June 8, 2020 • 52 mins
With the death of George Floyd...racial inequality is on the front line of many discussions. So we are talking to World Long Drive Champ Maurice Allen about his experiences in golf, who he holds accountable...and what he thinks can be done to make golf better moving forward. The PGA Tour is also set to return...after 91 days off...this week in Texas at Colonial! We preview this weeks return and get into how it will be different with COVID-19 testing, no fans and other changes. We're PLAYING THROUGH!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of the Playing Through Podcast. Thank
you so much for listening. You can reach us any
time on social media at Playing Through Podcast, on Instagram,
d m s. There are always checking and doing our thing.
It's Brian Whacker one on Instagram and Twitter and at
Froggy Radio as well, So thanks so much for listening.
(00:22):
We've been waiting for quite a while. We have not
had real golf around since what I think it was
March eleventh or March twelfth that we stopped playing the
Players Championship. That was a long time ago. And yeah,
is it ninety one days? Wow? Ninety one days we
went without golf. We are getting golf this weekend. We
start off the Charles Schwab in Texas at Colonial and
(00:46):
it's great to have golf back in a really big field,
the best field they've ever had, right, Brian, it is Yeah.
I mean, this is an event that it won't have
Tiger Woods, but it will have I believe, fifteen in
the top twenty in the world, all of top five
players in the world, some incredible featured pairings. Um, there's
clearly an itch uh and you can't blame them for
(01:08):
guys to get back and play golf, and the tour
has got some protocols in place for testing. We'll get
into that. Of course, no fans for the first four
events back. We'll get into that and away we go.
Um we've got PGA Tour Golf. Um, we'll have PGA
Tour Golf if all goes to plan, every Sunday from
(01:31):
now um through the end of November. So a lot
to get to and PGA Tour Golf is back with
colonial I'm curious to see how it all plays out,
but for now, um, it's back. Yeah, it's nice to
have golf back. But you know what, we've got a
lot going on. We've had the pandemic going on, and
then here recently in the last ten days, unfortunately, there's
(01:54):
been a lot of unrest in America and hopefully we
are moving forward towards a better for a lot of people.
The death of George Floyd has started worldwide protest over
racism and equalities, police brutality, and so somebody who has
spoken out and somebody who understands exactly what's going on.
I know he wrote a piece for you guys, had
(02:16):
Golf Digest joining us here on the program is a
long drive champion Maurice Allen, who hits the ball a
long ways, but today he's here to talk about other things. Maurice,
thanks so much for coming on the program. Man, thank
you guys for having me. I really appreciate it. So
so tell us what's been going on with you. I
know we've been through the pandemic, we're going through everything
(02:37):
else we've got going on. Now what exactly what's more
spent up? To a man? Honestly, you know, Long Drive
for people who don't know, Long Drive folded about three
weeks ago, so, um, there's no more Long Drive as
of right now. I think they're trying to figure out
sponsors or somebody to come back, but I don't know
really what that looks like. So my ultimate goal, honestly
(02:57):
was to play a little more stroke play. Anyway, now
I don't have a choice. That's kind of fast forward
and sped up a little bit. So I'll spend the
next three weeks, uh playing in about five events. Um,
one of them is going to be a qualifier for
the floor to open, and just keep moving and see
what I can do with that. Ind if Long Drive
come comes back, I'll just do both. But right now,
just focused on the golf game. You know what's funny.
(03:19):
I wanted to ask you that before when I have
watched Long Drive Championship to see how well you drive
the golf ball. I mean, it's you know, it's unbelievable,
how how far you can hit it. Why is it
that guys that do the long drive don't play more
stroke play events because it seems that if you can
hit it that far, hell, you don't need but a
wedge to get to a part five. Well, the key
(03:39):
was you said how far and then you said how well?
How far is yes, definitely we're far, but well, you know,
I think the easiest way to describe it is I
did an exhibition when I first started in PGA tour.
Player was literally in front of a bunch of kids
and he was hitting balls off of what do you
call it, a serving platter? You know, serving platter was
by a hundred yards away, about eight yards away, and
(04:01):
he was dinging balls off the platter. And you know
who can do that, you know, a two foot platter
um And I was like, man, I'm not that good.
So the difference between a long drive guy, Yeah, we
hit the ball far, but you know, anybody on the
PGA Tour, Um, you know, the European Tour, the Champions Tour,
corn Ferry, all these these guys really really really good
(04:22):
KPg A, J p g A. They are amazing players.
It's not just how far can you hit the ball?
You know, the up and downs? Can you get the
ball to stop when you get in the rough? Can
you get it to do what you needed to do?
Can you curve the ball around? Um, it's more than
just in it far and and honestly, in long drive,
your condition to hit one great ball out of eight.
In golf, every stroke counts. So yeah, you can stand
(04:44):
on the tea box all you want to and hit eight,
but good luck. And you mentioned the PGA Tour. Of course,
they return to action this week at Colonial. UM golf
has been off obviously now for a few months. They're
been more important things of course going on. Um we
had the pandemic and then of course, UM, George Floyd protests,
(05:08):
Black Lives Matter, all very much more important issues. UM.
You of course wrote a tremendous piece for us to
Golf Digest talking about what it's like to be black
in a largely white sport. And they in ay probably
White Sport. We talked about it the other day Tiger
Woods UM came on the scene in and we've effectively
(05:32):
had just a couple of African American golfers on tour
since then. First I wanted to ask you, though, why
did you decide to write the piece? UM? You know,
if people go through my Instagram, it's been something I've
been talking about for years, mainly because I know for
a fact that I've been passed up on so many
(05:52):
opportunities UM, and it has to be solely based on race.
It can't. It can't be anything else. One of the
most decorated people in the history of long drive, UM
a global name compared to many in my field. Most
guys are long driver just us known. But I've literally
traveled the globe doing this and have fans all over
(06:13):
that I've actually performed in front of UM. And there's
never been anything wrong with me that people can't find
dirty laundry, you know, there's no arrest records or drug
use or anything like that. So the only thing that's
left is race, and it's it really sucks, but I
understand as being a trailblazer, it kind of is what
(06:34):
it is. And you try to. You may never see
and reap the benefits of your hard work, but you
pray and you hope that the person behind you doesn't
have to go through the same thing. And it was
just a perfect time when I think the world was
listening to things that I've been saying for the last
six or seven years. It's one thing to talk about things,
but it's a whole another thing to have people who listen. Um.
(06:56):
And many times in life we have people who talk
a lot, but there it's kind like the whole preaching
to the choir thing. Um. And I think now people
are a little more interested in listening. I mean, you
look at Colin Kaepernick. That's probably the best example ever. Uh.
The NFL just issued an apology, and it's something that
people have known for at least three or four years now,
(07:17):
you know. It's and it's when people get past the
denied phase. I think that's when growth can happen. And
I think the world is past the denied phase. Uh.
And I just hope that golf is in the same boat.
What kind of feedback have you gotten since you wrote
the piece? Um, Honestly, I'll be a hundred percent honest
with you. Man, it's been more positive than negative. You know,
(07:38):
you're always gonna have two to three percent that's negative.
There's nothing that you can do about that part. But uh,
you know, people donated to the link to the foundation,
and we had a young man who put an application
in for a scholarship and we honestly just ran out
of money because of COVID, But because of that we
(07:58):
were able to fund another scholarship as of this week.
So I mean, from that standpoint, it was even if
everything else is gone, Let's say I've been blackballed from
the rest of my career and I can't do anything,
being able to do the philanthropic work that I'm able
to do and the people who stepped up on that
side is much more worth it, honestly, if that means
(08:20):
I gotta go work at like the PGA Tour superstore
or something like that. But being able to do this part,
the philanthropic work, there's been so many people who stepped
up and donated and all kinds of stuff, so that
part is absolutely amazing. Yeah, I know. Harold Warner of
the Third also spoke out wrote a very nice piece
as well. Uh, and and so have you had an
(08:41):
issue with anybody who you thought should have spoke out
or should have been more vocal, or things you would
like to see be a little different. Because I even
know the tour has spoke out into that they understand
there's a problem and that they want to do better. Yeah,
I actually have a problem with everybody, to be a
hundred percent honest with you. You know, Harold throw the
piece and it was okay. Um, it wasn't anything to
(09:01):
write home about. I think, you know, when you make
people uncomfortable. You know, people read my piece and they
were uncomfortable, and the truth of the matter is they're
uncomfortable for a moment. I've been uncomfortable for years. It's
nothing new, So I lived that every single day. So um.
You know, if you look at the three pieces that
were written, mind Harolds and Tigers, you know, I'd say
(09:26):
Harold's in the middle and Tiger and I are on
the two opposite ends. Um. And the thing about it
with Tiger is most people are afraid to speak out
because of financial commitments. You know, I look at Harold
Varner versus Tiger Woods. Obviously, Harold has been on the
tour a few years, but he's still he still has
some things to go. Obviously, sponsors are a big part
(09:48):
of what he does and things of that nature. Tiger
Woods has had plenty of money since the early two thousands.
Let's say two thousand and three, Let's say five years
into it is well, two thousand one would be five
years and so let's say five years into his career,
he probably had more money than most people in golf
would have had um and he could have been speaking
out from that point on. He could have been stepping
(10:09):
up from that point on. And I think the biggest
issue that we have in golf is Tiger Woods to
be a hundred percent honest with you, because white people
use him as the excuse to say, well, the number
one player in the world is black and all this
other stuff for the greatest of all time is black.
And the truth of the mother is Tiger is not black,
and people have to understand that. And that's not me,
as a black male saying Tiger is not black and
(10:31):
judging him. It is Tiger Woods who got on Oprah
in nine and said that himself after winning the Masters.
And when someone tells you themselves that I'm not black,
or I'm cobbling Asian or whatever, he says that kills everything.
That one statement made it where he separated himself from
the rest. And he can name his son after Charlie Sifford,
(10:53):
and that part is okay, I guess, But he's responsible
for the Charlie Siffer, the war, this year, the genesis.
There was no mention of Charlie separate at all. Um.
If you look at golf as a whole, there's no
mention of black history. And I understand the PGA tour
can only work with what's in front of them. So
there's only four black players on the tour. You know,
there are people of black descent technically since Tiger doesn't
(11:16):
want to call himself black, so there's you know, Tiger Woods,
Harold Barner, Joseph Bramer, Cameron Champion. But they could have
done something better with the acknowledgement. PGA of America doesn't acknowledge.
Us GA doesn't acknowledge, but ironically all of these and
the O. E. M S don't acknowledge either. But all
of these people acknowledge, you know, International Women's Day or
(11:37):
International Women's Month and all this other stuff and women
in golf, but when it comes to black people, and
that's The key is we have to stop saying minorities,
because of minority is anybody who is not a white male.
