Special Guest – Monday Q Info’s Ryan French
N all right we are live welcome back everybody to pole hook golf the podcast I’m getting quite the echo what about you Ryan can you hear that big Echo I cannot I don’t I don’t hear it but must be on your end I don’t hear it let me
Uh yeah let me give try this again here you know you got to love it sometimes when you’re live and uh things yeah everything is bouncing right back to me give me one second here everybody we’ll get the audience on here as well all right let’s
See oh there we go no more Echo oh you know what there is an echo and it might be coming from let’s see well here we go folks we’re going to begin we’re just going to roll with it in case it goes welcome back everybody to P hook golf the
Podcast tonight we’ve got a very special guest in Ryan French here from the Monday queue I cannot wait for us to get into this interview it is going to be an absolute bad blast I should say so first off I want to give a thank you to uh swanes our sponsor and with
That with swanes actually I just found out what the heck is going on here give me one second here Ryan sorry about that this is actually the first time that I have run into this there we go all right apologies everybody we’re going to restart it here so welcome back
Everybody to pull hook golf the podcast I’m your host Matt Cook and tonight we’ve got a very special guest Monday qzone Ryan French and uh before we do dive into this interview because I’m really interested in what we’re going to be going going over today I always love
It when I get to find out new information about you know the inner workings of some of these things like Monday qualifi so um that being said I do want to give a special shout out to our sponsor Swan’s golf folks the golden Lake collection has just dropped which
I’m wearing tonight I’ve got the Lucas quarter zip on in navy blue I’ve got the Bailey Polo underneath and make sure to go to swan. use Pro code pole hook golf 25 for 25% off your entire order yeah folks not just one one item we’re talking about the entire order 25% off at
Swan. and uh feel free folks we’re going to have a Q&A at the end drop in some comments for us if you would like to have a question be brought up on air at the end but without further Ado here we go Ryan let’s get right into it man so I
Want to hear a little bit about your journey especially into the World of Golf how didd you get started in all of this yeah um I mean I grew up on a golf course Matt and so I mean I played golf when pretty young our backyard was a
Little municipal course in the town I currently live and um I played Community College Golf and uh tried to walk on at a fouryear school and that was kind of my wakeup call that I wasn’t very good and uh and then I’ve just always been a
Golf nerd my whole life so um you know kind of looking in golf Week Magazine in the back of the Detroit Free Press looking up and down leaderboards and uh yeah and then fast forward many years my dad and I used to go on a cadd trip
Every year and uh go to on a mini tour and uh caddy and so that was definitely my insid look into what life was like for players that aren’t playing playing on the PGA tour or LPGA Tour I feel like a lot of golf fans miss all these great
Stories that come from corn fairy tour or Monday qualifiers and it’s really neat because Bobby Brown uh co-host here on P hook golf he’s the one that introduced me to your Twitter account or X now I don’t what is the proper terminology now is it just calling it X
Do people know it’s always GNA be Twitter to me I don’t know I just I a tweet sounds better than a post I don’t know so I I I just go with Twitter and tweet at all times love that so Twitter it is it’s official folks it is TWiT
Holy cow not sure what happened there Ryan gotta love live shows and Technology you know sometimes things drop out that’s actually the first time that one’s happened to me so I think that was more on my end than anything I’m not quite share but as we were
Talking about you know what it was we’re also live on Twitter that might be what it is or X and Elon must have heard that we said Twitter and it all just got shut down there for a minute uh but getting back into your journey into the game of
Golf what made you decide to start covering these Monday qualifiers uh yeah so uh long story short um after our caddy trips I had met a bunch of guys Ed just you know here and there never as a full-time job and uh was following Monday qualifiers and uh let’s see six years
Ago now my son had brain surgery and so um he was two I left my job to kind of uh you know just take care of him for a little bit uh my intention was to like take six weeks off and I started a Twitter account to like my original idea
Was just to have the scoring links for Monday qualifiers uh for those listening they’re all on different websites every week and so the first idea was just to have all Monday qualifiers just on one page and so started a Twitter account and uh somehow I’ve never gone back to
Work um and here I am covering Monday qualifier six years later that is that is an incredible I mean one to just kind of like ah you know what I let me start doing this let me and it is true that when you find something that people want
And that people are interested in to where all these different leaderboards and everything were all over the place because I’ll be honest with you I wouldn’t have known where to go necessarily I mean I’ve been in golf as a golf professional as a playing professional as well and certainly I’m
Like hang on a second I probably would have figured it out over time to go to the sections and so forth and try to figure that out but to be honest with you to have somebody like yourself to put this together what a solution to an awesome thing to follow because some of
The best storylines come out of some of these Monday qualifiers um I was only at one last year for the Shriners and I mean there were like three great stories that came out of that Monday qualifier even with u good old um steiny um that’s his nickname why can’t I think of his
Name off the uh top of my head um oh gosh where he hit it out of bounds and ended up missing it by a shot uh but that was uh gosh why can’t I think of his name I played a Monday qualifier with him for the BC open way back when I
Can’t think of his name yeah oh it’s Bobby knows him as steiny it’s uh smokes a lot of cigar or used to smoke a lot of cigarettes um on the golf course Spencer LaVine yes thank you that’s the only way I can remember it for some
Reason the name was just blank there for a moment oh that’s all right yeah oh yeah yeah good old Spencer Levine um gosh it hit the cart path apparently went out of bounds and yeah but it’s really cool so I do have I’m curious because you’ve been doing it for six
Years so you must have some really cool stories of some Monday qualifiers and so forth but um one thing in particular like what’s your favorite moment or story from a Monday qualifier that you can remember over the six years yeah I mean there’s there’s so many good ones
That you know there’s guys that shouldn’t qualify that do I use a story a lot guy named Ted Bel Todd Todd Balin who was a pizza manager and an assistant Pro uh off and on like just a true Regular Joe uh and had two rounds of his
