No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 803: Players Happy Hour Preview

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

Our High Noon Happy Hour Preview show covers our week at the Players to date, reactions to Jay Monahan's press conference, Rory's comments, as well as Xander, Scottie, and others. We also make our picks for the week, what groups we want to follow, what hole at TPC Sawgrass we would tweak if we could, and a lot more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. better than most Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the no laying up high noon sun sips. Happy hour players championship edition We are live on YouTube and live on the X app formerly known as Twitter I don't know if you knew that Randy, but big Randy is here. Hello, Mr. Big. Hey guys. Great to be back. Making a habit of this, Solly. You and I just chopping it up. It gets me, it gets me fired up, man.

It gets me excited about things and it's an exciting week. One of my favorite weeks of the year, players championship week. Just me and my guy TC out here on the grounds this year though, but how we doing TC? Good, good. You know, I'm sorry I wasn't out there today. Be out there tomorrow putting my media hat on.

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really nice. But we got a lot to react to. We've been you know, spending a couple days out there on site, talked to a few people, watched a little bit of golf out there, a lot to react to. We've been spending a couple days out there on site, talked to a few people, watched a little bit of golf out there, a lot of press conference stuff to go to. But T.C., I'll throw it to you first as to what's stuck out to you so far this week. First of all, I want to just thank the Space Force. Yeah.

I was at the Military Appreciation Concert last night, appreciating the military. I know our guy Sarge appreciates that sentiment from me, but they've got the Space Force banner hanging there off the clubhouse. You see Marines, Army, Navy, there was a Coast Guard flyover, and then you just see the Space Force, and it makes me laugh every single time. I love it. I get such a kick out of it. So, uh, Cole Swindell last night, uh, not really my tempo, uh, sorry, country music sensation, Eric Cole Swindell. Thank you. Last night. Uh, my wife was, we've lived here seven or eight years.

She, she had never been to the Tuesday night concert. Uh, I told her, I won't, you know, I didn't want to go back until the chain smokers come back, but I was forced against my will at the concert last night. Does it feel a little different? Go ahead, Randy. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say I used to think of the Space Force as a joke, but now that Pootie's trying to put nukes up in Space TC, we might have to put... No, we're not having a trap definitely not a joke why listen you should be hailing them TC I appreciate you we're gonna take this podcast completely off the rails sorry right but TC I salute you for saluting

the space force that could be our most precious asset right now outside you called it you found yeah yeah yeah well they yeah shout outs of the media center dining they had all the arugula. Now I know where it all went. This is turning into a trap draw. Cody, what do we call Space Force? No cadets are the no cadets. I don't know what they are.

Who knows? I have no clue what they are, but I do know. I thought you're going to lead off this with a different bit. But I appreciate you giving a shout out because there's some crazy shit going on. I actually, your setup to this, I was chuckling when you're praising the Coast Guard flyover. Like, what are you talking about? Get out of here with the Coast Guard flyover. We don't need that. There was F-16s and stuff too.

A proud Navy and Marine Corps town that is Jacksonville. Come on, where where the guys that if they if they would connect the ocean to the Sawgrass we could have a Coast Guard drive by I can do a dry way of fly over We can get all sorts of stuff going hold on hold on we don't Helicopters are sick those those birds are sick Or yeah, they're a lot sicker than the marine ones that crash all the time. Anyway, Solly, we're off the rails. Let's talk about the pliers here, okay?

Take us there. Somebody take me there. I had a whole agenda plan here. We're veering off course. TC, this was just shared on our social channels. The Soulja Boy nickname for Kevin Yu seems to be catching on greatly. He said it's going to be his walk-up song at the Zurich. That was the highlight of my day. I don't know about you. Yeah, that's stuff, you know, that stuff coming full circle. We just said that offhand a month or two ago and he seems

to be completely, you know, putting his arms around that and embracing it. So listen, the weather has been awesome this week. The weather, I feel like we've had some bad weather in recent years for this event. Of course, a little wet, it seems like, but it has been, it was actually a little hot today, you know, and it's supposed to be up in the high 70s, mid 80s the rest of the week, you know, partly cloudy to mostly sunny rest of the week until Sunday might get some tea storms, but no wind whatsoever out there the rest of the week until Sunday might get some tea storms but no wind whatsoever out there the rest of the week too so it should be the rough is gnarly I feel like that's the only defense out there and just the golf course it's I mean it's a tough golf course. Yeah it's really

soft around the green still we you know we talked on Monday on our preview about how balls were backing up and kind of was hoping that stuff it would have dried out a little more than it has. They have subair, they've shown incredible ability in the past to get this place dried out, even when they've got a ton of rain. Um, this image you're looking up here on the screen is, is just one of many for us. I was just trying to capture a couple, uh, just leading it from our discussion from last week into this week is in terms of differences between Bay Hill and, and TPC sawgrass is there's the contouring around the greens is really unique and it

really comes to life when the greens are gonna run out a little bit and be firmer so it does make the course a bit defenseless if I think this is Michael Kim in this image here is where he's chipping from off this downslope just isn't that intimidating when you can't stop it I watched a bunch of chips from around the greens guys flopping stuff out of the rough that was stopping in spots that I did not think it could. But part of me, I'm still hoping that they'll have something cranked up between now and then and the weather forecast being as good as it is. I think they can get it firmer, but as of right now, it's going to be, I mean, balls are like landing next to holes and backspinning

40 feet on the 18th green like it was pretty dramatic. Gross. Sorry, Keith Mitchell just texted me he said greens are soft and all caps fast exclamation point wild combo will probably firm up but not much grass on them so it could be wild. Yeah a little bit of wind could change a lot of this right but as of now it looks like it's going to be a little bit of a little bit of target practice But I mean this this golf course is challenging enough on its own. The rough is there enough on its own It's not super wide but there is just better, you know more runoff areas and More playability out of a lot of the rough and just the contouring and the shapes of and the angles that are required on a

P-die golf course makes it play still still you saw you hit the shots, right? It's kind of the kind of golf course I think somebody asked me today, like, what's your best score out here? I said, honestly, my best score at TPC Sawgrass from the back tees is even par. And my second best score is 80 because it's, I'm dead serious. Like if you're off a little bit,

it's really, really, really hard to break 80. And when you're on and you're just kind of like, what was the catch here? What's the catch? So we'll probably see a 63 tomorrow. And I don't think, and the scoring average probably won't be too crazy. I think it'll get it should get firmer and faster as the week

goes along though, like they're running like a, you know, 13 is right now. So they like they're plenty fast. And if it just keeps baking out and the only issue is there's there's no wind to kind of crisp it up even more. So I don't think any supers are going to be you know, I don't think they need to turn in their credentials and retire after this week, but they're not making any promises like that is all I'm saying.

