Subpar - Kevin Chappell reveals why he decided to retire at 39, if Signature Events are ruining the PGA Tour

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by PGA Tour winner Kevin Chappell for an exclusive, in-studio interview. The 2008 team and individual National Champion explains why he decided to step away from the PGA Tour, if Signature Events have been good or bad for the game and how the path has changed for the NCAA's best to compete at the next level. --Bet with Fanatics Sportsbook and earn up to 10% FanCash back, win or lose. Millions are being given away this year, and you can use your FanCash across the entire Fanatics Universe. Download the app today. Fanatics Sportsbook. Winning hits different here.⁠⁠https://joinfanatics.com/subpar⁠⁠Must be 21+. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER, CT call [phone], MA call (800)-327-5050, NY call (877) 8-HOPENY, MD visit ⁠⁠⁠mdgamblinghelp.org⁠⁠⁠  Not available in all states. Terms apply. See Fanatics Sportsbook app.--Choose your style, pick your favorite Birdie Juice logo and shop from a line-up of top tier brands at ⁠⁠⁠https://shop.golf.com/pages/storefront/golfsp⁠⁠⁠ today!

All right, welcome back to another episode of Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. And as always, this episode is brought to you by Fanatics. And this fall, every shot you take with Fanatic Sportsbook is putting points on the board. When you bet with Fanatics, you earn up to 10% fan cash back on your bets, win or lose. So even if your bet misses, you're still scoring fan cash, which you can use on tickets, exclusive fanatic events, and merch on Fanatics.com. And now, through the end of the year, be sure to check out our weekly picks in the Fanatic Sportsbook app. make the switch and get more ways to win.

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See Fanatic Sportsbook app. All right, Sleas. PJ Tour was back in action this week. The Worldwide Technologies Championship down in Cabo. shot the grass off the place. Once again, 29 under. New record for Ben Griffin, who also picked up his third PGA tour win of this season.

Unbelievable. This guy, it was kind of like, hey, is this a flash in the pan? Is this the real deal? I'm starting to think it's the real deal. Three guys won three times on the PGA tour this season. Yeah, this is what we had at the beginning back in January. Like, let me tell you who's here.

It's going to be Scotty, Rory, and also Ben Griffin. What a, I mean, dude, what an unbelievable year, especially, like, as a guy that, exited the game to come back and do, not just find his way back on the PGA tour, but just like destroying it. Like look at the names that we just mentioned that he's in there,

but shoots 29 under like you mentioned. I mean, I watched almost all of Sunday, and it was like, it looked easy almost. I mean, shoots 29 under out there. I'm not saying it's the world's best field, but I'm saying put them all out there. 2900 is going to be tough to beat for anyone.

I mean, he's just turned into, I don't, you know, it was easy to think it was a flash in the pan, but it's clearly not. But how long can he, like, I want to see what he does next year, too, because now he's set the bar incredibly high for himself. Like, he will always be judged against this year. He's a top 10 player in the world now.

He'll be making his first appearance at the Masters, which is crazy to think for a top 10 player. He picked up 10 yards since last season, smashes it. He's one of the best putters in the game. And, by the way, put a new putter in the back this week and goes out there and wins with it. I know the field wasn't really strong or anything like that.

But, hey, you can only beat. Who teased it up? And he was co-tournament favorite with JJ Spawn. And there was a reason for it. JJ also played really well. 11th or something? He was up there. But man, it's just, it's very impressive.

Happy for Ben Griffin. And he's always been a guy that's been extremely confident. Everyone around him will tell you that. But now his game's really backing it up. And he has a reason to be confident. Yeah. I mean, I would say, if you went three times in a year, it's hard not to be. I think he's done the hard part already.

He's like coming off, you know, stepping away from the game, coming back, getting on the BJ tour. now what he's done this year. I mean, like one of the Wednesday, you know, Scottie was there. Yeah. Colonial, you know. So it's been a unbelievable year. He's not a name that was on anyone's radar in January.

Now at the end of the season, he's in there with the two best players in the world. Yeah. And speaking of confidence, is anybody more confident than Tommy Fleetwood right now? DP World Tour over in Abu Dhabi. He lost in a playoff to Aaron Rye. But Tommy Fleetwood is turning into like Scotty Sheffler. He just doesn't play bad anymore. The question is, is Tommy Fleetwood the second best player in the world right now?

As of today right now, it's hard not to say that he's not, wouldn't you think? I mean, I thought he was at Beth Page. I thought he was, I thought he was, I got to walk with him a couple of times. It's just like, there's no bad shots being hit. And every hole was like dead pin high and either goes in or it looks like it's going in. I mean, how long has it been since he played like a bad round, much less a bad event? I mean, he's been all world. And I mean, we thought, you know, he was the guy after his close calls at the U.S. Open.

Like, hey, major championships, major. coming into this year, this will be the highest expectations. Oh, by far. He's ever faced. And it's a hard, it feels easy when you're doing it week and week out like he's done, but it's hard to maintain. I told producer Mark before you got here, I was looking for the odds for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

And they also, right below that on Fanatics, was the master's odds for 2026. And probably was like the eighth betting favorite at like 25 to 1. I was like, I don't hate that right now. Eighth feels not right for that. I know April's a long ways away, but still, I'm like, this guy's playing really good golf. And he's, he's like, and he's rolling too. Like, he's going to play this week over in Dubai.

He's playing the Skins game in November, which I know is not the same, but he's, he's competing. Yeah. It seems like he's going to stay sharp and then just roll it right into January. Which I think is important when you get it going the way he's got it right now, best golf of his career. Like, the last thing you want to do is like set him down for seven weeks and not even play or not playing anything.

You know what I mean? It's hard to maintain that. And it's damn near impossible if you're not playing tournament golf in that stretch. but he probably wishes it was February right now the way he's going. Like there's just not many people that can beat him. No, but congrats to Aaron Rye. Huge win for him. Just took eight weeks off.

First week back goes out there and wins. Roy McElroy shot final round 62. Missed the playoff by a shot. Some exciting golf over there. Both scores on both tournaments were just insanely low. I mean, it's just, it's kind of turning into that, isn't it? Don't make pars? Almost every week.

Now it's just like, is it going to be less than 20? It's wild. Can I tell you something I did this week? that was rather enjoyable. I would love to hear it. It was the great Mike Commodore's birthday. It was, yeah. We had a little celebration, a little surprise for him.

Got a little party bus. Went down to the Honda Rodeo. Saturday night. I mean, this is big time rodeo. These are real cowboys and cowgirls getting after it down there. They got everything, bull riding, calf roping, team roping. They do it all. And I think I might have found something I'm pretty good at, Slees.

At the rodeo. And I need fanatics. Well, dude, your pilot point. I need fanatics to put some barrel racing odds on the app. You're a barrel racer? Back to back years, I've picked the winner. I know my stuff. How are you picking it based on name?

No freaking clue. Name, just like horse racing. Last year, we actually had a program that had all the names. And so we did it by that. This year, somehow we couldn't get a program to a little box that we bought. So we just all picked a random number and mine won again, but I feel like I have a gift. You grew up in the rodeo game. You know what I mean?

