No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 834 - Rory at Quail (again), Rose Zhang calls in after winning the Founders, and TIO outrage

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Rory does it at Quail Hollow yet again, but does it mean anything for Valhalla? Xander wilts, Quail Hollow low key bucks, and everything else from Wells Fargo. Rose Zhang calls in on her way out of town after a ridiculous performance at The Founders, Jason Day sets Twitter ablaze again, we answer a bunch of listener questions, and everything else from the week in golf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes! Johnny, 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. Right all over it fellas, all over the timing. Welcome back to the No Laying Up live show presented as always by our friends at high noon.

Solly here, Big Randy is here. Hello, Mr. Big. Hello guys. Hello, Mr. Big. Hello guys, hello, hello. The rare time when a lot of golf that wasn't particularly close, but a great weekend of golf, a fun weekend, and looking forward to getting into it. A lot to talk about this week. Some really, really, really good golf this week.

Some good golf courses. We can talk a little bit about that as well. Cleanly shaven, gonna get a lot of comments on this on the chat. Mr. Kevin Van Valkenburg, hello KVV. So I'm doing great. You know I've been getting a lot of comments that I was like an old man was ready for retirement so I tried to you know turn back the clock a little bit. Go clean shaven. Now I gotta lose a little weight because I was feeling like oh man my sexy jawline isn't there anymore. But we're working on that. We'll see if we can get on the pellet after the show's over.

With this reason this beard's been on my face for the last 12 years, there is a non-existent jawline over here as well. The moment everyone has been waiting for is here. The high nude pool pack is back. Grab a case, text the group, get your friends to the nearest pool. It is only here for summer. Now's the time to enjoy lime, peach, and two limited edition flavors who happen to be my two favorite flavors One of them is guava. The other one is kiwi

I got the kiwi on backup tonight for round two when we get in the back half of this show As always the pool pack is made with real vodka real juice. It's got a hundred calories Gluten-free no added sugar. You can go to high noon spirits comm to find it near you high noon Suns up winners from around the world this past week Roy McElroy wins Of course at Coel Hollow Chris got her up wins at Myrtle Beach Rose Zhang hunted down Madeline sagstrom at the founders Hugh Jo Kim wins the Aramco team series in Korea. We got a lot to talk about we're gonna start with Wells Fargo We're gonna get into a little bit of Valhalla stuff, some listener questions, some tour drama as well. We're going to lead that into Founders Cup, the end of Nelly's run, a bunch

of performances to discuss there. Just a little bit of stuff ahead of next week's major championship and looking forward to some content for us from next week. First up, Rory McIlroy running away with the show. Things got interesting around the seventh hole today. Xander held a six iron from the fairway. He put enough spin on it to take the ridge, go down to the right hole location, rolled in a 12 footer for Eagle.

Rory failed to make birdie from the right rough and Xander led by two. Rory will be leading by seven by the time they got to the 17th tee or the 18th tee I forget at this point but Rory birdies the eighth Xander couldn't get up and down Rory rolls in a birdie on the ninth Xander drove in the fairway bunker left of 10 at 279 in and hit a four iron to 12 feet I thought he was laying up when he was lining up for that shot Rory had made iron from 225 again the balls going very far to the front of the green rolled in a 34 footer for Eagle Xander to put it for birdie Roy leads by one

leaving the tenth Xander made a sloppy bogey on 12 he airmails one on 13 he bogeys both of those Rory birdies 13 the lead is for Roy birdies 14 Xander missed a short birdie putt Roy holds a bunker shot for Eagle on 15 he leads by six Xander bogey 16 and the lead is 7 Roy doubles the 18th hole but wins by five shots Randy what's your reaction to this runaway victory week too early? No, extremely, extremely impressive performance from Rory. He, he's won here before at Quail Hollow. He asserted his dominance today. Uh, we'll get into, you know, what it means to run down and put away a guy like Xander,

but, uh, no, no hyperbole Don't want to take anything away from Rory. Hell of a performance. I, I'm not sure what else really there is to say. Kev any different reaction to that? Yeah. I it's great to see killer Rory back. This is the dude who we kind of fell in love with when this podcast started way back in the day, this is the guy.

And I want to see more like jealously or selfishly I want to see this guy do more of this because it's really fun to watch. So that's what, okay, thank you, Kevin, because I was trying to like not get into that, but listen, we know Rory can win week to week on the PGA tour and this was certainly a killer performance, but the only thing in my opinion that matters for him,

we like, we got to see something like this at a major championship. It's, it's been 10 years like that's we can give him all his flowers this week. Fair or not. Like the only thing that matters is dog. We need to see this when, when the moment matters the most. Yes. But remember last time when he was killer guy, like he won the open championship and then he won Akron and then he went into Valhalla and he, you know, had kind of, he was against the ropes a couple of times in that final round and then he just went into killer mode. So I think there's a chance that all the shit that's gone on this year and combined with like playing with Shane at the Zurich has kind of put him back in a good mindset of like, you know what? I'm going to just go out and play some really frigging good golf. So you're bought in, you're all the way in. I'm back in baby. I'm back. I'm sorry. I can't quit him.

I was like bought in before we started the show and like in the last 15 minutes I've come back to like, dude, it only matters if you do something this next week and he knows that that's the, that's the whole thing. Right. And I don't wanna come on here tonight after that dominant performance, huge smile on his face, like making two Eagles on the back nine, birdie in a bunch of holes in between.

Like there's no reason to downplay that other than to say like he dominates his golf course, it's tailor made for him, he's super comfortable there. Does he show up at Valhalla? Of course, the course that he most recently won his most recent major at. Of course he feels comfortable there, but it's been 10 years. There's no way he shows up with the same kind of level of ease to it. It's a totally different situation. No Scottie this week, no Ludwig, no Brooks, no Rom.

Like everything just gets reset coming into this next week. And I don't know, man. He won this event last year without like even his best stuff was that last year or is that two years ago it was no two years ago I'm sorry he won it two years ago when he was kind of struggling and you know it didn't really lead to anything in particular but it alternatives I think saw those as if he had shot what nine under wasn't even in it you know would that be better for him I don't think so I think he those as if he had shot what nine under wasn't even in it, you know, would that be better for him? I don't think so. I think he didn't have to like expand a shit ton of energy this week doing this and the drivers just looks

Absolutely filthy at the moment It it is and I've it's been a while since we've seen Valhalla. I have not been on site We I went in 2019, but I don't have enough of a memory You know I don't have enough of a memory. I don't know if there's been specific changes made to the golf course between now and then to say like, hey, what happened at Quail Hollow should work at Valhalla. All of my instincts say it should,

like it should be pretty similar. And you know what really impressed me about Rory this week was this was a firm golf course. This was firm greens. This is a style of play that is not necessarily synonymous with Rory's most dominant performances and his major championship wins I walked away We can talk about the little bit later of saying like man quail hollow with these green these new greens and that firmness is

A different kind of test different golf course different control. He was like I go back to the 13th hole He launched a nine iron I believe it was and they said this has has gotta be a full bore nine iron. If you go back and watch that shot, it went way up in the air. He hit it hard, generated a ton of spin, launch was enormous, and it lands between the front of the green and the pin and stopped there.

It was kind of like a, he couldn't lay off an eight and get it to stop there, and Xander tried to carve a shot in there and blew it right over the green. It was like, Rory was playing the golf that you needed to play on a firm golf course. And all that to say, like that really impressed me about Rory, but going to next week,

from everything we've heard, it's gonna be pretty soft out there. The weather's looking pretty soft and we'll have plenty of time to talk about PGA championship stuff. But that's the thing, I don't mind starting the show talking about that, because I guarantee you it's exactly what he's thinking about right now.

I'd trade, trivia question for you guys, how many PGA tour wins has Rory had since he last won a major? Oh my gosh uh yeah I was I was gonna say 15 16. This was 16 I believe this might have been 17 I'm not sure if the Wikipedia page was updated when I counted but like he'd probably trade all of them for one more major right right? And so that's where it's like, props dude, that's great, fantastic, do it this week. Like at least, even if you don't win, let's see that guy. That's, that would be satisfactory for me. As a Rory fan would be like, from Thursday on, I want to see that kind of guy. You don't need to, you know, shoot nine-under in the first round, but like be on the attack and on the offensive without playing

dumb golf and that'll be satisfactory. That's that's so well said I'm to the point to solid where it's like even if he weren't to win, let's say next week or to win a major it just KVV channeling some of this like killer shit and in this this pep in a step and and playing offense Like you said solid like that's just to the eye test has really been what's missing for the vast majority of his major appearances. Well, you can't have swagger if you don't play well. So it's kind of go hand in hand a little bit. I just I feel better about him having swagger going into next week

than be like, oh, I got to get some things tightened up here and there. Like, oh, it's like, you know what? I'm friggin good at this shit. And I'm going to go out and give my best. Definitely, definitely. And I don't think, you know, we shouldn't just go right past the fact that Scotty wasn't here. I mean, Scotty's been far and away the best player

on the PGA tour. So I think that matter. Roy should not be your pick next week. Like if you gamble and you do Fandel, whatever, Roy should not be your pick unless like you like the odds a great deal. Because I don't necessarily think Roy's gonna win. But for the first time in a while. Whoa!

Hater, hater, hater, Kevin, what are you talking about, man? How does this not get you fired up, dude? It does get me fired up, Cody, but I'm trying to be a little bit of like, I'm gonna temper it a little bit. I'm just saying, Scott, you should be the dude. God, you're too old, man. Come on, I can answer this.

I can answer this question for you. Until proven otherwise. Kevin, he's not dad back, man. He's slept in the hospital in that little tiny ass chair for days. So there's a very good chance they dragged in one of Jason Day's old mattresses or whatever that you know, or Louis Louis, yeah, excuse me, that he could. Cody, come back. I'll help you with this KVV. Cody, come back here right now. How long you've been how long you've been golf podcasting? Like three years. That's

exactly why you can come in and boo that right when it's been 10 when it's been 10 when you've seen it 10 you're now a little bit a little bit more hesitant to do that but listen I'm gonna why we want that why don't we pause that we have more important things to get to like have more important things to get to. Maybe more important things to get to, maybe more important guests. Potentially killer on the loose, I believe. Looks like transporting in a car right now.

Winner of the Founders Cup this past week, Rose Zhang joining the show live. Rose, how we doing? Good, how are you guys? It's been a while since I've been on here. Yeah, we were waiting for you to shoot 20 million under par or whatever it was to put a historic performance on. But tell me about what's it like to be in contention, be like legitimately 10 to 12 shots clear of third place and just be like, how will this one person not get out of my way right now?

I mean, honestly, it was crazy because Madeline was in my group and it felt like match play. I haven't seen anyone else play this incredibly throughout the week, and I just had to step it up. I mean, I couldn't do anything else. I was admiring her game at that point. But safe to up. I mean, I couldn't do anything else. I was admiring her game at that point. But safe to say, I mean, we both put on a show. That was a hell of a show, Rose. And first of all, for anybody watching, you to confirm you are not the one driving the car you're in right now, right? No, thank God. Her eyes had not come up from the

phone. So I'm really glad the answer is what it was there. I'm like, dang, she can really- That's like a multitask, don't worry. Yeah, she can really do it all. Rose, take me through the day, and specifically that back nine, you mentioned you were kind of just in awe and watching Madeline.

