief, that little touch of confidence where you pull
<v Speaker 3>the right shot off at the right time or for
<v Speaker 3>the first time. You know, like you look at Blades
<v Speaker 3>Brown last week, drawn with Scheffler all of a sudden
<v Speaker 3>in a final group, and he would have hit a
<v Speaker 3>few shots during that day and he may not have
<v Speaker 3>competed exactly how you would want to have performed, exactly
<v Speaker 3>how you would have won it, but there would have
<v Speaker 3>been a few shots during that round where he may
<v Speaker 3>not have been feeling perfectly comfortable with everything that was
<v Speaker 3>going on around him, but he still managed to pull
<v Speaker 3>that shot off. And little things like that, you start
<v Speaker 3>to stack those little pieces of confidence and belief on
<v Speaker 3>top of each other, and you just never know which
<v Speaker 3>guy is going to jump out at which moment. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>there is so much talent out there, and it's so
<v Speaker 3>highly competitive, it's it's kind of insane.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he delicate such a great word to describe pro
<v Speaker 2>go goff. And as you were talking about, you know,
<v Speaker 2>stacking those moments, and it's like, I feel like it's about,
<v Speaker 2>you know, having these little things that you know deep
<v Speaker 2>down and is oftentimes it's not really like you know,
<v Speaker 2>you we watch golf and you see so many shots
<v Speaker 2>in a telecast, and like sometimes it's just this little
<v Speaker 2>moment that might not stand out in the moment to
<v Speaker 2>a viewer, a casual onlooker, but like it resonates with
<v Speaker 2>the player of they did something that they maybe maybe
<v Speaker 2>they've been trying to work on turning turning an iron
<v Speaker 2>over right to left, and they've they're really comfortable with
<v Speaker 2>it in the range, but when when you get under
<v Speaker 2>the gun, it's like, I don't know, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>I've hit a couple where I've just like kind of
<v Speaker 2>come over, I've pulled it. I haven't you know, fully
<v Speaker 2>released it, and then they do it in a high
<v Speaker 2>stakes moment and that stat like stacking those But then
<v Speaker 2>on the other side, it's so delicate in the sense
<v Speaker 2>of like where if negatives creep in and outweigh the
<v Speaker 2>positive moments, it can go south so quick. And I
<v Speaker 2>think that's like the the fascinating thing this year, and
<v Speaker 2>really like as we move in the next five years
<v Speaker 2>of Scotty Scheffler, and it's obviously the biggest story in
<v Speaker 2>golf Scotty. Seemingly at this point after the last year
<v Speaker 2>and a half two years, I can't think of any
<v Speaker 2>like negative memories being in there. What are your expectations
<v Speaker 2>for Scotty this year? He's obviously one for one as
<v Speaker 2>of now, winning at a golf course in pretty dominant
<v Speaker 2>fashion with I would say probably without his A game.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think he looked like he was super dialed
<v Speaker 2>in and it's a it's a golf course that's traditionally
<v Speaker 2>hard to pull away from people at So what are
<v Speaker 2>your expectations with Scotty in twenty twenty six? And you know,
<v Speaker 2>i'd love to hear also on top of that, like
<v Speaker 2>what are your you know, potential rope blocks to Scotty
<v Speaker 2>you know, and and winning you know much as people
<v Speaker 2>you can kind of get your mind to think, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean.
<v Speaker 3>The only roadblock that I can think of would be
<v Speaker 3>getting to and from the golf course safely. To be honest,
<v Speaker 3>I mean when you mentioned when you mentioned you can't
<v Speaker 3>really recollect any negative moments on the golf course, you
<v Speaker 3>know I can't really either. You know, when I think
<v Speaker 3>of scottis Sheffle, I just keep thinking of Bennett and
<v Speaker 3>Meredith running out onto the eighteenth green because he's won again.
<v Speaker 3>It felt like, you know, with third of the tournaments
<v Speaker 3>that we covered last year he won, And really for
<v Speaker 3>the last three or four years that's been the case.
<v Speaker 2>I gotta say, I don't know if we've, if golf
<v Speaker 2>fans have ever gotten to see the progression of a
<v Speaker 2>sub two year old. So regularly is Bennett coming on
<v Speaker 2>Like it's like I I've got a you know, my
<v Speaker 2>brother in law just had a care and I get
<v Speaker 2>pictures like once a week of them. It's seemingly when
<v Speaker 2>I get a Bennett, he goes on TV once a week.
<v Speaker 3>I know we will and truly have like watched him
<v Speaker 3>grow up in front of the camera. That's how often
<v Speaker 3>Scott he is lifting the trophy on Sundays. But yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's I don't even know if we can call it
<v Speaker 3>a heater anymore. Like this is beyond that you know
<v Speaker 3>he does when a guy goes on a run and
<v Speaker 3>has two second place finishes and then wins two weeks later.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, this has been since February of twenty two,
<v Speaker 3>all out domination of the sport, and the consistency of
<v Speaker 3>his greatness is really the thing that jumps out to me.
<v Speaker 3>And how you know, I said this on a media
<v Speaker 3>call last week. He reminds me of the ocean, like
<v Speaker 3>he just he just keeps coming. The waves just keep coming,
<v Speaker 3>one off the other, never stops. And that's that's how
<v Speaker 3>I see Scotti Scheffler and the the the blueprint and
<v Speaker 3>the plan and the routine, if you want to use
<v Speaker 3>that word, that he has in place for his preparation
<v Speaker 3>of how he comes to tournaments, regardless of where the
<v Speaker 3>tournament is, how much time he's had off. It's like
<v Speaker 3>he's completely wiped everything that's happened before that out of
<v Speaker 3>his mind and he is so present in what the
<v Speaker 3>goal is for this particular moment and this particular week.
<v Speaker 3>And you know, you take a guy that has been
<v Speaker 3>the best iron player in the game for a few
<v Speaker 3>years now, he's you know, pound for pound when you
<v Speaker 3>combine distance and accuracy off the tea. He's one of
<v Speaker 3>the best drivers of the ball, and he's turned himself
<v Speaker 3>into like a top twenty putter in the game. On tour.
<v Speaker 3>It's really hard to even imagine how people are going
<v Speaker 3>to beat him consistently. And you take last week that
<v Speaker 3>you just mentioned, you know, in the past, how would
<v Speaker 3>we knock him if we were going to provide some
<v Speaker 3>constructive criticism, we would be like, ah, you know, this
<v Speaker 3>putting stroke looks a little funky, and every now and
<v Speaker 3>then he hits one out the heel and pushes it
<v Speaker 3>every now and then from five feet and the maybe
<v Speaker 3>he doesn't look so solid. That is like all gone away.
<v Speaker 3>In the last two seasons, he's turned himself into a
<v Speaker 3>world class putter, and he is put a exclamation point
<v Speaker 3>on that by winning last week's tournament, which is like
<v Speaker 3>the epitome of a putting contest. Right. So now he's
<v Speaker 3>won major championships on different style courses. He's won the Open,
<v Speaker 3>so he's won on the links golf. He wins on
<v Speaker 3>different difficult golf courses. He wins on firm golf courses,
<v Speaker 3>he wins on soft golf courses. He wins when it's windy.