Did you see any of the ropers down there? I said, boys, let me tell you, let me give you a couple pieces of it. Watched the whole thing. It was, dude, I love it. It's so much fun. The calf rope and obviously, I grew up around that stuff. The bull riding is just insanity.

I don't know what those dudes get paid, how much money you can make as a bull rider, but it ain't enough. But it ain't enough. Like what the dude that won? So the Hondos, three nights, and they add up your finishes for the whole year. But if you win the rounds,

like Saturday night, if you're, the winner of each event got 12 grand. And you might get your head, your skull crushed by a 4,000 pound. Yeah, and then there's a bonus. if you win the all-around for the week. But it's, yeah, the money, I mean, the big ones,

Honda is a very big rodeo. And so, I mean, if you win it all, I think, and then you get a $50,000 bonus. So you can make like $80,000 for the week if you have a really good week. The NFR up in Vegas, I would say, is a much bigger prize pool. But, man, it's so fun. The Honda does an unbelievable job. Friday night, Nickelback played.

They're back. They're back cool again. Yes. John Party, who I love country music, puts on a show. he opened up for Kid Rock. Yeah, there's been a money at that thing. By the way, fellow bounty club member, still got it. He did the bird's nest a couple years ago.

I don't know if you were there for that. I was like, God damn. I mean, the place went nuts. He still got it. They spent a lot of money at that deal. But 12 grand for winning the bull riding, might as well just play a jick. You're not going to die.

They're not going to die. I've only been to a few when I was in TCU in Fort Worth, and the big one that was down there, got down close once. like right by the fence or whatever. That's one of those things, like seeing it in person, seeing it on TV, like maybe the biggest difference in watching. Kind of like hockey.

You don't have an appreciate it for how fat, how big those. Dude, it's like my hands are sweating, just talking about it. And these guys volunteer to get up there and do it. It's so fun, man. They're nuts. Comey and I get, we're just weird. Comey would be a good cowboy. Yeah, he would be.

It would be a great cowboy. Maybe a rodeo clown. But then start them off. The concert, I mean, Sunday night, they followed. The third night was Jason Aldeen and Riley Green. I mean, it's a spectacle, man. down there at Chase Field, place is sold out, it's packed. It was fun, dude.

I look forward to that every year. Real deal, Holyfield, and also happy, what, 36 for Commie? I think 46, bud. 46, I meant. What I say, 36? Yeah. He doesn't look a day over 36, by the way. Happy birthday to Coney.

We'll get him back in here soon just for his little state of the union. All right, since I can't bet barrel racing, I'll go with some football and some golf this week. Make sure you download the Fanatic Sports Book app and follow along with us. In the golf world, we're at the Butterfield, Muta Championship. Just two events left. Getting that top 100.

Getting a little stressful here. Rico Hoey is your favorite. Probably the, I would say the weakest field of the fall, but a lot on the line for these guys. And for my bet of the week in the golf world, this guy just made three pars in his final round down at combo. And shot 63. He didn't make, he made nine billion birdies and a few bogeys to shoot nine under par.

the guy who's just turned into a hell of a player. You can get him top 10 at plus 250. Nico Etchevaria. Very streaky when he gets going. He really, really goes. I'm going to need to look at my phone and get a butterfly. I thought you said they weren't out yet. Oh, they're out now.

Oh, okay. They're updated. Fanatics doesn't mess around. Let's see if my golf thing works. I might have to look at yours. So while we're doing this, we'll talk about. But Nico Etchevary, his final round sleys, on the back night, he made six birdies and three bogeys.

Nice. The old no par routine. Yeah, and I think he made like six birdies and three par. on the front. So three pars, three bogeys, a million birdies. Okay. I like that. That's well done. I'm going to go as I peruse here.

I'm going to go a guy that everyone is so high on going on. He's apparently one of the greatest drivers of the golf ball in the world. We haven't got to see a ton of them yet. He's still a young kid. But Pearson Cootie has got a lot of hype and a lot of hype from guys that are seeing it week in, week out. So I don't know if he's ready to like bus through yet

and win, but like you mentioned, field, not the strongest in the world. I take about plus 280 for a top 10. Are we sure it's top 10 and top 5? Correct. Top 10 confirmed plus 280. Proud of you. By the way, he's a guy, it's interesting because he's got really nothing to lose,

a guy that's outside the bubble. He says like all bonus ball, yeah. Yeah, basically all he's playing for is if he gets in that top 100, he gets in the players championship because he's already locked up his card on the corn fairy tour to be out on the PJ tour. Now, obviously his priority number would be much better

if he gets in that top 100, but he's kind of can free wheel it. Like, you know it's no matter what, he's going back to the PJ tour in 26. And a lot of these guys are the exact reverse of that. Like, I got to have this week. It's so much more freedom. He can basically just go, I'm going to go try to win a golf from him. If I shoot 80 every day, who cares?

Like, this is all gravy, like I said, you know, for him getting to play in these things. Whereas a lot of these guys, like, I got two more weeks and I got to play great golf or else I'm looking for a job. Like, that's a totally different place to be playing from. And he's young and excited to be out there. Some of these guys are, you know, dragon at this point in the season. Absolutely. All right. College football.

my favorite bed of the week. Game day will be up at Pitt. How about it? Pat McAfee fired up, already tweeting about it. He's going to be at the casino. He said if hopefully it goes okay or else he won't be able to give as much away in the kicking contest. Yeah, we'll know quickly. All right, for $10,000. Yeah, for $10,000.

But Pitt, it's going to be rowdy up there. Notre Dame coming to town. Your dad's Notre Dame fighting Irish. Only dot hard. Pitt's catching 11 at home. Give me Pitt, baby. Larry Fitzgerald. Come on.

Larry Fitzgerald. for Larry Fitz as his son is committed to play at Notre Dame next year. Yeah, but he's not there yet. How about that? So right now he's rooting for Pitt. All right, you're going with you're going with Pitt Panthers plus 11. I hope that loses, but I want you to win for the, for the pod. You know what I mean? So I'm a little conflict. Well, I can't

Notre Dame just went by a touchdown. They could. That's what I'm saying. That's perfectly fine. Yeah, okay. I'll go with, I took a little gander at a lot of these games. I'm going to go with Alabama. At home, thumping right now. Ty Simpson, one of the betting favorites for the Heisman this year. Against OU, but given less than a touchdown at home, at home kind of sways it for me.

Also, OU. I feel like they're kind of hit or miss. Offense doesn't look great at times, but I think Bama's really going right now, and any time they're at home, less than a tub. I just don't think there's many teams that can keep up. Give me Bama minus six and a half. Okay.

All right, Bama, roll tide. Let's get it. All right, our NFL parlay this week. We hit two out of three once again this past week. The freaking... Thanks, Panthers. Yeah. The New Orleans.

Saints. Really, guys? Oh, my God. That was one I was least concerned about. Yeah, same. Indy snuck it out late for us. There's some survivor pools taking a hit this week. Yeah, the Ravens perused. No big deal. All right. Here we go. Our three-team NFL money line parlay. We're taking the bills over the bucks.

