Stunning Valspar result a microcosm of PGA Tour’s future fight | Golf Channel Podcast [Video]

0:00 | hello and welcome into this edition of the gulf Channel podcast with Rex and lav as Anthony Kim would say hello

0:07 | haters I’m back many thanks to Steve Stans for filling in on the podcast on

0:13 | Wednesday I’m not uh Rex quite as appreciative however of hosi and MPC

0:23 | 77769 who both suggested on YouTube that the show is better off without me that

0:29 | was deeply hurtful but anyway I do digress and one of the most stunning results of the year it

0:36 | wasn’t Cameron young it wasn’t mcken McKenzie Hughes it wasn’t Keith Mitchell who won Sunday at the valpar

0:42 | championship it was Peter melady Peter melady yellow golf ball

0:48 | bucket hat who came away with a two-shot Victory Rex what’ you take away from

0:53 | this I’m glad you opened it with talking about Steve Sans he was very gracious enough to join the podcast on Wednesday

0:59 | is our put it Steve Sans has stories he has a lot of stories it was actually hard to get him to to stop telling those

1:05 | stories I I was taken by two things this week though and I do want to get to your question and I I’ll Circle back around to it eventually one you just kind of

1:12 | glossed over it you really got your feelings hurt you got all up in your feelings and do you want to talk it out are you okay because people kind of came

1:19 | at you and I I keep telling you don’t read the comments and you don’t listen to me I do always read the comments I

1:26 | think it’s good to get a gauge of what the people are are saying I was not

1:31 | quite expecting that one that that’s going to like produce some sort of heel turn uh for me I’m going to be quite

1:37 | vengeful especially to those two commenters in in particular I just found it hurtful and when I see Steve sanss at

1:44 | the home of the augustas when we will all be together in three weeks time I’ll

1:49 | I’ll be I’ll be reminding him of of that probably not on on camera because those sorts of things those sorts of funnies

1:56 | don’t really go over well they they don’t like playtime in austa the Augustus I probably won’t talk about it

2:03 | off camera with him uh I I was I was taken by the idea and look I having Steve on so we could

2:09 | clear some some air between he and I and we could tell some stories that was a lot of fun just to pull back the curtain

2:15 | a little bit uh he Steve cannot be a regular on the podcast because it took me about all day just to sort of narrow

2:21 | him down and finally get him as everyone saw on a parking lot talking to me on a phone that he couldn’t find anywhere to

2:27 | actually put so he literally had to hold it for 4 5 minutes and it was shaking so it wasn’t the best product that we’ve

2:33 | come out with and I will say this and I didn’t mention this on the podcast then but I will say the way the timing worked

2:38 | out I actually reached out to Todd Lewis Todd has been on our podcast before he’s very very good we have a lot of fun

2:43 | great guest love him didn’t uh didn’t get back to me in a timely manner and I I’m I’m saying hours like an hour went

2:49 | by before he got back to me and I I was like well all right I need someone so then I reached out to Steve right after

2:55 | Steve said yes Todd said yes so it was such an awkward

3:00 | weird uncomfortable situation egos too on these men are are extraordinary I

3:05 | know so you can you cannot imagine if I mean if I was hurt but what hosi oh and

3:12 | MPC were saying about me imagine what til’s thinking that his arch rival Steve

3:18 | Sans is the one who’s getting the bonds podcast they they were that’s actually a funny story I actually want to have them

3:23 | both on the podcast one day to talk about it they both were in this market the Orlando market and I think Todd was working for Channel 6 the CBS affiliate

3:31 | and Steve was working he was the sports director for channel 2 the NBC affiliate and they actually were very much

3:36 | competitors back in the day so there are some fun stories I I did want to touch on that because you seem to get your feelings really hurt I wanted to see if

3:42 | you wanted to talk about that’s like the four Ms of useless chitchat that I know you don’t read the comments that the commenters really do not like I know I

3:49 | know is why I was trying to cut around it uh I had to I had to circle back around because you were clearly hurt by it and uh and and I I’m I’m not going to

3:57 | get the name on this but someone really took a dive on we know what’s going on with LA because I made some sort of funny remark off the top that you’re

4:04 | sitting on a beach with a fancy drink ignoring your wife and kids I don’t even know if you were ignoring your wife and kids I assumed you on a beach I didn’t

4:11 | mean anything by it my wife my wife was there with me I’m not sure I mean I certainly ignored her at times uh but I

4:17 | don’t think that’s a fair characterization uh stunned by by the finish and not because Peter Mady is not

4:23 | a good player he’s one on the PGA tour and I don’t want to dismiss that and I want this whole conversation to be about the idea of

4:30 | we’re really really quick to dismiss how hard it is to win on the PGA tour but before I get to that I was watching the

4:36 | early coverage on Thursday and our friend Todd Lewis was on the early coverage PGA toy live did a really really good job but I was watching

4:42 | Jordan speed’s round on Friday and I don’t even know you were traveling you probably didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it but it was the most

4:48 | Jordan speed of Jordan spe rounds uh he missed more Fairways than he hit he missed more greens than he hit and I it

4:54 | dawned on me and this is nothing about the announcers on that telecast or on any telecast but I just want to see a

5:01 | window like I would like to have the alternate option of just being able to watch Jordan Speed and just listen to

