The Herd with Colin Cowherd - GoLow Golf - PGA/LIV Merger Reaction with Jason Sobel

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

John and Action Network's Jason Sobel react to the blockbuster PGA and.LIV merger, the biggest winners and losers, and how it will change the game for better or worse in the future. Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Get concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the Gametime app and use code GOLOW for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. What is going on, everybody? John Middlecob, go low, a podcast. What a day to be alive. Woke up to the breaking news, which we will dive into off the top. I talked to Sobel earlier this morning, a couple hours after the news is broke.

We will go into that as well. What a day. I mean, probably one of the more shocking, eye-opening, monumental, crazier days in the history of the professional game of golf. I think I've been texting with people from the NFL to my family friends. This is just a story that broke on CNBC. This did not break on ESPN. This did not break on the Golf Channel. This broke on CNBC with the head of the Piff. Yasser, don't want to screw up his name. Especially, you never know if I end up in one of his events. You know, don't want to piss them off.

And Jay Monaghan, the CEO of the future golf LLC, who knows what is going to be called. We will dive into it all. Jason Sobel. Get some of your mailbag questions. At Golopod is the Instagram. So fire in to the Instagram DMs. sure we will have some live questions that came throughout the day.

But yeah, I mean, just, I don't know if anything else matters. Not last week at the Memorial feels irrelevant. Props to Victor Hovlin, incredible win. The Canadian Open definitely feels irrelevant. We got the U.S. open in a week. Buckle up. It is easily to me the most anticipated major ever. And I'm not even counting the golf tournament Thursday through Sunday.

What does Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on the grounds, the press conferences, Mickelson, Kepka, DJ, to Rory, to Rom, to JT, to Spieth? It is going to be fucking fireworks. Buckle up, can't wait. I love the majors. If Liv never would have came around. I mean, it doesn't get any. Those four events throughout the year and the NFL, to me, make my world. They keep me energized in life.

I can't be any more excited for Monday through Wednesday of that golf tournament. We'll also talk gambling, I'm sure, next week as well. I have a bet on Max Homa. Maybe I'll double back down on Kepka. It just lives on fire, even though I don't think Liv is going to exist, but we'll get into that here in a second. Download the GameTime app, official ticketing app of this podcast. Download the GameTime app.

Do you want to go to this new golf league whenever we figure out who's playing where and when it's all going down? Here's what I need you to do. Go to your smartphone. download the GameTime app, Fastest Growing Ticketing app in America. Type in the promo code, Go Low, Geo, L-O-W,

and get $20 off your first pair of tickets. Games, concerts, comedy shows, any event. Just go to the GameTime app, search whatever you're looking for, sign up first-time users, $20 off. promo code, go low. I'm recording this, so by the time you hear this, I'm sure Rory's going to talk on Wednesday,

maybe Tiger Rule release a statement. it's going to be a very, very fluid situation for the foreseeable future. So I can just go off at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Pacific standard time, the information that I have. So if I say things that are either outdated by the time you hear this or, you know, maybe aren't as important, there's nothing I can do. You know, this is a, this is just, it is what it is. So I'm going to give my thoughts. I've kind of broken it down on the major elements of this story. I want to start with Jay Monaghan

because when it comes to the show succession, I enjoy the show, but I don't have the same love for the show that a lot of people in the media do that feel like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Again, entertains me, love the business element, love the characters,

but for me, it's not a top five show of all time. Really liked it, watched all the episodes, but I think it's a little overhyped, but do enjoy several elements of that. of the show. I think that Jay Monaghan had a little Logan Roy moment. And what I mean by that is

he essentially just made himself a made man. The players meeting that just ended, I think, in Canada, from all reports, was very hostile. And people were calling for the guy's resignation. Well, Jay Monaghan essentially just made a deal

with the Piff. Saudi Arabia, some in the media would call them the devil. And essentially like the mob, Tony Soprano, my favorite show, is a made man. Now you can say, well, what if the top players turn on them? Where do they have to go? Saudi now essentially owns professional golf. Because anytime, and I talk about this with Sobel, you are the number one funder in a merger, in a partnership, in advertising. you yield a lot of control.

Why? They need your money. And the Saudi Arabia government in this investment firm that they have has an unlimited amount of cash. It never ends. They can buy whatever they want, whenever they want.

And Jay Monaghan, I don't know what spurred this. I think he was quoted of saying this was a seven-week process. But here's what he did. He insulated himself. because now the Saudi Arabian government and Piff and Yasser and SBF,

I always get him screwed up, it's not SBF, that is the crypto guy, but that's Sam Baking-Fraid. Have this piece of the professional game because of Jay Monaghan. Without him doing this behind the scenes, this would not have happened. Clearly, if you pulled the players

from Speeth to Rory to Rom to Tiger, they would not have done this deal, or they were by no means willing or inclined to do a deal with the Saudis and merge when I say live, but really just merge with them. Live is going to die because now it's under one umbrella. There is no point to have live after 2023. It's going to be over, and they're all going to play with each other, which we will get to in a little bit. But Jay Monaghan is the guy that did that deal. And anytime you are the guy that does the deal with the person that had no entrance into the business,

right, beside creating their own league, which was entertaining from a social media standpoint, but no one was watching. They couldn't get on television. They had no access to courses. He's your guy. And you can tweet out or players can say, we want them to resign. Where are you going to go? There's no other league now.

