No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 967: Russell Henley wins at Bay Hill, Ryder Cup talk, the rollback

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

You woke up one hour closer to a live Sunday recap, and we delivered. His first in three years, Russell Henley clutched it out at Bay Hill, while Collin Morikawa struggled to close his lead out. We talk API, Ryder Cup, Keegan ire, and a little bit of Hamsterdam. Then it's onto the back nine as we go deep on Eamon Lynch's interview with Jay Monahan, some recent public commentary on the rollback, Larry Scott x LPGA, TGL, and more. Support our sponsors: High Noon - Sun's Up! FootJoy - New HyperFlex shoe is out The Stack - code "nolayingup" for 10% off ServPro - Like it never even happened Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Want the latest on NLU directly to your inbox? Subscribe to our weekly newsletters: newsletter.nolayingup.com The NLU events season is just getting started: #GetInvolved! events.nolayingup.com If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining The Nest: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at nolayingup.com/join 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? And welcome back to the no laying up podcast presented as always by our friends at high new no layup live show. We're

live on YouTube on X. Solly here. TC is here. Hello, Mr. TC. Solly, thank you for inviting me to this year program. The Icarito man himself, Mr. Neil Schuster is here. Hello, Neil. Greetings, gentlemen. Happy Daylight Savings Time. My second here as a father. I know TC. You've always reported how hard this is. I got a little man screaming in the other room. Let's get it baby. I'm fired up tonight. This was like the first one that hit me where it's like you don't have to, you know, you're not losing an hour of sleep. You can just wake up an hour later. Like you know, anyways, we can get into

all that stuff. We got a lot to talk about. We're of course, going to recap the Arnold Palmer Invitational. We're going to go play. We're gonna got some hamster damn stuff going on. Can you put me on the speed bag today? I know we're gonna have some fun with that one. A bunch of other notes from the week. We're gonna talk about some of our own Mulligans we'd like to have. Excuse me, I'm all excited. We're gonna, of of course, dive into the live corner, updates on the live, PIF, all that stuff.

Lucas Glover and Brian Harmon had some comments this week where he handed to that. Some international golf news over in Scotland, LPGA, Quick TGL, creator classic, a lot to get to. Before we do that though, high noon, nose tequila people only have eyes for tequila. That's why they crafted the perfect tequila seltzer made with real tequila and real juice. High noon tequila seltzer delivers a smooth taste. It's 100 calories and made with no added sugar, just premium ingredients that

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The guests love to go for the tequila ones. So visit highnoonspirits.com to find a tequila seltzer near you. High noon, sun's up. We got Russell Henley wins the Arna Palmer Invitational. Carl Villips wins in Puerto Rico. Sergio Garcia and the Fireballs win in Hong Kong. Calum Hill wins the JoBurg Open in a playoff, Rio Taquita wins by six after a final round 64th, the What About China Blue Bay. Logan McAllister wins the A Star Chile Classic on the Corn Fairy Tour,

Leticia Beck wins on the Epson Tour. But we're gonna start with Bay Hill. Logan McAllister wins the A star Chile classic on the corn fairy tour. Leticia Beck wins on the Epson tour. But we're gonna start with Bay Hill. Morikawa opens with 71, 68, 67 to take a one shot lead into the final round over Russell Henley. Henley went out in 37, Morikawa out in 35. Guys, I was typing up notes as if Morikawa was gonna win this thing. Keegan went out in 29, right?

We'll get there. Trust me, we'll get 29. We'll get there. Trust me, we'll get there. We'll get there. Morikawa led by three shots, walking off the 13th green. When he got to 17T, he was one down. He had two two-shot swings. One where he made bogey on 14 is Henley made birdie. And Russell Henley, I believe chipped in for eagle on 16 while Morikawa made par.

We'll get to that as well. But Neil, you're letting the takes fly before we even started recording here. What's your reaction to what we saw today? I mean, big, big shout out to Russ Henley, a true dog in more than one way. All right, Russ Henley turns 36 this year. So same, almost same age as me, like three, four months older, it sounds like fifth career win, but this one feels like it's in a different category. And I know we've said this before, or I've said this before, like he has been the leader in strokes gained. I can walk through the airport and nobody can recognize me, but I've also made $33 million, like aspirational that we know about 33 million dollars that

we know 33 as of before this tournament. So let's call it 37, you know, 38 maybe tomorrow when that direct deposit hits. I think he's probably aging out of that category with this win. But I just, I feel like, Sally, I said it to you in Slack. His swing is sloppy to me. And I mean that almost as a compliment, he slaps it out there. And it's just this bullet, like he can count on it. He's not scared. Um, you know, I just, I, I love the attitude. He knew he kind of got away with one when he chipped in for Eagle, you know, he just doesn't really break a smile. Like he's like, I'm going to go, I'm going to go win this thing. And it put Colin who was in complete control of his golf ball. Yeah. They're showing slow-mo's of his just beautiful golf swing and he just he just

like just completely folded like cardboard like he starts like stepping out of putts like on 16 right after Henley chipped in I'll save my Colin takes but I'm just really impressed with Henley and I last thing I'll say is I really find it awesome when somebody's career gets better and better. This is the peak of his career so far, and at 36. I think that's really cool that he's just gradually, he's never threatened to lose his card, very stress-free career, but it's like, man, he's just building, it's like compounding

for him. I think that's really impressive. I'm going to try this. Usually Cody's the one that does the screen sharing. He's on vacation this week, but we'll see. I hope I don't fail this. But to your point, literally just saw this tweet come in on the airport test. Just got a message from Edmund Northcott here in light of Russell's win. Here's evidence of Mr. Henley failing the airport test. Oh, Edinburgh airport. Thanks. Kind regards. They snuck a picture of him at Edinburgh Airport. But come on, you got to be super duper into it. Avid listener of this podcast to recognize

Henley. Look how normal he looks. And he's made all the money. It's great. He lives in what? Columbus, Georgia, TC? He seems low key and big shout out. That was an awesome win. Amen. And Sal and I got to spend some time with him at a title of shoot at a Pablo Creek. What was that end of last year? Beginning of this year? In December. Yeah. Yeah. And man, just like I've always been so impressed by him

as just a craftsman. And I feel like I walked away even more impressed. Just just the ownership of his golf swing. And rest. Just just the ownership of his golf swing. And I don't know, he like he just seems like a really reasonable, well adjusted dude. And he's got his priorities in line, I think too. So I love watching play golf. One of many guys who's given me a really great tip on my swing that I just like forget about two weeks later, but he was just like T at lower, you're gonna stop, you know, lifting up on and pull it left T at lower. And I just like forget about two weeks later, but he was just like T at lower. You're going to stop, you know, lifting up on it and pull it left T at lower. And

I just like forget about it. Why don't you just adjust the T height? I forget what, do you remember what his mantra was off the TTC? Just, uh, you know, cover. It was something about just covering it, like stay on top of it. Uh, he's like, he has his caddies tell him two things before he hits a ball. The video, it's on video somewhere. I believe titles. He plays fast. I mean, like 17 T like they, they, you know, Corey Connors holes out and he's already got his club out.

He's he's putting the T in the ground. It's, it's, uh, I don't know. He's, he's a real one. And, and there's a question here from, uh, uh, SoCon locks. Did rush just lock up his spot on the rider cup team? Yeah, man, bring them to Beth page. Let's go. I mean, he's like, he's like a, he could pair with Keegan. He's like, you know, let's go, baby. He's a lot more versatile than Harmon. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. He's, he's going to be looks by my quick math, fourth or fifth in the standings now. But like, this is a massive, massive event to win, massive points available in this one. And it is like, you know, he doesn't hit the ball that far.

I honestly like I feel like we've been shouting for years that Beth Page is going to be Bombers Paradise Bombers Paradise, but like once we put our teams together a couple weeks, the three of us. I was like, dude, I don't think it favors the US to

make this a Bombers Paradise, so I actually would be a little curious to see what the US is going to do with this setup. The more I think about it, the more I'm like, alright, Scheffler, Zander, I mean, Bryson doesn't fit this mold, but more Kawa and Henley. I'm like, dude, grow the rough up. You know, make, make some of these guys think about some of this stuff when you get there. But I think we'll have time to get there eventually.

But yeah, I see, I don't see a way that Henley doesn't make the team now unless his game goes completely south from here on out. Because he's I mean, he's likely to make it on points. That's a massive win. And he's got a good stretch coming up too. It didn't come out of nowhere. He's been playing good golf, right? T-10 at Sony, where he always plays well. And then T-5 at AT&T, T-39 at Genesis, and then T-6 at Cognizant.ant hasn't missed a cut this year. You know, just really solid kind of building. We talk about building around, it sounds like he's building a season.

So we'll see. He certainly built a career. Yeah, building a career, 100% TC. Yeah, I'm stoked for the guy. I think it, you know, been kind of waiting. The US has needed a guy like him, you know, one of about 10 guys to step up and do it and get the job done

And he has he's been one of those guys and it's a little exclamation point on things But guys people are mad about calling people a lot of people in the comments calling him a fraud a lot of people just Mad about the dog shoes This was he's got one win since winning the open in 2021 It was the Zozo. Do we have a problem here? Is there, do we have a Colin problem here? I mean, he's playing better than he has in a long time.

So I feel like it's getting better, but he did, you know, last four or five, six holes, he played like a dog that had shoes on, not a real dog. Yeah. Not a yard dog. I mean, I'm borderline. I want to take this to first take area, but I thought that was an indictment. Uh, five up with your, uh, three up with five to play. Like I said, complete control, like, you know, watching nine, 10, 11,

like, oh man, three shot lead. He's hitting it so good. His swing looks dialed. Like it's kind of out of that, you know, swing stuff he had going on a year and a half ago, strokes gained on data golf look really good. His swing looks dialed. Like it's kind of out of that, you know, swing stuff he had going on a year and a half ago, strokes gained on data golf look really good. He's like hitting it. You know, it's third best in the world right now. He's slightly ahead of Xander. I know Xander has been kind of out of the game for a little while,

but it just looks really easy. But then somebody presses them and it's like, Oh wait, you know, TC, like you said, like the dome golfer, like, Oh, and outside variable. And that, that putting just gets super shaky on 16. And then, you know what frustrated me is if I feel like if you put tiger or Phil or Rory or Scotty into that position where a guy they're playing with just chipped in, I almost feel like it would unleash them to be like, you know, fuck that. And the line, like his alignment on 17 T I mean, he was lined up on like the left edge of the green,

you know, it's like, I know he's trying to hit a cut in there. And but it's just like, you gotta be more aggressive, like go win it, man. And he both his approach into 17 and 18. It kind of looked like that's what he was trying to do. And it's like, that's not going to get the job done. Like he was kind of waiting for Henley to make bogey and come back to him. It wasn't, he wasn't trying to flag one on either of those shots to me. And I think that's an indictment. It's like, go in the tournament, man. Like, like, let's see some fire. So anyway, he played great though. So it's like, yeah, his game is, is dialed. Like, is he a threat to win Augusta? Of course. But it just doesn't feel like he can close.

Yeah, I feel like he can close. Yeah, I feel like this is the classic like I I can't get the most upset with the guy that only got beat by one guy this week, right? I mean, if you want to get upset, you know, you got you there's more reason to be upset with Ludwig's performance to disagree with anything you just said there. And I think it, I think you can check the tape on this one that you know, four or five years ago when he was winning as much as he was, I was calling out like this is kind of the way Rory started his career, especially in majors as well, is like, it's all going right for him. And he's kind of, I don't want to say lucking into more wins, but he's got more wins for shots he's putting up on the board. Like it's an unsustainable rate, essentially. So he's good, he's more likely to have some of these tournaments where he has these close calls and the close calls started coming a little bit later. I believe we call that a reverse Big Tone.