5:07 | him and Michael gr as they make their way around the golf course because and I’ll give the folks on PGA Tour live a

5:12 | monsoon of credit the rule is when a caddy and a player especially that caddy and that player talk lay out you always

5:18 | lay out the problem is they never stop talking and like at about 30 minutes into the telecast and I realized that if

5:25 | you if you’re going to wait for them to stop talking that you’re never going I mean you’re going to throw it to Commercial and take it out of break and

5:31 | that’s going to be the extent of it and maybe that’s what I want to see like that I’m I’m I’m here for all of that I

5:37 | would love a a spe feed I mean what does ESPN Plus have four different feeds now for yeah your run-of-the-mill PJ Tour

5:42 | event just give me just give me a fifth give me give me a speed feed I heard the new PJ tour Studios I think you you got

5:48 | invited to a tour as thei during players championship week obviously couldnot make that happen I’ve been told they

5:54 | have upwards the capability of having 13 different feeds uh PJ tour entertainment

6:00 | will beginning in 2025 I think they’re starting with six capability of moving to 13 give me a speed feed he he remains

6:09 | in both good play and bad one of the most entertaining players if not the most entertaining player on the planet

6:15 | it’s actually more interesting when things are going south than actually things are going well you know like he

6:20 | Flags it he makes Birdie putts the the crowds into it he’s into it but like

6:25 | when things are starting to spiral a little bit like just just a con just an

6:31 | absolute content Bonanza and he was in the trees a lot he wasn’t driving the ball particularly well you could tell he was in a mood you could tell g wasn’t in

6:38 | a mood like everything you need to have for that for that stew to come together was all right there uh the circle back

6:44 | around I I was stunned by two things apparently Peter molat must have got a ball striking lesson from jir Al rayan

6:50 | on Monday in the most important program that’s PGA Tour has ever had because he came out and hit the ball better than he

6:56 | has in years and up until the very ending Bradley Hughes over the past month includ some dividends there

7:03 | something yeah I was being I was being playful because he is a player director and his his time is being eaten up by by

7:09 | whatever is going on in golf and I was shocked and I don’t expect look we’re

7:14 | not gonna have another Johnny Miller I don’t expect anybody to be another Johnny Miller he was special he was a once in a generation announcer but I was

7:22 | kind of taken that no one is willing to take Cameron young to task on the idea and for whatever reason I went back and

7:28 | just did some quick research before we jumped on this pod on August 16 2022 in Delaware all those players got together

7:35 | and started the path that essentially we were on right now Signature Events big money limited Fields where we are right

7:41 | now it essentially started in that room led by Tiger Woods and Roy mck there was 23 players in that room room only three

7:48 | of them since that date August 16 2022 have not won Cameron young is one of

7:53 | them which is shocking to me because you and I can both look at him and objectively say oh he’s a robot like he

7:59 | win more times than not simply because he doesn’t do anything wrong even on on Sunday he didn’t do anything

8:06 | particularly wrong I hitting the ball hitting his t- shot way left on on set 18 kind of threw me because that’s the

8:12 | one part of his game you thought he could depend on but I’m still Blown Away by the idea that this player who keeps

8:19 | getting close he has seven Runner UPS in his career still hasn’t gotten it done I mean okay so you’re you’re you’re

8:24 | glossing over the stat which is actually now become historic he had has the most

8:29 | Runner UPS seven of any player without a win on the PJ tour in the last 40 years

8:35 | I mean the previous was six and it was col Montgomery who obviously never won on the PJ tour Bry bar who who he was

8:42 | kind of the Charles Howell before Charles Howell the Charles Howell who just never win like he he just he just

8:47 | racked up top five top 10 finishes Cameron young now in what would be three

8:53 | full seasons on the PJ tour he has Runners up finishes to maxom uh uh Walky

9:00 | Neeman cam Smith Sam Burns Tony

9:05 | fow and now Peter Mady I have to imagine that this one hurt most of all Cameron

9:13 | young is not playing as well why because it’s Cameron malady or because I’m

9:18 | curious why because it’s Peter Milady and look not all not all runup finishes are are treated equally right like like

9:25 | there’s there’s a couple in there like the Tony F out one like he lost by five walk nean blew the doors off everybody

9:30 | at Rivier in in C Open Championship that was a bit of wup as well like he he

9:36 | shoot I think he shot like 64 or something ridiculous on the final deck this was one of the few chances

9:43 | realistic chances that he had to win and he didn’t convert it and he did it in in

9:48 | sort of spectacular fashion missing out with a wild pull off the te on the 72

9:54 | hole a what in his words a fatted gap wedge from the pine straw to what 40 50

10:00 | feet and then a really poor three putt when the one mistake you cannot make is

10:06 | to have a three putt and to drop another shot to basically just just lay down for Peter Milady to come in and play the 7c

10:13 | hole with a two shot lead I have to imagine that this one Hurts the Most again he’s not playing as well as he did

10:18 | in summer 2022 I’m still shocked that Cameron young did not walk away with a victory in 2022 based on the way that he

10:25 | played the way that he played the major championships the way that he played the regular season events I think he was 15th Strokes gain total that year he

10:31 | essentially did everything well he’s not at that point and yet I still think this one hurts of all of the run-up finishes

10:39 | based on a the position he was in and B the competition that he was going up against head-to-head uh I don’t like the

