Will we see more fire from Rory?; Grayson Murray’s rebound | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel

In this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav, the guys detail the nuanced legacy of outgoing DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley, debate Rory McIlroy’s season-opening performance and share why Grayson Murray’s Sony Open win changed his career narrative. #GolfChannel #GolfChannelPodcast

Chapters:
(0:00) Intro
(5:00) Keith Pelley
(14:00) Rory McIlroy’s Season Opening Performance
(26:30) Grayson Murray’s Career Narrative
(35:00) Jon Rahm’s New LIV Teammate
(44:00) What’s on the Grill?

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Will we see more fire from Rory?; Grayson Murray’s rebound | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab PJ tour is back in the mainland the start of the American Express in my opinion we are now entering the best stretch of the entire PJ tour season Palm Springs Tory Pines Pebble Beach Phoenix

Riviera but first Rex there’s plenty to get to from the week that was including this note on Twitter from Twitter user uh Jason Grant uh who said Rex uh can y’all skip the useless chat at the beginning of each pod please otherwise the episodes are a really good listen

Rex uh in that Spirit what’s on your mind today more useless chat is that what we’re gonna lean into uh I’m gonna start Jason I’m gonna start very serious this is not useless chat Monday morning I woke up we’re we’re taping this on Tuesday morning Monday morning I woke up

Turned on ESPN started catching up and became irrationally angry at at what I was hearing on TV and jealous just filled with rage and jealousy because those people can sit on TV and they can scream and yell at the top of their lungs because the Cowboys lost and then

Last night the Eagles lost and they can demand people lose their jobs and they could talk about how bad they were at their jobs and we don’t ever get any of that we never get the opportunity to sit in front of this camera and be like yep

He should be gone out of here what’s your how do you do your thing zip is that that how you do we never get that opportunity and I’m just filled with rage and jealousy because we live in we live in a sport that’s far too um

Gentile I’m gonna say like we don’t like even the the one person over the last two yeah the one person over the last two years that we could probably talk about maybe should or should not lose his job as J Monahan even on that front i’ probably come in a little bit too

Soft because I have said I don’t know if he should lose his job like I don’t pretend to know you know if he did a good job or a bad job the last two and a half years like I’m not qualified to make that assessment and yet Stephen A

Smith and everyone else on ESPN can sit in front of those cameras and scream for hours for people to lose their jobs and it just makes me so irrationally angry uh it that doesn’t necessarily make me angry I think it makes me envious that we’re not in a sport that’s more uh

Conducive or prone to spirited Sports Talk I mean the the greatest controversy that we had from the past week was Carl Yuan receiving toi relief on the 72nd hole of the tournament it ended up losing the of JT Poston probably $40,000 car Yuan banked an extra $100,000 he was

Granted free relief made par when he probably uh would have dropped at least one shot had he had to replay the shot from the bunker we’re not even going to get into that in this PO it’s not even worthy of a pod discussion but that’s basically the extent of the controversy

That’s it what are we gonna sit here and yell about I mean Grayson Murray winning like I’m I’m not yelling about that I got plenty of opinions on it but I never even when I think we had this conversation when the usj and the r last month announced the roll back which

Maybe it’s because we knew it was coming and we talked about it for it seemed like a decade but even on that day when I felt like I probably could have manufactured some Rage or some at least some outrage and because I had an opinion on it even that I had a hard

Time getting really really worked up over I’m kind of like well we known this is coming they had to do something it feels like they they weren’t going to be persuaded to do to not do anything at all that doesn’t seem like it was an option instead of instead of being able

To sit in front of a camera and be like oh yeah that’s terrible he has to lose his job even at the writer cup when there was legitimate things for us to get worked up about and scream about we still were kind of like well I mean it’s

Fun it’s entertaining I just kind of want to sit here and watch to do the popcorn thing I mean we’ll we’ll have Spirit of debate sure on this podcast but it’s about the it’s about the lamest topics I mean let’s be let’s let’s be honest you know like just in this past

Week you know the director of golf from The Grove 23 MJ’s course uh in South Florida he got a sponsor exemption into the Dubai Invitational people were freaking out I think he finished uh he finished 72 shots behind Tommy fle which is actually kind of like ugly and yet

Beautiful symmetry all at the same time it’s like who cares it’s it’s one of two sponsor exemptions it was clearly almost like a silly season kickoff event for the DP World Tour in 2024 I just have a hard time mustering any sort of outrage that’s not to say we won’t have spirited

Uh passionate debate especially when we get towards uh major season but I’m with you I’m kind of envious of the sports debate and the Sports Talk that’s gonna be trly dominating the airwaves for the next week uh rex that actually so so so

Jason I I I just want you to know I hear you I feel you in all seriousness we probably will be a little bit more cognizant moving forward if this is a golf podcast you folks are interested listening to golf so at least try to delay our random usings until later in

The Pod reck a little bit of news from the past week the announced departures last week of both RNA head Martin Slumbers and DP World Tour chief executive Keith P Slumbers will be done by the end of the year P has said that he wants to stay on until the beginning

Of April hoping to stay on for three more months presumably to get this tour piff deal across the Finish line in your opinion which departure is the most significant I think Keith leaving has sort of been in the cards a long time actually called a European Tour player

Who I talked to a lot about this the day it happened and I think no one Falls up better than Keith P which was a very backhanded comment I don’t know that I particularly agree with it but there had been talk all along that he wanted to

