June 6, 2023 • 22 mins
We did a special live version of the 19th Hole on 933KJR this morning and wouldn't ya know it, the PGA and LIV Tours decided to drop some breaking news on us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Sports right here ninety three three KJRFM. We got to listen to a little
extra music because we're having major computerissues in here where my computer now is
not working at all, so Ican't refresh anything, I can't open anything
new. So I was on withour tech support and they're going to try
to tackle this now so that whenour next guest comes into the studio he
might have a working computer, becauseit makes it easier the host a show
(00:25):
when you have a working computer.I don't know if you guys know that.
Huh. Yeah. I did mostof the show yesterday without mind working
as well. It makes it difficultthough, right you feel like you Yeah?
Yeah, well I'm reliant upon it. I usually have twenty cabs pulled
up so that I can find informationat my fingertips, and then when I
don't have it, I have torely on my brain. Yeah. That
ain't not near like a computer.Nobody needs that. I am Ashley Ryan
(00:48):
that as Bucky Jacobson. We've gotAnders Hears behind the glass and we are
now going to be joined by JasonPuckett. Jason, are you there?
I am here? I mean againbottom of the barrel guests here, huh
yeah, really searching for stuff whenyou bring me on? Well, I
was actually I thought to myself,what could we do tomorrow? What guests
could we have? That's given mea lot of work to book somebody.
(01:11):
Oh, I bet Pucket isn't doinganything at nine o'clock and we could talk
free he's not doing anything, wecan get him on. Yeah, exactly,
how about that? What a newsyday? I know. So that's
the thing is, So we werebringing Pucket on because we wanted to talk
about the RBC Canadian Open and alittle preview of the US Open that's next
week, because fuck it and Iof course do a golf podcast every week
(01:34):
called The Nineteenth Hole. I thought, we have Pucket on this morning,
we'll just play that as our podcast. Two Birds, one Stone. We've
knocked it all out of the park. Little did we know that PGA and
Live Golf had something major plan forus this morning. It's just amazing.
I mean the fact it's very reminiscent, don't you guys think of like UCLA
(01:56):
and USC leaving, you know,to go to the Big Ten. You
didn't know anything about it. Therewere no rumors, there were nothing being
hinted at the fact that Great Normanfound out five minutes before this was all
happening, that the Prince had calledin before they did the interview on CNBC.
It just lets you know how quietthat they that they kept it,
(02:17):
and which is just amazing in aday like today, that you can keep
something like that quiet and not haveit get leaked out at all. Which
is surprising the fact that you know, all the players and the PGA tour
found out just like just like wedid. You know, they found out
on Twitter. So yeah, it'skind of weird that they wouldn't be out
in front of this thing, likegiving some sort of context of details and
(02:40):
what it means. Besides just sothey're going to we're gonna share commercial things
or whatever. Do I mean tome? It all boils down to money,
It almost always does, and youfollow the money and you'll find the
root of whatever it is that they'regoing for. Where's what's your take on
why this merger is happening after sucha weird divorce? Yeah, Bucky just
I you just nailed it. Imean, you know the famous line from
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Wall Street Gordon Getko, greed isgood greed, I mean, just greed,
not for all people, but greedand money rules the day and the
Saudi you know government that's run bythe PIF, which is the Public Investment
Firm, which is basically the financialarm of the of the Saudi Arabian government,
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who is spending all this money onsports. It's not just golf,
but it's it's everything. It's it'ssoccer. They've bought the four biggest teams
in Saudi Arabia. Now they're payingreportedly Lionla Messi four hundred million dollars a
year to join one of their teams, where all of those are earning north
of two hundred million dollars a year. That's just the play there. He's
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also getting two hundred million dollars ayear to promote the World Cup, because
I get that in twenty thirty theyI don't think people understand or can grasp
the amount of wealth the country has. I mean, it's just it's astronomical.
So they can throw out any amountof money towards anything, and I
think that's what they did here withthe PGA tour, is that they just
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money can make anything go away orwrite anything for a lot of people,
and I think that's what they didhere. And I think the other thing
too is you know they were bothof them were suing each other, so
they were in litigation. My hunches, the PGA Tour is a scam of
a no of a nonprofit charity.They're a five oh one seed, but
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it is the biggest scam maybe thatthere is in professional sports. It's not
an a, it's not a charity, it's not a nonprofit, never has
been. ESPN Outside of the Linesdetailed the story about eight nine years ago
on Outside the Lines story that theydid. So I think they got into
litigation Bucky and realize, Okay,they're going to find out some stuff about
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us. We need to settle andnot allow them to make some of these
things that we know we're hiding public. I will say the once this divorce
kind of happened, and once thingsgot put into place by the PGA Tour,
it wasn't all bad for the PGAbecause they've brought in the elevated events
and started you know, so PGAplayers, I mean have benefited somewhat from
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the live breakup. Now we're goingto see after this season live players that
can reapply to rejoin the PGA Tourand Pucket and I have been talking about
this quite a bit on the nineteenthhole, that would we would brooks Kepka
potentially try to come back to thePGA Tour if able, especially for the
success he's had in the past,in the first two majors, and not
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just him, other live golfers.Do you think that brooks success and the
live golfer's success put some pressure onthe PGA Tour to make this happen as
well? I think maybe asked,I think maybe probably a little bit.
