Anthony Kim comeback coincides with Tour’s star-power crisis | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel

In this week’s edition, the guys break down Anthony Kim’s highly anticipated return to competitive golf and what his DFL means, plus a discussion of what Austin Eckroat’s win says about the larger PGA Tour landscape. #GolfChannel #GolfChannelPodcast

Chapters:
00:00: Lav is in Connecticut, co-hosting Golf Today
02:00: The big story of the week: Anthony Kim’s return
05:30: What’s missing from the AK story to this point
13:00: Austin Eckroat gets his first Tour win
18:00: PGA Tour’s star-power crisis
26:00: Another middling performance from Rory McIlroy
29:00: Joaquin Niemann wins, then gripes some more about the OWGR
37:00: Rex’s home game at Bay Hill, and all the issues that come with it

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Anthony Kim comeback coincides with Tour’s star-power crisis | Golf Channel Podcast | Golf Channel
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav Austin neot is a winner first-time winner on the PGA tour taking the weather delayed cognizant Classic on Monday but Rex the big story and the first Topic in our discussion today is

The return of one Anthony Kim dfl by 11 33 shots behind eventual winner walki Neeman what do you make of what we finally saw after 12 long years from AK I don’t know if that’s the biggest story I’m gonna switch Story the week it’s the biggest story of the week I think the

Biggest story at this moment is what am I gonna get out of you for this podcast because you just got through gas bagging for two hours an hour and a half how much how much of these recyle you have left all right so you’ve been you’ve been spouting off for an hour 45

Normally you get on this podcast you’ve got nothing but takes and you want to take up all the real estate in the world but you look tired you looked Haggard you have bags under your eyes all of your takes are used and welln I do not have bags under my eyes

Because I’m heavily made up you are uh what I do have is a little bit of a head cold so apologies in advance I do sound a little bit nasly uh it’s either a head cold sinus infection of the case mayy I was down in Orlando yor NE of the woods

Uh with extremely high pollen counts and so yes I’m feeling a little bit under the weather long day went to the studio like 8:00 a.m. to watch the conclusion of the final round and now we’re sitting here recording this podcast at 3m. Eastern time so yeah I’m running a

Little bit on fumes you’re probably have to carry this one but I do appreciate your love and consideration I knew I wasn’t G to get maximum effort that’s what I was getting to like I knew I was gonna get nothing but recycled and tired and I’m a little groggy and AK was fine

No it was the biggest story it was the biggest story of I’d say a decade but it’s been more than a decade since we’ve seen him and we talked about this I’m so wildly disappointed that I I’m just probably just like you every morning I

Would wake up and I would go straight to the website and I would want to read the transcripts because I’m like well somebody dug in on them today someone asked them all the questions that we have someone asked them where you been man what have you been doing Why’d You

Come Back what do you hope to accomplish like I could keep going on and on and on and none of it we got none of it it was how is your round well my round was crappy is is the answer to that he didn’t play well I don’t think you or I

Or anyone who’s been paying attention had any higher expectations than that he finished dead last in the field I I guess we we could have predicted that he talked about the idea he felt like he played better than he actually scored and look man 12 years it’s been a long

Time and just think I mean he’s been literally been under a rock for 12 years and he sudden we don’t know we don’t know where he’s been and he suddenly just crawled out and struggled and didn’t score very well and I don’t know what El we possibly could have expected

I mean I think it would have been the story of the century had he come out and actually put himself into some sort of contention or played well like that would have been shocking to me this isn’t shocking to me the shocking part is again we don’t know anything more

About Anthony Kim’s Journey than we did 10 days ago and that that’s driving me nuts uh honestly I kind of want to go to the live event in Miami in a couple of weeks I can’t um I’m working that week in San Antonio but because I mean I have

So many questions we have so many things that we just still don’t know I want to be careful here because when we did the podcast on Wednesday and I believe it blew up uh unlike any podcast that we’ve done prior did it we asked rhetorically based on Anthony

