Rahm’s Legion XIII Is Here-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams- Wed Jan 31

Jon Rahm announces his new LIV Golf team Legion XIII and Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas get ready for this week as Matt Adams chats about the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and the LIV Golf Tour they head to Mayakoba. Plus, LPGA Tour winner Marina Alex stops by.

Welcome to the most listened to golf in the world the fairways of Life show on air online and around the world with the most candid interviews Unforgettable stories taking you beyond the ropes here’s your host New York Times bestselling author mat Adams I think life is about choices guys

Made choices to go and play Live guys made choices to stay here and you know you if people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try to do something let them come back I mean I don’t I don’t think I think it’s

Hard to punish people um I don’t think there should be a punishment for I’m obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished pjer and having a diminished Liv t or anything else is is bad for both parties be much

Better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game Legion 13 I wanted to want go down like the warrior Spirit type thing and uh you know I’ve always liked Greek and Roman history and mythology but the actual Legion 13 was a legion that was very faithful to Julius

Caesar on his way back to Rome to right you know to take over for lack of better word to become emperor right so uh that the sense of loyalty and togetherness and being a team uh with one goal you know charging towards towards winning was something that I really liked even

Though there was a lot of names that I liked like the the Spanish REM mod I liked but that would only make sense in my mind if four of us were Spanish right um the matadors that was good but that was se’s nickname he was the M door

Right so there was a couple other names that were really fun but uh I just I don’t know I didn’t feel like it was truly me in that sense and that’s how we ended up with this welcome into the fairways life show folks absolute Delight to have your company from

Wherever you are joining us my name is Matt Adams Domin Andrew are behind the glass so the sound that you just heard first of all from Rory you will hear it uh more so in just a few moments I’m going to go deep into Rory mooy’s press conference at Pebble Beach yesterday the

Piece with John ROM I found it on golf.com Instagram account talking about Legion 13 and what that name means and the significance of it it’ll get more into his team fully assembled now now announced to the world in just a moment but first golf Central has reported that

A deal with the Strategic Sports Group is imminent it is valued at $ 1.5 billion and possibly as high as $2 billion golf week is reporting that a tour player advisory Council call is scheduled at 8 a.m. eastern time this morning should already be underway additionally PGA Tour commissioner J

Monahan has invited members of all three tours to participate in an important and timely quote close quote update during a conference call scheduled for 9:30 a.m. today the status of negotiations between the DP World Tour the PGA Tour and the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia are unclear but

Sources are reporting that progress is being made now as to John rah’s announcement of his team Legion 13 he said yesterday it will include the recently signed Terell Hatton Hatton of course the 16th ranked player in the world Caleb Sarat who is a sophomore at Tennessee he will turn professional for

The opportunity Sarat is the 10th ranked player amateur player currently in the world he was a member of the 2023 Walker Cup team as well and then finally Kieran Vincent who was one of three players to qualify for the league via the live golf promotions event 26-year-old Vincent is

From Zimbabwe he won the 2023 International series Vietnam he played Collegiate golf at Liberty University in Virginia where he was the Big South Conference rookie of the year in 20 17 uh John ROM is scheduled to amongst to address the media today there are a number of different teams and we’ll get

Into the press conference scheduled uh for you now Legion 13 will be at 300 p.m. Crush users at 3:30 p.m. and then tomorrow cuz remember it’s a Friday start torque and Fireballs at 300 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. respectively from Maya Koba if you go on to the fairways of Life YouTube channel

Tomorrow you can see John R’s full press conference posted there now as to Rory maroy he did address the media at Pebble Beach yesterday he was asked a number of intriguing questions of which we just showed you a little glimpse of an answer uh he was asked having DJ and John ROM

Etc out of the Pebble Beach pram does it cheapen the field in terms of a win there fascinating conversation and response thoughts on Live players competing again on the PGA tour what was his discussion with Terrell and would it have been different had it taken place a

Year ago given his success since leaving the board does he wish that he had done it sooner and then this with Terrell going to live are are you becoming numb to these moves at this point like at the end of the day everyone needs to do

What’s right for them I had a long talk with Terell on Sunday completely understood where he was coming from I’ve sort of been you know I’ve talked to him quite a bit about it over the past month um and it got to the point where they

