A new boss at the PGA, Phoenix struggle busses, and Reed’s Middle East run

Now the shotgun start in golf is full of mathematics. There's a lot of setup work that we have to do in order to make a tournament work. So I'm going to demonstrate to you just exactly how we do a shotgun start here. And here we go. Alright, alright, alright. Gentlemen, start your engines! Greetings and welcome to a Friday edition of the Shotgun Start. It is February 6th. Andy, how are we doing? Brendan! I'm doing all right. I'm ready for the Super Bowl, you know? You're ready for the Super Bowl. All right. Who do you think is going to win? I don't know. I'm kind of hoping for the Hawks the Seahawks. Sports fans everywhere just taking in a great mark I feel like Seattle's easy to root for I wouldn't dispute that notion. I think probably some people in the NFC West would. Your neighbors friends and neighbors in San Francisco area might Los Angeles people. I don't know. But yeah, I don't have any great animosity or offense taken with anything Seattle. And they had their NBA team just ripped away. I just feel like they deserve something. The Mariners never win, never get over the line. They need this. Doesn't seem like an obnoxious fan base in any way, shape, or form. Sure they are. Everybody has obnoxious people. I was a diehard Supersonics fan growing up. That was my thing. I got on that genre. i had a sean kemp jersey back before you could buy like the internet didn't exist my uncle had to like go to uh lived in seattle sent me a lives and sent a starter jacket from wherever sears jc penny macy's and i had a seattle supersonic starter coat in cleveland ohio and it was like you know like an alien you know you couldn't find those anywhere but i've always had like an affinity for Seattle since growing up being a big Sonics fan. I guess it's awesome. Sorry my Bulls crushed your Super Sonics heart and your Cavs heart. Even then, when there was someone in Cleveland that jumped on the Bulls banner, honestly, it would make third grade me my blood boil. That is the biggest fraud. It would be like some kids nowadays becoming a Chiefs fan yesterday. and it was like we would have Cleveland and it would like the Cleveland Cavs were good then and there would be like you know yeah just the most like thin skin weak moral fiber kids would be like oh I like the Bulls I was like that is the biggest bogus move you know I can assure you what nobody's jumping on the Bulls bandwagon these days what happened deadline day we can talk about this later We do not talk about this now. I'm just mad. It's a complete joke of a franchise. It is like, you know, you talk about the 90s and being a kid and like being a kid and growing up with the Bulls and Michael Jordan to where we are now. And it's just like, it's so sad. So sad. Jerry Reinstorf should be ashamed of himself. The whole, the Reinstorf should be forced to sell the team. they're outrightly damaging the value of the NBA by just completely ruining the Bulls. Well, we'll be in town next week. Maybe we can get some reconnaissance going. Maybe do a covert ops operation. Covert ops, intel gathering, mission on the Rhines door. So that might force them to sell. Similarly to what was done with Daniel Snyder in my adopted hometown. Yeah, I think that. Donald Sterling is, you know, maybe a little bit worse than Jerry Reinstorf. But, you know, I mean, probably based on the record and legal documents. I don't know, though. I'm sure we could figure something out. We'll be there next week. Space tickets available. We don't need to talk about that again. February 12th. Space will be in Evanston. We'll be there sooner than that. We're going to be bouncing around Chicago all next week. I got to get Cameron on our schedule. I said I was going to do that. Then I got roped into some stuff. I still haven't gotten that scheduled to him. That's all right. We'll get there someday. Maybe when we show up. Leading in Phoenix, hard left turn, is Chris Goddorup. Big-time player who shows up and plays to win. Obviously, everybody plays to win. You play to win the game. It's Herm Edwards, but he tends to do it more than others for his current age and his quick sort of assimilation into an upper crust on the PGA Tour. There's a long way to go in Phoenix, but he went out eight under conditions only supposed to become more lenient, more benign over the next three days. This was allegedly going to be the hard day, but he shoots a 63. You also had Matt Fitzpatrick, I think was seven under through his first seven, maybe eight holes. he's runner up but got her up uh shortly after winning sony is right back at the top of another leaderboard yeah i was i was wondering about him the last two weeks as as a pick um he is uh he's a stud you know and uh it is uh it's fun it's always fun to watch a player ascend you'll see if that is what he's doing right now. Obviously, it's one round in. Yeah. But he's making a habit of showing up. And I think this is like, you know, you have the Genesis Open or Scottish Open that is a big time event. I would say this is the other one that's like the biggest event that's not a elevated event, you know? Interesting. That's probably a good debate to have. Yeah, it was that one year, I think, first year, and then it got shifted to Pebble. This is up there. It certainly has its identity. It doesn't need any extra elevation or extra, you know, we're going to force more money onto the table to make guys come. So it's working out. Hideki is also lurking. So beware of your Sunday afternoon plans, Hideki, early on, playing well in Phoenix, as he always does. If you're into the next wave of golfers, this first round leaderboard is for you. And I think this tournament has a platform that others don't, even signature events. It has a platform that the Travelers doesn't. It has a platform that... Coil Hollow. Coil Hollow doesn't. Yeah, it has a platform that reaches more of the common golf fan. It's timing is awesome. Whereas before the Superbowl, now if it goes to playoffs and runs into the Superbowl, it's not great, but for the, the tournament, how it exists, I think this is a place that can, can launch stars and can move players up in their profile with, with fans. And you look at this leaderboard. And I think one of the hardest parts about being a young player in today's day and age, it's so corporatized that like these guys don't really say anything and they're rarely you know in the spotlight unless they're contending at majors and you look at got between godderup thorbjornson cootie hoy guard there are a lot of guys on this board that are rnps right there uh both hoy guards really um that could become a darling with a win here where they you know they kind of burst into a different stratosphere of fandom. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. Young Jake Knapp is also there. I think he's already done that. Who's calling him? Are we calling him young Jake Knapp now? Is somebody to refer to him as that? I mean, last year, everyone was like, this is a budding superstar. He's 30 years old. I love John Perry, English journeyman back on via the top 10. this pack and he's making hay on the PGA Tour. I feel like Hissatsuni is just a regular PGA Tour event assassin. I'd have to dig into the cross tabs there, but he's certainly popped for this podcast more than you would imagine, Ryo Hissatsuni. He's always kind of lurking around. Not lurking is Scotty Scheffler's first over par round since the Travelers Championship last June on the PGA Tour. I don't believe he talked to the media after his round had a little chip mishap that ball rolled back to his feet on 18 and he was very emotive kind of shaking his club at the ground and other inanimate objects around him you know it's kind of interesting you know these guys are shooting whatever leader shot 63 It's just a handful of rounds in the 67 or lower. The short grass was a little dicey today. I watched Colin Morikowly the sod. The ryegrass is causing problems? I don't know. It was a little wet. I saw a handful of chipping scuffles and struggles around the green. Morikowly the sod over one. Like, I mean, it went 12 inches if it went a foot in front of him. They were talking about he almost hit it twice from, you know, they said it was a little wet, a little moist. But yeah, you know, there was, there was, you know, you had to make shots as you always do at Phoenix. And you know what? If guys are going to bitch a moan about it, there was a 63 out there and a million 67, 66. You know who made some shots? Impressive round one. Our guy, AJ Ewert. Nearly charted on 16. Nearly made nace on 16. We have a line on his father, who you documented via his bio. I have his contact information. His bio isn't an AJ Ewert bio. It's a Brad Ewert. I have Mr. Brad's contact information. I've told he would be a fabulous guest. There's a lot of Moe Norman stories in a run-in with Jumbo Ozaki. As this all turned out, you just started reading down the bio. may turn out to have the father, the old man on the podcast someday. I think we've learned over the years it's never a bad idea to just head over to the PGA Tour bio and start reading. Favorite movie, you know, The Matrix 3 or whatever it is. Yeah, there's just a lot of stuff going on there. PJ, you did get bounced from the Kebke Mule accounting, did he not? He did. He was second on the alternate list to begin with, So now it's Marcelo Rozo, the legend from Q School, and Toasty as a result of JJ Spawn's WD. So Toasty's still in. So it's basically Brooks versus all of South America at this point. The Colombian and... Peek up preview. All right, there we go. I've got bad news. It looks like Toasty and Rozo are probably heading for MC Hammers. Well, Brooks is already there. Brooks is golden opportunity for the for the mules it was a layup for the mules Brooks is near DFL I mean he switches got still got every shot treatment from what I saw oh it's all over he's all over the place uh he's playing with the best player in the world Cameron Young Cameron he's been fun to watch Kim Young uh so Cameron Young uh you you were puffing you were getting chesty on our group text pj 100th event 100th 100th start i would like to see brendan uh poke a hole in that one are you proud of the 100th pga tour start how could you not be i'm proud of round numbers number 100 for mr 1000 are you proud of the one percent win percentage uh did i do my math right don't love that uh you might have got me there I'm going to remove myself now. I was like stupid Chris walking you down the alley. You just didn't even know what was going to happen. Cam Young has been fun to watch golf his ball. Recovery shots. He's been fun to watch. Incredible chip shot as we talked about some of the chip struggle. I know it's Rye but he was in he had a horrible eye in the rough. He's been fun to watch this afternoon. um kepka though kepka might be returning to old kepka more of a terse press conference on tuesday the whole like emotional routine the gratitude slowly whittling away as one would expect to be quite frankly that to be quite frank and this play has not been good for a second week in a row uh made the cut last week does not look like he'll make the cut but there's time Switched to a putter Switched to a putter Spider, right? Spider-Man, Spider-Boy Mallet deal from TaylorMade Getting on that train With Scotty, Rory Others who've gone that direction Brian Harmon Did he use the spider? He used some spaceship I think that's a spider I think that's a different version of the spider Giant version of the spider Old school, different, older um so but it hasn't paid off the the um what's the uh tarantula like a bigger bigger species or subspecies of spider yeah like we had to learn that whatever all those the class of uh classification system growing up um he's deer dead last in putting strokes gain putting so let's just get really reactionary to one round uh he's You want to talk about the broom? He's been poor off the tee. He's just been bad today. But more surprisingly, I suspect, is Scottie. Not playing well. He didn't talk to the press. Bypasses it. I don't know. He's a 2-1 favorite to win. Just didn't have a good day. So some big names. Colin Marcao continuing to struggle based on early returns. But as you noted, a good leaderboard for the ready-to-breakout, ready-to-become-a-catnip star. but some stars did struggle earlier. Anything else? Yeah, there's something. Today commenced the NHL players break for the Olympics, for the Winter Olympics. Correct. I'm wondering if Kevin Waugh is going to break and go watch the Canadian team with his dad, or if he's going to keep playing PGA Tour golf. He's playing good golf. I don't think seven. He's seven. So storyline to watch. He shined in Hawaii. I don't know. I don't think it'd be a good idea to go to go to Italy where Cortina looks like everything's half done there. You see the sham of a hockey arena? It's like it looks ridiculous. It's like, you know, the SoFi, the first attempt at the SoFi dome, which I analogize to like a spirit Halloween store. It's just like temporary. They moved in It just a concrete space and they