Gary Van Sickle - Golf Writer Encore
The recent merger between the LIV Golf League and the PGA Tour has elicited profound reactions within the golfing community, as it fundamentally alters the landscape of professional golf. This episode delves into the implications of this unexpected union, examining the sentiments of players who may feel betrayed by the rapid shift in allegiances and loyalties. Gary Van Sickle joins us to analyze the motivations behind the merger, particularly the financial realities that necessitated such a drastic decision. As we explore the ramifications of this consolidation, we also reflect on the historical context of controversies in golf and consider how this merger may redefine the sport's future. Ultimately, we confront the overarching influence of financial interests in shaping the direction of professional golf, a theme that resonates throughout this discussion.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Birdie Ball
- PGA Tour
- LIV
- DP World Tour
- Sports Illustrated
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Grilling at the Green.
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Speaker A:Big happenings in golf.
Speaker A:And so the only guy I know that can handle it with his head nodded to explode is Gary Van Sickle.
Speaker A:Gary, welcome.
Speaker B:I don't know what to say about that, Jeff.
Speaker B:Crazy day.
Speaker B:I feel like we just landed at the beach at Normandy.
Speaker B:That's where we are golf right now.
Speaker B:And the other side said, no, we're on.
Speaker B:Where the Germans came out and said, we're on your side now.
Speaker B:And everybody on the beach said, what?
Speaker B:Yeah, Nobody told us.
Speaker A:Well, believe me, my father would have loved that because he was there.
Speaker B:A lot of people would have liked to have had a nicer reception there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I had planned.
Speaker A:And we will do it later in the show.
Speaker A:We were going to take a PGA review and a US Open preview, but I think we have to cover the obvious.
Speaker A:It caught me completely off guard.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I was actually on the phone to somebody and it popped up on a.
Speaker A:Like does on so many of our screens, this little message thing.
Speaker A:And I said, I can't believe this, what I just read.
Speaker A:And there it was.
Speaker A:And then I heard your buddy Eamon lynch and Brando Chamblee start crying in Florida, even though or Connecticut or wherever they are today.
Speaker A:But it just, it.
Speaker A:I think it just shocked the world.
Speaker A:And then like we said before we started recording here, I've never seen so many heads explode as I have today.
Speaker A:So have you seen anything like this in your career?
Speaker A:I mean, besides the TED offensive?
Speaker B:Golf is a low controversy sport.
Speaker B:I mean, what controversies have we had?
Speaker B:You know, not like people Run around going, I can't believe Norman hit a seven iron on 18.
Speaker B:He should have hit eight iron.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's the kind of cut, you know, he had Martha Burke and the uprising of the.
Speaker B:The women, which ultimately was successful, but wasn't that year.
Speaker B:We just haven't had anything like this.
Speaker B:And the thing is, Scott Van Pelt had a great tweet, and I wish I'd written it down, but the gist of it was all these guys stood behind the two, you know, telling the commissioner, yeah, we're behind you.
Speaker B:We're loyal.
Speaker B:We're not.
Speaker B:We're turning down all that millions, and now you're taking the money instead of us.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:What's going on?
Speaker B:And I think that's the attitude of a lot of players.
Speaker B:They feel betrayed.
Speaker B:I think they were betrayed.
Speaker B:Commissioner Jay Monahan was playing hardball.
Speaker B:We're talking about, of course, the live merging with Right J Tour and the DP World Tour.
Speaker B:And it's just a shocker because they've been playing serious, serious enemies.
Speaker B:But, you know, there's a lot of things happen.
Speaker B:For one thing, the.
Speaker B:The Saudis don't have to go to court now and reveal their records of how they do business, which they really didn't want to do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:The Tour doesn't have to go to court and reveal.
Speaker B:Open their books, which they.
Speaker B:They didn't want to do.
Speaker B:They've done it.
Speaker B:I think they had to do it once in the past, but they didn't.
Speaker B:They didn't want to do that.
Speaker B:So there was probably two of the biggest reasons.
Speaker B:Money talks.