Life he played a great pre-qualifier and played a great Monday qualifier and got into the AT&T Byron Nelson he missed the Cup by a billion but it doesn’t matter like he I text him on Friday after he missed the cut and I said you know how
Was your week and he was like it was unbelievable I got to play practice rounds with pj2 memb so I think they don’t get as much publicity but I think that’s a cool part of Monday qualifiers and then obviously Cory Connor’s won the Valero Texas open uh you know uh I mean
There’s tons of stories out there um from Monday qualifiers it’s just a it’s a very unique thing in sports yeah you don’t really get to just go on a Monday and go try to play for an NBA basketball team or for the New York Yankees you know it’s not uh exactly
Like that in other sports so it is unique to the game of golf and that does make me all of a sudden immediately think of some of the other topics that we can go down that path on with live golf and so forth and how things might
Be changing and so forth but we’ll get to that towards the end folks we always leave the uh the live golf stuff towards the end um as one of the fan favorite topics whether you love them or hate them uh but that being said having just that journey of being
Able to qualify into a m or to a PGA Tour event because I think you said it right there is that just that journey is so exciting to so many people that get the chance to do it that it doesn’t even matter if they make the cut or
Not yeah I mean uh again it’s just very unique in sports there’s not there’s not a way to get into the NFL there’s not outside of the traditional ways that you think of uh you know this is this is truly a regular joke can te it up in a
PGA Tour event obviously the odds are super stacked against you there’s tons of very very talented Pros PJ tour winners PJ tour members at Monday qualifier so the odds are you know slim to none but there is a chance and it happens every once in a while and for
The pros that are there you know you can change your you can change your career change your life in one one week doc Redmond did it Russell Knox did it JT Poston has done it you know Cory Connors has obviously done it there’s tons and
Tons of Pros who you know think of that are regulars on the PGA tour that were chasing Mondays for a long time I I use uh one the Northern Trust was now the Genesis used to have a Monday qualifier and Tony feno was young but he had been
A pro for five or six years he beat exactly zero players in the Northern Trust Monday qualifier shot 8 2 or 83 and beat zero players so uh if you go back and look at old Monday qualifying scores which I do a lot you’re G to be
Like oh I can’t believe he was there uh you know I used one from a corn faery Monday in Utah it’s a very easy course it’s one of the easiest courses all year in a Monday qualifier um and they take eight spots and uh two guys tied for 18th uh
And shot 65 and missed by two you needed a three a 63 to get in and it was Scotty sheffler and will zeelot Taurus and so wow guys have done okay for themselves since then so Mondays are hard but there’s a lot of future or past Talent
Uh often in each field yeah I was going to follow up with who who are some of the guys that you know were really surprising to see on Monday Q leaderboards that now are big names and you just you just shared it Scotty sheffler will zot Torres Tony Fe now so
It is kind of a way of young guys trying to make their way onto the PGA Tour whether because corn fairy tour players can play in Monday qualifiers like you said an average Joe can go play I think you have to have what is it a three handicap to participate a two handicap
Yeah gosh and I’m trying to get my handicap up so I can start winning money again from some of these guys but being said uh you also a very big corn fairy fan and I think that goes hand inand with the Monday Q stuff but why are you
Such a big corn fairy tour fan I think I saw a tweet recently from you that you said um just how big of a fan you are and how great of these stories they are so I mean why tell tell everybody why are you such a big cor Ferry fan yeah uh
You know I say it all all the time Matt is like on the PGA tour if there’s not often a lifechanging or career changing win um you know Chris Kirk obviously he’s been through stuff but he has money it’s not a it’s not gonna the win last week is not going to
Change his life in any drastic way Grayson Murray a little bit different probably definitely changes Thea trajectory of his career but every week on the corn fairy tour or most every week is a career defining or career changing life-changing win in a regular cor fairy season if you win you’re
Basically locking up your PGA Tour card you have to play decent the rest of the year but one win and you’re in real good shape to get your PJ tour card and a lot of these guys have been grinding for years trying to get to their PGA Tour
And they tap in for the win on Sunday and their dream is kind of relo that they’ve done it um and so you know I’m not that just doesn’t happen on the PJ tour week to week uh if Scotty wins a regular season event if Rory wins uh
It’s just not going to change their life in any significant way whatsoever um and and that’s different on the PJ tour or on the corn fery tour um you know Jeremy Paul and Kevin Roy are tied for the lead the final round is tomorrow in the
Bahamas and you know Kevin lost his PJ tour card didn’t play well on the PJ tour last year we’ll get back if he wins Jeremy Paul was playing on the outlaw tour uh a mini tour in Arizona for a long time so again I I just love it
Because most weeks you’re going to see some sort of career defining lifechanging career changing for sure uh win God you’re pumping me up about the corn fairy tour I’m like we need to cover it better than we do come on now this is uh you know you get those
Feelgood stories are there any that really kind of come to mind that kind of blow you away in terms of like somebody’s Journey that they were able to either Monday qualifier or through the corn faery tour end up getting and have those life-changing moments I know
You mentioned a couple but are there any big ones that kind of stand out to you yeah I mean uh guy who has become a friend of mine Tom Whitney uh went to the Air Force um went to the Air Force Academy served in a in a nuclear missile
Um pad uh after for four years then turned Pro his wife is still active they have four children just a very unusual uh Journey Tom lost his best friend who was his brother uh to Suicide uh they’re just a great family I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of
Time with them and you know he turned Pro 10 years ago and lost his gained his corn fairy card lost it had to go back to Latin America and play and he did this all with you know multiple children which there’s almost no one on the corn
Fairy tour that hasn’t had PGA Tour status that is playing with you know children it’s just for those listening that don’t know playing on the corn fairy tour is not not a way to make money uh and so you know it just takes a true Village in
Tom’s case to to make it work his in-laws his parents have been amazingly helpful so he’s probably the recently probably the best story but again it happens all the time you know Shan O’Hare is chasing the corn fairy tour uh just saw Jim Herman’s in this field tag