There is no place for you to go. There is one professional golf umbrella. And the Saudis and Jay control it. So what Jay Monahan essentially did is go Logan Roy. Go cutthroat businessman behind the scenes, a little like also Tom in succession, and just worry about himself first and foremost. And he's taken care of. Now, eventually if he's forced out the golden parachute, he's taken care of.

he was selfish in this situation. Now, is it going to benefit golf big picture? We can dive into that here in a little bit. But when it comes to Jay Monaghan, that is one of the most cutthroat dudes you will ever see. And say this about Jay. And listen, I've been critical of him over the years. It feels like he is much more reactive than proactive.

But you go back to 2020 when the media wanted every sport to shut down forever. He and Dana White were the first two guys to keep it Rock and rolling. The SEC followed suit. Everyone followed. But PGA Tour and UFC said, we're playing. And it was frowned upon, you know, by 99% of the media and a lot of people in society. And from that moment, up until this moment, say one thing for Jay, the dude has some stones and just took care of himself. Now, when it comes to the Sottis, I think this is a good life lesson. One of my favorite shows, I like billions more than I ever did succession, is in that show,

there was a great, great line that I will remember till the day I die. What is the point of having fuck you money if you never say fuck you? And the Saudis now, whether it's F1, whether it's European soccer, to golf,

are just slowly, and some might say not slowly, taking over everything. One thought I've had, had today is when do they get involved in the national football league? When do they get involved in the National Basketball Association? Because that kind of feels inevitable. Because they can write checks that no one else can write. They are also willing to write checks that no one else is willing to write even if they could sniff those level of funds. And they know what they're doing,

clearly because they started live golf not because they thought it was some genius idea honestly they stole a lot of the ideas from other people over the years and they funded and they bought some of the top players with it's pretty clear the idea and the view of getting involved with the pGA tour because without getting involved with the pGA tour they have no access to network television to the top golf courses unlike football and unlike soccer and unlike basketball, you can build a stadium wherever. You can build a basketball arena wherever you want. In golf, there are only so many elite golf courses. There are not 10 pebble beaches. There are not 10 TPC saw grasses or Oakmont or Wingfoot or

LACC. There is a small number of elite country clubs and public golf courses that high-end professional golfers play at and that works on television. And they had access to none of it. None of the top country clubs in America. Next week, you'll see LACC. It's easily the coolest course I've ever played. They would never have been able to get involved with that course, just like they couldn't with Pebble Beach, just like they couldn't with TPC Scottsdale, just like they couldn't with Oakmont or Wingfoot or Oak or Southern Hills or, you name it. All the top courses throughout America. They had no ability to ever play events on. So I don't care how much money you have. If you can't get on the good golf courses, what's the point of having this high-end golfly? So they were

always going to be limited. I always thought like going on the CW, I didn't understand it, just stay on YouTube. Ultimately, do you know what's clear? They didn't give a shit about any of that. The four aces, the team events, CW. It was about doing everything humanly possible. to take over golf. And they found their mark. And it turned out to be Jay Monaghan. And he was willing to play ball. And we'll see what happens to Greg Norman.

Yasser said this morning on the CNBC interview when he was sitting there shoulder to shoulder with Jay Monaghan that Greg Norman found out when he called him this morning. And a lot of reports have Rory, Tiger, all these guys had no clue. Let's face it, the big winner today. And I don't give a shit what the means. media says they're being disingenuous if they say this. Phil Mickelson looks like a genius.

He was one of the lead voices. He has created, here's the thing. With the Saudis involved, because his pushback was always, where is the money? I want to create more money. We're generating more money. This doesn't add up. I'll never forget. A tour player told me a long time ago that Phil was furious when Fox bought the U.S.

Open. and they were putting like $90 to $100 million into the tournament. And the purse went from like $10 million to like $11.5. He's like, where's the revenant? None of it ever added up. Now, there were complications because it was, you know, a 501C, which is a non-profit. Now they're going to turn into an LLC. They are clearly going to put these guys on salary.

We'll get into that here in a second. But Phil Mickelson was leading the charge for this. Now, whether he went about it the right way, whether he put, piss some people off, regardless what you think about him. I've always enjoyed Phil. I find very entertaining. I also thought it was kind of sad the last couple years when he wasn't going to the majors. He didn't say a peep in the Masters Champions Dinner. I like the version where everyone plays together and we got some villains, we got some stars, we got some good guys, we got some bad guys. This is a TV product. I want to be entertained. And I'm glad Phil led us to where we're headed.