So the LPGA is crowned with minorities. That LPGA is
a minority organization in the world of golf. Um. But
(11:57):
when we start talking about black people and we start
are talking about African Americans, no one has ever ever
marketed to the black dollar. No one's done it, No
one even pays attention to it. It acts like it
doesn't exist. You sprinkle a black person in here or there,
you see them do it. You know the big break
they'd have one the shop makers show that I was
on there was one. It's if I was a soul,
(12:19):
if I was a surfer. It's probably the best way
I can explain it. If I was a surfer and
I'm in the top three in the world, I should
be able to call Bill o Bum, I should be
able to call O'Neil. I should be able to call Rusty.
I should be able to call all of these different
companies and have offers to be sponsored by every single
one of them. Why because I'm a surfer. It shouldn't
(12:40):
be Well, you don't fit our demographic or you know,
you don't fit our vision. While I'm a surfer, you're
a surfing company. What don't I fit in your demographic
and or your vision? And then golf, that's something that
we are constantly been able to circle around and say, well,
you know, they just don't really fit and that's the problem. Yeah, Maurice,
(13:01):
it's interesting you. You know, golf is long sort of
positioned itself as as a very um democratic sport. Um
play better and um, you know, it's it's about score
right when you're playing and in a level playing field,
but the playing field isn't really level when it when
(13:23):
it comes to um, those opportunities can be great if
you could share some insight on what that experience, your
own personal experience is, what those have been like. Oh, yeah,
because it's it's it's not you know, it's not entirely
a level playing field. No, it's definitely not a level
playing field. I mean, I am a firm believer that
(13:44):
no one should get anything just because the color of
their skin. I'm not saying you go get some guy
who shoots in the eighties and say he's sponsored by Tylers.
That's not what I'm saying. Um, not in the least bit.
But for me, I believe that they always moved the carrot.
You know, in the beginning of my career, it will is.
People used to say, oh, you're an ambassador to No,
I'm a touring professional. Um. And I got on a
(14:05):
lot of people's nervous because I demanded and commanded that
level of respect from the beginning of my career. And
then it was well, you haven't won anything, even though
I had a bunch of you know, top four finishes.
So then as I started to win, um, I started
going back to companies, Hey, I want Oh well you
haven't won anything, big Okay. Then I started winning. You know,
I went toward titles in Europe and I become one
of the best in the world. Oh well, you haven't
(14:26):
won in the US. Well, then I went on in
the US and one Sports Center and you know all
these other things, and you know, do the car wash
for ESPN. Oh well, you haven't won a world title. Well,
then I win the world Well then I become number
one in the world, and then it was like, well,
you're not the number one ranked player in the world.
I accomplished that. Then it was well, you haven't won
a world title. Then I accomplished that in and it
(14:48):
keeps moving the carrot over and over again. And that's
been with so many companies. There are actually very few
companies that have been with me from the beginning and
who will have held their word or said, hey, if
you accomplish X, Y, and Z, we're gonna work with you,
We're going to sponsor you. And I also understand as
an individual. You know, a leader is not determined by
(15:09):
the amount of money that they have or the amount
of money that they earned. Uh. In golf, we always
talk about being better. Um. You know, in golf they
always talk about when you go to a you walk
on the green, you try to fix your pitch mark
plus another when you make it better for the next person.
And that's the mentality that I've always used as far
as looking at leaders and leaderships leadership individuals, because you're
(15:32):
trying to be in front of the curve, you're trying
to see things before they happen. So with me, for
a lot of people, it may have been a risky
to sponsor me or to partner with me because I
was speaking out on so many different things that people
were afraid to have that tough conversation. Well, fast forward
to now it's in the forefront. Now it's there, and
(15:53):
the people who saw these things and did not say
anything are looking like they're on the wrong side of history.
And that's that's absolutely crazy. How people can deny and
act as if things didn't happen. Um. For me, I
can assure you I've probably lost millions maybe um, definitely
(16:14):
hundreds of thousands, but potentially millions compared to if I
was a white counterpart that accomplished the things that I accomplished,
and with the notoriety and the publicity and the quote
unquote you know, impressions and views that I've gotten over
the years. It's just, Um, it's different. It's a little heartbreaking,
but you know, it's life. You you make the most
(16:35):
of it, you try to change it, and you just
don't accept, uh, what's given to you. Artists. Do you think, well,
we'll see real change. Will this be the impetus for
golf UM to to make some changes and have some
real impact? I think without changing at the root of
(16:57):
the governing bodies. So let's take LPGA PGA completely out
of the system, because we have to understand those two
organizations are only responsible for marketing the people who are
on their tours, So that's their job. I mean, they
do community outreach, and I get that they both do
those projects and I've seen them personally, so I know
that that happens. But if the U s g A,
(17:20):
if the r n A, and if the PGA of
America do not have a true minority a k A
African American initiative, then no, nothing will change because if
it starts with them, then it goes to the O
E M S. And then if the O E MS
do it eventually, what will happen in the next Let's
give it a four year plan. In four years, you
could actually have people who are playing on these tours
(17:44):
UM or people who are going through PGA Canada, Latin America, China,
um you know, Challenge tour overseas, get to corn Ferry
and moving up the ladder that way and then hopefully
get to the PGA tour, and then that would change
the PGA tour as well as the LPGA when they
actually have players. But the way how the system goes now,
(18:05):
people still have to go through the feed the process.
You still have to go through the quote unquote d
league and work your way up to these tours. So
I can't put that much pressure on the p g
A and the LPJ because we haven't given them anything
to work with. So would you agree that the socio
economic and the fact of how expensive it is, whether
it's whether it's golf balls or golf clubs or whatever,
(18:25):
is that is that's what's keeping a certain economic group
from being able to get into the game of golf
more than anything else. I think the issue is twofold. Yes,
the socio economic part is huge, But here's the thing.
Once you get to a certain level, there are certain
things that you should benefits you should reap, which would
keep the socioeconomic go part down a little bit, you
(18:46):
know what I mean. I'm not saying everything is going
to be free, but you should be able to get clubs,
you should be able to get closed, you should be
able to get shoes, you should be able to get balls.
And now all you're worried about technically is entry fees, travel,
whatever the case may be. Um, but when you're still
as you're getting better, you still have to pay for
all these things, um, where a lot of the white
(19:06):
counterparts don't have to do that. It's a big deal.
I mean, I have a friend right now who can't
who's played in PGA Tour events. He can't even get
a wedge, can't call the rep and get a wedge.
I'm not saying twelve wedges and hey, I got one
from you last week, and I got I need one
next week and all this sort of stuff. I mean
one wedge. And and the problem that you run into
(19:28):
is time and time again, these O e M s.
If you look at any company out there, with the
exception of Swoosh Staff because they do not count because
they partner with Colin Kaepernet. But let's look at any
other manufacturer in the golfing world. Tell me one that
has a black quote unquote ambassador or influencer and they
publicize them. I'll wait, because I've done the research. I
(19:51):
legit can't find one. I know two people on stricks On,
but they are never publicized on their social media. And
and what we're talking about. All these companies say that
they're trying to go towards the youth. Well, the youth
aren't on your website. The youth aren't looking at your
your Facebook, because why your Facebook is for people's parents,
So kids are on Instagram and TikTok, And if you're
(20:13):
trying to go after the youth, then your platforms that
target you should look very diverse and they don't or
inclusive excuse me, that's the better word. Inclusive or east.
What's what's next for you? UM? You know, as we mentioned,
you wrote the powerful piece UM and act. You know,
(20:33):
enabling and enacting change and is obviously a very important
issue to you. UM. We talked about it at the
top of the Long Drive. UM. The future of the
Long Drive competition is uh nebulous at best, UM is
very uncertain at the moment. What's next for you? What?
What do you have going on in the next few months?
(20:54):
Try to shoot sixty two? That's it, man. I mean honestly,
you know, getting out here it's talk and then speaking
of is one thing. But honestly, if I can't get
out here and shoot the low scores and get myself
status on UM somebody somewhere, it almost looks like a
guy who's just angry because he didn't have the ability
(21:14):
or the goods to make it to the next level. UM.
So I've I've kind of backed myself into a corner
and dropped the gauntlet and the challenge on myself to
excel and do better. Um and if I don't, then
all of it for not almost some moreas I want
to ask you a question. So when you obviously when
you're doing the long drive thing, you've got swing when
(21:35):
you're just swinging all out when you go play golf
to try and and and qualify, whether it's at the
Florida Open or wherever it is that you're trying to
play in, are you swinging eight percent? Like, what's an
average drive for you that you're trying to hit so
you know that you're gonna get it in play? So swing?
(21:59):
You know? I don't, Oh, I mean, I use a
different Everything is different. You know. When I'm long driving,
I'm using a zero to a two degree driver and
it's forty seven inches. When I'm playing golf, I use
a six and a half degree driver that's forty three
and three quarter inches. And it's not because I need
it for control, It's just it literally pairs up with
the exact spects as far as stiffness is my long
(22:20):
drive driver, so I don't feel like I have to
back off. I can just still really get through the
bottom of the swing. Very well and aggressively. Um, and
I hit a lot of two irons. I don't really
need to hit the driver hit the two iron, you
know about. I think we did a thing on Instagram
the other day. I was in two iron before it cave.
I got two and I'm sorry, Yeah, I got what
(22:42):
threwy yards off of a two iron ball speed and
club speed? Cave? What the two are in? Face caved in? Yeah,
cave cracked and broke right on the on the sweet spot.
So it was on my It was on my Instagram
at Jesse James Golf. I don't even have that video anymore,
but it um. I think he's got it. Um. But yeah,
(23:03):
I mean we were just it's all about you know,
if you hit the driver along, you hit everything wrong. Um.
I hit a Lobwige about a hundred and thirty five yards,
So I mean you just understand that you a club
that speed? Is it? I mean, have you had a lesson?
I mean, did you take lessons to learn how to
hit the ball as far? Is it just something you
just learned how to do? Uh? No, I think this
guy given ability. I mean, in the game of golf,
(23:24):
you can shoot sixty eight a bunch of different ways.
But then you know, hitting the ball far, there's only
one way. It's sequencing, power and speed, nothing else. You
can't fake that. I do want to tell you you
do have a fan and somebody who's a fan of
the program and also a friend of ours. It's Billy Horsell.
Yesterday I was talking to Billy and I told Billy
that we were going to have you on the podcast,
(23:45):
and he he texted me he said, quote, enjoy your
time with Maurice. He's a great guy. He can seriously
smoke the ship out of a golf ball. He said,
he's a sharp dresser, He's a good dude, in genuine
he said. I like him a lot and a big fan.
So Billy Horsell's a big fan of Maury's Allen. Yeah, man,
I spent the first, oh Man three years of my
(24:05):
uh we'll see that was sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. Everything
I wore was what Billy wore. We used to kind
of chat about it back and forth, and he looked
at my clothes like bro. I was like, yeah, you know,
I just got my Horse Show outfits on from Polo.
So no, man, Billy is a really, really great guy.
Minus at school he went to. But you know, whoa whoa, whoa,
(24:26):
whoa whoa what you look over my shoulder. I'm actually
not a sports fan at all, but I was on
the sideline during three of Miami's national championships in the earth.
