No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 24: John Swantek of the PGA Tour

Episode Date: August 24, 2015

I was lucky enough to be joined by John Swantek of the PGA Tour, host of Inside the PGA Tour, and the friendly voice you hear on the PGA Tour Live At broadcasts. We discussed... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 24: John Swantek of the PGA Tour appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang Up Podcast. I am Chris Solomon and I'm joined for the first time on the podcast. From the PGA tour, you heard him before on PGA tour live at Play-by-Play announcer. You hear him on Talk of the Tour on the on PGA tour radio as well Mr. John Swantak, John you realize you're putting your career at risk again coming on this

podcast you've had me on your show before but are you willing to do this again? I am I'm just wondering how far down the list of potential guests you had to go through before you got to Swantak. I'm going an alphabetical order so mean, it did take me a while. This is episode nothing number 25. So we're deep in the roster to pull you in here. No, we're thrilled to have you. I'm hesitant to have people from the PGA tour

because of how critical I can be at time. So I will keep it between the lines to make sure that anyone listening from the PGA tour in will make sure that we don't the PGA Tour end will make sure that we don't get Mr. Swantek in trouble. But. It's all good. And you're critical only when it's advised

the necessary. I think you're fair about it for the most part. For the most part, yeah, I'm sure that, look, I'm critical of a lot of things. So when people are critical of me, I'm fine to take it. I'll listen to fair criticism of myself. So, and feel free to shoot me down on anything that I've been critical on the PGA tour on. And I can take it. Trust me. I'm tough. But when I start crying,

if you hear me crying, I'm cutting out the recording. Just a warning. All right. If you don't mind, for those that don't know your background, and to be honest, I don't know a whole lot about your background. How did you end up where you are with the PGA tour? What was your path like and what's it like to be PGA tour announcer? Well, I've been here, man, it's hard to believe I've been here almost 20 years, Chris. I didn't think it would be this long. It was, you know, the five-year plan that everybody has in mind when they take a new job.

I came down from upstate New York and grew up in the Saratoga Springs and the photos of the anorotic mountains there. Worked a lot in local news and sports in the Albany market as a producer, a reporter, did some anchoring as well. I just did sort of a nationwide search. I just cast a wide net looking for, you know, a major sports organization to work for. This job with the tour opened up. I started as an associate producer, was a writer for many years, did some stuff in the field, did some long form production as well. And,

you know, gradually it began to evolve a little bit, did some voiceover work and got a couple opportunities here and there. And I've sort of been in the right place at the right time Honestly, I've been I've been really fortunate with the Explosion and the expansion of all our live digital stuff over the last several years So the time he worked out pretty well, and it's been it's been a lot of fun. That's been a great ride Well, we mean something the other no-ling up guys. We have a sort of a nickname, I guess, for you is we always say that you are the consummate professional. So I don't know if you have familiar with baseball, but we always had an inside joke that any time Richard Relia would come to bat, announcers always had to say he's such a professional hitter.

So our little inside joke nickname for you is Richard Relia, just a full disclosure. So you know that. I love it, and I'm a big baseball fan, and I can think of no higher praise in analogous with Richard Relia. Let me tell you, Jerry Roister, maybe, you can play every position you need as well. Well, so am I right in saying that your main role now with the tour is doing the PJ tour live at broadcast? Yeah, that's a big chunk of it my my weeks are you know pretty full with stuff I do the PJ tour radio show every every day at

At 11 o'clock Thursdays and Fridays and you're probably familiar with this as a guy living in Amsterdam I host our international fee which goes to all of our broadcast clients outside of the United States, like 220 countries and territories. So, I host that at Bethurstay in Friday, and then when there is a conflict with our, with our digital stuff, I use these slide over and do that. And that's going to get much busier next year now as well with this, the advent of PGA tour live. So, we're going to be handling 32 events every Thursday, Friday, next year.

So we're pretty fired up about that. Let me tell you, I do love, I especially love the international broadcast, because when I watch the TV here, it's usually in Dutch. And then when it goes to commercial, it switches over to the international broadcast. And then it's in English. So I take in everything I can during that 90 seconds

or whatever you're on during the commercials. And that's the only part in English that I hear. But you would think it would be helping with my Dutch, but it's really, really not. So. You know what? The international feed, I think, services, a niche for sure, but it's a pretty hardy golf audience.

I happen to find it fascinating. I mean, if I were outside of the US, I would love it because you get the stories told, the guys who were maybe not a factor in the tournament, maybe not a factor in the season long points race. I mean, they might be just grinding to make a cut, grinding to make their card outside of the, you know, the upper stratosphere of the game, Chris, that most people see when they're watching Network TV. This gives you the nitty gritty and the down andend dirty. It's just pure golf, and if you're a golf fan, I think it's what you're looking for.

That's exactly what I've been so complimentary of what you guys have done in the past on doing on your PGA toward live at broadcast, and that, you know, television golf can be structured in certain ways. I mean, they're going to cater to the large audiences, and I understand that. They're going to try to tell a story with a tournament and you're gonna show guys near the top, et cetera. But, you know that the die-hards are turning, tuning in to watch you guys online on Thursday and Fridays and tuning in to watch feature groups on the weekends.