You were standing in the middle of 14 Fairway, down three shots at that point. Did you and Ollie, were you guys, what were those conversations like? What was the mindset or was it simply like, hey, I got to hunt some flags here. I got to make some birdies. I actually wasn't thinking about that just because this golf course is a grind on its own and I knew Madeline probably had a lot in her to be able to birdie in and out. So I wasn't really thinking too much about that. It was more so, okay,

let's try to minimize mistakes and see where it comes from. You know, see what I have. If I put myself in a good position, let's try to make birdie. If I don't, then we got a scramble. And that was the very simple mindset that I had with Oli. We just had a good time. We weren't really talking about the scores. We weren't even talking about the shots in particular. We were really just having each other's company. And I think that really helps because when you're in the thick, it's a little bit, it gets intense, but we kept it really lighthearted,

which I really appreciated. Rose, what's your feeling with the putter right now? Because Mercy, it looks good. I appreciate it because, I mean, I've had some ups and downs with my putters. Listen, I was gonna go there, but I wanna know about the good stuff. Okay, okay.

Well, I'm feeling good about it now. I mean, it's a new one in the bag. I've been using it for the last couple of weeks and I think it's rolling. At least hopefully I can get some momentum on it a little bit more next week and we'll see where it goes. But right now it's rolling. At least hopefully I can get some momentum on it a little bit more next week and we'll see where it goes. But right now it's going to be in my bag and it's not going anywhere. Better not. I'm looking after it. You've had an incredible start to your career. You won your first

start last summer. Following that, leading up to into this, what's it been like? I guess were you expecting to have more success since that first start into now? Have you learned much about like what the process is like to being to winning on the LPGA Tour and being extremely competitive on the LPGA Tour? I've learned so much in the past year. And really just understanding what it's like to be out here and make it a lifestyle has been pretty difficult for me.

I think a lot of people don't really see what happens behind the scenes of practice, preparation, programs, and then media on top of trying to come out here and play the best you can. So I really just had to learn how to balance all that on top of rest. And I think this week, one of the biggest things that I prioritized was my own rest,

which I haven't been having in a hot minute. So in doing all that, I've really kind of allowed myself to let go of any expectation and really just dive into what the process is and how I can most or better achieve everything that I'm doing. One of those things that has you busy, you're still taking classes at Stanford Rose. I want to ask how everything's, yeah, yeah.

Any more tough computer science classes or did you give yourself an easy workload at least? Oh no, I'm definitely not doing that. I'm actually taking the leave of absence right now, which has been incredible for me. In the last quarter, at least for winter quarters, I'll be doing that, you know, rotationally every single year, but I'm taking 20 units every winter quarter when I'm back there physically in person.

And that alone has been a grind because I was functioning on five hours, an average of five hours of sleep. So I almost, it felt weird that I'm getting eight. And safe to say, it's incredible. More, you spoke about your putter more broadly. It felt weird that I'm getting eight and safe to say it's incredible. More, you spoke about your putter more broadly. Has anything clicked recently with, with either your wedge play or your overall game? I guess what I'm asking, did you see this type of week coming? Answers?

No. Um, I've been struggling a little bit in the past couple events. And obviously Nellie has been putting on a show. So it's honestly not something that I've been thinking about too much. And I think I slowly had to think that or get to that point where I didn't really care about what place I finished because where I didn't really care about what plays I finished because sometimes you really want it so bad and you get ahead of yourself and that's what I've been trying to I guess fight against so in doing so this week I mean I was doing a pretty good job at staying in the moment and really understanding how I can

best play without having to think about that outside noise. All right, Rose mentioned Nellie watching her put on a show. What's it been like, you know, from your perspective to see the golf that she's been playing has been motivating to other people on tour? What do you think? Beyond motivating, I think she's even though you see her in the field, even though you see her in the locker rooms, just passing by, her presence is very inspirational.

And I think she was always one of the most inspirational players out there on LPGA. I've watched her growing up as an amateur as well, and for her to come out and play five events winning all five. I don't, I've never seen that before and I don't think anyone else has so the fact that she was able to do everything that she's accomplished, really kudos to her. I've watched and I've admired. We're going to get to this later on in the show. We haven't gotten there. I'm going to spend a lot of time just admiring this leaderboard because I've never seen anything like it.

You finished 15 shots clear of third place and you won by two. Does it feel more like you won by two or you won by 15? Because that is some of the most ridiculous golf I think I've ever seen. Like as far as the level of golf that you played this week. Um, I've definitely won by two. I, in my opinion, I think I won by one. I mean, I think at that point I was just, I don't even know how to explain it. Like that final pot dropping, the for me to just steal the deal there. I was preparing myself for a playoff. Let's just say that. I don't know. One by two by far. Gosh that was epic. So you are going to be defending this coming week at the Mizuho Americas Open. We look forward to watching that. We thank you for calling in. I know it's always frantic after a win but but we appreciate you making some time for us. And best of luck this coming week.

Keep it going. Thank you, Rose. Appreciate you guys. All right. That was polar opposite of from the Chevron when we were waiting 20 minutes for Nellie to come on. Rose comes in earlier than we were ready for, but that was very much appreciated.

We appreciate her taking the time on the way to the car. Great reception in the car too, by the way. Great sounding audio. She's getting better at golf, Randy. You know what is fun? Getting better at golf. One of the fastest ways to get better is to go to Titleist.com and find a fitter

or fitting event near you. Custom fittings are not just for better players, they're for any player who wants to play better. Your Titleist fitter will start by getting to know you and your game, you and your specific needs drive the fitting experience and every club you hit will be the exact club you will order. There's no guesswork, no hoping that the recommendation will work out. I greatly enjoyed this process because kind of for the first time ever, like just decisions

were being made for me. People are asking me like, what is this two iron that you're in? I'm like, dude, I don't know. I told them kind of what I liked and they just built it for me. And I just swing it with that much more confidence. When you take out that variable of like, you know, am I making the right call here? It helps you hit the club with a lot more confidence. That's what I've found.

So a certified title is fitter can help you can help any player at any point in their golfing journey, find the right equipment to get better, more consistent golf shots. So head over to titles dot com slash fitting and go get dialed. Few more things to wrap up on the Wells Fargo here. Do you guys wanna have the floor with Xander here? I mean, is it time that we discuss this one? Look, all right, I brought this up a little bit.

I don't even know if it needs a lot of time. You know what, here's what I'll say, S Sally. Frank Nobolo said something on the broadcast that I kind of got a little annoyed. I don't mean to pick on Frank on this, but he was like, you know, this will make him better. I don't think it will. I think this is like a humiliating, curb stomping of Xander's hopes and dreams. Like this is, I would go home right now if I were Xander and I would be like, I don't know that I've got it. Like I don't know that I'm good enough to win against the best of the best. And it would be kind of deflating and humiliating. I mean, I don't want to pick on Xander, but he just never shows me something special.

I think Xander honestly could win a major, but it'll be one of those majors where everyone else kind of shits the bed and he plays steady, he plays solid, he shoots 71 on a day when the average of the field is 74. And I think that's like his best chance to truly touch transcendent golf because he's never going to feel like he's going to shoot 66 on a day when he has to do it. This is where you're expecting me to ride for Xander. And I feel like I'm taking a lot of accusations. Come get him.

A lot of accusations on my Xander. I've just had to stop you guys from saying dumb things about him. I don't think what you're saying is dumb. I never, I did not, I thought it was borderline offensive that Rory was an underdog only trailing by one coming into today. I was like, oh my God, Rory's going to absolutely wipe the floor with Xander today. That was my, when Xander was up two through seven, I was like, man, maybe, Rory's gonna absolutely wipe the floor with Xander today. That was my, and when Xander was up two through seven, I was like, man, maybe not.

Maybe this is the time. Today meant so much more for Xander than it did Rory. Like Rory could, it's kind of like money with the Saudis. It's just more money for them, right? It's just more PGA Tour titles that Rory's got plenty of. And Xander needs it bad. Like he really needs a definitive win Like in a big-time event like this the stage was relatively cleared for him You know he got beat pretty handily by

Windham last year after having a great tournament and then had a great tournament this week like it It's hard to like before we start recording you guys said he sucked which I will fight back on He was okay what goes on before the recording should not be entered into the record frankly. This is is just trying out takes deposition. You know what I'll say to that? Zander probably gets picked on by us because he puts himself into the arena. It's not like he shrinks and does it never around. So I think that's to his credit. He keeps picking himself off off the mat and climbing into contention. So if I could say anything about it, props to that, you know, he'll probably climb into contention again after I just said that he got completely, you know, his like spike marks all up his back, but I've just, it makes me frustrated to see him

just never rise to the occasion. And I think that's exactly right. KVV I think the frustration and I think that the spotlight on Xander is because we've seen a clear ceiling, which he just keeps bumping into over and over again. I equate it more to like the tennis environment, right? Where, you know, guys like Rory and Scotty and Brooks, like those are your Jokovic and Carlos Alcaraz now. and Shofley just is very clearly a notch below those guys. And we have just seen that time after time. Um, he, he's still a very good golfer, Solly, to your point, he, he's going to make a lot of money. He's going to have great results, but

he simply has not, and All Signs Point 2 is is not gonna get it done in these big spots against the biggest stars in the game. And today was just one more illustration of that. I've got an illustration that will help us. So it's hard, I feel like I've pulled this up, you know, a few times to say like, hey, when he gets, when Zander gets into contention, does he turn into a worst golfer?

Does he? To answer the question. The answer is no. He performs technically like above his expected, when he goes into the final round, either in first or second place, he performs better than he does in a normal round, right? Let's enter that into the record. However, since the 2021 CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, he has gone, and when he's been in that position, he has been, I'm just gonna say, if I say negative, that means he's performed under his expectation. He's gone negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, big time positive, negative, negative, every time he's been in, gone into the final round in

first or second. So that's a lot of really consecutive ones, right? A lot of very recent results. He's actually won three of those. He won the Genesis, he won the travelers and he won the Olympics, despite you know, giving less than stellar final rounds. That's a lot of final rounds in a row quite under expectation, you have to go all the way back to the HSBC when he like slammed

the door on one and like really went out and got one. He had an 8% chance of winning going into it and went out and posted a ridiculous number 68 on a difficult day and one won that one. So a lot of evidence stacking up of like, dude, you're not the same dude in the last five years, really, when you get into contention. I think that's right. The Genesis I should note is the Scottish Open,

not the one at Riviera. Correct. Yeah, listen, I don't know. I do feel a little bit for Xander though, because it is like, man, he's good enough to get himself into these positions and he very publicly has to wear the result. And I'm not sure what he can do about it except play better. You know, like it's totally on him. But again, it goes back to like the odds would say, like so going as of from between now and March of 2021. So basically the last three years,

where his standing after 54 holes, he would be expected to win three times, right? Like if you add up all the probability of those wins, he would come up with three expected wins since 2021, and he's won three times. So it's like basically he's performed relatively normalish and gotten three wins out of it, right? He hasn't gone and run a bunch down.

I'm sure like the guys that roll off our tongue among the best winners like go beat those odds by a fair amount. And that's why they're the names that we bring up the most. But he just like is relatively level and that doesn't equate to a lot of winning, unfortunately. And that's what fans care about the most. I think it's a quintessential question about sports. Like, what do we care about, right?

