Rory Says He Has Plan-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams-Wed Jan 10

Rory McIlroy speaks in Dubai about the future of golf and says he has a plan. Gary Woodland talks about his brain surgery and the incredibly tough and emotional stretch he’s been on. Matt Adams gets you ready for the Dubai Invitational and the Sony Open in Hawaii.

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 bestselling author and golf channels Mass Adams welcome into Fairways live

Show folks pleasure to have your company events coming up this week the Sony Open which if you like to stay up late will be coming on the air at 2:30 a.m. eastern time tonight on Golf channnel and then of course uh in Dubai I I beg

Your pardon that is the Dubai event and of course the Sony Open which is going to kick off prime time on Thursday so very much looking forward to both of those that Dubai event that will be coming on in the middle of the night for those of you watching us in the east

Coast of the United States and Beyond which by the way I hope everybody’s okay with the weather that is ripping across the USA because it does not look like it’s going to be ending anytime soon it is continuing uh the Dubai Invitational is the name of it it’s played at the

Dubai Creek Resort Resort and we had a chance to get some a look an early look at this golf course and it’s pretty cool looking I say it early look before the television coverage starts and you guys get to see it in Earnest and in practice

Uh this event as you can see has some notable players at it including Rory Mao here we’re going to hear from in just a second Tommy Fleetwood the Hoy guard brothers are both represented there as well it will be a 54 hole proam so you’re talking Friday Saturday Sunday uh

As well in the mix 60 players no cut and you’re getting a bit of a glimpse of the golf course there that is courtesy of the European tour that provided us with that so we’ve got a lot to go through on today’s show with you I

Know we say that to you every day but that is the the the cycle and thankfully that is the reality of the game of golf with with how the news continues to churn Rory had some compelling quotes which I want to get to in just a second you know another thing that I

Want to get to today I kind of promised this yesterday maybe I’ll do this towards the end of the show because I’m curious what you guys think I’m curious what dominic thinks about all this where I said are we at the greatest point of sports throughout the year with everything that’s going on

Monday we saw the wrap up of the college football season right Michigan won and as I say that some people are they’re you know they’re they’re biting their lip they hate it other people are cheering that’s sport right last night NCAA hoops and and men’s and women’s NCA basketball is

In its full throws right now number one Purdue lost to Nebraska who is unranked number two Houston lost to Iowa State 5753 which I thought was interesting low-scoring game but you’ve got the NFL playoffs coming up there’s news coming out right now they’re saying that the Chiefs Dolphins game on

Saturday could be might be the coldest game of all time they’re saying which which if you look into it and look at the Ice Bowl in 1967 I think it was like I don’t know 50 below windshield or something crazy so they’re talking about Saturday night it could be it could be

That level of there there’s no way it’s going to be that cold by the way I’m saying there’s no way it’s going to be that cold I saw one estimate that was like 9 below but then there’s 10 to 15 m per hour wind chill so somebody out there ball was literally

Like5 that was that was the the the field temperature without the wind the ice I mean there are stories of cowboys Green Bay referees blowing their whistle and the little bead inside is frozen and doesn’t go anywhere and it was sticking to the referee’s Li they’re going and then they couldn’t get the

Thing off their lips right but I mean what I’m saying if you if you see what’s going on in the NHL right now there’s a huge battle we’re not even close to the end of the NHL season but there’s a huge battle going on for the predominant teams most

Wins most points and I’m talking about I’m not just talking about divisions I’m talking about across the NHL it’s incredible what’s going on Liverpool’s the top the the Premier League which which immediately make raises the the profile of sports globally so I’ll ask you now you you you

Came on Don to talk to me about the the freezing of the whistle average wind chill hold on I I I want to read a couple things about the The Ice Bowl this is insane I don’t know why we’re talking about this the game time temperature was5 the average wind chill under

The under the National Weather Services windchill IND implemented in 2 the average wind chill was 36 negative 36 they were outside the field began to freeze gradually in the extreme cold leaving an icy service that became worse and worse as the game went on you imagine getting

Tackled on that oh man I was just oh some of the stor so do you understand what I’m saying I’m I’m trying to figure out are we right now at the Pinnacle Point if you’re a sports fan generalized sports fan across the board all kinds of

Stuff are you at a point right now where you’re like saying I don’t know what other part of the year across the board not just your particular sport that you love I get it in golf maybe in golf it’s the Master’s week for you maybe it’s also because NCA basketball I don’t know

But I’m just saying in sports in general right now there’s so much going on right we got the Super Bowl coming up right right around the corner are we at a point right now where in in the cold of winter and with these storms ripping across the country if you’re a sports

Fan man talk about a buffet you can Feast yes we are the answer to that question is yes I personally for me this probably is the best time of year for sports I’m going to read one more sentence from this during warm-ups to brutal cold the woodwind instruments

Froze and they wouldn’t play and the mouthpieces of the brass instruments got stuck to the lip of the players seven members of the band were transported to hospitals for hypothermia oh my God there’s no way the game this the the the Chiefs game is going to be like this

Okay it’s just not but yes you got to look up the information now not journalistically now that if you’re going to challenge it you got to look up and see what the comparison is fine I’ll look it up uh talk about one of those polar vortexes again in the next couple

Days I don’t even know what that is but it sounds ominous so the question of the day based on your for me it is this time of year personally for me it is this time of year that would you just make up the question of the day on the

Fly no you you when you were talking I was like that’s a good question let’s use that the question is what time of year is the best for sports right now June is right because there’s a lot going on right there in the dead of Summer October is Right baseball wait

