No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 680: LPGA Check-in with Randy and Cody

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

Randy and Cody are back for another LPGA pod as we recap the International Crown with our biggest takeaways from each team. Plus, our experience at the Wednesday pro-am with Maja Stark of Sweden and LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, some thoughts on recent TV coverage of LPGA events, our clubhouse leaders for Player and Rookie of the Year and our picks for this week's Founders Cup. We close with Randy's look at the thirteen women who started the LPGA tour and for whom the Founders Cup is named. 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. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the No-Lang Up Golf Podcast. My name is Randy. I am joined today by Cody McBride. Cody, good morning, sir. How are you? Good morning, big.

Second time this week, it's crazy. I'm talking LPG again. I know. I hope the people are gonna get sick of us, but I'm not sick of it. And I know you're not either. We got a lot of stuff to catch up on and in around the world of LPG tour and women's golf. So that's what today's show is gonna be.

Before we dive into our agenda though, let me thank our sponsor, Titles Foot Joy. It has been a great partner for us. Just got going with them this year. And this episode is brought to you by foot joy. As the LPGA season kicks into gear, we wanted to talk about our friends at foot joy, the official shoe for no laying up foot joys, the number one shoe at the founders cup. And honestly, it's the number one shoe at just about every level of women's golf.

It's the number one shoe on the LPGA, the Ladies European Tour. The number one shoe at the NCAA Women's Championships at the Women's Amateur, the National High School Golf Championships, even Cody. The list goes on. And a big part of it is that Foot joy only makes golf shoes and has for nearly a hundred years. And when they make them for women, they make them in more sizes, more styles, and more options than anyone else. And they make them specifically for women with unique elements designed to maximize their performance and comfort. Players who care about their game care about what's on their feet. And whether it's women, men, juniors, professionals, amateurs, more of those players lace up a pair of foot joys when they get ready to play.

Just like Jess Corda, Danielle Kang, Bronti Law, and half of every LPGA tournament field, we at No Laying Up are also among the nation of players who trust their game to the overwhelming number one shoe and golf foot joy. Thank them for being a great sponsor. Uh, Code man, like I said, a lot to talk about today. We got international crown to get into you and I were, um, or I guess I was at the USGA media day. We played in the program up at the international crown. We got to look forward to the founders cup this weekend, a lot going on,

man. Where would you like to start? I mean, we got to start with the international crown, right? Thailand's back. You press me so much during the Chevron coverage. Where's Patty? Is she back? What's going on? I think this is just another check to say like, Patty's golf game is here. Yeah. I mean, what an impressive performance from Team Thailand. It was pretty, it was pretty much as resounding of a victory start to finish Thursday to Sunday as I think anybody could hope for Team Thailand, a tie to the comb, patty to have a tannin kit and the juteana Garden sisters, Arya and Moria. Yeah, just super impressive. They're all so good. I think the, like, I honestly was more impressed

with the Jutana Garden sisters. I didn't really expect that complete dominance to come from them. High hopes, of course, and kind of expectations for a tie-up, but man, Patty's shown up and then the scissors just like dominating. It was so cool to watch and like them taking down a very, very good Australian team. They were so impressive.

They like, I don't think really anybody saw the ties coming like this, but Australia was just dominant from like Zikget Go as well. Yeah, yeah, they were. And that pool with Thailand, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, I mean, that was, you know, in the soccer parlance, that was the group of death. And Thailand and Australia just separated themselves. Of course, the US and team Sweden advanced from the other pool. We can talk a little bit about that. But yeah, you mentioned the Chitana Garn sisters.

They were paired up all week. They went five in O, did not lose a match. Aria was voted MVP of the event for both on course and off course. And Cody, I don't know if you got to see the trophy presentation. I mean, I think that was my favorite moment of the week. They presented Team Thailand with these little, I think they were from like Tiffany and company, these, these crowns. And I'm not sure if they were supposed to be worn, but Team Thailand, they all put them on their head. Yeah, they started waving like, you know, beauty, pageant contestants. And it was funny because, you know, a couple of them, like, we're just really trying to balance it on top of their head. They just seem like they were having so much fun. You could tell, they just seem to really care about each other. And it's cool that we can see them compete as a country

and as a team in an event like this, because as we've been known several times, there's no real women's equivalent to the president's cup as of now. So this is the closest we're going to get to, you know, seeing Team Thailand, or at least four members of Team Thailand compete together. When I talk about like camaraderie

and sticking with like your peer group. I just like watching the Thailand team out there, it honestly felt like, I'm like, oh, that's kind of a look into what they do like week in and week out. I'm sure they travel together. They stay around the same places. They probably eat dinner together. A lot of them share swing

Instructors and physios and everything else. That's part of this like moving You know caravan of the LPGA tour and you like this event Highlighted that of like wow. This isn't just like four individuals who come together obviously two of them being sisters But like this is a family and this is their Thai family. And this is them finally being able to like display and like on the world stage, what they do and how they feel about each other. And they're overall just domination. Like, it just goes to show how cool team events are. And like, team events that make sense. I think that's the biggest thing. And I just highlighted again a gap that there's no real president's cup like event on the LPGA tour. I'm not saying that like I'm not saying that this is the equivalent of that, but I hope that this event as awesome as it was to experience it firsthand continues to grow strength and get more and more. And I don't even talking about like money or anything else like that, but

probably additional TV coverage that we need to get to to be able to show like how awesome this event truly truly was. Yeah, amen to that. This was the first year. It had been back since just before COVID. So a very welcome return to the calendar. And they'll play it every other year. So the next iteration will be 2025. I believe it will be over in Korea, which might not be the greatest for our viewing. But honestly, I think will be like the best place they could put this event with just how nuts South Koreans are for women's golf and obviously the South Korean team

should be among the favorites like they are every year. God, I was not expecting their performance this year though. I know. I was riding hard from honestly. LPGA social put out like a real if people didn't see that, but they basically asked us during the program You know what are thoughts on the course? What were your kind of expectations coming in and then obviously pick a winner and you guys had UNTC at some very strong picks And I honestly felt like I hate being in those situations Because you feel like kind of guilted into picking something else. So like, when are you two didn't pick already?

Like, I can't just be like, I love the sweets. Like, everybody knows that. I can't be like, oh, I'm going to go for the Aussies because we have good friends on the Australian team and they're tight with us. Oh, that's already been picked too. So I went with Korea and I truly felt like I thought this was going to be kind of everything that I said about like the team from Thailand I thought Korea was gonna rally together. They've had like history-wise

They have incredible performances in this event and they just like they just didn't show up No, they didn't and again, I think some of that is Probably didn't play nearly as well as they would have hoped but I think some of that is you just got to give credit to Thailand and Australia as well. Yep. You mentioned something that I want to ask you. You're talking about just the camaraderie and it just ooze through the television screen how much Thailand felt like a cohesive unit. And I think one thing that whether it be Soulheim Cup or honestly, even this week

at the international crown, I think the big worry with T. M. U. S. A. is that I never quite feel that same sense of camaraderie out of a collection of American players. Is that fair? Is that reason to kind of keep worrying about the Soulheim Cup? Well, I think it's very fair. I mean, we have like the US team usually has like, you know, for the international crown, I'll say, you know, Nellie and Lexi are superstars in the women's game. And really there, there are few women's professional athletes

that kind of transcend their sport. And like Nellie's getting to that point. And I would say Lexi's like kind of been there. Like Nellie is the face of what you would say of like, you know, Nike professional athletics now. Lexi's been there for a long, long time. And I think it's hard when you have people who are so used to weekend week out Running their individual teams and then you want them to come together and kind of you know Be able to mesh with this a team of four and there's not really room to really escape when it's just a team of four I thought to like lilyah was the perfect glue for all of them. And then Danielle, she's always Danielle.

