No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 103: Jay Monahan

Episode Date: October 23, 2017

PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan joins from the CJ CUP in South Korea to talk about the transition into his role, golf in Asia, television, his background, and his golf game. We touch on a... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 103: Jay Monahan appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alright guys welcome back to the podcast got a very good one for you today I was lucky enough to sit down with the commissioner of the PGA tour Jay Monahan for about 30 minutes here in Korea That's that's coming up first and after that I'm gonna spend a few minutes just debriefing on the trip I was hoping to get a guess for that part But it didn't end up being able to make it happen But first before we do that I want to again remind you guys to make sure you're following scratch on Twitter SKR TCH on top of all the awesome stuff that they're doing with adventures of golf that we've of course talked about

It's constantly good stuff coming on your Twitter feed on a bit later We're going to talk a bit about the unbelievable year that Mark Leachman has had Obviously a Callaway staffer and what he was doing with his epic driver off the deck in Courier was nothing short of amazing. But for now, let's get to Jay Monahan again, our minors stick around towards the end as we catch up on what was a pretty awesome couple of weeks here on the Asian Swing. Thanks for tuning in. Get a right club. Beat a right club today.

Yes. I'm going to be the right club today. That's better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang Up podcast. I'm Chris Solomon coming to you live from the CJ Cup in South Korea and joined by a special

guest today, the Commissioner of the PGA Tour, Jay Monahan. How has the transition been to the new role? Do you feel fully settled in? Is it even a new role anymore? You're almost a year in. Well Chris, first of all, great to be with you and great to be here on Sunday, the final round of the CJ Cup at nine bridges. And I had two and a half years in my prior role

working alongside Commissioner Finchham serving as Deputy Commissioner. So I had a lot of, I had significant opportunity to see all facets of the business. And I think we started the year as an organization, with our plan firmly said. And you certainly see things for the first time. But I think a lot of those first looks

were eliminated over the past two and a half years. But I think it's been a phenomenal year. You've covered it well. These young players that have emerged, and have emerged in spectacular fashion, both in terms of the way they're playing, as well as the way they handle themselves. I think that's led to just great vibrancy, great energy and I don't think we could ask to be in a better place than we are right now. We're certainly going to look to improve

upon it but that's yeah I was going to say you took over in a bit kind of a transition period in terms of what's going on at the level of play or kind of who is emerging as the top players, but overall, you took over a tour that was in very good hands with very good partners. Set up across the board. So it's not like you needed to come in and make any overhaul once you became the commissioner.

Again, you were kind of slowly eased into the role as well and from what I gathered. But the impact you've had has been, I would say, rather significant in the people that I talk to, the players I talk to, and the caddies and whatnot. It seems like your approach, and I, is one of great transparency, and the guys feel like they have a resource that they can go to whenever they have something to say.

Is that an open mindset you've had or a purposeful? Yeah, I think that's, you know, I would say in terms of the transition, it's almost more of a blend. Like, on January 1st, I don't look like I started, I don't feel like I started something like, it was kind of just blending into something that I had already been doing. And it's just, that's my management style. That's the way I've always led.

That's the way I love to be in a position to lead, but I think in order to effectively lead, you've got to understand, you've got to understand all your constituents, and you've got to understand all perspectives. Not just the good, but the challenge areas, both in terms of players, media partners, our own people, and that's really the way I've looked at this whole year, is one big long listening tour. At the same time, really trying to execute on the things that we're trying to accomplish as a business. And that will be the way that we continue to operate.