Speaker B:And ultimately, end of the day, this is another.
Speaker B:Money trumps everything, morals, everything.
Speaker B:So I wish money's the big winner here, Jeff.
Speaker A:Yeah, it is.
Speaker A:And, Gary, I wish you and I were right about now sitting in that players locker room, meeting room, wherever it is up there at the rbc, because they're having a meeting about this.
Speaker A:And that ought to be damned interesting.
Speaker B:Well, it's another reminder.
Speaker B:Somebody tweeted, I think Daniel Rapaport tweeted that the.
Speaker B:This is crazy, that players didn't know anything about it.
Speaker B:The players run their tour.
Speaker B:It's like, no, they don't.
Speaker B:They never have.
Speaker B:This is just another reminder that, yeah, players do not run the tour.
Speaker B:They've got a player, player council, player advisory council.
Speaker B:They should just disband that right now because it's meaningless.
Speaker B:This is the kind of thing that should be put up to a vote of the membership, not decided by the guys who were getting the money.
Speaker B:And I'm sure, somebody will ask this.
Speaker B:We'll never get an answer.
Speaker B:But did the hierarchy of the PGA Tour get some kind of payout to go along with this?
Speaker B:Like Phil and Brooks Koepka and Bryson Dechambeau?
Speaker B:I mean, I don't.
Speaker B:Probably not.
Speaker B:I'm just saying all speculation is, you know, has to be considered at this point.
Speaker A:So I'm guessing in a deal like.
Speaker B:Nobody saw this coming.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I'm guessing, Gary, in a deal like that, they may not have directly got some money, but I bet you there were some considerations made.
Speaker A:That's what they called that.
Speaker B:You know, if you're Jay Monahan, you just got control of the whole world of golf, which he kind of had, but now he's in control of Liv and everything.
Speaker B:So he's now.
Speaker B:He's now the emperor.
Speaker B:If you go back to Flash Gordon, which was a horrible movie in the 80s, but Jay can now play the role of Ming the Merciless.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:The movie's horrible, but there's a great moment where they're having a party, a celebration for something or other, an official one.
Speaker B:And this rocket goes across the sky.
Speaker B:It says, drink and be merry.
Speaker B:And then another one follows behind it with another banner that says, upon pain of death.
Speaker B:So everything's going along great now, and Jay Monahan rules, maybe with an iron fist, maybe with a velvet glove.
Speaker B:We don't know.
Speaker B:Greg Norman, you know, you think you were surprised.
Speaker B:Apparently, Greg Norman got a call a few minutes before the announcement, and they told him he was probably out of a job.
Speaker B:I don't see him being on any kind of committee with Emperor Monahan, so.
Speaker A:Oh, no.
Speaker A:Oh, no.
Speaker B:It's a funny.
Speaker B:It's a funny day.
Speaker A:That may have been one of those considerations.
Speaker A:Excuse me.
Speaker A:That I talked about that, you know, Greg the Terrible got banned back to Australia or New Zealand or Zimbabwe or someplace.
Speaker A:That could have happened.
Speaker A:That could have.
Speaker A:Like you said, we won't know about that.
Speaker A:And there'll be little drips and drabs come out, but we won't know that.
Speaker A:But I'm pretty sure that Norman may be cleaning up his office right now in London.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, we don't know how this is going to work out, but I think that money thing was the key thing.
Speaker B:Also, this.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The big winner.
Speaker B:And this might ultimately be the DP Year World Tour, formerly the European Tour.
Speaker B:They're dying on the vine.
Speaker B:Anybody who gets any good leaves to go to the US and anybody who used to be good and had a name went to live.
Speaker B:They got Their tournaments being won by guys named Tom McKibben and, you know, Pablo Lar Thouble and guys like that.
Speaker B:The stars have all left.
Speaker B:I mean, Rom and Rory and a few guys, they come back and play a couple times, but they're not like playing 15 times.
Speaker B:They're playing no, a few and a lot of their tournaments are not even on continental Europe.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:If you're a European golf fan, the European Tour is a distant memory.
Speaker B:It's not like it used to be.