She seems to like thoroughly enjoys the crowds. Like she is the ultimate performer. It's just sometimes like when the game's not there, the game's not there. And I thought she had an incredible week. It's just asking a lot for them to come together like this when you're so used to playing individually the vast majority of the time. Soulheim Cup, there's other, you know, there's multiple other people that are on a team. And I think you have natural bonds of people

who are used to traveling and playing practice rounds and everything else together. And I think that's where like you see with the Aussies that were on team Australia, they all play practice rounds together. They're very good friends. I don't, from what I know, like that's not really the case with the American team that we put out this year. Not saying that they're not all incredible individual players. It's just that they don't really do a lot together. They're all very much individuals. And do you think some of that, I feel like some of that is just the dynamic of the majority of the LPGA season takes place here in the United States. Absolutely.

You know, how different would it be if the majority of the season was spent in a foreign country? I feel like we would see those American players kind of bond and create those, you know, practice round environments and they're going to dinner and, you know, you kind of look for the familiar faces when you're in a foreign country. Yeah. A hundred percent.

And you could say like, obviously, it's the four best women that the US could have put up. But if you would say that we take one of them out and throw Jess in there and you have Nellie and Jess playing together, I think like team dynamics would have completely changed. Yeah, you know, I think it's just hard again when the schedule is so US-based. And even when you do have, you know, the beginning Asian swing and then in the fall of the Asian swing, like majority of the Americans, they're not really traveling and playing all of those events. They're doing maybe one, maybe really two, but they're still like, you know,

it's not force camaraderie like you get with the Aussies, the ties, the Koreans, even the vast majority of the Europeans. Like we need to talk about the Swedish team here. And I would say Swedish by way of Orlando probably, but like Team Orlando, if I can calm that, like they get it. They all play together, they practice together at home.

You know, they have just an incredible bond between them that I think is because of like their force to be away from their home is, you know, to play the LPGA tour. Yeah. And I think a lot of them come up together. I think they're sharing swing coaches, you know, they fall back on their national teams. There's a ton of national pride just because they're out there, you know, they're literally just doing it, you know, as a group. It's not so much individual. Even you can see that in celebrations after some of them win. Yeah. You know, week in, week out when we watch LPGA tour, I mean, I get it. Like everybody's happy when in American wins.

And there's obviously, you know, friends that you have on the tour and other support staff and everything else like that. But you don't see a lot of like true peer to peer people running out there from like the top players in the world. Yeah, it's really interesting. And I think just to kind of wrap this point, that's I believe part of the impetus behind the USGA trying to develop this national team program, let's call it, right? Where they provide home bases for American youth golfers, and just create environments where you're getting what will turn out to be the men and women who go on to compete on writer cups and soles and Curtis cups and Walker cups.

You're kind of bringing them together. We're trying to a little bit earlier in their lives and just getting them used to each other. And I do think that time you spend with people away from the golf course, play such a big role when it comes to these team events. So very interesting. Yeah, specifically the small team events. And I think I want to drive in that difference because I do think it's a huge difference

just playing as a four, you know, a four player team versus a soulheim cup where there's, you know, 10 plus players, plus additional coaches and support staff and everything else. This is so small that honestly, on the US side, there were still their individual coaches that were out there. I get it, they're doing dinners and everything else like that, but it's not to the point where it's a true team environment. And if I could, I always try, so we know that this event is going to be back and it's played every two years. So I think of the next iteration of it. And I think of like, who would be on that team? And if, you know, obviously completely hypothetical. But I think of like a rose and how rose would fit in in this team. And I'm like, wow, it's a very, very good team.

So who would, who would probably be the fourth person that would drop out of that team, if I say a rose or any other person who's on the tour right now or somebody coming up out of college? And I'm like, you know what, Rose brings to the table that Lillia brought to the table, that unfortunately, Nelly and Lexi do not are used to playing college golf. Like, this is the norm for them.

I think it's a huge dynamic that, like, that Nelly and Lexi just kind of are missing out on because of their, you know, they went straight from amateur golf and I get that they played in team competitions and everything else like that. But when it's just a group of four, it's completely different. There's not a lot of places that you can go hide. And if you don't have your, the stuff, you know, you're exposed and you're exposed quickly. I had not connected those dots with, with the college golf experience. That's, that's a really great point. Well, we mentioned team Australia finished second. They had a hell of a week and just like we said, ran into a buzz saw there in the finals. Team USA did finish

third and team Sweden finished fourth. So any any particular matches or performances, any takeaways that that you want to highlight here, Cody? Well, obviously we, you know, we published the podcast with Alilia on Tuesday. Please, if people haven't listened to that, go listen to a complete ball of energy. And just from us, you know, I think you and I, we probably felt a little guilty taking time from her just because we knew how exhausted it is. It's an awful lot in that, you know, winning the Chevron and then going to her, I get she has two hometown events now being like an LA girl, but like going to the LA championship and had a poor performance and that clearly was just gutting for her.

Like she hated the fact that she played poorly at Wilshire. And she showed up to the international crown, ready to go, full of spunk, incredible perspective. But clearly it was like exhausted. She was like, you know, this is, this is a lot more. I did not expect all this to come from, from winning. And it was just a ton. You even said like a ton of media obligations and stuff like that, which we are 100% are a part

of. And we feel guilty by it. But on the flip side, I'll say this. Hannah Green had an incredible, incredible win in LA at Wilshire. I thought she was going to be like, you know, wind out of her sales completely exhausted from going into a playoff. It was a long, long, final round for her. And she came in ready to go still just like clearly writing that wave. And she didn't let up. I mean, she held it together. She was a key part that Australian team and a solid,

solid week for them. And like, I get it, you know, they're clearly disappointed with their second place finish, but it was really cool to see that come through. 100% and I think I was a little surprised maybe that. Hannah, not so much that Hannah played singles, but I think I was a touch surprise that Stephanie Kiriako ended up playing singles. Miyako ended up playing singles. But tough to argue with the results. And I only say that because Minji Lee is right there. But as we'll get into maybe later in the podcast,

not low-key, like not a great year for Minji. So I think the big things, the eye opening result, and you mentioned like Liliah has to be gassed in that third place match, though Madeline Sackstrom beaten Liliah 5 and 4. I know that that has to piss off Liliah, but I'm sure she was grinding all week. I'm sure that was kind of a wind out of her sales. Tough to get up for a third place match. But that was an eye opener just because, you know, there's certainly a world where

those two could be playing Sunday singles at this whole heim cup. I think the other one that, you know, a tie a tittacom just took care of business. She beat Lexi in the semi's three and two and then came back in the finals and one four and two over over Stephanie Kiriako. So just a real baller performance from her. In fact, Team Thailand as a team went 11 and one. Their only loss, Lily of Vue, Clipped, Patty Tavitana Kit, won up in the semi-final round. And I mean, they were, they were what, two holes away from going 12 and a clean sweep of the week.

That, that was really impressive. And I just, God, I just think a tie titicome, she's going to be such a stalwart for that, for that tie team. Yeah. I mean, I think this is like, you want to talk about momentum builders to kind of get the main part of your season going. I think of a tie and I think a huge expectations for her coming into this year.

I think of Madeline and how big this week was for her. Obviously, moving on, and we're going to talk about the founders in a little bit, but like a course in a tournament where she's had success, like she loves that golf course. I just think that this is like such a good, a good catapult to like the rest of their years, just based off this incredible performance and being part of this team environment. Yeah. And talking to Team Saxerum, I think she had, she had been struggling a little bit early in the year. Her results reflected that, but based on her

overall play, week of international crown, I think it's very optimistic going forward. And honestly, founders and the way she played it up her Montclair last year, really like her this week. But we'll save that. We'll, we'll put a pin in I think that's the way she played it up her Montclair last year. Really like her this week, but we'll save that. We'll put a pin in that for now. I think the other thing, I just, you know, team China for not really having household names. I'm like, I'm not that familiar with really three out of the four players. I know, Roon and Yin, who really just

because she won earlier this year on tour, she's 20 years old though. And she's got just talking to some of the caddies and trying to, who do you like? Who should I keep an eye on? They all spoke very glowingly of her. I think that's certainly a name to keep an eye on. And it just feels like Team China is going to be a country

that just keeps building and building and seeing more success amongst individuals and collectively as a team here over the next several years. Again, I'll go back to what national programs do and having professional tours where they can grow and cultivate and truly get these players ready to get out on the LPGA tour and go out by themselves, but they're truly not by themselves. They have like little pods that they travel around with and you can see that shine through again with Team China. You know, it seems like every time we talk about it,

the one thing that I missed out on from Team China this year is that I wanted their national coach to be there. Of course, he wasn't, but their performance is like truly for being an underdog, which is funny because the Aussies kept trying to say their underdogs all week, isn't it? Clearly, it was not the case, but China's going to be there for a long, long time. They continue to just get better and better and better. And these players that like, they're fearless. They're coming up, they don't care. They're just out like truly looking for for throws to take. Yeah, Shan Shan Fang is a team China coach.

