Brendon De Jonge, PGA Player Encore
The central theme of our discussion today revolves around the illustrious career of Brendan DeYoung, a former professional golfer, who shares insights into his journey from Zimbabwe to the United States and his experiences on the golf tour. As we delve into DeYoung's reflections, we explore his transition from a competitive player to his current role in media, where he engages with audiences through various platforms, including the Golf Channel and SiriusXM. Our conversation further encompasses the nuances of the golfing lifestyle, the camaraderie within the sport, and the significance of events such as the President's Cup, which DeYoung regards as a pinnacle of his career. In addition, we examine the present state of golf, addressing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for both amateur enthusiasts and professional players alike. Ultimately, this episode offers a profound exploration of the golfing world, enriched by DeYoung's unique perspective and experiences.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Golf Channel
- PGA Tour Live
- SiriusXM
- Lisa Cornwell
- Westin dealerships
- Weston Kia
- Painter Hills
- Natural Beef
- Oregon Dungeness Crab
- Birdieball
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Join Jeff Tracy as he explores a golfing lifestyle and tries to keep it in the short grass.
Speaker A:For the hackers, new sweepers and turf spankers, here's Jeff.
Speaker A:Just open up the door and let's take good times.
Speaker A:Tomorrow's gonna be better than today.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to Grilling it to Green.
Speaker A:I'm your host, JT or Jeff, as you might know.
Speaker A:How's your golf game and how's the world of golf around you?
Speaker A:Well, we're going to cover some of that with our guests this week.
Speaker A:Brendan Deong, who's a former Tour player.
Speaker A:You're not playing anymore.
Speaker A:Are you on the Tour?
Speaker B:No, I'm done, Jeff.
Speaker B: year out there was, I think,: Speaker A:So you just hanging out and reaping all the whirlwinds of glory and fortune from the Tour.
Speaker B:That sounds wonderful.
Speaker B:No, I'm looking for things to do.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Trying to find.
Speaker B:Trying to find as much stuff as I can to keep myself busy, stay out of trouble.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's been fun.
Speaker B:It's been exciting, and I don't know if I've enjoyed this side of it, for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I noticed you're doing some media work here and there.
Speaker B:I am, yeah.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Luckily enough, I've done some.
Speaker B:Done some stuff with Golf Channel, I've done some stuff with PGA Tour Live and done quite a bit of stuff with SiriusXM radio.
Speaker B:So I got the perfect face for radio, so it's awesome.
Speaker A:That's what they always told me, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you must be.
Speaker A:If you did PGA Tour Live, you must be working with Lisa once in a while.
Speaker B:Lisa Cornwell.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yep, yep.
Speaker B:I've done quite a bit of work with Lisa Cornwell.
Speaker B:She's the best.
Speaker B:She is so good.
Speaker A:She's a good friend.
Speaker B:So very, very nice.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, as an analyst, she is the.
Speaker B:The absolute dream host.
Speaker B:She makes it very, very easy for you.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's been fun.
Speaker B:She's.
Speaker B:She's cool to work with.
Speaker A:And actually, when I interview her, she makes it really easy for me, too, because I'm still in the remedial stages after 40 years.
Speaker A:But I love.
Speaker A:Says she does a great job.
Speaker B:Yeah, she's very good at what she does.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker A:No, no, no problem.
Speaker A:Just so I'm sure our listeners know, but you grew up in Zimbabwe and then you came over here and you went to Virginia Tech.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm a college football guy and I love that and I love college sports.
Speaker A:What is a Hokie?
Speaker A:I don't know what that is.
Speaker B:I wish I had a dollar for every time I'd been asked that question.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:Essentially the short answer is it's a fictional turkey.
Speaker B:Yeah, we were the Fighting Gobblers.
Speaker B:You know, it was a big military school and Hokie was part of some military.
Speaker B:Military war cry, essentially.
Speaker B:And it sort of adapted from that.
Speaker B:And yeah, short answer is it's a fictional turkey.
Speaker A:Well, I'm sure they scared the hell out of the enemy if they went, come on, Hokies, over the wall, here we go.
Speaker B:I mean, wouldn't you be scared of that?
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I would be scratching my head, at least like that.
Speaker A:So when you were a kid, Brandon, did you play a lot of golf over there?
Speaker A:I know you said in your bio, Nick Price is one of your heroes.
Speaker A:He's a great guy to look up to.
Speaker A:He did a lot for junior golf in your country, but was the availability of golf there.
Speaker A:We got a lot of golf courses in this country, but it's a big country.
Speaker A:So what about Zimbabwe?
Speaker B:You know, Jeff, we were fortunate.
Speaker B:I grew up playing all sports.
Speaker B:I played a ton of cricket, a ton of rugby, a ton of tennis, and obviously golf.
Speaker B:But we were very, very fortunate in that they made it accessible for the juniors.
Speaker B:They made it very, very easy, very, very cheap for the juniors.