Speaker B:So if the live money and I really thought originally the way live should have gone was they should have merged with the European Tour and put that tour up there and giving them all these big purses because that would have drawn maybe some of those players back home.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:So they have trouble getting sponsors and now they've got some live money.
Speaker B:So maybe they're going to use this to bolster the year the DP World Tour and have some bigger events or we don't know how.
Speaker B:We don't know how it's going to work.
Speaker B:We don't know any details.
Speaker B:But I think, I think that tour hat was in some said some serious financial issues coming their way.
Speaker B:And this might, this might help get out of that, but we don't know how it's going to work.
Speaker B:You know, we might wind up with the super tour that Greg Norman originally wanted.
Speaker B:60 guys from the whole world playing, you know, for billions of dollars and everybody else can, you know, go play in the Korn Ferry Tour and that this might turn into that this might be the elevated events turned up a notch.
Speaker A:It could be.
Speaker A:We're going to take a break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Gary Van Sickle from Sports Illustrated.
Speaker A:Morning.
Speaker A:Read whatever you want to call it.
Speaker A:Gary still plugging out those stories and does a great job.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're going to be right back, talk some more about the merger and then we will talk about the review and the preview right after this.
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Speaker A:So we're talking about the news that broke just a couple hours ago with live and the PGA Tour merging.
Speaker A:And, you know, you touched on something in the last segment, Gary.
Speaker A:There was a lot of tournaments that were felt very slighted and I'm putting that mildly with the elevated status.
Speaker A:And some of these tournaments had been around for years and always supported the Tour and the players and, you know, did all the right things.
Speaker A:Then they come in with the elevated status and now you got merged with Live.
Speaker A:I've just kind of been thinking this morning about what happens to those events.
Speaker A:They already got pushed aside once within the last year.
Speaker A:Now they've, you know, feasibly they're being pushed aside even more with the live events and if they do any type of, you know, team competitions or a live type format, integrate that into the Tour, so on and so on.
Speaker A:We don't know yet.
Speaker A:But I would think those guys that are running those tours and the sponsors for those tours are probably pretty unhappy today.
Speaker B:Yeah, they were unhappy before.
Speaker B:And then you've got the added factor that the tourists told all these elevated events with the bigger purses, the Tour this year coughed up that extra 10 million and the Tour has informed these other events we're not doing that next year.
Speaker B:You got to come up with that money on your own now.
Speaker B:So all of a sudden the Tour may have priced itself out of some sponsorships, but I think that's one of the reasons, I think the Tour realized, besides all the legal wranglings, looked at the Saudis and realized if we're going to go big money, we can't beat them at that game.
Speaker B:And frankly, we can't keep up.
Speaker B:We can't run a deficit, take money out of our reserves every year now just to match these guys.
Speaker B:So that might have been a factor where we don't want to pull $100 million out of our, out of our reserves to keep up with LIV and stay, keep these, elevate these big purses going.
Speaker B:So I wonder if we're going to see a slight reduction in purses after all this stuff settles or I don't know.
Speaker B:And then you've got the Ryder cup, which probably this means at least the American players who run liv, if they're the captain, Zach Johnson wants them, they're probably going to be allowed to play.
Speaker B:I don't know about the Europeans because they all resigned their memberships.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Frankly, I don't know who's on live that really would benefit being on the, the Ryder cup team.
Speaker B:Sergio Garcia hasn't really lit up the world or Henrik Stenson, none of those guys.
Speaker B:Al Sensen was supposed to be the captain.
Speaker B:So it's not gonna, not gonna really affect the.
Speaker B:Help the European team much.
Speaker B:But the Ryder cup, you know, you can, you can probably figure Dustin Johnson and Brooks Kep are going to be in the Ryder cup team now and maybe even DeChambeau.
Speaker A:You know, it's hard to beat a competition that's got the world's largest, largest printing machine in the back room for money, because they can just run that thing 24 7, which is like pumping oil.
Speaker A:And so I, I wonder, and we don't know the details yet, but I'm just throwing this out there, Gary, and speculation.