10:46 | second part of that but I I get what you’re saying and I don’t again I I want to Circle back around to the idea in no world in no world if you were doing a

10:53 | blind test you you did not know their names and you saw Cameron Young on the Range and you saw Peter Milady on the

10:58 | Range which one you think would win a PJ Tour event especially at a golf course like inisbrook that really rewards Chris

11:05 | Ball striking well and you’re leaning imagine that those two players you’re leaning into Peter because he won I

11:11 | think Matt Hughes needs to be pointed out that he’s won multiple times on the PGA tour he’s a world class player you had Adam hadwin right there in the mix

11:17 | you had Xander chafl right there in the mix I mean there was 65 to back door it was it was Keith Mitchell who imploded

11:24 | it was imploded oh I I almost called him Seamus power Sheamus power who was also

11:29 | in the final group he also imploded on the final day you had uh you had you had

11:35 | Phillips who hadn’t been in that position he’s a rookie on the PGA tour I mean this it was setting up for a

11:40 | Cameron young Victory there is no doubt about it I I I felt like you’re right that’s why I was so taken by what was

11:47 | said on The Telecast afterwards and look these are colleagues of ours and I’m not being overly critical because it is hard

11:52 | on the other side I don’t want to dismiss how hard it is to win on the PGA tour and I don’t want to make it seem like well Cameron young should have won

11:59 | seven times by now in his career because it’s really hard to say something like that I don’t think people understand how

12:05 | difficult it is all they see is well Tiger Woods did it well he was touched by the hand of God he was otherworldly

12:11 | like that’s not ever a fair fair comparison but when you’re cam young and you have all those tools that you just

12:17 | talked about and look his putting it seems like the thing that’s held him back the last few months but when you hit the ball as well as he does and and

12:23 | Scotty sheffler is the perfect example if he needs a paradigm of Hope just look at Scotty Sheffer if you can do that we

12:29 | in and week out then eventually your putting’s going to come around you’re going to figure something out and you’re going to win the fact he hasn’t done it

12:35 | I think is well it’s twofold one it’s sort of a testament to again how hard it is to win on the PGA tour and two

12:41 | something’s missing like and I don’t pretend to sit here and know what it is with Cam young like I don’t you can say it’s as putting well that’s that’s

12:47 | really easy and okay then maybe he needs to do something else but there is a gear there is a a gene there’s something in

12:53 | his DNA that’s missing that he hasn’t been able to break through by now we’ve seen it in the past where these Ultra

12:59 | talented players figure it out eventually I think David dval is probably a best example and once he started winning he won in bunches and

13:05 | won a major and got to world number one and I can see that happening to cam young but the fact it hasn’t happened

13:12 | now it deserves a critical eye it deserves something a little bit more than well it just wasn’t his week

13:18 | because you’re right it absolutely 100% was his week so as it relates to cam young young my biggest takeaway actually

13:26 | was was was more about Scotty sheffler and that Scotty sheffer’s dominance and his through the bag completeness has

13:33 | kind of shined a light on some of the glaring weaknesses of some of his competition

13:40 | you know just this week you look at Justin Thomas we’re going to get to Justin Thomas and His putting performance he lost seven seven strokes

13:45 | on the field like his his putting he’s he’s now he’s not one of the worst Putters on the PG tour you mentioned Jordan spe earlier in this podcast why

13:52 | is Jordan Speed not winning as much as he was earlier in his career well he makes a lot def yeah he’s got some def

13:58 | he makes he makes a lot of mistakes you look at the rest of the world ranking Roy maoy has not had his best stuff this

14:04 | season his his approach play has not been particularly sharp Jan Xander shaay and Patrick Klay they haven’t won in

14:09 | nearly two years on the on the PJ tour uh Max H doesn’t hit the B Hall doesn’t

14:16 | not hit the ball high enough uh in in major championships and have sort of that as aspect to his game as well like

14:22 | you can go down the list and start to nitpick and now if Scotty shuffler and his putting has seemingly uh been fixed

14:30 | overnight or at least over the past seven months with Phil Kenyan he doesn’t really have that sort of glaring

14:36 | deficiency that a lot of his peers do and in Cameron young yes it’s a it is a

14:42 | severe weakness in Cameron Young’s game that he either does not pitch and Chip the ball well or putt the ball well he

14:49 | is an extraordinary driver of the golf ball he can hit his irons as high as anyone uh and he can get really really

14:56 | hot however at this level when the margins are so small we’re talking the

15:02 | elite elite level you know top 10 top 15 top 20 players in the world when when

15:08 | you have this sort of glaring deficiency it it it means you have to have almost a

15:13 | perfect week to beat the Scotty shefflers that are seem seemingly are

15:19 | poisoned now like that was such a good move on his part because of things he won he’s a really really steadying Force

15:24 | like we’ve seen it throughout the decades with web Simpson he also is really smart when it comes to the golf swing he’s really smart when it comes to

15:31 | playing the game of professional golf and I thought if they he could pick someone and put him on his bag and get

15:37 | you know three percentage points better overnight that was going to be it the fact they’re not together anymore and

15:42 | I’ve yet to talk to Paul about this so this isn’t I mean I mean cam cam young has cycled through at least two caddies

15:48 | since since the split with with paur he’s clearly just trying to find what the meing with the missing piece is and

