Rory McIlroy Change of Heart-“LIV Exposed Flaws”-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams-Thurs Jan 4

Matt Adams has a lot to talk about today! Rory McIlroy gets real, big time. We play his recent comments on judging LIV players too harshly as well as his thoughts on Jon Rahm leaving and being a “sacrificial lamb.” Mackenzie Hughes, Patrick Cantlay and more comment from Hawaii about the state of golf.

Welcome to the most listened to golf in the world the fairways of Life show on air online and around the world with the most candid interviews Unforgettable stories taking you beyond the Roop here’s your host New York Times best-selling author and golf channels Mass Adams I still hate li like I hate

Li like I I hope it goes away and I would fully expect that it does in a way what Liv has done it’s really it’s exposed flaws in the system of of what golf has I can’t judge people for making that decision and um so if I regret

Anything it was probably being too judgmental at the at the start so that clip you just saw the latter part of it was from a podcast that made really worldwide news yesterday at least in the world of golf uh it was called stick to golf stick to football podcast sorry

That uh it has Gary Neville Jamie carger uh Jill Scott Ian Wright Roy Keane all the members of I guess the the rotating cast that they have and and many of them were part of it with Rory mroy and because they were I guess former athletes in the case of Roy Keane

Childhood hero of Rory mroy they asked some questions or at the very least Rory answered questions in a manner that I thought was different than a typical press conference where in a typical press conference many times you deal in sound bites not that that Rory in my opinion is always very forthcoming

But when you hear the contrast between what he said last summer I still hate live which is a very very strong statement even though In fairness to Rory if you listen to the full context even that interview he talks about his mind starting and his emotions starting to

Settle as to the reality of where they’re going but then all of a sudden he goes down this I hate live road which which was given the rest of his comments in that particular interview in June which was immediately following the announcement of the efforts to put together a framework

Agreement his comments I think were fairly consolatory until that point so at the risk of sensationalism that point is of Distinction and the distinction to me is in the contrast to the entirety of his comments in the podcast which leads me to say is this a Kinder gentler

2024 or is this a change of heart Andor is this a resignation very curious what you guys think and there’ll be much more on the podcast coming up in the show today now out at the century there are some big names playing at the century of this

Week and you can see just how beautiful this place is and some of those notable players there of course Maui still recovering from the devastating fires many efforts being made to illustrate and support the funds that have been put together the initiatives that are being made to help those in Maui recover from

What was just horrific fires and very devastating loss of life loss of property and so in this case this week we get to highlight the beauty of Maui through its people and through the playing of this golf tournament where as you could see from that graphic that Andrew just put

Up many of the big names are competing and as we’re getting into and opening the show today with this discussion of the drama that surrounds the game of golf Patrick cantlay was asked the question what would your message be to fans that may be tired of the drama in

Golf I feel for the fan there’s been a ton of confusion not only for players out on tour in the last year or two um but I can only imagine for the fan at home and so I hope with having more of the best players play the same weeks

They know exactly which weeks are important and important to us players and they get to see a lot more tournaments where the best players on tour are competing against each other down the stretch on Sunday because I think that’s what the fan really wants to see I think the fans rooting for the

Attention to go back squarely onto Golf and squarely onto the tournaments that are being played and to forget all of this political non-golf uh talk which has consumed a lot of the energy over the last couple years what’s interesting about Patrick Patrick’s comments there are really twofold one

Where he said we think the fans want to see the top players more often right paraphrasing again you have to qualify that by the top players on the PGA tour uh and then I also assume that what he’s referring to there because because I don’t have the context of of the full

Conversation that he was in and the question asked accordingly I assume that he’s talking about Signature Events which still illustrates the contrast that the PGA Tour has it’s a dichotomy if you please between its Signature Events and its non-signature events right so I hope that the fans get what they’re

Looking for in hoping for in these Signature Events but I also hope as a fan of the game of golf that they find Value in the nons signature events which I don’t think is actually talked about enough currently because the focus is so much on saying hey we have this new

Shiny Signature Events aren’t they great yeah but there’s a full season of golf so that’s Patrick Klay and and I and I thought at least from the from the standpoint of you know someone that’s like him that’s that’s on the policy board a prominent player globally that he would be asked about the

Fans because it goes to my conversation I was having yesterday with you guys about in that context we were talking about the the roll back of Technology by the USGA and the RNA and you know I asked the question none of this works without you without fans and I

Asked the question to you guys who represents you when we talk about golf stakeholders if I asked you who the stakeholders are in golf you’d start to to whip together a list pretty quickly oh I’m sure it’s the Masters it’s four majors right it’s golf’s governing

Bodies PGA of America PGA Tour DP World Tour you say live right you You’ put together a list pretty quick whereas I think the most important stakeholder in G for fans I’m not 100% certain who represents those interests who speaks to those interests so Xander Schley I think is a

Perfect place to pick up here friend of Patrick Klay he was asked about his reaction action to John ROM going to live he was asked do you think it will be beneficial to get all the best players back playing together again and that’s something that Rory mooy was asked about in his podcast

Which we’ll be getting to a little bit later on in the program today about the prospect of saying hey you know the possibility of the framework and how this comes together might we have all the best players playing together again which I think many of us hope to see in whatever way

That defines itself and then the the first question that Xander was asked was this how do you feel about the state of golf entering 2024 it’s It’s Tricky I’ve really uh every day uh you wake up you you pretty much um or me at least I can speak to