I think that's the only way to improve and that's the best way to improve. Well, I want to talk a bit about your background too and how you came to the tour. So you're a Boston guy through and through and you had what sounded like a dream job with the Fenway sports group before you came in to work for the PGA tour. So what encouraged you to leave a job that you considered a dream job? Your big Red Sox fans still season ticket holders, right? Yeah, families, fed season tickets forever, 70 something years, I believe. So what about golf that brought you away from that amazing job? I would say the power of the PGA Tour brand. I had back in early in my career, I worked for title sponsor on the PGA Tour EMC, then I had the good fortune of being executive director of the Deutsche Bank, it's first three years, and then I got a phone call in 2008 from Commissioner

Finchham with an opportunity to come to the Tour and run the players' championship. And 2008 from Commissioner Finchham with an opportunity to come to the tour and run the players' championship. And I'm from a golfing family. I grew up playing when I was five years old, really passionate about the business of golf, really passionate about the impact the game has. And for me, when I got that call, being a Boston guy, the thought of moving the floor really was never on the radar screen. But because I got the call from the PGA tour, because I got the call from Commissioner Finchham,

we took a good hard look at it, and obviously really thankful that we did. And I would say that being in this business and being in this industry and working for the tour is one of the great blessings of my life. Would you classify yourself as a golf nut? No question. Yeah, I think that's my that's the thing I'm craziest about and you know following all of our tours following I'm always following what's happening in our industry and with the tours you would expect that's my job. But even if I

weren't in this job, I think my patterns would probably be fairly similar and I've got some brothers and friends and others around me that if I'm not falling, they'll bring it to my attention quickly. How many rounds have you gotten in this year? This has been a busy stretch for all of us in the business for the last two or three months, but I have a golf club in my hand, hitting balls, working on my game at least once a week.

And I find the time to get out and play. So I don't know how many rounds I've played, but I've been out to your earlier point. I've played in five programs with sponsors. You're catching up to me. There you go. How many of you played in it? No, I think four this year.

So you got me, I think. Well, I think it's the best way to see what's happening on the ground. So I've played in those five. And over the holidays holidays played a few and I am I was regressing as a related in my handicap. What do you play off of? I play off of a five handicap right now I believe in the 4.6 index. So once we get to the December January time frame that's that becomes peak season to get game informed but I'll always be playing golf is that where did you I guess grow

up playing the game how did you learn the game and you have a course like that you grew up on that kind of speaks to your soul in some way well I grew up on two golf courses one was a nine hole golf course called fresh pond it was a municipal golf course in Cambridge Massachusetts my dad actually still has the course record there which which is 63. Well. And the other, of course, called Winchester Country Club, a 1902 Donald Ross, and still members there,

my whole family going back to my great-grandfather belong to that club. So, grew up playing junior golf tournaments there, and then the junior golf program, and that's, to me, is still the best golf program and that's to me is still the best golf course in the world because of the memories I have there. Some of those old school courses kind of still to this day have a way of speaking to your soul way more than anything built like in the last 50 or so years.

But I want to talk to you a bit about kind of why we're here. We're here in Asia. This is kind of a time period on the golf calendar when even some hardcore golf fans are kind of checked out. And there's the baseball playoffs going on. NHL has started. NBA has started. NFL is obviously in full swing. College football is going on right now as we speak. Yet there's an almost $10 million purse on the other side of the world in this Asian swing. And you guys have a great field here this week. I think there's, I'm a super excited to come over and see this firsthand. And I just want to to know what how you viewed the first year of this CJ Cup, how big of a success do you feel like it has been, and how do you foresee the

future of Gulf and Asia? Well, to the point of your question, we're not here to compete against the events that you just mentioned. We're here. If you just look, step back and you look at what's happened in Korea, going back really 15, 16 years, you've got the emergency KJ Choi. His eight wins went at the players championship. White Eang went in the PGA. Shewook Kim this past year went in the players championship. We were here on the ground in Jeju Island with an event in 2004, 2015 Presidents Cup. golf returns to the Olympics, last year

raises the profile of the game here in Korea, and now we've got a 10-year commitment with a new event. And you say, okay, so why Korea, you can go any place in the world. Three and a half million people play the game here, population 50 million, 36 million rounds played on golf courses last year, you look at screen golf that number doubles We've we've we've experienced that we're experiencing that later tonight. Yes. We're gonna go to golf songs Yes, so so you think about 72 million rounds of golf played the Evidity here

The following here the fact that we've got 11 players playing on our tour You know, this is a perfect example of going into a market that you've played a role in helping to grow and develop and taking another step forward. And so in terms of it being here on Sunday, I think that it's been a great success. Players have responded very well to the golf course, the accommodations, the culture, and the operation of the event. And we'll always look at things and find the things that we need to do to get better. But I think for a first year event,

we couldn't be more pleased. Yeah, the reaction I've heard from players. I mean, the guys care about the golf course, obviously one. They care about the purse money. They care about how well taken care of they are. I think some can be a bit intimidated by foreign travel if things aren't necessarily taken care of them for it. But staying in a nice resort with good food and everything.

