No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 519: Pebble Beach, Phil, Saudi Recap

Episode Date: February 7, 2022

We go in a lot of different directions on this pod as Tom Hoge chases down Jordan Spieth to win at Pebble, Phil goes scorched earth on PGA Tour economics, more rumored offers from the SGL come to light and some history on the Tour's ability to combat rival tours. We also recap the Saudi Invitational with a guest appearance from Cody on the attempted sportswashing by the Saudi government and some reaction to this week's LPGA and Euro Tour events.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh,

Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh,

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Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh here. Let's, let's, let's send it to night, Pie, man. DJ Pie is here. Hello, DJ Pie.

Hi, greetings. Hello, everybody. Happy to be here with you guys. Cody is here as well. He's going to be producing tonight's episode. You may hear his voice from time to time here as we, as we meander through just a myriad of figurative, figurative lay in minds, if you will, of hot button issues around the game of golf.

You know what's not a hot button issue in the game of golf, though, the perfect pant from Travis to Matthew, from Travis Matthew. I'm stumped, but not ready. Here we go. We got a few of these in the mail. I wore them for the first time yesterday, not exaggerating. The best golf pant I've ever worn. They are extremely, extremely light.

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Sneaky, you gotta look out for this. I've seen a lot of these. Cell phones falling out between your car seats. I haven't tried the perfect pant yet. How do you think they would work for the quad father? Oh, they're stretched around the quad. Perfect. My glutes have been on fire this so far this year

and they fit absolutely perfect. Okay, good to hear. They created from performance fabric that features improved softness and stretch. The casual look, lightweight feel, makes them perfect from open to close. One of John Roms and Sam Burns favorites, whether they're on tour or relaxing off the course bottom line. This is a pant you can stay in all day from open to close. Check it out today at TravisMathieu.com.

Use code NLU20 for 20% off your purchase. That's TravisMathieu, T-R-A-V-I-S-M-A-T-H-E-W.com code NLU20 for 20% off. Love that code. Very good. That's a very good, that's a nice old discount. I tried that code throughout the year too. I may have sent that to a friend or two. I think it's an evergreen code. So keep that in mind, people. I thought the golden child was going to do it. I thought he was going to save us from a pretty tough week around the world of golf. But Tom Hogi is the one that saved us from the from the songs way, baby. Mike's way. Hogi's for everybody.

Come on. Everybody come get your sandwich. Let's go. I do feel bad. Steve, the joke. Tom, do you want to pickle with that? No, I don't give my pickle the meal. Top of it. Do you want to pickle with that? No, I don't give my pickle the meal. I'm good. I don't need one about chips in a drink.

Just a cup of water. Cover water for me. I know you're going to go get a Pepsi. No, go on. You're a bad guy. I feel bad that Hogi has been like the guy, like the go to guy in so many of the other. Not anymore, my friend.

Well, I think he still is in terms terms of the guy that like, listen, this guy's cash and checks, he's playing good golf, he's not moving the needle, he is emblematic, if you will, of an issue that the tour has, right? And in this week where we're talking about super leagues and all this other stuff going on, Tom Hogi winning is kind of like a, gosh. Phil, we're gonna get to Phil,

we're gonna spend a lot of time on Phil. I think you have a point, you are not communicating it very well. And if you were more focused on the fact that maybe you don't want to split purses with Cam Trangales and Tom Hogi's anymore, maybe we could have got there. But I found it ironic that Hogi won the tournament this week in deserved fashion. The way I would sum it up is it's the kind of marquee pro am of the PGA tour calendar. Some of these big wigs, billionaires, actors, you know, music stars.

If they got paired up with Tom Hogi, would they, who? What? Tom. I thought I was going to play with speed through, you know, like, you know, like, come on. I mean, maybe, uh, cam champ, you know, like, I know the, Tom Hogi, Hose, uh, Hose, Hose. Hose. but you know what I mean? I don't mean any offense by that, but I think that's kind of the, you know, I played one round with that guy boy, he boy, can he hit it?

I'll tell you what? It shows how much. Boy, you know, that's exactly right. Neil, it's exactly right. No, listen, he's, he's been knocking on the door. We got to give him his due. He's been playing really nice. He, he runner up at the American Express out in the door. We got to give him his due. He's been playing really nice. He he runner up the American Express out in the desert. I think a T4 in the fall at Sea Island.

He's just he's been sniffing around. He misses a shitload of cuts as well. But when he is up there, I mean, he usually hangs. He doesn't completely get vaporized. It seems like and he was something like $9,200 on Draft Kings this week, which if that if that doesn't make sense to you, that's like one of the top six or seven players on the board And I saw that I was like, what what is going on and jokes on me because he went ran down our boy Shot of the day on 16 Yes, he almost did what speed did last year and then dunked it from the fairway, you know kind of had a Three-inch tap in there

So and that was kind of it. It was like it it was very anti-climax. And for the last, we've pretty much money. Very put on 17. Yeah, true. And it's, and it's not a super easy to put on 18, right? No, just kind of, but he was a complete control. Yeah. It was like, oh, damn. You know, and can't lay his faden. He can't lay was not good, man. He did. That was, that wasn't good. So, maybe the slowest week of golf I've seen and slowest like pace of play. Place of play. Oh, we're getting ready and pace of play.

We're out of the bat. That's not wasn't on the agenda. I didn't know we were going to get there today. Well, it's just something that jumped out of me. I watched it from whole number one, like when speed teed off to the, you know, final putt and it was just brutally slow all day. I just felt like I was. It's a log jam every year.

I was struggling. And you think that's that's pro-am? It's definitely an aspect of it. I mean, it just kind of I don't know if it's exactly the way the order of the holes flow from like a short, you know, short par three into a reachable par five and then into another short par three and then into like, you know, a hole that kind of takes a long time to go all the way around number eight and it just, you know, a hole that kind of takes a long time to go all the way around. Number eight, and it just, you know, there's just wind and all those elements out there. It just is not set up to flow very quickly. I mean, courses like, I pictured like Riviera is like a really good course that flows

pace wise. You know, there's a lot of talk. I think it's a Thomas thing of, you know, the first two holes are meant to send you as far away from the clubhouse as possible. And that's a pace of play thing and gets going. And Pebble just doesn't seem to be designed to rush people through, if you will, which is kind of ironic because they make a lot of money every time they do rush somebody through. But I played there 10 years ago, it's you'd off at 3, 10 in late May and played 18 in the

total dark. It was five and a half hours or something like that. But it's just a. Yeah, a lot of like starting before six, but specifically six when you're hitting that blind shot over the hill, it's just a lot of shots of like, whoa, I got a focus. Like also like, whoa, look at that view. Is that enough on Hogi?

Can we do speed now the Yule G? Well, let's do Tom Hogi career and he's coming into today today. Seven point eight million. Don't look at my screen. You dirtbag. I said, you know what I was looking at me. Yeah, no, Neil. Oh, I was going to say, you know, I better not get at my screen. You dirtbag. I said, you know what I'm looking at me. Yeah, no, Neil. Oh, I was gonna say, you know, I better not get this super close.

I think it's lower than 7.8. I'm gonna go $5 million. All right, well, you need to get your eyes checked. 8.6. Oh, wow. Coming into today. So another, whatever, million and million.2. Yeah, so I need to put some respect on his name.

That's what I mean. He's been around. He's played two hundred and two events, two hundred and three events now. He's sixth in Stroke's game approach on tour so far this season. The dude is a really, really, really good iron player. I don't know why he hasn't won, honestly. People that are up there that high on Stroke's game approach win golf tournaments. That's a stat that I feel like I'm pretty plugged into those and that was a surprising

stat to see today. Yeah, no, I definitely can't say I have too much more to add on Tom Hogi. Congratulations to him. Obviously, I don't know if we want to get right to speed, but. Well, but before we do TC jumped in downstairs, pebbles good for Tom Hogi winner. Like Ted Potter, June, Nick Taylor. It just seems like it's a nature. And I, when he, he kind of brought that up about, you know, 20 minutes ago, and I was thinking

about like, why is that? Is it? Well, the field's usually bad. Massive. Is it because of the massive field, or it's because it's not a good field? It's just not usually a good field. I think you have like farmers, you have phoenix, you have, you know, the, obviously the stuff in the Middle East that has pulled guys now for a while.

You have, you know, Riviera coming up. It's just not usually very good. I think a lot of guys don't love the pro-amp. Like the Pebble honestly has made even a little bit of a comeback. I feel like even the last, obviously not this year, but, you know, when Speed kind of started playing there, when Jason Day started playing there back, when he was number one in the world, it started to come back. It was even bleaker probably than it has been in the last couple of years, but it's never

never really been great. I think there's something. I think there's something. There's something to three golf courses being more randomized test of skill than like farmers at Torrey. It's like, Hey, four days right here. I guess I know they have two courses there, but the profiles are decently similar of like pound driver here is what you got to do. You got to have this skill over and over and over and over again. So you get like the

normal guys that we're used to seeing. Whereas this is not long golf courses, three different courses, and you get them in three different orders and it I don't even know what you would technically want. Would you want the easy course on the easy day so you can post the number, the hard course on the easy day so you don't go back as far, but there's just so much random stuff. Then you add an amateurs into the mix and all the things that are going on out there. Like that would be why I think that probably happens. The field is definitely a contributor to it, but it's just, it's hard to say,

like what is the test at this tournament because you get so many different elements to it. Spyglass bomb it. Like it is the, the driver seven iron golf course. And yet, Pebble and yet Pebble you can know you can get hot on that front nine runoff four or five birdies in a hurry out there. So that'd be my guess. Shout out to the prophet. You like that one? Troy Merritt. We're you ran off four in a row to start the day. Only funny to anybody who's watched station 11, but we're joking about the fairly widely known fact that I think Troy Merritt, he just reads the Harry Potter books

over and over. I think Andy had a tweet from a while ago that he's read each book like 12 times. Yeah, almost like. Neil's like, man, it sounds like the prophet from the station of 11. You know, I love that album. Yeah.

Well, he just loves the Harry Potter book. Just keeps reading it. I keep reading the book. So I would like to join, I declaring it and I'm part of the undersea. Can I just declare it right here? Can I speak for very many people when I say? Yeah, I'm watching it. It's okay. Huh? Okay. I mean, easily there is no best show of I think it was better than succession. It was really good. Really good. And I was skeptical going into it. We'll give you the last word.

Anyway, thank you. Yeah, I'm not out the Tyler Merit. We'll give you last word. Anyway, thank you. Yeah, I'm not a group. Shout out to Tyler Merritt. Tyler was said intentionally. I guess that's kind of a spoiler bit. Yeah, you'll figure it out. Whatever.

Will I? I will say, Pebble, this was as good as I can remember, member Pebble playing. I think we've gotten just kind of overcast it. Other than the US Open. It was not that great for the US Open. It wasn't that firm for the US open. They would have liked it firmer. They just the weather did not fully cooperate with that. But in terms of like a January or February week of sunshine and short sleeves and firm

greens, like those greens came alive. And that makes those pin positions come alive so much more. How great. Like that. They set it up awesome for Sunday. The pin position on five was tremendous. Nine in that back. And the different team five to the different T on five and the different T on 10. There was just a bunch of stuff that was like, and again, that's just the, the, you know, year over year familiarity with Pebble and like knowing where some of those spots are and how hard 16 green is to put and all that. It was good golf tournament today, man. It was a good coverage too. It feels like CBS find their groove a little bit. Their aerial images this week were just popping off the charts.

Obviously an incredible job capturing the speed moment on Saturday, which Neil, I know you're dying to talk about. I just, you know, listen. It's such a steep clip. It's, that would be so scary. I know, but I thought I was a little overplayed. Oh, a little overcooked for me. I didn't think he was literally could have he could have died, but it was like legitimately. First off, he chose to do it. Yes, which is a bad decision. Okay, but I I felt like there was a solid yard there. I thought he had nice wide base. Okay. He had plenty of time to backpedal immediately. Like he didn't lose his footing in any way. And he took a plenty of time before the shot. And I guess some of this is just that golf is like in general so lame that I'm going to see that

shot on for the next nine months over and over and over. I you can almost see it right when it happened like, oh god, this is like the coolest thing that I've you know that's happened in golf. And look how dangerous that will oh my spieth putting his life on the line. It's just over dramatized. I didn't think it was, you know, I didn't think he had it at the shot. I didn't feel like he was. Like, the cliff is the cliff is the cliff.