drop some stuff in there Yeah that looks like an underwhelming hockey arena You going to have all the best players in the world Maybe they'll finish it by next week. That does it for Phoenix Open. My favorite moment of Phoenix Open was the new players championship slogan. Did you see this in commercials? March is going to be major. With a highlight reel of 17. man they just can't they cannot help themselves I feel like the players has been on a great trajectory by not trying to declare itself a major they kind of really got away from that maybe eight years ago or so everything goes back we talked about this a couple episodes ago everything is cyclical here they are maybe they smell blood in the water with the PGA and we can get to the PGA. Maybe, maybe this podcast where we kind of asked the question if, if the players was bigger than the PGA, you just, it's like, it's like every so often, like the regime that wasn't there for all the POWs and the battles and the lives lost from 10 years ago, they weren't around and now a new regime comes on and that scar tissue She wasn't there. Those bad memories aren't there. And they're like, oh, we should go down this road. Let's go. Let's do it. Let's do March is going to major. And so we're back now. We're back declaring ourselves major. And the blowback will be, I don't know, probably sufficient. It just cuts into the own great brand. The great brand they've built is like a really cool, awesome, elevated, significant, something, other event. And just telling people it's a major is not great. Anyways, this just came across my desk. I've acquired some audio from the meeting room where it was decided. Man, we share our spitballing, aren't we, Rich? Man, we share our spitballing. All right, we'll be down there. You must have signed off on this. We're making arrangements to go down to the players. We should be back. I don't know if that makes it a major or not a major, but we're excited to get back. I had an oops-a-daisy with our arrangements. for the players. A little whoops-a-daisy. I got to stop booking travel. Business Pete would probably concur with that statement. I booked our Airbnb. I found a place. I was like, wow, this is a great price. And then two days later, I was looking at my Airbnb app and I was like, I booked it for February 8th instead of March 8th. Hence the good price, apparently. Should we just do a trip to soccer? Well, I canceled. Didn't get all of it back. Got a portion of it. Definitely cost us $1,000. That's tough. We're going to take it out of PJ's allowance in Chicago. All right. There we go. Think of how many tokens for the batting cage that could have bought me. PJ's very interested in going to Murphy's in Wrigleyville to go hit the batting cages. I think we'll have to do that and put it on social. The place just outside? Murphy's Bleachers? The place just outside? I don't know. I see TikToks all the time. They got batting cages outside of Wrigley. I'm ready. I don't think I've ever gone in. Looked like too much of a tourist trap or too much of it. I don't know. I didn't go in. I've had beers maybe outside. So we're falling hard times. We've got a little less money than we had the day before because of our mishap. One way we can recoup it is if you would be so kind as to sign up for an event. I'm not here on the street begging with a tin cup, but this is an ad read for our good friend, Will Knights, fellow colleague at Friday Golf. He runs our events, has done so excellent, does in an excellent manner. I mean, he's got years of experience now. We just keep getting better and better and better and trying to make these more valuable for the attendee, more dialed and tuned in. Will has been around the block now several times and has done a great job with our events. He is now alleging in these notes I'm supposed to read that Friday events may have overtaken Friday Golf Club for the hottest club in town. Are we having some internecine conflict within the company? Do you want to start putting different branches? You know what? I don't like this energy from Will at all. He's our community manager. He's supposed to be on both of these games. He is supposed to be on both. It says Prairie Dunes, Tamarack, Pasatiempo, Mountain Ridge are launching soon for registration. We have a handful of spots. Like, what is a handful? Like, what does that mean? That sounds like a very sort of ambiguous term that I might throw out. A handful, several. Is it handful is 12? Is it six? Is it three? He says there's a handful of spots available at Soul Park and Lookout Mountain. Everything else is at capacity. Unlike Friday Golf Club, the bouncer will not let you in. You can check out thefrideeg.com slash events for more details or email Will at events at thefrideeg.com with any questions. You can just email him with any questions about anything. It doesn't have to be event related. Just start emailing him questions. but yeah he's done a great job check out the events hey before the Chicago Chicagoans get upset I misspoke it's sluggers PJ wants to go to sluggers with batting cages sluggers getting my Wrigleyville bars confused it's fine it's completely fine I haven't been to Wrigleyville in a time that didn't involve a cup game in a really long time it'd be right right i mean the place has to be empty right i would think sluggers when the cubs aren't playing right you got 81 chances you know then you just may rack it all up right it's like the you know we can get a lot of cuts in there's no line for the cages god that'd be depressing depressing i'm not going there come on whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa time out who is we are not going there you don't have to come it sounds like andy wants to take some hacks i'm a i'm a little worried about being sore from taking hacks yeah yeah you know do they have a radar gun who's the fanatics fella who just like threw it off Side of the net. Top side of like 33. Yeah. Just buying friends and celebrities. I like the radar gun one. But then that's how you throw your shoulder out. Like I'll do that with my kids. Like at a Nats game. I'm going to reach back on this one. That's how you get hurt. When they do the radar gun. The cage is less slow. But all right. So we'll go to sluggers. Or someone will. Maybe. We'll see. It sounds like sluggers. sluggers, the batting cages range from 40 to 80 miles an hour. We got to tune it up to 80 for PJ. Dude, 80 is so fast. I haven't seen 80 since high school. When you're 15, it's like, all right, but now that's going to be a shock to the system. I sat really low for a