Because one thing is where we're headed, these persons, these players are going to play when they all play together. Because that is what is going to happen. In 2024, Saudi is not investing billions of dollars to have Cam Smith and Kevin Nah playing Chase Kepka over here on a course no one cares about. And Spieth and Rory and Rom playing over here with Phil and it doesn't make any sense. You would all play together. Well, not necessarily Chase Kepka, but his brother,

Brooks. They're all going to play together for tons of cash. And I'm excited for that. Now, how we got there, is it right or wrong? I listen to coward, go on a rant about Liv. I'm with them. I never try to be disingenuous about being on a moral high horse because I don't have a moral high horse. Now, I have morals and values and things I believe in, but I'm a businessman. And I've said over and over, if the Saudis would have came to me, who knows what I would have said. Would I have just gone to them for like a million dollars? Probably not. But if they would have said, hey, you want to go for $10 million a year to podcast about live golf, I probably would have been podcasting about live golf for the last couple years. And the media loves, stop the what aboutism.

Well, the what aboutism when it comes to this and everyone is in bed with these guys from our government to all these leagues feels a little disingenuous picking on golfers. like they had anything to do with any of the stuff you're talking about. And I'm just glad, though the conversation is not over, because there are going to be some media people that beat this to a drum. But like, it shows you that money talks and shit walks. I always say this about every element of society. Everything is such fluff beside the money.

The money in every walk of life dictates it all. All of it. It's not even arguable. Now, should it be that way? Is it the best thing that it is that way? Obviously, there are things that you would like to not revolve around money, but they simply do. They always have, and I'm sorry, they probably always will. Now, when it comes to the PGA Tour players, one thing I've seen is a lot of guys should be pissed off that were offered a lot of money that turned it down.

Now, I think when you talk about the super high-end players, right, Tiger was offered hundreds of millions of dollars. Same with Rory, same with Romm, same with Hadeki. These guys were already stupid rich. And when you have a lot of money, turning down a lot of money, if it's not something you want to do, isn't that crazy. Now, looking back, if Dustin Johnson and Brooks Kepkin, they're all just together next year at the same tournament, should you have just taken the money and all ended up in the same destination anyway? Yeah, you could make that argument. But maybe John Rom would say, I didn't want to play those stupid-ass tournaments.

I'm already worth the shitload. I'm making a ton over here, or Scotty Sheffler, whoever. Now, if you made the argument that some of the mid-tier guys, a Sam Burns, a Xander Shafley, a guy like that turning down that level of wealth, I get them being mad. But to me, I would imagine Rory or John Rom or even Hadeki, Tiger don't like are glad they just took it out right and here's the other thing they are going to create and they said it today on the CNBC interview it's going to be very fascinating what this whore is called maybe they just call it PGA tour LLC these guys are going to be put on salary

so the high-end guys on the tour Rory John Romm Scotty Sheffler they're going to be paid like they're Patrick Mahomes or Steph Curry. They're going to make, I would guess, 30 to 45 million. They're just on salary with the Piff's money. And then depending on who you are, maybe you're a $5 million a year player. If you're Victor Hovlin, kind of an up-and-coming young guy, maybe you're a $20 million player, right? I don't really know how you compensate Tiger, but Kepka, Cam Smith.

These guys are very, very valuable, right? Very, very valuable. You could argue DJ at this point in time, what's he worth well? you know, if it was football, people would still pay them or basketball or baseball. They're going to all be on salary. And the amount of money that's going to flow to golf through the Piff, I saw him say today, like, are you prepared to invest billions of dollars? And Yasser responded, yes.

The commitment is never ending. Now, sports washing, I hear that term a lot. We know what it is. Like, all you have to do is Google what China is doing, what Saudi Arabia is doing. Like, you could figure out that information. This is not 1960. All the information on these places are readily available. We have this thing called the fucking internet.

So when I hear the term sports washing, that to me defines like we don't know what's going on. Every human with a working brain and a laptop has a decent idea what the hell is going on. you have a Twitter account if you have ever typed in any of this stuff if you subscribe to a newspaper read the Wall Street Journal we got an idea that shady shit goes on in some of these places

it doesn't stop anyone in any of these major corporations from dealing with any of them because back to what I said money talk shit walks and now all these players while mad are all going to directly benefit they're already super rich especially the top end guys non-lived they are going to become dramatically richer.

That's just the fact. So the players can be bad at Jay all they want. I don't think there's anything they can do. It's like they're going to force them to resign. How? By not playing and doing what? And boycotting to play where? Where are they going to go?

And last but not least, I think Brandel Chambly is one of the best in the business. In terms of all of sports, as an analyst of the game of golf. He is as good as anyone. that analyzes basketball or football or baseball, I think he's elite at his job. I don't read Aiman Lynch.

