Under Pressure with Lanto Griffin

Lanto Griffin finished 3rd at the PGA Tour’s Procure Championship to move into the top 100 on the FedEx Cup. Griffin won Q school last year with his job on the line and after a season of injuries and swing changes in 2025, he came to the first event of the Fall Series needing an exceptional week. He delivered. Griffin talks about what real pressure is and how he handles it.

Welcome back to Any Given Monday. Lonto Griffin off I mean one of the most important weeks of your career I would assume. Lonto. Yeah, there’s been uh you know thinking back I thought about that a little bit this week but it’s been such a been such a kind of a rough year uh rough stretch there. kind of got off to a good start and then I think n missed nine out of 11 cuts and it wasn’t pretty and um kind of reset in May changed uh changed coaches caddies new trainer and just felt like I needed a full reset and um so yeah been working really hard and then to go out and finish third to start the fall was um a huge bonus and just a huge boost of confidence and uh might have a might have a job next year now a little bit more work to do, but that’s the main uh the main goal. I mean, Lon, I tweeted it out, right? It’s like, yes, Scotty and Ben have pressure, right? But it’s like there’s Cliff Kraky quote use all the time is like pressure when you’re trying to win and your job isn’t on the line is fun. Of course, there’s pressure, but pressure when like your job is on the line is unmatched in in golf, right? like that back nine I said like there’s no one in the tournament that has more pressure than Lonto like the the PGA Tour you’re just not going to be in contention a bunch of weeks so you got to take advantage when you’re having an A week so like you just have to like just accept that LTO you can’t block it out you’re not trying you’re not out there like thinking like oh there’s no like you’re 100% thinking about it right it’s just every every every second the whole the whole week I mean Yeah. Um it’s weird like even Friday is like I was in really good position, but it Friday is kind of like when you’re when you’re playing well. I think I was nine under. And it’s kind of like this is going to be the most relaxed I’m going to be all week because I know I’m going to make the cut the last nine holes or whatever. And you want to put yourself in a good position, but you’re also kind of gearing up like, you know, Saturday and Sunday are going to be full pressure and the amount of energy it takes from you. Um, it’s a that’s a really good point though because you know trying to win is hard. So there there is pressure but it’s just a different kind of pressure when you know you need to play really well and have a really high finish just to keep your job versus um you know just trying to add wins. So not taking anything away from you know what Scotty felt on Sunday. But it’s it’s kind of like um it’s hard to explain how much you think about it. It’s just constant, you know, kind of a reel in the back of your mind. So, the good news is, you know, pressure pressure and nerves, you know, doesn’t mean you’re going to play good or play bad. You know, I think there’s a little connotation there that’s like, man, if I’m nervous, I’m not going to be able to perform. Yeah. Well, your your your focus is heightened. Um, you know, you’re not going to be asleep at the wheel for sure. Uh and then if you you know once you know a lot of people will ask us proms like how do you guys get through the first hole or how you know you guys must not get nervous because prom guys are always nervous on the first hole and it’s like no we we feel that um we we’re just you know we train to kind of you know not be used to it but train how to kind of get through it. So there’s the mental energy that like a Sunday took from me, you know, it was just I was exhausted afterwards just trying to slow down the mind um all day every shot. Um but it’s pretty gratifying at the end of it looking back and be like, man, that was really important because you you compartmentalize it and you try and downplay it. Um, you know, so for instance on the back nine, I wanted to win, but then you see Sheffler at number one and you’re like, you know, you know, third, fourth, fifth would be, you know, still a good week. So you’re you’re trying to like compartmentalize trying to win versus um, you know, having a good week and and and luckily at the end of the day, it’s all just your mind. It’s just all fear kind of coming in and uh the golf ball doesn’t know that. So as long as you put good swings on it, you can you can kind of overcome it. I mean, is it is there a way to compare like your win and the pressure you felt that and this like is there is there a way to or are those just two different animals and like where where do they I guess have like like like take Q school and this week Lonto the last one you had like when you if you were ranking pressure in your career is this the most you felt you know around Q school losing your card in or as far as possible to to kind of compare the two. You know, I it’s it’s weird to say this, but I remember I mean I have notes in my phone from almost every week and I have notes I remember Sunday in Houston when I won thinking like why am I not more nervous? because your whole time growing