Myself I I really try to you know help help wherever I can and and and try to be effective but when it comes to my personal golf I I’ve really tried to just just dig in um really try and be selfish really try and focus

Focus on what I can do uh to get better at playing golf that’s sort of why I love playing golf um so a lot of distractions it’s been like that for quite some time um everyone sort of has their opinion and everyone floats around but I can just speak to sort of what

I’ve been trying to do and that’s really diing my head in the sand and trying to get back to sort of letting the clubs talk it’s better I mean we’re we’re entertainers at the end of the day I mean I love I love what I do for work

And I’m obsessed with my job but at the end of the day I am you know a small piece of of a big puzzle and I think everyone wants to see that puzzle sort of whole whole without missing pieces and um I think the product is probably

Better uh all together than sort of split up but um I don’t have the metrics on what that looks like or anything I couldn’t tell you if ratings are worse or better um really really put my head in the sand when I when I tell you that

What was your reaction to uh John ROM leaving for Liv I mean I don’t I don’t really have a whole lot to say on the matter to be honest interesting reaction from Xander Schley as to John Ram leaving literally Palms in the air I mean that was that

Was just interesting all right colum Mora was asked about how satisfied he is with the communication regarding the tour’s future and then what to him would be the ideal outcome I’m like right in the middle um I’m like if you had a meal and you’re like you’re full but you you

Know you want something else you want dessert kind of I’m sitting I’m sitting in that like Zone look I I’ve not that I’ve taken myself out I still listen to all the meetings I read up on on everything that’s going on but at this point all

You can do is just play your best golf and show up and and see what happens right I like my my I I hope everything comes together and we’re able to all play together at some point in some time in some way um but there’s so much back and forth you

Know the emails we get is it’s all fluff like there’s no point in reading these emails anymore that we get um players are saying one thing and then they say something else some other time uh at this point I think just deals need to be

Made and we all need to get back to playing golf right it’s it is what it is guys make their decision to go one way I’ve I’ve never had an issue with it I’ve never had an issue with anything right everyone makes their own decision but I do miss playing with everyone at

One time you know that’s why the majors have been fun over the past year or two years um not that they’re not fun but it’s nice to see some of these guys right because it’s that that was normal when I turned Pro I never thought it was

Going to be anything different um not that it takes away from these fields not that it takes away from the PGA Tour but there’s great players in other parts of the world and um you know I think we missed that there there’s there’s already so much to unpack just from the

Comments in that brief one minute 35 second cut from Colin Mo aawa my first observation is is one of the things through the turbulence of the last couple of years in golf is that players are far more forthcoming and honest when they speak in front of microphones and cameras than I think

They ever were comfortable in being before com comfort in this case probably defined in large part by what can I say and can I say cannot say without the risk of perhaps getting some type of a fine or or a phone call where you just heard a tour player say that he’s not

Reading all the stuff that’s coming out because of the fluff think about that for a second right and the fact that colum warawa Al be at a multiple times major Champion to to his credit still a very young man talking about the fact of yeah when

I first came out here I just it was just a given that all the best players were playing together particularly at the majors and now it is something of Distinction which leads you to another observation or me anyway that and and I said this last year too throughout all of

This if the players from live can get the access which clearly there are players that are good enough players that they should be in the major so it is something to me that they I’ve said multiple times I think they need to figure that out and if the Gateway into

The majors is primarily going to be through the world ranking points they’ve got to figure that out and the they is a collective I’m not just throwing it solely on the official World Golf Ranking organization I also think whatever Liv has to do if just figure it out if you if you have

To expand your field okay ask ask your group if you mind if we go to four rounds instead of three if that’s the answer I don’t know what it is all I’m saying is is there should be ranking points for players of that caliber because if that’s going to be

Used as a Gateway into the majors we shouldn’t have players of the caliber for example of the golf we saw from Taylor G last year who were sitting on the sidelines makes no sense but the broader picture to what Colin was talking about is that the

Majors last year got even better and the reason why they got even better is because we were able to see all of the world’s best players at the same place and I thought that was very exciting now yesterday there were also some awards announced the Arnold Palmer

Award is for the player of the year and while you may think that in the context of 2023 Eric Cole bursts through as an overnight success well his overnight success was many many years in the making I’m very happy to be here in capala to start the year off and it’s a

Huge honor to win Rookie of the Year it’s uh you know an award and golf where you only get one chance to win it which is a little bit unique and to uh to win that and be voted uh by my peers is uh pretty incredible and it’s like I said

It’s just a huge honor you know I was very lucky uh Sam and I became friends you know probably when we were going into high schoolish and uh I was lucky to spend a lot of time around Mr Palmer uh Just Around Bay Hill and a little bit

Up in Latrobe as well and um you know he was such an incredible guy to be around and uh so many great stories that he had and uh to win an award named after him is just just a huge honor and it’s something uh that is really special to

Me and uh it’s kind of a cool connection for sure I saw I forget where I saw it I think it might have been Luke Donald that put it out on social media where he said ludvig obber is still eligible in 2024 for the Rookie of the Year award

Because of the number of events that was so few that he was able to play in 2023 even though he’s had great success already so he was making the observation that it is possible that the Young swed could emerge as both the Rookie of the Year and the player of the

Year because he is that skilled it’ll be fascinating to see that speaking of the player of the year uh that was awarded to Scotty Sheffer remember this vote comes from the players Scotty Sheffer was asked a number of interesting questions including with all the success that you’ve had over the last couple of