Kim’s own video that he posted on Instagram where he concluded it by saying hello haters I’m back and we ask like who hates who who who are the haters he has been a beloved figure he was a beloved figure on the PJ tour and no one with has been like more beloved

Retrospectively than Anthony Kim during these 12 years away he it it’s been a public Fascination what happened to him this yearning for him this longing for him and so that’s how we be that’s how we began last week’s podcast and then everyone in the comments was like you

Guys are the haters you guys are just dogging on him you don’t think he’s gonna be playing well of course he’s not gonna be playing well and that’s that’s is one point that I want to make like I mentioned it on golf today during our round table like I’m willing to give

Anthony Kim some Grace when it comes to his competitive return thinking that he was going to be shooting 67 in his live return was just wildly unrealistic whether it’s Tiger Woods whether it’s will Z torus it’s Gary Woodland whether it’s Bud collie whether it’s Patrick Klay a couple years ago

When he was returning from his own back troubles when you take an extended period of time it it it it takes weeks if not months to regain your competitive FS again and for him to go 12 years basically the exponential version of what we’ve seen for player comebacks

Like of course you you have to be willing to give him three four starts give him a couple months to find his footing what was really befuddling to me and and we touched on it last week Rex was there’s no context for this return He there was there was basically just

Bland press conference questions about his round that day a save he may have had how it felt to be back inside the ropes we don’t know why he’s back inside the ropes we don’t we don’t know what what spurned him to come back inside the

Ropes we have no idea what his career as break are at age 38 all we know is just this he shot 76 76 74 and he says that he’s hitting the ball well and it’s disappointing to score like this but he’s optimistic for the rest of the

Season that’s it that’s all we know about his Anthony about this Anthony Kim return yeah he was sloppy and again I don’t know that we should be surprised about it until your point I think we should all give him a grace period whatever that grace period needs to be

Whether if it’s the entire season whether if we give him five or six starts whatever the case may be I I not going to sit here and dog on him for going out and struggling in this first event again I don’t know if he would have come out and played well how I

Could have even put that into context because you’re right there are no comparisons I I I mentioned this earlier today on the round table I think someone on The Telecast over the weekend from PGA National kind of compared it to Michael Jordan who if you remember went

Went away for three years before coming back and I guess I see sort of the edges of a comparison on that one because it is a physical sport and he was of a certain age and you didn’t know what to expect but he had played baseball it’s

Not as though we didn’t know what he had been doing like we knew what MJ was doing when he walked away from the game he was still active he was still a professional athlete he was still a specimen touched by God we just don’t have any idea and look I appreciate the

Fact it seems to me they wanted this to be a very soft Landing for AK it seems to me that they did not want him to be under the microscope because he talked a lot about just it was important for him to be there and his daughter to be with

Him and to be part of this again I understand all that I I will take UMD with one thing you said I think we all know his motivations I think you called it his bag on G today and yeah he came back for his bag I don’t think there’s

Any other way to explain that I don’t think that’s stepping out of bounds it’s definitely not being a hater I think it’s pretty obvious I did kind of correct you a little bit and say that even before Liv go became a thing even before it became a thing that he could

Come back and get some version of guaranteed money from both either the PGA Tour or live golf because make no mistake the J tour was going to find a way to give him guaranteed money as they should as they should absolutely like he could have come back and played and they

Were going to have to work around some edges and maybe be a little shady about it but they were gonna find a way to get him to be paid because we had talked a lot about the idea he had a insurance policy that was worth x amount $10

Million is going R but we no one really knows but he had been talking about this or I’d heard rumors about him coming back for years it’s why he was such a fascinating urban legend because if he just walked away and we didn’t hear anything that would have been one thing

But like on the edges you would hear about yeah he’s hitting balls again like he’s feeling pretty good about it like one day he he wants to come back to the PGA Tour I I think the love is still there I think the idea that he wants to

Compete is still there we did see sort of a crack uh there was like a video of him walking onto the range and Pat Perez sort of greeting him he probably missed that just the idea of being part of what is a really cool club for everybody but

