Did The Waste Management Phoenix Open Jump the Shark?

In this episode, Ben and Jay discuss the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the LIV Vegas event. They highlight the issues that occurred at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, including spectator injuries and fights.

They also discuss the performance of players like Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau, who struggled with their putting. The hosts then analyze the LIV Vegas event and praise the course design. They also discuss the performance of players like Dustin Johnson and Laurie Canter. Overall, they express their excitement for upcoming events and the potential changes in the golf industry.

The conversation covers the viability of the PIF and LIV partnership, Tommy Fleetwood’s visit to LIV, the real-time competition and volatility of LIV the appeal of LIV to new fans, and the announcement of the upcoming Golf Lovers United UK Golf Tournament.

Takeaways

The Waste Management Phoenix Open faced several issues, including spectator injuries and fights, highlighting the need for better crowd management.
Putting played a crucial role in the performance of players, with some top players struggling in this area.
Older players like Charlie Hoffman and Ian Poulter proved that they can still compete at a high level.
Some players, like Brandon Steele and Mito Pereira, had a slow start to the season, but it is still early, and their performance may improve in upcoming events.
Laurie Canter’s participation in the DP World Tour indicates a potential collaboration between the European Tour and LIV Golf. The PIF and LIV partnership is seen as a viable solution for the European Tour, as the current deal with the PGA Tour is not well-received by European fans.
Tommy Fleetwood’s visit to LIV does not necessarily indicate that he will join the league, but rather shows his friendship with other players and his interest in exploring different opportunities.
The real-time competition and volatility of LIV, where players are competing against each other simultaneously, adds excitement and a different viewing experience for fans.
LIV has the potential to attract new fans, especially those who are interested in team logos and branding, and who may not typically watch traditional golf events.
The announcement of the upcoming Golf Lovers United UK Golf Tournament, with details to be released soon, provides an opportunity for supporters of the podcast to participate in a golf event and connect with fellow golf lovers.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Waste Management Phoenix Open
11:58 Review of the Waste Management Phoenix Open
20:11 Review of the LIV Vegas Event
22:20 Discussion on Greens and Putting
29:30 DJ’s Performance and Other Players’ Concerns
35:02 Discussion on Hi Flyers and Struggling Players
36:39 Laurie Canter’s Performance and Participation in the DP World Tour
37:39 The Viability of the PIF and LIV Partnership
41:00 Tommy Fleetwood’s Visit to LIV
46:50 The Real-Time Competition and Volatility of LIV
50:43 The Appeal of LIV to New Fans
55:06 Upcoming Golf Lovers United UK Golf Tournament
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Welcome to the golf lovers United podcast now once again it’s the dull bristolian tones of myself golf lover UK on the Instagram on Twitter wherever it might be I got told off today by someone for not calling it X which I thought was quite weird don’t care and Jay Pro Golf

Critic how are you my friend doing well doing well ready to talk about um all of the happenings this past week in golf there’s a lot going on per usual uh mostly oncore stuff but also some offc stuff so uh yeah let’s let’s dive in I think the off call stuff

Is where we’ll start but just say Mark’s not with us today um he’s fine he’s just away and Jay and I we’re really sad with nothing else to do so we’re still here jakay let’s start off let’s start off with what I consider to be let me let me

Throw things at so let’s talk about the Waste Management Phoenix Open for many many years and I don’t want to get too much into the Zack Johnson ‘s comments about it’s always been over the line for 21 years like that’s simply not true that that’s just made up like 21 years

Ago it wasn’t over the line I don’t know why he said that but he was angry and upset and didn’t like the criticism of his PJ of his um rer Cup team and he was emotional when he said it and and he even said I’m emotional I probably

Shouldn’t say this but then went on set but let’s go through seven eight bullet points of what happened and just talk about the r man open had always been a fantastic event in a way that it was Cloud crowd participation it was fun it was this it was that bit more drinking

Bit of a celebration it was the it was the one time it happened on the PGA tour and it was a bit of levity but to use the the the phrase from Happy Days they’ve truly jumped the shark and I’m going to go through what happened yeah a

Spectator injured falling from the top of the grandstand apparently it’s not life-threatening but they were significant injuries is what the report said yes significant but n 20 feet or something like that yeah yeah was a lady felt 20 feet and and and I read she

Broken bones in her leg the B bones in your leg could be a one small bone or it could be two or three who knows but Falling 20 feet from a grand stand drunk isn’t isn’t ideal apologies she wasn’t drunk but that’s what the report said there were over 17 different videos

Of fans fighting so I saw someone said they’re 18 someone said oh it’s 17 but regardless 17 different fights yeah to close the gates do you know why they Clos I wanted to come all listen do you know why they Clos the gates uh because well I I heard a couple

Things one that there were too many people in there um and basically this uh security and sort of ticket people left so there were a bunch of people coming into the the Phoenix Open without tickets like it was crazy they were coming in tickets from the day

Before so people pick tickets from the day before that too that too yeah yeah I mean look when everything breaks down like when you have like no security and and like people taking the scans like anything can happen like it could be people from the day day before it could

Be people without tickets it could be freeloaders like it could be a lot of things so I mean it sounds like that was part of the problem temporary booze bands yeah if you’re going to advertise your party is a drinking party either limit people or cut them off don’t don’t

Just cut everybody off it just seems a very weird thing to do comment I didn’t see this and if you know more about this I’d love you to tell me about the commentators booing on 16 they were joining in the booing on 16 so can you

Can you share with me and some some of the listeners what went on there um I didn’t really hear hear about about that like I wasn’t uh to be clear like I I wasn’t really watching Mo most of the Phoenix Open which is is fine like I was