So yeah, let's start. We always get asked for questions, you know, sometimes we struggle to get to them. There's always a lot of stuff to talk about. I'm just going to get to them off the top here, right? We'll just get to a few. I want to throw a couple out here. D Popper or D Popper four said TPC sawgrass redid the 12th hole in 2017 what other hole on this course do you think should be redone? He said IE 8 is kind of forgotten

In the mix is it worth a look? I think they should redo 12 every single year It's so bad 12 is the perfect representation of the current state of the PGA tour. Just like blending everyone's opinion into one bad option that doesn't satisfy anybody is what I think of 12. Yeah, no, I think eight's a good example. I think it's actually, it's not a memorable hole. It's just really hard.

I think you need that long, kind of long par four. I would say the other one that kind of always washes or sorry, long part three. I think the other one that always kind of washes over me is seven. Seven always just kind of, I don't know, just me a little bit six is really cool. And then set it like five and seven feel pretty similar to me. Seven. This course needs some hard holes though,

because I mean, it is a pretty darn gettable course. And seven is an uncomfortable hole even for these guys. So much water left, that little bunker that sits left. Seven and 14, I put in that category of just like, dude, this is a really awkward, uncomfortable Pete Dye hole that you gotta bypass. I don't particularly enjoy watching it. I definitely don't enjoy playing it,

but it just kind of feels like a necessity to me in the in the way it fits with the rest of the give and take of the rest of the course. Four is a gettable hole. You know, five is tough, but six is a very gettable hole. Three can be a gettable hole. Two is obviously a gettable hole. One is a driver and a wedge. It just, you got to have your holes that are just kind of a little bit of ball busters out there as well mix in. So that's what I appreciate about this course. It's not overly're not I misplaced my course guide can you name every hole at TBC

Sawgrass well you have one you have two you have three I think we go all the way up to 18 if I'm not mistaken I would be curious people in the comments you know obviously we've been playing events here at Sawgrass for as long as I've been alive. But still, I probably can only picture four, five, six holes on the whole property. Contrast that with Augusta, where we play every year. You know, I have just about every hole there committed to memory. I wonder if that's, should I know all the holes at Sawgrass? Like there's no chance. Yeah, you should. What hole at Augusta do you not know? No, I know I'm all at Augusta. Sometimes I get like three, five, seven kind of mixed up. And he doesn't like odds.

Yeah, it's kind of those par fours around the par threes. Anyway, you know, sawgrass is great. If you like sawgrass, keep your sawgrass. Randy, one thing that, you know, this would change the nature of the course is if they did connect the Intracoastal, they would have to they would change like they would have to change some holes to get the water through there. You know, then you'd have boats coming

through and all that you would have to change something like three or, you know, something over on that side of the property. I'm gonna I'm gonna ride with Deepoper four on eight. I think it is I like a long par three. I think it is I like a long par three I think it is I watched a few shots on that hole today I watched Scotty hit this grotesque high fade three wood back into the wind from all the tea was all the way in the back Today like making guys have to hit that shot is good

I think they could use a little more short grass around that hole like long right over the bunker They're just it just surrounded by rough. There's some good contouring around that green But you know, maybe expanding that green just a little bit and adding a little bit more short grass. I still think there's room for more short grass around holes. They do a better job. They do a good job on this course

at having some chipping areas and some shots. Like left of 11 is such a good use of short grass to kind of promote strategy and reward really good golf shots. But eight could use a little bit more of that. Solly, one other hole that I think could use a slight tweak dj and i've talked about this at length Uh, i've talked to zach about earlier this week I think 18 they need to put a t-box to the top of the hill for sure

And that's not even a bit like I think that would be freaking awesome I do that if you if you ever come to tbc sawgrass or if you ever come to the players go stand on top of ATT Look at how awesome a tee box. Well, it might be the highest point in Jacksonville. We don't have a lot of elevation change here It's an incredible view and it actually makes the shot somewhat more intimidating if you go all the way back there But it is a great vantage point. You do kind of ruin the stadium seating around around 18 t but what are you gonna do? Hegs hits Hossel. I chose this question because it's such a good Twitter handle he said is Ludwig in a sophomore slump and his Charlie Hall the female version of Tommy lad Always the bridesmaid never the bride

I don't know who this question to direct this question to but I just thought this was an interesting question What did first of all like spell spell Ludwig correctly? It's spelled L-E-U-D-W-I-G. Charlie's with a L-E-Y, but regardless. No Ludwig's not in the sophomore slump. I think if anything, this is still like Ludwig's rookie year. Right. He didn't come on tour last year till June. You know, we're not even close to his sophomore year yet. So,

Have we expected more out of him though? I fucking won already, dude. Like, all right. If you guys want to talk about Tommy, you can talk about Tommy and Tommy's been out here for seven or eight years. Ludwig hasn't been out here. He's been out here for seven or eight months. Ludwig started the year like the third best favorite at the century which felt a little, listen, that felt lofty, right? That felt like he got lofted into a really, really high category, right? I know he's our guy, TC. You know I'm going to ride with you on Ludwig from the dawn of time, which was a long time ago, all the way through the end of time. You know, he's our guy. So now I do not think this is much of much of anything. It's still

wild. He's not competed in a major championship yet. That's obviously gonna be a great course for him, too. Like, I don't know what a bad course is for him. But this one, especially just the premium on accuracy, he's got length, but with accuracy, and, you know, no grain in the greens, you've got very, very with accuracy and, you know, no grain in the greens. You've got a very, very, like his chipping and wedge plays probably the weakness right now.

