No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1081: Weekly Recap + Bacon & Nitties on KFT Graduates

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

TC is joined by a triumphant Soly from the NLU Birdhouse at Sweetens Cover where Team NLU claimed our 2025 Roost Club Championship. After our breakdown of the week in pro golf and some assorted news and notes, TC catches up with the Korn Ferry Tour broadcast team of Shane Bacon and James Nitties (27:30) to review the 2025 season, this weekend’s tour championship and a quick draft of some names to watch from the twenty golfers who’ve earned a PGA Tour card for 2026. Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://nolayingup.com/esf⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our Sponsors: Titleist Whoop SoFi If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. I mean, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast.

Solly here, not going to lie, it was not planning to be on the pod tonight. We had to rearrange shift some deck chairs around. I've been out playing a little golf at our Roos Club championship this past weekend. We'll talk a little bit about that. But joined by my guy, Mr. T.C. What are we doing tonight, T.C? I've been locked in all day, Sali. I watched Bay Current last night.

I watched the Jags get whooped today. We got all sorts of Corn Ferry Tour stuff to talk about. What are you up to? Where can we find you? We're at Sweden's Co. We're at Sweden's Coe for the 2025 Roost Club Championship. If you're not familiar with what the roosts are, they are our, how would you describe them? There are golf communities that have popped up in many, many, many different places across the country.

And everybody plays in regional events, tries to qualify for the national event. 11 teams make the finals. We get an auto bid into that one. And if you're wondering what this gold chain is around my neck, the crew came up here and got the job done, TC. We got the job done. Won our own event. Which is what we do, but we've never won this one. We've never been close to winning this one, actually.

We had some new crew, some new blood come in. You've often called for new blood on the U.S. side on the Ryder Cup team. I said, hey, you know what? I'm like the Theo Epstein. I said, hey, we just, we got to get, you know, a new formula here. That's what we did. It was so much fun. We finished third overall out of 11 teams in the stroke play format.

And then we made it through the Royal. Royal and ancient company of this honorable golfers made the trip over from Europe for this event. We made it through them in the semis. It was neck and neck there. And then we beat the Rocky Mountain Rollers in the finals. Sweden's, man.

So there's something about Sweden's brings out some energy, some magic in the golf game. I've never felt you just come here and it's like a get right place. I honestly feel good about my golf game for the first time in like two years after playing this golf course. It doesn't necessarily translate outside of here,

but gosh, was it really, really fun. So if you ever looking to get involved, email Casey at no laying up.com to get involved with the local roost or start your own or whatever. She's all over that stuff and she did a great job with it. As it, Aaron Gregory, who runs all our events and everything. So just, yeah, was so much fun. And I think I'm working on like a 19th strain right now, TC.

I love it. Well, you know, hopefully you can keep that rolling into into NLU Club Championship. It sounds like Cody's coming up. Cody's playing well. There's, it could be quite, quite competitive at the, Club Championship. Give me a little preview. What's going on in your bag as we get

ready for Club Championship SCN? Yeah, so I made a couple little tweaks to my driver and my Fairway Wood settings. I'm in the GT2 driver and I got it working for me again, Sally. I went to D1 and I played

I played Hyde Park over on the west side of Jacksonville this week. The much maligned Hyde Park I'm pleased to note that it looked awesome. It was playing awesome. We played in some real conditions. It's been, it was finally sunny today. It's been miserable here for like last 10 days straight,

just kind of nor'easter conditions. And I drove it so well. So I feel like I'm back on that front. The iron play is, is great with my combo T250 and T-150 irons. Then I got that 44-degree Voki wedge. And, Sally, I've got the, uh, the phantom mallet back in the bag. Really? I've gone away from, yeah, I've gone away from the blade.

I'm back in a mallet. That's kind of an interesting development there. Wedge game is a little bit spotty right now, but we're trying to try to get that back. We're going on flighting it, you know, up and down a little bit right now. So, but bag feels really good right now. I think the, I got a good, good recipe going on, and I feel like I'm back on the upswing.

Going over to London this week, play some, I think I'm going to play St. George's Hill and having decided where I'm going to play. yeah never seen it i'm so glad you put that up near the top of your list that golf course is severely underrated i it is it is a very very very good golf course especially that front line is awesome i can't wait to hear what you think about that place yeah so excited to excited to bring bring the sticks over there and uh the four iron's been a weapon here of late too the t t 250 four iron i've i've been really leaning on that off the t so uh on some of these funkier courses so i'm gonna join you in praising the gt2 uh we're

Well, we're close to a trap draw goal. A goal I had this year was eradicate the lefts. Did not have the left this week, TC. I mean, through the bag, I'm obsessed with the T-150 irons. And we've got it, we've got it slotted right now, I think, which I'm going to celebrate that tonight. I know it's going to be gone by morning, but I'm celebrating it tonight. And I just felt really, really freaking dial with the equipment this week.

So go get fit, people. Just go get fit. It's like even just changing up my setting, like having talked to. to my fitter. I was like, hey, here's what I'm seeing. He's like, oh, okay, change, change this up. And there's a rhyme and a reason to everything. You can find the solution to what kind of ails you through the equipment.

So. And don't try to do this under the world of golf. Seriously, don't try to do that on your own. Yeah. Yeah, please, tell me, tell me what happened this week, T.C. I'm getting caught up. I watched the Bay Current on Wednesday night, round one. It was great TV. I wish I could have watched more of it.

It was windy. It was real conditions. It was real golf. And I know it happens kind of late at night. during football season and it's not getting by the viewership that a lot of other events are the meat of the season goes but I feel like this event was kind of a dub it sounded like

it was it was new new venue this year Yokohama country club got the core Crenshaw treatment I think like a decade ago I just it was striking on TV and it helped that they were playing in a like a tropical storm or a typhoon

but it was just it was proper conditions all week Zander putted his butt off putted better than he has all week or really all year so it might be some buying signs heading into 2026 he shot final around 64

Max Grazerman needed to hole out on 18 to force a playoff and he almost did I did see that one that was sick Michael Thore Bronson continues to play well finished solo third he's made four cuts in a row and kind of climbing up the

the fall series ranking Alex Smalley's got to be kicking himself kind of a weird, bizarrely bad third round that should have been a lot better and he should have been right there at the end. Rico Hoey keeps playing well. Matt McCarty shot final round 60 and he had an OB ball.

He had eight birdies in a row and 10 of his last 11 before he got to his 72nd hole and he just hit a foul ball. He's a lefty and just hit one way left. Ended up making bogey. with his second ball, which was, which was good and shoot 60.

So you just needed a par to shoot 59. I know 59 isn't what it used to be, but that, I saw the, the Instagram thing that said, I was one bad swing away from 58, and I'm like, sure, man. And then I saw the scorecard. I'm like, oh, my God, you were one bad swing away from 58. Yeah, and potentially nine birdies in a row, which, you know, that would have been like the second or third time that's happened in the last few weeks. So I got to tell you, I got super nervous today, TC.

We had the final round of the stroke play portion. I came out hot. I birdied five. I birdied six. I birdied seven. I birdied eight. And I got like nervous playing the ninth to do the TC for five birdies in a row. I don't think I've ever done it.

I never thought about the fact that I've never done it until you brought up that you want to do this more often. Everybody was gathered around the ninth green seeing if I could do it. I three putted from like 15 feet, unfortunately, but did not get the vaunted TC. But that was maybe as close as I've ever been. I had three in a row this week, and it was in my head. I was putting for birdie out about a 15-footer. My friend Greg McCrae was in town, and I ended up missing the putt. But there was no chance it was going to happen because the next hole is this really tough part three.

But I think that's everything, Sally. That's the big thing that matters. We'll get to Corn Ferry Tour stuff in a bit. I got bacon and nitties. I hopped on with them for about 45 minutes, and right after they hopped off the call from French lick. And not a lot of drama going on, but we just kind of tied a bow on the Corn Ferry Tour season and looked ahead at guys to keep an eye on for next year as far as, you know, guys making their debut on the PGA tour, guys coming back to the PGA tour. A lot of Adrian Dumont, DeCassart, talk, Johnny Kiefer, a few other characters coming back. So, all good there.