A little bit preoccupied with the live event and uh that that’s kind of how things go for me like when there’s a live event that’s my primary focus um and the P PJ Tour event kind of gets uh pushed to to the lightway side I think that it was sort

Of you know uh I’m guessing it was more of a fun ribbing type type thing and not like you know actually booing because like most most of the people booing like they’re they’re not most of the people on 16 uh at waste waste management they’re just not there

For the golf and this is something that I’ve been saying for years like I don’t know people talk about the Waste Management Phoenix Open as this like oh great opportunity to grow Golf and stuff like that but it’s like when you have people coming to this event that aren’t

Paying attention to the golf it’s probably like 70 to 80% of the people are not really paying attention to the golf it’s like what’s really the point like they’re they’re there for the party they’re there to drink they’re there if like a few people start booing everybody’s going to start booing it’s

Just like a it’s a herd mentality where like if there’s a few people paying attention to do certain things like everybody else is going to do it that’s just how this event works so um I know that I think it was uh kizner and smiley

Coffin that were they were on 16 and and I think that they they probably joined joined in because it’s like this is just kind of how thing things go like they want to be part of the crowd they want to be part of the environment and And

When everybody starts booing a bad shot that’s just kind of like what you do there so it’s correct it’s not like for me like that’s the thing like this event isn’t for me so people are going to do whatever they want to do it’s fine but uh yeah a lot of

The sort of um a a lot of eate goes out the window for sure I I like it and part of it is for me I do enjoy the difference of it so I know we on that who don’t want it every event quick correction it wasn’t 17 fights sorry it

Was 17 videos of different people too drunk to stand my my apologies it was three it was three fights three fights is still quite a lot of a golf event If we’re honest three fights is three too many still like it’s just crazy it’s uh 17 people couldn’t videos of 17 people

Too drunk to stand apologies it wasn’t 17 fights it was it was it was the drunk to stand but still you shouldn’t be maybe one or two people some times can’t handle their drink and too drunk to stand and you got to think if you got 17

Videos of people too drunk to stand how many weren’t video there was a video of a guy sat down in one of the areas weeing himself onto the floor like and just smiling as he wet himself through his shorts and very quickly yeah go ahead go

On go for it yeah I was just just G to say this is part of the problem with this event like people start drinking so early like uh and this is something something that I mentioned on on Twitter like people like oh this is what you

Know live aspires to and it’s like no like this is not what anybody aspires to like nobody aspires to these events where where people are drinking literally since like 5 6 am. um to to the point where by by the end of the day people are not paying attention to the

Golf they’re lucky to get home safely like there’s going to be a fighting there’s there’s going to be all sorts of nonsense going on especially with everything going on in the golf world now like things are just very unsettled so I think when people are um just sort of drinking early and

Like you know there’s going to be conf confrontations and other people are a little little bit on edge anyway like a lot of these players are clearly on edge too like there’s just going to be stuff that pops off and this is what you get like this is just part of the

Deal and then very quickly um two different players brand the event of [ __ ] show Zack Johnson ended up confronting Spectators um I don’t I’m not going to get into that I you you believe I know you believe that rder cup doesn’t matter who you pick with the

Home Advantage I believe pick the best players might have helped him but he’s got to be able to have the gumption to stand by his own decision and not cry and bring police over like that’s weird I mean is is there a bigger indictment is there a bigger indictment of Zach

Johnson than like everything that’s happened after the Ryder Cup he’s crying the last day cup I’ve heard people call him Karen Johnson like there’s a lot there’s a lot of bad stuff going on with Zack Johnson right now so I mean and he’s been he deserves to be heckled because like he

Was not a good Captain he was not a good leader that was very very clear from like pretty much before the the writer cup even started and then we’ve got um Mand angel I might have already said that Billy Ho confronting a fans now Billy Ho’s a

Character I like Billy horel in the most part I think sometimes Billy overplays certain things but he seems to be quite try to play it quite straight there’s 45 million reason things he did overplay and we always like to make that joke but he’s right these are guys trying to do

Their job just be quiet while we’re trying to hit the ball and I thought he was well in his right to say that but what led me to believe that like like the other stuff isn’t enough to change the fact that Billy hor said can you

Just effing be quiet we’re trying to do our job and I got no issue with him saying that cuz he’s right was the fact that they laughed at him and then booed him so that shows to me as you and I have said they’re not there for the golf

So the fact they’re not willing to be quiet whe when they’re playing or when they’re asked to play just says to me something is going to change and there was a press release about 25 30 minutes ago saying they’re going to be reviewing it this that and the other and there

Will be changes yeah yeah we could go on about this we got a podcast to do but it can’t happen like that again can it no the problem is there’s a very good chance of this happening again like that’s the part of the problem I think

This event has gotten too big um and I know that everybody every PJ tour supporter want wants to like um hang their hat on oh this is the biggest event in golf which it is like look there’s no golf event that has more people than the waste the waste

Management feing open the problem is when you have I don’t know if this event can necessarily handle um uh any more Spectators than it they already have and then you you start compounding issues with the drinking from the crack of dawn with people that are a little bit more

Aggressive with players that are a little bit on on on edge with like all of these other things in The Ether like it’s just a recipe for disaster and um I don’t know what you you can do to actually fix it like the only things that I can think of there’s one thing

Yeah one thing really easy to do you are not allowed to bring alcohol in with you there was lots of reports about people bringing alcohol with them not allow if you stop that then they can’t drink from five o’clock in the morning when they’re in the queue and don’t open the bars

Until eight I know it sounds D but if you don’t allow people to drink their own beer and you don’t open the bars till a bit later then that will maybe limit the consumption or or help delay the effects of that consumption that to