But I just think going back to, you know, to Bucky's question point,
I just think it's money. Imean, I just think it's I
think it just boiled all down tothat. I think it's money, money,
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money. I think that they andI think it's back to litigation.
I think there's just things at youknow, when they can fight litigation.
Listen, they can't fight with thisSaudi government when it comes to litigation and
money. They can't. And theSaudis will just keep dragging this out and
dragging this out. And I justdon't think they wanted their dirty laundry to
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be revealed. I just don't thinkthey wanted it out there. I don't
think they wanted the Department of Justiceto sit there and start looking through their
financials because they're going to find stuff. They're like, well, this doesn't
add up, and that doesn't addup. Where's this money going? And
you know, I think they,you know, Jay Monahan decided to again,
everyone's got a price, and thatwas his price. I think for
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the players, I mean, yeah, I think maybe the PGA tour and
Jay Monahan, who was the commissionerof people don't know, the commissioner of
the PGA tour, you know,saw the success maybe of Brooks, and
you know, I think they've alwayswanted to welcome certain players back, the
players that didn't trash the tour.But yeah, I mean I just think,
and I'm curious about I don't knowwhat this looks like moving forward.
I mean, in the release andyou know, the stuff, the limited
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amount information we have, I don'tknow really what the agreement or partnership will
be. But for players like Brooksand the players that left, I mean,
they're getting their cake and kind ofeat it too. I mean they
are they got paid and now getto come back. And you have to
feel sorry for some of these playersin a way that turned down the offers
from Live Rory and Spieth and othertop players that said, I could have
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just earned two hundred million dollars guaranteeand I get to play on the DGA
Tour. So they got a lotof explaining due to their players on the
tour for sure. Yeah how aboutTiger, Yeah getting turning down eight hundred
million and then he would have gotbashed for two years. And then I've
been like, well, I'm back, how does that taste? Who do
you think is gonna win in this? I mean, I think that overarching
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the divorce, the divide that hadhappened was not good for the game.
It kind of was just an uglysituation, the discourse that was going on.
And yet I'm with you, Ithink that there probably was some well
not probably, there definitely some shadythings. For that the PGA to be
a five or one C three orwhatever and being operated like a nonprofit but
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it's making millions and billions of dollarsis kind of crazy. But I'm wondering,
who do you think is gonna win? I mean, it is there
a part of this that you thinkmaybe the golfers now the purses that the
lid was offering now all of asudden, because I remember Phil was saying
that he thought there was a chancethat or he was one of his arguments
he was saying he was going forit was not just to pay off his
gambling death, but because he didn'tlike the fact that the PGA had monopolized
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this whole thing. They were incontrol of it, and the LID was
going to make him play less golfand pay them more money, and they
were going so it was one ofthose we're going to break the mold,
kind of break this thing down alittle bit and maybe it'll come back.
Do you think that's something that's goingto kind of reflect in this new merger.
Yeah, I mean I think that. I mean, look at all
the the changes and different you know, uh, you know, games and
(09:01):
different ideas that the Live Tour broughts. You know already that the PGA Tour
is already implemented. I mean,it's you're a fool, you bury your
head in the sand to be anapologist, even myself for the PGA Tour.
It's you know, I was someonethat did not like this move by
the Live players, but you sawthe reaction of the PGA Tour the elevated
events now having certain elevated events nextseason that won't have a cut. You
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know, that's again, that's alive idea. You've got. Now,
this this idea that Tiger and Roryhave started, this other you know,
new league on top of the PGATour, which is a team format.
That's another live idea. You know, there are a lot of live ideas
that were brought up that they didthat. I think the PGA Tour I
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think a lot of golf fans haveliked. I mean not every one of
them. I'm not a fan offifty four holds. I mean, golf
is four rounds and should be playedat seventy two. You know, part
of me, in a weird way, kind of likes the shotguns starts where
they all start. But you know, I can also see the other side.
I think that there were certainly elementsthat Live Tour has brought that the
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PGA Tour has definitely stolen. Andyou know, part of it makes Phil
Mickelson right of what he decided todo. I think any player in any
sport would love to have guaranteed contracts, and that's what Live provide. Now,
what separated golf from the other sportsthat don't have guaranteed contracts was that
you had to play. You hadto play well to earn money. I
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mean, that's it. I mean, you get guaranteed contracts from sponsorships,
but you know, you had toThat was the tantalizing competitive nature of that
sport. If you didn't play well, you weren't getting money, and you
weren't gonna not gonna get paid.Now you could. You could be Sean
Figgins and signed thirty eight million dollarsand be terrible, but you have thirty
eight million dollars. And so thatalways separated golf from other ones. And
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so I don't know moving forward whatthat will look like in terms of this
partnership. I mean to start offand guarantee contracts now through the PGA Tour
and Lives role. I mean,to me, it probably just seems like
this will be a merger where theseguys can just play. It's kind of
like the European Tour, the DPWorld Tour. I mean, guys can
play on that. And I thinkthis just allows these players now to pick
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and shoose, Hey, I wantto play these live events. I want
to play on the DP World events. And then I can also play in
the Majors and then play in PGATour events because they need the PGA Tour
events to be able to qualify forRyder Cups and things like that. That's
the other element of the d Theydidn't bucket. They didn't want to get
to September when the Ryder Cups beingheld in Italy and not have their top
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players there. I mean Brooks keptbecause number two in the Ryder Cups,
and there was a chance he wouldn'tbe able to play because they didn't know
if they were going to allow themto play. Now Europe gets to field
all of their players that they want, but that's going to be an interesting
dynamic because Rory doesn't want any ofthem to play. Yeah, that is
we and we've talked about that quitea bit. We were wondering is Brooks
going to be on there? Becausepoints wise he should be, but you
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know, would there be some workaroundand well, now obviously you can pretty
much guarantee that Brooks is going tobe on the Ryder Cup team, oh
for sure. And then you know, I think that was I think I
was gonna happen anyways, I mayI think Zach Johnson was going to take
him because I think the US players, I mean, buck you, I
mean, well, you both areathletes. You guys would know this.