She's just the best. Last thing I want to ask you about Cody, we got a chance to play with her in the program, Maya Stark, team Sweden. Talk to me about just the impression that she made on you through our time spent together Wednesday and then what she saw in the event. I think my big thing is what a wonderful experience leading up to what will be her first soul time couple later this year. She played really, really well. You would not expect her,

you know, her second year on the LPGA tour. You know what? I think what I learned from her during the program is that like, she is 100% okay separating like her life and her golf. Her golf is not her life. And she's very young. And she just has a really good head on her shoulders and she's talked about, you know, mistakes that she made in the past and playing opportunities that she took up at one time. You know, I asked her because a lot of, you know, a lot of the sweet, well not even just sweets, but a lot of the players have no issues going and playing in the ramp coturied in series or the the Saudi invitations or anything and she said like, yeah, I've played in one Saudi, uh, Saudi invitations all in like, you know, when I came back, I thought about

it and, you know, I took the full experience and I didn't judge everything. And then when I look back on it, I realize that, maybe that's not the best place for me to go play. And the money is there. It's an incredible opportunity for these women to go play and make incredible money. But her knowledge and ability to look at things that are greater than golf and be able to do her own analysis

of it was really awesome, you know, awesome for me to hear and for her to like kind of talk it through to me, I was like, you know, you have a really good head on your shoulders for being so young. Talk about this in the recap pod. It blows my mind that her Ling Grant and Loveig are all part of the exact same class that graduated high school together

from the West Coast Academy in Sweden. It has to be, we're waiting on Lynn, and Lynn's gonna be over in a couple of weeks. Like that's when the immigration restrictions are lifted and we're gonna, you know, high, high, high expectations for her and what she's gonna do the rest of this LPGA tour season and love the govously turning, you know, getting wrapping up his senior or his college career right

now. But man, I learned a ton from her. Her golf game is so sound. She hits the ball square so often. She doesn't miss fairways, you you know she hits it a long long ways which is again we say it all the time how like relatable their games are to ours and really it's not even relatable at all because they don't miss the center of the fairway and they hit every single green I mean the distances are the same but like they just take like the very best days of ours and they just put it on repeat. And it was so cool to see and it was hard to rib or give her a hard time about, you know, being a poor green reader and everything and then just watching her train like all the putts in the world we needed. I know, including a chip in on the A.J. hole When we needed her most, she came through. We were scoreboard watching. We were at 13 under as a team standing on the par 5, 18th

T. We knew there was a team in at 14 under and we were like, we really wanted to just go win it. We didn't want to get in the scorecard playoff and we hit two shots just to the front left kind of fringe area of the green, leaving a chip. The four of us all played decent chips, but you know, nothing really scared in the hole. And then Maya steps up as the last to go and just chips it like, honestly, never it doubt right in the cup the whole way. We go crazy. We get in the house at 15, think that's a walkoff, eagle to win it, and then like an hour later,

our hopes were crushed as a team got in at 1700, but I mean, it was just fun. There was even in like a dumb little Wednesday program setting, just to see your step up and a shot that we had just build up, right? We kind of made it a big deal amongst our team and to see her execute and chip that ball in. We certainly celebrated like it was a momentous occasion, but that just told me a lot about

her, right? Just not afraid of the moment. And I'm just so excited to have met her and spent the time with her as you said, just such a, I don't know, a good level headed like wise young woman and it's impressive and her golf game matches it. And you know, it's just, she's got a fan of me and it's just one more player. You know, I added to my favorites and we'll just look forward to keeping tabs on her week to week as we go along here. And an incredible caddy too. He was awesome. Their banter back and forth could not be like more perfect to keep her light and loose. When she talked about, I was like, Hey, so like

what are your, you know, what gets you in trouble? And she's like, well, I expect a lot, you know, I expect a lot from my golf game. And sometimes when things aren't going right, I get kind of down on myself. And he's the first person to pull me out of it. And be like, hey, we're not searching for perfection here. You're not going to hit everything to your exact number to the exact spot where you want it to finish every single time.

And being able to accept those results, we we joked as a team. We we talked a lot about P and Lynn and being able to separate and like put things in your boxes and realize when it's time to play, you know, when it's time to work and when it's time, you know, whatever, you know, the box is better than I do. But she uses that and like her normal life too. And she's she's gotten to the point now where she's like, okay, when I'm at the course, I'm working. And when I'm not at the course and I'm not doing, you know, Yarder's book work or anything else, I'm Benjan Netflix and Hulu and everything else and talking to my friends back home and trying to explore, you know, new restaurants and new cities and like she's just totally taking in every aspect of the LPGA

tour and it was awesome awesome to get like that from her and realize, you know, she's so like bubbly and not like uncontrollably bubbly, but being able to like see the excitement in her and be like, you know how cool it is for me who grew up in like Western Sweden to be able to go and like, I get to get explore LA two times a year. Yeah. And how awesome of an opportunity that is for her. And she's like, it's just so much stuff that you get to do and explore. And she's like, we go to amazing cities and meet amazing people. And it's like truly, she's like, this has always been a dream of mine. And she gets to live out her dream. And you know, she's going to keep having this perspective on everything in her life, guarantee you more wins will come. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's perfectly said. And she's got the game for it. It's

a game designed to be a high floor. And I think on the weeks where she's sticking her wedges and short irons and making some putts, she's gonna be just about as good as anybody week. She makes so many putts. It's silly. Like she just gets the ball. Her role on her putter.

I was like, man, that's what I spend the majority of the time watching. I'm like, how do you get it rolling so smooth so often? I'm like, this is incredible. I know. I that's somebody who's really struggling with ball coming off the putter right now. Yeah, it's got you seeing that ball start and seeing that marker line just perfectly end over and it's I'm jealous. But you get is funny like her short game because she's like I spend you know grown up

how it's been six, seven months, literally just hitting balls in a simulator. Like I would work on my you know stroke, but you can only put so much inside on mats. But like the rest of it's all simulator golf. And you're like, man, this is, where did I miss out on? Cause she's got it working. Last thing we, of course, pro am the other big partner of ours was the commissioner, Molly Marcusa Man, not to, not to short-try for her.

T.C. and I, we all kind of got into it last Sunday's pod But Cody, I feel like you were you were banning the board So I just wanted to ask you give you a chance to expand on any thoughts talking with her You know perceptions going in and how you felt kind of leaving the day after spending gosh nearly six hours with her Well, I think I'm kind of in the same boat as everybody else. And I've been searching and kind of hoping for her moment to come out and and be more vocal about where she's at, where she thinks the tour is out, things that she can do because it seemed like she doesn't really do like a ton of media stuff.

And even when you get to events and she'll put out a couple of statements or something like that, it doesn't really get amplified to the level where most commissioners talking points are. And I think at times I've probably been overly critical of her on that. I think I've been very vocal on this podcast of her getting in front of a lot of the Ramco or Saudi investment stuff and kind of what her thoughts are

in the LPGA tour and she's said before like if she gets a phone call like that's a call that she would take because at the end of the day she just wants her players, you know, to be not rewarded but playing for for purses that, you know, continue to grow. And I think there's other things too. Obviously there's, there's an issue with the locker room. There's an issue at the tour championship last year with not a lot of people showing up to the Pro Am party. And I think from like talking to her and getting her perspective on a lot of things, I'm like, wow, man, I honestly felt very, very guilty

because I think I've been overly harsh on her. But I also think that's part of her and her teams. They need to do a little bit better job of like getting in front of communications and stuff like that. When we talk about the schedule, I would say that the schedule, you know, at the time all that criticism came back to her which ultimately she is responsible for.