And I think this is probably one of the easier places to chip and, and, you know, wedge it around. He was also runner up at a signature event three events ago. So yeah, I think, I think he's going to be okay. I think he's just fine. The second part of that question, Charlie has two LPGA victories. So I think it's unfair to her to compare to Tommy. Thank you. That's that's I would say. Yeah, I would say because Tommy has like, we don't have to do this again. BDs and all that people were worried to see about Tommy missing a cut

at Bay Hill. That was what he made a 10 or something like that on. Listen, I didn't watch any I didn't watch any, I didn't watch a single golf shot last week. You guys didn't even shout out my Kleecks last week either. They finished solo fifth in Hong Kong. Well, they kind of fell down the leaderboard that final day. They should have.

They're in great spot heading in. But again, this is not about the Kleecks. Ludwig. It's always about the Kleecks for TC. Any concern though, I agree withiques. Ludwig. It's always about the cliques for TC. Any concern though, I agree with you on Ludwig take that they're like this isn't a sophomore year. My concern with him and I think he's like outside of Pebble, outside of RIV that we know that he played like in college events and high level amateur events.

Like I don't know we're getting to the stretch of the year where he just hasn't seen any of these courses yet. Is that gonna be a concern here? Because I do think that odds wise, it doesn't matter where you rack and stack them at, there's some lofty expectations. Partially granted they fit, but like a lot of these places he just hadn't seen.

I mean, he's playing better than a lot of the other he just hadn't he hasn't seen. I mean he's playing better than a lot of the other you know quote unquote stars right I mean that's that's one of the kind of dirty secrets of the season it's like Rory wants to talk about ratings or this or that and it's like none of the like setting aside Scotty nobody else is really playing that well so I think I don't know he's been adjusting to a new caddy as well. He's got just got scabby on the bag. And I think, you know, I think Ludwig's got a really good run of golf coming up ahead of him. He's like Quail Hollow should be a great I mean, they're all great fits

for him. Like you said, Sally, so he's actually one of my top probably three picks to win this week. So I think I don't just nothing really to go off here other than it just feels like when weather gets warmer on some some easier golf courses, I think loving is going to get out and run like we're still kind of in technical skiing. And a lot of these courses and I mean, his accuracy plays well here, but it just there's going to be some courses he can overpower with his

driving. I don't think this is one I do. I agree with you that his accuracy plays well here. But you know, I'm not looking for this week to be the one that kind of gets him off and running, but I think once summer hits, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with. Quail should be. Are you calling him a mule? Absolutely not. He's a mule skinner. Guys got a story for you. You know, was standing in the putting green today, had somebody kind of tap me on the shoulder. Brendan Todd out there working? He was not, he's already, he's got it figured out.

But, stayed on the putting green, got tapped on the shoulder, just turned around a lovely gentleman by the name of Derek, he lives in Orange Park. He just said, Sully, I gotta tell you, I cannot go anywhere without seeing that subtle dog logo. Sure enough, he had a Roeback Polo on,

and you all know Roeback, best fit, best feel. They are fresh off new restocks of our favorite Polos and Derek's favorite Polos. Hoodies and Q-zips, trust us when we say there's not better gear for when you're playing golf or just out and about. The fit, the feel, the quality, it is all perfect. The material is moisture wicking on these Polos.

It's got great stretch, the collar is crisp doesn't lose its shape. I should have worn one out there that wore a hoodie out there. That was a big mistake because it was quite, quite toasty out there. And you know, those hoodies are going to keep you warm TC you know it I've been wearing them all winter long. It has been the perfect Jacksonville gear for our winter. But I think it's finally spring and we might need to get some more stuff in the rotation.

Sorry, I got the shorts on right now. I'll show you guys. No, no, we're good. We're good. We're good. We're good. We believe you. I know you guys like that.

We believe you. There's no reason. Gray, snow camo shorts. No reason to doubt you, but thank you. They're splendid. The hoodies are fantastic. I don't need to tell you about those. The Q-Zips, TC's got one of those on right now.

They are back. We love them They've got a great classic look but soft performance fabric that makes them very comfortable If you haven't already load up on some row back for yourself and for others code and I'll you at row back comm for generous 20% off your first order through the end of this week. That's our H o B a C K comm 20% off bottoms Q zips hoodies and more with code NLU. Get ready for the golf season with rowback. All right, a lot of press conferences, a lot of things said over these last couple days. We're going to talk a little bit about that. We're going to get towards odds and picks near the end of the show. We're going to kind of weave in and out of that.

But I think we probably start with Jay Monahan's press conference. TC, you and I were there for that one. Just before we get into some of the quotes and kind of react into some of it, pretty weird vibe in the room. I must say it was, you know, he kind of started it off kind of joking about why does anybody have their hats on. You know, we haven't, nobody's heard from Jay since the tour championship last year and a lot has changed and not really, I don't think really reading the room on like, Hey man, like a lot of people, the golf world is looking for some answers here.

And what ensued over the next hour was in line with what we've seen in a lot of press conferences from Jay and didn't leave. I don't think it left with a lot of people feeling really rosy about things. I think the question into the substance always said, can we just get him a lectern? Like, can he stand up at a lectern like a like a leader instead of just slouching

over like, you know, like a, like a third grader? It's so bad. I think it's picked. He had to pick his poison TC because if he stands at a lectern, you're gonna be able to see how ill fitting the suit is. So I think he was trying to to hide the suit fit, but created a new problem with the chair. I'm laughing mostly because like the camera angle was not kind to him. It just kind of had a lot of headroom above it.