Writings is 49 years old 48 years old still chasing it still can hit it a Mile and again the mix of that is what is what I love yeah you have so much diversity out there on the corn fery tour and like you said I mean what are
The average purses out there on the corn fery tour nowadays I I can’t even I can’t even remember the last time I looked at that yeah they’ve grown the last two years I mean they’re a million now but again if you’re finishing 60th on the money list you’re you’re not
Making a ton of money uh so they’ve get they’ve definitely done a great job of improving it uh but you know you go to five countries in the first five weeks these first two weeks are in the Bahamas you know you’re probably depending on who you have caddy you’re probably 10
Grand in the hole if you miss a couple cuts so um you know again don’t feel sorry for these guys they play professional golf for a living not asking you that but I do want to give people a realistic look of what their life looks like yeah I mean back when it
Was the Nationwide tour I had a one of the interviews I want to say it was in December I brought on Blake Parks who we played college golf together at Grand Canyon University and he made it through uh the Q School makes it onto Nationwide and only made a couple cuts
Um but all the expenses and he’s like because I was playing mini tours at the time he’s just like Matt you like Stay Stay playing the min tours because I’m telling you right now I’m so far in debt because of all the travel the stay and everything and he’s like of course I’m
Thinking I’m going to make all this money and everything and so it was in a glamorous lifestyle but I mean even the mini tours below the Nationwide um you hear a bunch of stories of guys living in their cars I had Kevin stman on he was talking about
The fact that he was basic basically living in his mom’s uh car for quite some time until he met his wife and his wife’s dad asked him he’s like are you really a professional golfer he’s like I don’t see you on TV he’s like that was a
Wakeup call so you know sometimes you need that little motivation but I feel like a lot of these guys there’s so many guys that have the game to play on the PGA tour that it really takes that just an opportunity for them to get there do you feel like that’s more corn fairy
Tour gr or more Monday qualifiers that kind of provide that opportunity yeah I mean obviously if you get the corn fairy tour you want to take that you know it’s a season to prove that you belong um but there’s debate about whether you know the corn fairy
Tour in the in the courses they play produce the best players they aren’t getting on a lot of Great Courses they’re improving but there’s a lot of pitch and putts and you know PJ tour courses aren’t like that so are you are you getting the best 30
Players uh the answer is probably no but it’s the path forward so you got to figure it out uh but you know Monday qualifying is really hard but you know one week can change your life so yeah I mean all players are going to take corn
Fairy status and and try to figure it out but you know plenty of players have done it via the Monday days and so that’s why you see 100 guys show up for four spots what’s the lowest Monday Q score you saw yeah there’s been in uh I mean
Just this year uh and a corn faery Monday a guy shot a bogey free 64 and missed he lost in a playoff so it’s not it’s not for the faint of heart and yeah again corn fairy Mondays play Easier courses but okay that means more players
Are in the mix because it doesn’t harder courses separate the field uh easier courses bring the field together so I’ve always said uh corn fairy tour Mondays are harder than PGA Tour or Mondays for sure and uh yeah you shoot you shoot 66 at a corn fairy Monday you can you don’t
Need to check scores very often you can probably just head to your car yeah don’t don’t shoot a 68 and think you’re getting in that’s for sure that’s for sure now what is the most polarizing story that you have seen either recently um I know you were in some drama on
Twitter recently and so forth I mean that just comes with the territory right of being like authentic and and being honest about what you’re you’re seeing and experiencing of players that are out there but what’s kind of the most polarizing Story You’ve covered yeah uh I mean I’ve covered cheating sto stories
Uh I’ve covered uh Alejandro tosy who you know has has uh has struggled with his temper and I wrote that story uh you know as I ventured into telling I don’t know negative stories or whatever yeah that part of the territory is some people are going to be pissed
Off about it and uh that’s okay uh part of the deal I work hard on my reporting and try to be fair to everybody involved and go from there um as far as cheating stories you know I think they’re important to tell because it’s unfortunately happens too often in the
Professional game uh but you know I I think again it’s there’s so many negative stories written about the top players in the world I happen to be the only person that covers the only Med media member that covers players that really you know below the top 100 in the
World so I get a lot of the hate because I’m the only one writing them but that’s all right it’s part of the deal and uh you know again i’ I’ve worked hard to be I’m a terrible writer but thank God for good editors uh and uh what I’m I’m I
Think I report stories pretty well and I’ll continue to do that and continue to learn I’m new to this journalism thing but uh yeah hate Hate’s part of it as you grow uh you know you’re going to get people who are mad or jealous or don’t
Like this or don’t like that you know I look under Andy from the fried egg and no laying up those guys have grown their businesses like crazy bigger than mine and uh and work their ass off to do it and now they get part of you know they
Get part of the hate but they’ve been wildly successful and and I’m working to get there I definitely think if you got some haters you kind of have made it I mean we we had some early on uh because I had uh Mikey Perez as one of my very
First co-hosts Pat’s brother and man we uh in the beginning neither of us knew what the hell we were really doing um so that was just a whole B bunch of debauchery and there there were haters from the very beginning we have one person that uh I’m going to disclose at
Some point but it is a YouTube person that they go on every single YouTube episode and there’s only one person which I guess that’s kind of disappointing that there’s only one but it’s always one that does the thumbs down on every single episode they they missed one though so I’m proud about
About that um but no if you have haters that comes with the territory obviously you’re not always going to write the positive story and everything which kind of gets to a poll that we threw out there today around are you sick and tired of the negativity from both sides
Whether PGA Tour or live golf in this whole entire thing and I wonder what your stance is are you kind of tired of all the you know one-sidedness on one side or the other and just the constant battling that’s been going on yeah I think we all are as a golf fan uh
Yeah as a reporter again you can’t post anything either Pro live or Pro Tour or negative tour or negative live and not be called you know a tour stand or a live stand like I try my best I have not been perfect not trying to pretend like