How do you expect these women to travel the world, bouncing from location to location location that like we're not talking about like easy flights here, we're changing time zones, we're hopping continents at times, and a lot of it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And ultimately she knows that falls on her. And I think when that came out, like they could have done a better job of communicating it and saying, hey, you know,

just like the PJ tour, 2023 is a weird year. We obviously identify and know that things are not perfect here, but we're going to use it and we're going to get better. Me overly harsh on her on that again. And I think that, you know, from hearing it from her and getting her perspective, you know, she just takes information in that's provided to her. And I think she is, you know, coming into a new job where she is not used to the world of professional golf, but she is very, very used to the world of like high-end athletics. And I think that's where people cut her down a lot. And the majority of people who are coming into the commission are jobs. Most of them are coming in from the business side of it.

All the things that she has planned, if they actually are able to be executed, I have nothing but the highest of hopes for what the LPGA tour is going to turn into. Not just scheduling-wise, but purse-wise, and other opportunities as well. Yeah, I think that's all very well said. I think my big concerns that I wanted to make sure I raised to her were about the TV product and, you know, getting building out streaming options. How can we make, and certainly the majors, right? How can we make the majors feel important, whether it's on golf channel or NBC? That was a bugaboo for me. She certainly recognizes that. She's got some hopes for streaming ideas,

which again, we'll just have to see the proof ultimately be in the pudding. I asked her about another big thing that we've talked about recently, just with the majors, it feels like the LPGA has three majors with a real, real identity. And then two majors, the Chevron and Evion, that, you know, what exactly is the identity here. She was extremely bullish on the Chevron and

having it at Carlton Woods. So, you know, I'll take her word for that. I think first year there's certainly some disappointing things. There were some things I liked. I'm willing to wait another year, maybe even two years to really let that event in the new location get established. Evie on, I feel like she didn't, you know, she didn't give me much there.

I don't know what she could have told me. I think that continues to be like the bolted on major and we've told the story of why and I just it feels like they're going to have to figure out what they want to do with that sooner than later. Like is this a major? Do we want to continue to have five majors? Can we restructure it and make it you you know, our own like part of elevated designated event series. I'm not sure what the answer is. Commissioner Markusman didn't really go into that one very much, so don't want to put any words into her mouth there. And then yeah, I think the schedule stuff like you said, I, she's just in a position where forever the, the, the sponsors have had the leverage

and have been able to really dictate to the tour, well, we want the event in this part of the calendar and our priority for this event, you know, she was explaining some of these events, they don't really care about television. Like that's not their motivating goal. It's, it's a, It's an event that they use. Maybe they're bringing in vendors or customers from across the country and it's like, hey, we just want to show them a good time for, you know, three, four days. And it's really hard to have tournaments like that where you're working with sponsors who like couldn't care less. I shouldn't say couldn't care less, but don't really prioritize television and

television windows and spots on the calendar with fans like us who are so accustomed to, you know, we watch a lot of PGA golf and there's a standard there, right? And that's where, you know, it's, it's not just the LPGA's problem. I give a lot of grief to golf channel NBC sports. I feel like they could invest more into the women's product But Commissioner Mark Kusumon. I mean her thing was just we're trying to build up demand to where we can kind of even out or get back some leverage when we go to current sponsors future sponsors and and when we build out the schedule. So I think that will be an important part of it.

So yeah, we'll just continue to see, we'll continue to monitor. I just, I really enjoyed Commissioner as a person. I felt like, you know, she was very interested in us personally getting to know, you know, who we are, what we have going on in our personal life. She was sharing some funny anecdotes about her kids and it was just nice to make that connection

on a personal level. So hopefully we'll have. Hopefully, the one thing that I'll say there is not just personal connections and obviously every adult, if you're a parent or I you know, I don't want to say the parent, but like adults that have like in the professional world, everybody's interested in like everybody has normal like banter back and forth like when you get to know somebody, but she was like generally like interested in not just who we are as like knowing up, but who we are as individuals, how our families are, what our families are into, after a ton of like parenting questions and like getting, you know, talking to her and like,

again, like you put her on this pedestal of like the commissioner and then she's like, well, you know, I got three kids and like two of them are teenage daughters and like, I got a son that like I'm trying to chase down and stuff like that. And you're like, you know, you're a normal person. And you have normal person responsibilities, just like everyone else. And it was cool to see like that side of her. The other thing is that at no point in time, did she like overshadow Maya and like it was so cool seeing them go back and forth in conversations and like you know Maya was

saying things to her and she was taking it and like yeah like those are all great points and like was just completely open to whatever suggestions that anybody had and I think when we talk about like obviously coverage and I agree with you and I think probably some more streaming options are absolutely needed. She's working on those and if they come through it's gonna be amazing. But if you want people to invest in the game,

you want people to invest in your sport, like you gotta get them, like you to get eyeballs on them. And I think you're letting off NBC very, very easy. And I know we say this a lot, but man, I don't understand like, you know, we asked her about the big day down in Chevron when you had NBC executives, you had, you know, PJ tour commissioner, yep, PJ Ameri, you know, director, everybody down there. And people, you know, she even said that, like, hey, what's the big thing that people talked about? And they're like, oh, well, we talked about the schedule, we talked about TV. Like, yep, that makes tons of sense. Well, where are these? Everybody's supposed to be

part of this big global strategic alliance here and there, but it doesn't seem to really play out. It doesn't seem like the LPJ tours really ever on the beneficiary side of any of these discussions. And I think it's time to hold people accountable for this shit. And I say shit because that's what it is. It's a bunch of crap, man.

How come the LPJ tour is always on the losing end of it? And it's like, it's to the point where it gets to be so frustrating. And I was, again, I'll bring you back to so pumped because we've been harvoring for like a co-ed mixed event for a very long time. And I think it's gonna be awesome. And it's a very good start at the event

that's gonna happen this winter with P PJ tour and the LPJ tour. And then for the PJ tour to turn around and put a champions tour event, their own little version of like a three way writer cup thing on top of it that I know NBC via golf channel is going to put ample TV time to like I just don't get it. I don't understand. I've never met anybody who's like, man, I can't wait to watch the champions tour this week outside of their like immediate family probably. I don't understand why all these opportunities be a TV time

is given to a tour where like on the flip side of it, like those hours should probably be dedicated to the corn fairy tour. Like I don't understand this whole thing at all and people wanna talk about all these DNI initiatives and everything else like that. Well, I think it's time to hold people accountable, you know? Yes, you're preaching to the choir. I, there are a couple of specific instances

going back to Chevron, right? Because it's a major and I think I voiced a couple of instances going back to Chevron, right? Because it's a major. And I think I voiced a couple of these the week of, but there were two things that stuck out to me. And one is Thursday, Friday, even Saturday, I turned on Golf Channel. And as I sometimes do, I'm distracted with an iPad or I'm taking a little nap

before coverage begins, right? So they roll from the Zurich Classic, which is, say what you want about it, but it's gotta be near the bottom of importance on the PGA tour, right? But Golf Channel, we roll from Zurich classic coverage right into Chevron coverage which is a major on the LPGA tour and literally Cody I

couldn't I If I wasn't really paying attention like I didn't notice any shift in energy and graphics in like music. There was nothing to like signal as we go to the Chevron championship. Hey, this is a big freaking event on the LPGA tour. And I just find that very disappointing. And then you find fast forward to the network coverage when it goes to NBC. Like think of every men's golf major, think of like every big sporting event you watch on network television.

There's usually some type of like video essay lead in or some type of like pre edited, put together a package that. Yeah, some montage or you name it, especially. I did. Yeah, I mean, I could rally off one off the top of my head right now. Hey, first year of the, what used to be the Dynastore, what used to be the A and A.