You're right. It looked for it. He would have died. It looked for a while like he was going to win by one shot and I would have completely thrown in your face that he stepped up and hit. It was great. See, I still don't think he, I mean,

he had, he ended up with a 20 footer for par, right? So it wasn't, like, he could have easily taken the drop, hit it at the 20 feet and made it was great. See, I still don't think he, I mean, he had it, he ended up with a 20 footer for par, right? So it wasn't, like, he could have easily taken the drop, hit it at the 20 feet and made the par still. It wasn't like hitting the shot, saved him a shot. I do not think that. And I had, I didn't feel like it was overly, like, look how cool and amazing this was. I think a lot of people were like,

yeah, I don't know about this. And they were pretty good about adding in Jordan's contacts afterwards was like, dude, I regret doing it. I should not have done that. He said I was at an anxiety attack when he got to the green. He started thinking about what he had just done. It was, he was like upset that his parents were watching it on TV. He was upset his wife was watching it.

I thought it was a little stock. Listen, next time you're, next time you're out there, go stick your head over that cliff. Don't, I've done it. It's very scary. That's fine. You know what? Maybe I'm out of line for saying this, but maybe I'm just worried about this being overplayed on repeat for the next nine months. I'm worried about people now going to be like, oh, we got to go hit the screen. I'm worried about that. Do not go do that. Like that. That's the that's the part that's the worst and the drone view of it was incredible. Then they went blimp view. Yeah, the blimp view. It's always shout out to the blimp camera operator.

Of course. Some of the, I mean, most skilled stuff we see weekend week out. They nailed that, but I don't want to say about the speech game. Probably move on. Yeah, he struck the shit out of his irons. And that should be exciting for the upcoming golf. He shot 60 exciting for Phoenix. Should be exciting for Riviera.

Obviously exciting for the players. Exciting for Augusta. It's a game of roulette off the tee. Not really. He drove it better than it looked. I don't know. There's a lot of drop in the club at the top of the bass wing. I'll give you.

It didn't look good. It was not fun to watch as a speed fan. Like on Saturday, they broadcasts were saying that he had a like all-time ball striking day, like proximity to the whole. He had like, I don't know, some like double digit number of putts inside 12 feet. I don't know what the number was. And it's just crazy with speed

because that's not what I'm watching. I'm like, yo, I just feel like he's been all over the map all day, you know? Like that, it doesn't... He was 16th in Stroke's Gain to Off the T on Saturday and 12th today. Yeah. 10th for the week. Okay, so maybe that, that's what I mean.

It wasn't as bad. Yeah, he dropped the club a couple times and stuff, but he like striped him in the middle of a lot of fairways and just off the fairway. Like he was in a lot of good spots. He didn't really take himself out of any holes. That wasn't his issue. He missed seven fairways. Yeah, he had 75% of the fairway and they're wide at Pebble.

You can hit some bad T-shirts. He had some T-shirts that were not great that found edges of fairways and stuff like that. But I'll find community that the takeaway rehearsal thing, it's not good. It's not good. It doesn't look good. But it's growing on me. As you said, like, you know, I'm hardly golf swing guy, but when you actually watch like the full golf swing, it looks nice.

It was number one in Strux game to approach this week. Like you struck the living shit out of it. And I guess there is or any other player though that hits it that good, but maybe it's just the on course talk and the reactions and which I'm here. I'm here for all that. That's part of the deal. It's part of the deal. I know what you get. It's like in it. It almost seeps into your brain of like man, it's speech playing horrible. Well, it's just funny to watch that. Like you're just like, and then you're like, wait a second, he's not playing horrible.

That's what makes it fun. It's never easy. People, all right, first of all, people that are getting on me for, I tweeted about halfway through the round. Like this round is going suspiciously stress-free for speech. As in like, oh, you blew it.

Oh, you totally blew it. No, dude, we all know it's coming. It's just coming later than we thought. Like I called that one. I didn't jinx it. That's the exact opposite. And of course, yeah, we all know it's coming. It's just coming later than we thought. Like I called that one. I didn't jinx it. That's the exact opposite. And of course, yeah, it didn't last. Like he was in total control.

And then it just, I don't really know what happened. Cause he, he was striking it great. He got to 18 under par playing in two par fives to go and wedges on 15 and 16 and play them one over coming in. Like that's, that's, he, he could have taken the tournament by just birdie in the the remaining two par five. So he wins the tournament by one shot. Hogi maybe plays 18 differently.

I know, but he could have taken it and grabbed it and he just did not. He sounded like he was and take this for what it's worth. I guess, but in his post rounder, you could kind of hear him on the golf course, even saying this to it sounded like he even still hit. You know, we talk all the time about the line between winning and not winning. It sounded like he still hit a ton of the shots that he was trying to hit. The shot on 17, it sounded like that was the first thing

he said, it was like, oh, I hit that exactly, exactly how I wanted to. And it just, I don't know if he caught a gust of wind or whatever, but many, many, many positives to take for the speed ahead. I had, I walked out of the room. What happened on the second shot on 18? Did he?

I don't know yet. It sounded like maybe there was like a clump behind the ball or something. And did he touch it? Did he get a message? He just had to see a replay and he'd top it. No, he hit it clean. I expected the replay to show like, yeah dude, you chunked it. Like that's what happened.

And the replay looking, he hit it totally clean. So I have no idea what happened. That is a freaky thing that like, if I'm under a tree, I feel like I can flush one and then the ball do something weird. Maybe he's on a root or something under there? I don't know, but it did not, I was standing over that one. I was not like, oh man, he's about to stuff this one. This is gonna be great.

It looked like it was gonna be quite a problem. Can I run it through the back nine? How he started the back nine with his distance control? He had 110 in. And remember these are on firm greens. I know some of these are wedges, but had 110 out of 10, hit it 112 yards. On 11 had 121 in, hit it 120.

On 12, he had 213, hit it 212. We get to flip over to 13, he had 192 in, he hit it 193. And then on 14, he had 125 in and hit it 129. So then on 14 he had one twenty five in and hit it one twenty nine So his so that's what made seventeen so confusing for how he was that short He had that whole was playing one eighty five and he landed at one sixty nine So he was not that close to it. Yeah I don't know what happened there, but all in all I did not even have it in the cards that speed would be competitive this week

He was coming off the like the worst seven event stretch of his career. Has that a stomach bug just had a kid like, I don't think the perspective had fully kicked in, but I think it did on Saturday. Maybe when he was standing over that ball on a cliff, I could have been like the perspective, this perspective truly kicking in there. That's interesting. You know what? I can't put myself on the line there anymore.

And then it was just, he was freed up after that. That's interesting. It feels like the energy it takes for speed. It looks exhausting. To put those four rounds together and compared to like, well, let's just say, just like, what autopilot and that. Watching Bull Haub, I blew it at the end,

but like, it doesn't look like he was even trying. We're just watching Bull Haussler hit like seven hours. Like, oh, that looks easy. Yeah. Maybe I could do that. He makes that look pretty simple. It seems like speed is just like, so much. So he's trying to have to get hit by a car out there.

It's just, yeah. It's like trying to mine crypto. So much energy. So much energy. It's like where there are villages that are just getting vaporized. It's just rolling. Oh, God, is did the AC went out? Yes, Speed is like, he's got an eight footer for parts.

He's rolling blackouts where his speed's going. Exactly. So if you're in the Phoenix area, I would watch that maybe. What's the unit? Gas up the generator for next week. Cheels. Yeah, like killer jewels, right? I think major amounts of jewels.

Yeah, he's just so many watts. Yeah, jewels were. It just feels like. So I will give you a last one, man. Sorry, he lost me. I was gonna say more coverage of Monoray Peninsula this year. That was a very nice thing to see.

Sure. I don't ever actually remember seeing really full lots of pieces of social. I had a question is, I was thinking about this on watching Friday. Why? Fans can go over to MPCC. God, it feels like just go park on 17 mile drive when she'd get in the gates and you could see

all the golf you won over there. It didn't look like there was anybody over there. I guess it's pretty low key. I guess the party's it pebble, but I feel like it'd be more fun to watch over there. If you're ever going to that tournament, walking around spyglass is so underrated, it's so cool, and NPCC as well. It's like they're just, it's truly stress-free stuff over there.

And then that would be a great event to, I mean, obviously, it's a Pebble Beach. Well, I've been, I've been, I've been, being great event to go as a fan. And I would say, especially even with the Pro Am setup, there probably isn't a tournament that doesn't, that says off balance from a TV coverage standpoint to an attendance standpoint.

Like I would jump at the chance to go next year because it's an awesome experience. Because you're a big, big, big, Bill Murray guy, right? Not so much, but it is cool to see someone like, you know, Bella checks out there, or like, it's fun to see some famous faces playing with these guys. That's how ride as well. I kept saying it today But the US women's open next year at pet will is gonna be one of the coolest events of the year Yeah, that would be a really really cool event to see the fan

The the pro am sucks on TV or at least for the for Sunday and I feel like there's two days I'm I'm cool with you showing me. Yeah. You know, you're going to overplay Bill Murray, but I like watching some of these amateurs play. I feel like they've done a decent job at evolving it. Like quietly, like, all right, we got dollars back a little bit. They used to be that that once the Saturday broadcast was the worst broadcast of the year, they would have Clint Eastwood in there.

What are what changed? And yeah, it's, uh, it feels like they kind of got the message of like, all right, yeah, I get like show some macimor, show some schoolboy queue. Like, I think at one point today is like, and we cut over and there's Willie Nelson's son. Here's, okay. You can, you can, you look like Steve's on.

You know, you got to get this one moving pretty quickly. I asked you guys this earlier, why don't they cut the pro-am off on Saturday? Because it feels like an unfair advantage for like can't lay still playing with his, you know, with DJ D-Sol, your dad. I think they're selling it out there. They're selling at a pretty nice price, the opportunity.

So I only got his dad into the Pro Am. That's the work he's doing. He's been trading on the NLU name for his father. Absolutely disgusting. That's true. I just want to be clear on this because that is not the case. Somebody would take that. Sorry, you're right, Uncle.

It's my uncle, yes. Somebody's going to take that around. The CEO of Goldman Sachs is not solid. No relation whatsoever. No relation, no relation. But the real answer, like my answer to your question is like, yeah, Neil, I totally agree. I think they should cut out the celebrities.

On Sunday, I think the real answer is what's all I was getting out there? Just like to do these money. Yeah. The tournament raises a ton of money from people, you know, signing up to play. And it's just that's the fab. I mean, you just got done saying, you know, the atmosphere on the ground, right? Like the, that is the fabric of the tournament is just interesting. You see, half, but I agree. atmosphere on the ground, right? Like the, that is the fabric of the tournament is just interesting to see half the three final groups,

like half the guys are playing with a pro-AM partner and the other half aren't. Yeah, it feels like that's an unfair advantage for the guys that aren't. Yeah. Is that all from Pebble? You guys got anything else? I just had a good time watching it.

It was nice. It was nice to have on today. Unsubscribe me from all the pebble actually stinks newsletters I'm not interested in reading it. I had a great time It was so shitty in Jacksonville today It was blustery and cold and gray and all I wanted to do was just watch pros hit shots into six and seven and eight I had a had a great time watching I'd attribute firmness to that though. I totally can not it can be a Dull watch when the ball stops right where it lands.

And I would say it could be better. Sure. Well, Neola, when they, when they task you to redesign it, I, I'll champion. No, I agree with you that it's not a goat track. Yeah. So I'm not here for that argument, but it, it also, you know, could be a little better. So. Well, it's time.

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of $1 wage or require one per customer. Richard is apply cdraftkings.com. So I sports put for details gambling problem called 1 800 gambler and NY call 8778 hope in Y or text hope in Y 467 369. How about that New York on the grid throwing Sally off his legal ease. Yeah, I can't do them one breath anymore because New York has just thrown a 12, six curve ball. Has my knees buckling when it comes time to get to the legal ease. Can I can I say one more thing about Pebble? Sure.

For a course, of course. It was a heartwarming heartwarming to see Brian Roberts the CEO of Comcast get booed by the fans around 18. I think anybody who's ever spent any time interacting with Comcast in any possible way, I thought that was very cathartic. And I'd like to applaud whoever that was near the 18th green, loudly, loudly booing Brian Roberts. That was cool. Not in cable town anymore.