Try my best to be unbiased and uh and it’s impossible and it gets annoying and I think it’s just not even from a personal perspective we’re just all tired of who’s going where and what the thing is pro golf is pretty gross right now you know $600 million and this
Person’s getting 100 million and this person’s getting four and how do we get more to the top player it’s just kind of gross uh and it’s honestly I I I have a big tip that I would I would never put out like I’m just tired of it like
Normally I’d be so excited about this scoop that I have and I I’m not even going to deal with it I’m going to let someone else do it because I’m just GNA concentrate more on what I do like part of me has to do that but yeah Pro
Progolf needs to figure it out uh I read quickly that the you know ratings were down for the Tournament of Champions and those kind of things Liv doesn’t get a ton of you know gets almost no viewers 100,000 or 94,000 average or whatever like I think a lot of that says that
People are just sick of all of this and uh you know I point a lot to cart versus IRL for the Open Wheel racing uh fans I mean it ruined Open Wheel racing uh it’s never recovered and the longer this goes on the more likely that Liv and PGA Tour become cart versus
IRL and uh I’m I’m afraid for the future of pro golf uh yeah the top part of pro golf stinks right now all there is to it I couldn’t agree with you more that is exactly my stance on it to I’m like guys if we go too far in this entire thing to
Where it becomes so polarizing that especially the new audience that golf had because of Co it’s like during the pandemic we gained so many additional participants and new people and now they get this as their world of professional golf and it has turned a lot of people
Away they’re just like I’m not gonna watch and it’s like that’s disappointing I mean I have a good friend Chris you know I mean he is a golf nerd knows everyone like and he’s like I just have I’m out I just can’t do it I’ll watch
For the majors I’ll read about it but like the the days of sitting on a Sunday afternoon and watching the farmers or you know the waste management he’s like I just can’t do it anymore and if if we l I haven’t talked to enough golf fans I
Don’t think it’s a it’s a it’s a huge problem yet but I think we we’re getting there yeah and and guys like my friend Chris is you know he is an avid golfer plays golf all the time loves Golf and now he’s like man I’m just sick of all
Of it and I’ll still read about it I’ll still see who won I’ll still SE check scores but am I going to sit down for three or four hours and watch a regular season event yeah probably not and that’s that’s the fans we’re losing and
Uh you know I think there’s a shelf life on it I think everybody is very tired of it couldn’t agree more it’s I’ve had multiple people tell me that are golf fans that are like it’s becoming tennis to what you just mentioned with Chris I’m just going to watch the majors
That’s all it’s becoming is about four majors and that’s disappointing it’s like man we really need to get back to where there is a peace treaty between everybody uh but we’ll get into live golf a little bit later on I like to leave it towards the end because it sometimes it can get
A little bit depressing and it’s like all right let let’s hang in there we we got some good stuff still to go over and one of those is that let’s talk about the PJ tour winner so far in 2024 you’re you’re somebody that I can tell just based on your reporting and everything
That you like these great Journeys and stories that come from corn fairy tour or Monday qualifiers or in this case our first two winners of 2024 have had incredible Journeys like Chris Kirk I don’t think people realize how many times this guy has actually won on tour
But was also a just struggle big time with alcoholism before getting back into the Winter Circle and I wonder what your thoughts are on now that he is you know on a great path in life and like really focused back on golf I mean how good is
Chris Kirk really yeah I mean I think I think guys like Chris Russell Henley those guys have very underappreciated careers uh you know badley has won four times and and plays Monday qualifiers he started to play better last year it’s like those guys to win multiple times on
The PGA tour is is like you’re in a very very you’re already in a tiny tiny percentage to be on the PJ tour to win once you’re even tinier but to win multiple times like those guys have is is rarified like just really as golf fans including myself we just
Underappreciate it too often so you know I’m sure that win uh you know last week or two weeks ago was was super special just because from place he is in his life uh you know he’s he’s been open about his depression and his alcoholism and his recovery from that so yeah I’m
Sure that was near the top if not the top of his wins just from a personal standpoint absolutely and then last week Grayson Murray wins the Sony Open which we’re between Bobby and I and Bobby’s talked a lot about Grayson because he’s been on Grayson’s bag before um so have
A lot of people in Bobby Circle and everything um have gone and been on Grayson’s bag you know he had uh Kip Henley come out and say ah I really missed out on being on his bag for this win but I saw him and I mentioned it to
Bobby I’m like Bobby he looks jacked right now on the corn fairy tour like he’s gotten his stuff together huh and upon further review yeah he’s uh got clean got into the gym and really started to focus in and he gained a confidence that I don’t even know if he
Knew was there uh but which I mean being on the corn fairy tour last year and how closely you look at the and follow the cor fairy tour are you impressed by Grayson and what he’s been able to do as well yeah I mean I I think
That uh it’s I think it’s a a lot harder for guys when they are on the PGA tour win and then have to go back and play on the corn fery tour if they go up to the PGA Tour and just don’t keep their card and come back it’s still hard I’m not
Trying to Discount that but being a winner thinking you’re going to be up there forever and then having to come back it just doesn’t often work out where you get back to winning again on the PGA tour um and so yeah I mean he he was struggling for multiple years it
Seems that off thec stuff was probably the biggest issue and uh you know he said that he’s clean and that that’s great it said the Bermuda uh accident was kind of a low point in his life and hopefully he’s he’s cleaned up his act you know Grayson has has pissed off a
Lot of people for sure uh Grayson and I have had our run-ins uh also but like I can’t I can’t say that people don’t deserve a second chance and you know he was pretty open about his struggles and so you know hopefully he can continue on
That path not only on the golf course but off of it for sure with you there I don’t even have a follow-up question to that one because that was such a good response there R well done there but is there between the two of them I mean do
You expect one to be better than the other this year I’m just curious to hear if you uh are leaning towards being more of a Chris Kirk guy or more of a Grayson Murray this year I mean gra Grayson has really played well over the last 12