game a baseball game and I don't think I could hit a major league I don't think I could ever I could be up there all day but likewise you think about all the athletics golf is unique a 35 handicap could beat Rory on one hole or Scotty on one singular hole it's completely fathomable for them to beat someone on a par three is possible i i think if anybody yeah i guess yes it's completely fathomable like they're gonna just run one up and it'd be close like in basketball i don't think that any lay person could get even like a shot off against an nba player i think that's right and i and if people are oh i could you i don't think you could even just like get check the ball and shoot a three i don't think this is very big this is a like a lifelong argument that me and my core group of friends have is one-on-one five minutes with harrison barnes is the example we use could you score no it's like a 12-3 12 of the 15 think they think they can. There's no way. I don't even think you get a shot off. 6'8", rangy, athletic. I don't think you get a shot off. No, there's no way. There's no way if they locked in, you don't even get a shot off. Or your shot is so feeble. So anyways, hockey, if you try to skate at someone and get past a hockey defender, they would just take the puck from you. But anyways, I'm trying to think, is golf the only athletic endeavor where it's completely feasible that you could beat the best player in the world in a very small sample size? Maybe. I mean, I wouldn't mind meeting Ramondre Stevenson in the hole. I think he could do that. No way. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Kenneth Walker in open space. I don't know. I think that's fun. It's the only athletic endeavor. I think that this is like, like think about racing a running race against a high level runner. Yeah. No, no, you would never, you know, these marathon runners run faster than you could sprint a mile. Like a normal person could sprint a mile. I wonder what like the greatest disparity is like baseball pitching is up They're honestly, I think like sneaky one is like soccer. You're like, nope. All right. Nope. Like a top of like, like what, what has happened? What just happened? We're like the speed and everything's crazy. But yeah, I agree with you. Golf is maybe a chance. You have a slice of a chance. I, I took my kids to like one of these fun land deals. Like, and like, I turned on the highest and I was like, I shouted, holy shit. It was like, it was like 84. And it was like, honestly, I didn't see it. There's a big bang off the pad behind you. That's 84 and straight. Holy shit. If you're playing anybody at a professional level, 84 is not straight. Of course. I couldn't believe it. All right. We're going to do it up to 80. Apparently sluggers can get up to 90. Dude, I would probably piss myself if I saw 90. Just let's be honest. I think we got to go now and just get PJ in the cage. I think we got to do this like for every sport Try to set it up over the course of a year I think you got to do Oklahoma drill Get PJ and pads Get Harrison Barnes If anybody wants to volunteer You know where to find us Shoot us an Instagram, DM, Twitter If any athlete out there wants to volunteer I'm open Who's the Broncos tackle McGlinchey You had a fried egg hat in the locker Let's do an edge rush against McGlinchey. Let's try to set that up. I mean, that would be hilarious, honestly. You're down in a three-point stance and trying to get around the corner. Are you going to bull rush or speed rush, PJ? No, I got to get the hands. I got to get the hands out of the way and go. Get me to phone booth. I don't know if you can handle it. I don't know if you can do it. I mean, I think Justin steals an egghead. the hubs pitcher maybe we could get we could get in the oh this would be an incredible challenge good series could be a good series let's ask all the one so is a an egg follower he'd be a good guy to try and score against yeah i mean that's that's the peak of nba defense quite literally i think that would be like the most nightmarish for any lay person is alex caruso because he can guard they they have a trying guard when but yama you know and then like for a little guard he like hounds little guards in the world that is potentially the hardest possible person that you can go against because he's such an elite nba defender all right uh fun little digression I think Lou Dort might be the one that I doubt. Lou Dort would just... Who would be the best to go up again? Who is the most lackadaisical, laissez-faire? Zach Levine. He's like 6'7", 6'6", and athletic as hell. But he doesn't care. I wonder if James Harden, you could just catch sleeping. New cab James Harden. Yeah, that's your guy. launch a three launch a three before he can contest you probably could quite frankly so um that might be your chance all right uh we'll have to do this we'll set it up we'll set it up do this over the course of a year make it i think you know the thing that i'm excited about is that i've gotten to i'm i've got i think i might be too old to partake in the challenges you know i was shooting jumpers on my neighbor's hoop the other day and I jumped and I was like, did I just pull my calf? I don't know. I'll be at my kids' practice. Set jump shots. Might have pulled the calf. That's tough. That's tough. Also tough. Liv Riyad. Liv Riyad is off and running two rounds into that. I put Giltabuna, the big free agent in Hall. Lost to DJ Miguel Tabuna. He didn't, he didn't, I wonder if they told him, look, whatever you do, you cannot beat the boss. You cannot beat the boss. You got to fall, fall in line behind DJ. You can't beat him. He's T37, Miguel Tabuna. I know everybody listening to this was curious for that. Talor Gooch and Smash are leading as a team and an individual. I know PJ is talking about Ewing Theory, the Bill Simmons bit on this. They lose Brooksy. Brooksy is mired in a slump in the West Coast swing. And there's Talor and Smash flying high. Sam Preston, Smash. Sam Preston, Smash. DFL, Matthew Wolfe, Bubba Watson. So Range Goats are just a disaster. But they do have some new initiative with Freddy's Frozen Custard. I got a press release about that. So they're last and second to last. But they've got a new initiative with Freddy's Frozen. That deal's almost a year old. That came out right around the Masters last year because I remember talking about Freddy's frozen custard with some people under the tree. Yeah, at Augusta. People asked the talk of the Masters. Freddy froze. Elsewhere, Rom and Gooch are not happy with the OWGR. We got this from the