I don't. I don't think that. I don't think the players really care
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about this whole thing. I thinkthey just want right for both of you.
I think you guys just wanted thebest players on your team, right,
regardless, as long as they weregood teammates, right. Like I
don't think anyone on the team.USA is pounding the table that Patrick Reid
on the team. But they'll poundthe table for Brooks kept they'll pound the
table for Dustin Johnson. I mean, Reid could be an odd man out.
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As for Europe, I mean youknow that that's just going to be
a weird dynamic. That's just goingto be really, really weird because I
mean, Rory has been so outspoken. I feel bad for Rory. He
was paraded out there as a spokespersonfor this tour and then now I mean
he's just to get dragged. Imean they did him, No, they
did him a major disservice of howthey allowed him to kind of parade himself
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out there and now reached the steelbehind the scenes, but again he's been
adamant, like I just said thathe didn't want any of those guys on
the tour or the guy that wentto Live to play on the rider cips.
So now we'll see how and ifhe changes his stamps on it.
Well, and that was actually goingto be my next question for you is
how do you think Rory handles thisbecause he has been the face of the
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PGA Tour and voicing his displeasure withLive Golf, and he does have like
a very public feud with Patrick Reidand was served h what was it a
subpoena or whatever on lawsuits through theplayers. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. I mean I think somebodybrought it up today. You know,
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I saw it on Twitter and Ididn't think about it at the time,
but now now reflecting back on it, it makes perfect sense. I don't
know if you guys will call thePGA Championship press conference where he was asked
about it. I think it wasthe PGA Championship press conference or the or
the tournament the week before, buthe was asked, you know about Live.
You know, it's just it's alwaysbeen a standard question from reporters about
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Live and the Ryder Cup and allthat, and he for the first time,
remember he hadn't been playing well.He just refused to answer it,
and he says, I'm not talkingabout it anymore. I'm done. I'm
done talking about it. People tookit as well. Maybe it's been a
distraction for him. He's invested somuch mental tying into it in that it's
just affected his golf game. Somebrought up a point today that that maybe
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he's known about this all the timeand then that's why he decided to kind
of retreat talking about it. AndI wouldn't be surprised. I mean,
he's been very close to Jay Monahan. Yeah, you know, we haven't
heard from Tiger Woods in a while. He's been out with an injury.
I mean, Tiger and Rory arethe two most prominent figureheads in the PGA
Tour. In fact, you know, basically run the tour. I mean,
mon Ham's just the kind of afigurehead, but it's those two run
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the tour. And you know,they probably have known. They were probably
the two other people besides Money andmy guesses, that have known for weeks
and months that this was happening.And I think maybe, just maybe his
tune changing, you know a fewweeks ago when he was asked about it,
probably was the signal that something wasup. Yeah, well, there
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definitely could be that. It seemsweird that kind of came out of the
blue because there wasn't a whole lotof hinting at this, right and usually
something like this, if it getsleaked out at all, it ends up
kind of traveling like wildfire. Tome, I'm curious as to the kind
of reverse backlash. I mean,the Dustin Johnson's and these guys that ended
up taking a duffel bag full ofmoney and to a less than reputable country
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in Saudi Arabia. We all agreewith that, and yet the judgment of
these guys because it's like, well, how dare you do that? And
yet now there's got to be somesort of relevance to the idea of well,
maybe there's a part of it thatwas taking the money, a huge
part of it, and maybe partof it was trying to break the mold
like we were talking about, wherethis kind of corrupt of nonprofit organization that
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kind of is overbearing and runs everything, has the entire PGA on lockdown and
monopolize. Maybe there's something too.We gotta break this thing. We gotta
break it for the betterment of thefuture. We see that in all sports
where finally the players come together andthey say we're going to do this,
We're gonna go on strike, orwe're going to do this because it's betterment
for us right now, but it'salso a betterment of long term. Do
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you think this is something the mergerthat's going to make it better for everybody
in the long run. I thinkI think for certain Bucky, I think
for certain players that was that wasthe case. I think for Phil Mickelson,
and I think for Dcambo, theyare so outside the box thinkers and
they like to do you know,and that's I respect that about both of
them, and whether you like themor not, I mean most people like
Phil, it's kind of up andyou know, you're kind of split fifty
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fifty with Dcambo. But I've alwaysrespected about them and they will, they
will walk down that different path.They are not afraid to do something different.