Speaker B:So we've got probably, I would say half a dozen to maybe 10 really good golf courses in the country.
Speaker B:And we had the benefit of playing a different golf course every day of the week during the school holidays.
Speaker B:And that was kind of free of charge.
Speaker B:Every morning before the members would play, they made their courses available to the juniors.
Speaker B:So we had a wonderful junior program and we had a fantastic climate as well.
Speaker B:You know, year round, Zimbabwe is probably one of the best climates in the world.
Speaker B:So we had that going for us as well.
Speaker B:And then, you know, from there we got the exposure to play.
Speaker B:Play a lot of golf in South Africa as well.
Speaker B:And then, you know, if you were doing well, you.
Speaker B:You got sent on some nice international trips.
Speaker B:You were sent over to the States to play in some big AJGA events or sent to other places around the world to sort of compete and see where you stacked up.
Speaker A:Did you ever play on the Sunshine Tour?
Speaker B:I never played as a full time member of the Sunshine Tour.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:I stayed here after college.
Speaker B:I've played a handful of Sunshine Tour events, but was never a member of.
Speaker A:The Tour because I, I enjoy reading, I love reading about golf and some of the stuff I read from Feherty and him and Nick Price playing down there and Ernie playing and all that.
Speaker A:Those guys had a lot of fun.
Speaker B:They did, they did.
Speaker B:There's a wonderful, wonderful camaraderie down there.
Speaker B:As I say, I played, I played a handful of, handful of Sunshine Tour events, mostly the ones that were co.
Speaker B:Sanctioned with the old European Tour, now DP World Tour.
Speaker B:But yeah, they did.
Speaker B:There was a fantastic camaraderie.
Speaker B:Guys travel around together, spent a lot of time together, loved going out and having a couple beers after the round and it was, it was, it was just a little bit more laid back than we have it here in the States.
Speaker A:Yeah, we could use a little more of that sometimes.
Speaker B:Yes, we could.
Speaker B:Yes, we could.
Speaker A:What did you plan on coming to the States?
Speaker A:Or is that just something that kind of evolved once you found out you were pretty good at golf and, you know, you got some inspiration from people like we just talked about with Nick Price and et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker A:Was that the big plan?
Speaker B:It was, Jeff.
Speaker B:I actually, right before I decided this was what I wanted to do, I actually got offered a professional cricket contract by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.
Speaker B:They came to the house, the head of the selectors came to the house and I wasn't home.
Speaker B:My dad was there and said, hey, we'd love Brennan to come and start training with the Zimbabwe national cricket team.
Speaker B:Luckily, I wasn't there.
Speaker B:And my dad said to him, well, I don't think he's going down that route.
Speaker B:He wants to go to college in the States.
Speaker B:So, yes, that was kind of the, that was always the, the goal for us was that we knew that the opportunities that college would create and would, you know, provide for us.
Speaker B:So that was kind of what you wanted to do.
Speaker B:If you were showed some, some decent, some decent quality as a golfer, you, you wanted to certainly try and come.
Speaker A:Over here and play someday on another show.
Speaker A:You're going to have to explain cricket to me.
Speaker B:That might have to be a long show.
Speaker A:A long show.
Speaker B:Long show, yeah, because I know when.
Speaker A:I've traveled overseas and sometimes the only thing on is a cricket match and I've stared at the boob tube for like an hour and a half.
Speaker A:Nothing really happened.
Speaker A:You know, they throw a few balls or whatever they call them and a guy with a square 2x4 up there swats them and nothing really happens.
Speaker B:So, yeah, if I put it on here at home, my kids will immediately walk out the room.
Speaker B:My wife Will she'll act like she's doing anything else.
Speaker B:It's not very well received in my household.
Speaker A:You know, cleaning the drain pipe might be more fun for him or something like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think she might have said something like that.
Speaker B:Either that or a root canal.
Speaker B:But yeah, yeah, it's different.
Speaker A:So did.
Speaker A:We're going to get a break here in a little bit, Brendan.
Speaker A:But was it a big change when you stepped off the plane when you first time you came to the States and you looked around?
Speaker A:I mean, the, the layouts are different.
Speaker A:You know, we still have greenery, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker A:But was, was it a real wow moment?
Speaker B:You know, Jeff, I'd come over a couple times prior to play, to play junior golf, but it was only down in Miami.
Speaker B:So Miami is obviously very different than Blacksburg, Virginia.
Speaker B:But yeah, I first got to college, wasn't too, too different.
Speaker B:I think if I, if I'd gone to college in a big city, that would have been more of a, more of a, an adjustment.
Speaker B:But the fact that I went into, to a small college town, essentially, it was more sort of the pace that I was used to, obviously, coming from Africa, from Zimbabwe.
Speaker B:So it really wasn't too much of an adjustment until that first winter hit, and then that was hard.
Speaker B:I, I was very, very close to getting on the plane, going home for, for our winter break in December and not coming back.