And so the die-hards don't need to have everything placed on a platter for you. So I feel like the way you guys approach your job on an online broadcast is you treat the listener or the viewer almost with more respect than, you know, a network announcer does and that they know it's, they know it's not a casual fan watching. So you don't need to feed us the same storylines

that we hear about the same guys over and over again. And you guys call the golf and display the golf like it is an actual tournament because from my experience going to tournaments and Just just going to a tournament a couple times a year can really open your eyes as to what an event is actually like and that It's not what it's it's not how this Sunday broadcast makes it seem. It's it's it's it's there's a lot of golf going on everywhere. There's a lot of guys grinding to make the cut, grinding to finish top 25, and you just don't realize how difficult it really is when you only are plopping into guys' rounds and seeing his approach on 16 on tape delay, etc. But when you follow one group around for an entire day, you get just a much better idea

of what it's like to be a PGA tour player and realize that these guys hit a lot of bad shots, right? Yeah, no question about it. I mean, what we're learning with this PGA tour live digital property is that these players, although they're the best in the world, are often not at their best. And to me, that's just as compelling when they go out and shoot 63. So there's a comfort level for us as a broadcast team to kind of know what our role is and know who's listening and know who's watching. And of course, we want to attract new viewers and we want to generate new fans and an interest in the game.

But this is a sport that has a very strong and devoted following and they're smart. I mean, they know this game, so you've got to be on top of what you're doing. You can't feed them any B.S. certainly. If you want to deliver the broadcast with a smile on your face, that's cool, but it certainly doesn't have to be gimmicky because it's a golf party and it's primarily the trukater and we feel that way anyway. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, would you say, and forgive me because being in the Netherlands, I don't get the It's a golf audience primarily that you catering to. We feel that way anyway. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, would you say, and forgive me because being in the Netherlands, I don't get the new PGA tour live yet. My understanding is that I don't have access to at least the first time I tried. But, and what I would watch you guys on the PGA tour live ads before the, before the page streaming, you know, network, you would have either, you'd be calling either the action on one hole one or two holes for the day or Following one group around for an entire day. What's easier? We're what's more difficult? Well, that's a good question. They're they're equally challenging equally interesting

I think it's probably a little more lively to follow a group around because Simply you get to see the entire course and you see the the ebb and flow of the players round. You might see him turn 72 into 69. You might see him turn 68 into 74. So that's the privilege we have with PGA to alive now because we've got two groups concurrently. So really we're tracking six players for us simultaneously over the course of the round. And that happens within this premium window. But then at three o'clock, when golf channel comes down the air, that's the end of the feature group coverage and we cover holes the rest of the day. So it's a little bit of both. If I had to choose one, I'd like to see all different players

in the field coming through a couple of holes, but I would prefer to track just three or six guys for the course of an entire round. That surprised me that answer because I would have thought it would have been easier to discuss a certain hole over time and seeing how the different guys played it and to be able to discuss different players rather than to have to come up with four and a half hours worth of things to talk about Sergio Garcia on without repeating things or without, you know, you know, keep coming up with new things to talk about his game, his background and whatnot. I would think that would be a challenge to talk about the same person for that long.

Yeah, you know what, though, it's a different audience. It turns over fairly often during the course of a six-hour day. It's easy for us to kind of fall into a trap of thinking that everybody turns it on and even the morning and turns it off at three o'clock. Right. If we're being honest with ourselves, that's just not the case. It turns over pretty frequently.

Now, you've got people hanging out at work on Thursdays and Fridays who are watching it. They might dip in, they might dip out. They're going to have an ear to it, if not an eye to it. So it's okay to sort of repeat yourself. It's all right to fire up some highlights every hour or so. And you can always fall back on the fact Chris that it's a visual sport. I mean, you don't always have to fill the airtime with words. It's a beautiful sport to just

watch and enjoy. And I think you guys also do a great job of this and that when the players and caddies are discussing, there is nothing a commentator can add to make that any more interesting They're just all you got to do as easiest part of your job is just to stay silent Hey, man. I mean, I'm totally agreement with that. I mean to me It's like being in the huddle during a basketball timeout or being on the mound when a manager comes out to make a pitching change And the third baseman of the first baseman Everybody creeps out of the mound for a discussion. I mean, that's as good as it gets. You can't script that.

You can't write that. You can't manufacture that. I mean, for golf fans who are watching that and who really understand and appreciate the game, team, this guy's talk about shots and weird amists. And I mean, we're talking to yard or a half yard here and there. That's how precise they have to be, but that's why there's good as they are. And that's what I love seeing as, you know, we're talking yard or half yard here and there. That's how precise they have to be, but that's why there's good as they are. And that's what I love seeing is, you know, we're talking, especially someone like Jordan speed, number one player in the world.

I mean, you think about in the grand, like in the literal sense of the word, he is the best at this game on the entire planet, right? No one is better than him. So really, in my mind, like, who knows the game better than he does? And the answer to that is no one, but how much faith they'll put into their caddy and their input and they won't, he won't hit a shot without the proper input from Michael Greller. Like that just fascinates me. It's like, it just shows how people underrate the role of a caddy, but I feel like if you really have somebody that you can rely on, I think that it's almost

like he needs that reassurance before he goes in and commits to a shot. Well, that's the word. Some guys need it more than other players. And they're an interesting pair of those too because Greller is so calm and composed and reserved and kind of a minimalist as the vibe that I get off the head. And Jordan is just out there, like Leetcher thinks he's just a bundle of energy and he kind of has minimalist is the vibe that I get off the head. And Jordan is just out there, like Leach or Big Now. He's just a bundle of energy and he kind of has to talk his way through everything. And that's just kind of the way he, that's sort of his coping mechanism, I guess, to deal with all the stress.

