Rick “the Golf Czar” Gehman attempted to build out what a World Golf Tour would look like. Naturally, the First Cut discusses what a global schedule would look like.

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ABOUT THE SHOW: The First Cut brings you everything you need to know in the world of professional golf. Nearly every day Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Mark Immelman, Greg DuCharme, Sia Nejad and Patrick McDonald bring you the best analysis in the game. From DFS to betting previews, interviews and recaps… everything golf is on the table when you listen to The First Cut.

I’m starting to hit my Breaking Point a little bit here I think with the whole will they won’t they merge and even if they do then what happens yep um because that’s the one thing KP that no like there hasn’t been any good answers for there haven’t really been

Any answers for you know some guys will say hey let them back no penalty some will say that’s crazy some will say we’re all going to live or those live guys are coming back or what Rory mroy was alluding to uh after his third round at Riviera

Which is essentially creating a tour for the top 80 on top of the PGA Tour and live golf that’s like some of the very few actual thoughts that people have offered for a solution yeah you you wrote a really good post on this uh on your newsletter website essentially not Ricker good.com

But but your newsletter did you put it on ricken good.com guess I could I didn’t really expect I just I was mostly just like an exercise for myself and yeah but I it’s I should probably drop it on Rick run.com too it got a lot of feedback huh good bad and indifferent

Yeah so I don’t know if we have this josher if you can bring it up but I there are some accompanying um exhibits so to speak where what I did is I took the this like this is like the Congress thing you got a poster board

That that Rory said top 80 on a world tour and he said that all other leagues should quote feed up to that one which is a model we’ve seen around the world so I started putting you know level one that’s your World Golf Tour level two

PGA Tour and live level three corn fairy in the DP level four and level five basically everything else below that which is I think the way that European soccer does it yeah sorry Kyle I saw that and thought of the European soccer leagues it’s a super cool idea I just

Want to say that there were complaints about the world golf championships events which was ostensibly the same thing so I still thought what you wrote was fantastic yeah it was fantastic and you know what I’m so sick of of players complaining about stuff like figure it out you just got three

Billion dollars like I don’t really care if you have to fly to Australia I just don’t you know like I I think and I think that’s what’s getting lost in all this and people have made this point and will continue to make it is like who’s thinking about like what’s

The best product for the fans you know Patrick canl is thinking about what’s the best product for Patrick Klay and the SSG is thinking about what’s the best product for the investment that we made and all these all these people are incentivized to think about themselves

And it’s like yeah I don’t really I don’t really care man like I don’t care that you have to travel I just don’t like I think it’s kind of weird that we talk about like oh well the players you know like what we we don’t do this in

Like I don’t care that bill bellich has to fly across the country every week to play in San Fran you know whatever like it’s kind of weird that we do this in golf and maybe that’s an individual sport thing but I’m W I think there are

A few quibbles that I have Rick with like the details of what you wrote but broadly speaking I mean I’ve been writing about this concept for like eight years now and I think it would be amazing I just don’t know I think Liv is well I don’t know maybe Liv isn’t the

Lynch pin that’s holding it up but it seems like Liv and maybe the play the power that the players have on the PGA tour are both kind of holding it up which are two pretty big lunch pins I just want to say real fast sorry Greg go ahead how about McKenzie Hughes

On network television and walking talk I mean well he had said this prior on uh I think it was The Sweet Spot podcast with John Sherman and Adam Young um Jim Nance after that was like wow that’s exactly what we needed we needed a player to

Stand up and speak out and go yo we’ve we’ve officially lost the handle on things over here do we have that do we have that quote anywhere because I saw some of it but I I’d love to if we can pull up the full quote sorry Greg go ahead no no

No raises a couple of issues um the the one thing as it relates to the World Tour I I really enjoyed McKenzie Hugh’s comments they were definitely directed towards the fans and after reading Rick your um idea and concept I like the general concept um and and it’s an

Actual solution which I like I don’t like complaining without Solutions but there are a couple there are a couple of problems that arise from let’s quibble quibble like this but one is well and again sadly it’s Financial a lot of it like who would own