Ultimately, if you're not winning championships, then you're coming up short. And if those three expected wins happen to be like two majors, I'd probably view it entirely differently. Like, right, I don't, I hold him to a higher standard that I hold Jordan Spieth, because he gets into condition way more often than Spieth might be just a dude now. And so I want to see Xander like deliver on some of this promise. But it just can't, it can't be like this. I mean, this is just today was like, I think a pretty like humiliating beat down, you know, instead of like what Rose did, hang, hang, hang, scrape out a win with Madeline or

flip Madeline to Rose. He just kind of, you know, ejected and that's a bummer. Or like go out and match, you know, go, go punch for punch with Rory, right? Like it's, it's a six shot difference today. And really that's looks closer because Rory doubled 18. I mean, Rory beat his ass. And that's where when it's really a two person tournament and you're staring the other guy in the face for all 18 holes, it's like, it's hard to put much lipstick on this performance.

That's what you set the record of the U S open last year, right? But then never really contended, uh, in that, I mean, I guess he was sort of in contention, but then he drills two into the face of the bunker or the final round and just never is in contention that final day. Like, it's just, I want more. It's okay. It's okay to want more. Like it's not unfair to have these expectations for him.

It's all he is playing the best golf of his career. Uh, and It's a classic example of like he literally, you know, I've said this a lot, like you'd rather have a win and a missed cut than two runner ups. And like he at this event over the last two years, he's been runner up the last two years, it's just like write this dude off, like, fuck this guy. But you know, that's, it's just that weird, it's not quite a female situation. But

it's that weird spot where like we zoom in, and just like rip on you know on Xander this week and probably won't say a word about Cantlay I don't even know where Cantlay finished this week but you're almost better off and a lot of fans eyes being way down the leaderboard and out of contention than putting yourself in the spot that's the only thing I'll ride for is like dude I think they're in two different classes now though I don't think Patrick is like an elite like top five golfer regardless of what the stats say, because in the big tournaments,

he's just not delivering anymore. Like, you know, coughing up that lead this year at the Genesis when he could, you know, he wasn't even playing in that great, but he had jumped out to like a four stroke lead and then just was not even relevant in the end. I think he's getting his activations launched though. He's had a huge fall off this year.

He's over a shot worse than he was last year per round which is a massive fall off but also just want to note Zander's been putting some time in the gym or some swing changes with Chris Como like he's pounding the ball he has added a ton of length like he is it's wild like his like distance profile like fits Rory's distance profile from just a few years ago like I again don't think people are realizing how fast the tides are. The sand is shifting in this distance thing of like, Rory's like frequently touching 189,

which is, you know, Bryson got up near 200. It got like to 196 on the PGA Tour, I think was one of the highest he got. But like Rory's driving distance or ball speed this year is higher than the year that Bryson put on all the weight. It wasn't higher than 2021, but he's got a higher ball speed than 2020, which is like, dude, it's going very, very quickly. And Xander's caught up, man.

He's putting up 185s relatively easy and that bodes well for him. I think I still think he's gonna run to a major. Do you guys think Xander wins a major? Yes, I actually do. Like I just said, it's not gonna be be one where he like has an amazing final round where he outdue everyone, but every, every few years there's a major where it's just like a car crash at the end. And I think he's, he's solid enough to where he'll survive a car crash.

I could see an open championship though, you know, weather kind of dependent. Those happen from time to time. Like I think yes. Can't wait. No, but, but I think yes. I'll say no on Xander. Just don't not seeing it. Case closed. Just stamp it. Move on. Uh, that was as good a time as any to discuss the TIO relief that, that happened to Xander on that Thursday, maybe some karma seeping in, uh,

from this one into, uh, you know, into Sunday. If you didn't get a chance to see it on Thursday he blew a ball way right into the trees on the eighth hole. They originally said it was in a penalty area then the video they did after said it wasn't. That was very confusing to me. But apparently it doesn't matter so maybe we don't need to confuse people with that because I guess he could have got the relief and even if it was in a penalty area. Moving on from that he's like up against a fence like way into these trees and his caddy Austin Kaiser gets in there and looks up and notice Sees like a hole in the trees and there's a wire from a shot link top tower

That's right out of the window that he would be hitting out of so Official comes in now I think a key part of this is the camera does not get in there and like as you're watching this It's like this dude is totally bone in there can't hit a golf ball like there's no way like you can get ever get relief from this they think they can't so the camera doesn't get in there and see that and all of a sudden he gets relief outside of all these trees along the tree line and is able to hit it onto the green and it looked absolutely horrendous I was despondent TC's Jif was fantastic I

saw the dudes on the basketball court just in solace, just can't believe what they've seen. Take me to your emotions in that moment, and then if you watch the video the PGA tour did later, did it sway you in any way? We can talk about the rule afterward, but the reaction on Thursday versus once the tour put out that video,

did your opinion on this matter change at all? All right. It's the most egregious TIO since Mickelson found the sprinkler head in the middle of the bush down in Chapultepec. It just, it seems like obscene physically or optically, like legitimately or optically, I guess optically. All right. I will, I'm not like a rules guy, so I'm always asking you the rules whenever we're playing, making sure that I'm, you know,

following the rules as I can. So I guess I get it. What I, I just find the sort of like, I feel like the shot link stuff or the, like the towers, the obstruction of that stuff, like anywhere you can convince a rules official, it almost never ever works against the player. When the, when the rules official comes in and the player makes his case,

the rules official is almost always like, yeah, yeah, I can see that. Like it's so rare for the rules official to be like, yeah, I just do not see this. Like I'm sorry, but I don't think like this, like, you know, with Rory at the players, I don't think it's hit above the line, man. So I think like you're gonna have to drop back here. It's always like, yeah, to your benefit. Like if you feel comfortable with it, you go ahead and do it. And what I would love to see, no, this is like, obviously this has to change

like a pretty high level, but like you'll go ahead and take the shot. If you hit the ShotLink tower, it'll be like when you hit a power line in my home course, like you get to redo it. Like, but you got, you actually have to hit the shot. We're not gonna just give you the benefit of the doubt of like, all right, we're gonna move it out here.

I just, maybe there's some safety concerns with that sometimes. That's where I would go. That's where some, but like in that situation, like I feel like, yeah, man, we're giving you relief from these wires here. Like that seems horseshit. And I'll give credit to Johnson Wagner. Obviously, that helps. It's so helpful to have someone go in there, explain it, the rules official there comes and makes the case and says, you know what, if this were five, six feet to the left, he wouldn't have gotten this relief because the whole, you know, that is the less likely that it's there.

I don't, it seemed like they didn't make him go in there and take his stance and sort of prove that they were sort of took his word for it when I was watching it live. I was like, this seems a little shady, but I don't know enough about the rules about like, if you actually have to stand over it and sort of prove that like you could, you know, do that shot. So apparently it was obvious, like it was, apparently it was obvious in there. And that's again, we didn't have that camera angle looking in there. I'll react to some of what you said there, but I'm Randy, anything to add or, or, or any color to add there?

Now preach at KVV. I think if I were made the czar of golf, one of the first things I would do is tournament infrastructure boys and girls is in play. It's all laid down at the beginning of the week. It's not like they're putting it in there right before you're hitting a tee shot or hitting an approach shot. And if you come up against it or you're blocked out,

you can take a drop for a penalty, but tournament infrastructure is in play. Period. I'm sick of these technicalities. Preach big. No, preach. That's so silly. You're supposed to be the best players in the world. That's so silly. See with it. I'm on this block for a year about how we need to have a tournament with no drops, period.

Like hit it and find it. That's been my stupid shtick for a year. That is, oh my God. All right, you're going to make my head explode here. Like all right, you're going to take potentially a really good golf course and the design of the golf course and just put hazards around every single green of all these bleachers. And if you hit it, it's a penalty. Like the design of the golf course goes-

No, no, no, no. You can play the ball as it lies. The design goes out the window. It's so stupid. But if you- If we're talking about design and golf course design, you're not supposed to fucking hit it there anyway, dog.

Right, but it's not supposed to be a penalty if you hit it there. Like there's supposed to be like natural challenges of that. Listen very closely. You can play the ball as it lies without a penalty. But if tournament infrastructure, if you feel it is in your way and you do not have a shot, that's a penalty. That's that's an unplayable. You have to take a penalty to move away from the tournament. I think there should have been a reckoning when like you guys are in

Australia and Kevin you hit it like over the top of the grandstands. That was reasonably the ball should be in there somewhere. We can't find it, but reasonably that should have been like, Holy shit. Everything has to come to a screeching halt. But we talk about this is fucked up. We cannot have this kind of thing anymore in professional golf. That is different. The recovery shots. I want to see these, these the pros men, women play the most difficult of shots around infrastructures, around towers, around bleachers. Like if you get yourself in that position, make a shot to get out of it or take a penalty drop. This is an amazing comment. It's too long to put up on the screen.

But where we're currently at with tournament rules right now is you have to hit the ball out of a divot in the middle of the fairway. But if you're in the middle of the woods and there's a wire 15 yards in front of you, you get a free drop out of the woods. Yeah, it's madness. It's gone too far. It's also a freak occasion, right? This is like, this is like 99 tournaments.

Every tournament this happens. 99% of the time in the woods you don't get TIO. Like don't try to extrapolate this. TIO is grossly taken advantage of. Yes. Like haunting for TIO relief. Yes. It is.

The player is immediately looking for, and I understand I would too, but immediately looking for those kinds of advantages. And in a game where you're supposed to police yourself, that feels scummy. But there are also like- It's crossed over the line of where it feels wrong. But there's also like a relic, you have to,

there's not a fantasy world where like the aspects, these aspects of pro golf don't exist, right? Like bleachers and hospitality and stuff near a green is like going to, it's going to be close to the green because they're going to sell tickets to it, right? That's always going to happen, right? And if you just make all that stuff in play, the integrity of the golf course

goes completely out the window. That's kind of ridiculous. That's nothing it can't be improved upon. There are safety concerns with hitting over bleachers and hitting it at bleachers and things, but a shot length tower shouldn't necessarily be the same category as bleachers, I think is a reasonable thing.

I mean, you're acting like these are directly in play play, like they hit shitty shots to end up over there. Yeah. Sometimes, like if you're from 260 yards out and there's a grandstand right behind the green, it's like not a shitty shot that you've hit to be up against that wall. Like, it's... So you're encouraging backboarding? I would not say I'm not say I'm encouraging. I'm saying there's a realistic element of this stuff.

Like if you played a tournament and that shit was like, can I play? If it's too thick, if you're 260 out and you're trying it, so you're gonna fly at 280, 290? You two in the corners that don't play tournaments, I won't take this from. Cody that has played tournaments, I will. You're supposed to be the best golfers in the world.

And they get all the upside advantages of having, you know, officials there to find their ball. And they get every upside advantage possible with tournament build outs. I'm just asking for them to have to consider the infrastructure when playing tournament golf. I think that's very fair. Do you think that leads to more exciting golf?

Do you think that leads to more exciting golf? Hell you think that more, at least like more exciting? Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. If you had come into this situation in the US Open qualifier that you played last week, would you have asked for relief from like,

from a, say there happened to be a shotling tower up there that was like, hey, we're setting up shotling at this US Open qualifier. The USJ has got a bunch of money. Would you have gone to your partners and be like, hey guys, look, I got a window here, but this tower's in front of me. I thought I would really love to take relief outside

of this support table. Why would you not? That's like literally the rule. Like that's how the rule was written. I probably wouldn't have thought of it. You would have gone over to your playing partners and said, I really think I should get to take relief here and then two club links from there outside what

I would think is a hazard. I would call it official if that was the case. I probably wouldn't have thought of it. I really would not have thought of it in this scenario. I would not have thought that I possibly could have. But yeah, absolutely. Did you see the drop I got in the Gasparilla off the ropes? Like, this is how tournament shit works, guys.