Wait a minute wait minut let’s let’s go piece by piece if you go June is you’re talking about like uh end of any playoffs NBA talk to me about your J justify your June is all right June is is the absolute heart of the golf season right at least

In my opinion you got it’s like dead in the middle like the you know you’re entering July when the open championship’s happening you’re basically happening everything’s going on all at once it’s right in the middle you know you’re basically at that point roughly through two major championships and you’re you’re just in

The heart of all of it you’re about to be through three if you’re counting June but okay yeah and it’s what well I said June is so I think and and then yes the NBA playoffs are going on which are long my wife hates the NBA Playoffs because I

Watch a lot of basketball then because the NBA Playoffs they have these ridiculous long seven game series and it take forever the NBA Playoffs is like a month it’s like all of June June and July so you’ve got that going on then you said the NHL’s going on there’s a

Lot going on in June and then you move to October is right and I was going to write September October is because you’re basically talking about the end of the golf season which can be exciting there’s traditionally uh going to be the President’s Cup or the rer cup taking

That time taking place around that time plus the solheim cup and then you’ve got baseball playoffs going on there’s a lot going on at that time of year as well my last option correct my my my last option was who knows which is just you know

There’s a lot of sports going on all the time depending on what sport is your fancy it’s exciting and I I I I’ll admit globally I don’t know much about IPL and cricket and F1 I don’t know their schedules very well I don’t know where they coincide on the calendar so there’s

Different times premag people into this stuff they they they’re going to wrap up in May and one of what I like about them that’s different just as just you as an aside I’m a Liverpool fan but if you win the regular season you won the trophy so it’s different

Where many Sports have a playoff system and sports are entertainment and they are business and playoffs are big money the Premiership is based on the old tradition it says wait a minute you’ve you’ve have worked your tail off all year to finish at the

Top of the league if you do so you win congratulations here’s a trophy so I I think that’s really cool the other thing they do with is which is stunning and think about this in reference to say Major League Baseball if you finish in the bottom three

On the table you’re kicked out of the league right out you go and then they bring in the top three uh the tier below so I just that kind of stuff is cool but another fantasy so what are you getting so far on your on your voting

Dom well obviously it’s very early but right now it’s 18% are saying now 36% are saying June is again there’s it’s a moving window a little bit October ish end of September is 18% and then who knows 27% so it’s pretty split evenly and you’ve got a nice chunk of people

That are just like Hey listen sports are happening all the time I’m having a great time can’t be wrong here very interesting very what do you what’s your opin what’s your favorite time I don’t know for me right now is very very good but that how would you answer my

Question would you be the who knows what would you say no no I would I would if I if if a g was to my head I’d pick right now but the June is that you put in there is also really good because again as a premier league fan it’s going to

Wrap up in in May and it and it a lot of times it gets very tight and it comes down there uh baseball is is starting to catch its speed at that time you’ve got the the Masters is behind us the PGA Championship just took place you’ve got

The prospect of the US Open on just the men’s side of the game alone getting ready to go to over to Europe and and to the UK for the open which is at Royal trun this year which I was getting at this this this survey question

Whenever we do it or whenever you want to do it it I realized it’s almost cliche because it’s it’s asked to people all the time but I am curious currently like what is their favorite major by and large it tends to come back as the Masters because the Masters in

This coveted about Wimbleton Wimbleton is at the front of July too that’s in the junisha right I don’t know man this is crazy I know that’s what makes it great though so but with the with your favorite major and I’m not saying we do this soon I’m just saying when you think

About it the Master’s in that coveted spot because when you have the open wrap up now in July right because the pga’s moved to to May from from August when you have that open wrap up in July you don’t have another major championship until April so the buildup the anticipation is

So mighty and then the other the other factors that I think make Augusta National so unique in that spectrum is that whether you’ve been to Augusta National or not all of us feel like we know every inch of the property right we feel like we know the

Holes we know the history all of it so I think that’s probably why the Masters if you look at it from a rating standpoint if that’s the measure the the ratings for the Masters is always the top so would that be the would that be if you ask the question what’s your

Favorite would that be the one that people pick I just be I’m just curious about that so as I was telling you about these quotes from Rory could could fall below zero so they’re looking at about 0 degrees which by the way is -5 without the wind chill 36 so we’re talking about

Bare minimum 15 or 18° warmer at the chief’s game that’s balling so don’t come at me with this cold game don’t be coming at you talk to the hand garbage trash yeah okay total trash maybe it’s going to be cold it’s going to be cold

What they say the wind and by the way in 1967 they didn’t have all this equipment and these special jackets and these heaters and all this J like they’re going to have so much they’re going to have a GI they were wearing animal fur back in 1967 they had nothing they had

Nothing then nothing they had like a thin windbreaker on that’s what they doing yeah they were asked if they need anything else they like no all right so and they walk up with no shoes these comments that Rory made in Dubai are really interesting I mean I

One of the things that that’s popping in my mind I’m like did Rory get visited by the ghost of like golf’s future over the holidays or something listen you listen to these and you can see him on your television screen if you’re with us in

The TV side and and let me know your reaction quote going forward if everything is on the table venues have to be a big part of the consideration we need to make sure the courses are worthy of the players who are going to be competing just those two sentences alone

Caus me to go whoa whoa whoa what when was the last time you heard an open conversation from the top players in the world going you know what let’s take a look at the courses that we’re playing in other words let’s just not make it about money with these venues let’s make it