I mean, from hotel to course and back to hotel, it sounds like it's just been a great experience across the board. Absolutely. And I would also add that you go back to the President's Cup in 15. And during that week, we met with CJ. And ultimately, that resulted in a 10-year commitment

to a PJ Tour event here. And also during that week, we had with CJ and ultimately that resulted in a 10-year commitment to a PJ tour event here. And also during that week we had discussions with Hyundai who was sponsoring the Tournament of Champions and ultimately moved to Los Angeles in a 10-year commitment there. So when you bring big events to big markets and you get that kind of response, it also has a trickle effect into other parts of your business that you can't discount. And do you, how do you see further expansion in Asia? Do you see more Torah events in other potential countries in Asia?

Well, I think there was one with Malaysia, then there was, sorry, one with HSBC in Shanghai, two with Malaysia, three here in South Korea. At this point, I think it's well documented that we're working on our post-2018 schedule, and we have a lot of work to do on that domestically. I think that we're put, I can tell you, that we're putting more resources on the ground and more international markets. And that is to do a couple things.

One, you want to make certain when you've got 85 players from 23 different countries that you're making the effort to build their profile in their home countries, you're building the profile of the tour, and then you're putting yourself in a position where as things change, if an opportunity were to open, you're in a position to capitalize on. So a long way of saying, we don't have plans right now to add an event internationally, but I think you'll see some vibrancy and energy here in years to come.

I see, you know, along with this event being new this year, there was one event that changed this year with the Zurich Classic. There was a format change, we made it a team event. The European Tour has tinkered a lot with tournament formats and it seemed like this first go around for a different format for a PGA tour event this year went very well. There was a buzz about it, the players seem to be extra interested in it.

Do you consider that first go around the success and do you do the tour plan to continue to expand in this area? We're going to continue to do everything we can to evolve in a way that benefits the fan. So I think do we consider that a success? Absolutely. Just look at the way it performed this year relative to the way it performed in the past in terms of strength, the field, and in terms of overall energy response ratings. So what changes will make going forward?

I think that's to be seen or to be determined. But you also got to look at that event and say, you got the President's Cup, you've got the Ryder Cup, you've got the World Cup, and that event fits very well into how those events are going to continue to develop. So as successful as it was this past year, look at how it develops going forward. I don't think it's nearly reached its full potential based on that fact.

And we are, it's hard to answer that question succinctly as I'm demonstrating, but I want to emphasize the fact that we're putting a lot of energy into understanding all segments of our fan base, how they're responding to formats. The 72 stroke play format will always be our core format, but I'd be crazy to say that we're not going to continue to change it. Well, one, when you're ever ready to talk, I've got about a million half-baked ideas that I haven't finished yet, but if you need some ideas, we can bounce a few of our thoughts on that.

But two, I do kind of understand the potential change in a format, and that some sponsors may not want to be viewed as, and I don't want to call it gimmicky, but something different than what you consider your 72 whole stroke metal play and whatnot. But I do think, along with lines with what you just said, and understanding what your fan base is interested in, I feel like there's been a shift within the last couple

of years in the way you guys approach social media influencers, new media types, ourselves included. Has that been something that you're initiative of yours or is that what is the general strategy you guys see in that area? I'd say that's a response to fans. I and you just look at look at the way fans behave when they're on site at our tournaments You look at the way they're consuming media and you try and understand it to the best degree that you can and then you try and Eliminate friction so that fans can participate so changes to our social media policy to putting more resources behind putting content and and creating content for our players, giving the fans the ability to tell the story

