#Back9Report puts their spin on all the #golf news. #MaoSaigo wins the #Chevron. #BrandtSnedeker & #GeoffOgilvy named #PresidentsCup Captains. #TheR&A reconsiders adding #Turnberry to #OPEN Rota. #LIV negotiating with #OWGR to get ranking points.
hey hey hey golf fans welcome to the back n report where we bring the energy of sound day pressure the laughs of a buddy scramble and the insight of a veteran caddy i’m your host Carlos Torres and today’s lineup is a stack as a tour championship leaderboard for you guys from thrilling thrilling finishes to political crosswinds and a battle for ranking points we got you covered from Tito Green as always I am joined by my co-host Fred Alvador fred hi how are you today hey Carlos everything’s good up here uh getting ready to play some golf i’m I’m I’m warming up and I’m getting out i’m in some tournaments i’m ready to go man let’s do it spring finally arrived well it’s getting here yesterday was beautiful today a little cool a little windy but it’s okay it’s It’s not too bad no snow oh that that’s good i mean we we’re we’re now we’re going to be raining like for the next 10 days there’s going to be storms and all that hey I’m in tornado alley so what can I tell you you know but anyway and you got the tour you got the tour coming back to Texas too so yeah it’s going to be that’s going to be really good but anyway hey let’s start with something that happened really close here as well as the LPGA Chevron uh championship the first major and what a finish Fred at the 2025 Chevron Championship jama Japan’s Ma Saigo she stepped up and delivered a clutch performance for the ages winning a wild that I think that’s an understatement but it was a wild three-way playoff her steely nerves in precision iron play under pressure were the difference makers there uh she capped it off with an unforgettable celebration uh but here’s the kicker she took the traditional champion sleep into poppy spawn even though she doesn’t know how to swim her caddy had to literally drag her to shore talk about a fearless move to match a fearless round right she just went straight to it i don’t care i think this I can make it no it started going down but anyway Saigo is now the fourth Rolex first time winner of the season i mean we have seen a ton of first time winners this year it’s like every year every every week we see somebody different winning for the first time she’s joining a wave of young talent that is really shaking up the LPGA it’s really something really good and this win was wasn’t just dramatic it was symbolic the LPGA’s global appeal is fast rising and Saigo’s poised to be a major star we also have to give props to Nelly Corda and Aaya Physical who made it a fierce finish uh the playoff showed just how deep and competitive the LPGA has become and we were talking about this uh last week uh Fred about how incredible it is that we don’t see anymore South Koreans who used to dominate they could have a single team for them to go against the world and right now we see from everywhere if this is a preview of what’s to come 2025 could be the most electric LPJ season yet yeah this uh Sido won but Jutanagon kind of gave this away right um just uh you know she had it one she had a shot lead going into the 72nd hole and hit just a terrible chip shot terrible chunked it only went just a few yards and so she ends up making bogey lets everybody back in and now we got a fiveway playoff and Saigo i I mean you were talking about her last year she was rookie of the year last year on the LPGA uh and I think uh last year she didn’t have a win but she played in 29 events made 24 cuts and I think had seven top 10s so really consistent player really really good player and she really wasn’t a rookie because she played in Japan for two years and we know Japan is a really good tour over there uh she won six times in two years so she knows how to win right so she was no novice at this coming down there even though it’s a major she hadn’t won on the LPJ tour this was her first win got a major uh really good stuff so this year she’s made six cuts and eight starts has three top 10 so she’s she’s had a really good start to the year um and something Carlos a little bit curious um Saigo is the the third player from Japan to win a major championship over the last two seasons uh you know we know about Yukaso um she’s won a couple US women’s Open she won in 24 of the the US women’s uh Yaka Fury also won the EV Evian um and so I mean Japan is really turning out a bunch of great players right now and the Koreans like you say have kind of taken a backseat this is kind of amazing isn’t it it is and uh Japan it seems like it’s doing its its revival because we they have been known for uh previously having great players as well but it’s like they’re taking over I would say Asia as well because as you see your tanagar and all those players from Thailand as always uh being u competitive but now we are starting to see more so definitely is is a great thing to see I mean when we’re going to see this international competitions now and every every week we see more more and more of them is really really interesting and and also the US is having a resurgence as well so I mean the LPJ is having such an international flavor right now it’s great to see every week a different winner is is such such a pleasure just to see that golf well we saw the the LPGA embrace that concept back in 2010 that they were an international tour michael Juan saw that when he came to the LPJ that that was one of their strengths they’re they’re an international tour they they go all over the world to play they