Me seems to be a very easy thing you can do straight away but I I’m conscious Jay that you and I without Mark steering control have spent best part of 15 minutes sorry 12 minutes already on this go on one last thing there there’s one other thing there’s one other thing that

They they could do they could make it a shotgun start and they could reduce the field that would resolve it too so I’ll leave it there no I know they’re not going to do it and I know we make joke I the very end of this podcast I’m going to do a

Little thing for one minute on the unspoken about real benefit of shotgun starts and my brother-in-law was the one that said to me about it and I think it was a really good idea a really good not idea really good thing he noticed I was describing the event to him and what was

Going on he said that’s why shotgun start is so good um wa let’s let’s let’s do the was fix open Event let’s just run through the Nick Taylor with Nick Taylor with a win having a fantastic SE season um what about Charlie Hoffman rolling rolling back the years since 2016 was

His last victory the second place fantastic finish from Charlie big shark logo on his back that went down well yeah Charlie hman you know he’s he’s one of those guys that like uh first of all two years ago he was strongly linked uh to live at this

Particular event like it was it was when he said like I won’t have to put up with this [ __ ] any longer or something didn’t he really yeah yes he’s being very critical of the PJ tour rules official and and yeah there was a lot of stuff going going on

That was sort of speculating him going um you know but I’m ha happy to see him playing well like I one thing I’ve noticed with everything going on with Liv is just the complete and utter disrespect of some of these great players and I’m not saying Charlie Hoffman is necessarily like like an

All-time great but he’s been a very solid PJ player for 20 plus years like he’s won on the PJ tour multiple times um and it’s been a while but it’s like look the majority of these guys are still capable of winning um I was actually going through

Uh the list of uh players that have won uh uh that are a little bit older that like uh you know are still capable of playing good golf uh Charlie Hoffman last one in 2016 Pat Perez last one in 20 uh 2017 Charles how III last one on the p

Uh PJ tour 2018 and he obviously won on Liv last year uh and Danny Lee last one on the PJ tour 2015 um and he he won on live last last year like these guys are still capable of playing very good to Great Golf they just have to have the the right

Opportunity and and the right sort of things happen uh uh to them during that that particular tournament week yeah and he didn’t do he I know he didn’t win became second and yeah but actually I know sometimes some these these PJ tour events are getting um attacked for not

Having what you and I might call the Stellar field but look fair play to PJ tour it was a pretty heavy laden star big name top top 15 top 16 so like top 15 Matt Fitzpatrick Justin Thomas seu Kim cam Young Adam Scott Jordan SP seah theala who’s just like an absolute Young

Phenom who’s coming on Scotty Sheffer Sam Burns it was a pretty loaded pretty loaded 15 so for Charlie to compete against all of those that was a there’s a fantastic effing I know you and I are we said it many times we don’t hate the PGA Tour we just don’t like the

Leadership of the way PGA Tours run it’s nothing against the players or the institution is the PJ tour it’s it’s about the leadership and and what it represents and some of the things that happened behind the scenes and what it’s doing we don’t dislike the players we

Don’t think that we don’t think the players are bad do we well look some of the players don’t do them themselves any favors too let’s be clear not just on oh yeah on on no no Everybody’s Fine everybody’s fine on course the the problem that I have with a lot of the

People at the PJ tour this goes for the players too there’s a certain culture there that has been corrupted and rotten that like permeates all of the these things and that’s a trickle down from the leadership like everything that’s happened in the golf world the last two

Years has sort of exposed a lot of this stuff so uh when I see some of these players coming out in the media talking about oh we don’t want the Live players back and this this and that first of all none of the Live players really want to

Go go back at this point that’s like a whole another whole another story but um I think that the culture there there’s still the PJ tour the way that their model is set up it’s just not set up for success in the future and I don’t think

That there’s been any sort of uh any acknowledgement like oh we need to change this like from the very top down um I think they’re still living 10 years ago like oh now that we’ve got this infusion of cash from um SSG that everything is going to be good um I

Think there’s a lot of stuff that still needs to change there if they are really going to be Su uh successful in the future and I’m not sure if they have the right people there maybe with SSG leadership coming in and sort of helping them uh sort of up level maybe that’s the

Catalyst needed to like really change the PJ tour from the from the inside out uh that remains to be seen though yeah it’s it is what it is um there’s very little at the minute there’s going to be change until we understand what’s going on and there are

Rumors of a piff announcement coming in the coming days I don’t know how true that is I’m hearing two very different things from two people I I trust and they’ve got completely different pieces of information and I don’t I’m not even going to go into what might be happening

It’s coming out so soon by the time this comes out it might even be revealed so look we will we will know what we will know but yeah the PJ tour I don’t disle the players as you say there’s some some things going on but it was a great field

It was a great tournament I didn’t watch much of Saturday because I was watching Liv I watched a little bit of the Friday um but I did watch a good amount of the Sunday and I think it looks like a Fant fantastic fun course but what I will say

Is I wonder what it’s like without the stands is it just a is it is it just a boringer course F yes yes it is it is it’s it’s totally unrecognizable for the most part like a lot of the holes on the front nine like they they don’t have stands anyway so

It’s kind of the same but 16 looks like a completely different it looks like the most nondescript par three you’ve ever seen like it’s not there’s nothing special about it there there’s no special features it’s not that difficult like it’s very it’s very much a non a

Nonf factor like it just is so I think 17’s an interesting Hole uh driveable par fors are always interesting when waterers in play uh and 15’s an interesting par five 18 is kind of like not the greatest finishing hole in the world um but uh you know it’s not that

Great of a course to be honest with you like it’s the reason why why it’s on the P PJ tour and it hosts this event is purely because of the infrastructure it’s not necessarily because of the the course design like it just isn’t so um

