Inside Anthony Kim’s long-awaited return | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel

In this week’s episode, the guys dive into Anthony Kim’s long-awaited return to competitive golf – how he looks, what he’s saying (and not saying), and where this story is most likely to go from here. #GolfChannel #GolfChannelPodcast
0:30: What to make of the Anthony Kim snippets so far
06:00: This isn’t a one-off – AK is playing the rest of the LIV season
12:00: Analyzing the strategy that there is no pre-tournament press conference
19:00: Talor Gooch talks about the possibility of a … Masterisk
29:00: Another marathon policy board meeting. What’s the hangup?
37:00: Rex’s TV-shortened round at Harbour Town/run-in with overzealous employee
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Inside Anthony Kim’s long-awaited return | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the golf CH podcast with Rex and lav set your alarms folks because Anthony Kim is returning to professional golf he will tea off with the live golf league Friday morning in Saudi Arabia at 3:15 a.m. eastern time alongside cam Smith and

Gran mcdal it took 12 long years to get here but now that we actually are here arriving at this point Rex what do you make of what we have seen from AK so far on social media on Instagram on X on YouTube all the things relating to ak’s

Return based on my experiences so far on this Anthony Kim comeback someone’s going to have to explain in detail to cam Smith on that first te I’m sorry he’s been away for the game how long and he did what 12 years ago and he hasn’t played

Since and he didn’t die like all of the things that you would think that someone of that age and and I’ve ran into this that I think I said this during the podcast on on Monday morning that my son is a junior in college and like it was

Crickets like we were driving up to Hilton Head and I asked him like give me everything you know about cam Smith and nothing just crickets he thought he you know he might play basketball for the New York Knicks and I’m like nope try again yeah like he’s in golf I’m gonna

Help you out along those lines so I think there Smith cam Smith this is a perfect example turn pro in 2013 you can kind of Mark the passage of time any number of ways you know Tiger Woods hadn’t had a back injury yet Jordan Speed

Hadn’t yet gotten on the PG tour but cam Smith the 2022 open Champion had not yet turned Pro as well and now they’re playing alongside each other in Jetta of all places that’s where this comeback is actually starting yeah I mean I kind of I’m with you on that one I kind of

Question that one but uh the one that stood out and two F stood out to me one I think we’ve both seen the videos which by the way we’re kind of a low rent organization when it comes to this I would love to be able to to slap some

Videos in over top of this because the the video of him hitting balls and doing you know the brief interview you walking down the Fairway in a girl dad t-shirt that looks a little bit too big for him and vans and a hat that was clearly just

Handed to him off the shelf and a ponytail coming out the back like that is chef’s kiss like did nothing screams this particular comeback like that scene more than that I I I was blown away by the idea of him interacting with Pat Perez on the Range like that was almost

Comical in itself because even Pat like seemed like had to kind of stop and do a double take and here’s Pat’s a man of a certain age he played with AK so that took a minute but I will say this just to to finish this this

Kind of funny segment off because I do think this is the funniest part we have a mutual friend that’s in the golf business he just graduated from the University of Florida he’s probably mid 20s 26 maybe what’s up Joey uh what’s up Joey uh he loves golf like he’s

Passionate about Golf and he called me this morning and his comment to me was what’s wrong with Anthony Kim’s face and I go and I go uh age like see what time hath wrough is essentially what’s wrong with his his face and I go think of it

This way exactly and I go imagine me being on a podcast 12 years ago 12 years younger all of the things all the life experiences and headaches and everything I hadn’t dealt with and I just fell off the edge of the clip like you never saw

Me again for 12 years and suddenly this pops back up everyone’s going to be asking the exact same question what in the world is wrong with Rex’s face the answer is age I mean he looks exactly he looks exactly like I thought that he would look like warming up on the Range

I think this is actually one of the walk and talk video was shot with a with a t-shirt he was wearing Vans he was wearing like tube socks he has an arm sleeve tattoo he’s 38 now he looks weathered like his face is a little bit

Uh rounder cly like you can tell he’s had some hard years over the past Dozen Years kind of hitting it hard and now he’s back in professional golf the one thing rex that has stood out to me actually there’s there’s probably a couple which is why we’re going to be

Digging into this he has not had and he will not have a pre-tournament press conference that alone stands out now I’m sure he’ll probably do some sort of friendly sit down with David far who’s part of the broadcast team and they’ll air that at some point over the next 48 hours at