On the DP World Tour, Sally, they had, it was kind of a weird week. It was the Spanish Open. Marco Penge won. He continues his stellar, stellar play. And went to a playoff. He won first playoff hole over Dan Brown. Brown had some physio stuff going on. He had some neck issues late in the round and then ends up birdying 18 to get into a playoff.

Funny little 18th hole was like 325 yards. And then Penge, you know, ended up birdying it in the playoff. And he gets him to the Masters now with that National Open, baby. Open championship as well, I believe. But, I mean, it is a, he's had a remarkable kind of second half of the year, I think could have had a spot on the European Rider Cup team. And it would have probably made sense for the best page that we were probably expecting to see the Palmer's Paradise. Yeah, but, yeah, potentially.

But they obviously didn't meet him. but he is a dude to watch, man. He is a serious threat and kind of speaks to a little bit of the depth on the European side. We're a long ways away from next Rider Cup. We're not going to do this every single week, I promise, but definitely a name to keep an eye on.

Yeah. Yeah, we need to get them on the team, bottom line. They're going to India this week. They're not going to DLF, going to another course out there. Dr. Moonjall is getting everybody together for kind of a cash grab over there. I think Rory's going over, Luke Donald, Shane Lowry, pretty stacked field. And then they go on to Korea, and then they wrap up in Abu Dhabi and the D.P. World Championship in Dubai.

Rom, P., McKibben, Hoos, Big Tex, they all played this week. I think there should be a ruling coming down here in the next month or so on Big Texas fines for, from the DP World Tour and I think they're all you know it's like two or three million dollars with the fines on it's I just saw that

Rom is not not team it up again until live Riyadh in February he's not playing any more events for the remainder of this year and it's his first I think first win this year

he's had as a pro I mean he's still a really solid season on the he's done I mean yeah he's got three young kids at home I can listen I can relate shut it down for a little while

not playing as much golf and take care of things on the home front, but yeah, it is a little it's good, it's all it's good for all of us to have a little bit of a break from the top, the very top level of professional golf, but

a little weird to see him shut it down for that long. We don't see that a lot from a lot of top players in the world. Which, I mean, I imagine a guy like Rory is pretty jealous. I think Rory's going to India this week. He's going to Australia in about six weeks.

A lot of, a lot of travel upcoming so maybe that'll be fun travel he signed up for it yeah yeah he signed up for it you didn't have to do that yeah i think he can go and enjoy those all right sorry tc i had a bad connection had to change locations here what happened on the l pGA tour this week we're the first repeat winner of the year gino got it done in china pretty poor greens over there uh not in great shape there was some agronomy issues but uh ended up winning on the fifth playoff hole over minami Katsu made a bunch of PARs first four playoff holes

and then ended up birdie in the fifth The two of them kind of ran away from the field But pretty crazy run of parody On the LPGA tour this year The parody was not a good thing But I kind of was rooting for this thing To make it all the way through the season Just because it was a really unbelievable streak

And we made it very very very far For it to kind of end here It's kind of a little bit of a bummer But good for Gino We need to see this from Gino She should be the multiple winner if there is one to be, and we need to see her stack a few more of these dubs.

We need to get bigger and bigger in those events as well. So congrats to her. Otherwise, news of the week, sounds like I'm hearing rumblings that the century is going to be going to San Diego to Tori Pines, so we'll see if that comes to fruition. Sully's Skins game is back.

Did you see this? I did. I'm struggling to get a little excitement for it. T.C., I'm not going to lie. in that we've feel like these guys been playing a Skins game for several years here just in the phone booth

just you know hoovering up money the tradition of the Skids game I think is you know was from a time when they were not playing for prize pools like they currently are and this was a chance to get a cash grab and throw some mics on them

and you know make an entertaining product I just don't think we're have an exposure shortage on a lot of these guys and I could be definitely wrong but it kind of just feels like a good idea in principle but I think it's kind of been proven at this point if there's not like clear historical stakes involved

just watching these guys play golf for money is not always top-notch entertainment I think back on the Netflix Cup that was that was not great that was just not great and so maybe they've got to listen maybe I should be as pessimistic maybe they got some good ideas cooked up to make it a really good entertainment product but it would take a lot to get me excited

in this time of year anyways and this doesn't quite clear that bar. Do you have a different thought on this? Not really. I mean, you know, truly a wait and see. We got Keegan, Zander, J.T. and Tommy. Tommy's involved. You know, I can get down with Tommy being involved.

Panther National Black Friday on Amazon Prime. I don't know if it's live. I'm assuming it's live. I think it has to be, yeah. yeah uh speaking of not good tiger disc replacement surgery hate seeing it i'm worried i mean our farm system's not that good to start with but juplinks is we could be in some trouble uh heading into this year i mean we were not it was not looking that great for us to start but to not have our king it's it's a really really tough break uh for those of us that have kind of ridden this out

as diehard juplinks fans um it's just it's hard to it's just how it's just how you know you know how it is to have your kind of season end in October in the TGL era, it's just, it's tough, it's really tough. You want to at least make it into February feeling like your team has a chance. But on a serious note, it's like, do we, do we ever see Tiger play competitive,

like major championship golf again? The statement said after experiencing pain and lack of mobility in my back, I consulted with doctors and surgeons to have tests taken. The scans determined that I had a collapsed disc in L4 and L5, disc fragments in a compromised spinal canal. I opted to have my disc replaced yesterday. I already know I made a good decision

for my health and my back T-dub. And yeah, he had surgery on Friday. It was deemed successful by Dr. Shiraz Koreshi and his team at the hospital for special surgery in New York. So I know they were billed. TGL was billing the big, I think they were going to do something after

what, Cognizant final round and I think it was going to be Tiger and Rory squaring off that night on TGL and prime time and at some point Tiger I mean like I've heard he definitely has an interest in playing senior tour

you know champs tour golf at some point being able to ride around in the cart you know because all the other guys ride the car I think he's going to ride a cart you think he's going to I feel like everybody else is riding a cart

I know but I can't picture Tiger hitting the golf shot and going and getting in the cart I know he does it for the match or whatever but I cannot picture him at that level. I really cannot picture it. Time will tell. How old is he?

He's going to be 50 in December. He's 49. Yeah, he turns 50, December 30th. Wow, that's crazy. Okay. That's crazy. Yeah, that's going to be interesting. I mean, it's coming up very, very, very soon.

Yeah, so I don't know. Best to Tiger. Speaking of the old, Sally, they're not happy. This was per... I believe Adam Shupak, per usual. Shupac gets all these scoops. PGA Tour Champions pension pool cut by 20%. Players unhappy is the headline in Golf Week.

The gist is PGA Tour's belt tightening has hit the PGA Tour Champions. Golf Week has learned the player pension has been cut by 20%. A dip from 10 million last year to 8 million. It's disheartening, said longtime tour pro Peter Jacobson. I feel like this is already the pension tour and the fact that like a lot of these guys played most of these guys played PGA tour golf for many years and have a large pension from the PGA tour

and I feel like they're playing for pretty large purses out there on the champions tour. I don't think that they should get a pension above and beyond that because like these guys, some of them are already at retirement age to begin with. Am I off base there? Yeah. I mean, right, they had their PGA for pensions, right? They're probably paying quite, quite well.

It's hard, T.C. This is how they make their living. It's hard for me to dictate how much money they should make. I feel like they are well compensated for playing, you know, into your 50s and 60s for these purses and your pension went from $10 million to $8 million. I almost feel, that's not a, like a remarkable amount of money for the PJ tour to be cutting.