Yes, that's exactly right, TC. Thank you for that and acknowledging Big Tone has six career PGA Tour wins, which I believe is more than Colin Morkawa, but it's very close. Yeah, Morkawa has six, okay, they have the same amount. Maybe Morkawa's are a little bit better wins. But you know, it's the what's interesting to me is it's a small sample size so far into this year, though, but the iron play has bounced back to levels that we're used to seeing out of Colin and it dipped pretty hard last year to the point where like, you're not a special golfer if you're not a special golfer

if you're not one of the three best iron players on tour, and he wasn't last year. So I'm still bullish, actually, on Colin. I would like to see him look a little bit better with the putter, but it's, again, hard to describe how baked out those greens were. I know the wind didn't blow today, and it wasn't like carnage,

but those greens are still so, so, so slippery. And he kept leaving himself like downhill left to writers. I think Kiz commented at some point or Faxon commented on some point, like on super slick greens, those are the hardest ones to like deliver on the right line, get the right pace on, and he just was on the wrong side of the coin of so many of those today. So I'm not gonna agree with all of that. Again, I know I'm, I'm, you know, taking it to first take territory here, but it does feel like a pattern though, when it's time to close the deal. You can even, and this is me really, I'm gonna take it a step farther. It felt like when you saw him after his round of the Gusta

last year, same look on his face, like you can see him thinking almost like, man, I let that one get away again. Like he's starting to, and as somebody who's let a few get away a few mega bonuses like man. It's happening Again, I can't believe I let that happen again is the look that I see on his face And so that is a pattern that he's gonna have to like you're just gonna have to prove it to me now You know what I mean? Like this conversation like deserves to be had because like you said solid like the ball striking is to be had because like you said, Sally, like the ball striking is like world class, like the way it looks when it's going well, like pretty much until 15 today, it was like, oh my God, like he's back. Like I put in my notes, well, Collins back, you know, and then it was like, well, wait, can

call him back either way, even if he didn't close, he's still back. Like, you know, like on our Wednesday show, I pointed him out, you're like, Hey, like he doesn't have great, you know, like on our Wednesday show, I pointed him out, you're like, Hey, like, he doesn't have great, you know, history here. And it's like, man, that that feels like it's gotta just be a matter of time, right? Because the guy just hits fairways and in. But I mean, shit, he was, he lost strokes putting this week, overall, she's still still finished, finished one shot out of winning the thing. So, you know, that's strong. That's always blown my mind about him is like, he got so many wins for a guy that like, you know, he does have the streaky putting weeks,

but it is like a lot of really good ball strikers that don't putt great, get a ton of the top fives and get into the big tone conversation. Like, why don't these guys win more? He just grabbed so many early that I feel like it bought him a lot of time. And if you look at this as overall record to this point, like five wins, two majors, a WGC on top of it, sorry, six wins, a WGC on top of it. You're like, that's freaking, freaking awesome. It's just been one win in the last, almost coming on four years. And that's the Zozo that nobody really even respects. That's what makes it a problem.

I do think like he's got to learn how to get it in gear or switch from, you know, playing the numbers to play in the competitor in front of him. Also, that was just weird that bones bones seems just totally softball them there at the end, trying to kind of explain it away. Yeah. And what did he say? I missed that I was I think I was getting ready for the show or something He said something about You know it was not you know more cows not gonna win this tournament

But it's not because of anything that he did today Russell him Lee went out and got it It's like I mean more cow lost strokes to the field today. I think that was 37 on the back nine. Yeah, I mean it's you know on a bay hill course It just didn't have a lot of teeth to it so I I think that it speaks to experience of like bones does recognize how hard the golf course is and how you know, it's it's as soft as gentle as it played today it's still not a pin your ears back and and coast home kind of kind of place because Unless you're Keegan

Yeah well we know somebody that Was was pinning their ears back a little bit on the back nine and has had a heck of a stretch. And joining the show now, I believe he's a million dollars richer. Mr. Michael Kim, welcome to the show. Congratulations on a great finish. Thanks, guys. Exactly a million dollar richer, actually. Did you look that up immediately when you came in? No, I just got a text a few minutes ago listing the money earned and the FedExCup points

earned so yeah it's got it through that. Tell us about Bay Hill. We've seen this golf course in a lot of different conditions. I think we were, we'll get into this later, freaking out about potentially the course getting away from them a little bit today. I thought there was gonna be a lot more wind, but what is the test at Bay Hill? You just got off the golf course. What's on your mind as you're getting ready

to pick apart that place? I think it's just pure execution, right? There's no tricky, especially tricky things. The golf course is right there in front of you. There's no blind shots, except if you want to get aggressive on 10. And the greens, I felt like, especially starting Friday when I was in the afternoon wave, like the back nine,

the greens felt way faster than the front nine for whatever reason um i'm pretty sure the 10th green is dead i'm pretty confident about that um but other than that you know all the shots you you know what to expect um so it's just like your guys' cup of tea exactly, but... What? But... I would say it is. It is. I like watching you guys struggle.

This is more my cup of tea than last week, Michael, where I thought there was going to be teeth and there wasn't. And if it got the wind that it was forecasted today, you know, you would have probably seen a much bigger test. But, you know, it's just all out there in front of you. Michael, is this the best golf you've ever played? Like this stretch that you're on right now? Just just like your, your confidence level and ball striking everything? Yeah, I think so.

Back in college when I was playing some really, really good golf, that was mostly off of just a really hot putter. And I hit it really straight. But there was nowhere near like I would, at my best, finish probably 50th at this golf course way back when. And then, you know, in 2018, that's when I won, but that was just like a hot two or three week stretch. So to get, you know, this five or so weeks in a row like this to be playing this good is pretty cool.

And I've got some even bigger tournaments along the way too. Well they said on the broadcast Michael that you picked up 17 yards since 2020. Do you feel like is distance the main factor in your in this like stretch? I mean since waste management T2, T13, T13, T6 and then fourth today. I mean really really good stretch. Anything else in your game that you call out as like you've really improved or has made a big impact on those results? I'm definitely the driver. I mean, I've gained, you know, back in when 20, I did gain a lot of distance in 2020, 2021, working with George Gankas for a little bit. And then Sean, I feel like kind of helped rein that in.

And I always felt like I was a pretty good iron player when I wasn't lost with my swing anyway. And then, you know, starting at Waste Management, giving you guys full credit with the pod with Joe Mayo, that has for sure helped a bunch. It was kind of a quick one hour lesson and I kind of got the concept pretty quickly. And you know, I think I've gained strokes around the greens basically every week. So it just kind of all have come together at a really nice time.

Does does having more confidence in your chipping and in your short game or anything around the green? Can that help your your ball striking? Do you play with maybe a little, potentially a little less fear coming into greens? Yeah, you know, I've, you know, I've, I've talked to my stats guy a lot. And, you know, when just so often we get like eight or seven iron, we think like that's, you know, we should be putting from like 15 feet every time, but just deep, just hitting the green isn't terrible. And it's, it's nice to have kind of in your back pocket in the back of your mind, like I don't have to hit it perfect. And you know, I, I can make a score out there is definitely a big confidence booster in the back of my mind,

but I'm not taking any crazy, more aggressive lines or anything. Michael, you don't have it on right now, but we discussed it a little bit last week. And now that you're here, I got to ask you, how does the binary defense partnership come to be? binary defense partnership come to be? Um, that one, that one is so, um, they, they, um, sponsored Wyndham, um, right before he won the U S open, um, I think that deal ran out and, um, obviously I'm sure his, his price tag went up a little bit and uh and my agent kind of uh um you know called some people and uh figured it out um felt like it would be um a good match with me um and uh yeah it there was um most most of most of it had been through my agent other than

um applied underwriters with who i met at Pebble. But I'd say most deals get done through agents. Okay. I'm a weirdo. I noticed the sponsor stuff. You know, Sally gets upset. He's like, I'm tossing out free ads. But I saw the founders active on Twitter. I was like, I don't know. Michael's active on Twitter. I kind of created this story in my head that maybe you guys were in the DMs and you know, so that thank you for clearing that up. It would have been a cooler story that way, but not the case.

It's good. It's just it's noticeable, you know, so I mean, like job well done by them and by you and you're playing good. So I mean, they got a, you know, a good transition out of Wyndham. It's kind of a good descriptor of Bay Hill, binary defense. It's a one or a zero. You're either in the water or you're on the green, Megan Verde. Michael, as far as five weeks in a row, are you just running on fumes right now or how

does that affect your schedule the rest of the year? Like, will you need a breather here soon? Yeah, you know, I definitely didn't plan on playing this many in a row. But another one, my stats guys tells me I actually played my best like fourth, fifth, sixth, even seventh week in a row. So I don't know why that is but you know I don't know the exact update on the world rankings but like you know I feel like I have a decent chance at getting into Augusta as well. So I'm not sure when I'm gonna take my next break but I am pretty tired, but I'm also obviously pretty excited at the results and kind of want to keep going.

And when you've spent three, four years missing cuts every week, top five finishes are totally fine. Oh, yeah. You can't win a million bucks back. Gosh, I'm just too tired, man. I don't want to play again next week. 100%. 100%. Question for TC and Neil. Career earnings for Michael Kim. What would your estimation be?

Oh man. I'm going to say... Don't guess too high. I promise. I'm going to say 7 million. Between 7 and 8 million. I was going to say 6. a half, you know it Michael I I want to say after this week. It's probably close to nine Maybe just over eight or so it says eight point eight on the on the on the site I don't know if that includes today or not, but either way it's over. Don't think it does Because Henley's wind wasn't wasn the PGA TOUR website yet.

Got it. But hell yeah, Michael, keep it up, man. Excited to keep watching you climb the leaderboard. Hell yeah. Well, we look forward to it. Yeah, we'll see you this week. Yeah, if you guys post any more pods with good instruction teachers,

I'll be I'll be listening for sure. All right. Well, congrats again. Thanks for joining us, man. And we'll see you this week in Pada Vida. Take care, buddy. Thanks, guys. All right. Thank you to Michael. Oh, yeah, I feel like the I feel like it's that meme where it's the guy, you know, looking back at the other girl with like, you know, with binary defense and he's got a

Megacorp on his offer. I got two, I got business solver and Megacorp. Like, whoa, what's up? What's up back there? I bet Matt's cooking up that meme in the background right now as we speak. So listen, it's exciting week for foot joy this week as they launched a new Hyperflex

golf shoe. You probably noticed this shoe a lot recently. There's been a lot of buzz about what shoe Justin Thomas has been wearing. Obviously a different look for him this year than the traditional look. He's always rocked with this one. And it's this one. It's the Hyperflex. He switched to it the Zozo in October. He's worn the classic golf shoe his entire career. He's recorded five top 10 finishes in eight events. Corey Conner's also been wearing the Hyperflex. Both players have said the Hyperflex gives them the stability they need to load up on the right side and then provides a spring-like effect

to help them power through the ball. For JT and Corey, like many players, footwear testing has become similar to driver or ball-fetting. They're trying to get as much data as they can around how shoes are improving their ability to maximize performance. DJ experienced this firsthand at TPI last year when he learned how footwear could help him use the ground more effectively to produce power and

consistency. Side note, DJ is producing some power. I don't know about consistency right now, but DJ is definitely producing some power. Yeah. Solid. The hyper flex flexes like I'm a classic shoe kind of guy. It even got me kind of in on the hyper flexes. You know who else is one of the hyper flexes. KVB was wearing them today. As he made I believe we're ready to announce his first ever career hole in one today with a Pro V1 golf ball if I if I may add that 11 114, 115. Something like that. Pitching. Winter golf? Yeah. We even saw it go in, just spun right back into the. Yeah, he was rocking the hyper flexes

in the picture he sent through. I will say this. If you're looking to feel more athletic while you play golf, throw on the hyper flex. Seriously. Like it does kind of change your mindset a little bit when you have those shoes on. It makes you feel like you can truly do something athletic, generate

some power. They're really, really comfortable. If we're doing a 36-hole day, those are definitely coming with me. But you can trust it. If you want to send it, some of the really casual shoes I've worn in the past, you're kind of like, dude, am I going to slip? Am I going to slip in this? You don't feel that with the Hyperf with like it's just got enough structure that you Don't feel that so check out the new hyper flex at your local golf shop or at foot joy dot-com You guys want to do Keegan now. Just let me let just just let it rain. Let me have it. I mean, yeah Yeah, what do you have this? Can we reset this? Well?

