Jon Rahm’s absence felt in Kapalua – and in POY vote | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel

In this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav, the guys discuss the happenings at Kapalua, the initial impact of Jon Rahm’s departure, Rory McIlroy’s sudden U-turn and much more. #GolfChannel #GolfChannelPodcast

Chapters:
0:00: Open, Lav’s TV issues
03:00: Chris Kirk’s win at Kapalua, other highlights from the week
11:00: Impact of Jon Rahm’s absence; how Kevin Kisner fared in his TV debut
22:00: Scottie Scheffler wins controversial Player of the Year vote
30:00: Rory McIlroy’s latest comments on LIV, 2024 season debut
36:00: Other notables from Sony, including rookie/KFT graduate unrest
41:00: What’s on the grill for the start of the NFL playoffs

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Jon Rahm’s absence felt in Kapalua – and in POY vote | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel
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Hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab the PJ tour season is off and running national championship game is on Monday night my Jags finished their face plant and in the process saved me about a$ thousand doll oh because you didn’t have

To buy playoff tickets sitting fees and wck our 15 minutes of TV time that we were supposed to share together we off today round table instead just ended up in 30 seconds a bad audio for me other than than that how’s it going for you uh

Went fine for me I don’t even know you were probably panicky and dealing with technical issues and the fine technical Folks at NBC Sports but I actually threw you under the bus when we came back on today’s show I can still I could still hear apparently I just couldn’t speak

Well which is not uncommon it’s disappointing like just like when Ryan lavner hangs up on me every time it’s just disappointing uh yeah I feel for you but you seem to be having some usually it’s me that gets caught with the technical issues so it is sort of I

I do take a prefers pleasure in it I’m not goingon to lie I’m the agent of chaos when it comes to this when I heard that you were struggling and your sound was bad I got a I got a grin on the side of my face on live TV like ah he’s

Coming apart fantastic I mean this was still better we had one of these Round Table things that we’re I guess we’re supposed to do now on a weekly basis so make sure you guys are tuned in from noon to 2 uh seems like this be an every

Monday type of thing there was a round T we were supposed to do I believe it was in November where we’re probably 30 seconds from showtime and all of a sudden my sound dropped I could not hear host Damon and Aon and so in in in a not unrealistic possibility I would be

Staring at a camera with nothing coming through I wouldn’t know when I’m queued up I wouldn’t know what I’m queued up about uh but that was the reality that we were facing fortunately it got fixed with like five seconds to go there’s nothing more terrifying than that no

Like I can’t stress this enough and and I’ve done some scary things in my life but hearing programming is what they call it in the biz and knowing you’re about to go up live and then everything goes quiet even if it’s like a pre-planned okay we’re in commercial break we’ll be

Right back out there is still a wave of Terror that sweeps over you because you know that oh I could be staring blankly into a camera and for a live audience to sit there and be like look at this fool how come look at this clown he can’t

Talk like what’s happening it happened to me a few years ago at toy pines to the point that they told our cameraman John Foo Rambo they said said tell him to talk and foo’s response was and say what like what am I gonna just start doing like Rex talk to us about the

Weather well I’m telling you right now Chris Kirk could sure play like that it’s just not gonna work like you have to be able to have a two-way conversation to do TV the weather obviously is Burk Go’s Lanes anyway Lane anyway and so uh that would have been

Already occupied what we were supposed to talk about which we did not talk about which we will now save for this Golf Channel podcast with Rex and and lab was the first event of the new PJ tour season won by Chris Kirk sixth P PJ tour Victory go dogs this an incredible

Rex uh recovery story a Redemption story a player who had clearly lost his way had even lost his will to live at one point and has come back from the abyss uh and is now I would argue as good as he’s ever been if not better clearly in

A better uh mental head space and and Chris Kirk now just has such a great team around him from his swing coach to his trainer uh to his performance coach as well uh One-Shot Victory on Sunday kaaloa uh over sah thala Jordan spe in the mix as well what was your takeaway

From the first final round of the new year I’d love watching Chris Kirk play golf because nothing’s hurried I think kizner did a good job of sort of just pointing out that he doesn’t Rush a swing he doesn’t Rush walking to the go ball he doesn’t Rush a putt like it’s

Just he is he almost seems like a robot out there which is interesting because we know that there’s a lot lot of emotion a lot of things going on internally that I’m sure he’s dealing with on his own level I I love the idea and like I I read the transcript last

Night and I listened to a lot of the interviews this morning when our colleague Doug Ferguson from the AP asked him specifically about how much longer when you won the haunted classic last year you were Chris Kirk who overcame alcoholism comma I mean that’s always the sort of the second sentence

In every story you’re going to write about Chris and he goes how long should we do that and Chris’s response was you should always do it like and I love the idea that he embraced this dark times he embraced all of these demons that you can only imagine sort of haunted him in

