Fairway Rollin' - The Zurich Classic, the Future of Broadcasting, and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan (Ep. 34)

Episode Date: April 25, 2017

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House preview the upcoming Zurich Classic (3:00), discuss the future of golf broadcasting (24:35), and talk with new PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan (42:46). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, before we get to a big shack house today, I want to tell you a little bit about Callaway Customs because it's bigger and better than ever. You know, one of the perks of being a tour pro is the unlimited access to custom equipment. Well, guess what? That cool custom paint, fill and stamping job that you've seen players throwing out on social media, it's no longer just for the world's elite. Calloway Customs is the most complete customs program in golf. For example, you can personalize seven different areas on the new Callaway wedges. It looks really cool. So just head over to the Callaway Customs Options on the website. Notice that it includes the new products like the number one selling epic driver with jailbreak technology.

And that's at CallawayGolf.com slash customs and just use that intuitive tool, design it however you want for your driver, your golf balls, or your wedges today. It is awesome stuff. Callaway Customs House? Yeah. How about our good friends at Seat Geek also? As everybody who listens to the Shack House knows Seekek is a good friend of the Shack House. Buying tickets to sports and concerts can be complicated and confusing, but there is a better and simpler way. And that is with Seat Geek. You know Seat Geek works. We can be anywhere. And with just a few taps, we can instantly find seats. I just used it because it's baseball season here in the DMV,

and I am going to see my Washington Nationals, the first place Washington Nationals. Off to a hot start, seven straight wins. I'm sure they're going to lose tonight because I just put the whammy on them. Seek is designed to make your ticket buying experience easier than ever. Saves you time and money by searching multiple ticket sites to compare prices and find amazing deals. Every purchase fully guaranteed.

Seek Geek grades tickets based on value so you can immediately find the best seats for your budget. And it doesn't end with sports. Also plenty of concert, comedy, and theater tickets as well. Best of all, Shackhouse listeners get a $20 rebate off their first. Seekkeek purchase to get your $20 rebate on tickets. Download the Seek app. Go to the Settings tab and click add a promo code.

Enter promo code house. H-O-USC. Seekek will send you $20 after you made your first ticket purchase. Download the Seekek app and enter promo code House today. Make Seatkeek your go-to ticket source for all things, PGA and beyond. And let's go to the Shack House. You sounded good. How you doing there in the D.C. area, big April, 20, whatever this is.

Fourth, we're recording this on. It's Zura Classic Week. Used to be a dead week on the PGA tour. now it's a week that all the players are waiting for. Shaq, I'm fully recovered after the Masters Week. I think we did 43 podcasts that week. We got them all in. We had a nice recovery.

The two weeks since our last show, two new winners on PGA on the PGA tour, not only Calloway's own Wesley Bryan, who really felt like he was due. We really did think that he had something big plan for 2017, but another terrific first-time winner, Kevin Chappell yesterday at the Super Bowl. difficult, surprisingly difficult,

Valero opened down in San Antonio. Yeah, that's always seems to be producing great finishes there, which is, yeah, it's been nice. We've had two weeks of good solid golf, but I think this week is going to be a lot of fun where we kind of head to a new territory. House, it's been 36 years. 1981 was the last time we had a team event, and that's just way too long. Excuse me, all men's team event.

We did have a little bit after that, the JCPenney with the men and the women in the silly season. And, of course, the shark shootout. But this is for real FedEx Cup points. This is for serious stuff here. I mean, hey, Cameron Tringali and Patrick Rogers can both get their first BGA tour win this week. There's all sorts of wacky stuff like that

that could happen at the Zurich. And, you know, I'm just thrilled because this is a time of year when it can get a little boring. and this sponsor has taken a big chance, and they've up the purse a little bit, and they've got the PJ tour on their side, and the players are definitely on their side. I mean, the field is just, wow, it's really, for a Zurich,

they've done very nicely for themselves. Well, I love, obviously, anything that is different from the regular stroke play events. So I'm a big, big fan of the match playdown. in Austin that we just had a few weeks ago in the run-up to the Masters. This thing, all by itself, is a really interesting animal. It's hard to get your arms around who to like this week. I mean, we know who is in good form.

And I think it's going to be really interesting to see the broadcast, how it is that guys picked their partners, because there's some really interesting partnerships, Some really interesting pairs here. Yeah. Well, so let's just set it up first for people who don't know because there are a few things in the world that might be distracting them. I think today's National Golf Day or whatever it is,

it's when all the golf people go to Capitol Hill and remind Congressman that golf is a $76 billion industry. Because, you know, they don't have a lot going on right now this week in Congress, so I'm sure they're just loving that message. But anyway, so the Zurich Classic House, We have six of the top 10 in the world, 13 of the top 25. As I said, first two-person team event with official monies in 36 years. And so it's a very simple format.

They're going to play alternate shot Thursday and Saturday rounds. Friday and Sunday, they're going to play best ball. There's a normal cut to, I think it's 35 teams after Friday. And like he said, we've got these watch. Really, there's some bizarre pairings that came from essentially the eligible list of 80 or so players got to then pick their partner. And you have some obvious ones, you know, a stricker and a Jerry Kelly, the Wisconsin guys, things like that. But then you have just some wacky things. You just look at on paper and you go, whoa.

So I think you're right. It'll be really important for television to tell those stories of how these guys got together. I mean, Jason Day, Ricky Fowler, that's kind of a, that's a sponsor. That's a Zurich pairing. They wanted to make a splash, I think. And those two are both on Team Zurich or whatever, one of those insurance things. And that's fine, don't you think? I mean, some people don't like that there's so much star power in one pairing, but I think that's kind of fun.

It brings a different kind of pressure on them. Yeah, there's a few of these pairings that have pretty decent star power. I mean, Rose and Stenson is not exactly. jump change. Sensen hasn't really been informed, but, you know, Rose was on the brink of winning the Masters, playing in a playoff for the Masters. So I would say that he's informed. I really like this Brandon Grace, Louis Oosty-Husie. Oh, that was my pick in my fantasy league. That's who I took. So that's, those are guys that are informed, they're ball strikers. If Brendan Grace could put, he might have been Brandon Grace. I know that. Don't worry. It's not.

the first time television people have been calling him the wrong name for years he he could have he could have won this this week down to texas um if he could put and he's and he's by the way a guy to really watch here if he's starting to warm up you know he's a he's a u.s open player and and we have no idea who's going to play well at aaron hills but he is somebody to really start watching in these weeks leading up to to the u.s. open because he he's he's ready to win a major and he's put himself in position a few times, including at Chambers Bay, which, you know, was a pretty wild and difficult setup. So anyway.