Bill's coming off a horrible loss. Worst I've ever seen them look. I don't know what happened. They were like they never got off the plane. So bills over the bucks. The Chicago Bears have won six out of seven. And I know they've been kind of greasy wins here and there, but they're winning. So give me them on the money

line against the Minnesota Vikings who are also kind of like hit or miss. Don't really know what's going to happen with J.J. McCarthy. I'm not super enthused if I was a Vikings fan on the offensive side of the ball up there. And then, bears are going. Yeah. And then our last one, Jacksonville Jaguars at home,

the L.A. Chargers, long road trip. They looked horrendous last night. I mean, that game, them, Pittsburgh, was just So boring to watch. I had to over. Yeah. I'm aware. How did you feel when it was three to two?

Yeah. Or three to two, sorry, five points total, like through a quarter and a half. I was like, well, probably not going to hit. That was a miserable game to watch. Yeah, it was boring. But this week, Trevor Lawrence is going to take care of business against the Chargers. So we're going bills, bears, jags, our three team NFL money line parlay. Go over, get the Fanatic Sports Book app and follow along with us.

Might as well win them all. Yeah. All right. Our guest this week. This is cool, man. We've had one before. Been a friend of ours for a very long time. But Kevin Chappell just wrapped up a 17-year professional golf career.

Winner on the PGA Tour, President's Cup member, won the NCAAs at UCLA. But he decided to step away from the game, and he shares his story with us on subpar. All right, we are happy to have one of our good friends joining us this week. Just wrapped up a very successful golf career, both amateur and professional level. 17 years as a pro. We're on the Corn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour, tour. and a member of the 2017 President's Cup, Kevin Chappell back in the house. Good to have you.

Thanks for having me. Oh, yeah. Last time we had you, you made us dress up in costumes. Yeah, I forgot about that. So thank you for not doing that this time. It was hotter and shit I remember, dude. My wife asked me what I was going to wear, and I said my dragon costume. She's like, oh, let's grow up a little bit.

Yeah. We could have done it like a week or two ago for Halloween. What was the, I was thinking that too. What was the reason we did that? Why not? Was it Halloween? Oh, just cause? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Good point. Basically, he said, like, when we do stuff, my kids, they always want to dress up. And since y'all are making me do this, you are going to dress up. Seems fair to me. My kids are in the dress-up phase right now, too. And the heat index was 175 inside that bare costume. Yeah, that's a good way to cut weight.

That's how they do it. That's how they do it. Well, thanks for coming back, dude. Appreciate you. Of course. Yeah, let's get into it here. I mean, 310 starts, obviously a very long, successful career. What made you come up to decide to step away?

I guess it's been a rough, like, five years. I had a back surgery in 18 and missed all of 19. And then that led right into COVID. And so there was basically, you know, a year and a half where I didn't play a lot of competitive golf. And I really struggled to like find any form after that. And in that time, like started to grow as a person, started to grow as a father. And priority started to change.

And, you know, I noticed my work ethic was going down. And my results were going down. And kind of, I guess last in April, I got into New Orleans as an alternate play with Tom Hogi. We get paired with Rory and Shane Lowry. And I'm, you know, I wasn't really prepared but was excited to be in the event. And I'm watching Shane and Rory play. And I'm just like, man, that's, you know, I might not have been ever been Rory. But I certainly was a top 30 player in the world.

And I'm like, man, the amount of work it's going to take to get back there. And the things I'm going to miss out on, I don't know that this is worth it to me. And so I kind of sat on that thought for, you know, the spring and end of summer and took the family over to Europe and played two European tour events or DP World Tour events. And just was like, I think this is it. That's amazing. So seeing them, like obviously you've played with all the best players in the world throughout your career. But seeing them recently and just comparing yourself to them at this moment is kind of really what pushed you to be like, you know what? I don't know if I'm ready.

I don't know if I'm willing to commit to try to get back to that level. Exactly. I think my priorities have changed and to watch the level that they were playing at and the level that I had and where I've just never played the game just to get a tea time. It's always been to compete and win and have chances to win. And it was just going to take a lot of work. And I was going to miss out on a lot of things that I didn't want to miss out on. When you have the injury like you had, you got to sit for a while,

then you get COVID, which was a weird time and all that. So you go a long time without playing competitively. Is there any sort of part of you that, but you're good, like your life's good, you know what I mean? Like, does any part of you get comfortable not playing? Because it's the first time you've really had a stretch like that since you picked up clubs, I would assume. Yeah. And I certainly would do it differently than I did it if I got that opportunity again. Like, what do you mean by that?

I would prepare differently. I would have probably been more stringent on myself with how I rehabed, when I rehabbed and tried to, try to mirror almost the tour schedule. so you're like ramping up for a week of practice and then and that would you maybe you do three weeks in a row of that and then you get a week off like you would with your schedule because I think I when I tried to go back into playing it was like oh wow this is really overwhelming like where I got to play a bunch of golf in a row and or where am I and I've just been on airplane for a week and you know I haven't traveled at all so you know using hindsight I definitely would have done it differently but there was no preparing for COVID and then I'd never had an injury. So, you know, sitting on the couch for nine months was, uh, was kind of eye opening for me. Did you shoot 59 like one of your first weeks back? The second round back. I shot 59. Sounds like you did all right coming back. Well, I don't think I broke part of the rest of that tournament.

Yeah. He shot 59. You're in the books, though. Yeah. You're in the books. Come into this decision. Like, it sounds like you've been dwelling on this for a while, like how difficult was that for you?

Like golf's life. Like I said, from the time you picked up a club. Like, that's pretty much all we do. Yeah. when I told my wife, she's like, you've said this before, but I actually believe you this time. And actually to have her say that was kind of like, oh, yeah, like this is a different, I'm projecting a different message right here. You know, there wasn't any emotion behind it other than like, here's the facts. And this is, these are the reasons I'm not going to, I don't want to continue to do

this as before it would be you shoot 78 and you're like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. and you know that's very emotional very you're stuck in the situation that just happened and this was a kind of a culmination of a lot of evidence and and presented it in a way that hey like this is more of a life decision than a career decision it's it's interesting because like i'll just for myself for an example like when i lost my car and ran out of pj tour starts like i had the option to go into the corn fray tour and i knew it 35 years old like my attitude was going to be shit going down to the corn fairy tour. We're all these young kids that are up and coming.

They're hungry. They're excited to be there. Did that have anything to do with your decision? I'll just, you know, where the game's headed and how, I mean, we're not, we're not young anymore. A little bit. I played a handful of corn fairy events the last couple years and enjoyed the competing, you know, I went to the Bahamas this year on the corn fair tour and where everyone's stuck in this small airport getting out of there.

And I'm like, how many people made money in these two weeks? You know, and start. thinking about it as a business and I'm like this is just a bad business decision to be here right now and I made both cuts and you know maybe finished in the middle of the pack but it's like I don't know like this doesn't make sense to me in my brain that where everyone in this room is making this as as a business decision for the caliber of golf that's played on that tour like the reward financially for it is like crazy though yeah you're right it's got and then you could scale that back to like Canada or the Americas and stuff like they're like they're not that much different

you know but it's basically like can you survive And that's what it is. Can you make it to when you make it? And then see if you can make some money. And can you get through the tough years? And there's not a lot of options as far as mini tours. I mean, remember when we came up, I played a handful of mini tour events here in the valley.