Least that’s my expectation but it’s also a little weird that players aren’t being asked about him in press conference setting it’s it’s basically this carefully curated videos that we see on social media and that’s it there there’s a there’s there’s clearly a protective cocoon that surrounds him even just the

Official announcement of his return on Wednesday of tournament week when it’s a been rumored for weeks and and and B we we’ve already seen like signage of of of of him on the Range and him hitting balls on the Range so I’m not sure what

The delay is there I was struck by the the minute and a half Walkin talk that appeared on Liv Go’s YouTube uh page on Wednesday morning and he said Anthony Kim did that he will tell his story when it’s the right time but right now uh

He’s he’s he’s purely focused on golf he also said he’s ready to go I’m not sure why he would say anything different uh and that he doesn’t know many of the players anymore but quote he’s here to bust everyone’s ass uh so that stood out uh because the

Old Swagger say that on the podcast has not gone away direct quote I would not say that personally without direct quotes got it uh but but since I’m just trying to be Jour journalistically factual ready to save yourself that’s right going how we’re going to do he also concluded Rex I think somewhat

Curiously the video by saying quote hello haters I’m back who’s hating who’s hating who who is hating on Anthony Kim like he and I are almost the same age he’s he’s two years older than I am like I grew up watching him I think everyone liked his style of play

Everyone founding him refreshing change of pace by all accounts he treated people uh very well whether it was folks like you in the media or or fans in in like in these past Dozen Years I’m not sure anyone there’s been this shroud of mystery but everyone is clamoring for

Him to return but all of a sudden hello haters I’m I’m back no one’s no one’s hating absolutely no one’s hating uh this is why I think this is going to be difficult for Anthony on a number of levels and you pointed out this morning when the press release came through that

He’s playing the rest of the season which is a little curious to me as well because you don’t know he doesn’t know what he’s going to have physically he doesn’t know his game he doesn’t know if in and this is just 54 holes in in a bit of a light-hearted environment more so

Than what he would face on the PGA tour but still 12 years away is kind of tough to come back from if he thinks whatever’s happened up till this point is hating and he shows up this week and lays a big egg and shows up in a couple

Weeks in Mexico and lays a big egg and this goes on for a couple of events then he’s really going to learn what hating is I mean then social media is going to turn on him then it’s going to get very very ugly and I’m curious how long he

Has any interest in that whatsoever because it it’s nice to get paid at this point in your career and I will give Liv golf points for winning this one this is another win for them in my opinion because totally you’re buying a personality here you’re buying a reason

For people to tune in to an event that’s going on on the other side of the globe at least a certain segment of the audience because I want to watch I’m with you like I sat in my alarm clock I’m like yeah I kind of want to see how

This turns out like is he is he the same guy he clearly has the same Swagger but does he have the same sort of swing and everything that goes along with it I I will say and our our colleague Doug Ferguson who usually is is the no fun

League and he kind of takes the fun out of everything in this particular case he did provide some interesting context when everyone was saying that oh he won three times Anthony Kim did before he was 25 years old Fergie was real quick to point out that Kore Kawa did that

More so won more tour titles including a major championship Jordan Speed did that more so with more titles and more major championships so it’s not as though what he did was in itself unprecedented impressive however you want to say it it’s the way he did it and so that’s the

Part that you want to see flare Charisma personality on a tour that is that is largely vanilla I thought Joel Beal our buddy at at Golf Digest he he wrote a he wrote a column and he and he kind of got dragged for it uh on social media I

Think kind of unfairly but he said Anthony Kim is not who you thought he was essentially saying yes it was it was phenomenal while it existed but he he burned out as quickly as he kind of flashed onto the scene that the three win came in quick succession but when he

Was at the tail end of what what is now the First Act of his career you know he was battling assorted injuries was ailles tendon uh his wrist his hand he was he was struggling with the driver Yips and that’s kind of what drove him away from the game that’s why he has

Been such a recluse over the past Dozen Years uh among other reasons and potentially some some financial implications as well that we have not gotten a whole lot of context about I I I’m with you that I think it’s very interesting that he is going to be a wild card player for the

Remainder of the Year this is not a one-off this is not a kind of a a three event series to see how it goes and then kind of reassess in the summer this is this is full commitment not just from Liv to Anthony Kim but from Anthony Kim

To live and depending on how he’s playing this could either look genius or or horrible by by summertime either he reestablished himself as a world class player which we do not have many examples in sports history uh that that pretend that possibility or or give me the others on