A way that I I talked to his swing coach Scott Hamilton who’s one of my favorite people in the PGA Tour and he said that he’s been with Chris for a year and he went through all of this and he goes I can tell you that we would go to dinner

And we would have a beer and we would talk and we’d go our separate ways it never even dawned on him like it Not only was he struggling with this like so many other people struggle with this but he was doing it completely in private he

Was doing it in his own shell he would go back to the hotel room and just drink himself blind I can only assume because it’s hard sort of wrap your mind around how bad things had gotten and I love the idea that he was asked last night after

The victory about finding Joy again and whether if that’s in playing golf or practicing golf or being around your family or whatever the case may be and his response was I find joy joy in everything now and it’s such a cool story and to start this year with this

Story is even more amazing to me because it could have gone a lot of different ways it being the first signature event and to start with him and the way he did it I think it’s a phenomenal toe uh it’s it’s a great tone to the new year it

Certainly hits back at the theory that the Signature Events are just going to be about the stars and it’s going to kind of get a little bit monotonous this is a player who hadn’t yet secured his spot in the Masters he finished uh narrowly Missing the Tour Championship

He was still outside the top 50 uh in the world ranking now that checks both of those boxes but this is a a player who he just banked three .6 million for winning the century and yet I guarantee that is of little importance to him he doesn’t necessarily uh find find Joy or

Love the weekly competition it’s the work that goes into it it’s the process that goes into it it’s how difficult it is it’s how it keeps him engaged and so yeah I’m with you I thought it was a great tone Setter I thought the actual entire 72 hole competition was was

Really good and you look at the the three players who late Sunday kind of headline the day you have Chris Kirk who was kind of like a metronome hitting these high swooping draws each and every time with a completely unhurried Tempo and Rhythm you had saah hith rising star on the PJ tour

Firsttime winner last fall in Napa he he’s kind of recked like like a more polished junk man you remember Freddy Yak back in the day like he was one of my favorite players it it was not it was not aesthetically pleasing but it was always an adventure to to see how he was

Going to get the ball in the hole and so sah is kind of a more polished version of that like seeing him just kind of unleash on 5075 yard Fairways uh it it doesn’t always look good he’s not always finishing in Balance uh this the stuff on and around the greens isn’t always

Pretty and yet he has great hands and really gave it a run finishing 28 under par and Jordan spe a player who we talked about on the end of 2023 podcast and the preview podcast for this year as kind of needing to step up I this was a hugely encouraging performance for

Jordan spe led the field in putting even though he wasn’t completely satisfied with the way that he struck the ball at caloa well he got really I mean historically unlucky on the 16th I mean it was one thing for that ball to go in

The bunker for it div on 15 plug on 16 and a divot on 17 I mean and the beauty is like and I hate to say this but it couldn’t have happened to a better person and I’m not wishing bad things on Jordan speed at all I’m I’m wishing that

Something like this happens on someone that’s going to be as outspoken and as honest and just cut the vein open and let the world know exactly I can’t believe the ball ended up there like just the conversations between he and Michael Gera were I mean chef’s kiss

Just perfect stuff and I will say and I’m going to do this tonight on golf Central and it’s the first time I’ve kind of tried to break down the actual swing lead analyst Rex hogard that’s the current state of affairs that’s right you and I will be trading that role over

The next few weeks so you guys please tune in but uh not a swing person by any stretch of the imagination but calling but what talking with Scott Hamilton as we mentioned Chris Kirk’s swing coach he pointed out and we’ll go to the 71st

Hole and the five iron that he hit to 18 inches whatever the case may be to essentially win the tournament I mean he he said it afterwards it was a shot that he’s going to remember for the rest of his career but walking through that with Scott Hamilton and him explaining that

Worldclass players don’t come to a golf ball and think to themselves it could be a seven iron or a five iron that doesn’t happen you don’t have a two Club spread at that level you and I will depending on the the win depending on the shot

Depending on how good we feel about our swing about a million other things will come into it but tour players don’t do that it’s in that case it’s either a nice easy seven or A Hard Eight like that those are your two options as a tour player but he went in his

Conversation from okay I can get a seven iron there and I think it was 209 yards actual it was like 192 adjusted it’s downhill and the wind and everything else that went into it and when I asked got to actually break down the swing and he said well there’s nothing different

Than he does with everything else and it’s a two-yard draw it’s a High shot it’s a beautiful shot like if if we could all hit it like that then the game would be much much easier he said the difference is he had to take one to two

Miles an hour off of and I was I was stunned by that one to two miles an hour was the difference between that swing and whatever it is he was going to do with the seven iron but it gives you an idea of how precise he is in his swing

Goes look pros at that level are all good with off speed stuff you have to be to be at that level none of them in his opinion are as good as chis Chris because his Tempo is so good we sat and marveled at it all week long we’ve seen