And clearly he knows what he's doing. But yeah, there's a real value in the partnership between player and caddy these days. And I don't think anyone exemplifies it better than those two except maybe Jason Dan called swatten. That's a very different relationship, but equally as effective, isn't it? Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I'd imagine, you know, you being a fan of the game of golf for, you know, as long as you've been involved in it, that you have your favorite players, least favorite players. How hard is it at times to stay neutral in your role? You have to stay neutral, there's no cheering in the press box, but do you find yourself fist bumping under a table, like if Jordan's speed or someone is making a birdie or are there guys that you internally root for,

but you know, you have to reflect. I'm not asking your name names, we're keeping it between the fairway here, but is it, do you kind of lose a sense after doing it as long as you have of the, you know, developing a fan-hood for specific players, or is that something that still exists within you? Oh, man. I would be live, you Chris, if I told you we didn't root. If not for players, overtly, certainly for stories. So we try to keep it as objective as we can in the presentation of what we're doing.

But, you know, let's be honest, if the stories are more compelling, then it's going to be more interesting for the viewer or for the listener. So look no further than what happened in Greensboro last week. Tyga Woods in serious contention in what a PGA tour bet was just cool. That was a great story. All of us were swept up in that to see the big cat out there

on the prowl. It had been a while. I mean, it's certainly been a while. And had he hung in there and won, I think it would have been maybe the story of the year, maybe even more of an incredible achievement than what speed did, honestly, because of, you know, how far away you seem to be from contending just a few short months ago. So yeah, absolutely, we root for stories we have to. Yeah, I mean, I think regarding the big cat, I thought there would be something in between what we just saw last week

and what we had previously seen from him. I did not expect that leap. I mean, let's face it, if he doesn't, you know, skull that chip, whatever he did on that chip on I think 12 or 13, it made triple bogey. He, I mean, I know it's not an, you know, skull that chip, whatever he did on that chip on, I think 12 or 13 made triple bogey. He, I mean, I know it's not an, you know, an either or thing, but he made four birdies what coming in after that. Like, and if he doesn't make triple there, he finishes one out of the, he, they've

was love the third. I know every, if you, if you reversed out every player's worst whole of a tournament, it would look a lot different. But, I mean, I don't want to say he's back because the course, I think, benefited him. It was a pretty simple course from his standpoint and that it didn't challenge him too much off the tee. But I mean, he's kind of back, right?

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, it was, you know, to use a tiger as a, it was part of the process. He would stand there after shooting 85 and say, It was, you know, to use a tiger as a, it was part of the process. He would stand there after shooting 85 and say, look, you know, this is all part of the process. This is the next step. But all the, you know, all the tiger naysayers and, and, and what not would say, you know,

here we go again. We've heard this story before. We've seen this movie before. But, you know, these guys know, no one knows more than the player himself how close he is to being competitive and for Tiger this was just sort of the next step you know hit a few good shots together okay great check the box but a day or two together great check the box drink a couple of rounds together put yourself on the fringe of contention yeah we're good he did that a quick and loans a few a few weeks. The next step was to put four rounds together.

And this was as damn close as he could be to accomplishing that this year. And he didn't embarrass himself by any means. It was a 70. It was a level par round on Sunday. But you know, it was the next step that I'm with you. I'm convinced now that he's going to win in 2016. If you'd asked me that two months ago, I'm not sure what I want to say. I agree.

And what is actually exciting me the most is him showing this willingness to, in realization, now, I've been clamoring for this for a while. I clamor for this back in 2011, way before, no leg up ever existed. But he's above no event at this point. He really is not. I mean, he's not above the John Deere Classic. And the fact that he sacked up and went and played the win in this week impressed me. It did. I think that kind of that freshman,

towelian approach, and it wasn't like, it wasn't a course he felt like he should win on. You know, when he goes to Bridgestone, or I know he didn't qualify for that this year, or when he goes to the Memorial, places he's won at four or five times. Like, I think he kind of feels a pressure like I should perform here. This was a fresh slate. He had no bad memories of this golf course, no good memories, and just kind of free wielded it. I don't think he really cared that much

about qualifying for the playoffs as much as he did. Just kind of wanted to try something different. Yeah, and it's funny when you get to a certain point in your life and your career as an athlete and you begin to sense your own mortality and let's face the tiger has been through a lot. You know, on and off the golf course to sort of, you know, erode this Arab invincibility that he had for so long.

But I think there's a layer of humility there that we probably haven't seen in some time and to your point about him not being above any tournament, I think that's great. You know, when he talked about the fan support at Greensboro, Chris, he was genuinely would light up about it when he was asked about it. I think it meant a lot to him to sort of be, you know, swept along as he was over the last four days. It had been a while for him, too, not just all of us that were watching and admiring, you know, the glimpses of greatness that we saw for so many years.