Um and like you look 20 what what was it 21 under that that one like it’s not like the most difficult course in the world either so uh and and that that’s at a par 71 so you know it is what it is look the Phoenix Open I was out on the

The Phoenix Open like five six years ago like it’s just not for me like um and that’s fine like not every PJ Tour event or not every golf event or not every golf league has to be for me like that’s uh one thing that I’ve realized that I

Want everybody else to sort of think about that is constantly sort of hating on live is like it doesn’t have to be for you there’s obviously a market for it so just like Let It uh let it be and I’m I’m letting the Phoenix Open be like

I’m not saying oh they need to get rid of this they they need to do that this and that like it just is what it is and I’m perfectly fine with them keeping it um as it is even if it turns into a [ __ ] show in the future

Too well look it is what it is we’re going to move on and we’re going to talk about the live uh Vegas event which now that Liv the Vegas course I was very very I was skeptical coming into that course I felt were’re live just chasing

Super Bowls and I done a sermon on YX think it’s a really good idea they should follow the Super Bowl great way of doing it the proam was loaded Stephen a 27 um NFL players there were basketball players it was superb like prr was loaded and now you got names

Like Jake Paul getting involved with Brooks and all that sort of stuff I thought that course looked brilliant I loved the look of it I think it L and I loved a lot of PE bearing in mind I know thingss can sound a complete contradiction I am a huge fan of lynx

Golf which I discussed before and heathland golf but I also love a course that winds around other people’s properties and houses and I think and who I can’t remember who I think might been F that said he’s never or it might have actually been Greg Norman never known so many players hit

Um provisionals in a in a pro tournament because you just didn’t know if it was going to be in someone’s Garden and I got that image of Matt wolf with his heels on the guy’s Garden Path playing oh yeah posted that yeah paying it literally about two inches off the the

Gravel drainage ditch and like the guy’s just drinking two beers just chilling out on and I I quite like when he went when he wind to and I thought the course looked really good yeah but I want to just talk about the greens and putting now we’ll come on

To DJ guu ly in a minute now as many people will know I got a few golfers I absolutely really love and I’ll go into bat for one of which is Ian polter now Ian yeah is a great bloke love him to bits really nice person and I’ll happily say this

Toan he was number one in Fairways hit number three in greens and regulation he was 48th in putting and finished 21st yeah honestly 21st stop 21st overall but if you are one in Fairways hit and three in Greens in regulation yeah and with 48th in putting it’s just gonna

Kill you it’s shocking it’s shocking for Ian poter like I mean a putting is is kind of what he made his name on for you know several decades at this point like U that was definitely surprise it’s not just Ian try this Bryson to Shambo 10th in Fairways hit second in greens and

Regulation tied 48th in putting Adrien [ __ ] tied fourth in Fairways hit fifth in Greens in regulation tied 38th in putting so you got three guys there that have absolutely dominated Fairways hitting greens and regulation and had bad putting weeks yeah I you got to feel that if those

Three turn their Putters around and they start putting talking we’re talking like where where’s Ian one two three four if Ian was one and a half putts better per round mhm he’ have finished one two three he would have finished ninth [ __ ] would have finished instead of being

Tied ninth with Bryson they would have both finished fourth or third sorry right like that that’s the that’s the difference like it’s we’re not even talking seven eight putts better around you’re talking when you when you are that high in Fairways and greens you only need to be one and a half putts

Better per round to move flying up that board yeah part of the issue is when you are uh very high up in Greens and reg regulation like the the putting is not necessarily going to show like like sometimes you’re putting your yourself in spots where you’re like lucky to T

Putut so um and I think that uh Las Vegas country club certainly has greens where like there’s certain places you did not want to putt from because it was like there was basically no chance of you getting in in one and it’s it’s kind of a low probability getting down in two

So I mean that’s the primary uh the defense of of this uh particular course I’ve been to Las Vegas country club before it’s it’s actually a really convenient location like it’s it’s uh one of the three uh three courses kind of closest to the Las Vegas Strip which

Is definitely something that that they you know capitalize on uh it’s a very old school course like it’s been around since the 60s basically since Las Vegas be became a um a thing and and I still think that it it holds up like I remember earlier in the week people were

Saying oh 20 plus under was going to win and and like there was going to be people on 59 watch and I was like I mean if they put some of these pins in certain places which again the greens are the primary defense uh nobody’s going to sniff 59

Like it’s going to be a very very good uh a good test and that last day it was cold it was windy um and it was a struggle for like the leaders to even break par like John ROM shot overp par uh Bryson shot four over um it was not a

Pushover at all even DJ who won he was only one under on the last day so um it was it was definitely a really a really interesting course I know it got taken out of the rotation at the Shriners like 30 years ago when whenever it got uh

Taken out um I love these old school tracks uh that like they make you think a little bit more it’s not just you know boming off the the tea yeah tightness of houses Fairways hit it’s really it’s really big I I I I love these old school courses and I I

Was I know yeah I’m not excited to see JCB is gonna be a great spectacular course because it’s just so Grand but it’s it’s built to be very different and and will have a completely different feel I’m excited to see that too but I love these old courses that plot their

Way I know I know they’re not going to ever go and do it but I would love live to go and play somewhere like Sunningdale or somewhere like old school like that and pl their way around the course and look it’s not that long it’s the defense again be the greens and a

Lot of that off the tea yeah I completely agree and I completely hear what you’re saying now you’re a massive DJ fan tell me how happy you were to see DJ firing on all cylinders yeah it was definitely time uh you know he uh Al although look when he