15:55 | it it’s hard to sit here and be overly critical to to Circle back around simply because if you put yourself in

16:00 | contention to win a PGA Tour event which he did which he has done as we as you pointed out seven times he’s finished

16:06 | runner up on the PGA tour you’re clearly talented you’re plenty good enough to be on the PGA tour you’re plenty good enough to have won multiple times on the

16:12 | PGA tour that doesn’t dismiss the idea or the fact that something’s missing that he and his dad who’s a swing coach

16:19 | need to go back to the drawing board and figure out exactly what it is that’s happening on a Sunday afternoon like this Sunday afternoon when everything

16:25 | was heading in your direction you didn’t have to be a superstar this this is perfect Nick Sabin time like I don’t

16:30 | need you to be a hero just do your job and in this particular case two pars probably would have done been been

16:37 | enough because then he probably would have pressed Peter they probably would have finished up in a tie and I like cam Young’s chance in chances in the playoff

16:43 | against Peter Mady if I’m being honest so I I I I just think at this point you have to take a hard look in the mirror

16:49 | and that’s hard after a week like this I thought he put it well in his uh seemingly short post around scrum he

16:57 | said it was a quote bad time for a bad one as it relates to his Drive in the 7c hole which went way way left and

17:04 | secondly when they were asked to kind of sum up his emotions just a couple minutes after signing his card and realizing that he was not going to win

17:10 | for the first time of the PJ tour he said quote I have a 4-Hour drive home with a one and two-year-old so whatever

17:16 | emotions are attached to that I felt that one intimately as a father of two

17:21 | young children as well this was a very roundabout way Rex to get in a into a discussion about Peter melot’s victory

17:29 | and the fact that he had a near Flawless black back knot he nearly came home in 30 he felt like he he wished it in with

17:36 | a birdie putt on 12 he obviously got a really lucky break with the free drop Behind the Green on 16 that would have

17:42 | been a very gnarly lie that was good sound and he called it like look I know this is a good break I want to make sure

17:48 | this is right yes he brought over Steve Steve run to he said look I know how this is gonna look but I just want to

17:53 | make sure that I am entitled to this free drop but obviously he took advantage and got up and down and save par and then he hit what I thought was

17:59 | an amazing five iron into 17 to make birdie to give him at least the initial

18:04 | cushion and then a really crisp shot out of the Fairway bunker on 18 if he fats

18:11 | that one bringing all sorts of trouble if he thins that one raising all sorts of trouble instead knocks about 20 feet

18:17 | past the pin uh and was able to to Really Savor this like he was he was already choking up and and tearing up on

18:23 | the edge of the green before he was even in the house on the 72nd hole so I guess

18:28 | my question to you Rex is as it relates to Peter Milady is this proof that the

18:34 | PJ tour still needs opportunities for full field events essentially for guys

18:41 | like Peter Mady absolutely like I mean I think we’ve seen that already this season I don’t think we needed Peter to

18:47 | win this one but we and we’re going to continue to see it like the full field events still serve a purpose and that’s

18:52 | to create Pathways for the for the upand cominging players which Peter Mady does not fit in that category but certainly

18:58 | Nick unlap does and we can go back over the course of the season and start pointing to guys that yes like you

19:03 | cannot it’s the Jason Gore line that the commissioner used last week the PGA Tour create stars in three weeks maybe if

19:09 | those if those players can get into the right fields and play three good weeks that does happen but to do that you have

19:15 | to have some sort of pathway and so that’s what they’ve done here and I also will say as bad as I thought it was

19:20 | going to be with a larger field I think there was 156 in the field last week they expanded it trying to create more

19:26 | playing opportunities because of of of the playing opportunities the PGA Tour has taken away with the new season I I I

19:33 | would imagined that they were still trying to play catchup Sunday afternoon but they they do they were not and so I

19:38 | don’t think it’s nearly and I kind of pointed this out in my column on Friday they there is a clear delineation right

19:45 | now between The Have and the Have Nots you just look at the world ranking points and you can forget about all the flaws and the warts just look at the

19:51 | actual numbers like all right we know that the world ranking is not a good representation of who the best players in the world are but you can get an idea

19:57 | of how good are relative to each other and these fields this field in particular was not the best in Florida

20:04 | it was it was ranked fourth out of the four Florida swing events I would argue it was probably I don’t want to call it

20:10 | the best finish because I still think Scotty sheffler and what happened at the Players Championship was probably the best finish but it was close yeah but it

20:16 | was but it was close I think it was compelling TV I think the golf course itself is is the one that kind of shines

20:22 | and that particular situation I think once players get on it I had two or three people text me and ask could could

20:27 | in it’s for hold the major and my reply is always the same yeah if they tore down everything around it and rebuilt

20:33 | that old Resort and everything that’s around it like it’s just it’s it’s dated but the golf course itself is fantastic

20:38 | and if you could if you wanted to hold the US Open in March it’d be perfect but to answer your question yes I think what

20:43 | we’ve seen out of these events the cliche they are what we thought they were I I I think the the full field

20:49 | events have actually been a big hit on the PG tour and yet I still find myself kind of torn about this as you as you

20:56 | think about the future of the PG tour I personally love these stories like Peter

21:01 | Mady he’s he’s clearly just like a delightful golf nerd uh if you listen to