But I think for Tiger, personally, it was really good to be in the hunt. So I'd like to just seem sprinkling a few more and I was going to play the fries in October. And you might play a team event with Coachir down in Mexico. Riviera, I think, would be awesome. Would you like to stay there? That would be. That would be. Yeah, I can't picture that happening. But again, I couldn't picture the wind them happening. So I mean, for feel like I mean, I've kind of mocked how much tiger attention He's gotten all year long and how it still still become a story But for once I'm given the full thumbs up two thumbs up Phil Mickelson go ahead for people to talk about tiger right now I think this is a very worthy story just I think what we saw this past weekend was significant

I mean it gives me enough hope that, I mean, no one thinks he's gonna go back to being a actual tiger, but I think we're gonna see a lot more glimpses of this, when the conditions are correct, when the course setup is correct. I can't picture him, you know, going out to Aaron Hills next year when it's gonna be close to 8,000 yards

and bombing it out there and competing into US Open. But some of these courses, like, something something like Sawgrass or somewhere where the driver gets neutralized a little bit and he can play from the fairway and rely on a strong iron game, I can see him contending. I can see him getting top 10s and I can see him winning an event, no doubt. Yeah, and the disparity between the numbers, you know, his scoring average and regular tour events versus the major championships was startling this year because this was a guy who was just invincible in major championships. So he's got to get that sorted out.

The next time he's able to put himself in contention to win a major. But yeah, I mean, this is the new reality for Tiger Woods. These are the events that he plays and these are the events that he contends in as he continues to sort of grind his way back. And, you know, he's not going to be the player he was. And we need to stop comparing him to the player he was 15 years ago because no one will ever be that guy and certainly not this current version of Woods. No.

So, I mean, for someone who's been the business as long as you have, you've seen the full Tiger era with the PGA tour. Where do you rank, I guess, the state of today's game as far as your excitement for it? Like, at peak Tiger time, was it more interesting to you than it currently is now with what we have. Speed, day, McElroy is sort of the kind of the big three, which I was the next point I wanted to discuss with you. But, I mean, where does this rate as far as the excitement level that you have to talk golf every day? Well, the height of Tigermania was just absurd. I mean, it was just stupid.

I mean, we had never seen anything like it in the game. I mean, I don't think we were fully prepared for it. We knew the type of potential he had, but I don't think we ever envisioned the 12 shot victory at the Masters or 17 victories over the course of the 99-2000 season. It was a phenomenon. I mean, he was a media or there was nothing like it. Now, I dare say the depth of the game now is better. I think the game is more interesting, certainly from our point of view, as presenters of the product, than it was, you know, 15 years

ago because Tiger was so dominant and there was such a gap between he and everybody else. I think the quality of competition now, the quality of play, the competitors is really good. We always knew we were going to run into the post-Tiger era, Chris. We weren't sure how we were going to deal with it. Once Tiger began to slow down as every player does, and it was sort of a fast track, a little bit, obviously, about what happened in his personal world a few years ago. But now with the emergence of these other guys, and perhaps the resurgence from Tiger,

I think the convergence of all this at once is going to make it as good as it's ever been. Yeah, no, I said the same thing to your colleague Mark Emelman the other day on his radio show and that I know we've never been better prepared to handle the post-Tiger apocalypse. Now, if we're going to mix in but potentially healthy and somewhat revive Tiger, it just adds this whole new element to the game. I mean, think back to the Masters, I feel like people have kind of even forgotten what Tiger did at the masters this year. I mean, he was in the third to last group. Now, he wasn't in contention to win the thing. I mean, speed that it pretty much wrapped up on Friday. But I mean, he's there was four or five guys

ahead of him going in after three rounds at the masters, right? I mean, I know he's, he can scrape it around that course regardless of his health or state of his game. But I mean, it's not, obviously, the rest of his years been pretty of his game. But I mean, it's not, obviously the rest of his years been pretty much a disaster, but I still, that still performance is stuck out to me as far as, because I declared he was back after that. I've been kind of hoping no one reminded me of that tweet I sent back in April where I declared I think in capital letters that he's back, but now I'm not quite as embarrassed by that tweet. But back to... Here's...

It's so impressive about the Masters to your point, Chris. It was a tie for 17th. Okay. You know, it's going to be bold over by that. But think about where he was in the weeks leading up to that. Think about how abysmal his short game was out in Scottsdale and earlier this season. And it was grave concern over how he was going to deal with those issues at Augusta National Doubt Places and you're

kidding me? And I thought he pitched the ball and chipped the ball beautifully that week and that began to signal that, okay, we need to be reminded how mentally tough this guy is. Yeah, I mean, you think back, it seems like a long time ago, but this was a healthy tiger woods that we were debating whether or not he was going to play in the Masters out of fear of embarrassing himself. So to have it come this far, and you know, even though it is just a blip on the radar and one good event in the season, I mean, it's got me legitimately excited for him to tee it up at the fries in seven weeks, which I couldn't have said before before this week. I mean, I literally said to Kyle Porter last week, I said, he wanted to talk about Tiger on the podcast and I was like, I'm tapped out, man, I got nothing.

I got nothing. And then he goes and fires two low rounds and I'm running around like a mad man. So it's definitely a good state of the game. But what I wanted to ask you next is a topic I discussed with Porter, but I like crowdsourcing this idea as well about the, this, you know, I typically make fun of these things that come up, you know, this overreaction with Porter, but I like crowdsourcing this idea as well about this.