The list well Aon am brought up bjor bjorg who uh was a obviously a highly accomplished tennis player left the game quotquot retired at age 25 and when he came back a decade later it was horrible I actually I actually went back and look at at his results he did not win a

Single match upon his return from competition playing a decade later uh after his kind of mysterious dis disappearance so either AK is going to do the unthinkable do something that’s unprecedented or or he’s going to further the notion that live golf is kind of this meaningless exhibition kind

Of based on gimmickry and that that does not that is not what Liv is H for but it’s it’s hard to see the possibility that he comes out guns blazing against and start shooting 64 and 65s I I said it a couple times I said it on the round

Table on Monday when aan brought up the idea like I can’t find another comp in sports of someone who walked away after 12 years and you’re right that Bor might be the best one but then after I said that someone who had been watching our Round Table mentioned it to me right

Afterwards that Dave Chappelle is probably the best comp like here was a guy that did walk away what at the height of his powers now granted not Sports it’s a completely different conversation but it was kind of like that’s the I think the lengths you have

To go to to quantify exactly what he’s trying to do to your point it will be interesting I I don’t anticipate this happening so if AK wants to dug me as a hater I guess I’ll go down that road but what if he does come out and has a good

Week this week and then starts playing well next thing you know he contends I don’t know maybe sometime this year he wins it’ be great it’d be great would be going insane and but even that I think would be a bit of aest to live golf as

Well because here you have a guy that’s been away from the game for 12 years and it’s was clearly dedicated and worked really really hard to get back to where he was when he left over a decade ago and suddenly he lands and he’s winning or playing well or contending or

Whatever the case may be then everyone’s going to turn the microscope back on the other players on live like how come you’re not these guys stink these guys stink these guys stink so you’re right it could go any number of ways for live go I said they got the win and I do

Think they got the win on this one because I know for a fact that AK was in negotiations with with officials from both the PGA Tour and live go and he was trying to get the best deal possible and clearly Liv go offered him the best deal

Possible MoneyWise but I also say it’s probably the best landing spot for all the reasons you pointed out because it’s 54 holes it’s relaxed he can fly a little bit under the radar at least right out of the gates I don’t think that’s going to be the case when he

Plays in Miami in a few weeks in the next live event I think then everything’s going to get ratcheted up because at that point you just can’t sort of brush off a friendly you know videographer who’s trying to get you to talk on a promotional video this time

You’re sitting on a stage and you’re gonna get peppered with questions and you’re probably not gonna like that yeah I was I was actually very curious to see who Among Us in the uh in the in the dubbed corrupt golf media was going to be flying to Jetta to cover Anthony

Kim’s return it does not seem like many at least based on the questions that we’ve seen so far in in the in the pre-tournament press conference I I’m not sure I I thought there would be a handful and probably if there was anywhere that he was going other than

Saudi Arabia Hong Kong is next week’s tournament we probably weren’t going to Hong Kong either but had this been in London had this been in South Africa had this been in Mexico I’m sure we would have had a Golf Channel presence there uh but it does speak to kind of a larger

Point Rex and how they’ve shielded AK to this point because with without a without a press conference there there is no context for for his return all we have is is more questions and maybe that’s that’s by Design I I mean he has been mysterious over the past dozen or

So years I believe he’s only given one interview and that was the aforementioned Doug Ferguson five or six years ago um it only creates more Intrigue it only helps grow the legend of of AK and that might be all this this thing is until we see how how it how it

Pans out but without any explanation of where he he’s been why he’s back what he wants to do what his future goals are at age 38 this does feel like an unserious sesow now we could be having a much different conversation in five days time once we actually have 54 holes of

Results to to analyze but without him meeting the media or explaining himself it just something something smells something smells a little bit a little bit fishy well and you say unserious Sideshow I would argue that’s kind of live Go’s Lane and that’s not entirely Fair please don’t come at me all but

They’re trying to they’re trying to change that narrative because at the same time that they’re they’re trumpeting this need for official World Golf rank points we’ll certainly get into Taylor Gucci’s comment here in in a second they also have added John Ram most notably Terell haton Adrian

Like they are putting together a roster of serious world class players who have aspirations to do great things in golf and so they’re they’re trying to traffic in both lanes here and aan ask me during the round table on Monday on golf today doesn’t this kind of hit at The