Move on specifically he wanted to move on to the NHL he wanted bman shop he wanted to be the commissioner this is probably the next best thing because he’ll be in Toronto I think he’s going to be working with a group that owns the Maple Leaves and a lot of other sports

Franchises he’s from Canada it makes perfect sense I think the only and this is where I am going to manufacture that outrage I think the one thing that got me sideways about this is everyone’s more than you know free to go and and pursue whatever your dreams are if you

Have a bucket list job by all means man go after it enjoy yourself in this particular case I don’t know that he’s going to see the job through that’s my problem I know he said he feels like they can get something done before April 2nd and I feel like there is movement on

The front between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund but by all accounts it’s a very very slow movement that unless something breaks real quickly over the next few weeks if not months then this is going to be a long drawn out process we knew it was

Going to be a long drawn out process I don’t know if anyone other than Keith is going to be racing towards a April 2nd deadline to be quite Frank with you so in this particular case I I was a little surprised that he would do it because

You want to stay you want to get the job done I just joked about Jay Monahan it seems like he is determined for all the right reasons to stay and make sure the job gets done so that one didn’t surprise me but I I am a little confused

Because as a chief executive at a very pivotal time in this industry it seems like a bad time to walk away to take arguably arguably the most critical point in men’s Elite professional history right like we’re talking at a a foundational shift that we are about to

Undertake and he’s pulling the rip cord on April 2 with guy Kennings uh longtime top Lieutenant of the DB World Tour taking big fan of guy I think guy’s going to do a phenomenal job like yeah he’s obviously well he’s obviously well equipped well versed exactly what they’re dealing with but obviously the

Timing could not be worse for Keith P to land his dream job and then leave at this time for Martin Slumbers like this is going to be the end of his ninth year at the RNA uh that’s almost always kind of the back end of the tenure the RNA

Head would have uh you look at what he accomplished you know getting the golf ball roll back across the line just a couple of months ago he opened up several commercial opportunities of the Open Championship and making that more profitable the year’s final major I also

Think he did a I think he did a pretty deaf job Rex of kind of navigating the tricky terrain that is this piff investment you know he he hasn’t been as uh forcefully against the thought of Saudi backing as like a master chairman Fred Ridley has been uh has has has kind

Of kept an open mind towards it I think that remains to be seen uh what that’s going to look like in the future but I thought he’s kind of definitely navigated that as well I think Keith P’s Legacy though Rex will be a little bit more mixed what’s what’s your opinion on

How he will be remember let’s let’s let’s just live in a fanciful world where this thing gets done by April 2nd and he can go do his dream job back in Toronto and and live a great rest of his uh life let’s say that gets done what do

You think his legacy is going to be remembered for uh if we’re in a dream world and this somehow gets closed and we have some sort of combination of this new entity that includes the BGA tour DB World Tour the in live golf essentially is what it’s going to be I think that

Would probably long term be the Legacy at least that’s going to be the lead of that story that’s going to be written about his time as the chief executive of the European circuit I will say up to up to that point there are plenty of things

You can point at like I I give Keith a monster soon of credit whatever he’s done with the Strategic alliance with the PGA Tour and there’s plenty of people on both sides who don’t like it but I think it was his only option like

I think he had to make a deaf move and that was it he he needed to make sure that they were not only in the game for the long term but they were part of the solution not part of the problem and he moved you again you can like it not like

It that the DP World Tour essentially became a feeder system for the PGA Tour but what he did is create a pathway for the top 10 players to play their way onto the PGA tour I think if you look dig a little bit deeper I’d love some of

The initiatives that he’s had over his tenue as chief executive over there you look at some of the events that they’ve introduced with with shot clocks and some of the things that they’ve done to be a little bit more creative and certainly the way they continue to expand their tour globally whereas the

PGA Tour sort of seemed like it was always shrinking becoming more and more American Centric DP World Tour just kept branching out I think all of those things will be pointed to as part of his legacy but the biggest one of course would be any kind of agreement between

Them and the piff and the PGA Tour I think it’s going to be I think it’s going to be mixed I think it’s going to be complicated I think it’s going to be Nuance he was certainly lauded for his leadership during the covid pandemic and and and getting golf tournaments on the

Schedule with reduced purses but still being open for business that summer when when so many other sports were shutting down the reason I say complicated mix is because he did have an option Keith P did entertain the st’s financial backing for the circuit and ultimately decided against it now who

Knows how how that could have turned out right if if the piff had all of a sudden started pumping uh Millions if not billions of dollars into the European tour you know would that be the preeminent golf circuit as we sit here on January 16th

2024 who knows I think what we do know for sure is is that the DP World Tour did strengthen its alliance with the PJ tour it did alienate some longtime European stalwarts whether it’s Lee Westwood Sergio Garcia Ian polter and I think it’s indisputable that they’ve effectively rendered the old European

Tour as as you said a a feeder system with the top 10 players now getting PJ tour membership they can they can put a PR spin on this however they want but each and every year the 10 best perform per formers on the European tour are

Being promoted to the PJ tour that is the definition of a feeder system if Keith P can help get this deal across the line if we can develop some sort of world circuit where you know the elite PJ tour players are playing a schedule that’s predominantly uh in in America but

You’re borrowing some of these National opens or some of the the Marquee events on the DP World Tour I think everyone wins and I I I agree with you I think that’s going to be a large part of his eventual Legacy as well if he can get