Speaker B:Like, I hated the cold.
Speaker A:Yeah, me too.
Speaker A:And I live there.
Speaker A:When you came over as a junior player, did your folks come with you or were you in a group and chaperones or whatever?
Speaker B:No, we were sent.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:The top two juniors at the time were sent over and we were kind of thrown in the deep end, left to fend for ourselves.
Speaker B:And it was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker B:It was a great way to grow up a little bit, get in a little bit of trouble that nobody else knew about.
Speaker B:And it was.
Speaker B:Yeah, we are.
Speaker B:We had an absolute ball over here every time we got sent.
Speaker B:So I, I say every time.
Speaker B:I came twice as a junior and, and both times just absolutely loved it.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Well, those, those teenage experiences stay with us, you know.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:For your entire life.
Speaker A:We're talking with Brendan DeYoung today from.
Speaker A:Well, he's from the States now, but he was from Zimbabwe.
Speaker A:And we're going to talk about his career coming back.
Speaker A:Also going to talk about the President's cup, because he played in the President's cup, so we're going to be talking about that.
Speaker A:We'd also like to thank before we Go to break your painter hills.
Speaker A:Natural beef.
Speaker A:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:I told you I was a cooking guy, Brendan.
Speaker A:And the Oregon Crab commission their Dungeness crab from sea to plate.
Speaker A:Anyway, Brendan and I will be back in just a minute.
Speaker A:Don't go away.
Speaker B:Foreign.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:JT here, you know, every week on Grilling at the Green, we bring you a travel tip and that is brought to you by the Westin dealerships.
Speaker A:I've known those guys since I was a kid, and they have one way of doing business.
Speaker A:It's called the Weston way.
Speaker A:It's family oriented, and there's no better people to deal with.
Speaker A:Check out Weston Kia on Southeast Stark in Gresham, Oregon.
Speaker A:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker A:It's green.
Speaker A:I'm JT today we're very fortunate to have Brendan DeYoung with us.
Speaker A:Brendan's a former tour player, now a media mogul and working his way up to.
Speaker A:He'll probably own a network one day or something.
Speaker A:Who knows, you know, like that.
Speaker A:Brendan, this is where we in the show.
Speaker A:I always ask our guest, and you're a perfect one for this.
Speaker A:A travel tip.
Speaker A:You know, we have golfers listening to the show and most of them say, oh, I ship my clubs or I did this or that.
Speaker A:There's more to travel than just shipping your sticks.
Speaker A:There's a lot of good things you could learn.
Speaker A:And you being an international player and traveler, what would you tell people?
Speaker B:I always, Jeff would make sure that I took at least two extra pairs of underwear in my carry on.
Speaker B:Always.
Speaker B:I, you know, it's, it's, there's nothing worse.
Speaker B:You can, you can wear clothes again if your bags get lost or if your bags get delayed, whatever.
Speaker B:But putting on dirty underwear is the worst thing after a nice shower.
Speaker B:So I always carry two extra pairs of underwear in my carry on bag.
Speaker A:That's maybe one of the best tips we ever got off the air.
Speaker A:I'll tell you about on a trip, I went and picked up my luggage and, and went to the hotel and it wasn't my luggage.
Speaker A:It was a sample bag of Victoria's Secret.
Speaker A:But that'll be another show altogether.
Speaker A:That's a true story, too.
Speaker A:We'd like to thank the folks at Kia Weston Kia in Oregon, Oregon's largest Kia deer dealer.
Speaker A:Thank you for supporting us here on this show.
Speaker A:And now we've got an excellent travel tip from Brendan.
Speaker A:So I wanted to talk about your career a little bit and, oh, I've got the stats here and there's lots of stats on that.
Speaker A:But you know, if you have a career and.
Speaker A:And these may be a little dated, so correct me, please, if I'm wrong, but you made 192 cuts, 28 top tens, 10 top fives, three thirds, and a couple of runner ups.
Speaker A:You know, that's a really pretty good career if you're familiar with playing on the big tours, because it's tough out there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's one glaring omission there, obviously, was that I.
Speaker B:I never was able to cross that finish line on tour.
Speaker B:Had plenty of really good opportunities.
Speaker B:A couple times it was my fault.
Speaker B:A couple times I just got beaten down the stretch.
Speaker B:Yeah, I certainly would have loved to have won on Tour, but other than that, I.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm pretty proud looking at.
Speaker B:Looking back at what I did achieve, you know, and there was a consistency as well.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I went through a long period there where I was, you know, always sort of in the top 50 on the money list for sort of five, six, seven years in a row.
Speaker B:So there was a nice consistency there.
Speaker B:But, yeah, as I say, obviously that one glaring omission is the lack of a win.
Speaker A:Well, I had a friend.
Speaker A:He's gone now, but I had a friend, and I was saying something.
Speaker A:We were golfing one day, and he looked at me and he.
Speaker A:He would.