Credibility of Liv I said in a perfect world Liv would be trying to do both you would trying to be accumulating as many stars as you can for a competitive product while also kind of pandering or tailoring your product to kind of the Casual sports fan or the guy who

Remembers AK from from 2010 and wants to see that again I think you can have both ways and and again like the PJ tour would have bend over backwards to try and get him in their in those tournaments so I don’t I don’t think that criticism is necessarily fair but

It does come at an interesting time and and lives history when it’s trying to establish its credibility when they’re still fighting the owgr battle that you do bring someone who hasn’t played in 12 years I I get what you’re saying and that’s why I think right now Liv goof

Takes the W because right now there is no chance for them to lose because this is going to go any number of ways and one way is probably the the easier way to predict which is he’s going to struggle no one comes back after 12 years away and finds a way to compete

Against the best players in the world that that would be hard for AK or if he comes back and somehow finds that magic as we just addressed that’s probably not going to look good for live golf no I I think this is perfect because you’re right they’re trying to sort of push

That narrative that look this is this is every bit the same competitive golf that they have on the PGA tour it just comes with a flare it comes with loud music it comes with shorts all of the things comes with teams comes with teams and Anthony Kim is not part it should be

Noted is not part of this team competition he’s playing the next I think 11 live tournaments or 10 live tournaments as an individual acre points to try and earn status for 2025 but he’s not a part of an established team yeah so I think right now is the perfect time

For them to leverage him uh I am curious like they could have owned this narrative they could have been the ones with David far whoever else who sat down and and had this story ready on Wednesday of this week where you sat down and did a 30 minute deep dive with

With AK like all right let’s let’s pick up where you left off 2012 you walk away you get surgery first question what happened second question where’d you go third question what you been doing why yeah like there pretty easy yeah you could just kind of wind him up and let

Him go that to me would be number one really good storytelling that all of us would would tune in to watch and Aggregate and put all over our websites and all over our Airwaves in in our magazines because everybody wants to know and it also would be a reason again

To get more people to tune in to watch an event that’s on the other side of the planet because they are going after a segment of the audience as I pointed out at the beginning like there is a big segment of of golf fandom right now that

Doesn’t know who Anthony Kim is and so if you had the opportunity to tell that story to bring them in to suddenly get them interested in the idea that wait a minute he walked away for 12 years this dude hasn’t played professional golf in 12 years like it’s such a good story and

I feel like they failed to leverage it properly or or it’s a strategy to not do it in other words to to to Shield him what’s the upside of not doing it shielding him yes because it could be a spectacular disaster if he goes out and shoots 78 79 in these first couple

Tournaments and it it it and it fails spectacularly oh and I agree with you there as well if he’s contracted for the rest of the year my guess is he’s going to play out the rest of the year regardless if if he does end up playing

Bad which again which is what I think most people think is going to happen I still see him finishing out the contract because there’s still probably a lot of money to be made I’m sure he doesn’t turn away just because he’s shooting rounds in the mid 70s yeah it certainly

Will be interesting to watch again 3:15 a.m. eastern time Rex I know the night all that you are you probably won’t even be going to bed you probably won’t even going to bed just pulling an all night Bender to watch the return after 12 long years of Anthony Kim we mentioned Taylor

G just a couple of minutes ago if you were hiding under a rock he had some controversial comments I believe in the Australian Golf Digest talking once again about how Antiquated the official World Golf Ranking has become when he said that quote if Roy M goes and

Completes the grand slam without some of the best players in the world there’s just going to be an asterisk it’s just the reality I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there now Roy mroy took the high road on

Wednesday at the cogniz classic in his pre-tournament press conference essentially gave Taylor guts the benefit of the doubt said it was a a kind of a leading question he was just basically confirming what the journalist who asked the question wanted him to answer but look there was a lot of dunking on

Taylor G on social media which is become kind of habit has it not Taylor G did not know that you could not play just a single live event and return to the PGA Tour Taylor gu compared the atmosphere of one of the initial Live Events uh to

Better than the Ryder Cup and now this the masteris Masters because Taylor G among others is not in the field Rex what was your reaction Mast I like that I like what you did there uh he also he also showed up at Augusta National a few

Years ago in shs for a price so I mean we can keep going down the list I I think Rory is correct I am a little surprised he took the high road as much as you did because that is he I do do feel like Taylor was kind of dragging