of where they are, shoot video, the social currency of that that we benefit from. I mean, these are all things that were, I would say, were early staging, but that's not something that that really comes back to really understanding your fan base and a lot more to come on that front. I've heard you mentioned in the past kind of the Taurus open mindset when it comes to gaming whether that's you know daily fantasy sports or other forms of betting what

was the kind of thought process that went into that stance and you're you're willing to speak openly on that. That comes down to engagement fan fan engagement. You want fans living, breathing your product. And you look at daily fantasy, skill-based gaming, you look at gaming generally, there's no quote, you look at what people are doing around fantasy. There's no question that that drives engagement. And so we look at that as a positive. And then when you're out and you're talking to likes of draft kings and fandall and you see that golf is one of the most popular sports in that realm, then it's something that,

you know, you look at and say, well, we should really try and support getting to a fair, balanced system, regulated system, so that our fans can get more engaged with our sport. To you, what do you think is important about the way the tour your product is presented on television? What are your priorities when it comes to how golf is presented on TV? Well, I think you want to capture the difficulty

and the importance of winning weekend and week out. It is so hard to win on the BGA tour. And those moments are very special. So capturing the emotion of those moments at that point in time, I think, and as they're developing, I think, and as they're developing, I think is really important. Telling the story away from the way a player plays a golf course and plays the game, you know, the complete player helping to dimensionize our players is an important part of what we

do. Engaging our fans with more data, with more statistics, with more angles, with more innovation. These are all things that are happening and will continue to happen, but I think that's really important. I also think that we're, so we have 60 different media partners around the world.

So we focus on what we're doing in the United States with our great partners, but we also need to capture the same all over the world and put in resources in place where we understand the local cultures and we're doing replicating that in those markets is more complicated than it might appear. But I think the most important thing again is understanding the way that the fans are consuming their media and being where they're going to go and that's something that we're working hard on. As I know that listeners to this show are followers and I think I can speak for a lot of young fans.

There's been issues. We've noted it and it's kind of feedback we've gotten from fans in the way golf is presented on television. A lot of things seem to be in flux in that regard with contract negotiations. The emergence of PGA tour live and what the future of live golf looks like. What do you envision for, and I don't want to, you know, put you to a deadline, but kind of three, five, ten years down the road for what might look different in the way golf is presented on television. And I belabor this point a lot because I think it's incredibly important that the way that golf fans consume your content, your material is through the lens of how it's presented on television currently on Sunday afternoon. I don't have an option of what to watch. I have to watch what is what network producer on CBS NBC or golf channel is presenting to me or Fox, of course, for US Open. So what is the future of that look like?

Well, I think it's, futures are difficult to predict, but I think that you, listen, you know, five, seven years ago, did you think you could watch any NFL game at any point that you wanted to watch? You may not have thought that would be the case. I think for us, you're just going to see our network partners,

our core partners in the U.S. are going to continue to be the backbone of how we present our product. How the media landscape evolves is something as partners, you know, when you look at who we're partnered with, NBC Golf Channel CBS, they cover professional golf, they cover the PJ Tour, they're also covering other sports, they're investing in new technologies. And so understanding where the world is going and creating more optionality, if you will,

for your fans is something that I think will happen. Looking at a world where you can follow a player for 18 holes, looking at a world where you can follow a group for 18 holes, looking at a world where perhaps there's a different presentation based on different segment of your fan, whether it's a millennial, whether it's a core fan, looking at a day and age where you can follow an international composition of players. looking at a day and age where you can follow an international composition of players. Those are all things that technology is going to enable. The question is how does that mesh with what the fan wants.

And when you're making long-term commitments those are all the things you got to think through. So I don't have a firm answer other than to say it's that's part of the process that we have been going through and we'll keep going through. Sure. And I think most hardcore fans, myself speaking, I consider myself kind of a golf nut. I think a lot of people that listen to this show would put themselves in that golf nut category.