I don't think it's necessarily super indicative of cost-cutting measures as much as it is to say, it's like a signal. It's like a signal to the senior tour of like I know you're getting your bread buttered really well right now, but it's not always going to be this way

and we're still in charge of this and this is how it's going to be. That's my read on it. Two million bucks is a lot of money to any of us talking here, listening here, but it's just not that much in the grand scheme of a multi- billion dollar corporation like the PGA tour so am I off on that like it just seems like

this is meant to make a headline of some kind more than it is a super you know indicative of cash flow issues on the PGA tour the future of the champion store I don't think it involves any of that it's just to say like hey we're going to you know we're going to reallocate things a little bit yeah it sounds like the the champs tour has been has done a pretty good job of getting pretty revenue like kind of neutral as far as costs and revenue go whereas you know the corner ferry tour is more of an investment in the future of the pGA tour but you've got billy andrea out here saying this guy's coming in he's like Kaiser sose you know the usual suspects referring to brian rollout he's just slashing stuff you know everyone's taking a pay cut except the pGA tour

players this is the same pension that 25 years ago was 10 million so it's it's like wait wait a second our pension should be like 20 25 million not 10 million going down to 8 million but we don't have control of that big board and they're going to do whatever this new guy wants to do, I guess. It should be higher in my opinion, but nobody's going to listen to us or me. Whereas Furek is saying, hey, let's just preaching patience and, you know,

wait till you see the full picture here. I honestly, if you listen back to what Andrade said, it is like spot on. He's like, I think it should be this. Obviously, they're going to view it differently and we have no control here. You got it figured out, man. I think that's exactly what the situation is here.

I love Billy Andre, he's a great, we just chatted with him this past week, out at the Furican Friends, I guess that was last week, at the Furican Friends, great chat, great dude, but yeah, I mean, come on, I think we have to, I think there is a legitimate sentiment from some of these old guys that, like, the PJ tour that was made and put on a silver platter for somebody, just say like Victor Hovlin, like, Victor Hovlin, like, Victor Hovlin's going to reap the benefits way more than a Victor Hovlin. of 30 years ago could have ever possibly reached. I don't mean like of inflation adjusted, adjusted dollars. I mean, like true wealth creation of being right place, right time. Like that's where,

yeah. I mean, an entirely different situation arose with live of needing to secure the talent on the PGA tour and they've done that. And these guys that they've secured are going to be very, very, very wealthy if they're not already. And the Billy Andrade's and whoever,

even the 10th best player of the 90s is not going to, reap the same benefits and that's just kind of that's that's the way it is it's I don't think these guys had anything to bitch about prior to the money on the pGA tour going up right I don't think that there was a lot of justification for that but just because that went up that doesn't really change your situation I doubt they see it that way but that's how I think a lot of people will view the reality and probably how roll app does I think that's fair we will rifle through a few more headlines here and then and then get you on your way sally I think did you see triple H and Bryson, watched David Solomon, DJ DeSall,

pitched Trump on Goldman getting the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac IPO. I'm not going to lie, T.C., you sent that headline over, and I honestly didn't think I needed to read anything past that. I thought the headline was the story there of it gave me the proper, I got the reaction you were looking for when you sent that over was exactly the one you got. It was just very much like that. Yep, that makes perfect sense. I mean, Cantley's got to be pissed, right?

I can't Can'tley should be, it should have an audience for that. That's what needs to happen. What else? We'll do a little PGA of America fun, fun bag here. I saw Colin was saying that, you know, him calling for chaos. He was misunderstood and then he just keeps saying right after everything. I was misunderstood, right?

Well, it does seem like, I think it was a, if I may, a European media member that was asking him this question and again trying to create this story i don't think he should have to explain himself for this i think it should go without saying that if a player's asking for chaos they're not asking for the harassment level that happened they want people cheering they want the noise all that i look i i would struggle to put any of this on colin morocall any of what happened out there on colin morocalla like i don't uh these these people were rearing up ready to go and I doubt many of them were tuning in to Collins Presser. I doubt many of them were reading the newspapers for these headlines.

I doubt many of them are, I doubt one single person was thinking about not yelling something and then decided otherwise because they heard what Colin Morikawa said. I think is a fair, a fair blog. So I'll defend Morcai. I know we've been a little hard on Morcao this year. I'll defend them on this one. I think that's fair.

I will say I think that the U.S. team could have been stronger or more vocal on defending the Europeans or saying, hey, there's no place for that, especially Saturday night, you know?

I agree. I think it's also just a shitty spot to have been put in by the PJ of America. Like I just, I think they should have been focused on playing the Ryder Cup

and again, it's, yeah, we don't have to do the whole thing all over again. Like, Europe wouldn't let it get, no,

they wouldn't let it get to that level to the point where I think it was a distraction for the U.S. players at a certain point. And, like, Europe and the way they're organized, I don't mean even in the team room.

I mean, there's the way the DP World Tour is organized, would never have let that happen. They just would not have. Yeah, so I totally agree with all that on as far as, like, them not, like, they shouldn't have been put in that position to begin with. Speaking of which, we had the Don, Donnery, uh, lose yourself karaoke video leaked. Our friends over, Brad Egg, shotgun, start, got that.

props to them. And then Jeff Price, the PGA of America, chief commercial officer, announced he's leaving to go to the Heisman Trophy Trust as their CEO. Yeah, lastly, I got U.S. women's midam, the lady, Ina Kim Shad,

one of the most aspirational aesthetics ever. She won out at MPCC in 23 holes. Props to her for women's midam. And then South Africa blew away the competition in the world. team championship. They won by eight. Christian Moss won by 10.

Pretty pitiful showing from the U.S. team. So we may need a task force on that side as well. D.C., we're doing our best out here in the sticks. I'm sorry, my connection has not been great here tonight. I know we're going to turn it over to your chat with Shane Bacon and James Nitties here shortly. I want to give you guys a reminder of our episode here is brought to by our friends at WOOP, the official fitness wearable of the Ryder Cup. The all-new Woop is here, the only wearable that turns your health and fitness data into personalized

guidance. It's now 7% smaller, 14 days of battery life. One of our favorite features from the whoop has been health span, gives you an idea of your whoop age, the pace that you're aging based on nine key metrics. I'm not loving the information that's given me right now, but I should not be sitting on a 19 strain here as we're talking here tonight, TC, 18.8, I believe, as we get there, only a 41% recovery last night. That makes a better decision. We're doing good on the sleep. We're doing better on the sleep, but I've got to get myself in some of the better physical shape. Up and down some of these hills here in Tennessee has been two hour on your boy. It's motivating. It's a very, very motivating tool. So I promise

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slash NLU for a free 30-day trial. Without any, for the delay, let's kick it over your chat with Shane and James. All right, join now by just like, fresh out the broadcast booth and into the podcast booth, Mr. James Nitties, Mr. Shane Bacon. Gentlemen, thanks for joining. No problem.

Nitty still got his work shirt on. He's dialed. He's ready to rock. I think the lunch kind of kicked Nitty's butt a little bit from a weird. They had a, the bar, the lunch was barbecue every day down at the, at the kid the tournament. It was good barbecue, mind you, but I think it's catching up to the crew a little bit.

Yeah, you can tell it's a high intensity broadcast not just for the reason of the golf. It was some other issues going on in my stomach area, but you know, sorry. Yeah, I didn't time to change bacon looks like you went you drove by a thrift store on the way but it's good well done ready to go ready to go gentlemen how was french lick i mean i've never been before golf course looked provocative uh we didn't get a whole lot of drama down the stretch today but bacon i'll throw

to you what was your your lasting impression of the week and and second year in a row for french lick yeah yeah second time um first time last year i remember us knowing absolutely no idea of what to expect i mean you know typically when you do golf tournaments tron you know this i mean they're They're almost always at least in some level of a city. I mean, this is a small town. I think it's 2,500 people is French lick. I grew up in a small town in East Texas, or at least what I thought was the small town.

It was like 25,000 people. Like my dad has a furniture store in a town of 6,000. I mean, 2,500 is little. So I think I remember Niddy's and I were a little, you know, just kind of in the unknown, like not knowing what to expect last year. We had a hell of a time last year, played a lot of golf. The times were a little bit different, so we got to go play. the nine-hole course in the evenings when we got off air.

With the times being what they were this time, it was a little bit more go to the casino on the back end. But the hotel rocks, the golf course is perfect for this. It's got a casino here. We could bet sports, which we typically do a lot. And I don't know, Nitties. I mean, the restaurant across the way is great. I think we enjoy it.

I think it's probably our favorite event of the year. Is that fair to say? Yeah, especially being able to be on site. You know, as far as a broadcast works, the sounds better. there's no delay. You get to hang out with the entire crew. You get to see the players like in the casino, maybe a couple of them having a couple beers.