Years how do you sort that up against the sadness of what happened at the Ryder Cup not only as a team competition but also for him remember he and Brooks with the most most lopsided loss in the history just being part of it he was asked about how then he does define

Success how do you evaluate the season at the end of year when you when you look back on your season how do you how do you do your evaluation of what was a successful season and he started by talking about his thoughts about winning the player of the year yeah obviously an

Honor to receive the award um anything that you received vote on by your peers is is very special to me and you know being able to go home with this trophy two years in a row now is is very special I think uh I think the body of

Work I put in last year with the the consistency and finishing you know top most of the weeks that I played I was very proud of that consistency and so um yeah I’m very appreciative of the award yeah at the end of each season I kind of

Sit back and look at things that I want to improve on and last year my ball striking was obviously very good and my putting wasn’t as as good as I think it needed to be um and so when I look back at the season that was one of the things

That I kind of try to focus on in the offseason I usually have one aspect effect that I try to put a little bit of extra emphasis on if that makes sense to where I’m still always working on all aspects of my game but throughout the

Offseason I have a little bit more time on my hands to to focus on on different things and you know some years it’s my diet some years it’s been you know the time I want to put in the gym um you know one year it was creating different

Shots and then this year it was kind of the emphasis was placed on putting and you know I put in a lot of work with Phil over the offseason and I’m excited to you know I saw a little bit of the fruits of that at the hero and had a

Nice putting week and um I feel like the ball’s coming off my blade really nice right now and I’m looking forward to you know coming out this week and just uh you know seeing where I’m at my priority list at the top like how I define

Success has always been my Approach if I show up to tournaments and I’m prepared and I’m ready to play and I show up with a good attitude and a good approach so that means not not getting too frustrated not overthinking things just trying to go out there and execute the

Shot and controlling what I can control and that’s my Approach once I hit the ball I can’t control whether or not the putts going to go in whether it’s going to hit a bounce and you know bounce offline or if I’m going to get gusted by

The wind all I can can control is my Approach and when my Approach and attitude are great then that’s a successful week I mean we went on vacation after the week um you know we had some friends there and you know life life goes on life goes on after wins

Life goes on after losses I I try not to keep any of that stuff with me for too long I mean it was obviously frustrating week but um you know I like I said my attitude was good I felt like my preparation was good as it could have

Been and um you know I just didn’t perform and that’s part of my Approach like if I show up to a tournament and I feel like I’ve done everything I can to play well and I go out there and I have a good attitude and I don’t play well

That’s okay you know I can’t play good every week I can’t win every tournament that’s not my expectations my expectations I play some myself is to go have a good attitude and be prepared and then the rest is up to me and so when it comes you know after having tough losses

Um yeah you kind of just life goes on we went on vacation and I went home and put up the clubs for about a month which was great and then um you know got back to work all right so some of the featured tea times from some of the gents that

You’ve heard from just now Patrick cantlay will tea off at 2:21 p.m. Eastern Xander Schley at 12:45 eastern time morawa also at 12:45 and then Scotty Sheffer at 439 p.m. eastern time there on your screen you can see the air times of the century Thursday and Friday you can

Catch the coverage on Golf Channel and it will start at 6: PM Eastern Time on Saturday and Sunday it will be on NBC from 4 pm and then back on Golf Channel again at 6 PM until the conclusion of play on those respective days ESPN plus gets underway today everything kicks off

Earlier today so uh earlier than the network coverage as you guys are aware ESPN plus has multiple different feeds of the PGA Tour week in and week out as to the radio side PGA Tour radio can be heard on the PGA tour app it can be heard on PGA

Tour.com or you can catch the coverage on SiriusXM and there you can see that it is starting along with those first tea times on both Thursday Friday and over the weekend and carrying you through the event that is taking place out in Hawaii more the fairways of Life

Show coming up when we come back we’re going to die di into Rory maroy his comments on the stick to football podcast which didn’t and having Rory maroy on and where the beneficiary of it for getting some insight into where his heart in mind is right now relax easy

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Rory mooy and as Rory became kind of the what do you call them Flagship spokesman for the PGA Tour over the last call it at least year and a half maybe more relative to the PGA Tour and what you know what initially with live in the PGA Tour happened was

That there were there were military terms that were being used I refused to use them and because I thought was ridiculous to tell you the truth but there were often times military ter you know like if if a player left and went to live it was very typical that the way

That it would be written or spoken Off Script would be to say that soand so defected to live and many times it was talked about as golf’s War Etc I you know these which as we’re living in a world that has real war and real strife and real death real

Horrors I think it’s incredibly disingenuous to try to use words that are related to military related to conflict related to to War uh when we’re talking about it in a sports context I I not not sure if if I feel as strongly about about it with the

Comments I just made when someone talks about survival even though it’s applicable to the same mentality but in this case I do think that we got to a point where there were honest emotions expressed where and I think it was pretty much the PGA Tour because of the

Money that was involved where they said they couldn’t survive a fight different people phrasing it that way they couldn’t survive a a fight against The Sovereign fund because it was basically unlimited source of funds how how I’m sure I’m going to paraphrase it but how did the

Commissioner say that if this if this is a I think he may have used the word War uh that is and the weapons are is is money uh we we can’t compete or something somebody has the exact quote much better than that but that was the

Gist of it so Rory comes on this stick to football podcast it’s an original series from the overlap Gary Neville Jamie carer uh Jill Scott Ian Wright Roy Keane it it’s a show where they bring in these special guests and they’re focusing on football and Rory is uh of