But I think both those guys are good examples of just going nonstop. Their position has not changed. In fairness, a lot of people, Jay Monaghan's position was theirs. These are bad people, they're murderous dictators, you working for them, you're a scumbag loser.

And they kept doubling down today. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I think when you talk to the average golf fan, they don't really care about that. They really don't. Do you know what they want to see? Can I see Brooks Kepka play Rory in other tournaments just beside the four majors?

Can I see Cam Smith show up at the player's championship and defend his title? Can I see Bryson D. Chambot go to the Arnold Palmer? I kind of miss those guys because a good sports league, and this is one thing basketball is really lacked, When I was a kid, teams hated each other. Players hated other players. Now everyone's best friends. Everyone's super rich and their best friends. And once all the live guys, which had some interesting characters,

a lot of quote-unquote villains leave. Everyone was kind of friends on the PJ tour. A bunch of good guys, everyone got along. You need people to like and you need people to hate. A lot of people like, Middle Coff, you're a Laker hater. Fuck yeah, I am. And that's what makes sports go around. If you meet a cowboy fan, do you know who they hate?

The Giants and the Eagles. If you meet a 49er fan, you know who they don't like? Sean McVeigh and the Rams. Who do the Bears fans not like? Aaron Rogers and the Packers, right? That's how sports are built. Heroes and villains. Your team against the teams you don't like.

And golf immediately lacked that. And you could feel it non-majors in the events. I watched, I've watched and gambled on most of the PGA tour events this season. I've lost a lot of money. But it was lacking. It just was. The players didn't quite feel right. Even last week at the memorial, lacked a little juice.

And I think bringing everyone back together is great. And do you know who matters the most in these businesses, especially the sports business? Is the fan. Is the consumer. they literally pay for everything. Not now because the PIF is helped fund in that. But before, television ratings. Without us watching it, it doesn't exist.

And I think sometimes the media gets this false sense because media members hang out with other media members and they can kind of live in a bubble. When media members go to events, they don't pay like you do. Like I do now. I haven't paid to go or I haven't gone as a media member to a game in years.

But when I did, you know, looking back, I kind of fell out of touch with the fan. And the fan in my business literally provides everything. And without them, there is none of this. It doesn't exist. If people were not willing to attend basketball games and watch basketball games, do you know what the NBA would be? Just a bunch of guys that are really good at basketball playing for nothing

because there would be no money. And I think the media has missed the mark on this lately is like, This is not about murderous dictators. It's ultimately about getting everyone to play together. And you can say, oh, it's sports washing. Yeah, we know what they do. We have the information. This is about the healthiest thing for the game.

And that is, regardless how you get there, everyone playing against everybody. The official golf world rankings don't mean a fucking thing. not when Brooks Kepka and Cam Smith are not around. Hell, even guys like Taylor Gooch. Denny McCarthy, who almost won the memorial, couldn't hold Taylor Gooch's jock or a sandwich. Probably be more apropos for golf.

So I think a lot of people with the media, they're very predictable, and we know their takes are going to be on this. And I hope, once Sadi makes this investment, like they're going to own the Golf Channel. maybe not directly on a piece of paper, but they're going to influence everything.

And I think Brandl Chambly, who, again, it would make me mad if I turn on the golf channel on major championships, on big events, and he's not around. And he's not going to pivot now. He did not pivot today. But I would say his job's in major, major jeopardy because they're going to come for it.

And I don't mean, like, actually what they do in Saudi Arabia because you're not allowed to do that in America. Only politicians can kill people and get away with it in America. But the Saudis will fire him. And Amon Lynch and those guys, they will no longer be allowed on the Golf Channel. They control it. And when the dust settles, you know,

it's going to suck for me. I'm a junkie, but most fans won't care. What they really will want is like, can Cam Smith and Brooks Kepka be playing and DJ against Rory and Rahm and Scottie Shephler at the waste management next year? So when we're cheering on Whole 16,

drinking a bunch of Titoes and sodas and getting smashed. Can like Brooks roll through with Bryson and Rory? I miss those guys. I miss them at the tournament. And I think, listen, it's been weird. It's crazy how we got here, but we're here now. In 2024, I predict Liv's not going to exist. It's all going to be one sport together.

Those guys playing the PGA guys under one umbrella. Live here with. my main man, Jason Sobel. Okay, Sobel, I was fully prepared before, I guess, you're on the East Coast, so most of us woke up to this news to give you your flowers. And this be a celebration of a Victor Hovlin hater turned into a Victor Hovlin better and hit on just an awesome, I mean, the biggest win of the guy's career, just an awesome moment. And now that's just completely irrelevant.

I'm not going to lie. The only guy trying to take a victory lap today is Jay Monaghan, and I'm not even sure that's going to work for him. So no victory laps for me. We got work to do. Okay. I'm sure you've been on the phone. You've been texting, like most of us, just the news, your initial reaction. My initial reaction was when this news came out, is in April 1st because I did not think that was real.