Months I mean he won twice on the corn fairy tour last year um yeah I wouldn’t be surprised it’s early season and he looks like he’s you know he he he changed caddies and changed equipment companies when he got back to the PJ tour that usually ends up to a bad deal
Uh guys have have done that and it hasn’t worked out but he changed both and won in his first start so uh it doesn’t seem like it’s affected him so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him play well yeah I’m with you there as well now
One thing that Grayson has in the bag that I’ve seen from a bunch of guys um especially over the past year are these lab Putters so I’m actually going to have in a couple of weeks say from uh lab to come on and kind of give me the
Breakdown into all this stuff because I’ve heard some of the YouTube videos and stuff but what are your thoughts in regards to just like from a a puttting standpoint this lab putter kind of taken off we kind of saw it with the Odyssey Putter after wendam and then uh Ricky
But these lab Putters are kind of a different situation here they’re kind of getting into the hands of everybody on tour yeah I mean I’m not an equipment geek but they they seem to be like everybody who uses them preaches like that they really love them
I there’s just not a lot of clubs that you go that you go up like hey what kind of wedges and they’re like they just tell you what kind of putter you use I use this but like you get you talk to a guy who’s a lab putter guy and he’s like
He wants to be a Salesman to you and and tell you how great it is so there must be something to it that’s what I’m curious that’s why I had to invite Sam I’m like come on man let’s get on the pond let’s talk about this because I
Need to figure this out shoot I might need to put one in my bag if it’s that good now as we kind of move beyond the PGA Tour and the first couple winners you know I have a new segment that I do with our sponsor swanes which is the
Swanie style segment and so far in 2024 this segment has not disappointed because there have been clothing topics abroad and and really I mean you mentioned uh one of those uh groups groups in no laying up and they came under some fire with some comments that they made about uh you know golf
Clothing the Mal bun with h Jason day and more specifically the street wear side of it and they hated it they they didn’t want this engulf at all and a lot of people started coming at them quite a bit especially on Twitter so I’m curious
To hear gr I just set this all up for you so uh but no are you a fan of seeing street wear out there on tour like melbour or is this kind of you know we’re going a little bit too far here folks no I don’t I mean honestly man I I
Want to belong to a club I I play at a municipal course in my hometown and like I live in a bluecollar town I’m talking like guys show up in you know NASCAR t-shirts and and jeans uh I and I love it like I
Don’t want to it I like do I like Jason da no but I don’t give a [ __ ] if someone else does like it and wants to wear it all all the power to him uh you know I’ve been lucky enough to have a clothing sponsor the last little bit
Dunning they’ve been awesome to me but they they also send me hoodies and like I go out 90% of the time I play golf is shorts and a hoodie or shorts and a t-shirt so uh I am definitely not want to criticize uh other people’s clothes
Because I’m just not like I’m not a golf shirt you know Iron Pants perfectly uh uh you know perfect every time like there’s a place for that and I love it but I want to belong to a place where you do it I I surely can’t golf’s
Super boring and super stiff and if people want to push the push the envelope so it like do I like melbour did I like Jason day’s pants no do I give a [ __ ] that he wore it that’s great good for him all I say was we got to add some
Pleats to those pants because I mean those things were just baggy without pleats we need to bring back some baggy pleats in there um I love by the way the street wear because I was a public golf course kid I never belonged to a country club family couldn’t afford it so I was
Always along the lines of I love seeing people out there and even a t-shirt I mean shoot I I’ve got no issues with it whatsoever I love when people can show off kind of their fashion sense and be who they are because a lot of times people’s personalities come out in their
Clothing and that’s what I like about golf kind of the diversification now with Styles and everything and hoodies being a part of it and I was a big basketball kid growing up so before I ever got into golf I was all basketball so I love seeing the Air Jordans out
There the sneakers the AJ ones I’m a bit of a sneaker head myself so I love that you said that um I didn’t mean to Tee It Up the way that I did to kind of be like hey if you go against Street Wear right now people are going to come after you
But no and then even with Swan’s our sponsor it’s like you know they’re big on the untucked golf shirt and they make it so that it fits really good like that so I’m all about it and I I really don’t mind seeing the street wear and I love
Seeing different stuff out there um now the other part to this segment we got a a good old goat out there in Tiger Woods who there’s a lot of speculation around his next apparel partner and who’s it’s going to be there’s a photo out there where he’s carrying some Travis Matthews
Gear uh now the question is what are your thoughts where do you think tiger should go think going I think he’s going to Grayson that’s my guess but yeah I mean tiger can probably go where he wants or start his own thing uh he still
Has plenty a pul so my guess is Grayson Charlie has some yeah is a Grayson fan and uh I I would not be surprised to see him at Grayson and they got JT JT and tiger we know their history so I’m I I like that I I actually don’t mind Travis
Matthew either for him but I do think Grayson will probably be it unless he launches his own line I don’t know if this was kind of a surprise like I didn’t hear anything last year leading into this departure between tiger and Nike so I wonder if it was a surprise
For tiger and he just couldn’t get a brand put together that quickly yeah I mean it’s not I don’t like top players are not my gig but it is a surprise I think Dan rapid Port did a thing it just seems like Nik never really really you know built out the
Tiger Woods brand um you know they had some Tiger Woods stuff but it it seems like they left a lot of money behind in that and now maybe because he’s older and they didn’t do that it was time to to get out of it but um yeah tiger still
Has plenty of poll I’m sure there are plenty of companies lining up at his agent door to to get him signed yeah Mark Wahlberg said he’s the only athlete that he believes is worth every penny so we’ll see who tiger ends up with with a uh new clothing sponsor or partner and
That wraps up the Styles segment I won’t I won’t take it any further we’ve got the American Express uh that is this week now this is a closed event so you don’t have the opportunity for Monday qualifiers to get in there um do you like that do you like that the PJ tour
Doesn’t always have Monday qualifiers I mean this is a very bias answer answer but I hate it yeah um so especially again uh I mean before it’s too long to get into it but Signature Events are not my thing uh but the American Express like no top