I typically make fun of these things that come up, this overreaction to someone winning an event, but it was floated about Jason Day and Rory McAroy and Jordan Speed being this big three as soon as Day 1 is first major. I told Porter the same thing. I kind of rolled my eyes at the beginning, the more I looked into it, I kind of buy it. I mean, obviously, Speed and Macroi have the stronger resumes to date, but I don't see any reason why they can't be a strong number three to those two, do you? No, I don't, and I love the idea of these three forming some sort of rivalry because they're all they're all different. They come from different corners of the world, from Britain and from Australia and from

the United States. And, you know, as much as we yearned and hoped for a tiger, fill rivalry over the last, you know, decade, decade and a half, the fact of the matter is they never really battled head to head that I can recall late on Sunday of a major championship and that's a big part of the equation in any kind of rivalry is to see these guys actually high up on the leaderboard in a meaningful event. We've already seen that with day and speed twice in the last five weeks of lineup. And don't think that Rory hasn't taken notice of this. I think while he sat on the sidelines and watched and listened to all the praise

rightfully so that was being heaped on these guys, let's not forget, he's a pretty proud athlete and he's a great player, he's an explosive player. And his play at the PGA impressed me. I don't think we knew quite what to expect, but I think Rory certainly gave us reason to believe that he's healthy again and once he he tees it up, the Deutsche Bank after he takes this week off, he's going to be a force. And I love the idea of the big three because they're all similar in age to Chris. So this could be something we could have gone for a while here. Yeah, and that's kind of what kind of surprised me even though I feel like I know a lot about Jason Day.

I just kind of you tend to forget that he's just 27, right? Because we've seen him be so close for a better part of five years now. And you'd think that he's into his 30s. You'd think he's Justin Dustin Johnson's age, but he's not. And the fact that he's been so close before and just hasn't gotten over the hump, I tend to think that I definitely think that's a good thing rather than an indictment of him. And now that he's actually pushed over the hump, there's not a major that his game doesn't fit. I know he doesn't have a great track record at the open,

but he had a great, he finished one shot out of the playoff at the open this year. So, I mean, his major season, obviously, speed dominated the headlines for this major season, but day is a close second to have, I don't forget, did he finish second at the US Open? Now he would have finished top five, but anyways, it it was it's pretty uh... that's a hell of a run to finish the finish the season on

well you know what i mean it felt like this major was coming for a long time and to your point he's only twenty seven i mean this is not like you know michael said in his early thirties are even been hooking his early thirties before they broke through for their first major said this is a young kid who's been close so many times. And I'm always reminded of when he said he wanted to be the number one player in the world. This was several years ago and everyone said, wait a minute, wait a minute, young fellow. I'm pumped to break so little bit. You haven't even won on the web.com tour yet.

But this was a guy with a tremendous amount of self-belief. Most of these guys have it. They don't all voice it, and I think that's the difference, but this guy Jason, I think, is pretty special. I think he carries himself with real humility. I think he has put in an extraordinary amount of work. This doesn't happen with just raw talent alone. He's got that. He's got plenty of that. But there's a level of dedication that's hard for the rest of us to recognize or define. Only a special few have it. And those are the guys that are at the top of the rankings. Yeah, I just keep thinking back to the sound of some of those shots coming off his club face on Sunday. And I mean, to win the way he did, to put on that big of a striped show, shoot 20 under,

I don't care how easy people saying Whistling Straight was. Look, I've played that course. It's not easy. I mean, the way to win it that way so definitively where you basically play a error-free final round, I'm willing to forgive him for laying the sawdover on that ball on number nine, because he cut it up and down after that. But I mean, that's just, that just shows it. That's a different kind of talent level. This wasn't like, I mean, not to disparage, to Zach Johnson more than I already have.

This wasn't ZJ grinding it out in a, in a, in a playoff. Like this, he was dominant. To beat speed, who played an excellent tournament by three, and it wasn't really even that close. I mean, that's, that's a, that's a level of talent that only a few guys have to really not run away with the major, but to definitively win it. I mean, look at only, I the last five years, what Ustazin, Rory and Spieth have done that if I'm thinking off top of my head, right? Yeah, that's right. And he doesn't have any weaknesses. I mean, and he's just as long as Bubba and Dustin Johnson to me. I mean, those guys are known to be just prodigious and they hit some extraordinary drives. But I mean, this could chase and day,

when he needs to move one, three, six, the, he can do it. If he needs to force an iron through the air, 260 yards, he can do it. And it never seemed to me like that PGA was in question, and the outcome was in question. And that's to take nothing away from speed through this as game of competitor, as we've got going right now. But I never felt like Jason

Dave was going to let that one slip away and it was that was a big deal to me Chris because he's been close and a lot of major championships. This was the first one that I think he was really expected to win and that's a different level of pressure that a guy's got to deal with. So I think it was a huge achievement form. Yeah, I think he knew that also if he didn't win that one that there was going to be some major questions asked. And at that point, I think it was a huge achievement for him. Yeah, I think he knew that also if he didn't win that one, that there was going to be some major questions asked. And at that point, I think it kind of would be a little bit fair. It's like, all right, you've done this how many times now, man, like it's, it's, we're ready for you to close one of these and to do it in the fashion that he did. I was, I was

rooting for speed is the thing is I wanted to win three majors this year, but it was so hard for me because I wasn't rooting against day. Like I wanted speed to go run him down, but I didn't, well, I didn't like seeing Daylay this out of that ball on nine. I was not rooting for him to miss putt. So it was, uh, but that's just kind of like where I laugh at the state of the current game. It's like, we got these two going head to head in the last three majors of the year. Like how, how unbelievably, like, I don't want to say lucky we are. It's like, we have this, we're just like cursed with this incredible golf weekend a week out. I mean, it's a new storyline. Davis loved the third one at tournament this week.