Right. Super bomber to some of Bubba and J.B. Holmes. Yeah. And then you wonder about Bubba being jet lag coming back from China. Yeah. And then the Texas boys, Spieth and Palmer, and Ryan Palmer, another guy who was right there in the thick of things when he went to bed Saturday night down at the Valero and just had it kind of a flat Sunday round, but, you know, he looks to be informed. So pretty good. A lot of start power.

Yeah. I'd like to hear the backstory on that pairing, too. I don't know how that came about. You know, Speath was a late ad to this, and I think Ryan Palmer kind of pushed him to do this. So I hope to hear the reason why. Maybe Speeth just kind of got into the momentum of all this and everybody being excited about it and wanted to play with him. So either way, I just think it's awesome that he's going to be there. And he really lends another element. And he's somebody who has shown he likes these kinds of team formats. But, you know, the thing House that I think people don't realize is alternate shot is a great matchplay format. It is a really, really tough stroke play format.

You have to have a very good relationship with your partner because if one player is a little bit off, it is very, very stressful in alternate shot. Or if one guy is hitting great iron shots and the other one is blowing all the birdie puts, you know, there are just a lot of elements that can go wrong and lead to some awkward moments out there. And that's why I think down the road I would like to see the format possibly only have one day of the alternate shot. And maybe go to two days of best ball and maybe the last day add them up, both rounds counting. You know, my friend Mike Clayton was down at the World Cup where they used this exact same format last fall. And he said the last day didn't quite have the tension, you know, like you have.

You see a lot of club invitationals will do add them up the last round. And you want to have that sort of pressure. On the other hand, you can make the case that best ball allows the guys to really attack the course and make a ton of birdies. And that could be exciting too. So we'll see. It'll just be fun to watch it play out. And I don't think anybody really cares if the format isn't 100% perfect because I think we're just excited that this. is the first step and what I believe will be a multi-pronged attack at bringing in new formats on the

tour. I totally agree. I loved your point about the potential tension between partners too. So at this course, the TPC down there in New Orleans, there are three of the four par threes are on odd holes. So there will be one guy with primary responsibility for the par threes. All the par three's down there are hard. They're all. over 200 yards and all of them last year were played over par on average. So. Look at you. I just want to see the strategy, right?

Like what, as between the partners, what guys, you know, what guy is going to have the odd holes that will tell us something about who they think is sort of, you know, ball striking wise in form. And I think it's just, it's just interesting because, again, we don't have anything to measure this against. We're just watching and enjoying it. that's the only like strategy element of this that kind of left off the page at me is like who's going to hit these par threes what uh what other pairings stood out to you so if i was going to bet

and i'm not because there's no i don't mean betty no i understand but i just mean drama wise i well i okay maybe betting i'm really impressed by the headeky matsyama uh hedetto tanahara combo tanahara played well um down in austin and hadeky's like a top five player in the world so that's a pretty good pairing. And I think the odds for those guys are somewhere in the 20s, like 25 to 1 or something. I think this Daniel Berger, Thomas Peters, combo

could be really interesting. Both of those guys. That could be great or that could unravel quickly. Because they're both kind of fiery guys on the course and they may, that may serve them well, they may totally feed off each other or

and I don't know their backstory. I don't know how well they know each other. They're the same age just about. And so they may have played some college golf. Again, this is one of those where I hope in the broadcast and in the lead-up, we kind of find out because I'd like to know if they have a little bit of a bond, because if they don't, the way they play on the golf course, they could quickly rub each other wrong or they could just really take off as a partnership. Well, it's just exciting to see. I love the Kepka brothers playing together. I think that's awesome. Yeah, I wasn't excited about that initially that they

gave, use one of their sponsors' invites on Chase. And now I regret having that view because I think that's one of the more intriguing couplings there and that it's a, you know, his brother's on the challenge tour and if they play well, this could be a, you know, big deal for him, big, huge check and all that.

Now I kind of like that. Yeah, well, and Brooks played his ass off yesterday. Yeah. His game is back. Yeah, he's coming in hot. The one I say for last is the funniest pairing to me. And I really wonder, I would love

to know the backstory of how these two got paired. Bryson D. Shambo and Rory Sabatini. I mean, I hope they show up in all black. I hope they just own the villain thing and play it to the hill, right? Just show up in all black.

Well, first we'll have, Bryson will be in his hugging cap and then Rory will be in his Greg Norman, Ozzy Outback hat. And then there's just, there's a generational difference. There's just a question that I, I would love to be there for any kind of little scrum around Bryson. So, Bryson, could you take us through how you landed on Rory?

Where you was, I mean, we know Tony Lehman wasn't available. How far down the list did you go? It's just, it's an odd, odd pairing. It's an odd pairing. I mean, I know it's tough to talk about this without seeming disrespectful to Rory, but really, what the hell is going on there? How did that happen? They don't play, they're not the same club manufacturer, right? So it's not like an industry pairing, is it? No, I don't think so. And there's not a clothing, a clothing thing. They're not both Ian Poulter

clothing, right? Definitely, Bryce is going to win that one seven and six every time in the, in the fashion department. He's, he's on top of things. Well, anyway, it's going to be a great week. One other thing I wanted to shout out on the whole New Orleans thing, house. You know, this is an event. They've been playing PGA Tour big-time pro golf since 1938 in New Orleans, which I don't know if a lot of people realize. That first one was played at City Park, which just reopened last Friday as renamed Bayou Oaks. It was taken out by Katrina.