You know negotiated and got to a place where he was comfortable with and you know he has to do what he feels is right for him so like I’m you know I’m not going to stand in anyone’s way from from making money uh and if what they deem life-changing money like absolutely um

But you know I think the the delay of tgl was a blessing in disguise I think 10 months is a long time especially in the game of golf right now and you know who knows what the the landscape is going to look like in in uh in 10 months

Time so um I think at this point all I see is opportunity um I I certainly think that there’s there’s tons of opportunity within the game to to do great things and um you know who knows you know Terell might still play tgl in 10 months time

Depending on what happens I I think I said this when I when I did um step off I’m I’m happy being busy I just like to be busy doing the things that I think are um not worth it I think that’s the wrong way to to freeze it but more

Um I just didn’t feel like um I could influence things the way I wanted to and I felt like I was just banging my head against the wall and um it was it was time for me to to step off and and sort of concentrate on my own

Stuff yeah I think they’re different than a year ago because you know we’re potentially about to do a a deal with piff who owned the large majority of Live And and sort of hopefully seeing things come back together here at some point so yeah I think the nature of

The of the conversation was probably different than it would have been a year ago absolutely um and again I said like I said to him just like I said to John like I’m totally supportive of your decision if that’s what you feel is the right thing for you and um look these

Are guys that I’ve you know spent a lot of time with and um I guess I’ve you know I’ve said this before but I’ve come to the realization is I I’m I’m not here to change people’s minds I’m here to just try to especially when I was at the

Board level trying to give them the full picture of where things are at and and hopefully where things are going to go um they can do with that information what they want but at the end of the day uh you know I think I’m done with trying

To change people’s minds and trying to get them to see things a certain way or try to see things through my lands because that’s ultimately not the way the world works and um you know these are guys that that I respect and that I’ve spent a lot of time with and if

That’s what they feel is the best decision for them then I’m I’m going to you know be supportive of that decision and and let them go and do their own thing I think life is about choices guys made choices to go and play Live guys made choices to stay here

And you know you if people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try to do something let them come back I mean I don’t I don’t think I think it’s hard to punish people um I don’t think there should be a punishment

For I’m obviously I’ve change my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished pator and having a diminished livor or anything else is is bad for both parties be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game um and

That’s that’s my that’s my opinion of it so you know the to to me the faster that we can all get back together and start to play and you know start to have you know the strongest feels possible I think is great for golf yeah i’ I’d like

To win here and stand up with a trophy on 18 green and know that I’ve beaten all of the best players in the world so yeah Rory maroy definitely with a sense of an olive branch with his comments to the immedia now relative to golf coming together and the prospects

Of the same and we may be finding out more in just a little while as to some of those stages of so-called golf coming together which if it includes the Strategic Sports Group will that be something that will be announced within hours that remains to be seen we shall

Find out more and we will continue to keep you updated on how negotiations in as much as we know are progressing with Liv and the public investment fund that owns them now WEA out at Pebble has been a big story early on this week because Dom I guess it’s looking quite ominous

What do we know at this hour at this hour we know it’s not good I’m going to read the PGA tour’s official forecast extended forecast wind advisory 7 amm to 4 7: a.m. Wednesday to 4:00 A.M Thursday an approaching cold front will bring moderate to heavy rain and windy conditions Wednesday afternoon

Into Wednesday night southerly winds are expected to increase to 20 to30 gusting to 40 to 45 m per head 45 mph ahead of the front on Wednesday afternoon with 1 to 3 Ines of rain expected through Thursday showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue Thursday before moving to widely scattered

Showers on Friday and drier conditions will return on Saturday before the next system brings another round of heavy rain and wind on Sunday so we are looking at rain serious rain lots of rain and wind serious wind 45 mph gusts I mean Sunday’s forecast right now south-southeast 25 to 30 m perh winds

Gusting at 50 and it is not 75 degrees folks 50 we are looking at temperatures into mid to low 50s so so so not good the answer is not good Matt now I don’t know what your question of the day today is Don but after that forecast I’m hoping that your question

Of the day is do you like to see professionals struggle in weather conditions like that right 50 m an hour we’re talking about going back to 1992 and Tom Kite winning the US Open there except it was sunny then I think a more pertinent question

It’s I this is not the question of the day I’ll give you the question of the day in a second but you’re making me think about this a more pertinent question is would you play in that weather if you got to play in the proam I think a fair number of people would