Across the line and and I will say this I mean along with Jay Monahan I’m not quite sure and again this goes back to him getting fired him not getting fired either one of them I I don’t know that anybody was equipped for what happened in golf really in the world over the

Last five to six years where you pointed out the pandemic and i’ I’ve gone a step further when it came to Jay Monahan that essentially during his tenure as commissioner he lost Tiger Woods as a regular competitor I think I did the math since Jay Monahan has been

Commissioner Tiger Woods has played 14 regular season events so essentially tiger retired in his in during his tenure and then you factor in what became the piff and live golf and the quote unquote irrational threat I’m not quite sure anybody was prepared for that so looking back you’re right I I love

When you mentioned that the other side of it it’s the malta meeting right it’s it sounds so Sinister and it sounds like it’s the start of a really really good movie and it it really wasn’t turns out because we don’t know what what the conversation exactly was there but

Whatever the offer the piff was making to the European tour they clearly got a better deal from the PGA Tour maybe time in more Daylight and we understand exactly what was on the table from both sides will’ll change that opinion but I think he did a very good job or at least

A good job as commissioner yeah I think at at that time Keith P wanted to be as Rory M once said on the right side of History uh but now as we have seen over the past two years how that Chang is certainly changing Rex let’s keep it on the DP

World Tour for a minute the Dubai Invitational Roy mroy and Tommy Fleetwood were the headliners for this one I found myself uh oddly en raptured by what was unfolding at like 6:30 a.m. on Sunday I’m I’m up of course because cam refuses to sleep in uh on on the

Weekend and Roy mroy looked like he had it in the bag and then he didn’t and he looked like he had in the bag once more and then blew it on the 72 hole if you guys missed it Roy was leading by a single shot on the te of the 18th hole

And rope hooked his t- shot into the water made Bogey and Tommy Fleetwood poured in a 15 foot birdie putt uh to win the golf tournament seventh on the DP World Tour so what do you take away more for what was kind of a silly season event 60 Pros 60 amateurs as we

Mentioned the director of golf at MJ’s course in South Florida finishing a whopping 72 shots behind Eddie peppol calling him uh basically Ken from Barbie does not care if Ken from Barbie is in the field he does not want a player of Ken Wan’s caliber in the field what’ you

Take away Roy’s loss fleetwoods win what was the headline for you well you called it a silly season event and I think aan Lynch called it something similar on golf today when we did the round table yesterday and I’m drawn to the idea that 60 players 60 amateurs is essentially

What we’re going to have at Pebble Beach in a few weeks and that’s a signature event so I’m not quite sure how we’re going to reconcile those two different opinions yeah probably the quality of the field wasn’t what you would expect it to be and I think from in it’s

Twofold one from Roy’s perspective he has a really good history like at this point we we know who and what Roy maroy is and he’s really good showing up beginning of the year after taking a couple weeks off and and being pretty good like he has found a way to not

Start slow which a lot of players would in that situation in this particular case there were like there was rust and you talked about the misop drive on the 72nd hole that’s not Rory like when Rory’s playing his best he doesn’t miss that drive you talk about the three putt

From essentially three feet I think on the 14th hole on Sunday again that’s just a mistake that I don’t think he makes mid-season form I actually went kind of the other way though I like what this could possibly do for Tommy Fleetwood even if this was I don’t know

What you want to call it a secondary event A S A Silly Season event whatever the case may be you still beat Roy maroy on a Sunday to win a trophy and that does something for you and when it came when it comes to Tommy Fleetwood and

You’ve looked at sort of the Arc of his career over the last few years I think this could be a boost for him coming into this season not saying it’s going to translate into wins in the United States or major championship wins but it certainly shows that he’s on the right

Path the only difference between the Dubai Invitational and the AT&T Pebble Beach National pram is about $18 million signature that’s not fair and Pebble Beach to be fair that’s yeah that’s the main difference as well I was I was definitely struck by Rory’s demeanor and

How he how he acted during what became a final round loss I mean Rory almost always shows up sharp for his first event of the new year he’s the defending Champion uh this week Dubai Desert Classic his record and what is typically his first event or either Abu Dhabi is

Is outstanding like he always comes ready to play and yet he seemed to have this built-in excuse of you know it’s going to be sloppy I you know I’m I’m staying on site this week because I want to knock some rust off my game and get my game sharp for

The rest of the season like he he he didn’t have the past two months to be you know saddled with with with nine or 10 hour board meetings like this was supposed to be the new Rory in 2024 where he’s he’s hungry he’s focused he’s not distracted by all this off off

Course stuff and yet he seemed to have this built-in excuse already like he was he was plenty sharp like he he finished top 10 in every major statistical category for this tournament and yet some of his mistakes I thought were were really sloppy some were were physical

Obviously like the like the hook into the water on 18 but some of them were mental as well just kind of pure lapses of concentration whether it was hitting an iron uh into the water on the front nine on Sunday he made a quad in the second round actually did well to Rally

Just to take the halfway lead and obviously the the three putt from either two or three feet on the 14th hole those were just kind of all curious and and it added up to a bizarre scene which kind of speaks to the stature of the event where he’s he’s fist bumping Tommy

Fleetwood he’s hugging Tommy Fleetwood he’s walking off the 18th green as gracious as could possibly be after losing the golf tournament with his arm slung around Tommy Fleetwood I get that they’re friends but it was it was just kind of a it was a it was a very strange

Reaction to lose in the golf tournament over the past year again this is not this is not the Masters this is not a major championship I get that they’re friends but did it all seem just slightly strange just how Noble just how gracious Roy was being after losing the