Just today for today what happened so we always do. I was called for the ball. I love to make a Sunday morning pick. Give me something to follow for Sunday. I've been pretty successful putting out some fan dual plays every Sunday. Have you though? I think you got I'm above water was good. All right. We might have to check the tape on that. I'm above water. I've hit a bunch of winners this year. You know, you're picking. I like to pick the winner. I'm trailing your

plays and I'm not above water. so I don't know. Maybe, maybe I'll check my... You gotta trail them all. You can't just pick and choose. I read a tweet, I believe it was from Jason Sobel, that I've since found out has been deleted. It was hour by hour, all of the wind for Sunday and the gusts. It was like gusts in the 40s. And so I was like, oh, I'm betting somebody to go over today all this all the lines in there for individual rounds today were pretty high. I'm like, at Keegan shot 76. And it wasn't even hard out. He's definitely shooting over par today. And yeah, he shot he

went out in 29. It got to a point where I was just rooting for him to shoot 59. I'd rather lose a play by by eight shots or whatever I ended up losing by then lose it, you know, by one shot. So I was eventually rooting for him to just go out and shoot 59 at that point. But man, I got I nobody congratulated me or thanked me for the speech play the week before. And it was good. I was going to call that out. But I got 200 people. Because it's, you're so dug in on the fact that you think Keegan is is not even worth talking about as a Ryder Cup contender. Just like you said that Sep wasn't a lock. Sep

proceeded to completely stun on you again today. I was playing some good golf. Now, Sally, let me let me just level set this here. As I understand it, Keegan, as the captain, you do not think that he should be on the Ryder Cup team. Do you not think that he should pick himself? What is your take here? What is the Keegan take? I don't even know what the take is here. It goes all the way back to the Keegan chorus

that was ahead of Rome. Keegan chorus that was, you know, ahead of Rome that, you know, Keegan's this incredible Ryder Cup player. The record doesn't really necessarily support that. Hadn't played in a Ryder Cup in nine years and we just continually hear about Keegan, Keegan, Keegan. The Netflix thing did not do it any wonders. He's just, he's a solid, solid player that I wouldn't say has knocked down the door to being on any of these teams and I don't think has, you know, Ben like the missing piece. I mean, it just feels like Glenn Eagles was long enough ago that people forget

that, you know, he was the deciding losing point of that one and that left a bad taste in people's mouths and he went away for a long period of time. Now he's kind of back into it and people seem to have forgotten that want to toss JT aside just cause he had won one and two rider cup, the same way that thing that Keegan did in 2014. Oh, I'd say he's the captain of the team. Like, he has put forth, like, a super impressive plan. I'm in on him being the captain, like, the approach that they've taken. Like, somebody that gives as much of a shit about the Ryder Cup as he does. I think it's a completely unnecessary distraction to even consider

yourself for a captain's pick and I credit Keegan for like saying that like, no, I'm not going to pick myself. No, I don't think he's going to need to because he's going to qualify on points. And good for him if he does like that'd be incredible golf and it would be like clearly impossible to keep him off the team and I would be celebrating that. I just think it's like focus on that on being the captain and he is it's all of you guys that are out there like but I Both I don't even like good

Good if he was within the top 12 or even right on the let's say 13 or 14 on the points list I I would I want him to pick himself. I think he should Why should we follow you if you're not gonna vote for yourself, baby? Like pick up the flag and and lead from the front. I think he's solid. I don't want to fear it to be to be the team. Because he's the captain, man. Like he's focused. That's not a small gig. Like he's in charge of the whole thing. It's an exhibition. It would be fantastic content. There'd be so much to talk about because they wouldn't melt down. They would lose. It was going to melt down anyway. I know.

He was okay. If he was 10, if he's in the top 10 on the list not top 6 top 10 And he didn't pick himself. I'd be pissed I think he should and this is where you lose me is I don't give a shit about the points list I think it doesn't tell you anything. I mean the points. How come I mean, it's a cumulative stat It's he'd seen solid turn his back on the data That's so out of character. Bad data is seeing you like this. I don't even know who you are anymore.

Bad data. Not all data is created equal here. Do not try to pin me down on this one. So you think it's bad data. It's noisy. It's bad. It's based on money earned. There's no aging to it.

So yeah, he could win this week and next week and earn a shitload of points. And then his game could be in complete shit by the fall and he would still make the team automatically on points like there's just not it's not a good model. If Keegan won the players like that would be a pretty big thing. So let's do this. Let's do this. If Max would have won the Masters last year and his game went to shit. I mean he got ended up getting a controversial pick for the President's Cup But his game was in like not in good shape by the time the event rolled around But if he was locked in on points because of a win in the winter or the spring

That's not you're not bringing your best possible change about China. I don't know It's a little bit like a hand the handicap system though. Sally like hey that had that Masters win hadn't fallen off the Top list there like, you know, he's still like he's he's a little frothy, but he can do it You know like then you got to go change the handicap system if that's how you feel. I I would change the point system. I've I'm very I'm on record on that dating all the way back to 2014 And you could check the tape on that one as well But I don't well now I can't even think a little better because I've been kind of confused in the slack I'm like wait I saw like hates

the captain it's it's the TC and DJ trying to stir something up like there's nothing really there like it's so binary he's gonna either play his way in or he's not been yeah but we've been very bullish on him playing his way in and you've shit on us even for saying that as well. Well, he is pretty high up on the on the noisy data list. So you know, he's not high up on the list. That's my whole point. You know, he's not he's not high up on the list.

He's not I mean, I'm not noisy data like he's he's in like the actual like, hey, he's one of the clearly one of the 10 best Americans right now. Like he's all the I meant he was like, high up like not in the top. He's like in the 20s, right right 29th going into this week. I'm guessing he's gonna be inside the top 20. No noisy data list though. Like Alright, so he is the 12th best American over the last three months in strokes gained. So like literally right on the edge, like right on the edge and just behind him is big

tone Russell Henley. He's gonna be Russell Henley is gonna pass him in that. And don't you want somebody on the team though that sees you make that play this morning? Sees you make that vandal play and says, fuck that guy. He goes out and he just rubs your face. That's the kind of player I want on my team. Maybe Solly is playing a long game here and he's trying to foment doubt and insecurity

with Keegan so that Keegan thrives in that environment. Just like he said, you know, we're going to go out. We're going to, everybody's doubted me my whole career. So I think two things can be true here. One, I agree with you that I don't, I think he gets a bit of a pass as like a good Ryder cupper. It's like, Hey, it's great that you care deeply and you didn't unpack your suitcase. That's awesome. But like, so cool. Also you, you you you kind of wrote Phil's coattails there as like his partner and you guys like, you know, we're like, oh, the team and it's like, you guys weren't really

that good together. Also, you were you shut Rory showed up eight minutes before your tea time and whooped your ass and that was exactly also like, I'm with you knows, who knows what Rory was doing the night before in that morning. But I'm also like that can be true. And I think he, like, I would like to see him on the Ryder Cup. Like, I'm rooting for it, baby.

If he is it, got it. He shouldn't have said that he wouldn't pick himself. Because if he's in the top 10, if he's in that 6 to 10 range, where it is a captain's pick, and he just shouldn't have said that, he should pick himself. I respect him as a leader on that, honestly. I think it's great. I'm in on Keegan is the thing.

Even when pressed on this, KVV did not think he's going to be on the team. Only TC and DJ think he's going to be on the team. But KVV does think he's going to win the Masters, which is sick. That is sweet. Well, if he wins the Masters, he's going to be on the team then. Almost certainly, if that's the case. But who do you think is more likely to be on the team playing?

Spieth or Keegan Keegan I think Keegan has a better shot at right now your spieth thing was I hate it cuz I love you know I love speed just as much as you guys do but you were like yes You were you were chewing him in when we did the Ryder Cup segment a couple of such a ridiculous Summation I said it's more likely than not that he would make the team I said it's more likely than not that he would make the team It's really not Just not it that's not Points until this last Keegan he has the opportunity to be picked

This is not that complicated like Keegan has to get the top six. George has to be in the top 15 doesn't make it more likely than not I feel like there's a lot of other guys that are ahead of him on that list right whoo That's Daniel burger for one. He continues to sign and vibe burger because he's playing better He's playing better than speed period. I will you guys know I love speed right now I would a hundred percent rather a burger on the team to no offense to anyone Speeds got top tens and two of his last three like What a burger you said if you made that same statement about JT,

I'd ride with you on it. More likely than not going to be on the team. Spieth? No way. He's coming back from a wrist injury. I mean, he's getting sponsor exemptions. He didn't even get into this week. He's got some work to do, man.

I say it's more likely than not that he's not on the team. OK. We'll see. Can I go down the leaderboard? Of course, TC. Thank you. What else we got? Corey Connors, such a Canadian round today. He's chasing makes 17 pars and a birdie. It was so elegant, though. It was so elegant. It was a great up

and down on 18. Just never pushed his chips in. He hit him and Colin both just you know kind of kind of coasted to the finish but does Cory have a good record at the players? It would seem like that would be a fit. I don't think he does. I feel like I've looked this up in the past but also like every time I look this up there's no one that really has nobody serious record there. The players is like the it's like the men in black thing. He has he does have a good record is last going back to 2019

starting with last year t 13 cut t 26 seven to 41. He performs point eight two shots above expectation per round as of course, courtesy of our friends at data golf. He see to your point about, uh, the men in black thing with the players. I was, I watched a little bit of the color guard, the dump in a box classic a couple of days ago and now up there. It was like all like past players winners. Cause they're doing a little Russian nesting doll promotion for the players.

It was like Steven Ames, Jerry Kelly, like there was like seven guys in the field at the Coligar that had won the players. Fred Funk. What? Fred Funk? I was like, what the fuck, man? I'd like, really? Like I just have no historical knowledge of the players. And you could do that. Like you could name so many years. And even for a nerd like me, if you're like, who won the 2011 players? Like I have no idea you give you asked me any of the majors in 2011 I can tell you 20 2006 I can't I know who has won them I can never match them to you. Yeah, like they all kind

of blend together. It's it was weird. I was like, Whoa, Steve, like Fred Fung, they showed footage of Fred Fung. It's like, Yeah, I kind of Yeah, all right. It's crazy. Lowry played well. 76 on Saturday. Not great. But you know, good form otherwise. Team Rose T8. Day kind of yeah, playing real nice. They kind of spit the bit a little bit today. 74 today. God, you see the mud ball he had on 16. I did. I did. Sick. I feel like he leaned, you know, kind of classic J day like maybe we sold the mud ball that looked like a bad swing to chunk the shit. Yeah, like I would barely made the water. That's come on, man. Yeah.

Tommy 11. Anybody shot 75 in the first round and then went seven under the rest of the way. He just got the bad side of the draw. He was out at eight 50 on Thursday. Otherwise he would have won this thing going away. Sure. Sure. Just like speed shoe in for the Ryder cup. You both are crazy. Scotty putted awful lost five, almost five and a half shots on the greens and finished, you know, seven back. So I think if Scottie's putter heats up at all everybody's in big big trouble again. Big Shot Bob played well this wouldn't seem like a course that necessarily fits him. It was between Keegan and Big Shot Bob for who I was going to pick to shoot over over a number today and I'm glad I chose Keegan because it was way more entertaining

that way. DBStraightVibin T15, Rory T15 drove it very poorly this week, which was strange. Sungjae, kind of a stinker from him, T19. I mean that was a guarantee when I picked him to win on Wednesday. Just, you know, you need to anytime I pick Sungjae, people out there should just stanza that play. Just throwing that out there. And then Ludwig. We're weak for Ludwig. Lied well today. That's 77 on Saturday. Just bizarre. He was hitting drivers on six and three that were covering the water by three yards. He was playing so aggressively. I'm guessing that

was the left edge of where he could possibly hit it. But yeah, he melted down pretty quickly after that one. But yeah, I was just like watching like, what are we doing here, man? This is way too aggressive. TC, I'm just getting word. The plus 2800 parlay I put together, missed by one shot. Fitz finishing T22, missed by one shot for a four-way top 20 parlay of Sung J, Jason Day, Matt Fits, and Russ Henley. That one's, that's a bummer. I give it up on it. I didn't realize Sung J got into the, back into the top 20.

He had, oh, he shot 500 on the back nine. That'll do it. All right. I was getting ready to shout out Andrew Novak today and he shot 78. And then listen, I hate to do this, Solly. I hate it. Big tone shot 80 today. He shot 68 on the hard day. He shot 80 on the easy day. So bottom line, I want to shout out the tour. They played in like four hours today and they played,

you know, I know the conditions were somewhat easier today, but they finished like 15, 20 minutes ahead of schedule today. Praise progress, right? You wanna tell them why, TC? Two-sums, right? Two-sums off one tee, cut in the signature event down to 50 guys or whatever it is.

Under four hours played. It's not a complicated formula. No, it's not. And listen. Another win for signature events. I know I'm a signature event stan and a D-rider for him. But there's a lot of positives that come from these things. So you know what else Tom can miss the cut. I love that there's a cut in this too. Like I think it's it's these this formula for Genesis for Arnold Palmer and for Memorial is the best of all of them. And

I'd say like I'm not this isn't my favorite golf course. I'm sure that's been well stated, but it was, it's fun. Back nine on Sunday, watching like big names on the leaderboard and we got a pretty good finish. And that's like it, like you said, it's not complicated.