Finally we get it, we get somebody on the on
the program. Yeah, yeah, So I mean my cousin. My
(24:48):
cousin was an offensive alignment for the Hurricanes. I was
there through three of the national championships that he won.
I was standing right on the sideline the whole game.
So um. I grew up around and I think that's
probably the difference. Man, group a lot of amazing athletes.
I've known them my whole life. So it's just it's different.
When you're around those great people and you have those
(25:09):
amazing influences, you also understand what you're here for in
the purpose. You know, every athlete the sweat's gonna dry
at some point, but did you make it better while
you had that potential in that platform. So that's kind
of what I do. Man. Well, we're also a big
fan of yours, Maurice, and and I'd be remiss to
not mention your foundation, which you had texted me some
(25:31):
great news about UM just just last night, I believe,
and uh, if you could share a little bit about
that and a little bit about your foundation, UM, that'd
be great because I think that's obviously one way that
listeners could help out and it could step in and
we could you know, it takes action for for for change,
and it takes people being uncomfortable and it takes some action,
(25:52):
and and that that would be the way that people
could do it. Yeah, no, we we we touched on
a little earlier, but honestly, here's the thing. You know,
UM right now is pretty much prime opportunity for a
lot of African Americans who have put themselves in the
proper position, have all their paperwork, or have established something
going forward. And for me, it was, you know, when
(26:12):
I want an eighteen, I talked about giving twenty five
tho dollars in my winnings right back to my high
school to support scholarships for kids who had struggled their
first two years but then got their act together and
really got it together for the you know, the remaining
of their high school career and decided that they wanted
to go to college. And we gave away four scholarships
(26:35):
just last week I think it was or something like
that last week a week and a half ago. UM,
we gave him away. And then due to all of
the generosity of everybody from that story, there was another
young man we ran out of money and we were
able to give him a five thousand dollar scholarship as well. UM.
But there's so many projects, you know. We have a
building pros project, which I think is going to be
(26:57):
the key to getting more African American men and when
and on the professional tours and help them go through
the ranks. We have another program Saving Christmas, where we're
gonna take over an elementary school and give kids a
savings account rather than going and buying bikes and all
this other stuff. Help them understand, you know, financial responsibility
and give them a savings account solely based on their
(27:18):
academics performance and where they stand and under and having
people to understand that, you know, knowledge is the way out.
Knowledge is the key. UM. Do a food bank as well,
and then also do some adult programming so that while
we're trying to impact the lives of these kids, we
can also also change their lives with their parents. Because
getting the kids and having them understand or trying to
(27:40):
teach them something but it's not being reinforced at home.
Is an absolute waste of time. So for me, I
just want to give people in my community hope and
try to change my community. And from there, I think
that could be something that people could follow, people could
be a part of. UM. And you know, a lot
of people want to help a lot of people have
attempted to donate and I really really appreciate that. UM,
(28:03):
and I'm just trying to change the world, one individual
at a time as much as I can. So where
do we go online to donate if we want to
do it? Um, It's on So I'm having a problem
with my Instagram right now. UM, but I see bees
got the link. UM, but I will definitely get it
to you guys. The foundation page we have since this happened,
we literally just swiped it and started all lower so
(28:25):
people can get a better understanding. See the committee, see
the people who we've changed, put the projects out there.
But it's Maurice Alan three sixty uh dot com is
my page. There is a donate button on there so
people can go on there and hit the donations and
all of the money. So people need to understand. I
want you, I want them to see my face when
I say this. Every single solitary dime that is donated
(28:47):
goes back to the community. We don't pay anybody, We
have volunteers at work. I don't take any money off
of It doesn't go to entry fees for me. I'm
not out here putting money in my pocketar doing anything crazy.
Every dollar that goes in is accounting for, accounted for
when it goes out, and it goes out directly to
the people who need it. There's no overhead, there is
nothing that happens with that at all. And it's always
(29:10):
been that way with my group. It will always continue
to be that way with my group. Thank you so much.
Figures out. I'm appreciate it. Once again, it is Maurice
Alan three sixty dot com. Go on there and donate
and let's you know what. It does feel different this
time for some reason or another, and I'm not discounting
the other times that this has happened, but something feels
(29:31):
that think it's done. It feels like more people are involved,
more people are committed to making a change. Uh, we
just have to keep the ball rollings. A lot of
times the ball gets rolling in it stops. We need
to keep the ball rolling until there is systematic change
and until everybody can feel like they've got an equal chance.
I'm with you on that. Thank you, Hey, thank you
guys so much for giving me the opportunity to tell
(29:52):
my story. Um, that really does mean a lot to me.
I really really appreciate it. Thank you guys for being
courageous enough to continue to move things forward and make
people feel uncomfortable and just let people know, Hey, it's okay,
you're not a bad person. It's all about what do
we do from here? What change do we make from here?
You've got and good luck moving forward and good luck
shooting sixty two and we can't wait to see you
(30:13):
on the corn Ferry in the PGA Tour. Thanks a lot, man,
I appreciate it. Thanks Morris, have a good woman, all right, Fellas.
Awesome stuff. I mean really, the piece that you wrote
for Golf Digest was amazing. If you haven't seen it,
you can see at the golf Digest dot com. Yeah,
I mean, it's still up on our homepage. And it's
an important perspective because I think that's part of the
conversation A big part of it is understanding things from
(30:37):
another perspective and an ability to to do that rather
than what might be someone's perspective might be your perspective. Yeah,
I mean, I consider all day and tell you what
I think. But I haven't lived the life that Maris
Allen has lived or or other people. I haven't gone
through what they've gone through. And so because of that,
(30:58):
it's easy. A lot of times we get into a
situation where somebody complains and they don't have any solutions.
Morris is a guy that's saying, hey, here's where we
have some problems, but here's some solutions as to how
we can fix it. And so it's always easier to
do that when you have a when this is a
road I want to go down and try to make
it better. Yeah, absolutely so. In speaking of going down
the road, um, let the circle back now to the
(31:19):
PGA tour, because they're going down the road to Colonial.
We'll restart, as we mentioned earlier, we'll restart their season
this week at Colonial. And it feels right. It doesn't
feel too early, it doesn't feel um like we shouldn't
be doing it. It feels right. Yeah. I don't know
how to view it quite honestly. UM. On one hand,
(31:41):
certainly it can be done. UM, they've taken some steps.
They'll be UM testing. So how does that work? Do
you know exactly? I know? So some were supposed to
test before they left home, before they traveled, and then
when they get there they'll be tested again to one
once they're there, and they'll be kept in quarantine. Is
that what I'm understanding? Well? Yeah, and then in this
this still UM, and we can address some of this
(32:03):
because UM, I'll have a piece later this week on
Golf Digests about the questions that still remain. Because as
much as golf is returning and trying to do so
UM in a safe and UM environment so forth, there
are some questions that remain. UM. To your point about testing, Okay,
(32:24):
so let's start with that players are not required. Players
or caddies are not required to test before they travel.
It is only a suggestion, a strong suggestion, but still
only a suggestion. Now, once they arrive in the tournament city, UM,
they will be tested. UM, and that will happen. There's
(32:46):
some various locations, be it um at tournament sites or
at other locations within the city of where that event
is colonial for example, I believe he's using the local
arena to carry out some testing, and the results of
that testing will be available within a number of hours,
and players are allowed to practice UH at a tournament
(33:12):
site until those results come back, but they are not
permitted inside the clubhouse, the locker room, et cetera. In
still a until a negative test comes back, test results
be public, No, because that's the thing is that at
the end of the day, you still remember all this
is a HIPPA violation risk as well. If you put
(33:35):
somebody's medical history or medical results out there, that's that's
not allowed. So okay, So that said, if if if
a player or caddy does test positive, they will not
be allowed to participate. Um depending when that result comes back,
they will not be allowed to participate, and we'll have
to quarantine for at least ten days in that city
(33:57):
and withdraw from the event. Withdraw from the event. And
so we know who's registered. So I mean it's gonna
be pretty obvious if somebody we know who's on the list.
Now we've already got some of the featured pairing groups out,
they've already told us he's playing together. If all of
a sudden, UM, Dustin Johnson or or Justin Thomas all
of a sudden just decide not to play this week.
You're gonna know why? Yes, yes, so we'll see that.
(34:20):
Um if if there are w D s um prior
to around after, if they would say w D because
of a test result, or if it'll be oh I
had an injury or you know, to be interesting, certainly
the question is going to be asked. I would imagine that. Um.
You know, if a player withdraws, that will be the
(34:40):
first question asked to that player by the media. UM. So,
now is it up to the tour to disclose that
to the media. I don't think so. To your point,
there hip a situations, but they do have to inform
local officials if there is a positive test. And that
raises another question which is not really been a is
(35:00):
that if there are positive tests, how many tests does
it take before the tour decides to shut down an event. Um,
it's certainly not one test. I think we've gotten clarification there.
But how many tests will it take? Will it take
five tests? Ten? Does it matter who test positive? In
(35:24):
other words, if it's a volunteer, if it's a player,
if it's a caddy. Where does the line of demarcation,
where does that stand? We do not have the answer
to that. It's been asked of the tour. They have
not been um clear. Now that said, I I think
they they're sort of looking at it on a case
(35:46):
by case basis or situation by situation basis, where um,
if a player does test positive, they will um go
into a series of procedures. Medical officials like will carry
out content act tracing, the tour will carry out sanitizing um,
everything and so forth that that player has come in
(36:08):
contact with. But this is this is a tricky situation.
Now players again will be tested if they are taking
the charter plane to the next tournament. Okay, because the
tour is going to have a charter going for at
least these first four events where they fly players. UM,
you know, you will have to get a negative result
(36:31):
on a test on I believe it's Saturday, um, prior
to being allowed to board that plane, which can hold
a hundred and seventeen roughly seventeen players and caddies. Now,
of course, some players are going to fly private. UM.
So there's still a lot of questions here. I mean,
(36:53):
people bring up the bubble but you know the tournament
tournaments are using hotels as hosts hotels, but they're using
multiple hotels. Then there they're also the players allowed to leave.
Are they allowed to go like say you want to
go out and have dinner. Yes, So it's not a
situation like it whereas the NBA is going to take
(37:15):
over the whole hotel and they're going to quarantine them there.
This is a case of you'll stay at the hotel,
but you can come and go as you please. And
it's trickier because again we're talking you know, the NBA.
There's a players union that you know, they effectively work
for the NBA. It's essentially the other way around in
professional golf, with tour working for the players who are
(37:35):
independent contractors. The tour has certainly suggested that players self
quarantine and remain in the rooms in order room service
or grab takeaway, which a smart Yeah. I mean I've
had players and caddies tell me, um, you know more
than one that they're effectively going to go out to dinner. Uh,
(37:55):
they're going to effectively do what they want and not
take any of the tourist suggestions. So that said, you
wonder how tight this bubble is because again there are
there are very few requirements within this bubble. Uh, there
are a lot of suggestions. So and so we get
no fans, we'll get no fans, and we'll continue this
(38:18):
process for the first four weeks. Yes, now for four
weeks will have no fans. Uh, this entire testing process
will continue. It's possible, I suppose that there would be
modifications to it along the way, depending how things play out. Um,
we did get a notification from the Memorial tournament, UH
that says they are going to allow fans. Now they
(38:40):
all they said was we're going to allow fans. They
kind of jump to that, and they're going to then
back us up and tell us later exactly how many fans,
what they're gonna do, what the protocols will be, what
the social guidelines will be. So they're gonna do that.
