Roundtable: Pebble Beach, PGA Tour sponsor exemptions, amateurs to LIV | Golf Today | Golf Channel

Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner join Golf Today for a writer’s roundtable about the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, PGA Tour sponsor exemptions and how the Tour needs to change in order to prevent top amateurs from heading to LIV Golf. #GolfChannel #GolfToday #LIVGolf
» Subscribe to Golf Channel: https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1
» For the latest news around golf: https://www.nbcsports.com/golf

Welcome to Golf Channel’s official YouTube channel. We are the #1 destination for everything golf – 24/7. Find golf instruction tips, sneak peeks to our original series, news and tournament coverage. We are part of the NBC Sports Group.

Discover what else Golf Channel has to offer:
Live Coverage on Peacock: https://peacocktv.smart.link/v82e9dl56
Live Scores: http://bit.ly/GCScores
TV Schedule: https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/schedule
Instructional Tips: https://www.golfpass.com/learn
Golf Course Reviews: http://bit.ly/GCCourseReviews

Roundtable: Pebble Beach, PGA Tour sponsor exemptions, amateurs to LIV | Golf Today | Golf Channel
https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1

Time now for the golf today Round Table we’re going to welcome in Rex hogard from Pebble Beach and Golf Channel senior Rider Ryan lavner from home AKA Georgia Bulldog Central great to see you both Rex I want to start with you you’re on property we’re talking about the vibe

Of this now signature event does it still feel like the old Crosby Clan Bay well I think tomorrow it will I think there’s 100% chance of rain and when they say 100% chance of rain at Pebble Beach my guess is it’s going to be 100% chance of rain so we’ll get Crosby

Weather but I think aan is absolutely correct when you look at the future of this event this was a proven commodity whether if you like the celebrity version of the competition or not there was a draw to it there was the idea that you’re sitting on the East Coast you’re

Freezing to death and you’re watching this beautiful golf course and the celebrities mixed in with some tour players that was this event’s identity now it’s moving to something else and I think Jordan spe said this a few weeks ago in interview that he did it’s a very

Important year for the PGA Tour to prove kind of it’s a proof of concept at this point are the signature of events going to deliver what the tour hopes they deliver this is the first week they can get a look at that and decide did they make this tournament better I think it’s

A huge week for the tour Ryan there’s always something to fight over on T and the players aren’t shy about fighting over it and one of the things that got some attention this week is the sponsor exemptions into the field there are four of them three of them have gone to

Members of the PGA Tours policy board do you think that’s something that t needs to be sensitive to you can make a case for all of those guys getting the exemptions that’s not the issue but the perception that the elite players are kind of Feathering their nest even more

So than the Signature Events are allowing them to do so is this going to be an issue with the rank and file you think I certainly think it’s something to be cognizant of as we uh continue on with the signature events for the rest of 2024 sensitive was the word you use

And I would I would say that’s that’s perfect perfectly appropriate in this because the the Signature Events give these guys such a head start when it comes to the FedEx Cup standings that every sponsor exemption deserves to be scrutinized and and and Justified and at

Least this week it does seem like a like a thank you note to the players on the PJ tour policy board for getting the PJ tour to the point where now we’re at least expecting uh that the US investor deal with strategic Sports Group to be finalized and announced any moment

Maverick mcney to me is is a different situation an AT&T Ambassador uh he played at Stamford he has a great record at Pebble Beach but if you start to see some more of these handouts uh I I certainly think that’s something that’s that’s going to infuriate the rest of the PJ tour

Membership and I think when you’re going to hear the players continue to Grumble about this I don’t think this will be the last we hear of a sponsor exemption going to someone on the policy board and it does seem like patronage at that point I think what we’ll see as we get

Further and further into the season the tour at least the tournaments will start being a little bit more judicious about how they hand those sponsor exemptions out because as we’ve talked about this on the show before you don’t want them going to just one category of player the

Tour is very clear as far as who these are supposed to go to sort of the rank and file immediately comes to mind Rex the players are getting ready for these small greens the cold weather and the rain there was also a pack meeting for to understand yesterday what came out of

That I think it was a lively meeting by all accounts I think if you look at the makeup of the player advisory Council right now they added some players who have been very outspoken about a lot of the changes specifically the signature event model that the tour has moved to

What we were just talking about as far as how the sponsor exemptions get handed out they add at lonto Griffin and Grayson Murray to the 16 player pack and I think those are going to be two very loud voices in the room they’ve been outspoken against a lot of things that

The PGA Tour has done and I think last night was an example of that Ryan the Liv golf tour is also starting its season this week down in Mexico and just a few moments ago John R team was finalized it’s Turell Hatton Kieran Vincent and Caleb Sarat who just

Left college for Liv gol is this going to make any material difference in terms of putting Liv in a position to have more audience traction this season than it did last year I’m not so sure Damon I mean live live golf already had Phil Mickelson Brooks kka Dustin Johnson Bryson shampo