Golf tournament you guys had that conversation yesterday on golf today I didn’t take it that way only because he and Tommy are so close I mean they we named him Fleetwood Mack at the Ryder Cup like these two are essentially he’s got a lot of friends on tour that

Doesn’t mean he his arms slung over their shoulder walking does but I’ve never really seen outside of the uh excuse me that’s a fine um outside of him ripping his shirt off that I think that was in Dubai as well again comically one of the best scenes I can

Ever imagine in my mind because we didn’t actually get the physical ripping of the Hulk shirt off but I can only imagine how him he struggled with it and he couldn’t quite get it outside of that particular episode I don’t really remember him ever like sulking away no

He’s always a he’s always a he’s I would call him a a good loser at least at least in public right like he’s he’s well I guess the I guess the Patrick Klay Ryder Cup uh would would probably be a different example that’s another one too there’s a rage monster in there somewhere

Apparently on course Behavior but but typically like in a in a post in a post round press conference like he’s typically complimentary of us playing competitors and you know he he wishes them well and says all the right things I was just struck that 15 minutes

Earlier he doomed his chance to win a golf tournament and yet he’s he was smiling and and seemingly happy about it and easy to kind of chalk this away to to Simply some some Rusty mistakes uh I guess to your point what do they call it someone who’s a good

Loser they’re good winner yeah oh I I just I’m going to go Ahad and just say at this stage in Roy’s career I don’t know why he would get worked up over that particular event like look Anybody Everybody Wants to win and I know In the

Heat of the Moment it’s easy to get carried away at this stage in his career he knows the events that matter and he knows where his game needs to be not now I don’t think he’s worried about the second week of January exactly the state

Of his game it’s going to be that first week of April that he’s worried about the state of his game at that point and you could say the same thing about the other major championships this year so no I didn’t read too much into that I I

Guess I get your point when you look I mean you counterbalance that to what happened at the Sony Open and I would ask you like the reaction that you saw from Ben on from Keegan Bradley um that to me was the opposite end of that those two guys were gutted about that finish

The playoff not being able to get it done the way everything sort of flipped there on that first playoff hole so I guess I get where you’re coming from but in Rory’s mind you said it I mean this felt like a silly season event yeah and maybe you know obviously he had probably

10 to 15 minutes to process what was happening Rory M did after hitting the t-shot in the water he probably figured that was his uh opportunity that was lost while Ben on like literally missed a four-footer didn’t hit the hole and was processing that in real time as he

Was walking off the green I think maybe I’m just projecting I think I think all of us want Roy to kind of recapture the old Swagger the old hunger uh the the the alpha of his 24 25 year old days when he’s just a dramatically different person and player

At age 34 than he was then uh I think that could be it and I think 2024 is is setting up to be a hugely significant moment for Roy’s career now a decade without a major championship again he does not have have the distractions that have been kind of

Dogging him for the past two years like this is his opportunity to sees it instill some of the best form of his career and really capitalize on it and this just seemed like an opportunity squandered as as it relates to Tommy Fleet would at least Rex like I actually

Think this is somewhat meaningful for him you look at his P statistics from 2023 like that was the best season he’s ever had no he did not win and he has continued to not win on the PJ tour but overall worldwide he had 10 top 10 last

Season he’s up to 11th in the world ranking now just won off his uh career high he has plenty of major championship experience you know the year’s final major the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool he was going head-to-head with Brian Haron there and we know how that

All turned out but he’s like he’s given himself plenty of opportunities now I think we kind of know who Tommy Fleetwood is at this point a player who is kind of going to live between 10th and 20th in the world ranking he’s going to pick up a couple of wins over a

Period of time maybe not win as much as we think a flusher like him should but I really do think that beating Rory head-to-head even if it is just kind of a silly season event uh I think they could be a huge confidence booster and

And perhaps now sets them up uh to get his first multi-win season since 2017 10 to 20 in the world that’s a good spot to be yeah it’s it’s very it’s very comfy it’s the expectations are not are not overly High um and yet you you know you’re in everything you’re going to

Give yourself plenty of chances to win and make a boatload of money I I I I argue all the time that the best job in the NFL is the backup quarterback job because you get paid a lot of money you get to hold the clipboard you get to

Have the headphones on and very rarely are there any expectations a lot of prep work though to be a backup sure sure you’re watching a lot of film I would argue that probably that 10 to 20 in the world is probably a a pretty good place to land

As well because you’re making a lot of money but the expectations aren’t through the roof where you’re not getting like this conversation is the perfect example 30 30 30 30 to 50 30 30 to 50 is The Sweet Spot you’re probably not the said how disappointed you are in

Rory and he didn’t show the fight maybe he’s too nice and or whatever else you were trying to say but for Tommy it was oh yeah Tommy was great well that I think that’s the difference in the expectations if you’re one to five man if you don’t win in that situation then

Something’s wrong with you but if you’re in that maybe yeah you’re probably right I’m gonna say 25 to 50 if you’re 25 to 50 and you’re going head-to-head with Rory on Sunday in Dubai and you you lose by one everyone’s like ah good job you

Did well I always I always joke with my wife that like the best job in in pro golf was being a a former Georgia Bulldog because you you could you could lump them all in a very similar category whether you know a couple years ago whether it was Chris Kirk Brian Harmon