Him a little bit on that front because as most people on X pointed out almost immediately that you could argue that John ROM’s Victory last year who’s your colleague now at the Masters should also come with an asteris then if that’s the logic you’re going to use if it’s not

The absolute best field in golf at anything that gets won on either tour major championship doesn’t matter everything should come with an aster so his math is flawed on that front as well I I just he he has a point if you just take the second part of his quote and I

Guess that’s sort of the definition of Taylor cooch is it not like if you can ignore the the stupidity of his first sentence which normally there’s a lot of stupidity in the first sentences going all the way back to I thought I could just play in one live event I don’t

Believe that by the way you just said it as fact I I don’t believe that was the case I believe that was the easiest way for him to finish up that interview it was at the Open Championship I was standing there I was the one that asked

The question I I don’t believe that no that just not possible there was too many does not seem like he’s reading the fine print though it wasn’t even fine print it’s not Jay Monahan could not have been clear like we can accuse Jay of a lot of things it’s not it’s not

Fine print it’s actually like size 48 bold underlined all caps yes yes this is Truman wins across the top of a newspaper for those I’m dating myself but yes it’s a very very big headline that he was ignoring or choosing to ignore on that friend so no I don’t

Believe that he thought that either I I but if you take the second part of the equation and if you just ignore the the stupidity of the first part he’s absolutely right like we can all agree that we want the best players in the Masters we want the best players in the

Major championships and I feel like waen Neiman getting the invite is a really really good F first step and I feel like that’s opened a lot of people’s eyes and maybe the PG of America or even the USGA we’ll start thinking about man like do we really want to play a major

Championship without player X Y or Z like this was just X but what if we also start looking or they start looking at Y and Z as well I don’t think that’s out of the real a possibility but to say it should come with an asteris just because

You’re not in it and I think this was Aman’s take on the round table and Aon was a little bit harsher than I think you and I would would would be on anyone but particularly on Taylor gu like I just don’t like my Ally here and I said

This last year when he was upset about the USGA changing the rules and him not getting into the US Open because they changed their rules saying that not only did you have to qualify for the Tour Championship the previous season but you had to play and it was exempt no you had

To play was the part if you if you remember it because he actually qualified for the Tour Championship more or less but if you remember he he of course joined Liv Golf and did not participate yeah so that that was sort of the qualifier that they put on that

Kept him out of the US Open and he complained about it to anyone would listen and then didn’t show up for qualifying or didn’t sign up for qualifying for the US Open you’re like hey man like if you really want to play there are avenues like look at what Keen

Neeman has done over the last few months if you look Taylor gu hasn’t played in a in an event anywhere around the world that gets world ranking points since last November correct whereas W Neeman has played in five I believe and won one of them he won the Australian Open so he

At least put himself out there he gave himself an opportunity to stay somewhat relevant in the world ranking if Taylor gu really cares that much he could have done the same thing absolutely he certainly could and I think as we discussed uh on the podcast last week

There were there were Myriad reasons why walki Neiman is in the Masters whether it was affiliation as a former Latin America amateur Champion uh you know being the the best player from that particular region that’s so important to Augusta National winning the Australian Open with with

Such a legacy and a history of that tournament but also just going out of his way as you said to play other DP World Tour events and try to get in via the the established method which as of right now is the owg there there are a couple of points

Here that I think are are interesting it does follow you were at Pebble what Roy maroy said and and speaking of questions this was another one that that Roy faced at Pebble where he was asked does a win in a signature event even at a place

Like Pebble feel at all cheapened by the fact that you don’t have a DJ or a ROM in the field and Rory’s answer basically affirmed that and and said that when you stand on 18 with the trophy in your hand you want to know that you beat the best

Players in the world that was essentially what Rory is saying now right now if you look at the major championships is the owgr right now a reliable way to measure who the best players in the world are no I don’t think anyone can do it I think

Dated golf does the best job that you possibly can and I think there are four live golfers inside the top 50 according to their metrics which rely a lot on on Strokes gained I’ve said on this podcast numerous times I would love to see the majors take a step back reexamine the

Changing landscape and use some sort of qualification for Live players just as they do other tours whether you take the the leading points CER which would have been Taylor gu from 2023 top three top five however they want to do it I do wish that they

Would do that but we’re have to base this in reality and that seems very unlikely the major organizations are the exact same folks who shot down lives owgr request but so I say that right now in late February 2024 as it comes to qualification the majors have not yet