Speaker A:When he wanted to make a point, he would always call me Jeffrey, which the only other person that did that was my mother.
Speaker A:And that would send piss shivers down my spine.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So he said, jeffrey, he said, there's a lot of excellent golfers on tour that make a really good living.
Speaker A:We were talking about distance, I guess, Brandon, he said, but they don't hit the ball over 275 yards.
Speaker A:So I don't know what you're complaining about because you're not a tour player either, but I remember the part of saying they make a very good living.
Speaker A:And if you were in the top 50, that was job security.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was, Jeff.
Speaker B:You know, obviously, it afforded me a nice lifestyle after the fact, you know, after I stopped playing.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was.
Speaker B:There was a consistency there, and I did.
Speaker B:I played a bunch of really good golf for.
Speaker B:For a lengthy period of time, you know, and it's hard.
Speaker B:It's hard to win on Tour.
Speaker B:I fully understand that.
Speaker B:As I say, just, I.
Speaker B:I wish I'd been able to just get across that finish line at least once.
Speaker A:Yeah, I can appreciate that.
Speaker A:I really can.
Speaker A:But still, like you said, you made a very nice living.
Speaker A:And your wife is still with you, so she didn't mind.
Speaker B:Yeah, she's well, she's.
Speaker B:She's still with me at the moment.
Speaker B:I think the more time I spend at home, she's.
Speaker B:She's kind of wishing I was still playing on tour.
Speaker B:Not for the money, but just for the fact that I was gone all the time.
Speaker A:But that clock's ticking, so to speak, Brendan.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's for another time.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:This is your bio, and I'm sure you've been asked this a million times, but you played with Alice Cooper.
Speaker A:Yeah, and.
Speaker A:And I've read his book.
Speaker A:Well, you played with Michael Bolton, too.
Speaker A:Yeah, I did get a chance to talk to Michael Bolton one time.
Speaker A:I've never talked to Alice Cooper.
Speaker A:I'd love to have him on the show because he is a golf maniac.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And what was that like?
Speaker A:Was it comparably.
Speaker A:Was that anything like playing with Tiger or Phil when you were playing with Cooper?
Speaker A:Was it a different vibe?
Speaker A:And how was his golf?
Speaker B:His golf was good, Jeff.
Speaker B:He was.
Speaker B:He was a good player.
Speaker B:Like a legitimate sort of 3, 4 handicap.
Speaker B:I played with Alice, I think it was actually out at Sony Open out in Hawaii.
Speaker B:And it was him and his manager, Shep Gordon, who I think may have managed the Beatles for a short while as well, but it was Alice, Shep Gordon, and one other.
Speaker B:And I tell you what, he was.
Speaker B:He was an absolute delight.
Speaker B:They were both an absolute delight.
Speaker B:Shep played barefoot the whole time.
Speaker B:And Alice.
Speaker B:Alice essentially was telling me that golf was now his fix.
Speaker B:He said, you know, obviously, I've dealt with, you name it, any kind of substance abuse you can think of or any kind of addiction.
Speaker B:Golf was now his fix.
Speaker B:He said he's got a very addictive personality, and this was kind of it now.
Speaker B:So he was seven days a week, you know, was.
Speaker B:Was at least what he was playing some days, 36 holes, and as I say, like a legitimate three or four handicap.
Speaker B:And he was just, you know, to listen to some of the stories were absolutely brilliant.
Speaker B:And he's a fantastic story storyteller as well, to go with it.
Speaker B:And then, you know, Michael Bolton on the flip side.
Speaker B:Michael Bolton was kind of a jerk.
Speaker B:But anyway, that, again, that's.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's just how it is.
Speaker A:Yeah, I've been that, you know, I played in some pro ams and covered pro ams and stuff.
Speaker A:Once in a while you run into those, unfortunately.
Speaker B:Yeah, it happens.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But the ones that are nice, like you were talking about Alice Cooper and that, they are.
Speaker A:They're just a dream to be around that day.
Speaker A:Or whenever you do it.
Speaker A:I can't imagine playing 36 holes a day, though.
Speaker A:I mean.
Speaker B:Well, you know, if it's going to keep you out of trouble.
Speaker B:It might be.
Speaker B:It might be a good recipe.
Speaker A:Yeah, I suppose.
Speaker A:I suppose like that.
Speaker A:What's your favorite?
Speaker A:We got about 20 seconds left here, Brendan, before we go to.
Speaker A:Before we go to break, what is your favorite memory of something that happened on tour?
Speaker B:Oh, man, you only gave me 20 seconds, Jeff.
Speaker B:I'd have to think for longer to.
Speaker A:We can, we can run over.
Speaker A:Well, you can think about it now.
Speaker A:We'll pick it up when we come back.
Speaker A:How's that?
Speaker B:Let's do that.
Speaker A:We burned up to 17 seconds talking about it, so let's do that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Brendan and I are going to be back after the break.