up, you’re like, you know, you think about what it’s like to win on the PJ tour and and I almost was making myself nervous on that Sunday because I wasn’t nervous, thinking like like, holy cow, like this is not what I expected being in contention and winning on tour to feel like. And then fast forward two weeks, I went to Bermuda right after I won Houston Ops event. I was number one in the Fed Cup. Um there was a little reason we were starting a foundation and there was a birdies for love thing in the fall where if you’re number one you get $300,000. So we were like um you know it’ be a really nice way to start a foundation is having that. So that was one reason why I went to Bermuda. But I remember I was so nervous that week in Bermuda because it was like it was like a new thing for me. I’d never been in the spotlight and I was number one in FedEx Cup. You know, I was doing a press conference on Wednesday and I remember finishing I want to say 18th, but I bogeied 18 on Sunday to go from like if I birdied a top 10, I was in like 14th and I was so nervous on that last hole. More nervous than I was the week before winning or a couple weeks before. So nerves and pressure are weird. um Q school I in in a weird way I’d almost accepted whatever was going to happen was going to happen and and if I had to go back to Cornferry tour I was okay with it and um but it’s it’s weird it’s almost like when I played with Bryson at Bay Hill and he was you know hitting it over the water and you know you think you put yourself in these situations and it’s going to be you super nerve-wracking and a lot of times the nerve-wracking in the really pressure situations are kind of created in your mind in weeks you don’t expect. So, I know it’s kind of a weird way to answer your question, but I felt a lot of nerves on Sunday at Napa. Yeah. And I did and I didn’t in Houston when I won. Um, so it’s almost like it’s hard to expect what the nerves feel like. Um, but it so it’s a week in week out. I think it depends on the golf course and and how you’re swinging it has a big impact. you know, if you’re striping it, you’re not missing it left and um you kind of have a one-way miss, you know, it it takes a lot of pressure off yourself mentally. Um putting well is probably the common denominator between every every week I play well. Um and when you feel like you’re going to make every putt and you’re making a lot of putts, it, you know, it it takes a lot of heat heat off yourself. you know, those four or five footers are tapens and you’re making some, you know, 10 20 footers and then, you know, you’re not three putting. Um, you don’t need to be perfect. Um, it’s it’s usually the weeks where it’s like I’m hitting it, I’m striking it, and I can’t make a putt. That’s when I get frustrated and nervous. Um, so, and it’s weird. It’s a fickle game as we all know, but uh, every week’s different when it comes to that. Let’s go back to the injury, Monto. I mean, like, what has that whole process like? You you touch on it a lot in your interviews. You and I have talked about it via text a little bit. It’s like I mean, I assume just a lonely sport becomes way more lonely. You’re like in and out. You’re not playing consistently. You’re waiting for medical. You know, the medical’s hanging over your head the whole time. You weren’t healthy. uh like what I mean that that has to be just like the unknown of like when you’re ever going to get healthy and whe like like you know you can. Yeah. U well one you’re in so much pain. Um I talked to a friend yesterday who’s going through it and he he’s trying to decide if he’s going to have surgery, not a golfer. Um and it a lot of the memories came back yesterday. I talked to him for 30 minutes just trying to give him some advice and it’s like yeah it you’re in so much pain you don’t really care and you just want to get get out of it. So once that happened and I went through surgery coming back was like it was kind of two golf careers. It was pre-surgery and postsurgery. Um, you know, there’s a bunch of golfers that have had it had had it done and a lot of them hadn’t done a whole lot after their surgery. And I think a little bit of that has to do with just your body feeling different and moving different. Um, it’s really hard to change your golf swing. I don’t care who you are. Um, like a Will Turus, I hope he’s doing all right, but people are like, “Well, he’s going to have to change his golf swing.” Well, he got to where he was because of his golf swing. So, expecting thinking that he can just go and change it, right, and be and be as good as he is is not it’s not possible. Um, so I tried a little bit thinking I needed to change my swing and then um I just got a couple bad habits after coming back from surgery. Um, and it took me a couple years struggling. I guess I was beginning at 23 and now we’re in 25. And then finally in May, it was kind of like, all right, I need to I need to do something different because what I’ve been doing isn’t isn’t working. And I never I never knew if I was going to feel 100% or not ever again. And in May, I I went to a new trainer or my old trainer, Alex Bennett. And you know, it’s it’s hard to work out when you’re when you’re hurt. So, you know, when your body is sore and and everything like that and your back’s always sore, it’s hard to think