Speaker A:I wonder how long these discussions have been going on and if Norman knew anything about them or got wind of them.
Speaker A:Because if, and I'm, I'm, believe me, I'm not taking credit for anything.
Speaker A:I don't, I'm not a part of any of this.
Speaker A:But if you remember one of our first conversations about live, and I think I told you off the air, you've got to be careful of working with some of those boys over there, because if they get, if you bring them too much bad press or they're tired of you, they drop you like a hot pile of camel stuff.
Speaker B:You know, they're also known for, you know, not living up to their end of the bargain, whether it's money or services provided or whatever.
Speaker B:So now you're now your business partners with those guys, you know, and he had this moral high ground, and you were adamant about it.
Speaker B:And that's the thing.
Speaker B:You play total hardball, and you were saying how bad that we bet it was, and now, now suddenly it's okay.
Speaker B:It's a dramatic turnaround, and a lot of people aren't going to forget that.
Speaker B:And it's, you know, even though Phil Mickelson feels vindicated, perhaps, I don't think a lot of other PGA Tours players really feel that way.
Speaker B:And I don't think they're going to feel this, this turnaround was worth it.
Speaker B:Jay Monahan, I mean, how are you going to believe anything Jay Monahan says in the future?
Speaker A:It must have been a hell of a set of new silk sheets.
Speaker A:Is the only thing I can say to get them to crawl into bed together.
Speaker B:Well, it solves a lot of problems.
Speaker B:That gets their last, their big issue off the table, and you get focused on golf.
Speaker B:But all this crap about, oh, we're here to grow the game, this and that.
Speaker B:It's, hey, we can't.
Speaker B:We're losing money on this.
Speaker B:We got to fix it.
Speaker B:And yeah, if we merge, we can get some sponsors and we can get some of their money, which is what I thought the World DP World Tour was going to do.
Speaker B:They were desperate.
Speaker B:I thought they might just look the other way and say, yeah, we'll take the money.
Speaker B:They didn't.
Speaker B:And as it turns out, they're going to wind up getting it anyway.
Speaker B:So maybe it'll be a win win.
Speaker B:It just doesn't look good the way it happened.
Speaker A:Wonder what that guy that runs Raython.
Speaker B:How about that?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Wonder what he thinks of all this.
Speaker B:They got turned down for the sponsorship of the Dallas Tour stop because they were connected to the Saudis and the tour didn't permit that.
Speaker B:Well, it's okay now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:How about all the pisses?
Speaker B:Much like everybody who didn't get a Covid shot and got lost their jobs.
Speaker B:And then it turns out, yeah, those shots were dangerous for men, you know, between 18 and 35 and didn't really do that much.
Speaker B:The tune changed, but nobody got apologies and nobody got their jobs back.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't.
Speaker A:Man, this is a.
Speaker A:This is a big pill to swallow.
Speaker A:No pun intended on this because, well, I, I saw.
Speaker A:I was reading some tweets before you came on the show and as I mentioned, you have shamblee and had Eamon lynch and some other people just still railing.
Speaker A:But they were holding their position.
Speaker A:Whether you agreed with them or not.
Speaker A:I'll give them credit.
Speaker A:They were holding their position.
Speaker B:But then I'll bet they.
Speaker B:I bet they don't continue airing it.
Speaker B:Talking about it on the air, though.
Speaker A:Not a bit.
Speaker B:That's going to be the end of them bringing it up.
Speaker A:Yeah, that is.
Speaker A:That's going to be verboten very soon.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Gary Van Sickle right after this.
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Speaker A:We're talking with Gary Van Sickle today.
Speaker A:Big news this morning, the merger.
Speaker A:You know, I just thought of something a little slow today, I guess, but.
Speaker B:That'S twice this year.
Speaker A:I know, I know.
Speaker A:Hold on now.
Speaker A:Don't everybody go crazy here?
Speaker A:I wonder if this has to be approved by the SEC or somebody like that, some government entity.
Speaker A:Because they are.
Speaker A:Even though they're supposedly an ally, they're a foreign power.