21:07 | his press conference like the appreciation that he has to be able to play on the PGA tour the thankfulness

21:13 | that he has for you know the the title sponsor and the area like he’s a I think

21:20 | he’s a a really kind-hearted individual that makes it really easy to cheer for him he clearly is a is a great

21:27 | family man loves his wife appreciative of his wife like I think he has a really good perspective and yet I still can’t

21:36 | help but think that if the PJ tour is looking at its product you would not want a player like Peter Mady not

21:43 | necessarily Peter Mady the person I’m talking about Peter Milady the player here are Peter M Peter mady’s FedEx Cup

21:49 | ranks in his PJ tour career since he started in 2014 178

21:56 | 104 167 161 118 137 86

22:05 | 101 and 116 in other words this is a player who

22:11 | year in and year out struggles to keep his PJ tour card even in the years that he does he’s a player who if you listen

22:18 | to Roy mroy and the tour is going to get more aspirational the tour is going to get more Cutthroat he is most likely to

22:25 | be left out he’s likely to to he he’s he’s one of the mules the angry mules

22:31 | who’s who’s fighting first place or the quote unquote fat that’s going to be trimmed and now you know he’s clearly

22:37 | fighting for that position and to to maintain kind of his footing on the PJ

22:43 | tour that’s why his peers voted him on the PJ tour policy board essentially to fight for the rank and file against the

22:49 | Tigers and the klays and the spe so forth but you could make the argument rex that for the future of the PJ tour

22:56 | whether that’s 2025 20 26 2020 2030 whatever the case may be that a Peter

23:02 | that a player like Peter melau should not be on the PJ tour that he is weakening the

23:09 | product because he’s not one of the best players in the world do you do you do you do you buy that argument no no I

23:16 | don’t buy that I mean he just beat a field that was pretty good it had it had Jordan spe in it it had Justin Thomas it

23:23 | had Xander shofet it had cam young it had enough Stars big name players in this field for you to look at this and

23:29 | be like yeah like he certainly deserves to be on the PGA tour this is this is his second PGA Tour Victory I I don’t

23:36 | think that’s a fair comparison just because you’re looking at the name as you’re kind of looking at as as a

23:42 | punch line I feel like not to put words in your mouth no I’m saying if if this was a blind resume and you looked at his

23:48 | FedEx Cup rank over the past decade you would say this is the type of player that the that the future PJ tour should

23:54 | be trying to weed out a guy who who who is coasting either on past Champion status or is going through the corn

24:02 | fairy tour or the corn fairy tour finals or needs to go through Q school or makes a late run at the Windam Championship to

24:09 | save himself like that’s the sort of player that we’re talking about Peter balady is is is just a name I’m talking

24:14 | blind resume if those are your results do you do you belong on this new version

24:21 | of what the PJ tour can and should be well no because you’re not asking the right question but to your point no he

24:26 | wasn’t one of the 23 players in the room in Delaware I guess to your point he’s never showed up on one of the PIP list like no he’s he’s not one of the Cool

24:33 | Kids by any stretch of the imagination however there has to be some element of meritocracy involv here I understand

24:38 | what Rory saying I understand where you’re going however if we’re just heading in the direction of live golf where we’re going to hand pick the 48

24:45 | players best 48 players in the world and just ride with them then you’re going to end up being in the same position live

24:50 | golf is is going to be in a few years you’re just going to have old for you’re gonna have a bunch of old 48 year old

24:56 | players who are past their Prime and that’s why you have to have some sort of infusion that’s what the swing five and

25:02 | the swing 10 that’s what those are all about and we talked about this last week on the podcast at the Players

25:07 | Championship if the churn rate is what the tour says it is and I think it was 40% so it’s about 20 players right now

25:13 | falling out of and moving into that top 50 if that is what happens and I’m still a little dubious that’s what’s going to

25:19 | happen that’s the marox we were talking about and you’re going to end up having a Peter Mady in that group whether if

25:25 | you like it or not there’s going to be I mean I would throw Lucas clever in there is another perfect example because that’s the kind of kind of the player

25:32 | you’re talking about right now that’s not entirely Fair because Lucas did win a major championship but I get what you’re saying and without those players

25:40 | sort of cycling in and out of that top 50 you’re going to end up with a very stale product I think even though the

25:45 | PGA Tour is trying to lean into this concept of we have to make a tour for the Stars about the Stars I get it I

25:52 | understand where we’re at In This Moment In Time you still have to provide that pathway and whether if that’s going to be full field events and you have these

25:59 | Aon swing five and 10 events or you expand whatever the corn fairy tour is into something bigger and you create a

26:05 | pathway that way however it is you do this you do have to create that pathway I don’t even know if it’s necessarily A

26:11 | pathway because that could just be kind of a one week in and one week out type situation I’m talking if the PJ tour

26:17 | closes its doors and they make it a 75 player tour it’s wouldn’t mean be call the peach tour let’s call the world tour

26:24 | what do you mean by closing the doors I don’t understand what you’re saying I’m saying if they take the top 50 from the FedEx Cup list in 2024 and that now is

26:31 | part of this world tour and you take the top 10 guys from Liv you take the top 10 guys from the DP World Tour and you take

26:36 | a couple guys from the austral Asian tour with the South Africa tour like if that’s how you’re going to be compiling

26:42 | Your World Tour and they’re just closing their doors and and and you’re leaving out those players and those are the