have the best players come to United States to play in the LPJ tour so uh they they’re continuing that on and speaking of Saigo too you know you remember how what a a champions welcome or hero heroes welcome that uh Hideki got when he went after he won the Masters went back to Japan and then Yukaso when she won and went back i’m sure they’re going to give uh Mao a big welcome as well a big hero’s welcome when she gets back in Japan well even one of the the the people that got to the punt was one of the the reporters there from Japan so you you can know that they travel all these Japanese players oh when you go when you go to an LPJ tournament I mean you you’re you’re looking at probably five or six Japanese uh uh media people in the room all the time they’re they’re there they really they really bring their their media people over yeah i remember in the Puerto Rico Open seeing Rio Ishikawa and that’s the first time I’d noticed is they had a special room for the for him when he finished the the the rounds he would have a special place where all the Japanese were there so it’s an incredible thing the way they cover that but hey uh let’s now talk a little bit about the President’s Cup because uh this is breaking news from Are they still going to have a President’s Cup i mean why don’t they just give the trophy to the USA and say hell with it hey you know it’s getting it’s getting closer it’s getting closer so but anyway Brent Sneder has been named captain of the US President’s Cup team while Jeff Ogleby will lead the international squad and this is going to be next year at the Madina Country Club one of the most legendary venues in modern golf history snats is a fan favorite i mean his all energy smiles and a southern charm but don’t mistake his demeanor for softness this is a guy who bleeds red white and blue and knows what it takes to fire up team that that was just him when he played the Ryder Cup he’s played in multiple presidents and writer cups and players love his locker room presence now for Ogulvie I issue I mean he brings that cool Aussie composure major winning pedigree tactical brilliance but he’s a deep thinker with a laser focus on details and don’t forget he’s been part of this team format for years and he’s a player that all these players look for his leadership his leadership could be the boost the international needs to finally shake off that underdog status and Medine is no stranger to golf drama i mean with two fierce competitors at the helm we could be in Fred I think for one of the most exciting President’s Cup ever so who’s your early pick i mean we’ll be watching every move from now until the first T- shot my early pick late pick middle pick will be the USA are you sure i mean you can phone a friend if you want to your final answer i’m think I’m pretty good on that i’m not a betting guy but I would actually put some money on this so uh unless they change your form I’m going to talk about that here in a second but uh Brandt Snaker uh you know he he played in in one President’s Cup uh he had a two and three record he played at Murfield Village in 2013 on the team he did play in two Ryder Cups as well so he’s no stranger to team competitions and you know he’s a veteran he was been around for a long time um and then Jeff Jeff Ogleby I mean he was a really good player uh he won a US Open the one that Phil gave away uh when he hit it off the the the tent uh instead of just hitting a five iron down there he had it one um you know and and Oggov uh like you said he’s played in three President’s Cups in the past he’s got a 76-1 record which is pretty respectable you know to have a winning record in the President’s Cups against the teams from the USA so that’s very good and also Carlos he’s got some insider knowledge of Madina because his company uh his design firm just completed the renovation of the number three course where they will hold the President’s Cup at Madina uh and they just completed that re renovation last summer so he knows the course intimately now you know Brand Senk is going to have his chance to set it up to be favorable to the American team um so I don’t know what that’s going to mean for but he might be able to pass on some information for the guys especially about reading greens and breaks on greens because he knows those in because he laid those out he helped do that so uh that that could be that could be a help for them um so two things Carl well not two things but one thing they they’ve got to change they got to change this format i I they’re not going to but they really need to the internationals you know Greg Norman tried to get this changed way back um in the early days of the President’s Cup because the way the PJ Tour sets this up the PJ Tour owns the President’s Cup and the way they set this up everybody pretty much has to play you can’t really hide guys you can like the RDER Cup uh there’s only four matches uh four team matches in the morning four team matches in the afternoon on on Friday and Saturday and then the singles on Sunday so you can set some players and that maybe aren’t playing well or maybe that have some injuries or whatever you know you can get your horses out there uh a little bit more often uh but in the in the President’s Cup on Thursday they start on Thursday they play four days they play five matches so 10 guys are playing so you can sit two okay so only two guys sit out on Friday same deal five matches so you got 10 guys playing you only sit two so two guys sit out on Thursday two guys sit on Friday now on Saturday they do play a morning session and afternoon session so they only play uh four