The European variety right Rory is a huge man united fan and so you’re going to hear in the two clips that Dom put together from the podcast and again I want to make sure that that the credit on this is properly given because I thought it was fascinating and

They deserve it because it was extremely well done stick to football podcast where Rory maroy gets into his perspective current on Liv and then we’ll talk about how that perspective may have evolved so I think the one thing for me is golf has always been built on marit you shoot the

Scores you um rise up the ranks and you get you get rewarded accordingly um and I think what’s in a way what Liv has done it’s really it’s exposed flaws in the system of of what golf has because we’re all supposed to be independent contractors and we can sort of basically

Pick and choose what tournaments we want to play but I think what live and the sties have exposed is okay well if you have you know a tour and you’re going and you’re asking asking sponsors for millions of dollars to sponsor these events and you’re not able to guarantee

Those sponsors the players that are going to show up you know it’s very hard it it I can’t believe they’ve done so well for so long so it’s actually exposed some flaws in the system that hopefully Gulf will have a look at more okay well if we’re going to ask these

People for so much money we need to be able to guarantee them what they’re getting and I think that was part of the stuff that we’ve been trying to do for the last two years to figure out okay how can we basically try and bring the thing back together again and and and

Learn from some of the things that have happened and some of the stuff that Liv has has exposed and yeah I still I feel like there was a way to do it where it wasn’t going to be this massive disruptor to the game and I think that’s the other thing to me it’s

Like it’s just it’s created this massive upheaval in in professional golf which has been sad to see and it’s like some people have taken one side some people have taking another and golf’s a small enough sport it’s not like football where you’ve got billions of fans so if

You start dividing the eyeballs in professional golf it’s no good for anyone it’s just going to cannibalize itself well so competition is good right it it it makes people um but at the same time I think with the PJ T trying to compete with live on the Saudi money is

Like completely unsustainable they can’t do that they just it’s not you know you’re never going to win a fight if you’re just you know money for money because I think we’ve seen in All Sport like there’s no one spending like the Sidi so how can you

How can you tilt the odds in your favor so that you can make your product better that you can make fans want to engage more with with what you’re doing I think that’s how the PGA Tour can I don’t want to say win this fight because you know there’s negotiations going on and

Everyone trying to come back together which I think would be good for golf um but it it put the PGA tour in a position where they had to spend a lot of money that maybe put them on a path that was that was unsustainable able and know you’re seeing some sponsors are pulling

Out because the are asking for so much money and the sponsors like we can’t you know we can’t afford that we can’t afford it we can’t you know asking us to pay 20 25 million an event to to sponsor this thing I mean it’s you know if

They’re not seeing the value in it and they’re not seeing okay well if you can guarantee me that the top 50 guys are going to come and play in my event that week then fine but if you can’t guarantee me that then I’m not going to

Give you that money I mean you’ve been quite outspoken about it yourself and probably tiger would have seen as two on this side a lot of golfers have gone to to live when you’re talking about now they could actually come together yeah if they do come together that what why

Would you not then be be part of of live so I think and get the you know sort of like the finances that these other players are getting which is astronomical well I think you would in the end because if if Liv are so the thing that I that I’ve come to realize

Is okay if you’ve got people or a sovereign wealth fund wanting to spend money in your sport ultimately that’s a good thing but you just want to maybe get them to spend it the right way and to spend it on things that that are important in the game so um instead of

Giving someone hundred million do why don’t you put 50 million into a Grassroots program for the RNA or the usgaa so that you can actually help whenever they say growing the game you know spending that money elsewhere to actually grow the game and not just try

To buy talent I think is would be a way better um way to to spend that money absolutely yeah I mean it’s at the end of the day we’re professional golfers we play golf to make a living and and and make money I I absolutely understand it

Especially some of these guys that were on like the back end of their career absolutely like I I don’t I don’t um I don’t begrudge anyone for going and taking that money and and doing something different but don’t don’t try to burn the place down on your way out

You know I think that’s sort of my my attitude towards it because some people are are happy playing you know in the existing structure and that’s totally fine too but I think it’s just created this division that hopefully will stop in the near future because I think it’s

The best thing for golf to what about the the golf L just moved I think in the last probably few weeks John Ram yeah and it feel like he was so strong and aligned with you you know on this side I mean how did you feel personally when he

E jumped across I think at this point with the so this whole frame work agreement and and the sort of merger news back in June I think what happened is the tours legitimized what Liv was trying to do so it made it made it easier for guys to to jump you know John

Ram’s not got any of the heat that the the first guys got for for going so it’s made it easier for for guys to to jump and I think John you know he’s he’s smart and I think he sees things coming together uh at some point so he’s like

Okay I you know take a lot of upfront money um um which is his prerogative he can absolutely do that and if things come together I’ll just you know I’ll maybe play live for a year come back play on the tour and maybe play some

Team golf on the on the sort of fringes um so I thought it was quite you know it’s it’s a smart business move it’s opportunistic I think he he sees that things will come back together and you know and he’s he’s in a lucky position he’s exempt for all the majors um

There’s not one person that wouldn’t want them on our Ridder Cup team because of you know how good he is so he was in a great position where there wasn’t a ton of risk involved for for him to go um but I’ve I have no problem with John

Going if that’s what he wants to do and he thinks that’s the right decision for him and his family then you know who am I to say any different at this point so that’s just part one of the two pieces that Don put together from the stick to

Football podcast that Rory maroy was obviously on recently so I wrote down just to some notes that that struck me as he was speaking and this kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier about comments from Kum morawa that we featured for you where he was talking