How does that happen? Only in 2015 could that happen. Could you imagine if Speed did won the PGA? If he had gone three for four, and the only one he didn't win was at the open one shot out of a playoff when he went out on Saturday in that crazy weather they say Andrews Chris and Bokey the only holy play before they called everybody back inside Can you imagine what controversial sort of squirrel band don't get me started on that I was I was I was I was I've vocally upset about that And I made that that comment on Twitter and got shredded for it. Mostly by, mostly by European people who were like, oh, that, that's just how we played golf over here.

Like, everyone had to go out in that weather. I'm like, no, actually not everyone did. And like, the quiet thing that, you know, you almost, I, I haven't even mentioned on Twitter in an article because people think automatically I assume I'm blaming that event for being the only reason speed didn't win, but he got the bad part of the draw on both the PGA and the British. I think it was Jake Nichol, who runs a fantastic statistical analysis website, who tweeted some statistics about the fact that speed had the bad part of the draw on both tournaments, which look at happens. The good side of the draw, I think, in the US open and in the Masters.

So it's fair to expect 50-50 throughout the majors, but I mean, that's basically kind of what prevented him from winning the slam. And it's insane to think about. I mean, I think it would have been a whole different pressure on him at the PGA if he'd have won the British, but to have it come down to that one shot at the British and to know that he got that

bad to break having to go out in that weather. It really, really frustrated me. I floated this question too and it's unanswerable. It's like, would the RNA have sent them out there if it was Rory going for the slam? Is that a fair question to ask? Yeah, I guess it is, but you know, it is sort of the luck of the draw. I mean, they want to finish on Sunday. Any tournament host wants to finish on Sunday. Not being there. I can't tell you the severity of the weather, only the pictures and the visuals that I saw. It didn't look good. They gave it a shot, and it adversely affected some players more than others. And, you know, it's hard to project how, uh, speed, what have played at the PGA had he won the open championship. I mean, we don't know

He may not have put himself in position to win it could have been a different story But his overall major championship season man, that's as good as we've seen since 2000 It's not as good as woods in 2000, but for me it's right there. Yeah, it's really not fair to nitpick it and we are it's like And you think back to I mean he could have easily, you know, DJ could have easily made that putt at the US open too and he could have only won one major this year. So I mean, it's, it's amazing how fickle things can be and how close it can come. I mean, he was, he was damn close to making that putt out of the valley of sin on 18 at the open as well.

But along this, I was curious to, I want to pick your brain on another guy we've been mentioning and passing so far as Dustin Johnson. And at the age of 31, without a major at this point, I think people are, I feel like the narratives kind of been written on DJ. But to me, this felt like his best season. And I don't have the numbers in front of me about most wins, most top 10s, but I felt like he's never been a bigger threat than he is when he teased it out currently. I know he had bad weekends at the PGA and at the open, but I feel like, I don't have anything to back this up other than I feel like his suspension last six month layoff, whatever.

I really do think he's kind of come back and change man, commitment wise and mental wise. Do you get the same sense or am I kind of imagining some kind of storyline there no he seems different he seems more committed to what he's doing out there doesn't need for sure and he's gosh he's such a sublime talent I mean he's got a gear that a lot of guys don't have them because of that he's a threat to win not only the major, but pretty much every week that he teased it up. And yeah, I think this was his, probably his best season. I think he kind of put it all together pretty quickly when he came back out there on the

West Coast. And, you know, it's a fascinating storyline. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that's keeping him continually falling short in in major championships. You have to believe that someone as good as he is and as talented as he is is going to win one eventually. But now we've been

saying that about Sergio for 15 years now as well. And he's 35 years of age. But Dustin Johnson's final round there, Chris, Ed Wissing Straits, epitomized his major championship season. I mean, it was, it was, it was, it was analyzing. He was awful in that opening hole. And then phenomenal the rest of the, the rest of the way. Uh, just unable to put it all together for 18 holes. And, you know, I don't know what the difference is, you know, other than it's just

really hard to do it. Look what Jason Day has done. He admitted it was harder of a proposition than he ever imagined. So DJ just needs to push through this and sometimes a major wins you before you win one, I guess. Yeah, no, I mean, it's, I think it'd be a full-zare and to really try to figure out what's going on in these guys' heads or really try to predict their futures or their career, especially, I mean, this, think about all the unpredictable things that

happen in one round of golf. But I just, I've been, the biggest takeaway I've had from the PGA has been DJ. I just, I can't, I don't know what it is, I just, I can't stop thinking about it. It's like, this has to, he has to break through at some point. I've never been more confident when he's standing over a shot than I currently am. And the results just aren't quite matching it. I just feel like it really is a matter of time. I think next year finally is the year that he's going to break through and win one, but putting a wrap on the major season for the year. We're starting the FedEx Cup playoff this week.