All right. It's time. Phil Mickelson this past week went, I would call this nuclear. This is about as nuclear as quotes get in an interview with John Huggin with golf digest. First he starts it with, and I didn't know what I was clicking on

when I started this article, but it starts with, if I win the US Open, I will retire. That would be my last tournament, and I will have achieved the career grand slam and I won't have anything more to prove. Having said that. Now, basically says, and I'm not achieved the career grand slam and I won't have anything more to prove. Having said that. Now, basically says, and I'm not directly quoting this, however, I'm not banking on that, okay?

But I'll tell you what I am. I'll tell you what I am banking on. And he goes into a tie right here that piece by piece we're gonna try to unpack this. He says, basically goes on to complain about the PGA tour and says, it's not public knowledge. All that goes on, but the players don't have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat from Saudi or anywhere else, they could just hand back the media rights to the players, but they'd rather throw 25 million and 40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets that they control

or give up to the 50 plus million they make every year on their own media channel. Lots of unpack there. Just want to make one thing clear. $20 billion is what Phil says the PGA tour has in digital assets. I was joking with you about this earlier. I always struggle to put numbers and what they mean and whatever, but remember when Star Wars got sold to, I don't even remember Disney, I guess? Yeah, Star Wars, maybe the most popular franchise ever,

got sold for $4 billion. So all the PGA tours digital rights worth five star wars is like, that doesn't make sense to me. I don't know where I get that number. That's 20,000 million. If you add it up all the tiger assets, what would that get you to? I have no earthly idea. Billion?

I know that it's not 20 billion dollars in digital assets. That is such a ridiculous number. The crazy part is that Phil would, I want somebody to ask Phil, where did you get $20 billion from? Because I think it would be based on a kernel of truth. Yes. And what I'm guessing is dapper labs

and some of this NFT stuff that the MBA is doing, they have a valuation of $7.5 billion. So he's probably like, oh, well, if they're worth that, then, you know, you can buy that. It's so effective. Then you combine that with the TV deal, which you combine with the international rights and voila, you've got, you know, 18,

but let's say like, you know, over the next 5, 10 years, it's gonna get to 20, you know, inflation. That's what I think a lot of what we're gonna go through here is exactly that. I think it's rooted in, it's a lot of when, you know, when he talks about how the players are only getting 26% of the purses or all these things, it's like, there is some weird, yeah, I feel like the teacher,

like Phil, you need to show your work on this, man. We need to know where the fuck you're getting some of these numbers because like you said, there's probably some kernel of truth, some like half truth, and then it just gets extrapolated into these things and then it, people take that as fact. It's just, it's not a good situation. But he continues. Well, it is, I think there is a point that Phil can make about the whole situation when it comes to PGA tour golf.

And I think he, what he probably thinks is like a, a populist route of like, let's rally the people to understand this great injustice that is being served upon us at the PGA tour. And so widely missing the mark with these comments that I don't know how he really recovers from this one. Like I don't know what is next step. Like do you just go keep playing PGA tour events after this? Like he's been dealing with this for 30 plus years. And he's mad as hell.

He is finally said, you know what, I'm gonna speak up so that the next generation doesn't have to deal with this bullshit. He's trying to grow the gig. He has also said, no one has benefited under the current structure, like with Tiger, more than I have. That's a, that's a fill quote. And now he's turning around and saying this. Well unpacking a little bit what you said, like, yes, there are so many issues he could

point to and he could go about. And yes, the top players are underpaid. And yes, he has been underpaid over the course of his career. For a lot of reasons that I'm sure, you know, we've gotten into on fucking 15 of the last 30 podcasts that we've done. I'm sure, but what he's getting at here, I'm sure we'll get to it as he kind of continues. But I don't know where he's trying to ring the towel to get the rest of this money. Right.

Let's let's do a couple more quotes and then let's chat. He says, there are many issues, but that one is the biggest. For me personally, it's not enough that they are sitting on hundreds of millions of digital moments. They also have access to my shots, access that I do not have.

They also charge companies to use shots I have hit. And when I did the match, there have been five of them. The tour forced me to pay them one million dollars each time for my own media rights. That type of greed to me is to me beyond obnoxious. Where I don't know where to start with that. When first of all, it's been widely reported in multiple places that Turner sports actually paid the one million dollars for his media rights to GJ tour, which is a perfect example of like in his his head, like yes, I'm sure that million came out of whatever he was actually getting on the back of the budget.

Yeah, I came out of like the whole fill, like, you know, fill one the match and won his $9 million. I don't think that means Tiger Woods goes home empty handed for doing the matches. So yes, that million dollars came out of the coffer. And it's just like it's true like warped perspective on some of this stuff. And obviously he looks at it from his own viewpoint, which I guess I understand, but it doesn't tell the whole story. So what sports league has to players

own their own highlights? Is there one? I do not, I am not aware of one. LeBron James does not own any of the dunks that he has has like Tom Brady does not own the highlights to any of his touchdown passes. Like the whole deal is Phil, you sign away your media rights and this tour of the organizers of it, take it and go sell it to sponsors for guess what? $700 million this year, they have sold your media rights, along with this collective tour, just in television, like just for the broadcast-related rights to what you do.

So like, how do you understand this? He's been doing it for 30 years. You understand this. That's absolutely right in sports. And I think I sent it to you guys, the podcast. I've been listening to this business breakdowns podcast and there was one about universal music group.

And it's like the exact same thing happens in the music business where the studios and the labels, they take this basically nine out of 10 music acts like bomb or like don't really make money and then Taylor Swift happens. And then Taylor Swift gets really upset because she's getting ripped off basically. She should be making a lot more money. And it's like, yeah, and this is kind of where fills that. It's like he's a bad spokesperson for this because he's basically saying like,

oh, his highlights, he could take his highlights and probably go make a bunch of money with him. But the difference is. But that's now, that's not 30 years ago. Yeah, such a warp that's where it's warped. It's like dude it took you there the re that's the the PGA tours the reason your highlights now are worth something because they created the environment. They filmed it for people to see your the freaking flop shot. Well, and that's what I was going to say on the music example is like the difference is Taylor Swift could go start her own record label now that

she has a massive megaphone and she's going sell, you know, but millions and millions and millions of copies of whatever she's doing. Phil can't just like go out and play 18 holes by himself and still make the same amount of money. Like the thing only works as a network, right? And we did the whole breakaway tours podcast a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago, whatever that was. And so much of this just sounds like the stuff Jack Nicholas was saying in 1983, just like, well, this is bullshit. Like, why are we, why aren't we allowed? Why are we competing with the tour?

It's like, dude, the whole thing only works. If you bundle all this up into one package and you sell it for one package of TV rights. And guess what? The TV networks, how do you think that's gonna go over if you say like, hey, you don't have exclusive rights to these rights that you're paying for? you say, like, hey, you don't have exclusive rights to these rights that you're paying for?

Like, yeah, good luck, man. I hope people choose to watch, you know, you NBC rather than like the Phil digital channel or the Tiger digital channel or the Bryson digital channel or the Dustin digital channel or because like all these things are gonna be just shotgun blasted everywhere. It's hard enough as it is for the tour to like sell

to like the networks and stuff like, hey, you know, put on this tournament for us. Okay, who's going to be there? I really don't know. But now imagine a world where they have not granted like the rights. Like, okay, you want to sell me this. Do I have the rights exclusively to like broadcast Phil Mickelson? And no, you don't.

He can kind of go wherever you want. He might play only five events for us this this year like the whole idea of this tour and again he does this thing where he gives like the tour a personality which is like this is where it just gets really frustrating and confusing and I'll continue with some quotes he says I'm not sure how this is going to play out my ultimate loyalty is to the game of golf and what it has given me I'm so appreciative of the life it has provided I I do not know what is gonna happen. I don't know where things are headed, but I know I will be criticized.

That's not my concern. All that would do is dumb down one of the most intricate issues in sports. It would be so naive to not factor in all of the complexities. The media rights are about a small fraction of everything else. And the tours obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere. So I would keep going, because the next part is relevant to that too.

Why hasn't golf had cameras and microphones on players and caddies because the player would not benefit only the tour. So players resist wearing them. Take this Netflix project that is underway. None of the players are getting paid, but the tour is getting paid a lot of money as is Augusta national, as is USGA, but if the players had their own channel, maybe they put up their own content and we start to see golf presented a bit more intimately. And again, I have to keep pausing from these quotes

to like say like, this is also not true. Like the tour is not making money from the Netflix, per a source. Like that's not true. I don't know where, how far I need to back up to like highlight things that are just like not accurate. Also like the players have their own channel. Like it's a player run organization.

So isn't the PGA tour is like the players own channel. And not only that, the channel, but like, you know, is right? Yeah. Well, it's on the PGA tour increasingly like more and more, right? Isn't that the whole thing? The the only thing we hear about golf channels, like the tour constantly putting pressure on them to be more media more tour friendly.

Now we're in here defending the tour. What else going on and not only that, but like all these people that the tour has in charge were put there by the players. Yes. Like it is player run in every sense. And I know there are some things out of whack and I think like maybe Andy Gardner talked about a little bit of that on the PGL stuff. And the players probably don't realize some of the power they have and they could band together and do do more things to change, but like unionized

well, I don't see the players really getting together behind this cause that Phil has because it's like pretty outrageous as Lee at least as far as I understand it, maybe like Phil is a smart guy and there's got to be more to it than all of this but man I'm having a hard time figuring out what the fuck he's talking about. It's weirdly personal with it. It's an extremely personal. And he's had a bunch of good ideas in his head like why haven't there been cameras on my hat? And it's like he it's almost like the tour was like yeah I feel we're not gonna do it. Yeah like 20 years ago he's like man guys, I told him that that was a good idea. They won't do it, man.

And they won't give me, they won't cut me in on the action. Well, and let's go back before we get too far. And like you said, we got to keep kind of little laddering back up. But the whole thing with the match and having to pay rights fees and all that stuff, some of this is going to get into the broader Saadi conversation that we'll have in a little bit.

But there's a reason that the tour doesn't want you out doing these exhibition matches, because it cheapens like everything that we're talking about, right? A million percent. And literally a million. And to that point, if you, if people are confused on where our loyalty lies here, like we have very loudly voiced issues we have

from this side of the table in the game of golf of the entertainment factor of it. And a lot of times the tour can throw a shitload of cold water on some fun ideas or anything creative because of for whatever reason. And that one of the main reasons is always coming back to getting the players more money. Like the whole thing is like, yes, we can't go on site

and film at a PGA Tour event because they've sold those rights to the broadcaster, the money comes in to the PGA tour and is distributed to the players. So from my side of the house, I would say they do a poor job overall, improving, but a poor job overall of presenting the entertainment aspect again from this side of the table. But on the other side, they are printing money for these players and distributing it to them like that from the other side of the house. I have a really hard time getting on board with what Phil is saying about how things are run at that level. Because again, it's where I think the viewers are paying the biggest price and all this just so the players

can cash the biggest possible checks. I know it's hard. Right? It's like, Phil's agreeing. He's like, has issues like we have issues with the tour, but you're like, wait a second. You're the one that's benefiting. Yes. Well, we're the ones that are taking the brunt of the issue here, and you're complaining? The whole thing is. The whole thing is. It's big, I want you to make less money, but also pay me more energy.

And it's like, dude, that doesn't, okay, but that, hold on, that doesn't make sense. What are you talking about? So to your example, just, I don't mind explaining this because I think it probably illustrates it. Maybe we've explained it before, but when when we do something like Wild World of Golf, the first time we did it didn't go over well with the PJ tour because of a lot of things that, you know, it was a bit of a learning moment for the kids because they're very calmly

explained to us like, Hey, these players have signed away their marketing rights. You can't go do another competition with them because like that's what they're signed on with us to do. And so when you go do that in a digital platform, yes, I know it's a joke. Yes, I know big randies out there pretending to be an announcer. Yes, I know you guys are shooting most of this on cell phones. I laughed. I thought it was good. But the point is like the more people start doing that and the more these players have freedom to just go do whatever the hell they want, like the cheaper the PJ tour becomes. And then you start doing that on a massive scale with something like the match. And like that's what a lot of this stuff reads to me as is like it just seems like Phil wants

to go on. He wants to both like have all of his PJ tour cake and probably play, you know, a handful of tour events and play the champions tour whenever he wants. But then he also, it almost sounds like he wants to set up just like his whole kind of retirement, you know, circus. Like does he want to go play a bunch of exhibition tournaments? Does he want to sell a bunch of NFTs? Like it just seems like he wants to dip his toe into all this other shit that probably,

who the fuck knows who the hell feels hanging out with. But like, I'm sure there's all these people in his ear telling him like, you really should be doing this. You should be doing this. You should be doing this. And this NFT market, it's a $20 billion opportunity. And he's just running up against all these roadblocks with capital T, capital T, the tour.