This um that’s a big question yeah so so one of the biggest pieces of feedback that I got was basically why would the PGA Tour let the top 80 players go to a new entity and my answer is they would own the new entity and and also um they

Don’t have a lot of choice if the players want to do that like like they’re already building a for a for-profit entity on top of the PGA Tour so you you kind of see it as like SSG piff PGA Tour all it creates the World Golf Tour whatever they want to call

That maybe calling it The World Golf Tour made it seem like it was something completely different call it PGA Tour plus and that the that’s the concept here okay so that definitely makes sense now since they’re involved these next two are probably simplified but two

Thoughts I had were live is a a contract based system I think that complicates things yeah and SSG offering Equity it seems like if there’s relegation year over year there’s no real job security uh equity and contracts both would get very complicated and maybe they just go away

Maybe both those things go away um or there’s some way I mean I don’t even know how SSG and the PGA Tour are divvying up Equity I don’t really understand that I don’t either I was reading an article by Sean Zach today I think it was on

Golf.com and it and it was laying out this um so lacrosse did this a few years ago apparently like four or five years ago where they created a new lacrosse league and then they merged with the old league and they did the equity thing and

And all that and in it he was talking about how like the players are kind of in the dark about the equity thing as well like it it feels like well we’ll give Rory like an eighth of it and then we’ll figure out the rest I mean that’s

Not what anybody has said but that’s sort of what uh that’s sort of what it feels like I think Greg you you voiced like the biggest problem with all of this which is that so many different and this is just the golf problem in general is that so many different U businesses

And organizations control the different entities that would feed into all this right this would take an immense amount of cooperation yes right right big time cooperation which I think the the two most important entities are at their most vulnerable place of or their most the place where they’re they’re most

Willing to cooperate because they’re the most vulnerable but you still have to get all like it it’s just the logistics of it and again as a fan you figure that out that’s what the money that’s what $3 billion is for that’s what the money is for so one other you you mentioned this

Vulnerability and when I look at the Liv system and the Liv model that’s a big concern for for me right if you’re trying to generate that you have a team concept and I know that this is all changeable but if you have a team concept and the business model is to

Build value in teams it seems like it would be difficult to sustain and grow that value when the best players at the end of the year are going to leave your team so there wouldn’t be a whole lot of hey the range goats have so and so and I’m a fan

Of that not that I agree with it or it just it seems like that would kind of corrupt that model yeah I hear you but you know you look at the because we’re comparing this to English Premiership football and the English soccer league uh you have stars that are on contract

There and then eventually the contracts out and they move along there is a way by this but the problem is this is like government you know people are just at a stalemate uh I understanding from folks that certain folks think they have more leverage over the others but with so

Much money this Changing Hands over here it’s folks are like this gridlock they don’t want to give up the money they just don’t yeah the the way that I laid it out so so I took Rory’s comment the top 80 players and I just took golfer one through 80 from data golf’s rankings

And said these are the 80 right I’m not gonna I’m not gonna go any we could you know we could argue about that all day long um Liv would lose about 13 guys to this new entity I actually think that because there is a team aspect Liv is

They could weather that because they’d also own a percentage of the new entity as well right assuming that like you’re assuming that this piff investment comes in you’re assuming that this new entity is kind of co-owned they would lose players there and maybe yeah maybe those

Players are just out on loan maybe they come back and play a couple of events a year maybe maybe they could weather it because they’re building around and leaning into the team aspect and just like any sports Team guys retire guys get traded guys move on you lose them to

Free agency etc etc but those things don’t typically happen when you have success like Patrick Mahomes doesn’t win the Super Bowl and then move on and that’s where you know that’s a big difference if if somebody for the Patriots a special teams player retired today um Slater right and that happens all the

Time but it’s not Tom Brady BEC and it’s not because of the success which I think just is a an interesting point yeah I I almost see it as like this Greg I almost you’re totally right and I agree with you I almost see the team aspect bumping up to

The to the top tour to to the 80 or I would probably make it a 100 and doing either like F1 where they have teams but it’s maybe not primary or doing it as like a side four or five events where you can play alternate shot you can do some different interesting