Pros a lot of top Pros are skipping it so why would you not have a and you know there’s too many invitationals too many Signature Events too many closed like let’s let’s give guys some opportunity so no I hate it well your opinion is also everybody that I’ve talked to every
Pro that is out here in the Scottsdale area feels the exact same way and that’s weird because like even some guys that are in these events and they’re like hate them absolutely hate them and I feel like that’s like the majority but that kind of gets into too who’s making
These decisions player policy Bor you start looking at that um and that leads us into the next question who do you like this week for the American Express yeah yeah I I mean a a sleeper a hopeful pick is Hayden Springer Hayden’s got a great story um he just lost his daughter uh
Him and his wife just lost their daughters one of my favorite stories in golf uh he’s a wonderful family and uh a wonderful Emma his wife they just lost their daughter sage and just an amazing family and a good dude and uh pulling for me got through Q school after really
Not playing and this is his first event so um my long shot special would be Hayden uh uh I’m gonna say JT poon’s gonna win but I hope Hayden wins that’s strong that is that’s very strong I like that yeah I actually this week I really really
Like God damn it I hate to say it sunj good old SJ oh yeah I I just Willy’s on the bag it’s all right Willie Willie is Willie’s got a hell of a story I mean we he was supposed to be on the podcast last year and then forplay got a hold of
Him and he’s been offir since so we’ll uh we’ll get Willie on here at some point but he’s got a crazy story and just his journey back back to now being a caddy and being successful with it and you know how he got on sunj Jay’s bag
That was a whole another story in and of itself kind of little controversy around that um but yeah it’s uh you know with him and sunj seemed to be vibing and even where he’s telling sunj to start blowing putts past three feet and sunj is making some more putts so Willie’s on
To something there yes agreed yeah we’re happy for Willie good dude he that he is now with that said we’re going to push into live golf and here we go Ryan this is your chance let everybody know because you you mentioned it earlier but where do you stand on live
Golf I mean so I I say this all the time uh I don’t like live golf it’s I know it’s impossible to keep the politics out of it but let’s just talk from a golf perspective like guaranteed no money no cut events are just not my jam I don’t
Care if they’re on live I didn’t watch a single second that’s not a lie not watch a single second of the Tournament of Champions not one I didn’t see a shot outside of social media obviously I I watch clips and stuff like that but I did not turn on the Tournament of
Champions on the PGA tour I just don’t have much desire for guaranteed events where everyone’s already paid before they te it up it’s just not for me so that goes for PGA Tour I won’t watch Signature Events this year just don’t have any desire to watch that won’t
Watch live much uh but uh oh there though there’s a sliver in there he said I won’t watch them much what I I’ve watched him for sure but I’ll say Matt is like I don’t blame any of the players that went over there right like I especially guys like James Pat or
Chase kka or Kevin n even like middling of the Road Cameron tringali like I I get it uh uh Harald Varner his statement was like perfect like hey this is lifechanging money generational wealth uh so do I blame guys for going over there no do I wish it was different yes
Uh do I wish golf would just figure it out and get it together yeah I’m not a live fan but I don’t blame players for going there uh I just don’t want to I I don’t get the team thing I don’t know what like it just it just hasn’t worked
Yet maybe it will I think free agency And Trades could be a thing if they could make it work um yeah I I’m not a fan of no cut events it’s all there is to it now I will say there is Rumblings that Liv is going to have a Monday
Qualifiers at some point whether that’s this year or if well they don’t have to as the owgr stands now they need to have some sort of qualifying process so if they do that man that will be very very interesting because you know if you get into a live event you’re guaranteed 120,000 minimum
So if they did like a team of Monday qualifiers that would really piak my interest because that would be truly now for those listening that don’t know Monday qualifiers you Monday qualifier PGA Tour event you still have to make the cut to make any money you don’t get
The $5,000 stip in don’t get anything else so you still have to go play well for at least two days uh at a live event Monday qualify and you’re guaranteed 120,000 I mean that keeps a guy’s career going for two and a half years right yeah like it’s truly career changing
Truly the opportunity of a lifechanging money and uh if they do that I’m I will definitely be watching a ton more just to see what those guys uh would do yeah I lost respect for the team side of things when Matthew wolf was traded for Taylor G and just straight up it’s just
Like that makes absolutely no sense what’s whatever other than oh I’ll have him on my team oh okay I’ll take him it’s like these guys they don’t care about the team aspect as much as they’ve talked about it um but it is pretty cool to hear that
There may be a Monday qualifier in there and that could be game changing for a lot of pros and you’re right because I did hear that they’re going to this year have three individual players that are not on teams that will be playing in events so that kind of goes hand inand
Yeah and I thought you know I thought their Q school again like Kieran Vincent played at Liberty University and you know played on the Asian developmental tour for those that have no Pro Golf that is way down the list of places you are playing in the middle of nowhere in
Asia for no money and uh then got in the Asian tour and one then went to Q School got through and it’s literally I mean that is truly lifechanging like he’s going to make $44 million if he plays like [ __ ] this year uh he’s on rah’s
Team uh you know Rah was in the running for Wam Clark by some rumors there’s other rumors of other PJ tour members that are going there so it’s like you know I mean that guy is gonna be part of a very good team he’s probably gonna make four million could
Make 40 million I mean it’s a truly life-changing thing so I thought Q school was was really good because again on the PJ tour and I I like this aspect I’m not discounting the this side of the PJ tours like you still got to go like
Play well keep your card all of those things on live like it is truly life-changing money as soon as you tap in and get your card like you you don’t have to play that well uh and for guys like Kieran uh you know that that is
Huge it’s it’s I mean again I know a lot of players say they don’t play for money it’s part of it it’s part of it and for guys that don’t have any money that is huge like to have to be able to play without the financial aspect hanging
Over you can free you up a ton so when you have a six-footer for your rent payment or your car payment it’s a little bit different so uh it is or when you have three cents left in your uh car and you’re like gosh I don’t have enough
