Colt Knost

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's the Son of a Butch podcast. We come to
you every Wednesday. This week's guest cult nost You've been
seeing him on CBS. He's got his podcast subpar and
he's someone I've known for a long time, one of
the good guys on on the PGA Tour. I think
one of the reasons why he's become so successful and
become a fan favorite and has people that hate on

(00:28):
him on social media's because Colt is cult. If you
like him, that's okay. If you don't like him, he
doesn't care either. He's going to be who he is.
But someone who I really respect, not only as a broadcaster,
but Colt was a hell of a player. Didn't have
the big wins on the PGA Tour, obviously that I
think he would have wanted, but an unbelievable amateur career,

(00:51):
and you know, certainly someone that I think is going
to be around in the game of golf on the
airwaves at CBS for a very very long time time.
When I decided to do the podcast, he was somebody
that I always wanted to get on and we talked
about it at the US Open out in LA I said, hey,
will you come on we we are are stars aligned
and our dates aligned. So I'm really excited. I think

(01:14):
it's a great one. Lots of good things to say.
Cult Ghost Enjoy Colts joins the Son of a Books podcast.
I've never been on your podcast subpar so I wanted
to get you on mine first. Cult. With all the craziness,
we just craziness in golf. We just had the third major.

(01:37):
I figured who best to make sense of all this
craziness than you.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, first off, it was great to catch up with
you out at the US Open. Got to spend some
time with you and Dustin and AJ and Wink and
I miss you guys obviously. I know you start working
with some of the tour guys, but it's just not
the same. I always are some of my favorite people
to catch up with when we're on the range out there.
That was a blast out in LA.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
You mentioned Dustin Johnson. I went through. He was on
your Walker Cup team in two thousand and seven. You
guys won against Roy McElroy, Danny Willett, Royal County down
one of the iconic I'm just gonna go through the
list of the names on your Walker Cup team, Ricky
Fowler Billy Horschel, Dustin Johnson, Chris Kirk, Trip Keney, Jamie Lovemark,

(02:24):
Jonathan Moore, Websins, and Kyle Stanley. That was a stacked,
stacked Walker Cup team.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, that was so much fun. You know, we had
won over there and quite some time, so heading over there,
I had never been over there and played golf, was
looking forward to it. And you know, to put on
the red, white and blue. I don't care what level
you're at, it's something really special. And you know, to
play alternate shot with your guy Dustin Johnson. Both days.
We had so much fun out there. Man, he is

(02:52):
one of the biggest characters. I'll tell you a quick
story about your guy, Dustin. The first team on Saturday,
the first matchup, we're playing Roy mcelroana kid Jonathan Caldwell
from Northern Ireland, Royal County down. Obviously Rory's the man
over there, and all the galleries following our our group
and you know, they announced the matchup and Dustin. We

(03:12):
decided Dustin's gonna hit off the odds and they say
now representing Team USA. Dustin washed Johnson. He hit it
before they finished saying his name, and I just started laughing,
I go, what was that? He goes, bro, I'm so nervous.
I had to get that over with. He hit it
four hundred yards off the first team. It was up
that I'll never forget, I laugh, go down the fairway
the entire time.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Obviously, Colt. A lot of those players went on to
do some amazing things, win major championships. Jamie Lovemark was
supposed to be the next big superstar. But back then,
I mean, you you were coming, You were part of
that crew. You won the publics that summer, you won
the US AM so you guys a lot of fanfare.

(03:52):
Everybody knew that that was a pretty stacked, stacked group.
Who did you think out of your crew on that team,
who did you think going to be the superstar?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Back then? I think we all agreed and it was
it was Dustin. I mean not to continue just talking
about him, but you could just see the natural, raw talent, right,
I mean, he hit it nine miles, He had no fear.
I mean, once he figured out how to dial in
the wedge game, he had all the tools to be
a monster at the next level. And yeah, it was
it was him. I mean, Buddy Marouchi and I Remember

(04:23):
we were sitting down one day just talking about it, like,
when this kid figures it out, he's going to be
a problem in professional golf. And he sure was there
still is.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Rory McRoy was part of that crew back then. What
was Rory like as an amateur? I mean how old?
I mean Rory was young then.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
He was eighteen. Yeah, coming off that awesome finish at Carnoustie.
I think in the Open Championship he was with Some
pictures came out last week at the US Open of
him and Ricky was he was a chubby Rory. Things
have changed quite a bit. The oh yeah, I had
some terrible curly hair, which I like to give him
a hard time about. But he was still he's He's

(04:59):
just like Rory is now nice. You could see had
so much talent. Playing against him in that first match
was a lot of fun. I mean, Dustin was just
shipping it by him because he ted off on the
odds as well. But you could see he had all
the game. Now, did I think he was gonna do
what he's done in the game of golf. No, So
that was a little bit of surprise. But it's going
to look back and see that you know, I've known

(05:19):
these guys since two thousand and seven.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
What do you think separates You know, there have been
a lot of people that have played on Walker Cups, Colt,
I mean you were part of that crew. I mean,
what do you think separates the guys that come from
that and then go on to do really, really great things.
Is there a common theme? I mean, obviously Rory won
a major, Danny Willett won a major, DJ Web Simpson,
They've all won majors. What do you think is a

(05:43):
common denominator that all of you guys had that helped
you get to that next level? Because I think so
many people listen to this that are trying to play,
Like they listened to your pod as well, They're trying
to play. They're trying to get to that next level.
And you know, professional golf is littered with super I mean,
a great one I saw last week who I see
every now and again, Rugiyamada. Trevor Immelman, who you work

(06:05):
with at CBS, always says Rugiyamada when they were juniors,
was Lebron James. He was just an absolute superstar. I
mean so much talent, won everything. He didn't translate into
a superstar career. Is there anything that you've seen that
it's been a common theme of all these players that

(06:27):
have made it and gotten to the show.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, like all of them have great physical talent. It's
just whether or not they believe in it. And guys
like Dustin, guys like Rory, I mean, they have that
self belief they have. I mean it's it's cockiness, let's
be honest, and it's not. They don't express it outwardly,
but inside they know they're the best. They belong and
professional golf is just a different level for me. When
I finally got out there, it's like, oh my god,

(06:52):
there's Phil Micholson, There's Tiger Woods, you know, there's these
great Davis Love the Third. I'm like, holy shit, I've
actually I've made it. This is incredible, and it's it
kind of it takes you. Not everybody gets comfortable immediately immediately,
like a Dustin Johnson, a Justin Thomas at Jordan' speeth,
it takes a while. Like Matt Coocher is in a
great example. He's had an unbelievable career, but it took
him a long time to get out there on the

(07:13):
PGA Tour and finally get it done. So I think
the self belief is such a huge thing because we
don't I don't think we realize how lucky we are
to see a guy like Dustin Johnson, Roy McRoy, Jordan
Spied come right out of college and just have a
major impact on the PGA Tour. There's not many of
those because it's there's some learning curves involved.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
You talk about confidence and cockiness. Wyndam Clark, who I
know you're boys with. He lives in Scottsdale. I think
one of the best things about Wyndham is he has
always thought he belonged he was. He always has thought
that this is right where he should be. Nobody is
less surprised that he won a major championship than Wyndam Clark.

(07:56):
The confidence and I think that is a is a huge,
huge part of what makes him a great player.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, I mean his his sports, like I mean, that's
what she was preaching to him all week was you know,
play cocky. You know the crowd's not on your side.
With the guys like Dustin. He was in the final
group with Ricky Fowler and then the next to last
groups Rory Macroy and Scotti Scheffler. I mean, Wyndam was
hardly talked about heading into the end of the weekend
out there. Here's a guy had one PGA Tour event

(08:23):
and that just recently happened. But Wyndham was a guy
who was really hard on himself throughout his career, and
he expected so much of himself, like you said, And
Juliaelion has done some awesome work with him to get
him to calm down, relax his caddy John Ellis. But
he's one of those guys. You know, everyone on the
PGA Tour, everyone in professional golf can hit it. You
walk up down the range, you're like, good, good, good.