like I’m I’m going to go get in the gym and and do weights. Luckily, I got to the point where it was like I just even beginning of this year, I just I wasn’t consistent day in day out. Um, I got back in the gym with him in May and three or four months later, I don’t even think about my back, my body, um, rarely. So, that’s been really nice just to feel some kind of consistency how I feel day in day out. Um, not that I was in a ton of pain earlier in the year and last year, but it was just that different. One day I feel loose, one day I feel tight. Um, and it’s such a fine line like how good these guys are on tour. You know, if I was playing at my local club, it wouldn’t matter if I shot 66 or 68 or 71 or 70, but that one shot here and there makes, you know, between keeping your card and and not. So, I think the things I’ve done the last three or four months have been really good. Um, Barracuda, Windham, um, starting to feel some consistency in putting. And that’s the thing, another thing with with injuries is it’s wild how much it affected my putting because my hip my hips and my posture and everything were just a little bit off. And, you know, when you’re sitting up over a 3 four footer and it breaks a cup, it’s like it’s it’s it’s hard to explain, but in a weird way, it affected my putting more than anything. Um, and I kind of always relied on that. So, um, I’d say the biggest thing since surgery is just trying to find like what my new DNA is, like h how how I can be good with the way I feel now. And I I think I’ve done a good job of kind of finding that the last three, four months. When you make changes, Lonto, is that is that I mean, it’s got to be scary as first of all, like you’re you’re towards the end of the season like to make these changes. you know, it’s going it’s not like, oh, you’ve said it this earlier. It’s like you not go over there and your new coach is like, yeah, we’ll just plug this in and you’re going to go tee it up and it’s going to be comfortable. Like, that’s a process. Uh, and and what you’ve done prior to that is has like got you this far in your career in some aspects. Like, it’s got to be scary as to be like, whoa, dude. I’m 150th in points. I got four months left in the season and I’m gonna make these changes. But what I’m doing now isn’t going to help me in these four months. So, I gota Yeah, I knew I knew what I was doing wasn’t it. Um there’s there’s no way around it. But it it’s weird and probably everybody that listens to this is going to be a golfer when your coach tells you like, you know, when you feel like you’re you’re kind of like stack and tilting and you’re not getting behind the ball. I mean, you got to feel like you’re like laying on the ground to get, you know, this far behind the ball. So that was kind of my deal is I wasn’t making a backsl. I was just kind of tilting left and then, you know, not making a shoulder turn, not getting behind it. But you have to exaggerate it so much just to just to get a little bit. So you look at it on camera and the real verse feel is is wild. And um so it’s really hard for me. I kind of knew in May when we the first lesson it was back with TA was like we got to get behind the ball so you can get up to it. But playing every week or having one week off, I could never really, you know, groove it in um and feel like I was comfortable getting out, you know, going out in in the tournament setting with it. So after Windham though, it was like and you kind of your mind plays games with you. Your mind’s going to be like, you know, I I’ve played well, you know, I’ve had some good weeks not doing that and you try and justify it. But after Windham, I was like, “Look, man.” Like talking to myself, I was like, “You either commit to this these next four or five weeks and work your ass off and get it to where you can make a back swing, you know, going to Nath or you’re going to have no chance. Like you can’t compete. You can’t compete the way you’re hitting it.” Um, and and fortunately we did and it one thing kind of clicked. It was, you know, I was trying to get behind it kind of artificially but forcing myself and one day we were I think we were working and I was like what if I got the club head to swing a little bit like create a rhythm and like the club head swings your body so like everything’s kind of married you know club head swings the body you know gets behind it turns and immediately I was kind of like I think that’s it I think that’s the feel and comparing those swings to pre-surgery when I played really Well, in 19 it was kind of 18, 19, 20. Um, it looked pretty similar, but it felt so drastic. Um, like so like I remember a lot of those swings from 19, you know, that overall general feel that I had for the whole year and it was just effortless, just tempo, rhythm, and but I wasn’t thinking about getting behind it, but I was doing it already. So creating a similar move, a similar pattern but with completely different feels is um you know once you get it you kind of you can trust it but it takes some time um a crazy amount of time and effort. Lonzo, so like you’re a veteran, you know these things, you know that it feels right at home uh and what you’re doing is right. Like there’s a process like you said it feels super uncomfortable finally you get it to feel comfortable you find a thought