But they do want to have fans at the Memorial
and that is in July. So we are going to
go the first four weeks without. But we know there
is a tournament. Now there's another tournament that has canceled.
(39:01):
The John Deere has canceled because they're not comfortable with
having people there and doing that yet. So that event
was that they were looking to either move that to
sawgrass or move it somewhere else. But the problem with
sagrass was seventeen at Sagres, the most famous holetts a
grass uh TPC here in pont of Edra, where I
AM has been under construction, they redid the green. Now,
(39:23):
I'm not saying it can't be ready for them, but
I don't think they had planned on the golf course
being ready for play, UH tournament play, professional tournament play
in July. So I'm not exactly sure where they're going
to move that event to. Well, they actually made that decision,
and yeah, they made that decision last week. I reported
on it. Where they will play that tournament or that
(39:45):
week rather at near Field Village, site of the Memorial tournament. Um,
they will play there the week before uh and and
have an event sponsored by work Day which stocks in
one year only. UH. Really, when when it came to
John Deere, it was sort of twofold. It was, um
a matter of gatherings of people. UM. And again we're
(40:08):
you know, the tour will have tournaments without fans, but
you're still talking roughly people on site at once, volunteers
and so that was problematic and really second, uh, probably
more so was the financial element of it. The tournament
director telling me that, look, the event would have lost
(40:28):
money had they held it without fans. UM. You know,
of course there's any number of things that go into
that ticket sales too, to alcohol, food and beverage, etcetera
big sponsor, UH, tents and so forth, and all that
going way, and the tournament, UM would rather take that
money that they already sort of have in their possession
(40:49):
and redistribute that to the charities uh locally that um,
you know, they they're still able to do that. Words,
if they had the tournament, uh, the event would have
lost money. That certainly would have impacted the charitable element
of it doing so, so they made the decision for
this year to not go on. And you wonder how
many that raises the questions You have to ask how
(41:12):
many other tournaments are feeling that pressure and if you
and you wonder if that will be the case for
the other events. So we haven't seen that happen yet
with other tournaments, but it certainly raises a question. Um,
I think there are a lot of questions still to
be answered. That said, I don't think Um, really, anytime soon,
(41:32):
we're going to be at a point where we have
all the answers for this stuff. If we're going to
proceed with golf. There's just no way possible for it
to proceed anytime soon with having all the answers. Um,
is it too soon? I don't know, you know, it's
to me it's still to be determined, and I guess
we'll see it play out, but certainly players are eager
(41:55):
to play. Um. Yeah, it's got the strongest field and
then history of the event. Yeah, I mean just some
of the some of the featured groups. You've got Rom
Kepta and McElroy paired together, Justin Thomas, Ricky Fowler, Jordan's
Speed paired together, Justin Rose Bryson, Deshambo and Dutin Johnson together,
and Gary Woodland, Kevin nah and Phil Mickelson. I mean,
(42:18):
this unbelievably strong field. It'll be great to have golf
back again. It will be strange without the fans. Um.
I do wish and I and and I do understand
that the miked up portion that we saw from the Tiger,
Phil Tom Brady, Um Peyton Manning match. I understand the
(42:40):
talk that we got there would not be the same
talk you would get during during a real match. I
get that, UM, but I would like to see at
times some guys miked up. I think Phil is phenomenal
when miked up. He gives a lot of explanation. He
does a little bit of chatter, but feels very good.
And you know, I'm a huge Tiger fan, and Tiger
(43:01):
not that great miked up because he's more into the
round and does not He's just not like that. It's
just not his personality. But I did enjoy the miked
up portion. And I know a lot of people have said, well,
why can't we mike the players? You would not get
the same interaction at a tour event that you got
at a event like we saw at the match. Would
you agree, No, yeah, no, you certainly wouldn't that said, um,
(43:22):
it'd be a fantastic idea because it would be, um,
really fascinating. And I can provide an example, a real
life example if I go back to Chambers Bay. I
believe it was for the US Open where UM spectators
uh were because of the topography and the way the
courses roped and staked and so forth, spectators were rather
(43:45):
far from the players. And uh, of course the media
wasn't It was allowed inside the ropes, and there were
occasions where I was able to get I can remember
one specifically where I was able to get really close
to Phil Mickelson because of uh, sort of the walking
path for the media for the event, and it was
(44:08):
fascinating listening to the dialogue between him and Bones, who's
still on his bag at the time. Um, and they're
back and forth over particular shot. So to me, that
would be incredibly fascinated. Um. The problem is you have
to get by and from the players. Of course, for that,
some guys aren't simply going to want to do that. Um.
(44:28):
There are other you know, the tour is going to
want to control sort of what information is put out there.
Um were. But we are going to see this on
the European tour. I think you're going to see when
they come back, you will see, Um some players miked
up and we've already seen it with players being interviewed
on their way down the down a particular hole. I'm
(44:49):
not sure that really provides a ton of insight because
that's a little more intrusive. Um, it's a little bit
like those interviews of coaches coming to halftime. I mean,
what do you really get out of those? Most often
not not a whole lot. Um that said, I would
like to see the tour move forward. And look, I
(45:13):
think golf realizes, you know, from the professional presentation standpoint,
it needs to make some changes in terms of how
it presents its product and trying to attract more fans
and make it more interesting. And um, you know that's
certainly one of the things that's been talked about, is
is having more players. Mike up right, it'll be interesting
(45:33):
to see. I'm excited to get golf back this week.
The only I would say, the only thing that and
I didn't expect it anyways. The only disappointment is this
week we do not get Tiger Woods at Colonial. And
I think that when we spoke to paulaising Or last time,
he had said that he didn't think that that Tiger
would play this golf course and thought that maybe the
first time we would see him. I think the first
(45:54):
time we could really count on a very good chance
is obviously the Memorial tournament. But do you think there's
a chance we could see Tiger Woods prior to the Memorial?
You know, Look, he's obviously not in the field this week.
Next week at the RBC Heritage, a tournament he has played,
of course, he has played before, but a very long
time ago, along with Colonial back in the late nineties. So, um,
(46:18):
I think there's a chance he could play there. Um
I think, or maybe there was a chance he he
was going to play there. I would bet on him
not playing there. And look, Tiger at this point, forty
four years old, he's a creature habit really when you
look at it, look at his history of playing events
(46:39):
hasn't really changed a whole lot over the years, even
more recently. Uh. Secondly, you look at the schedule in
the back end of it, in the back end of
the year, if all goes to plan, it's, yeah, a
lot of big tournaments, major championships. Look at this point,
it's all about many of the championships for Tiger Woods.
(46:59):
And back into the calendar, you've got three major championships
plus the Rider Cup, plus the PGA Tour FedEx Cup
playoffs in that order. So to me, I just don't
see anyway he comes back really before Memorial um, which
would be about a month from now. But I do
(47:19):
want to say at the match, and you can you
can downplay it and say it didn't matter. You can
say whatever you want. He put on a clinic. It
looked good, striking, the ball look good. The driver was
a weapon. He hit it very well. People will say, oh, well,
it wasn't a real match. It didn't matter. Well Phil
hit hit on the same golf course, and Phil had
a hard time keeping it in the fairway, and Tiger
(47:42):
put on an app I believe he hit every single
fairway with the driver, and so we know that has
not been a strong point in the past. The swing
looked good. He looked like he had speed through the ball.
He did not look uh he had any he didn't.
I didn't see any ginger movements where he looked like
he was uncomfortable. So thing did look good. Is it
different than a PGA Tour event. Absolutely, it's more laid back. However,
(48:05):
you still gotta hit shots, and I felt like he
hit shots. I think he missed one green on an
approach shot. He really did hit the ball extremely well.
And it's encouraging moving forward because the last time we
saw him was the Genesis, where he had a great
first nine holes and then played terrible after. So I
mean it was it was encouraging to at least see that,
(48:27):
and it makes us think that maybe the back end
of the season can be good and maybe this downtime
in the pandemic has been better. Has not been better
for anybody more than Tiger, and given his time off
and given his body to rest, Yeah, I think that
to me is the biggest benefit really for a guy
like Tiger whose body is you know, stitched together at
(48:49):
this point, um, and has more holes than than an
operation game board. But I just, yeah, I think the
back end of the year is far too important for
him in terms of major championships that I just don't
see him really changing his schedule much. Um, he's gonna
(49:10):
want to obviously focused on all of those majors, and
you've got one every month August September, Um, then you've
got November with the Masters. So Ryder Cup thrown in
there in September. Yeah, that's that's a whole other. Ryder
Cup with no fans is not a Ryder Cup. And
so I know and it and it certainly seems to
(49:33):
be moving a little more in that direction. Um, you know,
as of now, it's still on, but how long, Look,
I think there's just there's a lot of unknowns and
that goes for Tiger too. But but I think to
your point, the time off probably did hidden some good,
maybe more than anybody else on tour. It'll be good
(49:55):
to have the golf season back this week. It will
be a little awkward, it will be strange with no fans,
but I still think it'll be great to have it back. Um,
it'll be interesting to see how this works with the
bubble that they are in, uh, and see if we
can make it work and we'll start getting back. It's
you know, it's always the first step that's the toughest
(50:15):
one to make, and golf being the first major sport.
I know. I know NASCAR is back, and I'm not
taking anyway from from NASCAR and what they're doing and
that they found a way to make it work. And
I think that they are now looking at introducing fans
as well. Um, starting very small, but I think it's
good that it is coming back. I'm excited to have
it back. I love the fact that the fields huge.
I love that they've paired a lot of the big
(50:36):
guys together. No, I mean it's gonna make TV, It's
gonna make golf. Musty Musty TV again. You think we
had great ratings for the Tailor Made match, they had
even better ratings for the Tiger and philm match. And
I think we'll get even great ratings this weekend because
live golf is back, so it's good for us. Big
thanks to Maurice Allen for his time and being so
(50:58):
open and UH once again, if you want to donate
and make a change, because that really is it. You know,
we can all you can say whatever you want, do
whatever you want, but doing something is much more important.
So if you go to Maurice Allen three sixty dot
com you can donate there once again. Scholarships for people
to get their life on track, and that's what's important.
(51:19):
And it's giving everybody the equal opportunity to make it
in life and to have the things that you want
to have, to not start at a disadvantage, and that's
what they're doing. So thanks for listening. Golf is back.
We get it. We'll start here at Colonial this week.