I'm sorry. Like, I don't care. No optics. Sorry, I agree with you. I'm gonna meet you halfway. I just think that it's pretty gross like taking advantage of. I mean, a couple of weeks ago,

like Spieth literally hit it on to the top of a fucking like merchandise tent just to get TIO to get himself out of a pretty bad position. I put myself in that position. I'm asking for a better solution than none of it. You get relief from none of it, right? I think that's the challenge because that what you proposed is so wildly unrealistic that I will not accept it as an answer. Why not have a tournament like that? Where you don't get drops. It's the spirit of the game. Play the ball as it lies.

It's not the spirit of the game to have all these structures all over the golf course. Do you think when the Scots were starting out that they were like, oh, we, I got to take a leave from these goats. I swear to goats in my line. That's dangerous animal relief. You do get relief from that in the rules, too. The Scots did not come up with dangerous animal relief. That didn't come for another hundred some years. What about Dookie? Did they move it if there was a... God, I thought you guys would come better. I thought you'd come with a real Solution here. Oh, it's a real problems here To insinuate it wouldn't be more exciting to see Navigate shots with turner when Mickelson

No, I'm saying it would affect strategy in the opposite way it would lead to less risk-taking It would lead to a more boring style of golf, right? If it's like hazard back there, like then all of a sudden the bailout might be- You're strictly focusing in on hospitality directly behind greens though. Which we're talking about like- I guess I'm gonna fan this seven iron 25 feet into the woods.

Like because it might have to- If you would listen to my proposal, it was like maybe you have two different categories of this stuff. The shot link tower should be different than bleachers was what I suggested. I was hoping somebody in this conversation will be adult enough to hear that. I would favor that. I think the shot link tower stuff is bullshit. I really do. A lot of that stuff feels

I like their wires in trees like they're all they're never like where you should be hitting the ball. You know, I saw a Scotty Shelford get relief about should be hitting the ball. You know, I saw a Scotty Shepard get relief about one in, like inside a tree, like tent at LACC. It was ridiculous. And he was, of course, he was like, whoa, well, you know, it just happened to hit it over, yank it over there and left into these trees.

No. I, yes. I think, and I also liked the rule of like, if you hit it, then you get to replay it, right? Which could be a sick challenge as well. You try to hit it. I think we also need to talk about though, like these hospitality and overall build-outs.

You guys remember at the US Open last year, you guys were out at LACC. There was literally like a hospitality tent in the bunker off the first four, first whole fairway. Literally like anchored in there in the sand. Gotta push it back, man. Now if you want those sponsorship dollars, Cody. Well, that's not our business.

That's their business. It's not our business, man. It's not our business, but I think it's a lot of what's I think it's a lot of what's going on in golf right now. Is that fair to say? Imagine how much more hospitality you could sell if like, yeah, there might be guys playing their shots inside, inside the tent, inside the bleachers.

Listen, if you're listening, I'll be watching Liv if we can have no drops. We can have guys playing it out of stands. What was it? Live Las Vegas. I think DJ like blew it right on 18 and he had to hit over there that giant billboard that they have out there in the pond. He got TIO from that. Exactly. God, a bunch of children around here. This is ridiculous. There's not a lot to like about wearing. How do you say it? There's not a lot to like about wearing sunscreen on the golf course. It gets on your hands, compromises your grip, your skin feels greasy and sticky, you smell like a banana. It's a pain to carry around. It stings when it drips in your eyes, but not when you use ores and alps. Ores and alps has made it their mission to create sunscreen

that eliminates those problems. Golfers are 250 percent more likely to get skin cancer than your average citizen, so these kind of things matter. Arm yourself this season with sunscreen that's designed for the course with hands-free spray options, lightweight and fast absorbing formulas, refreshing scents and travel sizes. You'll actually look forward to using them for a limited time. You get 15% off Orson Alps entire line

of powerful, clean sunscreen and skin care with code NLU15. Cody, you got some in the mail. I hear your family was impressed by this. Yeah, it was the first time ever I think there was a package that showed up in my doorstep. I opened it up and my wife is like, Oh great, another package. But open up and she's like, Oh my, that's Orson Alps? Did you buy that?

I'm like, no, they're a new partner of ours. And took it out. She's like, she had it on her Amazon wishlist already. She's like absolutely raving about it. That's it. Some missed thing that she immediately took out of my hands. She took all the little travel things out and she's like, this is going in our beach trip packing that we're going on in a couple

weeks. Honestly, I was kind of rated. I don't have much left but it smells amazing. I will say that and I'm very very excited because no one loves sun protection more than I do. So I finally got some high quality sunscreen. Maybe drop those sun sleeves. Randy keeps stealing them from me anyway. I let him borrow them in tour sauce. He never gave them back. So I'm excited. Check them out. Go to Randy's elbows.

I mean, how does he have the same size suns? He's a bad guy. He's starting to play my game where he just makes stuff up. People are saying, people are saying I need to take relief on that, on that, in the intro of that ad read, which might be, might be spot on. It's a tough transition there, guys.

Guys, Quail Hollow, interesting golf course this week, if I may say, and I don't know if it's from talking to Johnson Wagner, I think I'd owe a lot more to the reshaping of a bunch of the greens and the brand new greens that are in that played really, really firm. I still think it's very flawed. I think the teed green design of the golf holes is not my favorite style. It's way too

emphasizing of driving distance. They've made it even more of an emphasis on driving distance by pushing a few more tees back. But a golf course with short rough and firm greens is you're gonna get so much more of the effect of the firm greens in the challenge when you have short rough like this. And the example I gave earlier of when they were playing the seventh hole of the firm greens in the challenge. When you have short rough like this and the example I gave earlier of when they were playing the seventh hole, Xander is in the fairway with six iron and was able to hold the green, find the ridge, take the ridge down to the hole, make an eagle and Rory is in the right rough and you hear him actually on the broadcast after he blows it long left of being like, I was afraid to take

on the right. Like the effect that the firm greens had and the way it worked back through the golf course was some of that don't recall experiencing at Quail Hollow in years in the past. Maybe I'm misremembering, maybe it's just been softer in prior years. But that was as enjoyable of a Quail Hollow golf tournament challenge wise, almost near major championship test wise than I can remember for this tournament. Yeah, I liked it. I liked it more than I usually do. I can't pretend like, you know,

I could tell you why I disliked it in previous years. I'm just not that much of an architecture person, but firmness makes for fun golf, man. It just, it's the only way to test these guys is to make it firm. It doesn't matter how fricking long it is. If it's not firm, it doesn't matter. So this is what it's gotta be.

It also brought out like nowhere for Xander to hide today. When it started going poorly, like it's just going to keep getting worse. Like his wedge into the 12th hole that spun away and went down the ridge to the right, like him air mailing the green on 13 and not being able to hold it. Like you just have to be that much more precise with all of your shots and it identifies a better champion than just a Dart Fest. The line between Birdie and Bogey was relatively close this week.

I'm not gonna apologize for any Quail Hollow takes, but I threw this question at you guys. Where does Quail rank among signature event courses? Because I don't think it moved this week for me, but I think it's pretty clear to say exactly where this place ranks. I don't think it should host majors,

but I think it's worthy of being a PGA Tour test. It should be on the schedule every year. Rory cleaning up here a lot of times for his four wins now makes me feel like it validates it in some way not just because I like Rory but because I think his abilities as a golfer are tested here and shows that he could pull away from other people when the those tests are sort of brought out. So I you know I don't think it I don't love that it's going to be the PGA next year. I don't love that it's going to be the President's Cup and there are more

interesting places it could go but I think there are certainly other courses I would complain about before this one. Let me bring a couple takes together. It's almost like Quail Hollow is the Zander Shofley of tour stops, certainly among the signature events. I mean, off the top of my head, I don't think I can put it above Pebble, RIV. You guys know I love Harbor Town. I think Harbor Town's a great golf course. Waste management, maybe. Obviously the build out with waste management.

Not a signature. Continue. There we go. What else? Travelers is a fun course. So yeah. Here's how we do it. I'll throw this at you guys.

Kapalua or Quail Hollow? What was it you guys. Kapalua or quail hollow? What was it? Sorry. Kapalua or quail hollow? Kapalua, excuse me. Sorry, Poosh. For my money, Kapalua. Kapalua for me. And you can define it any way you want.

This is a personal test. Pebble or quail hollow? Pebble. A pebble. Pebble. Riviera or quail hollow? Riv. Sawgrass or Quail Hollow?

Sawgrass. Sawgrass. Kind of making my point here, but Bay Hill or Quail Hollow? Quail Hollow. Quail. Quail for me as well. Harbor Town or Quail Hollow? Quail Hollow.

Harbor Town. I actually go Harbor Town. I think it's fun when they're forced to dial it back and play a different game. It's a different test. Yeah. Harbor Town for me mirrorfield village or quail hollow ah god i might as well take the original yeah yeah you know what i'm gonna go quail over rearfield i'm near field village for sure you ohio hom Even though the final three holes absolutely stink. River Highlands or Quail Hollow?

They can never get River Highlands firm. So I guess I'll go Quail. But River Highlands is always fun. The idea of River Highlands, I would take River Highlands, but in actuality, maybe Quail Hollow. That's the only one that moved this week. I think for me, Quail would move, if it plays like this, moves above River Highlands for me.

Like normal quail that we've seen, I think River Highlands I would still take but I'll bump it up over that. But then Southwind, I'm taking quail over that. I mean it's a fine golf course but, and we're in the playoff venues now. And then Eastlake, again totally redone, don't know what we've seen, don't know what to take yet, but I would take Quail over Eastlake. So it's like middle of the road for a signature event, of course, I think that's a fair classification. It's just overexposed, we get too many big events there. Yep.

You know? A couple questions before we move on to the founders, which we've covered a little bit so far, but car for the course, should the PGA pair Rory, Brooks, and Scotty for rounds one and two. I don't like super pairings. I don't either. I want to go back to like being less about like, I don't know.

I guess if you're a fan, we ought to be on the side of the fan viewing experience. It is a great way to get to see three great golfers. You don't feel like you're getting screwed out of somebody. But I just feel like we've gone a little bit too far in that direction of like, it's such an emphasis of like, Hey, let's have the three big Titans come out here. Then somebody always plays like shit. I don't know. Yeah. I feel like it never actually delivers a ton of juice. I would rather earn our great pairings on the weekend, right? I think there's something to, Hey, Rory's going out this morning.

He posts a number Scotty or Brooks or whomever it is, is in the afternoon. Like, let's see if they can match it. And if you, if you get two of them kind of colliding into the weekend, I think that's a lot more fun. I'm yeah, I'm with you, KVV. I feel like these super pairings rounds one and two, they ultimately end up. Just leave me wanting a bit. Yeah. things, rounds one and two, they ultimately end up just leave me wanting a bit. The answer again is probably TV, right?

And making it easier to cover three guys that they know they're going to cover. But yeah, I think it, you'd rather that happen a little more naturally. I think the Masters usually does that the best. They don't really force it. This year they kind of did, which was kind of surprising, but 10 Cup 02, does this win even count since Scottie wasn't in the field? I think it has an asterisk. A little bit honestly right now.