And they spent $24 million. Reese Jones redid the course. The tour is very involved. I'm hearing rumblings at Zurich is very excited, and I don't think we'll be surprised if this tournament is played there at least once. You know, next year's the 80th anniversary, so I'm just saying House. But a little shout out to listener, Ryan, whose dad was very involved in this project,

and we congratulate them. Anytime anybody can get a Muni rebuilt, replenished, especially after Katrina. I think that's just a cool story. It looks great from the, air, you know, you know, my feelings on Reese Jones bunker, so I won't go into, I won't bore anybody with that. But it looks like they did a beautiful job and, and hopefully a couple of the players get over there this week and see that. I have a feeling, though, they're going to be going

right to Bourbon Street at night. I don't blame them. Because I think Zurich does some pretty cool stuff for them on the, on the food side, you know. Yeah, well, Patrick Reed was on last year and told us it's his favorite event because of the food. Yeah. Yeah, well, and yeah, well, anyway. So, yeah, anyway, it's exciting. I think it's just, I think the main thing, though, to realize is that people are really taking note of what Zerick did. The tour came up with this idea. Our guest later on in the show was a big part of that, Jay Monaghan. Hopefully, he'll discuss that a little bit more.

But what they've done is take a chance, and it's already paid off. Even if Deschambeau and Sabatini win by nine, and it's just a snooze fest on Sunday, The fact that they've gotten these players there and this kind of buzz has already transformed this event. They've gotten their money's worth just in all the mentions of the Zeric Classic and the players newfound respect for the event. And getting some players who haven't been to New Orleans there, which is really cool. Yeah, I can't wait. Cool. All right.

Well, how about a little word from some more sponsors' house? No time like the present, Shaq. Hey, did you know the epic By Calloway House is the number one selling driver of 2017? That's a big deal, by the way. Oh, it happens to be in my bag. Happens to be in my bag.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, how you been hitting in? There was one or two in the water, but other than that, well, that's not bad at all. Long and straight. Well, anyway, the, it's a transformative driver, as you know.

And, however, when club reviewers, industry pundits, tour pros and golfers like you and me can't stop talking. about it. You know, it starts to take on a little life of its own. It's got a little mystique house. Golf Magazine said Calloway has added an extra gear to the epic driver. A hot list tester said the power was colossal. And PGA, yeah, colossal. And PJ Tour winner, Mark Leachman says it's really been a game changer. I've been driving it better than I ever have. And

another guy we're going to keep a close eye on going into the U.S. Open. So it's a number one selling driver in 2017, thanks to that jailbreak technology, and the ball speed it generates. If you haven't hit it yet, get out there, try an epic. Go to Callawaygolf.com to find a demo or a fitting location near you. And Shaq, I want to talk a little bit about our good friends at Fandul. And let me ask folks, have you tried the fantasy golf on Fandul yet? It's easy. You pick your contest.

You choose your team. You watch live and you win. There's cash prizes. something for everyone, lots and lots of contests to choose from starting at just one buck. So go ahead and get your feet wet, spend a dollar, mess around a little, build a team. What we're going to tell you to do is hurry and make sure to submit your lineup before tee-off on Thursday morning. There's more than golf on Fanduil, of course. You know Fandu for the daily fantasy basketball, daily fantasy baseball, new contests every day,

play as often as you want and play in big tournaments, or just play against your pals. Over 2.5 million players have won a cash prize playing fantasy sports on FanDul. So try it today. Now new users will get FanDul's combo five pack. Valued and up to 50 bucks. That's five free entries to a combination of 50-50 beginner contests. Just finishing the top half to win cash. That's what 50-50 means.

To get your five free entries, go to fanduel.com. click the join now button and enter promo code house. That's fandle.com promo code H-O-U-S-E voidware prohibited.

All right, house, we've been trying to get him for a while now but before we talk to Commissioner Jay Monaghan PGA Tour Commissioner,

we want to talk some sports. This is the Shack House brought to you by the Ringer by Callaway, all our great friends. But we are sports fans at heart. And I think you and I agree. It's a very interesting time right now in that we have some new commissioners trying to breathe new life

and trying to address issues in their sports, whether perceived or real or maybe a little bit panic modeish. But it depends on your point of view on all these things with technology. And Jay is one of those commissioners that has definitely been, I believe, put in this position to try. and adapt the PJ tour to the future. So now, House, do you know much about Jay's background? I don't. I'm psyched to talk to him and ask him some of the questions. I know a little bit that he's a New England guy, but that's about it.

Yeah, big Red Sox fan, of course. Family has season seats. But let's just so we don't have to embarrass him when we do get him on the phone with his resume. He was an academic All-American golfer at Trinity College, which is D3. He's got a master's in sports management from UMass. He then I think what's interesting about Jayhouse is that he has worked in many, many jobs in golf. And when I first met him, he was he was in one of those jobs. And it's amazing to see how quickly he has kind of moved up the ladder.

But it's also cool that he has worked in all these jobs that are jobs that he can relate to as a commissioner. You know, I had some issues with the prior commissioner because I felt he didn't relate very well to tournament directors and media sponsors, a lot of different people. And so Jay was an account supervisor at Arnold Advertising and he handled the Titleist and Footjoy business. And then he moved over to EMC and he was very involved with them. I don't know if you remember the old Skills Challenge. I do. He was a, yeah. So he was a director of sponsors and business.

branding and all that stuff. And so he was involved when they had that, which, you know, again, so he's got a little background and knowing about a kind of an alternative format event. Then he moved up to the Deutsche Bank Championship, and he was the executive director of that event, which I think is going to be a very interesting thing because in the rumored rescheduling of the tour, you know, the Deutsche Bank, which is now the temporarily the current like placeholder sponsor, essentially is EMC. And there's a lot of, a lot of people who believe it's a goner of that event, which is hard for me to grasp because it's a great event. Gil's Hans has done a beautiful job revamping the course, and the Boston area fans have really embraced that event,

even though it's kind of out and not away from the city. But anyway, we won't belabor that one now. We'll wait and see what happens. But then he was with Fenway Sports Group. He was an executive vice president there. You know about his background of co-founding Gulf Fights Cancer with fellow Fenway executive Brian Oakes, Oates, excuse me.