About quality value I just thought that was a fascinating little kind of nugget to throw in there he continues my dream scenario is a world tour again what and this part is interesting provision that Corporate America has to remain a big part of it all

Okay I I I assume that means to fund it but then it gets even more Saudi Arabia too let me repeat that the provision of corporate America has to remain a big part of it all Saudi Arabia too that’s just basic economics but there’s an untapped commercial opportunity out

There close quote just that first paragraph there is so much to unpack just with what he said right there I I guess I get the part about Corporate America and Saudi Arabia because it’s a source of funding and pay for it all okay he says it that’s just basic

Economics but then the line where he says but there is untapped commercial opportunity out there is that that not what Liv is doing is that what he’s referring to he continues quoting investors always want to make a return on their money revenues at the PGA tour right now are about 2.3

Billion full stop there did you know that I didn’t know that I think that’s an absolutely fascinating re ration right there that’s why these quotes are are hitting so hard continuing so how do we get that number up to four or six to me it is by looking outward they need to think

Internationally and spread their wings a bit I’ve been banging that drum for a while close quote again there is so much to unpack pack there now I know Rory just left the board I get it and he said he’s been banging that drum while he’s on the

Board but you have a tour that right now is US Centric and Rory’s saying there’s great opportunity outside of the including but outside he mentioned the the American corporations have to say etc etc he’s obviously not talking about closing the door but he’s talking about growing

Beyond and again I hear that and I go that’s exactly what people are trying to do it it’s I think it’s absolutely fascinating and i’ absolutely love to know what you guys think about those pieces of information that we just shared with you there’s a lot there there’s a lot there we could

Have bullet pointed his comments and it and there would have been a lot Dom you take us deeper on this one you you carry at this time I’m Amazed by what we’re hearing well there’s more that that he’s talking about going global here and you can see the quotes on the screen and

There’s a lot more in this story you can find the story of Golf Digest he spoke uh in Dubai ahead of things I think he was on the back of the 18th after he finished a practice round or something whether they are rotated on the new

Global circuit or we go with the same ones every year I’m okay with either the Australian Open for example should almost be the fifth major the market down there is huge with potential they love golf they love sport they have been starved of top level Golf and the courses are so good

End quote stop there matt Liv literally said like that paragraph when they launched their Adelaide event did they not yeah but again there’s so much to unpack from from all of these comments like when he talks about the Australian Open there’s a reason why Jack Nicholas

Went down to the Australian open so many times and won it so many times it was important I think I would love to when he talks about a world tour in in importance Etc I would love to see a way that national championships mean more than they do right

Now because of who owns venues because of corporate sponsorship because of all the things that go into it right to win the German open to win the Irish open to win the Italian Open to win the French Open which Byron Nelson won while he was on vacation over there one time

Right to win these National opens around the globe Australian Open inclusive I would love to see them mean more go ahead D sorry I can continue reading but I have a question for you before I finish reading uh there’s one more paragraph that I wanted to read to you guys it’s

Is probably the most interesting paragraph but I I want to ask a question Matt Andrew go back I want to ask Matt one question first do you think that golf would be in a better spot if venues this is a bold statement I’m just asking the question if venues didn’t

Change if if if we had a schedule of 30 events and they just never changed they pick 30 incredible venues and that’s just what it is and the reason I say it that way is I’m thinking about you like you think about Augusta National think about how that connects globally with

Golf fans and even sports fans like you can walk up to almost anybody who’s ever even watched five minutes of the Masters and they can tell you that the 16th hole is a part three like they literally everybody knows that everybody and I’m wondering if there if if golf is a sport

Because this is how I think now I think in terms of what’s the best thing for the sport because things are fractured right now and as Rory said in that podcast we talked about last week I think the best thing for golf is is to figure out a way forward together

That’s probably the best thing in general for the sport and if that’s the case that’s what they’re working on I’ll quickly get to the answer question just so we don’t I because I want to get to that last paragraph by Rory the reality is is that the turnover of venues is a

Tiny percentage so in essence what you’re talking about already exists I believe what Rory is talking about is that there is large percentage of courses that are currently hosting top tier events around the globe on various tours that are average courses they’re average when you’re on venues that are exceptional notice how

Many times the venue coming into that particular weeks becomes a story in and of itself because it’s such a fascinating place to play and you hear players talk about how excited they are Etc you could tell you could tell it used to be code

Where you know I think it was I think it was Gary Player that was the first of it that that used the quip which was incredibly intelligent I think VJ Singh used it too if I’m not mistaken like what do you think of the course it’s the finest of its

Kind right so there really isn’t much turnover in terms of new venues but I think it’s fascinating that Rory suggesting go ahead and take us through the last paragraph So we so we get them all in sure uh so coming from right here quote the South African open is another

I’d have in the mix then you have places like Singapore and Hong Kong and Japan what a market Japan represents that would be another opportunity we could end up with something that resembles formula one but with a little bit more of an American presence throw in the

Four majors and you have a brilliant schedule for the top 70 to 100 guys whatever the number is we’d have to say say a 22 event schedule that would look pretty good to me wow he’s talking about a world tour with 22 events with everybody in the same pot and where have

I heard that before hm Japan that he’s talking about is the second largest Golf Market in the world think about that the third largest anyone it’s South Korea so United States Japan South Korea are the top three which is fascinating I just I just absolutely think it’s fascinating uh we

Need to take a break here down before we do just give me a couple of responses that you’re getting from the people oh a lot of stuff is coming in um I’ll just read what’s on the bottom here but there’s a lot coming in a lot of people are basically saying it’s