Money for a double cheeseburger at mcdonal how am I going to eat today yeah that six-footer gets long so um you know again I think there’s there’s interesting aspects of live I just not no cut events aren’t for me the one interesting thing that I heard too and this came from Phil’s
Interview on the Pat McAfee show is that he’s talking about the fact that they have plans and granted you could always talk about oh we’ve got these Grand plans but of building these facilities for each of the teams but to give guys the opportunity young guys coming out of
College and so forth to train at those facilities be paid salaries and allow them to develop into better players I’ve always said that’s one thing that golf misses like to only have guys and granted we do get great stories right of you know struggles and then all of a
Sudden they have success but I’ve always thought and I liked when the PJ tour added that stiping in there um for guys that you know don’t make a ton of cuts and so forth that have their tour cards but I would really love to see some type
Of De developmental League to where guys can actually hone their craft and work up to that level rather than having to be at that level in order to survive like there’s so many guys that have so much game that had to give it up yeah I mean
I I I don’t I hope that it has some openness to it but I I think progolf is probably headed there at some point it’s like a handpick triaa team uh but I hope I hope it’s still open you know one thing I will say about Liv that I think
Has they’ve done well is developed the Asian tour and made it a viable option for guys who are you know trying to get to that top and make a livable tour uh the international series is good and you can make a living on the Asian tour and
The more tours out there in the world that guys can make a living just a better chance that you know a few of them are going to break through so um definitely they’ve done good things it’s uh it’s not all negative no it and I’m glad you said
That because it’s not and people for a long time lot lot of people listening to this podcast that love live golf thought that that I was a big hater of live golf and I’m like I’ve actually watched every single event like I actually will cover
It and granted we make some fun of it but at the same time I’m not a hater like I actually like I like certain aspects of what it’s doing to the game of golf but at the same time there’s other aspects that I absolutely hate
About it and I hate um you know what it’s done the Divide with everything and some of the ridiculous money that’s being paid out almost a billion dollars being paid to somebody but there is one thing that I do need to say you brought
His name up um I was on the phone today quite a bit um with people around Windom Clark and I can confidently say he is not going and it is not the money that uh was the reason why because they met his price apparently but he is not going
To end up on good old ROM’s team so I’m not quite sure who that fourth guy’s going to be you know Tony Tony was in the conversation for a while but they ended up not meeting Tony’s number so who knows who knows who’s going to get
This bag of money that’s going to get sent over I just I have a feeling it’s going to be somebody that is not significant that comes over onto Jon’s team we’re gonna have they’re gonna have to hurry it’s about uh we’re about what two weeks away from two I mean better
Get Kraken they might have to have a money qualifier to F to f f Ron John’s team right over there I mean they’re gonna have to start reaching for some straws in a second um but they also came up with a team name for John so the
Legion of Doom oh no that was my one of my favorite WWE tag teams sorry they’re the legion 13 I guess I mean apparently this is like historic and everything I’m not a history buff so when I first heard it I kind of laughed at it I was like
What the hell are we doing here you know you got the range goats going up against Legion 13 okay uh but yeah just needed to put that one out there for the people Legion 13 is John ROM’s team because we haven’t talked about it on this podcast
Yet so uh there’s that and uh let’s open it up to the audience um so audience this is your opportunity to ask any questions that you have for Ryan self um to jump in here looks like uh so Paul has just asked a question around what is your favorite cheating
Story that has happened that you’ve covered I mean I’ll take a a serious side of it is like the answer is none of them because you know I know these stories have a profound effect on these guys life and career uh uh but also you know it
Is like it the Justin Doan story in Canada could have affected a lot of players careers had he made had he erased the score he admitted it in in a tweet um if he had gotten away with it there was guys that were going to miss the cut because of that and the
Reshuffle was just happening it literally could have ended players careers um and so you know do I feel good about writing that story no do I feel bad no uh it’s just part of the job and it needs to be written because hopefully if there’s someone out there thinking about
Cheating then they see the Fallout from that you know Justin will always have to answer those questions uh the other guys that I’ve I’ve written stories about uh when it comes to honesty we’ll have to answer those questions for the rest of the career and I don’t I’m not proud of
That or don’t feel like great about it but again I don’t feel bad about it I make sure that it’s accurately reported and do that but I don’t I don’t have a favorite one because it’s no it’s no fun to report those stories but it’s also
Part of my job and I think it’s important who’s the guy that uh had a million hole in ones it was the huge controversy yeah his name’s Matt marose he yeah yeah he got he got dced um he got DED at uh at Q school and they
Went the the section went out and fought uh went out and found some uh balls that he said were Lo that he had found that were lost and oh that whole story had going I I had so actually it was at the Shriner Monday Q
I’m not going to drop in any names but those guys not only knew him but like one guy he uh he’s like we’ve known that he was a cheater for so long and Erin here uh in the comments go Matos is an altimer come on H love that but we’ve
Also got G here he’s asking what’s the best gambling story you have while playing with a pro no need for names I don’t there’s not a ton of like OnCourse gambling that I’ve been a part of like in the middle of an event I will
Tell you uh I CED in the AT&T Pebble Beach pram and Ben Rector who’s a uh a Grammy winning song was uh Peter Jacobson’s partner and uh he and Mark Baldwin who I was kiding for had a bet and uh Mark made the cut and they were
Playing like closest two on a few holes and Ben Rector is a stick and like was killing us I mean absolutely killing us so uh there’s good bets there’s like uh gonna make the uh President’s Cup team for a few thousand bucks that players have between them uh I don’t have a ton
Of good gambling stories uh I feel like the corn fairy tour you’re not going to have a ton of good gambl out there CU guys are like no I need my money man yeah there’s not this is not a ton like there’s not a ton of money out there so
It’s not a ton of good money games like you know normal stuff but it’s very minimal amount I haven’t been part of like a big a big money match I’ll tell you on the butch Harman Vegas tour while it was around and I played on that first
