Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, everybody, Hello, welcome in, and happy Monday. It's October.
It is Adam grown from Sticking AC. Keith Stewart from
ESPN Radio and host of the Pro Show in New
York with us here for Sticking AC reacts our weekly
look at everything happened in the pg A, l p J,
and our reactions to said news items. Keith, just as,
on a personal note, we are coming off six days
(00:26):
of celebration of my ten year olds birthday. The longest
birthday celebration in the history of Earth, happened this week
here in noblesvill Indiana. But we are officially done with
it so we can move on with our lives. But
let me tell you the double digit birthday apparently was
a massive deal to the young one. Your reaction to that, um,
(00:47):
I don't have one. Right. Next reaction number one on
the p g A and golf where I think you live, Keith,
not ten year old birthday parties, but rather reactions to
golf news. Let's start with our man, Bernard Longer, who
took a victory right out of the hands of Phil
Mickelson in the Champions Tour. Phil has played in six
(01:08):
events and he's won four Uh. Every time he plays,
the people will say, oh, he's gonna win. Um, However
he didn't. Bernard Longer beat him handily. Dominion Energy Charity Classic,
the longest name in golf, the Dominion Energy Charity Classic
and Bernard Longer. You winner your reaction, Keith, you know
I've got a big thumbs up for Bernard Longer. Uh
(01:30):
sixty four years old, oldest victory ever on the PGA
Tour Champions So you can check that box off. You
realize that guy has won nine times since he turned
sixty on that tour. Adam, it's crazy, it's crazy. He
leads the Charles Schwab Cup, which, if you're not familiar
with the PGA Tour Champions that's like their FedEx Cup
points list. He's the oldest guy and that's continually out there.
(01:53):
He wanted a playoff on Sunday. Um, he was number
one in greens and regulation for the week at the
Dominion Editor g Charity Classic. Um, there's it's like the guy.
I mean, so I was doing a little research on Bernard.
He turned pro in nineteen seventy two. Oh my gosh. Yeah,
(02:14):
it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. That is a game, that is
a lifetime game. Uh. And I saw I got to
see him live a couple of times here in the
last several years when I went to the Champions Tour events. Um,
it's it's cool to see him and he looks he
still looks young and and vibrant, and his game, his
(02:35):
game shows that. So um. And this is a as
you said, the Charles Swab Cup points. Um. You know
I made fun of Phil a second ago, but obviously
he wasn't even a contention. He had nines on different
holes and he was hitting the ball a long but
he just he just didn't have it this week. And
that's fine. We want we don't want him coming in
every single week that he does come into the Champions
Tour and winning this was a nice win for longer
(02:58):
and yet again shows his power, Adam. One thing to
keep your eye on. I know we pick on the
PGA Tour champions from time to time, just saying, you know,
they have Els and Phil and Furik and all these
great guys, and why aren't they more popular. Something to
keep your eye on in the next year or so
is that Bernard is creeping up on Hailer and for
all time wins on the PGA Tour champions Hailer when
(03:19):
has forty five. This was Bernard's forty second. You know
I mean, and you can imagine. I'm not sure what
Hale's complete record is, but Bernard's played almost three hundred events,
two hundred ninety two PGA Tour champions events. Of that,
two hundred and sixty six of them, and he's been
in the top twenty five top It's unbelievable. He's finished
(03:42):
in the top ten in two hundreds of them at
his dominance. Well, good long thumbs up from the side
of the table as well. We moved to the l
p G A and a name that we have said
often here and sticking Hack reacts, and that's Jin Young
Co who wins again. She was a part of the
w b n W Ladies Championship and uh Jin Yunko
(04:03):
wins again. Your reaction, Keith, and then give us the
stats on her, because I know that in her last
seven or eight starts she has had a run among
runs runs. Well, if you want to start there, her
last seven starts first first, six second, first first, one
more one for you. She's now number one in the
(04:24):
world and the women's Rolex World rankings. All right, so
she just jumped Nelly by this win this weekend. And
it wasn't one of her dominant victories because on the
final day she was four shots back behind She he
young limb and you know, she took her to a
playoff and she hit this really awesome fairway wind in
the playoff to like two ft you know, tap in,
thank you, I want again. That's now two wins in
(04:46):
a row. I mean, she's awesome. And you know, the
big deal was in the first round of this tournament
they went over to Korea. They had had a week
break since she won the Cognizant Founders Cup, and you
know was could she break Anica's record because she had
tied her for a number of rounds in the sixties
fourteen rounds in a row. Ottaka did it two thousand
and five. Jim Young Co was on that, you know,
(05:07):
was right in that heater. She shoots seventy one in
the first round, bummer sixty four, sixty seven, closes with
an eight under sixty four, gets in the playoff, she wins.