You’re saying but you’re saying you think and probably we do not know for sure what his motivations are and why he’s coming back we have zero context to this oh no again his motivations is getting paid let’s don’t be silly how do you know how do you know why do you

Think he would have come back at this moment in time I I think that’s pretty clear I don’t know if I’m I’m going out of bounds on this one maybe I am maybe I’m I’m wildly off base and he’s not getting paid a lick and he’s doing this

Just because he wants to go out and have fun I don’t believe and I’m sure and I’m sure Liv doesn’t want him to come out and say yeah I’m do I’m doing this just because you’re offering me a boatload of money I have know how long this no idea

How long this is going to last maybe it lasts six months maybe it lasts six years I don’t really know but you have to you have to offer something you have to offer some reasonable explanation maybe it was the Love of the Game maybe Greg Norman insinuated on the broadcast

You know he’s got a wife and a two-year-old daughter now at least Trot out something that hey I want to do it for them or I want to I want to write a final chapter to my career right you know I’ve i’ I’ve disappeared a long

Time but I still think I have a lot of game left and I want to finish my career how I started literally just say anything along those lines because if you don’t offer that explanation if you don’t offer that context and he continues to play the way that he has at

Least he showed over these first 54 holes then it just becomes kind of this this meaningless Sideshow with with no point and and no purpose and I think it would really be a a kind of sad and unfortunate ending for the Legion of fans that AK had in the late 2000s and

Who have kind of invested time energy and emotion either into his disappearance and wondering when he’s GNA coming back or now in his comeback if it does just kind of Peter out with a bunch of 53rd Place finishes like there has to be there has to be something to

Grasp at well and he kind of said that he came back because he wanted his daughter to see him do what what he did at a very good level so I I think if you want to call that I guess that was there but again like there is such a story

Here you’re the Storyteller like you’ve got to get in your car and drive to Miami in a couple weeks do you not I mean you have to try to write this story wish I could I’ll be at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur that’s too bad tough scene I I

Just there is going to be a story written about him one day that I think is going to be fascinating and Joe Beal but it has to it has to include ak’s voice uh and it might I I think eventually it might because like look again he was very sheltered obviously in

Saudi Arabia no one would wanted to ask him any hard questions whether if that was in the scrum area or on the broadcast either way when he comes back State side again a few weeks in Miami my guess is that’s going to change you’re going to have beat reporters who do this

On a regular basis who are going to ask the tough questions and are are going to ask the probing questions and maybe he sidestep steps them and maybe he doesn’t answer them but I still think they’re going to be there and it would be such a

Compelling story like I would love to to read this from start to finish and to get an idea of exact what he’s feeling and what he’s been through over the last 12 years it’s like I don’t know I can’t even put it into context it’s like a movie where someone just disappears and

I will say and I thought Joel Beal from Golf Digest he was on the round table earlier today with us brought up a good point I don’t know if I particularly agree with it but his point was if he continues to play like this if this is

The norm and again not not trying to hate just saying that this is that is an option that could happen that he could damage whatever this iconic status is that he’s achieved that all of these Legions of fans would just sort of turn their nose up at him and walk away and

Say it wasn’t worth the effort to be you know the fandom wasn’t worth the effort I don’t know if I believe that but I can see where it’s coming from I certainly think that’s a possibility you know was was Jerry Rice’s career damage when he went to the the Raiders and the Seahawks

And who didn’t finish his career as a 49er Michael Jordan’s wasn’t when he went when he went to Washington no I mean I I think I think there could have been a way that the AK story ended it appears now that it’s probably going to

Be going in a little bit of a direction he does play again this week in Hong Kong before a couple weeks off uh where you and I will not be with him in Miami but I’ll be very curious to see what ak’s uh media availability is for that

Week and if they kind of uh make him a little bit more accessible than he certainly was for his return I think they would I would think they would want to leverage their investment at that point and that that’s kind of cold that’s kind of harsh I understand where

People are coming from if they don’t like it put that way but they have made an investment because he’s going to draw attention people want to see how this story plays out so why wouldn’t you leverage it and put him in front of all of the cameras and all of the reporters