It throughout his entire career think about that he takes one mile hour off his swing speed which ranges somewhere you know upward 114 115 category and that’s the difference between the shot he hit with the five iron versus what he was thinking about for seven iron that’s

Artistry is that is that what you’re going with on Central night are you are you are you workshopping this I was workshopping yeah you don’t you want some positive or negative feedback do you think you think we should go to the back to the drawing board with two and a

Half hours to go uh no find that I find that very interesting and like Chris Kirk is an excellent player it actually would not surprise me if he contends in a major championship this year he has a game which one an’s gonna ask me that tonight on on golf Central which one

Would you say the Masters he seem he seems Taylor Made no for the US Open he is he continually puts himself in play and he’s just good enough on around the greens southern guy he’s not going to be befuddled by all of Pinehurst uh tips

And tricks I think Chris Kirk if he were to contend a major this year it would be the US Open Rex did you miss John ramal the defending champion at the centry Roy M wasn’t there of course as well so we missing two of the top three players in

The world but I found myself missing John ROM I think anyone who who did not miss John ROM in the season opener is being disingenuous because the whole point of the signature series on the PJ tour is to make big events bigger in the p tour was literally missing the player

Who just finished third in the tour’s own metrics their own standings for for importance to their brand and so I mentioned it last week on the podcast but rah’s absence is underscoring the need for the tour to anoint new stars and to anoint those new stars very

Quickly whether it’s luig oer who had a disastrous third round that doomed his week but sath popped up here OA batia was in the final group really talented 21-year old left-hander tons of game tons of potential uh so the the future is there but the tour really needs them

To get to where they want to go and they need to to get them there quickly like I’m talking Q q1 of 2024 uh my middle son was just walking by I guess he owes you a fantasy football payoff is that it he’s he has to come in here and say something about

How bad he is at Fantasy Football uh I don’t know about that we you and I had our own bet as it relates to Georgia football which you paid off last week I paid off we all PID off B any and and I’ll answer your question I will say

This because I actually had to te text A friend of mine who’s much better at this than I am because I was curious with Kevin kizner because my expectations were so high because Kevin kizner ended up doing a breakdown of your uh boy batia swing and I thought it was really

Really good like and and he did it in sort of that Kevin kizner way it’s not really technical just talking about feels and if I twist Twisted myself into a pretzel I probably wouldn’t walk the next morning the whole nine yards thought he was really really good and

Look everyone’s going to have their opinion when it comes to kid in his first week in the booth I will say my expectations were so high I I it was almost unfair because I wanted him just not to be good I wanted him to be great

And and I came to realize that man it’s really really hard to parachute from your day job which is trying to play golf as well as you can against the best players in the world and parachute into a booth and expect yeah yeah this is

Just going to be perfect I’m going to be brilliant right out of the gates and I guess the idea is like next year when Tom Brady goes to the booth for Fox right I think’s allegedly allegedly allegedly like everyone just expects him to be brilliant and it’s just not fair like

What in the world would lead you to believe that he’s going to be brilliant of that other than he was a Hall of Fame quarterback and I would say the same thing about Kevin ker I mean he he’s a brilliant player I I love watching him I

Love you know sort of that Scrappy attitude that he brings to the game but there was nothing inate that would suggest he was going to be good I think he was very very good he was very very good I’m not sure why you’re second seg waying uh to that but I do appreciate

That um like Kevin gizar is literally doing the Dual roles this week like he he’s playing the Sony Open a week after he was in the booth like he has no he has no intention of surrendering his PJ tour card he has full status on the PJ

Tour for 2024 but this was clearly a a a tryy out a three-man booth with which which will make it even better in my opinion I guess and Kurt Byrum and I I thought kizner was very good as well he like I I thought he was going to be uh

Sharp I thought he was going to be funny I thought he was going to be insightful I thought he was going to be self-deprecating he was he was all those things like I loved how on Saturday when when spe was lining up a three-footer he just said Jordan three feet knocking the

Back of the hole I thought he was really good on Sunday observing how Scotty sheffler’s shoulders are open at a dress for his full swing which helps his ball striking prowess but actually hurts him on the greens as well I think the one thing that kiz is going to run into

Trouble with and it goes back to this dual role is that he’s still very close to these players and there’s going to be a temptation to be a little bit too chummy with players who you’re still going to have to see on the driving range 20 times a year you know the best

Analysts the best broadcasters you think of Charles Barkley on the TNT set like he’s not he’s not going back into the locker room after a Lakers loss and and facing up LeBron James it’s it’s it’s easier when you’re distancing yourself either in the booth

Or on a on a set back in Connecticut to just be a little bit more pointed in your commentary that’s no fault of ker that’s just the reality of the job and so I think I think right now he’s best suited as a whole announcer but I loved