But TC's angle also right now kind of looks like it kind of looks like a little. That's filming. I'm not the commissioner of the PGA Tour either. I'm just I'm just a takesmith. I was going to ask, Sali, Tron, you guys were there. Can you just speak about the mechanics of the press conference? Was it truly they were calling on whomever had questions? Was it like you had to pre-submit questions? What was the press conference? How did it go about? He starts with some opening remarks you know, an opening remarks that last maybe 1013 minutes or so. It's kind of just reading

from an iPad or something like that not really delivered with any kind of gumption of any kind. Yeah, sorry. That's the thing. Like he's, you know, it was almost like a campaign speech of where he's he's just like he he's talking to the crowd or talking to the assembled media and he looks straight in the camera and he's like, I did not have said like it felt like that. It felt very, it was just so like stiff and wooden and hollow of now a message for the fans. And he's just trying to look at the fans in the eye and it was just so

soulless and like he's reading off this note card and there's just zero passion, enthusiasm or conviction behind anything that he's saying. Well you just like you just are not going to be able to get away you know there's already like everybody's bullshit detectors way up like ready like redlining, right? You're just not going to be able to, you know, all of the stats and everything that you know, all the corporatisms or whatnot are just going to get even bigger eye rolls just knowing what we know, right? And you just not really addressing a lot of the elephants

in the room, which we can kind of get to. But yeah, you can, you can raise your hand. Anybody can raise your hand, can ask a question could ask a question there are a lot of really good questions asked I was getting ready to ask something almost the exact same question that Adam Schupack answered or asked about ROM which was led to probably the most tense moment we can get to that in a little bit as well but yeah it was for Porter tweeted this as well he said for somebody that doesn't make himself available to the media very often He sure treats the media with

Lack of respect or lack of energy I don't know the exact word he used in that and what Porter said but that's kind of how I felt as well At times with some of the answers to some of the questions And it feels really Kind of a you know kind of an own goal from them of hey listen Jay's obviously not good At a press or or giving a speech He's actually really good at one-on-one. He's really good You know kind of looking people in the eye and in a very tight

You know group setting and so it seemed like last year he started doing some of those smaller scrums outside Media and then that went by the wayside or even some of the stuff that they were doing. I was talking to DJ about earlier this week and DJ said, gosh, remember when they were coming out with all the changes and the elevated events at the beginning of last year and they're doing kind of zoom calls and lunch and learns with the media of, hey, here's like selling the product. Hey, here's the changes we're making. Here's why we're making them. Da da da da da. Whereas yesterday was basically him explaining certain changes that they've made that nobody understands

the ins and outs of. And it's such a, it's not only Jay's fault, it's like the tour at large. There's just such a crisis of communications with the tour of they're not telling their own story or even attempting to. So then when Jay gets up there, there's nothing to draw upon. It's him telling the story for the first time. Then it rings hollow because he doesn't tell it with any conviction. The one thing I'm sympathetic to is, you know, he explained and I don't have the exact phrase

right in front of me, but just how, you know, they are still negotiating with Piff and he does see a future forward to quiet the noise and re-unify the game was, I completely understand him dodging questions on anything of any details in relation to that. Like you, if you are in negotiation, there's nothing to gain from even mentioning

how things are going or giving anything away in that. So I'd separating, I want to separate out the critiques we may have of what happened there with like an understanding of like, dude, I don't need updates on this negotiation. Yeah. Him coming out and saying, we're still working towards it. And it's a goal was kind of enough for me to be like,

that's about as good as we're going to get in relation to that specific and very important Element right it is a little bit of their fault I think that it's bled this long when you went on TV on June 6 I'm sure they did not imagine that you know it would bleed out into mid-march the following year for his for this press conference But you know at this point he's still working on getting the best possible deal for the players And there's a lot of complicated shit to work out. So to that, I'm at least sensitive to, to, you know, letting that struggle a

little bit there though, like when you know that, Hey, they haven't, they haven't even bothered to meet or advance this thing at all through the second half of last year, then they were kind of picked it up. He said, Hey, I brought a, you know, group of our principals or constituents over to Saudi Arabia and met with the officer and all that. Um, but yeah, I don't know. And like, I'd love to hear from Ed Hurley because it seems like he might be the one actually in control of all this. Like Jay doesn't seem like the one making the decisions, especially now with the SSG stuff coming up. I think that's a great point, TC.

That's where I am is the more outside money and other people that are involved in all of this, it just feels very weird not to have some very key players also available for media. And to try to funnel it through Jay. Jay's not a great conduit for this, as you mentioned. His press conferences aren't great. I just feel like there is this shroud of secrecy still that it just rubs me and I know rubs you guys and I'm sure however many people the wrong way. It continues to be I think like just terrible PR strategy by the tour. I agree with you, Big.

The one thing that I wanna point out here is that this is Jay's job. We can't help the fact that they don't put him out there more often, just like you said, TC. I thought it was awesome when he popped in last year, like Wells Fargo and did it again at like Valero or something like that and just had like, hey guys, walked into the media center, was like,

I'm here, ask me whatever questions that you got. And like, literally just sat down and shot the shit. I think at that point in time, he realized that like he needed the media and needed their, you know, them to amplify this message of everything's fine. We got these new events that are going on and trying to figure out how to kick it off.

He clearly doesn't feel that way right now. But, you know, when, if Jay's not gonna be out there enough and answering these very basic questions, I understand the secrecy side of it because negotiations are still going on, but there's an entire communications department that should be putting some of this information out. And they don't have to hold press conferences,

they can put read heads out, they can, you know, we get a million emails as it is, like they have to get some of this information out there ahead of time so their guy isn't like a complete fool when he's asked basically the same question, but five different ways, because all people wanna know about is what's the status of this thing?