And allow him to answer and fill in these blanks Rex how about our two winners from this past week Austin e wrote prevails at PJ national tournament that ended on Monday after a very unfortunate weather delay that probably could have been foreseen by the p J tour

And how about walki Neiman doing what Wy Neiman has seemingly done each and every time he teas it up over the past three or four months and that is win the golf tournament in Jetta which performance stood out to you more and why uh ech root just because that’s the one I was

Kind of focused on this morning it spilled over into Monday as you said and just the way he performed I mean when you look at it at his ball striking it was Scotty scheres he didn’t lead the field in ball striking Rory did but it was very very good especially coming

Down the stretch for a young player who’s never won before on what is a really really difficult golf course I think we talked about it uh in the podcast last week that it seem like it was the softer side of PGA National but when it comes down you get into the bear

Trap you start playing those last few holes he knew it was on the line and he had to execute a lot of really really good shots and it was really impressive and I kept coming back to the idea that there are there is going to be a segment

Of the population that’s going to look at another Victory by a player that not your average sports fan or golf fan know about and I’m just going to keep coming back to the idea that these full field events are what we thought they were like this is what they’re going to

Produce like sure Roy mckoy could have won Shane lry could have won at PJ National but the odds are much more in favor that you’re going to get an e road or you’re going to get a Nick Dunlap or one of these young players who has emerged and I don’t think there’s

Anything wrong with that I mean I can imagine a world we’re two or three years from now we’re talking about him and sort of the same tones we talk about at Jordan spe or Scotty Sheffer now that’s lofty category I’m not saying he’s going to get there because he hadn’t up until

This point but you look at what I saw on Monday morning and what I saw Sunday before the rain delay came he’s got all the tools it’s just a matter of him putting it together now you you brought up some some good context I did not realize that he wasn’t even like what

Was he his his last year at Oklahoma State he was the third player on that team the fourth player on that team yeah he was a top 25 college player everyone looks back to the 2017 2018 team one of the best college golf teams uh in in history the

Team that had Matthew Wolf the team that had Victor havin uh Zack bosu who was on the KF was on that team uh Brandon jelly who uh has performed well on the kft Sam Stevens has a run-up finish in his career on the P tour like that team was

Was absolutely stacked and and Austin neckroad as a freshman was the four or five man on that Squad but he’s even as a senior even after three years of seasoning he was never a world beater I mean he won twice in college and and actually his performance in winning at

The Cog Classic this was his first win as a professional and his first win anywhere in five years since 2019 uh and so that’s what I kind of took away from Monday’s performance Rex like the the quality of his play was was Sensational he was he was

Aggressive through the ball there was no steering there was no tentativeness and you look at the way he played in one of really the only other times he’s been in serious contention on the PJ tour it was last year at the Nelson he was in a three-way TI for lead actually very

Similar situation to what he had at PJ National shot 65 and ended up getting run down by Jason day this was the exact same kind of performance where he was almost clinical from T to Green I think he missed just two Fairways Miss just four greens his Putter’s kind of always

Been kind of the bugaboo in the final rounds but he was he was just good enough to get through here that’s kind of what I took away is that this kind of speaks to the current level of depth on the PJ tour where a player who’s been

Kind of above average PJ Tour player nothing spectacular uh but never really in danger over the past two years of of losing his card has a career week and is able to win on the PJ tour I’m not projecting Jordan spe level dominance but you have to like his trajectory as a

As a 25-year-old who’s just in his second year on tour all right I’ll clean that up you’re right I I wouldn’t project that on anyone either because that’s unfair expectations I think what I was saying is just in general these players who are winning these full field

Events these are going to be the players that become the next stars because if you go back five years ago that I I would look at I would look at Jake knp yeah I don’t even want to put a name on it like don’t even I don’t even want to

Do that my my point is that these players who are emerging in these events that’s where that’s that’s the category that that’s where you’re going to get your inventory from that those players need to become the next star going forward because as you pointed out