About I I don’t even read this stuff anymore it’s all fluff right remarkably really honest comments and Rory speaks with with kandor as well and one of the things that he said when he and we used it at the start of the show this little clip where he goes live exposed

Flaws right where where you’d golf churning Along by any definition and it was very strong and strong fisted at times depending on which government body we’re talking about or which event we’re talking about or events what have you and he’s saying live exposed flaws because from from a starting

Standpoint that’s what kind of started everything down this road I mean that’s really what Phil Mickelson was trying to do when he was making his initial comments he did it in his typical Phil way and it failed at that time where Phil likes to plant the

Seed and let it grow into into something else and he tried to do that with this one but he didn’t package it in the correct way and expect and ultimately with Alan shipnuck Revelations a couple months later it all turned on him because people saw that the Phil Mickelson they thought they

Knew was not necessarily the Phil Mickelson that was behind the scenes but when you talk about what Phil was saying not how he said it he was talking about flaws and Rory mroy just said live exposed flaws I was pretty fascinated by that I was fascinated when

He said I can’t believe they’ve done so well for so long and what he was talking about there was going out and getting people to engage in an event he was talking about in the context of of sponsors in this case but but even if you talk from

A fans perspective what have you he was saying yeah we’re going to have an event uh we’re going to know when we get you know Friday before the event and we may know along the way who’s going to be there but other than that that’s about the all we can

Guarantee but we need you to you know put this up and he has quote can’t believe they’ve done so well for so long fascinating when you think about this and and as to the the efforts with the framework agreement and and what it can be on the other side of those efforts

Where he said paraphrasing everyone are trying to come back together which I think is good for golf further when he was asked about and eventually it was specific with John Rah he said these are all quotes I don’t begrudge anyone for taking the money would that have been would you have come

To that conclusion that Rory maroy felt that way given the clip from his June comments would you have come to that conclusion where he said I hate live right the one I opened the show with today would you have felt that way prior to that would you have felt

That given all his comments well Rory still wouldn’t begrudge anybody for taking the money that’s exactly what he just said right and and bear in mind I’m not illustrating the the contrast in his comments to try to expose in some way uh a disingenuous perspective what I’m exposing here is I

Think it’s not me exposing it I’m just discussing it but I think what we’re seeing here is an evolution in thinking I think it’s mind and heart it’s I and and frankly I think it’s very very healthy and I’m saying that to you because we live in a world today where

We try to pigeon hole people to say you said right that’s the red state blue State world that we live in today you said you’re painted in that corner that’s where you have to stay forever well wait a minute is it okay that I’ve learned or I’ve spoken to people or I’ve

Changed my mind is that allowed in today’s world that my thinking has evolved in some way or no if you said it once you’re done that’s it is that healthy is that what learning really is about when it comes to John Ram this was fascinating this was at the end of that

Part one we just played we have another part to play for you too which we’ll get to where he was talking about John ROM he said the framework legitimized what Liv is trying to do this was the announcement of the framework agreement that he was referring to it legitimize

What Liv is trying to do and as to John Rah he spoke of it as a smart business move which to me I would I would interpret that along the lines of what my thoughts were on it yesterday I think I think they’re aligned here in terms of

Philosophy which is to say if you’ve been offered an absolutely massive sum of money massive knowing that the two organizations are involved in negotiations right now to become one so you might literally get the massive check and have the prospect of playing once again in the events that you would like to play

In on the tour side the PGA Tour side and probably because of the comments of Roy maroy which which would equate to to pressure he’s saying we got to find a way to get keep John Rah in the Ryder Cup Rory called that A smart business

Move we’re back with part two on the fairways of Life show right after this I guess hello world huh and with one subtle hello tiger began an amazing and Unthinkable [Applause] career I’ve done it for 20 years now with with bridgstone allows me to play an aggressive style around the greens

And it’s allowed me to win a lot for rdstone golf proud to be part of your journey Bo golf provides the Ultimate worldclass Golf destination with 10 Championship caliber courses spanning three Resorts centered in Michigan’s Northern lower Peninsula the courses are the products of some of the game’s Masters including Robert Trent Jones

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People go to the gym is so that they can like have muscles and you know be strong and be healthy and a lot of the reason why they struggle to play golf is their body doesn’t move properly for them to be able to hit a golf

And when you’re training for golf it’s a little bit different because you’re focused more on flexibility and mobility and being uh strong in motion when you’re able to kind of have a warm-up and have a workout routine and kind of gradually build up to where you’re training your body to move properly yeah

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Cart the decision is yours thanks to zerof friction head to zerof fr.com today all right welcome back to the show as we get into part number two here Don what are you hearing what’s coming in from the people today in this Thursday oh there’s a tremendous amount

Coming in obviously uh with the the aalan of news that continues to to just happen in golf I mean December was insane which is unusual for December in golf we’ve been doing this for 15 years and it’s it’s just usually a time of year when nothing happens and instead

Everything happened and here we are we’re three or four days into the new year and you know they were talking a lot about the shamble and no laying up beef they’re still discussing uh I don’t know what that is with each other what was what was

The shamble beef I don’t even know what that’s about they’re just arguing about commercials it I don’t know what they’re talking about in the chat they’re going back and forth really it’s like comparing apples to stakes in my opinion I mean you’re talking about they’re complaining about commercials sham

Shamble is saying to no laying up oh you got commercials during your podcast and no Lan Up’s like oh well you got way way more commercials during live coverage well live coverage and a TV show or a podcast are like they have nothing to do with each other they’re completely