And honestly, you know, rightfully so, he can't talk about the status of it right now because they don't have a clue what it is. I felt like one of the best elements, like he was kind of punching back a little bit towards the end and saying, hey, here's all the stuff that we've accomplished or that we've done. But even that stuff, you know, with signature events or changes they've made to the schedule or getting more golf shots on TV. He was just reading down this list and it's like, cool, that stuff's great, but that stuff

that we were talking about five years ago that you were dragging your feet on doing and now you've only done it because you're forced into a corner and you have to do something. Use this opportunity to get up there and sell us on why you chose SSG. There's 20 other options on the table. Tell us, hey, you know what? Arthur Blank's super passionate about this, or Steve Cohen can't wait to have a tournament up here. Or like, it's like, why were they,

nobody's explained that to me yet either, aside from these guys own professional sports teams and they're serious people, but nobody's explained to me, hey, what value is SSG bringing to the table? And then what value are you providing to SSG on the backend? Other than these are serious people, they own professional sports teams, and these are your former colleagues at Fenway Sports and your former college roommates at Trinity College. Because that's totally up in the air. Let's use this moment to say, you can check out

at nolayingup.com, Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote an article that went up today called the inexplicable survival of Jay Monahan and details a lot of this and has some new reporting nuggets in there, including a clip we'll get to somewhat recently where sources have told us that Jay was asked to resign by players in December, I believe it was, and he was asked about that in the press conference as well.

But first I wanna get to a clip from Jay just to react to this, I would call this the most tense moment of the, I don't think Adam Schupeck's mic was on for this, so I'll introduce his question. He said, despite what you just said about the tour, so John Rahm clearly lost faith in some sense. What was your reaction? We haven't talked to you since he left.

Top three player in the world, reigning masters champion decides to leave. Also, do you expect there to be more poaching of top talent while this negotiation is still going on? Here was his response. Adam. Despite what you just said about the tour, John, what was your reaction when the world reigning master champion decides to leave?

And also do you expect her to be more coaching on top talent while this negotiation is still ongoing? I'm focused on every single member of the PGA Tour. I'm focused on the Players' Championship this week. I'm focused on the great season that we have ahead. And we've made, Adam, tremendous progress with the SSG agreement that we have, putting ourselves in a position to invest back in our tour, invest back in our fans. And I'm going to focus on the things that I control.

And we are as an organization, we are as a leadership team, and we are as a board. So that's what I'm focused on. Are you concerned that more players are going? While negotiations are going on? I just- There was a question, Adam's follow up there was are you concerned that more players are going while the negotiations are still going on?

I just answered your question about what my focus is. there was are you concerned that more players are going while the negotiations are still going on? I just answered your question about what my focus is. This was the part that- I don't think that was the question. This was gave me the yucks, man. Like this is, there is, you have to answer this question. Right? This is about, this is your whole thing about keeping your tour together, your players together. Ron leading was a enormous story.

We haven't heard you talk about this. Like, you know, are there gonna be more? Explain John's decision. I would love to hear, did you get in touch with John? Did you have any conversations with him before he left? Do you understand his decision? Again, the original June 6th agreement said there was gonna be no poaching of players.

That part went away with antitrust concerns. Why, if you're negotiating with PIF, is Liv still taking players? Is there gonna be more of that? When you say I just answered your question about what my focus is, like one is pretty disrespectful to Adam, which is a very fair question. Especially Adam is like, he lives here in town. He covers the tour on a week to week basis. He is as trustworthy and as known quantity as possible in golf journalism. Like he's on the week to week tour beat. I think Adam's wife works at the tour.

Like it's very much like this isn't some random, you know, dickhead off the street that kind of wiggled his way into the presser. Like this is a very credible journalist. Yeah, this is the part I looked at TC and just said, yuck, like, come on, man, not like getting a little testy, saying you answered the question you didn't. And also just avoiding answering the question was just like, dude, that that

was such a fair question. And that was the that was the low point for me. And Sally, I mean, juxtapose that with what with what Scotty said yesterday, or, or, I'm not sure if that was yesterday or today, like Scotty's quotes were, you know, couldn't have been more cogent and clear and almost like, you know what? Fuck yeah, Scotty, like, that was really good. Well, we'll get to the Scotties here in a second. Another question asked

by Sky Sports journalist Jamie Weir here. At any point over the last nine months, have any of the player directors on the policy board called on you or any of the independent directors on that board to resign? You know, there's been a lot of good-spirited debate amongst our board. I don't think that would be a surprise to anybody, given the events of last summer. But we are a unified front. We've, our policy board continues to perform and function

at a very high level with great support of our player directors and the formation of PGA Tour Enterprises with a new board, a new board comprised of four members of SSG, seven players or six player directors and Joe Ogilvie who's a liaison director, myself and Joe Gorder who's the independent director serving on that board.

I'm excited to work with both boards. You know, for me, honored to serve as commissioner and now be a member of the PGA TOR Policy Board. And also honored to be CEO of PGA TOR Enterprises and be a part of that board and committed to working with each of those boards to make sure we're moving this business forward and achieving what we can achieve to its full capacity. Just as a follow-up then do you feel you have the full backing the full confidence of all the players that you are the right man to to move this deal forward? You know that's a question that you'll have to ask for players

I can't generalize as it relates to players, but clearly given the responsibility. I've been given by Both boards. I have the support of our board and I am the right person to lead us forward I know that I believe that in my heart and I'm determined to to you know to do exactly that and I'm determined to do exactly that. Shout out to the the Ka-Bergen or whatever your YouTube name is. This sounds like TC's response when he's asked if anyone has called for him to apologize for Tommy's play. I mean, think about this. He's he's you know, he basically like he apologized during the press

conference for his actions last summer in the lead up to the June, the quote unquote events of June 6th. And then he's basically rifling through. And now I didn't have a voting spot on the PGA TOR policy board. Now I do. Now I'm on this other board that we've set up for PGA Tour Enterprises, which they're like, all right, so you're on a second board and no clarity on how the governance structure works there, how those people,

who gets nominated for that board? Does that flow through the nonprofit board into that one or is it the inverse? And then thirdly, he's now the CEO of this other enterprise as well. He's now the CEO of this other enterprise as well. It blows my mind, guys. At some point, I can't even be mad at the guy. I just look at it and I'm like, guys, the players, how can you not unite around, go public and just say, you know what? We put it to a vote and 78% of the players disapprove of him and we want him to resign. And, you know, and even if there's a couple of the player directors on their board say yes, like that, that would feel like pretty publicly damning for Jay.