You know what else isn't complicated? The player caddy convo stuff. It's great. Like just, it took five, 10 years to figure it out. Throw every freaking logo you can think of on screen and just don't talk and let me listen to them. I please copy and paste that now. Soly, how'd you feel? How'd you feel about that? Or or the broadcast today?

It was a great addition to it. We talked about it on Wednesday, we you know, it was announced this was going to happen. They're gonna do this beyond the ropes thing. And they're gonna you know, flash MasterCard up there. I thought it was totally unaffiliate. You know, you know, it's heavy handed with the sponsorship stuff. But it's, you know, allegedly in exchange for MasterCard's paid commercial inventory, like cut away from the golf, we'll show you a

commercial. They sponsor player caddy combos instead a Trillion thumbs up. Thank you. Mastercard. It's a lot of thumbs. I Don't have the evidence in front of me. I was not timing commercials my First suspicion when I heard about this happening was that NBC was just gonna sell those commercials to somebody else anyways And there was not gonna actually feel like any cut in commercials, again, don't have the numbers, but it definitely felt that way. So it is, it felt like a big middle finger to MasterCard of like, we're giving up commercials, commercial space

to bring more golf. Yet it felt completely disjointed the entire weekend. And there was just a massive amount of commercials like there always is, to the point where I don't know if that exchange is really worth it, is how I felt watching it. And I feel like people feel that exchange is really worth it, is how I felt watching it. And I feel like people feel the same way. And it was just all coalesced with hopefully their biggest bag fumble of the year, which is missing Russell Henley's contact with the chip that he hold for

Eagle on the 70th hole of the tournament to take the lead for the first time. What do you think they picked the ball up at 10 feet out, 15, if I'm being generous? I mean, it it was I couldn't believe it honestly the irony is it was a Rolex commercial that was playing and Rolex has brought us so many commercial free hours programs but it was so bad and it and I gave him the benefit that I was like you know oh I was scrolling like what I just missed that like and then I rewound it and I was like oh no I didn't miss it they just they just came out of commercial too late. Guys I feel like now it's this I don't even think we have to go that hard on it because

this this is a mainstream issue now you got David Portnoy furiously tweeting about it you got I mean I got 20 dms about it I don't even like we don't have to have to say anything. It's just it's out there. This issue belongs to the world now. It's no longer our our cross to bear. And I would say just generally, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep saying it my this is kind of my platform. We just have too many voices in the booth. Not, not enough of them are saying interesting stuff.

And I've listened in each individual in a vacuum. I really don't have an issue with whether it's kids is fine. Hicks is fine. Facts is fine. But you know, Kurt's fine. Smiley bones. Like I like them, but it's like, yo, we, we I don't it's just too many voices. I don't know why we have to have three and next week it's probably gonna be four guys

in the booth. Sally probably gonna be freaking Trico in there too. And they're gonna split into twos. It's like, what are we doing? This is always the hardest show to do because we're going into the week where NBC is at their best and it's coming off the week where I feel like they're always at their worst. I think the Arnie glazing shout out to Jordan, our Gen Z correspondent here. I had to check with her to make sure I was using glazing properly because it's not

my life. But it just like it doesn't. I don't know. Maybe it just it almost like does Arnie a disservice the way they treat this tournament. I think of just like maybe I don't. Maybe I misunderstand the king, but I just don't think he would enjoy just people, you know, glazing him for hours on repeat and just like forcing it in is the problem, like forcing this into the storyline, even when it's not there. And then all the commercials on it and just MasterCard everywhere on everything. It just, I don't know, maybe he would love it because he was famously one of the most commercial players of all time.

But it just, they had a couple of neat good things. I mean, they kind of had a picture and picture of the swing with a drone. I was gonna bring that up too. I had that as like, I would like to give him flowers on that one. Like that drone, you know, with the tracer is good stuff. You see the whole, you know, sometimes it's like, you know, don't get a sense of if that's a good line or not. But it's it's effort. And I appreciate the effort. Yeah, I mean, so again, lagging behind CBS and only doing it because they did it first. But yeah, it's it's it's laid bare kind of what we're what we're kind of dealing with here. But again, it's like what's I can get to worked up today because

they usually do a great job with players and it's a lot limited, a lot more limited commercials and you can see what they can do with like a decent, not a hamstrung TV deal. That's kind of where I, the only apology I'll make for NBC. it exceeded my expectations. And back to what Michael Kim was saying, I find it more entertaining to watch these guys play defensive. Now, if you had a little more short grass around the edges and it just didn't roll right off into thick rough around the greens, I think that could be really interesting. But I thought the golf course played hard enough this week. I know it could have been, we wanted more conditions, but I think they turned it up

and I appreciate that. There is something too, like, I probably don't say this enough of like, honestly, like what the tour has so much in its favor is just like course history, like familiarity of so many of these places. Like I do not like this place, I've been secretive about that. But like the fact that we have so much history and you know kind of what to expect and what the holes are gonna be like coming in.

Like you just, there is something, some familiarity to it that people enjoy when they tune in. And I think that we probably don't say that enough. The 15th hole cracks me up every single time I see it. Just a shared T-box across the road. There's a new house by 18 that looked like Guantanamo Bay. I think it's still a little bit finishing that one. But yeah, I'm excited to move on to this week. But I know TC you got some notes here. I'm gonna hit you with guys with some five quick stats from the week. If you don't mind, you mentioned this one already, TC Scottie led the field in strokes gained off the tee. That's a noteworthy development for the coming week. Ludwig was second, but was near the bottom with his iron play for the week. It can be a little weird. I mean, just because this golf course can

penalize you really hard for misses. If you're dumping in the water, I kind of missed where he made his, his messes, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're wildly off. You just made some big time mistakes on a penal golf course. Will Zaltoris is hitting the golf ball. Top 10 off the tee and approach. We are monitoring the situation. Putted poorly. That is not that surprising on greens

that are very difficult to putt, and somebody's not a strong putter to begin with. So just monitoring that one. Keegan Bradley led the field in approach play this week, at least as of the time that I was putting my notes together. You know what, Sully? That's the best thing of you to put into your five stats. I appreciate that. Nothing if not honest. Okay. I got to go in for you, TC. I was super impressed with this one. I had to scroll back so far to find this out. I know this is a weird data golf thing that nobody really actually cares about. But Tommy

has not had his 50 round moving average dip below one stroke gained since the Canadian Open in 2023. Translating that, unbelievably remarkably consistent golf and it like usually it's really up like 1.4 1.9 range for like a solid year and a half and his his his his chart of play just looks like this it's it's really really impressive he's a real golfer he's very real golfer he's and he he remains windless on the pga tour yeah he's got a multitude of important wins worldwide neil fair enough tc multitude of important wins worldwide, Neil.

Fair enough, TC. Any other notes from from Arnold Palmer TC? I saw Cam Young hit his opening tee shot out of bounds with an air pod in. Was he doing like an ESPN live ESPN plus live hit or something or was he gonna do that? I was that was confusing. Rafa Campos, his letter didn't help him make the cut. EM seed there. I thought we had a really nice spirited discussion about the exemptions on Wednesday.

And, you know, Spieth not getting one, hey, maybe he turns up at Valspar because of it, right? Or last week. Hovland changed his shoes, trying to recapture some form for putting though putting for putting which I thought was that was that was the part of the headline it was like huh that was beautiful boy uh so you wanted to shout out uh max uh yeah I said that he was he was grinding he had a great front nine in that second round after a very, very poor opening round that looked like he was going to battle back and get within the cut, but then was not able to maintain that as he flipped over into the

back nine and and missed the cut. But I thought the Wyndham drop situation, I thought the tour used they used the shot link cameras and for those that missed the situation is on the third hole or the 11th hole those holes look the exact same to me but window hit a tee shot it clearly bounces gets leaves its pitch mark and falls into a pitch mark. And as it happened live the commentators are saying well you know it didn't plug it didn't embed he should not get relief here he got relief. They

reviewed it on footage you were saying it didn't plug it didn't embed he should not get relief here. He got relief. They reviewed it on footage you were saying TC and found that it fell into its own pitch mark. Yeah, it did. And good on them for actually addressing it and being transparent. Oh, it seems like the tour is trying to try to make an effort on that front these days. So praise progress there. Uh, what else we got? That's it. It is fascinating to me how just like watching stuff on photo and social media, maybe not the best platform to figure out the true temperature of things,

but like how much the PG tour has lost the locker room in terms of people. People are all I could see on the for you page was just like, oh, Winnum's cheating in the tour. Just let him get away with it. Like how are you supposed to take this product seriously? People are just so worked up about a ruling that apparently they ended up getting correct. But they've nobody gives them any benefit of the doubt on anything anymore.

I mean, you know, they got a long way to go, right? I kind of what else we got? That's that's really it. I think you know, saw you were you were all worked up about Craig ranch, charging 80k initiation, but that's So that seems like a deal in my neck of the woods. I'm like, I get why you you're fired up about it, but That's like, oh man, that'd be like third tier in in the tri-state area. It's outrageous on that on that list. There was another place called Oakmont. This is just the Dallas Fort Worth area. It's outrageous on that on that list. There was another place called Oakmont. This is just the Dallas Fort Worth area. There's a place called Oakmont KVV was like 7K for Oakmont.

Like that's crazy. I know a different Oakmont. There's a trend on this list. So let's get to the back nine. If you're ready then TC. Neil, why don't you kick us off on the back nine? Tenth hole. Tenth hole. Yeah, you know what? We're gonna we're gonna press pause a little bit on the PGA tour stuff and and and our tenth hole is brought to you by serve pro It's our mulligan segment here serve pro is the number one brand and cleanup and restoration isn't and is known to make any mess Like it never even happened feel like Colin needs to call in serve pro this evening Maybe break down the film a little bit.

Like he made a mess there on the last three holes. Anyway, normally we're apologizing, taking a mulligan on some takes that we've had. Which would have been too easy for today. Yeah, yeah, like we could have thrown Keegan in there. Like, yeah. Take that one. Spieth being a shoe in for the Ryder Cup.

Like those are, those are easy. TC taking off a little different route. And I want to call out The PGA Tour posted a clip on social media yesterday that they asked, I think Colin, Billy Horschel, and JT, what one shot in your career do you want to mulligan on? And it was like, you can tell when you get a player, they're like, oh man, that's a good question. And I love the question. I'd like them to keep doing this or I'd like, you know, if I'd like to ask PGA players this because that you get there, they all have like photographic memories. And so you gave them a minute and they kind of bounce around with the edit of the video and it gets really specific. JT's was like, oh,

like 16th hole at Belle Reve at the PGA. Like I just dumped a wedge in the back right bunker and then I chipped out and missed the putt. And he's like, if I hit that wedge right, I'd probably make birdie there and I might have all the momentum and I might win that tournament. Such a specific thing that you just, I just love that. And I think Billy Horschel's was related to the tour championship. He missed the short putt. And of course they have the clips of each shot.

So it's, I thought a really well-done little social concept. So I wanted to bring it here to the podcast. I'm going to ask you guys, what is the one shot you guys want to mulligan on in your golf career? T.C., I want to start with you. I would say the one at Royal Melbourne West against solid 18th hole. I just, yes, that one haunts me. It was Taurus sauce. It just, and I don't think I was going to beat you probably at Kingston Heath, but I just, it just bugs me that such a great match ended with such a bad shot But I just it just bugs me that such a great match ended with such a bad shot and and in such an unspecific shot like I was just trying to bump one out there instead of

You know aggressive swings to conservative targets, right? So yeah, that's it and in the mega light. Yeah Maybe like the best afternoon of golf and NLE history. That was a tough way to finish it. Soly, what do you got? I'm going to go full TC here and I'm going to give you two. Okay? I'm going to give you why. If you watched this past week's... Soly, full TC would have been like four or five. If you watched this past week's video of me playing in the 2025 Gasparilla, you might not believe what I'm about to say next, which is at the 2021 version of the tournament, over halfway through it, I had this eight foot birdie putt on the 12th hole

that would have put me in second place of the tournament. I just hit a weak putt. I didn't trust the read. Just did not hit like a confident putt. And I missed it on the right side. It was just a bad effort. It's not the fact the right side. It was just a just a bad effort. It's not the fact that I missed it. I just gave it a bad effort. And I proceeded to go bogey, bogey, bogey double after this and

ended up falling all the way back and do like a tie for 20th by the end of the round and then finish like T 36 or something like that. And I'm not saying I would have won the tournament. But if I had just poured that putt in, maybe the rest of that round goes differently. And maybe I would have won the tournament, but if I had just poured that putt in, maybe the rest of that round goes differently. And maybe I would have gotten to survive round three and be in contention and have a finish that I would have been very proud of. But that's the one I think about this one way, way, way too often.