I think I do. I do. Yeah, I do. Without good, Scottie's had been playing. I think absolutely. Jesse Noble 13 said, as someone a little newer, how does Quail Hollow compare to Valhalla? Is the stuff Rory did transferable to Valhalla? I know the putting was unreal It's I it's been ten years

I mean I've watched a fair amount of back to 2014 and it's hard to kind of Get the full experience just from watching highlight films and in the final round broadcast. I know bombers were rewarded then I don't know what the rough is like at Valhalla I think it's gonna be pretty bad and thick but it is a little bit wider fairways there and Nicholas courses usually do have relatively wide fairways But I'd say it's about as similar as you're gonna get a Roll over from week to week in terms of distance is gonna play well here a bunch of holes have been linked in there There are already a bunch of long par fours for always launching high wedges and holding firm greens at quail hollow

It's gonna work at Valhalla I just think we might get totally different course conditions if it is as soft and there's as many thunderstorms as it looks like there's going to be this coming week. Yeah, that's the bummer of it. I think the conditioning is going to look a lot different, play a lot different. I know it's different, but I know that it was back in, but I watched when Anthony Kim came back, I watched the Ryder Cup thing when it was there. I didn't hate it. Like there were some fun holes that I thought like were cool. I don't hate Valhalla.

I, the events I've watched on TV, I don't mind it. It's a nice stage. It's provided some nice drama. Yeah, I think that's it. I'm not like waking up on Thursday, excited to watch pros play Valhalla. Like I'm excited to watch the PGA championship, but it's not an offensive course, right?

I think like sometimes when we can critique course or not necessarily be overly stoked on courses people think that just means they're terrible golf Courses, I don't think the Hall is a bad golf course. I think it's kind of silly like it's kind of it's a little bit bleak from Time to time. It's definitely not the most thoughtful architecture But like sometimes PJ of America, honestly the way they're training on courses They're choosing they don't necessarily believe in that to begin with so If you hit them if you're the favorite and you hit the ball like in the woods, someone will throw it out, like down the car path

so that you can, you know, have a better look at the green. I mean, that's, you know, we can't discount that factor. If you guys are getting aligned on that one, that will make the TIO competition make a lot more sense to me. It's just, I love the idea that like during the most exciting like run of golf ever, there's somebody idea that like during the most exciting like run of golf ever, there's somebody that just waiting

in the heather, like just sitting in the heather, waiting, waiting over there in case a ball comes in, we'll kick it out from here. I think that guy was already kind of over there and just kind of like nudged it down the hill. Like it was sitting there. That makes even less sense. That makes even less sense.

It doesn't make less sense. Listen, if you are interested in this mystery, if you don't know what we're talking about, we're talking about Tiger when he played Bob May at the end of the PGA. We believe it was in the playoff, is that right? I can't remember. Anyway, our friend Joel Beale wrote a pretty fun story

about this this week where he went and found two people, one person who says he does believe that someone kicked the ball down the hill and one person who says like, absolutely not. The ball went and rattled around in there and then bounced out. The question though was that it appeared for an awfully long time and then it just, oh, it sure did bounce in bouncing. The optics are away from the hole. If you're saving his ball,

why wouldn't you kick it back towards the fairway? All right. Well, we'll save that for, we'll spend most of PGHG they looked around they didn't see any shot link towers that I get relief from. So they're like, I gotta make this happen. I gotta make sure. I gotta get this one in just because it's made me laugh. Borsa Scott said did Jay choose June six for the initial merger release date because it resembles Jan six so closely in

the same vein as the Disney frozen movie release. so people stop searching, did Walt Disney freeze himself? I'm trying to... As a Disney employee, former Disney employee, I cannot comment on that, sorry. That's just funny. Tour drama this week, honestly, I don't really know where to go with this. We kind of talked a little bit about some of this

on Wednesday of Rory not being, he put his hand up to rejoin the board and then it was kind of reported as saying some people, I guess he said out loud, some people had problems with him coming back on the board. He would later come back and say, you know, I think it wasn't necessarily that they had problems with me coming back on the board.

It was the way of doing it. So Webb is gonna stay on. Yet Rory also revealed he is gonna be a part of the transaction subcommittee Which is the first time hearing of this of this subcommittee that's going to be negotiating or discussing this with PIF Ignoring all that KV. Can you just like can you catch me up? Are the listeners not me? I know what's going on catch the listeners up. Of course. This is not for my own edification On where the hell everything stands? Where this drama

lies? And kind of your understanding of the situation. So this is kind of based off of some conversations that I have had with various people. I am, and I feel pretty comfortable that this position is true. This is not just conjecture with me. Rory ultimately feels like, Hey, we fought as hard as we could against the PIF and I was out front, I was willing to put my neck on the line and KVV style stick your neck out, just stick your neck out and take like, you know, by the way, he didn't actually finish top 15. Yeah, no, it's bad. He was willing to be the face of it all. And you know what, as soon

as the framework shit happened, it took a while for them to kind of like the dust to settle and understand it. But I think Rory knew that they had lost the war. And so at this point, like his perspective is like, OK, we can continue to fight this. And then an entity with billions and billions of dollars is still like adamant, we are going to do everything we can to basically like ruin your business or We could invite them and figure out a way to make this work because they're gonna be involved in golf one way or another And there are other people I think it's fair to say like Patrick and Jordan Tiger who? Honestly like held the position that I held for a long time Which is like this is it's not something we want to do like this is not

We can figure out a way to sort of make this work and we can outlast the PIF and we cannot have to join this. And Rory's kind of looking at it logically, like, guys, like, you don't read in the room, like, it's over. Like you think I want to shake hands with Phil and Greg and Bryson and Patrick Reed and all those people and like play on the same tour with them, of course not. But as a business person, I realized the big picture probably means that if we're going to grow this into some larger thing, those people need to be involved. And so that is where essentially the philosophical divide is between the two sides. And I don't know quite that I believe like that they were just like, Oh, no, no, we would let you on the committee. But, you know, we think like the rules should be followed. Like they didn't follow the rules when Tiger wanted to join the board. They didn't follow the rules when, you

know, they had Jordan get added to the board and make him wait around. Like, I think there's some clear, like frustration amongst those guys with Rory. Like they just feel like he changed his mind, and they don't like that, appreciate that. And so now they are feeling like we have got this man, like you stepped away from the board and we're gonna take care of this. And if you wanna be involved in some aspect of it, that's great, we appreciate your expertise, but we're gonna be the ones who decide. I think there's a lot of people

who don't want a global tour. They have, in some ways, maybe they've been spoiled by, we get to play all of our golf or the majority of our golf in the US. And Rory is trying to think of it like, Hey guys, like we should be playing like more events around the world. That's the only way that this thing is going to work. And I honestly, I don't know who's right in the whole situation, but I know who's

like likely to win and it's probably the people who have shown over and over and over again, unless there's some sort of regime change that they're going to get to keep dumping money into this project as for as long as they want. And as long as that's the case, as long as the officer is adamant, like I'm going to make you guys bleed this forever, then I think you kind of got to figure out a way to make this work. It's really interesting. Because when when we say when I'm not,

I'm not even sure it's as much as like. Liv is going to win or they're just going to make sure the PGA tour loses. Yeah, exactly. And I think that's, I think that's what just frustrates me most about all this is like the, the, I think the live product isn't great. I, the shotgun start, 54 Holes, the music, et cetera, et cetera. They're not the, they don't have the Shining Beacon product. But on the other hand, I think you're right, KVV.

They can keep poaching the biggest stars if they want to and where does that leave the tour eventually? I don't know. It's a mess. Is there a world where it's not that Cantlay and Spieth and Tiger don't wanna do a deal with Piff. They just think Rory's rolling over too quickly, too fast, too hard, right?

Is too willing to give in, right? Is that like, that, cause to me, I still can't picture those guys getting in a room and being like, yeah, we're totally fine We're gonna do it without all these live guys and we're not gonna lose any more players And we're totally gonna be able to extend our meteorites deals and everything's gonna be totally fine We're gonna get to keep all these sponsors just because we're all still together in this and it's like dude I just don't think any reasonable humans get in the room and and

Get to that conclusion. I think they the humans get in the room and get to that conclusion. I think that the most hopeful scenario for me is like, yo, we got this, like we're gonna figure out a way to make this work, we're just not gonna give in right now. Like we have it, we're in a more powerful spot than we were, we're not in a powerful spot, we're not gonna win this, but we've got the SSG structure, we got the money, we think we're gonna be able to put a solid stay

on keeping everybody here, you know, maybe it makes Liv like have to re-up a whole another round of contracts with their current guys and kind of damages them a little bit, maybe changes their timeline. I don't know. That's like best case I think right now for where the difference lies. But- I'll tell you too where I think the difference is, it's their feelings about leadership. I think that the guys who are like understandably are looking at Jay,

and I'm gonna stick up for my guy TC here and say like, you're not good at this and you deserve to sort of like feel the heat from us a little bit. And whatever Rory's feeling about Jay and Jimmy and Ed, like we don't feel that same way. And so we would like some better answers, some, you know, some more like substance in our like discussions and see the table. I think as much as we shit on Patrick, I think that a lot of the players very much feel like Patrick is one of the few people who is asking really hard questions of the tour leadership. And I think that they admire that of him, that he has that thing of him where he isn't afraid to sort of make other people feel uncomfortable, to

sort of sit there in the awkward silence and be like, No, we don't think we don't agree with this. And so I think that they probably love Patrick for that. And I, you know, they probably should, because I think maybe we're sort of forgiving Jay a little bit for he should probably be, you know, feel more upset about some of the way that he felt betrayed, but you know, I wasn't there, that's not my important thing to say, but I do think I can just tell from the comments that Xander has made, that Patrick has made, whatever, they're still pissed at leadership. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't make sense

to like have these guys leading, whatever this is, I don't even know what you call this like a merger acquisition. Again, I don't know what you call it. Like almost takeover attempt, like this whole corporate boardroom succession style thing versus like running a 501C6, which also was not being run that well.

Like there's no way you're gonna be good. Even if you are good at the 501C6 part and like getting sponsors to pony up money, this is a totally different thing and it's not going well. And it hasn't been going well for quite some time. The longer it goes on, the more damage you do. I don't know. I'm honestly struggling to keep up with it

and keep like the enthusiasm up to like keep following it. If I am and it's my job, then I'm guessing golf fans are getting a little apathetic about all this stuff. So while we're on the live PIF note- Time for those new TIO rules, baby. I'm going to nominate, as long as we're talking about Liv here, I'm going to nominate a menace of the week, which is one Anthony Kim coming out of the Woodworks.