Where do we go next week? Off to Hilton Head
and then the Traveler Travelers Championship and then as mentioned
(51:43):
the new event UH at Mirfield Village No fans that week, UH,
full Field regular event, and then of course the Memorial
Tournament same place, UM the following week with fans. Good deal,
all right, Thank you so much for listening to the
Playing Through podcast.
Welcome to another edition of the Playing Through Podcast. Thank
you so much for listening. You can reach us any
time on social media at Playing Through Podcast, on Instagram,
d m s. There are always checking and doing our thing.
It's Brian Whacker one on Instagram and Twitter and at
Froggy Radio as well, So thanks so much for listening.
(00:22):
We've been waiting for quite a while. We have not
had real golf around since what I think it was
March eleventh or March twelfth that we stopped playing the
Players Championship. That was a long time ago. And yeah,
is it ninety one days? Wow? Ninety one days we
went without golf. We are getting golf this weekend. We
start off the Charles Schwab in Texas at Colonial and
(00:46):
it's great to have golf back in a really big field,
the best field they've ever had, right, Brian, it is Yeah.
I mean, this is an event that it won't have
Tiger Woods, but it will have I believe, fifteen in
the top twenty in the world, all of top five
players in the world, some incredible featured pairings. Um, there's
clearly an itch uh and you can't blame them for
(01:08):
guys to get back and play golf, and the tour
has got some protocols in place for testing. We'll get
into that. Of course, no fans for the first four
events back. We'll get into that and away we go.
Um we've got PGA Tour Golf. Um, we'll have PGA
Tour Golf if all goes to plan, every Sunday from
(01:31):
now um through the end of November. So a lot
to get to and PGA Tour Golf is back with
colonial I'm curious to see how it all plays out,
but for now, um, it's back. Yeah, it's nice to
have golf back. But you know what, we've got a
lot going on. We've had the pandemic going on, and
then here recently in the last ten days, unfortunately, there's
(01:54):
been a lot of unrest in America and hopefully we
are moving forward towards a better for a lot of people.
The death of George Floyd has started worldwide protest over
racism and equalities, police brutality, and so somebody who has
spoken out and somebody who understands exactly what's going on.
I know he wrote a piece for you guys, had
(02:16):
Golf Digest joining us here on the program is a
long drive champion Maurice Allen, who hits the ball a
long ways, but today he's here to talk about other things. Maurice,
thanks so much for coming on the program. Man, thank
you guys for having me. I really appreciate it. So
so tell us what's been going on with you. I
know we've been through the pandemic, we're going through everything
(02:37):
else we've got going on. Now what exactly what's more
spent up? To a man? Honestly, you know, Long Drive
for people who don't know, Long Drive folded about three
weeks ago, so, um, there's no more Long Drive as
of right now. I think they're trying to figure out
sponsors or somebody to come back, but I don't know
really what that looks like. So my ultimate goal, honestly
(02:57):
was to play a little more stroke play. Anyway, now
I don't have a choice. That's kind of fast forward
and sped up a little bit. So I'll spend the
next three weeks, uh playing in about five events. Um,
one of them is going to be a qualifier for
the floor to open, and just keep moving and see
what I can do with that. Ind if Long Drive
come comes back, I'll just do both. But right now,
just focused on the golf game. You know what's funny.
(03:19):
I wanted to ask you that before when I have
watched Long Drive Championship to see how well you drive
the golf ball. I mean, it's you know, it's unbelievable,
how how far you can hit it. Why is it
that guys that do the long drive don't play more
stroke play events because it seems that if you can
hit it that far, hell, you don't need but a
wedge to get to a part five. Well, the key
(03:39):
was you said how far and then you said how well?
How far is yes, definitely we're far, but well, you know,
I think the easiest way to describe it is I
did an exhibition when I first started in PGA tour.
Player was literally in front of a bunch of kids
and he was hitting balls off of what do you
call it, a serving platter? You know, serving platter was
by a hundred yards away, about eight yards away, and
(04:01):
he was dinging balls off the platter. And you know
who can do that, you know, a two foot platter
um And I was like, man, I'm not that good.
So the difference between a long drive guy, Yeah, we
hit the ball far, but you know, anybody on the
PGA Tour, Um, you know, the European Tour, the Champions Tour,
corn Ferry, all these these guys really really really good
(04:22):
KPg A, J p g A. They are amazing players.
It's not just how far can you hit the ball?
You know, the up and downs? Can you get the
ball to stop when you get in the rough? Can
you get it to do what you needed to do?
Can you curve the ball around? Um, it's more than
just in it far and and honestly, in long drive,
your condition to hit one great ball out of eight.
In golf, every stroke counts. So yeah, you can stand
(04:44):
on the tea box all you want to and hit eight,
but good luck. And you mentioned the PGA Tour. Of course,
they return to action this week at Colonial. UM golf
has been off obviously now for a few months. They're
been more important things of course going on. Um we
had the pandemic and then of course, UM, George Floyd protests,
(05:08):
Black Lives Matter, all very much more important issues. UM.
You of course wrote a tremendous piece for us to
Golf Digest talking about what it's like to be black
in a largely white sport. And they in ay probably
White Sport. We talked about it the other day Tiger
Woods UM came on the scene in and we've effectively
(05:32):
had just a couple of African American golfers on tour
since then. First I wanted to ask you, though, why
did you decide to write the piece? UM? You know,
if people go through my Instagram, it's been something I've
been talking about for years, mainly because I know for
a fact that I've been passed up on so many
(05:52):
opportunities UM, and it has to be solely based on race.
It can't. It can't be anything else. One of the
most decorated people in the history of long drive, UM
a global name compared to many in my field. Most
guys are long driver just us known. But I've literally
traveled the globe doing this and have fans all over
(06:13):
that I've actually performed in front of UM. And there's
never been anything wrong with me that people can't find
dirty laundry, you know, there's no arrest records or drug
use or anything like that. So the only thing that's
left is race, and it's it really sucks, but I
understand as being a trailblazer, it kind of is what
(06:34):
it is. And you try to. You may never see
and reap the benefits of your hard work, but you
pray and you hope that the person behind you doesn't
have to go through the same thing. And it was
just a perfect time when I think the world was
listening to things that I've been saying for the last
six or seven years. It's one thing to talk about things,
but it's a whole another thing to have people who listen. Um.
(06:56):
And many times in life we have people who talk
a lot, but there it's kind like the whole preaching
to the choir thing. Um. And I think now people
are a little more interested in listening. I mean, you
look at Colin Kaepernick. That's probably the best example ever. Uh.
The NFL just issued an apology, and it's something that
people have known for at least three or four years now,
(07:17):
you know. It's and it's when people get past the
denied phase. I think that's when growth can happen. And
I think the world is past the denied phase. Uh.
And I just hope that golf is in the same boat.
What kind of feedback have you gotten since you wrote
the piece? Um, Honestly, I'll be a hundred percent honest
with you. Man, it's been more positive than negative. You know,
(07:38):
you're always gonna have two to three percent that's negative.
There's nothing that you can do about that part. But uh,
you know, people donated to the link to the foundation,
and we had a young man who put an application
in for a scholarship and we honestly just ran out
of money because of COVID, But because of that we
(07:58):
were able to fund another scholarship as of this week.
So I mean, from that standpoint, it was even if
everything else is gone, Let's say I've been blackballed from
the rest of my career and I can't do anything,
being able to do the philanthropic work that I'm able
to do and the people who stepped up on that
side is much more worth it, honestly, if that means
(08:20):
I gotta go work at like the PGA Tour superstore
or something like that. But being able to do this part,
the philanthropic work, there's been so many people who stepped
up and donated and all kinds of stuff, so that
part is absolutely amazing. Yeah, I know. Harold Warner of
the Third also spoke out wrote a very nice piece
as well. Uh, and and so have you had an
(08:41):
issue with anybody who you thought should have spoke out
or should have been more vocal, or things you would
like to see be a little different. Because I even
know the tour has spoke out into that they understand
there's a problem and that they want to do better. Yeah,
I actually have a problem with everybody, to be a
hundred percent honest with you. You know, Harold throw the
piece and it was okay. Um, it wasn't anything to
(09:01):
write home about. I think, you know, when you make
people uncomfortable. You know, people read my piece and they
were uncomfortable, and the truth of the matter is they're
uncomfortable for a moment. I've been uncomfortable for years. It's
nothing new, So I lived that every single day. So um.
You know, if you look at the three pieces that
were written, mind Harolds and Tigers, you know, I'd say
(09:26):
Harold's in the middle and Tiger and I are on
the two opposite ends. Um. And the thing about it
with Tiger is most people are afraid to speak out
because of financial commitments. You know, I look at Harold
Varner versus Tiger Woods. Obviously, Harold has been on the
tour a few years, but he's still he still has
some things to go. Obviously, sponsors are a big part
(09:48):
of what he does and things of that nature. Tiger
Woods has had plenty of money since the early two thousands.
Let's say two thousand and three, Let's say five years
into it is well, two thousand one would be five
years and so let's say five years into his career,
he probably had more money than most people in golf
would have had um and he could have been speaking
out from that point on. He could have been stepping
(10:09):
up from that point on. And I think the biggest
issue that we have in golf is Tiger Woods to
be a hundred percent honest with you, because white people
use him as the excuse to say, well, the number
one player in the world is black and all this
other stuff for the greatest of all time is black.
And the truth of the mother is Tiger is not black,
and people have to understand that. And that's not me,
as a black male saying Tiger is not black and
(10:31):
judging him. It is Tiger Woods who got on Oprah
in nine and said that himself after winning the Masters.
And when someone tells you themselves that I'm not black,
or I'm cobbling Asian or whatever, he says that kills everything.
That one statement made it where he separated himself from
the rest. And he can name his son after Charlie Sifford,
(10:53):
and that part is okay, I guess, But he's responsible
for the Charlie Siffer, the war, this year, the genesis.
There was no mention of Charlie separate at all. Um.
If you look at golf as a whole, there's no
mention of black history. And I understand the PGA tour
can only work with what's in front of them. So
there's only four black players on the tour. You know,
there are people of black descent technically since Tiger doesn't
(11:16):
want to call himself black, so there's you know, Tiger Woods,
Harold Barner, Joseph Bramer, Cameron Champion. But they could have
done something better with the acknowledgement. PGA of America doesn't acknowledge.
Us GA doesn't acknowledge, but ironically all of these and
the O. E. M S don't acknowledge either. But all
of these people acknowledge, you know, International Women's Day or
(11:37):
International Women's Month and all this other stuff and women
in golf, but when it comes to black people, and
that's The key is we have to stop saying minorities,
because of minority is anybody who is not a white male.
So the LPGA is crowned with minorities. That LPGA is
a minority organization in the world of golf. Um. But
(11:57):
when we start talking about black people and we start
are talking about African Americans, no one has ever ever
marketed to the black dollar. No one's done it, No
one even pays attention to it. It acts like it
doesn't exist. You sprinkle a black person in here or there,
you see them do it. You know the big break
they'd have one the shop makers show that I was
on there was one. It's if I was a soul,
(12:19):
if I was a surfer. It's probably the best way
I can explain it. If I was a surfer and
I'm in the top three in the world, I should
be able to call Bill o Bum, I should be
able to call O'Neil. I should be able to call Rusty.