The PGA tour live has been a revelation. I mean, it's fantastic when 7 a.m. rolls around and they're going to follow six of the top players in the game for 18 holes. I mean, I don't even necessarily need that on my screen, but I put my headphones in just listen to golf being called. That's that's perfect. And I think that's a great step towards what you're saying of maybe in the future, will we have a camera on every single player and be able to watch. But it golf is inherently so much harder to cover than other professional sports and that you're spread out over 18 holes And there's so much action going on at once, but there's also there's also

We're talking about Thursday through Sunday There's Monday Tuesday Wednesday. They're hours that we're not covering their activities that our players are participating in that we're not covering I just think that the friction is going to be taken out of the model where there's a lot more not covering. I just think that the friction is going to be taken out of the model where there's a lot more, there's a lot more that the fan can see and experience going for. At least the potential of that exists. That's pretty exciting. What's something that about the tour, about professional golf or something along those lines that fans just have no idea exists or no idea that I'm amazed the more I do this and how, you know, I've always thought, why can't they do this? And then somebody says, well, there's this, they have this sponsor agreement blah, blah, blah.

And the amount of things that go on behind the scenes, I'll continue to blow my mind. So what's something that sticks out to you is something that fans have no idea about. I think the level of commitment and the amount of effort it takes for a player to compete on the PJ tour. So you just you take any given week you have 52 players playing a program. You have another 50 to 70 that are participating in a sponsor value program. They're coming to players are going to charity drop by is doing different activities over the course of early in the week while they're preparing to play at tournament. They've got their own functions

at night with their partners over the course of the week. They're getting on a plane with their families, with their teams going back and forth to different markets. They may have to go home to support a charity that they found it or that they're involved with. They may go to a charity event of a fellow player. I think a Henrik Stenson going to Sergio's event right after winning the Open Championship a couple weeks ago. These players are, their businesses are complicated, their lifestyles are complicated. But the only, my point is that to see their commitment, not only to their game, I think that's well known by everybody that's listening,

but their commitment to doing the right thing, to supporting the right causes, to supporting each other, to always be in on. It's impressive to see, and we get to get a special look at that. And it's a hard story to tell, because it's never ending. But having worked in a number of other sports, I think that's what makes PJ Tour and our players so special and so unique. Yeah, because it's kind of, once you enter a certain level of success, your responsibilities change, and it's not something you really can prepare for. I mean, those guys grow up playing

golf, you know, they go and play college golf, and then all of a sudden they're elevated to this corporate status where they have sponsor obligations, like you said, and then they're expected to be doing charitable events, and that balance kind of continues to blow my mind with how guys manage their practice schedules, their travel schedules, and all that. Well, just giving Justin Thomas right now is a shining example. You know, to win the FedEx Cup, trying to round the award of PGA to our player of the year, get over to CIMB, be here at CJA Cup, perform at a high level with the same ferocity. Meanwhile I know we had a number of commitments in New York City the week between.

I think that right there is a microcosm of all that is good. It goes to, I mean I think the guys, some guys are ready for a break, but at the same time, you know, there's so much good happening engulf and there's so much incentive for the guys to play this part of the schedule with FedEx Cup events. You mentioned kind of the scheduling changes that are going to be coming in 19. Do you, and I talked to a particular player on I said I was going to sit down and talk to you. He, I a top player that, his opinion, you'd be very interested in. Uh, he asked, I asked him what I should ask you and he wanted to know about the future

of the event in Boston. Do you have any insight as to what, what might happen in the future in Boston? Um, uh, you know, I certainly, something we're spending a lot of time on. So we said that we want to, we want to complete our FedEx Cup player playoffs prior to the start of the NFL and college for ball seasons. So that would require us to go from four to three playoff events. I think there have been rumors that Boston will be coming off of the schedule, and that decision hasn't been made.

We're looking at a lot of different options and having come from there, that obviously puts me in an awkward spot, so I'll recognize that. But I think there are a lot of good bones there, and I think we'll be playing golf in Boston for a while. Okay. Do you have any relationships with commissioners of other sports, and how do you kind of view yourself

in comparison to how other commissioners run their respective leagues? You know, I have, I do have relationships with commissioners and other sports. I've gotten to know Rob Manford with Major League Baseball well and Adam Silver, Martatom. We're very helpful to us back in 2015 with an employee summit that we had and have talked to them about a number of items

along the way that have, I think, the areas where they lead, where I thought would be helpful to get there in sites. But I would say that I don't wear, where there's commonality. I think you reach out and you try and benefit from their experience. But the beauty of what we have at the PGA Tour is we've got 49 events. We've got some of the leading companies in the world that serve

as our sponsors. And I've gotten them into position I have the good fortune of really learning from some of the best CEOs in the world So I've got a fairly broad network of people that I rely on for advice and trying to benefit from their experience It's a question I love asking the tour guys that I talk to They always have to think on it pretty good. But when was the last time you paid for golf? That's a good one.