Speaker A:PGA Tour is a 501C3 and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:There's got to be some legal wrangling behind that.
Speaker A:Knowing the people in Washington now, they probably go that.
Speaker A:Oh, that's okay.
Speaker A:But I'm just wondering about that.
Speaker B:Well, the Tour is going to retain its 501C and remain a charitable organization.
Speaker B:And they're forming a new entity yet to be named online.
Speaker B:I suggested the Global Golf and Murder, Inc.
Speaker B:As a possible name that probably won't be the winner.
Speaker B:You know, if somebody else said Bonesaw Incorporated or something, I don't know.
Speaker A:Yeah, the Greg Norman Memorial Fund.
Speaker B:I mean, you can.
Speaker B:I don't know if anybody oversees this, but no matter where you stood on Liv, like it or not, I mean, to me there was always, hey, it's just more golf.
Speaker B:So what?
Speaker B:Let anybody who wants to go take the money.
Speaker B:Big deal.
Speaker B:The two things that I think are interesting are it.
Speaker B:It didn't seem like LIV was really gaining any traction.
Speaker B:The telecasts aren't.
Speaker B:They're on the cw.
Speaker B:It's still early, but they were hard to watch.
Speaker B:They're still irrelevant.
Speaker B:Exhibitions.
Speaker B:They had no sign of being anything but that.
Speaker B:Nobody cares about the team thing.
Speaker B:No matter how many team names they change, they.
Speaker B:They just were, you know, they were just going nowhere in a hurry.
Speaker B:So I'm a little.
Speaker B:I'm surprised that the two are suddenly, you know, instead of waiting them out is going to take them on.
Speaker B:And the other thing is, at the end of the day, you're still back to the truth that in our lifetimes, 911 was the pearl harbor of our parents lifetime and grandparents lifetime.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And that's a day people haven't forgotten.
Speaker B:They never will forget.
Speaker B:You can't undo any of that.
Speaker B:And this is the government.
Speaker B:This is the country where most of Those perpetrators were from.
Speaker B:And you know, Billy Dunn apparently helped get this thing going and he lost a lot of friends at 911 in the tower.
Speaker B:And it's surprising.
Speaker B:I guess he's a diplomat, I guess he had a vision.
Speaker B:But it's just surprising that this could get done given Liv's lack of really traction and you know, who's behind it in the whole 911 thing.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm.
Speaker B:I don't want to sound like I'm on Brandle's chambly side on this because he became kind of a one note.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, one note pony that's supposed to a one trick pony just over and over again.
Speaker B:It's like everybody moved on.
Speaker B:Forget it.
Speaker B:But that, that is always going to be there.
Speaker B:And now the PGA Tour is riding that horse and to some extent it's always going to be dirty money.
Speaker B:But everybody will probably forget that in the year.
Speaker B:You know, the sports washing worked once again.
Speaker A:Yeah, it did it.
Speaker B:Money's the big winner.
Speaker B:Money wins.
Speaker A:Money wins.
Speaker A:I'm curious though, and we'll just have to see going forward.
Speaker A:When you were talking about, you know, team events and that type of thing, I think for the average American golf weekend warrior hack, what.
Speaker A:I don't care what you call them, they enjoy the game.
Speaker A:I think their two big team events or maybe three Presidents Cup, Ryder cup and the Solheim Cup, I think that's about all they like, you know, because those are mostly played in the, in what they used to call the silly season or the off season and that type of thing.
Speaker A:And that gives them something to look forward to a month or so into the fall and after that.
Speaker A:But I don't see them.
Speaker A:And it's reflective in the numbers of the viewers and stuff of.
Speaker A:And the streaming numbers and all that.
Speaker A:And there's arguments.
Speaker A:I've had people actually contact me directly that work for Live and say, you know, we were getting better numbers and all that.
Speaker A:Okay, they were better one.
Speaker A:They were 10,000 or 20,000 viewers better than they were two weeks ago.
Speaker A:But that wasn't a continual climb.
Speaker A:Every event, you know, and there was time lapses between events.