They open up to you a little bit more than they would otherwise. And, you know, we hear from the players. I don't think they're huge fans of the actual course. It's in perfect condition. And it's a beat down on top of a long season. But they love the venue. A couple of the guys were saying how it feels like it, you're in a different country because everyone's on site,

you know, like the Bahamas events. It's a small sleepy city, but there's a lot to do. And yeah, I think it's, we love it. And as far as being on the other side of the camera and not having to play this golf course, it's good drama. You know, they played it the shortest they did all week. They said they were going to play 7,800 yards. I mean Bacon were talking, we wanted it to play 8,100 yards, which they can.

They'll never do it. Of course, there'd be anarchy amongst of players. But they played it at about 7,300 today. So it was there to be had. The weather was perfect. you know, 70, 50 in the morning, 70 in the middle of the day. So, yeah, we think it's a great event. We love coming back here.

And hopefully still, apparently, it's still got three, three, four years left on the, on the schedule. So, yeah, definitely always came to come back here. Yeah, I was, I was tuning in actually Thursday. And I was, stopped me in my tracks, just seen some of the drone shots. I mean, just great light all week. And it seemed like setup-wise, it got better this year, just from, you know, kind of mowing some of that long grass back a little bit more encouraging, a little bit more

risk reward, but provocative 18th hole. I'll say that. I was telling Nitties, I don't know if it's like the best closing hole in golf or the worst. I can't figure out which one it is, but it's such a wild par five. Because I mean, like we were talking to Westmoreland this morning, like when we were eating lunch and he just finished. And I mean, they had the T all the way back. What was it, Niddy, 663? And so, I mean, it's pushed all the way back, which they weren't playing, you know, the first couple days. And, you know, we're like, can you get there in two? Just trying to get a little intel for the guys that we had.

And he goes, you know, he's one of the longest dudes on the corn fairy tour. He goes, I smoked to drive, smoke three wood to about 15 feet. But in the moment you got out of position, I mean, we saw Marty Doe whiff a shot yesterday in the rough there at 18. You're seeing guys lay up left in that rough, like a huge kind of, what would you call that a swell nitty's left of the fairway there at 18? Yeah, big, big cliff drop there. That's the unfortunate part about the course is there's a couple portions of t-shots

where guys are just trying to hit it in the rough because it's the bigger miss. And the tool set it up where the rough is only two inches. So there wasn't really any bad lies in the rough. And so it's an interesting course in that kind of game plan retrospect where these guys, you know, we played lift clean and place every day. We were all wondering why, but there's collection areas. We all knew this coming before the event got here that, you know, a lot of drives end up in similar positions on the fairway.

You probably could have played it up today. I think we could have. But with everything on the line, I suppose you don't want luck being a factor coming down to a tour card in a big divot, you know, especially multiple guys getting into divvets. So the greens were perfect. The weather, when I said the weather was perfect, it didn't get windy. The course didn't firm up too much. And there's small greens out here.

Once again, if you play this thing at 8,100 yards to these green surfaces, it's virtually impossible even if you're hitting fairways you never feel like you're hitting straight up at green it's always a cross on an angle and yeah the way they they set it up was perfect so it's a strange course where there's no really advantage to the guys that hit it long or the guys that hit it straight and shorter and it just all comes down to the best player because you are hitting a lot of mid irons par three is always play tough and the good thing about it just like victoria national where we used to have the corn free Tour Championships where the last five holes was just hold on. We saw so many guys, like, lose a PGA tour card.

Matt McCarty was one of them. I think he made, like, a quad on the last or something. And this has that about it, this course where 16, 17, and even 18 is that long par five, but 1617, 17 is one of the most brutal stretches. So it's good in the fact that you get to see guys, like, kind of be put under pressure and sitting there going, all right, who's got it? Who has the motion to step up here? So it has that, which is good for the drama and separating the guys.

Yeah, it seemed like I was thinking PGA West a little bit, but in like a mountainous area. Dude, Tron, like you say PGA West. I think I might have mentioned it twice on the broadcast throughout the week. I mean, like the low area chip shots feel like that bunker they have that par five bunker that's always played up. And even 16 feels a little like 17, you know, in the old. Q school days where, you know, when you play, what was it? It was 220 today? Brutal, yeah.

To a shelf? Yeah. It's, I mean, that's the bummer about the wind. And like the wind blows, you know, you can hit it in the hay left on 16. 16 was, you know, it was 220. There was six birdies after both had made a bomb there for the day. And even last year, it played at 175 and it was the hardest hole in the course. So it's, it's just, I played it for fun from the back from, from,

three 10 and my only option was to hit a snap cut I played a practice round after last year's event and I ate a snap cut just so I'd make sure I hit in the water and I could drop near the green and then get up to get out for four like there's nowhere to land it and even with a seven iron so yeah it's it's a it's a great hole where you've got to really get a good shot so it seems like one of these years we may get some wind and stuff it does seem like there's definitely a side to miss on all these holes like like even if that's in the rough or in a bunker there's there's a clear side to miss on and there's one that is just absolute no-go. As far as, as far as like, you know, Chandler Blanche looked like nails today. He got it done. There wasn't a whole lot of

drama. I feel like the 20 tour cards is probably the right, like proportional to what the numbers are on tour now with the, you know, 70, you know, kind of 70 guaranteed cards and then 125 and then, you know, probably a little bit out of proportion with 10 cards coming from the DP World Tour and five coming from Q School. But what do you think about the new format? Just 20 tour cards on the line. Honestly, I think it's perfect in terms of the number. I do think it takes a little bit of the drama out of it in terms of this event. You know, this event's always been one of the most dramatic events in golf. You know, when you really think about the final event, I mean, I remember last year on Sunday just trying to keep like for nitty's not trying to just keep up with all

the stuff that was going on almost felt tough because like dockerty was like right there and you had all these kind of movement and I remember last year two nitties they were finishing on both sides of the golf course remember so you had dudes finishing on nine and guys finished at 18 and it was just chaos in a good way this year obviously with 20 cards a little more buttoned up I mean going into the going into the last event there was probably four maybe three three or three three cards that were really going to change. But the cool part about, you know, I mean, every year, this is the case. But I think what was cool for us, at least this Sunday, was there were two guys in the

final group that could win and get a card. And if they don't win, they don't. Like second did nothing, you know, for both in Scott. So having that be a storyline, you know, alongside, you know, guys like Shipley trying to win for the third time and get the Matt McCarty promotion, the late season promotion, where you get fall starts. But kind of going back to your question about 20. I mean, I think 20's perfect.

Nitties. I think you've said, if you said 25 is a little bit more the number you look at? No, look, I think 20 is perfect. You hit it on the head there. I, we've heard whispers that next year the Corn Ferry Tour Championships, but could be 60 players. Now, if you make it 60 players, you have the opportunity for the guy that sneaks in could win and get his PGA tour card. Now, we had a bit of an awkward situation this year where there was a couple guys that could win and not get their tour card. And that's just because it went from 30 to 20 in those numbers. didn't really match up. So I think if they go in that direction,

there will be more drama. The ideal scenario obviously today would have been, you know, both Blanchett and even a guy like, you know, Sandy Scott or McDonald in the same group or having a put to win the tournament. That would have been huge

because then you've got Pontus Nyhom on the other hand, just riding Blanchet, Blanchet, Blanchet all the way home. And he's just, he said he was back in his hotel room. I would have done the same thing. He got out of Dodge and he's back in the hotel. hotel room and I dare say there could have been a TV or a window broken if that

blonde shade didn't didn't hang on for that victory but I think I think if they do go to 60 it needs to be needs to feel bigger the tour championships even bump the purse a little bit I think we're in a good spot with it because last year with 30 I think you've got it a little weak in the last three or four cards now you can do it because it's so deep on the corn free to it I think I said a an argument with someone on the everything app the other day where you know they were saying that no not on that thing you know no one gives a corn free tour credit and i get it me and baker are biased and it's almost like our little baby but i was like out of the top 10 of the corn free tour graduates last year there was five winners on the five victories

on the pga tour right and that's not even including the guys outside the top 10 yeah and the dp world tour has zero victories out of the top 10 guys that graduated to the pga tour so it's you know i i get it we could go into the numbers and solely it probably proved me wrong on a lot of that stuff because I'm not as well read as he is. But Sally hates the DP World Tour, so. Which, yeah, true. So we're good. We're good.