And you could make a decent living in the wintertime. And that doesn't exist anymore. And it barely exists on the, below the corn fairy tour. I think that would have to change. I think there's less people, trying. There's less reasons to try. The carrot's gotten bigger, but it's moved away from everyone unless you're a top 30 player in the world. Yeah, and that's one thing I don't think people realize like, yeah, you're a professional golfer. It's an awesome life, but it's hard and it's not

always successful. I mean, when the midam stuff was going on and people complaining about the pros, like I said, give me some resumes of the guys that made it. And like one guy I played two years on the cornfairy tour and made $55,000. And they think he should be professional for the rest of his life. I was like, you know this guy has to live, right? Like, that's before. taxes, that's before expenses, that's two years. He's losing his ass. He earned 55,000. That doesn't mean he made any money. He nodded negative.

Yeah, Gary negative. Yeah. But speaking of like where the game is headed and everything, I mean, a lot of talk with the PJ Tour, I'd say a lot of criticism as well about somewhat becoming a close shot. I mean, all these signature events, like you said, the reward for the top players are great. But the playing opportunities seem like they're getting

less and less for the guys up and coming. Yeah, I agree with. what you're saying. I don't know what the future holds for the tour. It just seems like it's turning much into a tennis model where you're going to have, you know, eight to 12 events a year that really matter. And the rest of it, there will be a tour that exists. But as if you're not a regular fan, you're not going to really know what's going on. And there's an opportunity for guys to make a living in those events. But as far as being relevant, like, it's going to be harder and harder to have that long career that you've seen in the past. You know, you're going to have

your generational talents that are going to do it, but I think careers get shorter. Guys make more money. They move on and go do something else. And somehow they need to get the turnover rate that matches the exit rate and it could be sustainable. I don't love it. But if that's what the business model says that they need to be doing to grow the game of golf, then like, that's what they got to do. How about for rookies coming out? I mean, it was already incredibly hard. That first year on tour, like if you can just keep your card, play away on, then you get to pick your schedule, all this stuff. Now for the rookies coming on, it's like, by the way, you're not getting any of the signature events. So those are, you're already way behind all those guys. They're shrinking the number of

events. They're shrinking the number of cards. Like for a rookie coming on right now. I mean, how brutal is, how are you going to keep these kids that are obviously good enough to get there? But they don't even really have that. It's not a fair shot to stay on almost. It is brutal. I guess the only thing that they have going for them is, the way that they earn their way back to or onto the tour, you have a lot of confidence. You know, so they're filled up with piss and vinegar and ready to go and think like, oh, man, I just had this great year on the cornfield tour. I can beat anyone.

And they have that going for them. But it is an uphill battle and everything alive is an uphill battle. You know, like you got to go earn it. And I guess if they have success, like they really did earn it. Yeah, I'm with you. Like, nothing should be given to you. But with these signature events, like, if you finish in the top 50, you're good for the entire year. And we saw this year, only one guy that was in the top 50 last year finished outside the top 100 that wasn't injured.

And that was Matthew Pavon, who just had a really bad year. Like, you really got to mess up to lose your card. And it's really hard not to honestly finish in the top 70 and guarantee yourself in the playoffs. But with the signature events, like, where are you on those? Because him and I talk all the time, like the juice for Thursday and Friday is gone with 70 people no cut. As a player who's obviously played in a number of these events, where do you stand on that? Would you rather see more people in the field with a cut? Yeah, I think you, like, that's an integral part of the game.

Like, making a cut, there's a good feeling there. There's a sense of accomplishment. And that needs to happen in the game. You know, I wouldn't, maybe they don't want to do full fields, but everyone that kept their card the year before on the PJ tour is exempt, plus, you know, 10 guys that can earn. And let's do 110-man field and let's have a cut. And it opens up opportunity.

It creates less of a, divide amongst them on the money list and the points list. And, you know, it allows people to earn their way into the event a little bit easier. What do you think about, like, I would have less issue with the new structure of it and just how difficult it is, like I said, for the rookies and stuff. If everybody, if you're a full card carrying member of the PJ tour, if everyone got access to the same events and you got the same schedule, then it's really like, we're all starting at zero here. You know, these guys don't have a huge leg up playing the signature events. I'd have way less of an issue with it if it's kind of like, you're all

on the level playing field starting off. I agree. Like, let's make it. Everyone starts the same starting line. And plays the same events with the same points and stuff. It's a season long race. Like, let everybody race. You're not letting everybody run right now. What was it?

One rookie this year off Corn Ferry? Made it to the... One cornedherty to a guy. Potkeeter, right? And he won and finished second? Yeah. I believe so. He's the only one.

I wouldn't be opposed to them going way back. And, you know, if you're a... If you kept your card the year before, or maybe top 70, you're in every event. And then 70 to 100. you get the option to Monday qualify with the corn fairy guys. There's 50 spots, whatever, that fills the rest of the fields. And like, let's just do qualifiers every week. And you get to earn your way into the events.

And you play great. You get in a good run. You'll play in every event. And there's still a lot of opportunity. And you can have the money qualifiers or the qualifiers be a closed shop. And so it's only coming from, you know, a certain pool that has been earned. Yeah, that'd be interesting. And we love watching the best play against the best.

There's no doubt about that. But what I feel like drives ratings and what people love to see is when the best are going against the lesser name, the underdog. And with these signature events, I feel like we lose so much of that. Like, I always used Phoenix Open a few years ago, and Sawth de Gallo was a rookie, and no one really knew who he was, unless you were a big-time golf fan. And he was in the mix with Scottie Sheffler and Patrick Cantley.

And the whole place seemed like they were rooting for South. Because it's a great story. And I feel like we lose a lot of those now because of the way the PJ tour is headed. I agree. Going back to the tennis model thing, you don't see the underdog a lot in the majors. And so you're seeing the same guys at the top of the leaderboard every week.

And because the PJ tour or because golf is so deep and, you know, players are so good now. Like anyone can win it any time as long as you're in the field and you just got to be given that opportunity. Do you think a lot of this, obviously I think we would agree, the changes have made because of live. but do you think they might have panicked a little bit and made some changes without really sitting down and probably seeing what's best for the entire tour

instead of just the top players to make sure they don't go to live? Yeah, I think it was very reactionary to a threat and I guess everyone reacts differently when their job or their lives are threatened. So I can't fault them for that. I don't think anyone was like, we're going to make this change

as you make the tour worse. You know, they were trying to make it better, but, you know, I wouldn't be surprised in a few years if we go back to something similar to where it was and find some normalcy in the game. It's a bummer that, like, the changes were so drastic so quickly. And it's a bummer that the majority of the fans probably can't follow what the rules are or what the qualifications are because of all the changes that have happened. But no doubt, it was reactionary and a very emotional decision.

making time for the PJ tour. Yeah, I mean, it's always been hard to get to the PJ tour. And now with the way things are going to, I mean, Stan, think of how different it would be right now. If you were turning pro right now, your same college career where you were a stud, you were an NCAA champion and he won at USM, we all turned pro around the same time.