Those those guys are already needle movers and it got to a point where the live golf stopped reporting its TV ratings because they were they were so abysmal I think when you look at the additions of these players plus uh Adrien Moran who’s uh supposed to be

Signing with Martin kers cleek’s teams I I think the bigger Point here is that these are two top 40 players who would be moving away from the PJ tour onto a different product they’re highly competitive they haven’t shown their best the major champion ship but you could at least foresee a scenario where

Their best golf is still ahead of them and it’s getting to a point where we’re getting further away from what golf fans want which is what to have the the best players in the world all competing against each other in the same place to me that’s the big takeaway whether

Whether it reduces the PJ tour or uh maximizes live golf in some uh Marginal Way I think we’re actually just getting further away from where we actually want to be La what about the impact of Caleb Sarat you’re talking about one of the best collegians we have in the country

Arnold Palmer cup member Walker cup member an incredible junior golf career as well what kind of impact might his decision have on the collegians behind him so it’s very interesting especially when you consider it came in the wake of Nick dunlap’s decision to uh pursue PJ tour membership when I’m sure uh live

Golf also made a run at him and I I put I put Nick Dunlap in a completely different category right like he’s the first amateur went on tour in 33 years he had such a Runway ahead of him that it would almost be impossible to turn

That down but but Caleb Sarat is such an interesting situation because I I personally thought after Liv’s launch the best Avenue for Success was going to be to Target some of these young amateur studs and they actually haven’t been that successful in poaching those kids from college as you might think you had

David puj from Arizona State he had yeno shakar from Oklahoma State who was a top five amateur at the time but that’s really it and so I think you know a lot of people will talk about Terell Hatton and the impact that’s going to have on

The European rer Cup team Caleb Sarat to me though Damon is the most interesting piece because of what he can represent he was a top junior he was a number one ranked amateur at this time last year the PJ tour is not that far removed from the situation where all of these top

Players in College of amateur golf had to go toil for a year or two on the corn faery tour to then make it to the PJ tour and so the PJ tour is going to have to continue to to tweak and to really analyze its its process for how they get

These young players onto the PJ tour as fast as possible because Caleb Sarat could show that there’s there’s a pathway if you’re an underclassman or a junior in college golf to be able to make a lot of money and compete against world class players right away Rex I

Want to go back to this pack meeting last night you noticed that the tour over the weekend announced who the new members of the pack were there are nine new guys on there eight of them would be considered Rank and file there are a couple of people like lanto Griffin

Grayson Murray who’ve been pretty vocal and hostile to the direction that the tour has been moving and now we’re moving into the period where the Strategic Sports Group private Equity deal is imminent decisions are going to be made that are going to leave the rank and file feeling pretty raw at times out

There are you expecting some kind of fireworks or um movement in that panel over the course of this season as the the arguments start to pick up a little bit of steam I think the addition of lonto and and specifically Grayson to the pack that’s sort of a nod to that

Rank and file that you mentioned I think the tour understands that there was push back there was a letter that was sent to the commissioner just late last year from a group of players who really just wanted an audience they wanted their voice to be heard and I think where we

Are right now there is so much uncertainty in where the tour is going lab just brought up SSG however that deal plays out the deal with the piff from Saudi Arabia that’s going to be a whole different scenario however when it comes to the actual players in the room

Who are going to be making the decisions and I’ve heard this for decades on the PGA tour the pack can have a conversation and they’re going to hear information before everyone else but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have a voice every member that I’ve spoken to

Who served on the pack said that it was kind of a waste of time because the tour is going to do what the policy board wants to do not what the pack wants to do it’s a very important distinction especially right now because the PGA Tour has made a clear decision they’re

Going to lean towards the star players and even the addition of lantto and Grayson to the pack I don’t think it’s going to change that and the policy board is heavily skewed towards those elite players right now Rex and I noticed in the press release that tour

Sent out it lists all of the player directors on the policy board and it lists the duration of their term as a director all except Tiger Woods we we know when everyone else is leaving the board tiger was co-opted onto the board when the player started to get upset

Last year he’s now kind of like a dear leader in North Korea he seems to have an indefinite a term on the board does the tour need to offer some kind of clarity as to when Tiger’s term of office will expire on the board I would think so and that would probably come

Sooner rather than later and my guess is that comes after we land wherever it is we’re going to land with the negotiations whatever comes from the negotiations with SSG and piff I believe after that you’ll start to see tiger probably phase himself off the board because as Rory articulated last year

It’s very consuming I can imagine it’s only become more consuming over the last few months of these negotiations have heated up I think most players will tell you they are comfortable with Tiger Woods having I don’t want to call it an indefinite stay on the policy board but

They want his voice to be one of the loudest in the room and that’s what you have right now but I don’t think that Tiger Woods wants to be on the board indefinitely didn’t expect a North Korea Tiger Woods reference on this Tuesday edition of golf today Rex hoger and Ryan

Lamber joining us for the golf today Round Table