But for me, it's like, you know, Born Free Tour doesn't get the credit. Everyone almost just, you know, looks at some of the events we broadcast where these courses are so easy. And they just throw that to the wind of like, wow, it's all easy. Anyone could play out there. But really, the champions get through. And the craziest thing this year, and I told Bacon, this is there was eight winners on the Corn Free Tour that finished outside the top 20. So eight guys, you know, so, I mean,

it obviously shows the guys that are inside that top 20 that didn't get a victory how good they were and how consistent they were. But that was just insane. And, you know, we're going to talk about it, but that's just, that's how raise it in the line is to finish inside that top 20. And, you know, I think that's how you produce the best guys. I think it needs to be cut down a little bit like that and it needs to have that kind of, you know, heavy weight to if you're going to get your PGA tour cut. Yeah, I think to your point on like having to hit real golf shots on a on a big time course to kind of validate it like it's got to feel like a little bit of whiplash going from Columbus, which is a tough course of at the Scarlet to out to Oklahoma, which is not a tough course. 33 under 1. By the way, Tron, you'll like this. So Chaffield in Oklahoma speaking of that, I mean, a new golf course. Like, you know, you don't know what you're going to get right out of it. But Chaffield shot 59. the opening round, okay?

Yeah. We had afternoon coverage last week from Oklahoma. He teed off in the late window on Friday. He teed off on 10. He was eight back. He jobs 59 in the opening round. He was eight back. He finished what?

Like T22 or something? But he's like like, you know, ADDC shoots 61, 601, 60. And this dude's like 59 like eight back. Like Niddy's always tells the story. What was the event when you were, were you leading after the first round, made bogey on the first hole? Oh, I think it was in second or third. and first round at Boise, it was,

a different part of the year when that place always plays easy. But, yeah, I teed off in the second round, made a bogey on the first, and I was outside the cut line, and I'm like, this is crazy, you know? Like, I get it. There's easy courses. The good thing about Oklahoma,

at least we had a guy that I think's going to make waves again. Like I said it last time he got on the PGA tour. At least Adrian de Montess just won that event. So you're like, okay, we got the chance. We didn't get a guy that's been kicking it around all year, just grinding through cuts, come to this easy golf course and get his lone win. So we got a really good player that was around the 20 before he won the event. So I think that's what saved kind of everyone going low that week.

Yeah, good, good post-type sleeper there, you know, kind of a more seasoned version of him going to the tour. You guys did a good job, too, of focusing on the game within the game and getting inside that was it the top 50 gets through to final stage? you school? Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, James, you did a great job of kind of pointing out like how hellish that second stage can be. Yeah, it's, you know, because obviously we would have liked more drama, but we had to kind of beat on the top 50 because I never got through a second stage. I think I did it six times. I got my tour card being exempt through to finals. But it's all these guys, it's like your last chance. It's it's almost harder than finals. And now with the five cards, a little different story to go to the PGA tour. But yeah, I tried to drum in that, like, no one wants to go back to second. It's just a brutal place to be at second stage. So, you know, we talked about it, a massive day for Docherty. The heartbreak story of last year missed his tour card by one shot twice. Like, not only did he finish second in the top with three guys here at the tour champs,

he needed to finish second with two dudes, then he misses at Q school by one of getting his PGA tour card. He shot four under today to get that last. last card to be exempt top 50 to the final stage. So that would be a Cinderella story. The guy after everything doesn't even have a good season this year but sneaks into final stage and then gets his card. That would be

kind of fitting. We'll see if it's going to happen but he does love those courses. So yeah, the top 50 number it's fairly important and it is very important to these guys even though if no one really knows what the number means outside of the regular spectators. Quick break to

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Rob Oppenheim last night had it might have had a couple sneaky beers with him you know because he's yeah on the bottom of the leaderboard and he's like well I can't get anything because I'm 18 over and uh actually we'll go on beer for beer and I was like you know I kept buying him one and he's like hey you want one more and I'm like hey you want one more and I'm like dude you're playing at 7 a.m like you get out of here and uh yeah he actually went out by the way it's not even today but what I was trying to say is he's like I don't think I'm even going to go to second stage like he's obviously a journeyman a veteran and he's like it's going to cost me like eight grand and you know i might just bang it around for another year on the corn free

tour so it it's it's even guys like him thinking it's still tough to get through second i don't know if it's worth it um but obviously you know the the young rookies and everyone that's just getting started in their professional career they're all going to go to second but i've always said to bake and it's you know there's no ozies on the corn free tour anymore because it's so expensive to come over and do cue school and it's so difficult it's not only just like hey it's too much money it's like I don't think I'm going to play good enough to get through three stages with and put that much money on the line. So, I mean, we might have zero Aussies on the Corn Free Tour next year, depending on what happens at Q School. So it's a fine line and it's expensive.

So you hear veterans talking like that also. Yeah. Looking at the guys that did qualify, the 20 that qualified, each of you, who's your first pick next year to make noise on the PGA tour? Niddy, I'll let you go first. You could take the first pick. So me and Bacon do a draft. We did a draft and we're waiting on it. We have guys that are going to do well, keep their card,

guys that are going to lose their card, and guys that are going to graduate from the Corn Free Tour. And we've been pretty good on it this year, outside Bacon saying that Brian Campbell was going to lose his card. He's two-dovey. They would keep them all, baby. The eye test would support Bacon on that. The low-hanging fruit for me,

me. And look, both me and Bacon have turned a corner a little bit on Johnny Kiefer where we were so in on him at the start of the season. And I'm going to take him as my guy. I just, I have to, I'm happy to die on that hill. But it's almost like every time we had him in our coverage, in our windows, he never played well. But he'd also, a lot of his backdoor nice finishes, especially of the last couple months, came him just just getting through the cut. we'd have him outside featured groups and he'd shoot 65, 65 on the weekend and finish like 3rd or 7th or 12th.

So after he got that victory at NV5 Invitational, which was a little bit of go, I said to Bacon, I was like, all right, it's a couple weeks before he's on the PGA tour. Like he was going to get that third victory. So, I mean, what he's done as far as the OWGR, 52nd in the world, we talked about a PGA Americas. There's barely any divisor points out there.

it's almost a glorified mini tour what he did out there and just on the corn for it and he's not one of those guys like a Shipley that's played 10 events on the PGA tour he's played four events on the PGA tour two of them majors I'll give him

I'll give him an excuse for the PGA championship because he proposed to his misses the night before so you know maybe a little going on there and then US Open he made the cut he finished top 15 in his debut event in what was it pro core a couple years ago so is it going to take him a little bit to get comfortable, maybe like an ADDC, where he needs a year and then back to corn for

and then back up. I don't think so. I think he gets a dub. I think he gets one, at least in an opposite field event. He's going to smoke some guys. So, yeah, I'm going to go with Keefe. I want to go Shipley, but I'll let Bacon probably take Shipley. Yeah, you know, it's tough.

I mean, I want to, I mean, Toronto, I know you're kind of, you were like one of the only people beating this drum with Nitties and a couple years ago with ADDC when he came out of the blocks And we're talking about get him on the Ryder Cup team for Europe in like 2023. Obviously, to be fair, I say that about like like every European to place golf. Yeah. Most Scandinavian, even if you're a Scandinavian infant, you get pit put on the team from Tron. But I'd probably go Shipley just kind of complete game wise. I think Shipley will do major things.

He's talked so much about, you know, like learning he's good enough and learning how to play and stuff like that. I mean, even this week, I don't think he played that good, you know, when he's right there near the top of the leaderboard. I'll tell you this, though, the Blaschet kid, confident. And like talking to him, oh, I mean, he needs to, he probably needs to get, pick up 10 yards or 6 yards or 7 yards. Like, he's probably going to have to get the stack system or whatever and get some distance. But if he could hit it a couple of yards longer, the game is so complete.