Hudson Swafford Harris English like they they were all good enough to to not even come close to losing their PJ tour cards uh they would always at least uh challenge for a win if not win they they’d make two three million do and yet they could go to Publix probably not get

Recognized and just live a very happy peaceful Life playing in major championships and just living a very Blissful existence now I think you times are changing a little bit but it probably still is that 25 to 50 window I think that would be a brilliant feature

To do for uh live from where you you go to Athens with Brian Haron and you guys just go into the different the different grocery stores whatever the case may be the chick F just walk through go to The Waffle House for breakfast and see how many people actually recognize him in

Athens they would definitely recognize him yes if he went to Athens people would recognize him if he went to Columbus Ohio uh no I do not think Brian Harmon would be overly recogniz about Harris English uh Harris English no no Chris Kirk no no I’m telling you like

You can you can lump them all in one category now they’ve all accomplished some pretty remarkable things whether it’s Chris Kirk and his his comeback Brian Haron with his major championship HUD Swafford with his well his Liv his lived disappearance who knows but I I think you could all lump them in at

Least a couple of years ago actually Rex speaking of a guy who is now inside the top 50 in the world how about that for professional segue how about Grayson Murray longtime PJ Tour player now one in his uh rookie season on the PG tour

In 2017 yet it has been a miserable few years uh marked by alcohol abuse depression anxiety loss his PJ tour card head to Apprentice for a year on the corn fairy tour and he showed up at Sony I think looking and sounding like a completely different player and he’s the

Player after nailing down a 4f footer on the first hole of a playoff that defeated Kean Bradley and Ben on to win his second PGA Tour event pretty good story especially coming a week after what Chris Kirk did at kaaloa as well fighting very similar demons what do you

Make of the journey that Grayson Murray has been on and where he is now no I thought the conversation yesterday on golf today was interesting at least in my mind because and I think what Aon asked me was does the tour need to be a little bit more aware of players mental

Health may do they need to do more maybe for players and and I I know where aiman was going my take was yes of course the tour needs to do better by players by caddies by employees I would say Society in general has to do better period when

It comes com to mental health I I was taken by you mentioned it coming on the heels of the Chris Kirk story and it’s they they both kind of suffered now granted Grayson’s was was not in quiet well Chris seemed like he kind of suffered in private Grayson was out

There in the public realm at least on social media I I was taken by the idea that this is almost like a lifestyle thing on the PGA tour and I’m not trying to make excuses for players or caddies or anyone else that’s on the traveling circus but I remember talking with Scott

Hamilton last week the swing coach for Chris Kirk and he was telling me that even through Chris’s darkest days he never realized anything was wrong they would go out to dinner they’d have a glass of wine or two and then go their separate ways and it turns out Chris

Would go back to his room and keep drinking but you don’t know that I mean and I think that’s sort of the suffering in silence that just compounds those things and I think Grayson Murray probably went through a very very similar process where living that kind of Lifestyle where you have so much

Downtime and you’re probably beating yourself up a lot over things either you did or did not do on the golf course it’s probably not the healthiest lifestyle period and now you’ve also factored in other things like alcoholism or substance abuse on some on some level I’m actually surprised we don’t have

More of it as we were getting ready yesterday for that segment I kind of went through the last year of players who have become more and more open Aaron Wise is one that came up clearly Bubba Watson is one that talked about Matt wolf of course was a topic of

Conversation a lot last year and that’s just kind of you know scraping the outside of the shell I think there’s so much more here but when you look at a player like Grayson Murray and I was taken on Sunday just like I was taken on the previous Sunday how honest he was

And answering a lot of the questions that he ended up having to answer after the victory it’s once you get to the point where you’re willing to say I have a problem and that that I am fascinated by the idea of that’s the point that you’re okay talking about it in public

And my guess is three years ago Grayson or even Chris would have never been that comfortable sitting in front of a microphone answering those types of very very difficult questions I think it’s a testament to not just what they were able to overcome but how they were able

To overcome it yeah I think that’s very well said and I was actually struck so I’ve I’ve known Grayson Murray for a very long time he was actually one of the first uh golfers I ever interviewed I started a golf Week Magazine in March 2010 and at that time Grayson was either

15 or 16 but a highly accomplished Junior player in North Carolina he was kind of in that realm at least in that world with Jordan spe Patrick Rogers Ali Schneider Jans Justin Thomas like everyone knew he was going places and yet there was always kind of this rep

This reputation that that preceded him little bit of a wild child kind of bounced around he went to I think three schools and three different semesters when it was time for college before he ultimately left Arizona State and I did a long feature on him back in

2017 and at that time he’d made some headlines with some of the things that he was saying on social media uh he’d had some of these kind of anxious uh panic attacks uh on the golf course or at home and I read that story that I

Wrote uh on Monday morning after his win and it was incredibly haunting to hear the challenges that he was battling at that time and how it actually got worse over the past six years before it ultim culminated with him spending a month in rehab and trying to get his life and ‘s

Now eight months sober good for him but here’s here’s a quote Rex from Grayson Murray’s dad Eric who when talking about Grayson’s struggle said I quote I think I’ll always be concerned because no parent wants to have a physical or mental obstacle putting their kids way

I’m concerned because I know how hard it is for him I would love to see Grayson play golf without these issues and see how good he could have been oh my gosh just unbelievable this is what he was dealt with and he’s dealing with it and

He’s always going to be dealing with it at the end of 20 years I think he’s going to look back at can say that he’s had a good career but only he’s in control of that it is I think incredibly heartwarming and it’s got to be satisfying for Grayson Murray to see