Secondly, it's like we're all living in a simulation. This is season five of succession, essentially. Never saw any of this coming. especially not today. But at least we have company in this because none of the parties involved, essentially the players, had any idea either. I immediately texted two players that I know fairly well, one on Live, one on the PGA tour,

and I sent them this news, and I said, what do you think? You know about this? And both of them go, no, this is the first I've heard about it in the hour and a half or whatever two hours since I've seen social media posts from dozens of players who were like, wait, what's going on? How did this happen? Why did this happen?

I think the players, especially the PGA tour players who were told for the past year and a half, be loyal to stick with the tour, to, you know, hey, things are going to work out for you in the long run, are now going to be incensed that they were like, wait, I could have left, made $10, $20, $30 million on Live, and then with no penalty, you just merge with Live and then come back to them. I think they are going to have more questions than answers. And so there's, I mean, I hate to say it right now.

There's, you're going to ask me questions over the next little bit, John. And most of my answers are going to be, I have no freaking clue. I was on a text chain with my boss as I was writing a story for action. And the first thing that my boss put was, what the fuck? I said, actually, I might use that. That's going to be the lead for my story today. That might actually be how I start things out. Yeah, I mean, there's so many angles we can take. I think on the most basic is, I think a lot of people on this merger, now, listen, anytime you're in business with someone and they have all the money, it does feel like the Saudis now run professional golf. I know they're partners and they're merged, but they are funding you. And their money is unlimited. This is, you know, I'm not trying to get political here, but when people rip on CBS or ABC or NBC or NBC,

news run by Big Pharma. Well, yeah, they're their biggest advertiser. So wherever the money comes from, they have a lot of control. And now Piff, who, you know, is the Saudi investment fund, the Jay, a lot of stuff's going viral of his talk a year ago with Jim Nance. Obviously, a lot of players have been very outspoken from Rory to ROM to Tiger to JT. And now it feels like the reason they did this is because potentially, I mean, a lot of unknown, would they have lost in court litigation-wise and they had no choice? Or in your, again, we're only a couple hours from the, from the news. There's just so much money that was offered by Piff, he couldn't turn it down. There's so many questions here again. I wish I had some answers. I think that doesn't he have to

ask the players to make a move like this? Isn't a players run tour? Policy board. Policy board, yeah. The players really don't have saying that they elect people to policy board. Policy board makes, I mean, it's succession. You watch succession. It's, you know, hey, we got to go to the board. There's not the guy who's like the VP for Waystar Royco who's like, man, how can you and ask me? I've been with the company for 20. Well, you're not on the board.

You don't get to make these decisions. Very, very similar to that. There's a few things here. Okay, first of all, the pending litigation, I think, had a lot to do with this because there are going to be findings on both sides that they didn't want necessarily uncovered and made public. And I think that at some point, the two sides probably looked at you. other go, hey, look, you don't want this out there?

We don't want that out there. How are we going to figure this out? Well, let's just get together and have a merger. I think Jay Monaghan, and I've said this to you in the past, and I've said this everywhere, that Jay Monaghan. CEO of professional golf. Screwed up at the beginning. He was arrogant right from the start.

He and everybody else aligned with the PGA tour was arrogant in thinking, this is not a threat to us, you know, oh, we've had other leagues say, hey, we're going to start a golf league. Yeah, that's no big deal. Our players aren't going to leave. And instead of trying to do this right off the bat, they just kind of tried to shoe him away, that's not a big deal. I think he was arrogant over the past year instead of saying, well, look,

Liv is now a viable product. And we have to look at what they're doing. And maybe someday we'll come to an agreement. No, Jay was all in on their bad. people, it's a bad league, they're doing bad things. Arden's better. Here's why Arns is so much better than what they're doing. And there was no, there was no concession towards, hey, you know what, I think it's pretty interesting. The team concept? Yeah, that's, that's kind of cool. It was, it was, we're great. They're not. Here's why you should consume our product. Here's why you shouldn't

consume theirs. And so again, I think that arrogance is going to hurt him in the long run now that, hey, we're all the same team. We're partners. It's just, it is a. a weird, weird day in the world of golf. I think a lot of players, a lot of people in the game are going to be, I think Jay Monahan's probably going to get the brunt of this, but like I said, there's a policy board. Jay is only one small part of it. He is the commissioner.

He's the head. He's the face of everything going on right now. But, you know, there's other powers that be involved in this that are helping to make these decisions. Well, again, there's going to be a lot over the next, you know, really the next two weeks because the U.S. opens right around the corner. Talk about this. And it's little players versus players, right? Like Kebko versus Rory, Rom, versus Phil, you know.