I should be able to call all of these different
companies and have offers to be sponsored by every single
one of them. Why because I'm a surfer. It shouldn't
(12:40):
be Well, you don't fit our demographic or you know,
you don't fit our vision. While I'm a surfer, you're
a surfing company. What don't I fit in your demographic
and or your vision? And then golf, that's something that
we are constantly been able to circle around and say, well,
you know, they just don't really fit and that's the problem. Yeah, Maurice,
(13:01):
it's interesting you. You know, golf is long sort of
positioned itself as as a very um democratic sport. Um
play better and um, you know, it's it's about score
right when you're playing and in a level playing field,
but the playing field isn't really level when it when
(13:23):
it comes to um, those opportunities can be great if
you could share some insight on what that experience, your
own personal experience is, what those have been like. Oh, yeah,
because it's it's it's not you know, it's not entirely
a level playing field. No, it's definitely not a level
playing field. I mean, I am a firm believer that
(13:44):
no one should get anything just because the color of
their skin. I'm not saying you go get some guy
who shoots in the eighties and say he's sponsored by Tylers.
That's not what I'm saying. Um, not in the least bit.
But for me, I believe that they always moved the carrot.
You know, in the beginning of my career, it will is.
People used to say, oh, you're an ambassador to No,
I'm a touring professional. Um. And I got on a
(14:05):
lot of people's nervous because I demanded and commanded that
level of respect from the beginning of my career. And
then it was well, you haven't won anything, even though
I had a bunch of you know, top four finishes.
So then as I started to win, um, I started
going back to companies, Hey, I want Oh well you
haven't won anything, big Okay. Then I started winning. You know,
I went toward titles in Europe and I become one
of the best in the world. Oh well, you haven't
(14:26):
won in the US. Well, then I went on in
the US and one Sports Center and you know all
these other things, and you know, do the car wash
for ESPN. Oh well, you haven't won a world title. Well,
then I win the world Well then I become number
one in the world, and then it was like, well,
you're not the number one ranked player in the world.
I accomplished that. Then it was well, you haven't won
a world title. Then I accomplished that in and it
(14:48):
keeps moving the carrot over and over again. And that's
been with so many companies. There are actually very few
companies that have been with me from the beginning and
who will have held their word or said, hey, if
you accomplish X, Y, and Z, we're gonna work with you,
We're going to sponsor you. And I also understand as
an individual. You know, a leader is not determined by
(15:09):
the amount of money that they have or the amount
of money that they earned. Uh. In golf, we always
talk about being better. Um. You know, in golf they
always talk about when you go to a you walk
on the green, you try to fix your pitch mark
plus another when you make it better for the next person.
And that's the mentality that I've always used as far
as looking at leaders and leaderships leadership individuals, because you're
(15:32):
trying to be in front of the curve, you're trying
to see things before they happen. So with me, for
a lot of people, it may have been a risky
to sponsor me or to partner with me because I
was speaking out on so many different things that people
were afraid to have that tough conversation. Well, fast forward
to now it's in the forefront. Now it's there, and
(15:53):
the people who saw these things and did not say
anything are looking like they're on the wrong side of history.
And that's that's absolutely crazy. How people can deny and
act as if things didn't happen. Um. For me, I
can assure you I've probably lost millions maybe um, definitely
(16:14):
hundreds of thousands, but potentially millions compared to if I
was a white counterpart that accomplished the things that I accomplished,
and with the notoriety and the publicity and the quote
unquote you know, impressions and views that I've gotten over
the years. It's just, Um, it's different. It's a little heartbreaking,
but you know, it's life. You you make the most
(16:35):
of it, you try to change it, and you just
don't accept, uh, what's given to you. Artists. Do you think, well,
we'll see real change. Will this be the impetus for
golf UM to to make some changes and have some
real impact? I think without changing at the root of
(16:57):
the governing bodies. So let's take LPGA PGA completely out
of the system, because we have to understand those two
organizations are only responsible for marketing the people who are
on their tours, So that's their job. I mean, they
do community outreach, and I get that they both do
those projects and I've seen them personally, so I know
that that happens. But if the U s g A,
(17:20):
if the r n A, and if the PGA of
America do not have a true minority a k A
African American initiative, then no, nothing will change because if
it starts with them, then it goes to the O
E M S. And then if the O E MS
do it eventually, what will happen in the next Let's
give it a four year plan. In four years, you
could actually have people who are playing on these tours
(17:44):
UM or people who are going through PGA Canada, Latin America, China,
um you know, Challenge tour overseas, get to corn Ferry
and moving up the ladder that way and then hopefully
get to the PGA tour, and then that would change
the PGA tour as well as the LPGA when they
actually have players. But the way how the system goes now,
(18:05):
people still have to go through the feed the process.
You still have to go through the quote unquote d
league and work your way up to these tours. So
I can't put that much pressure on the p g
A and the LPJ because we haven't given them anything
to work with. So would you agree that the socio
economic and the fact of how expensive it is, whether
it's whether it's golf balls or golf clubs or whatever,
(18:25):
is that is that's what's keeping a certain economic group
from being able to get into the game of golf
more than anything else. I think the issue is twofold. Yes,
the socio economic part is huge, But here's the thing.
Once you get to a certain level, there are certain
things that you should benefits you should reap, which would
keep the socioeconomic go part down a little bit, you
(18:46):
know what I mean. I'm not saying everything is going
to be free, but you should be able to get clubs,
you should be able to get closed, you should be
able to get shoes, you should be able to get balls.
And now all you're worried about technically is entry fees, travel,
whatever the case may be. Um, but when you're still
as you're getting better, you still have to pay for
all these things, um, where a lot of the white
(19:06):
counterparts don't have to do that. It's a big deal.
I mean, I have a friend right now who can't
who's played in PGA Tour events. He can't even get
a wedge, can't call the rep and get a wedge.
I'm not saying twelve wedges and hey, I got one
from you last week, and I got I need one
next week and all this sort of stuff. I mean
one wedge. And and the problem that you run into
(19:28):
is time and time again, these O e M s.
If you look at any company out there, with the
exception of Swoosh Staff because they do not count because
they partner with Colin Kaepernet. But let's look at any
other manufacturer in the golfing world. Tell me one that
has a black quote unquote ambassador or influencer and they
publicize them. I'll wait, because I've done the research. I
(19:51):
legit can't find one. I know two people on stricks On,
but they are never publicized on their social media. And
and what we're talking about. All these companies say that
they're trying to go towards the youth. Well, the youth
aren't on your website. The youth aren't looking at your
your Facebook, because why your Facebook is for people's parents,
So kids are on Instagram and TikTok, And if you're
(20:13):
trying to go after the youth, then your platforms that
target you should look very diverse and they don't or
inclusive excuse me, that's the better word. Inclusive or east.
What's what's next for you? UM? You know, as we mentioned,
you wrote the powerful piece UM and act. You know,
(20:33):
enabling and enacting change and is obviously a very important
issue to you. UM. We talked about it at the
top of the Long Drive. UM. The future of the
Long Drive competition is uh nebulous at best, UM is
very uncertain at the moment. What's next for you? What?
What do you have going on in the next few months?
(20:54):
Try to shoot sixty two? That's it, man. I mean honestly,
you know, getting out here it's talk and then speaking
of is one thing. But honestly, if I can't get
out here and shoot the low scores and get myself
status on UM somebody somewhere, it almost looks like a
guy who's just angry because he didn't have the ability
(21:14):
or the goods to make it to the next level. UM.
So I've I've kind of backed myself into a corner
and dropped the gauntlet and the challenge on myself to
excel and do better. Um and if I don't, then
all of it for not almost some moreas I want
to ask you a question. So when you obviously when
you're doing the long drive thing, you've got swing when
(21:35):
you're just swinging all out when you go play golf
to try and and and qualify, whether it's at the
Florida Open or wherever it is that you're trying to
play in, are you swinging eight percent? Like, what's an
average drive for you that you're trying to hit so
you know that you're gonna get it in play? So swing?
(21:59):
You know? I don't, Oh, I mean, I use a
different Everything is different. You know. When I'm long driving,
I'm using a zero to a two degree driver and
it's forty seven inches. When I'm playing golf, I use
a six and a half degree driver that's forty three
and three quarter inches. And it's not because I need
it for control, It's just it literally pairs up with
the exact spects as far as stiffness is my long
(22:20):
drive driver, so I don't feel like I have to
back off. I can just still really get through the
bottom of the swing. Very well and aggressively. Um, and
I hit a lot of two irons. I don't really
need to hit the driver hit the two iron, you
know about. I think we did a thing on Instagram
the other day. I was in two iron before it cave.
I got two and I'm sorry, Yeah, I got what
(22:42):
threwy yards off of a two iron ball speed and
club speed? Cave? What the two are in? Face caved in? Yeah,
cave cracked and broke right on the on the sweet spot.
So it was on my It was on my Instagram
at Jesse James Golf. I don't even have that video anymore,
but it um. I think he's got it. Um. But yeah,
(23:03):
I mean we were just it's all about you know,
if you hit the driver along, you hit everything wrong. Um.
I hit a Lobwige about a hundred and thirty five yards,
So I mean you just understand that you a club
that speed? Is it? I mean, have you had a lesson?
I mean, did you take lessons to learn how to
hit the ball as far? Is it just something you
just learned how to do? Uh? No, I think this
guy given ability. I mean, in the game of golf,
(23:24):
you can shoot sixty eight a bunch of different ways.
But then you know, hitting the ball far, there's only
one way. It's sequencing, power and speed, nothing else. You
can't fake that. I do want to tell you you
do have a fan and somebody who's a fan of
the program and also a friend of ours. It's Billy Horsell.
Yesterday I was talking to Billy and I told Billy
that we were going to have you on the podcast,
(23:45):
and he he texted me he said, quote, enjoy your
time with Maurice. He's a great guy. He can seriously
smoke the ship out of a golf ball. He said,
he's a sharp dresser, He's a good dude, in genuine
he said. I like him a lot and a big fan.
So Billy Horsell's a big fan of Maury's Allen. Yeah, man,
I spent the first, oh Man three years of my
(24:05):
uh we'll see that was sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. Everything
I wore was what Billy wore. We used to kind
of chat about it back and forth, and he looked
at my clothes like bro. I was like, yeah, you know,
I just got my Horse Show outfits on from Polo.
So no, man, Billy is a really, really great guy.
Minus at school he went to. But you know, whoa whoa, whoa,
(24:26):
whoa whoa what you look over my shoulder. I'm actually
not a sports fan at all, but I was on
the sideline during three of Miami's national championships in the earth.
Finally we get it, we get somebody on the on
the program. Yeah, yeah, So I mean my cousin. My
(24:48):
cousin was an offensive alignment for the Hurricanes. I was
there through three of the national championships that he won.