Speaker A:You're listening grilling at the green on the whatever.
Speaker A:Oh, Golf News Network and all the other stations.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening.
Speaker A:We'll be right back.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's jt.
Speaker A:You know, I talk about painted hills all the time and we always say beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:But it's more than that because each bite of painted hills will make your taste buds explode.
Speaker A:Put a big bright smile on your face and whoever's at your dinner table will have a big bright smile on their face.
Speaker A:And you can thank me for that later.
Speaker A:Just go to paintedhillsbeef.com and find out more.
Speaker A:You won't regret it.
Speaker A:Welcome back to grilling at the green today.
Speaker A:We have got Brendan DeYoung with us.
Speaker A:We'd like to thank our new sponsor, too.
Speaker A:Square shoes.
Speaker A:I think I got a squares hat on today.
Speaker A:They're really comfortable.
Speaker A:I've got funky feet.
Speaker A:When you get old and fat, your feet get funky.
Speaker A:You're gonna find out, Brendan.
Speaker A:So square shoes are really comfortable.
Speaker A:Anyway, I asked you before we went to the.
Speaker A:What was a favorite or the favorite memory of playing on tour?
Speaker B:Jeff, for me, it's gotta be my dad being able to caddy for me in the par three contest at.
Speaker B:@ Augusta.
Speaker B:I absolutely love that.
Speaker B:And then, you know, just to add to that, my daughter, I think at the time was maybe three or four, maybe five, whatever.
Speaker B:So for my dad to be catting for me and then his, his granddaughter walking along with us and putting out and stuff, that was.
Speaker B:That was a really cool experience.
Speaker B:And then obviously my wife and we had my little boy at the time were there to catch us at the end.
Speaker B:But that was fun, a really, really cool day.
Speaker B:And that's certainly up there for me.
Speaker A:Did they have the Bibs on the overall?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Yeah, they all had the bibs on.
Speaker A:Ah, that was.
Speaker A:That would be great.
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:My son actually took off running at one point.
Speaker B:I think he was maybe three at the time.
Speaker B:He took off running at one point, and he.
Speaker B:He ran through this, like, little white picket fence, and all of a sudden, these, like, three or four green jackets pop up out of the blue.
Speaker B:Like, I don't know where these guys are stationed, but they just.
Speaker B:They pop up like ghosts.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:These guys were so concerned that he was hurt, you know, and they're making a huge fuss over him.
Speaker B:And the only thing he wanted out of running over this fence was some Cheetos.
Speaker B:So they.
Speaker B:All of a sudden, right away, they came up with a couple packets of Cheetos.
Speaker B:I don't know where they found those, but things are done differently at Augusta.
Speaker A:I think our Secret Service should take some.
Speaker A:Take some lessons from those guys, how to blend in and stuff, maybe.
Speaker A:Just a thought.
Speaker A:So we've got the President's cup coming up this week.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You played it in 13.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:What was that experience like for you?
Speaker B:Without a doubt, the highlight of my golfing career on the golf course.
Speaker B:It was just so much fun.
Speaker B:I was fortunate enough to play all 14 matches with Ernie Else, who was someone that I'd grown up looking up to to play for Nick Price as my captain, who was definitely my idol growing up.
Speaker B:You know, it was just an absolute dream come true.
Speaker B:The only thing that we got robbed of was some time in that team room.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The weather was shocking that week, so we were not back to the hotel and sort of until about 9:10 every night, and then leaving at sort of 4:35 every morning.
Speaker B:So it limited our time in that team room, but what we were able to spend in there was just absolutely brilliant.
Speaker B:And then getting to know those guys, so.
Speaker B:And, you know, forging relationships that have turned out into some of my best friends, really.
Speaker A:Oh, good for you.
Speaker A:Good for you.
Speaker A:I got a confession to make, Brendan.
Speaker A:I actually kind of like watching the President's cup more than the Ryder Cup.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker A:Yeah, I do, and I'll tell you why.
Speaker A:Yeah, the.
Speaker A:There's a lot more hype about the Ryder Cup.
Speaker A:Yeah, there just is.
Speaker A:Secondly, there's always some European players on the Ryder cup that I don't know who they are.
Speaker A:I mean, just like this.
Speaker A:And I think with the President's cup, you get that international flavor, you know, you got.
Speaker A:Even though you were living in the States, you're representing Zimbabwe, you got people from Asia, you Got Europe, you got Africa, you got Australia, you got all that.
Speaker A:And I think that's kind of more of a.
Speaker A:You got Adam Scott in there, you know, doing stuff like that.
Speaker A:And nothing against the Ryder Cup.
Speaker A:I mean, if I said that in front of Rory, he'd probably hit me.
Speaker A:But I just think it's a more fun atmosphere and.
Speaker A:And the golf, a lot of times, to me, is better.
Speaker A:So that's just me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, no, I think you.