Season um there were there were a little some side bets that would go on there because you know the purses weren’t huge or anything you win event you win like 16 grand um which was actually big at the time for like a mini Tour event but um yeah there were there were little
Side bets and there were bets from uh Hey next event uh let’s go out and have some drinks and see who can uh actually Tee It Up tomorrow so there were some of those as well um and no names needed for uh Garrett there so we didn’t share any
Real names on that other than uh you know some of the more PC gambling stories but what else you guys got for is here looks like uh oh gosh more people want more info on uh you know what is and I’ll kind of rephrase one of
These questions here in terms of um you know not your favorite um cheating story but what’s kind of the like were you surprised by how many people cheat out there in events yes tons I have a rule that uh it’s my own rule is that you
Have to put your name on it if if you want to accuse a player of cheating and so you know there’s plenty of cheating stories that I haven’t uh printed because the player in the group or in the event wouldn’t put his or her name on it
And and uh yeah it’s been it’s been pretty eye opening to see how often it it’s happen happing if if half of the stories that I’ve heard are happening actually happen yeah the there’s not often I go a month without hearing at least an allegation of some sort of
Cheating whether it’s blatant cheating or you know he teed up in front of the t- marker and then said he didn’t or whatever uh it there there isn’t a month that I usually there’s not a month that I don’t hear about it so it happens way way more than you
Think that that is surprising but not at the same time you know I mean the fact is the fact is Matt is like for those that don’t know mini tour golf it’s very easy to cheat in mini tour events and Monday qualifiers there’s no fans there’s three rules officials across the
Entire golf course there’s not a lot of caddies so you’re talking maybe 50% at a at a corn fairy Monday I mean quite frankly it’s pretty easy to cheat and so there’s a lot of rumors there’s a lot of like why does that guy always shoot
66s you know those kind of things and there’s also like hey I know for a fact he cheated I’m like okay put your name on it you know and and so uh yeah I mean that’s the thing is like people don’t understand uh that it’s the opportunity
Is there more so it happens more like on the PJ tour there’s shot Tracer tracker and all of those things and a Monday qualifier there’s you and two other dudes and maybe one or two caddies and zero fans and once every six hole there’s a rules official so uh the
Opportunity is there so players who are desperate take more chances to do such things well it’s also crazy that it happens on the PGA tour too and yet there’s cameras and everything around so it’s kind of nuts to uh to see that uh especially at this level But Here Comes
Jeff with uh Jeff mossbrucker I believe I said that correctly if I can see it properly sorry Jeff I know you’re an a uh a longtime listener here but can a graduate of the Corn fairy tour who can’t get a spot into the PGA Tour event play last minute somewhere else or no
Because they didn’t ask for a PGA Tour release they can only play in a corn fairy event uh without a release uh so they can’t go to like an Asian Tour event or anything like that but this week it doesn’t line up but say the corn fairy
Event and the PJ Tour event lined up and they were Thursday through Sunday then uh you could if your second or third alternate and Wednesday night you decide I’m going to go fly down to the corn faery event and play you can do that as long as you’ve committed you can commit
To both uh both the corn faery and the PJ tour as long as you’re not in at that time and then withdraw from uh the corn Ferry event if you get into the PJ Tour event or fly down to the corn Ferry and get in but uh the
Rule on the corn fairy tour is 15-day release to play in any other event 45 if you’re on the PGA tour so you need to plan well ahead if you’re trying to get a release to to play uh an Asian Tour event or something to that and he can’t play live
Because he still get suspended Jeff great question me and I didn’t know that so that that’s all that’s all new info for me as well great stuff there and uh I believe this is just a comment from Garrett but uh Garrett Winder he says that some guys just have it in them they
Cheat always have always will even reverse sandbaggers oh don’t get me started on the handicap system here G I’ve been trying to get mine north of one I’ve been trying so hard and yet I’m I’m still like trying to make three Footers it’s not like I’m sitting there
Missing them but gosh darn it that handicap system man it is I don’t know how these sandbaggers do it they must play a crap ton of golf that that’s all I can say Garett I will tell you that I have never I’ve written the Justin just
A lot of people like Justin doden from Canada and didn’t have a lot to say every other cheating story that I’ve written I get a lot of yeah I’m not surprised or here’s the story about that guy at some other event so yes it’s usually a reputation that catches up
With them uh versus like a one-time thing but Justin seemed to be an outlier from what I’ve you know gathered but most most of the time you’re 100% correct there’s it’s eventually catches up with them you hate to see it you hate to see it but if anybody’s got any last
Questions come on because uh we’re going to wrap it up I’ve taken plenty of time from poor Mr Ryan French here from Monday Q info and uh I am very grateful by the way Ryan for you coming on spending the time with us spitting that knowledge at us letting us know and uh
Man keep doing what you’re doing by following these Monday cues I mean I’m an addict now I follow all your Twitter posts at this point and all the Articles so um really appreciate it and Garrett just has one last thing to say he said Justin seems legit so uh we got that I
Think he made a I mean his his tweet was you know I think it was a genuinely terrible mistake and I hope he gets back one day love that well Ryan let the people know where where can people find you I know you’ve got a podcast for yourself
As well um so let everybody know the Twitter handle or X um the website the podcast this is your chance to let everybody know where to find you yeah just go to Monday Q info all the stuff is there any given Monday is my podcast
Onq is.com is my uh website and uh yeah thanks for having me on Matt hey it’s my absolute pleasure I want to once again say thank you to swanes uh wearing their gear tonight they sent this out this is all fresh from their brand new Big Lake
Collection and uh I got to tell or golden Lake collection sorry uh the golden Lake collection so make sure to use promo code pole hook golf 25 at checkout get 25% off your entire order at swan. and the one thing I didn’t mention in the beginning that I normally
Do on this is that a lot of their stuff is recycled Plastics in their golf shirts and everything so you’re saving the planet by helping out swanes and uh once again everybody until next week uh we we will see you guys soon and thanks again for listening