Think how different it is right now in terms of opportunities for those kids today versus what we were like 2008. Well, I mean, I would argue that Colt would have more opportunities or I would have more opportunities because of the PJ tour are you and things like that. So it's more open in that sense that there's more. pathway to the PJ, or there's more pathways to the PJ tour. I notice there's a lot more amateurs getting starts on the PJ tour than there's ever been. And that comes from, I think, NIL and these agencies that run events.

They're dangling these starts in front of these kids. Like, here, sign with us, we'll be your NIL agent and we can get you all these starts. And good for these agencies for doing that. But as a whole, I think it's much harder. And, you know, the gentleman that won in Utah. Michael Brennan. Brennan. Yeah.

You know, like, that's a great story. He's obviously a amazing talent and, you know, capable of accomplishing a lot in the game. And he had to be, his talent had to be suppressed for a few years to get to where he's up. Yeah, PJ Turi, I'm a huge fan of it. I think you should let your star college kid, you know, there's no draft or anything. So like, but giving them a chance. And obviously, that was a reaction to live too. Like, these are the guys they're going to want.

Let's make sure that they get an opportunity. But outside of that, like the rest of the golfing world, it's just kind of like, you said, How can you make it till you make it? I guess it seems like there's nowhere to go. I think there's people just be chasing it way less going forward because they can't. Well, and think about if this happened in another sport. I mean, the demographic that plays golf is the halves. And they don't necessarily need the money.

So when money's dangled, you know, not everyone's going to bite. And if they did this in football, the Saudis tried to take over football where a lot of guys don't come from means. and I think the percentage of people that would leave to go play in the different league would have been way higher. So they're changing, they change golf tremendously

and probably percentage-wise, it's less than it would have been in any other sport. It's interesting. Going back to what you said earlier, I do think we both got screwed though. Right. Bad wave again.

Tell me about it. But watching these, like you mentioned playing a lot of college kids playing these events. I mean, they're logoed up everywhere. Like, it's unbelievable. I mean, I played PJ Tourvin as I am

and I was just panicking trying not to break a rule so I don't get suspended from the conference tournament. Like it's nuts how much everything. I feel like pretty soon we're going to see an amateur with net jets on their sleeve. Yeah, it's not. I don't think you far off. I talk about too,

I mean, these kids are obviously ridiculously good. And I mean, back when you were coming out of college, you're ridiculously good as well. But they just seem so much more prepared now. And I get it. There's like they have more opportunities. More college events are on TV. But it's just crazy to see how deep the game of golf is right now.

this might be controversial, but I think the game's easier than it's ever been. I agree with that. Like, it's easy to teach the game. It's easier to play the game because of technology, because of just the overall knowledge of golf is tremendously high right now. And, you know, trackmans and foresight and all these launch monitors that you can use as a teaching tool. And you can take a 12-year-old kid that's pretty developed and say, hey, see that number

there that's a minus? you want to hit a different shot, make it a plus, and explain how to do it, and then you just leave them, and it's like, go. And now you just have kids at younger ages and have a better understanding of what they're doing, how they're moving the golf club, and then that makes getting the ball in the hole much easier.

Yeah, I mean, the driver's the size of this bucket sitting right here in front of you. Bryson's talking about developing a driver where no matter where you hit it on the face, it's the same spin rate. I'm like, what the hell's going on here? It's going to be like the robot's taking over everything else. It'd be like, dude, if you just hit the face,

that everyone hits the same shot. hit the ball. It's going to be fine. Yeah. I mean, I can't. Just the way the game's gone, I totally agree with you. I think it's way easy. I think it's shrinking, like, the discrepan, and talent, like, you can have a lesser talented guy, keep up with a guy that's a world beater just because of all the things that you just said. And I don't necessarily think that's great. I think it also shrinks the style of player that can compete out there. It's turned into like one thing, more or less. Just hit as hard as you can.

What does it say about us three, though? Because we are all worse than we've ever been, and the game's easier than it's ever been. But I would say this. like if I put it any time, I know more guys that get out of it. They're 40 pluses. Even guys that come from the go to the champions tour. I just play with Jason Duffner at the Cow Club member. He's like, I'm longer. I'm faster and longer than I've ever been in my life.

And he's like, I'm not even a guy that's like working out, you know? And he's longer than he's ever been. The technology is wild. I just ran into Kirk Triplett the other day. And he brought in some of his old clubs over to the gym over here. And he brought in a Wilson one iron. Oh, yeah. 95% of the fucking PJ tour right now could not hit that all.

It's ridiculous. I mean, this thing is so tiny. I was like, he's like, I used to hit this like 200 yards. I was like, if you miss hit it, did it go like 80? I mean, you miss. And your hand was broken. Oh, yeah. It was unbelievable how tiny it was.

Pull that out of the British when it's cold. Oh, could you even imagine? Shit, I went back and looked at. I still have my set from when I was a junior golfer. It was an MP33, Mazuna. And I set them down like the forearm. I'm like, what on earth? Dude, how did I?

Yeah, and I was actually okay, you know? Even the fairway woods. It's wild. I had that old steelhead five wood forever. And it felt like it was a size of, Like you put it down right now. It looks like the size of the golf ball. What was the Tigers 3 with the PT?

Dude, the hardest club on the planet to hit ever. He just hits $300 with it. Off of like a hard pan, that club. Do you ever have one of those? I think so. Off a T, you could hit it like 3.30. You get it further than your driver.

I've always been a club whore. I got quite a garage. How much you got in the garage right now? How many staff bags filled out? Maybe 20. 20 staff bags filled up. You or Chez, you think? Chez.

That's definitely the most. putter. Probably the most everything. Chez Revy has more putters in his garage in the Scotty scammer studio. He's not afraid to tinker. Couldn't be a nicer guy, so it's allowed. But this all could turn out to be a plan.

Like, this is his retirement. He's going to sell all this shit. What's he does? Well, you play with him, dude. And it's like, okay, you hit 14 fairways and 17 greens today. You want to play tomorrow at Newton? Yeah, show up tomorrow and he's got a new driver and new irons. And I'm like, that wasn't, you didn't like what you saw there yesterday?

You missed one green. What the fuck? It has worked for him. It has. He's been great. I mean, he's a. Yeah, he's a perfect example of a guy that it's going to be like harder and harder for that. Not that he was like shorter anything, but he's not an overpowering type of dude.

He was just precise, but he hit it out of the middle every single time. And now it's just kind of becoming that superpower is being lessened a little bit with the way everything's going. Yeah, I think that Chess is being affected more by course setup. I think course setup has gotten easier and easier over the years. And I think the fans are dictating that. The tour does studies each year on what the fans want to see. and I think birdies draw viewers. And so we get rid of rough.

Yeah. It's softer than it's ever been. And I mean, it's a bummer because there's not a lot of strategy to it. You know, if I was still playing, I would probably not play many practice rounds because it's just not necessary. The yardage books are way better than they've ever been. The courses are set up very consistently week to week. And so if you're at the week, if you were there the week before, you know what you're going to get the next week. and for a guy with the family,

like if I play 30 events, if I get one more day at home, I'd be spending a month more at home with my family by just not playing one practice round. That's good point. Sleys wants carnage every week. Yeah, not every week, but I want some of it. We get it a few times.