That he has regained control of his life in career at this point you know hearing him in his post uh post round press conference from Wy like he’s now 30 he’s so much more mature he is getting married in April uh he’s kind of uh rediscovered uh his faith uh he’s

Clearly a family man he he’s he’s always had a great relationship uh with his parents but I think that’s even been forged more now because of the struggles that he’s had he’s not the arrogant and angry and jealous young hot shot when he first came out on the PJ tour he he

Sounds and and appears uh humbled and appreciative of what he’s gone through and and obviously that’s that’s that’s the counseling that he’s received and he has certain slogans that he’s talking to himself on the golf course and the help that he’s receiving uh outside the golf

Course as well but he has the support system now I think at age 30 finally to to really make something of his career because his the talent has never been in question like you watch him play golf at the Sony Open hits at a mile really good

Iron player and His short game was absolutely sick some of the saves that he had on 16 and 17 to stay in the mix with Keegan Bradley and Ben on I’m I’m very excited to see where he goes from here it wouldn’t surprise me if he made

Kind of like a Windam clarkes jump in 2024 similar very similar games uh and now with his with his life more centered I think he I think that’s certainly uh in in the range of possibilities for him well and it occurs to me that you pointed out that he’s 30 years old and

Eventually you’d like to think everyone grows up that’s not the case but maturity the game being humbled I mean eventually it seems to settle in for most people at at some point and at 30 years old I I would actually tip the cap to him and say man like after everything

You’ve been through that’s pretty impressive I guess the part that really resonated with me was when he was so honest on Sunday asking about the struggles with alcoholism and he said the worst thing that probably could have happened to him in his entire life is that PGA Tour Victory came when he was

Hung over for three of those four rounds and you kind of it allowed him to convince himself that okay this is normal I can operate like this and maybe 30 years ago on the PGA tour you probably could have gotten away with it for a decade or two you and I both know

Plenty of players who played during that era that probably got away with it for a decade or two you can’t really do that anymore because the margins are so thin you can’t give away Strokes essentially because you’re staying up on a Thursday or Friday night drinking when you

Probably should be back in your room getting room service getting ready for the next round I think it’s a byproduct of the modern game and it’s probably for the best when you consider that Chris Kirk realized it Grayson Murray realized it I would be curious how many players haven’t come to that

Conclusion yet because I have to believe there’s players out there that are watching these examples thinking to themselves I can learn from that I I’m well aware that Grace Murray is probably not the most popular player among fans he’s said and done some things that are pretty reprehensible uh but for me at

Least uh it’s great to see a player regain ownership of his life and career uh and I think Grayson Murray has certainly done that uh Rex before we get to what’s on the grill because it was actually a big weekend in the lavner household a couple of odds and ends

Before we get out of here I was struck John ROMs Legion 13 team un live that’s what he’s going to be calling it Legion 13 has not yet been finalized even with the season starting just three weeks away uh some Prive accounts on social media rumored John ROM to be in deep

Discussions with reigning US Open Champion Windham Clark and Tennessee sophomore Caleb Sarat thoughts on those rumors that speculation in that possibility I I don’t get much feedback now when it comes to teams just because it seems like there was a frenzy right after deral about exactly how this was

Going to work out there was going to be a free agency period so I really haven’t heard much in the last few weeks I will tell you last Friday I started getting calls like close to midnight saying and and talking to me about Caleb and came from people who watch the industry and

And know these players much better than I do and apparently he was on Jon’s list early in the process when he wanted to create a team he’s exactly what he’s looking for I I and I almost texted you I knew at midnight on Friday night you

Were well asleep well put the bed in yeah yeah yeah because you’re up at 6 am so I didn’t actually text you it is interesting he seems to have Embrace this more than the other captains that I’ve seen whether if that’s fair or not because we don’t know exactly what’s

Going on behind the line I think the Windham Clark stuff and again I hate doing this because it’s just we’re just feeding the machine when we sit here and talk about it and you’re right they’re Pro Live accounts that are putting this stuff out there so there’s a reason why

Someone wants us talking about it whatever his team is going to look like regardless take the names out of it there’s going to be John ROM a b player a c player and a d player that’s the way it works out whoever those players are

More than likely at least one of them is going to come from the PGA Tour and it’s going to be one more hit during a Time that’s going to be and only make this more Awkward because now you have people from both sides from piff and the PGA

Tour sitting in a room trying to have serious conversations about serious things and now you’re going to throw this on the side I think it’s only going to make it more difficult yeah and and Windham Clark makes sense for live kind of in the same way that that John ROM

Made sense for live he’s in the prime of his career he won a signature event last year he won a major championship he’s 29 30 years old he’s in all the majors for at least the next 5 years uh and if now he can get a guaranteed payday with the

Future looking uh increasingly murky or at least the potentials there for all sides to be joining together in a year or two uh why not make the jump if you’re Windam cleric I would be uh I I I would be more struck uh by by Caleb strot he’s a he’s a sophomore Tennessee

He just played on the US uh Walker Cup team had a phenomenal uh freshman season for the volunteers the connection with John ROM here is they’re both Callaway uh staff and and Caleb shat uh was the number one ranked amateur in the world last year he

Would obviously be a target for Liv golf for the piff if you’re trying to shore up kind of the the future pipeline this was always I think the the the concern if you were the PGA Tour when when Liv first launched in 2022 the the the thinking and and what