that like keeps you there but I assume there’s still some like trepidation some nerves going to Napa being like okay now I have to do this under pressure like there’s no way to simulate playing a PJ tour event with a swing change like five weeks in a swing change is like 30 seconds basically right so it’s like I assume you’re trusted like the mental side of it is like Yes, I know I’m doing it right, but there still has to be some nerves of like, is this going to translate to a PJ tour event? Yeah, I knew I knew it would. I knew it will. Sorry. I know it will translate. It didn’t translate last week, honestly. I I hit my iron I hit some irons good, but it was one of the worst driving weeks um in a long time. Um, I hit a lot of two irons last week, but I one thing I’ve done well in my entire career is kind of playing to my strengths. So, like I knew I wasn’t driving it well last week. So, I’m not hitting driver on many holes. Like I knew my irons were good enough. The the feel was it’s easier, you know, it’s easier to trust a nine iron or wedge than it is a driver when there’s OB, right, and, you know, left. So, um, I think I did a good job last week of kind of like easing my way into it. um and not being too too crazy with it. But but Thursday last week, I started out 10footer for par on one easy hole. Uh and it’s not a hard hole and butchered it. Number two, 12-footer for par, you know, I had to get up and down from 80 yards on three for par. Um so it was like and I chipped in on four for birdie. So like so I did I just came off five weeks of working my ass off and I felt really really good about how I’m swinging it. like the the proams. I did a prom on Monday and Wednesday, hit it great and then it was like, holy you’re right. Like it’s hard to replicate it in a tournament. But I think making those par putts and and I’m putting really really well. Um I puted great at Windham, which I’ve been struggling with all year. Um putted really well at Windom and I’ve been putting great like all these five weeks. So that takes a lot of the pressure off because I I I know I don’t need to to stripe it. Um, but it was a really rough start uh Thursday at Napa and I and I was able to kind of hang in there. My caddy has done an incredible job. Um, you know, Brian, his name is Brian Brish, but you know, we work really well together and he’s uh he’s kind of like a cheerleader, you know, buddy, but he’s also like real dialed in. Um, so he he he can we play similar games. He played on the PJ tour one year, so like his game’s not that pretty. He just gets it in play. um hits a lot of shots. So, I think that it takes some some, you know, I I know he’s not he doesn’t care how pretty it is. You know, he’s a gamer. That’s kind of how I’ve always been. So, that’s kind of what we did last week. And then the irons were good. But it it’s it’s crazy how much different your body feels on the driving range than on the first te of a tour event. Your your mind just completely forgets everything you did the last five weeks and it goes back to muscle memory. So the the and I kind of knew I I mean I’ve done this for a long time, so I and I’ve made swing changes, so I knew it was going to be like that. I wasn’t it didn’t catch me by surprise, but um the work I did the last five weeks, a little bit of it did come in. Um it wasn’t perfect last week, but um so that I was super excited with the shots on 18 on Sunday. Um it it’s it’s hard to explain what your body feels like when you’re coming down the stretch on Sunday. It’s just it just feels different. It I think I would probably compare it to member guests in a shootout. Um but it’s you everything wants to go faster. Everything, you know, a little jittery. Um but in a good way. You know, your focus. So leaving the 71st hole. I really hadn’t hit a good drive. Maybe one or two good drivers all week and 18’s a tough driving hole for me. wind in off the left and and Brian was like, “Just give me full focus on this, you know, give me two or three more shots, you know, just give me full focus.” And I bet I hit that driver 30 yards further than any other driver I hit all week. So, I actually hit the I actually hit the middle of the face. So, and then I hit a really good two iron. Um, got a little bit unlucky, but I got so many breaks. We weren’t complaining. It landed near the hole and went long. Um, but those two shots, you know, going into Sanderson, going into this two-week break, I’m, you know, I’m looking back on that hole and be like, if I can hit that driver and that two iron, you know, when I really needed to, that’s like I know this swing is is going to hold up. I just have to commit to it and kind of trust it. So, that it was in a weird way that one last hole was was even though I made par um and I didn’t give myself a chance to tie Scotty, it it gave me a lot of confidence. I assume that’s part of the process of coming back. Swing changes, struggling, whatever that is, is like you got to have an encyclopedia in your head of shots that you’ve hit under pressure in that situation with these swing changes. So, are those shots ones that you can go back to now and go like, “Hey, like my ass was on the line, my job was on the line, and I hit two great shots.” Like, at the Sanderson or whatever, like a year from now, are you are those shots that you’re