Say no to that if I said you you can play it you could play in the proam but it’s gusting 47 m and it’s raining and it’s 51 degrees I would say no to that I I would say no to that Dominic all right what’s your question I’m not I’m not

Interested in playing in driving rain 40 miles per hour no thank you stop it domic so this’s my question hold on this’s my question of the day all right do you like John ROM’s new team name legion 13 right now it’s 85% yes however we have some comments coming in about

Their logo Andrew put their logo on the screen this is their new Legion 13 logo okay Andrew’s Andrew’s uh working on the Fly today I told him to get this 30 seconds ago so we’ll see how this goes kind of looks cool to tell you the truth I’m hearing people complaining they’re

Saying they they stole the logo from P I’m I’m going to say this wrong the car brand po poo p pu pujo yeah whatever that look at that what do we think Andrew can we put that close together well there’s a lot of lions that are

Used and a lot of well also also for those of you kids of the 90s kids of the 80s the ThunderCats that is the Thundercat logo what I mean can’t how are we feeling about this no one no one has has the rights to use just the lion

Head I mean MGM used it for years the big roaring lion there’s wasn’t wasn’t an interesting choice there like Andrew made like the the legionnaires like the Roman like it should be red shouldn’t it be red I don’t know I don’t get it what about what about the Three Lions with with England

Too that’s kind of a silhouette from the side there’s more of them kind of holding up get that picture yeah I don’t know I didn’t tell I’m just saying I’m just saying think reason for doing it is very very cool indeed when we come back we’re going to be joined by

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Was a member of the 2019 United States solheim Cup team 31 career top 10s Vanderbilt Alum she’s fifth on tour in driving accuracy last year get this 83.5% over the entire season that is insane Marina what’s going on how have you been good morning how are you I’m

I’m okay how you feeling I’m feeling good how are you good I’m doing well the body is strong though the back is good yes knock on well I don’t have a lot of wood in here right now but knock on that that um everything has been

Really kind of I I guess for the good part of a year everything’s been pretty solid so I’m hoping that that kind of stays on on track yeah when you were kind of at the depths of it the deepest valley of of hoping that all of that

Would come back and you’d get healthy again did it go through your mind that you might not did it start to go through your mind that you might have to find another path definitely and I think the hardest part of that was it kind of overlapped with the covid year so it was

A little bit of like a double whammy in terms of not playing a whole lot but not really I couldn’t play that much and it so it it it was a bit of a struggle you know I was I was home quite a bit but I

Also wasn’t really going out and doing a whole lot either way um so I think that was kind of a a definitely a bit of an isolation Solitude period but I think it always crosses an athletes mind when they’re dealing with any kind of an injury uh you you just don’t know what

The future holds you know it may come back and you may be at full strength again or it may not be I mean that’s kind of just the the unknown of of what lies ahead and and you work towards getting back to whatever was I guess you

Know before the injury and it’s never really the same but I I think you start a new Baseline and you start a new feeling of what is good a good feeling for me and where am I going to be you know in terms of peak strength and

Performance and I mean after a couple years of working hard on that I feel like I’ve found that and I don’t want to jinx it by any means but I’m hoping that that’s kind of where we stay do you ever think uh Marina about The Road Less

Traveled that where you would be if you weren’t a professional uh sometimes but it’s it’s getting harder and harder to kind of figure out what that road would have been um you know I’m in my 11th year on the LPGA I played a year on the Epson so

That’s 12 years as a pro and then my four years of college golf were kind of all in I feel like the pursuit of professional golf so you know now that I’m 12 years into this I I’m not really sure people ask me that question and I’m

Like I can’t really comprehend like what my life would be um had I not been doing this profession for so long you know maybe if you had asked me that when I was in my first couple years on tour I might have had a better sense of you

Know things that I was was interested in and what I liked you know I I always felt like when I was in school I I attempted I started to study economics I didn’t I didn’t really follow through with that it was a little harder than I could have imagined just with class

Scheduling and and staying on top of like studying um that you know maybe I was going to do something in the finance world but I know I look I look back on on that concept now and it’s like I that I that feels so far removed for me um

Not saying that that that may not be something you know that the future may hold like down the road I have no idea but um it’s really hard to picture my life in a different way so when you talk about that you’ve been out there for now

