Rory McIlroy set to rejoin the Tour policy board – will it make a difference? | Golf Channel Podcast [Video]

0:00 | hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav it has been a newsy couple days

0:06 | since we last spoke to you Nelly Corda first of all will not be going for six in a row this week on the lpj she with

0:12 | Drew from this week’s event in LA to rest up for her next start also Roy mcroy appears poised to rejoin the PJ

0:20 | tour policy board after resigning his position last fall and the PJ tour to

0:25 | much fanf fair but also quietly unveiled its player Equity program Rex you’ve

0:31 | been pounding the pavement all day long on Wednesday what has caught your eye

0:38 | most uh well I’ll start with the thing you said last which is about the equity program and I think we’ve been waiting

0:43 | around for that they announced the sort of the broad outline of this in February and it was all part of the decision to

0:49 | go to a for-profit arm PJ toour Enterprises and bring in an investment partner strategic Sports Group and the

0:57 | idea was that 1.5 billion was going to be to create Equity that would be given

1:02 | to players eventually we kind of had an idea what it was going to look like and today was supposed to be the the great

1:08 | unveil like we were going to get an idea of exactly what it was going to look like and it turned out to be a big fat

1:14 | nothing Burger because what what they did is they sent letters to individual players telling them okay there was 193

1:22 | players who got some version of equity in this initial Grant and I think it’s

1:27 | pretty much what we thought it was going to be it was going to be a point system sort of Base very very similar to what

1:33 | they do with the retirement program it was going to be a lot of money uh spread out among a lot of millionaires and I I

1:40 | did think it was interesting I did a couple shows today and one of in one of the shows I was asked specifically about

1:45 | the idea that are fans tired of hearing about money and will this be a problem and I said well yeah it’ll continue to

1:51 | be a problem because this is sort of the nature of the game right now but I went back 30 years ago in a different life I

1:58 | I worked for a magazine say magazine you worked for golf week and we did a huge takeout I mean I I didn’t even work on

2:05 | it I was just kind of on the edges of it on the tour’s retirement program and it was called kind of the golden egg and

2:11 | the idea is the PGA Tour has the best retirement program in all of professional golf and they did a really

2:17 | good job 25 years ago of sort of outlining that and I go and most fans

2:22 | didn’t read it most fans have no idea it still exist and most fans move along

2:27 | just enjoying Golf and don’t really worry about how much money Tiger Woods or Rory or any of the other players are

2:33 | making the problem we’re at right now is it’s all about the money and in this particular

2:39 | case we can break down the different groups who got money we can break down exactly what it’s going to mean we can

2:45 | break down there’s still plenty of questions more questions than answers but the bottom line is this is just the

2:50 | tour trying to buy the Loyalty of players that’s really what this is so the

2:56 | nitty-gritty is the $930 million to 193 players via the four categories

3:02 | basically at priority ranking right top 36 players received $750 million of that

3:08 | Chunk we do not know public at least publicly we do not know the exact

3:14 | amounts for which players receive how much money James Corgan of the telegraph

3:20 | reported on Wednesday that Tiger Woods will receive roughly $100 million Roy

3:26 | mroy $50 million Jordan Speed $30 million and on down the line again we do

3:32 | not know that publicly but that does seem to be some of the Intrigue at least some of the palace Intrigue does it not

3:39 | of do players feel like this is enough is that sort of dollar amount commensurate for their loyalty because

3:46 | I’m I think from a fan perspective you you really don’t care you only care if

3:53 | you’re a fan if this pisses off the players where if they feel like they’re

3:58 | not getting what they deserve for remaining on the PJ tour let’s say they

4:03 | received $20 million via this player Equity program when they could have garnered a $ hundred million in the open

4:09 | market with Liv golf that to me is the only sort of reason why fans should care

4:15 | about this do you agree I’m going to peel back the curtain a little bit and I think we’re going to do that a lot in

4:20 | this particular podcast but I I did the early show golf today I did it with Damon hack and Aon Lynch and this was

4:28 | you’ll love this because this is a quintessence Cal aan Lynch question that I was sent by producer he got some sort of conspiracy no no no because I

4:35 | actually I want to throw these at you and and try to get your respon to this and I’ll tell you what what I said the first question is is this the tours take

4:42 | it or leave it moment question mark go ahead take it or leave it moment as in we’re giving you $50 mli million and you