And fellow Holy Cross grad, Brian Oates. Ah, okay. And then, well, you'll, I'm looking forward to hearing a little bit how you know all about golf fights cancer because we talked about it last year on the show. And then the last few things, Jay was a tournament director at the Players Championship. That's what got him to Ponavidra.

And then he became a deputy commissioner in 2014. And then he was a chief operating officer for about a year prior to replacing Tim Fincham in January. So that's his background. And then I sent you a piece, Sports Business Journal did, and he's really got a lot on his plate. So the fact we're getting him here today is a minor miracle. He's got a, he's very ambitious house.

He wants to attack the TV situation, the schedule situation. But those two are kind of working one hand in hand, really. Yeah, so it's an interesting moment for all of the sports commissioners, and I'm psyched that we have Jay at the very outset of his tenure with the tour, because, as you just mentioned, you know, you have all of these elements to where the major sports are in the way of, in terms of how folks consume them. And they all have certain common challenges that they're confronting, which is like scheduling and market saturation, the status of their media deals and, you know, how much of their content do they want to own and push out themselves, the correct use of technology and how to make that technology engaging to fans and, you know, perhaps allow fans to have a more immersive experience with, with. with their sports and then, you know, the entertainment element of it. And each of those various sort of factors as they apply to what Jay has in front of him, you know, it looks like golf could do kind of a pretty interesting fresh start in many ways between, you know, the schedule, sort of resetting the schedule and maybe getting,

but by way of rejiggering the players and the PGA, a big event on the calendar starting in March and running all the way through August. So you would have the very, you know, at least one event a month beginning in March where the very best field, the very best players are all playing against each other. That would, you know, only require slight change

in terms of moving, I mean, slight change in scheduling, obviously humongous logistical challenges and so forth. But, you know, the players back in March, the PGA in May, and then the Tour Championship in August, and maybe the Tour Championship wrapping up on Labor Day Monday, and that gives you like the feeling of an actual sort of conclusion to the golf season. That has a lot of logic to it to me.

It makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah. I'm excited to see what happens kind of in terms of the media deals and media structure. Golf does not have its own network channel, but the PGA Tour Live thing has been a pretty interesting. interesting innovation. They're subscription-based over-the-top network where you can live-stream tour events. And I've really enjoyed the partnership between the tour and Twitter. I am a guy who is, well, I'm telling you.

Do tell. You can watch Thursday morning and Friday morning live coverage of the events on Twitter. And I've been. Oh, I'm aware. I'm aware. I've been doing that. the West Coast and so it's like at 4 a.m. Yeah, well. For any event after the West Coast, it's way too early for us. So it's useless to us. I'm at work and I'm opening it up. You know, and it's on my browser.

And I'm sitting and, you know, doing whatever I need to do first thing of the morning, Thursday and Friday. But it's nice just to sort of get a feel for what the courses look like, what conditions are and sort of see who's coming out of the gate, you know, high. And so I, you know, that part of it, that gives them. a platform, it feels like, that they could build on. The technology piece, you know, Shotlink has been around for a while now. And it seems like in terms of enhancements to Shotlink, but also increasing the amount

of ProTracer on the actual TV broadcast and enhancing the way that we consume golf as viewers on TV, there seems like there's a lot of opportunity there. You and I keep talking about this. It's noticeably missing in events. you know, occasionally, like the Masters did not have a ton of Pro Tracer in the TV broadcast. It felt like it was missing. The more I talked to people after they read some of the stuff I wrote after the tournament, the more they say that is a likely a Chairman Payne thing,

that he likes the beauty of the golf course and not, and feels that he's providing you the other places to watch your technology. And he may have a point. He may have a point that the Masters is people tune in for this, this beauty and all that. Either way, I discussed, though, that with Jay Montahan a little bit at the Masters off the record, but he was watching it, and he is very much into technology and all that stuff. So I kind of feel like his wanting to, you know, he's thrown out in all these interviews house, the idea of a PJ Tour Network. And I've always felt it's just strictly a leveraging ploy

when he sits down with Golf Channel and NBC and the CBS and the Fox comes to the table and all that. The more I see and kind of where things are going, I think it's also a technology play. I do think he wants to force the hands of his partners to think more outside the box with this stuff. And they are, but I think he wants to push it. I think that's fantastic for us, the viewer,

in every way. Yeah, look, I'm not going to go on this rant because there's too many F bombs involved, but there's no doubt that there's an opportunity for tremendous innovation in terms of how golf is delivered and presented to folks sort of during the week. Every single time that I turn on the golf channel at 8.30 on a Tuesday night and see Tin Cup,

that's a concession speech. That's a different issue. That's a, well, but that's a failure. That's a, so, you know, the kids call it epic fail. That used to be the old way of describing things. You can't turn on that it's the only place to consume golf for an adult like me. I can't wake up in the morning and watch two and a half hours of morning drive, but the idea that you can't repackage all of that content that you've generated in the morning

and rerun it with whatever updates need to be added on to, it. It's just, it boggles my mind. It's 2017 and you're rerunning Tin Cup. Now, Tin Cup is a wonderful movie. But what in God's name is going on? What is going on? Well, okay, now that's it.

You've brought up a different topic, but as you were ranting, I decided to go to, well, I'm going to try to pull up the ratings for those the airings last week, because they were airings number, whatever they were. They've shown it a lot. But I think that you're getting at something that probably is a little different than his issues.

For all I know, the tour players don't like that either. But I think that the main thing for him, he made a statement that every sports league has been, has grown and been enhanced by having their own network. I don't agree with that statement. But that's his feeling. And if that's maybe we'll hit him on that a little bit. it, but he clearly wants to push things. And I think that's going to be what's fascinating to watch because it's about to happen,

House. This is, this is, this is, needs to happen soon. You know, they're, they can opt out of their network deals. And I think they're shooting for 2019 to have new network deals. The golf channel deal will not change until 2020, 2021 is the last year. And that is an ironclad contract. So, but that there could be a, you know, they could renegotiate. that. A lot of this two house, you have to understand,

stems from some really, really great behind the scenes, heavy hitter stuff going on. So Randall Stevenson, the CEO of AT&T, has been a long-time policy board member, and I believe has been very adamant about this, that they get their own channel. It just so happens that he happens to be pointing this out because his rival at Comcast, Brian Roberts, owns the golf channel. The PGA Tour had a chance, to have ownership of the Golf Channel and passed.