See, I love that. And how specific that is, it's like only you could know. It was like, no, you think it was the double I made four holes later. It's like, no, it was actually the, but I missed like four holes before that. That fucked everything up, which is well, it didn't fuck everything up. I don't know, but we'll never know. And I want to know, I would want to know the answer to that question. I probably still know the answer that it was probably going to

collapse at some point. But you never know. And then I go back to when it comes to some of our content or our video series, I had this putt to close out DJ at Sylvie's after I drove the green on the par 4 17th. I remember this. I was standing just left of this camera frame. I drove to about five feet. It was a tough putt and I was nervous over it, but if I make that putt, I win the match. I knew he was popping on 18. He went and won the 18th hole with the pop and beat me in a playoff. And I think I would have won this season of Tora Sauce if I had just got through that match.

I think I shot like 68 against you the next day, Neil, all hung over. I think I would have beat Brady. You beat my doors off in the consolation match the next day. Look at me. I wish I could go back to that specific place and time just because that golf course was so big. It was so fun. It was baked out and link see and firm and fast and the reversible nature of it.

That was awesome. 2020 social distance, you're just out in the middle of nowhere. That was a specific place and time, TC. I don't want to go back to that place and time as far as COVID goes. Yeah. No, but a good place to be during that. Just truly in the middle of the high desert. I can't wait for your answer, Neil. What is your answer? Well, no, it's pretty simple. I should have brought up a clip or a screenshot, but I think it was the approach shot into 18 at Lofoten links against you. The match was, I believe I was one up or we were all, I can't remember if I was one up

or we were all square. I think we were all square. And then we both kind of threw up on ourselves on 18, but I kind of tugged, I hit a chloroform in the kind of in like the weird darkness at like one AM dark. I hit a long left ball that I just it just just hit the green there and we don't go to extra holes and you don't get that bounce off the rocks. Basically the bounce out of out of the Norwegian Sea. You know it back into play and you win that season. I go back to that wedge because it's like I was in the middle of the fairway and it was one of those like, oh dude, just this is 128 is a great number for you. And I just didn't execute. You know, I thought for sure you're in your Pacific Grove 18th.

No, I thought about that. I thought about Forest Park on strapped, but you know what? Those are like, those are so early in things that like, those are like, I like those, I like those scars, you know, you're like, those are six stories. It's like, oh yeah, man, I just completely like, you know, collapsed against my older brother. Like, yeah, that's great. That's good stuff. I don't, I don't care about that. Yeah.

It was more like the, I thought I was going to get over the hump there against Sally and it just didn't happen in, in Norway. So anyway, those are good answers guys. Thank you. So just shout out to serve pro once again, serve pro.com or call 1-800-ServePro today if you've got fire, water, or just damage. Just in my honor. I hope you don't have to call them, but if you do, keep them in mind. 100%. Get those big industrial fans pumping. Makes a big difference. All right. PC, let's kick it over to the live corner. Just put us in the live corner,

start punching us in the gut. Yeah, Sergio and the fireballs just, I think they're the first, Arlo White mentioned it. They're the first three time. What a moment! Individual and team winner in live history. So just big, you know, rare air there. I wanted to ask you guys, do you think and Blandy played not good. The cliques were fucking awful. Mickelson played really well. They're in Hong Kong. Finished third. Yeah, yeah. What do you guys think Sergio will be on the

Ryder Cup team? Dude, based on our Ryder Cup segment a couple weeks ago, Sally, I don't because there's nobody mentioned him. Nobody said he be on the Ryder Cup team? Dude, based on our Ryder Cup segment a couple weeks ago, Solly, I don't because there's nobody mentioned him. Nobody said he they are stacked TC. I feel like we got Rasmus, near guard Peterson, finished second down in Puerto Rico as well. And I almost don't mean that as a diss to Sergio. I just mean it's like, you got a lot of young guns that you don't have room for already.

And so I don't think they need them. Okay. Soly. If I, I think that's one we would want over, um, both with his Ryder Cup history, the fact that I mean, you kind of got to throw the live stuff out the window as it is with Rom and Hatton as, as, as it stands now. I, if you'd asked me three years ago ago that I ever think he would ever play in a Ryder Cup again after saying this is a piece of shit tour, you guys are all fucked. No, I would

not have guessed that, but the numbers kind of check out. I don't think this win really does a whole lot for me necessarily, but it makes that... it would be a deliberate bypass at a certain point. If he continues to play really good golf, it's a deliberate bypass. It's a distraction that I'm not sure Luke wants to deal with. And that's actually like a credit to Luke of just being like, I think I can get the most out of Sergio.

I think he could have a role to play on the team if he continues this level of golf. You know, it's not been the best kind of three months span, but he's been one of the 12 best Europeans over the last six months, 12 months and 24 months in strokes. So, um, maybe it may have a couple on us for not even mentioning them last week, but, uh, it is easy to forget about some of the live guys over there. And you know, it, it's just really, really hard to deny his Ryder Cup record.

He is 25, 13 and seven in Ryder Cups. So. Speaking of denying, Dean Bermas to finish solo second, minus 15, I think, you know, denying him a President's Cup slot along with Waco. Carl, you know, Carl Phillips won down in Puerto Rico as well. He's been on he's been on my watchlist for a while. So I didn't want to call out on the other end of the spectrum. Dustin Johnson, dying a president's cup spot. That's a PJ tour event. Like we know very well why they were not given spots in the president's cup. Dustin Johnson finished DFL 54th. L II.V. That's sad, dude. He got beat by Henrik Stenson, Horsfield beat him by one as well as Anthony Kim beat him

and Taylor Gooch finished 49th, Koukrak finished 42nd. So I guess the only thing that I think of here, do you guys think he cares? No. Like, do you think think he cares? No. Like do you think he's like, DJ? Yeah, yeah, like you think that bums him out that he's DFL. No, it's not one bit.

Like a hundred and seven other guys. Yeah, done. Yeah, I don't think DJ gives two shits. And I don't even think that's like a lack of pride. I just think it's like, you know, it's just checked out. So, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't paint everyone on live with that brush, obviously, but like DJ specifically, like, no,

dude, he clearly is done. It's, I don't think DJs like pretended to like not be done. No, that's very true. I mean, I do want to shout out to smash came in 12th. The Majestics came in 13th. It were 11 shots behind Smash. There were 31 shots off the pace. Guys, Smash doesn't have a point yet. It's crazy. What's going on there?

They got Gooch, Keppka. It's crazy. So, Kleeks are struggling a little bit right now. Sorry, TC. Keep an eye on it. Solly, take us to just broader live, if PGA Tour. Yeah, let's go to the 12th hole. We got three little segments here. We're gonna do, we touched on this,

it dropped right before our happy hour, but didn't get to spend a lot of time on it. Eamonn Lynch got an exclusive interview with Jay Monahan. We have a Jay Monahan presser coming up this week, and also Joel Beal had a great piece for Golf Digest, kind of encapsulating everything going on with Liv, Piff, PJ Tour, all that stuff. So, TCM, throw it to you first. You had the, the, the, Amy Lynch article. We're not going to read the whole thing. What are your three biggest takeaways from Jay Monahan's interview with Amy Lynch?

First was that I think this was a really good format for Jay. I applaud the tour for getting him in this context in this medium. You know, he threw a lot of bullshit against the wall, per usual, but I think it was a lot more digestible just because you're not sitting there listening to him bumble his way through it in a press conference or a speech. I mean, Eamon came out fire and he said, you know, like, Jay, first question, like, why do you have a job? You know, and then, and then kind of chalked it up to, hey, that's what people on the internet are trolls or some of your own players are asking, which I thought was a very, you know, very valid question. Jay said, like every player out here, I'm focused on always trying to get better.

If you look at how the tour has evolved to support our players and fans, that's a big way I'm measured and my team is measured. Let me get to the heart of the question you're asking because it's a question about leadership. When you're fortunate enough to serve in the capacity that I serve, there are going to be criticisms.

It's my job to understand them and where appropriate to apply those learnings. This is a big complex organization and all those criticisms should be directed at one person, the leader of the organization. I take pride in the fact that I listen to them and I try to get better. Again, I just think we're, you know,

and he kind of broke his tenure down to three parts, the intro, COVID, and then the last, you know, three or four years, fighting the live stuff as well. So I do think, you know, there are a couple, I think the one thing that he's really, really good at that you've seen over the last couple of weeks is he's really good at getting sponsors to pay money for a product that a lot of people are saying is washed. Not canceled, but washed. Not canceled.

It's not canceled. Yeah. Where you know, 3m re up this week. Valspar re up a few weeks ago, all through 2030, even with the schedule and flux and all that stuff. So I would say that to this and against what we've talked about many times over the course of the last few years is like, that's what this job was. Yeah-COVID and pre-live and pre-PGL was like, hey, just get people to keep spending money. If you're good at that, you're going to be a good commissioner. And like,

I think there was, if the three eras that he breaks his career up into, I think he would get a passing grade in the first part. I will say he didn't, he didn't really passing grade in the first part. I will say he didn't really do shit in the first part. Well, but he kept the gravy train going, but it was... It was all about the TV contract. Yeah, but it entrenched the PGA tour in some problem areas for another decade that you could have seen coming, but it just kicked the can down the line that they paid heavily for on the back end. COVID, kind of hard to not give them a passing grade for COVID, getting back to, you know, keeping the gravy train

going there and getting people paid and all that stuff. But yeah, I guess we're probably going to view the last era quite differently than he would some made. And then otherwise, I think he's, you know, he said stuff about it being a global sport, increasingly global schedule, that was the first time he's really hammered that point home. He kept referencing TGL as a massive win or product advancement. I'd be a little bit cheapish on that. Neil, you got a kick out of, Ethan said, you mentioned investment capital from SSG. Any particular reason why we're 13 months into the SSG relationship got a significant move being made with that money. He said, you don't know if a move has been made. Sometimes moves would be made and haven't been announced. And Eamon asked, so has there been a

move or not? We're active right now. We're active. I said, I'm going to start using that's going in my lexicon. We're active right now. Okay. We're just we're active. Okay, you don't even know what we're doing. We're doing all kinds of stuff, crazy stuff. We're active. So yeah, that's it. I mean, it should be an interesting week as far as he's got his big presser what Tuesday? Let's do that right now. Neil, yeah, he's got his presser this week. What are what are three questions you'd love to hear asked towards Jay Monahan? Some of them, I think, TC, to your point, Eamon did a really good job. You don't have to get super creative here, but I think he has to continue to answer some

of the questions he was asked in this interview because I didn't think his answers were very good. First off, I would say with performance-based layoffs happening a couple of weeks ago at the PGA Tour, the golf fans expect to shake up in the executive ranks at the Tour. I would follow that up with, how would you rate your executive team's performance since June 6th, 2023? Point to me where you guys have done a good job from a communication standpoint, setting proper expectations.

Oh, the deal is going to be done by the end of 2023. It's fucking March of 2025. Like this is day one, like business school stuff. Like what are you doing, man? You under promise and over deliver and at every step they've done the opposite. So I think like I would like to see the media try to continue to ask these questions. And then the other one I would say is know, like continue to ask these questions. And then the other one I would say is you were adamant in 2023, that a deal would be done by December 31 of that year. It's March of 2025. What is a realistic timeline on unifying professional golf or ending these negotiations? Because I think at this point, what's so frustrating is it's like we're just we've been in limbo for we're coming up on two years, a year and a half. And it's like, are we going to do something or not?