4:48 | better be happy and if not go to live I I guess I mean again this is kind of

4:55 | what I was sort of dealing with today and and this is again a very quintessential and Lynch the second one

5:00 | is make good for loyalty question that these are kind of abbreviated but you get the idea of where he’s going for

5:06 | that I think it’s I think it’s I think it’s more a thank you for your loyalty as it is to here here’s what we can

5:12 | offer you hopefully it’s good enough otherwise yeah we can we can send you down the road keep in mind players who

5:17 | are who are in this top category the top 36 we’re receiving as you said the line share the $750 million they’re still

5:24 | playing for Signature Events like they’re still getting $20 million $25 million purses and as it relates to the

5:30 | The Players Championship what has Scotty sheffler earned so far in 2024 on the golf course like $18 million like it’s

5:36 | something absolutely outrageous and say he wins the FedEx Cup like he’s looking at probably a $50 million season on the

5:43 | golf course alone that doesn’t even include sponsors endorsements and the like plus whatever he would then receive

5:50 | in eight years time once it’s fully vest I think it’s more I think it’s more of a thank you as opposed to like a salary so

5:57 | to speak that would come to pass in 48 years well and and to that point I think it’s it’s a three-fold issue was my

6:04 | response to this question one first and foremost this is the make good right and we heard that that was kind of

6:09 | weaponized throughout the last two years about how is the tour going to make it right with the players who stayed and didn’t go to live golf this is it and

6:15 | they they refer to it as a make good like this is some sort of gangster movie or something but that that’s essentially what this is It’s say thank you for not

6:23 | going to the competitors staying loyal to us the other half of it is it’s essentially you’re buying the players

6:28 | off to a certain degree because it takes eight years to fully vest and we’ve all seen the bre neck speed that

6:34 | professional golf has changed over the last two years so eight years is like an eternity if you tell a player that yes

6:40 | Tiger Woods in this case let’s say that number is right let’s say you’re getting a100 million you’ll get the full hundred

6:46 | million in eight years if you follow our rules so that’s how they’re sort of leveraging this to keep that loyalty and

6:52 | then finally it’s the ownership you know equation of this and I do find that part interesting and I think I think that’s I

6:59 | think that part is pretty cool that they can become part owners of a of a for-profit entity if if if the tour does

7:04 | better they do better and vice versa I think that’s cool and and look Tyler Dennis tour executive was on golf

7:10 | Central tonight right before I was and he did a good job of sort of laying this out and of course they’re going to lean into this but the idea is you don’t have

7:17 | this in any other professional sport and I will say that every player on the PGA

7:23 | tour is motivated to play well and to win events and to do as well as you can on the golf course that is intrinsic to

7:29 | being a PGA Tour professional you’ve made it this far of course you’re going to keep try to keep moving in that

7:34 | direction the parts that this is going to motivate them is you’re going to convince them to do things that they

7:40 | probably don’t particularly want to do and Wednesday prams are a good example uh sponsor ads whatever the sponsor

7:47 | would like if they want you to come speak at a dinner on a Tuesday night uh more fan engagement better engagement

7:53 | with the Media Partners we talk about this all the time about we’ve seen the walkin talks over the last two seasons I

7:58 | believe it is maybe you expand on those I think every player will be motivated by this idea that if you make the

8:04 | product better and that’s just not with your play that’s with everything that you do that the equity you will get in

8:10 | return will be the payout and I think every player will eventually come around to believe that I think there’s still a

8:16 | lot of questions though but the the player IMPACT Program not to be confused with the player Equity program player

8:22 | IMPACT program the PIP which is sort of basically a relatability a popularity

8:28 | contest those who moved the needle on the PJ tour that’s at least an immediate payoff right like you you get that check

8:36 | at the end of the 2024 season this one you’re essentially waiting four to eight years for this to fully vest but there’s

8:42 | no way you can tell me that again let’s take these numbers with a grand assult this is what James Corgan of a telegraph

8:48 | is reporting let’s say Roy mroy really good rep he is he’s incredibly well connected but it let’s say it’s the $50

8:55 | million number for Roy mroy there is no way that that is a make good for Roy

9:01 | mckoy’s loyalty there’s no way $50 million there was just a rumor again he

9:07 | dismissed it and it was unsubstantiated that he could have gotten $850 million if he just left for Lift Golf and now