Interesting now that Rory seems to be talking in live talking points um live with Rory is a slam dunk successful tour that they would have the top three players Rah Kea and Rory the PGA Tour plays on too many non-descript cookie cutter TPC courses the PJ tour does not have the

Business Acumen to manage a global tour ver of life has been one of the only unbiased golf programs from day one hold your heads up high for providing Fair journalism that’s a nice comment well we’ve got we’ve got some big news plays are Riviera Pebble and Sass that’s what

I’m talking about that that right there is what I’m talking about go to where the money is it’s instinctual golfers want more money and less plane I can’t imagine not wanting to golf every day of my life LOL fairness you know I that emotion but In fairness to what Rory’s talking about

One of the things that the top players in the world tried to do less of was international travel it’s part of the reason why the PGA Tour blossomed early on because it was a lot easier to travel from Florida to say Georgia than going from Scotland to Germany even though it’s not that

Much different it’s just different culture you know all the all the logistics that you have to go through it was just easy to travel around the United States it’s one of the reasons that the PGA Tour has grown as powerful as it has over the years fascinating

Stuff when we come back we’re going to take a look back on the words that we got from a multiple time winner on the PGA tour and given his position uh given his platform it means something so from somebody on the inside when you ask the

Question the game of golf at its top competitive level is it at risk as we return relax easy now find your happy place happy place the PGA TOUR Superstore it’s all in the hips where every swing is possible just T in yes find all the latest gear apparel and

Personalized Club fittings is this goodai we’ve only just begun shop with the pros at golf’s happy place the PGA TOUR Superstore in Ireland golf is more than just a game come and experience our world famous Lynx courses and our world famous Parkland courses all set alongside world famous scenery and visit our world

Famous historic sites and while you’re here enjoy our world famous Hospitality fill your heart with Ireland at ireland.com golf it screams it tracks it’s soft it reacts it is the Bridgestone TB with a gamechanging reactive cover designed to Spring faster off your driver and stick longer to your wedges

Try bridgeston tour bees the Tour ball reinvented the Gen 6 iron is a culmination of everything that we have learned as a team the absolute best golf club I have ever hit it’s something special say hello to the New pxg Gen 6 iron the longest most accurate irons

We’ve ever made they go higher and farther than any iron that I have hit to date and they’re so easy to hit super excited for the consumer to try this they’re going to love them pxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period baseball nah football done it I think

I’m going to go after the PGA Tour Bo you’re going to need the right equipment company I think I got that you know tour backs all their clubs with a lifetime warranty I know they ship all their premium custom clubs in 48 hours I know all their premium clubs are hand filed

In the USA I know you know tour Ed is won 35 times out here guys I know pound for pound nothing comes close 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 senior Arthur Hills and Donal Ross from the all-inclusive vacation package is Elite instruction with the bo Golf Academy tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo golf.com welcome back to the fairways of Life

Show pleasure to have your company folks so you may notice like from a production standpoint it’s a little thing but we’re one of the things that we’re toying with over the last few days is if you if you go to the fairways of Life YouTube page and you subscribe to

Say the Subscribe will tell you when we’re going right um tell me it’s like a two-step process to to do that right you got to go on the YouTube page you got to subscribe and then you gotta you gotta approve notifications or something well you have to enable it’s like privacy

Issues globally obviously so because all of us have a million apps on your phone right so you need we’re going to get all your information that’s one that’s part of the deal you want to hear from but if you if you subscribe to us and then you just click enable notifications every

Time we go live you’ll get a message that says the two idiots are live talking about golf if you want to if you want to watch yeah plus Dom can track all your information throughout the course of the day I believe yeah that’s right that’s what I’ll know

Everything there to know about you yeah so anyway one of the things that we’re starting to do is we Andrew has this countdown up in the morning and I don’t know when when he hits it I’m not sure if he tells us but at some point he he clicks us on

Early so you can if if it means something to you you’re it’s kind of a picture of what we’re doing before we go on the air screaming at each other and carrying on and then off we go so yesterday we had Billy katzer on the show Billy is a

Multiple time winner on the PGA tour he played like I like to say uh when when Giants roamed so you had huge names many many many many of whom are all in the World Golf Hall of Fame most of whom that I’m referring to in this regard are also multiple time

Major Champions during the Run of Jack Nicholas and yet they still had multiple Majors too it was it was an absolute just bar fight at the top of the game didn’t have the depth at the game has today I’ll I’ll I would admit but at the very very

Peak at the Pinnacle it was as entertaining as ever you had these different players with different styles from the swings of of an Arnold Palmer to the likes of like we were talking about Billy yesterday a Raymond Floyd or even a Lee trino they were unique they were

Homegrown and this was a rough and Tumble Time as the game continued to evolve Billy then became one of the game’s leading pundits analyst is the name that they use of course in golf circles but because of the platform that he was on and his own experience not

Only had he been a part of the game competitively for decades but now he was a part of bringing the message of the game to the world and all these various platforms so when he joined us I knew full well what I was asking him I was curious about his perspective as to

Where the game has been is and what risks lie for the game of golf is there a risk for the game of golf in the discussions and and the current of in the flow of events happening around it right now I you know what I think I think as we talk about

The game of golf and and where it is if we talk about it professionally then we’re going to talk about where you play what when you play uh how much you’re paid whatever uh if you go down the other path and and then you want to talk about

What they’re doing with the game and the equipment and everything well that’s a that’s that affects more people so I guess Matt I I guess my biggest concern uh with this with the game of golf and where we are right now is what makes most sense um you know if