I paid for golf during the week of the Deutsche Bank Championship at my home club because I'm an out of town member and every time I come back to play, I've got to pay. Okay. So. It's usually, no, the tour guys are like, well, I pay my dues at the club I belong to, so does that count. No, I can tell you that because my wife, we were at home the other night and she said, what's this guest fee you have a Winchester Country Club

I thought you I thought you'd play with your dad and your brother to say I know I'm a guest. We're out of town members. Wow Do you have a course? Is there a course out there that you have not played that you're particularly interested in keen to play? There's quite a few actually Royal Melbourne is the one that I would say first and foremost. And I think between now and the two-night 2019 presidents, Cupball, get the chance to play it. But that's one that just... We're going down next month if you want to join. Are you really?

Yeah. We're going to go down, shoot a bunch of... We're going to start shooting a travel series down there actually. So, we're going to go play a bunch of courses down there. So... Well, see, I'll learn from you. Welcome to join if you'd like. All right, on that note, Jake, thank you very much for your time. And it's, I know that, yeah, I know that,

and I'm really excited about the direction the tour is going. And I know, again, like I mentioned, a lot of the guys seem to be very encouraged and enthusiastic about your tenure as a commissioner. And so, I would say keep up the great work and your transparency. And you're willing to come and talk to guys like me is greatly appreciated by all of our listeners as well.

So let me say one thing to your listeners. And thanks to you and also thanks to your listeners for being so passionate about the PJ tour. But if you do want to get involved, we have a fan council, which we've established the last six or seven months. And that's where we test a lot of ideas, whether it's formats or changes to different areas of how we present ourselves across media, different things we're thinking about in terms of campaigns.

So you get an inside look and we get the benefit of people that are really rabid about our sports. So where do you find that? I'd love to get involved with that. P.J. Tordart. Yeah. We can share the information I love to get involved with the PK tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can we can share the information on how to get involved because I do I do love that again that transparency and willingness to kind of hear from your fan base because I know that there's there's

there's plenty of things that we'd love to speak up about and kind of give feedback on and and if it at least gets heard and I know that there's a lot of things that go into making decisions and whatnot but being being heard as I know a big thing for our listeners and fans. So that'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chris. All right. Thank you. All right, guys. I hope you enjoyed the commissioner.

Before we debrief on that, I want to again point out what we talked about the top of the show. Mark Leishman with his Callaway epic driver, of course, was unleashing drivers off the deck. His first ever event with the no laying up towel on the bag and he might have taken things, he might have taken the lifestyle actually a bit too seriously. I was a bit concerned on the 72nd hole, the win was into their face and I think they were, they were two, around 260 and they were considering

hitting driver off the deck. Mark wanted to hit driver off the deck into the island green 18th hole. Eventually the wind settled down. They were able to hit three wood and hit one of the most majestic looking three wood shots I've ever seen executed. Under that kind of pressure, it was awesome to see Mark unleashing the lifestyle and to be dominating with the Calaway clubs. Just the season he's had has been pretty remarkable to wins in 2017