I think for those two, yes, I think they wanted to change
the sport. I think they wantedto do something different that would give them
more power. I think that theother examples I think they're just individual examples.
Lee Westwood, Sergio garcia Ian pulledthey're done. I mean those guys
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are there on the backside. Theyare the back nine of their career.
They're almost over. So they justtook the guarantee money and they can They
all live in Europe, well youknow, well Westwood, they all have
houses everywhere. But I just thinkthey guaranteed money and I'm done. I
can play in a couple of tournamentsand then you know, I ride off
into retirement. Brook skept I thinkdetailed the full swing. I think I
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think he thought he was done andhad an opportunity to get one hundred plus
million dollars into to secure the restof his life for him financially, to
live the lifestyle that he wanted.He took the money because he didn't think
he'd ever be able to compete andplay again. Dustin Johnson, I think
it was I mean, deball football, just give me the money. I
just want to play a few tournamentsand kick it up. I don't think
Dustin Johnson could care less about anythingabout changing the culture of the sport.
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I just think he looked at it, you're gonna he said it in the
Full Swing Netflix series. You're gonnapay you more money to work less,
Okay, And that's how I thinkthat's his thought process to it. Yeah,
and so I think they're they're differentindividually, but I think that the
two guys that stand out the mostthat wanted to change the game the first
two I mentioned d Shambo and Michelson. I think the timing is interesting coming
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out of this too. Obviously thisweek is the RBC Canadian Open. Had
they put this out next week,now you're in US Open week and it's
already gonna probably be the lead storylineheading into it because once again you've got
to live golfers coming back to jointhe PGA Tour golfers. I mean,
is there going to even be aquestion ask that doesn't revolve around this?
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No? I mean no, Imean Rory's playing, Rory's playing in the
RBC's is the two time defending champof it. And I mean that's that's
every question. I mean, Idon't know when his press conference is,
but yeah, it should should betoday, I think or later today.
The whole thing is gonna be aboutit. I mean, this is this
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is one of the biggest sports newsI mean not everyone's a golf fan.
I get that. I mean it'sprobably pretty limited. We saw our audience.
But this is such a bigger storythan just golf. Is a huge
sports story. I mean, thisis you know, two leagues merging that
you just a year ago you didn'tthink there was ever gonna be any type
of murder. So yeah, itwill dominate this week at the RBC,
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and it will certainly dominate next weekat the US Open when they're at the
La Country Club. I mean thatthat will be the only question asked.
I mean ever, I mean,can you imagine asking anything other than a
question about Live and the PGA Tourmerger. No, nothing, and it
is I mean, the whole thinghas been fascinating from start to finish,
honestly, And you know, wehad some people text in, oh,
no one cares about golf. Well, first of all, that's not true.
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Just because you don't doesn't mean nobodydoes. But also, like as
you just pointed out, this isn'tjust a golf story. It was a
huge deal when Live Golf was created, and it's a huge deal now that
two years later they're emerging. Becausethis is changing the shape of an entire
sport. Well absolutely, yeah,I mean it's just everything and then what
what what will it look like?Yeah, like I'm curious about what this
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looks like in next season, Likehow do we how does the sport integrate
all three? Is there a masterplan to integrate all three? Is there
an idea you know where you stillhave like a Team Live where these guys
still play on Team Live. Andthere's these PGA Tour players And if you
(20:29):
reapply, like if you reapply fortour, are you no longer on the
Lift Tour they're allowing Yeah, theyin in the release, they're allowing them
to reapply for the PGA Tour.And then does that mean you're all the
Live Tour now? I don't thinkno, no, because no, the
Lift Tour, the Lift Tours alwayswanted them. They've always wanted them to
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be able to have status on theEuropean Tour and the PGA Tour. So
it's never for their perspective, there'snever been about picking. You choose,
man, it's fascinating. I haveso many questions. I feel like I'm
just gonna be reading about this allday long. Pucket, thank you so
much for joining us and helping usfigure out a little bit about this breaking
news story. This morning. I'msure you and Jim will be talking more
about it. I would assume wehave to cricket I think is number one.
(21:15):
Okay, cricket and that makes senseprobable. Good, we'll probably get
around to it for sure. Okay, well good. That is Jason Puckett.
He is on with Jim more tento one, So make it sure
that you're tuned in because I amsure they're going to both have a lot
to say. Jim's probably going tofigure out how to gamble on something involving
this would be my guess. Well, it's more gambling, for sure.
(21:37):
Yeah, for sure. All right, thank you Puckett, have a great
rest of your morning. We'll seeit a bit yep. By That is
Jason Puckett. Him and I dothe Nineteenth Whole podcast every week. You
can find it on iHeartMedia wherever youget your podcasts. Give it a listen.
We'd appreciate it because we work hardon it. Puckett always says he
puts more research into our podcast thanhe doesn't do his own show, So
don't say yeah really every day.Yeah, So there you go. See
(22:00):
full that's what happens when Pucket applieshimself. Ma
Sports right here ninety three three KJRFM. We got to listen to a little
extra music because we're having major computerissues in here where my computer now is
not working at all, so Ican't refresh anything, I can't open anything
new. So I was on withour tech support and they're going to try
to tackle this now so that whenour next guest comes into the studio he
might have a working computer, becauseit makes it easier the host a show
(00:25):
when you have a working computer.I don't know if you guys know that.