Actually happened was they they they looked at the world rankings they looked at the golf stat rankings at the time and they just went down the list and try to single out who could we attack because because you could you could get the the Lee Westwoods and Ian

Poters and Sergio Garcia of the world players who want one last payday uh when the cor the competitive uh prospects are dimming but to be able to snag a yeno Shakara a David puj uh both who were were highly accomplished college players and get them into the live cycle early

Uh that was where they were going to make the most head way it wouldn’t necessarily be in year one or year year two but if Liv and the piff were thinking long term for the next five or 10 years getting those players in the pipeline getting them in the system is

Where they wanted to go that’s why I’d be so struck by the Caleb Sarat signing if that does come to fruition he’s just 19 or 20 years years old uh as well with a very promising college career ahead of him Rex hat tip to your friend in mine

Russ uh Herz is selling off it’s remaining Fleet of electric vehicles uh if this is if you’re wondering why the hell we would possibly be talking about this on the Golf Show podcast with Rex and lav you had a forgettable experience with last year this week it was last

Year this week last year this week with a Tesla you nearly missed uh your Redeye flight how encouraged are you to see that the official provider uh for NBC Universal in Herz is selling off uh the rest of its EV I think and and we had to be perfectly

Clear about this I neither one of us have anything against EVS like certainly if if I to a job that was two miles away and I could plug it into my garage every night yep that’s perfect like that’s exactly what I would be looking for what

I ran into is if you’ve never experience one of these if you’ve never driven a Tesla then you don’t have any idea how it works and so I’m just gon to make this quick when I got in the car in Los Angeles and I was going from Los Angeles

To Palm Springs for this week’s American Express and I I suddenly was just overwhelmed with panic because I don’t know how it works like when you get in a car you can see oh I got a full tankk of gas I should be good to go I had no idea

So it took a long time for me to actually figure out okay it tells you exactly how far you have it gives you charging stations along the way cool cool cool that works out well as I discovered throughout the course of the week if it’s colder it takes longer to

Charge so instead of sitting in that parking lot in the mall next to my hotel in Palm Springs for 20 minutes I got to sit there now for 40 minutes that doesn’t even get me to LAX for my Redeye flight as you pointed out I almost

Missed it it’s a ridiculous car to get for a rental car if you’re not driving a finite amount of time sure if you’re picking it up to the airport and you’re driving it to the airport with Marriott and then back to the airport fine you don’t have to worry about it if you’re

Going any amount of distance you know what I’m wrong I did get worked up over something thank you very much you you would rent a car for convenience and having an electric vehicle which would require a 20 to 30 minute charge to get back to full strength is the opposite of

Conven that’s exactly what you do not want if you are a Herz customer good for you we will continue to rent from you and accumulate points not sure we had a choice in that matter but thank you nonetheless for and speaking of Palm Springs uh I used to cover this event

You are not covering this event this week either Rex but we do have a comeback of sorts with Daniel berer playing his first PG Tour event in a year and a half a lot of rumors a lot of speculation he was supposed to relaunch his career last summer then last fall

And now he is finally doing so with the third event of 2024 when Daniel Burger last heated up Rex at the US Open in 2022 he was ranked 25th in the world Prime Time player they played in the Ryder Cup in Fall 2021 you happy to see him you happy to see boo

Back I am happy to see boo back because when he’s healthy he is among those top 10 top 15 players in the world and he certainly goes to where we are in the game right now like trust me the PGA Tour needs all the stars they can

Possibly get and if somehow Daniel can come back and play somehow some even close to what he was before he left I’m always curious like these could be devastating injuries that he’s had to go through and it it has lingered as you pointed out like we had heard rumors he

Was coming back late last year and then into the fall and then it was pretty much on hold until now now that might just be by Design just to sort of set up exactly how he wants his medical to play out that’s nothing new for the way

Players work this out but certainly in the case of Daniel and we’ve had this conversation about other players before so young so talented he was part of that High School class of I’m gonna get it wrong 2011 got it part of that 2011 class so much

Talent as much talent as anyone else in that class you really would like to think he can come back and overcome all of those injuries yeah uh I’m with you and they’ve been very serious back injuries to the to the point where he was kind of bedridden for three to six

Months uh really dealing with a lot of pain and discomfort I’m happy to see Boog back a lot of swagger uh he’s definitely got some djf in him uh I love to see boo back and hope he returns to form quickly Rexx it was a big week on

The grill for yours truly we’ll get to that in a second but for the wild card playoff round which actually sended three days uh plus the Sony Open what’ you fire up on the grill it was a uh meat driven Sunday and I I told my kids

This my wife was out of town so it was just me and the boys and so we like I made the arrangements that it was going to be sun up to sun down it was going to be nothing but just we were just going to I smoked a PK butt I did chicken

Wings and I did ribs for the that was like the the matina at night so I was out there all day long because it was for me that was pretty much going to be the last well it is the last football weekend like I go I leave on Sunday to

Go up to Connecticut don’t get back I guess I’ll be around for the conference championships yeah yeah conference champ chionship is Sunday of Tory week that’s why Tory ponds is ending on that Saturday to basically clear way for the NFL conference championships on that Sunday although you’d probably be

Leaving first thing that Monday morning to get to Pebble for the signature second signature think about that yeah you’re right so this was going to be it so we went out with a bang it was pretty good what’ you fire up so this was a big

Weekend for yours truly as well I want to preface this by saying this may actually be the last what’s on the grill segment or at least the last what’s on the grill segment which we could actually do uh some pretty serious grilling and not just with like some