And I know there's people out there that they can hire like it's a 20 million dollar a year job somebody Somebody qualified is out there that once in you know, once the job and can handle it So I don't know at some point it's on the players Well, I would say about as aggressive as a public call that you're gonna get from one of the game's top players This was Xander Shafle when asked about you know, Jay have given recent agreement with the strategic sports group Do you have confidence in Jay going forward? Here's what Zander had to say. He was in here earlier today and he said he believes he has the support of the board and I am the right person to lead us forward. I believe that in my

heart, given the recent agreement with this strategic sports group, do you have confidence in Jay going forward? I guess we'll start with the easy ones. Yeah, I mean, you know what I've said in the past on how I feel about it. Trust is something that's pretty tender. So words are words. And I'd say in my book, he's got a long way to go. He could be the guy, but in my book, he's got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership.

I'm sure he's got the support of the board since they were with him making some of those decisions. But for me personally, he's got quite a ways to go. I think it's just kind of, the more details we learn about how things are operating at the highest level it is like it, you know, if players have called for him to resign, it does seem like player representation of feelings is not following, obviously not following through all the way to the top in terms of just seems

like, again, and this is from KVV's article, like he just has outmaneuvered anyone they can't unify on like wanting him replaced and that way he's able to outmaneuver and get promotions throughout all this is remains remarkable. So Zander's best friend is the head player director. Like that's the crazy part too it's it's like this is, you know, Xander doesn't speak for, I think most guys would speak for him. And you know, and then meanwhile, you've got guys getting, you know, the other player directors getting exemptions

into these designated events. How does that look? Everything's starting to- It looks terrible. Starting to stink a little bit. A couple more quotes here. We have some stuff from Rory in reaction to a question here about Signature events and and things like that. So if we can let's play what Rory had to say about that The difference between signature events and what we used to have for decades with the WGC. It feels

like these signature events give more opportunity to PGA Tour players than ever before, but there seemed to be a lot of consternation last week. Yeah, I think when you've got a a members organization that's been in existence for 60 or 70 years and you know the first mantra of that organization is playing opportunities you know whenever people are you know perceived to have playing opportunities taken away from them they're not gonna they're not gonna like it so I can I can understand that absolutely and I think it's just the tour's been a certain way for so long. But I also think that the tour hasn't necessarily evolved with the changing times to make it a more compelling entertainment product

and sort of trying to fit in with the sort of modern media and sports landscape. So I'm not like I think back to that meeting in Delaware and I think, okay, did we did we push too hard? Did we did we try to you know, did we hold the tour to ransom too much the top players? And you know, you look at I think the signature events are the designated events or elevator, whatever it is, they really worked last year. You can tell he listened. If you look at the leaderboards, you look at the ratings,

I felt like they really, really worked in 2023. For whatever reason, they're not quite capturing the imagination this year compared to last year. And I think if I were to put my own perspective on it, I think it's because fans are fatigued of what's going on in the game. And I think we need to try to reengage the fan

and reengage them in a way that the focus is on the play and not on talking about equity and all the rest of it. So, you know, that's why I said like the sooner that this is resolved, I think it's gonna be better for the game and better for, you know, better for everyone, the fans and the players. I think that's really good from Rory. A lot of humility there in terms of looking inward to say

like was our approach from Delaware the best one, best way to do this? I think looking back at the success of 2023, easy to say yes. And why hasn't it resonated in 2024, I think is at least for me, I can only speak to, you know, just myself here. I certainly ever since June 6th have not viewed like the PGA Tour events as I just don't again, I've said this a million times. I don't really know what they mean anymore.

I don't know what it meant before. It meant something more to me than it does now, because I just don't know if this is kind of what the future of golf looks like anymore. But it's already had some other stuff. Sorry, go ahead, Randy. No, I was just gonna interject there. We both chuckled. It's very telling that the most recognizable face and name on the PGA Tour, like doesn't even know what these signature

elevated designated events are, right? Like it just speaks to how half hazard this has all been cobbled together. It really is unbelievable. And I think people saw Rom leave like speaking to what's different in 24 than 23. Well, you had the shiny new factor, I guess, in 23. But you're running back these events at the same courses. You know, the general public has seen some more defections to live. And it's just like what I mean, it makes total sense, right? I felt like his answer spoke to a lot more than what he was specifically speaking to as well. I would say also the tour,

based on what they wanted after, listen, I wasn't in that meeting, but based on what they came out of that meeting wanting, maybe it's on the tour. Like did the tour deliver on what they wanted the tour to deliver on? Like I don't think the tour has done dick to differentiate these events

or make them feel distinct from rank and file tour events. I think, I mean shit, Rory's talking about, you know, playing opportunities. Well, I mean, the tour didn't even bother to fill out the field last week. There was only 69 guys in the field. All right. It's tough to, it's like they've swerved so far away from playing opportunities now that, and then like like Rory had another good thing He's like hey, like how should it let's plan Zach tweeted this not earlier. Let's play. We have it Let's we'll book you that up next of all There's a continued Roy quote

Players like yourself to to be more open these opportunities and to to be part of these fan engagement experiences Yeah, so to me like this is the problem with a members organization. Things are created for the members, right? And then once those things are created, you gotta go sell those things to fans, sponsors, media. And to me, that seems a little backwards. I think what needs to happen is you need to create things for the fans, for the sponsors, for the media. And to me that seems a little backwards. I think what needs to happen is you need to create things for the fans, for the sponsors, for the media and then you have to go sell that to the players. Tell them to get on board with

that because if they get on board and we're all part of the business now, if the business does better, we do better. That seems pretty simple to me. But that requires leadership. That requires a different structure though too. That's kind of more what I think he's speaking to, right? Like it is like the whole thing, like literally like the charter is about playing opportunities, right? So that's the part where like,

that's not Monahan's mandate, right? Is to think in that fashion. That's why Roy's kind of been beating this drum of like the structure needs to change of this in some way. That's why Roy's kind of been beating this drum of like, the structure needs to change of this in some way. And it is with an equity model, like it should be changing in some way. Aiman in his column yesterday,

kind of wrapping up the Monahan presser, he touched on that same subject where, with SSG coming in and the for-profit enterprise now, he's like, some of these players might be in for a very rude awakening when they are going to be asked, you know, Hey, this is, this is now a very serious business venture. We need you guys doing X, Y, and Z every tournament week. Like it's no longer going to be acceptable just to show up, play your golf and move to the next site.