Him as a broadcaster in general it’s really hard to talk in 10 to 12 second sound bites uh but I thought especially for first time his first time doing it like I thought I thought he was excellent I thought he was excellent and he should he should absolutely have a

Job in TV whenever he wants it well and I thought about that because you and I have had this conversation like the trick is not only do you have to understand the game not only do you have to understand the emotions that players are going through but you have to know

How to work in a really really small window and like I’ve always used Gran mcdal and I think you and I both have used Phil Mickelson as examples of people we thought players we thought would make the transition well to the booth I don’t know if Phil can talk in a

Small window like we love to hear him talk when he goes off on one of his rants but it would be like padrick Harrington like I I adore him when he goes off on one of his rants but 15 minutes later you were 18 spots away

From where you wanted to be he would never work in the booth where was I where was I oh yeah back to it uh I but I will say this at one point I was watching and I think this was Saturday and my wife was s bunkmate was sitting

Next to me and kizner said something along the lines 18th Fairway at caloa yeah you can land a 747 on that Fairway rth and like even my wife rolled her eyes at that one and I was kind of like yeah yeah he probably needs to avoid

Those and trust me coming from me saying that you need to avoid cliches I I get the irony there like I’m I’m as I get caught up in the cliches trying to fill airspace as much as the next person but in this particular role I think he’ll

Only get better to answer your question absolutely I miss John Rong I miss I think I’m getting more and more to the point where I’m starting to miss all of the stars who want to live golf because we’re being teased with the idea that there is the possibility that we could

All come back together that there could be a day that we would look back on the last two years like and it was just it was just a bad time let’s let’s let’s forget about the bad times and let’s keep going forward because this was a really good example and I think it

Worked out best for the PGA Tour I like the fact you had the mix between the star players with Jordan Speed with the players who probably you wouldn’t consider a star in Chris Kirk and Sith at this point at least in his career I think that’s a best case scenario for

The tour but when you look at the product yeah I think if Jon was there and Brooks was there there and DJ was there and the rest of them were all together can you imagine how much better it would have been yeah I I I worry for the Signature Events a little bit

Because I think I think the chief concern is that they can all feel a little bit homogeneous right it’s the same players but they’re not quite the best players because they’re they’re still splitting time over on live most of these tournaments are not going to

Have a cut uh I think we’re really going to miss having sort of a match play event this year with the world’s best player or some sort of Team event with the world’s best players that’s not named the President’s Cup and I I think when you look specifically at the centur

It’s still competing against football it’s still in largely the same TV window I would have I I think for this tournament in particular I would love to see some sort of I’m just kind of spitballing here pro bowl or allstar game type aspect to the week at caloa

Tuesday and Wednesday having some sort of like skills competitions or just kind of off off ball stuff where instead it just feels like a regular 72 hole tournament with very few fans in a tropical Paradise you know what I mean there’s just it’s it’s it’s the same exact formula same exact

Concept they’re just they’re just plopping down in Hawaii when I think there’s an opportunity when it comes to the 2024 lid lifter to just do something a little bit different uh I see what you’re saying I actually I think I compared this to the Pro Bowl when we talked about this last week

Because I do like the idea of and I think it was a historic week for long drives by the way I think I probably called it on day one there was 69 drives over 400 yards ni I think all total it was like a historic week certainly for

Scoring as well I guess I see where you’re coming from like look golf is going to do whatever it can to stay out of football Shadow whether if that’s the NFL or Saturdays when it comes to football in the South but it there’s only so much you can do and unless

You’re just going to completely write off a four to five month period like you’re going to have to go head-to-head with football eventually anyway and I think this was probably not a terrible scenario because what you ended up with as almost you had kaaloa leading into you know football night in America there

There was there was an hour window there was an hour window where you could have gone to uninterrupted coverage of the century on Golf Channel and watch if you want to I’ll be very curious to see if the ratings of a Chris Kirk if a s

If a Jordan spe registered at all with a national TV audience that was obviously glued to their televisions for week 18 of the NFL season there just has to be another way to still have these tournaments in early January but not go up directly against football you can’t

Put it on Monday because the national championship game I’m not not somebody said they should put it on Monday and I’m like it’s not gonna be better tomorrow night it used to be no it it used to it used to be the lead into the national championship game and that

Didn’t really work either to me I’m doing it I’m doing it Tuesday through Satur or Tuesday through Friday that’s that’s how I’m doing these first two uh events of the season I might even do the first three or four if you’re going to culminate with the Farmers Insurance

Open which obviously has the Saturday finish to avoid going up head-to-head against the NFL’s conference championships on that Sunday why not shift around the entire makeup of the first month of the Season try and get as many eyeballs as you can the fields are actually going to be pretty good this is

The strongest Sony Open field uh had in in in decades uh so you just like to see a little bit more eyeballs on it Rex we did have a player of the year vote as as broken here first on the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav John ROM was