What are the, like, for us, I don't know, maybe it's different because we're golfers, but like Bay Hill's fun to watch. Memorial's normally fun to watch. Like, the hard ones are fun. It's like, do I tune in much to the Amex? Not really. And I think it's more firmness than it is rough.

100%. Yeah, no doubt. drives scores up more than Rough does, in my opinion. Yeah, you make it soft. You can make it any distance they want. The ball stops where it lands. Of course, we get back to Kevin Chappell. For the first time ever, shop.golf.com is offering a discount.

Use code subpar 15 to take 15% off everything. Birdie juice, teas, hats, all of it. Holiday gifting, handled. Or just spoil yourself. Either way, go to shop.golf.com and load up. Now back to Kevin Chappell. I mean, some of that's out of their control, obviously, with Mother Nature. But I totally agree.

Like, when we first came onto the PJ tour in 0708, like every single week seemed like it had three and a half, four inch rough. And now it's like, okay, driving actually just doesn't mean anything at all. Like, you got to ship it. And that's where, like, going back to Chess, like, his strength is kind of out the window now. Like hitting fairways, hitting greens. Now it's just smash it up there, have as little club as you can into every single green. And, I mean, if we're going to talk about Ches,

I think he's done a good job of not trying to. to change his game. Like he's, it would be very hard to know that, like, these are the weapons you have. This is what you got to deal with. And he hasn't really gone and tried to chase distance.

He's still continued to hit fairways and tried to, you know, increase his precision in a time where it would be easy to go, you know, chase a bunch of distance. Absolutely. Yeah. You do that.

You hurt your shoulder and can't really pick up your arm. Whatever. And a guy that just makes, like, grinds out cut after cut. He has wins, obviously, too, but it was just consistency, like, when he was at his best over and over. It's like, that's kind of even going away with the way, like, the tournaments, the amount of tournaments, the no cut or the tiny cuts in the signature events, you know, it's like that's less rewarded too. I agree.

The longevity is going down for so many reasons, but they're not rewarding consistency. It's feast or famine. It might be better to miss some cuts instead of having to grind out, you know, a T-55 just to get the rest. that is required to compete out there now. Pac-Eater season is a perfect example. I mean, just a million cuts, but he won and had a second. They were like, oh, great season. Great season.

Only, like I said, only rook. You made 22 cuts and finished 90th on the FedEx? Not that cool. That's not it. And I don't want this, like, we don't want this to sound like sour old man, you know, yelling at the clouds type of stuff. But it's like, that's just the way it's going. This is just like the facts of the matter.

I just, I'm more like, I guess, I care more about like the kids, the young kids that are like, it takes a few years to get out there, to get your footing and find i mean you can go through them like j j spawns a major champion there's a hundred cards and you know the path the the pjj tour is what it is now we might not have him shit a year and a half ago he was thinking about hanging him up you know oh i mean there's a bunch guy yeah i think um there's like i said there's the game's easier so there's more guys that can do it it's just finding that little tweak that kind of gives you the edge um i think it's impressive of the guys. Like Adam Scott really impresses me. Like his,

in the eras that he's played in, his games adapted to whatever's been required. And he's obviously a generational talent because of that. But, you know, there was times where precision was required and, you know, you're trying to beat Tiger Woods and you know you can't beat him at his game. So you've got to get better in other areas to compete with them. And then now it's, you know, feast or famine. Let's just try to, it's win or last. And like, that's, what we're going for and he's evolved and in his games transferred into that era as well so um that that's always impressed me the guys that can have the longevity and do it different ways throughout it's like baseball it's either homerunner strike out yeah don't really care there's no sacrificing

no just trying to get the ball on the ground none of that anymore um i forgot where i was going to go with that oh i so you have a very high golf IQ in my opinion like i think you're a student of the game you pay attention a lot more than people might realize With that being said, Scotty Schaeffler, his number one player in the world, he just talk about how impressive he is, to do the way he does it, the way he goes about his game.

Because another guy that doesn't, like, just smash it. He's not going to wow you, I would say, like a Roy McElroy off the tier or anything like that. Well, I think Scotty goes back to how he's coached.

He's probably the most undercoached guy on the PGA tour. Randy does an amazing job with them, but you never see a track man. You never see them talk or hear them talking, track man in numbers. It's like, hey, hit a shot.

Hit it through, that window, hit it through that window, make the ball do this. And he has really, he really owns that. He has, he has the best face control of anyone ever probably. And, you know, ultimately, that's all that matters is when you put the face on the ball that you know where it's going to go. And he can really do that. And then he's evolved into an incredible putter when he needs to be. And his short game's always been, you know, spot on. Yeah, that's what was terrifying is when, you know, two years ago he was dead last in putting for four days and he was missing playoffs by a shot or whatever now he's a top 20 in the world it's like how the hell these guys going to beat him and they're not um now

there's and they're not they're not with the numbers he has now you know scotty has a lot of moving pieces and he's going to get older and as you know as you get older you lose control of your body a little bit and you know you guys had podrig on and he talked about everyone's careers are defined by like a 21-month period or a 20-month period where you peak. And maybe we've seen Scottie's 20-month period. Now, that doesn't mean he's not going to play great golf. It just might be a step below of where his peak was. And that's what Tiger had stretches of 20 months that were incredible.

And then the rest of it was still incredible, but slightly worse. And so when you get, you know, a generational talent that does that, like, even he's going to have a period of time that the golf was significantly better. than anywhere else. And though it might come down, but it's still going to be great. He's still going to win four or five times a year. And that's just because of who he is. Yeah, winning seven, eight, nine times.

That's just not going to happen for a decade straight. You don't, I wouldn't think. No. But you never know. It's just so impressive to watch him, even when he, it seems like he plays bad. He finishes eighth. And everybody else, it's like, oh, great week. And Scott, he's like, God, I played terrible.

And I just lost by two. That might be the most impressive thing. Like, he wins. We know when he's on, he's better than everybody. but when he's off, he's almost as good. That's the crazy part. Because everybody's like, oh, when they're all peaking, who's the best? I was like, that's not the question because they're all great.

And they all can beat anybody. They're great. It's when you don't have it, who's the best? And he's hands down that. Yeah, and I think it comes from the face control he's got. This ball's never getting too far offline. He hit bad once. Miss a green, Scotty.

If you're going to go back now and you had a chance to do anything different in your career, would you? You get the top to Kevin? Chapel turning pro right now. Yeah, I probably would have been less harsh on myself. I think, you know, being hot-headed, being extremely driven was good, but it was probably detrimental at times, led to maybe relationships being affected within my team and created some volatility that didn't need to exist. Just being a little bit more of a pro probably would be how I would define it and just like understand that there's going to be natural ebbs and flows with someone that had the

talent that I had. Like I was never going to be the number one player in the world, even as much as I wanted to be. But I had the ability to have a long sustained career in the top probably 30 in the world. And being okay with that, I probably would have had a longer, better career instead of you know, expecting more than the ability that I had. And that's a hard thing to do, I think, because all you've done all your life is win. Be the best.