Speaker A:And so people like, yeah, well, we're going to the beach next week, so I don't want to watch anyway.
Speaker A:You know, that type of, you know.
Speaker B:Those team events you mentioned all have an element of patriotism in there that makes them exciting.
Speaker B:Team match play is great.
Speaker B:That's the problem in live.
Speaker B:This is just mercenary money.
Speaker B:Their team, they have, you know, billy goats, the niblicks, whomever what rooting interest do you have in those?
Speaker B:And you have none, right?
Speaker B:And not match play.
Speaker B:You know, match play, team match play is great because on every hole there's a conclusion right on live, that stroke play.
Speaker B:And you don't even this.
Speaker B:You might be watching a guy whose score gets thrown out.
Speaker B:It's very difficult to televise team play and I don't think anybody has successfully televised team stroke play.
Speaker B:That's, that's a.
Speaker B:That's a different animal.
Speaker B:And TV hates match play to start with.
Speaker B:But how are you going to, you know, you're going to have four guys on a team and there are four different foursomes.
Speaker B:How are you going to keep track of how the Range Goats are doing against three other teams in contention?
Speaker B:You know, it just.
Speaker B:It's never going to work that, that scoreboard they have on the side of the screen on the live telecast.
Speaker B:I mean it's already semi impossible to watch.
Speaker B:So it's again, it's an exhibition.
Speaker B:It's always going to be an exhibition.
Speaker B:There was room for more golf and they, if they can get sponsors and all that, you know, more power to them.
Speaker B:But I don't see how as a golf fan myself, I don't see how I was ever going to get interested in the results on that too or when they, you know, you beat 47 other guys, some of whom are, you know, you know, a little past their prime ogles B and yeah Burnt Feast Burger and why am I going to get excited?
Speaker B:It doesn't really mean they have no meaning and they're coming back to different cities.
Speaker B:They don't even have go back to the same sites.
Speaker B:There's no continuity.
Speaker B:It's just the average fan is like as far as following it, they're not going to care.
Speaker B:Now if you're in one of the towns, it's much like the Senior Tour.
Speaker B:The tournaments don't matter really.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:But if you go, if you're a fan and you go out there to the course itself to spectate, you have a good day, right to go to.
Speaker B:So is the Senior Tour.
Speaker B:It's fun to be there in person but you know there's a there.
Speaker B:There were some benefits to that shotgun start.
Speaker B:But after this merger, I saw somebody tweet this.
Speaker B:I think it might have been Steve Flesh's son tweeted that.
Speaker B:Can't wait to see who gets to start on who's the fight.
Speaker B:Who's starts on 5A at the master.
Speaker B:Shotgun.
Speaker B:Who gets the tee off who.
Speaker B:Who takes the cart down to number 12 and tees off at Amon Corner for the first hole in the shotgun start for the Masters.
Speaker B:Yeah, that.
Speaker B:That would be interesting.
Speaker B:But that won't happen.
Speaker A:No, that's.
Speaker A:That's not going to happen.
Speaker B:I'd like to see it though.
Speaker A:Oh, it'd be fun.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And guys like you and me would be going, making all kinds of sport of it, and that would be fine.
Speaker A:I'm trying to be very careful of what I say to Dignor.
Speaker A:If you talk, get that.
Speaker A:But it's just, you know, we'll just have to see how it sorts out.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I've not had a.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I guess maybe I've evolved a little bit.
Speaker A:Like you were saying, we moved on.
Speaker A:The guys that first took the money, I was kind of wasn't for that.
Speaker A:And then I thought, well, you know, I never considered the fact of a merger.
Speaker A:When I thought about that, I just thought, well, they're just getting some money and you know, DJ, I don't know how old DJ is now, what, 32 or something?
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker B:Dustin's about 38 or 39.
Speaker A:39.
Speaker A:So he's got handful of years left in his prime and some of those.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, he made a ton of money last year and you know, Koepka and DeChambeau went because they were hurt and they thought their careers as big stars might have been over and, you know, kept come back.