9:14 | we’re talking 50 million dollars from the P Tor to say thank you I mean once you start going Beyond Rory to who are

9:22 | some of the other players who have remain clar who flirted with Liv a Tony

9:29 | fow who flirted with Liv the Cameron Young Who flirted with Liv we’re if spe is at $30 million as the third highest

9:36 | player you’re probably looking at I don’t know 10 to2 million right like there is no way that that is

9:41 | commensurate for their loyalty with what they could have gotten for leaving for live I I think I think that could really

9:47 | I think that could really alienate some players uh it seems yes it seems light I

9:53 | guess to your point and it’s because we live in a world of Monopoly money because the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia can throw $350 million at

10:01 | John ROM and not blink when in fact that’s a ridiculous amount of money that we can talk about Rory was going to get

10:07 | $800 million Tiger Woods was rumored to they were gonna give him what 900 million or a billion whatever the case

10:12 | may be a billion and a continent I heard yeah or an island or whatever the case

10:17 | may be it’s ridiculous like it’s stupid amounts of money and the PGA Tour can’t compete with that I I will say that to

10:25 | in response to aon’s question about this is this a take it or leave it and I didn’t I didn’t find it to be a

10:31 | particularly uh poignant question because I think they started to take it or leave it years ago go back to 2020 in

10:38 | March when they first came up with the PIP that was more or less a direct response to what they saw coming they

10:44 | they saw Liv goof coming and so they came they concocted this plan to try to reward the top players to keep them from

10:49 | going and that has evolved and changed over the years last year they introduced designated events and those became

10:56 | Signature Events this year and those have evolved and changed over the years now they’ve given you an equity program

11:02 | which isn’t going to start stop with this there is an initial equity and I don’t want to do math I I hate doing

11:07 | math on the Pod it it makes for a very very boring pod but if you kind of look at the $ 1.5 billion dollars that SSG

11:14 | invested about 900 million of it is caught up in this initial Equity Grant

11:19 | the other 600 million of it is going to be what they call in reoccurring grants and so this isn’t going to stop now my

11:26 | point is is that these are bits and pieces of what they continue they keep continuing to throw breadcrumbs out and

11:32 | no they can’t match $350 million that they paid John ROM but they can make it lucrative enough to offset whatever it

11:41 | is you may think you’re going to get on that end versus what you’re going to give up by joining live golf yeah and

11:46 | keep in mind like again if we’re using Scotty Sheffer as an example and he’s already got $18 million in OnCourse earnings you would think that he would

11:53 | uh perform well in the FedEx Cup bonus in the season long let’s say he gets $50 million in on course he’s also going to finish very high a top the 2024 player

12:01 | IMPACT Program perhaps not as high as Rory he’s not as popular as Rory but if he has a a generationally great season

12:08 | then sure you could see him finishing a top bat standings there goes another $15 million roughly into his bank account

12:15 | the point is these guys are still going to be getting paid an obscene amount of money to the point that you could you

12:22 | could actually make the argument that they’re getting paid well more than what they’re actually worth that that a PJ

12:29 | Tour player should not be making the same as a top NFL quarterback and yet that’s the sort of bracket that they’re

12:36 | going to be playing in also as Rory Ma I thought said quite poignantly uh

12:42 | Wednesday in New Orleans I think one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years never is there’s NE is

12:48 | there’s never enough players are still gonna be mad about this and that is exactly how it’s going to go speaking of

12:55 | Roy Rex how about this news I think it caught both of us by surprise you and I weighed in uh on golf today on Tuesday

13:02 | but as first reported by the guardian Roy M said that he is willing to rejoin

13:07 | the PJ tour policy board if if the other player directors want him web Simpson

13:13 | has submitted a letter saying that he’d like to resign from the board but only if his vacant seat is filled by Rory

13:20 | Rory of course uh with Drew from the policy board last November citing the

13:26 | toll both personally and professionally that role had taken on him what do you

13:31 | think’s changed well he talked about that a little bit today in New Orleans I I think first in foremost he has realized

13:38 | that things aren’t going the way he probably envisioned on the policy board towards some sort of agreement with the

13:43 | public investment fund it’s not moving along quick enough for him he’s made that crystal clear and numerous comments that he’s made about it he feels like

13:50 | it’s inevitable that the two sides have to come together he feels like the fractur game is not sustainable all of