The golf writer Association of America player of the year but the PJ tour players have spoken and there was an entirely different answer Scotty Sheffer became the first player since Tiger Woods uh 2005 to 2007 to win consecutive Player of the Year Awards now the tour is not very good at transparency they

They only gave Scotty sheffer’s vote total he had 38% of the vote in other words this was an incredibly close race uh with Victor hin and Scotty and John ROM excuse me also garnering a lot of the vote clearly I know the tour does not uh traffic and transparency but I would

Have loved to see in this mythical world a pre and post December 7th breakdown John ROM went to live golf on December 7th I would love to see what the percentage of votes were December 1st when voting opened through December 6th and I would have loved to see the

Vote totals from December 8th to December 15th when the voting closed I have to imagine there is a stark difference between those two those two periods I’m so sad your mic went out because I mean this was clearly something that had to aim in Lynch fired up on golf today this

Morning cuz he he actually popped I was screaming I I was screaming and no one could hear me because I want I want to jump in so badly I’m sure your dog and your cat were very impressed whatever your hot take was that you couldn’t air

Out like it just boiling over inside of you because no one else is there to listen and another thing uh Aman wasn’t happy that I didn’t come in Strong Enough absolutely 100% John ROM going to live golf impacted the player vote that being said is and I think I’ve talked

About this on this podcast back way back in September at East Lake during the Championship I did like an informal poll like I do every single year about who should be the player of the year and most players said that yes they understand that John ROM probably has

The better resume but I was taken by the fact that there was an element of the membership who liked what Scotty Sheffer had done his historic ball striking numbers the way he was consistent week in and week out now neither one of them essentially won after the spring and

That factors into the conversation as well but there was sort of this idea long before the John ROM to live golf rumor surface so there was already a thought among the players that this could go in Scotty sheffer’s way I always pop back with the idea that if

You just take the names out of it and the faces out of it and I put these two rums next to each other John ROM should have been the player of the year like it’s very very clear this conversation should have stopped there Scotty sheffler said as much in the Bahamas a

Few weeks ago now he said as much because he’s not the type of person that say he’s going to vote for himself but his point was valid a major championship counts and even though Scotty won the Players Championship it’s not a major we can have that debate for another day so

I get where there is this idea that maybe it was a popularity vote that went wrong I’m more upset about Rookie of the Year like look I’m not taking anything away you’re you’re upset about it sure I’m not taking anything away from Eric Cole I think it’s a phenomenal story

Like at the Honda Classic I loved reporting that story as well because here is a 35y old rookie who spent his entire adult life just grinding away trying to make it to the PGA Tour that being said if you were to do exactly what I just told you to do for Player of

The Year and you take the photos and you take the names out of it and you compare his resume to your boy oar’s resume it’s not even close like I don’t understand that I mean I’m not getting upset with with either of these two outs and I I I

Struggled with our little gwa Player of the Year V and so I I can I can see how tour players why did you struggle with it as well when you look at the men’s Player of the Year and you look at at the golf writers Rah had 49% of the vote

Victor havin actually was second with 33% of the vote and Scotty earned just 38% of the vote that’s 20 percentage points less than his PJ tour peers vote him it’s it’s obvious that PJ tour players value well loyal to the to the PJ tour first and foremost it would be

Very awkward to see a PJ tour presentation with John ROM uh as the PJ Tour player of the year if he is no longer at least he’s suspended by the PJ tour but I think they also value cons consistency they clearly value statistical Excellence this was the best

Ball striking season uh in more than 15 years on the PJ tour as it relates to the top rookie I think there’s also Rex an appreciation for Eric Cole’s story he played 34 35 36 times on the PGA tour he had a handful of runner-up finishes he

Played well in the spring he played well in the summer he played well in the fall he played well all season long and there may be a little bit of a hint of competitive jealousy as it relates to ludvig Oar we say any time this next

This next big thing pops up on the PJ tour everyone’s quick to welcome them everyone is is kind of awed by their potential and their talent and then the realization sets in is that this guy is about to kick my butt for the next 10 or

15 years and there is always a little bit of resentment that pops in to the picture I’m not saying that’s what happened here but it also wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a segment of the tour population who thinks that way in addition to kind of appreciating Eric Cole’s

Journey uh I don’t think so no I think game can respect game on this front and I think anyone who watched o that game threatens their livelihood that that game threatens the impact they can make in this game I’m not gonna vote for you because someday you’re going to take my

Job like that that’s not the way this works I I don’t believe that’s the way it works you just said you just said it’s a popularity contest so a popularity contest Eric Cole is probably going to win for 2023 and again this is the third time I think i’ I’ve made this

Take and I don’t want to make it sound like you’re right Eric Cole is an amazing story and like I’m I’m here for all of it and I like the fact that he started playing well at Maui like I love the idea that he’s just going to