But it's kind of, it's been Jay versus Greg Norman, speaking of another lightning rod. By the time people are listening to this, maybe news that he's officially out. He wasn't named to anything officially. You know, it does this feel like it spells the end for Greg? And in fairness to him, he kind of did what he was paid to do, create some waves and kind of get this ball rolling with the live tour, right? So I got the sense from Greg over the past year that this was all about disruption. You know, Greg had wanted to do the world golf championships before the world golf championships

existed. PGA tour said, no thanks. And then the PGA tour essentially stole his plan and implemented it. And so this was his way of getting back of the revenge tour. You know, this is the Greg Norman's Taylor Swift revenge tour, getting back at the PGA, PGA circuit and trying to beat them at their own game and disrupt the world of professional golf. And once he did that, yeah, okay, you know, Greg would tweet, you know, great job by the fleaks this week, big win. It wasn't as into it as I think.

You know, on a daily basis, there was not this sense from Liv that, like, hey, we're going to go out and beat them. I didn't think that they were necessarily a threat to go getting more superstar players anytime soon. It felt like whether the money had dried up a little bit, whether the interest level from PGA tours had dried up, maybe, you know, the players looked at it said, okay, now we're making a lot more money on the PGA tour. Granted, we can thank Liv for that, but I don't have to jump ship because, you know, the PGA tour is giving me more money now. I will say it was very, very interesting. Yasser Al-Ramayan, who's the governor of the public investment fund, which of course owns and operates live golf was shoulder to

shoulder on CNBC in studio with Jay Monaghan this morning. And he was asked, did Greg Norman know about this? He said, oh, yeah, sure. I just called him a few minutes ago. I don't think Greg is necessarily on the inner circle. I mean, to compare it to succession to succession again, there was a Greg in that show who wasn't necessarily on the inside circle of everything that was going on. Greg Norman might have been very much in the same realm. I think a lot of people definitely on social media right now are taking a victory lap. for all the high-end guys that didn't go. You know, ROM turned down hundreds of millions. Hadecki, clearly the JTs of the world, Spieth, you know, Rory.

But those guys are so rich, you know, would it impact their life? They're going to end up making so much money in the big picture. I do think the big, so I don't think they're a huge losers like that group. And I think they didn't want to do. I do think the big winner, though, is Phil Mickelson. And he's already chirp in a little bit as we're recording this. He's got to be feeling pretty good. He's got to be feeling pretty good.

He's been turning down podiums at these majors since he came, I think, late last year. And then obviously this year, I would expect him next week in L.A. To fucking strut right up to that podium, baby. Yeah. And he's probably going to talk about all, you know, hey, this was the plan all along. I love the PGA tour. I wanted to work with them. This was my idea to get live to, you know, sort of light a fire under the PGA tour and get

them play. Look at what all the players have to do. They have to thank me for going to live, bringing players to live, getting more exposure over there, and they brought more money to all them and got more money in their pockets. It was a weird way of doing everything. Look, if you're one who wants to give Phil full credit for everything he did here, that's fine. I'm okay with it. I still think he could have gone about it, probably a classier way than he did over the past year, but it's fine. I I have no idea. I mean, I have not had any idea what's going on with Phil for a while now. He can obviously still play some good golf. We saw it to Augusta National. Besides that, look, all I can tell you is that I've known Phil Mickelson for a long time. Phil always has an agenda.

Whatever Phil says, whatever Phil tweets, there's a reason for it. There's a reason why he's doing that. He thinks, and, you know, this comes to part of the whole, I think I'm the smartest man in the room. type of thing, which sometimes he is and sometimes he's not. But Phil constantly thinks he's playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers. Again, whether that's true or not, but Phil is trying to think three steps ahead. And so I think that if we go back and look at his timeline of tweets and things that he's said, he's going to be able to pull out a few things here and there and say, look, see, see what I did? See right there? And he'll take that victory lap.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

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And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at Tick. TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I think if you ran into someone today at the golf course on the street at work, start talking about the subject, most casual people will act like they're going to start playing together, right? That's, I think, what the headline feels like. When you read the details of the press release, it doesn't necessarily reflect that. Again, a lot of moving parts, a lot of unknown. From your understanding, are we going to see like the,

like Cam Smith, Kepka, here at like, you know, the travelers in a couple of weeks, because it doesn't quite feel like that yet. But I also don't expect like Speed JT to create some team. You know, it's, we're kind of in a weird spot because I think there's a lot of unknown on how this is going to play out on the course, right? Because that's ultimately what this affects, right? So I think it remains the same throughout the end of the 2023 season. And if you look at the PGA tour, includes its season August 27th.

Live concludes there as November 5th and the DP World Tour on November 19th. I think everything remains as is for the time being. But I think moving forward, that all changes. And yes, I do think that if- Why would- Why would Live still host of events? I know. I've got plenty of this.