There there’s been a lot of quotes in the media about how he um uh his prep for the the season wasn’t uh NE necessarily that uh that deep except this is one of the things that I’ve told people about Dustin Johnson is that he’s one of the most naturally gifted players

Uh that we’ve ever ever had in professional golf like uh it it doesn’t take him that much prep time uh to like start firing on all all cylinders and honestly he’s at that age now like he’s he’s going to be 40 this this year where like practicing hard is like not

Necessarily the the best thing for him like he needs to balance and it’s a very delicate balance between uh preparation and execution and sort of preserving yourself so that you’re aesh uh you know down down the stretch of a tournament and I think that uh round two

Specifically like he shot 62 and and it looked really really easy for the most for the most part like I think that he was uh he was play he was locked in and I think that last day you know everybody was hitting uh some loose shots because

The wind was was sort of up and it was uh definitely challenging to get around there and scoring was was not low that last day but it’s like he hung in there he made a birdie on 17 when he needed to to to sort of get it a little bit of a

Cushion and then that last hole um like I was thinking uh when he hit his t-shot that that he might cons consider laying up but he but he didn’t uh he got a little little bit of a fortunate drop was able to hit it on the green center

Of the green t put boom that’s that’s all he needed to do so uh uh you know DJ’s really the a great combination of talent uh course management um and not and not overthinking things like I I think that’s something that’s very underrated about Dustin Johnson in his

Career like when he gets uh firing on all cylinders all he has to do is like execute he doesn’t have to play aggressively he’s gonna make birdies um and he he wins a lot of golf tournaments that that way so uh really excited to see DJ doing

Uh doing well and Shout out for shout out to the forers for the good good finish as well he played fantastic and I I don’t want to some I sometimes think if we say things about people not playing well we can be sound critical but we we’ve got

To also address when people aren’t playing well and when they are play so and I do two things here I want people to please put to bed someone’s not a good golfer because they’re getting older and because they didn’t necess have a good year last year Ian polter

Had a great round um he was three under on the first day and it slipped away a little bit finished evens ended up four under finishing 21st tied second lowest score on day three and Ian poter and gr McDow both Pro both proved they are great golfers to shoot nine under round

That course so gr mcdal beat Casey kokra Ram [ __ ] Jambo s obviously young but kka Hatton Perez uh huge Bland what’s cam Smith we’re not talking like gr mcdal had a fantastic day and I think that there’s so much disrespect goes to those players and I understand that

People want to try and beat people because that beat people verbally I mean because that’s what they want to do but you also saying if you want to say that gr McDow can’t play golf you’re a bit stupid like he’s one of the best 150 200 golfers in the world regardless what any

Rankings say if I had to have him play if I had to have gr McDow play for my life versus I’m going to pick the 50 who whoever the bottom fabito zenoti or Josh Grenville wood or Alfredo Garcia hereda who were the who finished they made the

Cut on the DP World Tour who I imagine are all probably ranked above Graham McDow I think people say silly things about people like Graham and like Ian polter like I think it’s just sometimes goes a little bit far but I do want to say Jay because I do want to

Say is what’s happened with Brandon steel he has he had he’s he looks to have dropped off as does as does Swafford I know Swafford was dealing with injuries but there seems to be a couple of players in the minute at the bottom aren’t playing great Andy ogal

Tree I do think Andy will come good maybe there’s some pressure maybe there’s some stiffness but there are a couple of players now who two events in a row haven’t had a great performance haven’t played very well are you conern concerned about schwarzel steel kimer Swafford ogl tree

Or are you just like it’s too early to be worried yeah I think it’s too early to be worried I think that it’s always interesting seeing what what happens early in the season like people were concerned about Peter Uline last week because he finished I know he’s in the

In the bottom three last last week and this this week he finished the second so um there’s horses for courses too I do think that Maya COA um and Las Las Vegas country club had some similarities uh the difference is that at Las Vegas country club you didn’t

Have to be on Europe p and qes every single hole like yes there was definitely out of- bounds sort of lurking on on sort of a handful of the holes myoba there’s out of bounds and sort of mangroves lurking on on every single hole so there there’s a little

Bit of a difference there you there there was a little bit of a wider margin for error at Las Vegas country club um even though there was a lot of there was a lot of provisionals a lot of penalty shots that being said I still think it’s

Really early in the season uh there’s there’s definitely a couple guys that we have to kind of keep an eye on though I think ogal Tre is definitely one I think all the High Flyers let’s let’s just let’s just call it spade a spade like the high flyers in general um everybody

Needs to sort of step it up a little bit um I think that worry worryingly worryingly player who played very well last year who’s had a Dreadful start by his standards is Meo Pereira like a tied 43 and a 49th like he’s he’s gone from being a fantastic contributor to that t

Team and T are gonna struggle because if Meo Pera is turning out a 43 and a 49th and Ortiz is do is giving you a 43 and a 39th you you are struggling day day three you’ve got nothing because they are those four scores came yep yeah and

I think Ortiz is another one kind of struggled a little bit too I think Ortiz and Pereira like I definitely expected their floor to be higher than where where it is now so um again I think it’s still early in in the season I think

That we’ll know a lot lot more after the next couple events and Saudi and Hong Kong I’m actually really excited for U Hong Kong um I think that that’s a really interesting course and sort of feeds into your sort of thing about sort of old school courses and and H Kong Golf

Club has been around for over over a hundred years like if I could go to any event this year it would be Hong Kong yeah same Hong good Hong Kong yeah yeah Hong Kong’s gonna be spectacular yeah just two more things you mentioned High Flyers but in all fairness the High