Continue to build on what he started last year again after struggling his entire professional life I just go to the facts and after oer left College if you look at what he did in a very very short window he essentially played his way onto the right cup he was a pick but

It was pretty obvious by the end of it that he was going to be but it wasn’t necessarily because of his PJ tour performance he won the European Masters and I to World Tour he blew a bunch of uh good opportunities that he could have cashed in his first Victory on the PJ

Tour in the summer it was he didn’t even he didn’t qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs like PGA tourwise he didn’t do a whole lot at least no no that’s not true he finished runner up at the Sanderson Farms he wins the RSM classic where he he goes I’m saying in the

Summer when he he had the three-week break where he missed it was all part of it was all of the same window that’s what got him on that’s what got him on the European rer Cup team and then he parlayed that into a very good fall which which he eventually became a PJ

Tour winner and that fall should have been part of the voting as we just pointed out the voting window was from December 1 through December it was Eric Cole had a run-up finish in the fall as well Eric Cole played well for 11 months because that’s how long he

Played in the he had a run up finished at the RSM class to O for five months to so I don’t know how you can even have this conversation he played his way into the top 30 you’re right some of this is what he did in Europe but just based on

What he did on the PGA tour should rank him as the Rookie of the Year again I don’t know how fired up I really want to get about this but this said you’re upset you said you said you’re upset yeah I’ll go with upset I’ll stay with upset hopefully something that does not

Upset you that much is the return of your boy my boy Roy mroy he begins his 2024 season not on the PJ tour but across the Atlantic in Dubai on the DP World Tour Rex it is always an adventure with Rory where he seems to be

As interesting as ever not just for the how he’s going to perform inside the ropes but there’s always some sort of melodrama outside the ropes as well we haven’t seen him since he ended the DP World Tour season in Dubai as well what are your expectations for Rory in

2024 uh I mean same probably as they are every season I mean he’s a wildly talented player and I will take it a step further that now that in theory he doesn’t have the distractions of being on the PGA tour policy Board of being The Unofficial spokesman of the PGA Tour

Against Liv go of seemingly letting go of whatever it is that you know that hatred or dislike or discomfort whatever you want to call it he had towards the players who join live golf as he said in the interview last I said on a podcast

Last week that he has moved on like I think all of those things factor into this that he’s still a talented player like he is still as talented as anyone in the game and now those distractions are gone I wouldn’t imagine why and it’s been a decade since he’s won a major so

That’s an entirely different conversation but I can certainly see him continuing to do what he seems to do every year and that’s when a handful of times and always compete at the major championships and not getting it done in a decade and all of the things that have

Made him a special player I think that only becomes easier this year because he’s moved on I did say in my column on Friday though based on what he said in that podcast Rory and based on Phil Mickelson’s response on social media and it feels like an intervention where

Everyone is saying the right thing but I don’t know that everybody believes it you don’t you don’t think he was being genuine while saying that John ROM’s move to live was a SP business move you don’t think he was genuine in saying that he was perhaps too judgmental of

Some players not all some players who defected the PJ tour for Liv golf you think he you don’t think he was being genuine when he said that Liv golf exposed some of the PJ tours inherent flaws in its model you think that was all just trying to strike a conciliatory

Tone without actually meaning it I believe he 100% believes that John ROM’s move was a business smart business move a smart business move and I I would say the same thing it was a smart business move for John Ramen it was a smart business move for the public investment fund of Saudi

Arabia because it put them in a better position in a negotiation standpoint I believe that Roy maroy believes that this was better for the PGA Tour because it did expose some of the things that needed to change with the model of the PGA Tour when it comes to some of the

Things he has said about those who went to live golf no I don’t think he believes that I mean there is a burning I don’t want to say hatred but there’s clearly a burning dislike between he and many players that went over there Phil Mickelson being at the top of the list

And we can sit and go through the list of offenses but in his mind he’s probably saying the right thing because that’s what he needs to say right now as we negotiate as we get closer to some sort of definitive agreement between the PGA Tour and the PF Rory probably needs

To come clean and just stay out of it and this was the best thing he could do no I don’t think he believes it yeah I think it’s probably time and he he’s he’s kind of reading the room and sees that it’s time to put our guns down

Right it’s time to let it’s time to let the the businessmen hammer out a deal and it’s pretty obvious where this thing is headed and Rory obviously is intimately aware as well since he just resigned from the PJ tour policy board just a couple of months ago but I also

Don’t I you know I don’t think he’s kind of blind to the realities of the present like it’s pretty obvious these guys are all going to have to get in the same Fields anyway and so not why uh kind of shift the tone a little bit I did not

Rex I’m not sure if you saw Greg Norman’s uh comments in regards to Rory mro’s comments where where Greg Norman said that Rory was quote falling on his sword I I didn’t if you actually listen to the podcast appearance that was not at all what what Rory was doing here you