matches so again you’ve got four guys sitting out but then you got everybody playing in Sunday singles so this really adds a couple of points really for the United States because they’re so deep okay because they’ve got deeper squads you’re playing more of the guys on those first two days it really is an advantage for the United States um they need to cut that back they it needs to be more like the writer cup format where you only play four matches morning and afternoon on Friday Saturday and that would help that I tell you what I really think the uh the the the Canadians or the Canadians the internationals could have had a really good shot of winning in Canada last year if they would have not had to play those other couple matches and and put some guys out there that weren’t quite ready for prime time so uh I I don’t if they don’t change this the United States going to keep winning because they’re just deeper they’re going to win the singles they’re going to win eight matches out of the 12 singles probably or seven uh and then they go in usually leading because they’ve got those extra matches where you’ve got to run everybody out there on Thursday and Friday so uh I don’t see this changing much Carlos i think the president I think the United States going to keep dominating the President’s Cup as long and and it’s just it’s it’s amazing to me how the the the Rder Cup the Europeans can dominate in that thing okay and so they got Rory and they got four or five guys that they run out there and those are the horses those are the guys they play okay but the the President’s Cup the Internationals can’t do that because they got these extra matches they got to play so that’s my take on the whole President’s Cup thing i think Brandt Stenker’s great i like Jeff Ogleby um I liked watching him i like to watch him when they’re playing i think they’ll be great captains i like Madina matter of fact I think I’m going to try and go to the event when it’s there next year um so um it’s it’s all good but I think they need to change the format to get the Internationals a better chance at winning carlos yeah I think ratings is what it’s going to be all about i mean if you don’t get the ratings uh if this keeps going that way and it keeps even being more lopsided then definitely uh something’s got to give and something’s got to change but we’ll see how that goes now next up let’s talk about a swirling debate across the pond the potential return of Turnberry to the open road the course is owned as you all know by Donald Trump uh he has been this site has been out of the rotation since the events surrounding January 6 with the RNA distancing themselves for political and image reasons but now hey things are shifting reports are suggesting that the UK government officials are lobbying for Turnberry to be brought back even King Charles mentioned the course in the formal correspondence with the White House hint hint at growing pressure to give it another shot on the flip side then the RNA says well there’s some infrastructure concerns i mean there are things like transportation local accommodation logistical hurdles that make a staging a modern open a challenge you know you got to think about it but still the course itself is universally hailed as one of the finest links and designs on earth especially after Trump poured over 200 million pounds into upgrades i mean the story is dripping with politics prestige and passion so the question is will tradition course quality and investment win out or will the controversy keep Turnberry on the sidelines fred we’ll be keeping a close eye and if the if it does return expect headlines to be bigger than the Clar yeah Carlos I mean Turberry has some tremendous It’s not like it hasn’t been held there since the 20s or 30s or something you know when this all this infrastructure stuff wasn’t the biggest deal you know they’ve been playing they’ve played uh four times there 77 86 94 and 2009 they’ve all been historic every one of them uh 77 that was Tom Watson and and Jack Nicholas in the Duel in the Sun i mean that was one of the it’s one of the best major tournaments ever held right it’s historic and then in ‘ 86 you got Greg Norman win his first major there uh and then Nick Price won in 94 i remember that like just like it was yesterday uh and in 2009 this was a biggie this was the one that Tom Watson had won remember and he missed that little putt and Steuart Sink ended up winning uh in what u uh Watson was what 54 at the time something like that 55 um that would have been that would have been his sixth uh uh open championship nobody’s won more than five that would have been I mean that would have just been unbelievable I thought he had it won that definitely did he did I know we all thought and then and he had he just left that chip or that putt off the edge there off the fringe a little bit short and just couldn’t get it up and down the old nerves came in there so this is one of the most iconic courses in the world despite the political fallout from Trunks ownership it it deserves to be in the open road at Car Carlos uh it was chicken crap that they took it off to begin with it’s just like the PGA Tour pulling all their tournaments out of Trump’s stuff uh when he was president before and all that kind of stuff everybody just you know we we’re a knee-jerk society right something happens oh we got to got to go we got to go out and react and and just uh you know it’s just not right it’s it’s too good of a course not to be holding an open championship yeah politics should stay out of sports i mean this is like uh let’s say you know they say about