13:55 | the things that we’ve talked about he’s been really really clear about it so when he was asked today in New Orleans

14:00 | why and the answer is because I feel like I can move things along I I understand and that’s aspirational I’m

14:06 | not quite sure if that’s actually going the way it’s going to play out because clearly there’s elements on the policy

14:12 | board and the board of directors for PGA Tour Enterprises which is the bigger the more important entity right now that

14:19 | don’t think we should be moving in the direction of some sort of unity some sort of deal with the public investment

14:24 | fund anytime soon that’s not to say that we’re not going to end up there but there’s clearly some who are fine

14:29 | dragging their feet and deciding okay maybe maybe we don’t want to jump in to

14:35 | this right now whereas Rory is on the other side of this I I think he sees it a little bit more clearly than others do

14:41 | and I’m not saying he’s right and others are wrong because only time is going to decide that but in Rory’s mind it’s very

14:47 | crystal clear that the only path forward is through Unity bringing the two sides back together again creating the global

14:53 | tour that he’s talked a lot about so I get it from that perspective I get it from the idea that he pointed out today

14:59 | when he was asked about it that he’s played really really good golf on the policy board and really really bad golf when he wasn’t on the policy board so

15:06 | there is no correlation and he said it when he stepped down from the policy board that he likes to be busy but he

15:11 | likes to be busy doing the things that he likes and right now I think bringing the sides together would be something he

15:16 | liked I say all that only to point out that it’s not sitting well with a lot of the membership I don’t know that I’ve

15:23 | ever gotten so many texts on my phone than I did following that report because to be quite Frank and this isn’t

15:29 | overstepping bounds he is circumventing the tour is circumventing the process the way it’s supposed to work is you get

15:36 | elected to the player advisory Council and then the entire PGA Tour champ entire PGA Tour membership votes on

15:43 | who’s going to be chair of the pack and that person serves a year as as the chair and then he does his term on the

15:49 | policy board that’s the process but now you want to try to circumvent that and

15:55 | he he did have his term through the end of 2024 term would be extended so if you

16:00 | look at who he would be replacing he would be replacing web Simpson whose term runs through 2025 his term would

16:06 | have ended at the end of this year had he stepped into it so essentially we’re in a situation where if this does come

16:12 | to pass he has circumvented the process and I think there’s plenty of tour play I don’t think I know there’s plenty of

16:18 | tour players that simply don’t like that I’m not saying it’s bad for the PGA Tour

16:23 | but it’s certainly another rub that a lot of the players aren’t going to feel very good about I do find it it

16:29 | interesting because when Rory stepped down last year when he cited the personal and professional responsibilities and the toll it had

16:35 | taken you know the calls that he was hopping on how he he likes being busy but basically the things that he likes

16:41 | to be busy with there was also a report late last year though that Roy felt like he was quote banging his head against

16:48 | the wall well the same forces that we could probably imagine were in that room that was causing Rory to bang his head

16:54 | against the wall are still very much in that room whether it’s Patrick Klay or whether it’s Tiger Woods so Roy was

17:00 | asked today and I found this quite poignant as well how are you going to get to a point where there could be some

17:07 | sort of compromise and Rory basically said that he was going to dig in and

17:13 | that unification he knows is is best for the good of the game and it’s just articulating it to other people the game

17:20 | is not unified right now and there’s still some hard feelings and things that need to be addressed but we need to put

17:26 | those feelings aside and all move forward together that felt like a

17:33 | conversation starter among Patrick kentley Jordan’s be Tiger Woods Rory has

17:38 | described his relationship with Patrick kley as quote average at best and said that he views the world differently than

17:45 | Patrick kentley does he obviously had that public disagreement at Pebble Beach a tournament you covered where uh

17:51 | following the wake of the SSG deal and the infusion of up to3 Billion spe sort

17:56 | of said aloud in press conference well I’m not particularly sure we need the investment from the Saudis any longer

18:02 | and Roy said yeah we do we need to get the game back together and in fact there shouldn’t be any penalty for the live

18:08 | guys to come back to the PJ tour so I want to ask you this question to do my

18:13 | best am Lynch impersonation here Rex do you think the people on the policy board

18:20 | actually want him back and secondly do you think it’ll make a difference well they have to vote so we’ll see if they

18:26 | want him back or not because it’s not up to Simpson to give his seat to someone else it it has to be now now this turns