And because that nothing new can happen until you figure it like, nobody wants to use the war chest until you know what direction, like what's the North star? What are we going, what are we doing? Are we going to use the war chest to try to get Bryson or Brooks or, you know, cam Smith back so we can do a global thing? Or are you, are you going to use the war chest to like, you know, make everybody feel better and if those if the tours reunite and the current members and equity holders, the players are unhappy. But like, he's probably going to answer that one with we're interviewing a new CEO right now. The first one and then the second one will be, I'm not going to

negotiate in public. We're not going to do this in front of, which I like my big question to him would be, but then it would be like, but you did do that back in June 6th. That's my point. It's like, so why now on TV together, you already gave us a, like, once you open the box of I'm going to put a deadline, like I'm going to give you a timeline, you can't just not give timelines again. And like he should be put on the spot to answer for that as much as possible because that is like to my like when I'm looking at this, I'm like, that was like the dumbest thing ever. Other than like we're going to take a competitor off the board. That was also very stupid. Also, for me, and like we really really, really like, did you hear the freaking commissioner? You can't, you just got to know, you can't say those things. Like, that's just bad business.

Oh, I mean, he's done some more things that are just like, just defy common sense like that. I think the, the bar is so low that like, we're, we're sitting here applauding them for, for him actually communicating with fans or putting, you know, like making himself available instead of the one time a year that he does it. That's what I'm saying. It's like, all right, I've got two more. One, I would, I wish somebody would ask this question directly. Have you considered stepping aside as commissioner in the last 12 months? Like, I mean, I would love to know if you've even considered it. Like you like,

Eamon kind of pulled it down a little bit and he's like, no, like, you know, I've, I've no doubt, like I love this job more than I ever have kind of thing. And then the last one I'd say, amen. Lynch told you were, uh, you told amen. Lynch, uh, we're active right now. When asked about strategic use of SSG investment, can you outline one or two specific things you have done or plan to do with the SSG money? Like they're going to try to buy the rider cup. They're going to try to buy the sawgrass Marriott. And again,

it's like, Oh, we can't let you in on our plans. It's like that, but that's not true. It's like you hear, like I'll point to like Mike one with the LPGA, like he would tease like, Hey, we're thinking about this. We're thinking about like we've, he would almost give you storylines to pull on. Like we haven't made a decision on this yet, but he would get people excited. Yeah. Jay Monahan he's not get anybody excited about anything. And that I think is his biggest weakness as the PGA tour commissioner is like, you're not telling me a story, man.

You're giving me fake deadlines. So now I don't believe you. And you're not giving me anything to get excited about like potentially we could buy the rider cup. Well, just say, Hey, that'd be cool to even like consider, like give people a chance to get excited about the future. I don't know if that would be. Yeah, that's more, that's more promises more more things. But that's the beauty or like the that's the that's the juice of a leader. They can kind of tease stuff without like putting themselves in a corner. That like he can't he can't add liberty, which is why he's not the right guy for the job. Like there's no like I think the only way that somebody new comes in is if he continues to be put on the spot to prove like yo man you're not

doing the job that's the job you are the chief story teller. I feel like that's been proven 15 times over the last four or five years. My big question would be over the last four or five years. My big question would be, how could you have misread the first meeting and just the state of negotiation so badly that you were compelled to put out the press release that you did after the first meeting at the White House and then walked in as flat-footed and you know, it's all you'll get into the Joel Beale piece in a sec just because that's kind of confirm what we we intimated a few weeks ago of like, the meeting went fucking horribly with Yasser to the point where like, like Yasser felt like just just absolutely flabbergasted by the lack of awareness

after they Leon leaded the ball before crossing the end zone. If you allow me, let's get into that now. Please. Because I think that ties a bow on this whole thing, which is Joel Beale had an article for Golf Digest, confirms what we knew about things going poorly. And I really enjoyed the piece and how it laid out the way that he did it.

Because I keep thinking about little things in piecemeal and it doesn't add up and make sense. But to tie everything together and have it all still like not make sense actually makes me feel better about all the discussions we've had of like, OK, yeah, this is, this is a big circle here. And I'm gonna give you 3, 3 kind of takeaways from it, or 3 key passages, I think, from the whole thing. But he said, Prior to the 2024 presidential election, consensus held that live would endure in a post-agreement landscape, albeit reconfigured from its current iteration with team elements preserved. This structure was deemed necessary to satisfy antitrust regulations as a legitimate competitor to the PGA tour needed to exist. However, Trump's electoral victory in November fundamentally altered this thinking, with tour leadership now operating under the presumption that Trump's

Department of Justice would expedite approval for any arrangement effectively questioning lives very necessity Meanwhile Yasser Al-Ramayan views live golf not merely as a business venture But as PIF as the PIF governor's brainchild and enduring legacy what others dismissed as straightforward commercial negotiations represents for him, a deeply personal endeavor. And it's our project that but that's like, fuck you guys. It like, everything fell the way it needed to Trump got elected, like he was gonna wave it all

through to the point where they probably showed up that meeting and be like, we're like, yeah, live goes away, right? And he's like, No, fuck you. Like, I'm the one with the most money here. And this is my baby. It's not going away with him. Yeah. And it's just, it all makes me laughing and kind of cry at the same time. But he also said, second point, this remains undeniable negotiations have hit a significant impasse. Monahan's public silence since

the framework agreement of June 6 2023, made his fourth right in assured media address last month at Torrey Pines particularly striking. His confidence about reunifying professional golf under a single tour seemed to signal breakthrough developments. Woods, renowned for his strategic reticence, reinforced the narrative during CBS's Genesis Invitational broadcast suggesting a deal's eminent conclusion. Which again was just a couple weeks ago and how fucking stupid does that look now? I know. On top of June 6th.

Again, over promising and under delivering. Again, hold it out. This is just Jay got it. Hey, Department of Defense is going to wave this through and there's like a safety hovering over the top that he just didn't see. Ed Reed just waiting. Troy Palamalu just giving somebody CTE. It's just the final point I just said,

the question now confronting tour leadership. If they could successfully extract just one marquee name from the Ram DeChambeau-Kepka triumvirate, might the moment have arrived to call Liv's existential bluff? So basically, Joel kind of concludes here, is a deal the right way? Or are they better off like honing in on a few of these guys and you know, pissing a bunch of people off

and promising them equity? And PJ Tord in that article that like, there's no way the money guys are gonna want like some shadowy competitor like with bottomless. Yeah, that's just gonna, that's just gonna piss Yasser off more. That's not solving the problem. But they've got equity now in enterprises, right? And is that, you know, if these guys have turned away, live at every turn to this point, the guys that are still

there at the PGA Tour, and they get the other guys back, and we get everyone kind of rolling in the right direction, is there any amount of money that Yasser could spend to get like JT and Speed to jump? I just don't think there is. There was a big piece in the Wall Street Journal today about Neom and just, you know, how much of a disaster that's been, but also like it makes Liv look like such a freaking rounding error that it's like couch cushion money. Like what's another two billion if they throw at it? Yeah, I just don't know if you're in a position now three years into this, do you want to call that bluff? I don't know if the odds are like, it doesn't feel like-

I wouldn't want to play that game. But that's what I'm saying. It's just like all just shooting yourself in the kneecap to get to that point. It's just, oh my God, it's what I'm saying. It's just like all like all just shooting yourself in the knee cap to get to that point. It's just, Oh my God, it's so frustrating, man. Yeah. But shout out to Joel Beale because it's like, you know, this was a fantastic write-up, you know, kind of got rumblings that this was the vibe and it's nice to see it kind of, you know, put into three words, ego, misunderstanding and selfishness. It's like, God, yeah, that's pretty. Those are good sourcing from Joel. Pretty stupid game.

We're summing it up. Yeah. It's just this, man. Like you guys are just not serious people right now. And like, yeah, you're doing freaking or I get that there's there. You got to, you know, but it's like, when is, when are we going to clean house at the top, man? Just needs to be accountability of like, hey, we're doing performance based shit, Jay, like your your ass is your ass is grass, man.

Yeah, so. All right. Well, let's move on. That was a longer we do. We took some body blows in the live corner there. So I saw some rollback discussion here, Lucas Glover, you know, he's been he's been looking for a microphone a bunch Brian Harmon getting in getting in the fight a little bit speaking out against the rollback what what uh what say you what what is a altube catching strays yeah there's there's a lot here uh i'm gonna go through it Brian Harmon said i'm pulling a lot of some Jeff Shackleford's excellent

newsletter which i highly recommend you subscribe to but uh shoe pack headed it's all from shoe packs original reporting as well. Apologies. Thank you, TC. Harmon said I think it's a bad idea. I can't get on board. There are so many more steps we can take to mitigate distance with core setup driver setup before you force companies to R&D a bunch of things. Which I like Brian Harmon a lot. I don't I think we could have

this conversation in 2035 and we still people think, oh, we could just do it with course setup. And then as soon as they try to do something with driver, Brian Harmon is going to be like, over my dead body, you're taking my driver away. It just amazed me that we cannot move the ball past course setup and probably thinking grow the rough up is what addresses all of this, which again, not gonna do the whole debate again. But he said just because a guy that looks like hosel to ve is able to hit home runs doesn't mean you make the ballparks bigger. Well, okay, we baseball changed the baseball baseball changes the

ball all the time. They use wooden bats as well to help rein in the fact that not everybody could just bunt it over the fence. Just shortism calling out to a small here like what are you trying to say about a two way? Come on. It's also not technological advances that are, you know, driving baseballs farther. Anyways, he said, I'm afraid this golf ball rollback will have the opposite effect of what they want. I think you'll have even less skill in the game because it will be even more important to hit the ball far. Guys will train harder to hit it far.

When you take distance out, it becomes more important to hit it far. This point I do not think is mock worthy. I'm not positive. This is like a fair point of all that. I was included this year is I don't want this to just be a, you know, a line up and shoot him down moment here for Brian Harmon, because like, that's a genuine concern and I'm not willing to go on record saying that this is an unreasonable fear. So that's where it's, hey, you got to, like, you know, the devil's in the details and in the application and the execution of these regulations and some of the stuff we're hearing is that like, some of this, like the new ball that they're testing may very well dumb down the game and it doesn't spin. And it, you know, it just creates a bigger gulf between like, I think all this stuff needs to be done in proportion with, we do need smaller driver heads.

We need like all that stuff, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Lucas clever, who I love and I just have got his tooth. Like all that stuff, you know, yeah. Yeah. Yeah Lucas clever Who I love and I just have gonna he's too thoughtful a guy to be saying she like this Yeah, he said they are breaking the world record in the hundred meter. They don't make it 110 guys are shoot pause on that The golf equivalent here would just be moving tees back which they do do

In golf a lot. He said guys are shooting three-pointers better. They don't move the line back The golf equivalent here would just be moving tees back, which they do do in golf. He said guys are shooting three pointers better. They don't move the line back. They're considering it. Well, they've also done that in the past. Have moved the line back many times. They haven't made the goalpost narrower when field goal kickers got better. They moved extra points back. And then he just closed it with it would be nice if somebody took a stand for us for a change. Maybe this could be the opportunity for the tour to do that. And yeah, it's a player run organization, man. And I don't know their high noon.

I bookmarked these couple tweets. This is from Tim Gavrich. I saw these and this was just a good way of submitting it. He said, breathlessly taking the opinions of professional golfers who have complete self-interest in maintaining the status quo as gospel on an issue that is a near future existential threat to the game really says it all.

So the RNA and USGA have been administering competitive golf since 1754 and 1895 respectively. Their whole mission is to think about the future of golf. Tour pros and their stats consultants are paid to think no farther than maybe the next 72 holes. Who should you trust, question mark. Oh, that was just a great, great way of phrasing all this. Of like, man, their thoughts here are shared by many people

involved in this that don't think that something should happen, but it's undeniable that a shitload of work, and again, Shackleford, if I may continue kind of the punching down here moment. Shackleford said, the softest, greediest, and most entitled collection of professional golfers to ever play the game is upset.

They'll lose 15 or so yards off drives, averaging 300 plus yards. They are playing for more money than ever before, despite dwindling television audiences compared to just a few years ago. You'd think they'd have far greater concerns or might even welcome tweaks that could reduce the doldrums of drive and flip wedge golf. He also said the PGA Tour under Jay Monahan's quote, stewardship already got the final rollback watered down and suggested the PJ Tour shot link data was flawed. The tour whined about proposed driving testing rules despite many of its own players suggesting that center face strikes should be better rewarded. And your guy D Sprague, saying that he didn't ever see the table. They didn't ever see the table in the process. We're going to hear so much whinging over distance

in the coming years and like, man, it does just like, it just gets super dumbed down to, I don't know a single amateur that wants to hit it shorter. And it's just like, I don't know if we're ever gonna get past this TC. I really don't. It just comes back to, for me, I just wanna see non-center strikes get penalized again, ball to spin more.