And he's confident and he's playing awesome golf. And, you know, Trott, like, we're going through these finals this year. I mean, Niddy's heard me say this a million times. so I'm sure he's sick of hearing it. But, and I've said this my whole life is the level of learning how to win is so massive for these guys. And when you go through historical players, they won at these levels. And we go through these bios of these players throughout the finals.

And it's like 11 wins in college and 13 wins in college and eight wins in college. Like Emilio Gonzalez. Yeah. And you learn it. And like, did this Blanche kid was a badass in college. He went to what, West Florida? Yeah. would he win 11 times nitties? I mean, it's like crazy. And it's like, I don't know.

I just, I look at him as someone that's finally found the comfort zone of how to handle this stuff and talking to him after the round. See, we see him in the lobby the first day. And we're like giving him shit about this miss putt. And he's just taking his smile and laughing along with it. I mean, he just seems like he's kind of got that vibe. Like he'll be a great NLU podcast in six months or eight months. You know what I'm saying? And so I want him to be my pick. I'm still probably going to go Shipley here. But I'd say Blanche's near the top of my list of guys, I think, are going to have a solid PJ tour career.

Well, that's fair because we'll do a little snake action here. So you had the second and third pick. We're back to... There you go. Back to Nitties. Who else you got? Yeah, and just to put a bow in that as well. Shipley, for me, the only thing outside of him making eight to ten cuts on the tour last year,

the only thing I don't really like is he's got a bit of Bobby McIntyre, Lowry in him, where he gets agitated pretty easily. like he's you know those two guys you feel like hey that's a guy i want to have a beer with that's a guy i think he'd be kind of easygoing and casual and they they don't really have that persona about them they're almost a little too tense for what they look like shipley's the the fun loving dude that's doing commercials you know all these social hits looks like he's having a good time and then he gets like in the heat and it's almost like he's a little agitated with it with everything i'm like dude you hit it's so good just relax like i know it's easier said than done and then and then blanche he said it

I think getting a win at this course, because his other win was at the price cutter at $2,600 or something. In his post rounder, he said, hey, like two very different golf courses, right? Yeah, he said getting this win and coming from behind getting this win, I think he's got the best belief. I think Shane was kind of looking for that. Look, he, you know, statistically is not as good as these other guys, like still really good.

But he kind of feels like that, I'm ready for the tour. I think this went a long way for doing that. But all right, I think my, My second guy would be, oh, I want to go Cudy, but I'll go S.H. Kim. He's in our, the kind of draft me and Bagan did at the start of the year. He's the first guy I picked. I was like, this guy just lost his tour card. He's got a lot of great traits.

A guy still moves it, good iron player. Kind of not affected by the moment when he gets into it. He should have got three. The way he was trending in the middle of the year on the corn free tour, he could have got, he could have easily got three wins because he, after his first win, I want to say it was a week after he had a five-shot lead going into the final round.

Might have been Knoxville, I think, when Nihome won. But, yeah, so I was middle of season. I thought he was a guy. I've always loved his game, even pre-getting on to the PGA tour. And, yeah, I think he's just that type of guy that's going to get it done up there this time, especially having a couple seasons already out there.

You're going to take ADDC too? Well, oh, snake draft, so I get to choose again. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Now, let's just, let's, let's get a little crazy. I'm just going to go Suntec Lee, this. Ah, let's just get a bit of crazy. I was trying to give you somebody so I could take my guy.

30 year old corn free tour rookie that no one. So thick, Tron. No one. You're going to love this guy. Take down heaters on the course. They're saying like jumbo level like one off half the cigarettes gone. Yeah, baby barn rat, I was calling him. He's just, you know,

You know, he's actually got a really good personality, just not great with English. So I'm sure that's going to show. But the guy that no one's heard of finally comes over, gets his corn free to a card. I think it was through Utah. He hadn't missed a cut for the season. It's almost like, I think it was 15 straight. He's 30 years old? 30 years old.

The distance is the only issue that I'm going to worry about. But he's, we don't have a lot of stats out here. We don't have short and shot link. But he's another guy statistically lights up the green or the. green dots and still moves it far enough, but everything else is just bounces off the page and he sneakily gets it done. I think Shipley beat him in a playoff, hold a big putt on the last, but yeah, he's, he's my guy that I'm, the guy that no one's heard of that might do something. Yeah, Niddy's calls him the assassin. I know you like that, Tron. He says he's the assassin.

I'll go, I'll take ADDC and I'll take Kinsei Harata. I just think Kinsei is one of those guys that's going to have solid seasons like it hits a really really really good you know one of those players there's kind of the game within the game too of like like a guy like shiply i feel like is going to know how to like get that t 24 when he needs it or you know just kind of situational golf right and and you know figure out what he needs out of a round speaking of someone who knows how to win and won a lot at you know lower level college golf john vanderlin 144 corn fairy tour starts and finally gets his BGA tour card six seasons yeah that's a long time out there i mean i mean trying i think he was what were we saying was he 51 or 52 before a columbus on the

points list right he um look he was one of those guys i remember the bahamas first event of the year 54 whole lead and me and bacon were i know actually i worked that event with jake so i was sitting there going he can't lose from here the way he hit it it was almost like what he did when he finally he got his victory at the Scarlet course. The way he hit it, I was like, no chance he loses from here. Like when he gets, when he gets in the groove, he hits it long, starts hitting fairways, puts great, hits that beautiful draw. He's a guy that reminds me a little bit of Kenny Perry with his action.

Then, you know, Hank Libyote comes from five back, wins that event, and it kind of crushed him. He missed some cuts, fell out, it dropped to 51, as Bacon said. And it was heavily windy, the back nine at the Bahamas. Like, there was a lot going on, but I think getting the win at probably the most difficult tests on the corn free tour, you know, straightforward difficult tests at the OSU course, the Scarlet course. It just, I think that that did a lot for him.

And he almost, it was funny because in a post round interview, he was like, you know, I'm sick of the corn free tour in the nicest way pot-law. He's like, I'm going to get my, I'm going to get my butt off here. It's, I'm over. So, yeah, a little bit of a belief with him. He's still a wild card because we haven't seen a lot. of him on the PGA tour um you know it's it's so easy to have those guys like Shipley that have been through a bit of adversity and you know made a cut on the number on the PGA tour and made a

bunch of cuts finish in top 10 so yeah it's he's an interesting guy um so yeah you you pick a next tron what's going on well no no i was just i was just kind of shouting him out because he kind of reminds me as somebody like like a justin lauer or somebody who it takes a while to get there yeah and And then, you know, I know he played well down it. I think he went to Florida Southern and, you know, like good lower level collegiate program and just kind of slow summer. And yeah, just, you know, just continual improvement, incremental improvement and finally makes it, you know. Yeah, you don't, you know, Trott. It's interesting.

I mean, this happens every year on the Corn Ferry tour. But, I mean, there's, you know, now that there's 20 because it's like a shrunk list, right? I mean, you know, you think about Blanche, who obviously, you know, ends the year with the winds. We're so high on him right now. think when you think about the bucket of guys that have kind of slowly progressed up their career, it's like Blanche's on that list, Bo's who's a player, I think, a back caliber where a lot of the guys that played college golf of them and beyond kind of were waiting for him to get the full card and to go out there and start to play the level.

He's playing. He had a couple shots when he won that were like so sick. I mean, picking drivers off the deck over trees and stuff. You're like, what the hell is this guy looking at? And he hit it like 20 feet. It was so sick. I mean, he's his trace crow. another name that you think kind of falls in that bucket?

I think so. I mean, we kind of glossed over Cootie, Pearson Cootie as well. I mean, he's a guy I said to Bacon, I was like this, he's not going to be on the Corn Free Tour for long this year. Awesome season. I think he,

he's going to go that chip on his shoulder where he'll get back to the experience he's already had on the PGA tour. And a lot of these guys that were mentioning, like the Cootie, the S.H. Kims, these are guys that lost their card by like a couple spots. It's not that they finished 220 in the Fed, Cup fall and dropped down and got their corn free tour card because it's a great course fit. But it's always difficult to choose these guys that are going to go off. Like I thought

Fisk was really good from last year's group and finally he gets a win. But it's like, you know, he was in the middle and he was in no man's land for the first part of the season. And it's like, okay, there's a bunch of these guys that, you know, you've got the standouts. All the guys that we mentioned that you probably like too. But there's the guys like the Vanderlens that Ori Boshu was like, this kid could just be that guy that keeps his card every year, you know, and just stacks cash. You know, I'm a bit worried about Boshu with the short game. He just came before he's win.