Reached a breaking point which is why I don’t think they have made any changes you know no one views Taylor gu as a legitimate threat to win a major championship he does not yet have a top 10 in a major in his career who else are we even talking about is potentially not

Getting in here like a Dean burmester a Lucas Herbert who are other top 100 players in the world whose ranking is sure to plummet now that they’ve signed up with Liv and so you haven’t reached a point yet but you will over the next couple years like I think back to Brooks

Kka had Brooks kka not won last year’s PGA his major exemption would have run out at the end of 2024 Bryson’s major exemption runs out at the end of 2025 Dustin Johnson’s major exemption runs out at the end of 2025 to get in all four majors cam Smiths eventually will

Run out at the end of 2027 and so you are going to reach a point where Marquee bigname players who anyone with two eyes can can see that that they belong in major championships they have a realistic shot to win them but the majors have have the opportunity they

Have the window to kind of buy their time and sit on their hands and say h this this will probably Shake itself out you know some something’s gonna happen with these two established tours why do anything right now exactly that’s the point like a year from now we could be

Having a vastly different conversation about oh Taylor G won last year’s money L on the live tour so yes he of course he’s going to qualify for all four majors this year because of where we’re going to end up in professional golf then maybe we don’t end up there and

Maybe they a year or from now all of the major championships do have to decide okay we have to do something to adjust to this new reality but I think in the short term you’re absolutely right there is no reason to make any huge moves because right now the USGA could offer a

Special invitation to whomever they want the PG of America could do the same thing my understanding is the RNA could as well so if they really want to get someone in the field there is an Avenue for them to do that like did Paul Casey

At the PGA absolutely and I I will go back to the idea of what Rory was asked at Pebble Beach then everything comes with an asterisk during this era like it doesn’t matter which tour you play or what tournament you win it’s going to come with an asterisk that’s what you’re

Going to tell me like we can’t I I I can’t sit here and just put up blank pages in The Record Book like that’s not a possibility so yes someone’s going to have to win The Masters if it’s Roy then it’s going to be the career Grand Slam

No one 20 years from now is going to go back and roll their eyes and be like well the LI players weren’t there like that’s not going to happen yeah uh once again hilarious meem hilarious dunking on Taylor gu I understand it’s loow hanging fruit you

And I would not would never stop that level on X because we are professional but I highly encourage everyone you don’t go on X does matter exactly it’s just there for scrolling purposes late at night and Taylor gu actually was was responding to some folks uh on X if

You’re interested in those sort of defenses Rex finally I did want to get into the policer board meeting that happened on Monday apparently a marathon policy board meeting ahead of The cogniz Classic Roy maroy is playing uh this week’s event long time five or six years

Since he has been in this field although he is no longer a part of the policy board it does always seem like he has his finger on the pulse but the news that came out was a web Simpson a wide ranging interview with golfweek.com in which he talked about the potential of

The piff deal which is now extended two months past that December 31st deadline everyone thinking this was going to be getting done ahead of the Masters or even potentially The Players Championship no everyone was I think optimistically some people mentioned probably Keith P was the one who got the ball moving

Saying that when he announced he was stepping down from the DP World Tour he suggested that he’s leaving essentially the first week of April right right around the Masters that he feels like something was going to get done most people internally will tell you that was being optimistic as well everyone agreed

That December 31st last year was being wildly optimistic but that was we’ve talked about this that was just a placeholder I I think more realistically we can look towards the end of this year if not Midsummer somewhere in there for a lot of different reasons because I

Just don’t think and I laid this out last night on golf Central there’s there’s three hurdles when it comes to this particular deal and one of them has to do with just trying to negotiate a multi-billion dollar deal which comes with nuances and it’s complicated and Aman Lynch pointed out correctly that

There is a sort of a blueprint for that the SSG deal that the PGA Tour signed last month announced last month that kind of creates this Avenue for other investment so in theory you would sort of have a plug-and-play system in place that if you really wanted the piff

Involved so here’s the Avenue this is what it would look like this would be the investment this would be the percentages that would be relatively straightforward in in the grand scheme of things the other part of the equation is as we know from the framework agreement allowing the Live players back

Onto the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour will be a big part of whatever a potential definitive agreement looks like as we now know being able to look players in the eyes that’s not going to be an easy sell I don’t think on either side like we we’re kind of focused on