Flyers you got Ogle Tree in dfl Phil also in tide 38th but then Brendan’s 31 and chungal is 27 not great but Brendan and Cameron I mentioned Brendan earlier maybe a bit premature he did did finish 21st in the first event but the iron heads you’ve got one two three of their

Four players in tide 38 which is is the last place at the minute is the way the the way it’s done that’s not a good look for the league it’s it’s it’s a team that needs to be a bit stronger and how that happens I don’t know but I do want to

Give one big shout out who a guy who took his chance I think in many ways and I really hope we see him back obviously played as a wild card in two events with Lorie k H I think Lori has been Absol superb 15th in the first event 21st last

Week that 21 last week was brutal because he I think I think he had a bogey double bogey to go from what would have been 9th to 21st but these things happen but I have noticed on the lorri caner thing Lori is playing in the DP World Tour next

Weekend oh really interesting yeah so Lori is in the let me bear with me caller um Lori is in the magical Kenya open he is in the rank he is in the list of players entry list of players available so he is in there interesting

As as a as a listed player so I’m not sure what agreement has been reached he he obviously wasn’t kicked off the DP World Tour for playing in Liv so hasn’t agre being reached where he’s allowed to do that what do we know what’s I don’t know what’s going on this I

I thought I thought you were either off or on but it looks like Lor’s and I’m really happy for him like I am this is how it should be right let’s be honest it should be L went to play those two events now he’s free he’s gonna go play

Some DP World Tour events that’s how it should always have been but I didn’t know that’s what was happening yeah maybe it has something to do with like he isn’t a contracted player at live like maybe that has some something to do with it because he’s not

On on a team like he’s he’s he’s doing the Wild Card thing like uh maybe that’s like a yeah that he’s also got a right to finish there so I’m looking at it and he’s under category 19 that he’s got an exemption so one to do exemp well no

Exemptions don’t matter because Louie would have one from his win in Malaysia so Lou would have one walk neon would have one yeah yeah yeah so maybe Contra maybe that’s what you’re right yeah there’s a lot of things that need to be sort of sorted out especially with with

The DP World Tour stuff like honestly they need to just you’re needs to get their act act together and and just go ahead and align with the piff and live now or else like Risk completely falling into irrelevance like that’s that’s basically the only solution that’s going to be like viable

To them moving forward because this like deal that they have with the PJ tour now it’s a total disaster no there’s no European tour fan that likes that deal with the p PJ tour and um if if you have that option or you have this other

Option where you can have a lot of these Live players playing in a lot of your events that seems like the the best option to me it’s going to increase the value of the owgr points in those those fields like it no it’s going to make it more compelling television like the whole

Thing resolves itself if you align with the the piff and live and it’s like shocking to me that that hasn’t happened yet um I think that it will I think that’s going to be the sort of outcome of this quote unquote merger with that’s not actually going to be a merger um I

Think that that’s the thing that that makes the most amount of sense so um again that that’s common sense and nothing in golf has been Common Sense the last like two years this L thing is and I’m GL I’m I’m delighted for him he’s played two events on live He’s

Earned some good money what will he have earned about 200,000 for last week and the week before not the money matters but hey we all got a earn cash put food on the table he’ got 200,000 for last week and he’ have got um dollars about

The same week 250 the week before so great now going the European tour and if he can wild card on live again great interesting to see if he does wild card on live in Saudi because he will literally have to go from Kenya to Saudi the entry list isn’t up for the South

Africa SDC event I’m just looking there is no event info for the players who are listed to play so that that isn’t that isn’t on there at the minute so we can’t comment on that there there’s rumors about who that other wild card is gonna

Uh G to be I don’t know if you you want to talk about that that now obviously Hudson swafford’s going to be the Wild Card he’s he’s already signed for the full season um and if Lorie Canter’s not not gonna be there there’s been strong rumors that Anthony Kim is gonna make

His debut um at the sa sa event I don’t think that’s confirmed yet however that seems to be like they’re they’re keeping that spot open uh for an Anthony Kim specifically which could be interesting like I’m not an Anthony Kim fan I’ve said that uh prior like I don’t really understand the the

Appeal but it is like a really interesting sort of intriguing thing if he is going to be playing in some Live Events this this year and if you are going to let him start somewhere start where the media aren’t going to be just let him get on and play

His golf give give him the best chance of playing the best golf he can and not to Feld questions in a pressor from different media Outlets which would be the same question 30 times because no one cares to do anything different so let let him go and play

Golf I would love it if the corrupt golf golf media was was forced to uh attend an event in uh in jeda that would that would just just be sure not sure they get a Visa mate no but anyway right um where are we so we don’t we’re done Lori um

Tommy lad spotted oh now yes I I sometimes I congratulate myself and I Pat myself on the back because why wouldn’t I because no one else does so I I said on Twitter or X because I’ve been told off I said earlier told off for saying Twitter not X some people are

Really weird anyway I believe what is why wouldn’t Tommy go and see his friends now I I never said anything about going to live and he this means he’s play there were people of course oh my God he’s going to go play for live and there were PJ tour fans went go just

Go you can’t win on our tour anyway it’s like oh mate have a day off have a minute off the PJ tour fans are so scared well not all some were so scared that he was gonna go that they started saying buger off now my point is if

You’re in Vegas with but charman playing golf and 10 of your friends are playing golf down the road why wouldn’t you go and see them why wouldn’t you go and say and we know he’s had an offer why not go and see what it’s all about if you’ve got an

Open day for a university an open day for an internship or a job you go and have a look at it it doesn’t mean he’s going to take a job but why on Earth do people have to get angry Jay that he went they’re his friends would they rather

First one would you would they rather he stands up on a sits down on a stage with the microphone like some of the other guys have done slagging off his friends because to me that’s more bizarre that you would criticize your friends what isn’t bizarre is going to see

