January 16, 2020 • 44 mins
With the 2020 PGA Tour season well underway...we've got some catching up to do! Two tournaments into 2020...and already two playoffs...we have a new slow play policy...Brooks and Bryson are going at it...all the Patrick Reed controversy...Tiger about to start the hunt for 83 and 16...to say there's a lot going on is an understatement! We've waiting long enough...we are PLAYING THROUGH!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't mind us where playing Through here and welcome to
another edition, the first one of today Playing Through podcast.
There is so much going on in the golf world.
I am Froggy from Elvis to Ram in the morning
show alongside my co host Brian Whacker from Golf Digest
(00:23):
on Twitter and Instagram at Froggy Radio at Brian Whacker one,
or you can reach the program anytime at play through
Golf at playing through Golf on Instagram. So, Whacker, I
know you got an early start to the season. We're
two tournaments in already. We got the Century in Hawaii,
you were there, we got the Sony in Hawaii, and
(00:46):
there literally is golf news just coming out of the ass.
So how do you want to start? That is uh,
that's an expression I didn't really um expect in the
first two weeks of doing okay, But yeah, you are correct.
We we got all sorts of news We're going to
(01:07):
get into mentioned. I just got back from why I'm
just still getting onto the jet lag. I know, woo
who who really kids a ship? No one cares, nobody
feels sorry for you. And you're because last night I'm
talking to Whacker, He's like, yeah, you know the weather
was terrible. It rained every day and it was windy,
but you were in Hawaii, so nobody feels sorry for you. No, no,
(01:29):
no north Ship Day. But it was an entertaining first
couple of weeks. Of course, we had Justin Thomas winning
in a playoff over by the way. How about this,
So we sit down with the commissioner the first week
in Mali a Kappeloua, and he does this every year,
sort of meets with the media there and in context
(01:52):
of something else, as you'd like to playoffs every week, Well,
guess what you got one of the since the tournament
champions with Justin Thomas beating Patrick Greeting Xander shofly Um
in an amazing playoff, really Xander Scholey just admittedly giving
that tournament a way. And then the following week get
another playoff with Cameron Smith winning at the Sony Open
(02:14):
in Hawaii. So we finished its two for two hunt
playoffs getting his wis. Looks hope that trend is not continued,
but yes, it was an eventful two weeks. A lot
to get to. We've got, of course, those two events
in Hawaii. We've got another Brights in de Shambo and
Brooks kept good desktops, got Tommy Gainey, who We've got
Phil Nicholson, We've got Tiger Woods. A lot to get to, right.
(02:37):
It's a busy couple of weeks jumping in with both feet,
it is. And by the way, also I had the
pleasure of talking to Roy McElroy and Carson Daily. They
were here in Pontovidra. Rory was shooting a promo for
NBC that you'll start seeing to air on the Whole
seven Team at TBC Stadium course for the players. Had
(03:00):
the pleasure of meeting both of them. Super nice dude.
Carson Daley will be coming on the podcast to talk
to us. Carson actually a pretty good golfer. But a
very cute promo they did. Rory is Carson's caddy as
Carson goes to play the seventeenth hole, and then they
had Rory hit a couple of shots blindfolded. So a
(03:20):
lot of fun there, but so much going on in
the golf world. Like you said, we had a playoff
in Hawaii. But the big news so far this year outside,
you know, kind of other than just you know, playing
and winners and whatnot, is slow play has seemed to
be a problem on tour. We've talked about it here
on the program so many times. It comes up every
(03:41):
time you turn around. It seems to always be the
same players. They were always talking about some guys getting
accused of so so play and don't like it. Brooks
has been very vocal on who he thinks is a
slow play. So can you kind of break down for us, Whacker,
because I know you understand it much more than I do.
Can you break down what has changed in the slow
play rule and how does it affect us moving forward
(04:03):
through and beyond? Well, sure, and I don't know, you
know what, There's definitely some changes and some significant ones,
but I don't know that anything has interiorly really changed.
As you mentioned, they unveiled the new pace of play
policy UM and as I mentioned earlier, had a chance
to sit down with the Commissioner the first week of January,
and effectively the slow play issue, if you will, is
(04:28):
going to target two big points out of it. It
will target individuals rather than groups. There will also be
a lift kept on a week to week basis of
slow players or of the slowest players, I should say,
and penalty levied for quote exceptive shot times. Now, the
tour will use shot lenk data to compile this information,
(04:51):
but basically create an observation list, and then warnings will
be given if a player exceeds sixty seconds to play
a shot and then a second bad time. If they're
issue a second bad time, that will result in a
one shirt of penalty. Now, the big thing here is
you've got this observation list, but that will not be
made public, so only the players who are on it
(05:13):
will be notified that they are on it. In other words,
other players won't necessarily know about it. The public at
large won't know about it. So this is really in
line with you know, how the tour operates. Example, for example,
when it comes to disciplinary matters um, they do not
comment um unless they really feel a need to either
(05:35):
correct something that's incorrect or for a specific reason. But
generally speaking they do not comment on disciplinary matter. If
you're on the low playlist only you know, they don't
put out say a release player wide and say these
ten players are on the list. You're only told on
an individual basis. So therefore the only way you would
(05:58):
know who's on the list is by asking or left
somebody else who's on the list tells you is that correct?
That's correct. So in other words, ah, there's no way
that players are going to be called shamed into playing
faster because no one will um be privy to that
information outside of the tour. So whatever, that's bullshitt. Put
(06:18):
the list out of who the slow players are, even
if you don't want to put it out on a website.
I understand that. But put out a press release within
your own little circle there with all your players on Hey,
these are the slow guys. I guarantee you play will
speed up a lot quicker that way. That's an argument
that a lot of people make that if it was
(06:41):
publicly known you know who is on the list and
who who is a slow player, that those guys are
going to be they're going to pick up the pace
because now the information is public. To me, the big
takeaway on this is that while they have moved, um,
they haven't forced or rather they have enacted a greater
(07:04):
emphasis on slow play, they are still a ways away,
it appears, from issuing strokes and they're issuing a stroke
penalty if someone violates slow play. So to me, you know, look,
people I've talked to within the organization within the tour,
people on the Player Advisory Can Council. The tour really
(07:27):
doesn't want to have a golf tournament determined by someone
getting a slow play penalty, right, and the public. I think,
you know, it'd be interesting to see the reaction of that,
because I think it would be very polarizing. You would
have I would imagine a large segment of the population saying,
you know, this is nonsense, that shouldn't be determined this way,
(07:50):
and then you have people saying, good, as you just
said they would they would be you know, because that
would ultimately speed up play. In most other sports, you
are on a clock, you are time in most other sports.
So let's say football. If you're they don't say, well,
you know this, this game is important. It's the Super Bowl,
so we're gonna go ahead and take that play clock
(08:10):
off and let you have as much time as you
need to run this next play. It doesn't work that way.
If the time determines the outcome and you need to
play with within whatever time frame that the league has
determined and dictated that you need to play in. I
think exactly the same thing needs to happen in golf,
and that you know what, if you don't play within
the within me a lot of time, you get doctor stroke.
(08:33):
You you brought up a great point when you and
I were discussing this before that when the sun's setting
and they don't want to be there an extra day, oh,
they all of a sudden find a really clever way
to start speeding up play, all of a sudden, and
they finish around. I don't understand they would do the
same thing if they knew a stroke was going to
be penalized against them and they were not going to
(08:55):
win the golf tournament, they would find a way to
speed up play. And I think what gets tricky is, look,
slow play is generally not an issue on Saturday and Sunday,
when you've got sixty five players or thereabouts playing in
two SOMs, that's generally not the issue. It mostly comes
up on Thursday Friday, when you've got a full field
(09:15):
guys playing off both sets of tees in threesomes. That's
part of the problem. But we have seen it on
occasion on the weekend where guys do play slow. And
to your point, you know, these guys are certainly capable
of playing within in a lot of the amount of time. Now,
the sort of flip side of this argument, of course,
you go back to the two thousand five Masters sixteen
(09:39):
pole tiger Woods chipping and how long he took to
play that shot. Um, if you were to sort of
abide by the letter of the law, then he didn't
really prepare for that shot in the amount of time
that he's supposed to correct. But doesn't it say that
that it's on a shot by shot basis that if
some shots do rea choir extra time, they're going to
(10:02):
be seen. It's like it's almost like they laid down
the law, but then they backed it up some. So
getting back to the rule, Okay, so you've got to
get on that observation list. A player's historical data is
reviewed over a ten tournament rolling period, right, and then
those players are then subject to a sixty second timing
(10:24):
for every shot, and if the player exceeds that, then
they're timed on an individual basis, even if the group
is in position and you know they're playing right up
to the group behind front of them. If no fractions
occur within the two holes, he's no longer time. You know,
another situation that will be instituted is if any player
(10:45):
in the field is observed to take more than a
d seconds to play a shot, and this goes back
to Pryson Shambo after, of course taking over two minutes
during the Northern Trust to take a pot, then he
will be given an excessive shot time. The other end
of it is fines. The fines have ramped up dramatically
up to fifty thou dollars. Now from the past where
(11:06):
it took I believe a number of bad times to
get to a ten or twenty thousand dollar range of memories. Correct,
Now that number is fifty thousand, so it's a lot more.