Huh. Yeah. I did mostof the show yesterday without mind working
as well. It makes it difficultthough, right you feel like you Yeah?
Yeah, well I'm reliant upon it. I usually have twenty cabs pulled
up so that I can find informationat my fingertips, and then when I
don't have it, I have torely on my brain. Yeah. That
ain't not near like a computer.Nobody needs that. I am Ashley Ryan
(00:48):
that as Bucky Jacobson. We've gotAnders Hears behind the glass and we are
now going to be joined by JasonPuckett. Jason, are you there?
I am here? I mean againbottom of the barrel guests here, huh
yeah, really searching for stuff whenyou bring me on? Well, I
was actually I thought to myself,what could we do tomorrow? What guests
could we have? That's given mea lot of work to book somebody.
(01:11):
Oh, I bet Pucket isn't doinganything at nine o'clock and we could talk
free he's not doing anything, wecan get him on. Yeah, exactly,
how about that? What a newsyday? I know. So that's
the thing is, So we werebringing Pucket on because we wanted to talk
about the RBC Canadian Open and alittle preview of the US Open that's next
week, because fuck it and Iof course do a golf podcast every week
(01:34):
called The Nineteenth Hole. I thought, we have Pucket on this morning,
we'll just play that as our podcast. Two Birds, one Stone. We've
knocked it all out of the park. Little did we know that PGA and
Live Golf had something major plan forus this morning. It's just amazing.
I mean the fact it's very reminiscent, don't you guys think of like UCLA
(01:56):
and USC leaving, you know,to go to the Big Ten. You
didn't know anything about it. Therewere no rumors, there were nothing being
hinted at the fact that Great Normanfound out five minutes before this was all
happening, that the Prince had calledin before they did the interview on CNBC.
It just lets you know how quietthat they that they kept it,
(02:17):
and which is just amazing in aday like today, that you can keep
something like that quiet and not haveit get leaked out at all. Which
is surprising the fact that you know, all the players and the PGA tour
found out just like just like wedid. You know, they found out
on Twitter. So yeah, it'skind of weird that they wouldn't be out
in front of this thing, likegiving some sort of context of details and
(02:40):
what it means. Besides just sothey're going to we're gonna share commercial things
or whatever. Do I mean tome? It all boils down to money,
It almost always does, and youfollow the money and you'll find the
root of whatever it is that they'regoing for. Where's what's your take on
why this merger is happening after sucha weird divorce? Yeah, Bucky just
I you just nailed it. Imean, you know the famous line from
(03:02):
Wall Street Gordon Getko, greed isgood greed, I mean, just greed,
not for all people, but greedand money rules the day and the
Saudi you know government that's run bythe PIF, which is the Public Investment
Firm, which is basically the financialarm of the of the Saudi Arabian government,
(03:23):
who is spending all this money onsports. It's not just golf,
but it's it's everything. It's it'ssoccer. They've bought the four biggest teams
in Saudi Arabia. Now they're payingreportedly Lionla Messi four hundred million dollars a
year to join one of their teams, where all of those are earning north
of two hundred million dollars a year. That's just the play there. He's
(03:46):
also getting two hundred million dollars ayear to promote the World Cup, because
I get that in twenty thirty theyI don't think people understand or can grasp
the amount of wealth the country has. I mean, it's just it's astronomical.
So they can throw out any amountof money towards anything, and I
think that's what they did here withthe PGA tour, is that they just
(04:09):
money can make anything go away orwrite anything for a lot of people,
and I think that's what they didhere. And I think the other thing
too is you know they were bothof them were suing each other, so
they were in litigation. My hunches, the PGA Tour is a scam of
a no of a nonprofit charity.They're a five oh one seed, but
(04:30):
it is the biggest scam maybe thatthere is in professional sports. It's not
an a, it's not a charity, it's not a nonprofit, never has
been. ESPN Outside of the Linesdetailed the story about eight nine years ago
on Outside the Lines story that theydid. So I think they got into
litigation Bucky and realize, Okay,they're going to find out some stuff about
(04:50):
us. We need to settle andnot allow them to make some of these
things that we know we're hiding public. I will say the once this divorce
kind of happened, and once thingsgot put into place by the PGA Tour,
it wasn't all bad for the PGAbecause they've brought in the elevated events
and started you know, so PGAplayers, I mean have benefited somewhat from
(05:12):
the live breakup. Now we're goingto see after this season live players that
can reapply to rejoin the PGA Tourand Pucket and I have been talking about
this quite a bit on the nineteenthhole, that would we would brooks Kepka
potentially try to come back to thePGA Tour if able, especially for the
success he's had in the past,in the first two majors, and not
(05:34):
just him, other live golfers.Do you think that brooks success and the
live golfer's success put some pressure onthe PGA Tour to make this happen as
well? I think maybe asked,I think maybe probably a little bit.
But I just think going back to, you know, to Bucky's question point,
I just think it's money. Imean, I just think it's I
think it just boiled all down tothat. I think it's money, money,
(05:54):
money. I think that they andI think it's back to litigation.