Them some of these P PJ tour stands and sick offense that’s exactly what what they want some of these players to do but know I got tipped off to this very early on that that like a lot of this quote unquote drama between players is

Just not is not the case like I know that like Brooks and DJs spend time with with Rory and like you know Shane Lowry at the club in South South Florida like this is not these guys still all talk like they’re all a lot of the these guys

That are friends or have been friends in the past are still friends a lot of them are you know uh in communication very very frequently so to see Tommy there wasn’t a surprise to me I actually got tipped uh tipped off to it very um early on actually in the I think

It was the our practice round or the our program day somebody was telling me that uh Tommy was probably going to be there the next day and and there there was I got sent sent a picture that I um I wasn’t gonna post but then a bunch of

People post posted pictures of of of Tommy with his hoodie up thinking that like he was going incognito but um when when you’re when you have a distinct look like like Tommy Fleetwood like people are gonna probably pick you out so um I I think that it it was good

Though it just shows you that like these guys are friends especially if they’ve been part of these team competitions like the Ryder Cup uh like Tommy was there he was hanging out with Sergio he’s hanging out with Rah and Terell Hatton and like all these guys that he’s

Known for a decade plus so um I thought it was great to see I want to see more of it honestly um I know I think it was last year we saw Graham McDow at a PJ Tour event I can’t remember which which one I think it was um I think it might

Might have been Bay Hill actually that he went he went to so look these these things are going to continue to happen um everybody just needs to calm down like yes there is this divide in in the game sort of that’s perpetuated by the by the media and perpetuated by a lot of

Um um accounts on Twitter and and soci social media that again I’m not sure how real that actually is so um I think that everything is fine I think that uh look would it surprise me to see Tommy Fleetwood on live in the next year absolutely not like I think that it’s uh

Probably more likely than not that he is at some point but um because he he fits that that brand and if look Terell hatton’s gonna come over it’s like why wouldn’t Tommy Fleetwood come over so yeah and look we’ll see we already know we already know with some of the teams

That if if what we have always thought was going to be true is that for 2025 they’re going to go to 60 players and and 15 teams of four they got 13 teams a minute they they need two more teams they need six more players assuming they

Don’t lose anyone we know there’ll be some ups and downs they probably need to find 12 players either via recruitment or promotion and so I want to talk about next week’s show is an idea I’ve got for promotion I want to talk about that and I’m not going to talk about it now

Because I’ll spend hours talking about it but if he goes across he goes across I think that it’s great that he went to see his friends I think it’s perverse to think he shouldn’t go and see his friends rather than he did go to see them I think that it’s completely normal

Right last but not least yeah my brother-in-law doesn’t watch a lot of Life Golf maybe watches like 10 hours a year and that like that includes the majes he’s he likes to play doesn’t watch any golf really but we’re talking about about the about Vegas and he said

Oh that’s the real benefit of um shotgun start isn’t it I said what do you mean he said well the fact that as players are play playing well against each other they’re moving in real time rather than have a player that goes out up front and

Then you watch to see if they can catch yes I said yeah I never even read I never even put two and two together I just liked that it was happening because you saw those players what we had I think we had six players tied on 11 then

It was three on 11 three on 10 then it was two on 11 four on 10 and then it was 4 11 two and they were just I said they were trading blows it was like they were up here down there up here down there and I think that is an

Unspoken real benefit of the inli experience of shotgun star is that you can actually see players going back and forward against each other up and down that pylon I don’t like the word pylon by the way but hey it gets used up and down the

I love pylon I love the pylon it’s a scoreboard let’s not let’s not be silly up and down that scoreboard up and down that scorecard up and down it and I like that and I don’t think that is something that I had appreciated hang on I appreciated it was happening but I never

Went oh that’s happening as a direct result of shotgun start do you think people have really given that the value because of that uh Pro probably not because it’s still so so new but that that was one of the things that was excited to me about Liv is just the volatility that comes

With uh everybody being on on the course at the same uh same time and uh look this is one of the things that like I don’t want to uh slag off the Masters but I am um that that’s one of the things that like you have at a gust Gus

National when you have someone uh that that’s like uh doing really well on the back nine and they they post a number but like a lot of those players haven’t gone through to play those par fives yet that chances are they’re going to pick up a couple shots and maybe another one

On on the way in uh so it it’s like a false lead almost like yeah you’re the leader in the club but um it’s going to take someone um not playing well down this the stretch uh uh to not exceed that number so uh that that’s something to me that’s like and I

Think on the broadcast they they do a really good job of of sort of citing that volatility and I think that’s one thing with the teams too uh especially uh Championship Sunday well Championship Saturday was past week but the uh final day with all four scores counting and you have all these

Players throughout the course some of them are about to hit really hard holes some of them are about to hit really easy holes where there are chances are they’re going to make make birdie it’s like those are the things that I think that they’re going to continue to get

Better about highlighting as the sort of event materializes I think that that’s something that that’s really cool and it and adds another Dynamic and again a lot of the traditionalists they don’t like it because they want to know where players are on on the court they want to know

That everybody’s going to finish on on um 18 and there’s plenty of golf out there for you to follow that like that’s live is is different live is doing things differently where you have these different dynamics that are maybe going to attract fans that are not watching these other golf tournaments like that’s

Literally the whole point of live golf is to do things differently so that you have a chance of bringing in new fans and like people that like wouldn’t watch traditional golf events um you know and I think that that’s exactly what what’s H what’s happening so I think in the

Next few years that’s something that’s going to continue to be highlighted I think that new fans and actually my brother’s a great example like he he loves that too like he loves the volatility of of like how things can change with like different players of like various parts of the course and the