I think we saw he was losing about four and a half shots around the Greens. And I was like, you cannot operate on the PGA tour with those sort of numbers. And then when he wins, he gets up and down like every time. Yeah, yeah. He's like both stats that week. You know, he's got the reverse handed going. He's hit clipping these pursuits. it's easy to become a prisoner of the moment with some of these guys because when they do get

hot they get real hot and you're like you know because we're not only we're not on the whole year we only see the floor is lower yeah we're seeing 12 times at these some of these courses where you know you're not getting a lot of great feedback and me and bacon get so excited we're like because they they fire up at that specific course and you're like oh this guy's going to go on to win three times so yeah it's the kind of the tier base of those guys um you know Pontus, I think Bacon knows that he's biasedly one of my favorites, but I think Pontus was one of those guys that could be in that area of Potkeeter where he gets the last card, but he also could, you know,

I think his game equates better to the PGA tour. He's another guy that's improved every year on the Corn Free Tour. He just missed his card for the last pretty much two seasons based on entering the Corn Free Tour final. So he's just got a beautiful swing. It just comes down to putting with him, you know, good iron player. So it's just all about how quickly do these guys get comfortable? ADDC took him pretty much until the four series of his first PGA tour season where he started playing well.

And then, I mean, we found out we didn't even know this. Obviously, no one asked him about it. He had to change his grip during his first year on the PGA tour because he had sort of a wrist injury. So he had his window of ballflyer was totally different that he had to. get used to and his misses were huge like he he he said he i wasn't used to where my misses were going so it took him a while to adjust to that and i was like all right well you know i know bacon took him but he's another guy where i'm like he got comfortable out there and now that he's you know starting to flush it and he's a guy that suits it to us so yeah it's there's just

a lot of factors that goes into picking a guy that you think's going to play really well on the pga tour because they could just disappear very quickly who uh what's the word on on gonzalez good I mean solid like especially like he last year he came into the corn free tour season on on a major medical didn't play a full season

but we saw him flash in the corn free tour finals almost like when he got a taste of being around the lead he was really good I remember Simmons Bank it came down the stretch where he was just bombing it hitting every fairway like the back nine knowing that he couldn't really get to the tour unless he won

a couple events because he he started behind the eight ball with limited starts. And I was really impressed what he did when he was around the lead. And, I mean, it was nice being able to shoot 10 under and steal Boise, even though it's not the best measuring stick that event. But yeah, he's looked good, especially in the finals. So that's another way where you judge these guys. Hey, what are the biggest events of the years?

How do they play in those events? And yeah, he looks decent, statistically fairly good as well outside of our small amount of statistics on corn fairy. Yeah. Soud or shun yellow mirageu. Did I, did I say that right? Sadarsian yellow mirageu. Yeah.

Close. It was good. Yeah. That's a cool story too. Kind of crazy story, man. He like turned pro, said, uh, said the family couldn't afford college. He turns pro. Was he 19 years old?

And turns pro. He's in Canada. And I mean, you talk about out of nowhere. I mean, we had them in the Bahamas event second of it of the year. It was final group. Nitties and I were like, all right, well, this is one of those guys that, you know, shoot two under and you laughed. And he hit every green and every fairway and was low round of the day

and like ran away with the event. But again, and it's so early in the season, this guy's such an unknown that you're just, you know, we see this so often, right? The guy misses five cuts in a row or whatever. He didn't play a lot after the win right after that.

He didn't have a, he didn't play at every event right after. But it seemed like every third or fourth event, he'd make the cut, play well on the weekend, finished 10th or, seven and was just hanging around 20 the whole time. And then today, Nitty's, I mean, when we looked at the board the first time and he's four under today, I was shocked because he comes off as the nervous golfer, like the way

he talks and the way he goes about his mannerisms, like he kind of looks like the nervous golfer that might not be that comfortable. And I don't think he is. And he makes a few bogeys late. But I think the play throughout the year put him in a position where he was able to do so. So it's just a cool story. like these are the kind of things like has a great year or does it he's been one of those guys that's leaned on every level in a short amount of time as a pro golfer to get to this

point where now he's a PJ tour player talk talk about deer in headlights when he gets interviewed even when he won I was like no way this guy gets his card like he it's almost like so nervous but like Shane said he rattled off maybe 50% of cuts made and every time he did it was it was like a 30% hit rate of being inside the top six Now, it was a strange year. I don't know. Someone told me he took a fair few events off. Like throughout the center, I remember looking at his results,

and I'm like, how hasn't he played like 26 events, especially when you win like the second event of the year and you've got to be like, all right, I don't want to secure this card. And I heard he went and did some Monday qualifiers for tour events. And, you know, maybe his agent gave him some bad advice. But it was weird. He took some time off and put himself in this position. And he was a guy where coming into the final round where you're like,

all right, he's probably pretty nervous and he's probably going to fall outside because not a lot of bubble boys coming into the last event of the season stay there. Like it rarely happens. It's such a difficult position to be in because even at a bubble boy with the guys that can come from so far back and get a victory, you're usually that guy that gets pushed out. And a lot of the points were hoovered this year up up the top of the points list. So there was separation around 20. So you still needed to play fairly good to hold onto that position. So, yeah, but he, he surprised us and he's, I think he could get onto the tour and miss a fair few cuts, but then, like, make a cut and have like a second.

And then just have a lot of good results that way. He does have a lot of good tools. Like, it's a good. So it's a long way, but it was just funny to see how nervous he is in so many interviews. It's like, he'll, like, finish third at the Sony, you know, like, that's what he's kind of guy. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's what, like, you'll see out of him.

it's got to be so tough too to like win early like i mean Hank Hank Louviota did it and then and it's just like a like it could be a slow bleed the rest of the season it's like if you're trying to run like a like a half marathon and you never run and your taste is just like dip in every mile and you're like fuck i just want to finish this thing you know it's like yeah once again eight guys eight guys won and they're inside the top 20 and they all fell out like it's you know it's that's It's brutal. Yeah, who fell short that you were surprised that they didn't make it inside the top 20? I mean, Justin saw I'm shocked by.

I just again, you talk about Pearson Cuddy not being a corn fairy guy. I just don't think so is. And he also had a win. You know, I mean, that's what's wild, right? He gets the win relatively early in the season. It's like, okay, this season's just going to, I mean, there's no chance. He doesn't have it. I almost wonder, and I'd like to ask him about this, obviously when all this cools off,

But it almost seemed like with the swing that he might be doing a little bit of like in season stuff with it, which I know all those guys are always tinkering a bit. But, you know, like even Oklahoma talking about how easy that golf course was, we saw some big misses from him. He missed the cut, like big misses with like the golf swing. I mean, you know, like lefts and rights and stuff like that. So I'd say probably saw he's just such a good dude and such a good player and confident. I mean, like in 2023, like I thought so was going to. going to be like he was earmarked for top 25 top 30 in the world like played well at the players played well at Honda yeah same same majors like that that one's shocking for me yeah that's probably

the most shocking yeah like yeah you said it trying to I think he had a couple top 30s in the majors I want to say he made 32 out of 35 cuts after missing like the first three cuts to start his rookie year or whatever and you know he around that 80th mark on the FedEx cup so you're thinking okay you know but still did it easily, didn't really, you know, and then it was just rare. We were talking the other day, it's, it's so crazy how far he grips down the club on every single shot. It's, it's, it's, it's, he puts AK to shame. Like, it's every single shot.