<v Speaker 3>He wins when there are no elements and conditions, and oh,
<v Speaker 3>by the way, now he wins when it's just a
<v Speaker 3>flat out putting contest as well. And you just if
<v Speaker 3>you're playing against him right now, you've got to be
<v Speaker 3>lying in bed at night thinking, I mean, what am
<v Speaker 3>I going to do to Number one get to this
<v Speaker 3>level and number two keep up at this level. And
<v Speaker 3>that's why the you know, a couple of years ago,
<v Speaker 3>the comparisons to Tiger like, Okay, maybe it's a little soon,
<v Speaker 3>we'll have you you know, Like I said, we're four
<v Speaker 3>years into this now of him like just churning out wins,
<v Speaker 3>and he absolutely has got to be in the minds
<v Speaker 3>and heads of every other professional golfer out there.
<v Speaker 2>I think like where him and Tiger you know, have
<v Speaker 2>now start to share a you know, a commonality in
<v Speaker 2>the sense, and I'd be curious, you know, with your
<v Speaker 2>experience playing in that era he you know, if you're
<v Speaker 2>in or around the lead and he's around there late
<v Speaker 2>on the weekend, it gets exponentially harder the further you
<v Speaker 2>get into a golf tournament. Uh, if you're at the
<v Speaker 2>top of the leader board, I feel like to play
<v Speaker 2>above average tour golf. Like a lot of times you
<v Speaker 2>see these tournaments and if you're in the lead, you know,
<v Speaker 2>seventy one will get it done, Like I just I can't.
<v Speaker 2>You know, if I play average, I can get it
<v Speaker 2>done because of the three rounds I've stacked to get here.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like these guys now feel like if hey,
<v Speaker 2>if Scotty's around me, I need to go out and
<v Speaker 2>do something special on a Sunday, which is, you know,
<v Speaker 2>if you're at the top of the if you're eight back,
<v Speaker 2>A lot of people do special things on Sundays, you know,
<v Speaker 2>But if you're at the top of the leaderboard, that's
<v Speaker 2>the hardest time to do something special on a Sunday.
<v Speaker 2>And what Scotty's baseline level of play is is above.
<v Speaker 1>Average PGA Tour level play.
<v Speaker 2>Like he just rolls out of bed and it's an
<v Speaker 2>above average round seemingly, and that pressure has to be insane.
<v Speaker 3>Mm hmm, Yeah, for sure. I think that's that's perfectly stated.
<v Speaker 3>And you like, you look at the entirety of his game.
<v Speaker 3>We've spoken about the weapons that he has, whether they
<v Speaker 3>be driving or iron playing, the wedge play that we
<v Speaker 3>saw on Sunday in that final round, the mental toughness,
<v Speaker 3>the self belief, the the comfort that he has in
<v Speaker 3>his own skin, like being himself, being Scottish Scheffler and
<v Speaker 3>not finding the need to change for anybody else. He's
<v Speaker 3>so comfortable with who he is and the people that
<v Speaker 3>he has around him, and his family dynamic, and his
<v Speaker 3>faith and all of that kind of stuff. Gosh, it's
<v Speaker 3>really really hard to find a little crack that you
<v Speaker 3>can expose. You know, we just spoke about all the
<v Speaker 3>different conditions and environments that he has won in styles
<v Speaker 3>of courses. You know, you add to that, when he's
<v Speaker 3>got the lead, he generally closes. When he's tied to
<v Speaker 3>the lead, he generally goes on a wins. And when
<v Speaker 3>he's behind, he's won a bunch as well. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>wasn't he behind last week going to the final round
<v Speaker 3>and he had a how many shot lead coming to
<v Speaker 3>the seventeenth hole hit in the water? Was it four?
<v Speaker 3>Five six shot lead?
<v Speaker 2>I mean it was over when he made the turn.
<v Speaker 2>That's the thing that's crazy. It's just like it's a
<v Speaker 2>it's like a snap of the fingers and these tournaments
<v Speaker 2>are just over.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So he's done it in every possible fashion. He's
<v Speaker 3>won in every possible fashion. I mean, you think back
<v Speaker 3>to when he won the Olympics. Did what did he
<v Speaker 3>shoot sixty two or sixty three on that Sunday to
<v Speaker 3>come from eight back or something like that. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>he he's a big problem for these guys. He's a
<v Speaker 3>big problem.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I think about like what you said, the delicate the delicateness,
<v Speaker 2>and like how the cracks get exposed, and you think back,
<v Speaker 2>I think back to twenty five and to me, the
<v Speaker 2>most important win of his year was that PGA where
<v Speaker 2>you could have seen a gaping crack come where it
<v Speaker 2>was would have been like the first time where you
<v Speaker 2>felt like Scottie shaf Fler fumbled, fumbled the ball, just
<v Speaker 2>just drop the ball on the goal line and let
<v Speaker 2>go of that tournament. Because he he came out of
<v Speaker 2>the gates. We haven't really ever seen him come out
<v Speaker 2>of the gates that way. And you know, he regathers,
<v Speaker 2>he gets it back together and he plays the sensational
<v Speaker 2>back nine and Waltz is to the victory.
<v Speaker 1>Victory by the sixteenth.
<v Speaker 2>You know, he played sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, just kind of
<v Speaker 2>like I just don't need to make a big number,
<v Speaker 2>but like to me, the only way this kind of
<v Speaker 2>changes is if something like that happens and there's some
<v Speaker 2>perceived doubt that enters his brain. But at this point,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I'd love to play golf with Scottie Scheffler's
<v Speaker 2>mentality in my golf swing even. You know, if you
<v Speaker 2>can somehow tap into that mentality that he has, it's extraordinary.
<v Speaker 2>And you saw, you know, something you hit on is
<v Speaker 2>like the the idea of wiping it clean. His comments
<v Speaker 2>after he wins Port Rush, he wins the Open Championship,
<v Speaker 2>He's like, all, we're starting to hit zero at Memphis.
<v Speaker 2>It's like there aren't many athletes wired that way.
<v Speaker 3>No, I mean he is. He's different. He has an
<v Speaker 3>uncanny ability to be like in the moment. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you know, everybody's heard that cliche of staying in the present,
<v Speaker 3>being in the moment. It comes naturally to him. Man,
<v Speaker 3>he does not need to try to do that. He
<v Speaker 3>does not need to work on doing that. It's a gift.
<v Speaker 3>It's a gift that he has. And I just can't
<v Speaker 3>see anything really going wrong with his game. You know,
<v Speaker 3>he owns his swing. Is it the prettiest swing on
<v Speaker 3>the planet? No, But is it the most effective swing
<v Speaker 3>on the planet, absolutely, and he owns it. You know,
<v Speaker 3>him and his coach have done such a brilliant job
<v Speaker 3>since he was a youngster building this swing and having
<v Speaker 3>him be able to have such great club based control
<v Speaker 3>and such great feel that he can adjust on the fly.
<v Speaker 3>And so I don't see any issues there. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>the only thing that I can see him or see
<v Speaker 3>or see slowing him down would be if something happens
<v Speaker 3>to his body. You know, obviously footwork is different for sure,
<v Speaker 3>different to the majority of players out here, and you know,
<v Speaker 3>nobody rarely knows the toll that that puts on his body.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, at times he's had neck trouble, and we've
<v Speaker 3>documented that at different times in his career. So to me,
<v Speaker 3>that's the only thing that slows him down from continuing
<v Speaker 3>to dominate is if something happens with the body and
<v Speaker 3>then because of that something gets knocked out in the swing.