So I think there's a little bit of anger that they didn't take advantage of that, and they now would like part of that ownership. So there's just your basic money stuff going on there, too. But it's also it's content. It's content. It's content and distribution. It's your brand. Let me ask you this.

Let me ask you this, though. As a sports fan, don't you think that Major League Baseball has done a brilliant job? When they do their own content, they still put out the stuff. that's not so perfect. The NFL has done this. They've put out on social when that kicker was urinating behind the bench. There is something to be said for having an independent party covering your sport. I worry that if the PGA Tour Network happens, and that's your only place to watch the tour,

if you go by their website and go by the things they've produced, it is going to be all cheerleading all the time. And I think there's a danger in that. I think people want, you know, if there's a controversy or a rules issue or a player does something that needs to be covered, he throws a club, you know, the PGA Tour Network's not going to show that. The Golf Channel will. And that worries me that they would become controlling too much of what we see because I think that would scare fans off. Well, that's the balance that they have to find, right? The authenticity is crucially important to fans' consumption and enjoyment. And let me, you know, I'll be fair here.

I'll be generous. It's not exactly like Golf Channel is exactly pushing the envelope in terms of its controversial content. I mean, Brandel is the real, you know, talking bad about Tiger is the thing that can. Yeah, I mean, I'll defend them because I work for him, but there isn't that much to, to really chime in on, but they do at times, do it. But so that needs to be done. But that's the point. Like, I'm not that worried about the PGA tour, you know, whitewashing something

that's controversial and not giving it kind of full and fair treatment. I think that they would have given, you know, if the network exists, full balanced review of the Lexi Thompson situation, for instance. I guess, yeah, well, there's that. I guess I would disagree in that one of the things I see behind. the scenes. And I get it. I mean, I have a couple of players who've blocked me.

I know of a media person who probably lost his job because one player was very unhappy with him. And, you know, the players have a lot of influence and do an unbelievable amount of whining about the most. I mean, they despise Brandel, I think. The guys really bothers them when they didn't like Johnny Miller. I mean, players have always hated Johnny Miller for being honest. I think that it will be interesting if they do their own coverage,

how much leeway the announcers have and the commentators have to point out when I mean, I mean, House, I got crap for questioning Jordan Speeth playing and the John Deere instead of getting over to St. Andrews earlier. I mean, really got a lot of grief. Like, really? That's just a basic strategic argument we're having about. I mean, I'm not, you know, I'm not declaring him some evil person. It's just a question.

And so that worries me from a fan's point of view if we just, we just water the whole thing down. Well, if that's the case, then people won't watch it. I mean, you know, we're at, we have lots and lots of options. And if we, if they fail to deliver on the authenticity and they don't genuinely cover elements of it that might make them uncomfortable, then then folks will go other. elsewhere. That's kind of the media moment that we're in. If we don't think that somebody's selling it to us straight, we're going to go move on. Yeah. Okay. So before we get to Jay, though, here's what I want to ask you. You see some of the things he's throwing out there. You know some of the things Rob Manfred wants to do in baseball. Adam Silver has thrown out a few ideas. The NFL's not showing quite as much sense of urgency as maybe

the other sports are. Do you think that the way these commissioners are throwing out different ideas and pondering, changing the way their game is played or the way their game is shown, do you think they are right to be doing this? Do you think they're overreacting? Is it somewhere in between? I mean, I think in the case of, obviously, in the golf, I think it's the right thing for Jay Monaghan to be doing. And I love a lot of the things Rob Manfred's wanting to do. But is your sense? Because I worry if there's any sense of desperation that, again, the fan will kind of notice that and maybe think less of the sport. So my take is we're in a kind of disruptive moment in terms of the way that the leagues are delivered to consumers to the fans of their sports.

And the way that folks are able to get information about the, the games and the players. And I think, you know, all the leagues are struggling with trying to find the right answer to the fact that you can consume their league by way of watching it on television. You can consume their league by way of watching streaming on your phone. You can consume their league by way of reading stories on the internet from a whole variety of sources, both, you know, traditional sports media and very non-traditional. sports media. And I think all of the commissioners are trying to find the right balance in terms of who

they partner with. I mean, it's not a coincidence that all of the leagues partnered up with the daily fantasy folks at the outset. I know that football and basketball had investments in draft kings in the early stages of that brand and the same, I think the same is true. true of Fanduil as well. They're all looking for, you know, how can we stay on top of innovation in terms of how folks are enjoying our product. And we're in this moment where it's impossible, you know, we might have a good feel for this five or ten years from now. But right now, it's, you know, you can consume these things through a half dozen different ways. And, you know, the commissioners have the real challenge of, you know, putting the best foot,

forward. Well, and we won't belabor it with Jay because we have a lot we want to get to with him, but he has shown that he has an open mind on the things you just mentioned related to the G-word, the gambling word, and he's not close-minded like his predecessor was about it. He realizes that those are things that have grown the NFL. And by the way, matchplay is quite betting-friendly house. just another reason we may see more matchplay, but I don't know. It's all this is kind of coming together in a way, I think.

I'm impressed that he's giving us the time because he's got so much on his plate and trying to juggle all of these things. Plus, I think he has to kind of establish new relationships with all these tournaments and sponsors, even though he's been doing that the last couple of years. It's different now when you're the commissioner. And so anyhow, anything. Anything else you want to cover before we get to get to our chat with him? No, I'm psyched to get to Jay. Let's get to Jay.

All right. Let's talk to Jay Monaghan, Commissioner of the PGA tour. Before we get to Jay, let me give a quick shout out to our good pals at Helix. You, Shackhouse listener, are unique. You don't walk like everyone, talk like everyone, or most importantly, sleep like everyone. So why is your mattress one size fits all? A truly customized mattress in the past will cost you $5,000, $6,000, until now. Go to helix sleep.com.