Speaker B:You probably would find yourself in a minority there, Jeff, but.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:No, I can see certainly where you're coming from, but in saying that, I think it's very, very important that the Internationals win this year.
Speaker B:And I know a lot of people have talked about it, but the fact that I think this is the 15th version of.
Speaker B:And the Internationals have only won once, I think there's one win and one tie in the 14 previous.
Speaker B:You know, obviously, we talk about a competition, and the competition, you need both teams to.
Speaker B:To be pulling their weight.
Speaker B:So I think it's very, very important for the Internationals to go out and get a win this year.
Speaker B:And honestly, I've kind of got a warm fuz inside of me that I think this is going to be the year.
Speaker A:It could well be.
Speaker A:And like I said, I really enjoy watching the President's Cup.
Speaker A:Nothing against the Writer Cup.
Speaker A:I watched that, too.
Speaker A:I watched the Solheim Cup.
Speaker A:I watch all that stuff, but I just.
Speaker A:For some reason, it just.
Speaker A:It's not about me, but I do like to watch the.
Speaker A:The President's Cup.
Speaker A:What advice would you give the international team this year?
Speaker A:You honestly got your finger on the pulse?
Speaker B:Yeah, no, no, I.
Speaker B:I would say, well, for one, just soak it all in, like, enjoy.
Speaker B:Enjoy the week for what it is.
Speaker B:You know, you don't get to.
Speaker B:You don't get to play much team golf, really, at all throughout the year.
Speaker B:This is your one opportunity to.
Speaker B:To really forge some friendships and to.
Speaker B:To really get to know some of the guys and their families, their wives, kids, whatever.
Speaker B:So just.
Speaker B:Just take all of that in and enjoy it and, you know, just soak in the entire week.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, it's an experience of a lifetime.
Speaker B:It really is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:For that.
Speaker A:Well, I would.
Speaker A:I would think that would be some really good.
Speaker A:Marvin, stay down.
Speaker A:I got a new cat.
Speaker A:New studio cat here.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Stay.
Speaker A:Sit.
Speaker A:Yeah, he minds like hell anyway.
Speaker A:I just think those types of things are so much fun.
Speaker A:That's what, to me, attracts people to golf, too.
Speaker A:Besides the individual thing, I mean, you've looked at TV numbers from the pro tours.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they've kind of declined for various reasons, me being in the media business a long time.
Speaker A:One of the reasons I think that is, is because they jammed up all the majors at the beginning of the year, you know, like that.
Speaker A:But that's, that's a discussion people can have.
Speaker A:But I think that stuff like, you know, President's Cup, Ryder Cup, Solheim cup, like that, I, I think it's, I think it does well for golf like that.
Speaker A:What, Brendan, what do you think this current state of golf is in general for hackers like me to the pros?
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:How do you, what's your overview on that?
Speaker B:You know, honestly, Jeff Gold golf as a whole, I think, is in a really strong place.
Speaker B:I think it's.
Speaker B:I think it's fantastic at the moment.
Speaker B:I mean, jeez, you don't have to look very far to, to see just what the prices are doing as far as initiations are to get into golf course, what wait lists are.
Speaker B:So I think as far as a whole, golf is in a very, very strong place.
Speaker B:I mean, obviously, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that professional golf is kind of fractured at the moment.
Speaker B:It's, it's.
Speaker B:Listen, I think that all the viewer really wants is to see the best golfers playing against each other as often, and we're not there at the moment, unfortunately.
Speaker B:There's too many guys that are, for lack of a better term, just trying to line their pockets.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And it's going to take somebody a whole lot smarter than me to figure out exactly what it's going to take.
Speaker B:But common sense wise says they should be something that's not that difficult to figure out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What if you were still playing when Liv came along?
Speaker A:Would you have considered playing for him or would you?
Speaker B:I would have, Yeah.
Speaker B:I would have.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I don't hold anything against any of those guys that took the opportunity.
Speaker B:I do wish that maybe a few guys had been a little bit more forthcoming with why they were going over there.
Speaker B:I love the fact that Harald Varner said, listen, these, these guys are offering me an amount of money that I cannot say no to, and I'm going to take it.
Speaker B:I didn't grow up with a whole lot.
Speaker B:I wish we'd heard more of that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:As opposed to guys saying, oh, I'm moving over there to grow the game.
Speaker B:I don't feel like that was the, the case with, with many of those guys.
Speaker A:I actually don't like that saying because I don't think we do a very good job of it.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's an overused cliche.
Speaker A:And then for the example you just cited, I think that we should be careful about that.
Speaker A:Do you think the fracture can be healed?
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:I mean, I think everything's going to take some time.
Speaker B:I think the fact that, listen, once all of this they sort of come to a pass, then you're still dealing with the doj, and then you're looking at still probably another year once the DOJ gets involved in all of this.
Speaker B:I don't think that our fix is very close, to be honest.
Speaker B:And I hate the fact that we hear on one hand guys that are close to the whole situation Jordan Spieth saying talks are progressing really nicely.