Separate anyway they’re talking about that they’re talking a little bit about the USGA obviously with the with the news of the roll back which we are going to get into ad aam over the next several weeks there’s a lot to discuss it’s a lot of layers it’s very interesting uh and then

Obviously they’re they’re commenting now I’ll read a few of the comments here coming in about we again we just played part one of Rory we have part two coming up in just a second um I had a hard time editing it to be honest because it was

Well over an hour long and there was a tremendous amount of fascinating pieces of Intel that Rory shared during that interview so I did the best I could to whittle it down into the stuff that I thought especially with us being golf Centric what’s the most important what’s

The most interesting and that was just part one uh let’s see here we’ve got stuff coming in here dece says I’m all set with Rory hard pass not a fan of Rory Ma I see there’s some comments coming in about Tiger Tiger there’s some people thinking that tiger is waiting to

Sit back to see who’s going to end up with control of PGA Torah Enterprises and then Court them so that they make sure they have a seat at the table doesn’t it bother you guys that the Live players were bought question mark uh we’ve got whoa whoa whoa hold on

A second on that if if he’s asking us if well they’re just asking each other and us I guess you know asking everybody okay it’s not it’s not a question for you necessarily I think it’s a question to the group but we’re part of the group right maybe not

But I mean to that question does it bother you that the Live players were bought it’s a different structure of the game of golf where where Rory spoke about in in that first segment that golf had traditionally been set on a meritocracy but if you start to get into

The details of that meritocracy the the European tour has had appearance fees for years if you paying an appearance fee for a player to come to to your event is that buying that player okay maybe it is for having their appearance there does it strengthen the event does it strengthen your

Relationship does it keep a sponsor perhaps but then after that are they are they starting out the event at 5 under and everyone else is starting at level par they still have to go out and perform they still have to hit the high notes to be the to be the star that’s

That’s going to get that so from from that standpoint if if it’s a completely different animal where they put together a league and said we need these stars and we’re willing to pay for them so from that standpoint I guess the the my answer to that question is for

For the context of who live is and it’s not like they they kept it secret from us they flat out said we’re going to pay Stars a guaranteed amount to be here that’s how we’re going to guarantee that they’re here and I think a lot of people uh chimed in here

Echoing your comments mesh says all my favorite sports players are bought uh Michael says what choice did Liv had if they wanted to have an immediate impact and have their lead taken seriously Paul says they are pros play for money they are contracted to play for they are contracted to play for

Live in a sport That’s Not Unusual LC says a professional player accepting the most lucrative deal is the norm in any other sport David then says PG PGA Tour players PGA Tour players are not paid to show up they are not bought none of the new guys that qualified via the Lou

Promotions tournament are getting a signing bonus they’re just getting the purse money only so this it’s just a fascinating discussion there’s again there’s a lot fasinating discussion what’s the purpose of PGA tour’s pip it’s sort of to take care of what you’re talking about well not only that what about the Signature

Events yeah well yeah well Rory talked about it the 20 $25 million the sponsor the sponsors the cost for everybody it’s not sustainable etc etc I mean we can get into it more and I don’t know if this is a path you want to go down but

My concern with this is for the sport my concern is that the sport is getting too fractured and the sport is not ginormous there’s not an unbelievably massive fan base watching all these Sports I know people watching the show oh I watch a lot of the tour events and oh there’s a

Lot of people watching the Live Events there’s really not a lot of people watching any of the events you know these events are getting a few million people watching these tourn that’s a lot for if you just continue to fracture it out it’s it’s going to be nothing there

It’s going to become a problem and then no one’s GNA be able to get sponsors you got seven different things going on it’s gonna be a problem I don’t think the pie in terms of the people that are consuming it is growing rapidly although they’re trying to make it grow by the

Trying to go younger with who they’re appealing to but what it what happens a lot of times in in the game of golf is that while the pie is the pie how big your piece of the pie is is what changes from one year to the next what else you

Got from the people let’s then we’ll get to number two part two uh the signing bonuses are reserved for the name players over noname guys don’t get that they only get what they earn I agree G Willis says I I agree with Matt that many of us felt that Rory

Seemed to be a little naive with his position and opinion from the beginning I I mean there an endless apply we we can play part two and then come back to this if you’d like but it’s just amazing to me um the emotional attachment on both Sid we love that’s

Why we love our people on both sides they’re just so it matters so much it’s awesome and and to your point where you talked about the fracturing of the game all of this discussion on every level macro or micro is about trying to to bring together the game trying to to ease some

Of that fracturing uh of the game so in part two of this podcast that Rory maroy was on that’s called stick to football podcast and I want to make sure that we give full credit because I think they did an excellent job it’s beautifully produced

Uh it’s got some huge names if you’re a fan of uh the English Premier League and these players had played for various teams along the way also huge names Roy Keane as I mentioned was Roy’s childhood hero he started the whole podcast with this funny story about asking Roy for

His autograph when he was just a kid and Roy blew him off and uh if you get a chance to see the full podcast you’d enjoy that exchange as well so in part two again you got professional athletes athletes who played for money contracts the teams that they joined because it

Was the best contract Etc who they were traded to in some cases Etc and they asked him to start out about what are we talking about in terms of money and live I think it’s the guaranteed part of it which is you knowl guar how how’s it

Work what do they do guarantee you an upfront sort of like signing on pay yeah like a contract so okay you go you come and play for live golf for five or six years and you have a contract and we’ll pay you whatever it is per year plus