Answer a few simple questions, and Helix will run a 3D biomechanical model of your body. I don't know if I want a 3D biomechanical model of my body, but they'll run it through their proprietary algorithms. developed with the help of the world's leading ergonomics and biomechanics experts. And the result of that is the most comfortable mattress you've ever slept on. Go to helix sleep.com, answer a few questions based on a few key preferences. Only four, they run it through the algorithms. You get a custom sleep profile out of it.

And what you really get is the most comfortable mattress you've ever slept on. Helix customers report 30% improvement in overall sleep quality. For couples, Helix will cut it. customize each side of the mattress. It arrives of your door in about a week. That's all it takes. Shipping's completely free. And that's why everyone from GQ Magazine to Forbes to all talking about Helix Sleep, you have 100 nights to try it out. And if you don't love it, they pick it up for free and give you a full refund. No questions asked. Go to helixleep.com slash house and get $50 $10 off your order.

That's helixleep.com slash house. $50 off your order. Helixleep.com slash house. Do it now. All right. Joining us now in the shack house is Commissioner Jay Monaghan. Jay, thanks so much for joining us. How are you today?

I'm great, Jeff and Joe, and thank you for having me. It's a real pleasure for me to be on with you guys today. Well, we have a lot to cover with you, but we have to ask you while we have you here. Your reaction to the USGA RNA new decision that's attempting to sort of maybe downplay the role of video replay in the professional game and in the amateur game. Well, I think it's a great development

and coming out of the A&A and really specifically during the week of We were all together and had an opportunity to the USGA, the RNA, and commend both of those organizations. It's a positive development that we fully support and have been supporting those organizations. We're very pleased. Well, that's good to hear. You know, the one quick take you see on social media, at least my reaction as well, is I do worry for the player in this that as much as we like putting the trust in their hands,

do worry that they will be put under pressure to, to, if they're seen possibly having gotten themselves into a little infraction situation, will they be teamed up on? And is that something, a scenario you guys have kind of kicked around or thought through yet? Yeah, I mean, I think it's been something that everybody has talked about. And, you know, there is, as you know, a fair amount of complexity within the rules and Some of that goes to the rules themselves, and some of that involves what happens inside the field of play. And I just think it's something that we'll have to, you know, we'll continue to monitor, but we're supportive of going down the path that the USDA and RNA are now going down.

All right. So before you got here, we took everybody through all the jobs you've had in golf. And I think the one that stands out to House and I is that you were a tournament director. and you're the first tour commissioner who's actually worked in that role of being the person trying to run the week-to-week event. I'm curious, is that the job that you've had of the jobs you've had in sports that is the best job for you in terms of informing your work as commissioner? Or does it put a little different pressure on you because the tournament directors know you've been in their shoes? Well, I think that all the jobs that you have in your career are interrelated, but given the position that I'm in now,

I look back to the combination of working for a sponsor in EMC Corporation that sponsored a number of PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions events to my time running the Deutsche Bank and my time running the place. players, I think it gives you a complete picture and perspective on your product. Because at the end of the day, what happens on the ground Monday through Sunday at our tournaments, that's having an appreciation for the challenges that a tournament director faces. And those challenges are significant, whether it's trying to secure 2,000 volunteers, really trying to activate and engage a community, understanding how important what you do is

for the charities that benefit from your work, understanding what a player's perspective would be in terms of how they look at their week and how they look at your venue. There's just, there's a long list, I think. I think it certainly is helpful as it relates to my work in a week in and week out with our tournaments. That's your product, and I just love all the underlying details

and the neat stories that happen kind of day in and day. I think it's very inspiring. So now the players championship is still sort of your baby, and you've also run that event, and then you've been very involved in, I think, trying to reshape it a little bit, it seems like. Is that a fair assessment as we kind of enter this year's with some enhancements to the golf course

and perhaps other elements as well? I think as an organization, we've got the philosophy, As it relates to players, has been to really always try and identify the ways to, and this year, you know, this year is the first time that fans at the tournament will see some significant changes to the venue and changes on the exterior, but more specifically on the interior, we've resurfaced all of our greens, gone to Tiff Eagle, Bermuda grass, something that we think will give us the best. We redesigned whole number 12 to think we'll create some excitement early on the back 9 as you go into Sunday. And then number 6, all that Pete dies is that and number 7. We've essentially opened up, and you'll see it just creates a great vista. We imagine our whole practice facility. So we think that's going to be all those are positive for the player.

We'll create some intrigue. But, you know, our work is not done. and we're going to continue to, as we go forward, find the ways to make this the best championship it can possibly be. But I think this year will mark another significant step forward. Mr. Commissioner, I was lucky enough to be down in Pana Vida in March and managed to get around in down at Sawgrass. And I can tell you the experience is on 6 and 7 and 12. I liked very much the way the Greens rolled. My problem on the golf course was not my performance on the Greens.

It was getting the ball onto the Greens was a little bit more of a challenge for me. But we had a good wind, and I tried to drive 12, but, you know, I might have come up just a little short. The wind was in our face that day. I invited Jeff on several occasions. He won't accept my invite, and I expect to be testing. Next time I'm down there, I'll give you a shell. Maybe I could get a little strategy of guidance for six and seven especially. I just think it's going to be really, you know, the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of tournament week,

it's going to be great to hear players' perspective on the changes. And, you know, we're really excited to welcome them here and obviously showcase the work. It's been done by a group of people. Well, speaking of extraordinary people, we have a connection with you that kind of precede. all of us coming together here. Last year, the Shackhouse podcast collaborated with a charity that you co-founded, the Gulf Fights Cancer charity. I connected with a mutual pal and fellow Holy Cross grad Brian Oates,

and we were able to do some good work together. Could you tell us a little bit about your relationship with the charity and the backstory there? Well, first of all, thank you guys so much for supporting golf. fights cancer. It's been a labor of love for Brian, myself, and for so many other people that have helped make it a, you know. The backstory goes back to 2004. Brian and I are very close friends, and we lost, good friends of ours, Ed and Diane Lynch lost their baby boy, Jack Lynch at five years old, to neuroblastoma. And in and around that time, we had lost a mentor in Rob Stevens, who was a sports marketing executive and was good to both of us.