initial statement. They've since gone on the record. Gooch says, Obviously, I don't think the right thing was done, which is not any different than what we experienced here at Live for the last four or five seasons now It be interesting So nothing everything the wrong thing been done to live for four or five years I think anybody who says the right thing was done and the fair thing was done. I don't think they're in tune with the reality of things. So, you know, we've got live boys saying other people aren't in tune with reality. Uh, Rob said he didn't think it was fair. Didn't think it was right. Uh, Westy is, you know, turned his gun on the media again, saying the media treatment of Liv has just been abominable the last four or five years. So, you know, we're back to grievance merchants, grievance merchantry, you know? Gooch says we're not dealing with reality. Rom's not happy and Westy's bad at the media coverage. So, you know, you got points. I guess just be happy. I don't know. Maybe, no, I guess they have the right to argue their case, but they got their points. Elsewhere, Scott O'Neill says it's going to be five to 10 years, which I would say is a big gap. It's a sizable range. Five to 10 years for the league to be profitable, but there's a commitment long-term to this business. I would just say I'm not necessarily seeing long-term commitment from some of the other Saudi projects at the minute. So, you know, the ground under your feet could shift quickly. You know, I know his book is Be Where Your Feet Are. Seems like that could shift quickly. But he says five to ten years before they're profitable, which, you know, five is a lot less than ten. It's a big range. That's Liv Riyad check-in. Do you have any reaction? Five to 15. You know, why stop at ten? Who cares? Yeah, why stop at ten? I don't have anything. I'm looking forward to the FS2 numbers. On DP World Tour, Daniel Hillier and Patrick Reed are tied in the Cutter Masters. He is a menace. In the Middle East, rampaging, just collecting trophies and cash in the Middle East, Patrick Reed. He's the likes of Oliver Lindell. I know one of your favorites, Gregorio DeLeo. uh on hell a yora who's just becoming everybody's getting in that bandwagon yokum logger again logger grin kazumi kibora others uh and the piss bear jr so yeah patrick reed right back just making hey also by the way they did say he will play the genesis scottish open uh as you know that's technically a tour event so he's got that race to dubai standings probably exemption that they're just penciling them in for. That's the DP World Tour exemption. I had a write-in. A friend of the program sent me a text who said this is a pretty obvious take here. The P. Reid situation is the last time in our lifetimes, for those that are nostalgic about the European Tour, that a legitimate top 20 player will play exclusively on the European Tour. that's interesting that's interesting yeah I mean I watched that round table recently with the great five or the fantastic five obviously sans savvy and I was just you know those days are so long and gone even though they try to hang on to them and it's worth remembering and commemorating I guess the other way it could happen is if some DP World Tour rookie goes ham, right? I was going to say, are we no longer pinch heads? He got up to like 26 in the world. I mean, P is 25, and he played on a tour that didn't get points. Yeah. He's in it again at the Cutter Masters. Feels like he's back on his way to the top 10, even just playing DP World Tour events. Not a lot of points available. that field is weak. Richard, he's not eligible for if he let's just like game this out. If he just dominates if he's 10th in the world, he's not eligible for the signature events. He's not going to be in them. He's not a member. No, you mean like Quail Hollow this year, this May and June and these things. No, no, he's not. I know that they have that top 30, but I don't think he's What if he becomes a top five player in the world? Do you think they figure out a way to get him in? I think you can go view him at the Maiden Himmerlin Challenge or whatever it's called. You don't need to go to Travelers. Go see the world. Who's going to be the peace stopper? Is it just Friday shot? Is he the only peace stopper out there? So far, Callum Hill got one playoff hole ahead of him before he hit the hooks and janks. but um yeah somebody's gotta step up and and and stop p dvt is back in the mix tanny von tonder dick sterny like dick sterny jeff ogilvy you gotta take a look for medina sterny um hey i'm sorry for you you were so early on on on hell iora that's fine i'm just sorry everybody's got his hooks in him now. This is the way the world works. This is the way the world works. He's amazing, but I'm out. I'm out. Everybody else can celebrate him. Pretty soon he's going to be in one of these pairings. Today they've got Homa, Damon, and Keith Mitchell. Just kind of like social media darlings. I don't know. It happens. It feels like somebody that was like into Minwoo Lee six years ago. Yeah. You eventually lose them. It's got to feel a little bit like when your kid goes to college. I thought I'd have like another year or two. Just Aeora appreciation before everybody got on board. Or at least this summer. But now it's like sick. You won't believe him. All this stuff. Alright. Fine. On to the next. um speaking of on to the next pga of america is on to its next ceo uh this was announced wednesday i believe terry clark a chief marketing officer of uh united health and optum and an independent director i believe or independent board member independent director i think is the term uh of the pga of america for the last year and a half two years so he was already sort of in the building, in the family, had some knowledge, has been appointed as CEO, taking the place of Derek Sprague, who resigned and walked off his position at the start of January. So yeah, joining Don Rea at the top of the food chain and the partnership president and CEO is Terry Clark. We haven't heard what Don Rea has to say about Terry. well the press release as shupac and others noted muzzled they they went they cited they went to uh nathan charnes i don't know if that's how you pronounce it charnay charnes uh nathan charnes gave the quote he's the vice president what is this what is this the vice president is giving the quote about the new ceo is is you know is rea been like caged somewhere and like Augusta Ranch. What are they doing? He's the president for nine more months. It's not like he's going out next week. This is