Now is the Chevron. We have all this tradition and lineage and everything else. Now welcome to Houston. And the city of Houston welcomes this championship in open harms. We're here at the woodlands and thought, you name it, you could literally do anything. But there's nothing like that.

And it's just like, is this a big deal or is it not? And as you said, like at some point, like NBC, you just have to be better. And it's just unacceptable kind of half-assing it on the LPGA coverage. And I'm just sick of it because as we've seen, the NCA women's basketball tournament, you know, the women's world cup, when you invest and make the product good, people are going to watch. It's people, it's such a self fulfilling prophecy where you have asked coverage and half-ass graphics and half-ass everything to do with the women's event. And then it's like, oh, well, the ratings weren't great. You know, nobody really watched it. What's

like, well, you all didn't put out a good product. You know, and so you're signaling to people, this isn't as important or this isn't as big a deal as other stuff we do. And when we do see, you know, a good television package and investment and really building up players and storylines, guess what? The ratings are great. And it's such a ripe opportunity for golf channel, for NBC, for whomever wants to televised women's golf. But you just got to make an investment in it. And that's, you know, we were venting that to Commissioner. And I think she gets it. And I think what you said is like, the LPGA, I just don't want them to like keep taking it. Like don't let people patch on the head and be like, oh, well, you know, we're, you know, we're doing this for you at least.

It's like, oh, man, screw that. Like, like they need to start advocating very strongly for themselves and sticking up for themselves. That's my hope. Yes. And on the flip side of it, again, to NBC and the golf channel folks, like what better testing ground do you want? You know, you want to try all these new things that you think you're going to like roll

out for a PGA tour event or a men's major somewhere. Come test them on the LPGA tour. You can literally try whatever you want. It seems like I'm so sick of the, like, the talking point of like, oh, the LPGA tour is like super boring to watch. What's not because of their players and it's not because of those women's golf games, that's for damn sure. Yeah.

It's because of the product. And like, you want to come out and treat it, like it's still like a 1980s men's broadcast. It's going to be boring, man. But if you like the people who get the opportunity to talk to the players, talk to the people that are around the tour, it's like the furthest thing from that. Like they're just, it's almost like they refuse to put like any personality of like gravitas into the coverage at all, which you're like, wow, being going to these events and talking to them, and then what you see representing on the covers, it's like, it could be not, they're so opposite.

It's fucking insulting. It is. And I, a standard disclaimer, this has nothing to do with the broadcasters, actually broadcasting. Absolutely. We love Grant Boone, Karen Stuppels, Page McKenzie, Morgan Presto. This is not an indictment of their performance.

This is the boardroom at NBC and the resources and attention and energy that is being directed into this product. Here here. All right. Well, that was cathartic. Let's turn our attention code, man. This weekend, I mean, speaking of stories to tell, this weekend, I believe is such a, I don't know if hidden gem is the right word, but maybe under appreciated, under realized event on the LPGA calendar, it is the founders cup. And essentially what this tournament is, it began

in 2011 as an ode to the 13 women who founded the LPGA tour. And with that history in mind, I believe there's only maybe one of the 13 still living. They've had living members at this event, they've made a point to, you know, recognize and acknowledge very important people in the women's game, in the history of the women's game. And I'm just really excited that this tournament has found solid footing, cognizant has come in as a very good sponsor. Because I think it was a little underfunded under, how can I put it? I don't think they were maximizing what this event was and should be prior to COVID.

They took a year off in COVID. And since that year, 2021 was at Mountain Ridge Golf Club in New Jersey, a top 100 course Donald Ross fantastic venue And now this is the second year at Upper Mont Clare country club also in New Jersey Clipney New Jersey And it's a wonderful golf course. It's a it's a tilling-hast originally Robert Trent Jones senior did a lot of work on it I believe in the 1950s. I want to say I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying I'll say this, but I think it's difficult getting in any new event like off the ground. I don't think a lot, you know, actually liked it when it was in Phoenix. I liked the the March date that they originally had.

I think that obviously like the Phoenix community with like a ton of retirees and everybody else like showed up for it. I think it truly was a lot of it was a sponsor issue maybe a little bit on the course side, but I love the fact of where the new dates at and I love them getting like upper montclair is so sweet and it's awesome them getting to play another great, great old school golf course. Kind of the same way like, you know, the L.A. championship and them getting to play a wheelchair like, yes, it's just really cool and this is exactly the things that like the LP.A. Championship and them getting to play Wilshire, like, yes, it's just really cool. And this is exactly the things that like the LPGA tour should do and

continue to do. And, you know, plenty of old, old classic gems that are out there that you can move some of these tournaments around to. So just very, very excited for this again. And, you know, we talked about it. A lot of the players that were really into have success here. They had success there last year. They love the spot on the calendar, looking for big things. You know, I kind of look out of it, like really the heart of the season is picking up now. I think that's right. We are, I'm always like, man, where is the season going? We're about a quarter

pull. We've completed nine of the 35 events on the LPGA schedule heading into this week. So we're about a quarter of the way through the season. I guess before we dive into the founders specifically, Cody, I tasked us with, you know, should we just run through kind of player the year thus far, rookie the year and maybe some of our biggest surprises. Yeah. I think player the year is an easy pick. I mean, did you, it has to be Lily of Boo, right? Yeah, she's having a heck of a year so far.

I mean, she got multiple wins. One being the major. She's played in the total of six events so far. The only real blemish there being a miscut, like I said, a L.A. Championship at Wilshire following the chevron, but really started out the year just just super hot. It's incredible to see her form. It was awesome to talk to her about it. Again, I'm going to shout it out again. Go listen to her interview because it was it was great to hear her and like, you know, she her game was truly like and in the depths and being able to pull it out and have the right team around her who's like 100% supported and focused on what she cares about. And at the end of the day, she

even her words is that I just care about playing my golf and putting all those pieces together. It's just awesome to see. But yeah, she's clearly leading that race. I'd say, you know, maybe the close second and I would say still win list this year, but Nelly, and that's just because of, you know, six top 10s to start the year. And, you know, the wins are going to calm. She's playing really, really good. Just is not able to put, you know, four complete rounds together yet. is not able to put, you know, four complete rounds together yet. Yeah, yeah. It's, uh, Nelly's right there kind of sitting in second place for me. Um, I think she's probably going to have to win a major to, to really make it a conversation,

but certainly at, at the quarter mark, Lily Voo is, is easily the player of the year thus far. Rookie of the year is a little interesting and hand up Cody, I don't know why in my mind. I thought China's runin' in was a rookie. She had won this year, so I was getting ready to say, I think she's my pick for Rookie of the year. Only to find out actually last year was her rookie year. So with that being said, it's an interesting race. Folks can go to

LPGA.com and all of these awards, I really like it that they're all just numbers based. It's fairly based on performance and points you get based off that performance. So currently leading is South Korea's Hey, Rand Rue. But I think the rookie of the year, because I think I put a premium on on victories. I think Grace Kim, who's currently number three in the standings, but is the only one with an actual tour victory thus far. I think she would be my personal rookie of the year. Yeah. Obviously the win of the low-take championship in Hawaii. What's going against her and that that third place finish or third place in the rankings right now are those three miscuts that she has.

And the only other made cut that she has is a T 59 at the LA open. But you know, getting a win as a rookie phenomenal. Uh, you know, total. I was shocked that there's, there's 17 rookies so far that have received points. For some reason I was expecting the number to be a little bit higher than that, but very spread out list and, and grace, even though she's not at the top of it yet,

the win definitely brings her to the top in, in my mind. And I will say to, no wins, but outside of the one Miss Cut, Lucy is on that list, currently in fifth place with her 88 points. Started out the year rough, obviously in Arizona. We talked about that. You guys all gave me a very rough time with that. But then it's followed up with with OK golf. And you know, she's not happy happy with it but T18 and LA open

T23 and Hawaii she played in Chevron obviously got the slow play penalty. That's tough T54 there and then T33 at the LA championship and I will say From the time that we spent in San Francisco last year She shared with me an amazing food recommendation list. I hit off a couple spots off of a list when I was there So she's gone above and beyond and still Remains my number one rookie this year. I think as we project forward. I want to ride with you I'll still thank you. I still believe in her I still think we're gonna see some big things from her in 2023

Will Cody hit me with a couple of your surprises. They can be good, bad, otherwise, as we think about the first fourth of the LPG A season, what's what's most surprising to you thus far? Well, I'm sure this is on your list as well, but what's up with Lydia? I don't quite get it. Started out the year, you know, her year on the LET, at the Saudi invitation, obviously won then. But really, this kind of had a lackluster season so far. I mean, she's obviously, she took like a T6 in Thailand that's been her highest result so far on the LPGA tour. She missed the cut at Chevron.