And I wanted to make sure I got this 100% correctly as you said earlier today on on national TV and I quote the PGA Tour is bereft of star power clip that can if we could play it again I I would gladly I see no lies I see no lies I see

No lies uh you’re gonna be tiptoeing around TPC Saw Grass in two weeks but but expand on that I mean I think I think it’s a fact that there’s there’s four or five players on the PJ tour who could walk into a restaurant and be and be recognized and I think Liv

Has done a very smart thing over the past couple years if you look at the inaugural player IMPACT Program standings those players are by the PJ tour’s own metric the most popular players the most meaningful players the players who resonate deepest with fan bases Liv has taken six of those 10

Players more than half and you can probably say that PJ door does not have a seventh in Tiger Woods who is no longer a full-time player on the PJ tour and so that leaves Rory mroy Justin Thomas and Jordan Speed Rory I think is in his own category he’s clearly the

Face of the of the modern PJ tour but he’s had a slow start to 2024 Jordan spe has won just twice on the PJ tour since 2017 and Justin Thomas is just now emerging from the worst slump of his career that’s it who else is going to fill the void

That has been left by all of these lived affections Max hom very slow start to 2024 Victor havin reigning FedEx Cup champion very slow start to 2024 Scotty Sheffer has not won in 51 weeks he’s not won on the PJ tour in 51 weeks since last year’s Players Championship someone

Has to step up and so when you look at these full field events on the PJ tour six of the nine now have been quote unquote long shots 10 101 odds or greater those events are doing exactly what they should they should be offering the Redemption story of Grace and Murray

They should be the crowning of an amateur Nick Dunlap winning on the PJ tour they should be providing a launching spot for the for the Jake knps and the Austin NEC roots of the world to find their footing on the PJ tour what I’m most curious about is what happens

This week at beill with these Signature Events putting all the best players on the PJ tour together at a at a high-profile event if you do not have a star I’m talking a boldfaced star winning this tournament you gotta have be you got to be having alarm Bells

You’re willing to call it after API that that Signature Events are a failure if we get I’m I’m not even going to throw a name out there because I think the concept I think the concept is good and that’s to take nothing away from Windham Clark or Hideki matama I mean Windham

Clark’s the reigning US Open Champion deim matama is the winningest player ever on the PJ tour from Asia like those are those are marquee players but they do not yet resonate with hugely American fan bases and so we we we H we the PJ tour has to

Have a Rory win a Scotty win a Max win a player with with cach a who is a proven commodity because that’s what this entire thing was built about and no one no one has really discussed this Rex the PJ it should be easier to win on the PJ

Tour not harder in this new era if the PJ tour has been weakened by all these star players going to live and and you know you can talk about the competition level on that side but if you focus strictly on the P to it should be easier for the Rory’s and the

Scotties and the jts to win and yet that has not been has not been the case over the past year or two uh I’ll push back a little bit on the idea of the PIP because you’ve thrown that one out there on numerous occasions and I just want to

Go back to the heart of that was a silly list they don’t even use the criter was that silly it it was very silly and that’s why they don’t use that criteria they have reor that list dramatically how they with it I think it’s because they realize they lean too much into

Sort popular part part of it and you didn’t Ricky that’s what we’re talking about we’re talking about star power oh we are no no no we are absolutely and and I would go to the idea that it’s it’s a lack of Personality not a lack of

Talent I guess would be my argument my my counter because it seems to me there is still just a monsoon of there is still more Talent on the PGA tour than there is on Liv go the star it seems like sort of personalities that Q score

That Q score that you want to look at that’s leaning further and further towards Liv goof which I think is the quote that I tried to bury you with just now which you were trying to get at it’s the personalities of the Bry and D Shambo and the Brooks kepas and the

Bubba Watsons those are the one ones you miss the most and I will totally agree with that I I think that original pip list was ridiculous I mean just the way they came up with it and I would also counter and say that was going going to

Be an evolving thing it was going to be thing year in year out you say it was ridiculous I would argue that’s actually the most important metric is is popularity is is the Q score is the recognizability of fans to those players right those are the people who when they