Over a decade and you think about a young Marina Alex coming out of school scarred from her economics education efforts yes if you could go back in time and you could give advice to your younger self at that point in your early 20s now trying to make it as a touring

Professional with all the experience that you’ve had whether it’s good or whether it’s bad what advice would you give I think um maybe to just slow down a little bit you know in my first few years I felt like uh the performance anxiety and the and the pressure to you

Know keep your card but to to do well to kind of prove to yourself to your peers that you know you belong on tour and that you are a good player I think that that kind of occupied a lot of my time in my first few years I always felt like

I not that I doubted my abilities so to speak but I felt like I needed to provide results to kind of back that to show that you know I it’s not a fluke that I play well you know in these events or that I am um you know and I

Think that I look at my career and you know you look at 31 top 10s I think that kind of consistency you know shows a little bit for itself but even after I won in 2018 I was like okay I mean it’s great it’s amazing you’re you’re never

Going to trade a win for anything and a lot of players go through their entire career and they never have a win at the highest level but for me I was like is that going to be the only win you know it there there’s always that doubt and I

Think if I could go back and tell myself some things it’s to to not let that kind of doubt negativity however you want to look at it um you know kind of propel me and I think in some ways it did it was motivating but it’s also it’s kind of

Like a hard thing to carry around I just feel like you’re constantly trying to feel like you belong where you are and I think I would have probably enjoyed a little bit more had I not been so concerned with some of that stuff when you use the

Phrase doubt uh in in in your confidence L everything that it impacts are you naturally a positive person were there times that you felt kind of victimized by circumstance or where do you stand with that in ter and how it manifests itself in your golf game of course yeah I think

I kind of sway towards the tendency of of not being positive um I think I’m a very realist and I’m a pretty pragmatic person like if I look at let’s say I’m looking at you know some of the best players in the world and what they do

Well even even now you know from like an ability or or a skill standpoint like I’m not blind to the fact that there are some things that I just cannot do right um with a golf ball and and some people can and you know that’s that’s

Incredible for them um I don’t I’m not necessarily saying that that like I look at that as a negative but I also look at it like realistically with what I’m limited to and then what I’ve been trying to do in this offseason which I feel like a little glimpse of that has

Come successfully is like not take those limitations and turn them into you know maybe I’m not going to do as well all the time like I’m trying to use what would be a limitation let’s say like for instance distance off the tea like I just don’t hit it as far as a lot

Of players do now and especially as the younger players are coming out the game is just getting longer and longer we see it on the men’s game and it’s definitely apparent in the women’s game as well so instead of looking at you know okay I have long clubs into most of these holes

Um how am I going to get really really good with that so I’m trying to rescript some of what I would maybe consider like a negative or just like um you know a hurdle that I need to jump you know trying to figure out how I become very

Good with the clubs that I have in hand often and the stats may not show that you know hitting a five hybrid or a four hybrid is going to be better than an eight iron so but I don’t really have the option because that’s the clubs that

I have in so it’s like I really need to to become more um kind of control and like kind of own that I feel like in in the sense of my game and be a bit more positive optimistic and confident in in that I you know I can hit those shots

Well and I think there’s been some maturity and some growth and some change and and just how I am looking at myself and my career versus maybe how I did you know four or five years ago do you think it’s it’s healthy now that we talk more about professional athletes and mental

Health and and what you’re thinking and how you’re thinking and going out and getting the help that you need to go down the pathways that you want absolutely I mean you know just in a small little microcosm of itself last year you know the win in 22 was amazing

And that was kind of like a very um it just felt like a full circle moment you know 2020 was a very low year for everyone but you know dealing with not playing I think I played four times in that whole season and I came back in 21

And I was really proud of like just being out there competing and getting through a full year with really no setbacks but I knew that my game was you know really rusty even throughout the entire season I just felt like I never got the Competitive Edge that I was kind

Of looking for that I had you know prior to covid and all that and so to get a win in 22 was like incredible and I felt like it was a lot of work put into that and then it was okay you know the goal a goal has been

Reached but then it it it applies like an insurable amount of expectations and I’m definitely one that has a difficult time kind of managing those expectations so I think that at that point I was like oh wow solheim cup is like a possibility again and then it went down the

Expectation route and it you know and it doesn’t really manifest itself initially you know that whole rest of the year of 22 was solid but then once 22 23 started I was like okay it’s crunch time and I could see myself but I just couldn’t