If Rory even said it you know we have the the player you know incentive package that you know they had 100 million in there Roy even said it hey if you want to give back to the game if you want to grow the game then then go ahead

And take that money and then put it towards something whether usj an RNA split it whatever whatever organization but you know do that and and and you know create more Goodwill that way and you know because the guys the guys will give back but you know how do they grow

The game well they give back but you can grow the game if you can you know do the funding with the USGA and the RNA and and whatever so I guess my my biggest outlook on on golf right now that is we have to once again get the people to

Where they’re they’re happy with professional golf and uh especially on the men’s side you know we need to get it to where people are more accepting and they’re not doing a lot of arguing and trying to figure out stuff uh Billy I think you and I share a

A common mindset from the perspective that I do believe that the game of golf will always Prevail and part of the reason it will prevail is because of the heroes that we love to watch play uh but also because of the young people that are continuing to feed into the system

Like this week at the Sony once again we’re going to get a chance to watch ludvig Oar uh it out in Dubai it’s got a great field in the DP World Tour we’re going to get a chance to watch Rory and and a bunch of great players out there

As well but oar is one where from the performance that he had not only in his own individual right but also with what he did at the Ryder Cup again and I’m not taking away from his an individual because it’s really exciting but I think he represents a

Whole class of young players that are emerging on the game that one day will inherit the mantle of it but it’s very exciting to to to watch it because it speaks to that hope agreed and and when you look at the PGA Tour and what they’ve done and and

The the way you perform in in college and the way that you can jump to the PGA Tour like Oar did and then all of a sudden you have the success that Oar has had up to this point uh that’s Sensational and and I’ve always said you’re always going to create the stars

On the PGA tour the PGA Tour is where you want to be this is where you want to start you can you can certainly make a name for yourself um that’s the PGA Tour that’s you’re going to you’re you’re going to see stars every year on the

Other hand the live uh they’re utilizing those stars and you see that with the cam Smith kka and you can just go down the list now you have John ROM and so that’s why I’m saying you need to blend it together but the the Stars today the these young guys they had the

Qualifier down uh in pindra at s grass Country Club and the valley course and to go out there and watch these kids play Under the toughest conditions and shoot some of the scores they shot they were amazingly good and and there’s a lot of talent a lot of young players out

There uh but I love the fact that you can jump from college you get in there you’re a senior you Contin continue on uh you can benefit from that a it’s a plus plus for for that person so the game of golf so far as the younger

Players are concerned they’re in a good spot I mean they really are I mean the tour has really done a nice job in getting that out there and allowing these players to have access to the BGA tour through playing well in college it’s great and it’s you know the the

Interesting thing Billy is it’s not just the young players go out folks if you had a chance and watch a qualifier for a PJ tour Champions event if you don’t shoot south of 65 you’re not getting in it is that good the buffet that is golf Billy I’m sure

You and I will be working together up at NBC in the months that lie ahead but thank you very much as ever for your time it’s great to catch up I always enjoy it Matt and you have a great 2024 all right that was Billy yesterday joining us on the show fascinating

Comments now in the interest of cruising along here because we we used up a lot of time talking about a lot of fun stuff having Gary Woodland back at the Sony Open this week I’ve been touting it all week as a storyline that I’m really interested in until he spoke to the media

Yesterday I don’t think that any of us fully comprehended everything that he went through with his brain surgery how serious it was what he was struggling with so it already was a good storyline full stop it already was that when you hear what you’re about to hear I think

It’s going to make the experience even deeper here’s Gary Woodland I started feeling some symptoms um in April a couple weeks after Augusta I mean the big one was I just wasn’t feeling like myself but it was uh a lot of jolting um especially in the middle of the night

Shaking um hands were really trimmer a lot of fear um and that was the one that scared me the most was I’m a very optimistic person believe good things will happen and I was very fear driven every day U mostly around death and uh as it got worse um you know

Loss of appetite chills no energy um it’s it started getting pretty bad to where I was meeting I have a performance coach I’m working with her um it started getting so bad I called my doctor rsai who I’ve been with for 133 years and I was like man I need something to

Calm me down like almost anxiety um and he’s like jetb I can’t give you anything without an MRI and I’m like and I’m shaking so bad he wanted to roll out Parkinson’s um and I got an MRI that night and it came back with a lesion

Looks like a tumor on my brain um started going through more testing more MRIs they got me to a specialist in Kansas City who explained everything to a te that the jolting and everything I was experiencing at night was actually partial seizures um the fear the this lesion in

My brain sat on the part of the brain that controls fear and anxiety so he’s like you’re not going crazy um everything you’re experiencing is absolutely common and normal for where this thing’s sitting in your brain um they got me on anti-seizure medicine immediately the seizure still continued

So they increased the dose and once they increased the dose that started to go down I started losing memory I started doing a lot of things things started happening the symptoms start getting worse but the only ones they were worried about was the fear and anxiety and as the medicine started to increase

My brain started to slow down and every those seizures started to stop which was nice for me cuz I was able to function during the day but the meds I was on were working for the seizures but they were horrible for me as a person I I had horrible side

Effects and that’s the fear went away for a couple weeks and once it came back and I was calling the doctors they were tracking the brain with monthly MRIs um to make sure everything was stable and it wasn’t growing but when the fear started to come back the doctor’s like we have to

Go in um it was pushing on the brain the part that it’s pushing on they believed that it was growing and uh I played through Greensboro and the game the reason why I kept playing is my game from a physical stand Point felt really good and I was