Speaker B:Dechambell kind of hasn't really, so you can't blame them for taking money, really.
Speaker B:I don't blame anybody who went there for taking the money.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You were.
Speaker B:It was guaranteed money.
Speaker B:Golf is the only sport really, where you're not guaranteed money.
Speaker B:And maybe tennis, but maybe it's time to change that.
Speaker B:And maybe that's what is really going to be at the bottom of this.
Speaker B:Maybe there's going to be a lot more guaranteed money now for the players who make it to the, you know, the big show, the big leagues here.
Speaker A:Interesting to find out what Mr.
Speaker A:Tiger thinks of all this.
Speaker A:I haven't seen any tweets or social media posts.
Speaker A:Maybe it's too early, but.
Speaker B:Well, he and Rory led the charge, you know, to these elevated tour events to repel Liv.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And after all the efforts they made, and now you got to turn around and they.
Speaker B:They joined him.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I mean, I don't.
Speaker B:Rory and Tiger got to be shaking their heads like, what's going on?
Speaker B:Unless they were somehow alerted to this.
Speaker B:Now, Rory did say a few weeks ago he was done talking about Liv, but I think he was getting Tired of being asked about it every day as opposed to maybe having knowledge of what was going on because it doesn't sound like really anybody knew what was going on.
Speaker A:Oh, we're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to come back with Gary Van Sickle, wrap up the rest of the show and when I promise in after hours we will get to the review and the preview.
Speaker A:I promise we'll be right back.
Speaker A:Hi everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Grilling.
Speaker A:It's Green.
Speaker A:We're on iheartradio.
Speaker A:We're on radio stations, we're streaming, we got podcasts.
Speaker A:You'll find us if you really want to and if you don't, not a problem.
Speaker A:Talking with Gary Van Sickle today.
Speaker A:I always love it when Gary's on the show because he's, he's got a great sense of humor, which I love.
Speaker A:He's one of the best writers you can ever read, but he's also finds those little nuggets which good writers do and throws in there that most people don't know.
Speaker A:So I'm, I'm complimenting you.
Speaker A:I think you're great deal there.
Speaker B:Well, thanks.
Speaker B:I, I got a text this morning from Dottie Pepper commenting on the, I did yet another awards column.
Speaker B:They wanted me to write the mid season awards of the PG Tour.
Speaker B:Well, I kind of did that a month ago when we were actually at the halfway mark of the tour season.
Speaker B:But this is two majors down, two to go.
Speaker B:It sort of seems like halfway even though not.
Speaker B:But yeah, it was.
Speaker B:I, I, you, you mentioned humor.
Speaker B:I, it's a vast season, so this is halfway.
Speaker B:So I call these the my mid season half vast awards.
Speaker B:And if you say that a little faster than I did, you get to joke.
Speaker A:Yep, vast.
Speaker A:What did Dottie think of that?
Speaker B:She just said it was, she enjoyed the story.
Speaker B:It was really good.
Speaker B:And anytime she reads something under my byline, she's there's always a chuckle in it.
Speaker B:So I said, well, I'm glad there's still somebody who reads something on the Internet instead of just watching videos.
Speaker B:So thank you, Dottie.
Speaker B:I haven't, not like I talk to her on a regular basis.
Speaker B:I, I did a storyliner a couple of years ago and you know, I know her a little bit, but I never call her up we don't trade text.
Speaker B:This came out the blue.
Speaker B:So it was really nice of Dottie.
Speaker B:And you got to say, all those people at cbs, whether you're in love with their announcing on golf or not, they're all.
Speaker B:They're all really nice men and women.
Speaker B:Jim Nance, I know people think he's a cornball and syrupy and all that, but that's who he is.
Speaker B:He's not a phony.
Speaker B:He goes out of his way to help people.
Speaker B:He called me from some football game he was at when Sports Illustrated cleaned house and threw me and some other people overboard.
Speaker B:He calls me, like, 20 minutes before kickoff of some NFL telecast he's about to do and says, oh, I'm so sorry to hear.
Speaker B:I can't believe they, you know, don't they know who you are?