You have to start investing and doing things for PGA Tour enterprises to help build value and drive value in this. I think that's kind of what Rory's getting at as well here without explicitly saying so. Yep. It's interesting. At the same time, not cowering behind your agent as well. I think that's the biggest thing that a lot of these players are gonna have a hard time figuring out

is like the easiest thing, the default has always been no. And it doesn't even get to the players most of the time. It's just a no from an agent. And there's so many biases built in there between what agency represents who and where the request is coming from. Where now it's like, no, man, you are the owner of this. These people are looking for actual returns here.

That's where I get, what is the fine print actually gonna say for this tour who continuously says no for all these things to amplify these new events? Are they okay, so you're just no longer gonna play in them? Because that would be sick. Because if you want to see things elevated, like everybody has to be on the same page. It's kind of like look at Formula One. Like those dudes,

yeah, there's get on a truck and wave around to all the crowd when they go drive around. They do so many media opportunities and like, you know, compensated handsomely for it. Very, very well for it. Well, that's the other, like I want to see, listen, for the first time in my life, I said this a couple months ago, but I'm rooting for, I want Steve Cohen and, you know, the finance bros and the private equity bros to come in and fuck shit up. Come in and right size the business. Come in and say, hey, you're not pulling your weight, you're not pulling your weight, and you're not pulling your weight. Send in the consultants. Send in, let's bring in Mackenzie.

Let's, let's. Do it baby. Let's do a dead count. Like let's, let's rock the boat. I'm ready. It can't get any worse than it is right now. I mean, maybe it can, but. Yeah.

Let's, let's close last. It's hard to imagine. Last clip we had you referenced earlier was Scotty Scheffler talking about a lot of this stuff. And this was as pointed and direct as I can ever remember hearing Scottie. I want to hear more stuff like this from Scottie. How much of a concern is it that fans are maybe feeling a little disillusioned or disenchanted by you know the developments over the last couple years of splintering of the stars across two tours all the talk about

money how much among the players how much of a concern is that? Well, I guess it's a pretty broad question. And when you're talking about a fan perspective, you're talking about millions of people. And so there's always a lot of perspectives in that group, it just depends on who has the loudest voice. And I mean, at the end of the day, I think we're trying to do our best to create the best product for the fans.

But we can't control it or not guys want to leave. If guys want to go take the money and leave, then that's their decision. You know, I'm not going to sit here and tell guys not to take hundreds of millions of dollars. If that's what they think is best for their life, then go do it. I'm not going to sit here and force guys to stay on our tour. But at the end of the day, this is where I want to be. And, you know, we're continuing to grow what we're doing. And what they're doing is not really of concern to me.

And if the fans are upset, then look at the guys that left. We had a tour we were all together and the people that left are no longer here. And at the end of the day, that's where the splintering comes from. And as far as our tour goes, like I said, we're doing our best to create the best product for the fans and that's really where we're at. Good shit there.

That was good. It was, I still think there's a huge gap ultimately in what they think the product is, right? And the players can do all they want. They can do the walk and talks. They can be available for media. They can come join the tele can do all they want. They can do the walk and talks that can be available for media. They can come join the telecast all these things. But like until I mean, I think I believe we've mentioned this

before, but until you figure out the commercial load and actually make it a watchable product, you're gonna meet headwinds. That's what I'm struggling a little bit with Scotty stuff is like, you know, we're doing all we can like, are you? Or is that just something like, all right, if you don't know you can then you fucking fire Jay yesterday. Like that's a good first step, right? It's like, he's like the guys on like strike seven of, you know, like that's, that would seem to me like, all right, you know what, how can we, how can we regain the confidence

of fans? Cool. We, we, we find a new leader who didn't get us into this mess in the first place and make it worse at every possible turn. That would be like the bare minimum of, hey, we're doing everything we can to right this ship. And I'd love to hear this potential new leader or somebody talk about what is the vision? They talk about improving the product.

Monahan talked about dimensionalizing the product. Monahan talked about, you know, dimensionalizing the player. But I have yet to hear a lucid, crystal clear vision on what somebody thinks PGA Tour Golf should look like and should do for fans, let's say starting in 2025 or 2026. Like where are we? What are we working towards? Where are we going? You know, I feel like they're building that plane as they're trying to fly it and it just all boils down into like, yeah Scotty was, you know, I agree with a lot of what he said, but in Rory's clips, it's just there's a disconnect. There's just an elephant in the room and TC I think you hit the nail on the head

For me personally, like I don't see a path forward as a fan in believing the tour and the vision and where they're headed it just to me It's like I don't know how Monahan can be that spokesperson at this point I feel like at some point you need somebody up there like Steve Balmer or Mike one that's like developers, developers. Yeah, exactly. You know, if your thing is like birdies, birdies, birdies, and we're or like team golf or great venues like give me something,

something to get excited about. The one thing that scares me so much from Jay's presser is when he was asked like, hey what type of returns is like SSG, what do they think they're getting? And he leads with the media deal, which I understand is a ton of money, but like part of the reason why that media deal

is so large is because they've made it so that's like such a closed off shop which goes against everything that every other professional organization like stands for right now is like, if you really believe in putting the fans first, like make it so we can engage with the media. Make it so we can clip shit without DCMA and stuff. Like make it just like this show right now

and I appreciate everybody saying, oh, this is awesome. The ability to clip all these interview stuff in there. That's because we're not completely like blacklisted by NBC and afraid of putting actual highlights in there. Like all the fans are doing is that they want to engage with your product. And the year is 2024 and how we do that is very visual. And it's across social media and everything else like that.

Lift the shit, make fans believe and make it so it's engaging and we can spread it across the world. That's how you grow this stuff, but that ain't gonna happen. I mean. Oh yeah, I will say just, NFL did put a playoff game on the cock.