18:32 | to a vote of just the policy board and not they can’t possibly stomach the the Optics though or the pr nightmare of if

18:38 | he is rejected there’s no way uh no I wouldn’t think so especially now that it’s become so public I I would think

18:44 | that that was a Crossing shot that they can’t ignore and there’s probably I I know for a fact there’s plenty of of

18:50 | people not player directors for sure but independent directors as well that I’m sure want Rory back on the board because

18:56 | if you look at I think Rory speaking from the idea that I don’t think SSG got

19:03 | into the PGA Tour business strategic Sports Group specifically finway Sports got into the PGA Tour business thinking

19:09 | they were going to compete with the public investment fund that’s not a good business move I don’t think anyone in

19:14 | their right mind would come to the table and be like yeah that’s who we want to fight we want to fight a soften wealth fund that has unlimited wealth like that

19:21 | doesn’t happen so the idea stepping into this was eventually it will all be one

19:27 | entity that you will get piff involved in PGA Tour Enterprises and they’ll find a way to make it work that includes live

19:33 | that includes the PGA Tour that probably includes Rory’s vision of a global schedule I do believe that however there

19:41 | is conflict on the board there’s clearly conflict on the board I will push back a little bit and I believe it was aan who

19:47 | said this and we really like Aman I feel like we’re throwing him under the bus on this podcast like we both like Aon a lot

19:53 | a little bit but I not a lot uh I will say I think it was doing to to hit when

19:59 | he said that he he felt like Patrick klay’s voice was the loudest on the policy board right now and I could not

20:06 | have disagreed more they didn’t come back in my direction so I couldn’t really voice that it has to be Tiger

20:11 | Woods there there’s no two there’s no other option that Tiger Woods’s voice is going to be the loudest in the room now

20:17 | I don’t know how much he’s using that voice he may just be sitting in the corner and absorbing all of it and

20:22 | listening and taking it all in trying to decide which way he wants to go but I can see the conflict between Patrick

20:29 | Kling and Rory maroy but keep in mind on the PGA tour Enterprises board of directors and this is boring and I

20:35 | apologize this is inside baseball but there are representatives from SSG in that room now on that board of directors

20:42 | for PGA Tour Enterprises the the board that will decide how they’re going to move forward with piff Roy maroy is very

20:49 | close with finway sports and so he’s intimately familiar with these people they are clearly going to be on reading

20:55 | off the same page they are clearly on the same side of how the game wants to move forward I don’t know that there’s

21:02 | enough voices on the other side to keep this from happening but we’ll see I do think if you zoom out 30,000

21:08 | feet if you’re a PGA Tour fan if you’re a fan of the PGA Tour if you want to see the best players back together all uh

21:15 | together again sooner rather than later I do think this could be viewed as nothing other than a positive

21:20 | development given Rory’s relationship the Fenway Sports guys and obviously as you just outlined uh their motivation uh

21:28 | to partner with the Saudis as well given Roy’s relationship with yir Al rayan who

21:34 | just met with the player directors in the PJ tour last month in the Bahamas Roy’s already had at least two

21:40 | conversations that we know of with yir has vouched for them vouched for him publicly as recently as last month at

21:47 | the Players Championship in his long-term vision for the sport we know why the Saudis and the piff would be

21:52 | motivated to get this deal done as well particularly with some player contracts expiring both at the end of 24 and of

21:59 | 2025 as well a major eligibility continue to be an issue and so you have this faction which I think you would put

22:06 | Rory on that side who’s motivated to get a deal done now for the good of the game for unification to strengthen the PJ

22:12 | tour product to get better players back together again and I think you have a smaller perhaps minority faction now of

22:19 | let’s just see how this this this plays out let’s make sure the PJ tour has the strongest leverage possible and let’s

22:25 | make sure we can try to squeeze them for all we’re worth that though could take

22:30 | to the end of this year into 2025 and I think Rory has a greater sense of

22:35 | urgency I think it should be noted that web sson was also for unification it’s not like he’s you know taking the seat

22:41 | of someone who was who who wasn’t who wasn’t against it they they think very similarly I think Roy just has a bit

22:47 | more influence and to be clear I I don’t know what Patrick klay’s thoughts on this because every time he’s asked about

22:53 | it he off skates and kind of dances around it I think it’s safe for both of to assume what Tiger Woods’s thoughts on