<v Speaker 3>So if I was him, that's what I would be
<v Speaker 3>focusing on most. Uh.
<v Speaker 2>You brought up the staying in the moment. I think
<v Speaker 2>every golfer has heard this term has probably knows when
<v Speaker 2>they've lost the moment.
<v Speaker 1>When you were a player, what.
<v Speaker 2>Were is there an example where you lost the moment
<v Speaker 2>and you know, being in the moment, and what were
<v Speaker 2>the things that you used to do to effectively stay
<v Speaker 2>in the moment?
<v Speaker 3>What would it would happen all the time. And I
<v Speaker 3>think as I got older, and maybe I learned this
<v Speaker 3>to late my career, career when my skill set wasn't
<v Speaker 3>as good anymore.
<v Speaker 2>But that's that's a microcosm of life exactly.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's a good point. But I found, you know,
<v Speaker 3>and I touched on this earlier. I found the harder
<v Speaker 3>that I tried to do that, the more difficult became
<v Speaker 3>to do it. I think just understanding that we're all
<v Speaker 3>we're all human and you know, crazy thoughts come and go,
<v Speaker 3>and just being able to have an understanding of that
<v Speaker 3>and being able to move through the different emotions that
<v Speaker 3>come with that, that becomes something that is very valuable
<v Speaker 3>as the understanding of that becomes deeper and deeper. The
<v Speaker 3>thing that rarely started to fascinate me at a certain
<v Speaker 3>point in my career was I started to wonder why
<v Speaker 3>there were moments when I was like extremely nervous, like shaking,
<v Speaker 3>like feeling like every part of my body is just trembling.
<v Speaker 3>With nerves and anxiety and fear, and even at times
<v Speaker 3>thinking to myself, gosh, like I am, I am so
<v Speaker 3>nervous right now. People must be able to see this,
<v Speaker 3>right And that's how like intense the feeling and emotion was.
<v Speaker 3>And then I would hit a good shot. And then
<v Speaker 3>there were other times when I felt so great and
<v Speaker 3>so confident and so happy with where everything was, and
<v Speaker 3>then I'd whip one out of balance and I was like,
<v Speaker 3>this doesn't make any sense. So you know, how much
<v Speaker 3>does it really matter? And maybe if you've put the
<v Speaker 3>work in and you understand yourself and your game, you
<v Speaker 3>can hit good and bad shots from both of those mindsets.
<v Speaker 3>So just go out there and play, you know, go
<v Speaker 3>out there and be yourself and play and trust the
<v Speaker 3>work you put in and what's going to happen is
<v Speaker 3>going to happen.
<v Speaker 1>Did you did you notice like a pattern?
<v Speaker 2>Were there any shots, specific types of shots that you
<v Speaker 2>were that would bring that, you know, kind of over
<v Speaker 2>come with nerves out.
<v Speaker 3>I would say off the t shots were probably my weakness.
<v Speaker 3>It was something that I was never really super comfortable with.
<v Speaker 3>You know, I grew up small kid in a very
<v Speaker 3>very windy part of the world in Cape Town, South Africa,
<v Speaker 3>and so my natural swing was built around fling the
<v Speaker 3>ball down and hitting it low. And that was all
<v Speaker 3>fine and well with older equipment where you could rarely
<v Speaker 3>use spin to your advantage to be able to get
<v Speaker 3>that ball to hang in the air. But as the
<v Speaker 3>equipment started to change and everything moved to high launch
<v Speaker 3>with lower spin, that didn't really fit my wheelhouse of
<v Speaker 3>my swing of liking to hit down on the ball,
<v Speaker 3>and so driver and particularly was my weakness. That was
<v Speaker 3>probably when I was most uncomfortable. But then as soon
<v Speaker 3>as I got an iron in my hand and then
<v Speaker 3>all of those things I just referenced worked in my favor.
<v Speaker 3>So you know, it's just the ebbs and flows of
<v Speaker 3>the game. And that's why you look at modern days
<v Speaker 3>day players now. And I'll never forget David led Better
<v Speaker 3>way back. This is going back probably twenty years ago.
<v Speaker 3>He spoke to me about having two swings because he
<v Speaker 3>could kind of see where the technology was going, and
<v Speaker 3>it was something that him and Faldo had actually experimented
<v Speaker 3>with way back in the eighties and nineties of having
<v Speaker 3>like a driver swing where you hit up on it
<v Speaker 3>to maximize distance and then having another swing where obviously,
<v Speaker 3>if you want to be a great iron player, you
<v Speaker 3>need to have more of a descending blow. And we've
<v Speaker 3>seen that play out. I mean, that's what you see
<v Speaker 3>from these guys out here now. I mean they'll be
<v Speaker 3>hitting irons and taking massive divots and the next thing
<v Speaker 3>they stand up on the tee and they're hitting up
<v Speaker 3>on it three four, five degrees to be able to
<v Speaker 3>maximize that. And so it's kind of different skills that
<v Speaker 3>the modern day players had to learn.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's something that gets lost a little bit in
<v Speaker 2>the equipment and distance kind of debate is just how
<v Speaker 2>technology fundamentally changed the driver swing. I grew up in it,
<v Speaker 2>you know, and kind of I'm a little bit younger
<v Speaker 2>than you, and it's like when I grew up, like
<v Speaker 2>hitting down on a driver was like it's kind of
<v Speaker 2>what you did. You know, it was okay, and and
<v Speaker 2>then all of a sudden, like you know, this just
<v Speaker 2>changes and it's like, no, we want to hit up
<v Speaker 2>a couple of degrees on the driver and it's you know.
<v Speaker 1>It it's a the two swing thing.
<v Speaker 2>And I think like that's one of the things that
<v Speaker 2>you know, with young player development, you see is like
<v Speaker 2>Oftentimes if you watch college kids, you'll see this great
<v Speaker 2>driver of the golf ball and everybody's like, well, he's
<v Speaker 2>he's pretty lousy with his wedges. Like well, it's like
<v Speaker 2>kind of like different, like what makes him a great driver.
<v Speaker 2>And that's where that learning curve is for the young players.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like now on tour is like rounding out
<v Speaker 2>that full skill package.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, for sure. And look, with with understanding of
<v Speaker 3>your game and experience, you start to figure that stuff
<v Speaker 3>out and you find these little shortcuts that work for you.
<v Speaker 3>And you know, as we're talking about that, it kind
<v Speaker 3>of dawned on me that that's it's probably why we've
<v Speaker 3>seen over the last few years a number of players
<v Speaker 3>gravitate to these mini drivers because it's a smaller head,
<v Speaker 3>they can tee it down. The angle of at tech
<v Speaker 3>is a bit more of a descending blow. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>Adam Scott absolutely loves his mini driver flies at like
<v Speaker 3>to eighty to eighty five. He's a couple degrees down
<v Speaker 3>on it when he hits that club. And we're started
<v Speaker 3>to see players, particularly on certain course setups where it
<v Speaker 3>pinches in around three hundred or so, they go to
<v Speaker 3>these mini drivers because essentially they can swing it a
<v Speaker 3>little bit more like they do with with a longer iron,
<v Speaker 3>and so that's it's quite interesting.
<v Speaker 1>All right.