In positions that I’ve been trying to get into a long time and it was a break from what I was dealing with off the golf course um it was hard cuz we didn’t tell anybody but it was just we didn’t understand either we didn’t know exactly

What was going on and my caddy pulled me aside after Greensboro we were staying together in the house my wife was flying out most weekends just cuz I didn’t want to be alone I was nervous sleeping was the worst part cuz I was just jolting jumping out of bed with fear um and

Mostly like I said around death and so my cad he pull me aside he’s like J up you can’t play this way you got to go get help man you got to get fixed um I mean I’d be standing over a club and forget which club I was hitting I’d be

Lining up putts and I’m like it’s taking too long I’m just going to hit it I just didn’t have the focus the energy and I went the next week to see a specialist that I was referred to in Miami which was nice cuz it was close to

Home and he’s like we got to go in we got to get this out the only we can keep ramping up medicine but the medicine’s not slowing down the fear um biopsy it’s it’s too risky from where it was in my brain he didn’t want to go in any more

Than he had to um so surgery and removal was the next step they couldn’t get it all out from where it is located it was benign which is the big deal if it was cancerous they would have removed it all but it’s up against my optic track um so

They removed as much as they could and they belied they cut off the blood circulation to what’s left so they’re tracking it right now with every 3 months with MRIs still I had an MRI right before I came to Hawaii a week and a half ago and every was stable from

Surgery so that’s a huge relief for me um so showing up in Hawaii practicing the last 10 days I had a little bit of relief off my back that it’s stable in there right now and we’ll just pray and hope that it continues to not grow the support from the tour from people

Outside the golf world has just been tremendous for me and my family and I when I woke up and was realized I was okay um I was filled with thankfulness and love and that replace the fear it was emotional very emotional because I’d gone 4 and 1 half months of every day

Really thinking I was going to die um and I was the doctors kept telling me I was okay but this thing pushing on my brain on fear and anxiety every I mean it didn’t matter if I was driving a car on an airplane I think the Bend’s going to follow me I just

Everything I thought was going to kill me and so you can imagine leading up to surgery what I how I felt going into having my my head cut open and and operated on the fear going into that was was awful so I mean I felt it was hard

On me it was probably harder on my family um for what they had to you know they had to deal with me throughout this whole thing um and try to keep me positive and keep me looking forward and that was that was hard to do in the moment so after surgery I definitely

Felt relief one that I could see one that I had the left side of my body CU that was those were the two big risk going in losing eyesight and losing the left side of my body having those when I woke up um being able to go home I spent

Two days in the ICU um and then walked out of the hospital to live mean I’m 39 years old to live a life one way and then all of a sudden you’re not yourself you have no control um you know I work hard with performance coaches and psychologists

Since I was 16 years old you think you can overcome stuff and I mean I couldn’t overcome this one I realize there’s a lot of good in this world because the love and support I’ve had has been unbelievable um even being back this week seeing the guys you know I

Haven’t seen many guys um it’s been overwhelming out how good it’s been I’ve learned a lot about myself from the standpoint I usually people ask me for help and I’m not asking I’m very fortunate and probably lucky why I’m sitting here being able to play this

Week that I asked for help because when I was struggling if I would if my doctor would have gave me anxiety or some medicine to to calm me down and not ordered that MRI who knows how long this would have gone who knows how more it would have grown

Um asking for help helped my process speed up helped us catch this quicker than we probably would have caught it um and that that helped me to saved me for more than anything um so it’s uh I can’t do it all on my own I I need

To the right people around me and I’m fortunate enough that I had people around me that were willing to help and the right people to get me in the right places um it’s definitely definitely helped me it’s here so it’s a craniotomy so they they cut me open all the way

Down to my ear opened it up um cut about a baseball size hole in my skull and then went in through that um and then put it back with plates and screws um so I’m got a robotic head I guess this week will be a big week I’m obviously I can

Hit every golf shot I want right now physically um it’s can my my brain sustain the seven days of of tournament golf you know it’s different playing with my buddies back home at Pine Tree they come out here and playing against the guys on tours obviously it whole

Another animal but can I get back to the focus and energy and stuff I was I’m used to accustom since I’ve been on tour can that come back so and if it’s not this week can I adjust can I go home and practice and adjust and work on that Focus stuff

But obviously I’m in the major championships I’m not in the signature designated events so I’ll need some help getting in those but I plan on playing full schedule I plan on being competitive very quickly um like I said physically I can hit any shot I want and

That’s not that’s not going to be the problem so I’m looking forward to being back and looking forward to where where I’m at and uh expecting to to be ready very soon it’s another point in today’s show where I’m asking you to take in the information we just gave to you

This coming from Gary of course it’s almost too much to sort right I mean the mere fact that he said that the a baseball siiz hole in it in his head that now plates and screws and it’s incredible I I mean the comment that he made about not being

In you know a signature event there’s four sponsors exemptions for every signature event this is a major champion this is a guy that what I love about Gary Woodland is there’s the Gary Woodland you think you know and then the real Gary Woodland that you just saw a

Glimpse of right the Gary Wood Woodland you think you know is a guy that looks like a gladiator when he’s out in the golf course former Collegiate basketball player great athlete hard stern look and then you meet a guy you meet him outside the robes he’s one of the

Nicest people you could ever meet we got to know him a couple years ago when he had a very special fan interaction that went of course viral and Global and all the rest it was really fun and touching and then we hear this today and it for me it