The Barclays up in New Jersey. I'm curious as to what you think, what are some changes that you'd like to see in the FedEx Cup? Because for me personally, I don't get that excited about it. I know what the goal is, the goal is, what we have currently going is way better than what we had before. And it's designed to be at least somewhat of a rival to football season starting. And I buy that totally, but I feel like it could be more. So what is your ideal FedEx Cup playoffs if you're allowed to speak on this without getting trouble with the tour? Well, of course I am.

And yeah, the most important part of all this is that it is much better than what we had prior to 2007. You know, there's a faction of people who don't consider it playoffs. They look at it more as a collection of four really strong events. That's fine. I mean, you can define it any way you want, but it's a much better competitive landscape than what we had seven or eight years ago. They've made some changes. I think one of the things I did this year, which will help, was dial you know, dial back the

points distribution just a little bit, Chris, it used to be 2,500 points for a victory in the playoffs. That I think was a little too much, there was a little too much emphasis on winning in the playoffs, which to me diluted the importance of being great consistent throughout the course of the regular season. So it's 2000 this year, that's better. So you won't get quite as much volatility. You want some, you know, you want that eight-nate wild card team that sneaks into the playoffs to have a chance to run the tables, but you also want the team that goes 13 and 3 wins the division, gets

the buy, gets the home field advantage to have a little bit of an inch starting out of the playoff. So that's what speed has to begin with now. And, you know, I'm looking forward to it this week. I know there's a couple guys that aren't playing. We won't see Roy. We'll see him in Boston, but the rest of the gang and all the top guys in the point standings are ready to fire it up this week and claim to go. Yeah, no, I think I agree with pretty much everything you said there. And looking backwards at the FedEx Cup champions in the past,

I think every champion there's been has been deserving of it. I think it has worked out fairly well. There's not been like a guy where you're like, you know what, like he should not have won over this guy. This guy's such a better year and just got out at the end of the year. Maybe you want to make the case for Bill Haas, Rory in 2012, I believe I think was probably

his best chance at winning it, but something like what happened with Horsel last year, a guy goes out and finishes second first and the final events of the year, that's your champion. That's your playoff champion. I'm totally fine with that working out that way. What I would like to see, and I know it'll never happen because I know match play does not rate well is To have the first three events of the year be a some kind of seating positioning I'm sorry the first three events of the FedEx Cup playoffs be a seating positioning To get you in place for either a round of 32 a round of 16 match play And you run, I know you don't want to go up against football, you run the final matches on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and prime time on the West Coast.

Tell me you're not, people aren't going to tune into that. Well, it's an intriguing scenario for sure, but you may have answered your own question. I know. And that is the viability of match play in terms of the appetite that people have for it. I mean, that hardcore golf fans like us, you know, we love it. The other risk with match plays that you get some of the top level guys bounce that out of there early and they may not be a factor, you know, when you get late toward the end of the thing. But, you know, all this discussion and dialogue and debate is good. It's only

going to lead to perhaps more changes to make this a better system going forward. And you know, it's not perfect. I don't think anyone at the PGH or would tell you it's perfect. I think they're always looking for feedback. I think they certainly get it from the players. And they want to make this as fair and equitable as they can to throw it down to the regular season. And this run of four-play-out events. this is fair and equitable as they can to throw it down to the regular season and this is run of four-play-off events. All right, so what are the chances that we could get the PJ Tour would hire me as a special consultant strictly for my half-baked ideas?

Okay, I'm not going to come up with full plans. All right, you can pay me contingently on only if you adopt my plans, but let me at least get it started and you guys can do the rest You guys can handle logistics. I'll handle the easy part coming up with the idea and you guys figure out the rest Who can I talk to with BGA tour? Well, I don't know if there's a corner office waiting for you It's a once-well TPC bill of art over there in Bonavidra at World Headquarters But here at BGA Tour Entertainment, that might not be as far as long an idea as you would think that goes.

Well, the best idea I think I've actually had is, and I don't want to take full credit for this, the rest of the guys that know I'm going up have helped me with this idea as well, is the night before the match play is having the players, and I have a whole post I can send you this. Having the players decide who plays who based on like a drafting or pin system, right? And you televised that. You put some alcohol in front of the guys and you televised it live on the golf channel the night before the event. Tell me that wouldn't be my CTV. Yeah.

And if it's not by all means, add alcohol if you want. Exactly. It's a half-baked idea. I have a thought of it fully all the way. It's valuable just to have half-baked ideas, even if the people you're working for are convinced that they're not going to work. And then that's how you arrive at actual ideas that will work.

There you go. There you go. What's triggering this next question is the fact that these FedEx cup events to me lose a little bit of their appeal when I don't know where they're playing a year-to-year, right? It's kind of a it's kind of a rotational program, you know, between the BMW has been in a couple courses in Chicago last year It was out in Denver the the Barclays I believe is on a four-year rotation every year so I don't get to know these courses very well at all It's not like a major where I spend a lot of time

getting prepped and getting schooled in these courses, but it does give us a fresh look at new courses on tour, which I do like that part. So are there any venues that you think that have gone away from the PGA tour in the past? You've been around this for 20 years. Some of your old favorite venues are favorite places to see tournaments that you'd like to see come back

or other tournaments that they've never hosted a tournament that you think are deserving. You know, I love the small market, small community events. I realize we're in an age of big markets and corporate partnerships and that's, you know, obviously essential to the success and the overall health of the tour and the game.