She didn't really play very well at the LA Open. She's had a ton of weeks off. And you're just kind of wondering what is going on. Everybody was really excited for her to start the year. She just came out with the bang, but her game just doesn't really seem to be there right now. And I'm not saying it's concerns, but we've gone through these phases

with Lydia in the past as well. I just hope that she gets it together as we really get to the meet of the major championship season because truly, I would love to see these top three, just kind of lift and separate and be able to go and just battle it out, weaken, weak out. Yeah, I think obviously the Ramco win in in Saudi. That's a good win. It's a very good field,

but that does not count anywhere towards her LPGA season. So removing that, she's currently 51st on the Cesarong race to the CME list, which, you know, very pedestrian. I have to think as the weather heats up and the tour starts playing week to week, you know, she'll get more starts. I got full trust in Lydia. I thought where I thought you were going, Cody, and I kind of mentioned it earlier in the show is 105th on the CME list right now is Mindji Lee. And I think it's a bit more concerning just because we saw her game really start to slip at the

end of 2022. So, you know, really after the AIG women's open where she was tied for fourth, I mean, her best finish after that was a T-33 on the LPGA tour. And then fast forward to this season. And it's a lot more of the same. Her best finish thus far is a T-41. And it's just not what we're accustomed to see in from her. I mean, she was very deservedly one of the two best players in the world for a lot of 2022. And I don't know. I'm a little bit more concerned again, just because this has kind

of been going on since last August. And it's you can't say like, oh, it's just a couple of events anymore. She still has all the game in the world. She's only 26. I don't necessarily think it's time to panic, but it's certainly something that I'm monitoring. And I think is the most surprising thing for me. Yeah, I mentioned it earlier. I think certain players really can capitalize on the momentum that was built at the international crime. Minji, I think, is definitely one of them.

Being in the team environment, playing as well as she did, even though obviously they ended up short, but going to a course where she's had success, she's the defending champion. If there was ever a feeling that you wanted to kind of kickstart whatever funk she's been going in, getting back to upper Montclair is definitely it. And that's kind of where I'm out with her. You took the words right out of my mouth.

This is going to be such an interesting litmus test this weekend because yeah, she was damn near flawless last year in route to winning and to go back to the same course where I think we're going to learn a lot this weekend. Any other surprises you got one more surprise for me? No, I think the other thing we mentioned a lot, I think really it's not an individual or thing. It's just a schedule. And it's the wear and tear on the schedule and you're really actually starting to see like what this chaos actually breeds now because last week was a week off for a lot of people. There's going to be the vast majority of players who show up in New Jersey this week coming off a week off. But for the, you know, outside of really like

Lydia and Brooke, who are not a part of the international crown, the rest of them, international crown players, they have just been going hard from Chevron to LA to a very, very long week, playing 36 holes a day on the weekend. Now to the founders where expectations are going to be pretty high for them. And it just kind of sucks. I could not imagine because the flight from West to East, it always just takes so much out of you. Now you layer on how much golf they played

last weekend on top of that. I just can't, I cannot imagine, you know, whereas I think like it could be a very good catapult opportunity for a minji, I think of like the Hannah Greens and the rest of them. And really I'll probably say like patty started to look pretty tired too. All these people have been in contention

like the last couple of weeks, like just being completely exhausted. Yeah, which is a bummer because I like, I want them all to be kind of peak going into this event, but it will be interesting to see kind of who's who looks like their out of gas. After this week, everybody gets a, well, I think some are going to play in a ramp co event down in Florida. So I shouldn't say everything's going to get a week off, but at least LPGA schedule wise, it's a scheduled week off after founders and then match play back in Las Vegas at Shadow Creek.

Cody, I was the only other surprising thing, I guess, and I'm going to use Lydia and Batcher in with Nelly and Ataya is just, you know, you have three of the top five ranked players in the world without a victory yet. And, you know, it's a bit unfair because Nelly's played a lot of excellent golf, just has not gotten any wins. Ataya has played pretty much really excellent golf. We know Lydia, not quite, but had you told me when we were doing this back in January, if we get into May and none of those three had won an LPGA tour event, I think I would have been like, nah, no way, I don't believe you. So as far as surprises go, that was one that I wanted to flag, but I expect that to change, and I hope that changes very quickly. Yep, very, very, very much agree with that. Do you know who the 2021 champion at the Founders Cup was?

2021 was Mountain Rit. Was that Jinyoungco? Absolutely. Yeah. Coming off a very, very rough week. Again, I went out there on a limb team career. They let me down. Gen Young. I think good things are coming. Well, let me, let's go right into this. I wanted to make some picks for this weekend. Who do you like? I kind of had four, right? So a favorite, if you will, to win. I'll just, you know, our good friends at DraftKings has eight women with better than 20 to one odds. That's Georgia Hall, Hygiene Choi, Nasa Hatoka,

Jin Young Co, Lily Avood, Lydia Co, Taita Tidakum and Nelly Corda. In my mind, those are kind of what we can call the favorite. So I guess out of that group, I'll even allow, you know, they, they have Lexi at 25 to one. I think she could certainly fit in that favorite category, but who amongst there do you like? Well, I'm not going to go with Lexi. That's for sure. But I will say that somebody that I talked about when a little bit ago talking about the international crown and, and, you

know, I put my heart out there for team Korea obviously didn't come through for me but I think genuine call I think she had you know great history at this event it was obviously at a different venue but I think she can use last week to truly like you know continue her season she already has a win earlier in the year in Singapore. She seems to be playing really well. So yeah, ready to go. Always a good pick. I like it. I'm going to go with Nelly, though.

I think I really going out on a limb here, taking the turn in the favorite, but amongst favorites to win, she, she, Nelly actually would not be my overall pick to win. I will save that for our next category. But I think Nelly, if you haven't heard Joe Lakava is on her bag this week, can't lay is taking the week off. Nelly's regular caddy is on paternity leave. So kind of a fun one off event for both of them. I think I don't know. For some reason, I just think having Joe there, New Catty, fresh energy. I think Puts are bound to fall for. It's a course that should set up really well for,

I'm looking no further than the tournament favorite. Give me Nelly Corta. Yeah, I agree. The very safe pick there, the only thing that's driving me away from that, this is a fourth week in a row. That's a lot. That is a concern. I'll just say she's a vibrant 24

year old woman like, you know, young legs, young body, now's the time. I don't want to hear the excuses. That's that's what we always used to say at Coach and Basswell too. You know, you guys are high schoolers. What does being tired mean? I love you're too young to be tired. All right, what about dark horses here? Who do you think is a dark horse to win? I Hannah Greens one that's in great form would take a long look at her, but code man, this might be the heart, talking, Madeline Saxerms might pick to win. I'm gonna say the same thing. Yeah, 35 to one odds, finished top four last year, was really undone by a bad luck triple Bogey in her final round,

or else she would have been right there, either in a playoff or perhaps winning in regulation. Talking to her team, they really, really like where her game is. She played really well at Harding Park. I love it. I'm like, I think this is win number two for Madeline. I'm ready to pencil it in. I'm ready for to call into the Sunday recap show. Let's do it. That's the exact same thing. We must be, of course,

we're talking to the same people here, but, you know, the only other person for some reason, you know, my good, my good friend's Zoot is a physio falls LPGA tour. You keep telling me about Gabby Lopez. He keeps Gabby Lopez is on the things. Gabby Lopez has found some things. I don't see that in the results here. But that's kind of the only, we're gonna go like true, true dark horse. That's the only name that I had in the back of my mind because I think man, Madeline, she's working

and she's on to something and like, this is, it would be, maybe it might be too perfect for all just to line up here. I know. That's, that's honestly my biggest worry. Gabby is 65 to one per our friends at at Trap Kings. It reminds me a little bit of you know she could be the equivalent of hey I'm here in Harris English is really flush in the vault. It could be you know Gabby Lopez she's she's flush in the vault right now. So I'm gonna keep an eye on any big names Cody that you expect to let's say miss the cut or have a have a relatively poor performance this week. Well, I hate to say it to you, but I think you know, Hannah's been playing a lot of golf. I would say her making the cut here would be a very successful week. I would say the same for Nelly. I, for some reason, I think it's a lot between four weeks

on the, on the road. A new caddy and I understand that Jolokava is like the goat and people probably wondering, how did Joe, I thought he was full time with Patrick. He's got the week off and they share a swing coach, Patrick and Nelly do and Jamie Logan. So that's where the connection comes in. Jamie's very good friends with Joe O'Cava.