23:01 | this that he’s probably not a fan of unification I think you can read between the lines of what he has said and what

23:07 | he has not said and look and say that he doesn’t like who he who he has befriended and who he has not he cut off

23:15 | all relationships with Bryson Des Shambo Patrick Reed and others and and people around him I mean you and I spend enough

23:21 | time in his universe and know that people around him don’t like what’s become of the game right now I think he

23:26 | is looking at this more from an elder Statesman more than a current player and

23:32 | he looks at it that the Legacy that he has created over two plus decades is in danger because of what really the Saudis

23:39 | have brought to the table and so I I don’t think it’s fair to say this is going to be Rory against Patrick Klay

23:44 | because I know that again this is fair to assume I’ve never asked tiger this and I’d be curious if he would even

23:50 | answer me if I did I think it’s fair to assume that tiger probably is a little reluctant to doing this now tiger is a

23:57 | business person and I think the business person would realize at some point that something has to get done that the path

24:04 | we’re on right now is not sustainable you talk about maximum leverage and I’m sure there are those within the PGA Tour

24:10 | and PGA Tour Enterprises that think they have some sort of Leverage that they didn’t have before the SSG deal I think

24:16 | that’s a dangerous thought because we go back to where we were on square one getting into a bidy war with a limitless

24:24 | Sovereign wealth fund is not a winning proposition very well said for more

24:29 | information on that storyline guys you guys know the drill NBC sports.com golf rex that is a lot of

24:37 | inside golf talk lot of politics before we even get to the tournaments this week

24:44 | which one are you more interested in watching Zur classic of New Orleans a tournament you and I have been to

24:50 | multiple times in a city that you and I both love or live Adelaide which by all

24:55 | accounts was the most successful tournament on the live schedule and I would say has received the most uh

25:02 | pre-tournament promotion of any event that we have seen so far uh luckily because they’re on at such vastly

25:07 | different times you or I or no one else will have to make that choice to decide to watch one or the other one’s going to be in the middle of the night and one’s

25:13 | going to be and prime time and of course mine’s going to be New Orleans I was married New Orleans I married a girl

25:18 | from New Orleans like I go back there every year you and I have have spoken endlessly about our love for that City

25:24 | and I do love what the tournament has done like creating a team event in the middle of of what is just a Non-Stop

25:30 | parade of 72 whole individual stroke play events I think was a stroke of Genius and it doesn’t always resonate I

25:37 | would argue a few years ago I was there as a golf Central reporter and you had Xander and Patrick on a team and I was

25:44 | kind of caught in the middle of it but I felt like that resonated because they were so dominant and those two together

25:49 | I think do create a compelling product I I will say this and I and I know that on the Wednesday podcast we like to spin it

25:56 | a little bit forward but I do want to go back to Tuesday’s uh golf today hit and

26:01 | the idea that we spent probably what seven or eight minutes doing what we just did talking politics talking Rory

26:08 | talking PJ tour nonsense and then the last question was uh they talked about six hours for a round of golf at last

26:14 | week’s LPGA event Rex your thoughts please and my response was I think it’s

26:19 | so quaint that we can come out of all of those things that we just addressed and you’re going to slap me across the face

26:25 | with the old timey concept of oh yeah let’s talk about p play that we’ve done for the last 30 years that’s exactly why

26:31 | we needed two segments trying trying to shoehorn all all of the politics in the

26:36 | one beefy segment Chloe listen to us we need two segments we’re just not gonna happen no I I will always I’ll always

26:42 | pitch one seg which one are you gonna choose and not to uh I mean I think I I think I made it clear

26:49 | on this podcast I’m not a huge fan of TPC Louisiana I’ve also made it clear on

26:54 | this podcast that I like the fact that theour classic is doing something different with this two-man team

26:59 | competition I wish there was I think more variety to it I think best ball is

27:06 | a little bit sleepy and tends to drag on I’d love to see sort of like some weird

27:11 | formats at least on one of the days like a like a scramble or like a worst ball

27:17 | competition like I think that could that could wor ball I think that could be kind of fun um so I like that aspect I

27:26 | just don’t like TBC Louisiana so I’m sure I will watch but I actually

27:31 | think I’m more interested in Liv Adelaide and this tournament kind of set