<v Speaker 2>You know, the big news we almost got to it
<v Speaker 2>a minute, you know, fifteen, but we're gonna get to
<v Speaker 2>it a minute forty instead. The big news this week
<v Speaker 2>a toy is and by the time you're listening to this,
<v Speaker 2>it'll probably be the end of the golf tournament, you know,
<v Speaker 2>and we'll know what Brooks did. And I don't think
<v Speaker 2>like putting too much stock into what Brooks does this
<v Speaker 2>week is that much. But the big news of the
<v Speaker 2>golf world the last month is Brooks Kopka is reinserting
<v Speaker 2>the PGA Tour and you know, he's leaving he's left
<v Speaker 2>the Live Tours. He's playing on the PGA Tour, and
<v Speaker 2>Patrick Reid has opted out of the Live.
<v Speaker 1>Out of Live he will be.
<v Speaker 2>Playing on the dp World Tour and then eligible in
<v Speaker 2>August for the PGA Tour. What are your just initial
<v Speaker 2>thoughts on these two players coming back and then we
<v Speaker 2>can dive into, you know, some more intricacies from there.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Look, as far as the Brooks thing goes, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>that's kind of been the story of the golf season
<v Speaker 3>so far that that seemed to move so quickly over
<v Speaker 3>the holiday break as that announcement came out, and then,
<v Speaker 3>you know, in the last couple of days, we've had
<v Speaker 3>the news about Patrick deciding to play on the dp
<v Speaker 3>World Tour again try and get into that top ten
<v Speaker 3>to get his PGA Tour card back. Yeah. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>the game is kind of influx with players moving back
<v Speaker 3>and forward. Now you know what the exact reasons for
<v Speaker 3>why those two players have made those decisions. Chuck's all
<v Speaker 3>I have to go is what they've said in the media,
<v Speaker 3>nothing more than that. I texted with Brooks, you know,
<v Speaker 3>about a week or so ago, and he was so
<v Speaker 3>excited to be able to get back out here to
<v Speaker 3>the Farmers. I excited to have the opportunity to play
<v Speaker 3>on the PGA Tour again. I actually went out and
<v Speaker 3>watched him t off on the first hold this morning.
<v Speaker 3>There was a real cool energy and vibe out there.
<v Speaker 3>He got a massive ovation when they announced him to
<v Speaker 3>the first tee, and so we'll just have to see
<v Speaker 3>how it goes. It appears to me, you know, with
<v Speaker 3>lead new leadership at the PGA Tour with with Brian
<v Speaker 3>Rolap taking over. He's come at this with fresh eyes,
<v Speaker 3>and you know, I give him a lot of credit
<v Speaker 3>for making some pretty hefty decisions early on in his
<v Speaker 3>tenure here. So we'll just have to see how it
<v Speaker 3>all plays out. But from from what I've seen Red
<v Speaker 3>spoken to players out here, everybody seems to be really
<v Speaker 3>excited to have Brooks back this week, and it's going
<v Speaker 3>to be fun to see how he plays. He hasn't
<v Speaker 3>rarely had much success around here. He played this particular
<v Speaker 3>tournament four times, missed the cut three of those, and
<v Speaker 3>it was forty first. On the other occasion, which was
<v Speaker 3>the first time he played here I believe, twenty fifteen.
<v Speaker 3>He did have a tie for fourth in the US Open,
<v Speaker 3>the one that Ram won, which was twenty one, I believe.
<v Speaker 3>So to be able to judge him on this week's
<v Speaker 3>play is probably a little unfair. I would be more
<v Speaker 3>inclined to wait after WM and see how he's done
<v Speaker 3>after going to a place that he's really played well
<v Speaker 3>and enjoys.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think rushing to any judgment is you know,
<v Speaker 2>golf is much like baseball in the sense that it's
<v Speaker 2>a very long season. They're a lot of shots hits,
<v Speaker 2>lots of rounds played, and you know, outside of outside
<v Speaker 2>of Scottie, pretty pretty much everybody's games. I've been flow
<v Speaker 2>within that season, and there's periods where everything kind of
<v Speaker 2>comes together and then they go apart. I think overarching,
<v Speaker 2>I think there's a lot of questions around, you know,
<v Speaker 2>expectations for Brooks, you know, as as a player, what
<v Speaker 2>what is he Obviously we saw him win the twenty
<v Speaker 2>twenty three PGA at oak Hill, but you know, since then,
<v Speaker 2>it has not there hasn't been a lot of you
<v Speaker 2>know success in in major championships. And obviously he's picked
<v Speaker 2>up some live, live golf wins in that period of time.
<v Speaker 2>But I think that's that's kind of the big question
<v Speaker 2>is you know, if you were kind of you know,
<v Speaker 2>in a position of handicapping it, where would you where
<v Speaker 2>would you expect.
<v Speaker 1>Him to fall?
<v Speaker 2>You know, knowing is you know, limitations of what events
<v Speaker 2>he can and can't play based off of you know,
<v Speaker 2>having to earn his way into all the signature events.
<v Speaker 2>What would be your expectation for a you know, it's
<v Speaker 2>a success if he finishes acts in the fed Ax
<v Speaker 2>cop No, that's a great question.
<v Speaker 3>Let me think about it. As I speak here, I
<v Speaker 3>think at some point in the Florida Swing, he's going
<v Speaker 3>to get into contention to win. And I think when
<v Speaker 3>he gets back into that position, it's like riding a bike.
<v Speaker 3>You know, all those great memories, the five Majors, the
<v Speaker 3>times he's won out here, the times he won on live,
<v Speaker 3>all of that stuff's going to come flooding back. And
<v Speaker 3>we've seen how when he gets that little bit of
<v Speaker 3>swagger and plays with the chip on his shoulder, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>he's a force to be reckoned with. So for me,
<v Speaker 3>it's more about, Okay, how can he manage his way
<v Speaker 3>through the through the first two and a half to
<v Speaker 3>three rounds and get himself into contention coming down the stretch.
<v Speaker 3>And I think if and when he does that, I
<v Speaker 3>expect him to do well. I think he's gonna win
<v Speaker 3>to see it. That's just that's just just came up
<v Speaker 3>with that right now. I think at some point he's
<v Speaker 3>gonna win to see it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's I kind of am there too. I think
<v Speaker 2>there's like there's too much. There's also there's just that,
<v Speaker 2>you know, as you said, it's like riding a bike
<v Speaker 2>when you get back in contention.
<v Speaker 1>There's also like something that.
<v Speaker 2>Will click in in his mind of like, oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I'm better than most of these guys.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, I thought.
<v Speaker 2>I thought that, Like when we were talking about Peek
<v Speaker 2>Brooks Kopka, when he broke down how majors aren't that
<v Speaker 2>hard to win? You know, based off of like there's
<v Speaker 2>really I only really have to beat, you know, ten
<v Speaker 2>or twelve guys.
<v Speaker 3>You know.
<v Speaker 2>That was that was the ultimate like I am as
<v Speaker 2>good as everybody out here comment, because that's how you
<v Speaker 2>that's how you would think about a golf tournament if
<v Speaker 2>you are really thinking about, like I am going to
<v Speaker 2>win this week, it is like you think about it
<v Speaker 2>like you really only have to beat a couple guys,
<v Speaker 2>you know. And I think like if he can get
<v Speaker 2>into the mix and do it, I think then it
<v Speaker 2>clicks in.
<v Speaker 1>I swhere, I kind of fall.