We can't say that all organizations are created equal in this regard. Now that said too, that media deal, the only thing underpinning that media deal is the OWGR. There's OWGR clauses in that. And if that's part of the reason why they're keeping the OWGR, we don't need to have that relic, that combo. But that's part of the reason why they're pinning that up and making sure that that

doesn't go away. Because as soon as that goes away, then they're's part of the reason why they're pinning that up and making sure that that doesn't go away because as soon as that goes away, then they're in breach of the contract for field strength and all that. And then NBC can say, hey, you know what? Like the field strength that you guys agreed to. I might be rooting for that. Right?

That'd be sick if the media partners would totally put their hands up and say, now we're out here. But anyways, wrapping this up, we try to keep these shows an hour or less. We may go just a touch over, which Cody's gonna punish us greatly for. A lot to talk about, this is a special week

in terms of a lot to react to. That's why we broke this preview up into, we had a full players preview on Monday. I hope people got a chance to listen to that as well if you're upset at us for not talking too much golf. In this one, we did the golf one on Monday. But real quick, if we didn't at us for not talking too much golf in this one, we did the golf one on Monday, but real quick, if we didn't acknowledge that dude's voice, the reporter asked the question,

the first question of Rory, like some of the comments in the chat were great. Like this is, this is Peter McCallister fault or people flight or 10,000, 20,000. Odds this week. Scotty Scheffler is plus 550 to win. Rory plus 1,400. Xander 2,000. Vic Max Homa.

Justin Thomas 2,500. Zala Tors and Patrick Cantlay and Morikawa plus 2,800. Ludwig alone at 3,500. Sam Byrds, Jordan Spliff Hedeke Matsuyama at 4,000 Tommy lad Shane Lowry Russell Henley 4,500 and then see wook him 5,000 Wyndham Clark still 5,500 a little disrespect for Wyndham if I may say he's there with Min Woo Lee and Cameron Young then we go Finaw day Connors saw hith all that so

Randy this is the Randy the big large Randall Memorial Award. Last week he chose one Scott Scheffler to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard and so you're gonna lead us off this week in your in your pick to win the Bay Hill Invitational. I'm sorry, the Panthers Championship. Yeah, I don't love this, but you know, I'm faithful to what my head thinks, and so I am officially going to pick Xander Shofley to win. Wow! So it's definitely not a major then. That's right. TC, what do you got? Gosh, I'm all over the place. I said Ludwig earlier would be in the mix. I think I really

want to see something from Justin Thomas. But I think the guy and I wanted to pick Kalamorikawa. He missed the cut last week. He shot 70, 80. I'm going to go with Patrick Cantlay. I think, yeah, I'm going, I'm going to go with Cantlay. No hat pad. I'm kind of, you know, the Apollo mission. We're calling this the Apollo mission. It's, you know, we're, I'm coming around on them. I'm, I'm, I'm Lee. Listen, lead those players against big steamboat. Jay sends Jay out to Colorado, the steamboat to Randy's, Randy's state and he'll deal with him out there. That's right. I, uh, just to pull a quick TC here. I wanted to go with Zala Taurus. I wanted to get,

I wanted to talk myself into, into high decky. Uh, I really, I, I don't know. I feel like Hideki still owed one after COVID year. I gotta say, Hideki was who I was going back and forth with. He's too far down the odd sheet. I'm gonna find a way to get a wager in on this guy. Wyndham Clark at plus 5,500. Guy's proven he can play well in the BDEs TC. And I know it's not really a driving distance golf course, but I don't know

I love his mid-range putting I think I'm gonna end up I'm gonna take Wyndham Clark as my pick to win the players this week Well, not I'm not picking Tom Kim. I think he's making them making the leap where Tom Kim thoughts today Uh, it's your boy. He's he's plus 8,000 this week global superstar and generational talent Tom Kim is plus 8,000 this week. Global superstar and generational talent Tom Kim is plus 8,000 this week. How about Monahan saying, you know, it was like a Harmon quote about the Mr. Monahan, Mr. Monahan, I love these designated events. Can we get more of these designated events or and you know Harmon probably just loves the organic grass-fed beef

that they serve at these designated events, right? I would pick Brian, if you're making a lineup, Brian Harmon's gonna do some stuff this week too. I have a feeling about, a weird feeling about. He's always doing stuff. He's in a couple of DK lineups for me this week, so. Anything else before we wrap, is that about it? Who will not win?

DFL, maybe. We only do that for majors. I think that's only a majors thing. Here's one, who should I watch tomorrow? I'm going out, I'm gonna be out every day at some point in this tournament, but the feature groups are jumping off the page. The early ones tomorrow, Rory, Victor Hovland,

Jordan Spieth, followed right by Ludwig Cantlay and Adam Scott in the morning, afternoon, Max Homa, Hideki and Fitzpatrick, then Scheffler, JT Rickey, and then Morikawa, Wyndham and Brian Harmon are all in back-to-back groups. So I'd say doing me a favor with Rory and Spieth paired together just to get a look on things ahead of Augusta. I think they're gonna,

I'm gonna catch their back nine tomorrow morning. Randy, who would you watch? I'd probably go to that 846 group, watch Ludwig navigate the golf course, first tournament round here. That's intriguing. And then in the afternoon, I would be between the HOMA group and the Morikawa group for

me. I would probably lean to that 1.51 tee time with Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, and Brian Harmon. Probably a little less crowds following that one than the Scheffler JT group. So that's where I would go. I'm going to 2.13 PM off of number one. Austin Eck wrote, Sahith Tagala and Akshay Bhatia. That's a fun one. That is a really fun one. That's an interesting group. I'm stoked to watch that. That's great.

All right, we are gonna wrap at that. We will have live shows after every round this week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, presented as always by our friends at high noon. Also shout out to our friends at Roebuck everyone that tuned in live one other thing to plug we have a brand new No laying up podcast YouTube channel you can find the I've never been able to do this guys live You can find the link in the description down below

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