Which in fairness, this proposal does not address what you're talking about. It doesn't. It's, I don't think everybody wants it to be a silk, a simple thing of like, we'll just roll back the golf ball. It's like, ah, man might not be that simple. And it's like, I kind of have to hold two thoughts in my head at the same time.

Like I think, you know, the technology, like in my own game and like, I'm doing the speed training. So I like, I want to hit the ball farther, but it's all to me, it's all relative. It's like, I just want to, I just want to hit the ball. Like I, you know, it doesn't matter to me if like everybody's, the whole game moves back 15 yards, but that might have to be an equipment conversation too. And that's a Pandora's box and they're kind of trying to do it the easy way. And it might not, like you said, it might open up, you know, you try to make one solution that has all these other consequences of like,

I just don't understand why we're the only sport that can't like regulate the equipment. Tennis does it. Swimming does it. Baseball does it. Well, golf does it. We're talking about changing the level of which it's regulated, right? Like there are testing standards, like there are limits to driver head sizes. You can't, the shaft length. Yeah. Like there are rules to it. We're just talking about changing what those, what those actually look like. For me, it just comes down to the thing that makes golf really special in my opinion is the fact that it's played on, like every course is different and there's, there's, you know, specific courses around the world that are.

The greatest ones and the fact that, like, we're running the risk of not being able to go back to those. And we've already ran the risk of not being able to go back to a bunch of them. And we've got less, less options than ever. You know, and in a time constrained world, when it's taking longer than ever to play the game and misses and dispersion is is is kind of wider than ever. It's just, you know, for me, it's like, hey, let's just bring everything back to scale. Right. That's all be like a wedge issue. Yeah. So many of these on the wedge point, like features of the great golf courses, like almost none of them

had the same effect when they have a wedge in like the the features of great golf courses, like almost none of them had the same effect when they have a wedge in. Like the features of great golf courses, that effect is felt when you have seven iron in. And the margin for error of those shots is much greater. And golf is trending more and more towards wedge. Like we see it every single week. Guys are hitting three wood wedge on 18 at Bay Hill today, like this week, like without even helping win. Which cheapens what Tiger did back in the day. I think I saw a tweet from Chris Bowers where he like watched the Tiger-Phil duel from, yeah, I don't know when that was, but it's like, you know, Tiger missed the fairway on the left. He had like 191. He's hitting five iron in. So yeah, that's kind of sick. Like, yeah. And then like real shit can actually happen. Like that's a product thing, right? Real stuff can actually

happen down the stretch. Guys can go back. There's gonna be more volatility and more excitement and all that. Like that's, to me, that's where the tour gets product wrong the most is, hey, let's say we do have to go to a bifurcated game. If that means we get much more exciting pro golf, I'm fine with that. Yeah. Amen. Anyway. that. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway. Anyways, Ronnie, a hole 14 here cheeky one from my guy TC. Take us to take us to Scotland. Yeah, 14th hole. You know, Sally has got a soft spot in his heart for the 14th hole where we're going. Aurora Golf Club of in the Highlands of Scotland. Very special place to us. Sally had his, his, his alleged

a you're gonna are for alleged role. I'm gonna slip by and not say alleged. No, but there's a big kind of I don't want to say controversy, maybe controversy. But they're getting there, they're discussing as a club. So Brewer is special in that it's a wonderful James Braid design. It made my top 10 favorite golf courses in the world list, which I still have. In 2025. For one specific day.

Yeah. But no, this one's always in there. I love the place. And Malcolm the Pro is great. They do a great job. They have cattle and they have sheep and you know, cows on the course. And it's been that way since the start

and they're talking about getting rid of that. The greens keeper wants to base, you know, said, hey, listen, like we have electric fences around all of our greens. We have, you know, we can't put in a lot of fairway bunkers. Like there's ways that this course could be better defended. It's a brilliant golf course. And so I wanted to check with you guys, how do you feel about this? Because it's a very divisive issue. You've got, you know, our friend Rue McDonald wrote kind of an editorial piece on his site,

You know, our friend, Rue McDonald, wrote kind of an editorial piece on his site, Lynxland Golf, just about that. You've got Josh Sends wrote a great piece about it in golf.com. And people feel like Aurora is maybe losing a little bit of its soul or becoming an imitation of itself. What do you guys think? Because they can't make updates to the course? No, just because, no, like, like if they get rid of the cattle and all of that, it just loses some of what makes the place special, which to me, I don't know, you guys react first. Neil, you've never been there. I don't think.

I've never been there. So I can't, I'm going to sit this one out. I think it would be massive. I'm the main character energy to be upset about this, you know, as a visitor, and, you know, as an international tourist, and you kind of got to put the faith in the people that live it every day, play it every day, work it every day, manage it every day, that they would make the right call as it relates to this. And with that regard, like, there's probably a

reason why there's not sheep and cows grazing other courses as well. And it's probably really hard to maintain. and the footprints are massive and damaging, especially when it's wet. I, I understand. I do. It's, it's, uh, I guess an unnecessary, uh, unfortunate kind of evil of the side effect of, of having animals graze your grounds. Cause it is a special kind of connection to it, but I got it. I got to, I got to put some trust and faith to people involved in the decision making process there. God, sorry. We're on the same side of this one. That's a, that's a great take. Sally, that's really well thought out. I feel the exact same way. I think it's a surprise.

No, I'm not because I do think there is a, there is a charm to like watching Taurus off season two and seeing you guys play amongst the sheep and the cattle and, and seeing the electric fences gives you wander lust as a golfer like that there is a there's a massive amount of charm to that of like, man, I got to see that place. And, you know, but if it's a detriment to the golf course, it for the people that are there every day, then I think that's a fair way to phrase it. What doesn't bother you when somebody has put like two ounces of thought into something that we do and is like, Neil, why you

should do this? And you're like, Yeah, good point. That's like 85 other things. I can't believe these guys don't, they don't do that. I mean, they're just, they're falling behind. Which, you know, Rue kind of fell out on that same side and he's, he's given a hell of a lot more than two ounces of thought. Like he thinks about this stuff all day long. He said, as golfers, we pack our golf travel bags in search of unique experiences. Otherwise, why travel at all? Aurora is unlike any other golf experience on the planet without the grazing animals and the electric fences around greens becomes a little bit more ordinary when conformity is a plenty. Brora don't feel a need to join the herd. Sally, I fall out on the same side as you of I think it's like the reasons that I like Brora is because it's a really special golf course and really

special place. And the sheep and the cows are one part of that. But I think if the golf course got better, I would feel even more strongly about the place than then, than I would with the like, you know, James, James Macbeth, the, the head greenskeeper said I've taken Br bro golf course, as far as I possibly can while sharing the land with animals. If we were successful in removing them, I believe we will be able to improve turf quality, and the golfers experience move up the

rankings and be judged as a golf course, rather than a field. And you know, some of that comes back to the soul of golf of Hey, this is a sport played in the field, and there's animal scrapings and stuff like that. They're at the start. But as someone who loves Barora, I think that they shouldn't be lectured on their desire to see the golf course be the fullest representation

of itself. So I wish the club good luck and you know, safe passage as they make this decision but whatever the club decides, I have full trust in them and I look forward to getting back and it's still 1000% worth going and seeing like it's like, yeah, it's truly one of like the coolest places in the entire world. Amen. Love it. All right, TC take us to the LP places in the entire world. Amen. Love it. All right, TC, take us to the LPGA tour 15th hole.

Oh, guys, sorry, I think we got a star on our hands. This this Rio Takeda. She's 21 years old. She won her second LPGA event. She won last year's Toto Japan Classic. Guess how many times she's won across the Japan LPGA and the LPGA in the last 11 months? Can I guess nine because you put it in nine times, nine times in 11 months. She's 21. Nine times she finished t nine in her major debut last year at the US Women's Open. And I would just say watch out for her. She's she's like, I think, probably on the verge of a major major breakout. You're throwing her on the monitoring list.

I think she's she's been on the monitoring list. I'm she's I'm throwing her on the the, like, imminently gonna go wreck some shit list. So I aka Frui finished third, all the Japanese ladies are there. They're all showing out right now. Also want to shout out the Epson tour there in Atlantic Beach. All the Japanese ladies are there. They're all showing out right now. Also, I want to shout out the Epson Tour. They're in Atlantic Beach right down the street from us. It was so windy on Thursday and Friday. There was not a single round in the 80s during the final round yesterday, but 38 rounds of 80 or higher first two days and the cut was plus nine. It was sick.

sick. So let's see. She back one but Yana Wilson and USC. I don't think a lot of economics you graduated Amari Avery both finished t four so couple good, good results from them and the LPGA is off until March 27. And they're in Arizona, the LED is down in Australia for a couple more months down there. So you got any more questions? is off until March 27. And they're in Arizona, the LAT is down in Australia for a couple more minutes down there. So you got any more? You want to take a full 16 on the LPGA front? So I've been just I've been chomping at the bit for this Bethann Nichols had a great piece earlier this week. Larry

Scott, Monica and her husband, Mike Mickey threw him out, I think, a couple weeks ago or last week as a candidate for the LPGA Commissioner job the vacant commissioner job on the LPGA. And Larry Scott, for those that don't know, maybe the worst Commissioner in the history of sports. That is that means a lot coming from you and how much J Monahan for those that don't know, maybe the worst commissioner in the history of sports. That is, that means a lot coming from you and how much J Monahan airway time has spent on these. Well, I thought Bethann's piece was good because I didn't know all about the WTA stuff TC, which it seems like he didn't do a horrible job there. It wasn't super well liked, but

you know, he played tennis at Harvard, did a good job getting purse sizes up on the WTA. He was going to cave for one of his... No, I'm just trying to provide some context because I'm not sure a lot of people have read the Beth Ampies. Now the Pac-12 stuff, not good. Just full stop, not good. Pac-12 network, not good. Just not good stuff.

Yeah. Syndicated columnist John Willner said, it's hard to kill a 110-year-old college conference that produced Jackie Robinson, Anika Sorbon-Stamp, Barry Bonds, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yet his strategic decisions over the course of 12 years and his management internally with the campus has contributed immensely to the demise of this conference. There's simply no getting around it, Scott,

as a failed commissioner. I will say personal experience. My first job I worked down in downtown San Francisco in the PAC-12 offices, or maybe it was just the PAC-12 network offices, but it sounds like it was all of it. They moved it from Walnut Creek in the East Bay into San Francisco, and they did have dope offices. Because I know they work there.

They did better. And what was the number he put on it? Like how much money he cost them by moving the... I think it was almost a hundred million dollars. Like a hundred million dollars in rent over like nine or 10 years, because he built this unbelievable like new headquarters in San Francisco. And like all the athletic directors like, what the fuck, man? You know, and he's staying in like you know he it sounds like he liked the expense account big time as as the PAC 12 is not doing well. Larry is about or at least he was Larry was about Larry and he surrounded himself at the fact 12 hours with people who were drinking the

Kool-Aid another common criticism of Scott's was his spending habits. Longtime Oregonian columnist John Kanzana wrote a scorching column on Scott last week in which his subhead asked, is the LPGA dumb enough to hire him? It was $92 million in rent over the course of 11 years, Neil. $92 million in rent. One long time Pac-12 coach recalled visiting the headquarters

for a meeting and being blown away by the coffee bar and the latte machines. Meanwhile, back on campus, the coach told Golf Week, he struggled to get a pot of coffee in the break room. Larry is a lavish guy. He likes extravagance. Former Washington state Bill Moose told Kanzano back in 2018. He runs the Pac-12 like he's the commissioner of

Major League Baseball. I believe he was making double what the Big Ten and SEC commissioners were making time to. So. Alright, question for you two. Incredible. Do you have, who would be the top name on your list for the LPGA commissioner? I'm going to put you on the spot. Mike Wong? Mike, Mike, can't have Mike. You know, I said it before, Jay Monahan. He had a great idea to make Monahan go to the LPGA.

I think he, like, it should be like his pennants society. Hey, you're like, what's he really good at? Getting companies to pay money for something they don't really know what they're paying for. So, figure it out, fix the schedule. You've been dealing with stuff and just scoot on over there. Just scoot down to Daytona Beach. I would like to see him go outside of golf. I know that's a risk, but it just feels like you got to widen the net a little bit on this. I feel unqualified answer the question, to be honest.