And it's like, dude, as can the tour improve its digital, its digital rights and can they come into like this century when it comes to a lot of stuff done on site and a lot of things that would ultimately benefit the product and could they change their TV contracts? Yes, they could. Explicitly 100%.

That's not what he's complaining about. That is not what he's talking about here though. Like a lot of what they're doing, like when they explain it to us with Wild World of Golf, I'm like, oh, well that sucks, but like that makes total sense from a business standpoint. Like I completely, completely see where you're coming from and we will go through the proper channels from now on.

But that's where it's like, yes, it seems like in some world, like we should be able to just go do whatever we want with any player because they're independent contractors, but that's not how it works, man. Like I get it. I get why this stuff all ladders up to, you know, not having like a chink in the armor of this massive operation that they've built. Again, bad for golf fans, bad for content creators, this rule, what's the what's the big payoff here? Oh, yeah, you have this teet of which

you can suck from for many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many years and into retirement with a pension. And so the players are like, yeah, I am many, many, many, many, many years and into retirement with a pension. And so the players are like, yeah, I am going to sign my rights away and Phil, you signed that signature. Like that is how the PGA Tour operates. You can't act surprised about this 30 years into it. So if we can continue, if I had access to my own channel and access to my own media, I would have a camera

and a microphone on my hat and on my, on my brother's hat and on my golf bag with a 360 view and I would bring the viewers in. They would see in camera on a microphone on my hat and on my, on my brother's hat and on my golf bag with a 360 view and I would bring the viewers in. They would see in here what is going on, but none of that happens because why would any player do that to make more millions for the tour? They already make enough.

Who's with me? The tour only understands leverage and now the players are getting some of that. So things are changing and we'll continue to change. I just hope the leverage doesn't go away. If it does, we'll be back to the status quo. So I want to under back on this one. Yeah, there's a ton.

First of all, the hat camera is, I could take it. I could take her leave. But also with that stuff, it's like, if you want to bring people in, do like, so it's just all about the money fill, like, or do you want to, is it about about the fan like if you want to do that Why don't you mic up? Yeah, cuz you're not gonna benefit from it personally well then it's like but but he is Indirectly that's the only he can't see the forest from the trees here in terms of like he keeps calling like to make more millions for the tour Yes, dude

The tour is you like the Tories like the players this money Like the more money that comes in doesn't go to like Monahann's bank account like it doesn't go to the other Exx he makes it seem like you know the the Tories XX are just you know bathing each other and cash piles at the home No, he doesn't he doesn't want a hoagie to make any money. He doesn't want the profit to make any money That's what I was gonna say is again if if's, maybe this is what he's talking about, but if he wants to, I don't think I'm giving a pretty big benefit to that. But if he wants to go down that road of like,

hey, the top players are underpaid. And if I wear a mic, then that's just going to raise more money for the tour and it's going to get like improperly distributed to, you know, to not me. I'm not going to benefit proportionately for everything I'm doing for the tour. I'd be like, wow, that's an interesting point. And we should talk about that. But under the current setup, like the way that the tour is structured as a membership organization

and as this organization that can't favor one player over another and it can't just write somebody a big check, even though they have bent over backwards. It's going to sit right. Him a check for $8 million this year through the fucking PIP and all these other things. Like the fact that that's all still not enough and that he, he isn't necessarily calling for like, like in order to get a lot of what he's talking about here, it just seems like the tour would

have to completely blow up and start over. And that's where we get to like the PGL conversation, the SGL conversation, all these other things. But I don't know that that's what he's talking about here. And that's where we get to the PGL conversation, the SGL conversation, all these other things. But I don't know that that's what he's talking about here, and that's where I keep coming back to like, what do you want them to do, man? Like, where's the money coming from? You know what you should do, because I don't know where the fat is.

No, grabs like 40 million bucks. Here's what they should do. They should grab like 40 million bucks, and like they should pay money to the people that generate the most interest in it. And like, hypothetically, maybe whoever, like whatever measures they would use, hypothetically, you know, eight million bucks would go to whoever influenced it the most. And maybe that eight million bucks will be more than that player made in any single season

in his career prior to this at the age of 51. He gets eight million dollars on course. He earned two point seven million and gets an $8 million bonus in the including a major. Yes. But what about the 20 billion? I like to circle back. I like to talk about the 20 billion.

I want to see it. I mean, maybe you could throw me 19, you know? Like I'm open to it. They already make enough. He says about the the tour. And again, the tour and there's all this information out there. We've walked through it about, you know, the revenue that tour brings in, the tournament expenses that go with it and how much is distributed to players. And look, do they do a couple of things that are pretty aggressive in there

in terms of taking credit for sponsorship money that the tour players make? Yes. But this tour stands by 55% of the revenue that comes in is paid out to players. What about all these reserves? He says 26% all you want to get to the reserves? We get there. Well, let's get there. You want to do status quo or the leverage thing first? Sure. So in Phil's plan here for the PGA tour, part of his plan is using the Saudi government and saying the quiet part out loud

that I'm trying to out loud. leverage the Saudis against the PGA tour. How do we think that would go over? I'll go ahead and with the quote real quick. Okay. You tell me that there are a lot of complexities. Yes, yes. There are a lot of complexities that are working themselves out.

Should point out, this is the next day. So this is after the whole fire storm has gone on. This is him following up. There are, there's a lot of complexities that are working themselves out right now on the sport of golf because of some opportunities that create leverage for the players. We have a chance to get a more equitable position.

We're so far behind because we don't have things like player representation and collective bargaining. But for the first time in my 30 years on tour, there's some leverage. I don't know where we're headed. There are so many different things, different parts needing to be addressed, but I think in the end, all the things are going to be positive. And a lot of ways talking about there, I think is like salaries and other sports, right? And if you want are the best player on the PJ tour, you're going to make what? $8,910 million before bonuses and Steph Curry is making however many tens of millions of dollars per season he's making. I think that's roughly his point that he's making. Again, that's getting back to like the top players are underpaid conversation,

which is a conversation I would sign up for. Which is what the tours been trying to like actively address here the last as much as theyibly can inside of their current structure. Yes. Where they again, bold, underlined, strippled, triple underlined, can't just benefit one member more than the other. It has to be performance based. That's the whole point of the way they're set up.

And we didn't go to the leverage thing. Like how many times do you say leverage in those quotes? 15 is like, one of my big takeaways and I could be completely, completely wrong on this, is like, is he even interested in any of the Saudi stuff? Because it really, from all these quotes, it just seems like he's like, oh no, it's, he sounds like somebody who has a job offer

at a company he doesn't want to work for. Right. It's just like, oh, now it's time to fucking pay me. Otherwise, I'm gonna leave. No, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.'s just like, oh, now it's time to fucking pay me. Otherwise, I'm gonna leave. And it sounds like- No, I'm gonna do it. It's like, do, do, fill, go ahead, man. What are you gonna go play at a Saudi golf tour

when you're 51, 52 years old? Have a blast, dude. Well, also, it sounds like he's trying to hold the tour hostage a little bit for like this. He thinks they have like a gold bullion of 20 bill. It's like, go. The tax returns are public. Like there's $300 million, $200 million in the reserves for like a pandemic. No, no, no, not according to Phil. The last few years, he tweeted this, the last few years that went into the tour slush fund, which had $800 million before

a 100 million went to the European tour and other investments. So we checked with the source on this, the source being the PGA tour. They said it was around the, it was around 300 million before the pandemic hit, which why do, why do reserves exist, DJ?

What would you say? I would say, force measure. Yeah, I think Fortnite tents that they were putting up in turn to bits a while ago, just in case a global pandemic comes along and you've got to just like float, you know, an entire organization with no income stream. Things of that, you know, things of that nature.

And I think they said, you know, if with cost cutting and strong mitigating actions, they were able to keep it around 250 million by the end of 2020. And if they had not been able to return to play in 2020, it would have dipped to around $70 million. Which again, the tour is like laying off employees during this situation. They're like, I know we bash on the tour a lot, and sometimes it's very fun, and sometimes it's very deserved, sometimes it's probably not.

But dude, they're against it. I guess you should work there for like six years, if the tours is greedy, Phil, take a look at my retirement account, man. If you think the tours is greedy as, as, and it is. They're very matching dog. Yeah, trust me, man, it's not,

there's not as much dough there, just swimming around, you know, north Pond of Eater as you might think. And again, the issues that we have problems with the tour are not about how they distribute money to the players. So, okay, so he's talking about all this leverage. It's like, And again, the issues that we have problems with the tour are not about how they distribute money to the players. So okay. So he's talking about all this leverage. It's like one of those things, he got his eight million bucks, like you said.

It's like, yo, man, you can't hold him at gunpoint for much longer. Like, there's not, they don't, the cops are going to be here soon. We have to get out of here. There's nothing in the safe. Yeah. You know, like, I don't have the codes, man. And then he's, like you you said he's using the Saudi government The people who hacked Jeff Bezos is iPhones. Yeah, like so what happens if if he's just like using them as leverage and then he just

Bails now. I'm good. I mean that could be not a good idea I don't know and now you know what I kind of see you're going out with the speed thing maybe wasn't that dangerous. Yes. Like, he's got one foot over the edge right now. It just seems. Just lighting his ability. I don't know. Short side, like if the,

if the tour actually had $20 billion in, you know, a save. That was before the speed highlight. It might be more than that now. That's, that's probably, it's like, oh, they don't have that that money doesn't. I guess that's what it could be if they gave him access to it. He's like, I could turn this into 20 billion.

It's just just out of nowhere. It's like, man, this is so unnecessary. And it's like, okay, I think he has an argument that the tour could update their media rights and relations, they could modernize some things. The leverage has worked as far as competition goes. The PIP is an example of that. Strategic alliance.

The business top 10 just paying out the FedEx Cup. So these guys have been, every single person has gone up. All the bonuses have gone up. Also, like the FedEx Cup came around in 2007, that money has continually gone up. Like the, the, the tour executive job is to go out there into the market and create opportunities for the players. And this competition from the PGL and the SGL has, has been a net good, I think, for making the tour like lighten the fire a little bit. I think communication wise though, like I think it's the immediacy. Like, if, you know, if

they had a plan of we're going to roll it out over this many years, it's kind of like they bumped maybe some stuff up a little bit, but I think this money was going to be coming. Like the TV deal, I don't think it probably actually players probably don't even think about this. Like probably cost themselves some money in the TV deal or some clauses within that TV deal that are like, hey, if some of these rival leagues get off the ground like CBS and you see, to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to're going to leave. I think it was like the the information does not flow very well. But I think a lot probably due to ignorance from the players more so than the communication

from the tour. I don't know. I don't know. Probably both sides can understand it better. Regardless, things are happening. Yeah. Right. Pip stuff like there. Oh, they're like, okay, we need to make sure that the top players feel like they're being rewarded. This is a definition of like, it's like feel that you have an argument on that stuff, the definition of overplaying your hand. Like, yo, yo man, like, I also like to live dangerously. What, what's the point of, and it's like his,

in the collateral damage is just like, yo, it's tough to root for you. Like that, why did you have to go that extreme with this? It's just, it's so out of left field in a way, just lighting it all on fire. To go to Saudi Arabia to collect a paycheck for playing the Saudi international like in King Abdul-Economic City at Royal Green's Country Club, whatever it is. And to use the phrase that the tour, which is not a thing, by the way, has obnoxious greed is like, dude, like, how are we?

How are you going to sell this to people, huh? Like, what, go back is like, dude, like, how are we, how are you going to sell this to people? Huh? Like, what, go back in time, this, I'm maybe walking into, you know, a bad example here, but for you guys, the year 2012, is there any tournament, any moment that like stands out to you off the top of your head? I was in the rider cup. Okay. But like, PJ Torreban, like, is there a, it's a word event, like the masters was something that happened in 2012 that you remember. For me, it's Phil shooting 64 at Pebble and Tiger shooting 75 in the final group.

Sure. Tiger and Phil playing in the final group at Pebble. Like that's what that event was. Now, he's in Saudi Arabia that same week taking a paycheck and referring to something else as obnoxious greed. In a, like how much money has Phil earned? He's earned $95 million on the course.