Portell mushrooms I do have a biometric screening uh scheduled for Thursday have not had blood work done uh in about three years time and so if that comes back how it did six or seven years ago with Bas with basically indicating that I’m on death’s door uh there may need to

Be some lifestyle changes that are implemented but until then definitely feels like we’re cramming for this test I got some pill I’m supposed to be taking for the next couple days hoping it flushes all those fatty acids out of my body but I’ve always wanted to do

Habachi on the Blackstone but I’m a little bit scared I didn’t necessarily like all of the prep work and the knife work that was going to go into it and look doing Habachi in the Blackstone is a lot of work it’s a lot of ingredients

It’s a lot of cutting it’s a lot of chopping it’s a lot of crying with all the onions that you have to do but I have to say it was absolutely worth it it was delicious we did uh beef and chicken Habachi threw some mushrooms in there threw some onion threw some

Peppers uh did the did the whole fried rice thing was a lot of work yes do I want to do it every week or every every month probably not again lot of work but my wife loved it so was one of the best things that I’ve ever cooked so I will

Do it again but probably not for a little bit of time on Sunday we had some bad weather on Saturday on Sunday Rex I fired up the Workhorse offset and I smoked some chicken wings but I didn’t just smoke chicken wings pull them off uh the smoker and then eat them right

Away I smoked them to about 175 which took 45 minutes to an hour so I got them exactly where I wanted to pulled them off in a pan and then for Christmas uh my beautiful wife Amy got me a little countertop fryer I didn’t want that whole like Val classic thing that just

It takes up space requires so much oil it’s super messy so this is like basically a a a countertop fryer and you can throw probably 12 to 14 Wings in there at a time or you can fry anything you want to I was just happening to do

Wings at this time and I fried them for five to seven minutes pulled them off and then doused them obviously in Buffalo sauce they were outstanding because you didn’t just get the smoke flavor from the offset and burning real wood but then you get that crispy skin that everyone is after and

Coated in the buffalo sauce it’s so familiar if you go to any sort of wing joint and so I thought it was very fitting that on Sunday and then on Monday for the resumption of the bills Steelers game in Buffalo that I was having buffalo wings they were absolutely delicious if anyone is

Curious about this countertop fryer uh I would be more than happy to send you a link I know you were curious as well cannot recommend it at enough it was like $115 not overly expensive uh easy clean up uh cannot recommend it enough that is

The way if we’re if we’re cooking for a party and you don’t just want to get them done in 30 to 45 minutes that’s where we’re gonna be doing it moving forward uh two things one it it is some prep work to get ready for Habachi but

It’s not a difficult like you’re not lifting anything like it’s you’re just cutting up onions and mushrooms and we do zucchini and then you just pre-make the rice I’ve got ly clinging I’ve got Lily clinging to my leg I’ve got to get Cam seven different snacks while he’s

Watching his iPad meanwhile I’m trying to to slice and dice onions as as as finely as possible it’s just well they shouldn’t be they should be fine that’s the point that was not that was not my definition of fun uh I will do that if

Not once I won’t do it once a week but definitely once a month that’s not the problem and I’m with you we actually when I did wings I believe it was on Sunday I smoked them I did mine to like 165 and then I just kind of flash fried them really quick

Just to get sort of that that you know that sort of crisp on the outside but before I did that I tossed them in the hotwing sauce and then you put them in the fryer perfect yeah I didn’t do I didn’t do any sort of breading I think that’s what

I’ll try next time is to do the breading if you want to there’s definitely a a window that you need to pull the Wings off the grill it’s I think I think it’s between That 160 to 180 you want to make sure they’re fully cooked that they’re

Edible but you don’t want to leave them so long in the fryer or on the smoker that they then become overcooked and they get they get dry like you can you can push Wings to 19200 but if you’re pulling your wings off at 180 and then you’re frying them for five to seven

Minutes they’re going to be a little bit dry so there definitely I fried them for not not not even a full minute I just wanted to sort of flash fry him to get some sort of crisp on the outside that’s it how how high were you using the oil the the oil

Was really hot I don’t have the fancy thing that you sent me that your your lovely wife Amy bought you what what I have is I do have like a stove that’s attached to one of my grills and so it’s just off straight off the propane and

That thing just gets raging hot so it actually I have to work hard to keep it sort of not as hot just just just overflowing toes toes are melting when the when the vegetable oil is spilling over and it’s just a little tiny like I have a fullsize like frying fire that

That it’s what I like I do meatballs in it I I do everything in it and so but it’s just a little bit of oil down at the bottom but it’s it gets so hot I literally have to turn the the heat Source off in between just to get it to

Cool down a little bit and then fire it back up it sounds uh like a public safety hazard uh but that’s an issue another day bunk if you’re listening Rex would dearly love yeah this countertop fryer Valentine’s Day as we know is right around the corner all right let

Going to do for this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab thank you guys as always for listening to this Edition we’ll be back next week for full recap of the American Express the first event back at PJ tour and the United States Mainland as well as a recap of

The divisional round of the NFL playoffs I have not yet explored what we’ll be doing on the grill but stay tuned I’ll give you guys all the Deets on that hope you guys have a great rest of the week make sure you check out Rex on golf Central on Tuesday he’s the guest

Analyst and yours truly yes they’re that desperate that I will be doing it on Wednesday should be a lot of fun talk to you guys next week appreciate you James