Know this wasn’t a full capitulation it wasn’t a m kulpa for his role in gulf’s ongoing Civil War this this was more like uh a personal Evolution where there’s there’s more facts have come out and and and and he kind of wants to be on the right side of history with with

The landscape that is that is Shifting all the people who were dunking on him on social media for making kind of a Sharp U-turn in regards to his comments like it’s okay to change your mind it’s it’s it’s it’s showing an open-mindedness it’s showing a thoughtfulness to change

Your opinion as opposed to to stubbornly digging in you know the the U the US would not be as much of a mess as it is at a country if we didn’t have two sides that were just so deeply intrenched in their two sides and and obviously golf

Is a is a is a microcosm of society at large where you have PJ tour stands and you have Liv golf Defenders I think we need more of Rory’s open-mindedness not less of it like he shouldn’t be subject to to all the abuse that he’s been getting on social media from from

Certain sectors if you guys had Ryan lavner going to International politics and towards the back end of the podcast you guys and I’m like the most a I’m like I’m the most apolitical person ever did not see that coming from you that was a bit of a zig when I expected zag

Uh I think it shows a level of maturity uh I certainly will say that and you’re right given where we are right now in the game I will still double down on the idea that he in his heart of hearts if you asked him when you said that Mexico

City I want to be on the right side of History he still believes that I don’t think that he he has changed his mind that much he recognizes what’s going on in the game and he recognizes from a business perspective that there’s no reason to fight this anymore because

It’s going to happen it’s inevitable and the best thing to do right now is to make sure that whatever comes next whatever the next chapter is that we all involved and it’s for the best of the game and I think that’s the one realization that he made

A couple of other quick hitting items before we get out of here for this week I thought it was notable Victor havin after the best year of his career part of ways with swing Coach Joe Mayo I thought it was notable sunj IM 34 birdie

Sig the new PJ tour record for a 72 hole competition I thought it was notable Gary Woodland uh just four months after undergoing surgery to remove a brain lesion will be back in the field this week at Yi and I thought it was notable re these new PJ tour members there’s some

Coning there’s already some hand ringing on January 8th with new PJ tour members who either were promised or thought they would get into the First full field event of the PJ tour season in 2024 and do not or cannot find a tea time of those four

Stories which one is most notable to you I mean I’m most looking forward to Gary Woodland I I cannot wait to see I mean it’s less than months after having brain lesion removes which is an amazing story I was just texting back and forth with a

Rep who’s worked with him over the last couple of weeks and said he’s swinging it well still powerful still hits it a mile can’t wait to get back out there that’s one of those things I don’t look I don’t want to move on too quickly because we haven’t we sometimes we would

Have you done for me lately mentality and certainly Chris Kirk winning the courage award needs to be celebrated because of everything that he he has overcome and everything he’s accomplished since overcoming those dark days that being said go ahead and pack it up and send it to Gary Woodley

Because I truly believe that we should just move it on to Gary Woodland I’m so impressed with what he’s been able to do the the other half of it is and it is interesting I don’t know who would have promised players either from the middle to towards the back end of the Corn

Fairy tour category and the Q School category that they would get into Q school I don’t believe that there was a memo sent to all of the players back in November I reported on it I wrote about it extensively and the line in it that everyone shouldn’t have glanced over was

That there’s going to be 10% fewer playing opportunities across the board if you’re not in the top 70 if you’re not in that magical sign if you’re not in all the magical Signature Events it’s going to be 10% less just start with that number and work your way backwards

Everyone was told that back in November long before the Corin fairy tour guys decided to show up now the the ones that showed up this week in Hawaii to go through orientation and then to find out that they had to go through Monday qualifying I feel for them but this is

Simple Math Man seven of the Signature Events this year are going to go to limited field which means those fields are essentially going to be cut in half they win from 144 to 70 to 80 or 156 to 70 and 80 you do the math like those are

All lost playing opportunities and the tour is trying to mitigate that by adding a couple starts here and there but you can only make up so much and so if you’re anywhere outside of that top 70 and that means every category from the top 70 down you just need to plan on

10% funeral playing opportunities and given where we are I don’t know why they would be surprised that Sony would be among that 10% of course everyone wants to play yeah I mean it sucks for them like you’re you’re a you’re a newly minted PJ Tour player you got your card you’re

Excited and ready to go and yet you can’t get in to a field I have a hard time mustering up any sort of outrage on January 8th if we get to uh the Palm Beach event if we get to valpar if we get to the Nelson and all

Of a sudden these players are still finding themselves on the outside looking in for playing opportunities after finishing in the top 30 on the corn fairy tour yeah I think there’s probably a right and a need to to review some of the protocols but as it pertains