Off the course, the numbers are probably staggering. Forbes reported in 2016 that he made $53 million. 2016 was probably not the peak year of his income. So if we're talking, Phil's probably brought in between 500 and 800 million over the course of his life along the maybe 20 billion for all we know by his count. So like, how can anything, how can you take that money at age 51 and call this obnoxious greed?

It's not good. It's such a tough look. I think we got a lot more to get that, but speaking of obnoxious greed, we're gonna make some money. Rapsoto.com slash NLU, promo code NLU for 20 billion dollars off your episode of mobile launch monitor.

I'm just kidding. It's $100 off plus a year premium subscription. These things are extremely accurate. You've heard us rave about these. They get within 2% of units that cost about $20,000. The Repsoto mobile launch monitor app automatically tracks your stats, stores video with shot trace. It helps with your club gapping, understanding your distances as you hit each club.

It gives you a great spray chart at the end of your practice session to see kind of what some of your habits are. It gives you immediate feedback and data and creates for a better practice environment. It keeps you from just mind-lifting hitting balls. Crazy portable, it's about the size of a rangefinder. You can use it both indoors and outdoors. Again, rapsoto.com slash NLU promo code NLU for $100 off plus a year premium subscription. Do it now. well worth it. Shall we go around the media landscape, if you will,

for some quotes that golf channel brought the heat, golf week as well, Brandel? Digest, they had some... And shout to Huggin, John Huggin, you got a massive shout out. All of those quotes from that article came directly from that exclusive, which Phil, if you'd like to talk talk about this more we would formally like to invite you to come on the podcast but Brando made Wases was a great one that I wish I'd have thought of. Phil Mickelson

cares a lot about his media rights but apparently not so much about human rights delivering a salvo from Saudi Arabia where he whether he knows it or not is just a highly paid ventriloquist puppet involved in a sports watching operation for a murderous regime guilty of human rights atrocities. Uh, Nicholson said the PGA tour was guilty of obnoxious greed. First off, Nicholson did not have to write a check to the PGA tour for one million. It was Turner Sports, which broadcast the event that paid that sum of money for the media rights of the players involved.

The tour by the way had every right to refuse the release and to just say no to the event. And the $1 million didn't go into commissioner Jay Monahan's pockets. One half went to charities. The other half went to as Phil said the tour, which means it helped facilitate the sum 130 odd tournaments run out of Pontavidra. It's the Pontavidra Beach Florida offices. The tour is not a pejorative term as Michelson appeared to it and tend in this interview. It is synonymous for the players. As a membership organization, the tour ensures every dollar is either paid out to the players, earmarked for charity or reinvested in the organization itself to better serve players in the future. And you could argue that some of the reinvestment could, you know, they could run it better. Or

that some of the charity, it's like, hey, maybe we're doing too much for charity, but it's like, would love to hear that. No, as a fill could, right? But what he can't argue is that there's a billions of dollars sitting around that are not giving to him. That's what you can't argue,

because it's a nonprofit. To try to, I guess, meet him a little closer to where he's saying, I mean, what he's trying to say, I think, is give me my rights, release my media rights, and I will turn that into my rights, my choice. Jesus. For himself. Keep your laws off my media.

Yes, for himself. Neil, if you would just release me from fucking no laying up, I could finally go out there and I could make them kind of money that I definitely, definitely would make without you guys. For sure. After I used you guys in your tournament, your charity, to better my name. Yeah. And now just turn me loose and I'm going to like, A sick of subsidizing.

You guys are not. Consciously greedy. Set me off on my own and you'll never see me or a dime again. I'm sick of subsidizing Randy's ski trips. I need to get out of here. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not.

You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not.

You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You guys are not. You he needs it when when he's not being hushed up. I thought I found myself nodding. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. I see you, Randall. I see you.

Amen Lynch as well as said, it's difficult to ascertain exactly which character trait hubris, hypocrisy, indecency, motivates someone to furiously demand the freedom to exercise his rights while being applauded by benefactors from a regime that dismembers its critics for doing just that or to pause his guzzling from the teeth of Middle Eastern royalty only long enough to denounce the obnoxious greed of an organization that made an enormous sum of money, which is not to presume he still has it. You mentioned this a while ago, even he's the pick a side. I know of this stuff. He's so so wishy-washy of all this stuff. Which is the last line there is like, that was a joke. This is where we get into the rumor

and I really don't know the answer to this, but it is not to say that Phil has held on to all of his money. Yeah, he definitely doesn't talk like someone who's just super comfortable with the amount of money he has. Right. Yeah. Very much so. Well, I think Aimeen brings up a good point here of, a lot of in Phil's head, it much. Well, but I think, Amy brings up a good point here of a lot of,

and Phil's head, it's almost like, it's not about the money, man, it's about the principle of like, these are my highlights, and I should be able to do whatever I want to do with them. And it's like, that's, that's hard for me to evaluate that on its merit of like, go, it's the principle of it, when you're just all about the money. Like, that's exactly what it's about. But when would you have been led to believe

that this was an option on the table? Like, 30 years, this has been the case. This is not a new thing to be able to, I just realized I don't have my own. Well, the changes I think with, I mean, everything digital, right? Right? Yeah.

It's in the leverage. I think it changes with everything digital. I think like, I'm obviously joking about it and this is, I can't believe I'm saying this is a serious take, but I think it changes with everything digital. I think like I'm obviously joking about it and this is, I can't believe I'm saying this is a serious take, but I think it changes with some of the NFT stuff, right? I mean, you mentioned what the NBA is doing and I get why that is intriguing.

I just, man, I'm trying to wrap my head around how he can't understand that like as soon as that goes away, like doesn't the PJ Tours just, like that's the first step towards its own demise, right? I mean, it just like teased that out. If they just said like, cool, we're gonna release you guys, go do whatever the fuck you want. Like go put your name on everything

and go and get into every exhibition you possibly can. Go out there and make as much money away from us as you possibly can. Think about how bad that is for like the TV product, right? I mean, I don't know. Maybe for a while, you could make the argument that it's good that more guys are doing fun stuff on YouTube and maybe you get to know some guys a little bit better, but ultimately it's like, how does that not just... I forget, gosh, I'm gonna butcher this. I forget who said this, but it might have even been in one of the like 90s readings that I did which we'll get to in a minute but Doesn't everything just turn into boxing after that. Yeah, you know, it's just like a promoter run sport

It just becomes like this guy versus this guy who's gonna work five different title. Yeah, and there's all there's yeah Everything is just completely like sounds like the match. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's like the the more agency you give people to do that the more it's like It just seems like it would fracture everything into oblivion, which to the tours could like, point, I think is, yo, you don't have to sign up for this. Like, if you don't want to do it, you want to go run your own thing, go run your own thing, man. If that's what Phil wants to do, like, absolutely go ahead,

but I understand, like, I'll be a member of this tour anymore if you do that. Yeah, I just obviously understand why all this stuff is in place for the PGA tour and it's wild that someone so vocally Is not understanding that I wasn't care as I refuse to believe he doesn't understand any of this stuff And I really honestly think he thinks he can just will these you know these statements into being truths. I bet there's a more the amount of people out there

that I'm not comfortable with that will agree, they would say like, oh no, the tour only distributes 26% of it, Phil said that. And like don't bother to follow up on whether or not it's true. And like there are probably our people that read this that are like, yeah, the tour is greedy, right? I'm following you to battlefield,

but I think you wildly underestimated or overestimate how many people would follow him into battle on this because he's lost the locker. I mean, kept we didn't talk about Keppka was chimed in there on Instagram saying something about wouldn't say anything about greed related to this. Like, like those guys, I mean, Phil's presumed to be the Ryder Cup captain at Beth Page here in a few years and like, Keppka's going to be one of his guys. Like, privately, players are talking about this. Like, this dude's lost it. Like, I don't wanna play for that guy kind of thing.

And like that, I don't know, man, it's a, he's not giving up just like playing in PGA Tour events. Like, he's giving up a lot with if he is gonna really actually do this. And again, I know we've said this a bunch, but if giving the massive benefit of the doubt that this is all a massive bluff, what he's bluffing is the Saudi government.

Yeah. I'm like, it's like, has he made his assurances like, yeah, if you guys can just number, I'm in. Yeah. Or is he just using it as quote leverage? It's wild. Wild. He is a gambling man.

We'll see how that pays out for him. Well, the next topic on our agenda is the Joe Biel article about legality. Yeah. These, you know, can the tour ban a player like Phil or Bryson from being on the PGA tour? This is an article I've been waiting for, for nine months. Exactly. A journalist to go and talk to lawyers because I've been waiting for, for nine months. Exactly. A journalist to go and talk to lawyers, because I've been wondering about this. Like, do they have any legal grounds for saying, Hey, Bryson, you're going to take that $135

million. You can never plan the PGA tour again. And at this point, and we haven't done a good job of this, to this point, and, you know, differentiating between the Saudi international slash the live golf investments into the Asian tour and the super golf league. So let's round all that up. Okay. What did we know?

And I went and I was sure that I was out of that. So as I understand it, what has been announced so far and this was bolstered this week was the $300 million investment from the Saudi public investment fund into the Asian tour for an 11 event series. I think, 10 events, 11 events, I think, if you count the Saudi international, which very comparable, I think, to the Rolex series. Basically, just an elevated series of events on the Asian tour that are going to have bigger purses. And then presumably, would be bolstered by appearance fees from other top players from around the world.

Yaddi, Yaddi, Yaddi, that's going to be, you know, kind of the, the Saudis basically like Trojan horse into pro golf by aligning themselves with the Asian tour and, and kind of instantly gaining credibility with the goal of growing the game, of course. Yeah, I'm not a politician, but it's a girl the game. So that's, that's public. That is happening. Those events are going like, they were pretty scant on details still. Obviously, the first one was this week at the, the Saudi international, which we'll get to, but they also announced, I think events in Malaysia,

maybe one in London. There's a tie event, which I believe is the week opposite of Bay Hill. Right. One of the events is this year in a couple weeks here. I think the London one is opposite the Canadian Open, the week before the US Open. And these can't-todd details. Captain Greg at the helm.

Come on. Which we have, I do not believe, which based on a source, there have been no players that have asked for waivers for the tie event opposite of Bay Hill. Right. So, yeah, which is Bay Hill coming up quickly, coming up quickly, elevated event, three year exemption with that more money, an invitational feel.

It's already like one of the good ones of like, not appearance fee money, but like all as closest the PGA tour gets not WGC wise. So, so that's what's been announced. That is happening. What is rumored now? We're getting into rumored territory. And this is from all the shit that you heard this week about. So-and-so has been offered $100 million.

So-and-so has been offered $20 billion. Yada, yada, yada. That all is for a presumed saudi golf league, super golf league. Basically, what we, what it sounds like their next move is to have an upstart tour, very, very similar, someone say stolen from the PGL and following their exact model. And that's what it sounds like behind the scenes. Again, this is all alleged and kind of, you know, suspected.

Yeah. What they're the same time they have signed non-discl... Correct. ...like multiple players have signed non-disclosure grades. So that is all what's probably coming next is trying to sign players for this worldwide supergolf league. And that could be events in America, that could be events in the, in the UK, in the Middle East, all over the place. So just to be clear, the rumored 130, whatever number forson hundred and thirty million is not for him to play the

11 Asian tour events correct correct it would be separate from that that's my understanding yes Which again that doesn't exist yet hasn't been announced yet There's no formal plans for what that is but that's that's all Based on the rumors and it's really yeah, yeah, it gets very, very cloudy when all these reports come out because everybody just focuses on like, 100 million should he take it? So the UK's daily mail too, which I did some research on

and contacted a few people outside of the pond that said, bullshit, clickbait website, like. Cool, well, question, why, what do you think the, what was the strategy on the Saudi end for funding the Asian tour? Why are they doing that? Is that a backup plan if the Super Golf League flames out? And other of these guys say yes. Now they still have some presence in golf because they have the Asian tour.

Like what is, it feels like almost a distraction. If it's not going to be part of the Super Golf, that's where I'm getting confused. Like I'm reading about this. I feel like I'm more educated on it than most people. And I'm like, what the hell is this thing over here they're doing? I think it's building critical mass in order to kind of like build everything

towards the Saudi international. I think it's kind of my understanding of it is the same way that the dude perfect world tour has Rolex events that then kind of lead, I'll pay off with the- So the Saudi international is the crown jewel of the Asian tour. Correct. But they have to have some very good stuff. I'm sure Ponte of Egypt loves their equivalent to like the players.