ridiculous. This is like J.D. Vance being the one to comment on Maduro stuff. What are we doing? Where's the president? Where's Don? Where's Don? As purveyors of the content game. Where's Wallace? The where's Wallace of golf is where's Don? I mean, as purveyors of content, this is not a good development. I didn't ask for Nathan Charnes. I don't want this. I want Don Ray. Nobody wants Nathan Charnes. I mean, I'm sure he'll be great in a year, but not right now. And you bet your ass. Yeah, people want to know what Don thinks of this hire. I can't for my opinion until I know what Don says. All I know is we get Teronimic in May, and Don's not up on that dais. There's going to be problems. There's going to be problems in that press tent. You better get his ass up there and let him flow. I think there's a real chance that that might happen. That's not fair. You know, it worked his whole life to become president. I'm worried. I'm concerned. I would like a proof of life from the president. Well, we know he was holding court at the PGA show. Maybe when word got out that he was holding court at the PGA show, they silenced him even more. All right. But there's a new leader, new CEO. This is probably a pretty welcome return to some recent precedent in that someone with the you're leading of whatever it is, multimillion dollar, call it a fortune whatever company. It's an associated trade association, but it's a major company complex. Let's not get the guy teaching lessons, you know, wherever. And so Derek Sprague, obviously he'd been a leadership, he'd been in a leadership role and understood some complex management stuff. But, you know, this is more in line with recent stuff like Pete Pavacqua coming in as an executive from the outside. And obviously Seth Wah is a very, you know, extended and experienced executive coming in from the outside. And then they did that left turn. Like we're going for one of our own, a member, class A pro and Derek Sprague. This is not that. This is a different return to recent precedent. Seems like a good move for the PGA. Yeah, I think this is a great move. I think they need, you know, reading the tea leaves, I think, you know, the organization under Seth Waugh kind of bubbled and it was almost like the pros wanted to take it back. And then they saw the world with the pros back in charge. And maybe that wasn't a world that they want to be in anymore. To me, they have to have a business person in charge of this role. This is a billion-dollar-plus organization. They have these incredible assets. But while they have that, they also have a complete disaster of a membership crisis going on. And you need somebody that can figure out how to bridge that situation where you have like incredible assets that continue to grow in value. Like live events have never been so valuable. And they happen to sit. They got the Ryder Cup for free, effectively. And they sit on this PGA Championship and they have these two incredible assets. but it's a completely different business. Running championships and running a trade organization are two completely different businesses. And you need to have somebody who's competent at the top that can understand how to kind of navigate a very, very tricky and complex business situation. So to me, the PGA has immense, immense, immense opportunity, huge potential. If somebody can go and straighten out the trade organization and figure out how to modernize the PGA of America, because the PGA of America, frankly, is stuck in 1980. And they need to modernize the membership. They need to build ancillary businesses and create alternative paths that make being a PGA pro a more desirable position and a better job across the board. Because they do have a very fundamental role in the sport. Critical. Critical role in the sport. And frankly, the leadership of the PGA of America over the last 30 years has failed to adapt to modern times and create a modern business that supports these pros in more ways. These pros could be so well supported if the PGA can figure this out. And I think there are a lot of really interesting, tangible ways from a business standpoint that the PGA could straighten this out. and it's going to require a leader that has a little bit of vision and can think outside the box. I think that's why you have to hire this role from outside of golf. Yeah. It's interesting. On the pro, on the competitive events they run, they were always a few years behind or in the 80s, as you noted. The leaderboard, the website, the app, which I think has gotten a lot better. The coverage on TNT starting at three o'clock, you know, when everything else was already get ballooned at 12 hours a day. Like I think they've pretty quickly caught up because they had to, and we're forced to, but they just had a super unserious year, a really unserious year, starting with, you know, the, the Bozo routine that Don did at quail hollow ending with like a, whoa, it's this bad on both sides of the Atlantic and like sort of the silence and apathy from leadership around the crowd chaos at the Ryder Cup. It was not a good year, and they needed an adult in the room. I think that's hopefully what they have here. On the trade side, you're right. To crib Don, of course, it was a preposterous framing, like the first responders of golf. Of course, that's an insane sort of analogy. but they do they they are right there they are the front line or they are the potential like they have this grassroots connection more than many other organizations on and how do you how do you harness that and because it is we've one thing we've always said is you know like with any massive organization what it was were these kind of members who were like politicians that would rise to power, like self-serving, that aren't necessarily looking after, like that's not their priority. Like I'm going to collect the high six, Are you talking about Don Rhea? Mid six, high six figure salary and be this politician and do all this stuff. Like, I don't know. They're not really there anymore looking at, they understood, they understand the, you know, the frontline job maybe, but that's not necessarily their priority once they get in power. And so what do you think the opportunity is with the trade side, with the membership side? What do you think that is? Just modernizing it in a way that's... I think you sit on an incredible... If you think about PGA pros, they have a direct connection to golfers. I don't want to speak out of turn here in terms of just ideas that are possible, But to me if I was running the PGA I would be thinking about