Look, you're asking questions that I don't have answers to. And quite frankly, I could be a top 10 player in the world who's playing the PGA tour or playing live and be sitting here with you right now and say, I have no idea. I'm going to read to you. This is a third paragraph of the press release. Notably, today's announcement will be followed by a mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties. Further, the three organizations will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair

and objective process for any players who desire to reapply for membership with the PGA tour or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria in terms of readmission consistent with each tour's policies. To me, that tells us they don't really have an idea yet that like, yeah, if you play live, you can now play the PGA tour, the DP World Tour next year if you want. We're going to let you back in. Maybe we'll give you some sort of penalty, probably not, since it's a merger and why would we penalize guys that now work for us.

So I can't see that happening, but it smells to me, John, that if, if, you're a merger, you If Brooks Kepka or Cam Smith or something like that wants to go play the century tournament of champions, the first week of January, 2024, they'll say, sure, come on. We're all partners here. You can come play. Yeah. If Kepka wants in on TPC Scottsdale or those guys want to play RIV, that feels like where it opens up. Is these big events, the memorial, these guys want back in, they're going to get in. And, you know, is Kepka likely to be as involved in some of the team events?

So that's one I'd have circled. I could see Brooks playing some less live events. I do think it's fair to assume the Saudis, and you've seen them do this in soccer, and obviously, and I'm not a big F1 guy, but they got their hands involved in that, is they wanted it on golf. And so Liv was a way in. And now that they have this merger, you know, I think it's fair to assume that the importance of, quote, unquote, live golf is less important, as long as they're in,

to the overall umbrella of the sport. And now they're meathooks because of their cash flow, which is literally unlimited. I just feel my overall reaction is it feels like the Sadi's and the Piff and Yasser and what's his name, SBF, or that's the crypto guy. But you know who I mean. Runs golf. Like they're in charge now because they're essentially going to sign the check.

Sobel, these purses now, $20 million. these elevated events. Well, now the Saudi money's involved. I mean, are we going to see like $50 million event? Because that feels like it's on the table. Yeah, probably. It's more money for everybody. I mean, I guess if you're a player and you're mad right now, I think you're going to be placated very, very quickly when they start talking about how much money is now going to be involved in these events that, you know, I can go have one good week next year. And I'm going to make more money than I had in the previous five years. So, you know, that's certainly possible. I don't know. I mean, we talk about who runs golf. Nobody really runs golf right now anyway.

So look, I think that probably the people making these decisions are the people that are not front-facing, as you think. And again, Jay Monaghan is going to get some of the credit and all of the blame. and, you know, he is going to be the name that's front and center as the face of everything. But this goes way beyond. It transcends just Monahan. There are some big names on that policy board with the PGA tour who I've heard, have had conversations with Liv in recent weeks, and they had a big part in making this happen.

Again, I said it earlier, this pending litigation and the findings that were going to be made public don't undervalue the impact of not wanting things made public and how that fueled their decision-making. Because, I mean, this has gone from zero to 60 very, very quickly. This has gone from, we hate them, our product is better. There is never going to be any talks between us, any kind of merger, anything like that, to, by the way, it's Tuesday morning, we've got a merger. Let's break the news on CNBC.

I mean, this has gone very, very quickly. there are very few things that can make it go that quickly, but I think the ability to keep secrets, secret, that that'll fuel a whole lot of things moving forward. Unless you got something else, I'm going to end. I think the big winner here is just golf, because one thing we saw with Kepka winning is the separation of just some of the top guys, Cam Smith, Brooks, even Bryson when he's good, not being around,

the villains, having those guys, back interacted. I like watching the DP World Tour on Saturday and Sunday morning. If I get up really early and having a cup of coffee, obviously they were directly impacted losing some of their big names that occasionally play over there. If now we get the combination of all these guys playing together again, there's animosity, there's added storylines. I do think it's good for the entertainment standpoint. And that's what I care about the most. And I think most fans care about the most because most fans aren't profiting from this besides if you bet on Victor Hovlin last week

to win the Memorial. I do think this element of getting everyone back together besides just the four majors a year, if that's eight or nine times now, benefits us all from an entertainment standpoint. I think you're not wrong about that. By the way, wasn't that a shooter McAvin

line? I think the big winner today is the game of golf. Shoot her out and let him analyze this whole thing. Look, I've said it for the past year that I've said it in jest and joking around but hey you know it would be really cool if we took like all the good players from live and then all the good players from the dp world tour and from the pgator and we put them all together and they like played against each other like all the time wouldn't

that be awesome well guess what that's what we're going to have it also looks very similar to what the pGA tour was three 2022 so i mean it's not like anything nothing we've ever seen before you know it's not like wow, for the first time ever, Rooks, Kepka and Cameron Smith are going to play in PGA tour events. We're going to see what that's like. No, it wasn't that long ago. They were playing in PGA tour events. So we're basically just hitting the reset button on this whole thing. And, you know, it just goes back to me calling it a simulation.

And like, you know, we all just got a job for the last year and a half yelling at each other on social media for a long time and then going, oh, all right. Yeah, I guess we're just going back to everyone and just go play golf now. for more money. Yeah, Cam Smith, the players champ last year, you know, his parking spot was removed. So I wonder if he gets his parking spot back at TBC's holographs. Oh, come on.