27:36 | the bar for live tournaments going forward and I thought was such a successful format that I’m a little surprised that the league has not leaned

27:43 | into it more it’s basically their version of the Phoenix Open they’ve they’ve started this Watering Hole uh on

27:51 | the on the par 3 uh it’s been an endless promotion not just this week but in the

27:56 | weeks leading up to it uh the social media game has is has really been upped uh it seems like the players are

28:03 | embracing it but one thing that I thought stood out from some of these pre-tournament press conferences that are starting to roll in from Australia

28:09 | was cam Smith’s thought to the media there of course in Australia saying that

28:15 | he thinks the top players need to develop a more worldwide International schedule and to me I it’s easy for Liv

28:23 | to say because they have yet to kind of secure a strangle hold in the United States

28:28 | this is a a a country that is dominated so far by the PJ tour and live to this point has not really made inroads there

28:35 | have been you know little blips here and there but from a rating standpoint viewership standpoint is not quite

28:40 | resonated if I was just thinking cam Smith’s thoughts and Roy’s idea for the

28:47 | world tour do come to pass and you do have this world circuit for the top 70

28:52 | 80 players do you think the Americans would actually embrace that where you have a schedule that’s 60 to 70% in the

29:00 | US and then traveling abroad I I actually have a hard time imagining that

29:06 | the Spees and the Scotties and the xanders and the canl of the world would actually want to go for that where right

29:14 | now live They Don’t Really they don’t really have a choice like this is the schedule that they have I don’t think under Rory’s idea under his proposal

29:21 | they would have a choice in to your point no they’re not going to sign multi-million dollar contracts and have

29:27 | to do it they has more to do with if this tour looks like what Rory has suggested let’s let’s throw the number

29:33 | out of of the 70 you’re going to be highly motivated to make sure you stay in the 70 right like you’re not going to

29:39 | want to flirt with that number at all because if you get relegated that that’s probably not an option you want to think

29:44 | about whatever relegation is going to look like and if the schedule as you pointed out is I don’t know like pick a

29:50 | number 70% in the United States and then outside you and I both have been to Australia multiple times I’ve been to

29:55 | Adelaide they are golf crazy Nation like you go down there star starve for high

30:01 | level competition I’ve covered the President’s Cup multiple times there I’ve covered the Australian multiple times there I’ve covered an event in

30:07 | Adelaide it was a it was a coin fairy Tour event at the time and every single one of them I’ve been to every single

30:12 | one of them have been packed people want to go out they love golf and and they appreciate good golf and I would say

30:20 | Adelaide or Australia some version of that some version of Asia Asia some version of Europe you could pick

30:27 | whatever that 30% is you could make it attractive enough players go to the Scottish open now for a lot of good

30:33 | reasons one it’s it’s really really good prep for the Open Championship which is always the next week uh they don’t

30:39 | particularly play a great links course now but they have in the past and so I think that’s a lot of motivation if you

30:44 | found a way to make it work and and I do agree with Rory’s assessment that you cannot just plop down events you can’t

30:51 | create an event out of thin air and expect it to be special they have to they have to have some sort of Legacy so

30:57 | it would be a open it would be a BMW PGA it would be something in Germany the

31:03 | Porsche open for example something that has a history has a legacy there if you could find a way to work all this

31:09 | together not only do I think the American players would do it I’m not quite sure they would even consider skipping based on the alternative which

31:16 | would be playing their way out of the top 70 I just wonder you know from a

31:21 | player perspective I think they would go I wonder from a TV perspective if that would be a big sell we are recording

31:28 | this podcast at 7:30 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday night it is currently 8:55

31:36 | a.m. in Australia in other words they’re going to be teeing off in the middle of the night on here on the East Coast the

31:44 | viewership numbers again by all accounts this was the best live Tournament of the year in 2023 the viewership numbers are

31:50 | not going to be good because they’re they’re going to be playing in the middle of the night to me that’s a Miss I have no doubt that it will make a a

31:57 | huge imp act in Australia I’m sure the fans there are going to absolutely love it I’m sure the players are going to

32:02 | love putting on a show for them but TV plays a huge part in this and if it’s

32:07 | not going to be attractive to them if if if the tournaments are not going to be played in an attractive TV window to

32:14 | appeal to sponsors and advertisers and and the mass consumer base I have a hard time believing

32:21 | they’re going to have tournaments in Asia tournaments in Dubai tournaments in Australia I think it’s great on paper I