Get into contention casual fans will say oh I know Brooks I know DJ I know Bubba I know Bryson I’m going to tune in and that’s going to then boost the ratings without those players it’s just it’s just kind of a shrug it’s just just another very talented player on the PG

Tour who who perhaps doesn’t have a a a radiant personality again I go back to the idea that they don’t they use that formula one year and there was pushed back and they realized it was a bad way to come up with the formula they don’t even do it anymore really essentially is

What I’m trying to argue I would say though going forward you have to end up with those types of winners to sort of make everything evolved it it can’t be the same top 10 players year in and year out because that’s what Liv golf is going to run into eventually where it

Just becomes static you’re playing against each other put it in the context of what’s going on in the college football playoffs right now the idea now is that if you come up with some sort of Super League that’s only going to include the SEC in the Big 10 that to me

Does not sound very appealing it might sound very appealing to Someone Like You who’s SEC Homer but the idea that all they’re going to do is play each other year in and year out like there’s never going to be the opportunity for a Washington to step up or I don’t know a

UCLA or someone else to step up and and make a difference and and to create some excitement and create some interest I would say it’s the same thing that’s going to happen on live golf and the PGA Tour does not have that problem but I would agree they have a name recognition

Problem 100% yeah I think the PJ tour has actually done a very good job of keeping the meritocracy where you know you can quibble with these sponsor exemptions and I know we got into that with the fact that web Simpson and Adam Scott receiving sponsor exemptions into Bay

Hill but look at who who are they who are they leaving out like I think the the PJ tour has actually done a good job with these Signature Events of still promoting from within still offering upward Mobility for the Jake naaps and the Austin NE roads of the world to to

Basically change their career with with one week and then they can parlay that into bigger and better things I think once you lose that aspect and I think that’s one of the main drawbacks of kind of Rory’s fictional 80 person World Tour is that it will get a little bit

Monotonous to see the exact same players playing over and over again you can you can put it all over the world you can change up some of the formats but when it’s the same players and you don’t have any influx of players in season I think that’s potentially where you were going

To lose some folks just mentioned Rory another kind of hoham finish Rex at least this on the first leg of the Florida swing that kind of follows hoam finishes as well at Pebble Beach and then Riviera as well it is interesting because when you look back at his 2023

This is almost exactly what happened a year ago where he wins in Dubai has kind of a slow start and then starts to cook a little bit as he gets into Florida where’s your level of concern 0o to 10 10 being the most as it relates to Rory

Who now just has three starts left before Augusta uh it’s definitely not 10 and it’s definitely not zero I know that probably doesn’t help you I put it at three or four it would be very very low simply because you look at his ball striking last week first in the field

Off the T first in the field Strokes gain TD green it’s normal Rory stuff and he talked about this after his round yesterday when he’s doing that well everything else just needs to fall into place and what hasn’t fallen into the place and again his putting is an

Example he lost more than three and a half Strokes to the field down at PGA National that’s not going to get it done I don’t care how well you’re striking the golf ball I still like the idea of what he’s trying to do and I think you

Hit on it well when you referred to it like his own spring training and let me go out and and get myself into the best possible shape so when I show up at Augusta National I don’t have to worry about any part of my game everything

Should be clicking I I don’t I don’t think that’s the way it’s going to work out because I feel like at that point it’s such an exhausting week and you’ve already probably taxed your body and your mind and everything else to the extremes I I don’t think this is the

Winning formula for him but it will be interesting to see how it plays out I think the point is that I think we were seduced by Tiger thinking that oh it’s just you just got to peek for the majors like everyone made it sound everyone can just Peak for the majors well it’s

Really not that easy and so Rory’s philosophy is I’m trying to get to the year’s first major and maintain for the rest of the season as opposed to picking out a point in the calendar be like yep everything ramps up to there and so you’re most likely to do that by being

Game ready and being tournament proven which is what he’s trying to do trying to he’s going to be playing eight uh tournament starts by the time the year’s first major rolls around I do think we’d be having an entirely different conversation with Rory if he did not hit