You know, that's just water under the bridge now. You know, no big deal. We're all friends. Come on. It was just part of the negotiation process. Any Michael Block takes for the Canadian Open this week? He played good. You see, he beat Ludwig.

He almost qualified for the U.S. Open. And he had a good, he had a good, uh, good 36 holes yesterday. This is who I really feel for because Michael Block could have, uh, you know, if he had an agent, you could have called, had his agent call live a couple of weeks ago after the PGA and say, hey, look, he's got a chance to play in the Charles Schwab challenge and the RBC Canadian open, but for, for the very small nominal signing bonus of $10 million, Michael would love to come play live golf instead. That's, that's how I would have approached this if I were him, known from

club pro to making some serious cheese over on live golf. Well, apparently that won't be necessary anymore. So, you know, Michael's going to have to go hoof it in Canada this week without a U.S. Open, uh, birth in next week's field. So poor Michael. I'll get you out of here on this. I know you like Terrell Hadden this week. Have you, do you already have your pick for the, for LACC?

No, I was going to spend the next couple of days doing it. I think we're starting to see a little separation because for the. first few months of this year, it's like, man, I look at the top 20 in the world. Like, all those guys are really, really good. And I can't really separate. Now we're starting to see, like, Scotty Sheffler is really, really good. He's playing really, really well. Brooks Kepka goes to majors, plays really well.

Those guys are going to be up there. Who else? Cameron Smith might be on top of my list. He's going to go to the majors. He's going to roll in puts. He's going to play well. Victor Hoffland, of course, who just won the other day. Victor is, he's taking it to a different gear.

I mean, that was a different Victor Hovlin that I watched on the back nine on Sunday, a guy that like, he wasn't just smiling and laughing off a bad chip. I mean, this was a guy that had full game face going. I'm not sure I've seen that from Victor before. I think something's changed in him. But you start looking at guys like that, and you're like,

they're just, they're playing better. It doesn't mean Xander Schofley can't win. Doesn't mean Justin Thomas can't win. These guys are just playing better on a regular basis than those players. And even Rory, who, you know, the eye test, it feels like he's playing shitty, even though he top tens and basically every events he's playing in right now, is on a completely different level than guys. I always bet on the Zanders, the Fianos. Like, if you're going to, even if you're down on Rory, you're better off betting him than some of those random guys because they haven't even been.

I'm so tired of betting on that crew of like the second tier guys that get, you know, pretty good odds. And then you just look up, they're like struggling to make the cut. I see now's learned how to win. The odds are pretty good. Yeah, it does. Max Homer's got a decent. It's not. No.

Rory, there's a non-zero chance that Rory wins by 17 shots this week. Like, hey, like lift all the weight from what you've had on you for the last year and a half to like, hey, bro, it's cool. Don't worry about it anymore. Just go play golf. Like, he may party every single hole in Canada this week.

I have no idea. Or it could be weighing on him even more. that like he's getting so many questions about he's got to deal with this deal with that he's on phone calls that he misses the cut i have absolutely no idea but if anything i think at least at least in the long term if not the short term i think this frees up rory to play better golf yeah if his number gets to like 13 14 to 1 for the u.s open i i could be intrigued i could be yeah probably stupid but i could be okay so i have a feeling plays well inferior field this week is two-time defending champ, granted in two different decades on two different golf courses,

but he is the defending champion here. And I think he'll play well. And I think he'll keep that number from getting too long next week. You're right. He's probably 10 to 12. That Canadian Open last year was a big moment. Him JT. Fienau kind of vibe in on the course when the Lyft stuff was hot and heavy.

Now they're all friends again. I don't think we're getting that this year. No, I don't think so. Okay, so we'll enjoy, enjoy the phones today. Thanks, buddy. See if we have some news for us next week. Okay, I had a little change of plans because this is probably going to be a huge story the rest of the week. I think I will do the at-go-low pod.

Ad-go-low pod is the Instagram. I saw there are a bunch of mail-bag questions just because I went for like 25-minute syllable. I don't want to do like a two-hour pod. That I will do mail-bag questions for golf stuff probably on Friday's podcast. So that's what I will do. That is the game plan. So a lot of you guys fired in the DMs. My DMs, I see a lot of unread questions, which is cool.

It's going to be a lot of people interested on this story. We will get to that on Friday's podcast. So I might intermix some football stuff, some golf stuff for Friday show. This is definitely going to be one of the biggest stories in the sports world over the next couple days. So that is the game plan right now. So if you slid in those DMs at Golopod, I will get to you on Friday. promise. Plus, I need content. So it's an easy one. We already went pretty long on this pod. Appreciate everyone that listened. Crazy story today. Yeah, I mean, just all-time shocker, really.

I mean, it's insane. See everyone Friday. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs

banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but

encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

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