Stuff there which I think would be really really cool and that’s again one aspect of live that I’ve always enjoyed um so you bump the team aspect up to the top 80 or 100 and then live just becomes like the new European tour you can call it whatever you I don’t

Care what you call it but it becomes essentially like the path to get to the global or to what you call it Rick the world world champion World Tour oh World from an international from an international perspective so you have your American path on the PGA tour and

Your International path for you know Australian South AF you know whatever um through live or rename it I call it the yaser tour I don’t I don’t care but I just think that like the the the ease of understanding all this would really make for a man if you knew like hey every

Year the top hundred guys in the world are going to be in this tour and they’re GNA go to uh Tokyo and they’re gonna go to Melbourne and and all these that would it’s very I thought what you wrote Rick was very very compelling so so thank you now to talk about where

They’re going because Rory did kind of address this too Mark so he said that quote there is he believes there is more of an appetite amongst younger americ an to travel globally he cited maxom Justin Thomas going to South Africa so he that was those were his words the way that I

Laid out the schedule uh right that that’s what you know and listen that’s what the M there is your epon that’s what the money’s for the money um I I went with 16 events in four majors giving these players uh 20 events that they would have to play Rory said I

Think he said 22 or 24 is four that feels like a lot like a lot I didn’t ask him to do that many and I again I don’t care about the player like you gave them a month off you you were so s i mean you

Two months off I months off I didn’t send them I didn’t send them to Phoenix in July I I sent them to all the places that like these events are normally happening I picked uh okay you get like Adelaide you get jedha you get some of

The crown jewels on live you get the crown jewels on the PGA tour you add in some national championships which are the crown Jews on the DP World Tour you put them all together let’s go figure it out $3 billion Rick your thing was your schedule was awfully well thought out

And I thought it brought to to mind two things for me first off I thought you were busy to to you really thought this through so I’m wondering then what Mina is thinking because you’re not spending any time with your wife when you’re not doing all the stuff you do yeah Lo some

Time on this huh all right I gotta got a question on the schedule yeah can we put can we pull it up producer Josh I don’t I don’t know if if we can I thought it was cool because you whisk folks all around the globe you you you some of the

Great events in the PGA Tour on your schedule it was very very clever that’s why I thought what I did I’m like this guy’s lugging the arrows yeah so I I start him in November with some type of rotating opening swing whether it’s Tokyo South South Korea doing a Far East

Thing going to South Africa I Hitman open yeah exactly I hit uh Adelaide and the Australian Open in December which is like basically when those are going to be played anyway you start January Dubai and jeda no problem with either one of those Phoenix and Riv in February

Players Championship in Bay Hill in March Masters in Harbortown in April PGA and Canadian open in May US Open and Memorial in June Open Championship Scottish open in July you wrap up the year with the French Open and the Spanish open in the months that they’re already played in you’re just missing

The fifth major the John Deere classic I mean come on now still on the PGA Tour it’s just not on the world tour so okay so that was another thing KP people were like well now there’s only you know I’m a big golf fan now there’s I want to

Tune in every single week and watch something I don’t care if it’s the rocket mortgage I don’t care if it’s the John Deere and and my vision is that tour still run the PGA Tour is filling the gap on every other week totally and I think we get really hung up on like

The names of these things like the like we think about the PGA Tours only being this certain thing you can call the thing what whatever you want right like just play golf every week with guys that are not quite in the in the top 80 or

Top 100 I I liked the schedule a lot I would probably condense it by a by a month and take three months off Rick I I I think that most leagues like you think about the NBA or the NFL NFL is longer um Major League Baseball it’s it’s at least

Three right right and I think that that really especially if you have like a a big Rider cup year then you’re really just taking October off and you’re back at that that’s a lot um I had to take I wanted September off for Ryder Cup Presidents Cup and I would have liked to

Have actually taken almost like the NFL playoffs off like you know what I mean and not even not even compete with that but it kind of it made it too uh too tough for me well you your point about like if you’re Global it the NFL it’s not yeah yeah it doesn’t matter

As much um I think that I would one thing that I’ve always wanted them to do and I don’t know how tied to the date the RNA is I think ending the year with the Open Championship or ending the season with the Open Championship is is super special um weather’s too risky the