I think there's just things at youknow, when they can fight litigation.
Listen, they can't fight with thisSaudi government when it comes to litigation and
money. They can't. And theSaudis will just keep dragging this out and
dragging this out. And I justdon't think they wanted their dirty laundry to
(06:16):
be revealed. I just don't thinkthey wanted it out there. I don't
think they wanted the Department of Justiceto sit there and start looking through their
financials because they're going to find stuff. They're like, well, this doesn't
add up, and that doesn't addup. Where's this money going? And
you know, I think they,you know, Jay Monahan decided to again,
everyone's got a price, and thatwas his price. I think for
(06:41):
the players, I mean, yeah, I think maybe the PGA tour and
Jay Monahan, who was the commissionerof people don't know, the commissioner of
the PGA tour, you know,saw the success maybe of Brooks, and
you know, I think they've alwayswanted to welcome certain players back, the
players that didn't trash the tour.But yeah, I mean I just think,
and I'm curious about I don't knowwhat this looks like moving forward.
I mean, in the release andyou know, the stuff, the limited
(07:03):
amount information we have, I don'tknow really what the agreement or partnership will
be. But for players like Brooksand the players that left, I mean,
they're getting their cake and kind ofeat it too. I mean they
are they got paid and now getto come back. And you have to
feel sorry for some of these playersin a way that turned down the offers
from Live Rory and Spieth and othertop players that said, I could have
(07:27):
just earned two hundred million dollars guaranteeand I get to play on the DGA
Tour. So they got a lotof explaining due to their players on the
tour for sure. Yeah how aboutTiger, Yeah getting turning down eight hundred
million and then he would have gotbashed for two years. And then I've
been like, well, I'm back, how does that taste? Who do
you think is gonna win in this? I mean, I think that overarching
(07:48):
the divorce, the divide that hadhappened was not good for the game.
It kind of was just an uglysituation, the discourse that was going on.
And yet I'm with you, Ithink that there probably was some well
not probably, there definitely some shadythings. For that the PGA to be
a five or one C three orwhatever and being operated like a nonprofit but
(08:11):
it's making millions and billions of dollarsis kind of crazy. But I'm wondering,
who do you think is gonna win? I mean, it is there
a part of this that you thinkmaybe the golfers now the purses that the
lid was offering now all of asudden, because I remember Phil was saying
that he thought there was a chancethat or he was one of his arguments
he was saying he was going forit was not just to pay off his
gambling death, but because he didn'tlike the fact that the PGA had monopolized
(08:33):
this whole thing. They were incontrol of it, and the LID was
going to make him play less golfand pay them more money, and they
were going so it was one ofthose we're going to break the mold,
kind of break this thing down alittle bit and maybe it'll come back.
Do you think that's something that's goingto kind of reflect in this new merger.
Yeah, I mean I think that. I mean, look at all
the the changes and different you know, uh, you know, games and
(09:01):
different ideas that the Live Tour broughts. You know already that the PGA Tour
is already implemented. I mean,it's you're a fool, you bury your
head in the sand to be anapologist, even myself for the PGA Tour.
It's you know, I was someonethat did not like this move by
the Live players, but you sawthe reaction of the PGA Tour the elevated
events now having certain elevated events nextseason that won't have a cut. You
(09:24):
know, that's again, that's alive idea. You've got. Now,
this this idea that Tiger and Roryhave started, this other you know,
new league on top of the PGATour, which is a team format.
That's another live idea. You know, there are a lot of live ideas
that were brought up that they didthat. I think the PGA Tour I
(09:46):
think a lot of golf fans haveliked. I mean not every one of
them. I'm not a fan offifty four holds. I mean, golf
is four rounds and should be playedat seventy two. You know, part
of me, in a weird way, kind of likes the shotguns starts where
they all start. But you know, I can also see the other side.
I think that there were certainly elementsthat Live Tour has brought that the
(10:07):
PGA Tour has definitely stolen. Andyou know, part of it makes Phil
Mickelson right of what he decided todo. I think any player in any
sport would love to have guaranteed contracts, and that's what Live provide. Now,
what separated golf from the other sportsthat don't have guaranteed contracts was that
you had to play. You hadto play well to earn money. I
(10:30):
mean, that's it. I mean, you get guaranteed contracts from sponsorships,
but you know, you had toThat was the tantalizing competitive nature of that
sport. If you didn't play well, you weren't getting money, and you
weren't gonna not gonna get paid.Now you could. You could be Sean
Figgins and signed thirty eight million dollarsand be terrible, but you have thirty
eight million dollars. And so thatalways separated golf from other ones. And
(10:54):
so I don't know moving forward whatthat will look like in terms of this
partnership. I mean to start offand guarantee contracts now through the PGA Tour
and Lives role. I mean,to me, it probably just seems like
this will be a merger where theseguys can just play. It's kind of
like the European Tour, the DPWorld Tour. I mean, guys can
play on that. And I thinkthis just allows these players now to pick
(11:16):
and shoose, Hey, I wantto play these live events. I want
to play on the DP World events. And then I can also play in
the Majors and then play in PGATour events because they need the PGA Tour
events to be able to qualify forRyder Cups and things like that. That's
the other element of the d Theydidn't bucket. They didn't want to get
to September when the Ryder Cups beingheld in Italy and not have their top
(11:37):
players there. I mean Brooks keptbecause number two in the Ryder Cups,
and there was a chance he wouldn'tbe able to play because they didn't know
if they were going to allow themto play. Now Europe gets to field
all of their players that they want, but that's going to be an interesting
dynamic because Rory doesn't want any ofthem to play. Yeah, that is
we and we've talked about that quitea bit. We were wondering is Brooks
going to be on there? Becausepoints wise he should be, but you
(12:00):
know, would there be some workaroundand well, now obviously you can pretty
much guarantee that Brooks is going tobe on the Ryder Cup team, oh
for sure. And then you know, I think that was I think I
was gonna happen anyways, I mayI think Zach Johnson was going to take
him because I think the US players, I mean, buck you, I
mean, well, you both areathletes. You guys would know this.