Reiterates I guess what it is that that I truly love about this game of golf and as you know from a from a show standpoint we are going to strive to be as journalistically neutral as possible I don’t feel like it’s my job to tell you what to think I’m happy

To tell you what I think but I respect your opinion just as much so I’m not trying to get you to adopt my way of thinking I’m trying to give you information so that you can make balanced decisions so from that standpoint I guess I don’t get as emotionally politically if you please

Vest in some of the big macro issues touching the game because to a very real degree I feel like I’m just like you sitting on the sidelines watching all this and trying to figure out what it means but where I do become very vested where I do feel like and it’s inherent

In even the name of this show Fairways of life is the people and I guess that’s also part of the reason that I don’t have as harsh of perspective over decisions that people make because I respect the fact that people are making decisions that they feel are best for

Them and it’s balanced against many other things to hear Gary tell his story and to realize just like everybody everybody has issues in his case it was an incredibly serious one was this tumor pressing against against different parts of his brain for him to tell us that

Because of where it is in the brain they were unable to get it all but they think they cut off its blood supply and they’re continuing to monitor it it is incredible and that he’s back out playing again so and I asked you guys this question the other day where where we have

This contrast that that exists on tour now Signature Events non-s Signature Events the Signature Events are designed with the big purses and no cuts and everything is set up to roll out the red carpet to get the best players there okay and then we have an event

Like the the Sony this week where it’s a full field event with a cut I don’t know I’m I’m I’m equally as intrigued because I love to see good golf play it do I like to see the best of the best play well yeah I do I’m very

Entertained by that but I like to see anybody play well thing I go back to in my mind was Chris Kirk and Eric Cole last year down at what was then called the Honda I thought that was incredibly compelling golf really really entertaining and so yeah I’m going to be

Very entertained to see how Gary does and I will be really wishing and hoping uh for the very very best for him I don’t know what the expectations should be this week I I I’m pleased my sense is that he’s not putting a massive amount of pressure upon himself because he’s

Trying to see what what his brain can handle which is which is incredible uh that he has that kind of self-awareness to put it into into that context like the body’s okay feels like he can hit the shots just not sure if as he put it that he’s going to have the

Focus it’s just one of these incredible stories in the game of golf uh more coming up we’ll wrap it up uh in the next segment I want to find out what you guys voted on in Dom’s question of the day I’d like to hear a little bit more

From you guys about some of the subjects that we covered today we’re going to hear from a major champion in just a second to we’ll have it for you 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 Bridgestone allows me to play an aggressive style around the greens and it’s allowed me to win a Lot F them Bridgestone 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 games Masters including Robert Trent Jones senior Arthur Hills and Donald Ross from the all-inclusive vacation package is Elite instruction with the boing Golf Academy tournaments and so much more boing golf truly offers an unrivaled

Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo golf.com I think when you’re training for other sports or where you’re what why most 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 ball 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 you’re going to get a lot of big dividends on the golf course relax easy now find your happy place happy place

The PGA TOUR Superstore it’s all in the hips where every swing is possible just tap it in yes find all the latest gear apparel and personalized Club fittings is this goodby we’ve only just begun shop with the pros at golf’s happy place the PGH or superstore what if we started a

Company and the company was under no time constraints no Financial constraints the one constraint is their clubs had to be exceptional performers and much better than any other Al alternative I was told time and again it’ll never work it worked like a house of fire and I’ll tell you what I think

Our customers love it bxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period zero friction introduces the wheelpro push cart golf bag with its revolutionary 3 in-one design supportive legs that spring into action a comfort grip handle with three locking positions accessories for the modern golfer enhanced by seven pockets for more

Storage and remove movable allterrain Wheels which slide right into place the new zero friction wheelpro golf bag checks every box for every golfer push carryer cart the decision is yours thanks to zerof friction head to zerof fr.com today I kind of got away from my DNA and

My golf swing a little bit for a while um and going through a change and you know really the rehab that I did and you know through from October of 22 to December of 22 um it helped but it didn’t solve the problem it was kind of just putting a

Band-Aid on you know on something that needed um way more and so um you know I had 6 months to really you know be at home really think about you know the time over 22 just because 22 was kind of shot out of a Canon for me um and I

Think that you know really being able to Pro process um how I want to swing the golf club again um you know what are some things that I need to change in my daily habits um it’s been I’ve I’ve definitely seen the benefits and you

Know the kind of the adage of I don’t know who told it to me but you know injuries are 80% mental and 20% physical um I’ve definitely learned that the hard way because this is definitely the first major injury I’ve ever had um and so you know realizing that each week I’m going

To keep progressing um you know even if I think that I’m at 100% I still could be better in the next coming weeks so um I played probably too much in 21 maybe a little bit too much in 22 in the sense of that I really

Wanted um to play you know really wanted to get my first one really wanted you know was so close in those majors and it takes a lot out of you and I think um you know I’ve got a kind of a mental freshness and a better take of it now

And I was doing you know looking at the tour SKS schedu and I think I’ve only think there’s only like five or six events I haven’t played on tour now so it’s not like I need to get to you know tournaments Monday morning anymore I’ve only won three times the the other two

Times I won I didn’t I didn’t really like the way that I responded to winning it was like I worked so hard all I wanted to do was win a tournament and then I’d win and then it’s like you to take like a breather like oh thank thank

God like that finally happened um the difference that I felt after winning the open was more of like wow that was so cool I would do anything to do that again and so I’m almost like extra motivated to to stay at that level where I know that