But to me, places like Greensboro Chris last week, Hartford Connecticut, Hilton Head, the week after the Masters, those communities are an important part of the fabric of the PGA tour. I used to love the Old Buick Open in World War Kills, Grand Blank Michigan, which was on the PGA tour schedule for many, many years. That place would go off the hook. And it was in tiny town.

It was the only game in town. And yet, they would jam that place with fans. And that floor three was one of our live-out holes, actually, for a bunch of years. I think it's 17. And Tiger played there, and they got good fields there through the years. And, you know, eventually a lot of those courses and those events just kind of get swallowed up like the BC Open in upstate New York where I grew up.

So I hope that those types of events stay on the tour calendar for many years to come. I really do. Yeah, it's really a shame kind of what the technology has done and made so many courses obsolete. I mean, I'd be interested in seeing a turnover statistic as to, you know, from 1995 to 2015, how many courses have been, how many, it's got to be 25% of the courses

are still being played on would be my guess, right? Yeah, and, you know, you can challenge these guys without putting a 7800 yard course in front of them. I think we're going in the wrong direction in ways that we're trying to challenge these best players in the game. You can do it with narrow fairways, you can do it with fast greens. I mean, it's pretty simple. I mean, there's a premium on shopmaking that I think it's lost, not only because of the equipment and to me that's a problem. I think it's becoming some one of a lost art.

Certainly the power game that these guys played is something to marvel at, and it's an awesome spectacle for sure. But give me a 7100 yard course where the winning score is about 10 or 12 under par and I'll be happy cap her every week. Yeah I mean the interesting you're ring that up as one of the last things I want to talk to you about is where do you see the future of the game going as far as technology because what we've seen in the last five years I mean I don't like how you know as soon as technology because what we've seen in the last five years, I mean, I don't like how, you know, as soon as something happens, like, Rory hits a 180 yard 9 iron, the first

reaction is not to be in all of it. It's, oh, look at what has happened to the game. Like, I think this is, it's just fun. It's fun to see the guys bomb the ball. However, I think things are maybe starting to spiral a little out of control when Jason Day is hitting wedges into 570 yard par fives. What can realistically be done at this point? I feel like there are maybe about five years behind of this move of potentially rolling

back the ball. I don't think they can go backwards with the ball, but is there anything they can do to kind of stop this technological boom that's kind of getting out of hand? We're going to see an 8500 yard course before it's too long. Yeah, you're probably right, and i think it is the ball i think that's been identified by you know even the players will tell you that that's that's more of an issue than the equipment that they're using it's the ball as well but i you know i wonder and i have some concern about how far down the road we are already

with that and and what can be done from this point forward because it's sort of a you know it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy because what it's what it's prompting is the design of bigger and bigger golf courses so you know one sort of feeds into the other and you know not in a positive way so I hope that there's still a collection of courses that are a little bit different and can sort of reverse the trend here to make it more competitively balanced, too. I mean, you play certain courses only, you know, 10, 15 guys have a legitimate chance to win.

If you dial it back and you put them on a course where there's more of a premium on shopmaking, I think it opens up the competitive balance of the field and it allows everybody to have a reasonable chance of competing. Yeah, but also, you know, that you run the risk of Sean McEill winning one of those tournaments as well. So maybe they're just going to embrace this bombing area, bombing area as long as they can. I'm going to get you out on my one final question. I ask all my new guests, all the new podcast guests And I know you're familiar with the topic, so I don't need to explain it to you. What is your favorite tour sauce move? Personally or to witness from an actual player both I want to do one favorite one you pull on the course and to witness from a tour player

I love the this from a tour player. I love the signing of the glove when you plunk somebody in the gallery with an air at T-shot. That's my favorite. Especially if you slip a hundo in there. The cameras don't catch that. Myself personally, my best tour sauce work comes on the greens. That's the best part of my game. I'm only, you know,

maybe a 15 handy camper Christmas just as, you know, an average hack, but I can put. And if I know what's going in and it's five feet away, I won't. That's a sauce he's against for me. That's what the most refreshing thing we saw from Tiger this week is he gave a good Tiger step on a birdie putt. It was a clean foot out. He knew it was in and gave it the step man. That's what triggered me to give the thumbs up on him being back. Oh man, it was great to see for a few days anyway, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. It was a good blast from the past. Alright man, we've taken up almost 50 minutes of your time. It's been very much appreciated.

It's been glad we could finally do this. And I think we're safe when your employment for now, we'll hold off to see maybe by the end of the week. But you're also assuming the people listen to these things and they really don't. So. That's a good point. If I get any calls from human resources,

I'll direct them your way. All right, that sounds good. So thanks everybody for tuning in. This was John Swantek from the PGA Tour. And John, we will definitely do it again sometime. from human resources I'll direct them your way. Alright, that sounds good. Thanks everybody for tuning in. This was John Swantek from the PGA Tour and John, we will definitely do it again sometime. Right on, thanks Chris. Thanks man.

Give it a right club. Be the right club today. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most.