Speaker B:Then you hear Rory McElroy the next day saying, well, we're kind of at an impulse here and nothing's happening.
Speaker B:So I really don't know which, which one to believe.
Speaker B:I just, I would love like, like the rest of golf fans to, to see something get resolved.
Speaker A:I guess.
Speaker A:If you could.
Speaker A:Excuse me, Brandon.
Speaker A:If you could track Tiger's jet and you knew he was going to a meeting, but he won't tell you anything anyway.
Speaker A:So, you know, he's, he's a master at that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, and that's kind of it now.
Speaker B:You know, every now and then we hear that there's some meeting taking place in New York, but I think everybody's kind of become sort of almost null to that, that we're not numb to it.
Speaker B:We're not expecting to hear anything that comes out of those meetings.
Speaker B:So nobody seems to too interested anymore.
Speaker A:No, I think you're right.
Speaker A:I think you're right.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:To me, it's just unfortunate that it happened the way it happened.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think there was plenty of room, but in my take, Greg Norman wanting to poke a finger in the eye of the tour and other tour guys wanting to poke the finger back.
Speaker A:I think that's a layman's term if you don't know that, Brendan.
Speaker A:I just think that was very unfortunate for the game.
Speaker A:Anyway, Brendan and I are going to take a break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back, wrap up the show, and then he's going to suffer the trials and tribulations of after hours.
Speaker A:He doesn't know it yet, but he will.
Speaker A:We'll be right back.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, J.T.
Speaker A:here.
Speaker A:If you need something to practice with in the inclement weather, try birdie ball.
Speaker A:Go to birdieball.com check out the actual birdie balls Their packages, their putting greens, which I happen to have a couple of those, and they work great.
Speaker A:Birdieball.com welcome back to Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening.
Speaker A:If you're listening on terrestrial radio or if you're listening on the Golf News Network on iHeart and the other streams we are on today, we've got Brendan Deyong with us again.
Speaker A:We'd like to thank the people at Oregon Dungeness Crab from sea to plate, Painter Hills, Natural beef squares, Grilla Grills, all the people that support us.
Speaker A:We really appreciate that.
Speaker A:If you could get a dream foursome, and this is a common question, but if you could get a dream foursome to play, who would it be?
Speaker A:Any play, I mean, from old top Morris to whomever, who would that be?
Speaker B:You know, I would have to say my dad would be part of it.
Speaker B:He's, he's still, he's 87 years old now and he still loves to get out and play some Jack.
Speaker B:He was a huge Jack Nicklaus fan growing up.
Speaker B:So I guess my dad with Jack Nicklaus and I would, I would throw Nick Price in there.
Speaker B:The Zimbabwe flavor would certainly be.
Speaker B:Be a part of it.
Speaker B:My dad has met Nick a few times.
Speaker B:They, they've had a couple beers together and get on really well.
Speaker B:So I think that could be day.
Speaker A:Does your dad live in the States or is he back in Zimbabwe?
Speaker B:No, he's in the States now.
Speaker B:They, they moved across about five years ago now.
Speaker B:So my mom and dad actually, they live on our property, so I, I see a lot of them.
Speaker A:Oh, good for you.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's nice.
Speaker A:That's a good son deal right there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Sometimes feels like it's too good of a sun deal, but that's all right.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know that deal.
Speaker A:Yeah, we had a family ranch, so there you go.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:As big as it was, sometimes it felt really crowded.
Speaker B:Yeah, I fully understand.
Speaker B:We're kind of the same way.
Speaker B:We've.
Speaker B:We got 26 acres out here and sometimes it feels like it's everybody's on top of everybody, but.
Speaker B:No, it's been nice.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, it's better than living in an 800 square foot apartment.
Speaker B:True.
Speaker A:Oh, what else have you got going on?
Speaker A:Before we jump into after hours here, what else have you got going on?
Speaker A:You're doing some media work for Tour Live and you've done some stuff for Golf Channel.
Speaker A:Are they gonna bump you up to cbs, NBC anytime soon?
Speaker B:Not that I've heard of.
Speaker B:If you know something I don't, Jeff, let me Know, but I will.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, you know, at the moment it's enough.
Speaker B:I, I've got probably, I would say this year was 20 to 25 weeks of, of where I was doing stuff.
Speaker B:You know, I finally got to the point now where I'm enjoying going on boys trips to go, go play some cool places which you know, throughout my career I always said no because when I was home I just wanted to be home.
Speaker B:Now it's the opposite when I' to go on some boys trips.
Speaker B:But no, it's, it's been enough.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:And, and I've enjoyed everything on that side of it.
Speaker B:I really have.
Speaker B:There's, there's a lot more to it than I, I understood when I was playing.
Speaker B:Actually said this to somebody the other day that as a, as a rookie on tour you always have to do an orientation deal.
Speaker B:I feel like part of your rookie orientation should be to go sit in a production truck and see exactly what happens to make you look good.