<v Speaker 2>I just wonder about like the week to week like
<v Speaker 2>to me, one of the big questions, like he's never
<v Speaker 2>been a week to week golfer where like he just
<v Speaker 2>turned Like we just talked about Scotty and the wiping
<v Speaker 2>clean that's not Brooks you know there, And I'm curious
<v Speaker 2>to see can he play enough good golf because we've
<v Speaker 2>seen like make It does this top fifty and getting
<v Speaker 2>into these signature events is not a layup anymore, which
<v Speaker 2>I think is good for the tour.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, Yeah, I totally agree with all of that. And look,
<v Speaker 3>he's going to have to figure out how to become
<v Speaker 3>a week to week golfer him pretty fast, because, like
<v Speaker 3>you just touched on, I mean, he's not in any
<v Speaker 3>of these signature events, and I guess part of the
<v Speaker 3>deal was he's ineligible to receive whatever sponsor invites that
<v Speaker 3>they have, and so his only way into the signature
<v Speaker 3>events is going to be through the aon Swing five
<v Speaker 3>and top ten. So he's going to have to play
<v Speaker 3>great golf at week to week events in order to
<v Speaker 3>get to the signatures. So he's going to have to
<v Speaker 3>figure that part out quite quickly. But something that really
<v Speaker 3>jumped out to me in the media over the last
<v Speaker 3>few days is when I heard him say that throughout
<v Speaker 3>this process over the last let's call it a couple
<v Speaker 3>months since the announcement and everybody knew that he was
<v Speaker 3>going to be coming back, he said that he feels
<v Speaker 3>like he's fallen in love with the game again, and
<v Speaker 3>that really made my ears per cup and in a
<v Speaker 3>certain sense. We heard something similar from Patrick Reid after
<v Speaker 3>he won in Dubai last week. He said, you know,
<v Speaker 3>I rarely missed the grind, and I missed the dog fight.
<v Speaker 3>I enjoyed being feeling like I was in a dog
<v Speaker 3>fight out there today. And Number one, that shows the
<v Speaker 3>competitor he is. But uh, you know, you got to
<v Speaker 3>you gotta have that deep seated love for the game
<v Speaker 3>and for competing and for both of For for me
<v Speaker 3>to hear both of those guys say that, I definitely
<v Speaker 3>took notice, And so yeah, I'm I'm just like everybody else.
<v Speaker 3>You know, from a CBS standpoint, you know, we happy
<v Speaker 3>that there's a five time major champion that could be
<v Speaker 3>on our coverage on the weekends on the PGA Tour. Absolutely,
<v Speaker 3>we're ecstatic about that and looking forward to it. But uh,
<v Speaker 3>you know, he's got to he's got to make the
<v Speaker 3>cuts and get to the weekend first, and so we'll
<v Speaker 3>see how how all of that plays out. But I'll
<v Speaker 3>go back to what I said earlier. I think once
<v Speaker 3>he gets that little sniff, that little taste, uh, it's
<v Speaker 3>all going to come flooding back to him and be
<v Speaker 3>a pretty cool story. If he if he wins the season.
<v Speaker 2>You know those comments, and I you know, this isn't
<v Speaker 2>me trying to swerve to to dump on Live here,
<v Speaker 2>but I think it's those comments you saying them kind
<v Speaker 2>of jogged my memory. I believe it was Eugenio Chikara
<v Speaker 2>who said, you know something along the lines of like
<v Speaker 2>with Live like you know there is it's just money,
<v Speaker 2>you know, It's just at the end of the day, money,
<v Speaker 2>you know, And it's like that dog fight you know,
<v Speaker 2>as as you said, is is. I mean, that's that's
<v Speaker 2>the reason. That's what makes golf so amazing of a sport,
<v Speaker 2>is like you got to like claw for everything.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, the.
<v Speaker 2>Difference between a T twenty two and a T eight
<v Speaker 2>is such razor thin margins. And I think that's one
<v Speaker 2>of the things. When you reduce fields to certain size,
<v Speaker 2>like those margins, and you inflate perses to certain size,
<v Speaker 2>those margins become less and less important.
<v Speaker 1>And kind of like I.
<v Speaker 2>Think, what what people I would I would guess like
<v Speaker 2>what the vast majority of the pro golfers take the
<v Speaker 2>most satisfaction of is those events where they get it around.
<v Speaker 2>You know, obviously the wins are obvious points of satisfaction,
<v Speaker 2>but the events where they know they don't have it,
<v Speaker 2>but they get it around and and post a really
<v Speaker 2>strong finish without their a game and the dog like
<v Speaker 2>the fight to get there. And that's kind of what
<v Speaker 2>you know, I you know, as someone you know, this
<v Speaker 2>is all my words as someone who's who's watched live,
<v Speaker 2>is like, that's the stuff that's just missing over there
<v Speaker 2>right now, you know. I think, I'm curious. I'm fascinated
<v Speaker 2>to watch Patrick reed On on the DP World Tour.
<v Speaker 2>I think it's gonna bring that tour like a lot
<v Speaker 2>of American juice that hasn't it hasn't had in a while.
<v Speaker 2>I have a good friend who's you know, who bounced
<v Speaker 2>up and down from the PGA Tour and in the
<v Speaker 2>in the UH, in the Corn Fairy Tour for years.
<v Speaker 2>He always said, you know to me, Andy, you just
<v Speaker 2>watch when a bona fide guy goes down, they are
<v Speaker 2>immediately back up. And I'm I'm curious. I that's what
<v Speaker 2>I expect out a p read On on the DP
<v Speaker 2>World Tour. I'm very interested to see, like I would
<v Speaker 2>put his over under finish on the on the UH
<v Speaker 2>on the DP World Tour to be like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>of the ten qualifiers in the top five if I
<v Speaker 2>had to guess, But you know, what are your Patrick
<v Speaker 2>Reid expectations?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Look, he's clearly still playing great golf and has
<v Speaker 3>been for quite some time. I Mean, one of the
<v Speaker 3>things that I really appreciate about Patrick is like the
<v Speaker 3>guy will just go and play man. He will play
<v Speaker 3>week after week all over the world, and I totally
<v Speaker 3>appreciate that. And you look at some of his results
<v Speaker 3>last year. He had a lot of big time finishes.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, for a little while there he looked like
<v Speaker 3>he could win the Masters, finished third, eventually finished third
<v Speaker 3>at the BMW PGA, and then winning last week. You know,
<v Speaker 3>he he's a tough competitor man, you know, he he
<v Speaker 3>loves just getting out there and being in tough and
<v Speaker 3>awkward situations to be able to prove himself. He plays
<v Speaker 3>with a chip on his shoulder. And so I agree
<v Speaker 3>with you. I mean, I unless something untoward happens, like
<v Speaker 3>injury or anything like that, I can see him having
<v Speaker 3>a real good season out there, especially now that he
<v Speaker 3>knows like he has some clarity in his mind that Okay,
<v Speaker 3>this is the past. I'm on now, I've made this decision.
<v Speaker 3>This is the part I'm on now, I'm going to
<v Speaker 3>dedicate myself to the deep world term. I'm going to
<v Speaker 3>dedicate myself to trying to get one of those ten cards.
<v Speaker 3>And so we're going to see him play a bunch
<v Speaker 3>and it should be good. Should be good.
<v Speaker 2>I you know, I think back, you know, I think
<v Speaker 2>like or you know, how people get up to the tour.