And then almost one wins here to start to start the new season. So you of course can go to Calaway at Calaway golf.com Found out a lot more about Mark and a lot more about the equipment he's using to dominate the game right now. So Hope you guys enjoyed Jay Monahan. That was that was pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie. Let's get to I mean It's one thing to kind of relate to some of the younger players on tour, which I think we're able to do on this podcast, but to have the commissioners year for 30 minutes. And after we turn the mics off, we even debriefed even more on some things that, you know, maybe not best public conversation, but we talked about TV deals and about anything you could imagine and kind of was able to he

he landed an attentive ear and listened and asked questions and was fully engaged so I kind of started to see what everyone's been talking about with with his leadership style and how a personable of a guy he is and actually you heard us talk about about the golf son the screen golf which is just a enormous thing here in Korea, and that he was going, I actually got to join and we went and played, did an alternate shot, format at golf song, and we just, you know, just sat around, had a couple beers, and played golf song, and had a good time, and had a little competition, and then we had like a little trophy ceremony at the end of it, which he went back into Commissioner role and jokingly thanked the sponsors for coming in the volunteers and fans for coming out. We had an awesome night. So just an awesome week in Korea. I know,

you know, if you're listening to this, I think it's safe to say you were at least semi-tuned into the event. And I know again, we talked about it on the pod with with Jay but it's not the biggest priority in the world right now golf is not and to be honest if I wasn't out here I don't think I would be just as nearly as attentive to the event obviously as I was being here on person but a lot of people asking why why in the world I came to Malaysia in Korea I think it was pretty pretty amazing opportunity to come cover an event on the other side of the world, part of the world I've never been to before, and see what golf is like over here.

I'm going to get to play a few courses in this coming week and get into experience and things in golf that I've never thought I would actually experience. And these last couple of weeks have been pretty unprecedented in terms of access to the players. Not necessarily from a media perspective, but more from a social perspective and kind of staying nearby or in hotels that they're staying in, grabbing dinner, grabbing beers with caddies, and just kind of getting to see a different side of professional golf and see how these guys associate

with each other. You know, when there's no other US media really here at all. And then to go out, I love to follow. I know, apparently I was on the broadcast a lot on Sunday on the CJ Cup, but I'd just love to go out and follow golf and get to the limited fields. You get to see a lot of guys play a lot of holes that you don't normally maybe get to see in events

in the States. So man, it was awesome. Nine bridges, I thought held out very well, turned into a very nice, and firm test for the guys, once it dried out a little bit, and once the wind blew, I thought it played very easy on Thursday, they set it up much tougher the following days.

And I think the players had a lot of respect for that course, both from a planning perspective, from a aesthetic perspective, and from just an overall immaculation, is that a word? The condition, I think, was actually on a few people saying that they didn't care for some of the root systems and the way the turf played out of the fairway and whatnot.

But I think the course still has a bit more growing in to do, but from an overall perspective, the event was a success. And that's a big ask for a first year event for it to have gone off as well as it did. And I think it's gonna be even better field next year. It's huge money and the guys are gonna, I mean, honestly, I think it sounds like

the guys are gonna start playing this event more and it's gonna get a better field than I think it sounds like the guys are going to start playing this event more and it's going to get a better field than I think China will just because of the amenities that surround it and the prestige that kind of surrounds surrounds golf in Korea. It's a huge thing and man, it was just cool. I know that there was some, there's some cultural differences when it comes to fans and fan interaction and there was some issues with camera phones and touched on this a bit and some of the blog posts I wrote but the illegal to cell phones in to like sell a phone in Korea for with a silencer on the shutter because of potentially unwanted photographs being taken. That's kind of a nightmare when it comes to hey golf event. The crowds weren't overly big. I mean, this

this tournament was on an island south of the mainland. And so I think, you know, when or if the the tournament moves to the mainland or moves around a bit, we may see bigger crowds out there and may see that become a bigger issue. But it was quite challenging for some of the players at certain points. I know that. But hardly hardly the main focus main focus of the week. I think it was, again, just awesome. It's cool to see to hear the Korean players talk about what that event meant. And KJ Choi's quote just really stuck out to me saying, like, Pride doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling right now. It's, you know,

we are given wings to fly. I forget what the direct translation of what his quote was now, it's, you know, we are given wings to fly. I forget what the direct translation of what his quote was, but that was pretty cool to see. So, got to play one course called Blackstone nearby and kind of start to experience what a Korean golf experience is like, you know, I've, you've heard me talk a lot about on the show about how accessible golf is like in the UK and how I wish that would translate over to the US, it's even further on the spectrum

here in Korea. And that's the tagline of this blackstone club was called an exclusive club. So not only do they not try to hide their exclusivity, they actually embrace it. And just an incredibly nice clubhouse, super nice golf course, set there in the mountains, but definitely not mountain golf. And an awesome caddy experience, or you have one caddy between the four of you, and you all four ride in the same cart. And they're all female caddies, and she has a button

that she carries. And this was the same at nine bridges. A button that keeps the cart moving along a magnetic strip on the path. So you don't even have to be in the cart to drive it. She can be out in the fairway with you and she brings like three clubs for each player and gives you a bunch of options.