like, “Okay, I can th this is like we’re on the we’re on the right path.” No, for sure. So, like for instance, on you know, you kind of you learn you learn how you’re swinging it in a tournament. So like I can hit it I can stripe it on the range all day for for three or four weeks like I did and felt super confident. But until you go into in a tournament, you know, for instance, I wasn’t work working on feeling like the back swing was inside at all in the last three or four weeks because it was kind of naturally doing that. Well, I got kind of quick the first couple days and I was like, you know, I’m I’m way over the top with a driver. So, I’m like, you know, in the tournament, I’m gonna need to feel like the the club has coming more inside um just so it can be more on plane. So, it’s probably not more inside than it was on the range. It was just my tendency was to get quick and and lifty in the takeaway. So, your swing feels change. And on Sunday, I was like, dude, I I can’t hit another 50 yard block cut. Uh, so I’m I was exaggerating it way inside, way hingy or way like club head swing and getting behind it. And I I would guess if I looked at those swings, I it would look very similar to what it did three or four weeks before Napa. So, uh, that Sunday swing was like way inside and then get up to it and cover the hell out of it and it went dead straight with a little cut right out of the middle. So that was a swing field that like I I literally hadn’t worked on for 3 weeks, but I put it in on Sunday because it was kind of like, you know, you’re adjusting to what you know what you’re doing naturally or under the gun. So um and you can’t get that feel on the range or playing with your buddies. You know, for us it’s like you learn you learn club you learn swing feels under the gun unfortunately because that’s the only time you’re ever going to feel that way. So going forward, if I start feeling that like a little bit over the top, you know, not making the back swing, I’ll just be like, you know what, 18 at Napa on Sunday, like, you know, it works. Um, so it’s it’s that’s one of the cool things about golf, especially tournament golf, is you really learn. That’s like Tiger always said. He’s like, you know, I’m I’m playing great at home and just I’m just waiting for it to translate. Well, that’s what he’s doing in tournaments is trying to find his tournament fields that give him the swing that he’s doing at home because they’re they’re not going to be the same feel. I don’t like the injury leading up to last week, like I assume there has to be times that you’re like, I’m not sure I’m ever coming back. Is is that any of your thought uh at the end of Sunday is like man there was times in the last two years that like I wasn’t sure and even three months ago you make those changes and they don’t work I assume you’re like man I don’t really know where to turn right like so like on a bigger picture I assume it’s just like huge amount of relief that like hey I can still do this as m as much as you believe that At some point you have to have some results to back that up. Yeah, I felt that in um Yeah, it’s not like, you know, I want to be real clear. It’s not like I I finished third at Napa and now now all of a sudden I’m in every major and my car is locked up. My car my my car is not locked up, but I’m I’m I’m going to have some sort of status for next year, which going into Truckucky or Barracuda, it was like I was so far down. Like I was so far out of it. I was just trying to find some kind of mojo. Um, but yeah, no, those thoughts creeped in constantly and I love the grind like tournaments are a lot of anxiety. Tournament golf is stressful and it’s but what I really love about golf is trying to figure it out and kind of the journey like traveling at my age, we’ve been doing it for so long that traveling is exhausting, you know, being gone away from home and, you know, the airports and hotels. But the thing that I still love about golf is just trying to find it and and and going to the range and and hitting shots and and trying to like kind of be a I don’t know, engineer, architect, whatever it may be. But um so it’s kind of a lovehate relationship with the game once you get to our level. So my work ethic’s still there. I still want it. And winning Q school last year was just like a miracle. I mean, honestly, there’s no other way to say it. It it was I puted my ass off for 4 days. Um it was incredible. I made I mean I I probably puted 15 to 16 strokes, probably four strokes better per round than the year average and I ended up winning and and getting her card back. And then you then I went to AMX and I had a solid week and I almost won Tori. I shot 40 40 or 41 on the back nine and finished ninth. It’s like if I shoot one or two under on the back nine, granted it’s a really hard nine holes, Tory Pines, but like I could have won Tory and it was like and then it didn’t happen. I finished ninth, which is still a good week, but then I just went on an absolute, you know, I to bed for four months. Yeah. So, it was like it was like I won Q school, I almost went Tory and it’s like, “All right, man. I’m back.” And then I fell off the train. Yeah. And and it that was hard to handle because it, you know, the conversation we’re having right now is kind of how I felt after after farmers. And