<v Speaker 2>And obviously Patrick reed has done some things that are
<v Speaker 2>have rubbed people the wrong way inside the ropes, outside
<v Speaker 2>the ropes, you know, all over. I think the thing
<v Speaker 2>that you have to respect about Patrick Reid is he
<v Speaker 2>developed into a world class player without the usual traits,
<v Speaker 2>you know, not immense power and athleticism you.
<v Speaker 1>Know he's got.
<v Speaker 2>He's a absolute savant around the greens. But it also
<v Speaker 2>just boils down to how he got to the tour.
<v Speaker 2>He Monday qualified six times. He earned status from that,
<v Speaker 2>you know. And any time that he has kind of
<v Speaker 2>put his back against the wall, whether it's self because
<v Speaker 2>of his own self, putting his back against the wall
<v Speaker 2>and putting himself in weird situations, He's always performed. And
<v Speaker 2>I think that he's he's the definition of the game
<v Speaker 2>of a gamer. You know, he's good for my business,
<v Speaker 2>the content business. You know, I understand why people don't
<v Speaker 2>like him, but I just respect the way he goes
<v Speaker 2>about his craft of like getting the ball in the
<v Speaker 2>hall at a highly elite level, despite you know what
<v Speaker 2>we typically see from from world class players.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, a couple of things there. First of all, one
<v Speaker 3>of those tournaments that he qualified for Monday Quede for
<v Speaker 3>way back. This going way back, I was still on
<v Speaker 3>the tour was the Canadian Open, and I actually got
<v Speaker 3>paired with him in the final round. I meant that point,
<v Speaker 3>his wife was still caddying for him. And so it's
<v Speaker 3>you know, look, whether you like him or not, and
<v Speaker 3>these people on both sides are that you can't deny
<v Speaker 3>its toughness, and you can't deny his ability to rise
<v Speaker 3>above whatever is going on and still just compete like crazy.
<v Speaker 3>And you know, you talk about the skill set earlier.
<v Speaker 3>He is a zavant around and on the greens and
<v Speaker 3>maybe the most important trait because those are extremely important,
<v Speaker 3>particularly if you're not the longest or the most accurate
<v Speaker 3>driver of the ball. But he loves the big stage
<v Speaker 3>and he loves to win, and he's not afraid of winning.
<v Speaker 3>You know, you think back to the big tournaments he's won,
<v Speaker 3>whether it be the Masters, whether it be Old World
<v Speaker 3>Golf events, whether it be Ryder Cups. I mean, these
<v Speaker 3>are positions and environments that really could expose you. And
<v Speaker 3>he has an uncanny ability to step up when it
<v Speaker 3>rarely means something and when he really wants to. So,
<v Speaker 3>you know, once he's put his mind to it, I
<v Speaker 3>don't really doubt him achieving what he wants to achieve.
<v Speaker 2>All Right, I'd be remiss if we didn't cover the
<v Speaker 2>topic of Roy McElroy in a kind of table setter
<v Speaker 2>for twenty twenty six with you.
<v Speaker 3>I know he's your favorite. I don't believe it took
<v Speaker 3>you this long.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know this is the thing we don't you know,
<v Speaker 2>he's done this to himself. We don't have the talking
<v Speaker 2>point of canning get it done in Augustine.
<v Speaker 1>National to go off of anymore.
<v Speaker 2>I feel I feel like part of me is gone,
<v Speaker 2>like part of this, this moment, this moment of the
<v Speaker 2>year is usually me thinking about can this happen?
<v Speaker 1>What are you? What do you what are your expectations?
<v Speaker 2>And uh, you know, what do you what do you
<v Speaker 2>think about Rory McElroy going into twenty twenty six, well,
<v Speaker 2>you know, much.
<v Speaker 3>Like Schiffler, and really even for longer than Shiflet, the
<v Speaker 3>consistency of being able to perform at a high level.
<v Speaker 3>I mean since the day that this kid, you know,
<v Speaker 3>I call him kid because when he joined the tour,
<v Speaker 3>first time I played with him, he was an amateur
<v Speaker 3>in the Open in two thousand and seven and we
<v Speaker 3>had a practice round together and I'd never heard of him,
<v Speaker 3>and after the practice round, I was like, holy smoke,
<v Speaker 3>this guy might be the best ball striker I've ever seen.
<v Speaker 3>And so I still see him in that light. So
<v Speaker 3>excuse me for that. He's thirty six years old now,
<v Speaker 3>but ever since he stepped onto the tour and into
<v Speaker 3>the professional game, he's been at the top level and
<v Speaker 3>he's really never wavered from that. And you start to
<v Speaker 3>put that in context of guys like Ernie Else and
<v Speaker 3>VJ Seeing and players that really were able to stick
<v Speaker 3>around for a long time and be great. Phil Mickelson
<v Speaker 3>would be another one. And now that he's completed the
<v Speaker 3>Grand Slam, I mean, that's the most elite list in
<v Speaker 3>our sport. You think about last year and how incredible
<v Speaker 3>a year that must be for him. You think about Pebble,
<v Speaker 3>winning at Pebble, the players in the playoff, the Grand
<v Speaker 3>Slam at the Masters, think about him winning at home
<v Speaker 3>at the Irish Open, the Ryder Cup, winning on American soil.
<v Speaker 3>What was it the seventh or eighth time he won
<v Speaker 3>the money list on the DP World Tour twenty twenty five.
<v Speaker 3>What a year for Rory McElroy. You kind of wonder
<v Speaker 3>to yourself, you know, what is going to motivate him? Now?
<v Speaker 3>You know they're really there isn't anything that he hasn't
<v Speaker 3>done in the game, so he's going to have to
<v Speaker 3>maybe start to search for that inside of him. You know,
<v Speaker 3>does he want to win more majors than Nick Falder,
<v Speaker 3>who's got six and firmly cement himself as the greatest
<v Speaker 3>European player of all time? Does he want to try
<v Speaker 3>to get to double digit majors? Whatever it is, It's
<v Speaker 3>going to be fun to watch him. Just like Scheffler.
<v Speaker 3>The thing that I've been so impressed with is how
<v Speaker 3>he's turned himself into a world class putter. He was
<v Speaker 3>top ten putter on the PGA Tour last year and
<v Speaker 3>so you add that to the other skill set. The power,
<v Speaker 3>the way he drives the ball, how great he is
<v Speaker 3>with long irons. I mean it's it's uh, he's a
<v Speaker 3>pretty dominating presence. And where he is different to Scotty
<v Speaker 3>and a bit more like Tiger is wherever Rory goes,
<v Speaker 3>there's there's juice. There's like massive you know, the fans
<v Speaker 3>are excited. Everybody wants to see him. People are screaming
<v Speaker 3>for him, They want to be in his presence, they
<v Speaker 3>want to watch him play like he invokes raw emotion
<v Speaker 3>from people. And and so that's fun whenever we get
<v Speaker 3>him on our air, because you know, in all likelihoods,
<v Speaker 3>something crazy is gonna happen. You know, he's either gonna
<v Speaker 3>stiff afore iron from two hundred and fifty yards and
<v Speaker 3>hit the shot that's the best shot you've seen all week,
<v Speaker 3>or he's gonna dump a wedge into Raised Creek from
<v Speaker 3>eighty yards and you're like, what on earth was that?