32:28 | have a hard time seeing how it could actually work in reality other than three four five times a

32:35 | year um I understand what you’re saying and and this is the problem that theour has faced for more than a decade when it

32:41 | created or two decades now when it created the world golf championships it was it was a lofty idea and the idea was

32:48 | is to bring those players to the rest of the world exactly what we’re talking about here eventually it became world golf championships only in the United

32:55 | States with with very very few exceptions for all of the reasons that you just said one it’s hard to find

33:01 | corporate sponsorships overseas in a lot of different places two the viewing audience here in the United States isn’t

33:06 | going to stay up into the middle of the night and watch golf in in Australia like that’s just not going to happen I

33:11 | think what Rory is referring to though is a world tour if if we just take the the pretense out of it and and you don’t

33:19 | sort of read into forget about the PGA Tour this is going to be something different and yes if you go to Adelaide

33:25 | if you go to Asia if you go to Europe ratings in the United States are going to suffer but the ratings other places

33:31 | are probably going to improve and you just kind of have to accept those things I think that is aspirational that’s

33:37 | where the tour would like to be I don’t know if it works or not but I understand where he’s coming from from a player

33:43 | perspective I think Rex I’m interested in seeing John ROM who does not yet have a win in 2024 to a lot of surprise

33:50 | finished t-45 uh at the Masters interested in seeing Bry to Shambo who I thought held his own quite nicely at

33:56 | Augusta National seems poised to make some more noise in the major championships keep in mind this they’re

34:02 | playing this week and then they play May 3rd through 5th in Singapore that’s the only action that the Live players would

34:09 | be getting competitive uh competitively before the PJ Championship uh unless Than A month’s time before we meet again

34:17 | on Sunday night what do you have going on uh I am going to i i i in I was

34:24 | thinking about this this afternoon I want to because it’s New Orleans I want to do do something so I’d like to do some sort of boil but I never yeah but

34:32 | the problem was I was at my niece’s house this weekend and my my my niece’s husband did a shrimp oil that I thought

34:39 | was pretty good he had just caught the shrimp they live over on the coast I was like oh this is pretty good as soon as we left the house bunkmate could not be

34:46 | clear that she did not like it it did not have enough flavor and it made me panicky because I’m like oh like I like

34:53 | this is where Bland boil a bland boil would be hard to St

34:58 | I didn’t find it Bland but apparently the New Orleans just came spilling out of her in a way that I didn’t anticipate

35:04 | and I was like well I I thought it was good like I I didn’t really think much about it so I’m I’m a little concerned

35:09 | and I don’t know what the alternative the alternative would be was have her do gumbo or red beans and rice or something

35:14 | she does very very well but we’ll see I just watched a YouTube video uh from my guy chud’s barbecue in which he did

35:21 | barbecue ATU uh which looks wonderful we just crossed the one-year anniversary of the

35:26 | Crawfish Boil that did in my backyard for last year’s birthday it went great

35:32 | I’m with bunk air on the side of too much seasoning like blowing your head off with cajun spice as opposed to Bland

35:40 | because crawfish potatoes corn shrimp that is that is not quite up the flavor

35:46 | meter it’s going to be it’s going to be quite tough to stomach uh I do have a seafood boiler if you’d like to borrow

35:52 | one I was hoping to do one again this year apparently in the folks in Louisiana can or Miss if you can help us

35:58 | out here I think there’s some sort of shortage or something happened with the supply got

36:04 | contaminated yeah whatever the case may be prices have skyrocketed this year and not just because of Biden so I don’t

36:10 | know what’s going on hopefully our friends in Mississippi and Louisiana can help us out uh I may have to wait until

36:15 | 2025 where I can actually afford to do a crawfish pil but that does uh look good make sure you post that on the snappy

36:22 | chat or Instagram stories if you do put it on all right that is going to do it

36:28 | for this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab you guys know the drill in the meantime go to NBC

36:33 | sports.com golf for the latest news notes and commentary from Liv Adelaide as well as the Zer classic of New

36:39 | Orleans be back on Sunday night for a full recap of the day’s events enjoy your rest of the week have a great

36:45 | weekend shout out to Anna she’s a trooper

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Rory McIlroy set to rejoin the Tour policy board – will it make a difference? | Golf Channel Podcast [Video]

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