Really get out of my own way from a a performance anxiety from um you know pressure to do well enough to make the team it’s like I felt like if I gotten there I would have been you know it would have been great it’s not so much the the nerves of

Competing in the event itself it’s the act of getting there and qualifying for it and I think that really took a hold um and it I mean I played poorly from you know Midsummer like all the way through September and then at that point it didn’t even become about sohe you

Know it it it was like other things were kind of rearing their ugly head so to speak that um when the season ended as much as I was upset that you know I didn’t make Tour Championship and it was I think on paper probably one of my

Worst seasons of of my career which is a weird thing to say after a win in 22 I was kind of relieved that it was over because I like I need a break and I need to re um you know redo the game plan mentally on how I’m approaching Golf and

How I am on the golf course because it’s just it what was what I was attempting to do was not working and it was making matters worse so yeah I mean we’re we’re all dealing with that and I’m sure you could pull a million golfers and a

Million athletes AC across the board and you know expectations performance anxiety pressures we put on ourselves uh they’re real and a lot of times if you don’t if they go unchecked they really can take over all all facets of your life fascinating stuff from Marena Alex will continue with this

Dialogue right on the other side of this more the fairways of Life show coming up relax easy now find your happy place it’s all in the hips just tap it in yes find the latest clubs in apparel at golf’s happy place the PGA TOUR Superstore in Ireland golf is more than

Just a game come and experience our world famous Lynx courses and our world famous Parkland courses all set alongside world famous scenery and visit our our world famous historic sites and while you’re here enjoy our world famous Hospitality fill your heart with Ireland at ireland.com golf it screams it tracks it’s soft it

Reacts it is the Bridgestone tour be with a gamechanging reactive cover design to Spring faster off your driver and stick longer to your wedges try Bridge Stones tour bees the tour Bowl reinvented the Gen 6 iron is a culmination of everything that we have learned as a team the absolute best golf

Club I’ve ever hit it’s something special say hello to the New pxg Gen 6 iron the longest most accurate irons we’ve ever made they go high high and farther than any iron that I have hit to date and they’re so easy to hit super excited for the consumer to try these

They’re going to love them pxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period baseball nah football done it I think I’m going to go after the PGA Tour Bo you’re going to need the right equipment company I think I got that you know Tour Edge backs all their clubs with a

Lifetime warranty I know they ship all their premium custom clubs in 48 hours I know all their premium clubs are hand bailed in the USA I know you know Tour Edge has won 35 times out here guys I know pound for pound nothing comes close Bo golf provides the Ultimate worldclass

Golf destination with 10 Championship caliber courses spanning three Resorts centered in Michigan’s Northern lower Peninsula the courses are the products of some of the games Masters including Robert Trent Jones Senor Arthur Hills and Donald Ross from from the all-inclusive vacation package is Elite instruction with the bo Golf Academy

Tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo golf.com zero friction introduces the wheelpro pushcart golf bag with its revolutionary 3 in-one design supportive legs that spring into action a comfort grip handle with three locking positions accessories for the modern golfer

Enhanced by seven pockets for more storage and removable allterrain Wheels which slide right into place the new zero friction wheelpro golf bag checks every box for every golfer push carrier cart the decision is yours thanks to zerof friction head to zerof fr.com Today welcome back to the fairways of Life show our guest multiple time winner on the LPGA Marina Alex who is joining us from a very Stark background Marina are you home are you in a hotel somewhere I’m home I’m not big on interior design you you don’t have any pictures

On the walls there no I do but I I need I would need to walk around and show you where they are and I don’t I don’t necessarily want to do that right now but um I was just telling Don before I do have I do have a really cool thing on

The wall but it’s in a place that I couldn’t sit under um my boyfriend for my birthday he put together a really nice um it’s like my credential and my yardage book from the US Open at Pebble and we got a really nice poster that it was like a handdrawn picture of number

Seven and so he put it all together and he framed it and it we finally put it up on the wall and it looks really nice but it’s kind of kind of like in this little Nook for your area that there is no light and I can’t sit under I can see

Your eyes looking up to the right can you see it from where you’re sitting yeah do you want me to show you yeah spin it spin it around show us this thing hold on let me just bring myself you hardly have any pictures up anywhere no I don’t I don’t have pictures