It's always the goal. Be the best college kid. Be the best amateur. Be the best pro. And then it's like, if you get there and like, maybe that's not real. That's a hard thing to come to grips with mentally.

Well, exactly. And I, you know, I wasn't ever the best junior player, but got better as I got older. In college, I, you know, I was,

I got lucky to get on the UCLA golf team. And then, you know, earned my way and just kept progressing. And then, and the professional. I did that early on and then it's like, oh man, the progression is getting steeper and steeper and harder and harder, but that's all I've had for the last 12, 15 years of my life is progression. And all I would do is relate to progression to finishes and tournaments.

And so then it becomes harder. You start to win or you start to get in contention and you're like, oh, man, like the mountain's getting steeper and harder to continue to grow. And then I become edgier, expect more out of the people on my teams. and really it just needed to lower, maybe lower my expectation or have an understanding of who I was as a player

and where that correlated to the PJ tour and say like, hey, I could win once or twice a year for a long period of time with exactly what I have and not need to do anymore

and that should be pretty fucking good. Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's tough to admit that, but at the end of the day, you look back and you're like, yeah, I mean, look, trust me, I get it. I know exactly where you're coming from

with that. But maybe you have less success if you're not as driven and not as hot-headed. And, you know, so it's hard to say. And that's just the nature of golfers. Like, you're never, like, content with what you have. Like, it's higher.

I mean, he beat the game and then he stripped it down and started over with a new golf swing. It's like, because it might make him this much better. Yeah. Maybe. Like, that's just kind of the way we're wired, I think. If I was going to ask you to pick a highlight or what you're most proud of in your career. Um, ooh. Can't save Valero.

Okay. I'd say the golf I played from in 2016. Like, I had a few chances to win progress. of that, but I think I finished second five times in 16. And it's like the consistency I showed and just being able to bounce back from a close call and have another close call. Like, I was really proud of that and the proud of the work that the team I was on, like, was able to accomplish. And that really led to the success I had in 17. Representing your country is a really cool honor. I probably would go, would have gone about that.

much differently if I got to do it again. But, you know, that's something I'll never forget as well. Yeah, except if you had to play with the Seagull. But wouldn't change that. Remember when he took Joe's hat off? Yeah. Would not change. It would not change that at all, but probably would have taken it in a bit more.

And I thought like, oh, I'm here now. Like, I can't wait to get on that, that Ryder Cup team next year, you know? That's a great point. I mean, we say that all the time. Like, we at Whistling Straits, we're like, look at this team. They're going to be together forever. And they're going to dominate. Now it's like, oh, shit.

Some of these guys might only play one Rider Cup. Like, I mean, Max Homa, who looked like he was on top of the world, played over in Rome and played great. He was the highlight of the U.S. team. And then the game is mean. And sometimes it slaps you in the face. And, you know, he wasn't even considered for that team this year. The game is mean, but more importantly, like, we are humans playing a game. And there's so many things that happen in life outside of the cameras and the golf scores you shoot that you don't know what's going on in someone's life.

I mean, we all bet sports. And it's like, man, you just don't know what happened to that 19-year-old quarterback, you know, this week between the last time he took a snap. And, you know, I think as a whole, like, as a society, we've got to give each other some grace on that stuff because you just don't know what's going on. Yeah. I think that exact thing every Saturday afternoon is I'm betting on. I'm like, I don't know. You probably just got broken up as his third pick. But still do better, man.

But you're killing me. Yon is an 18-year-old. I'll tell you one of my favorite memories of your golf career. will go down as the greatest sound bike clip in cornfrey tour history. Get the fuck down. It was so clear. It's gone. It was like you put your mouth on the mic and we're like, they're going to catch this.

It was so good. Yeah, that was funny. We're in D.C. They did need to sit down. It went a little long. Kay Cockrell was a friend and she was like, yeah, he's not happy there. And the next day I was, I got to the golf course and Rico, he's out there. He was out there.

He was a rules official and he's like, hey, and he talked to you. I was like, ugh. he's like I was watching the coverage last night and they replayed an incident. And I was like, what would I do? And he's like, you know what you did. I was like, yeah, shouldn't have said that. He's like, it's all good. The boom mic was too close to you.

We're not going to do anything about it. Oh, wow. Awesome. How about a little 10 second delay, Rico? Yeah. TV production. It was solid. It was a solid hookup for me.

It was one of the good ones. You're done. You've made a decision to be done. What now? It's a good question. On deck? Anything interests you? I guess the first thing I did was like,

assess what can I bring to society or bring to life. And, you know, my strengths are, my ability to play golf, ability to talk to people. I feel like I'm pretty good at sustaining and making relationships. And so those are strengths that I can bring to any job or any business I decide to jump into. Don't really want to stay in golf. I think for so long that was my identity.

I'm a golfer. I'm a golfer. I'm a golfer. and the more I get removed from it, the more I see that I'm capable of so much outside of that, and that excites me. But I still always play golf and enjoy that and look forward to playing with my kids

and having that be a part of our lives and think of it fondly. I've been doing some work with a mental performance app called Mastery trying to help them launch that. That's been enjoyable and have been able to use the connections I've made through golf. I don't think that's the end-all be-all, but just trying to, I guess, a friend of ours gave me advice,

and he's just like, you can't go idle. Do not go idle. And so I've just tried to stay as busy as I can, go to lunch with as many people as I can, pick people's brains, and just see what comes up. I got an idea. You should start a golf podcast. It's not very many of them.

Hello. There's zero barrier to entry. Just go ahead and talk shit. And that's it. I'm out on that. But I would love to help the tour. You know, I think there's going to be an issue with the careers being shorter. We're one of the only major sports that does nothing for players into retirement.

And we have a model that exists on the tour, the pro-am model that can work in reverse. Like, why can't I go to farmers insurance because I'm interested and get trained and get an education and be a resource for farmers? as they are to us being a sponsor of the PJ Tour. And that's just an example. Farmers don't call me. I don't want to sell insurance. But I, I,

I, I'd be good. Yeah, I'm sure I would. And it might enjoy it. So call me, actually, fuck it.

But I, that's something I want to pursue with the tour and say like, hey, we got to do better here. Because like, let's look in the mirror. There's going to be more and more people quitting. And the last thing they need me to do,

the PJ Tour needs me to do, is to go get a job. and, you know, with a major company and they say, hey, we're looking at sponsoring this tour event. And how was your time on the tour? And me to say, no, it was just transactional. Like, you know, I made what I earned and I have no relationships there anymore. Like, that's not, that's not what the PJ Tour needs. They need me to say, hey, like, that was a great time. They still take care of me. I still talk to people there. My best friends still play or work on the tour. and like that's if I was a business that's where I would invest and uh you know I think we need to

get back to that and I would love to be a catalyst to help create something like that uh for the tour and for the people coming up because because careers are going to get shorter that's very very well said um 39 years old I mean I know you still love the game and you're still going to play occasionally but do you think once you know you start getting to that magical number of 50 you think the it'll come back at all and be like you know what maybe we take a run at the champ tour I don't know. I mean, what my wife talks about, she's like, I can't believe you're going to take the retirement years of traveling the champions tour away from me. You know, like we were going to have no kids.