how do I capitalize on what we do by being a big part of golf projects that are relevant to PGA pros and make their lives easier, better, more organized. To me, a product that jumps to mind is Golf Genius. right? This is a product that's become wildly successful. It has reached so many PGA pros, helped them so much. And if the PGA was on it, they would have seen this coming. And they would have said, hey, let's help you get this out to PGA pros and let's get involved with the business? And can we get a portion of this business? We are going to get this out. And then all of a sudden it's like, Hey, we were developing, we're, we're helping build these products and we're getting ownership in return. And that can be pumped back into, to our members, like what they need to do they need they need to build benefits for for for golf professionals that go beyond just the jobs that they have right yeah i think like what we what we've seen in the last couple years is like the life of a golf pro can't be solely dependent on the small business facility which is most of the cases, it's municipalities and small businesses. Like there are, you know, three, we'll call it 300 extraordinary head pro jobs in the, in the country, but there are 31,000 members. How do we lift up, you know, the, the jobs? How do we create an organization that lifts up the jobs of those bottom 20,000 members? How do we create programs and identify things that we can get upside in in order to make the baseline benefits of being a head pro or an assistant pro better? How do we make just sheerly becoming a pro easier? These are all things that need to happen. How do we reduce the fees that are associated with being a pro? How do we increase the camaraderie? These are the things that have to be thought of. And you have this relatively vibrant membership. You have a year there's 31,000, as Don has told us, members. But you could probably safely assume that 27,000 of those members, or maybe it's 25,000 of those members are deeply invested and in love with the game of golf. So how do you, and these are the people that are touch points, the people that are the ones that, you know, grow the game gets kicked around a lot, but they are like the people that teach so many of the people that pick up the game of golf, how to play. How do you, like, they're going to be more inspired about the game and teaching the game and getting people into the game if their lives are better. Yeah. And a lot of them are that with like, you know, that's how passionate they are right now, even with, you know, maybe not being put in a great place or taken care of in a great place. So yeah, I think you're right. The opportunities to get. I mean, I would also look at like, look at some of the benefits that go to these politicians that reached the top ranks of the PGA. And I'm talking specifically about people like Don Rhea. And how much money are we spending on people that just got voted to a make-believe officer position in a trade organization and reappropriating some of the funds so that they're distributed out? How do we go about... I think it goes to even one of the big things for retired PGA pros is the benefits they get at the PGA Village in Port St. Lucie. And how do we go about making their retirements better and creating better golf facilities so we can subsidize more of their experience? These are all things that they should be thinking about. How we make this a more appealing job. I got a lengthy tutorial on the voting process of how you become a director of a region. By and large, it's developed into a process where a lot of the people who are hardcore pros, even at maybe not those top 300 places you talked about, aren't doing this. what the people who are getting in these positions of power, like kind of the career politician types who weren't teaching lessons or maybe were a little bit and more were driven about like the organizational machinations of the PGA as opposed to I taught lessons, I was a merchandiser, I was all these things. Like the people who are getting into power are the ones who have like know the least about the actual. And it wasn't that. It wasn't that in the 80s. It wasn't that. It was like the, like I'm hypothetically speaking, the pro at whatever, call it like Marion or something. So it's elite pros that were like in these, working there or at Pebble, like these positions of power that were working their way into these. I forget the title, directors or associate, AV, whatever the titles are. That was like the origin. And now it's developed into these just people who aren't pros as much as they understand the sort of the machinery of how to become just a politician of the organization. So anyways, it's a funky, it's a challenge. And then you have the pro events, you know, the Ryder Cup. There's that incredible assets. There's that persistent, remember, like the PGA Tour Enterprise want to buy the Ryder Cup. I think that's sort of withered or fallen away. And you have the PGA Championship, which has so much like untapped potential. So it's one of four, right? And it just kind of, you know, it ebbs and flows. And what do you want that to be? Could you make that into a challenging? We're going to all the best courses in America or the world or whatever it is. So, yeah, incredible opportunity with those two events that take care of your members, that can take care of your memberships. I mean, the shining example of what you were talking about with who rose to power is Don. I know. The guy who's a minor league umpire. I mean, I don't want to, like, think of the recent presidents. I don't want to call them out by name, but they were like Susie Whaley, like Ted Bidgett. They may be great, accomplished people, but I don't know. Were they like, do they understand the pro? I don't know. Were they doing that kind of grassroots pro work? Maybe some of them were. I'm not throwing them all in a bucket, but it's just a different kind of role. It's weird how they're structured. Um, that does it. Terry Clark, new PGA CEO. I mean, you, you think about it, it's a sleeping giant. You know, it has two incredible assets, has been criminally mismanaged, uh, for decades. Um, and you know, I think that the hardest thing is going to be getting, and I think this is probably where the Seth Wah era like kind of hit a hit a roadblock is getting the PGA pros themselves out of their own way and letting them letting letting getting them to understand that if we we have to let go of the wheel for this to get into a better situation uh dfl and phoenix is thomas avant the pga