so I’m very aware of that now. It’s not like I’m I’m sitting over here celebrating and just, you know, partying. Um but last week was really really really um a positive like just it felt really good after the year that I’ve had working really hard. It’s just fun playing good golf. It’s it’s it’s miserable just never seeing the ball go where you want it to go and then seeing all these other guys um because you know how it is. Everybody’s so good. Um so going forward though, I kind of knew things weren’t right at Tori and at Q school. I kind of felt like I got lucky. Um and now it feels like the changes I’ve made since May. I feel like I have a foundation in place. Like I took Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off. I went out and practiced today and it was like even though it didn’t my swing wasn’t perfect last week, now I have all that feedback from Napa and I finished third which is still crazy to me the way that I hit it. Um but I’m like now like I can put all that information in the system and I can get better because I’m not changing anything. It’s just tweaking like little small tweaks to get behind it, get through it, keep my levels. Um so who knows what will happen in the future. Obviously I don’t know. Nobody knows, but I I feel confident that I could go on a couple year run. Um meaning keeping my job. Um yeah, not not saying a couple year run of winning, you know, going to go win every tournament, but um yeah, it’s Scotty Shuffler set an a unreal expectation of go like what he’s doing right now is it’s absurd. Um it’s it’s it’s insane. It’s it’s pretty cool to watch. Um and he’s such a good dude. It’s It’s I I told his wife like I did an interview Sunday after the round and I went over to her and I was like, “Hey, like I I like I I love Scotty and you guys are great, but I kind of wish you guys weren’t here.” Like they’re only there because of the ric week to do this. No. And she laughed. She She’s great. The great family. Scotty’s Scotty’s awesome. But um obviously we laughed about it. It was a joke. But um yeah, everybody I mean everybody’s got their own little journey. And um I mean to that point about like the third I mean I say this all the time about the other endto is like you’ll see guys who are missing cuts by four and five and that might mean that you’re really close and there might be guys missing by one who aren’t close at all. it. So I that is some of the confidence I can tell you have I I assume is like this is like you guys are good enough that even when you are struggling if things were right you could finish third for that week but you’re not going like oh this third and I know I’m on the right path path this is this is different right that’s the confidence I can feel you conf it’s like yes I finished third but is I finished third for the right reasons and I’m on the pass. Yeah, you’re you’re you’re not um you’d obviously rather take a third over a 20th any day of the week, but you’re not going to judge like where you’re at in your game based on solely based on how you finished. So like Windham, I finished 23rd at Windham. If you had told me I was going to finish 23rd on Wednesday, I would have had a hard like I never would have believed you. It would have been like I was I was I didn’t even want to play Windham because I was hitting it so bad. It just my swing felt terrible and and but that that kind of woke me up and I have a sports psychologist and it was kind of like look like a good week this week’s going to be 30th like give me a 30th. See if you can do that and and focus and and like just give every single shot and know you don’t have your best. Don’t be surpris if you had a bad shot don’t be surprised. Um and I finished 23rd and it was like I left that week I felt like I won. Um, I probably felt better after Windham finishing 23rd than I did at Napa, but it was like kind of building building into having some success. So, going into the rest of the fall, it’s going to be kind of marrying that mental mindset, you know, being really strong. Yeah. And the the stuff I learned from Napa with this new swing that I’m super excited about, but also not getting complacent. Like, I’ve always felt like complacency is a killer. When I start playing well, the last thing I want to do is start celebrating and getting complacent. It’s like playing well has always given me more motivation to work harder and really, you know, dial down. And I’ve done that in my my fabulous career of being um a journeyman. But I’ve always kind of tended to go on little streaks because when I get a little taste of success, it kind of motivates me to, you know, keep going because I know you’re going to have a bad stretch. And we we were joking actually today in the gym we were joking that like like a bad week for Scotty’s like fifth. But like when I when I finish third Yeah. at Napa that’s like Scotty winning CJ Cup by 12th. Yeah. Or winning a winning a major by six. So it’s like it that’s that’s that’s just the way it is. Um I wish it wasn’t but it’s it’s reality. So when you see Scotty finish eight, that’s like him miss like that’s like me missing a cut by five. I know there’s a long way to go. This is the last question and I appreciate your time, man, and the insight. Uh, I don’t want to get into signature events. I know you have a lot of