It was going to be great. But right now, I mean, I have not missed being on the road and grinding one bit. Yeah, I have missed like being good. I mean, I've played a handful of times since middle of July and I am not good. And I don't know what my handicap is. So gambling's really hard. and you're not, like, you're just hurting a partner because they play you to too high of a handicap.

So that's my concern right now is like, hey, where can I, what can I play to with minimal effort and still have fun and be like a member of the gambling group and, like, make sure the bets are fair. You know what you sound like? A midam. You should ask for a back. Yeah, 2040 rolls around. You'd be back in the game.

Did I hear you're doing this? I just applied to see what they would say. And what have they said? I got an email saying the committee still needs to meet to pick a specific date, but 2028. So it would be basically December 31st, eight years of sitting out. Okay. Yeah, they better. There you go, dude.

Once again, this is 2030. We don't even get into this stuff. You'd be right. Be like 2035. You could get a decade, I bet. Yeah, just, I don't need that. No, you don't. I'm just saying if you just want to drink and gamble and just be okay, that's the life.

Yeah. The thing you need to worry about the most is how you're going to handle the first time you actually stroke on a hole. It's nerve-wracking. That will be weird. Yeah, 14 lower, bud. You're like, oh, shit, I'm that guy now. Zero. Hanging around Scott Stouts, I'm sure it's going to happen a few times with some of the talent around here nowadays.

Well, you better take them or you're going to lose. Correct. That's the bad news about you, though, unless you start playing a ton of golf and posting scores, which probably low probability. You're going to always be held to, like, your peak. But, like, oh, you're plus, you know, maybe not even your peak, but you're plus six. It's like, well, no, I hit balls every day. I'm way worse than I used to be. Yeah.

Have you taken a golf lesson since you quit? That's the other one. It's like, do I think I'll ever take a golf lesson again? So needs more information, do you? Didn't get enough of them. But it's very different than it used to be. It's 30 minutes of talking, 30 minutes of hitting balls. It's basically just to get out and hit a few.

And we had, like, film four or five swings and be like, oh, you know, this is a little different than this. And then it's done. It's not like we're making crazy changes to try to, get better. I'm just trying to be like make sure I hit it out of the middle of the face. Yeah, I got a try. It's a blackburner. Like John Costas, I'll go down and hit balls with him a couple times a year. People you want to hang out with. Yeah, just did it the other day. I was like, man,

I was playing really well for a month. Went to Vegas. Played a member guest. Obviously, had a good time. Came back. Swing felt a little different. Hit some balls in like four swings in. He's like, hey, your hands are just getting a little too deep. Keep it out in front it. It all felt back normal. I was like, cool. And then we just bullshit it for 30 minutes. That's great. Just like that. There is a liberating time. I feel like when you quit and all of a sudden for the first time ever, you don't care about, like, you're not worried about it. And you just start like, I want to hook it. I do this.

I want to fit. And not like where the club is and stuff. And that was always, I was like a revelation, actually. I think, like, there's that thought of, oh, it'll just be easier once I quit. And it's like, no, you quit because you're not just going to get better. Because you're not, it doesn't matter anymore. And, like, that's where I'm at. I was like, oh, I was really struggling to drive out there for a little while.

I'm not driving it any better by playing less. You won't care. But I haven't had a driver. So maybe it's good. I need to like cart path only right now. Like, let's get the rightnesses, please. Yeah, right. You got to have that high right.

I'd say the one thing if you ever go, because I'd still do occasionally enjoy just going out and hitting balls. Just listen to some music and bullshit. Took one of the launch monitors out there one day, went through the bags. Man, that was a nice little practice session. 63 golf balls. 63 is a monster. I could have stopped 20 balls ago.

I got to track me and collecting dust. I'm not sure that will ever get used again. Oh, yeah. I'll give you $500 for it. Pull that thing out. It's your little grind. Well, dude, I'm happy for you. It sounds like you're, you know, you had an unbelievable career, extremely successful now.

You can do whatever you want. And I'm sure whatever you choose, you'll be great at it. No, I appreciate you guys having me on. It was a, I kind of struggled with the idea of doing it, didn't want to sound like an old man yelling at the clouds. And hopefully it comes off that I really am grateful for what I had and look forward to the next, next opportunity. opportunities that come about. And I really just want the game to be in a better place and continue for those that earn their way to get to compete at it for a long period of time.

That's awesome, man. You sound like you're really happy and in a good spot. And I've known you for a long time, man. Proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Think about it.

Yeah. It's a new idea. All right. That was our man Chappi, joining us on subpar, deciding to step away from the game. I've known him since I believe we were 17 years old. I've never seen him this happy. and I'm so pumped for him, man. I know it's tough to step away

because this is all you've ever known and this is what you dream to do as a kid, but there's more to life than golf. And, you know, he had a hell of a run out there. Like you said, 17 years, 310 starts. He's a winner, competed in major championships, represented his country. He should be very proud of his career.

He's got a monster career, even going back to the amateur side as well. And, you know, when I was talking to him about coming on, he was like, you know, it may be a little too fresh right now. I don't want to sound like, you know, grumpy guy that's not playing golf anymore in terms of like where the PJ tour is going and stuff. But I think that's exactly the type of guys you need to talk to. He's not saying it's right or wrong, but it's like this is the way things are going. This is the way things are going to change.

And it's cool to get his perspective. And to your point, like, I think he's been one foot in, one foot out with injuries and the things like that. Not knowing when he's getting starts. I think he's been as okay with this decision to step away as, as anyone I can think of. Most people, the game just like kicks you out. Whereas Chappie, I think, was more like, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to be done and do something else. 39 years old. And as we talked about in the interview, like it's hard to go backwards. It's hard to go down there to the corned ferry tour.

And like he said, he was sitting there in the Bahamas after making both cuts thinking, like how many of these people actually made money this week? Like, what are we doing? And it's different. Like I love the corn fairy tour. It's when you're coming out of college, it's a great spot to be in.

You're excited. You're pumped. You know you have a chance to get to the PGA tour. But when you've spent whatever it was 11, 12 years on the PGA tour like Chappie has, like it's hard to go backwards. No, without quick. And like, do you have the energy to do it? These kids are going to want to play every single week.

They don't care about packing up and being on the road for four straight weeks, five straight weeks. Like, you've got kids. You're saying, bye, oh, my God, I've done this for 17 years. It's a totally different animal. And plus, it's not like he needed to keep, like, he's been very successful. He can step away and do whatever he wants right now. And, yeah, it was good to get his respective on where it's going. I think you're going to see, like he said, shorter careers out on the PJ tour.

It's going to be harder to hang out there. And then I think guys, honestly, the biggest thing, for me is I think fewer guys are going to chase it for very long. And guys that are playing right now that are great players, we may never see some of those guys because you just can't stay afloat. And look for him to drop a golf podcast here anyway. Right, coming soon. All right, man, that was fun.

Chappie, congrats on a great career, man. Really enjoyed sitting down with you.