And the cool thing about this um over the weekend
and I've been kind of waiting for this to happen.
But her win as a Korean, it's the two career
(05:29):
win by a Korean player, Korean born player on the
LPGA tour. How about that one for you? Wow, that's cool.
You know what is impressive about you today? Here is
the as the October fall hits the shirt, the shirt
one and then two. Uh is your ability to dig
into the stats. And I don't think are being talked
(05:49):
about enough. And uh and and we're proud of you
for that. Keith, thank you so much. I was lucky
to get the tournament right. And here look at you
with the with the the deep deep stats for sticking
hack reacs. Congratulations, what do you got for me? On
the third reaction, here Addeki Matsuyama wins the twenty or
the Zozo UH Championship in Japan, his first victory, I
(06:11):
believe in his native born country. Keeps your reaction to
Adecki Masiyama in the Zozo Well, I mean you gotta
go thumbs up, haddeck. He's had a great year, wins
the Masters. Now he wins in his home country for
the first time. But I think this weekend could have
been the most predictable weekend at all of golf all time. Right,
(06:33):
Bernard Bernard Langer wins a PGA Tour champions event. Right.
Jin Young Ko, who's playing great, wins in her home
country of Korea. And then you've got Headecki in a
really top heavy event in the Zozo Championship over there,
and you know it's either he's and or Morikawa was
supposed to win. Right, Well, Adeck, he's at home, he's
in Japan, and he wins. Um wins by five. It
(06:55):
was two eagles in the final round. I mean, it's
it's Cameron Trengali was there, but in typical Cameron Trengali
um non closer fashion. Um. At one point he had
the lead in the final round and then you know
he started making bogie's and um. You know, Maziawa closed
with an eagle. Was pretty impressive. So Maziyama, who has
(07:16):
not won since the Masters, um comes in and and
just he wasn't dominant until it counted the most, and
he was. He was. He played his game all weekend.
He was very consistent. He was he was Hudecki as
we've seen him for the last couple of years. Was
this victory great for the country. Was this great for
Hudecki fans? Was this great for anybody else? Or was
(07:38):
this just a ho hum zozo championship by one? Uh?
Here at my homecoming. I mean, I'm not sure how
they named calendar years in Japan, but it's definitely the
year of the Headeki, you know. I mean, he gets
the green green jacket in April, he goes over for
the Olympics in Japan. You know, he's one put away
from you know, winning a medal, and then he comes
(07:59):
back here. Uh. This is the second time this event
has been played at that golf course. We all know,
you know, two years ago in two thousand nineteen, when
Tiger wanted for the eighties his eighties, second career victory
the decade, was second there. He was a couple of
shots back, but he was second there, and he was
first this time. He played the golf course well and
uh um, and he hadn't been playing well. That's kind
of the funny thing he had said to the press
(08:20):
earlier that week, you know, big thumbs down. He's like,
you know, on a scale of one to tend, if
the Masters was attend, my game right now is like
a one. I mean Rory Boat raced him last week
in Vegas, beat him by fifteen or something like that.
He just hasn't been great, and uh, you know, here
you go. So the fans really charged him up, and uh,
it's good to play in front of your home country.