And we left one of the services, and so we need to do something with these great people and families. And the long story short, Brian was at B.C., getting his MBA, and he was trying to figure out he needed to write a business session. He said, why don't we write a business plan for charity that could help us address what we're trying to do? and so he took the lion's share of the work. We collaborated on it, and out of it came.

Golfers are inherently generous. You know that. You see it day in and day out. It's prolific in terms of what the game is prolific in terms of what it redefined some of his money. We started, five of us ran the Boston year. We referred to ourselves as the Fat Bastard Running Club. The unlikely of us running is $50,000 that first year, and we, last week, there were, I think, 16 runners who raised over $400,000 in the Boston Marathon.

We now do golf marathons. We've got a good guy invitation. We raised over $100,000. So it's a community of people that either have been affected by cancer or inspired to fight cancer. And a little time later, we've generated over six million charities and, of cancer-related research. Well, I'm not ready to announce it quite yet, but we have been talking with Brian and with our good friends at Callaway, and we have a pretty great idea for something later this

year, and I promise you'll get an invitation when we get the thing all together and off the ground. We're really looking forward to it. I'm excited to hear what it is, and again, thank you guys. Jay, on the charity front, you just had the Valero Texas Open, which has become a huge, huge, success story both on that front and then it just seems to be a tournament that the players like a lot. May has just become a very strong month for the tour and obviously the players moving there several years ago's help but this week at the Zurich House and I already discussed on the show here

we've been very excited about this all year but you and Andy Pasadour worked very hard with Zurich to get us this situation where we have a new fresh format and player excitement about a stop that at a time of year it can be, well, you know, it can get a little flat. And so House and I are dying to know, everybody agrees it is already a success no matter what happens on the golf course this week. But is this something you're looking at now and taking and saying, all right, what other kind of things can we do, non-stroke play formats, uh, that are possibly on the horizon for tour fans to enjoy.

Yeah, I think we're always looking at how we're performing, how our tournaments are performing, how our formats are performing. And I think, as you said, we're very excited about the team play format at the Zura Classic, and, you know, we'll continue to look at ways to, we'll be open to formats that we think are going to be interesting and compelling to our fans and drive growth through our tournaments. So I wouldn't suggest that this, that our work is done. I think that we'll continue to think about what that next change might be.

I don't want to set a time frame on it, but I think you know that we're looking at tournament of champions now, Now we've got a strategic partnership with the LPGA. We'd like to get the men and women inside the same field of play at that tournament if we can make that happen through sponsorship. But I think you look at – I just love – you know, I love for some play, love four ball play. It's a big part of team golf, and I think where this event falls,

I think lends itself very well for the team events at the back end of the year, particularly as teams are forming. There's no question that Team Golf creates a lot of enthusiasm through our players and certainly through our fans. I think one of the most interesting things over the last several months has just been watching some of the dynamic of players lobbying to partner up or just how that all came together was actually really interesting and obviously a sign that the players have responded well to it. If I could, I just would like to. You mentioned the Valero, Texas Open. there on Sunday.

Yeah. It was great to see, you know, Kevin Chappell win after 180 starts, and I think 20 top tens and his emotion and enthusiasm there was spectacular. Yeah.

The fans loved it. And you mentioned how, you mentioned what they do, what Valero does for charity, their benefit for children that night, which immediately follows the trophy ceremony. We went over to the J.W. Marriott

and they've got over 2,500 are raising $11 million, which they announced on Sunday for charity through the tournament. So it's pretty remarkable what they've been able to accomplish and what we've been able to accomplish with Valero through that event. And, you know, I think the players have a greater pre-to-the-PGA tour. We're going to continue to be very supportive. Here, I thought you were going to reveal the new schedule and break some news, but that's okay.

We love the shout-out to Valero because it is great to see a tournament. And I don't think people really realize, as you know, Jay, sometimes the amount of money at a tournament like that is raising. So it's always good to remind people. How else, what do you want to ask the commissioner next? Well, one of the recurring things that we talk about virtually every podcast, Jay, is the way that golf is presented on TV slash digital slash online. And we had a very good and long conversation, Shaq and I did, around the master. because there was such a discrepancy between the way the tournament was presented on broadcast TV as opposed to what you could get by way of the online content.

And I mentioned to Shaq earlier on today's show how much I've enjoyed the innovation of live streaming on Twitter, being able to watch some tournaments on Thursday and Friday live on Twitter. Shaq made fun of me for that. It's great to hear. What, in terms of an innovation that you kind of have in mind, you should be making fun of him. Yeah. He does. Don't worry.

Yeah. In terms of the way the game is presented on TV and digital and online, what kind of innovation are you guys working on? Well, I think you've seen with PGA Tour Live, obviously with video streaming on Twitter, you're starting to see us expand access, if you will, to our competitions, and really to open up the early part of the day on Thursday and Friday to drive interest into really what's happening in the afternoon, but to give our fans access to players that they want to see when they typically haven't been able to see them.

And then, you know, we're the announcement of the Twitter deal, you know, we're looking hard at virtual reality. You're going to see some innovation here at the Players' Championship in a few weeks. We're looking at augmented reality and how that could potentially enhance the on-site experience or the experience for anyone, for that matter. And working very closely with our partners at Golf Channel NBC and CBS. and I think the one thing that we're really trying to bring forward is how do you take the significant amount of data that this sport, how can you make that more relevant, whether it's in the broadcast or it's in a second screen experience.

But, you know, this game is fascinating, particularly for those that are avid about that data and finding ways to present that that are unique and really evolve in that area is something that I think you'll see us make progress on as we go forward. And then there's just, you know, we're really trying to, it's not a matter of what we think, of what we want to do. It's really a matter of understanding what the fan. We have set up 5,000 avid fans here in the U.S. and we're testing concepts and talking to them and getting feedback and having that kind of inform the way that we present ourselves has become a real priority for us here.

So you're a fan. You have a day off. Maybe it's just a Sunday in your home. You're not at a tournament. You were there earlier in the week. You're going to sit down and watch a broadcast. How do you go about it as a fan? Do you have Twitter open?