26:48 | players to you use your phrase that you’re riding with for the remainder of the year I I I get it I think there’s a

26:55 | I think there’s a potential that that could really backfire and that people just get sick of seeing

27:00 | the same players over and over again the players like Peter Milady on the PJ tour I think they provide context for how

27:09 | extraordinary a Scotty Sheffer is how um kind of long- winded these Journeys can

27:16 | be in professional golf that it’s not just like lud viig o Berg who comes out and and wins within his first couple

27:21 | months as a PJ tour pro or like Tom Kim who comes out and already has a couple

27:27 | of of PJ tour win to his credit by the age of 21 they they provide context that

27:32 | it’s not just this this linear path to Super startom so I think the PJ

27:38 | tour would do well to to continue to remind themselves of that contrast I

27:43 | think that’s compelling again is the valbar championship going to be the highest rated Tournament of the Year

27:51 | cannot imagine when the ratings come out on Monday or Tuesday I cannot imagine and yet I still think it’s an essential

27:56 | piece of the PGA Tour to show that it’s not just about the stars and that

28:04 | there’s there’s plenty of depth there’s still plenty of parody and there’s still plenty of Pathways or Journeys that can

28:12 | get to the level of winning on the greatest golf tour in the world well and the storytelling element of it so after

28:19 | Peter and look he has an interesting story to tell if you kind of you don’t have to venture too far down the leader port to run into a chz Rey or an Aaron

28:27 | badley have no idea how he was even in that field I mean these are players as you just pointed out who have who have

28:33 | kind so that’s so that’s actually a problem badley I don’t know how he’s in the field that is exactly what the PG

28:40 | tour is trying to shift away from is it not uh not at these events but yes at

28:46 | the events you’re talking about and look that the schedule you just concocted in your mind of what the world tour schedule is I’m fine with that because

28:52 | at the end of the year you’re going to have X number of those players out of the top 50 who are going to get relegated and X number or going to get

28:58 | promoted like that’s the idea it’s not going to be a closed shop you’re and it’s not going to be four players every

29:04 | year and please don’t come at me live Bots I don’t have an interest in this fight right now but clearly that wasn’t

29:10 | good enough for the world ranking and I think we most people watching from the outside will tell you well no that’s

29:15 | really not promotion and relegation like that’s not the way it really works at least not in golf if you promote and relegate 20 players out of that 50 every

29:22 | year yeah I I think it will refresh the pro product and it will give you an opportunity to allow those young players

29:29 | who we have seen now come back you talked about lud Vig you talked about Victor hin the last few years you talked about Justin Thomas and Jordan spe

29:36 | before that it will allow them the pathway but it’ll also allow when you will inevitably end up with a Peter Mady

29:41 | and I hate like we were just beating up he’s catching a lot of Strays after winning on a Sunday night I hate kind of

29:47 | doing this because I don’t want to dismiss the fact either you and I both have talked with enough members player

29:52 | directors on the policy board and we both have an idea of that how timec consuming those jobs are right now

29:58 | you’re spending hours not minutes hours every week listening to proposals and sitting through meetings and on Monday

30:04 | of course he spent all day long with the governor of the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia there’s a lot of pressure there was a lot of distractions

30:11 | for him to do that I would have bet you a lot of money and I’m not a gambler because I’m not very good at it but I would have bet you a lot of money that

30:17 | none of those six player directors were going to win this year on the PGA tour I mean isn’t it amazing that of the

30:24 | ones who has has factored deep on Sunday and then one it was Peter Milady who did

30:29 | it man he’s just kid is that is that not amazing so I guess but what do you what

30:34 | do you think like will Peter Mady now be more

30:40 | emboldened in these policy board meetings because to to a Patrick Klay to

30:45 | a Jordan SP probably even to a Tiger Woods like they probably they probably

30:51 | scoff at Peter milady’s career achievements right like his lone P tour win was the 2015 Sanderson Farms it was

30:58 | in the fall it didn’t come with a master’s invite like he’s going to be making his master’s debut in a couple weeks time like these are all Superstar

31:06 | players at least for the at least they at least they have been at some point in

31:12 | their career and they know what Peter Mady stands for they know what he represents they know who he is fighting

31:18 | for and that’s the rank and F of the b-class on the PJ tour but with this Victory now Rex do you think Peter Mady

31:25 | now carries more weight in those meetings as they’re helping to reshape the future of the PJ tour yeah you think

31:31 | the conversation is going to be well tiger when I went in Tampa the way it worked out there was you think that’s the way that conversation no but I’m

31:37 | saying I I don’t but I’m saying this is a prime example of what Peter Mady is fighting for deeper Fields full field

31:45 | events access now to the majors access now to the signature events for the rest of the season without a sponsor

31:52 | exemption which obviously he was criticized for earlier this year this this can be held up now a shining

31:58 | example of why the PJ tour should be a certain way uh sure I will go with that

32:04 | and Peter Mady stepped in right as Charlie Hoffman was coming off the board so he does represent a segment of the

32:10 | PGA Tour to your point the lower third let’s call him what whatever no micher

32:15 | you want to throw on them he represents that portion of them and there was there has always been even when there were only four policy board player directors

32:23 | on the policy board there was always seemed like there was always one that stood of stood sort of stood out Joe ogy when he was on the board was that person