Weather is just risky in August yeah it starts getting well end of the year it starts getting worse but but where where they’ve got it I think is the best chance for weather especially if you go to Scotland and places like that if you’re in the south of England fine but

But anywhere North you start battling I I admittedly thought my schedule French Open Spanish open ends with a little bit of a whimper now if if that’s maybe it’s vama I I mean it would be awesome if it was the Open Championship that like was

Your was your finale but yeah I didn’t I think what to I would I would try to switch those two months if possible Right Where You have like European summer French Open Spanish open Irish open whatever and then try to end with Scottish and open I I don’t know about

The the dates and the weather I don’t know if that would completely work out um there’s a reason why wimbledon’s in July yeah yeah uh it was mostly good I I think I might start the year in Australia though I might start it in December and then move

I don’t know how you would fit in like the Asia Africa India type thing right uh um because I like the Middle East to Phoenix LA to players Bay Hill I mean it’s it’s really good I really like it a lot Canadian open might be a little

Early yeah it’s usually in June right Canada and may might be might be dicey we gotta we gotta yeah we gotta find a a a location that would be able to to host that but you could swap Memorial and uh yeah and Canadian open that’s true look

Think it’s pretty I think it’s really good actually considering the concept um because for the most part you got your heavy hitter events in the US still there uh and when you’re talking about November December January you’re competing with football but you’re on the other side of the world so Americans

Are going to be watching those anyway um that’s just the reality of the situation and that is a concern to me um like when you start going to your sponsors if they’re even important maybe piff just funds the whole thing I don’t know but you start going to sponsors and

Like Rory also mentioned we need Corporate America involved but it has to be Global is that a conflict you know you go to um Australia is an event or two events in Australia enough to Captivate that market you know one or two events in a year you

Go to Tokyo for you know once in the year is it enough to Captivate the market and at the other end of the spectrum I get one’s better than none but are you missing out on um potential more potentially more growth in the American Market I’ve always believed that you got to develop

Your fan base and you got to develop a core and you got to treat them well right like hug your core and when the US tour starts going around the world those events suffer a little bit it’s worked on the PGA tour because they’ve typically been in football season in the

Fall which is where I think it works in this but I just have some concerns about the global aspect of it in general I think I think the counter to that Craig is that there all like Farmers is out well as Fargo like already removing themselves from the situation right and

That that happens that’s not like a new thing I I don’t know how much it’s tied to the purses going up and all that but I think they’ve already built up the fan base right like this would this would this is a unification of the fan

Bases that have been built up I think the last thing that I have Rick is how do you envision like the sort of champion like the winner of the World Golf Tour being Crown let’s say you ended at the Open Championship is there enough interest in

Who wins the overall race to St Andrews or whatever we’re calling it um because like the Tour Championship to me is just it’s it’s not it’s not working as like a yeah IND type yeah there you go um is there enough interest during a major week where you’re like oh

I actually this sort of Side Story I actually do care about this because it’s a major week uh joshh throw my screen back up there sorry I I closed it out a little little too late so I I don’t know the answer to that what I what I planned

Was just no playoffs like I don’t I I think they kind of whiff we talk about the major championships being the important one so I just kind of did this like what I believe F1 does which is as the season goes on you are accumulating points depending on what your finishing

Position is at the end of the year Whoever has the most points is your world champion if Max ver stop in runs away with the world championship with three races to go race better right be faster if if Scotty runs away with the world championship with three events to go

Guess what there’s still an Open championship and a claric j that’s gonna be now you sound like Rory to uh some of the members in the in the meeting the one time he’s like just play better you’ll sort your up it’s true and I’m

I’m with I’m with that Rick um I I agree with you on that I I don’t think it should there shouldn’t to me there shouldn’t I think one of the hard things about TOUR Championship is that there shouldn’t be anything post it feels weird to have something postop

Championship yeah and it just gets a little lost in in in the shuffle the one thing I would say is that there’s a lack of diversity in the in the format like no match play you know I I think there I think there’s room to introduce some things like that especially if you’ve