I'm going to ask you to read it, KVB, when you get to the tweet you never sent. If you need me to, I will will but it made me laugh very hard This is again a case words. He says ramble shambly at shambly brandle You're such a pussy for beating on your own chest and basically saying never retreat and hypocritically retreat It is well known this talentless fool is disliked by most people in the golf world You still gonna cover golf if live golf is involved question mark. And this is out of the this is out of nowhere because what what what take me to what a case Twitter is like. Well, so I fall I like a K I've been following his Twitter for since he came back and you know every like literally like twice a day it's like yo man love

my wife so much love my kids so much So grateful for this chance really appreciate all you guys Hey, I love all the love that you show me is so unreal being a girl dad rules hashtag girl dad Fuck brando and all his whole family bitches Was like I change it was like, Oh, we're doing this. It was so strange. That got me so good. I didn't tweet it because I just didn't want to deal with the live

nutters in my mentions when I did. I did share it in our Slack and got, got some Tolilo tickled. I mean, look, AK, it kind of makes me wonder, has AK been online for like a long time because he, he's adapting to the online Twitter beefing with the sort of maturity of a 15 year old boy, but it doesn't really seem like someone who's just

a hesitant to like tip, dipping his toe in the water of uh of social media god it's a sad quick transition to disc fuck brando as a instructor a commentator and golf channel as a motherfucking crew if you want to be down with golf channel fuck you too just what in brando and this that what sparked this is that Brando was like, hey, I think they should probably do a deal with the Saudis. Okay. And Brando did reply, so this is about as inaccurate as Mickelson's drives and sadly

ironical coming to tweets after you ask for advice on raising your daughter that you would refer to someone as a female body part in a juvenile attempt to denigrate them It's clear you were not offered disability for your pithy takes as for your criticism of me saying a deal with the Saudis is The best deal for golf right now It's something I've said recently because I don't think the Saudis are gonna turn away from the game and they will continue to be A poaching threat and dilute the product with PGA Tour It's the sad reality of you and your brethren on the live tour willingly Dealing with a murderous dictator for profit

so that he can hide his atrocities. The golf has had to try to figure out how to mitigate the influence of MBS Piffin live and then the otherwise philanthropic and merit based world of professional golf. Now, why

don't you get back to doing what you're doing formerly did best which is to wow the world with your talent. I don't like live for a lot of reasons but I certainly enjoyed your golf and would love to see you playing anything like the semblance of the golfer you used to be.

Brando kept it classy. He said he took the high road there. Which yeah, we can talk about that too. My opinion on the matter has certainly evolved since June 6th. Brando's has as well. The Saudis have had the world golf world by hostage for quite some time and there's only one way out. Like that's very different than like willingly signing up

to play for them and take their money and hide their atrocities. Do you think, Salih, if they do do a deal that it's going to rob some of these grievance merchants of the power that they previously had to just complain about everything? Like what world are they gonna live in? I still complain.

Complainers are gonna keep complaining. Ghassali, I have a question for you and I know you guys are not set up for this and I apologize for that, but you know, when it comes, every time we talk about PIF and Saudi and everything comes around to the sports washing, but I have yet to see really like any washing be done. Like I don't see anybody at live,

I don't see live trying or any of those people really taking hard stances, supporting like the government of Saudi and trying to clean and cleanse their actions. I actually see like the opposite a lot of the times and it's just making a lot of people look more intently into what they're actually doing and bringing it more to the top.

In our circles, I'd say so, but like. I would say I dabble in like other circles as well, based off my old job and what I still work. And even though we joke around about it a lot on the trap draw, like, I don't know. I think it, I think they've done more to like educate a lot of people on what actually goes on in their country than they did three years ago when live or, you

know, PIF investment in golf wasn't the thing. I think that's if you're if you're really like seeking information on how this is working and you and you find all that out. But I also think there's like people you know, live brings golf to somebody's doorstep and they're like, Hey, do you want to go outdoor to the Acon people, you know, Liv brings golf to somebody's doorstep and they're like, hey, do you want to go outdoor to the Acon concert and, you know, watch a bunch of golfers? People are like, yeah, yeah, sure.

And like, again, this is just such a small, like piece of the puzzle. Like they're now, the news came out this week that they're going to be starting a three-on-three hockey league in the United States. Are they're that primary funder of that? It's like, again, there, it's going to be an onslaught of the Saudis making their way into many, many, many different

professional sports, and the onslaught has already begun to just to normalize what it's like to do business with them. I mean, look at how, again, what I've stood here two years ago and been like, PJ Torsche, do a deal with them. No, like it's normalized now, right? Like again, it doesn't change who they are and what they've done, but at the same time, it's like an inevitability.

Like they have shoehorned their way into this and like in 10 years, what's that conversation gonna look like? If people aren't gonna, people can still have the same energy to fight. That's where I give Brandon credit. Like I've lost a lot of the energy to fight this on a moral standpoint.

Like I'll still point it out if asked, but like people are just tired of hearing about that part. They just wanna talk about the golf. And like, that's the whole goal. I'll give Liv and Piff a lot of credit on that. They were willing to eat so much shit for many, many, many years and make themselves look stupid and just be like, I'm still standing. What are you gonna do bitch? And like that's pretty much where we're at.

And I know that it's not like, you know, the the goal of sports watching is not like removing any of these things that they're done but like making it an attempt at normalizing them and having them as part of the everyday like lexicon and things like that. I just think that like you know I don't know if this is really the route that I would go about doing that if that was them because it seems like it's just I Wouldn't say it's normalizing but it continues to highlight the things that like are really really bad And I don't I haven't seen any of that really go away

So I wouldn't say that that's like really normalizing or making it any easier on them as they continue to dump not only billions of dollars into golf, but also, as you pointed out, hockey and a lot of other things around the globe. It's not just the US thing. I think if it ends, you know, the end game is not to have a seat on the board of PGA Tour Enterprises, but I think if you end up with a seat on that, like that's, that's a major progress, right? As far as the CEOs and businesses in the U.S. that you'll be able to rub elbows with, which is what I believe to be the whole purpose of the whole thing.

So, anyways, that's your fun PIF talk of the week. Chris Gotterup is your winner at Myrtle Beach, the second PGA Tour event of the week. He's a fantastic player, excited for him. I did not get to watch it in the Myrtle Beach. I was two screening it as it was today between LPGA and Wells Fargo. But ton of potential, great to see a young guy, an up and coming guy win one of these opposite field events instead of kind of a hanger on that now has two year exemption.

Like, Goddard has played a lot of really, really good golf and has a ton of potential and I'm excited to see what is in store for him. So 16 year old Blades Brown made the cut this week as well at the Myrtle beach. Oh, yeah. This kid's really legit. Yeah.

Like this, I mean, we should get this kid on the pod, frankly, cause what if three years like he's, you know, he's the new Jordan Spieth winning tournaments at 19? I mean, I, I really apologize. I don't know who made the joke on Twitter, but I was like, yeah, blades, you know, his younger brother's game improvement Brown. Ready? It was a 16 year old is making the cut on the tour.

I believe our guy, uh, Lawrence Donigan pointed this out, isn't it like, or should we be taking some cards? Are people just out there stealing money if like, high school kids are rolling out there and finishing 21st? Well, I really, really want to get behind that. And our guy Wolfie Bam, a bear cat like dropped all kinds of stats and info. And it's like, no, it's just kind of random stuff that happens. There's no rhyme or reason. So I don't think we have a, you know,

guys stealing money situation. Like our guy LD was insinuating, but I really wanted to get behind that take. There might be at the opposite field events. Like let's be clear. Like there are some, some hanger ons there, but I- No, there are people stealing, but it's not because 16 year olds are out here making cuts.

No, I don't think. JT and and speech were doing that back in the day too like that, you know That was that was that was happening back then I need to get Jordan in here to talk about blades Brown and his his skill because I want to know more about blades so Yeah, gosh that's what three weeks in a row a 16 year old or something has made the cut on top of Miles Russell making the cut at a corn fair event Pretty pretty insane. Oh, we we had a surprise call in earlier from Rose Zang as we talked a little bit about founders And her outlasting Madeline Sagstrom by two shots

Madeline finished gosh. I don't have in front of me now what 12 shots clear of third place and what truly 13 shots clear What 12 shots clear of third place and what truly 13 shots clear of third place and truly one of the great Separating duels I've ever seen in professional golf in terms of just blowing the whole rest of the field away She birdied four of her last five holes including draining a right to left her on the 18th green to end it after Madeline Saxon had hit it inside of her on 18th It looked like Saxon was gonna be able to tie it and go to a playoff. That was our fando play of the day today was a hedge against Randy's call cause he had a 6,000 to one play on Madeline Sagstrom

to win this week. That's a really, really tough draw. She 22 under and not win this. Hope you can make your rent big after that. She, yeah, incredible tournament. You know, the story going into this week was Nelly going for six straight and came up short. I think there's some interesting conversation.

I mean, I, I think with respect to Nelly, two things that I've learned this week, I think, and I'll pose these to you guys. One Nelly's floor is, as we have said, is exceptionally high. She finished tied for seventh. She did not have any kind of game on the weekend. Okay, she she had herself through Friday, I believe four shots back. Good look until Rosa Madeline just dropped the drop the clutch and sped away from everybody. But yeah, Nellie's game, super high floor. Can't wait to see, you know, she could easily win.

I don't know if she's in Mizzouho's. The tournament after that, after an off week, is the US Women's Open. I mean, I think Nellie could pick right back up her next start. women's open. I mean, I think Nellie could pick right back up her next start. Um, and then the other thing I noticed just that good that starting to percolate, you know, ESPN sent a reporter to be on site this week at upper Montclair country club. When, when we're talking about like, you know, is the LPGA going to have this Caitlin Clark moment? Like we saw with women's basketball. Stuff like that's very important. Of course we saw Nellie at the Met Gala early in the week. Um, that's, that's no small thing.

So I, I'm very encouraged by those two things. And then I think just for women's golf and golf at large, having Rose Zhang, you know, maybe the second most famous name right now for the casual, the very casual golf fan be the one that stops this streak is, I mean, again, if, if you were scripting things, I'm not sure you could script it much better. So, um, Nellie, I think it's a great way for her streak to end, right? You know, she, she had a good week, but no one was beating Rose this week. It was just silly stuff. So, um, lots to take away there from Rose is still only 20 years old.

I think sometimes we forget how young she is and still in school. Like she just talked about like, yeah, she's now one twice within a calendar year of turning pro. Um, it's, it's really good stuff. I'm, I'm, I'm super excited where the women's game is going. I need somebody to get on my level of freaking out here about these scores 24 under 22 under and nine under. This does not happen.

We watch professional golf every single week on every tour around the world. This does not happen. I I've never seen anything like this. Well, this was a Stenson Mickelson at Trune. It's even bigger than that. Yes. Yeah. That it's sick. I mean, I didn't get to watch enough of it. I was, you know,

running around and only saw little highlights. But I'm just, you know, it's so fun to see Rose like playing well, just I love that she can be this good without being particularly long off the tee compared to, you know, certainly someone like Nelly and big is like, is Nelly on the Tiger schedule of like the mid 2000s where she's gonna play about 14 tournaments a year? Like, you know, certainly to someone like Nellie. And big is like, is Nellie on the Tiger schedule of like the mid 2000s, where she's gonna play about 14 tournaments a year?

Like, you know, like there's a part of me that like, man, like I really want to see her at Mizzouho next week. Like what, why not? Yeah, I don't think we're there yet. She took a month break, month plus break early in the year, essentially skipped all of their first Asian swing. She did skip the LA Championship, but I think that was some like, you know, hey, I just want to major. I've won five straight.

I'm exhausted. I hope because if she doesn't play Mizuho, she's looking at two weeks off going into a major. So I would guess she probably, I haven't looked at the field entry list yet, but I'm like UKVV. I hope she tees it up this coming week at Liberty National. But I know Nellie's not usually one to take a ton of time off or pick her spots. So I think as, as we kind of get into June, July, August, we'll, we'll see her a good amount. If she wants to just post up at Lancaster for two weeks, like I can bring up some crab cakes or whatever. Like we could, you know, have a little pot or something.