Sure. Okay. Which I think is also if a super golf league takes off, then the Asian tour basically would be the feeder tour to that as well. Right. And now you have a whole farm system that brings goes into that tour as well. So it is a good question. I don't have a great answer. But these are also the kind of things that when well, right? And now you have a whole farm system that goes into that tour as well. But it's a good question. I don't have a great answer. But these are also the kind of things that when you're playing with a truly comical amount of money, like you're not trying to profit off of this,

like, well, literally, they'll have to run a business. The original investment was 200 million. And now this week at a press conference, they're like, no, no, it's 300 million now. So like, it's, yeah, I don't think they're really sharpened in the pencil. Sure. And I was gonna say, is that, is that Phil's quotes that it's 300 million now. So like it's, yeah, I don't think they're really sharpening the pencil. Sure. And I was going to say, is that, is that Phil's quotes that it's 300 million? Because he might just be, you know, pulling numbers out of a hat. Well, that was an official third leg Greg quote. Captain Greg. So do you want to get to some of the rumors from the SGL from this past week?

So you want to get to some of the rumors from the SGL from this past week? Bryson reportedly received 130. No, I'll go to hit the bottom. Sorry. I'm sorry. I told you, let this legal stuff is really important because it's, I mean, it kind of is the the stance. It is. It's like, can these guys go play this tour? Can they take all this money and then get banned from the PGA tour? Correct. If the PGA tour cannot ban them, then they should definitely go do that. It flames out. They can come back. Right. So like you said, so first of all, big shout out to Joel Beale for writing this for talking to a bunch of sources. I'm sure he talked to even more than, then we're in

the piece, but had some great quotes in it, had some legal experts, sports legal experts specifically in there, shout out to golf digest in general, man, just a bunch of, kill to this week. A bunch of great stuff this week, but would encourage everybody to go read the full story. The gist of it was that the high level takeaway was that basically it sounds like it would be a lot easier for the tour to do this that I think people originally thought.

And that was kind of the takeaway from a lot of lawyers, professors, all types of people. There was, the gist of that is players basically, I mean, it's kind of like a non-compete, right? And I know everybody will throw up their hands and like, oh, these guys are independent contractors, they have no rules that apply to them whatsoever. And obviously that's not true, right?

I mean, they can, there's still things, if you're an independent contractor with a company, there's still things like you can and can't do with other entities. And players have a choice to, like, this isn't indentured servitude. It's not like these guys are like, can't go do anything else. I mean, they have options to go play elsewhere if they want. They don't have to play on the PJ tour. And so what a player, I think, would need to prove to, you know, bolster their legal case. I think what they would need to prove is that the PJ tours are monopoly. And I either have to do this or I have no other options. And I think

what's interesting is like with all this Asian tour stuff, I mean, that that almost kind of seems like, you know, like that clearly. It almost is weird. It's like you can't really argue, I wanna go play over here, but also I have like nowhere else to play. You know, it's like this weird kind of paradox. So there's a coordinator from Darren Heitner,

who's a UF professor. He's written several books on sports legislation. Quote, the PGA tour is a nonprofit organization that has the right to exclude individuals from its ranks, as long as it abides by its own policies, provides no preferential treatments, what we were talking about earlier, and does not act in a discriminatory manner. And then as far as, I think this was heightened as well, as far as, or this was, I'm sorry, this was a different quote, but. And then there was another person quoted in there, basically was like kind of

referring to this antitrust case. It said to make such a case that would require a player to And then there was another person quoted in there, basically was like kind of referring to this antitrust case. It said to make such a case that would require a player to show number one that the tour has a monopoly power in a market. And number two that the PJ tour is trying to maintain that power through means other than having a superior product or business savvy. And that's kind of what I was getting at. It's like if there's another thriving tour on the other side of the world, like it's

hard to, especially with how worldly of schedules guys play now, according to this article, it seems like it would be hard to prove that there's nowhere else to play, right? I mean, it's interesting stuff. Again, he makes a very, very complex issue a little bit easier to understand. So that's all there is to read that. complex issue a little bit easier to understand. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm. I'm. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm. I'm. I'm sorry. I'm. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I They just pumped some extra money into it. I mean, there's still a fair amount of money on the Asian tour, right? And so that makes it really interesting if, if Bryson take, if, let's say he had,

he did get offered $100 million, he takes that offer, he had to ban from the PGA tour. Big decision if they can, they can pull that off, right? And it sounds like they be hard to prove that the PGA tour can't do that. One thing that was extremely, extremely wild Joel references this kind of in the piece throughout but in the late 90s when all the world tour stuff was going around this exact issue popped off and man going back to our breakaway tours podcast and the fact that everything is just, you know, time is truly a flat circle.

Listen to this shit. So this is from a 1995 LA Times piece, PJ out clubs, FTC and any trust fight. This is by David Wilman. The gist of it was in late 1994, the FTC sought a case against the PJ tour. They basically investigated them for four years and it sounded like they were gonna bring legal charges. And they were hung up on two things that the PGA tour required all members to abide by.

Let me know if these sound familiar to you guys. Quote, one of the rules for Bids golfers to play in a non-PGA event without the commissioners permission. The other gives similar veto power over appearances on televised golf programs, or it says in here in 1995, no longer looks wild, world of golf. Together, the provisions enable the PGA

to dominate the business side of professional golf constraining the opportunities of rival promoters. Without those rules, Finchim and the PGA feared golf could be swept up again, times a flat circle. Without those rules, Finchim and the PGA feared, golf could be swept up by, times a flat circle. Without those rules, Finchham and the PGA feared, golf could be swept up by the type of costly disruptions that have dogged other professional sports. Finchham was mindful of many scenarios, including the emergence of rival golf tours, and the specter of players, spurning long established tournaments, leveraging one offer against another.

It's quote, I can't be leverage. Finchham's quote, I can't be losing golfers to King Abdullah economic city. So Finchham made the very rational claim that all these rules were very necessary in order to ensure strong fields for TV and also to raise charity dollars. He then... Finchham also had some serious lobby connections. Yes, and that is where we're also established. That is where we're going next.

Finchim, who was a former legal aid for the Carter White House as well. Not the Tron Carter. Not Tron Carter. Sorry, Jimmy Carter. Also from Georgia. Administration. He then pursued, he persuaded corporate sponsors and charities to write Congress. So all these CEOs of all these sponsors of tour events, he persuaded all of them to write Congress. So all these CEOs of all these sponsors

of tour events, he persuaded all of them to lobby Congress. They had bipartisan support from I think 26 members of Congress who wrote to the FTC. The the basis of most of those quotes, there's a lot of them quoted in the piece, but the basis was basically like, why are you trying to fuck this sport up? Don't you nerds have something else to do? What is what I nap to? What is that stuff my Sunday afternoon? I think what I napped to. What do you guys do it? Don't mess up my Sunday afternoon. I think what's so interesting about it, this is that it all happened in a year

where the FTC had like a 20% budget cut that they were facing. So it seemed like it was very easy for the Senator, the House or whoever to basically be like, what do you knock it off with that? Like, we're not wasting time and energy with that shit. Honestly, it was probably the same year that Tipper Gore was going ham on MPV.

Like, it's the devil's music that's fawks. Drop an f-bombs and it was bad. The FTC was getting beat up in the 90s. So the point of all that is, as Joel points out, that's probably like the closest comp golf wise for what we're dealing with here. And basically, like, the government looked into it and decided we're not going to pursue any action on that. So that's kind of the, you know, hardly a blue flame legal mind here, but that's that's kind of the precedent. I think we're looking at what's interesting though is like again, with all the lobbying like they just never really got into it. So

if they did get into it, who knows what would happen. But. And what player is willing to be the D. Shambot versus the United States? Like, you know, is it Michael Sinverson United States? Is it D. Shambot? Is it Westwood? You know, like because right now the craziest part is, well, they was talking a big game. Bryson's talking a big game. Westwood saying he's got an NDA, Polter and Stenson. Apparently they got some big decisions to make. All these guys have offers. Nobody has done anything. It's all a bunch of penguins standing up on top of the iceberg.

No one's gotten pushed into the water yet. Yeah. Right. So like will there be a lawsuit? It's it's it's on. It's like I'm kind of watching this space. Well, and it's going back to what Andy Gardner said with the premier golf. Like the big problem I had was the chicken or the egg. Like, how do you get, if they want to do this 48 person 12 team thing, league, like,

okay, they might have, like, we know four guys that are rumored or have signed in D.A.s or whatnot. Like, that's 44 short of 48. Like, how do you, who signs first? Do everyone sign on the same day? Like, how do you get everyone to leap all at once? Are they gonna try to keep their membership on the other tours and is that put them in a legal battle? Especially like listen to all these fill quotes. He's out for himself So if I'm one of these other guys. I'm like man this guy is

It's just like all the motivations are so selfish. It's hard to get a bunch of guys that are thinking that way to do something Like in a coordinated fashion like on the same day. It's not like they're acting in each other's interests They're acting in there like Phil is clearly acting in his own interest. Yeah, which is like I guess that's think about who else is You know been attracted to this idea like Bryson Patrick Reed Henrich Stenson Polter West Walter Lee Westwood all these dudes who are like, I don't know. So then that to me is like one of these guys, like who's gonna take the leap? And who's because that guy is gonna get banned or threatened?

Like so then he's gonna sue because he's gonna have to because he might be the only guy that makes the leap and then guess what? That all like his 130 million runs out. Well, hey, I want to come back and play PGA tour. Well, you can't because we ban G. Well, I'm going to sue you to get back into it. But that's where it's like a dude. I don't know how, I don't know how a player would make that jump unless it was one of the old guys, right? Who's like, all right, cool. I got one more bullet in the chamber here and I'll take however many tens of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Saudis. And if it works out great and if it doesn't, that's fine too. I'll write off into the sunset.

But what player in their prime is going to like, unless the will you get banned or will you not get banned is like black and white, open and shut, who's going to just be like, well, I don't know. I think it'll probably work out. So I'm going to do it. And then what happens when this league sucks and exactly completely craters. Yeah. And they don't thought talked about that.

Yeah, like what if it blows? What it, I mean, it's gonna blow. Like, you think it's stenson and polter playing past their primes is gonna be worth $30 million. No, but I got to, I guess the, it's unfair for us to say it because we are, have been excited about the premier golf league, right? And the potential that that has to update the entertainment factor, the reason we think

the SGO will blow is because it's the Saudis. So not only that, it's like, it's not done for this entertainment factor. Like as far as I know, it's a straight copy of an idea without like a lot of the passion that I think has gone behind the dudes that have tried to start this league with the goal of like, I look, players like, yeah, you're going to make a shitload of money. But like, look at how much more entertaining this could be for golf fans. I have not heard one single damn thing that's like, yeah, this whole Saudi golf league thing with Bryson and Stenson and Westwood and Polter is going to be really

great for golf fans. I've not even heard somebody try to sell me. All you've heard is dollar amounts. That's all how much they're going a bit paid to come and do it. Which is like, can we just get to the point of the story also where it's like, hey, when something sounds way too good to be true, how often is it way too good to be true? Like in what world is Ian Poulter's golf worth $30 million going forward? Like, doesn't that sound horrifically too good to be true?

Like, what's the catch here? I'm really laughing about it downstairs. It's really weird when the entire business model revolves around a bunch of people being like, dude, I've never fucking go to that place unless you pay me a ton of money. Yeah. I'm like, okay, I guess we'll just do that for everybody.

And everybody's gonna love watching it. Well, on that quibi, the quibi of golf, go, these people want this snackable. No, these guys get it. These guys are sharp. Give me $3 billion, so I'll make this work. Nine months later, not it's not working man. We're gonna sell us to Roku for $200 million.

But that's like, that's kind of the gist of this. I know that you're joking about that, but there's a lot of truth when it comes to, yes, you can throw hundreds of millions of dollars around, you can throw billions of dollars around to get involved in all these 20 billion dollars around, to get involved in all these companies, and to get minority stakes in all these companies,

and like from a business standpoint, like money is money at some point. When you're making like an entertainment product, it still has to be good. And that's what we keep saying about the PJ tour all the time, is like every time you hear like, you know, well, we just didn't have enough cameras out there, it's like, dude, that's not my fucking problem. Like, why am I

like giving you the benefit of the doubt? Like, you should be making this interesting for me. And because I could go watch something because I can totally just go do something else. Yes. Yeah. And that's where it's like, dude, all the money in the world is not going to fix like a broken idea, you know? And I don't know about you guys. I've had to do a lot of decent amount of soul searching this past week in terms of like, do you like, why do I, why am I upset about this? Why is it, why does this bother me?