Then you’re going to compete for this prize money as well so what would the numbers be for that sign n just just I me it it depends um I don’t I don’t know but I mean you know there’s numbers being titled for John Ram you know upwards of three 4500 million for you

Know that’s that’s what the numbers are MH yeah so I mean yeah again like you get you get have you turned that down then no I I’ve never had an offer you just didn’t welcome the offer didn’t well yeah just didn’t engage just didn’t engage because it’s something that and I

Think at this point like I’m you know I’ve pretty pretty much set my stall out and did he get that now I can see the question coming up for your body you a bit Hasty but um it’s it’s I’m believe but it is know the numbers are are but it’s

Happening in everything right like obviously all the stuff that’s happen in football F1 um you know they’re they’re they’re getting into Sport and they you know yeah they’ve getting the World Cup in 2034 what you know so they’re they’re making a huge Splash in the in the

Entire world of sport and um you know no different than what you know the UAE have done in the past and um yeah and and other countries do you worry that you can just be distracted by that instead of going I just want to concentrate absolutely like I’ve I’ve

Been you know for the last two years I’ve been trying to fight the good fight right all this stuff and at this point I’m like well I like I’m not that I’ve wasted I’ve played well the last couple of years and I’ve done you know I’m I’m

In a good spot but it’s still you know it’s not my job at the end of the day my job is to go out there and try to shoot the lowest score possible you feel like you’re losing the fight a little bit now because everyone because people like

John RAM have gone over people who were actually on your side to start with um yeah so I think I’ve I’ve basically went through the last two years with this like altruistic approach of I’ve sort of looked at the world in the way I’ve wanted to see it instead of

Just sort of you know going through life with not with not like not that I haven’t I’ve accepted reality basically like this is what’s going to happen and you can say what you want and do what you want but at the end of the day you’re not going to be able to change

People’s minds you’re never going to be able to make them to make a decision based on what you say so I don’t have I lost a fight I don’t feel like I’ve lost fight but I’ve just accepted the fact that this is part of our sport now and

Um you wouldn’t have done anything different you you know if this came again it’s not like you’d say well I’m not going to make this stance myself because a lot a lot of the guys are probably going to slip off yeah um seem like you’re on your own in it yeah I

Think at this point it’s like I’m not I I was maybe a little um I was probably judgmental of the guys that went at the start and I think that was a bit of a mistake on my part because I know realize not everyone’s in my position or

In Tiger’s position and you know you you get this offer and it’s you know what do you do it’s you know we’re all we all turn professional to to make a living play in the sports that we do and um I think that’s what I realized over the

Last two years I can’t judge people for making that decision and um so if I regret anything it was probably being too judgmental at the at the start to me I’m just sick of the the money talk in in in golf it’s like cuz the fans don’t

Care they just want to watch good golf and and watch people compete against each other and you they don’t care if you’re making this or this guy’s on 200 Grand a week where it just it doesn’t it doesn’t resonate do you feel stitched up and you said you said it I think you

Said you felt like a sacrificial lamb because you were the pga’s basically front man fighting this and they were as obviously as vocal as you were you were the main voice fighting this but then they’ve gone and got into bed with Liv do you just feel completely deflated and

Let down by it now no not really so um I met yaser at the end of last year and 2022 in Dubai and just said look what do you want what is it in golf that you know what do you what do you want to do

Um so we had a really good chat and we talked about you know he loves the game and he um you know he he wants to do certain things he thinks the team element in golf can really you know take off and try to build franchise value in

Some of these teams and you know I I I understood some of it so when I got back to America that the start of this year I I was on the board of the PJ tour and I said to the guy like someone’s got to go

You know talk to this guy so then there was a plan put in place that one of the board members would try to develop a relationship with him see if we can try to figure something out and we can all move forward together so I knew that

There was conversations being had but I didn’t know that it would happened so quickly and then obviously on June 6th the framework agreement was announced and you know a lot of the players were angered by it because they were completely blindsided by it were you blinds side CU you’re on the board how

Could you so I was I so I guess I knew it had it was a very MC group of people it was the commissioner of the PJ tour it was Yasser and it was two board members right the chairman of the board of the PJ tour and another guy and

Um I knew there was conversations being had but I didn’t know you know it went from they met met in uh April and they got this agreement done in June so it it happened very very quickly um and people were just like what what is gone on you

Know cuz the PJ tour were telling other players you know these are the bad guys are coming to take over our tour this and then two months later it’s like oh we’re actually going to do a deal with them and you resigned then didn’t you I

Resigned at the end of this year but it was more to do with um it was just taking up too much of my time I just want to get back to being a golfer and playing golf and trying to you know win those tournaments that I dreamed about

Winning as as a kid um so that was the that that was the reason for that but it was also you know I I I hope everyone comes back together and people put their you know cuz the one thing is you’ve got guys on both sides that don’t don’t want

It to happen for for certain reasons the live guys don’t really want to come back play the PJ tour because they don’t feel like they’ve been treated very well some of the PJ tour guys don’t want things to come back together because they don’t want to see those other guys

So it’s a it’s a really weird so people I think at this point need to put their egos and their feelings aside and come back together and we all move forward because that would be what would be the best thing for golf again fascinating comments from

Rory Mary the podcast he was on was called is called stick to football to original series from the overlap and we thank them for doing an excellent job with the the production so some of the comments from Rory in part two that stuck out stuck out to me and I’m