So we had three of the big names in golf
(08:43):
win over the weekend. Is there anything about this weekend
you said his most predictable weekend and golf? Was there
anything about this weekend that surprised your shocked you or
was it just the the typical ho hum October golf weekend. Well,
you know, we've had some pretty good fall weekends and golf.
That Ryder Cup weekend was pretty sweet. Last weekend, the
(09:06):
c J Cup was great. Um, you know it when
I woke up Sunday morning and I looked at the
victories because you know, they were playing overseas and uh,
you know that they were playing for us, you know,
Saturday night into Sunday morning. Um, you know, I wasn't surprised,
you know, and I don't think anybody else was. To
answer your question, Um, we've had better weekends, but three
(09:30):
great champions. You know, you can't slide them. You gotta
give them all thumbs up at him. Awesome. All right,
let's go to a bonus react here, and this is Uh,
this is something that I have been wanting to talk
to you about. But because every weekend, every week so
far has been chocked full of of major reactions and
major conversations, I felt that this week would be a
perfect week to bring this up. So the PGL, the
(09:51):
Premier Golf League Keith is a new league that is
trying to start up. And for those that aren't aware
and and don't know the history behind this or the
reason behind it and why they would ever even need
to be a second league that comes out for professional golf,
what is your reaction to the fact that this is
(10:12):
even a topic in golf? Not here on this show,
I don't need to know that that, but in the
Gulf that this is even a topic. What's your reaction,
p g O. And then give me a little bit
of the history if you can, on why this is
even a topic of conversation. You know, the second question
is where I'm gonna start, because I really don't have
a clear cut answer to that. Um. Overall, my reaction
(10:34):
to the p g L, since this is a reaction,
is a thumbs down because anything that starts to pull
the superstars away from playing against one another, to me,
is is really detracting from what's most entertaining about watching
tournament golf, whether it be the men or the women. UM,
the World Golf Championships, the majors. One of the reasons
that they're played on fantastic venues. They get extra media coverage,
(10:56):
but they have the best players competing against one another.
And if dilutes the p g A Tour or the
European Tour, or if they do a women's version, it
dilutes the LPGA Tour, to me, that's not helping things
right now. I can't figure out why the people that
are backing this, which is you know, um, a lot
(11:16):
of oil money out there in the Middle East. I
can't figure out, you know, what the endgame is there? Yeah,
I mean to recruit Phil Mickelson or Dustin Johnson in
and pay them, you know, twenty million dollars to play
in a tournament. Um. Do they just want to create
the most elite tour? Um? You know, I think that
all of the tours have done a lot of great
(11:37):
things evolving, especially the European Tour with mixed events with
team events, the p g A Tour with their scheduling
traveling around the world. You know, I don't have a
really good gauge on on what the point is and
trying to put this thing together. I can tell you
this much. Though it's percolating right that it is. It
is still being talked about. Uh, Names like Ignorman are
(12:00):
gonna run it. Names like Phil Mickelson is going to
be the title guy to recruit people. And they're talking
about a nine digit number for Phil to come on
the PGL and be kind of the kind of a
leader of the whole thing, adam um, which to me, Uh,
it's it's it's a tough pill to swallow, you know,
to see a great American champion like that um kind
(12:23):
of walk away from the p g A Tour, which
is what made Phil famous. Let me ask you this,
and this is just this is crazy talk, but this
is technic reacts. So who the health cares if golf
did something like they do in football, not American football
but soccer slash football, where you are being promoted into
(12:43):
a higher league and higher ranks, and the PGL is
this this elite top twenty where you have to play
in and to get even into that for these massive
checks in these massive tournaments, smaller scale tournaments where you're
playing against the same people every week, uh, for tournament money.
Is that something that even gets you excited? Is that
something that you think, Okay, we are evolving golf now
(13:05):
into this. Hey, if I played great for three weeks
in a row or six weeks or a month or whatever,
that doesn't make any sense. Several months you get promoted
into this PGL and then you were there until you
until you are out of the top ten for the
for two weeks in a row, and then you move
back to p G A Is that even something to
think about? You know, I just don't see how they
(13:27):
put all that together. I think if the PGL wanted
to come in and be in the middle of the season,
be like something to use your analogy like the f
A Cup is to the Premier League, right, which is
a separate tournament inside of the Premiership season standings. Um.