I don't. I don't think that. I don't think the players really care
(12:22):
about this whole thing. I thinkthey just want right for both of you.
I think you guys just wanted thebest players on your team, right,
regardless, as long as they weregood teammates, right. Like I
don't think anyone on the team.USA is pounding the table that Patrick Reid
on the team. But they'll poundthe table for Brooks kept they'll pound the
table for Dustin Johnson. I mean, Reid could be an odd man out.
(12:43):
As for Europe, I mean youknow that that's just going to be
a weird dynamic. That's just goingto be really, really weird because I
mean, Rory has been so outspoken. I feel bad for Rory. He
was paraded out there as a spokespersonfor this tour and then now I mean
he's just to get dragged. Imean they did him, No, they
did him a major disservice of howthey allowed him to kind of parade himself
(13:07):
out there and now reached the steelbehind the scenes, but again he's been
adamant, like I just said thathe didn't want any of those guys on
the tour or the guy that wentto Live to play on the rider cips.
So now we'll see how and ifhe changes his stamps on it.
Well, and that was actually goingto be my next question for you is
how do you think Rory handles thisbecause he has been the face of the
(13:28):
PGA Tour and voicing his displeasure withLive Golf, and he does have like
a very public feud with Patrick Reidand was served h what was it a
subpoena or whatever on lawsuits through theplayers. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. I mean I think somebodybrought it up today. You know,
(13:50):
I saw it on Twitter and Ididn't think about it at the time,
but now now reflecting back on it, it makes perfect sense. I don't
know if you guys will call thePGA Championship press conference where he was asked
about it. I think it wasthe PGA Championship press conference or the or
the tournament the week before, buthe was asked, you know about Live.
You know, it's just it's alwaysbeen a standard question from reporters about
(14:11):
Live and the Ryder Cup and allthat, and he for the first time,
remember he hadn't been playing well.He just refused to answer it,
and he says, I'm not talkingabout it anymore. I'm done. I'm
done talking about it. People tookit as well. Maybe it's been a
distraction for him. He's invested somuch mental tying into it in that it's
just affected his golf game. Somebrought up a point today that that maybe
(14:35):
he's known about this all the timeand then that's why he decided to kind
of retreat talking about it. AndI wouldn't be surprised. I mean,
he's been very close to Jay Monahan. Yeah, you know, we haven't
heard from Tiger Woods in a while. He's been out with an injury.
I mean, Tiger and Rory arethe two most prominent figureheads in the PGA
Tour. In fact, you know, basically run the tour. I mean,
mon Ham's just the kind of afigurehead, but it's those two run
(14:56):
the tour. And you know,they probably have known. They were probably
the two other people besides Money andmy guesses, that have known for weeks
and months that this was happening.And I think maybe, just maybe his
tune changing, you know a fewweeks ago when he was asked about it,
probably was the signal that something wasup. Yeah, well, there
(15:16):
definitely could be that. It seemsweird that kind of came out of the
blue because there wasn't a whole lotof hinting at this, right and usually
something like this, if it getsleaked out at all, it ends up
kind of traveling like wildfire. Tome, I'm curious as to the kind
of reverse backlash. I mean,the Dustin Johnson's and these guys that ended
up taking a duffel bag full ofmoney and to a less than reputable country
(15:41):
in Saudi Arabia. We all agreewith that, and yet the judgment of
these guys because it's like, well, how dare you do that? And
yet now there's got to be somesort of relevance to the idea of well,
maybe there's a part of it thatwas taking the money, a huge
part of it, and maybe partof it was trying to break the mold
like we were talking about, wherethis kind of corrupt of nonprofit organization that
(16:04):
kind of is overbearing and runs everything, has the entire PGA on lockdown and
monopolize. Maybe there's something too.We gotta break this thing. We gotta
break it for the betterment of thefuture. We see that in all sports
where finally the players come together andthey say we're going to do this,
We're gonna go on strike, orwe're going to do this because it's betterment
for us right now, but it'salso a betterment of long term. Do
(16:25):
you think this is something the mergerthat's going to make it better for everybody
in the long run. I thinkI think for certain Bucky, I think
for certain players that was that wasthe case. I think for Phil Mickelson,
and I think for Dcambo, theyare so outside the box thinkers and
they like to do you know,and that's I respect that about both of
them, and whether you like themor not, I mean most people like
Phil, it's kind of up andyou know, you're kind of split fifty
(16:45):
fifty with Dcambo. But I've alwaysrespected about them and they will, they
will walk down that different path.They are not afraid to do something different.