The PGA tour side when Tiger Woods makes comments about you know that there has to be some sort of penalty to come back you hear sort of rank and file players sort of screaming the same thing I don’t know how many Li players even want to come back based oning I’ve done but

That’s why it’s so interesting because web Simpson said that essentially the conversations are centered around six players who are going to be desirable to the PJ tour the rest they’re going to send a Q School the corn fairy tour DB World Tour whatever you want to do but

Those six players if we’re keeping tabs on them now are Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson who are lifetime members Phil comes with his own sort of baggage and then you have Brooks Kea you have Cam Smith you have Bryson n Shambo and you have John ROM all of whom have major

Exemptions and I would say a lot of cache with PJ tour fans and PJ tour players as wanting to welcome them back in the fold not just for the quality of their play but also I would think their popularity I I guess the question when reading that little excerpt Rex in the

Web Simpson interview was does doeses incorporating those six players alone and no one else like is that enough to restore the PGA Tours luster it’s its rightful place as the obvious preeminent Golf Tour just those six players alone or are they still lacking some of the second and third level depth that’s been

That’s been robbed of them with Liv golf’s introduction well you didn’t let me get to the third item so finding a way to allow the Live players back is is is a complicated part well no because this answers your question and then the third part of this is investigators will

Have a say Federal investigators the doj is still actively investigating the PGA tour for antitrust violations just spoke with a player last week who had an interview with with Agents from the doj about possible antitrust violations we know that the Senate is going to take a long hard look at whatever a potential

Definitive agreement between the PGA tour in the piff are going to be all of those things factor into what you just said because I remember doing this story early last year I think it might have been at the at the Honda Classic then last year where there was kind of rumors

Of Brooks wanting to come back there was some buyers remorse and maybe he wanted to come back and I remember talking with different players about this and having one player Billy horel telling me that well we could do it all AAR that we could take the players we wanted and

Leave the players that we don’t and I remember laughing in his face because I was like you can’t do that like that’s not the way this is going to work and him pushing back saying absolutely we can do this and now in retrospect based on what I just said about Federal

Investigators they’re not going to be able to do that like you can say we only want these six and the rest of you you can go pound sand I’m not quite sure where that saying comes from I’m not sure either uh but I I agree with you it

Does seem highly unlikely that that would be and again again if one of those players is is Phil Mickelson who is actively recruiting players away from the PGA Tour to live golf it’s hard to imagine they say come on over Phil everybody else you go to Q school you go

To Europe you do your thing Phil sure you can you can be welcome back in the family just it can’t be it’s going to have to be a pathway for all for one and all and whatever that pathway is going to look like maybe there’s fines maybe there’s suspensions percentages of what

Live paid you whatever the case may be then it’s going to stand for everyone because anything that doesn’t do that that just zeros in on the six players we want the rest of them can just go play Q school or whatever the case may be they’re never going to allow that and

Trust me the investigators the doj the Senate they’re going to have a big say in what this looks like like I know that there’s plenty of people in the audience that hate the idea of that and why is why is the government getting involved in sports because the government is

Involved in sports across the Spectrum I mean look what’s happening with the NCAA right now so of course with if there is going to be a deal with the Saudis in the PGA Tour the federal Regulators will have a say in it and they would never go

For that and the whole point is to bring all of the best players in the world together again not just yeah kind of a cherry-picked half dozen and you really not want Andy oot Tre back or I guess period because he was never part of the

But would you not like here’s an up andc coming young player who I was like yeah all right they got one of the young players like you really don’t want to create an Avenue for him to come back right like that’s that’s why I think this is not the the road that they

Should should be pursuing because yes Liv has definitely taken I would say a lot of like top 50 depth and you look at the official world golf rankings of the players who left when they left and what the ranking was you’re like we’re talking about Walky nean we’re talking

About Terell Hatton Patrick Reed Sergio Garcia Louie us Hazen Adrien Taylor gu and and so that has kind of robbed the tour of that second and third level of depth that makes it feel like the best tour in the world but also that doesn’t even make mention of the

Young guys whether it’s the the Caleb Sarat who has been pretty impressive in his limited time so far with Liv David puj uh who who just had a a breakaway win on the Asian tour yeno Shakara one last year on live like are all of those guys replaceable with upand cominging

College studs maybe probably but if I’m the PJ tour I I think I would want to welcome back him back into the fold and see just how good they can I think that’s that’s what it comes down to the the the whole point is to is to get