I think that could be something that could be cool.
If the guys went out a two weeks sojourn um
and you know, they played a bunch of team matches
(13:49):
and and and say that there was a bunch of
money on the line. Maybe that could be kind of cool,
But where is this thing gonna go? We have great
events throughout the golf season every single month. Where are
they going to play? And and who's going to play?
And you know there was a story last week. I mean,
this thing is percolating, Adam, there's something going on. I
(14:11):
mean you're bringing it up with your vast golf knowledge.
If it's hitting your radar, right, we all know, then
you know this thing has it's it's going on. And
you know there's this big event over in Saudi Arabia
that Jamonahan is the commission of the PGA Tour, came
out and said, if you go playing this event, because
it's known for appearance fees, right, that's a problem. So
(14:33):
seven guys petitioned, you know, with names like DJ petitioned
last week the PGA Tour to say I want an
exemption to go play in this event. So that's a
real thing, and this is happening. And Jamnahan, you know,
raising the purse the total purse to twenty million dollars
at the Players Championship or the Player Impact Program for
forty million dollars. These are direct reactions to what they
(14:57):
fear might happen. There's a lot going on, there's or
it comes. I think it's a it's a fascinating topic
and and and that's why I bring it up because
for for someone like me who just lives and breathes
golf all day long, and I am in tune to
the to the all all things p G and l
p G A. Right well, it's the name of the tournament,
(15:18):
the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, right exactly. So someone like myself,
it's exciting because I feel it is different and can
and does have legs and can be really unique. That's
why that's why most golf fans like the match. That's
the way they like the Wryder Cup because it's different.
It's different from weekend week out. If the premier golf
(15:41):
leet the p GL can do something that isn't just
the same p G A just with more money and
the and the top stars, but can bring a different
style of golf for different flavor or that team every
week and two man and mixed and all I'm in
I think that would be incredible. My fear is is
that's not what it is. It is what you called
(16:02):
it earlier cash grab and trying to to to bring
in and and peel away from the cool the from
the cool guys and the and the p g A
and the l p g A uh and just and
pull them over to to them for for ratings and
and and all that that I'm not a fan of.
But if the PGL can do something and work with
the p g A to to have a very unique
(16:22):
next level golf league that that borrows PGA players from
time to time for cool events, I'm in and I
think it's great for golf. Hey, two d s. If
it's different, that's good. If it's cool, If it engages
the fans and entertains us more, that's cool. If it
dilutes it not cool. You know, I want the best
(16:42):
players playing each other all the time, and you do too.
That's what creates the best theater. That's what made the
c J Cup so great. More Kawa versus Rory versus Ricky,
you know there's nothing better than that. I mean, no
offense to some of the names that we don't know yet,
but if it's Max Homa versus Lanto Griffin, I know
you're not that tuned in, no, but you know, and
(17:03):
it it characteristically or stereotypically, the majors and the w
g cs have the best players, and that was the
point of those events, was to bring the better players
together and to force them to play one another. Um,
I see what they're trying to do here. But if
you have somebody like Rory that came out and said,
I will never go over to this PGL for whatever reason, Okay,
well I need Rory and events. I want to watch
(17:26):
Rory play. He's one of the most exciting players out there.
And if he doesn't get to compete against Brooks and
you know, Tiger and Jordan's and JT, then what are
we doing here? Party words from Keith Stewart. What are
we doing here? This is sticking hack reacts for my lunch.
(17:48):
We're going to lunch. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Keith Stewart. Find his show of the Pro Show where
you find your podcast and on ESPN Radio in New
York as well as here. Every Monday was sticking Hack
reacts amounta grab force sticking act. You guys, haven't great
day in a great week. We'll see him Monday next week.
Take care at ofm always pleasure being with it. H