And it was kind of a natural to find somebody to fill in here. But from what we understand is that Joe is going to be Patrick's full time caddy moving forward. Unless maybe there's some off weeks where Patrick's not planned and you might see things like this pop up. But yeah, I would say that those are probably the only two glaring ones that are kind of jumping out for me, but I know I'm going out on the limb there because Nelly doesn't really like miss a lot of cuts, but I think like again, I understand they're young and they're in very good shape, but

the travel, I mean, we were on the road for one week and real thing. One week. And I'm like, oh, I'm dead. We're old Ben though. We're we're real. We're ancient. I think along those lines, I was looking at at patty tabatana kit. I would not be shocked, you know, she had spent so much time kind of on the west coast. Very familiar with that part of the country, flying east after a lot of weeks playing. familiar with that part of the country, flying east after a lot of weeks playing. I still think it's great. And I still want to believe she's trending in such a good direction, but I could see this week, maybe be in a slight step backwards for that's the one I pegged. Yep.

Well, let's code, man, I just wanted to wrap. I think it bears mentioning a little bit, the founders cup. If you don't mind, if you'll indulge me, I kind of wanted to just quickly talk about the 13 women that were the LPGA founders. And there are some amazing things that I found researching them, some really fun tidbits. And my hope is, hey, maybe we learn a little something about these, these very important women in the world of golf. And hopefully have a better sense of appreciation for what this tournament is this weekend.

So with that being said, I want to shout out Beth Ann Nichols, who was on their crusade a couple years ago, but all 13 of these women are now as of last year, officially part of the LPGA's hall of fame. Several of them had played their way into the hall of fame and were already hall of fame members. But as Bethan would tell me time and again, I cannot believe the LPGA won't put the founding members, all of them, into their Hall of Fame. Well, that has happened as of last year. Everybody is now a part of the Hall of Fame.

So good on them. I think that's great. The other thing I want to mention, which I did not realize, the LPGA, which was founded in 1950, it's the oldest continuing women's professional sports organization in the United States. So I thought that was pretty cool. Really cool. Let's go in alphabetical order. I'll be brief here. Jump in when you want. The first founding member is Alice Bauer. And what I found most fun about Alice, another founding member, Marilyn Smith described Alice's backswing as, quote,

making John Daly's look short, which is a fantastic image. Alice was five foot one, but by all accounts, one of the longer hitters on tour. So just that mental image of this short woman, just absolutely banging the club off of her left side on her back swing is just such a wonderful image. She never did win an LPJ event though, and she passed away in 2002 at the age of 74. Now, Alice had a sister, Marlene Hague, but she was born Marlene Bauer, and Marlene was also one of the founding members.

She was Alice's younger sister. I think a fun little note. She finished eighth at the 1947 US Women's Open as a 13 year old. At 15, she won the associated press female athlete of the year, the youngest person to do so. She went on to win 26 times on tour, had one major. And I think the most interesting tip in this doesn't really have

anything to do with golf, but more with life. She married. So Alice was married to a guy named Bob Hegey. They got divorced. Well, Marlene ends up marrying the guy. So she married her older sister's ex-husband. That marriage, what? Perhaps unsurprisingly, didn't last 10 years. They ended up getting divorced. But Marlene is the only remaining founder that's still living. She's 89 years old. So little funtibet there.

But yeah, Marlene, your sister's ex-husband, that's that's something. You know, you know, speaking of real quick, qualifying for the US women's open at 13 years old, did you see the nine year old trying to qualify for this year's US women's open? No, that is nine years old. Insane. Oh my God. I don't know if if, I mean, is there a line somewhere? I was just going to say, is it worth it to put an age minimum on qualification? I mean, it's crazy. I guess crazy. Crazy.

Nine years old. The whole thing is it's like the most, you know, it's supposed to be the most meritocracy, the most, what I'm struggling with, the form of meritocracy would be, but if it's truly gonna be open, I guess you gotta take all the comers. Yeah, for sure. That's crazy.

Um, third member, Patty Berg. She is the all-time women's major championship record holder, 15 majors she won. She won 60 times total on the LPGA, three times the AP female athlete of the year. She was the first president of the LPGA. She passed away in 2006 at the age of 88, but Patty Berg is just, you know, she's on the Mount Rush more of women's golf. Absolutely. The next one, Betty Danoff is a name that I didn't really know at all. I think in doing my research, probably her best accomplishment on the golf

course. She ended babes of her. She's 17 tournament win streak at the Texas women's open, beating her one up. She was, this is a fun fact. She was the LPJ's first competing grandmother, which was fun. And she passed away at the age of 88 in 2011. Helen DeTweiler, this was fun. She toured in 1938, calling Major League and Minor League Baseball Games, the first female baseball Bradcaster. And Cody, you'll like this. She joined the Air Force in World War II and logged over 750 hours flying the Boeing B-17 flying fortress. That's really cool. Really cool. Yeah. Yeah. She won the Western Open, which was then a women's major in 1939 and passed away in 1990 at the age of 75. Next up on the list, again, alphabetical Helen Hicks. She, well, I just said I didn't know much about Betty Danoff, but certainly didn't know

much about Helen Hicks either. She passed away way back in 1974, actually, at the age of 63 from throat cancer. She won two majors in her time. Honestly, couldn't find much more than that, which takes us to Opal Hill. This was very funny to me. So she was the oldest of the founders. She was actually born in 1892, which, you know, just seems forever ago, which it is. But she took up golf at the age of 31 on a doctor's recommendation.

I guess, you know, he was like, go out, get some air, get a little exercise. She's like, okay, I'll start taking off golf. Well, 14 years later, she had won the Western Open twice, had turned professional, and obviously was one of the 13 founding members of the LPGA. I just, I love that. Betty Jamison, she was a 13-time winner on tour. She won three majors. She was decorated amateur career. I think the, her most lasting impact maybe would be,

she was the catalyst behind the creation of the VAR trophy, which is awarded annually to the low scoring average. Each year on tour. So she passed away in 2009 at the age of 89. I should have said Opal Hill, she passed away in 1981 at the age of 89. Why these women lead in just, great lives? Right. Few more here. Sally Sessions, she was a state championship player and tennis growing up.

I guess the story goes, she had snuck away. She was from the Detroit area and one weekend she snuck away to Grand Rapids to play tennis. Her parents got very angry when they got home, they grounded her. While she was grounded, she just started fiddling with golf sticks, eventually takes up golf, becomes a professional. She was, this is kind of a sad story. She was diagnosed with leukemia in 1949 while playing on the tour. Shortly thereafter, she stopped playing competitively,

but started repping Wilson sporting goods, was eventually a treasure of the LPGA and passed away at age 43 in 1966. All right, this is the craziest, like this is the craziest shit I've ever heard, Cody. Marilyn Smith, okay, first her resume, 21 time tour winner, two time major winner, hella an amateur career was an LPGA president, actually in 1973 became the first female to work a men's golf broadcast. But listen to this, she's playing in a tournament, I couldn't find the year, but she's playing in a golf tournament in Florida. She's paired up with Australian Margie Masters and they get to a T-box and I'm going to quote Margie now. She goes, I backed away from a shot because I had second

thoughts about my alignment just as I heard a gunshot ring out. It turns out a 45 magnum bullet zipped past my head exactly where I had been standing. It penetrated the ground inches from the scorekeepers foot. We all hit the ground. Margie, Maryland, the caddies, the scorekeeper, six or seven shots sprayed out over the golf course. Eventually convinced, listen to this, eventually convinced by tournament director to keep playing. Smith said she and masters were quote, quivering as they somehow both made the cut.