Everybody back under the same umbrella and and picking and choosing just because they’re popular with their peers they have certain amount of status um they’ve finished high on the PIP like to me that’s just an nonstarter and not the way they should be pursuing it Rex what

Else is on your docket for the rest of the week somehow somehow this midweek podcast record is gone longer than our recap pod from Sunday night what uh well we did it Monday morning and I had a tea time so I think that that explains it I

I don’t think you need to dig any deep how’ you play uh well I had to stop halfway through the round to to record the round table the for for the best uh it probably was for the best actually I had just uh I didn’t get a chance to say

This on air but I had just pared seven which I thought was a minor miracle after almost hitting it into an alligator’s mouth so I thought that was and then I got to skip eight which is the hardest C uh uh hole on the and then

I think I caught up with the group on by the time they were on 15 so it was fun my son played with me it yeah man that Round Table took a long time you didn’t notice this and and I don’t want to throw anybody under the

Bus because he ended up being really nice about it but during that Round Table uh the the locker room attendant in the locker room at which he was yelling at me like you might have saw him but you didn’t hear him yelling at me because

That right before we came up live he was having a conversation with someone else and I had trust me I had asked I’d gone through multiple layers of people asking like is it okay if I do this I’m really really sorry yep yep no it’s fine we’d

Love to have you whole nine yards as I’m getting ready to come up and Aman’s introducing you and I this gentleman is having a very L loud conversation right behind me with someone else and I I thought I politely turned around and said excuse me gentlemen I’m sort of in

The middle and he yelled at me for the first two minutes of that hit about this is a locker room not an office I love that I did I I did see an attendant taking out the garbage which I thought was a fitting metaphor of when you’re babbling on about God knows what

But I did not hear I did not hear any yelling I did not hear any screaming I did not hear any hostility but kudos to you he stopped he did he finally stopped when I think right next to me on the wall right next to me was Golf Channel

Playing and it you know it’s about 30 seconds or 15 seconds behind that’s you hey that’s you I think that’s when he finally like put two and two together and stopped yelling at me because it was it wasn’t it was two minutes into and I’m Sweating Bullets trying to listen to

Aan ask whatever it is aan ask because it it’s always that that let’s peel back to curtain like aan is a he’s a loose cannon like we can both theorist yeah like we can both agree on that right like he’s when he asked me the question to compare tiger woods’

Rain rain is what he called it on the PGA tour policy boards do I think the dictator of North Korea that’s when I I went stumbling and bumbling into the night because I couldn’t get away from that question fast enough that was just that was that was an all time that was

That was one of the moments of the Year 2024 uh in Golf Channel History comparing Tiger Woods as undefined rain as a policy Board of director Stella hello Stella she’s feeling fresh after her uh grooming Rex my grills are accumulating dust and cobwebs have not used them much this week and on Thursday

And Friday I’m heading to Orlando for my sister-in-law’s wedding and then I’m heading up to Sunny Connecticut to co-host golf today and so we’re putting all of our faith and trust in you what is on the grill uh I actually took out I I wanted to see what

Was in the freezer you don’t do this like when I smoke a pork butt I only smoke half of it only because like my Pit Barrel really isn’t big enough for the whole thing and also no one’s going to eat the whole thing so between that

And I had two racks of ribs that were freezing and then I’m going to do chicken wings literally I just needed to get them out of the freezer so once they throw out I’m I’m think I’m that’s what I’m going to do are we playing golf on

Friday he mutes because Stella is y you’re M no we are not playing golf uh Winter Park nine which we helped uh the rev the revitalization help put on the map uh they are two booked out dubs dread 2 another classic course in Orlando that you and I have played

Several times together is unavailable at the time and so Noah we might be playing golf and said I’ll be drinking and waiting until the 5 o’clock wedding party not that I’m too upset about that uh folks that is going to do it for this Edition finally because my dog is about

To bark edition of the golf CH podcast with Rex and lab we’ll be back on Sunday evening I’ll be in the wonderful residence in in Stanford Connecticut to recap the cognizant Classic Roy maroy performance there as well of course as Anthony Kim’s performance on Liv it

Should be a meaty a beefy podcast and hopefully I don’t shoot all the bullets that I will save for Monday’s golf today but in the meantime you guys know the drill make sure you go to nbcsports.com golf for the latest news notes and features and commentary from the World

Of Golf it should be a compelling week the golf world we’re here for you we can’t wait to break it all down in a couple of days taco bar