I'm like, dude, he's on the steel, like it's so, but yeah, he's, he definitely, I think, not being able to, it didn't have a good putting year and that's usually his weapon alongside everything else, which I, I kind of levels out, but you just, you know, I've not being able to lean on that putter and yeah that was the biggest surprise i don't think any other guys really fell short maybe the eight guys that you know the other seven guys that won but it's it there wasn't a guy in there that you didn't expect like a west moor and you're like okay he's always finding himself around you know the cusp of getting a card he's always around it around the corn free tour championships and you know a couple of winners were were surprised winners out of that bunch so there's

not a not a lot that I thought should have got their card that that didn't so outside of sart like bacon said gotcha uh just putting a bow on the year what was your favorite favorite moment of the year just from covering the corn fairy tour go bacon show me i mean the the smotherment pot was awesome i mean we we like people are three putting that all day um you know he's got a two putt to win he makes like a 60 footer i'm getting to call those kind of things are so fun um i mean the chaffield 59 was sick too just because again you're talking like maybe the longest put anybody's ever made to shoot 59 in the golf history it's like 35 feet up the hill almost the ones that surprise you are the most fun moments in our profession and so i'd say

probably those two the smotherman was just so sick he was and he's such a cool kid too that it was uh it was fun to see him kind of make that when guys were you're kind of hoping he gets it down to you know and and avoids the playoff what's what's your uh prognosis for for chatfield out on the pga tour is he gonna i mean he's small he's really yeah i mean again i mean in a power game you know we shall see i could see him struggling next year and then maybe getting back and having some success um i hope i'm proven wrong because he's an easy kid to root for um but you know i mean not all 20 of these guys are going to have success right so you've got to pick some at art and uh if i was going to kind of list on both

sides of the column he'd probably be on the knot for me personally but again i mean that's not to say I don't like the kid. It's just, I mean, he's probably going to be somebody that I don't think's going to have, maybe the same season that I might think of Pearson Cootie's going to have. Yeah. Yeah, he, um, Chadfield was a guy. There was, there was a lot of corner free tour graduates that were interviewed after they got to the PGA tour and they were asked, who's a guy that was surprising to you or we'll get his card next year. And Chadfield was the most common name. So, look, he, he does need to hit it further. He said that I need to find some distance. But, I remember when we saw the Bahamas event and he came out.

He was yoped. For his size, he'd just be straight, just putting, you know, throwing around tin in the gym. And I was like, he's put on some weight, like mass. He had big arms, a big chest, you know, like he's only like, J. Choi kind of style. Yeah, yeah. This guy.

You were to wrestle somebody? I'll wrestle you guys. He's got such a nice swing too, like just washing him in iron. Oh, good iron player. Where's out the center frequently? Yeah, that was that was a great social clip that they put up of, I think he was talking to Alex Baldwin or some people at dinner and they're like, hey, like, you know, people said you, like your iron player, your ball striking is, like people admire it that are out on tour. So, James, what was your favorite, favorite moment of the year? They can kind of stole it, but I'm going to go with my guy ADDC, like security's card, breaking records.

it's not the location I would have wanted him to do it at, but it was kind of cool, especially with everything we had go on that week with the 59, and, you know, he comes there and he's, at least we had that storyline to talk about. I know he ran away with it and, you know,

the drama wasn't as high as we would have liked, but, you know, getting the kind of the proof that we needed because it was cool how he hit it down the stretch. Like it was, you know, there was an iron shot he hit on the par three,

and I saw I wrote a comment on this clip and it's it's like 140 yards is par three right and he at this point obviously he's six shots in front he hits he hits the shot and he picks the tee up as quick as anyone a par three pick up didn't even watch it land goes to six feet makes birdie like I was like that's the biggest flex where you can pick the tee up on a par three and you're expecting it to be close and he's a pretty quiet guy like he's you know he's you know he's you know, he's tall in stature. And he was one of the guys, you know, back in the day when we were calling for him to get on the right of cup team, even if it was tongue in cheek, where as a rookie, everyone would

look around when he walked down the range. All the corn free tour guys were like, this guy's good. Like, you could just feel it, the presence. He's one guy that has a presence, even if he's not very, you know, he's softly spoken. So, yeah, that was probably it for me. The stuff we didn't televise, I thought the Shipley part to beat Suntec Lee in a five-hole playoff was really cool because, you know, pretty emotional, makes a huge part, you know, kind of, you know, confirms he's going to the tour and he's exciting guy, everyone's looking

forward. And then, but Pontus, you know, it's kind of cool, but Pontus missing like a five-footer straight up hill to get his first victory at Knoxville in regulation. And Kiefer hold, like to get into that playoff after Pontus missed that part, Kiefer holds like a 20-footer for Birdie at that last hole. They went in the same group. So then they go into the playoff. Pontus is like, I've just given it away to the hottest player on the corn free tour. And then Pontus makes an eagle put from where Kiefer made the part to win the tournament. So I thought that was pretty cool. I thought we might have seen a bit more back and forth between them for the rest of the season.

But yeah, they're kind of the key storylines where you're trying to get these personalities on the tour or the guys that are hot that kind of finally establishes itself at the end where Pontus gets his card. So I thought they're all pretty cool moments. guys anything else i want to go get you fed so you know i know it's it's uh it's slim pickings there in french lick after oh listen hey i'm going to tell you this you get at a sandwich to the restaurant we go to from the hotel so we'll be we'll be good to go but uh appreciate uh appreciate having us and obviously appreciate any kFT love um i you know i think i will say one last thing is you know i mean we love the corn fairy tour but it's only going to get more competitive you know and there's only going to be bigger names it's only going to get

tougher as we're shrinking stuff around the PJ tour and getting more guys down there. I mean, you hear players talk about it. You hear players talk about it a lot. What next year is going to look like on the corn fairy, which excites us because obviously we like when the best are playing

in terms of what the corn fairy can be. And I feel like this was a really good year. Like Kiefer, I mean, we didn't talk about Christo. I mean, obviously Christo is kind of a freak in terms of the way you can play at the golf ball. And just a lot of guys, I think, are going to have success. What do we have, Nitties? How many guys, you said five in the top 10 one or five wins of the top 10? Out of last year's graduation. Yep. Yeah. I mean, I didn't say that. Obviously,

a guy like Campbell, Hoover's two of those up. But yeah, there was a couple outside, like obviously pot Geter and, you know, Gerard and who else. There's a couple of, a couple of good wins outside that top 10, but that was how I was comparing it to the top. Yeah. I just, I think we, I think we'll pass that number this next year, I think, on tour. I think, I think, I think, I think, I think we'll hit five or more from these guys. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, it's good. And yeah, no, thanks for having us on Tron.

We can always rattle on about corn free tour. And then Bacon hit it on the head. It's going to be a really exciting tour next year with the amount of like PGA tour that are going to have to come down with the least more, you know, the shaving of the getting it to top 100 on the PGA tour to keep your card. So it's because it's not a place where those guys want to be. You hear a lot of like tour guys that have gotten out of the corn free tour and they're like, do not want to go back.

and you hear a lot of guys that are on the corn free tour and being like, it's so hard to get out because the waves of, the waves of PGA to a university, all the young kids that are hungry, and then you're an old veteran trying to play in middle America in Springfield, it's playing 100, it's 110, and it's not a fun place to be.

So, yeah, it's going to be a really competitive tour, especially next year, yeah. Yeah, last year, I just want to shout out both as well. That was like one of the greasiest performances. Jeez. He's still getting up and down at 7.4. 45. He probably just chipped at the four feet somewhere. So sick. He was what, 27 of 32, I think for the week. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what did I have on his,

what did I have at his ball striking? Yeah, he hit, um, what's his number? Let me see if I can find it. He, he hit 40 of 72 greens and almost one. That is wild on an iron players course. Yeah. I need a player's golf course. You get a cold top as well. Cold Thompson makes par, such, it was so dirty, the short game every time. Like, not even on the Sunday ones too. I mean, he was 11 and 11 scrambled on Thursday. He was crazy. He's going to be good.

He's a guy that I think another full season on the corn free tour would be good. But yeah, he's a little different to Christo and Potkeeter, the other South Africans. He's got hands and still hits it pretty long. Those boys, you know, Christo's not as bad as Potter, but Podketter is looking for hands around the greens. And, you know, but they all, all the South Africans. Africans we're talking about it today if everyone hits it long I don't know what it is over there well then that South African amateur Christian Moss he won the world amateur team championship by 10 crazy and he's playing good yeah he's killing it too he's right up there

at PGA tour university in the top two as well or top three yeah crazy so perfect guys