That I’m in a place to where if I popped off a big week that you know something cool could happen so I’m super motivated to keep my game in a place where I’m like ready to do something else if that makes sense I know this was your first

Start as a tour member back in 2012 do you have any kind of vivid memories from that week yeah I have I have aun funny anecdote from that week so I’m playing with Matt Evy who was you know one of the funniest guys and um there’s always

A couple of uh sponsor exemptions like Sony would would you know a couple sponsor exemptions so we’re playing with this playing with this kid and Matt and I you know he he you know he’s very nervous and there’s photographers all over the place and he actually I think

Dribbled a couple off the T boxes and Matt and I made the comment they’re like don’t think this kid’s got it right don’t like don’t think this guy’s going to Ki Mato yeah I guess he made it all right notable players at the Sony I’ll be

Giving you some air times coming up in just a little bit you heard ludvig oar was the conversation that we had with Billy kratzer at length on yesterday’s part we talked about a lot of things but ludvig was one of the things that he touched on and we aired that for you

Again today Matt Fitzpatrick is there Terell Hatton is there there’s some names that are big DP World Tour players I’m kind of surprised they’re not in Dubai I I’d be curious if uh we get a chance to hear from this week as to what decision they made as to being in Hawaii

Maybe it was because they went over there already they made the effort to go over there for the for the century and so they might as well just stay couple weeks in Paradise versus shooting back over to Dubai I’m not sure which way which way you’d go I guess you would I

Guess you would fly over Asia right and go to Dubai that direction somebody out there knows the answer to that uh as to the air times Let’s uh let’s take a look at that for for this week so we get you set up as to when and where the Sony Open coverage we

Have it for you in Golf Channel from 700 PM eastern time on Thursday through Saturday on Sunday you can see it’s split around Golf Channel and on NBC ESPN plus is the local for PGA Tour live there you can see it coming around around lunchtime on Thursday Friday and

Saturday later on Sunday and then PGA Tour radio which you can hear in the PGA Tour app you can hear on pgatour.com both of them are free they work worldwide or if you subscribe to national satellite service Serius XM uh Thursday Friday and Saturday there you

Can see the time Sunday at 3M for the radio side okay Dom so as we wrap up here uh tell me about what you’re hearing from the people I’m curious about what happened with your survey about asking the question is this time of year that we’re in right now and you

Can put the ish on it however whatever realm you want to put it a couple weeks ago a couple weeks on what have you uh is this the greatest time of year for sports plural across the board or is it some other time of year you give them some

Options uh yeah before I do that I’ll read some comments coming in there was a lot of reaction to uh Gary Woodland’s piece which I think was for both of us the same John Burkett our one of our great team members did a wonderful job putting that together for us to really

Give us a window into what Gary was dealing with uh let him know you’re there great to see you back Gary be the ball Gary uh kudos to Woodland what an incredible perseverance um I can’t believe he he he went through all of that I mean again I don’t think

Anybody had any clue that what he was dealing with was nearly that severe and so it was it was just crazy to see that and hear from him and there’s a lot of support in the group today of folks who are clearly how do you not root for Gary

Woodland this year exactly but the question of the day was what you said what time of the year is best for sports I had four options right now June is right because you got and I we forgot about Wimbleton but you’ve got you know everything going on in golf it’s a heart

Of the Season there’s a lot going on there October is same thing and then the the last option I I wrote who knows because golf is going around uh sports happening year round and depending on what your fancy is maybe it’s a different time of year it’s pretty well

Split Matt right now has 177% jisher is has 14% and who knows is at 38% so there is not really a major a majority but the general majority of that entire group really can’t decide there’s there’s too many good points touch points in the year with so much

Great stuff happening man which Wes which shows you why it’s so great I gotta ask you one last question before we wrap up for today Dom with all due respect what are you wearing it it looks a little bit like an apron camera that’s that’s very rude what uh this yeah so I

Went to oh I spilled some food whoops hold on a second I mean the the graphic of what peanut butter tell me if I’m wrong the graphic of what he’s wearing it looks like a pig or a bear like it’s getting busy with a T-rex or

Something I mean it what the heck is that I I will this this shirt pullover whatever it is actually has pretty deep meaning for me so I’ll very quickly share the story um my wife and I your sensibilities then by question this about we celebrated our 10y year

Anniversary in September and we spent two years planning a trip to bamp and to Jasper National Park which is one of the most beautiful drives and and areas in the entire world we had an unbelievable time we were walking through a store one evening and this is a bear and it says

Bamp National Park and I grabbed this off the rack and I said honey I like this and we felt it I’m big on comfort and I was like o this is nice I like I could wear this and so I bought it and this is I only bought two pieces of

Perel on the entire anniversary trip and this is one of the pieces of apparel and I love it and I think it looks good and that was mean Andrew can you can you zoom in on on the Dom just stand still for a second you’re you’re like Ry

Dangerfield like oh this thing has got a lot of comfort see you can’t even st stop moving stop moving it’s a bear all right Andrew could you go ahead and grab that thing it is a bear and and and what’s oh the whole thing’s the bear I thought it was two different animals

Okay Matt you are useless yeah lovely moving great yeah just it looks good it looks looks good on you oh all right d thank you very much everybody thanks for your company today it was great as always I keep teasing you about it we do

Have some news coming for you uh as soon as we are able to discuss it publicly te’s crossed eyes dotted can’t wait to share it with you because you guys are a part of the fairways of Life family and then is a family that we’ll meet again

Until such time you guys be well goodbye for now