religion and and the state right they have to be a part i think sports should stay its course and the politics just leave them there i know it’s owned by the whoever it is the owner i don’t care we are talking about one of the most elite golf courses in the world and you are depriving the golf world from actually seeing more remarkable and maybe historic finishes you just mentioned three that were amazing and maybe that’s what we can get and unfortunately you know I I think now the pressure is mounting and uh maybe not this year but uh you know it’s the UK is really pushing forward to this and I think at some point in the future we’ll get it uh Donald Donald knows how to twist the arm doesn’t he he he doesn’t mess around with the RNA he goes right to the He goes right to the king you know he goes right he goes right to the prime minister or the government says “Hey I want this tournament back in here let’s go this would be good for everybody all of a sudden now the pressure is back so you know it’s it’s getting there i it just deserves gold deserves to to be back on Turnberry but now a familiar face is back at the table lib Golf is reportly in advanced discussion with the official World Golf Rankings board trying once again to secure points for its players so you might ask why such a big deal i mean hey without official World Golf ranking points LIIV players plummet in the world rankings hurting their ability to qualify for majors Olympics and other top tier events so it’s like playing in a different league with no promotion path so LIB have tried before got denied and even dropped their appeal but now they’re back looking for common ground and apparently you know the talks are in advanced stages because the OWGR’s stance hasn’t changed much they want a fair apples to apples comparison between players of across all 24th century tours uh the LIV has limited fields no cuts and team-based format that doesn’t quite fit the mold but with global pressure mounting and again here’s more peer pressure big names being left out of majors talks have resumed in the OGR court if a promise can be reached it could reshape the pro golf landscape and reignite the divide between traditionalist and disruptors fred so either way people grab your popcorn because this saga is far from over yeah I this is the I think this is the key point for the LIV i think they have to have this if they’re going to stay in business they have to have this because guys like Bryson D shambo and uh Brookska Cam Smith they need those points to get in they’ve been out long enough now they have they all had major wins so they were all exempt in but they’re three four years removed now from their wins and they’re not going to get into these majors unless they start getting these points so Carlos and I’ve told you this we’ve talked about this before and I really feel that Brooks Kepka Bryson Dshambo Cam Smith and a couple others soon as their contracts are up and they’re going to be up here after this year I really see them coming back to the PGA Tour uh and for the main reason is that they don’t get OWGR ranking points on the LIV now you got the way the LI the way the OWGR works the World Golf Ranking it’s a two-year rolling point system okay and so um if they’re not getting any points the top 50 on the ODR get into these signature events they get into the majors that’s that’s where you got to be so right now uh there’s still uh I think three players in the top 50 and that’s because they’ve done well in the majors that they’ve played in bryson Dshambo Terrell Hatton and Patrick Reed okay they still sit in the top 50 on the World Golf ranking now there’s another uh performance-based system Data Golf which says that well there’d be a lot more LIIB guys up in the top 50 there’s probably five or six or seven if you included their rankings from their tournaments that they play but we come back to that Carlos the sticking point before with the LIV looking for ranking points was that they’re only 54ole events not 72 and they’re no cut so you know they’re basically exhibitions they don’t consider them real tournaments i tend to agree with that uh but my opinion doesn’t mean anything really but I I I I get that i understand what they’re saying um so the PGA Tour I really think they realized last year that they have the upper hand in these negotiations because of this lack of world golf ranking points for the LIB players and it’s just like okay if we ride this out then these guys are going to be coming back here after this year we’re going to be all good um so I I just don’t maybe the maybe the the World Golf Ranking Points will will grant LIIB some kind of consideration or some kind of compensation i don’t know but uh I just don’t I don’t if if they don’t get it the LIV to me is out of business i I know people I’ve been getting comments well you’re always against the oil yeah I kind of am because what business could succeed if you’re going against a country uh with oil riches that you know that they can just blow money and not worry about making money they put over5 billion dollars in this li it’s a loser it’s a loser from the beginning the system is flawed it’s a It’s not a business model okay um the the sponsorship numbers would have to be off the charts for that thing to survive and what they’re paying these players so I I just don’t see it Carlos i don’t we’re back to the to the World Golf ranking points and this is the key issue for LIIV they’ve got to have this or die well I I get you and I am with that the the issue I think uh and I agree let’s say it this way if LIV doesn’t get this next year it’ll