Anywhere oh that is really nice yeah it’s really nice so I don’t know let me try and get thisly just s to be a good back but while you’re settling back in again 83.5% oh that’s a really nice shot right there yeah did he frame that himself or

Did he have that professionally done I’m not really sure it also has my credential and my one note for number seven was hold on uh below pin yeah good advice good advice you should set send that out to everybody playing Pebble Beach next few days up to 50 m hour winds that they’re

Going to be having I was going to ask you though 83.5% driving accuracy so in the last segment when you were talking it was about kind of Hales and have knots right that that you recognize there are things that some people can do with a golf ball

That you can’t but there are things that you can do even if it’s with a hybrid that can match someone say with an eight iron when it comes to that 83.5% the first thing that tells me whether you’re conscious of it or not is your face being Square through impact

That you have the ability to control the the the movement in shape of your golf ball how conscious of you are are you of that and how hard you work on making sure that your positions are exactly where you want them to be I I think that you know I work on

That I think a lot of golfers in general are working on that um I feel like in women’s golf the game in general and maybe just because we’re swinging at a a bit of a lower swing speed overall with a driver our club face awareness and our control

Especially off the te is really it’s exceptional when you look at on a whole you know the entire LPGA like sure I’ve hit 83% of the fairways but I mean if you look at the top 50% I still don’t think that number dips like very much below 75% which is

Insane and I would say on the PJ tour like if I mean I don’t know what the leading percentage was off the te but it it might even be less than what our 50th um most accurate LPGA player is and I think it’s just our our awareness at the

Speed that we are swinging is really really heightened I mean we know exactly where the ball is going um whether that’s hitting a little draw or a little fade uh for the most part you have you know pretty pretty good control off the tea and you know

The courses are are long um relatively speaking you know the clubs that we are hitting in on an average are longer clubs than I would say the average PGA Tour players heading into their par fours in regulation uh so hitting Fairways is Paramount once we’re once you’re in the

Rough um it it’s very hard for most of us on tour to generate the height and the spin out of the rough you know to hold greens um effectively so hitting out of the Fairway is is pretty essential to having a good scoring day

And I I mean for the most part I I I still feel like our Fairways could be a touch narrower on an average on on the LPGA not not necessarily in the major championships I think they’re really um you know they’re they’re laying out that course correctly in terms of Fairway

Width and the height of the rough and all that to make it a challenge but I even feel like on a week- toe basis um we could pinch our Fairways in a little bit and and and really kind of maybe differentiate a little bit from who the

Really good drivers of the golf ball are and who maybe are okay drivers but you know the width the length the width of the fairways still afford them um shots you know into the green but feel over go ahead Mar go ahead no no no it’s okay

Dred you no it’s not really that important do you feel this is why we love Marina do you feel that the LPGA is in a good place right now is it in a better place say than when you joined it I think so I mean the level of competition is outstanding um probably

The best I’ve ever seen in in the last 11 years and I think that that’s only going to continue to become better with just the young players coming in players off the European tour who have really been super Superstars um players from the Korean LPGA and the Japanese LPGA they

You know they come over and they’re ready to play no Matter What tour they’re they’re coming from you know there’s really not a big learning curve um we’re seeing really strong results from our Epson graduates straight out of the gates um you know Austin Kim who is a Vanderbilt uh recent Vanderbilt

Graduate who played a year to on Epson um she had an amazing top 10 finish last week and that’s her first event you know of the season as an lpj player I mean that’s that’s pretty impressive and I know we’re seeing a lot more of that and

I just think the competition is the best that it’s ever been I mean uh the event last week was incredible you know you have Nelly trying to win in her hometown Lydia is attempting to get that last point for the Hall of Fame you know you can’t really script a better storyline

Than that if I’m being honest and I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of that this year it’s nice to see Lydia playing well um so I think like all of those we have these young Stars Lilia Vu and four wins last year Seline boutier and

Four wins last year I mean we haven’t really seen multiple um winners on tour you know that powerful in a while you know jiny young Co definitely over the course of years and Lydia over the course of years have provided multiple win Seasons but it’s good to see you

Know two different players also providing that last year and I think we’ll we’ll definitely be seeing a lot more of that do you think Maria in any way has the women’s game been given a buy and what I mean by that is if you look at for better for worse the barbs

And arrows that the men’s side of the game has had to deal with with the potential Association and then the association with from Liv with Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund the women’s side of the game has the aramco series that is coming from that same