<v Speaker 3>You know, he makes you feel something Rory McElroy does,
<v Speaker 3>and and so I look forward to seeing him play
<v Speaker 3>and seeing how he backs up that amazing twenty twenty five.
<v Speaker 2>All right, before we get you out of here, we're
<v Speaker 2>gonna hit you know, you're you've been You've had a
<v Speaker 2>good prediction maker, So we're going to put you on
<v Speaker 2>the spot here. How how would you how would you
<v Speaker 2>predict the majors this year winners and then any other
<v Speaker 2>predictions that you've got kind of circled here.
<v Speaker 3>You know, I actually haven't thought that far out yet.
<v Speaker 3>I've been preoccupied with some other things I haven't thought
<v Speaker 3>out as far as the majors. It's just so hard
<v Speaker 3>to look past Rory and Scotty. I mean, somebody's going
<v Speaker 3>to have to do something spectacular to keep up with
<v Speaker 3>those guys. And what I am interested in seeing is
<v Speaker 3>if Xander can can find that spark again. Be interested
<v Speaker 3>to see how it plays this week here at Farmers
<v Speaker 3>One in Japan, which kind of salvaged a really weird
<v Speaker 3>season for him last year, struggling with that rib injury
<v Speaker 3>and after the double major when in twenty four so
<v Speaker 3>I'm interested to seeing how he bounces back. Fleetward is
<v Speaker 3>another one. I think Fleetward now has has got that
<v Speaker 3>that little something that he was missing, that self belief,
<v Speaker 3>that confidence to be able to finish down the stretch
<v Speaker 3>his major championship record. I mean, he's had a bunch
<v Speaker 3>of opportunities. A bunch of top tens and top fives
<v Speaker 3>wouldn't be surprised to see him get over the line.
<v Speaker 3>And I think that would be a really cool story
<v Speaker 3>that everybody would would buy into. You know, he's so
<v Speaker 3>universally loved Tommy Fleetwood that that would probably be the
<v Speaker 3>most feel good story for the Gulf world if he
<v Speaker 3>had to go ahead.
<v Speaker 4>And when a major, would you would you say he
<v Speaker 4>is the most likely first time major winner?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? I would, I would. I would for a few
<v Speaker 3>different reasons. He's got all the experience. He's pretty solid
<v Speaker 3>top to bottom. You know, every now and then the
<v Speaker 3>part of lets him down on Sundays, but he has
<v Speaker 3>that experience in big events.
<v Speaker 1>Ah.
<v Speaker 3>And yeah, I really on his game, I really am.
<v Speaker 2>I mean analytics, you know, the analytics people. Joseph Levadia
<v Speaker 2>says that you could make the case that he was
<v Speaker 2>the second best player in the world.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean that that wouldn't surprise me. I could.
<v Speaker 3>I could go with that argument. I think the other
<v Speaker 3>thing that that makes me think that he's gonna gonna
<v Speaker 3>burst through that major championship door any moment is his
<v Speaker 3>game is suited to two all four majors you know,
<v Speaker 3>would I be surprised if he won the Open on
<v Speaker 3>a links course, No? Would he be Would I be
<v Speaker 3>surprised if he won the Masters with his iron game? No?
<v Speaker 3>Would I be surprised at Shinnecock, No, He's played well
<v Speaker 3>there before. And would I be surprised in a PGA
<v Speaker 3>championship set up and at anom No. We go to
<v Speaker 3>any major from here on out. As long as he's
<v Speaker 3>playing his game fits into most venues.
<v Speaker 2>You know, for for any kids you want to get
<v Speaker 2>that way, just become a supreme driver of the golf
<v Speaker 2>ball and iron player, and then you know you can
<v Speaker 2>see yourself winning anywhere.
<v Speaker 1>Basically.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's very accurate. That is the truth.
<v Speaker 2>The last thing, how do you how do you think
<v Speaker 2>the schedule will shake out? And what are your thoughts
<v Speaker 2>on a proposed smaller schedule?
<v Speaker 3>Man, I don't know, Andy, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I think this you like that last throwaway question?
<v Speaker 3>No, And when I say I don't know, it's just
<v Speaker 3>all speculation right now. You know, there's been a lot
<v Speaker 3>of stuff reported in the media. Who knows how much
<v Speaker 3>of it is true? And so I would be hesitant
<v Speaker 3>to go ahead and say what I think it's going
<v Speaker 3>to look like. Is somebody may listen to this podcast
<v Speaker 3>in six months, and you know, you and I look
<v Speaker 3>really foolish. So I don't really want to speculate with
<v Speaker 3>what it's going to look like. What I would go
<v Speaker 3>ahead and say is I mean, that's far. I've been
<v Speaker 3>thoroughly impressed with with Brian Rolap. I've had the opportunity
<v Speaker 3>to speak to him a few different times. Super smart.
<v Speaker 3>I love the way he thinks. I love his passion
<v Speaker 3>and single mindedness in the way he speaks about the
<v Speaker 3>game of golf. And you know, you surround him with
<v Speaker 3>other people on that FCC, the Competition's Committee, guys like
<v Speaker 3>Tiger and Adam Scott and people that have been around
<v Speaker 3>a long time and seeing orleans and outs of the game.
<v Speaker 3>I would trust what they're doing. I really would.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I've spoken to a couple of people that have been.
<v Speaker 1>There's been a focus.
<v Speaker 2>Group going around PGA to our focus group showing a
<v Speaker 2>greatly reduced schedule from one person I heard with a
<v Speaker 2>singular event ending the year kind of much, you know,
<v Speaker 2>basically truncated playoff.
<v Speaker 3>So I want to throw it to you because you know,
<v Speaker 3>as you and Brandon and PJ and everybody at Friday. Now,
<v Speaker 3>I'm a huge fan of what you guys do. You know,
<v Speaker 3>I've listened for years as you guys bag on certain
<v Speaker 3>tournaments and ask why they are around, why they're on
<v Speaker 3>the schedule. You know what, what's the fried Egg's opinion?
<v Speaker 2>I think that you should create a schedule where I know,
<v Speaker 2>as a fan, I'm tuning into golf twenty times a year.
<v Speaker 2>And the only way to me that you signal that
<v Speaker 2>to golf fans that it's must see TV is by
<v Speaker 2>elevating the events, the stakes, and the prestige of the tour.