(08:44):
Wyndham's got a little different sound to it. I mean,
one hundred and ninety mile an hour ball speech, so
different everything. Yeah, and that's that's that's special. There's only
a handful of guys, I would say, for you and
I when we walk up and down the range with
out there every week, that you're like, Okay, that's that's
different right there.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Why do you think it took him a little longer
than he probably thought it would take.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
He was one of those guys, like you said, he
believed in himself, but he also if one thing went bad,
it was game over. He would absolutely lose it. And
I mean it took basically what his team calls it,
a little bit of an intervention. They sat him down, like,
all right, if you want to continue, if you want
to be as good as you can, then we got
to change some things. And they did, and he's become

(09:26):
his own best friend. Now. His caddie, John Allis, does
an awesome job. I love. I hate having to lay
out when the players and caddies talk because that takes
away from my time talking. But when John Allis gets
in there, it's really good.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
What do you think having a play a guy on
your bag, because obviously you played, does it help to
have someone on your bag that has played in major championships,
that is played on tour that was a good, good,
good good player. Do you think that helps? Because obviously
there's two ends of the spectrum. There's a lot of
caddies that are great caddies that weren't superstar players. But
what do you think having someone that is in there

(10:00):
before down the streets. I mean, I think that's one
of the reasons why my dad has been so successful
with players, because players know he played the PGA Tour.
He kept his card. He won even though it was
a one day event back when the PGA Tour had
one day's event, but she won one. He qualified for
US Opens. He played him. What does that bring as
a player when you have someone like that on the bag.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
It's it's hard. I think it's so different for everyone, right,
Like I just I think people need somebody that makes
them comfortable in these really stressful moments. And once again,
I'm gonna go use Dustin a lot as an example
because he's a freak. But Austin Johnson, he's never teaed
it up on PGA Tour, but he keeps Dustin so relaxed,
so calm. He knows exactly what Dustin's thinking at all times.
He knows what he needs to say. Now, John ellis

(10:45):
great player, never made it. He's probably one of the
best players I've ever seen that never made it out
on the PGA Tour. So yeah, there's not many major
championship that are caddies now, so it's hard for them
to be like, oh, hey, when I did this, But yeah,
I think it helps to know, like, Okay, my guy
when he gets nervous, like all of us, we get
going a lot faster. We get walking a lot faster.

(11:06):
I thought one of the best things I've heard from
a caddy was Joe s govern when he was with
Ricky Fowler. Ricky used to get to walking really really
fast when coming down the stretch, and they had a
rule that Ricky was never allowed to walk in front
of Joe. That was Joe's way of slowing him down.
And I was like, that's some of the best advice
I've heard from a caddy. Just a little trigger to say, Okay, hey,
you're going a little quick. You know the rule you

(11:27):
can't cross in front of this bag rid here.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
My dad, it it's funny that you mentioned that back
in the day. I remember Tiger when he first came
out on tour. He was leading a tournament. I think
it was one of the bigger tournaments that he had
a chance to win, and my dad, Butch, he said, hey,
do everything from the time you wake up today, do
everything slower. Get dressed slower, so give yourself more time.
Eat your breakfast slower, warm up slower, walk slower, because

(11:54):
you're going to want to get to the first team.
You're gonna want to get down there and get everything going,
and I think that is fantastic. But Colt, how what
does it feel like? I mean, I've never played, you played,
What does it feel like when you're Because I know
what it's like when I'm watching you know, the guys
I'm lucky enough to work with. You know, Brooks just
won a major championship. I know what it's like for

(12:14):
me when I'm watching that, and I'm nervous. And I
have no idea how people like yourself and everybody else
that has played professional. I don't know how you guys
do it.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
It is.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
It is fascinating to me how you somehow are able
to get your brain to let your body do what
it's doing. But when you are in that situation, Colton,
you've won tournaments before, you won, you know, one of
the biggest amateur tournaments, you've won on the nationwide. When
you're in that pressure situation, what does it feel like?

Speaker 2 (12:43):
It feels like you're about to puke at all times?
It is, It's it's awesome, slash awful. Like you hate
the feeling because I mean, you know, it's no fun
to puke. But at the same time, you know, this
is what I worked my entire life for is to
get in this moment and have a chance to win.
But you're a one hundred percent right, everything gets going
so fast, Like I mean, if you're a guy that
warms up for forty five minutes, you go through your

(13:05):
warm up and you look, you're like, okay, stuff. Thirty left,
I thought I was almost done. Like it is. Just
it's so hard to because even though it is Sunday
and every stroke counts the same throughout the whole week,
it doesn't feel like Thursday. I mean, it takes that
morning leading up to when you're in contention takes so long.
Like for those guys on Saturday that teed off after
three point thirty in the afternoon at the US Open,

(13:26):
like I would have lost my mind. I would have
been up at seven because I couldn't sleep because I
was so nervous, breakfast, try to go back to sleep,
maybe watch some coverage. It would have felt like an eternity.
So you know, there's some guys that are really good
at it, and that's that's why the best in the world.
It's incredible for me to watch them coming down the
stretch at tournaments and how they control they're adrenaline because

(13:47):
the ball goes so far when you're when you're amped up,
and to come come there and you're, you know, seventeen
at Sawgrass and I know it's a short shot, but
your heart's beating a million miles an hour and you've
got to hit it on this little target and you
know the history. I want to be one of those
guys that makes this massive number or hits it in
the water on Sunday and loses the championship. It takes.
That's why these guys are so great. I use Justin

(14:08):
Thomas as you know, it's a shot that never gets
talked about. But if you go back to the PGA
Championship at Tulsa the year before last, they go to
the playoff, first hole is a part five. He was
forced to lay up. He had seventy two yards off
a downslope to a rock hard green and he just
took this long, beautiful slow swing, controlled it in there,
put some zip on it, and hit it's like six
feet And I was like, that was very impressive, and

(14:30):
people don't realize how good that was because he could
easily just gas that one over the bunker and probably
been tournament over.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
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(14:56):
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(15:17):
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(15:40):
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(16:02):
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(16:44):
can help you with your game. Have you been surprised
in your new role as on course for CBS, which
I think you're doing a great job. One of the
things I think you're doing a great job with Cold
is because you're part of this modern generation, and you're
part of this new generation. I think you and Trevor
and Amanda, you guys, there's some new blood in television now.

(17:07):
And one of the things I like if if Roy
mcroy's come down stretch and he's on seventeen and he's
got one hundred and eighty five yards and he pulls
out a six iron, which everybody is thinking on TV,
You're gonna think there's gotta be something wrong. You expect
him from that distance because of the adrenaline, because of
how far he's hitting it. You expect him I mean,

(17:29):
nine iron, and it wouldn't surprise you from that at
that time of the tournament if he tried to nuke
a wedge from one eighty five either.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, it's it's hilarious when my man Parker gives me
the signal of what club it is sometimes and I
just start laughing. I'm like, these guys, they hit it
so far. But it first off, walking with these guys
weekend and week out made me realize I definitely made
the right decision to quit, because you know, I'm not
walking with the grinders out there that are grinding to
make the cut every week. I'm walking with the best

(17:57):
in the world and the guys that are on their
game every weekend, and they're just so good. I mean,
it's so hard to explain. I mean, they make it
look like a video game out there. They hit it
nine miles, they hit their irons to the moon and
get them to land so soft, and then they get
it up and down from I mean, like what Wyndam
Clark getting up and down on eleven like he did,
Like that was just insane, even the one I'm crazy,

(18:17):
the one on seventeen was pretty straightforward, but in the circumstances,
that was unbelievable. And then they make everything they need to.
So it's uh man, I feel so lucky just to
be out there still walking with the guys. And like
you said, I have a great relationship with ninety nine
percent of the guys in professional golf, and so you know,
they let me in. We have a lot of fun
out there still and it's just I'm so lucky to

(18:40):
still get to be out there every week.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
You're year two into your role on course, with everything
that you've seen over almost the last year and a half,
if you could take what you've learned and then go
back to your professional career and start with the information
that you've seen from the best of the best under
the gone in the last year and a half, do

(19:02):
you think it would change the way you play golf?

Speaker 2 (19:06):
You know, I it's a good question, like would I
go back and get in the gym and do all
the speed training and try to hit it a lot farther? Probably,
I don't know. That's just not me. Like I hit
it extremely straight, but I was extremely short, and those
guys just really there's no place for them a professional
golf anymore. There's very few that still make it. So No,
and honestly, I don't want to. I think this is

(19:27):
what I was meant to do. I've never been happier,
I've never been less stressed, and people, for the most part,
there are obviously a lot of haters out there. I'm
not for everyone, but for the most part, people seem
to enjoy listening to me.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
What's been the hard what's been surprising to you because
I've done TV. They put me on course twice when
I did TV for Sky, and I was terrible at it.
I did some commentary for Sky last week. By the
weekend I felt like I was getting better. But one
of the things I always would surprises me whenever you

(20:01):
do TV is when you're watching and the abuse that
you get is everybody says, shut up, quit talking, you're
talking too much. But when you're actually doing TV, it's
amazing how little time you really have to say anything.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Oh it's unbelievable. I was, especially as an encourse guy,
because I mean they throw it down there. You get
to give information and then boom, it's onto the next shot.
But at the same time they're like, oh, tell us
a story. I'm like, well, I can't tell a story
in five six seconds, but yeah you. And one thing
I have noticed is a lot more people chime in
on social media. Some good, but you do recognize the positive.

(20:38):
There are a lot of people out there that shut up,
I'm the worst thing they've ever heard on TV. That's fine,
that's their opinion. Hit the mute button. But you mentioned like,
you don't realize how fast it goes. I did the
serious XM coverage at the US Open, and I was
the lead analyst, and I got serious. I mean it's radio,
so you get to talk just NonStop. It was fantastic.
I had so much fun. Yeah, I didn't want to

(20:59):
shut up. I was like this, this is great. We
can talk over the shot. Just keep on rolling.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
It's been We're three majors in now. John Rahm wins
the Masters, Brooks wins the PGA. Now Wyndam Clark wins
the US Open. Which one of those wins have been
the most impressive to you.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
I mean they're all three extremely impressive. Obviously Windham it's
a life changer, John Ron Brooks Koepka. They're meant to
win majors. John's was impressive at the Masters because of
the wave he was in. He had to play in
those terrible conditions that one morning, and to go out
there and do it, I mean when everyone else was
just falling apart. And then Brooks, I mean, you know, eventually,

(21:44):
I'm sure we're gonna get into this whole lift thing.
Which that's what kind of what I get it. It
is what it is. I said, going into Augusta and
No one listens to me or anything about that, and
they don't have to. That's fine. But when Brooks won
in Orlando, I said, the healthy Brooks Koepka is a
problem in major championships. He is just, you know, talking
to other guys, talking to some of the best in

(22:06):
the world. They are blown away by what Brooks does
in major championships. It is truly unbelievable. And what I
saw in Orlando, it looked like the knee was great.
Everything I mean, obviously, I know everyone on his team
sounded like everything was great. I said, I would not
surprise me one bit if he's a factor. At Augusta.
He was obviously a huge factor. Finished a second, and

(22:27):
then he goes to the PGA and I got to
walk with him on Saturday, him and Bryson, and he
just put on a clinic and he just ran away
from that field. And I don't know, you know way
more about it than I do, but I and I
don't think he'll ever share the secret. I know he
broke down that one time about why he thinks major
championships are easier to win, But it's just so impressive
that he puts himself up there every single time, and

(22:49):
then of course I go out and I pick him
at La Country Club and he plays horrible for him
and finished the seventeenth. So I'll take that one.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
At one time, you both shared the same agent, Blake Smith,
who's also Scotti Shuffler's agent. When you look at Brooks,
I mean, you know him well, You've spent a lot
of time around him. You obviously we know the mental
strength in the that that extra thing that he has.
But when you look at Brooks's game, what do you
like about it? And what do you what what impresses

(23:17):
you and what you've known him for a long time,
and what have you seen over the course of the
last ten years about how his game has evolved.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Nothing bothers him like I mean, he wants the biggest
moment possible. He wants all the lights to be on him,
and I just love how he just gets up there
and he just sends it. He does not hold back
one bit. Him and Ricky Elliott, they are two of them.
I mean they make decisions faster than anybody in the game,
which which I love. And also he has no weaknesses
and you can see it in his eyes. I mean,

(23:46):
he is a man on the on a mission. He's
a he's an athlete. Like I said, he loves the
stage and he goes out there and he performs. I mean,
I know it bothered him a lot what happened at
Augusta on Sunday, How he let that one get away
and he said it will never happen again. And it
only took a few weeks for him to prove that statement, right.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
I think one of the things, and you've seen it
up close, I think one of the things that just
changed a lot about Brooks's I don't think he gets
nearly enough credit for how good he is. From one
hundred and fifty and in he can really hit. I mean, obviously,
to me, Justin Thomas is the best in the game,
and it isn't even close with regards to wet shots,
off speed, web shots, controlling trajectory, controlling the spin. But

(24:27):
Brooks is sneaky good in the ability to flight and
hit that kind of no spin one bouncer that just
kind of stays in the area that he needs to stay.
I think that's a part of his game that has
gotten better. And then I think he's very underrated the
work that he's done with Pete Cowen Brooks short game
is pretty legit as well.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
It really is. And I mean, if you look at
his major championship record again, I believe going into last
week he was he had eighteen top tens and thirty
six majors. Five of those are wins, obviously, but how
many of those were he actually healthy? I mean there's
sick seven eight of those where he was he was
not one hundred percent Brooks Koepka, So you can kind
of throw those out the window. And so when you
break it down, you're looking at that around sixty five percent.

(25:08):
He puts himself in attention at major championships, and then
there was the ones early in his career where he
definitely didn't have the skill that he does now. So
you got to give him credit about his major championship record.
It is. It is truly something special. And when other
players text you and you're and tell you how amazing,
how amazed they are of how good he is during
those championships, it's something truly special.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
You live in Scottsdale, John Rahm lives out there. You
can make an argument cold I wonder how John rom
doesn't win every week. I mean, that is how good
he is. I've had his coach, Dave Phillips from the
Titleist Performance Institute on the pod in the past. We've
talked about it. He is so good. I'm sure you

(25:52):
probably see him a lot in Scottsdale and play and stuff.
He doesn't have any weaknesses in my opinion. So what
wrests you about him as a player From a technique
and ball striking standpoint.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
It just looks like the same shot every single time.
Like with the driver, he sets up down the left,
hits that just hard fade. He's really good at changing trajectories,
which I don't think everyone is. And then his iron game,
I mean the ball just barely curves. If anything. He
just throws darts at all times. But he's another guy
like Brooks. He's got that killer instinct. It doesn't matter
if your Sunday have a major championship or Tuesday at

(26:27):
Whisper Rock or Silver Leaf and he's playing for fifty bucks,
he wants to absolutely kill you. Oh.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Pat Perez says he throws more clubs at home when
he hits a bad shot. Pat says he has to.
When they play at silver Leaf, he says, if they're
playing for money at least three times around. He's got
to go into the middle of the desert and go
get his driver, Go get an iron, go get the putter,
because he just flings it because he gets so mad
at home.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
It is hilarious. It's great. And when we play now
he has to give me two a side and so
when I par my stroke, call and let him know
that that's four for three. That really gets the Spaniard
fired up.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Wyndham Clark A. I mean it was a dominant, impressive
performance as you mentioned Scotty Scheffler, Ricky Rory. How how
good can he be?

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Colt?

Speaker 1 (27:13):
And is he now somebody that we are going to
start seeing in major championships for the next five years
like we see you know, Scotty and DJ and Cam
Smith and all these other great players. Is Wyndham now
do you think he's going to be that guy?

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Now? It'll be interesting to see how good he can get.
You know, when he was in contention at Quail Hollow
earlier this year, I said on CBS, I said, you know,
in my opinion, this guy's underachieved in his career. He
was ranked eightieth in the world, hadn't won yet. Like
I just I see all the tools, and I think
he's a top twenty player in the world. And of
course the haters on social media absolutely abused me for

(27:50):
that and said he hadn't done anything to show that.
And I'm just like, listen, I get to see these
guys every single week, and when you play with Wyndham Clark,
you're impressed. That's all I know. So if he ever believe,
if ever realizes how good he is, I think he's
gonna be really good in this game. Now, the Major
Championship happened faster than I thought it would. He's up
to thirteenth in the world. I'm with a lot of

(28:11):
people in this The world rankings are absolutely ridiculous. So
I don't know, I don't know how much I look
into that, but here's a guy. He's gonna be on
the Ryder Cup team this year. You know his confidence
is going to continue to grow. Can he be a
multiple time major champion? Yeah? Could he go the rest
of his career and only win one? Sure? That's how
good everyone out there is. I mean, if you would
have told me at the start of Sergios Garcia's career

(28:32):
he'd have one major championship, what would you have said,
you're out of your mind.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, when he came out, you would have thought he
would have at least three or four.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, it's that's just how hard it is to win.
And I think that's just another tip of the Captain Brooks.
To have five in this era is really special.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Rory McIlroy one shot back. Where are we with Rory?
He hasn't won a major in nine years. I to me,
there's about three or four guys that you can make
an argument for John rom being one of them. Brooks
DJ right now, I think you've got to throw Scotti

(29:12):
Scheffler in that mix. When they're playing at their best,
they're hard to beat. But out of all that crew,
when Rory McElroy plays his best, he to me, he
makes the game look as easy as anyone. It's been
nine years since he's won a major. Do you think

(29:32):
it's affecting him? Do you think he's running into guys
that are playing better than he is. I mean, he's
had legit chances cult in the last three tournaments he's
played in, especially at Memorial, especially at RBC, we're seeing
Rory not get it done in ways where we've seen
him close and expect him to close in the past.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeah, he's the one that baffles me the most. I mean,
like you said, watching him play the game when he
is on, it just doesn't look fair. The way he
drives the golf ball, it is the It's the biggest
weapon in the game of golf in my opinion. You know,
he Cam Smith shot an unbelievable final round at Saint
Andrews last year at the Open. Would Rory go back
and probably say he played a little safe, I would

(30:16):
have to say he would, But still Cam played a
great round. But that's one he definitely should have won.
You know, last week at the US Open, made nothing
on Sunday. That's kind of the thing we've seen over
the last couple of years as he struggled with the putter.
But to be fair, there was not many putts hold
on Sunday at the US Open in the last few groups.
Those greens got so nasty. But I just think there's
so much pressure on Rory with everything, and even before

(30:39):
all this other stuff happened. I mean, he's one of
the most popular players in the game. We expect so
much from him. He won four major championships so quickly.
Now he hasn't won one in his last thirty three attempts.
But he's just that guy. Every single time a major
comes around, it's like, is this gonna be the week?
Is this gonna be the week? He went to the
Masters this year early, got a lot of work in

(30:59):
fell he was ready, went out and missed the cut,
and I know it took a lot out of him.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
But there isn't a cult. There isn't a golf course
on this planet that is designed better for Rory McElroy
than Augusta National it is. I mean, if you could
draw up a golf course to suit every element of
his game, his ability to turn the golf ball from
right to left, his ability, I mean, he can hit
it as high probably. I mean, the only person that

(31:25):
I've seen hit it that high with mid to long
irons was Tiger in the day. Rory can hit a
four iron that looks like a like a sixty degree lobwtch.
It just goes straight up and lands straight down. Augusta
to me, is the perfect place for him to win
every single year because of the way his game is.

(31:48):
Why do you think, I mean, it's been funny for
me to watch this kind of war rivalry back and
forth between him and Greg Norman, because if you look
get Greg and Rory's careers, believe it or not, they're
very very similar. Number One, they are the dominant players
of their era. They dominate by the driver. Everyone thinks

(32:14):
they are underachieving relative to the talent they've got. You know,
Rory's won four Majors. Everybody thinks he should have won ten.
Greg's won two, everybody thinks he should have won more.
They've kind of they've.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Won all over the world.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
They both have the same type of private jet. I mean,
it's been interesting. They both haven't been able to get
it done at Augusta Nashville, which again Greg's game in
his prime. You couldn't find a better golf course for
Greg Norman. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
For Rory, obviously, he had the league going into the
second nine there, you know, six seven, eight years ago,
and he had the disaster when he Snapp pooped it
on ten and it went into the cabins over there,
and that obviously I think left some scar tissue. But
starting to look at Augusta National more and more with Rory, Yeah,
off the team absolutely per long. Part three's no problem.
But you know, being out there. When he drives it good,

(33:06):
he has so many short irons, and that is the
one weakness in his game in my opinion, when things
get a little off, is he hits some really poor
short irons and wedges, and in Augusta National the sections
you have to hit it into are so small, and
so when he misses, he leaves himself in a really
bad spot. That's the only thing I can think of
of why he struggles there, because for the last decade
I've always been like, Okay, I don't understand how he

(33:27):
doesn't win here every single time as well. But when
I started breaking it down a little more, I'm like, okay,
that kind of makes sense if you missed the Bowl
here on seven or seventeen, like you can get in
a spot where you're in a lot of trouble. But
I just don't understand how when his career is over
he doesn't have at least one green jacket.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
I mean, you would think of and are there are
players cold as you know? I mean now that you're
working at you know, you work at Augusta National. I mean,
it's such a privilege to be a part of that broadcast.
There are players that everybody knows will be unbelievable Masters
champions right, And I think Rory McElroy to me, out

(34:09):
of everybody in the game, for him to dawn a
green jacket, he would be an amazing ambassador for that tournament.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Oh one hundred percent. I think he's gonna get it
done at some point. But at the end of the day,
it is it is so tough to win out there.
I think he puts so much pressure on himself going
into that week. Obviously he needs it for the career
Grand Slam. He needs it to shut everybody up about
him not being able to finish it off there. You know,
he the year before last one, Scotty Cheffler won. He

(34:40):
had the amazing final round hold the bunker shot in eighteen.
It finished second, but he was never really close. I
mean he was that bucker shot got him within four
or five. He needed to have Scotty have a disaster
coming in. But yeah, I'm with you, I would be
shocked if he doesn't get one before his career is over.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Do we see him? I mean, I can't see a
way that he He's not in the mix going to
Hoylake for the Open Championship, the last major of this year.
What do you like about the Open Championship? What do
you like about Links golf? What don't you like about
Links golf?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Well, the only thing I didn't like about Links golf
is when you got on the wrong side of the wave,
because you know, it's just it's an awesome thing about
that tournament how everyone tees off number one, but there
are just some years where if you teed off in
a certain way, you had no chance of winning. That's
the only thing that is bad about it. Other than that,
the Open Championship might be the greatest tournament in golf.
I mean, those fans over there, they get it. You

(35:35):
get to play on some of the most historic golf courses.
The scene coming up eighteen is the best in golf.
You know, that massive horseshoe grand stand, the big yellow scoreboard.
When it's twenty nineteen, when Shane Lowry won, I mean,
was there a better scene in the game of golf?
Him coming through the crowd, knowing it was over in
his home country, arms in the air. That was just cool. Man.

(35:58):
I get goosebumps just thinking about Shane going through there
and then just absolutely putting the Cleric jet through torture
for two years.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
I like that you've got a fan, You're you're part
of the CBS broadcast team. One of my close close friends,
one of my boys, Trevor Emmlman's part of your team.
Now you've got jim Nantz, who just I mean, the
guy is just as a broadcaster, it's you've got to
have goosebumps where the first time you're at AUGUSSA, you're

(36:26):
you've got your headset on and jim Nantz comes through
and you're listening to the broadcast and that whole hello
friends thing. I mean. To work with the crew that
you've got, it's got to be pretty cool for you
because you and and I think the relationship that you
and Amanda now have that kind of cool moment that
you guys had at Waste Management, And I mentioned this,

(36:47):
I think you're part of this new breed of golf.
But you've got so many veterans on your team at CBS.
What's the experience been like for you and and what
have you really really liked about it?

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Well? First off, like this was never a plan of
mine in my life was to be a broadcaster. I
had no idea that this would ever happen. I'll still
never forget. When I got the call from CBS about
doing a couple events, I was like, yeah, I guess,
I mean, I got nothing else to do. I'll give
it a try. And it has been such an awesome experience.
Like you said, Jim Nance, I mean Jim Nantz has

(37:20):
been with cbsins nineteen eighty five. That's the year I
was born. So I've listened to him my entire life.
And now the fact that I work alongside him and
he sends it down and asked me a question. It
seriously is a pinch me moment every single It's not
just Augusta, it's everywhere. The first time he ever did
it was the PGA Championship at Kiowa Island. That was
my first real CBS event, and I was just like,
oh my god, this just happened. It is It's really cool.

(37:43):
But you know the relationship with Amanda. You got to
give our producer Sellers Shy a lot of credit for
that idea to put that set on sixteen at Waste Management,
and then to have Sam Ryder make a hole in one,
It's like, couldn't have drawn it up any better. Trevor.
You know him and I have a great relationship. I
had agree relationship with Nick as well, but you know,
Trevor and I are a little closer in age. We

(38:05):
love talking golf, we love having fun. Frank Nabolo is
my guy. I mean, we just absolutely abuse each other
out there. Fincy one of the best to ever do it.
He's been out there forever. And then you have Dottie
and Mark as well, who have been so great to
me and taught me so many things because I had
no idea what the hell I was doing, and they've
been great mentors to me. But you know, like I

(38:26):
said earlier, I know I'm not for everyone. I'm one
of the youngest to ever do this do this role
in professional golf, and I want to make it fun.
It's a show. It's supposed to be entertaining. What the
guys are doing out there that you're watching. That's the
serious stuff. I think. I know when it's time to
be serious. But at the end of the day, like
I want people to be entertained. I want them to

(38:47):
be like, Okay, what is col gonna say next? I mean,
you look at the most successful shows in sports right now,
there's two, in my opinion, Pat McAfee, who just says
whatever the hell he wants, and he has one of
the biggest shows on the planet. And then NBA on
DNT with Charles, Kenny, Jack and Ernie. I mean, I
don't evenally like the NBA, but I tune in to
listen to that because they are so funny, they're so loose,

(39:09):
and that's what people want to hear, and I'm just
trying to bring more of that to golf.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
It always takes me a little bit when I'm on
TV to try and not sound like I'm trying to
be on TV, because that's really really hard, and I
think it is hard to kind of find your voice,
find your own personality when you're on TV, because, like
you said, we've all watched broadcast television forever, We've all

(39:38):
watched golf forever, and I think you came in. I
think one of the reasons why you've been successful and
why you know some people don't like it is you
kind of take the approach that I think you always
kind of talk about what's happening in golf, like we
would be talking about what somebody's doing on the range,
minus the fact that you can't swear on yeah, you know,

(40:01):
regular TV. But I think one of the things I
like about which you there was this I can't remember
where we were, but I was watching you. I think
we were at Congare a couple of years ago and
you were on course and you were going back and
forth and you were talking to Nick and you asked
Nick a question and he didn't answer it, and live
on air you went, well, okay then, and I thought
it was just perfect. And I thought, of all the people,

(40:24):
you know, I mean, you've got to call him. I mean,
do you call him sir Nick or do you call
him Nick?

Speaker 2 (40:28):
No? Absolutely not. I always called him Nick. I was like,
I'm not calling you, sir. I know that's your My.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Dad said the same thing last he was doing he
did Sky and Nick was doing Sky at Augusta and
my dad said, Man, I'm not calling this guy sir.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
No, no chance, absolutely not no. But like I mean,
like you said, one of the best pieces of advice
I got was from the longtime legendary producer at CBS,
Lance Berrow, and I first got to know him. He
would always come out to Wist brock Ter and Phoenix
Open and want to come in and hang out. And
I would sit with him at lunch occasionally, and you know,
you know how I am. I talk to everyone that

(41:01):
walks in the door, hold court, whatever it is. And
he goes, this is what I want you to be
on TV. He goes, I want the WISP person sitting
at the lunch table at Whisp Brock to be that
on CBS. And I'm like, I actually think. I was like,
that's hard to do. And then finally I started getting
a lot more comfortable and just realizing, you know what
I'm gonna I'm gonna talk just the way I am. Like,
you know, Trevor and I go back and forth. We
take jabs at each other all the time. I always

(41:23):
congratulate him on finishing runner up at the President's Cup.
It's it's just it's it's supposed to be fun. Like
get I wake up every day so excited to go
to work, and I never want to lose that in
a in a in a world today where you have
to be so careful with what you say, because I mean,
you can get canceled at any moment if you offend anyone.
That's the only thing that terrifies me a little bit.
But man, I'm just gonna let it all hang out, like,

(41:46):
I want to enjoy this as long as I can,
and when when I'm all finished with this career, I
hopefully go down as one of the best to ever
do it.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Do you think that we need this in golf, that
we need the broadcast to maybe change a little bit
from what it has been And you mentioned that, you know,
seller show put you and Amanda on the sixteenth hole
at waste Management, I mean all of the stuff happening there.
Do you think that the broadcast needs to change to

(42:19):
bring in new viewers?

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah, I mean we want to get younger, right, you
want to get younger viewers. And I have all kinds
of opinions. I've only done this for a couple of years,
and so I don't know if anybody would listen to me,
but I get it. In a day where everyone wants
they want to see more shots, more shots, more shots,
that's fine, but God's boring, and we need to tell
more about these guys. And even if we just show

(42:43):
brooks Kepka hit a shot, and I've got a great
story about brooks Kepka that takes longer than six seconds,
even if it goes into the next shot, like I
don't understand why I can't continue to say it because
it's relevant at the time, Like, that's not taking away
from Scotti Scheffler hitting seven iron from one to eighty
on the next hole. If he holds it, well, that's
just really bad luck for me that I was talking
over it. But yeah, I think I think the broadcast

(43:03):
does need to change a little bit. I think it
needs to be looser. I think there needs to be
you know, they always say, I mean you you listen
to what the public says. They want more shots, but
they want more information on the guys. That's pretty damn
hard to do. You know. In my role, I'm out
there on the range every day talking with you guys.
I get some great stuff. I know what I can
use and I know what I can't use. And I

(43:23):
think the viewer at home would be fascinated to hear
some of the stuff that those guys share with me.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Yeah. No, I think that one of the things. Uh,
you know, it's it's a fine line because you know,
you're down there, and I always think that those of
us that are not doing TV and there for the
tournaments and stuff, if you are going to say something,
I think those of us as coaches, as caddies, and
you know, I can't speak for Flayers, but I'm guessing

(43:49):
they're the same. If you're going to say something about
a player or about what they're working on, it stuff,
I think it lends more credibility to do it the
way you do it, where you're trying to get information
from the people on the team, You're trying to get
information from the players. You're trying to get the real
time information. Whereas your brandle has always taken more of

(44:10):
the Peter alis mold. He doesn't want to get friendly
with the players, he doesn't want to come to the range.
He doesn't want to It's he he doesn't want to
have his view skewed by other information. How do you
balance that? Because I do think that if you are
going to talk, you need to talk from a position
of strength. You need to talk from a position of knowledge.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
So that's one thing I get asked a lot is like,
how do you balance you know, being a working relationship
and a friendly relationship. And I'm so new from quitting
this game that I mean all these a lot of
these guys are still my best friends in the world.
That's who I hang out with when I'm on the road,
and so I'm very careful of If someone gives me
something and I think it's interesting, I'll ask if I
can use it. There is no doubt about it. And
that's why when I follow Dust and I follow Brooks, like,

(44:57):
I'm texting you and asking you for inner any information,
because I want to know that my information is correct.
I don't want to just go out there and guess
and be like, hey, this is what I think he's
working on. Like why do that when I can text
Claude Harmon and be like, this is what they're working on,
and so let's look for that today. If that makes sense,
I think.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
You need I mean personally, I think you need to
do that. I think if you're gonna if you're gonna
talk about what's going on, you better kind of have
a good idea as to what the guys are trying
to do and what they're wanting to do. What have
you found hard about the role Cole, anything that you've
found hard, because it looks like it's all really really

(45:35):
easy to you.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
You know, Ever since I got to go down on
the ground, it's it's felt pretty easy for the most part,
you know, I still, you know, do all my homework
and everything. But I think the thing you go back
to is, you know, just you never want to cross
that line. You know. I still go out to dinner
with Justin Jordan and those guys when I'm on the road,
and they treat me normal. But at the same time,
I know, I hope they know that they can trust me.

(45:59):
And then I'm now are gonna be like, oh, you
wouldn't believe what he said at dinner last night, and
just throw somebody under the bus, because at the end
of the day, those friendships and relationships are much more
important than me, you know, saying something that I think
will get me some clicks out in the media world.
That's that's my number one thing. But for the most part,
everything's been great. Man. The guys are great, great to me.
I mean, like I said, going to the range at

(46:21):
the US Open, you know, I'm always gonna be out there.
I'm gonna be seen. Whether they want to talk to me,
that's up to them, but I'm not shy to go
up say hi, good luck, and then if a conversation
breaks out, it's great, And I think that just helps
me do my job better, you know, I don't know
if I helped them relax it all or not. But
you know there's times when Ricky on Saturday I'll never forget,
went up and him and his him and his caddie

(46:41):
who I've known forever. We started talking and his caddie,
Ricky Romano, is a member at Mesa Country Club here
in Scottsdale. And I said, you know, I got to
play Mesa Country Club for the first time the other day,
and it just turned into this conversation. Ricky midwarm up,
turned around, He's like, oh, what'd you think all this?
He goes tell me more about it, and I could
see Sam mcnott and just staring at me, like go away,
and I'm like, dude, he started this conversation. I'm just

(47:04):
sitting here. Please don't kill me. But man, yeah, everything's
been so great, Like CBS is like when we're talking
about scheduling everything. I was like, look, guys, I'll work
every week. I really do. I love it that much.
It is so much fun to go out there, and
it's crazy now to get recognized more for this than
when I actually played out there on the PGA tour.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
We couldn't have you on colt without asking your opinion
on all the craziness of the last two weeks, the
supposed merger between the PIF and the PGA Tour and
Live Did you did you see this coming?

Speaker 2 (47:39):
Did you? Did you?

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Did you think it would happen? No?

Speaker 2 (47:43):
I didn't. I mean, I think when that news came
out that morning, I think we all thought it was
a joke, just because there was no talk of it
or anything like this. And hearing everything Jay had to say, Like,
I've been a huge j Monahan fan. He has been
great to me. I thought he did a great job.
And now without everything that happens, obviously he's been very
hypocritical with everything that The stance he took in Canada

(48:05):
last year when he was in the booth with Jim
Nance was obviously extremely aggressive and saying, you know, have
have you ever had to apologize for being on the
PGA Tour and then turning the one eighty and saying
we're gonna merge and we're gonna be you know, supported
by the p IF. It was it was shocking. You know,
there's still so much I think that we have to
learn and figure out what's gonna what's gonna happen. I

(48:26):
know there was a meeting just recently at Travelers where
players came out and obviously there there wasn't as much tension,
but there's still they have no answers, which I think
is the biggest problem. I think this this announcement got rushed.
I don't know if they thought it was gonna get
leaked or what it was, but it was so rushed.
I mean, the fact that no one knew about it
but other than three or four people is really surprising

(48:47):
in today's world. But to come out and just say, hey,
we're merging. We don't really know our plan, but here
we go. I know that Roff lied a lot of
feathers the wrong way. Considering, like you said, I mean, well,
if you like it or not, lives there and lives
got Infinity money, and a lot of the guys turned
down massive contracts that they could have went over there
and made hundreds of millions of dollars. And then now,

(49:09):
if it works the way people were thinking is they
get to come back and see it on the PGA tour.
There's gonna be some pissed off people if that happens,
And I get it, you know, my whole stance the
entire time is I want the best players in the
world playing together as much as possible. You know, I
don't know what the behind the scenes like Phil Mickelson did,
like I mean, obviously he's been very outspoken about it.

(49:30):
Him and I talked at the US Open. I don't
know what their books look like. I don't know any
of that stuff. That's not me. I'm just I'm a
golf fan. I work in golf, I work on the
PGA Tour. I'm a fan, and I just want to
see these guys out there. Like I said earlier, I
missed seeing Dustin and a aj out there. I want
to see these guys battling it out. People give me
a shit all the time about saying how I'm a

(49:51):
PGA Tour shield. Listen, that's the tour I cover. But
I'm also, at the end of the day, a golf fan.
I walked with Brooks and Bryson Saturday at the PGA.
I sold sellers, give it to me, I'll go with them.
And I called it just like I would any other thing.
I called it when they hit great shots, I called
it when they hit bad shots. I made jokes here
and there that I did my job, and I will
always do my job. But if someone asked me my opinion,

(50:14):
I'm also gonna give it. And I just think it
sucks in today's world when you give an opinion and
someone disagrees with it, they think you're the biggest scum
on the on the planet. Like, like you and I
are friends. We don't agree about everything, but we're still friends.
Like what's wrong with that? We disagree on things all
the time, but at the end of the day we
can go share a beer and dinner and still get
along great.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Pre the announcement, did you, I mean, obviously being a
did you watch any of the live stuff? Did you
watch any of the tournaments?

Speaker 2 (50:41):
I've watched. I don't watch every single round, but I
at some point in the week I have tuned in
and watched a part part of it. Listen, there's a
lot of great players out there. Am I the biggest
fan of the format? No? Do? I?

Speaker 1 (50:55):
Okay, So, so, having watched it, are there things that
you like about it and things that you don't like
about lift?

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Well?

Speaker 1 (51:04):
I like the not the political stuff, but yeah, the
actual way that the tournaments in the format and the
way the broadcast looks is there anything that you've gone okay,
I don't mind that, and then there's things you've gone No,
I don't like that.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Now I think it's cool. How I mean they fly
around in the broadcast, they show so many shots, but
at the same time, as a person who doesn't know
what that golf course is, I have no idea what
number eight is. I have no idea what number twelve is.
Like I think it's great, like people want shot shot shots,
but also like, okay, is this a hard shot? Is
it a tough shot? What is this hole? Like? Is
he jammed up here? I have no idea, you know,

(51:38):
the shotgun start that's just not that's not for me.
That's just my opinion. Like I want the leaders teeing
off last coming up eighteen, Like I don't want to
and I don't want to know. Like if I'm finishing
on eighteen and I'm tied with Brooks Koepka and he's
finishing on two, is to a birdie hole? Wait? Is
this whole harder? Like what? There's just so much involved,
Like I want everybody to play this. I know they're

(51:59):
playing at the same time, which is great because you
never have to worry about bad waves. Or anything. But
I just I like the leaders coming up last with
a massive gallery around and everything like that. You know,
the team thing hasn't sold me yet. Maybe one day
it will. Like I'm just, I guess a traditionalist in that,
Like professional golf is an individual sport. That's what makes

(52:20):
it different. Like I use the example of tennis, right,
are the ratings better in the in the finals of
the singles in major championships or the finals of the doubles?
Like just no, no one cares about that part. That's
not what tennis is. The music is what it is.
I don't I don't really care. I listen to music
when I play play golf at home, durerent. Professional golf
it's not normally out there, but it's different. It's it's

(52:43):
been a disruptor, there's no doubt about it. I don't
mind different things, but I don't think I should get
hated on if I say, hey, I don't like watching
the live broadcast, like I would rather watch the PGA
Tour broadcast. I don't want to watch the XFL. I
want to watch the NFL. That's just that's just my
personal opinion.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
You know, I've been saying for a couple you know
of months now you know I'm a big Formula one guy.
I've gotten to know Denny Hemlin because I've helped him
for with his golf. He races NASCAR. If he's got
a chance to win, I'll watch, but if he's not,
I don't watch it. It doesn't mean that I don't
like the sport. It doesn't mean that I don't have
an appreciation for what they do. I got to go

(53:18):
to Homestead, the race in Miami with Denny and hang
out of this bus and hang out in the pits,
and it was unbelievable. And to watch all the things
that he has to do as a race car driver
was amazing to me. But I tend to I mean,
I'm obsessed with Formula One. I have been for years,
even before the Drive to Survive because I lived in
Europe for so much of my life. I watched the qualifying,

(53:41):
I watched the practice. That's my jam. And it doesn't
mean that I don't think that NASCAR is great, and
it's been. I think it's just my opinion cult. But
I think that Jay wanted the fans, in my opinion,
to choose between Live or the PGA Tour and it
seemed to me that he wanted you to choose, and

(54:01):
I kept saying, listen, if you like watching golf, there's
some great golf being played. I mean, honestly call it.
You know, I'm a straight shooter. I saw DJ play
some of the best golf that he's played in a
long time. Last summer. I saw Cam Smith play some
great golf. Peter u Liine and Pete Reid are playing

(54:22):
some great golf. So there is some great golf being played.
And I think one of the positive things is once
everybody got to the Masters and Brooks did what he did,
Phil did what he did, and Patrick reed, I think
there were a lot of people that thought that that
wasn't going to happen. I think a lot of people
thought that those guys were going to show up in

(54:43):
big tournaments now and not be able to play. And
as a player, you and I both know it doesn't
matter where you're winning golf tournaments. If you're winning a
lot of golf tournaments on the mini tours, that means
that you're doing the right things. And I think if
you're winning golf wordless of where you're winning, it means
that you're playing great golf. And that was the thing

(55:05):
that I think upset me the most is I was
seeing these guys work as hard as they've always worked,
and I think the golf. Everybody kept saying the golf
is different, and I was like, the golf isn't any different.
The golf might be different, Yeah, the golf not any different.
You still got to go out there.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
You can only beat who you're teeing it up against,
which you know Brooks Kopka's won twice out there. Dustin Johnson,
I believe he's won twice out there. Now, like you said,
it's it's your opinion. Do you want to watch golf,
then turn it on. It's very simple. If you don't
want to watch it, great, You know those guys, if
they have time to prepare now, I would say if
they did a good job of making their schedule the

(55:44):
way it is so that therefore they can kind of
get some get some starts before the major championships, because
if they didn't start their schedule till you know, middle
of April and the Masters was their first tournament four months,
I don't think, as you know a player, you'd probably
feel a little rusty going in. So they've done a
great job. But as I said at the start of
the show, I thought brooks Koepka when when he won
in Orlando and he looked really healthy, I thought we

(56:06):
were about to see another dominant major performance by brooks Kepka,
and it's it's starting to turn out that way. Well.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
One of the things behind the scene that you know,
because I've been a part of Live since it started,
that's not by choice, it's just all my guys went
to Live. But the tournament in Orlando, they added that
tournament because the players that were going to be playing
in the Masters said hey, can we have another tournament
week before the Masters so we can get some more reps.

(56:34):
So in that respect, I think that that's not something
that a lot of people that are against Live realized.
It has been very very player centric. I remember the
first one in London less than a you know, a
year ago. It finished on Saturday so that they could
get everybody that was playing in the US Open. Everybody

(56:56):
could either leave Saturday night or Sunday and get to
the US and because we were in London. So in
that respect, I think they've done some cool things. Do
you think Colt not Live coming about has made some
positive change. I mean one of the positive changes that
I think coming about is I mean last year, if
you before Live London, if somebody would have told you, hey,

(57:19):
there is going to be a pathway for college golfers
now to immediately get onto the corn ferry. I think
if Live doesn't come around, I don't know if that happens.
And I think that is something that as soon as
it happened, everybody said should have happened ten years ago.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
The two things that come to my mind when I
think about what positive things Live has brought to the game.
Obviously a lot of money for these guys because the
PGA Tour had to step up and be like, okay,
there's another option for guys to go play. If we
don't react and improve, like, we could lose some of
our top guys, which they did lose some, but they
could have lost more. They got a lot more money involved,

(57:57):
which is great. Is it sustainable? Don't? Maybe this is
what this whole PIF thing's about. And the other thing
is what you mentioned PGA two are you. I am
a huge fan of this, you know. I think Lives
one of the things they could have done to make
their tour really strong is to get all the top
college players out and now with this program, how you
can have the number one guy get direct access to
the PGA Tour, the next nine get access out on

(58:20):
the corn Ferry Tour. I mean, look what's just happened
since NC double As The first two winners on the
corn Ferry Tour are PGA Tour Are you guys? And
then fred Byondi who won NC double As individually contended
in his first one. So this is great for these guys.
I love that they can get out there right now
and try to get their feet wet in professional golf.
And hell, I mean, I don't want to butcher the
guy's name that won the first won the BMW just

(58:42):
a couple weeks ago, but then he finished high up
and recently in Wichitall and he's already seventh on that
corn Ferry Tour points list. Like he's gonna play his
way on the PGA Tour most likely.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
So where does this end up in your opinion? I
heard rumors at Scotty Golden Offer. I mean, I know
that Scotty was asking about questions. Scotty said that one
of the reasons he didn't go is because he was
told by Jay and the guys in Ponavidra that there
was no pathway back, and now it seems like there

(59:15):
is going to It sounds like there's going to be
a pathway back. But one of the things that nobody's
talking about is if Live continues, which I think it
probably will for the for twenty four and then might
morph into something different. But if Live continues in the
same way that it's continued fourteen events and then you've

(59:36):
got guys playing in the majors, the players that I've
talked to Colt, there's this big I think it's a
myth that everybody wants to rush back and start playing
every week on the PGA Tour. Some of the players
I've talked to have said, listen, I'd play maybe two
maybe three tournaments max. And there are tournaments that I've

(59:57):
won at, there's tournaments that I like, the course, whatever.
So where do you see all of this playing out?
And is there a way that you could see that
Live in the PGA Tour coexist in the same way
that Live in the DP World and I mean the
PG Tour and DP World, PGA Tour in Asia, all

(01:00:20):
those things. Do you see there's a way to coexist.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
On your first point about not everybody wanting to come back,
you know, I agree with you on that. I'm whether
people believe it or not. I'm still very friendly with
a lot of the guys that play on live. I
talked to him a lot, and I'm not going to
use his name, but I was talking to one last
week at the US Open, and he's like, cold, I
don't want to come back. He goes, I am having
a great life out here. I have four kids at home.
I get to spend a lot more time with them.

(01:00:45):
I was like, dude, I respect that. That is perfectly fine.
Like at least you're owning up to. The problem I
had at the start was when everybody complained about how
they don't want to play this many events. They can
go do this and they can only play at start
I think it was eight Now it's fourteen events. They
get to spend more time, but then all of a sudden,
they're fighting to play more tournaments, and I'm like, Okay,
well which one is it. Do you want to play
a lot of tournaments or do you not want to

(01:01:05):
play a lot of tournaments. So for that guy, like
I totally get it. You know, is there going to
be a pathway back? I don't know. I don't know
what the whole thing, what's gonna come of this. Obviously,
Yaser is gonna have a big say in everything. I mean,
he's the money behind this. The PGA Tour says, you know,
they've agreed that they're going to stay in control. So
there's just so many like I don't understand in my opinion,

(01:01:27):
I don't understand why the guy with all the money
who's putting it up is going to have no say.
But you listen to Jimmy Dunn, you listen to Jay Monahan.
Now take Jay Monahan's word for what it's worth. Right now,
I mean people are like, hey, he's lied once, why
wouldn't he lie again? So I get that. Jimmy Dunn
has been very outspoken. He's the one who's given us
the most information of anyone. And so if things go

(01:01:48):
the way Jimmy says, yes, there will be a pathway
back and one day, you know, I just I want
I want the best in the world to be there.
We got to figure out a lot of things. You
got to figure out the world rankings, because there's there's
as it lived that their ranking has fallen so far
that they're not going to be in the majors and
that sucks. Like Bryson should be in the majors, Patrick
Reed should be in the majors. Obviously Brooks is going
to be in the majors, Dustin is going to be

(01:02:09):
in them. But there's some Taylor goots, Like what happened
to him at the US Open. I disagreed with I
flat out side, Like he qualified. I get it, it was
he qualified through a PGA Tour category, but that was
wrong to take that away from him.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
And then you've got mikes And then you've got Mike
Wand from the USJA coming out in the middle of
that controversy saying I don't care about the quality of
the field. I was just like, dude, what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
How are you running the USGA And you've got the
US SO but it's one of the four majors that
you are actually on record saying you don't care about
the quality of the field. I just couldn't. I just
couldn't believe that comment.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Yeah, sometimes the mouth moves faster than the brain, and
I have a feeling he probably was like oh, I
shouldn't have said that. That's not very good at a
major championship or ever. But my biggest thing is, like
I just it's we got to sit back and just
see what happens because we don't know enough. We're all
just speculating what's gonna happen. You know. I hate the
division in golf. I hate that some people over there
and some other people are over here, Like I want

(01:03:07):
as whether it's twelve events, fourteen events a year, the
best players in the world because for the PGA Tour
just on their side, Like the designated events have gone
so well, they have been so exciting. We've had incredible
leader boards. We've had the random, you know, long shot
coming up and contending against the guys. Nick Taylor I
comes to mind at Phoenix and now he wants to

(01:03:28):
Kitty Bayhill, Great Kitty Yama exactly. I mean, there's some
of these guys and that's why I mean, I disagree
with a lot of the PGA Tours do it. I
love the money, this limited field, no cut thing, I hate,
it's terrible. I like the way things are. I like
the openness of the PGA Tour, being able to qualify
and get in the mix and having a guy that
you've never heard of, or at least the average golf

(01:03:49):
fan has never heard of up there competing with Roy
McElroy jordan' speith on a Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Yeah, it's it's interesting times. Do you does Jay survive?
I mean, if you're on the PGA Tour and you
listen to what Jay said, you listen to probably what
Jay was telling you, what Jay was telling your agent,
what Jay was telling everybody on your team, stay loyal,

(01:04:16):
there's no pathway back. The PGA Tour is the place
to be and then nine to eleven human rights, all
of that. So if you were still playing, would you
be saying I mean, I talked to a player at
the Grove Sunday before we went out to the US
Open who is currently still playing on tour, and he said,

(01:04:38):
I'll never believe anything anyone from Pana Vidra, from the
PGA Tour. J Monahan tells me again, I will never
believe that this is a player that has won tournament.
He has won, he's had a great career, and he said, listen,
it's just going to be hard for me moving forward
to believe them. So where do they go? And how

(01:04:59):
do they try and get the player's confidence back.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Yeah. I think that's the big question is because I
mean everything took a one to eighty with that announcement,
and you know, for the average guy like listen, they
might have gotten a small live off for whatever it is.
Like the big guys are the ones who turned down
all the money and said trust us, stay with us.
You know, if you leave, you can't come back all

(01:05:24):
this and then all of a sudden, boom, it flips. Yeah,
I'd have a hard time trusting that guy, you know. Especially.
Another thing he kept saying throughout this whole time is
it's the player's tour, right, I'm I'm just there to
run it. I go through the players. This is the
player's tour. Well, you just made this decision without talking
to any players. So therefore that puts a lot of
doubt in the leadership. Now can they swim out of it? Yeah?

(01:05:46):
I probably think they can. Honestly, having Jimmy Dunn involved,
which he's so close to a lot of the players,
I think can can help a lot. But they got
a lot of work to do. They have so much
work to do to get these the trust back in
these players. Does he survive? Man, I don't know. I
don't even know how the hell. I don't know if
the players can come together and vote him off. I
don't know how any of that works. I was never
on the pack or any of that, so I'm not

(01:06:08):
sure how that process goes. But I just know they
have a lot of work ahead of them.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Nobody player, caddy, agent, manufacturer, broadcast partner, reporter, nobody knows anything.
Then it comes out the Jays come down with some
health issues. Nobody knows any information about that. When you're
part of Live and you come back to the PGA
Tour ecosystem, all you do is get questions about Live.

(01:06:38):
And after the Masters, when all the guys went back
to the next live event and got back into the
live ecosystem, everybody that didn't go to the Masters, all
the players, all the caddies, everybody was asking us, Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
What was it like?

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Some of the sting and some of the the animosity
in the venom was out. Because now the live guys
are in the same group as the PGA Tour goes,
they don't have a clue what the hell's going on.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Yeah, and I think going back to a gust everybody
was hoping there was gonna be this massive animosity between
the guys, there'd be some scene or something happened. Dude,
that's not how it is. These guys still hang out,
they practice together, they play together, they still talk a lot.
So I think the Masters was a big one to
answer all that. Then the PGA happened and there was
a little bit, But now they're like, Okay, this is
two events we've played. There's been no issues, like, we

(01:07:24):
don't need to talk about it this week. And I
think the US Open is that range was down there
and it was kind of secluded. There was no gallery
members down there or anything, so guys could just sit
down there and mucket up if they wanted, talk about
whatever they wanted, talk about sports like and just show
that like, hey, we're still friends, Like this is no
big deal. He made a choice to go over here
and play golf. I don't hate him for it. He
made a hundred and something million dollars. Good for him.

(01:07:45):
Why wouldn't you take that? But you know what, now
he's here this week, we can hang out like old times.
I mean, Gary Woodland, who's one of my best friends
in the world, played both of his practice rounds with
Brooks and Dustin like, there's there's none of that between
these guys. I just think there's some players that are
very frustrated with the fact that they got told one
thing about going over there, and now it looks like

(01:08:06):
it might go the other way. But we're just gonna
have to sit back and wait and see.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
Lastly, your podcasts, SuPAR with your cohort Drew Stoltz. Have
you been surprised by the popularity and what have you
liked about doing it?

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
I really have. Yeah. I w when golf dot Com
came to us, I don't know how long ago it
was and said would you be interested in doing this,
We're like, yeah, we'll try it and see what happens.
And it's it's gone way different than I thought it would.
You know. Obviously we have a great relationship with so
many of the guys, but just the success of it.
I mean, when I'm going up and down Fairways, people
yelling Birdie juice and who's on the pod next and

(01:08:39):
all this, it's great. It's I love that people are
tuned in and listening to it and I have so
much fun. I mean, I don't know how you feel
about doing it, but it's just for me, Like I
just want these guys to come in and feel like
there's no microphone. It's just three dudes or two dudes
in a great LPGA golfer sitting down and just chopping
it up and having a good time and showing that,
you know what, everyone here is just a human and

(01:09:01):
we can we can have fun, we can talk about
other things. But yes, I'm very surprised of how well
it's gone. But it's been a it's been a blast.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
I mean you've got a studio. I'm doing this from
my kitchen. I mean I've never felt more kind of,
you know, insignificant and inferior to you with your big
studio and all that. I'm doing this all on the fly.
I've got shit propped up here, the cameras are going off.
You don't have any of that problem.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Cold Yeah, I think you're doing just fine. I wouldn't
stress too much about it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
Listen, I appreciate you coming on the pot. If you
ever need me to come on you know subpart I
will do it. But are you coming over for the British.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
I am not so NBC has that, so I'll be
off and I'm actually gonna have two weeks off, which
i haven't felt like I've done it forever, So a
little downtime and then we roll through the playoffs and
then I'm gonna just take a little break. I need,
I need some sleep. I'm having too much fun.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Well, I think you're doing a great job and continued success.

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
Thanks Scott. I really appreciate it. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
So that was cult ghost and listen, you're gonna get
opinions from Colton and that's why I like it. But
I do think that what Colt said is is something
that that I think is really important. Listen, Colt is
a big PGA tour guy, and rightly so. He played
on the PGA Tour, he broadcasts for CBS. They broadcast
the PGA Tour. He gets a lot of grief for

(01:10:25):
his stance as someone that is pro PGA tour on
social media. I don't have a problem with that. And
Colt is somebody that I respect. I like his opinion.
I like the fact that he has opinions. We don't
know we see eye to eye, but he's certainly not
somebody that I'm not going to talk to because we
don't see eyed ie on what's going on with Live.

(01:10:46):
I think he's informed. I think he is thoughtful in
what he says, and I think there is an irreverence
about what he says and his takes and opinions. And
that's what I like. And that's why I think he's
doing great on TV because he says things that a
lot of people are thinking. And he also says things
that people say, man, I can't believe you said that,
And to me, that's what makes great TV. So thank

(01:11:09):
him for coming on. If you don't listen to his podcast, Subpar,
check it out. He's got some great guests and they've
got some great shows and they're doing great stuff over there,
he and his partner Drew Stoltz. If you don't listen,
check it out. Keep checking out Son of a Butch.
We're gonna keep getting some really really good guests, one

(01:11:30):
more major coming up, and lots and lots to talk
about in the coming weeks and the coming months. Subscribe
wherever you get your podcast. Son of a Butch comes
to you every Wednesday. We will see you next week.

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