And then you all start walking the green together and you start thinking, wait, what are you doing with the cart? And then the cart just starts moving. It's incredible. And I got to play the Pro Am on Wednesday start thinking, wait, what are you doing with the card? And then the card just starts moving. It's incredible. And I got to play the pro-AM on Wednesday with Adam Hadwin, which was awesome. And he couldn't have been nicer and was engaged. And we taught him a little bit about tour sauce. He participated in a little video we shot with the PGA tour as well.

And had a good time with that. But yeah, that was kind of trippy. The first time you see the golf card just moving on its own. But I am not going to China was eventually playing on going to China, but had visa issues and actually just popped up to Seoul for a few days. And I'm going to head out and play a few courses this week, one called Whistling Rock. You may have heard Shane Bacon talk about this. And I know DJ Pahowski's played out there as well. I've heard some amazing things and going to need to check it for myself as well as going to Haysley Nine Bridges, which is the sister course of Nine Bridges, where they just played on J.J. U Island. And then lastly, hopefully going down to play a new Kyle Phillips course called South Cape. I think

it's relatively new. I have to look up the founding date exactly, but I'm getting chance to play some pretty incredible golf over here. This isn't necessarily going to be how to plan or I don't know that sure exactly what my plans are for podcasts on debriefing with this because it's such a different golf experience. But I do think the story of what golf is like and Korea is going to be interesting. So I'm going to do my best to tell that as it is. And again, I tweeted this part of the story, but I need to emphasize again that what Leashman on two separate occasions, again, he had a no-ling up towel in the bag for the first time, Trunce, sent a few over to Maddie Kelly, his caddy. And they were thinking of laying up,

I think it was on Friday on the third hole, and Leish took the towel and folded it, so they know laying up red right in Maddie's face, and then pulled driver off the deck and knocked it onto 25 feet. And then I was following their group on Friday, and he did it again on Friday. And Maddie flashed the towel at me as he went for the

greed and two. It was just hilarious. I mean, the entire vibe of the week was kind of laid back like that. Guys were chatting up between holes and a couple holes. There were two groups backed up and guys were just totally apt to sit around and talk. And they didn't necessarily worry that the crowd could understand what they were saying or overhearing conversations so the conversations were a bit pretty freewheeling and you know most of that stuff will obviously be off the record and whatnot but it was it was just kind of cool to see see guys that I don't want to say to our checked out but

these no cut events are a bit bit of a joy ride for them. And, you know, they're gonna show up and automatically make 16, 17,000 or whatever it gets last place gets. And I get treated pretty well and have a great week. And it's, but, you know, these guys are trying to get a jump on the FedEx cup for the year and trying to choose what events they wanna play in the fall. The tour makes it kind of tough on the guys

that they wanna take a break, wanna be done for the year because you don't wanna fall too far behind in the FedEx Cup. Like I said, overall, I think this event is going to be huge in the future. It was so much fun to get to see this side of it and to get to do some of this stuff out here. And thanks a ton to the folks at the PGA Tour that helped us set up Jay and helped with just all the access we were able to get this week these couple weeks and look forward to doing more stuff like this in the

future and really really excited about the relationship we've relationship we formed there. So thanks guys for tuning in hopefully enjoy Jay hopefully we'll be checking back in next week. I think we do have a couple good ones coming for this fall. Nothing in pan yet, but we've penciled in some good ones on the calendar and hopefully they come to fruition. But as always, thanks for tuning in. We'll speak soon. The right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most.

Better than most.