One, I think we got a glimpse this week into what a fractured world of golf looks like. And I don't like it. It's not, it's super hard to get excited about like, it's congs, we have not even done like the whole human rights thing, which is an enormous thing like ignoring all that. It's just that golf tournament in Saudi Arabia this week was not a fun to watch.

Like there's no juice there. The golf course is horrible. I know why everyone's there. Like that's not fun. And then on the other side of the pond, the field just gets bombed out and depleted by the dude, not only the dudes that went over this week, but like the events surrounding it on the PJ tour are also going to pay a pretty big price for those fields. And I just go back to like what brought me into being a golf fan way, way, way back in

the day. Like before, I understood how the money flew, like, you know, how professional sports work. Like you just turned on the TV and like for whatever reason you cared about like the result of what was happening, right? And that is like we're still like the longer I do this job the less I do care about that I don't like that about my fandom, but like if it gets into you know the if all of the top torpos and I'm going to play this global tour like that will be completely gone like I did not care who won that tournament in Saudi Arabia even a little bit like there's no, that whole mystique of being built on

and being a golf fan of like, I can't wait to see what happens and who succeeds here and who fails. If that's gone, I'm not a fan of that. I can't be a fan of that. I can't pretend to be a fan of that. So do I want that to unfold? I don't.

That's where I eventually pulled back to of like, yeah, like I can, it doesn't make financial sense or they'd be fools to turn down the money. Any of that, like sure, maybe they would, but I'll go do something else with my time then. Like I just, that's not gonna be, and I think a lot of people are gonna have that opinion.

And so I do think we're at a crazy crossroads where you gotta find out like why you do follow and watch professional golf, and that's where I net out. I don't know where you guys do. Brennan-Poor, I had a great point that the whole thing feels a little bit like NBA free agency when everybody gets all whipped up in the summer and it's just like, oh, who signed where for how much?

Oh, who's gonna be the super team? What's going on? And blah, blah, blah. And then the game's starting. It's like, okay, cool. I'll see you guys at the playoffs. But if it was also like, yeah, you know, LeBron just signed with like,

Brazil, yeah, exactly. Well, we had a good combo downstairs, watching the end of the golf about the Saudi stuff or even like Abu Dhabi. It's like that stop has been on the Euro tour or now the dude perfect tour for a long time. And it's almost like, oh, well, like in a way, what's the, yeah, they're different countries, but they're kind, oh, well, in a way, what's the, yeah, they're different countries, but they're kind of, you know, in the same region,

same fam in a way. And I guess where I've done a lot of reflecting on this, of like, why am I gonna get all triggered about this? Like, and to me, it is, if this Saudi international was a stop on the tour, I'd be like, okay, that's fine. And then if some guys are gonna take some appearance fees to go, that's one thing. Where I start to have a problem with it

is like, go the secrets out. What if we, instead of giving them 500K or a million dollars, what if we just offer them a hundred million dollars and we just take over golf? And that's where it's like, oh, that's not a different thing. That's a different thing to me, right?

Like, I'm not down with the studies chopping people up in the little pieces. That's not good. But if they have a stop, they want to be a stop on it. I'm with you on that. No, they want to be a stop on a, on a, on a professional golf tour. I, you know, I'm, I'm fine with that, honestly. Like as, as, it's like, hey, that's, they're going to buy their way in. And yeah, if it's a money grab for a DJ or a co-crack, it's like, you know, I don't love that you're flying over there for just to play that when you're not on the Euro tour. But when it's like, yo, no, no, we're just going to make our own tour and we're just going to we're just going to buy our way into

this thing. And it's going to ruin it for everybody else because it's gonna decentralize the talent and it's gonna make it boxing where there's all these different title belts now and the only time we're gonna see these guys together is at the majors, maybe. Maybe, then it gets a little less, then I'm frustrated and I don't know how I feel about that. That feels a bridge too far for me

and that's what it seems like is happening and this is not fun to talk about. I don't want to talk about Saudi Arabia every week on the fucking golf pipe. I really don't. And I don't have enough energy to be outraged about it every week either. And that's where I'm struggling too, where it's like, I get exhausted with this shit. And I also get exhausted when it's like, I got to get hyped to talk about Tom Hogi winning, you know, because all these other guys are playing in some tournament I didn't watch because it went on at 9 a.m. this morning, and I was out running errands. So I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. That's great. That's where I'm at. It's not fun to talk about. It's not, and this is where like, I don't want to be morality police. I'm not comfortable enough with my own views. I, my knowledge of all world issues to like, you know, my issue is like, I'm not, you know, people are like, oh, do you write in Ubers? Like the Saudis are invested in that.

It's like, well, I'm not, I don't care if Jason Cochrack takes an Uber. Like, do I think it's very different than the sport that we cover being the Jason Cochrack plays? And if he, like, let, like him being sponsored by visit Saudi or Saudi golf, whatever he's sponsored by like that's directly relevant like to what we are talking about here. That's where the what about is him just spirals totally out of control when it's like we

can just talk about this one specific issue and I feel pretty confident about how I feel about that like this whole sports washing just blowing people away with the amount of money that we're throwing at it with no real plan for sustainability if you ask me. That's not going to help me watch golf as a golf fan. That's going to ruin professional golf for me. When you can pay 20X, 50X, what someone else can because you don't have to run a legitimate business, then you don't have to put any thought into your product. That's when the product sucks because you don't have to sucks. Because you don't have to be creative,

and you don't have to hustle. It's just like, no, I'll just make the check bigger. And then it sucks, then there's no soul. And so that's where I have a problem. But if it was one tournament, then I could, that'd be less. It's easier to ignore. Yeah, it is.

It's easier to be like, all right, well, that's part of the world. At some point, all this stuff is interconnected. Cause where do you, where do you draw the line? Right? Cause you could have, that's the what about us and stuff is annoying. But it's also like, it makes me, it makes you reflect like, well, shit, man. Like then you start thinking about the Olympics and you start thinking about all this other shit. And it's like, that's, that sucks. Like it all sucks.

Yeah. On that point, I think there were some interesting comments and not to make this whole podcast, like some people tweeted this at me, let's react. But there are plenty of comments that are just like, why don't you just ignore it? Why, you know, why do you, if you don't like talking about it,

why do you talk about it? It's like because we're talking about some of the biggest names in the game, possibly destabilizing the entire fucking sport. Like that's why we're talking about. Yeah, but why would you talk about it? And that's like, you said a reason? You said this as a pure joke. I forget if you said this publicly,

or if this was on Slack or whatever, but like, so Tom Brady just retired. Like pretty good comp to Phil Nicholson, I would say. Right? Imagine if he said like, I'm gonna leave the NFL because I'm going to sign with the fucking Saudi Knights. And like, that's where I'm gonna finish out my career. Like, imagine the takes.

That would come from... That's what he calls, A&M. Medina A&M. Yeah. He's still got four years of eligibility of a D&M. This one dawned on me this week too. Imagine if he's in his prime right now alive and doing what he does.

Imagine if the league was funded by Pablo Escobar. Like, wouldn't people probably have a bigger issue with it than they probably currently do? Like, you know what I mean? Like a drug dealing ring is automatically has the, has a horrific moniker, whereas for some people, the Saudis are just like, that's a tough comp because it's a truly a legitimate

like world government, right? Like they run the country. Right, but it's very dirty money in this regard. Like the purpose of it. And also like, Asuka Bar ran the, he ran the soccer team. Like, you know, like they're the, that's what I was saying, wasn't that fucked up? Kind of how that operated?

Yeah, but I mean, wasn't that fucked up kind of how that operated? Yeah, but I mean, it seemed like some people, those games were sold out. We're being honest, like, so I don't know, that's taking me, I don't, I have to think about that for a while. Right, but it's kind of like, I don't know. That thought just came to me of, it already has become very normalized to have this conversation.

It's, however many years now, the Saudi international, it's getting more normal. And with the putt that Harold Varna hit the putt today and people were going nuts on it and like DJ, you made a great point of like, dude, that could not have worked out any better. Like all of a sudden it's about this moment. And it's, I found myself saying this,

I mean, you know, Harold someone I've root for, you know, as a bummer to see and play in the tournament. Just like it was a bummer to see Leesh playing in the tournament or cam Smith or Fleetwood or Xander or you know any other people that we kind of have left off Matt Wolf. Listen, it's fucking shitty to see any of those guys over there Like my opinions on that definitely hasn't changed Was it an unbelievable putt? Was it probably the best finish to like final shot of a golf tournament, best celebration we're going to see in 2022, probably was unbelievable. But like what it does and I don't know in my head at least is like, it takes this event from this like taboo thing where next time Harold Varner shows up at a PJ tour event, it's

almost like in the back of his head like shit, I hope they don't ask me about like Saudi stuff. To like now it's this fun like jubilant moment that's like totally okay to talk about. It's like, yo, back of his head like shit. I hope they don't ask me about like Saudi stuff. To like now it's this fun like jubilant moment that's like totally okay to talk about. It's like, yo, that's the entire fucking point. That's what they're, that's the only thing they're trying to do is make this like a regular normal tournament. I don't know, Cody, you're here.

You spent time in Saudi Arabia. What do you got to, what do you got to say about all this? What questions, yeah. How do you feel about professional golfers? What is your background in Saudi Arabia also as well? Sure. The listeners that are not familiar. Cody used to be an accountant for the public investment fund.

I've been to Saudi Arabia a couple of times. In what capacity? Former life working for the United States government. So kind of seen the inner workings and been to some interesting places. But I am, we play this game all the time, but what interesting questions or I guess opinions of mine, would you guys like to know? Well, I'm just curious when you see someone like Phil Meckerson, probably I want to put

words in your mouth, probably an idol of yours as a child watching golf, talking about like the PJ Tours bad, my hitters in Saudi Arabia Arabia get it and like I'm thinking about maybe playing playing golf over here. What would, how does that make you feel? What's your reaction to that? It's crazy first and foremost, but I think what you guys have all discussed here and in sports watching the result that they ultimately got. I hope people do not forget about the true atrocities that this regime has committed

and continue to commit over time. They hopefully will not go unnoticed. And need to continue to be discussed, not only in journalism, but in podcasting, and everything else. Neil, you made a great point on the comp to Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Is that that tournament's been going on for a long time

and you see it one time a year and after a while you're like, oh, it's that event and that's fine. Also, by the way, do not have the best human rights record in the world, do some crazy shit all over the globe and get away with it because everybody just basically wants to pick on who is the worst. Right now you could say that outside of China, Russia, Iran, now Saudi Arabia on stack of who are the hitters and the

hitters. Top five. They're falling down the bat. Don't break power rankings. Exactly. But you know, it's so hard because we have this stance and viewpoint from the United States and the rest of, I would say North American, I'm sorry, Canada for looping you in with this. But we view things and Saudi Arabia a lot different than the rest of the world does. Don't, you know, Egypt, Australia, everybody else sees them as places that they might have used to go in vacation at.

And they're not affected the same way that americans who have lived through nine eleven that you know read about a new york times journalist that is absolutely was in post thank you that is like dismembered and killed at the direction of their government their supreme leader we don't forget that stuff a lot of other people tend to forget that stuff.

I think that's it. That's where I've been reflecting might be too strong of a word, but thinking about like Lee and Cam and some of the guys from the UK, they have a different relationship with that part of the world than we do. Like I think it used to be part of the British empire. Like you said, they vacation there. I feel like the Australians are much more like already, like, well, listen, I'm just kind of like, I'm really far from home already. Like, I'm not, I can't worry about what's going on

in the Middle East. Like, they just have less of an opinion on this stuff where I feel like it's a lot easier or more black and white for us to be like, that those, there's the bad omen, those guys are doing bad things. We gotta say something. And I feel like we should. I don't think that's the wrong thing to say,

but I don't want to come down too hard on those. I'm just trying to understand that like where their heads are at, where they're just like, like what you said about leash is a comment. Yeah, I mean, I think it's pretty clear to see where his, his head was at. I mean, I don't have the exact quote. What's coldly proud of that? It's just like completely coldly logical. Just like, well, I don't know, they offered the money and you either have the choice to

take the money or not take the money. I chose to take the money and here we are. Any other questions? Which has become kind of like, it's, oh, man. Oh, I think, I think again, I come back to more. It bothers me more about the top American players doing it and legitimizing it than like the true global players end game. You said this bothers me more. I don't know if that's right or wrong. That's where I would say the top American players that are like of age that have traveled the world that are to point to,

you know, I don't think Matt Wolfe know offense and maybe he does, but I don't think he has like the best optics of like world events and things that are going on that have gone on for the last 20 years. The dude grew up playing off his whole entire life. So I don't think we can really hold him accountable for all this people. He might have to like, you know, getting steep into like Wikipedia wormholes reading the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, like about, you know, human rights abuses. Well, you said this too. You said this is not a business thing either. This is 100% just quid pro quo. We're paying you for the favor of continuing to go out and say amazing things about the advances that

we're making in Saudi Arabia. That's the hook. That led with the press conferences early in the week. Look at the ladies that I saw in the coffee shops. We had a yoga symposium out on the grass on Tuesday. So mindful. Like, why is that being discussed in a press conference in less than, like they're pushing the agenda in front of you. Trojan Horse. You said that already.