Got a like a pretty set number of like these are the guys for the year let’s let’s go you know go do match play or whatever and you could easily turn those events into match play Love right any one of those could be a match play the

Other thing I did with the points is every you know there’s no same number of points so every spot matters and I’m only giving out points to the top 20 if you yeah like I don’t care if you finish 37 on any like I don’t care like you’ve

Got to earn points go finish inside the top 20 earn your points that way add them up at the end of the year um one other thing Majors still full field that’s for the majors to decide right Masters the Masters they set their own criteria now they’re gonna continue to set their own

Criteria right I don’t care so you you might have a world where not all the top 80 are playing in the Masters sure okay we’ll take now what if is it is it strange to you if let’s say this was going on this year and Justin Thomas was

Relegated and gets into the Masters and wins the Masters he’s playing the whole year on a second tier tour he’d be on the PGA tour or the so there’s no in season this is one se you get a full season my in my world there’s not if you want to put in

Check marks and say hey we’ll do mini relegations after every major right at at the quarter pole and the half three quarter Pole right then sure I’m open to it but in my world you play the whole year or I think if you if you you can

Make a very easy like if youve if you play your way into a major and win the major you’re you’re I don’t know you would you would want to you’d want to keep like whatever your set number is I think so somebody would have to get bumped out but this is easy to

Understand right right right I I kept going back to thinking what you say KP which is like the PGA tour for the last 70 years has been making updates to their code and like know they’re fixing bugs which you know solves this problem but like now it

Causes more bugs and like you know it’s and it’s so true and we just you know when you have the the most vocal player in the world Rory mroy uh proposing something like this I think you have to take it seriously yeah I’m taking it seriously there’s a few overtures that are coming

From the mroy camp last week I was like okay anyway I uh have been against a world tour for a long time and still am but your schedule would would work if they did that exactly what you said it would not bother me okay um would this bother you

Because here are the top 80 it’s it’s Scotty Sheffer to Keith Mitchell so on the from on the hair of their chinny chin chins Aaron Ry Lucas glove list Sergio Garcia Adam Fenson and Keith Mitchell get in Steve Stricker too Steve Stricker too which yeah I mean that

Might we might to make an adjustment for that he might not to do that right I mean I guess he would if it was a lot of money but like does he want to play I don’t know so yeah there you know we’d have to we have to have some I know I

Know he’s about to go for surgery but is Bernard Langer on there because he should be there too he’s not in the dating off top 80 uh I I yeah I think I I don’t know what you would yeah I don’t know how you would

Rank them but once you get to 81 or 10 101 or whatever it’s like yeah just play a little better I don’t it starts to matter a little less yeah whether it from the fans perspective you know whether Lucas Glover is in or Michael Kim is

In is a small difference this is a great group though I mean it’s a killer group I’m in it’s a really good group I mean it’s obviously like all the PGA Tour guys and you get the big 13 back from Liv and you get like hoard olison

Matthew Pavone the other Hoy guard like it’s I think what’s interesting Rick is like and this is the thing that we haven’t talked about I joke that we’re going to talk about this for an hour we might actually talk about it for an hour is there’s no room for tiger and

Phil for sure right and I think that that’s kind of odd but also I’m I’m kind of okay I I don’t know you don’t have four sponsor exemptions in these EV no hell no get that is such garbage it’s such garbage KP they could conceivably still play still play major

Championships so you still get them yeah but this is this is too competitive which is crazy to say but it’s too competitive for Tiger it’s too competitive for Phil and how sick would it be to see like Phil grinding on the corn fairy trying to get back to

The he’s crazy enough to do it that’s what I’m saying it would be it would be awesome yeah say goodbye to TI bro

6 Comments

  1. The new tour should be called "Legion XIII" or something like that. You know, some attrociously cringy name and terrible branding. Saudi marketing garbage

  2. Australia with its 26million population gets 2 events? Latin America zero? (And comparing a football team flying from NY to LA to flying USA to Australia is dubious. Has Kyle ever actually flown to Australia?)

  3. Soo SSG invested $3B but all the players get is equity they can’t access?… so where is the $3B going?

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