I was standing right on the sideline the whole game.
So um. I grew up around and I think that's
probably the difference. Man, group a lot of amazing athletes.
I've known them my whole life. So it's just it's different.
When you're around those great people and you have those
(25:09):
amazing influences, you also understand what you're here for in
the purpose. You know, every athlete the sweat's gonna dry
at some point, but did you make it better while
you had that potential in that platform. So that's kind
of what I do. Man. Well, we're also a big
fan of yours, Maurice, and and I'd be remiss to
not mention your foundation, which you had texted me some
(25:31):
great news about UM just just last night, I believe,
and uh, if you could share a little bit about
that and a little bit about your foundation, UM, that'd
be great because I think that's obviously one way that
listeners could help out and it could step in and
we could you know, it takes action for for for change,
and it takes people being uncomfortable and it takes some action,
(25:52):
and and that that would be the way that people
could do it. Yeah, no, we we we touched on
a little earlier, but honestly, here's the thing. You know,
UM right now is pretty much prime opportunity for a
lot of African Americans who have put themselves in the
proper position, have all their paperwork, or have established something
going forward. And for me, it was, you know, when
(26:12):
I want an eighteen, I talked about giving twenty five
tho dollars in my winnings right back to my high
school to support scholarships for kids who had struggled their
first two years but then got their act together and
really got it together for the you know, the remaining
of their high school career and decided that they wanted
to go to college. And we gave away four scholarships
(26:35):
just last week I think it was or something like
that last week a week and a half ago. UM,
we gave him away. And then due to all of
the generosity of everybody from that story, there was another
young man we ran out of money and we were
able to give him a five thousand dollar scholarship as well. UM.
But there's so many projects, you know. We have a
building pros project, which I think is going to be
(26:57):
the key to getting more African American men and when
and on the professional tours and help them go through
the ranks. We have another program Saving Christmas, where we're
gonna take over an elementary school and give kids a
savings account rather than going and buying bikes and all
this other stuff. Help them understand, you know, financial responsibility
and give them a savings account solely based on their
(27:18):
academics performance and where they stand and under and having
people to understand that, you know, knowledge is the way out.
Knowledge is the key. UM. Do a food bank as well,
and then also do some adult programming so that while
we're trying to impact the lives of these kids, we
can also also change their lives with their parents. Because
getting the kids and having them understand or trying to
(27:40):
teach them something but it's not being reinforced at home.
Is an absolute waste of time. So for me, I
just want to give people in my community hope and
try to change my community. And from there, I think
that could be something that people could follow, people could
be a part of. UM. And you know, a lot
of people want to help a lot of people have
attempted to donate and I really really appreciate that. UM,
(28:03):
and I'm just trying to change the world, one individual
at a time as much as I can. So where
do we go online to donate if we want to
do it? Um, It's on So I'm having a problem
with my Instagram right now. UM, but I see bees
got the link. UM, but I will definitely get it
to you guys. The foundation page we have since this happened,
we literally just swiped it and started all lower so
(28:25):
people can get a better understanding. See the committee, see
the people who we've changed, put the projects out there.
But it's Maurice Alan three sixty uh dot com is
my page. There is a donate button on there so
people can go on there and hit the donations and
all of the money. So people need to understand. I
want you, I want them to see my face when
I say this. Every single solitary dime that is donated
(28:47):
goes back to the community. We don't pay anybody, We
have volunteers at work. I don't take any money off
of It doesn't go to entry fees for me. I'm
not out here putting money in my pocketar doing anything crazy.
Every dollar that goes in is accounting for, accounted for
when it goes out, and it goes out directly to
the people who need it. There's no overhead, there is
nothing that happens with that at all. And it's always
(29:10):
been that way with my group. It will always continue
to be that way with my group. Thank you so much.
Figures out. I'm appreciate it. Once again, it is Maurice
Alan three sixty dot com. Go on there and donate
and let's you know what. It does feel different this
time for some reason or another, and I'm not discounting
the other times that this has happened, but something feels
(29:31):
that think it's done. It feels like more people are involved,
more people are committed to making a change. Uh, we
just have to keep the ball rollings. A lot of
times the ball gets rolling in it stops. We need
to keep the ball rolling until there is systematic change
and until everybody can feel like they've got an equal chance.
I'm with you on that. Thank you, Hey, thank you
guys so much for giving me the opportunity to tell
(29:52):
my story. Um, that really does mean a lot to me.
I really really appreciate it. Thank you guys for being
courageous enough to continue to move things forward and make
people feel uncomfortable and just let people know, Hey, it's okay,
you're not a bad person. It's all about what do
we do from here? What change do we make from here?
You've got and good luck moving forward and good luck
shooting sixty two and we can't wait to see you
(30:13):
on the corn Ferry in the PGA Tour. Thanks a lot, man,
I appreciate it. Thanks Morris, have a good woman, all right, Fellas.
Awesome stuff. I mean really, the piece that you wrote
for Golf Digest was amazing. If you haven't seen it,
you can see at the golf Digest dot com. Yeah,
I mean, it's still up on our homepage. And it's
an important perspective because I think that's part of the
conversation A big part of it is understanding things from
(30:37):
another perspective and an ability to to do that rather
than what might be someone's perspective might be your perspective. Yeah,
I mean, I consider all day and tell you what
I think. But I haven't lived the life that Maris
Allen has lived or or other people. I haven't gone
through what they've gone through. And so because of that,
(30:58):
it's easy. A lot of times we get into a
situation where somebody complains and they don't have any solutions.
Morris is a guy that's saying, hey, here's where we
have some problems, but here's some solutions as to how
we can fix it. And so it's always easier to
do that when you have a when this is a
road I want to go down and try to make
it better. Yeah, absolutely so. In speaking of going down
the road, um, let the circle back now to the
(31:19):
PGA tour, because they're going down the road to Colonial.
We'll restart, as we mentioned earlier, we'll restart their season
this week at Colonial. And it feels right. It doesn't
feel too early, it doesn't feel um like we shouldn't
be doing it. It feels right. Yeah. I don't know
how to view it quite honestly. UM. On one hand,
(31:41):
certainly it can be done. UM, they've taken some steps.
They'll be UM testing. So how does that work? Do
you know exactly? I know? So some were supposed to
test before they left home, before they traveled, and then
when they get there they'll be tested again to one
once they're there, and they'll be kept in quarantine. Is
that what I'm understanding? Well? Yeah, and then in this
this still UM, and we can address some of this
(32:03):
because UM, I'll have a piece later this week on
Golf Digests about the questions that still remain. Because as
much as golf is returning and trying to do so
UM in a safe and UM environment so forth, there
are some questions that remain. UM. To your point about testing, Okay,
(32:24):
so let's start with that players are not required. Players
or caddies are not required to test before they travel.
It is only a suggestion, a strong suggestion, but still
only a suggestion. Now, once they arrive in the tournament city, UM,
they will be tested. UM, and that will happen. There's
(32:46):
some various locations, be it um at tournament sites or
at other locations within the city of where that event
is colonial for example, I believe he's using the local
arena to carry out some testing, and the results of
that testing will be available within a number of hours,
and players are allowed to practice UH at a tournament
(33:12):
site until those results come back, but they are not
permitted inside the clubhouse, the locker room, et cetera. In
still a until a negative test comes back, test results
be public, No, because that's the thing is that at
the end of the day, you still remember all this
is a HIPPA violation risk as well. If you put
(33:35):
somebody's medical history or medical results out there, that's that's
not allowed. So okay, So that said, if if if
a player or caddy does test positive, they will not
be allowed to participate. Um depending when that result comes back,
they will not be allowed to participate, and we'll have
to quarantine for at least ten days in that city
(33:57):
and withdraw from the event. Withdraw from the event. And
so we know who's registered. So I mean it's gonna
be pretty obvious if somebody we know who's on the list.
Now we've already got some of the featured pairing groups out,
they've already told us he's playing together. If all of
a sudden, UM, Dustin Johnson or or Justin Thomas all
of a sudden just decide not to play this week.
You're gonna know why? Yes, yes, so we'll see that.
(34:20):
Um if if there are w D s um prior
to around after, if they would say w D because
of a test result, or if it'll be oh I
had an injury or you know, to be interesting, certainly
the question is going to be asked. I would imagine that. Um.
You know, if a player withdraws, that will be the
(34:40):
first question asked to that player by the media. UM. So,
now is it up to the tour to disclose that
to the media. I don't think so. To your point,
there hip a situations, but they do have to inform
local officials if there is a positive test. And that
raises another question which is not really been a is
(35:00):
that if there are positive tests, how many tests does
it take before the tour decides to shut down an event. Um,
it's certainly not one test. I think we've gotten clarification there.
But how many tests will it take? Will it take
five tests? Ten? Does it matter who test positive? In
(35:24):
other words, if it's a volunteer, if it's a player,
if it's a caddy. Where does the line of demarcation,
where does that stand? We do not have the answer
to that. It's been asked of the tour. They have
not been um clear. Now that said, I I think
they they're sort of looking at it on a case
(35:46):
by case basis or situation by situation basis, where um,
if a player does test positive, they will um go
into a series of procedures. Medical officials like will carry
out content act tracing, the tour will carry out sanitizing um,
everything and so forth that that player has come in
(36:08):
contact with. But this is this is a tricky situation.
Now players again will be tested if they are taking
the charter plane to the next tournament. Okay, because the
tour is going to have a charter going for at
least these first four events where they fly players. UM,
you know, you will have to get a negative result
(36:31):
on a test on I believe it's Saturday, um, prior
to being allowed to board that plane, which can hold
a hundred and seventeen roughly seventeen players and caddies. Now,
of course, some players are going to fly private. UM.
So there's still a lot of questions here. I mean,
(36:53):
people bring up the bubble but you know the tournament
tournaments are using hotels as hosts hotels, but they're using
multiple hotels. Then there they're also the players allowed to leave.
Are they allowed to go like say you want to
go out and have dinner. Yes, So it's not a
situation like it whereas the NBA is going to take
(37:15):
over the whole hotel and they're going to quarantine them there.
This is a case of you'll stay at the hotel,
but you can come and go as you please. And
it's trickier because again we're talking you know, the NBA.
There's a players union that you know, they effectively work
for the NBA. It's essentially the other way around in
professional golf, with tour working for the players who are
(37:35):
independent contractors. The tour has certainly suggested that players self
quarantine and remain in the rooms in order room service
or grab takeaway, which a smart Yeah. I mean I've
had players and caddies tell me, um, you know more
than one that they're effectively going to go out to dinner. Uh,
(37:55):
they're going to effectively do what they want and not
take any of the tourist suggestions. So that said, you
wonder how tight this bubble is because again there are
there are very few requirements within this bubble. Uh, there
are a lot of suggestions. So and so we get
no fans, we'll get no fans, and we'll continue this
(38:18):
process for the first four weeks. Yes, now for four
weeks will have no fans. Uh, this entire testing process
will continue. It's possible, I suppose that there would be
modifications to it along the way, depending how things play out. Um,
we did get a notification from the Memorial tournament, UH
that says they are going to allow fans. Now they
(38:40):
all they said was we're going to allow fans. They
kind of jump to that, and they're going to then
back us up and tell us later exactly how many fans,
what they're gonna do, what the protocols will be, what
the social guidelines will be. So they're gonna do that.