32:30 | because there’s always going to be the Tiger Woods and the Davis’s love who in Davis loves who are also on the board and they represent sort of the star

32:36 | power on that front I I will and again I I hate that Peter’s catching a lot of Strays on the Sunday that he actually

32:42 | won but I I will say he he didn’t come across very well last week at the Players Championship when we talked to

32:48 | him about the meeting on Monday that was coming up with him and the representatives from the PIP he didn’t

32:55 | come across well then I I’ve read some comments that he made last week in Tampa I don’t feel like he came across well

33:01 | then because he keeps a little a little naive a little ignorant what uh a little naive yes and and here’s a player to

33:09 | your point his Lane is to represent that lower third of the tour for lack of a better term and I remember having this

33:15 | conversation with Roy maroy when he first went on the board and about he was going to struggle with the idea of

33:21 | realizing that what’s good for Rory is not always good for the rest of the PGA Tour and he was trying to walk that fine

33:27 | line before he resigned for Peter what’s best for Peter normally is what’s best for sort of that segment of the PGA Tour

33:34 | population that he represents and when he makes a statement that he says that maybe things went too far after June 6th

33:41 | as far as player empowerment and maybe we need the pendant swing back the other way I disagree never before have the

33:48 | players in the history of the PGA Tour maybe in the history of professional sports been given such a gift as they

33:55 | were given by the PGA Tour because of what happened they knew there was going to be a re revolt and they the

34:00 | commissioner essentially lost the majority on the policy board is what happened he added a fifth member and then he added Tiger Woods as sort of a

34:06 | permanent six member that gave the players the vote to approve or not approve whatever it is they wanted to do

34:13 | that’s an important aspect of this I’m not saying the players need to be in on these meetings combing over spreadsheets

34:18 | we all agree that that’s not what they should be doing but this is a member organization and for someone like Peter

34:25 | who is in that lane for a purpose to to make a comment like that I felt like Was Naive is probably the best way for me to

34:31 | say it the thought of Peter Mady sauntering into the next PJ tour

34:39 | holay board meeting with Tiger Woods and Patrick Klay looking them Square in the eye and say I’m I’m the captain now yeah

34:47 | me that’s that that that image is gonna sustain me a for a foreseeable future I

34:54 | again and i’ I’ve had a chance to speak with Peter about these things about weighty issues and and I find him to be

35:00 | very thoughtful and I find him to be very studied for lack of a better term however I would say that all six player

35:06 | directors probably feel overwhelmed in these meetings because as we’ve said none of them are qualified to be in there you and I aren’t qualified to be

35:12 | in there like this is a very unique skill set that only a handful of people in the world I would assume know how to

35:17 | negotiate multi-billion Dollar Deals that span the globe so it’s it’s I’m sure a very very difficult situation for

35:24 | them to be in I will say that he has he comes across to me sometimes as someone who just is thankful to be in the

35:31 | room again into my previous point and it’s not even it’s not even a point it’s

35:37 | more of a discussion topic like is that is that player the best embodiment of

35:43 | what the future PJ tour product should look like are we doing this tomorrow on the round table on golf today is this

35:49 | what you’re gonna pitch we’re gonna beat up on Peter M for two segments but it’s at least a topic of discussion I think

35:55 | just based on his career and this this will be held up as a referendum or a prime example of why the valpar

36:03 | Championships still need to exist why Peter Milady Who has fought for his card

36:08 | over the past decade still deserves a spot uh to play on the best tour in the

36:15 | world Rex before we get out of here one thing from the valpar championship I did want to touch on was the play of one

36:22 | Justin Thomas he was in a share of the lead early Saturday and ended up

36:29 | plummeting down the leaderboard wound up in a tie for 64th he did shoot that 79

36:36 | in the third round where as I mentioned he lost more than seven shots to the field on the greens by any St by any

36:44 | statistical metric one of the worst putting performances in P tour history

36:51 | per round and I think it’s an interesting topic now with the Masters just two full weeks away Justin Thomas

36:58 | seemed to be rounding into form early in 2024 and yet he will enter the Masters

37:04 | presumably if he does not add the blo Texas open with a miscut a T12 a miscut

37:10 | and now a t64 in his last four starts where are you on that JT stresso meter uh pretty

37:19 | high only because normally when we have these conversations I’m always really quick to point out that well he struggled relative to the rest of the

37:25 | field like if you want to do you know putting stats he was 67th out of 68 of

37:31 | the best players in the world it’s not good when you’re 67th out of 68 but it’s relative to the rest of the field what

37:37 | he did on Saturday was bad by any measure like if you and I were playing golf with him on Saturday I think we

37:42 | both would have walked off and been like man that that was a bad putting round watching it there was just no there was

37:48 | no easy way to to to try to explain okay well he’s working on something or the greens are really really slick like look

37:54 | he had like 25 feet made worth ofs in the third that’s that’s almost

38:01 | impossible uh I mean it it is concerning only because if you look at what he’s

38:07 | doing ball striking wise I I go back to what you said start the conversation I do feel like he’s round of the corner I

38:12 | do feel like I actually saw him hit some wed shots that look like the JT of old the JT when he’s playing some of his

38:18 | best golf where he’s on and if it’s not inside five feet that he’s going to be angry about that and that that’s what