Team stuff like he really like likes it too like this is a real thing like people are going to pretend like like it isn’t and that’s totally fine they’re going to be pretending that it’s not a thing for the next you know X years that’s fine whatever that’s their

Opinion they can have their opinion there’s going to be a lot of fans that are not currently golf fans that live brings in and I think that there’s no question about that I think that’s um and I know people are going to listen to this and go Ben’s talking [ __ ] but I

Think anyone that gets to know me knows that I haven’t got the good enough memory to to make [ __ ] up like that just isn’t my way my friend Tom was over my house um on Sunday afternoon him and his daughter came over we had some food together and Liv was on in the

Background and the range goats logo was there and Annabelle just went oh range goats they’re in number one range goats are first and Tom looked to me went what and I was like mate I said he doesn’t really care about any of the players she doesn’t care about the players she knows

Bryson she knows a couple of people I’ve met and spent time with and I played with she knows a few of those that because I talk about them but she doesn’t really care about the players she cares about that pink badge rain goats range goats and the first

Thing she said to me on Monday she got up on Monday on Sunday so was on Sunday Saturday they came over she the first thing she said to me Sunday we just chat in the morning she comes into our room I said Daddy did the range goats win that’s what like

Maybe the second thing she said to me and I’m like no they didn’t sweetheart and I know people think is crap and I don’t care if you do but that’s a great example my daughter doesn’t care at TOS about the players she thinks Bryson’s beautiful there’s a v there’s a couple

Of videos com around where I played golf with Annabelle and like she pretends to be Troy Mullins and I pretend to be Bryson because she because Bryson’s beautiful and she thinks her daddy’s beautiful and obviously she’s blind but I love her but she doesn’t care about the players and you’re right they’re

Going to bring in people that care about different things there’s a 5-year-old girl doesn’t care a toss about the golfers but cares whether the range goats were not and she do really understand what it’s about but it piqued her interest and she wants to and like

We had the golf on for 35 minutes and she never asked for it to be turned off we all all eating dinner all watching the TV on the background and she never asked for it to be turned off and she and then then um The Crushers because

I’ve got that Crushers hat and that Crushers shirt and The Crushers came up into third place oh the crushes are third and like Tom’s like what and he starts laughing know know some of the teams she knows some of the teams yeah kids love teams they they love logos I

Think the the rang goats did a really great job at at just having a very striking logo that’s going to get people’s attention and and I’ve been in the driving range you know the last like couple months and I’ve seen more live gear like usually like this the same

Same time last year I was the only one wearing anything really to live golf now I see other people in in Asis hats I see see people in r goats hats I see people uh I saw saw a guy with a Crusher shirt on like fairly recently so I I think

That this is something that’s gonna continue to grow it’s going to continue to get people’s attention I think the players are one part of it I think that the logos and The Branding and the cross branding that that’s going to happen like that’s where you’re going

To unlock so much potential in this and it’s something that like everybody needs to keep an eye on and that’s again I’ve said this this a bunch of times but that’s one of the really interesting and cool things about live golf is because we haven’t had this in golf before so

For traditional golf fans to not like have an appreciation for that um I get it in in one way but it’s also like it blows my mind in another way because it’s like they’re all talking about oh we we want to make golf golf bigger like

This is kind of your opportunity to do it this will do it okay last but not least or two things to last but not least this is the house keeping everybody look if you want to support the podcast please go to gl.com support you can join one of our

Membership programs it’d be great to have you on board help us with the production of the show and paying editor bills and all that sort of stuff be great rather than me and Jay and Mark pay them ourselves and Mark do the Lion Share of all that work bless him he does

99.9% of everything be great to not have to do all that ourselves and to let you guys know to put the 23rd of July into your diary because that is looking like the provisional date for the golf lovers United UK golf tournament now there will be more

Details to follow and if you are a supporter you will get a first right to enter that event and to come and join us and we will have more information coming out in the next I want to say two to three weeks but we’ve got the date we

Think we’ve got the venue we just firming a few bits up regarding entry fees and sponsorship and whatever else we can do and I’m excited Jay because have you got that passport sorted that’s what the listeners want to know they’re not they’re only tuned in to get to have you

Got your passport sorted or not look all of the paperwork’s been submitted it’s just all sort of you know timing at this point uh I’m I’m sure it’ll happen before July we’re all happy it’s been submitted yeah so yeah we we’ll just have to wait wait and see like I I think

It’ll be fine I think I’ll have it in time and and look if there’s any haters that that want to confront me in person like I will uh come on come all like I am happy to talk off with um anyone uh it’s not something granted yes on social

Social media i’ I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve blocked a lot of haters because I just anyone face to face is g to be fine everyone’s gonna get on have a great time and I I don’t think anyone’s gonna come to come to our tour if they don’t like

You well I guess you never know but no no I agree I agree no that yeah I’m done people in person people in person are much different than on soci social media that that much is very very clear look Jay I know that we know that every everyone everyone gets on in the

End it’s only Golf and um yes we could all just be a bit kinder to each other and I’m very happy that I’m going to say goodbye to you now I’ve got to go home I’ve got some work to do when I get home Jay you’ve got a full day ahead of you

Cuz it’s it’s 10 6 here in the UK and what time is it there 10 9 10 10 uh no 10 after 10 so yeah 10 after 10 10 10 yeah so I got a day ahead of you I got a full day done ladies and gentlemen thank

You so much it’s been an absolute pleasure Mark will intro and outro this because he’s so much better than I am but once again 23rd of July pencil in your diary we think it’s going to be limited to either 27 or 35 spaces so we will know all that information and share

That next couple of weeks take care everybody bye-bye