We'll figure it out, but it's gonna get our- You're gonna get crushed on Lancaster. Just this whole run. Lancaster, you're gonna get it. I'm just warning you. I'm not auditing you. I'm just saying you're gonna get it from a lot of people. Thank you, thank you.

Mea culpa, mea culpa. But even, I'll say this with Rose, you know, the KPMG performance insights going into this week, Rose, while not winning yet this year on tour until this week, she was still, I believe positive 1.35 strokes gain total per round, which was 15th on the LPGA tour. per round, which was 15th on the LPGA tour. So like playing good golf, a couple of top tens. Um, it just, I don't know, this week set up really good for her in the sense that she had a ton of wedges and then when her wedges are dialed, I mean, you saw it coming down the stretch, she, she can get into zones that are just automatic. If anybody hasn't seen our week in the life video

when we went out and followed her Stanford team around for a week. I mean, part of that video was literally, we put DJ at like a 95 to 100 yard stake on their practice range. And she was just hitting wedges right to like with the camera, like knew she was gonna hit it right there. She is, she can be elite with her wedge play.

And I think that's what we saw this week. She, she's not the longest, her putter can come and go, but man, when those wedges are dialed, she just, she knocks it stiff. And that's what she was doing. Big Nellie is playing this week at Liberty National. Good. What about Madeline?

I mean mean heartbreaking. She was awesome. She did a walk and talk today during her final round, which is kind of crazy to think about. Like clearly kind of at the time thought she had the tournament kind of under control and then very emotional interview afterwards. But kudos for her to continuing to say yes to everything. But I was so impressed. I mean, I know it's not the result that you wanted, like you end up shooting three

under for the day and you just get boat raced. I don't really know like what else to say. I know there's a couple of putts on her back nine that you wanted, wanted back, but I mean, all in all, Madeline's got to be pretty happy with where she's at this week. I hope that interview gets posted. I haven't checked if it does, but that was the good shit. She ended up in kind of tears at the end of it,

but was smiling. She said these are really close to being happy tears or something along those lines of, I played incredible golf and I just didn't get it done. And I don't know, that was great. I was really, really gutted for it. You mentioned the Week in Life we did with Stanford. We also did a Week in the Life with Madeline Sagstrom. The first two iterations were, Madeline was the first one

and then the Stanford Women's Golf Team was the second one. And I know a lot of people have gotten a chance to watch those and get to know Madeline through a lot of the content we've done with her and things like that. It was like, man, it was really fun to watch because I know no matter what, I was gonna to end up happy for one of these two women. And I knew I was going to be gutted for the other one.

And it's a good place to be as a golf fan, but I was really, really feeling it for her. I totally agree with that. Yeah, Madeline, she's won one time in her career. It happened back in January of 2020. Cody, you and I were pretty shocked that they played Madeline's drive-on piece during the CNBC coverage this afternoon. The people don't know Madeline's backstory.

She, she details kind of what some, a sexual assault incident did to her. And part of her recovery, I think has been growing into herself, being accepting not only of who she is, but translating that onto the golf course and being accepting of the mistakes that come and the bad shots. And it's something that I've heard her speak a lot about this year is just the work on the mental side to not get so down on herself with mistakes, to let the mistakes go.

And I thought watching this whole week, she was playing such free and easy golf. And even today, she kind of made a mess of that first hole and started the round with a bogey. But other than that, really, I mean, she made one mistake. And I thought that chip shot on 16 that led to her second bogey being the one real mistake. Yeah, I just am really hopeful because you could tell how much a second win would mean for Madeline. It'd be the culmination of all this work and I'm just really hopeful she can take this form forward. Upper Montclair is an excellent track for her. I mean, this is three years in a row now

that she has torn the place up. So hopefully she can find something that Liberty National and on into the major season. But yeah, it just was like, God damn. I was just like a fan of both of those women and having spent time with both of them, it was a hell of a weekend. And you're exactly right. Like I know I'm going to be happy on one hand and I know I'm going to be really disappointed for somebody on the other hand. And yeah, other notables, I'd say great to see Gabby Ruffles in their solo third, awesome event.

I mean, outside of Rose and Madeline kind of lifting and shifting, it's awesome to see her continuing to round in the form and, and, you know, have this successful professional career. We talk a lot about Gabby on the LPGA podcast that we do, but all in all, like she, she, she is a young killer. Like she is going to be here for a long, long time and is going to continue to not only contend in regular week in week out events but majors and like when you start looking at specifically US women's open and PGA championship coming around like Gabby's name that's like her games peaking at the right time she hits the ball a mile has an incredible short game like will

be up there and another one that I was absolutely shocked to see Ronnie like I don't know where Ronnie's kind of been running in uh she won the KPMG women's PGA last year kind of been like not playing so well started this year but her ended up t4 like awesome awesome to see and of course her landlordoney, like is right there behind her. Yeah, the landlord. Yeah, Cody, that's it. I'd say on the bummer side, Lillia Vu was not a part of the tournament this weekend, dealing with a back injury. So that's kind of for how great the Nelly stuff and now Rose winning again, it sucks that Lillia is dealing with a back injury. So wishing her health and when she's healthy, man, American women's golf is great. And we got a deeper

and deeper pool of international stars also. I'm so excited for these upcoming majors. You guys did a little coverage as well this week on ESPN+, how did that go? Some audio troubles Thursday, we got off to a bit of a slow start. But Cody, it was a real pleasure. It is always something we're privileged to be able to do. Friday I thought was smooth. We finally got to a point where Cody and I could just kind of bullshit with each

other back and forth, which was a lot of fun. Um, but yeah, I don't know anything other than that Cody dad. We continue to learn. Uh, and I think we, we learn on the fly. Unfortunately, when you're learning and it's live, there's some, uh, silliness that kind of comes up with it. But you know, we work our way through it. Just keep rolling with the punches.

It was awesome to do it with you big. It definitely brought back memories of us calling radio last year for the Women's Open. But I don't know. We're doing it again. So we have two more events left this year for ESPN Plus coverage. The next one that we'll do is the new Boston event. I think

that's going to be Labor Day weekend. So we get the summer off. Excited about that. You guys are on summer break right now. Exactly. I don't know what's going to happen to our crew because like Chantelle McCabe's on it. She's about to give birth to a child. So I don't know if she'll be back in time. Are you guys going to be back after that comment or got in your ass about your appearance on there that you just rolled out of bed? That was big. I don't, do you have any notes for wardrobe? I asked for clarification which one.

Yeah, she said, well, one of them looks homeless. And I was like, please tell me which one. But no, it's a ton of fun. I never expected just starting this job that we'd be doing like live TV. So it's really cool. And you know, we get a lot of positive comments back from listeners, viewers, people that follow us and want to go over there. And, and I think we're doing a small little bit of, of our part, you know,

putting our words were, you know, our words, where our mouth, our mouth, where words are, how do you have our actions where our words are actions, where our words are. Okay. Yeah, we're doing it, man. We're trying to invest in this thing. We talked about elevating and everything else. Because this was kind of a pretty pitiful week of trying to elevate some women's professional golf. And in that comment can lie squarely on the shoulders at NBC Sports, because it was not good. Now I'll say they flipped it. And we got live TV coverage. But it definitely was not good. Now I'll say they flipped it and we got live TV coverage, but it definitely is not good. And live TV coverage on CNBC for the two hours and the hour and 44 minutes of live coverage that they had, we had 11 commercial breaks. I'm

not saying that I was counting, but I very much was counting. It was not good, not good at all. As we were talking about historic Nelly chase for six and rose coming out and and what their emails say though could could Nelly be the the Caitlin Clark of golf uh yeah it's uh then of course they follow it up and with their headline to their email i have it uh i have it clipped right here let me pull it up for everybody so i got i got news from mbc i got news for them she is and you missed the window to be like the ESPN promote. Like you missed the whole thing. Like you missed it.

Like NBC, you don't realize like you have a very important role to play in the only role. Yes. It's kind of, it's like, it's kind of laughable now because they, it's just like, they don't, they don't get it. When they're like, well, who's doing this? Like, well, like, it's kind of laughable now because they, it's just like they don't, like they don't get it. When they're like, well, who's doing this? Like, well, like that's like your guy's job. And I understand that there's contract things and they need to go back and try to figure all this stuff out. But if I was somebody at the, at the LPGA tour and I look at my network partnership, I would probably be sitting there pretty upset right now, because I know that, you know, two hours of live coverage is a lot better than tape delay. But man,

could you imagine if we're sitting here right now and we're like, what actually happened tonight? What do you mean Rose and Madeline finished it at this number and we're sitting here watching it on tape delay while it finished? What's up, Kev? Hand up the best thing that could happen to the LBJ is if all the shit that ends up on NBC eventually ended up on ESPN because ESPN takes their shit professional, seriously. They don't scrimp on things just because it's a women's event. When the WNBA stuff like the they poured a lot of investment into that over years and they would do the same

with women's golf and I think they would really like to get into more women's golf if that's those rights are not up for buying right now but I think if I were the LPGA commissioner I'd be like, yo, how can I get out of this? Yeah, I'll buy I'll borrow any money from any hedge fund I can to get out of this deal because I'm missing a golden opportunity for this to become a much bigger deal. And I want to be with somebody who's professional and not somebody

who was looking at every bottom line and basically saying like, ah, you know, we could just go to cameras this week. That'd be good. Can we know that it takes time like that investment. It takes a while to get those returns and ESPN and the WNBA deal like they they have done that. But I do agree with you on ESPN. They've kind of shown time and time again, not just the WNBA. But I remember last fall I was like glued to my TV watching NCAA women's college volleyball

at Nebraska and they played it in I don't know what the name of their stadium is, but it was completely sold out and they had it at, uh, you know, volleyball court out in the middle of their football field in a sold out stadium. And it was like, it was crazy, absolutely crazy. And that's again, ESPN investing in things that they truly believe in. I had a conversation with an NBC golf employee. You know, they'll see you'll recognize this person when you read the story next week, but they were saying, you know, you guys are really hard on NBC and they, they broadcast so much golf. Like you, you don't really realize like what, how much money it costs to broadcast all this golf. And I wanted, you know, I really wanted to say like, okay, well, maybe it's time for them to broadcast a little less golf and like, you know, put more quality into the golf they have because if this is gonna be treated a little bit like an afterthought,

then somebody else would love to have these rights. They would do a better job with it. And that's okay if you can't, if you're stretched too thin and it's hurting your bottom line or you don't have enough employees, then someone else will take it. Please, please.

Yeah, begging. I miss this when we are wrapping up our men's stuff, but I do think we have to have a bit of a fashion corner, a bit of a look into a controversial fit from this past week, which when this topic has come up on this podcast, it's not gone great for us. It is not. I mean, it's gotten, you know, it's very polarizing. Jason Day's fit at Quail Hollow. I think this was on Thursday was it It's up on the screen there

If you're watching the live show it was a lot of this is the worst thing I've ever seen versus this is this is the only Good-looking golfer on tour Randy, where are you netting out on the on the J-Day fit here? this this specific fit that we're looking at with what appear to be like linen beach pants and some type of button down short sleeve, Terry cloth shirt. This actually doesn't offend me as some of the, the, his previous looks this year. Um, but it is just a lot of fabric when I I'm not ready for

the societal fashion switch to like tons more fabric, I'm perfectly comfortable in my athleisure wear, the moisture wicking, you know, stuff like that. I am not prepared to go back to the days of much more fabric. The challenge I gave you guys was if we are gonna critique the fit, you must provide a picture of yourself in a bad fit. I don't know if you guys have one.