opinions and I appreciate them very much, but this is such great insight, but I do want to handle it from the standpoint of there is no harder year in the history of the PGA Tour to keep your card. It’s full field events with less cards. So, they’ll leading up to now, there’s never been a year like this. uh because it’s always been 125 cards with full fields or some version of that and now it’s 100 cards but we’re still at the 125 card level. So like do you think about that like how difficult like 125th is hard enough. Now we’re in a it would be great right now because I’d be I mean I’d historically I’d have enough points right now to be completely locked for every year the fetcups ever existed. Um but the you know you start the year you know what you have to do as top 100. So your mind’s already you know it’s like when you have like a 4-hour drive and it seems like it’s forever. Well, if you have a 16 hour drive and you drive four hours, you’re not thinking about like I could be there by now. It’s a weird analogy, but um when you know when you know the bar set here the whole year, it’s not like, you know, you can’t really make the excuse that, you know, well, I would have kept my card last year. So, I haven’t used that in my mind at all. My mind’s been top hundred um the whole year and and even now. the the good thing about this, you know, I completely disagree with making the tour smaller. I’ve been very outspoken um to a, you know, probably to a fault. It probably impacted me the last two years. This year, I got voted on the pack. I didn’t want to go through the same frustration as I did last year, kind of knowing that the decisions are made and it’s just a formality. So, I decided to kind of just no social media. I don’t get on the tour app. I don’t do anything. You know, I wanted this year I wanted to play golf and you know, I got a family. Um, so I’ I’ve really tried this year to shut my mind off of all the politics and you still hear it. You still hear guys talking about it. I’m still passionate about it, but um I know I’m not going to change it. So, going into next year, um, you know, there there are things, you know, with the changes that I do agree on. You know, 156 player fields are tough. Um, you know, if you tee off first in Detroit at 6:45 a.m., you play in 2 hours and 5 minutes and then you’re waiting 15 minutes of the turn or 10 minutes of the turn and then the whole back nine is just really slow. So, I get that. Um, I get some of the stuff, but going to a top 100 is just crazy to me. Um, you know, there’s so many good players and there’s so many guys that have that are at the top and that are making some of these decisions right now that if the rules were five, six years ago or even a couple years ago, they’d be in trouble because they I use this tweet I use this uh I use this stat a lot. At one point, it’s changed because I did this like a year ago when all these changes were made, but at one point last year, 15 of the top 50 players in the world had got to the PGA Tour in a way that will be gone or altered in 2026, right? And again, like you don’t have to say it, I’ll say it. My struggle is not the Patrick Cans of the world that obviously I wish he would see bigger picture. It’s guys that have been to Q school five times or Monday qualified and changed their career that are pulling the ladder up behind them. That’s that’s my struggle. And there’s some there’s some guys that are pushing it that you know I think it’s impacted that have had rough years this year and last year that have been real they’ve been huge like part of that Delaware group Delaware gate Delaware gate group that some of those guys they kind of felt like they’ve made it you know and they’re you know they’re at the very top and then all of a sudden you start making changes and you know it’s golf it’s hard. Um, and the other thing I would say is like when you’re in that that situation, it’s really hard to think how it is of a journeyman or the kid coming up that’s going to like not be able to be able to do Monday qualifiers or, you know, there’s going to be less cards. You know, it’s hard to put yourself in their shoes. You kind of have to, you know, it’s human nature. That being said, the thing I think I have the most issue with is this opposite field event, regular events, signature events, majors, you know, it’s like I’ve had so many friends reach out to me this fall be like, “So like what’s the fall?” And they follow me. They follow me every week. They’re like, “Is this like the new season or like Yeah. You know, used to be the new season. Now it’s just keep your car.” I mean, again, like next year, if you guys if you’re not in the signature events from the Masters to the PJ, you’re going to play one week. Like, yeah, it like I bet I had eight I bet I had eight to 10 people text me after Napa telling me, “Congratulations on keeping your card for next year because I was because they kept saying that I was top 100. I was a hundth.” And it’s like I’m like, “Dude, there’s there’s six more tournaments left.” But like that’s how like even buddies that like college teammates that follow me every week, they don’t know they don’t know how the tour works. So I you know it’s that’s the frustrating part is like when we don’t even know like when a lot of the players are kind of confused on