Which is tough. That's tough. That sucks. My biggest fear back to Phil is that he becomes the martyr. Yeah. I'm not meaning like actual death. I mean, like he goes way too far out there and gets caught up in it.

And then there's no place to turn to. Because I would truly ruin his legacy. Yeah. I think it's worth it. So you said this a couple weeks ago, but you know, it's also worth calling out like the, the critical mass is still with the players who are not there. I think, yeah. You know, that's John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John, Callumore, Kawa, Hoveland, Cantlay, Rory, JT, Spliff, Hideki. I'm just going down the world rankings. Damn it. Yeah, it's gonna take a minute.

Ustazen, I don't think it was there. Sam Burns, I don't think it was there. Scotty Schuffler, I don't think it was there. Speeth wasn't there. Burger, I don't think it was there. Fina has been there in the past. Brooks wasn't there. I think he's been there in the past as well. Etc. The point is, there's still, you is, if it fractured right now to who was there and who wasn't there, I still think the, the eyes still have it. I'm going to suck to lose DJ. I think he's just kind of, that he kind of gets the full pass for, but he's actually one of the guys I'm most disappointed in, I would say.

And it would be most disappointed if we lost, which seems like it could be a possibility. But guys, I'm worn out. That's it. Stick to sports. We're moving on because we have something to celebrate. Some good news in the world golf. Leona McGuire gets her first win on the LPGA tour.

Winds the drive on championship on Saturday, a 54 hole event, not heavily televised. A little late addition to the calendar. I think it was. It was not good. Can I just say that? Can we celebrate our win first? Well, you brought it up. I know. I know that people missed, you know, why it wasn't on Sunday or whatever, but just a huge shout out to the entire country of Ireland that has religiously been in the mentions, making sure that every T18 finish she has gets a mention on the podcast. Now we get to talk about a victory finally. Looks like they were gonna do the Irish double for a minute.

Shamest powers running away at Pebble, Leona, Kyle Leona's fucking awesome to watch, man. Well now it all makes more sense. She's so fun. It's like she didn't have a win and I was like, well, she was the best player I saw at the Soulheim Cup. Like why is this not make sense? And KPMG we fought for a few holes last year.

I mean, she just made sure that I went out and saw her. But she storied college career, I think three time ACC player of the year at Duke and good to see her getting the winner circle. She had some great quotes after two just about, I mean, I know we keep joking about the Irish pride, but that is such a real thing. Like they put so much pressure, I think, from a mostly loving standpoint on their athletes that she had some great quotes about, like,

being home for Christmas. And I try and take a break after this super long season, after the Soul Hime Cup, everything she's like, yeah, and every question is just like, so when are you gonna win? So what are you doing? So when are you gonna win? When are you gonna win?

I can't imagine, we talk about it all the time, but all the flights, all the hotel nights, all the rental cars, all the practice, but all the flights, all the hotel nights, all the rental cars, all the practice rounds, all the programs, all the grinding and early tee times on Saturday morning when you're way out of it, all that stuff to have that in the back of your head too. It's just like, man, my whole country is like, really dying for me to become the first Irish player

to win on the LPGA. And then she, she does it, man, it was just, it was awesome. I had a blast watching it after I fucking paid for peacock premium which we can talk about later. You're a sucker for that. They couldn't. Well, no, we had to watch it. It was a historic moment. Similar to like these island nations like Hideki and jupit lots of press. Talk about these. These island nations putting too much pressure on their athletes. It's a story to follow. She's just watching her when she gets on. We saw this at the Swahim Cup, too.

And like you mentioned it was speed, too. Like her distance control, man. She just, when it's a hundred and nineteen yards, she hits it a hundred nineteen yards. And it's like when she gets in that mode, it's, gosh, it's so fun to watch. She's still missed a couple of shorties coming in, too. I think she ended up winning by three or four.

Yeah. It could have been like five or six. It was, It was impressive. When she gets going too, she gets like the maddest angry walk going of just like, she just looks like a badass out there. I would not want to be in her way when she gets on. And now the, now the whole golf world knows it. So congratulations to her.

Nicholas Hoigard wins on the, can you say a couple things about the, about the coverage real quick? Sure. Sure. It is somewhat interesting. So the LPGA added this event. I can lie, Hoi Guard, before you only get some. Thank you. The LPGA added this event late.

So good on them. Don't want to beat them up too bad for bad coverage. But it was, it was a 54-a-hole event that it was one of their drive-on championships so no real title sponsor. And I think that it just sounded like a bit of a gymnastic situation, like the LPJ had to fund the telecast as they tend to have to do in a number of circumstances, which is, which is

wild in itself. But 54 event ended on Saturday. It was, there was nothing airing on golf channel. It was like a, I think it was like a Euro tour replay while this was ending, which was, what was making me very upset that it wasn't on, because it was being broadcast on Peacock. They still put it behind the paywall, which was like seemingly extra obnoxious. And then he flipped it on, and it looked like it was broadcasting from somebody's iPhone or something.

So like, you know, no disrespect to any of the very hardworking people out there. I don't know what was really going on with that. It was still a lot of the same talent stuff. I don't know if the hosts were on site, Grant Boone and Morgan Pressle, but the whole thing just, it seemed pretty disjointed and the quality was really bad.

So the only reason I bring it up is if the LPGA was, I don't know if they were like trying something out or what they're doing, I'm sure they saved a bunch of money on production, but hopefully that doesn't become like a regular thing. No, no, I think not an enjoyable premium is where the game of women's golf is. I don't know. I think the bummer speaking of bleak scenes with telecast, that golf channel pre-game stuff is bleak as well. It it's very very bleak when that Cubicle personless cubicle office with nothing on the screens in the background

It's not good. I think they got Stanford Connecticut. No in Orlando. So they got kicked out of their Stanford Studio because of all the Olympic stuff. There's too much NBC shit going on So that's not a permanent thing. No, that's their old ghost studio in Orlando The one that everybody got pissed at the head of the leaf. It looked like it wasn't good. Throwback to CNN center, like the 90s down in Atlanta, but only nobody's in the background like reporting, you know, like all getting stories and stuff, tough scene. Getting scoops. Yeah. Lastly, Nikolai Hoegard, Hoegard, which I learned the pronunciation actually is wins on the European tour. second European tour win at the age of 20. Let's, I'm going to get one question.

We didn't get any questions. It's Greg David 94. Nikolai Hoigard looks like a bonafide superstar. How far can he go? Those two Eagles today approaches to inside 10 feet from the waste area were tiger ask. Love me some good hyperbole when it comes to a 20 year old. So we had to get a tiger ask Greg for sure.

They were fun to watch. when it comes to a. That's why we're old. So we had to wear a strike for sure. They were fun to watch. Hoigard is both both of them. I should say, Rasmus and Nikolai are very projectible talents. It looks like in terms of the swing speeds, the frames. This is not these guys are not dink and dunk guys. They look, they have incredible swing speeds, incredible. It basically just looks like potential, right? They jump off the page when they watch them. Not only that, I mean, they're 20 years old. Yes.

And their twins and they're both inside the top 100 in the world rankings. Which, I have some reasoning behind why that may be. No, but I'm just saying that on its face, like, that's wild, man. Yes. Wow. Seems like, listen, we gave Tron and Randy a bunch of shit

when they kept saying like we should be spooked at, you know, the future. It's gonna say, you're a key in right-of-the-teams. Listen, we gave Tron and Randy a bunch of shit when they kept saying like we should be spooked at, you know, the future. So, I'm gonna say, for everybody listening these to prepare themselves for TC's riding for these two, for the rest of the foreseeable future, really, as the future of the Euro team in the Ryder Cup.

But what I'm getting at is that's pretty wild. Watch this face for more. They were, they entered this week, numbered 98 and number 100 in the World of Rankings. It's kind of funny. We always wanted from the flying Molenaris. Which they, you know, a long way to go before they get to that.

Yeah, they were, they were both on the same fucking Ryder Cup. No, but I'm saying both of these guys at this age, because it felt like the Molenaris I was kind of hot and cold, like they weren't ever really. They didn't get it. They got it. They didn't get it at the same time.

Locked at, uh, what was that? Celtic manor? I guess they're a lot of them. They're not twins and they're different ages. They are brothers. They are brothers, though. It's similar to you and Tron. Yes.

In that your brother. Of course, of course. Listen, spin along Pod. Okay, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm grasping right now. I'm not worried about the rider cup. If that's where, if that's what you're asking. I'm not, maybe, I think that with their addition to the team easily, Europe could close the gaps

about 18, 10, I think. I was gonna say, hopefully, at least, you know, make sure that we can make it to Sunday. That is all I have officially. I'm spent. What have we got cooking this week? We got a little bit of film in we're doing this week. We have a podcast coming up Tuesday. Well, we'll get, you know, I don't want to tease it too much. We'll get to that one. Cool. A couple of fun video projects coming out. Sully spent some time with a,

an architect here, a golf course architect here in Florida, Bobby Weed, to just kind of, you know, I don't, I think it'll come out this week, just a very fun look at like what the construction process looks like. I think that'll be really cool. We got an awesome film room or a shoot in the morning. I cannot wait. It's the most excited I've been for a film room yet. What else is going on? I got a mega t-shirt restock in the pro shop. All the classics are back. We're-shirt restock in the pro shop. All the classics are back.

We're starting to restock. Listen, supply chain's been tough these days. Don't ask me about hoodies. I don't want to hear about it. We're struggling to fight hoodies. We're working on it. We're working hard to get hoodies in stock. Can't promise that.

But newsletter is going out Thursday. newsletter.no.langup.com. Overd slash subscribe. We'll go out Thursday. Love this space. How do you got anything coming up? I in town for the film room excited to come to this lovely floor to weather again. What do you got?

Cook on the downrange this week. This week is going to be a gentleman named Chris Bluey and the background on the golf course that used to be called overhills hunt club in the sand hills of North Carolina. God, this blew me away when you decided to have everybody join me as we dig into it. But it's a former Donald Ross course that now is owned as part of the Fort Bragg military reservation property. It's just basically an old winter getaway that at the time people said was better than Pinehurst. So excited to get more into that, but that's what we got on Downrange.

Listen to Downrange if you haven't yet. I don't know that we haven't really, we haven't pumped it all that much on this podcast, but Cody has his own podcast. If you thought that that guy sounds smart, I'd love to hear more from that guy. Listen to the Downrange podcast. Come.

Hey, men. Gents, let's have a great week and hopefully a better week than this past week. Who you guys got in the Super Bowl? Oh, God, I don't know. Let's go for the Bengals. Come on. Sure. That's been a lot of fun. I'm rooting for the Bengals for sure. I am too. Yes. Close eye. Yep. Down. One randy to be happy. Lovely. It's is a betting legal in Montana. I don't know. Because I'm gonna be in Montana this weekend. Oh really?

Yeah, going to Whitefish. Go on skiing. That's fun. Yeah, so I won't be on the pod next week. But I would love to get steep on some DK prop bets. Sure. What do you guys think over under two minutes on the national anthem?

Everyone, I feel like it's been too easy to go over in the past that we're due for like an under. I love the Super Bowl props. I'm deep in the Super Bowl props. See. Enjoy my 10 of them. I will. How about thank you. All right.

Thank you everyone for tuning in. We'll see you back here next week. Cheers. We're going to the right club. Be the right club today. Yes. That's better than most. How about in?

That is better than most. Better than most. I'm going to be the right club today. Yes. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most.