To to the actual Sony Open week like you just listed some of those competing factors you had guys in the fall who for the first time in a decade now didn’t have to play in the fall and so they’re itching and ready to go and they want to

See uh how how they perform this year this was the first time of course that the European tour uh awarded the top 10 finishers on the race to Dubai standings who were not otherwise is eligible for the PJ tour those guys now have PJ tour cards Q School handed out five cards for

The first time the corn fairy tour went from 25 to 30 so there’s more corn fairy guys and so I I think if if anything if you’re if you’re going to quibble at all with this priority list it’s for the corn fairy guys who are second in

Priority to the European tour guys right the PJ tour is prioritizing the top 10 DP World Tour finishers over the top 30 corn fairy tour finishers when those players are supposed to be on the PJ tour’s direct feeder tour if you’re goingon to equ with anything it’s that

But again in early January I’m I’m not mustering much and if you were going to quible with that you should have done it way back in the summer or spring of last year when they were first having these conversations and we we knew this was coming I mean what whatever the numbers

Are and I can sit and run you through the numbers we all knew there were going to be fewer playing opportunities we all knew and this actually goes back two years now because I was actually at the Irish open when they announced that the top 10 players off the DP World Tour

Would be given PGA Tour cards and you knew where they were going to be slotted on the priority list so no I don’t agree with it and I can see how corn fairy tour guys don’t like the idea but this didn’t come out of left field you have

Seen this coming for almost a year and a half now so if you were going to have a problem with it you needed to talk speak up long before you got on a plane to go to honol all right Rex this is the final week of the NFL season that just wrapped

Up final Jags party of the Year certainly we had one at the lavender household I made some Smash Burgers and mushroom poppers which were a big hit among the crowd but quite honestly my liver needs a break and at least take a break until we get to Wild

Card Weekend some intriguing mashups and so I must ask as we now look into the NFL playoffs and the Sony Open of course to occupy our Prime Time hours what’s on the grill I did I don’t know what you did Chile the other day and sent me a snack

Happy chat of it and it looked really good so I made it I think the next day or Saturday I guess when when we had all the games going on and and it was unbelievably good and I have to tell you the recipe that I found used uh ground

Meat as well as hot atayan sausage and normally the family’s not big fans of what I do on the grill specifically bunk me she doesn’t really like smoke meat all that much none of it was left that very next day like they in they inhaled

It so I might do that again if it’s going to be cold because I’ve discovered that she doesn’t like smoke meat I’m starting to see why she and I tend to Bute heads uh well yeah and you tend to see why she doesn’t particular like when

I’m on the back porch all day long and come home smelling like I mean come inside smelling like smoke with a rack full of something that just burnt smelly meat I mean chili is such like a January meal it does it does not like I I know I

Know we’re about to enter bomb Cyclone season for our friends in the midwest like things are things are going to get pretty sketchy towards the end of the week particularly in Michigan but still like we still get in the 50s and 60s here in Northeast Florida and so if I

Can open up the offset and throw a pot of chili in there for three hours and get that like Smoky film on the top and just kind of like continually reintegrating it into the chili like it’s absolutely delicious at last a couple of days he throw some mashed

Potatoes with it as well and it is the most delicious comfort food you could possibly make we use rice I had never used white rice before we usually use like um macaroni like elbow noodles or something along those lines in your Chile yeah in Chile I think that’s more

Of a New Orleans thing because I that comes from her I mean that sounds like jumala using rice uh yeah maybe but this recipe called for rice it was very good H that does sound delicious uh I do have a rack of ribs that I’m going need to

Throw on the smoker on Saturday or Sunday as well uh pork ribs beef ribs take a long time and at least I have not found in Northeast Florida a good butcher shop to get beef ribs from if you do not get high quality meat those can be really tough and really

Disgusting they can be really fatty and not all that appetizing to consume make sure you guys check us out on the on Tik Tok we have some cooking videos on there as well in addition the podcast podcast clips and anything else Rex I know you were going to be having some trips to

Connecticut so I’ll be uh looking forward to some behind the scenes footage as well you and I will both be pinch hitting how about this for a state of affairs you and I will both be pinch hitting as co-hosts on golf today over the first two months of the year not

Together the FCC would have needed advanced notice if they were going to put you and I together on the same set as co-hosts but hopefully in the summer probably during a holiday week uh you and I I’m sure will get the opportunity to do so but I’m sure you’re looking

Forward to that I believe that begins Tory pin’s week so guys make sure you check on that and Rex and I will also be on golf today for our weekly spots all right let’s go to do it for this Edition Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab

Make sure you guys go to nbcsports.com golf the rest of the week for news notes updates from the Sony Open whatever else happens in the world of golf we be back next week for a full recap of the Sony the first week of the playoffs and of

Course what we threw on the grill as well hope you guys have a great rest of the week we’ll talk to you then congrats bills by a billion