section pro 11 over he's dfl why'd you have to cap it off with that i don't understand that anymore anyways of course because the pga tour grew out of the pga of america uh i'm not capping it off man i was just trying to figure out is jason avance brother who is this guy thomas avant so i looked him up um news that does it That does it. That's plenty. We have Ryan Moore mule quotes to the mule whisperer. We'll talk about that another time. He went... He's mad, but he's also grateful. He's very mad at the lack of opportunities that the tour doesn't know what the hell they're doing, but he's also grateful he got to sit at home with his family. You've got to make up your mind. You've got to make up your mind. Are you glad your pathway was shut off and there's fewer opportunities to play when you've played for 20 years, or are you happy to be home with your family and coaching your kid's soccer team. He did both. He talks about both sides of his mouth. Just think, though, if they moved the champs tour to 45, then he could be out there competing and burning it down. He won it all. He loves being a shoe salesman, which is it. That's cool. He likes just being home with his family. Also cool. But thinks he should be on the champion store eligible and also thinks it's a disgrace what they've done taking the playing opportunities away, even though he had 20 years on as a pro. I don't know. Can't he just be happy? you don't hear I'm trying to think like Kirk Heinrich isn't upset at the NBA because he's not playing anymore it's because he knows I'm not good enough anymore my body doesn't allow me to compete that level anymore golf is the only place where they think this is it's their dyed in the wool right to keep playing because they were good eight years ago I need like the NBA equivalent of Adam Shupak I don't know who that is whatever I don't want to insult anybody yeah call up Ira Newble I don't want to insult Shupak's great yeah I'm not trying to insult I'm trying to think of some national reporter. I don't know. Who just puts down the tape recorder and gets people talking? I renewable. Are you upset you can't get a roster spot and a paycheck anymore? Kevin Olley? Do you see this news of Amari Bailey? PJ, has this come across your desk? I did. I did. Well, trying to. He's taking visits this week. He played in 10 NBA games, and he's attempting to get his eligibility back for college basketball. Hey, can I... I will say, though, Greg Sankey came out on the Charles Bediaco thing and said that he should not be able to play for Alabama. So hand up. As somebody who has been very angry on this podcast at Greg Sankey, thank you to Greg Sankey for doing the right thing. Can I just call out these adult coaches, the adults, who get up there at these press conferences, Nate Oates amongst them, seems like a nice guy, great coach. He says, these are the rules. I know it's wrong. I don't think it's good. But this is the world we live in now, and we're going to play within the world we live in now. There are so many things I could do that are within the world I live in that I know are wrong, and I don't do them. You are feeding the beast. that isn't a valid excuse that isn't a valid reason i keep hearing you know scott drew scuzzy scott drew has been forever and saying like this is we're playing within like the rules that we've been given like that doesn't make like rules are like ron is ron you know it's ron on his face you know it's outside the lines you know subjectively i i think like just be the adult in the room i I think saying that is like such a farce, right? Like I don't think it's right, but it's within the rules. Well, then do what you think is right. Do what you think is right because you're just going to feed into it more because then the guy's going to, you know, keep it up with the Joneses stuff. Like you honestly, it's almost, I don't want to say it's like, it's not, I don't know. I've just had it. Like you're an adult and you can't say, you know, I know it's wrong. This isn't the way it should be, but it's the rule. So we're doing it and I have to do it to stay competitive. Like you don't. You don't. It's just irresponsible. That line is not. It's just garbage. I don't know. Either way. But college basketball. You know, college basketball is so screwed up right now. We're just playing by what we have. Anyways. Feels like a shot across the bow at my Balkans. Why? They played a bunch of games in the European leagues. Yeah, but that's fine. That happens all the time. That's not the same thing. Maybe. It's like one step to the left. Honestly, I don't even... Whatever. I care less about the practice than that shoveling us that bullshit. You know what I'm here for? Who's going to be the first flamed out Corn Fairy Tour player that attempts to go back and get that eligibility in college golf? well there's not real nil money in college golf like there is in college basketball these guys are collected what how do you lose your eligibility is a question i have good question could i go back and play college golf currently we don't know so god this would be incredible experiment i mean i would if i had a guess. Wes Bryan might be a guinea pig for this experiment. It's probably based on everything I'm seeing and hearing. That does it for this Friday episode. Congrats to Ryan Moore making news in 2026. I'm excited to see if Daniel Hillier can stand up to the P. Become the P-read stopper. P-read stoppers. A rule book and Freddie shot. Those are the P read stoppers. All right. That does it for this Friday episode of the shotgun start. Everyone enjoy your hour to watch this weekend is to Buna. Are we recording? What are we recording Sunday? Are we recording Sunday? I am. I changed my flight. I'm not flying during the Super Bowl anymore. I'm just going to have some something on TV and record. Are you going to try to sneak it in? What are we doing? We always debate this. Post-Super Bowl or rapid, quick? Last year we did it like we were done as the game kicked off. It was perfect. America's pregame show. All right, we'll try it. We did it live for America's pregame show. Oh, God. Did we do it live? We did it live last year. Literally live this year. I mean, give people options. You want to watch Jack Collinsworth on NBC? You want to watch is it NBC this year? It is an NBC Super Bowl. Jason Garrett will be on the pregame show. That's must-see TV. I'll tell you. Who's it? Maria Taylor? Is she the host? Yeah. Maybe we'll do it live. 2BD. Everybody enjoy your weekends. We'll talk to you on Sunday or Monday. We'll be right back.