38:23 | makes him so special when he puts that badly though and he doesn’t seemed to be

38:28 | clued into a fix even throughout Scotty’s struggles over the last 12 months it always seemed like he was

38:34 | searching for something it always seemed like he had a game plan whether that was you or I talking to Randy Smith or when

38:39 | he went to Phil Kenyan or he and Ted Scott were working on something or there was a new putter in the bag he was

38:45 | always trying to do something else because doing the same thing over and over again definition of insanity it

38:50 | doesn’t seem like JT is trying to do anything which is kind of the frightening part because it this isn’t

38:56 | something that’s just going to fix itself overnight like I do think that when you have a putting round that bad

39:02 | what he did on Saturday that there’s some sort of deficiency and I will say I kind of beat up some of our colleagues

39:07 | in the booth I will say I thought Brad faxon’s thoughts were really good and JT lives in South Florida and I would reach

39:13 | out to Brad yeah I mean that makes a lot of sense J JT has had a couple of putting coaches over the past couple

39:20 | years he had Matt Kellin for a while he was with John Graham for a while started with him in 2020 and and and parted ways

39:27 | uh within the past year or year and a half it’s it’s clear that he needs a second set of eyes from from someone

39:33 | he’s never been a particularly strong putter he’s never been an elite putter like his good buddy Jordan spe and yet

39:40 | he’s never been quite this poor quite in need of of of of fixing to this extent

39:47 | you know he was already outside the top 150 in Strokes game putting before this putting performance which again was one

39:53 | of the worst on record for the PG T I could only imagine what it’s going to look like when his stats are updated uh

40:00 | on Monday morning I’d love to see it and it is certainly concerning with that respect especially with the Masters just

40:07 | around the corner because when you look at at Justin thomason’s performance in the major championships and obviously I know that he won uh in Tulsa a couple

40:14 | years ago he has just two top 10 re since the November Masters in 2020 it’s

40:20 | been a lot of face plants in golf’s biggest events and I think a prime

40:26 | example was last year at the Masters where he shot 78 uh in the second round when he was at least in contention uh

40:33 | early days there and when you when you when you pinpoint what the issues are it’s not his short game which is one of

40:39 | the best in the world uh as an iron player uh his his father has got him

40:45 | back on the right track he’s one of the preeminent iron players of his generation he drives the ball well it’s

40:51 | it’s his putting inconsistency uh from round to round and week to week that has F JT and I think

40:58 | has has largely slowed his momentum I’d love to see him make some sort of change

41:03 | have some sort of addition to his team because it does seem badly warranted 164th in Strokes game putting after

41:11 | bpar yes it only got worse and and it is curious to me because I think when he

41:16 | started working with bones going back to the caddy I felt like that was a really good move because and looked I love

41:22 | Jimmy Johnson his old caddy but I felt like bones had been in situations enough with Phil that there was nothing that

41:28 | was going to surprise him and that’s sort of the steadying hand I felt like JT needed at that point in his career

41:34 | but listening to their interaction especially on Saturday when things clearly weren’t going well I don’t know

41:39 | you probably haven’t been on social media because you’re trying to steer clear of it h JT got beat up pretty bad because of the way he acted on Saturday

41:46 | on the golf course and look things were going poorly but when you have all of social media noticing that’s when it

41:51 | becomes a problem no bueno we’ll see if he gets it sorted out in the next two weeks before

41:58 | he heads to Augusta National anything else Rex from the week that stood out to you before we turn the page in the uh

42:05 | preview edition of the G podcast with Rex and lav on Wednesday previewing the Houston open where world number one

42:11 | Scotty Sheffer will be back at the field uh when you you made it back on Friday anything on the grill this

42:17 | weekend uh let’s see I did some chicken thighs I kind of need to do a little bit of a detox uh Puerto Rico was phenomenal

42:26 | muongo I’d never had it before so good delicious fantastic great drinks great

42:32 | people in Puerto Rico it was super easy uh I I think I’d been there for like a day on like a cruise going to S I went

42:38 | to San Juan uh for three or four days but like it’s a US Territory US US

42:45 | currency I mean the People by and large speak English like it could it could not be easier uh super clean uh really

42:53 | enjoyed it it was like a mix between like Miami Beach St Augustine in New

42:58 | Orleans like I thought downtown San Juan old Old San Juan was really cool okay uh

43:04 | you didn’t ask me but thanks for asking I did chili tonight but I did uh I made a pork butt yesterday so we had pull

43:10 | pork sandwiches yesterday and I used the rest of it for chili tonight buo look at

43:15 | you firing up it was quite chilly in Northeast Florida but great barbecue

43:21 | weather we’ll be back in a couple days as mentioned for the preview edition of the Houston open on this golf Channel

43:27 | podcast with Rex and lav in the meantime you guys know the drill MC sports.com

43:33 | golf for all your latest golf needs Rex and I will be on golf today on Monday

43:38 | 12:05 PM eastern time for our usual Round Table discussion supposedly talking for two segments in a one hour

43:46 | show about what we don’t really know Peter in yeah probably will talk about

43:52 | Peter Mady just as we talked about him on this very podcast but as always thanks for listening thanks for the

43:57 | support we’ll talk to you guys in a couple of

44:04 | days

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Stunning Valspar result a microcosm of PGA Tour’s future fight | Golf Channel Podcast [Video]

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