be their last i don’t I don’t see him uh going further forward because I totally agree that uh Bryson Brooks Cam all those that can return will look for a return to the PGA Tour how that’s going to happen I don’t know because also the PGA Tour is like “Oh well let me see how I can get you back it’s not as easy as just coming back they’re looking for some way the players are hurt by they they got all the money we don’t have it but anyway it’s it’s really to me pathetic that this is just gone too much if you’re if you’re Brooks Kepka and they paid you $100 million or whatever they paid him to come over there and the PJ tour is going to charge you 800,000 or a million bucks to come back as a fine are you going to worry too much about that that’s the thing i don’t know is if it’s only going to be that that’s because if it’s money why they haven’t said it already you know there was a there was a report that somebody that came back paid a $780,000 fine now I don’t know if that’s going to be a sliding scale on who you are and how much you got or all that kind of thing uh but I I I think it’ll probably be in that neighborhood somewhere 800,000 to a million bucks i’m guessing if it’s money it would have been done already that’s the way I see it i mean they this money Yeah they got to wait till their contracts are up so but at the same time I mean why hasn’t it been already something that it’s like okay this is because that has been something that has been discussed and they haven’t agreed yet to what’s going to be the penalty that they’re going to be paying so uh I don’t know it’s just going to be something that yes the the LIV needs the official World of Golf ranking points but at the same time the official World of Golf ranking points uh board could see okay let’s do a happy medium okay if you’re going to earn points you’re not going to earn full points because at the same time there’s a weight of the tournament that you’re already giving so you can scale down the points and give them in some sort of a way to to them okay it’s not going to be full points because you don’t qualify for the full weight points of a tournament but you can always do something to try to appease that way now would that be enough for the players on the li to Okay that sounds good i can keep here but because it’ll make it even more difficult to do that or would you agree or the the the European tour the DP World Tour agree to allow them to play there’s some other things that can be done but we there’s so many things but definitely if they don’t get anything on that this year I don’t see them living one more year yeah that’s that’s that’s a unique concept i mean they could instead of saying “Okay so like so like if you play in a major championship and you win that you get like 20% more points ranking points than if you win a regular tournament.” or even if you win a signature event you get more points than a regular tournament so you could say maybe an LIV event gets um 50% or 60% of what like a regular PGA Tour event gets uh I kind of get that a little bit uh and again these top guys will probably do well enough they could they could get enough to to stay you know look at the the you know the big loser in this thing right now is like walking Neman i mean the guy has won three times out of what the last five events on the LIV he’s really hot uh I thought he’d do a little bit better at the Masters than he did because he was coming in on such a role um but uh you know if he were doing us on the PJ tour he’d be up in the top 10 or top 15 for sure um so um I don’t know i Carlos you know my thoughts in the LIV i I just I I think it’s unfair uh competition to the BJ tour uh I I think it’s just an exhibition i They’re just paying these guys and there’s no incentive for them to really do well except for the fact that they’re athletes and they want to perform well i don’t think the emphasis there is to practice and get better we can see that like Dustin Johnson i think John Rom has taken time off i I don’t think he’s competing as hard you can see it now when he plays in the major he’s just not he’s no nowhere right now so um I I just don’t I I think this is a really big deal whether whether or not they get official world golf ranking points i think it’s a really important thing for the LIV oh we’ll see we could be close any final thoughts before I close no uh no it’s good news uh enjoyed watching the the tournaments last weekend uh the Zurich the the team event um and um good stuff the playoff I watched a little bit of that uh the other night on the on the LPGA so a lot of good golf coming up we got a lot of great golf coming up in Michigan and Ohio and Indiana um matter of fact those golf journals are going to be out and they’re going to be featuring the tournaments are going to be held like in Michigan there’s uh two LPJ events three Epson Tour events a Champions Tour event and the Rocket Mortgage the Rocket Classic which is a PJ tour event so just five six years ago there were zero tournaments in Michigan Carlos zero now there’s what eight that’s amazing to me it is and that my friends is your complete card for this week’s Pack 9 report we covered from epic playoff splashes to captain’s picks royal nudges to rebel tours dolph never takes a day off and neither do we make sure to follow the show leave us a fivestar review if you’re feeling generous and hit us up on social with your takes hey should Turnberry return will Ogulv shot the red white and blue and hey how does Maigo have more wins in the future until next time rip it rip it and keep it classic on the back nine thank you for joining us