Fund but I what I wonder is on the men’s side of the game the critics will say well this is about greed on the women’s side of the game are they getting a buy because the women’s side of the game so-called needs the money where do you fall on

This yeah it’s It’s Tricky I mean I think we still definitely need to improve upon our purses exponentially you know there are some events um that you know and then not necessarily A a event in specifics but more just if I look at total um you know a purse that

When I started on tour and there are still some events that purses are maybe have only grown 200 300$ 400,000 over the course of of 10 years I’m not saying an individual event specifically but I’m just saying events that are popping up on the schedule um I still think the bar

Needs to be set a fair bit higher so it seems like a rampco is kind of pushing that a little bit you know the event that is going to happen in um Saudi in a couple weeks I believe will be played for $5 million I don’t know if it’s

Increased from last year but last year it was played for 5 million uh you know that that is a a big purse for um a a regular event that’s that’s not a major championship and you know the whole politics of it is super tricky and that’s not really something that I

Want to I want to really get into but I think if we can look at it as a way to kind of push the purse envelope um I think that’s probably good and healthy across the board I think we need to keep kind of striving to be playing for more

Money outside of the major championships the majors have really stepped it up in the last like four or five years I mean it’s been exponential growth and it’s been incredible to see you know playing for a $10 million purse at the US Open that’s just that’s un that’s it’s

Incredible and that’s where it needs to to be and that’s where it’s like the Baseline is set and I think that’s only going to continue to go up you know over the next five years 10 years but I really think it’s the kind of the remaining core of of what we’re doing um

That kind of needs to get you know pushed up and you know we see what Terry Duffy with CME Group did at the Tour Championship at the end of the year I mean and he’s been doing that for a good portion of almost 10 years now with first place prize money being something

That we had never seen in any major championship and so he kind of like set a bar there that um you know the rest of the events needed need to follow and I think it’s great that we have our five Majors our TOUR Championship I would

Really love to see a few more events um kind of in that ballpark whether their equivalents of a world golf championship or or something along the lines where the girls are playing for big bucks that are that it’s outside of a major championship and it’s outside of our

TOUR Championship and I think that would Garner a lot more attention you know to the sport itself um to the lpj to women’s golf all of that and I’m I’m sure we’re getting there but um I I still think that you know the aramco thing yeah it it It’s

Tricky but I I do think it’s pushing the the envelope in terms of the amount of money needing to be played for all right we only have a couple of moments left here Marina but I do want to ask you about your sponsors it’s our way of

Saying thank you for you coming on the show so you can say thank you to them yeah so I mean I have uh pilot pen who has been my sponsor since I turned Pro basically so we’re going on year 12 which is incredible um ukg has been

Another sponsor of mine for I think we started in 2019 or 2020 and they’re an incredible group to work with um I absolutely love love the company love everything that it stands for in the essence of pay Equity that that’s a huge platform for them um across their

Employees but you know in sport as well um Christina Thompson at golf for her she’s been outfitting me for the latter part of 12 years as well and we have an unbelievable friendship and relationship um you know she’s a women’s online retailer of uh golf clothes so you can

Go online there’s 30 40 different brands you can shop how you want it’s super easy easy returns um you know it’s it’s a great way to shop without needing to go into a pro shop or a dick Etc and I also brought on a new sponsor last year

Um Cove risk Securities is Insurance firm out outside of Boston and their main man Rich flarity he has become a really good friend of mine he was actually just um out watching a little bit in in Bradington last week but I have a really great team around me and

I’m I’m super happy you know just with the long-term relationships that I’ve had with my sponsors and you know the new ones that I’ve developed in the last few years I think overall I couldn’t asked for better people to be around me and we cannot ask for anything more than

For you to come on join us every now and then Marina because we smile it’s awesome we wish you the very very best as you head on down the road thank you for your time thanks so much have a good day thanks folks more of the fairways of

Life show coming up right after this I guess hello world huh and with one subtle hello tiger began an amazing and Unthinkable [Applause] career I’ve done it for 20 years now with with bridgstone allows me to play an aggressive style around the greens and it’s allowed me to win a lot of

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And CBS on Saturday and Sunday 1: p.m. and 3 P.M respectively but based upon the forecast that Dom told us at the beginning of the show I’m very much questioning if these times are going to be hard and fast we shall see I will be hosting this week live coverage in fact