Do you, before the telecast comes on, Do you serve some websites? How do you consume media and how do you then watch your product? I basically do exactly what you said. So it's, I will, for me, particularly on, you know, Thursday, Friday, I'm here and I've got the golf channel on all day long. And so I'm following, you know, our tour that way. And I'm certainly following our tour on pjator.com. and then I've got a Twitter feed, a rolling Twitter feed here in my office,

so I see what people are saying, and I look at that several times over the course of a day. But, you know, on Saturday and Sunday, I'll typically, yeah, I'll have the broadcast up on my living room, and I'll be following on pjator.com. I'll usually pick two or three players that I'm following, and I'll be following them via shot tracker to see what they're doing. And then I tend to move around the leaderboard of Fair Mountain, try and see, try and identify some interesting stories, maybe a couple guys that, you know, need the top 10 to get into the following week, try and find a couple guys that perhaps

haven't played well that are better trending nicely and it would be good for them to have a great week or depending on where it is in the season, the impact of that performance relative to other events that they're trying to get into. I tend to kind of create my own storyline with the second screen and follow it that way. But that's generally what I do, and then I tend to talk to a fair number of my colleagues over the course of the day about what we're seeing and on the field of play. Not that exciting, but that's what I do. Well, it's good to know.

It informs kind of, I would assume. You're trying to put yourself, we've laid out, you're a sports guy. You love sports, and we're trying to, I think that's one thing that bothers a lot of us as fans, is that we wonder sometimes if the people in charge do what we're. we do, which is just either buy a ticket and go to the event or sit down and consume it the way we do. And so I think that's great to hear that you go about it the way that most of us would. I've got two girls who are 14 and 11, and if the family's around, I try and pull them in to get their feedback to what's happening as well and just see how they respond to really without much provoking. I always find that to be more informative than anything I come up with.

How about your daughters? Are they fans of the game? Do they like to play the game? My 14-year-old does not play regularly. My 11-year-old is taking lessons with three of her friends and has been doing so for a couple of years, and she does that at least once a week. and I feel like and so the nice thing is with the 11 year old playing

when we go out and we play together now it's pulling the 14 year old in but you know I think it's I grew up with two brothers and I grew up in a golfing family and I know how much it's how fortunate I was to be

involved in the game in such a meaningful way starting at a young age so I'm trying to do everything I can to balance my strong interest in having my daughters play the game with my duty as a parent to make sure that they are making the choices that they want to make but it's i think that we're i think i'm really excited about some of the things that um you know some of the programs that are out there obviously i think the first t 20 plus years since since its formation is an is a great foundation for us to convert this character education program to lifetime golfers.

And I think that's something that we need to continue to focus on as we go forward. I think programs like Youth on Course in Northern California, where you're getting young people access to golf courses where there is availability and that they have some accountability or skin in the game. it's largely subsidized. I think those are very smart, intelligent programs. I think understanding where there is availability to play and being able to solve that in a day and age where everything is transparency makes things move a lot faster, I think that creates a real opportunity for younger people and for us as administrators to help get more young people out in the golf course.

But, you know, I look at, I look at, you know, the relationship that we have, relationships that we have with the PGA of America, the USGA, R&A, Augusta National, LPGA, the work that we're doing together to really come together and try and, you know, as one, grow this game. I'm very inspired where we can go and making an impact. All right, Jay, last thing. Sorry. Last thing.

Do you have a bucket list course that you haven't been to that you are really eager to get to and see and study? And if so, who would your for some be that you'd like to tag along a sort of that dream forsome? Well, I was in Europe last week, and I was fortunate to be at dinner with Adam Scott. And I left that dinner so inspired by Sandbelt golf courses and Australia, and in particular, Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath, where we had last year's World Cup, and we're going to have, in Royal Melbourne, we're going to have the 2019 President's Cup.

And I've never been to Australia. My middle brother has. He talks about it often. So I'd have to say that that's where I need to go. And that's one that I absolutely would like to make happen. And, you know, if I were to do it, I'd have to break the rules. but I'd make certain that it was acceptable before him, but it would be a fivesome, and it would be my dad, my two brothers.

That's the way it will always be. Unfortunately, my mom passed away, but she'd be there with us in spirit. Did she get you into golf? No, my dad was, my dad was, he gets the credit. My mom took us to all the tournaments, so dad got a, She did most of the hard work, and then she was a tennis player until I got to high school, and then became a very good golfer.

She converted to golf and played. She passed away 10 years ago, May 19th, but she was an 11 or 12 handicap. She was a good player. Well, Jay, thank you so much. Don't forget Victoria, when you do that Sound Belt trip, by the way. It doesn't get mentioned as much, but it's just as cool. is Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne. A little shorter, but still outstanding.

So, yeah, make sure that's on the list. It's right there in the same neighborhood, one of the great neighborhoods of golf, and hopefully that you'll be able to do that prior to the President's Cup. How does you have anything else for the commissioner? I just want to thank him for the time today. It was really great hearing his thoughts and wish him the best of luck for getting going with this commissionership.

It's only been six months, but it's already felt like kind of six years, at least to us on the outside. I can only imagine how it feels to you, Jay. Well, I appreciate that, and I'm like everybody that works in this business and in this great game, I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity that I have and that we all have, and it's nice to share that opportunity together. All right, Jay.

Well, thank you very much. We'll let you get back to work. Thank you. See you soon. All right. Well, it was great show. Thank you, everybody, for listening. we've got the Zurich coming up.

We've got the players, as you heard Jay Monaghan discuss. It's going to be an exciting couple of weeks here in a time of year when it usually isn't so exciting. So we look forward to talking to you again soon. House, anything else you got? Oh, just this. Can't wait to get back and talk about the players on the Shack. Huge thanks to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monaghan. that was an excellent conversation and love hearing from him.

Let's close the show with a word from our good friend of Callaway Golf, the fastest-scoring golf brand since 2013, and the makers of the Chrome Soft Golf Ball. The key to Chrome Soft's incredible performance is its dual soft, fast core. It makes Chrome Soft, Long, Incredibly Soft, and Easy to Control. Golfers everywhere have been changing their ball to play it. And now through June, Calloway will customize, your Chromesoft for free,

go to CalawayGolf.com to personalize your golf ball today. Chromesoft is the ball that changed the ball.