Curious we I’ll touch base with dom in a second here and find out what you guys are thinking about before we wrap up on this Thursday where he got into the whole thing where he said I’ve been trying to fight the good fight dot dot dot ultimately said it’s not my job

Which was interesting from that perspective uh when he was asked about kind of regrets where he said I was judgmental and that was a little bit of a mistake on my part and then he went on to say I regret being too judgmental and I know that’s getting a

Lot of play on social media and that I saw that last night I also thought that it was particularly pertinent and I thought well observed where Rory spoke about that the fans don’t care about money and I happen to think when we’re talking about professional sports that’s critically

Important so that for example when you’re talking about how much players are playing for in a purse or how much a player did or did not sign for or what they get paid by a sponsor Etc when you’re talking about professional sports how long ago years ago decades ago professional sports money became

Monopoly money it had no real connection you I can remember back in the days when they used to play the Skins game over Thanksgiving weekend and I remember Jack Nicholas having some big putt that was worth 300 and something thousand do and I remember you know there putts that were in those

Days and at that event these individual putts were for like the most worth the most money on one individual putt which is hard to say because you make a putt to win a big b win a prize money which is still higher than that back the day

It would seem like that one that birdie someone made in 18 was was worth more than that but I’m talking about in that one particular context and you know Jack throwing his Putter and making the P you know all that I don’t really think that exists

Anymore I don’t think I don’t think we as fans buy into this Pott’s going to be worth $20 million or $5 million or 100 m whatever it is it’s Monopoly money so I think whenever the focus starts to be on the money I think we all roll our

Eyes right even when they when they start the conversations of uh soand so was signed for this amount of money and everybody gets up in arms it’s too much money for a golfer to be paid what have you your value in the marketplace in any job is the is how

Much someone’s willing to pay you to do that job that’s your value in the marketplace it may not be tied to what the average wage is for someone doing that job someone’s willing to pay you what they’re willing to pay you would you take it so I thought that was just an

Interesting observation I just it’s if you’re going to build a campaign based upon money that professional athletes are getting paid I think it’s a it’s a shortlived one because I just don’t see how regular fans connect with go knowing thank goodness so and so is getting that much

Money if it’s good for you good his comment that in Rory’s case he just wants to get back to being a golfer again I thought it was interesting and I thought he did a pretty good job of explaining the why part of that I’m not it it didn’t for me

I’m still hungry for more terms of of coming to that conclusion I just want to get back to being a golfer did he feel like he took on too much of a leadership role he spoke I told you the comments about him feeling like he had some regrets of being too

Judgmental but did he did he feel like he took on that leadership role did he feel like he was thrust in that leadership role did he feel like he had to be in that leadership role and did he did he was his emotion more so based upon what we heard today

That it was a futile effort remember in part one we said you really can’t change people’s minds all of that’s interesting all of it’s really interesting it just again I go back to what I asked you guys a segment ago when when you’re talking about Rory seven months ago a year ago year and a half ago and listening to the Rory that you heard from today is that the same Rory and let me underscore again and make sure this is crystal clear I’m not judging the Rory you just heard from I’m not pointing out and and saying

Oh these are inconsistencies with what was said before that’s why I asked you guys the question is this a change of heart is this an evolution in some cases I think he he himself would probably Define it in as a resignation to re to this reality that

This entity is going to exist you can’t make it unexist by expressing your discontent with it we saw many many people do that and they could not overcome the power that comes with the money that is behind it it spoke louder than words frankly and then the the comment that

Rory made at the end about bringing the game back together when he when he said he’s talking about players and he’s quoting need to put their egos aside and come back together close quote again think about what I just said and think about who just said that it’s quite

Fascinating I’m sure there’s going to be some people as Dom noted were said no I’m all done hard pass blah blah blah what have you U I think the game will be in a better place if the game finds a way to come back together and I think part of that has to

Be a learning process a realization a revelation in some cases a resignation to realize that we do not have to love we do not have to approve of all of the elements and I’d like to know what sport you do where you know all of the owners and

You know all the people behind the scenes and you just think everything is exactly the way you’d like to see it I’m not being naive I’m not saying that that will necessarily be the case but what I am saying is that the game together is a lot better than the game split

Apart Don what do you hearing from the people before we wrap up I’ll read a few comments here to wrap things up obviously there’s a ton coming in we appreciate it if you hit that like button it actually helps us quite a bit so feel free to do so G Willis says I’m

Personally impressed that Rory did this because it takes courage to admit that he’s been a little wrong and a little judgmental I’ll shake his hand give the next opportunity to shake his hand uh let’s see NBT 3 writes the players were clearly lied to they are left out in the

Cold at worst they should get a collective bargaining agreement it’s the player’s fault Greg says for not striking to get a CBA Kevin says I would not be surprised to see the PGA tour players unionize and have a CBA very similar to all the other sports and athletes LC says this is hilarious

Watching talking down someone getting a guaranteed salary and then also competing for prize money to a room full of footballers whose entire careers had that exact same structure that’s funny so there’s a lot I you know there’s so much more I could read Matt uh and we appreciate you guys

Commenting and being part of the show and I mean we could talk about this for 14 no doubt about that let’s uh give you the air times one more time of the golf that is coming up today the century can be found on Golf Channel from 6:00 p.m.

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Around the globe coverage today at 12:30 on the of the century on the radio side thank you so much for your company folks it was a pleasure to be with you awesome to be back and broadcasting again in 2024 we’ll see you again on Monday and go through everything that took place

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