But they do want to have fans at the Memorial
and that is in July. So we are going to
go the first four weeks without. But we know there
is a tournament. Now there's another tournament that has canceled.
(39:01):
The John Deere has canceled because they're not comfortable with
having people there and doing that yet. So that event
was that they were looking to either move that to
sawgrass or move it somewhere else. But the problem with
sagrass was seventeen at Sagres, the most famous holetts a
grass uh TPC here in pont of Edra, where I
AM has been under construction, they redid the green. Now,
(39:23):
I'm not saying it can't be ready for them, but
I don't think they had planned on the golf course
being ready for play, UH tournament play, professional tournament play
in July. So I'm not exactly sure where they're going
to move that event to. Well, they actually made that decision,
and yeah, they made that decision last week. I reported
on it. Where they will play that tournament or that
(39:45):
week rather at near Field Village, site of the Memorial tournament. Um,
they will play there the week before uh and and
have an event sponsored by work Day which stocks in
one year only. UH. Really, when when it came to
John Deere, it was sort of twofold. It was, um
a matter of gatherings of people. UM. And again we're
(40:08):
you know, the tour will have tournaments without fans, but
you're still talking roughly people on site at once, volunteers
and so that was problematic and really second, uh, probably
more so was the financial element of it. The tournament
director telling me that, look, the event would have lost
(40:28):
money had they held it without fans. UM. You know,
of course there's any number of things that go into
that ticket sales too, to alcohol, food and beverage, etcetera
big sponsor, UH, tents and so forth, and all that
going way, and the tournament, UM would rather take that
money that they already sort of have in their possession
(40:49):
and redistribute that to the charities uh locally that um,
you know, they they're still able to do that. Words,
if they had the tournament, uh, the event would have
lost money. That certainly would have impacted the charitable element
of it doing so, so they made the decision for
this year to not go on. And you wonder how
many that raises the questions You have to ask how
(41:12):
many other tournaments are feeling that pressure and if you
and you wonder if that will be the case for
the other events. So we haven't seen that happen yet
with other tournaments, but it certainly raises a question. Um,
I think there are a lot of questions still to
be answered. That said, I don't think Um, really, anytime soon,
(41:32):
we're going to be at a point where we have
all the answers for this stuff. If we're going to
proceed with golf. There's just no way possible for it
to proceed anytime soon with having all the answers. Um,
is it too soon? I don't know, you know, it's
to me it's still to be determined, and I guess
we'll see it play out, but certainly players are eager
(41:55):
to play. Um. Yeah, it's got the strongest field and
then history of the event. Yeah, I mean just some
of the some of the featured groups. You've got Rom
Kepta and McElroy paired together, Justin Thomas, Ricky Fowler, Jordan's
Speed paired together, Justin Rose Bryson, Deshambo and Dutin Johnson together,
and Gary Woodland, Kevin nah and Phil Mickelson. I mean,
(42:18):
this unbelievably strong field. It'll be great to have golf
back again. It will be strange without the fans. Um.
I do wish and I and and I do understand
that the miked up portion that we saw from the Tiger,
Phil Tom Brady, Um Peyton Manning match. I understand the
(42:40):
talk that we got there would not be the same
talk you would get during during a real match. I
get that, UM, but I would like to see at
times some guys miked up. I think Phil is phenomenal
when miked up. He gives a lot of explanation. He
does a little bit of chatter, but feels very good.
And you know, I'm a huge Tiger fan, and Tiger
(43:01):
not that great miked up because he's more into the
round and does not He's just not like that. It's
just not his personality. But I did enjoy the miked
up portion. And I know a lot of people have said, well,
why can't we mike the players? You would not get
the same interaction at a tour event that you got
at a event like we saw at the match. Would
you agree, No, yeah, no, you certainly wouldn't that said, um,
(43:22):
it'd be a fantastic idea because it would be, um,
really fascinating. And I can provide an example, a real
life example if I go back to Chambers Bay. I
believe it was for the US Open where UM spectators
uh were because of the topography and the way the
courses roped and staked and so forth, spectators were rather
(43:45):
far from the players. And uh, of course the media
wasn't It was allowed inside the ropes, and there were
occasions where I was able to get I can remember
one specifically where I was able to get really close
to Phil Mickelson because of uh, sort of the walking
path for the media for the event, and it was
(44:08):
fascinating listening to the dialogue between him and Bones, who's
still on his bag at the time. Um, and they're
back and forth over particular shot. So to me, that
would be incredibly fascinated. Um. The problem is you have
to get by and from the players. Of course, for that,
some guys aren't simply going to want to do that. Um.
(44:28):
There are other you know, the tour is going to
want to control sort of what information is put out there.
Um were. But we are going to see this on
the European tour. I think you're going to see when
they come back, you will see, Um some players miked
up and we've already seen it with players being interviewed
on their way down the down a particular hole. I'm
(44:49):
not sure that really provides a ton of insight because
that's a little more intrusive. Um, it's a little bit
like those interviews of coaches coming to halftime. I mean,
what do you really get out of those? Most often
not not a whole lot. Um that said, I would
like to see the tour move forward. And look, I
(45:13):
think golf realizes, you know, from the professional presentation standpoint,
it needs to make some changes in terms of how
it presents its product and trying to attract more fans
and make it more interesting. And um, you know that's
certainly one of the things that's been talked about, is
is having more players. Mike up right, it'll be interesting
(45:33):
to see. I'm excited to get golf back this week.
The only I would say, the only thing that and
I didn't expect it anyways. The only disappointment is this
week we do not get Tiger Woods at Colonial. And
I think that when we spoke to paulaising Or last time,
he had said that he didn't think that that Tiger
would play this golf course and thought that maybe the
first time we would see him. I think the first
(45:54):
time we could really count on a very good chance
is obviously the Memorial tournament. But do you think there's
a chance we could see Tiger Woods prior to the Memorial?
You know, Look, he's obviously not in the field this week.
Next week at the RBC Heritage, a tournament he has played,
of course, he has played before, but a very long
time ago, along with Colonial back in the late nineties. So, um,
(46:18):
I think there's a chance he could play there. Um
I think, or maybe there was a chance he he
was going to play there. I would bet on him
not playing there. And look, Tiger at this point, forty
four years old, he's a creature habit really when you
look at it, look at his history of playing events
(46:39):
hasn't really changed a whole lot over the years, even
more recently. Uh. Secondly, you look at the schedule in
the back end of it, in the back end of
the year, if all goes to plan, it's, yeah, a
lot of big tournaments, major championships. Look at this point,
it's all about many of the championships for Tiger Woods.
(46:59):
And back into the calendar, you've got three major championships
plus the Rider Cup, plus the PGA Tour FedEx Cup
playoffs in that order. So to me, I just don't
see anyway he comes back really before Memorial um, which
would be about a month from now. But I do
(47:19):
want to say at the match, and you can you
can downplay it and say it didn't matter. You can
say whatever you want. He put on a clinic. It
looked good, striking, the ball look good. The driver was
a weapon. He hit it very well. People will say, oh, well,
it wasn't a real match. It didn't matter. Well Phil
hit hit on the same golf course, and Phil had
a hard time keeping it in the fairway, and Tiger
(47:42):
put on an app I believe he hit every single
fairway with the driver, and so we know that has
not been a strong point in the past. The swing
looked good. He looked like he had speed through the ball.
He did not look uh he had any he didn't.
I didn't see any ginger movements where he looked like
he was uncomfortable. So thing did look good. Is it
different than a PGA Tour event. Absolutely, it's more laid back. However,
(48:05):
you still gotta hit shots, and I felt like he
hit shots. I think he missed one green on an
approach shot. He really did hit the ball extremely well.
And it's encouraging moving forward because the last time we
saw him was the Genesis, where he had a great
first nine holes and then played terrible after. So I
mean it was it was encouraging to at least see that,
(48:27):
and it makes us think that maybe the back end
of the season can be good and maybe this downtime
in the pandemic has been better. Has not been better
for anybody more than Tiger, and given his time off
and given his body to rest, Yeah, I think that
to me is the biggest benefit really for a guy
like Tiger whose body is you know, stitched together at
(48:49):
this point, um, and has more holes than than an
operation game board. But I just, yeah, I think the
back end of the year is far too important for
him in terms of major championships that I just don't
see him really changing his schedule much. Um, he's gonna
(49:10):
want to obviously focused on all of those majors, and
you've got one every month August September, Um, then you've
got November with the Masters. So Ryder Cup thrown in
there in September. Yeah, that's that's a whole other. Ryder
Cup with no fans is not a Ryder Cup. And
so I know and it and it certainly seems to
(49:33):
be moving a little more in that direction. Um, you know,
as of now, it's still on, but how long, Look,
I think there's just there's a lot of unknowns and
that goes for Tiger too. But but I think to
your point, the time off probably did hidden some good,
maybe more than anybody else on tour. It'll be good
(49:55):
to have the golf season back this week. It will
be a little awkward, it will be strange with no fans,
but I still think it'll be great to have it back. Um,
it'll be interesting to see how this works with the
bubble that they are in, uh, and see if we
can make it work and we'll start getting back. It's
you know, it's always the first step that's the toughest
(50:15):
one to make, and golf being the first major sport.
I know. I know NASCAR is back, and I'm not
taking anyway from from NASCAR and what they're doing and
that they found a way to make it work. And
I think that they are now looking at introducing fans
as well. Um, starting very small, but I think it's
good that it is coming back. I'm excited to have
it back. I love the fact that the fields huge.
I love that they've paired a lot of the big
(50:36):
guys together. No, I mean it's gonna make TV, It's
gonna make golf. Musty Musty TV again. You think we
had great ratings for the Tailor Made match, they had
even better ratings for the Tiger and philm match. And
I think we'll get even great ratings this weekend because
live golf is back, so it's good for us. Big
thanks to Maurice Allen for his time and being so
(50:58):
open and UH once again, if you want to donate
and make a change, because that really is it. You know,
we can all you can say whatever you want, do
whatever you want, but doing something is much more important.
So if you go to Maurice Allen three sixty dot
com you can donate there once again. Scholarships for people
to get their life on track, and that's what's important.
(51:19):
And it's giving everybody the equal opportunity to make it
in life and to have the things that you want
to have, to not start at a disadvantage, and that's
what they're doing. So thanks for listening. Golf is back.
We get it. We'll start here at Colonial this week.
Where do we go next week? Off to Hilton Head
and then the Traveler Travelers Championship and then as mentioned
(51:43):
the new event UH at Mirfield Village No fans that week, UH,
full Field regular event, and then of course the Memorial
Tournament same place, UM the following week with fans. Good deal,
all right, Thank you so much for listening to the
Playing Through podcast.
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