It's your point strokes, and it's strokes are really the
only thing that's going to pick up the pace. If
you start hitting a player with strokes where there is
(11:27):
the threat of that, that is really the only way
the players are going to increase their pace. Yeah, they
don't fall a flag in the NFL and say we've
got the delay game. We're gonna hit each guy on
the offensive line with a five thousand dollar penalty. Here,
let's replace second down. No, they back you up and
they penalize you. And that's exactly what needs to happen here.
(11:48):
These guys because let's be honest, the whacker, it's the
same people. Every time. You don't see new people popping
up on the slow play accusation list on a regular basis.
It's the same people. And once you do it a
couple of times, it's fixed. Now here's my question. When
they are accumulating the penalties, are they accumulated daily or tournament?
(12:12):
So in other words, if you get popped on a
Thursday and then you get popped again on Friday, is
that in fraction number two? Or is Friday a whole
new day and that's in fraction number one? Again? Yeah, no,
we will go, I believe on a round by around basis.
So it's it happens every time you know a guy plays.
And look to your point about this um really, for me,
(12:34):
it comes down to the enforcement, right, So you've got
two things. You've got the actual penalty and what the
and what that what that should be, whether that's a fine,
a stroke, what it takes to get to those levels,
et cetera. And then you've also got the enforcement. And
to me, that's the the turkey part, because you know,
I've talked to people on the Player Advisory Council, I've
(12:55):
talked to people within the tour. The tour is reticent
to have a off tournament determined by a stroke penalty,
so they're very hesitant when it comes to actually enforcing
and handing out a penalty for these situations. So it'll
be interesting to see how it plays out or a
couple of tournaments in they just announced it. It will
(13:17):
go into effect this season. Yeah, I think in April
the RBC correct, yes, and so you know, we'll we'll
see how this plays out really um and it's it's
also fascinating to me from a viewer standpoint because where
does how does the problem exist? You know, generally the
tournaments finish on time on Sunday. You've comperilously close a
(13:40):
couple of times for tournaments spilling over into Monday. But
they're also working within a TV window of trying to
finish at an exact time. But we've also seen cases
where it's come close to not finishing because of slow play.
Yet as a viewer, when you're watching on television, you're
not seeing the slow play because the television cuts from
(14:01):
shop to shop to shot of different groups. Rarely does
it come up that TV shows the guy playing slow
We've seen it on a few cases, be a JB. Holmes,
be it pricing to shampoo, And then of course this
stuff exists in Twitter, in the social media world, and
of course in person as well, So it's interesting to
(14:21):
sort of look at it from all facets because as
as I mean, when you're watching on TV, Froggy, do
you've noticed slow play? I mean, is it unless it's
being talked about? I mean, is it something you really see?
I just see sometimes it takes a guy a long
time to play a shot, and I'm like, okay, Like
you know, we know about the JB. Holmes incident last year.
I just know that there's times that it does seem
(14:41):
to take a long time. But like I told you,
it's the same. It's generally the same people all the time.
It's not like I don't think it's a tour wide
or a field wide problem. I think it's a couple
of select people. And if you dock those people a shot,
not money, come money. These guys have got enough money.
It's not a big deal. If you dock these guys
(15:02):
a shot when they're in contention, things are going to change.
And until they're willing to do that, everything else to
me is is there still just working their way towards
a real problem? Again, this is a step in that direction.
Will they ever get there? Right? I don't think we're there.
I think we're This is another move in the right direction.
(15:25):
I'll give them that, um. But to me as a fan,
it's not that much closer to where we need to get.
I do think it's a step in the right direction.
But you mentioned Brysons as being one of the problems.
Now see my issue there is Bryson says he's not
a problem, um, but he was called out directly by
(15:47):
Brooks kepka in that he is. Brooks called out more
than one person, but Bryson is one of the ones
he called out. And so we've had this little issue
going on with Bryson and Brooks where there's been a
problem and Brooks did the body issue for Sports Illustrated,
Bryson had something to say about that, and so now
I guess it's really kind of starting to boil over.
(16:09):
And as recent as this morning we have another rebuttal
from Brooks. Is that correct? We do? I guess we
can call this one app state maybe because Bryson Bryson
of course, Uh This is another story, um that's been
out there since we've since our last podcast, is that
(16:30):
Bryson is packed on a bunch of weight twenty plus
pounds and is trying to get bigger and bigger and
bigger in an effort effectively to hit the ball farther
and to withstand the rigors of playing a PG tour seasons.
So he had a job at Brooks Kepka. And whether
Brooks kept can had apps or not. Of course, Bryson,
(16:54):
being the scientist he is, knows that we all have apps,
just a matter of who's very right, whether you can
see them or not. I'm pretty sure Brooks Cupta is
in Uh, his shape is just fine. And Brooks firing
back today this morning with a tweet, you're right, Bryson
the shambo, I am too short of a six pack,
(17:16):
And he posted uh pictures of his major championships trophies,
which of course is four. Bryson, of course has zero
major championships, um, and I don't believe has a top
ten in a major. So Brooks again willing to fire back.
And let's just say these two will not be on
(17:37):
each other's Christmas card list now when we haven't seen Brooks.
You know, he did not play the Hero. The last
tournament I believe he played in he had to withdraw
with a knee injury, so he did not play the Hero.
He withdrew from the President's Cup. He wasn't able to
play there either, and he said he was going to
be ready for the season. And so um, as we
are doing this podcast, we have finally gotten our first
(17:59):
look at Brooks. He's playing at the HSBC in Abu Dhabi.
After the first round, we will give round one to Brooks.
Brooks shot a six under. He is two back of
the lead and in third place. Bryson shot even par.
I'm not sure exactly what place that's good for, but however,
round one goes to Brooks on the golf course, and
(18:21):
I'm gonna give you know, Listen, I don't dislike Brooks.
I don't really dislike a lot of players, but I
don't dislike Brooks. He's not my favorite. I appreciate the talent.
I think the swing is phenomenal. I'm not going to
deny the unbelievable clip at which he's winning majors and
how it's crazy to see him walk in and be
(18:42):
a favorite at every major. It's unbelievable the way he's playing. However,
I think his game on Twitter and his for lack
of a better term, ship talking game is might be
slightly better than his golf game. Between the guy that
told him he needs to go drive a truck and
he told him a Brinks truck and now this too
short of a six pack of Bryson, I think I
(19:04):
think Brooks is actually pretty good dude. Actually, yeah, Brooks's
humor is a lot like he plays golf. It's blunt
force trauma. Um. There's there's not a lot of subtlety
to it. And that's his personality. That's the way he
plays golf. Um. And I'd have to agree. You know,
he certainly brings a stronger game on the course than
(19:26):
Bryson at the moment, and certainly on Twitter as well.
You know, now, look, I'm sure Bryson was just poking fun,
but this all traces back to, of course, as you
mentioned earlier, Brooks having called out Bryson for slow play
at one point. Uh, And we know this, Look, we
have Brooks on the podcast. He's not a guy to
(19:47):
mence worse, he will willingly call out other people. He's
called out uh Sergio Garcia in the past on our podcast,
he called out a number of other players for being
too Boddy buddy and friendly with the media. I like that, Yeah,
in a story that I wrote for Golf Digest a
couple of years ago. So, yeah, there's Brooks is willing
(20:10):
to speak his mind, and uh so you at least
have have to give him credit for that. And really
there's no contest between Bryce and Brooks at this point. No,
it's not even a conversation if you look at the
results on the golf course. And I do I like
the outspoken Brooks. If you remember before too many times
Brooks was given a hard time for the fact that
(20:32):
he didn't really say anything and then he didn't really
have an opinion, and that he was to Vanilla. Well,
I like the fact that he now speaks out the
Sergio comments that he made that many he's pointed out
who's who the slow players are. He has no issue
whatsoever calling people out. And you know what, I appreciate
that as a fan. I appreciate that as somebody who
does a podcast. I like the fact that he is
(20:55):
not afraid to speak his mind instead of getting up
there and giving us the most vanilla b s answers
that you know are is just what he's been told
to say by somebody else, And so I appreciate that.
And uh, speaking of guys who have given us a
lot to talk about, as we move on forward, your
buddy Tommy Gainey, we haven't been able to get into
(21:17):
what happened with Tommy. So Tommy did win the corn
Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas, four stroke victory, very
convincing victory, his first win in a long time, but
not the first time Tommy has been in the news recently.
Is that? Is that safe to say? Tommy is not
an interesting month the of course, just over a month
(21:39):
ago he was caught up in a sting called Operation
Santa's Naughty List, where he was arrested for solicitation solicitation
of her prostitute, so that of course made news. Then
he comes out a month later, remarkably with all this
swirling around Tim and we don't know the outcome of
(22:02):
that arrest yet. I'm sure there is a court trait set,
but comes out and despite that manages to win quite convincingly.
As you mentioned, the corn Ferry Tour season opener in
the Bahamas and played really well. So that was quite
the tournament events for Tommy Gainey in the last month. Yeah,
(22:23):
I mean it's insane. And then now here, now here
now the I will say this, and I'm sure they
were instructed. The announcers on the broadcast for the last
two days of the tournament, as it was telecasted on television,
never mentioned one time about the arrest people arrested over
a six day staying like you mentioned in Palm Beach County,
(22:46):
I mean the Pope county, excuse me, And they never
mentioned it one time. Now, when he was arrested, he
was among the round one leaders. He shot a seventy
four and a seventy one on the weekend after his arrest,
dropping him to seventy. Yeah. Yeah, it was a cell
are bizarre turn of events. Um, from that all the
(23:07):
way to this. And look a lot was made of
the broadcast not mentioning that, uh, the last two days.
And look, I can't say I'm surprised if you look
at at the history of the Golf Channel in the
past when these sources of things have happened, and you know,
it's simply not their m o to mention it. Within
(23:29):
the telecast while broadcasting the event. Now, they will certainly
mention it in other programs such as Morning Drive and
other ancillary programs centered around tournament coverage, but in the
actual tournament broadcast, this has been their history. This is
this is not something they will get into. And if
(23:52):
you look at other networks, you know, if you were
to take CBS in the NFL, Fox in the NFL,
I would imagine in many cases similar instances have occurred.
Maybe not always, but I can't say I'm surprised that
it did not get discussed in the broadcast. You know,
should it have been, that's a different conversation, but you
(24:13):
would certainly think that it would be because it's a
relevant piece of information. Yeah. I would even see it
maybe at the end, like as he's got a four shot,
leader's on eighteen, Like, hey, you know, there was an
unfortunate incident. There was an arrest earlier this year, but
what an amazing story. We are a society of second chances,
and we love second chances. I think it's great he's
(24:33):
made a come back, able to put his life back together,
able to put his golf game back together. A win
on the corn Ferry tour. Just a single win does
not guarantee you status back on the PGA Tour. But
if he has another couple of good finishes this year,
we should give him back his tour status and and
and and put him back on the Big Boy Tour.
So I I think there should have been some mention.
(24:55):
It didn't have to be gratuitous and and and and
uh and and embarrassing, but there should be some mention
of it, in my opinion, And I credit Tommy Gainey
at least for Look, you didn't expect him to get
into it, but he did make an illusion, uh, presumably
to those events, saying quote getting his life back on track.
You know it was a goal. So look, you just
(25:17):
hope he moves forward with this and we don't have
to worry about this. Tommy did not speak about the
matter additionally, Um, but you again not surprising, not surprising,
it wasn't really mentioned on the telecast. You just hope
that he gets things in order off the golf course.
And um, you know, as you mentioned, Victor, he goes
(25:37):
a long way towards his goal of getting back out
on the p g A tour, right, So something else
that has happened since we have been gone happen at
the end of twenty nineteen, and I meant to tell
you that I wanted to mention this is the whole
Patrick Reid controversy at the Hero and then Cameron Smith
speaking out about him being a cheater going into the
(25:58):
President's Cup, and then now he's hired an attorney, and
and ask Brandon Shambley to stop calling him a cheater.
I mean, whacker, You're around these guys and you see
what's going on, and and you you know, are talking
these circles. Is number one. I'm gonna ask you that.
I guess the first question is a very simple question,
and I'm not trying to get you sued. Is Patrick
(26:20):
Read a cheater? I mean, the stories keep coming up.
There's the stories from when he was in college, There's
the stories on tour, there's the Hero, there's is Patrick
Read in fact a cheater? Well, and uh, as I've
been advised by my legal counsel, I should probably refrain
from comment. Uh No, look, um, I don't want to
(26:42):
get into that because you know, it's hard to get
inside of Patrick's head, and even once in there, Um,
it's a interesting and strange place. So but look, there's
certainly been a number of incidents around him, controversial things
that have occurred, as you mentioned, all the way dating
back to his days in college. So this reputation has
(27:06):
followed him, and generally, where there's smoked, there's some fire.
And I what I can say is that he was
not looked upon kindly by his fellow competitors. You mentioned
the Cameron Smith comments. A lot of players didn't want
to really speak publicly about it, but privately share the
(27:27):
same thoughts as Cameron Smith said. And you know, they
don't have a lot of tolerance, um when it comes
to potential cheating. So from that standpoint, he lives in
an isolated world. It's it's a it's a it's interesting,
it's you know, we hear a lot of the times
that players all get along with each other, um, they
(27:49):
all like each other, and that's just not really the
case all the time, certainly not the case here, um,
I think it would. It will be fascinating to see
is how this plays out later in the year when
it comes to the Ryder Cup. So if Patrick Reid
is not one of the eight automatic qualifiers for the
Ryder Cup team, does he get picked because again, you know,
(28:10):
I think Tiger was willing to give him a pass
and maybe give him an opportunity with the President's Cup.
You know, we saw what happened there again, got you know,
there was an incident with his caddie for the fan
with an overserved fan. No, he did win on Sunday
and his singles match. He didn't win his he did
win his singles match well, and that, you know, and
that brings up another point that's relevant in that he
(28:32):
seems to not just rebel in this, but he seems
to thrive and in his situations, he seems to play
some of his best golf when he's embroiled in controversy.
You go back to that two eighteen Ryder Cup, and
you know, he was embroiled in this situation. Granted didn't
come out until afterward, but he clearly was not happy. Um,
(28:53):
he felt like there was a buddy system being enacted
and he felt like an outsider in that situation. And
he goes out and wins this single match on Sunday
handed handily. Now, the US lost the Ryder Cup, but
Patrick one his singles match. This incident at the President's Cup,
rather the incident at the Bahamas the week before the
(29:15):
President's Cup happens. There's big firestorm around it. You've got
the Cameron Smith comments. And then he turns up in Australia.
His county gets into it with an over served fan,
gets told not to show up at the golf course
on Sunday, um that Patrick had to find a replacement county,
and then he goes out and wins this singles match
(29:37):
on Sunday. So he's very unaffective, you know, he's Yeah,
he seems too for whatever reason in the in the
in the swirl of controversy, but look, at the end
of the day, controversy seems to follow him. There have
been a number of incidents throughout his career. We can
go back to his college days. You can go back
(30:00):
to comments he made at a European Tour event a
couple a few years ago now we're inappropriate. You can
go back to this incident at the Royder Cup and
his comments there. You can go back to the hero,
you can go back. I mean, you know, so there's
there's a history here. But with all that being said,
(30:22):
I think guys like Patrick and Sergio and Bryson and
anybody else who is quote controversial and on the tour.
I think these guys are good for the tour. I
think the tour loves it well. I don't know that
the tour thoughts of dealing with it, but it certainly
brings more attention to the sport, to the game. It
brings more casual fans I would argue into the game,
(30:45):
and it certainly gives us plenty to write and talk about.
So nothing against Luke Donald. I love Luke Donald, I
love Paul Casey. I'm just ringing up two guys who
are completely non controversial, don't ever cause a problem. Imagine
how boring it would be if every personality was Lucdonald
or Paul Casey. It would be boring. And I have
nothing against those two guys. I think they're phenomenal players
(31:06):
and they have their place on the tour. But what
I'm saying is is we need fiery personalities who do
the things that these guys do, who cause controversy. Same
as brooks Kepta. The tour needs these guys. Everybody doesn't
need to be the same well, and it brings a
level of reality to the sport, right because these are
real people with real issues, real problems. Everyone you know,
(31:29):
everyone is flawed in some respect and this this sheds
some light on that, and to your point, it makes
it more interesting. So look, you certainly don't condone some
of the things that have happened via Patrick reads issue
in the Bunker, be it Sergio Garcia with his Anthleicus
and Saudi Arabia last year. Um, but it's certainly again
gives us something to talk about, makes the game more
(31:51):
interesting in that way. I'm not gonna sit here and
say I've never tried to improve my lie in the Bunker,
so whatever, I'm not going to judge him on that.
But anyways, speaking to guys who are big personalities, your
buddy fills in the field this week and Phil announces
that he's moving to Jupiter. He's gonna be neighbors with
Tiger Woods there. I mean, they ever coming, chummy little buddies. Now,
(32:13):
how about that he's got a he just closed on
a lot in on Jupiter Island and hope you right
down the street from Tiger Woods, who of course lives
there and it's called, uh that area of South Florida
home for a long time now. So Phil and Tiger
taking this bromance to another level. Will be neighbors. I'm sure.
I'm sure they'll be games coming at at the metalist
(32:37):
Um will probably have some more fireside chats with still
down in Jupiter. But really, as you mentioned before we
began the podcast, this is presumably a tax move as
much as anything, because as we all know, California has
some of the highest taxes, if not the highest taxes
in the country, and Florida they know uh income tax state.
(32:59):
So Phil stands, I would imagine to say, quite a
bit of money and Um, as we can remember, a
handful of years ago, he did bring up the point
of taxes in California, which raised a bit of a
stink back then, But now he will I'm sure he's accounts.
I'm sure Philip will be much happier to not have
(33:21):
to pay state income tax, right, So that's good for Phil.
He's in the field this week as so. We're done
with the Hawaii Swing the two tournaments there, and now
we'll start working our way through California. I know they're
at the American Express this week, and then next week
we get our first chance for Tiger Woods to win
Tournament number eighty three next week at Tory Pines and
(33:44):
once again, a place he's very familiar with, a place
he's very comfortable in, a place he has won many
times before. Yeah, he is. I believe he's won one
eight times. Uh, there's the Tigers sitting on victory two now,
it's been a long time since he's one at Tory Pines.
But you know, again, is there anything to suggest from
(34:08):
what we've seen be a Tiger's play in the President's
Cup beat Tiger's play during the Masters last year he's
played at the Zozo in the fall, seems to be healthy. Now,
there's nothing to suggest that he would not be in
contention next week when he makes his season they do
with Torrey Pines. So his iron play at the zo
(34:29):
Zo and his distance control and iron play and ball
striking at the President's Cup, we're both nothing short of unbelievable.
I Mean, I know him a Tiger homer, and I
know that I tend to get a little over zealous sometimes,
But from what I've seen at the Zozo and what
I've seen at the President's Cup, I could argue he's
(34:53):
back to being the best iron player in the game. Again. Yeah,
and that would not be an overstatement by any means.
What soever and the thing that will be interesting to
see Torrey Pines. Of course, you've got rough there, so
it will come down to how well he's driving the
ball if you But the driver lately has not been
a problem. It's been a wet it's become a weapon. Yeah,
(35:14):
even that hasn't proved. So um. Then there's a matter
of temperatures. And you know we saw a few years ago,
of course, dealing with some uh in the midst of
dealing with some injuries where his back had the back issues.
And of course the temperature can drop quickly there. He
can get cold, his body can get tight. So um,
presuming he is healthy, presuming that he is not somehow
(35:38):
impact and look at you know, he's still forty four
years old. He's gonna have days where he wakes up
and doesn't feel great. Yeah, it happened to the President's Cup.
Remember he didn't play on Saturday because he said his
body just couldn't go. Yeah, so that's going to happen,
you know, whether that happened to Torrey Pines, will see.
If it doesn't, then there's no reason to expect that
he would not be in contention at a place he
knows extremely well has had a ton a ton of
(36:01):
success at so all eyes will be on Tiger, Rory
McIlroy of course in the field. You mentioned this week's field,
American Express were filled as the host of the event.
You know, the field next week is loaded. It's You've
got Rory McIlroy in the fielder, you've got Tiger and
a number of other top players. Taylor Made of course
in front of the program, big presence there and um, yeah,
(36:24):
it'll be that. That sort of to me always feels
like the first kind of big boy event of the
year because you've got Tory Pines, you've got Tiger, you've
got a number of other big names in the field.
Sort of feels to me like the first really big
golf tournament of the year. Yeah. Speaking of Taylor Made,
(36:45):
they have got their new equipment, the SIM out and
I just saw this morning. It's the number one choice
of the thirty three players that are not under driver
contract in Abu Dhabi, more have chosen the SIM driver
this week than any other model. So the brand new
Taylor Made driver that you will see in Roy McElroy's
(37:05):
bag next week at Tory Pines. I do believe Tiger
will be playing the SIM as well. If you've noticed
Dustin Johnson also using the SIM, but for the first
time at in Hawaii, Dustin was using a rescue club
that was part of the sim makeup from the new
Tailor Made lines and new stuff coming from Taylor Made.
But speaking of of Tiger, and this is the first
(37:27):
podcast of the year, I'm gonna start off a little
easy on you. Does Tiger get the all time victory
number eighty three this season? Yes? He does. Does he
win multiple times this season? You know, it's so hard
to say, because, um, again, it comes down to health
with him, right we saw, Look, you looked phenomenal at
(37:50):
Augusta and then he had any issue so which impacted
him throughout the course of the season. So it's a
health staying good. Does he win two times this year? Yeah?
I think so. Can you win more than two times?
I mean, it's hard to say, hard to say no
to that, but you know, look, I have no idea
how if but this way, if I knew how many
(38:13):
times Tiger was going to win this season, you'd be
a very rich man alight on the phone to Vegas
right now. But I say, you're comfortable with saying two times. Yes,
I would say that's that's pretty fair. Are you comfortable
with saying one of those two will be a major? Hm?
I mean like predictions are you know? I mean he's
(38:34):
got to be the favorite going into Augusta, all right.
I mean there's absolutely health once again. Once again, every
single thing that we say is health is good. If
the health fails, then obviously things change. He's got to
be the leader going into Augusta, right. Certainly, certainly he'll
be the favorite going into Augusta. I would think even
with guys like Brooks Kepka where mclroy has never one
(38:56):
there and so forth, I think Tiger will be the
betting favorite going in. Then you look at other venues
UM PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco. Yeah,
golf course, he's won it before, but again it's in
it's in May, so who knows what the weather situation
San Francisco, even in the middle of the summer can
(39:18):
the weather can get dicey, So who knows what happens there.
You look at Royal St. George's for the Open Championship.
You know doesn't have a great track record there. I
think you missed the cut memories correct, the last time
the Open was there and the last time you play there.
So where's the US Open? In the US Open at Wingfoot?
So there's a golf course, you know, thick, rough, tree lined,
(39:43):
narrow fairways, sort of a traditional US Open golf course
or what you would expect it to be. Who knows.
I mean, certainly could play well there, but again, dealing
with a tight ballpark a tournament. He certainly one a
number of times, but um, who knows what happens there?
It wouldn't It wouldn't shock me if he went to Major. No,
(40:05):
it wouldn't shock me at all. I think Augusta is
obviously the best chance, and I think I think moving forward,
as Tiger gets older, he can continue to contend at
Augusta because it's not one that is going to rule
him out due to length. He always plays the golf
course well. He knows where to miss the ball out,
he knows how to play those greens. I mean, as
(40:25):
long as he's playing golf and healthy, I have to
add that in, as long as those two are happening,
he's always gonna be in contention or with the ability
to be in contention at Augusta once again. The other
three majors do move and I think as we go
uh in the round through the Open Championship, there are
(40:46):
some courses that fit him better than others. And then
when you add in Harding Park once again, Giant Ballpark,
I believe that favors guys who drive the ball a
little further than he does. But that's not to say
that he can't contend there. He can. Um he's just
gonna to drive the ball straight and he's going to
have to hit his long irons better than anybody else.
But I think a two win season, especially if there's
(41:07):
a major involved, is another massively successful year. It puts
us at sixteen where at fifteen now, it puts us
at sixteen majors. It gives him eighty four victories. That's
a remarkably successful year considering where we were two years ago.
And it brings you know, it brings eighteen into play.
(41:28):
Absolutely if he gets the sixteen this year, it absolutely
brings eighteen into play. And you know Open Championship will
be at St. Andrews, so again a golf course that
he's one at Befour suits his game well, you know,
so that would open the door that much brings him
that much closer to eighteen opens the door to you know,
(41:50):
this could really happen because I think you bring up
a valid point about Augusta. That's the place he should
compete well, at least for the next few years. I
don't know how much deeper he can go beyond that
because he's forty four at this point, but you would
certainly I think this year and maybe two more years
has a very realistic shot of winning there again if
(42:12):
he's healthy. And then you look at some of the
venues for the Open Championship, a place where you know,
we've seen guys in their forties when there before, so
that can definitely happen. So who knows. It's uh, it's
exciting to see. I mean last year is incredible. I
don't know how you could top that, but he's certainly
(42:32):
proven that he's one of the best players in the world. Yeah,
I mean, this year looks like it's going to be
a lot of fun. It looks like Brooks is kind
of picking up where he left off. I know, the
knee surgeries, and people were wondering if there would be
some rusts there from what we've seen in the first
round at Abu Dhabi. Not sure what you know Rounds two, three,
and four will hold, but what we've seen coming out
of the box, he looks very sharp. So we've got
(42:53):
a fun year with Brooks ahead. I think Rory McElroy
is going to have a great year as well. And
then you've got guys heating up like just and Thomas
had won three of his last six starts. There are
so many good players. We are really set up for
a great year in on the tour. We are, I mean,
we welcome to new decade and there's there were two
(43:16):
weeks in and we've already had a month's worth of
stories and it should be it should be another good year. Yeah,
we got next week once again this week during California
at the Amex. We will see them next week at
Tory Pines. And then, if my memory serves me cracked,
I know that you've come up with the bet and
I know maybe you didn't invent this name, however, it
(43:36):
really truly is the best name ever. After we have
the farmers at Torrey Pines will move on to Scottsdale
and the Wasted Management Hope and coming up, which is
always a fun tournament to watch. I know, generally not
the strongest field. We don't get some of the strongest
players there, but still a fun tournament to watch. After
that the Pebble Beach Pro Am, and then we will
(43:58):
see Tiger what what I'm guessing we'll be back to
back weeks at the Genesis at Riviera and then the
World Golf Championship in Mexico as we then start the
Florida swing. After that, we will be back after Tory Pines.
We will talk to you. Who knows, we could be
talking about win number eighty three, which I mean would
really just ramp things up totally as we head uh
(44:20):
and prepare you know how it is when Tiger wins
once before the Masters. That has been a good open
for him going into the Masters. So a fun season
on the way, So much to report, so much going on.
We will be back. We will talk to you once
again after the Farmer's Insurance Open Tory Pines in San Diego. Whacker,
thanks so much, Glad you made it back from your
(44:41):
a jaunt to Hawaii and looking forward to another fun season.
Let's do it
Don't mind us where playing Through here and welcome to
another edition, the first one of today Playing Through podcast.
There is so much going on in the golf world.
I am Froggy from Elvis to Ram in the morning
show alongside my co host Brian Whacker from Golf Digest
(00:23):
on Twitter and Instagram at Froggy Radio at Brian Whacker one,
or you can reach the program anytime at play through
Golf at playing through Golf on Instagram. So, Whacker, I
know you got an early start to the season. We're
two tournaments in already. We got the Century in Hawaii,
you were there, we got the Sony in Hawaii, and
(00:46):
there literally is golf news just coming out of the ass.
So how do you want to start? That is uh,
that's an expression I didn't really um expect in the
first two weeks of doing okay, But yeah, you are correct.
We we got all sorts of news We're going to
(01:07):
get into mentioned. I just got back from why I'm
just still getting onto the jet lag. I know, woo
who who really kids a ship? No one cares, nobody
feels sorry for you. And you're because last night I'm
talking to Whacker, He's like, yeah, you know the weather
was terrible. It rained every day and it was windy,
but you were in Hawaii, so nobody feels sorry for you. No, no,
(01:29):
no north Ship Day. But it was an entertaining first
couple of weeks. Of course, we had Justin Thomas winning
in a playoff over by the way. How about this,
So we sit down with the commissioner the first week
in Mali a Kappeloua, and he does this every year,
sort of meets with the media there and in context
(01:52):
of something else, as you'd like to playoffs every week, Well,
guess what you got one of the since the tournament
champions with Justin Thomas beating Patrick Greeting Xander shofly Um
in an amazing playoff, really Xander Scholey just admittedly giving
that tournament a way. And then the following week get
another playoff with Cameron Smith winning at the Sony Open
(02:14):
in Hawaii. So we finished its two for two hunt
playoffs getting his wis. Looks hope that trend is not continued,
but yes, it was an eventful two weeks. A lot
to get to. We've got, of course, those two events
in Hawaii. We've got another Brights in de Shambo and
Brooks kept good desktops, got Tommy Gainey, who We've got
Phil Nicholson, We've got Tiger Woods. A lot to get to, right.
(02:37):
It's a busy couple of weeks jumping in with both feet,
it is. And by the way, also I had the
pleasure of talking to Roy McElroy and Carson Daily. They
were here in Pontovidra. Rory was shooting a promo for
NBC that you'll start seeing to air on the Whole
seven Team at TBC Stadium course for the players. Had
(03:00):
the pleasure of meeting both of them. Super nice dude.
Carson Daley will be coming on the podcast to talk
to us. Carson actually a pretty good golfer. But a
very cute promo they did. Rory is Carson's caddy as
Carson goes to play the seventeenth hole, and then they
had Rory hit a couple of shots blindfolded. So a
(03:20):
lot of fun there, but so much going on in
the golf world. Like you said, we had a playoff
in Hawaii. But the big news so far this year outside,
you know, kind of other than just you know, playing
and winners and whatnot, is slow play has seemed to
be a problem on tour. We've talked about it here
on the program so many times. It comes up every
(03:41):
time you turn around. It seems to always be the
same players. They were always talking about some guys getting
accused of so so play and don't like it. Brooks
has been very vocal on who he thinks is a
slow play. So can you kind of break down for us, Whacker,
because I know you understand it much more than I do.
Can you break down what has changed in the slow
play rule and how does it affect us moving forward
(04:03):
through and beyond? Well, sure, and I don't know, you
know what, There's definitely some changes and some significant ones,
but I don't know that anything has interiorly really changed.
As you mentioned, they unveiled the new pace of play
policy UM and as I mentioned earlier, had a chance
to sit down with the Commissioner the first week of January,
and effectively the slow play issue, if you will, is
(04:28):
going to target two big points out of it. It
will target individuals rather than groups. There will also be
a lift kept on a week to week basis of
slow players or of the slowest players, I should say,
and penalty levied for quote exceptive shot times. Now, the
tour will use shot lenk data to compile this information,
(04:51):
but basically create an observation list, and then warnings will
be given if a player exceeds sixty seconds to play
a shot and then a second bad time. If they're
issue a second bad time, that will result in a
one shirt of penalty. Now, the big thing here is
you've got this observation list, but that will not be
made public, so only the players who are on it
(05:13):
will be notified that they are on it. In other words,
other players won't necessarily know about it. The public at
large won't know about it. So this is really in
line with you know, how the tour operates. Example, for example,
when it comes to disciplinary matters um, they do not
comment um unless they really feel a need to either
(05:35):
correct something that's incorrect or for a specific reason. But
generally speaking they do not comment on disciplinary matter. If
you're on the low playlist only you know, they don't
put out say a release player wide and say these
ten players are on the list. You're only told on
an individual basis. So therefore the only way you would
(05:58):
know who's on the list is by asking or left
somebody else who's on the list tells you is that correct?
That's correct. So in other words, ah, there's no way
that players are going to be called shamed into playing
faster because no one will um be privy to that
information outside of the tour. So whatever, that's bullshitt. Put
(06:18):
the list out of who the slow players are, even
if you don't want to put it out on a website.
I understand that. But put out a press release within
your own little circle there with all your players on Hey,
these are the slow guys. I guarantee you play will
speed up a lot quicker that way. That's an argument
that a lot of people make that if it was
(06:41):
publicly known you know who is on the list and
who who is a slow player, that those guys are
going to be they're going to pick up the pace
because now the information is public. To me, the big
takeaway on this is that while they have moved, um,
they haven't forced or rather they have enacted a greater
(07:04):
emphasis on slow play, they are still a ways away,
it appears, from issuing strokes and they're issuing a stroke
penalty if someone violates slow play. So to me, you know, look,
people I've talked to within the organization within the tour,
people on the Player Advisory Can Council. The tour really
(07:27):
doesn't want to have a golf tournament determined by someone
getting a slow play penalty, right, and the public. I think,
you know, it'd be interesting to see the reaction of that,
because I think it would be very polarizing. You would
have I would imagine a large segment of the population saying,
you know, this is nonsense, that shouldn't be determined this way,
(07:50):
and then you have people saying, good, as you just
said they would they would be you know, because that
would ultimately speed up play. In most other sports, you
are on a clock, you are time in most other sports.
So let's say football. If you're they don't say, well,
you know this, this game is important. It's the Super Bowl,
so we're gonna go ahead and take that play clock
(08:10):
off and let you have as much time as you
need to run this next play. It doesn't work that way.
If the time determines the outcome and you need to
play with within whatever time frame that the league has
determined and dictated that you need to play in. I
think exactly the same thing needs to happen in golf,
and that you know what, if you don't play within
the within me a lot of time, you get doctor stroke.
(08:33):
You you brought up a great point when you and
I were discussing this before that when the sun's setting
and they don't want to be there an extra day, oh,
they all of a sudden find a really clever way
to start speeding up play, all of a sudden, and
they finish around. I don't understand they would do the
same thing if they knew a stroke was going to
be penalized against them and they were not going to
(08:55):
win the golf tournament, they would find a way to
speed up play. And I think what gets tricky is, look,
slow play is generally not an issue on Saturday and Sunday,
when you've got sixty five players or thereabouts playing in
two SOMs, that's generally not the issue. It mostly comes
up on Thursday Friday, when you've got a full field
(09:15):
guys playing off both sets of tees in threesomes. That's
part of the problem. But we have seen it on
occasion on the weekend where guys do play slow. And
to your point, you know, these guys are certainly capable
of playing within in a lot of the amount of time. Now,
the sort of flip side of this argument, of course,
you go back to the two thousand five Masters sixteen
(09:39):
pole tiger Woods chipping and how long he took to
play that shot. Um, if you were to sort of
abide by the letter of the law, then he didn't
really prepare for that shot in the amount of time
that he's supposed to correct. But doesn't it say that
that it's on a shot by shot basis that if
some shots do rea choir extra time, they're going to
(10:02):
be seen. It's like it's almost like they laid down
the law, but then they backed it up some. So
getting back to the rule, Okay, so you've got to
get on that observation list. A player's historical data is
reviewed over a ten tournament rolling period, right, and then
those players are then subject to a sixty second timing
(10:24):
for every shot, and if the player exceeds that, then
they're timed on an individual basis, even if the group
is in position and you know they're playing right up
to the group behind front of them. If no fractions
occur within the two holes, he's no longer time. You know,
another situation that will be instituted is if any player
(10:45):
in the field is observed to take more than a
d seconds to play a shot, and this goes back
to Pryson Shambo after, of course taking over two minutes
during the Northern Trust to take a pot, then he
will be given an excessive shot time. The other end
of it is fines. The fines have ramped up dramatically
up to fifty thou dollars. Now from the past where
(11:06):
it took I believe a number of bad times to
get to a ten or twenty thousand dollar range of memories. Correct,
Now that number is fifty thousand, so it's a lot more.
It's your point strokes, and it's strokes are really the
only thing that's going to pick up the pace. If
you start hitting a player with strokes where there is
(11:27):
the threat of that, that is really the only way
the players are going to increase their pace. Yeah, they
don't fall a flag in the NFL and say we've
got the delay game. We're gonna hit each guy on
the offensive line with a five thousand dollar penalty. Here,
let's replace second down. No, they back you up and
they penalize you. And that's exactly what needs to happen here.
(11:48):
These guys because let's be honest, the whacker, it's the
same people. Every time. You don't see new people popping
up on the slow play accusation list on a regular basis.
It's the same people. And once you do it a
couple of times, it's fixed. Now here's my question. When
they are accumulating the penalties, are they accumulated daily or tournament?
(12:12):
So in other words, if you get popped on a
Thursday and then you get popped again on Friday, is
that in fraction number two? Or is Friday a whole
new day and that's in fraction number one? Again? Yeah, no,
we will go, I believe on a round by around basis.
So it's it happens every time you know a guy plays.
And look to your point about this um really, for me,
(12:34):
it comes down to the enforcement, right, So you've got
two things. You've got the actual penalty and what the
and what that what that should be, whether that's a fine,
a stroke, what it takes to get to those levels,
et cetera. And then you've also got the enforcement. And
to me, that's the the turkey part, because you know,
I've talked to people on the Player Advisory Council, I've
(12:55):
talked to people within the tour. The tour is reticent
to have a off tournament determined by a stroke penalty,
so they're very hesitant when it comes to actually enforcing
and handing out a penalty for these situations. So it'll
be interesting to see how it plays out or a
couple of tournaments in they just announced it. It will
(13:17):
go into effect this season. Yeah, I think in April
the RBC correct, yes, and so you know, we'll we'll
see how this plays out really um and it's it's
also fascinating to me from a viewer standpoint because where
does how does the problem exist? You know, generally the
tournaments finish on time on Sunday. You've comperilously close a
(13:40):
couple of times for tournaments spilling over into Monday. But
they're also working within a TV window of trying to
finish at an exact time. But we've also seen cases
where it's come close to not finishing because of slow play.
Yet as a viewer, when you're watching on television, you're
not seeing the slow play because the television cuts from
(14:01):
shop to shop to shot of different groups. Rarely does
it come up that TV shows the guy playing slow
We've seen it on a few cases, be a JB. Holmes,
be it pricing to shampoo, And then of course this
stuff exists in Twitter, in the social media world, and
of course in person as well, So it's interesting to
(14:21):
sort of look at it from all facets because as
as I mean, when you're watching on TV, Froggy, do
you've noticed slow play? I mean, is it unless it's
being talked about? I mean, is it something you really see?
I just see sometimes it takes a guy a long
time to play a shot, and I'm like, okay, Like
you know, we know about the JB. Holmes incident last year.
I just know that there's times that it does seem
(14:41):
to take a long time. But like I told you,
it's the same. It's generally the same people all the time.
It's not like I don't think it's a tour wide
or a field wide problem. I think it's a couple
of select people. And if you dock those people a shot,
not money, come money. These guys have got enough money.
It's not a big deal. If you dock these guys
(15:02):
a shot when they're in contention, things are going to change.
And until they're willing to do that, everything else to
me is is there still just working their way towards
a real problem? Again, this is a step in that direction.
Will they ever get there? Right? I don't think we're there.
I think we're This is another move in the right direction.
(15:25):
I'll give them that, um. But to me as a fan,
it's not that much closer to where we need to get.
I do think it's a step in the right direction.
But you mentioned Brysons as being one of the problems.
Now see my issue there is Bryson says he's not
a problem, um, but he was called out directly by
(15:47):
Brooks kepka in that he is. Brooks called out more
than one person, but Bryson is one of the ones
he called out. And so we've had this little issue
going on with Bryson and Brooks where there's been a
problem and Brooks did the body issue for Sports Illustrated,
Bryson had something to say about that, and so now
I guess it's really kind of starting to boil over.
(16:09):
And as recent as this morning we have another rebuttal
from Brooks. Is that correct? We do? I guess we
can call this one app state maybe because Bryson Bryson
of course, Uh This is another story, um that's been
out there since we've since our last podcast, is that
(16:30):
Bryson is packed on a bunch of weight twenty plus
pounds and is trying to get bigger and bigger and
bigger in an effort effectively to hit the ball farther
and to withstand the rigors of playing a PG tour seasons.
So he had a job at Brooks Kepka. And whether
Brooks kept can had apps or not. Of course, Bryson,
(16:54):
being the scientist he is, knows that we all have apps,
just a matter of who's very right, whether you can
see them or not. I'm pretty sure Brooks Cupta is
in Uh, his shape is just fine. And Brooks firing
back today this morning with a tweet, you're right, Bryson
the shambo, I am too short of a six pack,
(17:16):
And he posted uh pictures of his major championships trophies,
which of course is four. Bryson, of course has zero
major championships, um, and I don't believe has a top
ten in a major. So Brooks again willing to fire back.
And let's just say these two will not be on
(17:37):
each other's Christmas card list now when we haven't seen Brooks.
You know, he did not play the Hero. The last
tournament I believe he played in he had to withdraw
with a knee injury, so he did not play the Hero.
He withdrew from the President's Cup. He wasn't able to
play there either, and he said he was going to
be ready for the season. And so um, as we
are doing this podcast, we have finally gotten our first
(17:59):
look at Brooks. He's playing at the HSBC in Abu Dhabi.
After the first round, we will give round one to Brooks.
Brooks shot a six under. He is two back of
the lead and in third place. Bryson shot even par.
I'm not sure exactly what place that's good for, but however,
round one goes to Brooks on the golf course, and
(18:21):
I'm gonna give you know, Listen, I don't dislike Brooks.
I don't really dislike a lot of players, but I
don't dislike Brooks. He's not my favorite. I appreciate the talent.
I think the swing is phenomenal. I'm not going to
deny the unbelievable clip at which he's winning majors and
how it's crazy to see him walk in and be
(18:42):
a favorite at every major. It's unbelievable the way he's playing. However,
I think his game on Twitter and his for lack
of a better term, ship talking game is might be
slightly better than his golf game. Between the guy that
told him he needs to go drive a truck and
he told him a Brinks truck and now this too
short of a six pack of Bryson, I think I
(19:04):
think Brooks is actually pretty good dude. Actually, yeah, Brooks's
humor is a lot like he plays golf. It's blunt
force trauma. Um. There's there's not a lot of subtlety
to it. And that's his personality. That's the way he
plays golf. Um. And I'd have to agree. You know,
he certainly brings a stronger game on the course than
(19:26):
Bryson at the moment, and certainly on Twitter as well.
You know, now, look, I'm sure Bryson was just poking fun,
but this all traces back to, of course, as you
mentioned earlier, Brooks having called out Bryson for slow play
at one point. Uh, And we know this, Look, we
have Brooks on the podcast. He's not a guy to
(19:47):
mence worse, he will willingly call out other people. He's
called out uh Sergio Garcia in the past on our podcast,
he called out a number of other players for being
too Boddy buddy and friendly with the media. I like that, Yeah,
in a story that I wrote for Golf Digest a
couple of years ago. So, yeah, there's Brooks is willing
(20:10):
to speak his mind, and uh so you at least
have have to give him credit for that. And really
there's no contest between Bryce and Brooks at this point. No,
it's not even a conversation if you look at the
results on the golf course. And I do I like
the outspoken Brooks. If you remember before too many times
Brooks was given a hard time for the fact that
(20:32):
he didn't really say anything and then he didn't really
have an opinion, and that he was to Vanilla. Well,
I like the fact that he now speaks out the
Sergio comments that he made that many he's pointed out
who's who the slow players are. He has no issue
whatsoever calling people out. And you know what, I appreciate
that as a fan. I appreciate that as somebody who
does a podcast. I like the fact that he is
(20:55):
not afraid to speak his mind instead of getting up
there and giving us the most vanilla b s answers
that you know are is just what he's been told
to say by somebody else, And so I appreciate that.
And uh, speaking of guys who have given us a
lot to talk about, as we move on forward, your
buddy Tommy Gainey, we haven't been able to get into
(21:17):
what happened with Tommy. So Tommy did win the corn
Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas, four stroke victory, very
convincing victory, his first win in a long time, but
not the first time Tommy has been in the news recently.
Is that? Is that safe to say? Tommy is not
an interesting month the of course, just over a month
(21:39):
ago he was caught up in a sting called Operation
Santa's Naughty List, where he was arrested for solicitation solicitation
of her prostitute, so that of course made news. Then
he comes out a month later, remarkably with all this
swirling around Tim and we don't know the outcome of
(22:02):
that arrest yet. I'm sure there is a court trait set,
but comes out and despite that manages to win quite convincingly.
As you mentioned, the corn Ferry Tour season opener in
the Bahamas and played really well. So that was quite
the tournament events for Tommy Gainey in the last month. Yeah,
(22:23):
I mean it's insane. And then now here, now here
now the I will say this, and I'm sure they
were instructed. The announcers on the broadcast for the last
two days of the tournament, as it was telecasted on television,
never mentioned one time about the arrest people arrested over
a six day staying like you mentioned in Palm Beach County,
(22:46):
I mean the Pope county, excuse me, And they never
mentioned it one time. Now, when he was arrested, he
was among the round one leaders. He shot a seventy
four and a seventy one on the weekend after his arrest,
dropping him to seventy. Yeah. Yeah, it was a cell
are bizarre turn of events. Um, from that all the
(23:07):
way to this. And look a lot was made of
the broadcast not mentioning that, uh, the last two days.
And look, I can't say I'm surprised if you look
at at the history of the Golf Channel in the
past when these sources of things have happened, and you know,
it's simply not their m o to mention it. Within
(23:29):
the telecast while broadcasting the event. Now, they will certainly
mention it in other programs such as Morning Drive and
other ancillary programs centered around tournament coverage, but in the
actual tournament broadcast, this has been their history. This is
this is not something they will get into. And if
(23:52):
you look at other networks, you know, if you were
to take CBS in the NFL, Fox in the NFL,
I would imagine in many cases similar instances have occurred.
Maybe not always, but I can't say I'm surprised that
it did not get discussed in the broadcast. You know,
should it have been, that's a different conversation, but you
(24:13):
would certainly think that it would be because it's a
relevant piece of information. Yeah. I would even see it
maybe at the end, like as he's got a four shot,
leader's on eighteen, Like, hey, you know, there was an
unfortunate incident. There was an arrest earlier this year, but
what an amazing story. We are a society of second chances,
and we love second chances. I think it's great he's
(24:33):
made a come back, able to put his life back together,
able to put his golf game back together. A win
on the corn Ferry tour. Just a single win does
not guarantee you status back on the PGA Tour. But
if he has another couple of good finishes this year,
we should give him back his tour status and and
and and put him back on the Big Boy Tour.
So I I think there should have been some mention.
(24:55):
It didn't have to be gratuitous and and and and
uh and and embarrassing, but there should be some mention
of it, in my opinion, And I credit Tommy Gainey
at least for Look, you didn't expect him to get
into it, but he did make an illusion, uh, presumably
to those events, saying quote getting his life back on track.
You know it was a goal. So look, you just
(25:17):
hope he moves forward with this and we don't have
to worry about this. Tommy did not speak about the
matter additionally, Um, but you again not surprising, not surprising,
it wasn't really mentioned on the telecast. You just hope
that he gets things in order off the golf course.
And um, you know, as you mentioned, Victor, he goes
(25:37):
a long way towards his goal of getting back out
on the p g A tour, right, So something else
that has happened since we have been gone happen at
the end of twenty nineteen, and I meant to tell
you that I wanted to mention this is the whole
Patrick Reid controversy at the Hero and then Cameron Smith
speaking out about him being a cheater going into the
(25:58):
President's Cup, and then now he's hired an attorney, and
and ask Brandon Shambley to stop calling him a cheater.
I mean, whacker, You're around these guys and you see
what's going on, and and you you know, are talking
these circles. Is number one. I'm gonna ask you that.
I guess the first question is a very simple question,
and I'm not trying to get you sued. Is Patrick
(26:20):
Read a cheater? I mean, the stories keep coming up.
There's the stories from when he was in college, There's
the stories on tour, there's the Hero, there's is Patrick
Read in fact a cheater? Well, and uh, as I've
been advised by my legal counsel, I should probably refrain
from comment. Uh No, look, um, I don't want to
(26:42):
get into that because you know, it's hard to get
inside of Patrick's head, and even once in there, Um,
it's a interesting and strange place. So but look, there's
certainly been a number of incidents around him, controversial things
that have occurred, as you mentioned, all the way dating
back to his days in college. So this reputation has
(27:06):
followed him, and generally, where there's smoked, there's some fire.
And I what I can say is that he was
not looked upon kindly by his fellow competitors. You mentioned
the Cameron Smith comments. A lot of players didn't want
to really speak publicly about it, but privately share the
(27:27):
same thoughts as Cameron Smith said. And you know, they
don't have a lot of tolerance, um when it comes
to potential cheating. So from that standpoint, he lives in
an isolated world. It's it's a it's a it's interesting,
it's you know, we hear a lot of the times
that players all get along with each other, um, they
(27:49):
all like each other, and that's just not really the
case all the time, certainly not the case here, um,
I think it would. It will be fascinating to see
is how this plays out later in the year when
it comes to the Ryder Cup. So if Patrick Reid
is not one of the eight automatic qualifiers for the
Ryder Cup team, does he get picked because again, you know,
(28:10):
I think Tiger was willing to give him a pass
and maybe give him an opportunity with the President's Cup.
You know, we saw what happened there again, got you know,
there was an incident with his caddie for the fan
with an overserved fan. No, he did win on Sunday
and his singles match. He didn't win his he did
win his singles match well, and that, you know, and
that brings up another point that's relevant in that he
(28:32):
seems to not just rebel in this, but he seems
to thrive and in his situations, he seems to play
some of his best golf when he's embroiled in controversy.
You go back to that two eighteen Ryder Cup, and
you know, he was embroiled in this situation. Granted didn't
come out until afterward, but he clearly was not happy. Um,
(28:53):
he felt like there was a buddy system being enacted
and he felt like an outsider in that situation. And
he goes out and wins this single match on Sunday
handed handily. Now, the US lost the Ryder Cup, but
Patrick one his singles match. This incident at the President's Cup,
rather the incident at the Bahamas the week before the
(29:15):
President's Cup happens. There's big firestorm around it. You've got
the Cameron Smith comments. And then he turns up in Australia.
His county gets into it with an over served fan,
gets told not to show up at the golf course
on Sunday, um that Patrick had to find a replacement county,
and then he goes out and wins this singles match
(29:37):
on Sunday. So he's very unaffective, you know, he's Yeah,
he seems too for whatever reason in the in the
in the swirl of controversy, but look, at the end
of the day, controversy seems to follow him. There have
been a number of incidents throughout his career. We can
go back to his college days. You can go back
(30:00):
to comments he made at a European Tour event a
couple a few years ago now we're inappropriate. You can
go back to this incident at the Royder Cup and
his comments there. You can go back to the hero,
you can go back. I mean, you know, so there's
there's a history here. But with all that being said,
(30:22):
I think guys like Patrick and Sergio and Bryson and
anybody else who is quote controversial and on the tour.
I think these guys are good for the tour. I
think the tour loves it well. I don't know that
the tour thoughts of dealing with it, but it certainly
brings more attention to the sport, to the game. It
brings more casual fans I would argue into the game,
(30:45):
and it certainly gives us plenty to write and talk about.
So nothing against Luke Donald. I love Luke Donald, I
love Paul Casey. I'm just ringing up two guys who
are completely non controversial, don't ever cause a problem. Imagine
how boring it would be if every personality was Lucdonald
or Paul Casey. It would be boring. And I have
nothing against those two guys. I think they're phenomenal players
(31:06):
and they have their place on the tour. But what
I'm saying is is we need fiery personalities who do
the things that these guys do, who cause controversy. Same
as brooks Kepta. The tour needs these guys. Everybody doesn't
need to be the same well, and it brings a
level of reality to the sport, right because these are
real people with real issues, real problems. Everyone you know,
(31:29):
everyone is flawed in some respect and this this sheds
some light on that, and to your point, it makes
it more interesting. So look, you certainly don't condone some
of the things that have happened via Patrick reads issue
in the Bunker, be it Sergio Garcia with his Anthleicus
and Saudi Arabia last year. Um, but it's certainly again
gives us something to talk about, makes the game more
(31:51):
interesting in that way. I'm not gonna sit here and
say I've never tried to improve my lie in the Bunker,
so whatever, I'm not going to judge him on that.
But anyways, speaking to guys who are big personalities, your
buddy fills in the field this week and Phil announces
that he's moving to Jupiter. He's gonna be neighbors with
Tiger Woods there. I mean, they ever coming, chummy little buddies. Now,
(32:13):
how about that he's got a he just closed on
a lot in on Jupiter Island and hope you right
down the street from Tiger Woods, who of course lives
there and it's called, uh that area of South Florida
home for a long time now. So Phil and Tiger
taking this bromance to another level. Will be neighbors. I'm sure.
I'm sure they'll be games coming at at the metalist
(32:37):
Um will probably have some more fireside chats with still
down in Jupiter. But really, as you mentioned before we
began the podcast, this is presumably a tax move as
much as anything, because as we all know, California has
some of the highest taxes, if not the highest taxes
in the country, and Florida they know uh income tax state.
(32:59):
So Phil stands, I would imagine to say, quite a
bit of money and Um, as we can remember, a
handful of years ago, he did bring up the point
of taxes in California, which raised a bit of a
stink back then, But now he will I'm sure he's accounts.
I'm sure Philip will be much happier to not have
(33:21):
to pay state income tax, right, So that's good for Phil.
He's in the field this week as so. We're done
with the Hawaii Swing the two tournaments there, and now
we'll start working our way through California. I know they're
at the American Express this week, and then next week
we get our first chance for Tiger Woods to win
Tournament number eighty three next week at Tory Pines and
(33:44):
once again, a place he's very familiar with, a place
he's very comfortable in, a place he has won many
times before. Yeah, he is. I believe he's won one
eight times. Uh, there's the Tigers sitting on victory two now,
it's been a long time since he's one at Tory Pines.
But you know, again, is there anything to suggest from
(34:08):
what we've seen be a Tiger's play in the President's
Cup beat Tiger's play during the Masters last year he's
played at the Zozo in the fall, seems to be healthy. Now,
there's nothing to suggest that he would not be in
contention next week when he makes his season they do
with Torrey Pines. So his iron play at the zo
(34:29):
Zo and his distance control and iron play and ball
striking at the President's Cup, we're both nothing short of unbelievable.
I Mean, I know him a Tiger homer, and I
know that I tend to get a little over zealous sometimes,
But from what I've seen at the Zozo and what
I've seen at the President's Cup, I could argue he's
(34:53):
back to being the best iron player in the game. Again. Yeah,
and that would not be an overstatement by any means.
What soever and the thing that will be interesting to
see Torrey Pines. Of course, you've got rough there, so
it will come down to how well he's driving the
ball if you But the driver lately has not been
a problem. It's been a wet it's become a weapon. Yeah,
(35:14):
even that hasn't proved. So um. Then there's a matter
of temperatures. And you know we saw a few years ago,
of course, dealing with some uh in the midst of
dealing with some injuries where his back had the back issues.
And of course the temperature can drop quickly there. He
can get cold, his body can get tight. So um,
presuming he is healthy, presuming that he is not somehow
(35:38):
impact and look at you know, he's still forty four
years old. He's gonna have days where he wakes up
and doesn't feel great. Yeah, it happened to the President's Cup.
Remember he didn't play on Saturday because he said his
body just couldn't go. Yeah, so that's going to happen,
you know, whether that happened to Torrey Pines, will see.
If it doesn't, then there's no reason to expect that
he would not be in contention at a place he
knows extremely well has had a ton a ton of
(36:01):
success at so all eyes will be on Tiger, Rory
McIlroy of course in the field. You mentioned this week's field,
American Express were filled as the host of the event.
You know, the field next week is loaded. It's You've
got Rory McIlroy in the fielder, you've got Tiger and
a number of other top players. Taylor Made of course
in front of the program, big presence there and um, yeah,
(36:24):
it'll be that. That sort of to me always feels
like the first kind of big boy event of the
year because you've got Tory Pines, you've got Tiger, you've
got a number of other big names in the field.
Sort of feels to me like the first really big
golf tournament of the year. Yeah. Speaking of Taylor Made,
(36:45):
they have got their new equipment, the SIM out and
I just saw this morning. It's the number one choice
of the thirty three players that are not under driver
contract in Abu Dhabi, more have chosen the SIM driver
this week than any other model. So the brand new
Taylor Made driver that you will see in Roy McElroy's
(37:05):
bag next week at Tory Pines. I do believe Tiger
will be playing the SIM as well. If you've noticed
Dustin Johnson also using the SIM, but for the first
time at in Hawaii, Dustin was using a rescue club
that was part of the sim makeup from the new
Tailor Made lines and new stuff coming from Taylor Made.
But speaking of of Tiger, and this is the first
(37:27):
podcast of the year, I'm gonna start off a little
easy on you. Does Tiger get the all time victory
number eighty three this season? Yes? He does. Does he
win multiple times this season? You know, it's so hard
to say, because, um, again, it comes down to health
with him, right we saw, Look, you looked phenomenal at
(37:50):
Augusta and then he had any issue so which impacted
him throughout the course of the season. So it's a
health staying good. Does he win two times this year? Yeah?
I think so. Can you win more than two times?
I mean, it's hard to say, hard to say no
to that, but you know, look, I have no idea
how if but this way, if I knew how many
(38:13):
times Tiger was going to win this season, you'd be
a very rich man alight on the phone to Vegas
right now. But I say, you're comfortable with saying two times. Yes,
I would say that's that's pretty fair. Are you comfortable
with saying one of those two will be a major? Hm?
I mean like predictions are you know? I mean he's
(38:34):
got to be the favorite going into Augusta, all right.
I mean there's absolutely health once again. Once again, every
single thing that we say is health is good. If
the health fails, then obviously things change. He's got to
be the leader going into Augusta, right. Certainly, certainly he'll
be the favorite going into Augusta. I would think even
with guys like Brooks Kepka where mclroy has never one
(38:56):
there and so forth, I think Tiger will be the
betting favorite going in. Then you look at other venues
UM PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco. Yeah,
golf course, he's won it before, but again it's in
it's in May, so who knows what the weather situation
San Francisco, even in the middle of the summer can
(39:18):
the weather can get dicey, So who knows what happens there.
You look at Royal St. George's for the Open Championship.
You know doesn't have a great track record there. I
think you missed the cut memories correct, the last time
the Open was there and the last time you play there.
So where's the US Open? In the US Open at Wingfoot?
So there's a golf course, you know, thick, rough, tree lined,
(39:43):
narrow fairways, sort of a traditional US Open golf course
or what you would expect it to be. Who knows.
I mean, certainly could play well there, but again, dealing
with a tight ballpark a tournament. He certainly one a
number of times, but um, who knows what happens there?
It wouldn't It wouldn't shock me if he went to Major. No,
(40:05):
it wouldn't shock me at all. I think Augusta is
obviously the best chance, and I think I think moving forward,
as Tiger gets older, he can continue to contend at
Augusta because it's not one that is going to rule
him out due to length. He always plays the golf
course well. He knows where to miss the ball out,
he knows how to play those greens. I mean, as
(40:25):
long as he's playing golf and healthy, I have to
add that in, as long as those two are happening,
he's always gonna be in contention or with the ability
to be in contention at Augusta once again. The other
three majors do move and I think as we go
uh in the round through the Open Championship, there are
(40:46):
some courses that fit him better than others. And then
when you add in Harding Park once again, Giant Ballpark,
I believe that favors guys who drive the ball a
little further than he does. But that's not to say
that he can't contend there. He can. Um he's just
gonna to drive the ball straight and he's going to
have to hit his long irons better than anybody else.
But I think a two win season, especially if there's
(41:07):
a major involved, is another massively successful year. It puts
us at sixteen where at fifteen now, it puts us
at sixteen majors. It gives him eighty four victories. That's
a remarkably successful year considering where we were two years ago.
And it brings you know, it brings eighteen into play.
(41:28):
Absolutely if he gets the sixteen this year, it absolutely
brings eighteen into play. And you know Open Championship will
be at St. Andrews, so again a golf course that
he's one at Befour suits his game well, you know,
so that would open the door that much brings him
that much closer to eighteen opens the door to you know,
(41:50):
this could really happen because I think you bring up
a valid point about Augusta. That's the place he should
compete well, at least for the next few years. I
don't know how much deeper he can go beyond that
because he's forty four at this point, but you would
certainly I think this year and maybe two more years
has a very realistic shot of winning there again if
(42:12):
he's healthy. And then you look at some of the
venues for the Open Championship, a place where you know,
we've seen guys in their forties when there before, so
that can definitely happen. So who knows. It's uh, it's
exciting to see. I mean last year is incredible. I
don't know how you could top that, but he's certainly
(42:32):
proven that he's one of the best players in the world. Yeah,
I mean, this year looks like it's going to be
a lot of fun. It looks like Brooks is kind
of picking up where he left off. I know, the
knee surgeries, and people were wondering if there would be
some rusts there from what we've seen in the first
round at Abu Dhabi. Not sure what you know Rounds two, three,
and four will hold, but what we've seen coming out
of the box, he looks very sharp. So we've got
(42:53):
a fun year with Brooks ahead. I think Rory McElroy
is going to have a great year as well. And
then you've got guys heating up like just and Thomas
had won three of his last six starts. There are
so many good players. We are really set up for
a great year in on the tour. We are, I mean,
we welcome to new decade and there's there were two
(43:16):
weeks in and we've already had a month's worth of
stories and it should be it should be another good year. Yeah,
we got next week once again this week during California
at the Amex. We will see them next week at
Tory Pines. And then, if my memory serves me cracked,
I know that you've come up with the bet and
I know maybe you didn't invent this name, however, it
(43:36):
really truly is the best name ever. After we have
the farmers at Torrey Pines will move on to Scottsdale
and the Wasted Management Hope and coming up, which is
always a fun tournament to watch. I know, generally not
the strongest field. We don't get some of the strongest
players there, but still a fun tournament to watch. After
that the Pebble Beach Pro Am, and then we will
(43:58):
see Tiger what what I'm guessing we'll be back to
back weeks at the Genesis at Riviera and then the
World Golf Championship in Mexico as we then start the
Florida swing. After that, we will be back after Tory Pines.
We will talk to you. Who knows, we could be
talking about win number eighty three, which I mean would
really just ramp things up totally as we head uh
(44:20):
and prepare you know how it is when Tiger wins
once before the Masters. That has been a good open
for him going into the Masters. So a fun season
on the way, So much to report, so much going on.
We will be back. We will talk to you once
again after the Farmer's Insurance Open Tory Pines in San Diego. Whacker,
thanks so much, Glad you made it back from your
(44:41):
a jaunt to Hawaii and looking forward to another fun season.
Let's do it
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