Speaker B:And then I think these guys would stop yelling at cameramen when they're moving and stuff.
Speaker B:But yeah, it' it's really is cool being on that side of it and seeing everything that goes in.
Speaker A:I think that's a great idea that you had there.
Speaker A:I think you should, maybe they can't get the, the live tour thing sorted, but they can at least do that.
Speaker A:You know, small steps.
Speaker A:Small steps, yeah.
Speaker A:Does your wife, when you do these guys trips now, does your wife help you pack?
Speaker B:We haven't got to that point yet.
Speaker B:You know, she's, she's always very excited for me to go, but then there's always seems to be something that goes wrong when I'm gone.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:She wants me to be gone but doesn't want me to have fun while I'm gone.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can't.
Speaker A:Well, I learned that a long time ago because I traveled weekly for a long time.
Speaker A:And you have to pick the time when you call home.
Speaker A:You have to know when things are kind of calmed down, they've had dinner or whatever or first thing in the morning when they're on the rush to get the kids out the door and they've got about two minutes to talk to you.
Speaker A:That works out really good.
Speaker A:But if you call them in the middle of the day, that's a bad deal.
Speaker A:Maynard.
Speaker B:I'm figuring all this out the hard way, Jeff, but I'm about to that point now.
Speaker B:You're exactly right.
Speaker B:I know if I call at like 7:45 that she's got to take my daughter to school by 7:50.
Speaker B:So, yeah, you know, it's going to be a short, A short conversation and, you know, you just, you call and you're very concerned and checking in and.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's figuring it out slowly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's when you hang up the phone, you look at your guys and go, let's play.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Where's that Bloody Mary?
Speaker B:Let's go.
Speaker A:So, Brendan, how can people find out more about what you're doing?
Speaker A:Do you have a website or your social media handles?
Speaker A:I know you're posting a few things here and there.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:You know, Jeff, I was the guy.
Speaker B:I feel like the world's biggest hypocrite because I used to wear my wife and kids out about being on social media all the time.
Speaker B:And then when I got on this side of it, all of a sudden I had to start my own social of stuff.
Speaker B:So I'm.
Speaker B:I'm very slow to the game, but I'm figuring it out.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I do now have accounts with whatever it's called.
Speaker B:Twitter, X.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Instagram, Facebook and.
Speaker B:And all of that stuff now.
Speaker A:Well, I'll have to.
Speaker A:I know we follow each other on LinkedIn, but I'll have to.
Speaker A:I'll have to.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Twit.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or something.
Speaker B:Yeah, Twit me.
Speaker B:And then I also, I do a.
Speaker B:I do a podcast with.
Speaker B:With Johnson Wagner.
Speaker B:We do the.
Speaker B:The Wagu Filet show, which is our.
Speaker B:Our podcast that we do kind of sporadically at the moment, but that should become more regular, hopefully starting next year.
Speaker A:Hey, if you ever wanted somebody to come on and talk about barbecue and grilling, I'm your guy.
Speaker B:There we go.
Speaker A:I can do that because Frank has been on the show a few times.
Speaker A:Well, Lisa, too, and a number of them.
Speaker A:But when Frank gets on the show, he'll only allow me, like, make two segments to talk about golf.
Speaker A:And then we got to talk about barbecue.
Speaker A:And I got to send him.
Speaker A:Get him tips and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Which problem?
Speaker B:Frank Darbolo.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:He's like, first time he was on, he was like, hey, this show has grilling in the title.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:He goes, well, we haven't talked about food yet.
Speaker B:And I said, okay, tell him to send you some good wine to pair up with the food, and you guys will be even.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I hinted about that, but I did get him some.
Speaker A:I did get him some rubs sent to him, and I got him hooked up with a national barbecue magazine and a few other things, so.
Speaker B:Oh, very nice.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Anyway, Brendan Deyoung thank you, buddy.
Speaker A:You're gonna stick around for after hours, but it's been a real pleasure to meet you and to have you on the show.
Speaker B:Oh, thanks for having me, Jeff.
Speaker B:Lots of fun.
Speaker B:And yeah, I'd love to.
Speaker B:Love to hang around for after hours.
Speaker A:Yeah, we can do that.
Speaker A:We're gonna get out of here.
Speaker A:I hope you all have an enjoyable week.
Speaker A:Enjoy the president's cup.
Speaker A:Cup.
Speaker A:Enjoy your fall and don't lose too much money on college football or the president's cup.
Speaker A:I guess I can bet on president's cup now.
Speaker A:I would think probably.
Speaker B:I think so.
Speaker B:I think so.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker A:Anyway, good luck out there, everybody.
Speaker A:We'll see you next week.
Speaker A:And remember, go out, play some golf.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker A:And most of all, be kind.
Speaker A:Grilling at the green is produced by JTSD Productions, llc in association with Salem media group.
Speaker A:All rights reserve.