I head out immediately following this show Thursday and Friday from 11:45 a.m. you can find PGA Tour live and Es SPN plus 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 a.m. again pay close attention to all that because these times are subject to change if that forecast is as

Harsh as they are anticipating PGA Tour radio you can hear in the app you can hear in the PGA Tour website you can also hear on national satellite service serus XM at 1M the first two days 2m on Saturday and 1 pm on Sunday so as our platforms continue to expand for the

Fairways of Life show uh now featured also on Golf Channel we thought we’d give you a little bit of background in terms of who we are and how we got to doing what we are doing now on a daily basis and absolutely love having the opportunity to speak to and share the

Experience with so many of you and with the world’s very best players I started out for me on the green grass side of the game I’ve I’ve worked in golf for my entire life although when I graduated college I had this infatuation with radio I just thought it was an amazing

Medium and my first job out of school was at ESPN where I worked in production it didn’t last too long for me a few years because I was a game kept Whispering back to me to come back to it and I worked for a PR and golf television production company one of

Their clients was a guy that ran a private label Golf Club manufacturing company out of Florida and he had had a heart attack and they needed help and so I went down they said are you interested I said yeah I went down I learned manufacturing ran this manufacturing

Company we built clubs for Ram Wilson Nicholas McGregor all these different lines and it was at that time that I started dabbling and doing TV work with Golf Channel as their industry Insider back in those days uh and then during that time I went back to the green grass

Side of the game my last job professionally was managing the Newport National Golf Club up in Rhode Island before the media side took over and the media side for me took over in particular in 2015 when I signed a contract with NBC Sports and Golf Channel and we decided thereafter to

Independently Syndicate the fairways of Life show through Digital radio and then what became television and streaming television we syndicated it as a national television broadcast uh two years ago and then of course now featured on Golf Channel as well on a daily basis and still continuing our

YouTube channel when we’re not on here so it’s all been great fun it’s been an amazing ride uh it’s it’s it’s been an honor to be with all of you guys in the middle of all that I started to write and uh became thankfully a New York Times bestselling author through

Authoring books under the series Chicken Soup for the Soul and now most of my books are about golf got another one coming out in the spring uh Dominic I don’t remember how many years ago that you started with me this show started in 2006 as a weekly show on XM Radio before

Serious XM merged and then it became the daily morning anchor on SiriusXM PGA Tour radio for many years before we took it independently as noted so uh Dom you’ve been with us for a long long time tell us a little bit about your background uh but you don’t need much

About me but uh yes I believe my math is not great but I believe that this is the 16th year I’ve been producing for Matt and producing this program which you can see some of those horrifically old pictures look at all the hair I had I

Had so much chair at some point I mean it’s insane uh but I I worked at at ESPN I worked at NBC I worked at Fox I worked at SiriusXM I’ve been doing sports journalism my whole life and uh I stumbled into this golf job with Matt

And it’s been incredible um some notes that I took yesterday Matt that I wanted to share with the audience just to highlight how much we’ve done and I didn’t realize this until I went through the information I I did all the math we have done you and me have done 3,400 live shows

3,400 live shows you and I have done over 16 years and that’s 5,200 hours of shows that you and I have done and this is very difficult to pin down because you have conducted so many interviews Matt but my rough estimate is between 9500 and 10,000 interviews that

You have conducted uh as host of this program so we’re thrilled with the opportunity and excited to do more live shows and more interviews like today with Marina Alex which was awesome yeah she she was great you know when I started Fairways of life it the name

Comes from a book that I wrote in 2006 which kind of used stories of perseverance from the game of golf and it was It was kind of an Ode to Chicken Soup for the Soul if you will right so I use these stories of inspiration in

Terms of how they apply apply to life at large and the whole idea of doing this show started with the fact that we have Legends in the game that are getting up there in years and we were worried that they wouldn’t be around for many more years moving forward and we just wanted

To capture their stories in a way that they would want to tell them that’s how it all started and that’s what’s led us to where we are right now we’ll be back with you again if we’re spared on Monday and looking forward to that remember tomorrow you can catch John ROM’s press

Conference on the fairways of Life YouTube channel until we are together again I hope you guys have a great weekend don’t forget live coverage of Pebble Beach starts on Thursday Liv starts on Friday you guys have a great one bye for Now