Speaker B:Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker B:Like, Jim, don't you have a football game?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I'm fine.
Speaker B:Don't worry about it.
Speaker B:He called to see if I was okay, and, you know, whatever.
Speaker A:So, yeah, my.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I tip my head.
Speaker A:Frank Navlo, He's a great guy.
Speaker B:Amanda Renner.
Speaker B:I can't.
Speaker B:I'm drawing a blanket.
Speaker B:But they have.
Speaker B:And most of the people.
Speaker B:The Golf Channel, I.
Speaker B:I really like, too.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:Grant Boone is just a terrific guy.
Speaker B:And, you know, I've been friends with Brandall for a long time.
Speaker B:There's just a lot of.
Speaker B:They have a lot of nice guys and gals there.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I've.
Speaker A:I've had several of them.
Speaker A:Frank's been on this show.
Speaker A:Dottie's been on this show.
Speaker A:Trying to think of some other ones that have been.
Speaker A:And they're all.
Speaker A:They've all been sweethearts.
Speaker A:They've all been great.
Speaker A:They've all been very accommodating.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:See, the.
Speaker A:I was trying to think of the one guy that.
Speaker A:Ian Bacon Finch.
Speaker A:I'd like to get him on the show sometime.
Speaker B:Oh, he's.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's.
Speaker B:He's super nice.
Speaker B:He's got a great.
Speaker B:Trevor Immelman is another.
Speaker B:Another.
Speaker B:You know, on the other end, you got Nick Faldo, maybe, who's not as warm and fuzzy as any of these other people were.
Speaker B:So he likes me.
Speaker A:Nick likes me, though, because he can be.
Speaker B:He can be super charming.
Speaker A:But, oh, I make.
Speaker A:Now that he lives in Montana, I.
Speaker A:When he tweets, I make cowboy references to him in his squares shoes and stuff like that.
Speaker A:And so he always.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:Maybe it's his wife that's actually responding.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:Well, you know, you did mention a sponsor, so that's good.
Speaker B:You know, I did a podcast on, on my show, the I co host with Kathy Bissell, The Golf Show 2.0.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You had the guys from Sylvie's Valley Ranch on.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Last week to talk about that place.
Speaker B:They put a new set of tees in to make.
Speaker B:To make their course 8,000 yards.
Speaker B:And I thought that would be fun to talk about.
Speaker B:Here it is.
Speaker B:Here's your 8,000 yard course.
Speaker B:Now, it's almost at a mile altitude, so it's not like 8,000 yards at sea level, but, gosh, you look at the map, you know, we're all Midwesterners and East coasters and nobody knows much about the geography of Oregon than the.
Speaker A:Rest of the country, let me tell you.
Speaker B:I thought, well, I should really go out there and check that out.
Speaker B:And I look at it like.
Speaker B:Well, other than parachuting out like DB Cooper, how.
Speaker B:How do I get there?
Speaker B:That's not, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It's a ways.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's remote, it.
Speaker B:Which probably is one of the great charms of it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And there's other things you can do there besides play golf.
Speaker A:You can ride horses, you can shoot guns, you can fish, you can hike, you can do all kinds of things.
Speaker A:Great works.
Speaker B:You know, Jeff, I like falconry.
Speaker B:Nothing more fun than shooting falcon.
Speaker B:They're hard to hit.
Speaker A:They are hard to hit.
Speaker A:Where can they find all your columns?
Speaker B:I write for SI.com it's sometimes subtitled Morning Read, but SI.com bought it out.
Speaker B:You go to SI.com and then slide the menu bar over to golf and there you are.
Speaker B:Search for it.
Speaker B:You can find it that way.
Speaker A:But si.comgolf and how do they find your podcast?
Speaker B:That's on YouTube.
Speaker B:Just go to YouTube and look up the Golf Show 2.0.
Speaker A:It's all good.
Speaker A:Anyway, we got to get out of here.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening.
Speaker A:Go out, play some golf and be kind, everybody.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is produced by JTSD Productions, LLC in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserve.