<v Speaker 2>And I think think the issue, you know, it's kind
<v Speaker 2>of like you know, when you turn on and during
<v Speaker 2>NFL season, when you when you've got Sunday night free,
<v Speaker 2>you know, and it doesn't always work out. But what
<v Speaker 2>they attempt to do is they attempt to curate epic
<v Speaker 2>Sunday night football matchups. Right, it's not I'm not watching
<v Speaker 2>Jaguars Titan. I guess the Jaguars are good now, but
<v Speaker 2>I'm not watching you know, the Titans play the Vikings
<v Speaker 2>next year on Sunday Night, Like that's not going to
<v Speaker 2>be the matchup. So to me, it's elevating the select events,
<v Speaker 2>and it's somewhat already happened, but then it's creating that
<v Speaker 2>being the tour the tour, I think then it becomes
<v Speaker 2>really fascinating if you have a robust and cutthroat relegation
<v Speaker 2>promotion and in this like if you if you had
<v Speaker 2>this right now, you think about like the stories of
<v Speaker 2>Brooks Kopka, Max Homa, you know, different names that are
<v Speaker 2>outside the top one hundred that are having to play
<v Speaker 2>their way back up. You know, I don't know how
<v Speaker 2>you do injury designations, but maybe you have Billy Horschell
<v Speaker 2>and will tel Torres playing on this B tour that's
<v Speaker 2>also flooded with the PGA Tour. You young guns, the you
<v Speaker 2>know that are on this tour trying to play their
<v Speaker 2>way up. But also you have the that free, that
<v Speaker 2>flow of maybe it's twice a year where there's a
<v Speaker 2>shuffle and guys go down and up, and it creates
<v Speaker 2>these constant storylines for both the A events and the
<v Speaker 2>B events. And also I think, you know, if you
<v Speaker 2>do it that way, what you know one of golf's
<v Speaker 2>biggest challenges is the Rory mcelroys are so so so
<v Speaker 2>oh valuable to your sport, where you get these iconic
<v Speaker 2>stars that for you know, at this point with Rory,
<v Speaker 2>he's on year year fifteen of being a global superstar
<v Speaker 2>and that value is so high. And to me, one
<v Speaker 2>of the issues at this point with the tour is
<v Speaker 2>like how do we how do you make people care
<v Speaker 2>and know more about Luke Clanton, Michael thorpe Jornsen those
<v Speaker 2>people before they become before they become winners. And to me,
<v Speaker 2>if you have a really strict relegation and what you know,
<v Speaker 2>big time players will fall out every single year, and
<v Speaker 2>when big time players go down, they bring attention eyeballs
<v Speaker 2>to everybody else on that lower tour. So in turn,
<v Speaker 2>you should build stars quicker too.
<v Speaker 1>This is my thought.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I like it. I like it. It'll be interesting to
<v Speaker 3>see how it all plays out. I mean, I know,
<v Speaker 3>I know a lot of people are spending a lot
<v Speaker 3>of time putting a lot of effort into trying to
<v Speaker 3>figure out what what what it's all going to look
<v Speaker 3>like and what the best way forward is.
<v Speaker 2>So you think about like a couple of years ago,
<v Speaker 2>you know, just this is just an aside the window
<v Speaker 2>where JT was trying or was it the window.
<v Speaker 1>What event was it?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, where like coming down the stretch the cinema to
<v Speaker 2>see if he qualified was you know epic, you know,
<v Speaker 2>and he almost chips.
<v Speaker 1>In on the last hole.
<v Speaker 2>And imagine if that was for his like spot on
<v Speaker 2>the upper tour. And if all of a sudden, like
<v Speaker 2>he's going down and there's no handouts available to come
<v Speaker 2>back up. Yeah, that that makes the sport endlessly fascinating,
<v Speaker 2>more fascinating than like I you know, I was thinking
<v Speaker 2>about it. It's like just Allower gave this great speech,
<v Speaker 2>you know, a great talk, not speech, but like great
<v Speaker 2>press conference the emotions and obviously is one one of
<v Speaker 2>the players where emotions come out. The motions are just
<v Speaker 2>pouring out of him because he finished I think one
<v Speaker 2>oh one on the list last year and I'm looking
<v Speaker 2>through the leaderboard. He's at the top of the leaderboards
<v Speaker 2>the Farmers. It's the third end of the year even
<v Speaker 2>to lose his card. So I think that's what I
<v Speaker 2>would like. I don't want to sound like it, but
<v Speaker 2>I would like to see like, yeah, they're they're they
<v Speaker 2>got to work their way back up and they aren't
<v Speaker 2>getting any start, Like have that strict firm you're either
<v Speaker 2>up or you're out.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, look, a lot of it depends on
<v Speaker 3>and I'm sure this is part of the discussion as well,
<v Speaker 3>is field size. I mean, the reason somebody that finished
<v Speaker 3>one hundred and first or in that area last year
<v Speaker 3>is playing this week is because there's two courses in
<v Speaker 3>a full field of one hundred and fifty six players,
<v Speaker 3>and so you know, somehow got to You've got to
<v Speaker 3>fill those slots, and you know, you go down the
<v Speaker 3>list of who played better than who last year, and
<v Speaker 3>so if Laura was one hundred and first, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>he's going to get more opportunities than the guy who
<v Speaker 3>was one hundred and tenth or the guy there was
<v Speaker 3>one hundred and fiftieth, and so a lot of it
<v Speaker 3>is going to depend on, you know, how the field
<v Speaker 3>sizes look going forward as well. I think if the
<v Speaker 3>field sizes shrink down to a certain zone, I mean
<v Speaker 3>logically it would have to be more cut through.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>To me, if it's one hundred person to work, if
<v Speaker 2>ninety five people sign up to play that week, ninety
<v Speaker 2>five people are in.
<v Speaker 1>You know, if you have some.
<v Speaker 2>Uproad qualifying capabilities, those people qualify, it doesn't go more
<v Speaker 2>there are no exemptions.
<v Speaker 1>You know, this is the way it works. Uh.
<v Speaker 2>And I just want to point out I'm a huge
<v Speaker 2>fan of Justin Lower. He is a Friday Golf of Golf,
<v Speaker 2>that's event winner.
<v Speaker 1>He is one.
<v Speaker 2>He's one on the hardest tour to win on. You're
<v Speaker 2>a Master's champion, you have one on the Friday Golf
<v Speaker 2>event tour.
<v Speaker 3>It's honest good to get in, that's for sure. But
<v Speaker 3>you know, I don't know if you I mean you
<v Speaker 3>threw out a hundred, I gotta say I would. I
<v Speaker 3>would be more in like that one hundred and twenty zone. Personally.
<v Speaker 3>It's just me talking.
<v Speaker 1>I was just taking a number out of you.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I would. And you've got to have a cut.
<v Speaker 3>You just have to have a cut.
<v Speaker 1>Got it, completely agree.
<v Speaker 3>That's the area that I would be looking towards. But
<v Speaker 3>I'm not to be too.
<v Speaker 2>Is like, if you're in a certain a certain number
<v Speaker 2>on like corn Fairy, maybe it's number one, maybe it's
<v Speaker 2>number one through three, they get up to the top
<v Speaker 2>and you know one or two on the European Tour
<v Speaker 2>like whatever, you figure out, those places go feed right
<v Speaker 2>to the top if you win one of those tours.
<v Speaker 2>Because I think it's like extraordinarily hard to be number
<v Speaker 2>one on either of those tours.
<v Speaker 3>Yep. Yeah, So.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Trevor, good luck this weekend.
<v Speaker 2>I can't I'm very excited you guys are back on
<v Speaker 2>tv UH and it kind of signals we're not that
<v Speaker 2>far away from.
<v Speaker 1>Augusta, So thank you.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for joining me and UH and looking forward to
<v Speaker 2>UH to watching a lot of golf that you call
<v Speaker 2>this year.
<v Speaker 1>So thanks as always.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I appreciate it. Matt's great to chat chet off
<v Speaker 3>with you.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Big thanks to Trevor Emillan for coming on,
<v Speaker 2>and big thanks to PJ. Clark for editing and producing
<v Speaker 2>this podcast. We will be back next week, looking forward
<v Speaker 2>to chatting again. I think the pods off to a
<v Speaker 2>great start. I hope you guys are enjoying it as well,
<v Speaker 2>so we'll be back next week.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks