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[Assistant] Uh, and then he comes here, has a great couple of days of practice. He was never more convinced that he was going to play well at Augusta National than that year. And what does he do? He shoots 77 in the second round and then misses the cut. To me, this is a huge year for him.


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[Assistant] Just validation wise, he's playing well enough to win. Can he finally stumble upon a strategy that actually works? TBD. What do you think about Scottie? The refrain about Scottie this week has been...


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[Assistant] If he putts well, he's gonna win by a gazillion. If he putts, uh, average, he's gonna win by two or three. If he putts poorly, okay, now at least the rest of the field has a chance, and it could be one of the most wide open masters that we've seen in recent memory. Do you just, do you subscribe to that theory? Should we just crown Scottie Shuffler now?


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[Assistant] Rex, how about a couple other names, maybe the most intriguing players that you're looking forward to seeing over these next couple rounds? It could be as obvious as a John Rahman, Brooks Koepka, or maybe some under the radar players that you think actually have a realistic shot to win this thing.


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[Assistant] Yeah, Jordan and Augusta are a love story. We absolutely cannot quit, nor should we, since he has six top four finishes at what is still a very young Masters career. He's just 30 years old. I'm obviously looking forward to seeing that one as well, just to button up your other points. John Rahm, I thought it was very interesting. He spent some of his press conference on Tuesday, sort of defending Liv's competitive aspects, whether it was the schedule,


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[Assistant] Uh, whether it was the competition, uh, whether it was the team angle and sort of the pressure that he feels week in and week out. John Rahm, I think to the surprise of many, does not yet have a win in any of his five starts on live, although he's finished, I believe, in the top 13, uh, in all of them. He, he said he is fresher.


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[Assistant] Having played less golf, one thing he did not say, Rex, though.


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[Assistant] Is that he is sharper. So I think it'd be very interesting to see how John Rahm plays as it pertains to Brooks Koepke. You mentioned it. I mean, he has not played well in 2024. Traditionally, he says once the calendar flips to March 1st, that's when he sort of locks in, except in the two events that Liv has played.


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[Assistant] In 2024, he's finished on the top 25 in both of them. Does, does that, is that going to matter?


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[Assistant] It may not. I mean, we've never seen a player, at least in this generation, quite like Bruce Koepke, who can be so middling and so pedestrian for long stretches of time. And then when you get into a tournament that actually matters, that's when he flips on a switch. You know, Brandon made a great point that Roy seems to play his best when, when, when, when the least is at stake and his worst when the most is at stake.


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[Assistant] Brooks Kepka historically over the past decade has basically done the opposite of that and now he has five major championships to show forth. I think this will be the ultimate, uh, acid test of whether form matters as it relates to Brooks Kepka. I would throw Rex a couple other names out there. I'm very interested to see how this rookie class performs.


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[Assistant] And you could make the argument that this is the best rookie class, best first timers class that we've ever seen.


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[Assistant] At the Masters, Wyndham Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, the world number four is the highest ranked player ever.


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[Assistant] Uh, to be making, uh, his master's debut, uh, coming off a couple of really nice weeks, uh, during the Florida swing, including at the player's championship where he finished, uh, just shy of the playoff, but you also throw Ludwig Oberg.


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[Assistant] A top 10 player making his Masters debut. You think about Nikolai Hogard, uh, who has already played on the European Ryder Cup team. Akshay Bhatia, who just won last week in San Antonio, assuming, of course, he does not, uh, dislocate his shoulder once more.


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[Assistant] With one of those tiny little fist bumps. So I'm curious to see. We have not seen a Masters rookie win since 1979. But as Wynton Clark said earlier this week in his press conference, those are the exact type of records that are made to be broken. Jordan Spieth, of course, in 2014 came off a close finishing T2.


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[Assistant] Think about what happens, Rex. What if Wyndham Clark wins this Masters? He would now have a U.S. Open title, a Masters title, and two signature event wins, plus two runner-up finishes.


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[Assistant] Signature events. All of a sudden the narrative of, oh, this is going to be Scottie Scheffler's era in men's professional golf. I mean, Wyndham Clark would have a better, a better resume over the past 12 months than Scottie Scheffler. I think it'd be indisputable.


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[Assistant] Even I can say that that was an outrageous look. Could you see it? I didn't know what colors they were per se, but I could see that they were loud and slightly obnoxious. But hey, this is a big week for scripting.


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[Assistant] I'm colorblind and for those do not know anything about colorblind people i see life in color what i what i struggle with.


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[Assistant] Is the shading. If you've never taken a colorblind test, I encourage everyone to Google it. It's essentially like there's a three on a page and you throw a bunch of colors on there, uh, uh, able, able bodied people can pull up three, but easily colorblind people cannot see the three. And so I know I do not dress myself. Uh, my lovely wife, Amy does and so she has coordinated all my outfits. I know what days I'm supposed to wear them.


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[Assistant] And so I have, I have not picked out my clothes ever. I've never shot for myself since I have been married or engaged or dating her for the past 15 years. So any sort of hate.


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[Assistant] Uh, Bonnie, I do appreciate the love. Uh, I, I do, uh, also appreciate that my demographic ranges from 36-year-old women like my wife.


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[Assistant] Uh, uh, all the way to, to Bonnie, who apparently, uh, is the same age as my mother. I do appreciate the support, Bonnie. If, if people thought that that tie...


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[Assistant] And it was certainly polarizing. I don't think it was, I don't think it was skewed towards disliking it. I don't think it was universally loved either. That's nothing. That is nothing compared to what I got cooking up.


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[Assistant] Top player who you think can also place. I don't know what that means. This, this placing, I'm not, again, I'm not a gambler. Does that mean top three? Does that mean top five? How about just, how about just throw out a winner? A player you think will contend and a wild card of sorts for people who are filling out their master's pools at home.


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[Assistant] Wow. The limb you're on. You're gonna take- No, no, no. I am- I'm about to take a step. Really?


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[Assistant] Uh, somewhat decisively. Two, three, four shots would not surprise me at all for my player who I think will contend.


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[Assistant] I think there's a lot of them, uh, but I think Xander Schauffele is the obvious one to me. I think we could be looking at another player's championship rehash for sort of the dark horse players, so to speak.


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[Assistant] I don't know if the world number 12 at a former Masters champion is a dark horse, but I do think Hideki Matsuyama will continue to play well this week. I like Russell Henley as well. Jordan Spieth, I like him as well.


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[Assistant] Rex has played in the final group of this tournament before. You look at his putting stats from regular PGA Tour events.


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[Assistant] And major championships, which are traditionally on greens that are faster and more auditing is a stark difference. I talked to him earlier this week about his putting, which had a little bit of a setback with his broomstick putting. He said he's trying to get more artistic. There is no golf course in the world.


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[Assistant] Uh, that, that favors and rewards artistry, imagination, and creativity, uh, quite like, uh, Gusta National. And so I do like.


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[Assistant] Basically last year, look at last year's tournament. Yep. You had some, you had some separation.


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[Assistant] I always feel a little bit nostalgic as we sit here on the eve of the Masters Rex because it's like, sort of like NASCAR, where this is golf Superbowl and you can make the argument quite pessimistically.


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[Assistant] That the golf season only gets worse after this week, right? Like this is, this is the high point and it just comes fast and furious and you're just trying to hang on and the storylines aren't quite as coalesced as they are as we sit here. It's April, you're going dark already, why are you going so dark? It's April. Because I love this tournament, uh, I love to cover it.


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[Assistant] Uh, I think it's, I think it's fantastic. There's so much anticipation. It just feels, you just want to savor this moment, Rex. Because as soon as the ball goes in the air, it could be, it could be at, uh, 7, it could be at 8 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, or it could be about 3 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday when the Masters actually begins. It just seems like it goes so fast. And so we have the Golf Riders Association of American Dinner, uh, on Wednesday night, and then it's all downhill quite quickly from here. I just want to take a moment to savor this.


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[Assistant] Because it will be underway before we know it. But yes, we will be back on Thursday night. Could be a late.


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[Assistant] Mini pod edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Brexit Lab, depending if we do have some weather in the area, probably when we do have some weather in the area. But you guys know the drill. In the meantime, go to golfchannel.com or mbsports.com slash golf


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[Assistant] For our latest news, updates, commentary, features. There you can find my Victor Hovland feature both on TV and online.


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[Assistant] Uh, love doing that, uh, earlier this week. Rex, you and I will be on Live From for the rest of the week. Thank you guys as always for listening. Thanks for the support. We'll be back in 24 hours from now to recap, probably, the Midway Point, the first round of the Masters.


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[Assistant] Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav. Happy Thanksgiving week.


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[Assistant] To all who celebrate, we will certainly get in to what's on the grill ahead of what I affectionately refer to as the Dude Super Bowl. Just a sneak preview. You will be thoroughly impressed with what I have to offer and dispiritingly depressed by what Rex will be doing in two days time on literally the greatest day.


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[Assistant] Of the year before we get into what should actually be a jam packed golf podcast.


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[Assistant] We actually have to address the elephant in the room. This is not just an audio medium. This is a visual as well to all of our friends on YouTube. You have a, what appears to be a massive bandage above your right eye. Uh, frequent listeners and viewers of the podcast will, will, will know you from


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[Assistant] A quarter sized mark that you've had above that right eye for what seems like years now. Can you provide an update for us?


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[Assistant] This is actually, this is actually not my home spin studio. I'm sure people will be surprised to learn. I'm at Reynolds Lake and Coney. My wife is absolutely furious. This is now the fifth attempt that we have tried to do this podcast. So I'm here at the Lake Club at Reynolds Lake and Coney. Great spot. It's a horrible weather today. She's just, she's really not happy.


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[Assistant] Yep, we are not doing simply audio. We had to, we had to highlight and showcase this. Sun safety is incredibly important. I've never seen you slather.


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[Assistant] SPF 50 on the handsome face of yours, uh, but you will.


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[Assistant] From now on, let's get into the golf rex because it actually has been a busy seven days since we last did our podcast with Davis love the third at Southern soul. And thank you guys by the way for all the great feedback that we have from that podcast. Hoping to do much more of that.


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[Assistant] In 2024, but let's first begin with the news that dropped on Monday. If anyone has seen the viral videos.


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[Assistant] Of the dome collapse that was set to house the TGL, the tech infused golf league started by Tiger Woods and Roy McIlwain. You will not be surprised to learn that the league has now been suspended or postponed.


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[Assistant] Until 2025, it seemed like there was absolutely no way that they could recover 50 days out from what appeared to be a catastrophic, catastrophic damage to the dome. And sure enough, we have confirmation on Monday that that will be the case.


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[Assistant] What was your reaction to that news? It was not surprising, but I do think there could potentially be a trickle down effect.


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[Assistant] Rush in the sense not that we don't know what this league is, it's rush in the sense this dome was not completed and you had 50 days out until the start of the league. It just seemed overly ambitious. It seemed like there had to have been some sort of issue with the contractors. Like why was the actual structure that will house


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[Assistant] This massive simulator not yet built. We are inside of two months before this thing.


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[Assistant] And like, I've talked about it with other people, we've talked, we've mentioned like, there's gonna be a huge gambling element, and you think like, what if there's a glitch?


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[Assistant] With the simulator, like we've all hit balls, like at a golf galaxy or a PG Tour Superstore, right? Like you, you, you smoke one, it doesn't show up on the track, man. You're like, oh, let's just, let's just try that one again. If that, if that happens during this TGL show, like there will be significant ramifications gambling wise. So that was one concern.


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[Assistant] The actual just housing the structure, having that not yet done, uh, to me seemed very rushed. The actual league has not been rushed. This has been in works now, uh, for nearly two years. We don't yet know which players are going to fill out which teams.


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[Assistant] But you also could see the strategy that they were employing basically the live blueprint.


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[Assistant] Whatever the case may be. It wasn't rushed in the sense.


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[Assistant] That way, it was, how was this thing not already done? Now I do think, so as much as I'm bummed on a personal level, Rex, like we know people who are involved in this, I do think that this does give


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[Assistant] TGL, a much better chance of success. Now having a 14 month rollout window, I do think all the pieces should be in place for early 2025. I still believe it should be in the fall. Tuesdays in the fall is a better TV window and a better chance to have success, but


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[Assistant] I understand why they do it. I understand why ESPN wants to do it in the spring. We just have to wait another year to do so.


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[Assistant] So do you think, Rex, potentially the, the players that have made googly eyes at live in the past, whether it's Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffler, do you think those players without now a year revenue stream that they were kind of banking on with the launch of TGL in 2024, do you think that potentially opens up a window for those guys to, to,


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[Assistant] I don't know, see, see what's out there, then maybe more than they could've.


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[Assistant] Is it? Please let us know. I'm 36 going out in 66.


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[Assistant] Patrick Cantlay, we just mentioned him. Tiger Woods, we just mentioned him. Those two are kind of tangentially related, right, in this next topic.


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[Assistant] In the, in the first edition of this podcast that we did about 24 hours ago, we waited for Tiger Woods in the third block in TV parlance and we will actually have him in the second block. Tiger Woods has announced that he will play next week.


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[Assistant] At the Hero World Challenge, you will be there in the Bahamas to see Tiger Woods first competitive start since the Masters, since that ankle fusion, tangentially related though, both Patrick Cantlay.


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[Assistant] We drew from the event we can get in that in a little bit. Let's first stick with Tiger though. We have a very small sample size of what Tiger Woods has been able to do post car crash.


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[Assistant] Five events, T45 is his best result. He's guaranteed to at least do that in 2023 at the Hero World Challenge.


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[Assistant] Only 20 man field. What makes you believe that this can be any different for Tiger?


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[Assistant] Not lit, not literally, not literally where he stands. You know, he stands probably with a little bit of weight, weight, right foot. You're talking about where he stands, he stands on issues of today, as a detour policy. That's what you're referring to.


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[Assistant] I always do love 2rex, the fact that it's always like a well orchestrated rollout when Tiger Woods is about to make.


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[Assistant] A competitive return. You have not seen him for months and then all of a sudden he's hitting wedges, he's hitting iron shots, he's doing a speaking engagement. Like they know absolutely how to put Tiger Woods back in the public consciousness and he is indeed making


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[Assistant] Kind of relaunched Tiger post-back fusion. Like this was going to be the next chapter of his career. That was kind of like a.


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[Assistant] I would call like an auspicious return and then 2018, he wins again for the first time in five years on the PGA tour. And so this is actually going to be the rare press conference. I think that I'm sure this is going to be streaming live on golf channel where.


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[Assistant] The state of Tiger's game and the state of Tiger's health.


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[Assistant] Do you think, do you think Tiger's actually going to answer them? I think back to a quote that Roy McElroy had last week when he played in Dubai, when he was speaking with reporters and they asked him, you know, you just had this marathon board meeting where you're going to get to that in just a second on this podcast, but he said, loose lips sink


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[Assistant] Ships. In other words, these are active negotiations. There's not been anything, uh, finalized, at least not publicly, as relates, uh, to private equity money, uh, pumping into, uh, PGTOR enterprises. Obviously, there's been no deal, uh, with the Saudis ahead of the December 31st deadline. Like, these are active negotiations. I don't think he's going to be necessarily in a position or a mood


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[Assistant] One player who is no longer Rex on the PGA Tour policy board, that is Roy McRoy. 12 to 14 hour board meeting on Monday, a day later.


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[Assistant] And we'll get into that timing in a little bit. He said that he was resigning.


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[Assistant] The PGH or policy board when speaking to reporters, he said he could no longer.


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[Assistant] Uh, stomach, the commitment that was required has been on the board the past two years. Obviously these have been the most contentious, the most tumultuous, the most time consuming years.


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[Assistant] Of a PGH or policy board members tenure, are you actually buying


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[Assistant] I certainly don't blame him. Like it makes a lot of rational sense in a lot of ways. Like these have been an incredibly time consuming two years. When you think back to 2012.


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[Assistant] Roy was juggling board meetings, marathon phone calls, then playing some of the best golf of his career, top 10, uh, in all four.


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[Assistant] Major championships, he seemed kind of inspired by the fight, you know, that he felt like he was playing for something bigger than just himself. Now, you know.


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[Assistant] Fast forward to spring 2023, he said the burden of expectation, the burden of all this extraneous work that was going on, uh, has actually hampered him, is affecting his mental health, needed a reset, and then June 6th happens. Like, to me, it makes sense why he would want to leave the board. The question is why now?


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[Assistant] You just had this meeting on Monday that was 12 or 14 hours and he was playing, what is that, six or seven hours ahead, uh, in Dubai. So he's staying up into the wee hours, uh, before the tournament, the deeper world tours, season finale, and then he resigns the next day. So a cynic Rex would have three possible theories.


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[Assistant] I'm not saying these are my theories, I'm saying a cynic could potentially say that this would be the case.


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[Assistant] What happens in that meeting, finalized or made clear what the PJ tour is going to do. Royce signs off on it and now it's just a matter of finalizing.


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[Assistant] The details, right? Like he knows the path. This is where we're going. It just not has not been made official yet. That's theory number one. Theory number two.


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[Assistant] Is that Rory knows that eventually the PJ tour is going to have to get in bed with the Saudis. They're going to have to strike a deal with the PIF in some capacity. It seems very unlikely that the DOJ would allow a tour PIF deal as currently constituted, but there could still be kind of this co-mingling between private equity firms and the PIF.


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[Assistant] Is that something actually happened in that meeting that set him off? Some sort of disagreement?


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[Assistant] Uh, and now he's basically taking his ball and going home and now leaving it for Jordan Spieth, who is filling his vacancy on the Peachtour policy board, uh, to kind of sew up.


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[Assistant] I, I can, I can see the possibility of all three of those theories.


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[Assistant] Right, coming to fruition or playing some sort of role. The timing is just too coincidental that you would do it.


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[Assistant] At a tournament for two months. In theory, you would not have to answer any questions about this for two months instead.


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[Assistant] He resigns on Tuesday, knowing he was going to be meeting with reporters each and every day in Dubai. To me, the timing is certainly curious.


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[Assistant] I think there's, I think there's a possibility that they know that they need the PIP money.


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[Assistant] Who won his first P.J. Tour event in his 11th start on the P.J. Tour, 6161 weekend, uh, to absolutely crush the field. If you're keeping a score at home, his 259 tied the P.J. Tour record for the lowest 72-hole mark. We saw him at the Ryder Cup. We saw him at the NCAA Championship.


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[Assistant] We see, you've seen him now, up close and personal, in the flesh, uh, at your fifth major. Quite simply, is he the game's next superstar?


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[Assistant] The short answer is yes. That's my question. He is a superstar. And it is. Because now he has crossed by playing the RSM Classic. He has crossed.


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[Assistant] The threshold, we're having the number of rounds to be able to see what his stroke scan statistics are against his peers on the PGA Tour. He is 10th.


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[Assistant] In strokes, gain total in second strokes, gain up to his first and total driving, which combines distance and accuracy. You look at anyone who is topping that category or at least in the top five or top 10, those guys play well each and every single week. It is such an advantage. The skillset.


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[Assistant] That he has, and that, and keep in mind, he's playing on golf courses that he's seen for the very first time at the end of a very long year, completing his senior season at Texas Tech, getting right into his pro career, trying to play a lot.


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[Assistant] And, and potentially siphoning some of the top amateur players over to live golf and kind of eliminating that PJ tour pathway. It was not too long ago.


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[Assistant] That a player like Ludwig Ober would have had to toil an apprentice on the corn fairy tour for a year.


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[Assistant] Everyone knows what I'm going to be doing. We'll be mentioning the TikTok, GC, Rex, and Lav. We'll be doing the start to finish turkey brine situation, turkey smoking. What are you doing? What's on the grill?


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[Assistant] I want you to do a turkey! I want you to do a turkey. If not a turkey, I want you to do a ham.


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[Assistant] I was so offended that like I almost, I almost completely just shut down the podcast there and gave you a scolding off camera. I can't believe it. It's insulting.


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[Assistant] And make it edible. No one's ever like sitting around the table like, ooh.


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[Assistant] Spatchcock, so it cooks evenly. You have to do a dry brine or a wet brine, which I'll be doing here on Tuesday, two days ahead of time. You have to butter it on the inside. You have to season it. You have to smoke it. You have to baste it. You have to rest it. You have to carve it properly or it's utterly useless. All to make something


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[Assistant] Edible. And I take great pride in it. I think I turned out a mean turkey. My family is at least somewhat appreciative of all of my efforts. And for you to just turn your back on this tradition, for you to say, you know what, I don't care about Thanksgiving.


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[Assistant] You know, I don't care about providing a great meal for my family. I'm gonna take the easy way out and just throw on a couple ribeyes for eight minutes over some charcoal. It's, it's offensive.


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[Assistant] To prove your manly-hood and smoke a turkey and to do it well.


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[Assistant] As, as I mentioned, we are, we are starting this TikToking down. It's at...


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[Assistant] I have my, uh, sister-in-law coming into town, uh, in Reynolds. He's supposed to show me how to actually do a TikTok, but if you guys are interested, I will be doing a TikTok from start to finish of my process for the turkey. No pressure. Uh, I can always just edit it, uh, if need be. Uh, I will definitely be sending you snappy chats.


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[Assistant] Go have, go, go actually have pride in your work. Uh, because that's exactly.


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[Assistant] What we'll be doing over at the Labner House. But we do thank you guys for listening to this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lab. Make sure you go to mbsports.com slash golf for the latest news, notes, comments, features.


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[Assistant] Podcasts, videos, et cetera. We're back next week for a full recap of Thanksgiving. Rex's Revised.


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[Assistant] And whatever else pops up in the world of golf. We'll see you next time.


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[Assistant] Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav. After day one of the Ryder Cup, the U.S. Ryder Cup team has won as many matches as they did entering the week. That is,


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[Assistant] Uh, equaling the largest spread after day one in Ryder Cup history, a spread we have not seen since 2004, 1975.


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[Assistant] Was the other one wrecks an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.


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[Assistant] In the opening foursome session and then the afternoon where it looked like the US team could go up three and one wrecks instead three.


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[Assistant] consecutive tied matches with heroics from Justin Rose to Jon Rahm.


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[Assistant] To Victor Hovland, what are your thoughts after what was a historic day for the Europeans and a disastrous day for the Americans?


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[Assistant] Two consecutive days, Rex, in which I did not interrupt you, I let you ramble for two.


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[Assistant] Uh, consecutive minutes, uh, uninterrupted. Uh, so kudos to me for that. I mean, there's just so much to get to. I, you think back to, to Wednesday and Thursday when there was a lot of second guessing with Luke Donnell, like, how could you possibly start with foursomes? I know that's historically the Europeans.


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[Assistant] Right now, Rex, is the Europeans. I mean, you have to give them credit. I certainly think there's probably a market correction in order. The number of hold putts, the number of hold chips, the number of...


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[Assistant] In regards to maybe not sending players out for all five sessions. When you look at the Europeans and what they did particularly well on Friday, it boils down to their big three.


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[Assistant] Victor Hovland, Roy McRoy, and John Rahm are three of the four best players in the world, and they all delivered.


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[Assistant] For Europe's victory here. You needed those guys to likely go.


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[Assistant] Brooks or JT or Spieth, where's your head at at this point in the proceedings?


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[Assistant] I think that's where I'm in agreement with you, at least at this stage in the proceedings. They just looked rusty.


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[Assistant] They didn't have the speed of the greens, they were hitting uncharacteristic shots, like Patrick Cantley fatting an iron shot, uh, into the water on the eighth hole, like it was just...


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[Assistant] Really kind of scruffy around the greens, like their scoring clubs weren't particularly sharp. Like, that's a really long layoff. In no world would a world class player take off that amount of time before another big event.


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[Assistant] And so, and yet they did it for the Ryder Cup and I understand the way the schedule fell this year.


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[Assistant] Uh, it was not, it was not going to be ideal either way, right? Like this is the first year they had all the signature events in the PGA Tour. They really condensed the schedule from March to August, forced these guys to play a lot of big time, high pressure golf that is important, not just to the legacies, but to their bank accounts. And admittedly, all of these guys were spent after Eastlake.


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[Assistant] One by one, they came into the interview room here and they said, yeah, I didn't touch a club for a week or two. Like I just absolutely needed a break. And then I started to get back into it. But you know, playing, playing casual rounds.


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[Assistant] Uh, like Max Holman, Wyndham Clark did at Whisperock, is not the same as what the entire European team did. Whether they're playing the European Masters, or they're playing the Irish Open, or they're playing the BMW PGA. Those are important tournaments. Those are competitive reps. Uh, that's fine tuning your game.


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[Assistant] Under the gun of competition. Europe just looks sharper at this point. They'd certainly trended in that direction heading in. You could see the results ticking up. Matt Pittspatrick, who I know you wrote about for mbsports.com slash golf on Friday night, was one of those players who had trended in the right direction. And I think that bore out.


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[Assistant] Yes, we have to go. The reason why I'm not interrupting you is because I keep having to put myself.


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[Assistant] I mean, this is actually getting me going. This is exactly what they needed, Rex. The first tee, uh, you actually did make it out there. Uh, it was, it was a little bit suspect. We did not know if you were going to be out there for the opening tee shot. I was there as I have been for every Buttercup match I've covered. Totally lame.


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[Assistant] Uh, fans that were allowed on property, but certainly not the 40 or 50,000 that we are expecting each and every day here in Rome. But when you got out to the first tee, there was no music.


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[Assistant] Absolutely insane. Every writer. It's a layup.


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[Assistant] That the Americans should have been nervous or anxious heading to that first tee because it was quiet.


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[Assistant] It wasn't until 12 minutes before the first tea time that you actually had the thing full. Uh, it was, uh, to me, uh, something that needed to be remedied immediately to inject some juice because right now the scoreboard is not doing. That's, that's besides the point. That was, okay, that was my surprise.


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[Assistant] Your boy Matt Fitzpatrick was six under in his first six holes, the first time he has ever played.


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[Assistant] Oh, bear. You bet. You bet the parents, uh, and the sister who certainly caught your attention. Uh, and that is a, that is a performance that is a player who is certainly


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As good as advertised, we do have a little bit of hashtag breaking news with the tee times for Saturday's foursome session just being released to no one's surprise, Rex.


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[Assistant] Europe is trotting out the exact same four pairings they had on Friday, which is Roy McRoy, Tommy Fleetwood, Victor Hovland.


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[Assistant] On Saturday morning, Spieth really struggled. We do not have any statistics through the European


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[Assistant] Uh, Tour, but we do have Strokes Gain Data thanks to Data Golf. And Spieth was by far the worst.


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[Assistant] On day one, then you're gonna have Skye Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. They played together.


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[Assistant] Friday afternoon, that's Sam Burns then who would be on the bench. Max Homa and Brian Harmon getting another opportunity after getting waxed on Friday morning and then the established pairing of Patrick Cantlay.


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[Assistant] I must admit, I was a little bit surprised we did not see Patrick Cantlay.


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[Assistant] On Friday afternoon, one of the best players in the American team, if not the best, uh, the most consistent player, certainly, uh, you would have thought that Zach Johnson would have trotted him out there, uh, given the dire scenario of going down for love at the opening session. Quick thoughts on those pairings that we'll see.


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[Assistant] I mean, they certainly have opportunity. There's no reason why the American side cannot do exactly what the European side just did. It's going to have to take better golf and a market correction when it comes to the Europeans. I love the fact that they're basically just reheating.


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[Assistant] What they just did. This is their best foursome pairing. They just proved it on Friday. Send it out again. What I think I, Rex, I'm most curious about is Saturday afternoon. Obviously we don't get the four balls until late, uh, after the, or at least


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[Assistant] Midway through the first session, if not a little bit later, I do not want to see Luke Donald relent at any point. I think the temptation is going to be


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[Assistant] If I'm Luke Donald, I go for the jugular and trot out the same guys over and over and over again. 10-6 is the biggest deficit ever.


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[Assistant] At that point, go for the kill, cause what happens if you rest your Rorys, if you rest your Roms, if you rest your Hava, and look, I don't think they're gonna do that. You still need to have some sort, some horses in the stable to make sure, uh, that you're giving yourself a chance to at least, uh, have the, the session, which look,


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[Assistant] Send them out. If you get up by seven or eight, it's over. It doesn't matter.


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[Assistant] If you almost completely lose a Sunday single session, it doesn't matter. What you don't want to have happen is rest those guys. The Americans get some momentum. All of a sudden you get in that magical four point range and then you've, and then you got some trouble. That's, that's a scenario you cannot afford to have if you're Luke Donald.


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[Assistant] Every single American player is ranked inside the top 25 in the world. I would be very cautious about letting any sort of guard down. If you have the opportunity to put this thing away on Saturday afternoon, all I'm saying is I'm Luke Donald. I would take


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[Assistant] Advantage. Rex, before we get out of here, we've already gone 20 minutes on this MIDI pod. That's exactly the range we're trying to get to. One last thought on the day. What you're most looking forward to.


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[Assistant] A topic for another day, potentially Saturday, depending what the score is going to be, is have we gone too far in the golf course setup?


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[Assistant] In the home field advantage, if we get to another situation where this Ryder Cup is decided by at least four points as it is, as has been the case over the past couple of Ryder Cups that I think a discussion needs to be had to inject some excitement.


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[Assistant] I thought Friday was plenty exciting. There's plenty for us to write about. Obviously as we're doing on this podcast, there's plenty for us to talk about. That might not be the case on Saturday night. I'm curious to see where we stand 24 hours from now. Alright.


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[Assistant] That's gonna do it for this edition. Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lab. Make sure you go to mbcsports.com slash golf. All of our news, notes, commentary, features.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Podcast videos. You once again got cancelled from live from. Not for anything you said. You did not get cancelled in that way. Uh, stay tuned. That can certainly happen by the end of the week. Uh, but your hit was deemed unimportant. Just know that you're always important.


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[Assistant] No, no, it's not over. I was just sitting here thinking to myself, you, uh, are a University of Georgia homer, as you can tell by the hat you have on. I'm sitting by you, sitting by Mark Schlabel, who again is a University of Georgia homer.


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[Assistant] And Jack Ryan, that's the second shout out. He gets another University of Georgia Homer. So it's going to be a tough weekend for me all the way around. I'm going to go ahead and say this. If he does win.


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[Assistant] And there aren't many firsts when it comes to the claret jug. Like people have drank all manner of liquids out of that thing. But do you think Ugga has ever drank out of a claret jug? Can you imagine how cool that would be?


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[Assistant] Okay, so that one, I'm gonna go with why he will first. I think when you look at where he's at in his game, I had a chance to talk with his swing coach, Justin Parsons.


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[Assistant] This afternoon and he's an old school guy. I mean, he's very much a field player in theory. He plays. I mean, when you look at the way he likes to play the game, he likes to play golf shot, not golf swing or golf theory. He's going to go out there. He's going to see the shot. He should love.


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[Assistant] This type of golf that hasn't been the case up until last year. He didn't have a top 10 in the open championship. He hadn't played particularly well on leaks courses. Something clicked.


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[Assistant] On Friday last year at St. Andrews and he got his first top 10. Certainly he's playing well this time around. He played well last week.


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[Assistant] At the Scottish Open, so I think he has a lot of momentum on his side. You look at the way he's been playing on the PGA Tour. The last three starts haven't been outside the top 15. Justin Parsons said he's swinging in as well now as he ever has. All that being said, it's hard for me to imagine.


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[Assistant] How he gets it done. It would be entirely different for a lot of different reasons. Hard to imagine. He's up by five, Rex. How can you not imagine him getting it done?


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[Assistant] If we were having this conversation tomorrow night, my degree of confidence would be through the roof that he was going to get it done again by five strokes. I think over the course of a weekend of links golf with the forecast that we have, I just walked home in the rain and the wind and it's just going to be more of that over the course of the weekend. I think you end up with larger swings and you sort of.


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[Assistant] Pick up on that in what Rory said, Rory's nine strokes back and he sounded like a very confident man, not a man that was nine strokes back. And I think it has everything to do with the idea that he knows better than anyone.


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[Assistant] That one or two holes of links golf can do away with a nine shot lead or whatever the case may be really, really quickly. I can sit here and make that argument.


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[Assistant] I can make the argument that yes he's playing well, yes he seems to have discovered something on LynxGolf, but I just think the player is behind him.


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[Assistant] Are gonna make it so hard for him and he's never done it before in a major. He admitted, you pointed out that 2017 US Open.


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[Assistant] Got out of his head, got ahead of himself, started thinking about Ugga drinking out of the US Open trophy, whatever the case may be, and consequently he fell apart. It's going to be a struggle for him.


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[Assistant] That's a really nice way for you to say you don't like the leaderboard right now. So just come out and say it.


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[Assistant] Uh, it doesn't look great, and I guess my comeback to that is if you look at the last two winners of the Open Championship here at Hoi Lai, they've been world number one, it's been Tiger Woods, it's been Rory McIlroy, this is kinda like an Elvis thing. I mean, you get paid for the attempt, no one said it has to be good, and in this particular case, maybe this is going to be the outlier, and I'm not even...


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[Assistant] Like I'm not sitting here saying that Brian Harmon wouldn't be a good champion or Min Woo Lee wouldn't be a good champion. They're still, if they're identified as the best golfer this week, then.


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[Assistant] They get to take the Claire Jug home and celebrate as the champion golfer.


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[Assistant] of the year, it's just not going to be one of those opens that we remember the last two times it was here. And maybe that's just where we're at. I'm also going to point out, you pointed out the stat, he's only hit into one fairway bunker. Probably the only other stat that I would point out, he died in my three pipe.


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[Assistant] That to me, in my mind, or the two most, I can't come up with two more open stats than that. If, if you're going to point to something and go, how do you have success on links golf and those conditions? Those are the two things that come to mind.


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[Assistant] No, I think he has a reason to feel pretty good for all the reasons we just pointed out, because for Brian Harmon to continue this pace, if he does make 296 feet of putts over the weekend and he wins by six shots, then man, hats off. Like, like way to, way to go. I think where Rory's coming from on this, and this is probably.


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[Assistant] Some of those mental gymnastics that we talked about that he's had to sort of come around to over the last really decade.


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[Assistant] Since he won a major championship, what's he gonna do? What's the alternative?


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[Assistant] To tell himself that no, I gotta, I have to do something special on Saturday and something special on Sunday because we all know that that's not going to turn out well. Maybe he shoots a 65 on Saturday, but that turns into a 75 on Sunday. You can't come out.


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[Assistant] On this golf course in these conditions and press and expect it to make up nine shots in the blink of a hat, uh, in the blink of an eye. It's not going to happen. So I think it's the only option for him. I do think, I mean, he just won last week.


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[Assistant] He wanted very dramatic fashion we gone over this so i think he's happy with where is game is right now i think he's happy with the idea that he's being patient is not forcing things.


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[Assistant] And i think it's easy for him to talk himself into the idea that okay nine strokes is not insurmountable that being said he's gonna need some help and he's going to have to play better than what he played the first two rounds.


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[Assistant] I think you go back to what Martin Slumber said earlier this week. He said the weekend forecast called for two types of conditions, wet and very wet. And so we're going to end up one way or the other. It's going to be challenging. You're right. I don't think players particularly mind-wet were wet. I don't think players, uh,


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[Assistant] Take it from someone who just, really? Just like it was misting earlier this week when you and I did the hit. Anna, shout out to you. Yes, we were standing in the mist. You guys go look what the mist looks like. We put some pictures of that on social media. By all means, go look at the misting.


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[Assistant] Have we brought that up on the podcast before? That you don't like me wearing a suit when I'm, when I'm in the studio at home?


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[Assistant] That's what looks like a buffoon. That's the silly part about all this. I will say, like, it's twofold. One, playing in the rain is fine. They do this all the time. It's an outdoor sport. They're used to it. Playing in the wind is fine. It's an outdoor sport. They do it all the time. Doing both?


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[Assistant] That's when it gets very, very challenging. And you're right, 12 miles an hour is not particularly difficult, but you combine that with now my golf clubs are wet, now I'm cold, now I'm having to deal with all these other things. It's not going to be easy conditions. I will say that.


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[Assistant] That's right. Now I'm going to set you up. So I think we're 10 minutes into the podcast right now. So I'm going to go ahead and just trigger it right now. You wrote about, I don't know what, 40,000 words.


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[Assistant] By a mile, he talked to the media, uh, for surprisingly long time. And the part that gets me is you took a deep dive. What, what was your take?


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[Assistant] So, and again, I kind of exaggerate, please go check out govchannel.com. You spend a lot of time working on this, and I know it's a very, very good column.


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[Assistant] The gist of it though, it is interesting. You brought up Zach Johnson. We, and we've talked about this the last three days.


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[Assistant] And the media center, and it's amazing sort of the arc of, I guess there was one person in the media saying that JT is completely out of the Ryder Cup conversation. I think that's ridiculous. I think there's still a lot of things that are going to happen, but in the immediacy of now.


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[Assistant] Does he make that team i mean in your mind should he make that team is probably a better question.


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[Assistant] It seems like he does, like listening to his comments today. I will say this, so let's run through it real quick and I don't want to bog this down because this shouldn't be a Ryder Cup conversation, but right now the U.S. standings are Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brooks Kapka, Xander Schaafle, Patrick Cantlay, and Max Homa. That's the top six.


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[Assistant] Then you go, then you go the next. So then it goes Keegan, Jordan Spieth, Kalamora Kawa, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, and Ricky Fowler rounds out the top 12.


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[Assistant] All really good players. I mean, specifically, you look at Cam Young, he actually played decent today. He hasn't been playing great the last. Justin Thomas is 13th. I don't think...


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[Assistant] If all things are equal, and Jack Johnson's making this decision today, I think you're 100% correct. I think you look at what he's done for the team, you look at the way he would fit into that team room, you look at the natural pairing he has with Jordan Spieth and others in that team room. It's an easy pick. I guess my only question is,


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[Assistant] What happens in it almost seems inevitable unless he finds something next week in Minnesota.


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[Assistant] What happens when he slips to 14 or 15 or 16 and now all of a sudden you're jumping over players that might be playing well right now and I guess I'm not making an argument against him. I guess I'm trying to figure out exactly.


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[Assistant] How Zach is going to justify this when the time comes because it seems like that's inevitable. Oh, I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to.


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[Assistant] I think you're being a prisoner of the moment right now. And I'm gonna take it a step further. You clearly did not see that. Qualification ends in one month.


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[Assistant] You did not see Hatton finish up today on the 18th hole when he pumped not one but two tee shots. I saw him shotgunning the out of bounds stakes. I saw it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that was brilliant. So he pumps not one, but two tee shots out of bounds on the right hand side. It's easy to do. People have done it.


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[Assistant] But then we were watching on video and he did like the quintessential thing that all golfers do. He could not have hit that third tee shot further left. He almost hit the media tent. And I mean, that's gotta be 300 yards in the wrong direction. Uh, Matt Fitzpatrick missed the cut. Uh, Tommy Fleetwood right there in the hunt. I'm kind of going down their world list right now. Don't know that Shane Lowry's.


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[Assistant] You just say Tommy Fleetwood missed the cut. Tommy Fleetwood's in second place.


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[Assistant] No, I said Tommy Fleet was right there in the hunt is what I said. Oh. Hunt. I thought you said not cut. But like, Victor Hovland's played great during the majors so far this year. It's hard for me to see that after those things that they make him wear. Come on, do better.


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[Assistant] I don't think it's a problem, and again, I don't want to get bogged down with the Ryder Cup conversation on Friday night at the Open Championship. I don't think it's a problem right now, that kind of is a testament, right? To the leaderboard that, what did you guys talk about? Well, we talked about the Ryder Cup.


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[Assistant] And that's kind of one of the key hooks to it at least. I wrote 900 Brian Harmon because I feel like it's important to cover the tournament you're at.


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[Assistant] I will see this. I don't think it's a problem right now, as I pointed out. At 13th on that list, you can make a really good argument for a lot of different reasons.


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[Assistant] Two months from now when he makes that pick, if he has slid to 16th and done absolutely nothing and not made the playoffs and not played it a month, that's going to be a problem.


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[Assistant] I think we're going to see open golf. I think we're going to be entertained. Maybe not so much by the names. It doesn't look like, like the top players are going to deliver like we've seen here before. But I think what we're going to end up with is sort of what makes the open so special.


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[Assistant] Is you have guys battling the elements, battling this golf course, battling this sort of unique brand of golf. That's going to be the entertaining part.


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[Assistant] Hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav. It is the final week


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[Assistant] Of the PGA Tours regular season, the Wyndham Championship marks the final stop. Players to try and make.


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[Assistant] The FedEx Cup playoffs, that means Adam Scott, Joel Damon, Gary Woodland, Akshay Patia, Billy Horschel, you're all on the clock, but so incredibly


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is Justin Thomas, he enters the final week of the regular season, 79th.


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[Assistant] In points, needs no worse than an 18th place finish and some help in order to crack the top 70 wrecks. What's at stake for JT this week in Greensboro? It feels like a whole lot more than just the FedEx Cup playoffs.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, this is such an anomaly for Justin Thomas when you look at the course of his career. I mean, he's typically booked his ticket to Eastlake.


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[Assistant] By like, no later than early March. Like almost every single year. He is, he is routinely among the top ten, even when he has a down year.


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[Assistant] Even in a down year, he still wins the players championship or even a down year, he still wins the PGA championship. And so yeah, like he's, if he does not crack the top 70, obviously it would not crack the top 50 if he doesn't get in any of those other ways by either winning in the fall or getting sort of these mini swings that you're going to get.


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[Assistant] Uhm, in the early 2024 or even if he finishes among the top 30 in the world ranking at the end of this year, like he's still going to get one of those four spots. Now they are going to dry up quickly, right? Like it's, it's four spots. Let's say Tiger wants to play Riviera. There goes another spot. JT gets a spot.


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[Assistant] Uh, maybe you have a hotshot college kid, uh, who's absolutely tearing it up that you want to give a spot to. Maybe it's a, it's a past champion who wouldn't already be there. Those four spots will drop quickly. Uh, but Justin Thomas.


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[Assistant] If you're one of his PGTour peers, you're certainly not going to, you're certainly going to be wishing him well trying to get in there. What are you, what are you holding up there? This is a visual medium and no one can see that.


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[Assistant] The reason, the reason why I had to do this, uh, cause you went to Memphis last year after I did the, uh, most epic boondoggle of all time in 2021. I gained eight pounds after going to Memphis for a week, hit every single hotspot that I wanted to go to. I don't think I had ribs again for like six months.


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[Assistant] Uh, after I went to Memphis, so I did it, I did it absolutely balls the wall two years ago. Last year, I'm not sure what you were thinking. You, I think you went to the commissary and then you had,


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[Assistant] A couple, a couple like lazy nights, you got, you got sidetracked. No, we went to Gus's. That's what I went to Gus's. It's a, it's a, it's a six day trip. You really have to maximize. I mean,


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[Assistant] Trust me, Memphis in summertime, you're, you're gonna wanna, you wanna, you're gonna wanna go to these restaurants and then head back to your hotel. And so we, I, I went through painstaking detail.


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[Assistant] In making this itinerary, trying to mix up the flow of meats. You don't want to have ribs, you know, three consecutive nights. I tried to mix that. I was very cognizant, as you mentioned, of the hours of operation. Some of these places are so popular, they will sell out. And so I tried to make the ones that potentially could sell out early in the week when you would have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've, I've, I've kept track of the gains I've made when I was working out, offset smokers I'm targeting, what I'm trying to do for Christmas Day, uh, lunch and dinner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How do you track your games? Oh, obviously, obviously you would use like a, you use like a little ruler, like a little bendable ruler. You, you put it on your chest, you put it around your arms. Oh, you're not doing like.


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[Assistant] Hashtag G-A-N-G-I-A-G-I-I-I-N-Z. Gains. Yep. But like, I have everything. I have my neighbors names when I first moved in so I don't forget them. But somehow I have lost.


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[Assistant] Somehow I have lost my Memphis itinerary. And so I had no problem going through it yesterday for an hour. Uh, it was a good exercise for me. I'm certainly going to be putting Memphis back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, on my to-do list or to cover list, I guess it would be over the next couple years. Uh, how, how, how steadfast do you think you will be in, in following this?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and yes, I think it goes back to the point that I've, I've been making for years now and it's finally kinda coming to fruition. The fact that fewer cards means more drama, which means a better product.


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[Assistant] Like, I think 125 PJ Tour cards is too many, and so now having the top 70 cut off for the playoffs is a good move. I don't know what the right number of PJ Tour members is, Rex. I think 70 is probably too few if you're looking at literally card-holding PJ Tour players. I think 125 is too many.


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[Assistant] Yeah, for playoff purposes, cutting that top 70. And so, like, if you did not have...


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[Assistant] If you had a decent but not good or great season, like you're not gonna make it. And you look at the players who are outside the top 70 right now, look at the number of top 10 finishes they have had.


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[Assistant] By and large, almost across the board, it is 1, 2, or 3 top 10 finishes throughout the PGA Tour season. Playing 20, anywhere from 25 to 28 times, right?


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[Assistant] Like as, as just a general rule of thumb. That's not great. That's not great playing and those players should not be rewarded for what is basically a mediocre campaign. And so I like this move by the PGA Tour to get to the top 70. I think it makes the final few weeks of the regular season better. I think it's more interesting when you have


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[Assistant] And these big name high profile players, whether it's a JT, Billy Horschel, Gary Woodland, uh, trying to, to get into the playoffs now. I still would like to see the number of card members.


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[Assistant] Reduced. I, I, I like, I like having jeopardy. I like having vulnerability. I like having churn. I think that's one of the more intriguing aspects of, of team sports. And I think the PGTour would do well to adopt that.


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[Assistant] The tour is still not exactly outlined how this is going to work. We don't know.


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[Assistant] What number players are going to be secure for next season in their playing privileges? Is it, is it the top 80 guys essentially have a card? Is it the top 95 players? Like we don't know what that bottom is for the guys who are actually playing for it. So if like JT finishes


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[Assistant] Well, he's a bad example because he's, he's exempt. So let's, let's throw like Justin Suh.


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[Assistant] Uh, you and I are familiar with Justin So's game. Two top 10 finishes this year. He's 77th in the points standings. Does he need to play?


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[Assistant] Four times in the fall to make sure he maintains that position. If he doesn't play at all, how far is he going to drop? What does that mean for his priority ranking? Could he lose it all together? Does he not need to play at all? I think the tour does a poor job of outlining exactly what the fall means for these guys.


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[Assistant] Scottish, British, 3M, Wyndham, 4 in a row. Potentially 5 or 6 if he keeps it rolling.


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[Assistant] A lot of X's did not accomplish this year. Uh, JT can, although, I mean with a win this year, uh, he's back exactly where he wants to be, uh, rocketing up the standings, booketed for Eastlake.


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[Assistant] And etc. I think fewer tour cars, more churn, less emphasis on the plastic champion status, new blood, consequences for a down year. All those are good moves for the PG Tour. You actually did mention


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[Assistant] The memo that was leaked last week by Commissioner Jay Monahan, which said a couple of things. I think most newsworthy is the fact that Tor is going to be against the proposed rollback. Not a huge surprise, of course, given a player's endorsement potential and the need for Jay Monahan to secure, to secure a win of any sort, uh, among his constituents. But they also said, uh, two things. They're, they're making basically committees of committees.


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[Assistant] To look into a player benefit program.


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[Assistant] Which would essentially make players, uh, whole for staying loyal to the PGA Tour as well as a player discipline, discipline program that would outline the pathway back for live players. Now that caught the eye of Phil Mickelson.


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[Assistant] Who popped off on Twitter for the first time in a couple of weeks after his poor performance in the Open Championship and said that the Player Discipline Program would be a quote, colossal waste of time and that no live player wants to come back. Do you see any truth in that, Rex?


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[Assistant] Yes, and he's become one of the most duplicitous characters in the history of golf. Why are we taking him?


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[Assistant] We've already seen that OPPO research even surface. There hasn't been commercials, bad mouthing Phil, DJ, Brooks, Bryson, and the like. There hasn't been any reports to the media that have been trickled out. I mean, I think by and large, those of us in the content business are making our own


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[Assistant] Decisions, we have our own biases, we have our own assumptions, we have our own feelings about the players who defected for live either because of our own personal beliefs or what the players have literally said, like Patrick Reed literally said that he wants to play less golf in going to live.


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[Assistant] Now we have ample evidence to suggest that that is not necessarily true. Justin Johnson gave his reasons. Brooks Koepke gave his reasons. Like, you can criticize those all you want, but I haven't seen


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[Assistant] Like, where, where has this hundreds of thousands of dollars, this millions of dollars in awful research, where has that even, where has that even appeared?


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[Assistant] I think it's also important to point out too, Rex, like, that has been the public narrative, like these guys are not...


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[Assistant] Openly saying, yeah, I wish I could come back to the PGA Tour. Like they're not reckless enough to, to, to, to hit out publicly against the league that has given them seven, eight, nine figure signing bonuses.


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[Assistant] To essentially play non-OWGR sanctioned events, like it's, it's a pretty, uh, sweet gravy train that they've, that they've hopped aboard. Now, Brooks Kepke, Bryce DeChambeau, they've said there's events on the PGA Tour that they miss. Uh, I think there's probably dozens of live players who feel the same way, whether they're actually willing to go through


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[Assistant] Uh, serving any punishments at the Tour of Dole's out, uh, I think is an entirely different matter. The part that Phil, though, appears to be missing to me is that...


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[Assistant] If Liv folds, the players are going to have no choice.


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[Assistant] But to reintegrate themselves in the tour landscape, otherwise they're just going to be disappearing.


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[Assistant] Into the competitive abyss now would there be as harsh of a penalty perhaps if it's live folds.


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[Assistant] I think that kind of remains to be seen, but if these guys, particularly those who are in their twenties, like early twenties, I think of Joaquin Nieman is a perfect example. He has a lot of runway ahead of him competitively. He could play for another 20 years. He would have no choice.


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[Assistant] To put to play on the PGA Tour. Is he happy right now on Liv playing with his teammates?


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[Assistant] Yes, making a lot of money, yes, I'm sure he is, uh, but I also think, uhm, if, if, if given the choice, I think he would jump back to the PGA Tour and see just how good he can get competitively as well.


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[Assistant] I certainly see that, and that's worth pointing out. I do think he's also, though, putting the power back in the player's hands. He's responding to criticism. Patrick Cantley has been one of the most vocal


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[Assistant] Uh, kind of antagonist in this whole deal over the past couple of months. And now he is in charge of finding the, of Randall Stephenson's replacement on the board among a couple other committee members. Uh, there's, you know, you're putting players on this player discipline route to kind of determine what the path back.


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[Assistant] The players were so critical that they had been left out of the secretive deal. I think it's, I think it's his move to satiate them and say, Hey, you've got to say this is your tour.


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[Assistant] Quite frankly, I think Monahan is just, he's delegating and focusing instead on the framework agreement and trying to make that a definitive agreement. This whole thing falls apart if he can't get this done in the next five months.


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[Assistant] In Memphis, you would assume he would address the media at Eastlake during the Tour Championship, as he typically does.


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[Assistant] So, so the tour, so the tour is not supportive of the rollback. You and I were not surprised by that. Their hands are still tied here, Rex. Because. How so? At least three of the four major championships.


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[Assistant] Are going to adopt this rule. Obviously the, the RNA and the USJ, this is their rule. They're going to use it for the US Open and Open Championship, respectively. Uh, the Masters has been pushing, Augusta National has been pushing.


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[Assistant] You're going to have a different ball in play and then the four, the four weeks of year that, that, that matter most.


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[Assistant] The tournaments that the players cover the most, that defines legacies they're going to be using on an entirely different ball, I don't see it.


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[Assistant] I don't see it at all. It's just kind of posturing public.


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[Assistant] Are you saying there's only room for one existential crisis? Uh, in golf at the moment, not, not two. Uh, I'm, I'm, I'm okay with it. Uh, I think some of the shot value on the PJ tour has been reduced. There is zero evidence.


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[Assistant] Entertainment on the PGA tour is directly tied to distance. I'm not sure why they've equated that. It's, it's kind of like this antiquated notion of chicks dig long ball, like.


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[Assistant] Everyone, everyone hits it long right now. Like what's the difference between a 350 yard drive and a 325 yard drive? Absolutely nothing. What makes golf exciting are recovery shots, close iron shots, and clutch putting. That is what makes golf exciting. In fact, I think driving


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[Assistant] So I'm fine because of the time distance, the time that it's going to take implementation January 1, 2026. I'm fine because I think some of the shot value has been reduced on the PGA Tour. I would actually be in favor if the PGA Tour is really pushing against this, just make it a blanket rollback.


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[Assistant] That's easy. That's where you'd be getting away from.


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[Assistant] You don't swing hard enough, you do not swing hard enough to make a, to make a substantial difference.


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[Assistant] I mean Seth Waugh was definitely the least supportive.


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[Assistant] Of the four major championship organizations when he met with the press and answered that very question. I think if he wants to keep the major, if he wants to keep his PGA championship aligned and he clearly has a high opinion of what the PGA represents in the broader golf landscape, I don't think he has any choice but to fall in line.


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[Assistant] With the rollback, and make it a pure and true competition, which is what the USJ and RNA are proposing with, with their rollback. I, I, I see what you mean, Rex, that trickling down to the amateur level is, is dangerous. Just move up a T. Like, every golf course you play has five T's. You should, you should not be playing


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[Assistant] The, the second T or the one like closest to the tips, like move up a T you're 56 years old.


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[Assistant] If you have a 240 yard drive, if that's your max drive, you would now be hitting at 230.


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[Assistant] But one of the most idealistic aspects of the game is that I can play the exact same equipment as Roy McRoy and see how I stand up.


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[Assistant] But we're probably in the minority because we're so close to the game. But if you, if you talk to...


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[Assistant] Family members like, oh, Roy's playing that driver. I should, I should give, I should give that a work. Roy's got the tailor-made ball. I should go play that one. Spees playing the telesirens. I wonder if I can hit those ones. Like, that's, that's part of the appeal, the broader appeal of golf, is that there is not a separate set of rules for the elite professional and the amateur golfer. And so, where it's gonna get muddy,


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[Assistant] Where they're having this bifurcation is where do you, where do you draw the line? Is it a lead amateur competition? Is it club championships? Whatever. And so just get rid of it.


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[Assistant] I think short-term pain for long-term gain. And we won't even think about it in five years time. Like, it's just, it would just be accepted that you're gonna hit your driver eight yards shorter. It's not that big a deal. It really isn't.


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[Assistant] To, to main, to maintain kind of the purity of the competition and make the PGA tour more interesting. You should, uh, you should do a column on that. I'd like to see how that would play out. Uh, yeah, that would definitely get me ratioed, uh, on the social streets. Rex, what's on the grill this week?


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[Assistant] Big Mac tacos, yep, you basically do a tortilla shell, uh, a smash burger on the tortilla shell, uh, seize it up, cook it on the black stone, uh, flat top, whatever you may have, and then you whip up basically like a thousand isle, thousand, thousand island dressing.


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[Assistant] Is it? Oh, it certainly says F yea. Oh yea, it did yea. No doubt about it.


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[Assistant] Be careful with coffee rub, do you not? Cause it can, it can burn real quick.


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[Assistant] That makes sense. If you're doing a thick cut, throw the coffee rub on there, keep it away from the heat source, you should be perfectly okay. I've gotten to the point now where I just use salt.


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[Assistant] On my steaks. I'll do a little dry brine beforehand. Make sure the salt's penetrating all the way through the steak.


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[Assistant] So basically season it three to four hours ahead of time, put it on a rack in your fridge. By the time you pull it out, you should see no salt on there, but it's all absorbed. It's probably going to turn a little bit different color. And then at that point, sprinkle some pepper on there, sear it, and you're good to go. And you have salt penetration, not just on the top crust, but all the way through the meat. That's how I like to do.


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[Assistant] Uh, my steaks. Uh, I will not have anything on the grill sadly over the next couple days. We're going to Banff, Lake Louise.


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[Assistant] For a family vacation. I'm not sure what type of food they're known for in Calgary.


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[Assistant] I would assume seafood, I would think that would be fresh, uh, perhaps some bison, uh, I think could be delicious, but you're right.


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[Assistant] Uh, if the folks at home have tried these viral Big Mac tacos, be curious your thoughts. I thought it was just pointless to have it in a tortilla shell when everyone knows that smash burgers are delicious, the burgers absorb some of the


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[Assistant] Uh, rendered fat and juices so much better than tortilla shell can. I just found it. It was pooling.


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[Assistant] Yeah, because you still have to cook through the burger. And so I thought it was, I thought it was pointless. Not every internet fad is worth trying. Uh, we learned our lesson the hard way. And then on Sunday, uh, I think I sent you a snappy chat, did a delicious pulled pork. My buddy Ricky, uh, you met Ricky, floppy haired fella, uh,


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[Assistant] Fantastic. Cook, he says come over for ribs.


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[Assistant] On today, so I literally being the most little person in America, I thought, yeah, we're just going to have ribs. And so I whipped up a pulled pork. I had one in the, in the, uh.


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[Assistant] $300 worth of food for just having ribs. Uh, and so it makes me very excited for football season because Ricky can whip it up with the best of him. Best of luck to him and his consecutive member guests this week.


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[Assistant] Alright. Another plug for the sponsor. Literally any grill sponsor. Anybody. Any alcohol sponsor. Anyone. Literally. We'll take anybody. It doesn't even matter. Uh, that's gonna do it for this edition. The Golf Channel podcast with Rex and Lab. Make sure you check out our hit on golf today on Wednesday. We'll be giving our favorite moments.


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[Assistant] From the PGA Tours regular season. We'll be back next week. Rex will be live in Memphis. Who knows by that point if he'll already.


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[Assistant] Indulged in barbecue or whether he's going to be following my itinerary to a teen. It's going to do it for this edition. Talk to you next week. Rex live in Memphis.


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[Assistant] One of the barbecue capitals of the country. Shout out to Bunk Mate Lab, hope you're okay.


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[Assistant] What's happening behind you? What are we doing? Oh, we're gonna get to it. TV's going, uh, we're gonna get to it now. It's quite disorienting. You have two TVs going on two separate channels.


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[Assistant] I don't think anything can step in the right direction. Top 25 makes the cut.


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[Assistant] Just play four rounds. Like, unlike everyone else, he didn't make it to the playoffs that are gonna be on the US team. He probably needs the reps. He's been at home, I'm sure, working hard. I wanna hear what he has to say, to be honest with you. And again, you and I talk about this all the time. The guy that wins the press conference.


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[Assistant] Is always the guy that seems to have the best charisma. He's the most confident. And does he come into this press conference? I believe it's tomorrow.


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[Assistant] And does he have that confidence? Does he, does he look like JT that Zach Johnson needs JT to be? Is he?


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[Assistant] Does he look like a guy who's able to flip that switch that we've talked about because whether or not if he does it this way, yeah, if he wins, that's great. Like we're all going to.


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[Assistant] Throw our hands up and say, yeah, Zach made a brilliant pick. Good for him. But I think if he makes a cut, if he shows some progress specifically with his driver, cause that seems to be the one at least that concerns me the most going into to Rome, going into that particular golf course. But I wanted to mix it up, not to not answer your question because that's what I normally do.


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[Assistant] But, and I'm really reluctant to do this because I know this isn't gonna age well. I know I'm probably gonna get beat up on social media about this, but I was taken by the idea.


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[Assistant] That for the, the U.S. team scouting trip to Rome. It's Marco Simone.


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[Assistant] Exactly. So he didn't make the trip to Rome. I don't think anybody was going to say anything. I was shocked. How many people on social media had something to say about Xander Schauffle and Patrick Cantlite not going on this scouting trip? And not only was I shocked, I mean, here are two guys.


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[Assistant] Based on the idea that they haven't played in a month since the Ryder Cup, you're still gonna roll them out as a team and expect to get a point or two out of them over the course of the first three days. However, I'm gonna go back to the idea that


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[Assistant] They're doing this pro bono. And this is going to be the unpopular part. What you're asking a professional to do.


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[Assistant] Is to take not one week, but two weeks out of your professional career.


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[Assistant] And go do pro bono work for someone else, the PGA of America in this particular case, because that's what they feel like is best for you. They don't, they're not beholden to do anything for Team USA or Zach Johnson, their captain, or the PGA of America. Do you have any idea how much it would cost the PGA of America?


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[Assistant] Pay an appearance fee to get Patrick Cantlay and to get Xander Chauflay to go over and play a one day tournament in Rome. And now you're asking them, well, we want you to do it twice in a month for free.


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[Assistant] Does anyone, name me another profession that, that's acceptable.


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, that's a good point. And this is an individual decision. And if you're Justin Thomas, you kind of had to, right? You're a pick. You're probably a controversial pick. You probably wanted to show the captain that you were all in on this one. The rest ditto for the rest of the picks outside of Patrick Cantlay. I guess I see your point.


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[Assistant] I just recoiled at the idea that, oh, they should have gone. They owed it to Team USA. They owed it to their teammates. No, they don't. Like, I love this event more than the next guy. Trust me when I tell you, this is the most enjoyable week of the year every two weeks. It always turns out to be that way.


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[Assistant] They're not paying $5,000 out of their own pocket to get a seat on that flight.


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[Assistant] But they're not getting paid, period. And that's the point that I keep coming back to. And I guess that's where we are in professional golf. It seems, it's so easy when you look at all of professional sports to point to the golfers and say, oh, you guys have to do this for free. Whereas you wouldn't expect.


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[Assistant] It is, and I'm just, it's one thing to go over and play in the Ryder Cup. That is an honor. That's something you, of course you're going to do. And I go back to the days, the dark days.


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[Assistant] When Marco Mera kind of led the charge that why aren't the players getting paid?


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[Assistant] And that didn't land well. Just like this take is clearly not going to land well. I'm not expecting them to get paid, but the idea that, okay, we've gotten to the point that not only are you expected to go over here and do this for one week for free, but now we want you to tack on another four or five days to fly over to Rome, just to practice. We're talking about practice. I'm trying to channel.


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[Assistant] There you go. Dishonorably discharged. I feel like I was dishonorably discharged. My point in all of this was there was a degree of expectation.


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[Assistant] On social media, which again, I probably shouldn't be paying attention to, that those players, how dare they not go and do this for the team, for the PGA of America, for Captain Johnson. Are you kidding me? Like I, I don't expect that at all. If you can make the trip and you feel like you're, it's going to better prepare you for that week, which is a very intense week. I understand why.


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[Assistant] Why captains have started to do it? That's great. But again, you're a professional. You know how to play golf. Maybe in Xander Shafle's mind, he's better off.


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[Assistant] Back home, on the range, working on what he needs to work on, and then when the time comes.


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[Assistant] Yes, and when the time comes, uh, actually that came from Julius Mason to the Associated Press, if I read this story correctly. Uhm, but when the time comes, get on the plane on Sunday night, and you're gonna show up Monday morning and you're probably gonna go out and you're gonna be like, oh, it is 18 holes and it's green, green grass, and of course, got it.


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[Assistant] I'm good, thanks. I understand there is a method to this madness, particularly for this particular golf course. And we ran into the same thing a few years ago in Paris, that the players


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[Assistant] I think after the finish to the season in the United States, for the vast majority of those players, and I go to Xander-


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[Assistant] I'll go to Xander specifically because he was one of the few players who was actually in contention on Sunday at Eastlake and that takes a little bit extra out of you.


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[Assistant] I had no problem whatsoever with this. And again, if you're Justin Thomas and you feel like I probably need to show my captain I'm all in on this and I've never seen this golf course and you haven't played in three weeks because you didn't qualify for the Olympics, fine dude. Get on the charter flight, have fun, have a couple good meals, look at the golf course. That's great. What I'm pushing back on is the idea that


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[Assistant] Somehow the public did not like Xander Chauflay and Patrick Cantlay not going on this trip when they're not beholden to anybody on this.


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[Assistant] I'll go to this month's green sheet which did an entire page of trying to get the players excited about the fall so they went to great lengths explaining the players why it's important why it's going to be exciting why this.


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[Assistant] This matters. I look at it from a storyteller point of view. I think you and I both have gone through this before where I remember back in the golden days of Q School when that was essentially the only way.


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[Assistant] I think we're going to get an element of that of these six events. It's probably going to start slower than what you imagine. You're probably going to be top heavy. My guess would be at the Zozo championship.


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[Assistant] Where you have a bigger purse, you have a limited field. So if you are going to get the stars, I would guess you're going to go there. There's going to be a handful of guys that play throughout the fall. I mean, a couple, I think I talked to a handful of them at, at Eastlake just about the idea of, you know, what are you going to do and the idea of taking six weeks off of taking three months off.


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[Assistant] But I'm going to go back to the idea that for the first time, it's like,


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[Assistant] RSM Classic kinda means something. Like guys, you're going to get there and you're going to be playing for something, whether if you're-


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[Assistant] So yeaah, and it'll be across the board. So if you're 151, you're probably trying to get playing to get yourself into the 150, which comes with some sort of status. If you're 126, you're trying to get yourself inside that top 125. If you're 61, you're trying to find a way to get yourself into 50 to 60 because that qualifies you for the first.


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[Assistant] For the PGA Tour to convince the fans that this is meaningful golf, that...


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[Assistant] You should tune into, you should watch, you should get excited about. There's still plenty of things to keep a focus on. If you win, it still comes with a two year tour exemption. It still comes.


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[Assistant] With an exemption into the majors or at least three of the four major championships. If you finish inside the top 125, you qualify for the players. All that means something to you and I, because we pay attention to the game. I'm curious if it's going to mean something to the fans.


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[Assistant] No, I do too. And again, I don't plan to cover any of the fall events until the RSM Classic. So they think that probably speaks to, there's going to be a lot week in and week out that we can probably touch on and talk about and certainly building up to the Ryder Cup and you going to the Soheim Cup. It's going to be plenty to dig into, but no, I'm with you. And it remains to be seen if it's going to be good for the product.


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[Assistant] I don't think you're wrong and I've agreed with you in principle over the years when you argued that just do away with the fall. I always came at it from the business perspective, which named me another business.


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[Assistant] Are they, yeah, are they going to be okay with the fields they're going to end up with? I wrote this last week, you know, having talked to about a dozen players at Eastlake and man, it was, it was rough. It was, it was Slim Pickens when you started asking guys like even Lucas Glover who you would think, man, he'll play a little bit in the fun. It was like, nope, I'm going to spend a lot of time at ice hockey practices. Like I'm just not.


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[Assistant] You know, he'll play RSL because he lives there and that's pretty much going to be the extent of it.


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[Assistant] I agree with this. I'll be curious. I was talking with one manager at Eastlake about the idea that they think they want three to four months off. They think that that's what they needed and wanted their entire careers. And Ricky Fowler brought up kind of an interesting concept to me, like we may look back at this in 20 years and say this prolonged career.


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[Assistant] That taking those three and four months off gave players an opportunity to get healthy, to work on their swings, to do the right things that they need to do going into the new season. It could also drive someone crazy, because like you, I've been home for two weeks, and trust me when I tell you, me and the Bunk Mate are not getting along.


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[Assistant] Oh, Rory would be one of them, I mean the 74 on Sunday, clearly.


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[Assistant] Is not great. I don't think I watched that and thought, you know, any alarm bells. He, when you looked at the way he was hitting the golf ball, yeah, he rinsed three balls, but it's not as it's because he was being aggressive. I don't think it's because anything was particularly wrong with his swing. I'm going to be curious. And again, this is one of those things that we'll have to discuss a month now.


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[Assistant] How this run is either going to help or hurt each team. Are the Europeans going to be aided by the idea that they're going to have to stay sharp because they had the Irish open and they had Wentworth, which all the top players want to play for a lot of different reasons. Uh, I think John Rahm is going to play the week afterwards in Spain. So he has a lot of reasons to stay sharp.


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[Assistant] I'm curious how that's gonna play out. Cause in theory, it sounds good if you're the captain. It sounds good if you're one of these players. But by the time I think the Europeans get there, I think fatigue might be an issue as opposed to the US team that is going to essentially have four weeks off.


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[Assistant] I was thinking about this the other day, so I think you and I were having this conversation. It's been a year since I was covering the BMW PGA and on Friday the Queen passed away. And I remember how surreal that was. And as surreal as that was, for some reason I was going through this. That's not the weirdest it's ever been for me at a golf tournament. The weirdest would have been the missile strike at the Sony Open a few years ago.


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[Assistant] One, the economy got stopped for the death of a monarch. And two, it was a text message that came up on everyone's phone in Honolulu while we were at the Sony Open saying that there's an imminent missile strike.


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[Assistant] That's it, thank you. Uhm, and I didn't want to go to the press center so I just said I'd do it over the phone and I was in my hotel which was in downtown Honolulu and I had just like now I had my earbuds in and you could hear everyone's phone like beeping at the same time.


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[Assistant] Yes, and uh, and it came up on, it came up, I still have the screenshot somewhere, I'll have to find it. But it was imminent missile strike, please seek shelter. And like, so Danielle, who we've done, we've both done her radio show a couple of times, being the ultimate professional that she is, she kind of read the message.


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[Assistant] I'll let you know if anything else happens from the authorities that was like this sort of awkward silence cause what do you do in a situation like that and it seems like without missing a beat.


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[Assistant] She goes, and you think Zach Johnson's chances on Saturday to make up some room on the leaderboard would be what?


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[Assistant] And my response was I sort of stumbled for a minute or two. Daniel, read this message. I'm not going with very good.


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[Assistant] Uh, I kind of stumbled to try to come up with some sort of answer and finally I had to hit her with, uh, I gotta go. Like I just hung up. Like literally, like, I'm not gonna finish this. Like I'm not, and probably the worst part is that my kids still tease me about this. So they would have been younger. This was probably five or six years ago, I'm thinking. And I called them.