I'm willing to critique the fit and provide a picture of me in a bad fit. Do you have a bad fit in there, Randy? I sent one to Cody, yeah, because my specific critique was a lot of fabric, and so I would point people to a younger me, a fatter me me a lot of beer from colleges but a lot of fabric in that shirt I'm wearing a lot of fabric. KV are you down with the the J day? Yeah. So here's what I'll say. I don't mind the outfit that Jason was wearing there. I actually think it's fine. I think the hat is stupid. I don't think like that's the right

sponsor brand for the hat for that thing. Honestly, if you rock like a straw hat, like Tiger hat, that would be kind of sick. That's kind of sick. I agree. You got to be all in. You got to be all in on if you're going to be the fashion guy, you can't have sponsors on your hat. For sure. And you know what? The sunglasses look good. If someone, if I got paired with this person at a golf course, I wouldn't think twice. I wouldn't be like, oh, what an offensive outfit. That person's terrible. Here's what I will say about this,

though. I think that the terms of the debate being set are sort of unfair. It's sort of like, if what the people who like this outfit are saying is, if you don't like this outfit, you're an old head, you're not inclusive, you're a racist, you're like, you don't want like things to be cool on golf courses, whatever. No, man, like, you don't want like things to be cool on golf courses, whatever. No, man, like I should be able to like just basically say like, ah, that's not for me. But like Malbon has other stuff that I think is okay.

And that's where I think it's kind of fake bullshit where a lot of this stuff is just like, ah, you suck. Like you, you're the, you're everything is wrong with golf. If you don't like this outfit. Dog, Jason Day is 36 years old. Jason Day is not like the fashion trend setter, all right? Like if- Never has been.

No, if Blades Brown was wearing this, like I'll be like, whoa, that's the new shit for kids these days, man. Like I gotta get in on this. But I just find it absurd that people are like, all you people who wanna criticize this stuff, you're losers. I don't know, man.

Like, can't I just criticize some of it and like other parts of it? God, that is, I don't know if I. Like, can't I just criticize some of it and like other parts of it? God, that is I don't know if I needed that. Do you have a pic of you in a bad fit? I sent some to Cody, I you know, I don't know if he uploaded them here. But I look at a couple of the couple that I sent was like me also kind of hung over. There's me and my mom. That's you know, happy Mother's Day to my mom. I think I rolled out of bed for this is our family reunion. You know,

it's, it's a tough look for me. Let a little more hair, big sideburns down. So that was kind of cool actually. But this sloppy look of like, you know, untucked sort of pull over there and then the beige shorts that kind of down below the knee. That's cargo shorts. That's my mom looks pretty cool.

She's flexing there. You said it better than I possibly could have. This is me at a, I believe in New Orleans at a bachelor party. If you think I'm a chunky boy now, boy, look at me back then. This is probably 2006. No, excuse me, 2009 maybe. You look like you look like you

invented like a mid-2000s website like Friendster or something and then sold it and retired. That's what you look like with this. My friends when we this pic got sort of passed around with us were like asking me to do the Clinton. I did not have sex with that woman. Kev, I thought you said the J-Day stuff exactly what I'm as I wish I could have said. I'll add this. If baggies coming back, I will miss that. I'll be five years late on that. All right. I don't I don't want

anything to do with it. I don't think it looks good. I think somebody is fit today. I don't have a picture of that. I looked a lot better because less baggy. Like I just I think that the actual material and the clothes

and the style is good. I just really don't like the fabric look. So I'll join you on that block big. But again, this is coming from somebody that's never dressed great, especially back in 2012 when I took a visit to Whistling Straits. I guarantee you, Sully's wearing blue.

I'm actually not. I actually went for a non blue pick specifically. I was big into the Bubba Watson, all whites back then. This was again, this is a whistling straights This is like what I you know got to play a course like this in 2012 I put out the a1 outfit like this was the best I could put together in 2012 and I have some some regrets about you know, the all-white look. Is it a vest you got going on there? No, it's a master shirt

I went to the Masters with Big Randy that year and got a master shirt has little green stripes and also bad pick I got bad choice I I've never had the best eye for fashion so I shouldn't be critiquing but listen that's that's our way of bridging the gap here into the conversation of here's plenty of stuff you can make fun of us for so guys I appreciate you guys sending those pictures in of course this is not just an audio medium we also have a video so that the examples of them definitely shine through and I hope that people watching on YouTube, live commenters here feel the exact same way. Thank you so much and because of that I

also felt like I would throw something out there. Not my best look and these pants actually it's the entire palette or the rainbow. It's the rainbow but in plaid they go all the way around with a mock tea. Would it be a tea? Is this in one? Is this in one 120p? Like, is this the most out of focus picture? It's ever been.

I think this picture was originally taken on my LG white chocolate slider phone. And then over time, as I moved that over to process the radio shack in Great Falls. Exactly. I've moved it from from iPhoto to iPhoto. It's just been compressed and compressed and this is an invitation all in high school. Yeah, at one point in time. Hopefully the pixels are so spread out that it's no longer just usable as myself, but I decided to throw that in there.

We've all been there, right? Well, I feel like those pants are gonna be way back in fashion quicker than anything solid and KVV and I were wearing. Yeah, I wouldn't say this is that far off. I'm struggling to see what's wrong with this one. Looking ahead to PGA Championship Week coming up here, Bob Herrig, I believe, is reporting that Scotty is looking like he's gonna be at the PGA. It wasn't the most

definitive report ever but he said word is that there's gonna he's gonna be there so I would assume that means that the baby has come. He did in other tweets all he confirmed the baby has been born. Got it, thank you. Blocky is of course on the interview schedule this week I just want to make sure Randy you get time set up for that on Tuesday. A lot of interviews are there on Tuesday. Anything else to dump from the week from you guys before we look into a massive week coming up for the boys?

No, the only thing that I wanna highlight just how cool like the founders event is that it highlights the founders of the LPGA tour, which is funny because the PGA tour also highlighted their olds this week at their first major championship of the year at the champions tour. So good to see him hand in hand with all the olds out there. So I don't really want to go back into the live stuff,

but Phil did tweet something earlier today about, I think he said, maybe professional golf was broken and we're just trying to fix it now. And I wanted to you know Say oh what a co with what a what a wonderful coincidence for you that Professional golf getting fixed just happened to involve you getting 200 million dollars So what a what a what a stroke of luck that must have been right when you needed it. Thank you, Phil Thank you. Thank you for all you do online Phil

It's he also said he wanted to make sure that more YouTube golfers were shown, that that was the way to do it. I will say, I think he's not wrong about the aggressive media rights stuff. That's the type of stuff where the tour must get you to the point. The thing about Phil is he actually kind of like

makes some good points. He just like, then he goes off into the deep end. Maybe it's like us. But it's all stuff that works like really well on the surface, right? Again, the PJ Tour media, I think the way they interpret their media shit is sometimes bat shit insane.

It's like anytime somebody is swinging a club in a video, you need to have approval from the PJ Tour. That's ridiculous. But the reasonable stuff is like, hey, when the PJ Tour is putting up an event, you need a release to be able to go play somewhere else. That's part of what you sign up for in a PGA TOUR player and Phil wants to act like oh live You can do whatever you want like would

Try that Phil during a live event go tell like tell them you're gonna go play somewhere else like try that see how that works It doesn't really work that way like you've signed over your media rights as well to live just the haps What happens they play 14 weeks a year, so I will say it's sweet sweet though you guys got to check out Bryson's channel man he's been doing like in round behind the scenes stuff it's sweet Bryson's chill is good it is I'm gonna give you credit but I've been I've been into it and I'm starting to really see the light I got it I forgot to tell this story for the Masters I'll sit behind six green one of the days and Bryson was doing something stupid on the green and this guy next to me was talking with one of his buddies he was

a kind of a younger guy he was like I'm so watching price in this YouTube channel tonight. No, what is Bryson did a thing where like played with little kids clubs. I was like, that's pretty sick. I kind of want to break power with little kids clubs. I want to hear that the PJ tour would I want to hear more on the PJ tour wouldn't have allowed that to happen. You couldn't run your own media channel on anyways, that's a different discussion. Coming up in content this week, we have a film room episode.

We are gonna get the first look at Gil Hanson, Jim Wagner's restored North course at Omni LaCosta, ahead of the NCAA men's and women's national championships, an alt shot team of Cameron Young, if you've heard of him, and Cody McBride, if you've heard of him, took on the course. It's a great video, it's fantastic. I'm excited for people in the world to see that one.

You guys did a great job with that. We of course have the premiere of episode five of Tora Sauce will be Wednesday night on our YouTube channel, 9 p.m. Eastern time. We go to King Island. It is probably our highlight episode of the season. Every season tends to have one that is just like the one and I think we all agree this is the one. It was an incredible trip and the episode

is fantastic. So Wednesday at 9 p.m. I know it's a busy week for a lot of golf watching but please meet us there. PGA Championship we are going to have maybe the most content ever coming this coming week. Monday night into Tuesday morning where our PGA Championship preview podcast will be posted Wednesday a Victor Hovland feature written by one Kevin van Valkenburg will be coming out as well we will have our special PGA Championship happy hour show is live on YouTube at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. We mentioned this on the Happy Hour show. We somehow got re-upped for a ESPN mega cast. This time we are going linear, baby. Thursday and Friday we are on ESPN 2 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Just watching golf and talking about it and being our

idiot selves just like we did last year. It was so much fun. But now we get to go on television this time. So no F bombs, let's go around. Randy, we are also on ESPN. He got dumped. Hey, we're also on ESPN. That was the term call, I'm sorry. ESPN plus 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. And of course, of course we will have live shows

after play wraps, 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Friday, I believe it's 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and Sunday whenever play ends We'll be coming on whether it might cause a little bit of an issue But listen when play is done, we'll be live here on YouTube just like we are here tonight Is that it anything I missed? No, that's it big Thanks, of course the high noon if people are out at Valhalla checking out the PGA Championship, they're going to have a special booth, a little activation going on out there.

Go out and say hi. Tell them the Nolang up guys sent them over there. Who knows? They might get some free stuff from them. I don't know. They also promise that's not a not a not an advert at all. I'm just saying. But it would be very nice if you told them that, hey, we are familiar with your product due to your association with the No Laying Up guys. They have some new products come out that we're going to start teasing this week. Iced Tea Action, which I'm very, very excited about. I'm going

to go scour the Metroplex and see if I can get my hands on these and some more big cans, baby. You don't need to scour. Go to highnewspirits.com and find it near you. Come on, Cody. You know this dog. That is a wrap, we thank you to our friends at Titleist and to Orz and Alps as well. Thank you to Rose Zhang for calling in after a truly historic beat down

with the field, Sands, Madeline, Saxton. I'm still, I'm not over this yet, guys. I can't believe we didn't talk about more about this leaderboard, but KV, Big Randy, Big Cody, thank you so much for being here. All the listeners and viewers, we'll see you so many times this week. Looking forward to major championship week.

We are gonna be bringing you all we got. Thank you everyone for your support. We'll see you soon, cheers. Cheers.