how it works the guy said I spent there and spent like an hour or two hours the other night trying to figure out like you know if I were to finish 120 or or 110 like how many starts am I going to get it? you know, there’s just so many categories. And that’s part of the deal with golf. Like, golf’s different. Like, we get that. But my prayer with um Brian coming in as a CEO is NFL is incredible in the fact that every single game matters. That like everything is streamlined. Like the NFL is incredible to me. I’m a huge fan of the NFL and it’s so simple for the fans. They get it. Like we all know what it takes to be a divisional champ first round buy and and they’ve if we can get golf to be easy for the fans, easy for the players in a sense of like how it works. You know, every event should just be the exact same. Like if if you’re the Philadelphia Eagles, you shouldn’t get two wins for beating Kansas City. You know, you know, when like Tampa Bay is playing Atlanta, they only get one win. Like that that’s it doesn’t make sense. Like just keep it meritocracy. keep it, you know, streamlined. Um, so I’m hoping that’s in 28, 29, 30 when the new TV race deal, but the tour is going to change way more. Like this is just the start of it. I’m just hoping we get to the point where whether it helps the little guy, the journeyman, or his top player centric. I just hope that there there’s always going to be the journeyman’s like the tour is not going to exist with 30, 40 guys. like there’s always going to be guys that are kind of in the back of the pack um that are obviously still really good players, but just give us an idea of, you know, don’t complicate it so much. So, I that’s going to happen. I think it’s in the works now. It’s just going to take a couple years to kind of get out of this whole um live fiasco that I mean, we also got to give credit where credit’s due. It’s hard to It’s hard to have a a tour like live, throw all that money out, take all the best players, and then all of a sudden get it right right away. Um, so a little bit of grace there, even though I don’t agree with the changes, right? Uh, I I this could be a whole separate pod. I I definitely agree with uh some changes, understand you have a competitor, but to just completely change is is a wild wild thing to me. But uh yeah, I man, I appreciate it so much. You and I have had few conversations uh you know throughout the the years and your story is great. We didn’t even get into that. And uh man, this this is this is what this account is for is to cover events like this. I say all the time is like the lifechanging things happen down a PGA Tour leaderboard at 90% of events more than the 10% at the top. Like the proear I mean the joke is like does Scotty have to go back there next year now like he doesn’t want go there and like Yeah. Now that being said Napa is like the most beautiful place. It’s a great tournament. I’m not signed to say it’s bad. Like he wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t for the Ryder Cup. And so like your third is way more life. Like he’ll never Oh yeah. Yeah. But if but if his wife But if his wife had a great time he he might he might be you know fending for a uh you know like a vacation. Um but no this is actually I was laughing today. We’ve been talking texting back and forth for probably the last couple years and I didn’t know what you looked like. No good. That’s it. It’s It’s It’s not as good as I thought it would look, but we’re both new dads, so it’s kind of hard. I like my kids are running around basketball Just like Yeah. At least Yeah. This morning when I told you I was, you know, very homeless looking. I had like I just got out of the sun. I had like I didn’t know how much white I had in my beard until I saw like pictures of my interview. I’m like, “Holy.” Like, “Dude, you look 50.” Yeah, I’m currently like I we’re working on our house. I’m like wearing painter pants right now and threw on my Dunning shirt because they’re a sponsor. Like I’m like a mess right now. Well, Dunning Dunning appreciates that. Um but no, it’s great to uh obviously you do a lot for the little guys in the golf world and everybody apprec appreciates it and you’ve you’ve built a nice little uh fair reput. I mean, you you’ve always been super fair to everybody. So, we appreciate as as players. We we appreciate how you you report on golf and and uh always here to help. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for the time. And uh let’s uh let’s get a win in the fall. Might as well. This was 49ers or golf. Yeah, 49ers, too. Sure. This was my big this was my big purchase at the Sacramento airport going to a Redeye home. Yeah, this was 60. Like, you think waters are expensive at airports? Like I’ve been a diet. Yeah, this is a $60 hat. But I was like, “Shit, I had a good I finished third this week.” Yeah. Third. Like what what’s I should have started with, what’s your big purchase after this is it. This is it. The hat. Yeah. Two uh two bottles of water and a hat was like a hundred bucks. And And I’m like I told my wife I was like this is this is dad. I mean this is like you get older and you have a good week. Like this is splurging right here. Getting a nice hat. This is it. Um but no anyways uh appreciate you having me on, man. Thanks, man. For sure. Thanks for the time. You got