I think for those two, yes, I think they wanted to change
the sport. I think they wantedto do something different that would give them
more power. I think that theother examples I think they're just individual examples.
Lee Westwood, Sergio garcia Ian pulledthey're done. I mean those guys
(17:07):
are there on the backside. Theyare the back nine of their career.
They're almost over. So they justtook the guarantee money and they can They
all live in Europe, well youknow, well Westwood, they all have
houses everywhere. But I just thinkthey guaranteed money and I'm done. I
can play in a couple of tournamentsand then you know, I ride off
into retirement. Brook skept I thinkdetailed the full swing. I think I
(17:29):
think he thought he was done andhad an opportunity to get one hundred plus
million dollars into to secure the restof his life for him financially, to
live the lifestyle that he wanted.He took the money because he didn't think
he'd ever be able to compete andplay again. Dustin Johnson, I think
it was I mean, deball football, just give me the money. I
just want to play a few tournamentsand kick it up. I don't think
Dustin Johnson could care less about anythingabout changing the culture of the sport.
(17:56):
I just think he looked at it, you're gonna he said it in the
Full Swing Netflix series. You're gonnapay you more money to work less,
Okay, And that's how I thinkthat's his thought process to it. Yeah,
and so I think they're they're differentindividually, but I think that the
two guys that stand out the mostthat wanted to change the game the first
two I mentioned d Shambo and Michelson. I think the timing is interesting coming
(18:19):
out of this too. Obviously thisweek is the RBC Canadian Open. Had
they put this out next week,now you're in US Open week and it's
already gonna probably be the lead storylineheading into it because once again you've got
to live golfers coming back to jointhe PGA Tour golfers. I mean,
is there going to even be aquestion ask that doesn't revolve around this?
(18:41):
No? I mean no, Imean Rory's playing, Rory's playing in the
RBC's is the two time defending champof it. And I mean that's that's
every question. I mean, Idon't know when his press conference is,
but yeah, it should should betoday, I think or later today.
The whole thing is gonna be aboutit. I mean, this is this
(19:02):
is one of the biggest sports newsI mean not everyone's a golf fan.
I get that. I mean it'sprobably pretty limited. We saw our audience.
But this is such a bigger storythan just golf. Is a huge
sports story. I mean, thisis you know, two leagues merging that
you just a year ago you didn'tthink there was ever gonna be any type
of murder. So yeah, itwill dominate this week at the RBC,
(19:22):
and it will certainly dominate next weekat the US Open when they're at the
La Country Club. I mean thatthat will be the only question asked.
I mean ever, I mean,can you imagine asking anything other than a
question about Live and the PGA Tourmerger. No, nothing, and it
is I mean, the whole thinghas been fascinating from start to finish,
honestly, And you know, wehad some people text in, oh,
no one cares about golf. Well, first of all, that's not true.
(19:45):
Just because you don't doesn't mean nobodydoes. But also, like as
you just pointed out, this isn'tjust a golf story. It was a
huge deal when Live Golf was created, and it's a huge deal now that
two years later they're emerging. Becausethis is changing the shape of an entire
sport. Well absolutely, yeah,I mean it's just everything and then what
what what will it look like?Yeah, like I'm curious about what this
(20:08):
looks like in next season, Likehow do we how does the sport integrate
all three? Is there a masterplan to integrate all three? Is there
an idea you know where you stillhave like a Team Live where these guys
still play on Team Live. Andthere's these PGA Tour players And if you
(20:29):
reapply, like if you reapply fortour, are you no longer on the
Lift Tour they're allowing Yeah, theyin in the release, they're allowing them
to reapply for the PGA Tour.And then does that mean you're all the
Live Tour now? I don't thinkno, no, because no, the
Lift Tour, the Lift Tours alwayswanted them. They've always wanted them to
(20:52):
be able to have status on theEuropean Tour and the PGA Tour. So
it's never for their perspective, there'snever been about picking. You choose,
man, it's fascinating. I haveso many questions. I feel like I'm
just gonna be reading about this allday long. Pucket, thank you so
much for joining us and helping usfigure out a little bit about this breaking
news story. This morning. I'msure you and Jim will be talking more
about it. I would assume wehave to cricket I think is number one.
(21:15):
Okay, cricket and that makes senseprobable. Good, we'll probably get
around to it for sure. Okay, well good. That is Jason Puckett.
He is on with Jim more tento one, So make it sure
that you're tuned in because I amsure they're going to both have a lot
to say. Jim's probably going tofigure out how to gamble on something involving
this would be my guess. Well, it's more gambling, for sure.
(21:37):
Yeah, for sure. All right, thank you Puckett, have a great
rest of your morning. We'll seeit a bit yep. By That is
Jason Puckett. Him and I dothe Nineteenth Whole podcast every week. You
can find it on iHeartMedia wherever youget your podcasts. Give it a listen.
We'd appreciate it because we work hardon it. Puckett always says he
puts more research into our podcast thanhe doesn't do his own show, So
don't say yeah really every day.Yeah, So there you go. See
(22:00):
full that's what happens when Pucket applieshimself. Ma
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