And the cherry on top of it, the gunman was never found. What? Yes. I mean, do you know where this was at? I don't know where in Florida. Wow. I know. Like literally a sniper tries to shoot them on the tee box. They hit the deck and then the tournament director. Yeah, keep going. It's a system to keep playing. No, man, that's crazy.

And they never found the guy. I assume it's a guy. Yeah. What a wild story. Wow, I could not, I could not like trying to keep your composure and like play all faster that I mean, can you imagine the podcast talking about that? No, not at all. Marilyn passed away in 2019 at age

89. The next one surely spork, I think hopefully maybe a name that people got to know the last couple of years, she was, she was dancing at the 2021 Soulheim Cup on the T-Box in Toledo. Just seemed like such a character. She recently last year passed away at the age of 94. And while she never won on the LPGA tour, she was twice named a teacher of the year, just a, you know, a self-taught story, a self-made story. She bought her own clubs at age 13 after reselling golf balls that she'd found around a golf course. She lived near. And this is a book I found. She wrote an autobiography called From Green to Tea in 2017. And from what I kind of saw and some of the previews, I think it's quite colorful. I think I'm going to have to give that one a read.

I'm going to check it out as well. Yeah. All right. Two more Luis Suggs, the rookie of the year award is named in her honor. She won 61 times on tour, won 11 majors. She was a former LPGA president. Shexford became one of the first female members of the RNA in 2015 and she passed away in 2015 at the age of 91. And that leaves, last but not least, Cody, I, this is a name I think everybody has heard, honestly, until I really started like reading about her, I didn't have a sense of appreciation. And that's Bayne, New York sends a hairious. I mean, like the preeminent female athlete of the

20th century. Absolutely. Daughter of Norwegian immigrants, she was born down in your neck, the woods, Port Arthur, Texas, Made her home in Beaumont for a long time. And I should say before I read off her athletic achievements, she was apparently like, I think she was just amazing in everything she did. She won like state sewing competitions as a seamstress. She recorded songs for Mercury records as a singer and a harmonica player. And then that brings us to 1932. She was in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where she won gold in the 80-meter hurdles with a world record time of 11.7 seconds.

She won gold in the javelin with an Olympic record throw, and then she won silver in the high jump. She's the only athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in separate running, throwing, and jumping events. Like, that's... Nobody will ever do that. Nope. That's something with the specialization and everything going on now. She's going to be the only person to ever do that.

So she has a bunch of success in the Olympics track and field running. She's just everything she does athletically. She's very good at basketball, baseball, billiards. In 1934, she tours the country. She pitches in three spring training games. So she pitches for innings total. She pitches pitches, a scoreless inning versus the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Now the Red Sox beat her up. They scored three runs against her in an inning. And then she comes back and pitches two scoreless innings versus Cleveland. And I guess she got in that bat. It's that she'd lined out. She still holds the record for the farthest baseball throne by a woman. And in 1935 at the age of 24, she finally takes up golf. I mean, she must have just been bored with everything else. It takes her about 10 years to, or I guess it doesn't

even really take her 10 years. But by 1945, she had qualified and competed in three PGA tour events. She finished tied for 30 third at the Phoenix Open and tied for 40 second at the Tucson Open. And again, this is not her receiving sponsor exemptions into these PGA tour events. She went out and qualified for the she's doing it her own way. Yes. And makes the cut finishes in the money. It's just unbelievable. She actually tried to qualify for the 1948 US Open, but the USDA denied her saying as a female, she wasn't allowed, which huge miss on their part,

would have loved if she could have gone through qualifying. Well, she ends up, she wins 41 times in her career on the LPGA tour, including 10 majors. She won what was the Grand Slam in 1950. And then in 1953, this is where the story really turns tragic. She's diagnosed with colon cancer. She has surgery. She returns to the tour shortly after surgery. In 1954, she wins the Veritrophy and the United States women's Open while wearing a colostomy bag. I mean, it's just stuff like that. I'm like, I cannot even imagine someone being able to do that.

I have an upset stomach and I can't leave the house. Yeah. The cancer unfortunately returned in 1955 and she passed away at the age of 45. Think about all she did. Oh, yeah. Yeah, 45. Yeah, passes away at the age of 45 in 1956.

She's named, I mean, the accolades, I could spend another hour just reading all the accolades, but you know, ESPN named her one of the 10 greatest North American athletes of the 20th century. Sports illustrator named her the second greatest athlete of all time. They put Jackie Joyner Cursey at number one. She was the AP female athlete of the century in 1999 they they gave her that honor Post-humus leave was awarded the presidential medal of freedom The United States Post Office has had her on a stamp. She has her own museum in Beaumont, Texas. I mean This is just I I know all these things are known. I know that she is known, but I just wanted to read through that because it's like, holy shit.

I just cannot fathom how good of an athlete she was. I think it said she stood like five foot seven, wait about, I don't know, 115, 120 pounds, which is wild to me because she had to deal with like a lot of nastiness people thinking she was, you know, manly and this and that, you know, I think even though she was married, she was not really a secret. She, she was a lesbian as well. So she just took a lot of shit in her day, but it's like, you know, a five foot seven,

115, 120 pound woman is like, so normalized these days, and obviously rightfully so. But I just can't imagine like, I don't know, I'm trying to picture like Nelly Corta going and actually pitching spring training games, right? And retiring like major league batters, or I don't know take your pick like

Jin Young co oh well she happened to win like two Olympic golds in a silver it's just boggles my mind yeah she truly is like the the goat I understand the the recognition of Jackie joint accuracy there but like if you want to talk about overall athletics and like when you said like she just seemed to be like when you said like she just seemed to be like really good at everything she touched, like yeah, it's it seems so. And then to pass away at the age of 45. Anyway, I know that I thought I remember looking this up in the past, but I remember being like very interested in because like you said, I think it was like a not a like not a very well kept secret that like she, uh, she was a lesbian as well.

But I remember looking up her husband, George. And I think he was at one point in time was like a professional wrestler. He was. He was school like, you know, Southern touring days. Like just a big bear of a guy. Yeah. Yeah. I think they met it.

They were like paired together at some celebrity tournament and married shortly thereafter. Yeah. Um, so anyway, I was going to say I know that was very long-winded. together at some celebrity tournament and married shortly thereafter. Yeah. So anyway, I was going to say I know that was very long-winded, but I just wanted to provide a little background on the 13 founders as you watch the event this weekend. And they'll surely be mentioned and I'm sure they'll do little profiles on some of them, but it's just a very cool event. And those women are obviously instrumental

to the women's game that we have today. And so I, yeah, just wanted to kind of highlight and color in the blanks a little bit, try to give people a little thing about as they hear some of those names. Absolutely, very well done, Big. I appreciate you doing the research on that. Well, no problem. Code, man, let's, let's get out of here. This was a fun one. Always love chatting women's golf with you. We will excitedly be tuned in

this weekend to the founders cup. You can check coverage. I believe it's early day coverage. Each Thursday, Friday, and then Saturday will be afternoon, primarily on golf channel. I believe NBC sports streaming app will have a little bit of supplemental coverage as well. But we hope everybody enjoys the tournament. Cody, you and I will chat in a couple of weeks here for another LPGA episode. Until then, be well, my man. Yes, sir. So, until then, be well, my man. Yes, sir. Give it a right club.

Be the right club today. Yes. Be the club. That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. The most.