You know, fair enough. Executive search is not something to think about. Maybe for well, they went outside of the road and it didn't. It didn't necessarily serve them. I think it's an interesting thought exercise for us. So you like uneducated, you know, like, or kind of like tangentially. I don't know, who would I want to like, see if I was if I was an LPGA player, who would I want to be?

I think Alex Baldwin at the corner very tour is a good candidate. I think the guy can't remember. John something. He's like the chief commercial officer, I can't remember. John something he's like the chief commercial officer. John Pidani, he came with one from the LPGA. They're both former proctoids. He came in, you know, like him going back from the USGA to the LPGA, I think would be a good move as well. All right, let's we're penultimate hole.

They took the beach away on the 17th hole, But we've got some water to avoid here TGL corner playoffs are set. We got LA versus New York This is not this coming week, but next week March 17th Monday ESPN to First round pass for LA and New York hate that with such a traditional rivalry We've got the Bay and Atlanta That's March 18th on the Tuesday night on ESPN 7 p.m you got? Who's gonna win? Who's gonna win the TGL? LA is gonna win the Bay is gonna win and then the Bay is gonna beat LA. That's what's gonna happen. I got LA going all the way.

I mean, I've had the Bay all the way. Yeah. Solly, are you are you? What do you have to say for your juke links? Team who's probably we needed to bottom out right now. We needed it to bottom out the way it did. I think it makes it easier to clean house. There's a lot of big names sitting on the sidelines. Scotty Sheffler is not on a team. Jordan Spies not on a team like tone. Nobody knows how these teams are formed. Anyways, I think that there is potential to for a total overhaul this team Luke clan, they'll have the number one overall draft

pick us actually the ball frauds with the number one old draft overall draft pick you know but I'm sticking with my team I got my hat here I meant to wear it for tonight but you know I'll follow them all the way down he's sell out like this I mean just throw this on the list though you got like Rory and Tiger you know they're that just dregs of the league that just throw it throw them in a long list Michael Jordan of the Magic Johnson guys that them in a long list, Michael Jordan, of the Magic Johnson, guys that think that they could be a GM just because they were a good player.

Yeah, right there. There's more evidence of that pattern. It's tough. So this is from YeahClickClack, who is all over TV ratings on the X, the Everything app. The regular season finale aver average 500,000 viewers for total viewers average viewership was 513,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN to ratings have tanked over the course of the season, they've had a lot more matches on ESPN to on the back half of this year, which have hurt ratings quite a bit. And the time slots not being consistent. 3pm on truly unnecessary. 12pm in the local market. I know the lunchtime crowd. People can't be happy. But you have some interesting stuff from John Oran's newsletter. Yeah, John Oran's newsletter and in Poc, he's formerly a sports business journal,

but always a good read but he said this was actually from somebody a golf media executive who's keeping score. A quote sent this into him he said on replacement programming for Sunday night baseball recently I've seen a number of references to TGL in the puck universe as a potential viable programming alternative for ESPN MLB with all due respect. I think you and your colleagues

are suffering from a case of irrational exuberance when it comes to Tiger's new venture. The TGL audience is cratering. Overall household ratings are down considerably from their peak in week two in Tiger First Blade. Even more concerning is the huge drop in ratings among 18 to 34 year olds since then. From an audience standpoint,

TGL is neither delivering scalable reach or interest among young viewers. Yes, ESPN isn't paying anything for the rights, but I don't know how much runway TGL has with sponsors, but if these trends continue, it's hard to imagine it lasting. Regardless, TGL isn't close to being in the same programming league with MLB. So pretty sobering there. For sure. Yeah. I don't know who would be comparing TGL to MLB in terms of a hundred plus year. Let me give you an alternative here, guys. Something else, maybe the future for new and zany ideas. We got the creator classic this week. We we got our boy our beautiful boy. Sali here. You can see him what 4 p.m. You're teeing off

Sali, I think sometime or sometime after 4 p.m Yes, we'll be teeing off on the 10th hole at TPC sawgrass this Wednesday. All right who you paired with let's get let's get You know confidential the That's gonna come I had to ask you that though. I know you're a journalist I respect you you're asking all the tough questions You know if you're in the early early wave or the late wave like what's hard to draw you on? I think I'm in the middle wave or maybe the late wave or maybe the early with I don't know I don't know the answers to these questions What any game that you and your caddy DJ are cooking up? Um, yeah, we got some stuff in the works

You know, it was funny. We posted the video from the Gasparilla on Friday. While I was out 86. While I was on the golf course, it went extremely poorly. And I actually really appreciate it. I got a ton of supportive messages from that one. I thought I was going to get roasted way harder than I did. But I shot a 69 on Friday.

I dare say it. I might be back. I gotta give a huge. Cat bounce or is he back? No, a massive shout out to the folks at Titleist. I kinda just shared some stuff that was going on and they're like, well, let's get you checked out. Like you got fit for a driver this summer,

your body has changed a lot. Took him to the ER. Yeah, hauling kids around and you're not swinging at the same speed you were like, let's just get get a look on it. And I got fit into a GT two from I was using a GT three, I got a totally different shaft. And I got the ball falling right. All of a sudden. Yeah, I'm a big goal for me this year was to eradicate the lefts. And I did not do a great job of that on a

week's prep at the Gasparilla. But I did not do a great job of that on a week's prep at the Gasparilla. But I only played one round with it. But man, it fell right and my score plummeted immediately. And I also got one of those new studio fastback putters. And with the insert in it, and the ball is just coming off smoother, it feels like it feels like what I should be in. So two new equipment changes and a little swing change got a lesson My hips were way out racing my upper body that was causing me to flip it and causing those balls to go left as well

Combo those two and we may have triage some stuff now I'm not gonna get some hitting some cuts have some squeezer hot cuts squeeze or hot cuts I may not get you know much much You know got like a four-day gap between my last round and getting out there and playing but I'm really looking forward to it. It's gonna be fun. We're gonna film a video. You know, doing a whole bunch of stuff with it. They're giving us a ton of permission to kind of just go nuts with video and film everything we want. TC is going to be out there with his meta glasses that he's wearing right now filming a bunch of

stuff with those. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be really fun. It's gonna be live on YouTube, I believe the PJ Tours YouTube channel on Wednesday. And yeah, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be really fun to be live on YouTube I believe the PJ Tours YouTube channel on Wednesday and Yeah, it's gonna be it's just it's freaking incredible You get to go play TPC sawgrass the night before the tournament one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world starts I'm gonna have we have a lot of fun with it regardless of how we play. I Treat that I'm treating this very differently than I would like a serious golf tournament where I will totally psych myself out. We're just gonna go have fun and see what happens. I love it to be great. What teams are you playing from? I think we're

playing from the front of the pro boxes is what we've been with what we've been told. So not quite back and those boxes are pretty long. So I don't know exactly. I don't know what to hit off 10 because I don't want to hit three with with my opening shot. I know 10, it has been such a tough opening shot. I don't know if I crank driving iron or do I do really easy driver? I got that's that's something we got to decide on. I got I'm so I'm fired up man. Everybody loves a redemption star I said at the end of your film room. It's like it's the stage is set man like come on it's just a total bounce back I'm fired up we're gonna go live at Wednesday players happy hour be at 7 p.m. I'll be holding down the fort with Mr. Big and then hopefully

we'll have you uh you Deeg and TC calling in after a uh you know after hoisting the trophy I hope it's gonna be great it's gonna be a lot. And I'm very much looking forward to it. Looks like a nice day. Nice weather day and a great group. It's gonna be great. So I gotta learn how to use these glasses. I know. No idea. Capture the content.

Some housekeeping notes as we go to wrap. We got a narrative pod from KVD dropping again this week. A 10 year look back on Ricky's win at the players. That's gonna be a fun one. Got a lot of a lot of content coming this week. As Neil mentioned, we'll be live Wednesday after after the Creator Classic. And we are also live at the conclusion of every round of play Thursday through Sunday. We got a chop session on the trap draw. And as mentioned, the Gasparilla film room is up. Also the scatter scavenger hunt memorabilia podcast was so much fun.

And we got a lot of feedback on that one. That's on the No Laying Up podcast YouTube channel if you're watching this on our regular No Laying Up channel. Also got our 2025 No Laying Up event schedule is out on socials and via our newsletter. You can sign up at newsletter.nolayingup.com and keep checking events.nolayingup.com as more Roos add to their majors.

The Dry Heat had their major today, the Tumbleweed Two Ball. Yeah, this is becoming a big stop on tour. The Tumbleweed, one of the best trophies in the roost. Such a sick trophy. Yeah, they just have a Tumbleweed like in a glass box, which is very, very, very good stuff. And then the Low Cal, down in Southern California, locale roost, there are majors March 30th, the traffic jam at Los Verdes Golf Course

in Palos Verdes, California. Currently full, some of these will be full, but if you go check and just start poking around because a lot of these roosts have ongoing season-long match plays. I just signed up for the New York roost. Our major is at Marine Park on I believe it's like June 29th, 28th, 29th like that staff one. Yeah, the shepherds open my staff. You know what I actually have something up there that's going to fall so I'm not going to get it down but I do have my shepherd staff. I won the 2023 won the 2023 Shepard's open, which is the New York. Anyway, events.nolayingup.com. Go check it

out. Also, you can check the NLU events Instagram. Just search for that. We're another good place to find info on our events. And then last, but certainly not least, ProShop's kind of popping off TCU. The gold boy polos are back. Just your classic blue and gold look, Wayward logo in that gold boy gold, which is fantastic. And we have our first new spring 2025 drop of H&B Holderness and Born this week. Ness members will have early access to this on Tuesday, March 11th. And we'll go live for everyone else on Friday, the 14th. Of course you can check store.no laying up .com. It's a small shop. Get involved.

Guys, I'm told the colo guard is in a playoff right now. Hampling and Chalmers will spit the bit neither of them are in the playoff, even though they were leading all day. Crazy. Guys, can I just add one last thing? One item. I am really fired up. Just kind of some inside baseball. The last couple weeks, we've worked our asses off on, like all of us, on just like getting our video stuff, like schedule, dialed for this year. You know, it's like a lot of moving parts, like what are we gonna do, who's editing what, and I just feel like the plan's

coming together, shout out to Ben and Dej for leading that side of the house, but we got some good video stuff coming this year. It might not be as much of it, but I was just looking at it on Friday, and I was like, man, I'm fired up to hit the road coming up in the next couple months. And then the Argentina stuff's coming out at the end of March TC. Like we already have one like awesome, awesome video in the edit bay strapped is going to be DJ has been sending me some stuff. It's like, it's really fun.

I don't even think you guys had announced that you're doing strapped. Oh yeah, we've teased it. It's coming. I mean, I'm fired up, dude. It's really, we're, we're doing some different stuff this time around. I don't know. I'm just really excited about it. And it's like, man, we kind of laid it, we're laying out a plan. And I think a lot of hard work on the strategy stuff and like, what do we want to film and how do we want the video stuff to look and how much do we want to do? And it's, it feels like we're going on offense. And I'm,

I'm proud of the squad. And I just wanted to put that out in the, uh, into the world. Amen. Hey, one more thing, Neil, I want to give a shout out to Willie Wilcox. Standing up to the trackers, standing up to, to Sung Jay tracker. He said I have zero faith in Sung Jay's game or his team at the moment on the cognizant in a few weeks, just a couple of weeks ago, Willie said, honest question, our other tracker accounts this bitter. He slash she surely doesn't realize how hard this

game is that his or her negative takes do nothing other than expose how little he knows about golf, patience and understanding, please. This is after the trackers completely twisted nuclear golf and the trackers completely twisted. Nuclear golf and the Traggers completely twisted Phil Mickelson's statement, his quote about winning a team competition. He didn't say that it meant more to him than the Ryder Cup. It just meant that he wants to win a team competition. It would mean more to him than winning individual competition.

So shame on the Trackers. I continue to have a fatwa on you. And the wave got shot out to the wave got. Yeah while on you and the wave got shot to the wave God Yeah, shout out the wave got through all things are possible. I love a good show tonight guys I was under the wire on two hours, Sally, but just barely if you let me finish this quickly Thank you for Jordan for one of the running the ones in twos tonight. Thanks everyone for tuning in Thank you to high noon foot joy and serve pro. We'll see you back here. Lots of content coming this week Stay tuned right here on the podcast. Cheers crack on and FootJoy and ServePro. We'll see you back here. Lots of content coming this week.

Stay tuned right here on the podcast. Cheers, crack on.