A bad t- shot in the 7c Hole uh in his his first event in Dubai he very easily could then gone back to back and then you’re looking at a kind of entirely different resume I think if it continues this week at Bay Hill which puts such a

Premium on driving the golf ball and Rory is still the World’s Best Driver the golf ball on the PJ tour if it continues this week at a golf course where he has six top 10 and nine career starts and is seemingly Inc contention each and every year as he was last year

Eventually losing to kurk kitama then I think it’s a to wonder if he is where he needs to be with the Masters now just a month away but I’m with you I’m not ready to pull uh any sort of alarm Bells as it relates to Rory and I’m gonna say

Two swings you brought up the one in Dubai I’m gonna bring up the one on Saturday at PGA National like look he was trying to play the hero shot out of the water and ended up making a triple bogey but things could have don’t hit it

There don’t hit it there don’t hit it there absolutely I’m not making excuses for him like you’re he’s the one that ended up in there and then tried to play the hero shot and it didn’t work out but you can make you can make an argument that two swings could have gone either

Way and we’d be having a much different conversation about it Rex what else stood out to you from the week that was as we now enter another week with the signature event series uh I was we didn’t really touch on Wen I mean you have to be impressed and I was kind of

Shocked because I wrote a story this morning that the PG of America has offered him a special invitation and look that’s their words not mine and and I have kind of gotten called out on X formerly Twitter because they’re like oh why does he need a special invitation

Well that’s what they call it I don’t that’s that’s not my that’s not not up for me to decide what they call it they should have they have historically given special invitations to players who are inside the top 100 in the world ranking who aren’t otherwise qualified they did

It last year for eight Live players including Paul Casey who was 131st in the world so I will give the PG of America credit they have been the poiny end of the spear in this and we’ve had these conversations over and over and they’re not going to go

Away because because it’s going to become a bigger problem as we go down the road that these players from Liv are going to fall out of of all these categories and it’s going to become an issue that they’re not playing in the major championships as long as it seems

Like the major championship bodies are trying and I will give Augusta National Credit who offered Wakee who gave Wakee a special invitation and the PG of America credit for doing it they recognized not only what he did last year winning the Australian Open but they also recognized the fact that look

He’s won to Live Events I was the one that argued I think at the end of last year that Brooks Kea should have been on the ballot for the gwa male Player of the Year based on what he did just not in the majors obviously what he did in

The majors but he also had a heck of a season on live golf I’m not I’m not of the mindset to dismiss a victory in live golf anymore because as we just had the conversation yeah they got a bunch of cache and a bunch of big names and they

Can carry storylines but they also have really really talented players I do find it interesting rex that the PGA has actually proven to be the most flexible major when it comes to inviting and you never would have thought that three years ago remember Seth w at kioa kind of dismissed the

Idea of of the Saudi funding in golf and the idea of kind of a breakaway league and then we heard uh what he and others said 2022 at Southern Hills and yet they’re the ones who invited Paul Casey this year they’re the ones who have now uh reached out and extended a special

Invitation as you say to walki NE and again I don’t think it’s specifically because of his Liv performance his his Liv performance has become so good that it’s impossible to ignore but I think they also are recognizing the the length is going W niman is to improve his world

Ranking and and could he have potentially stayed inside the top 100 which is kind of their unofficial guideline for how they give out exemptions to PJ probably maybe I’m not sure I’m not no Fatu he’s currently 72nd in the world perhaps he would have fallen out uh with with his diviser by

The time May rolls around but I I do like the fact that they’re stepping back kind of removing themselves from the the animosity of gulf’s current Civil War and just recognizing that that good golf is played in other places than just the PJ tour and and we had a a pretty

Pointed discussion about this now the other side of this coin is Walken complaining about the world ranking again on Sunday after he wins in Saudi Arabia look man like it’s a non-starter they just need to let it go it’s a waste of energy it’s a it’s a waste of effort

Like you were sold to bill of goods by Liv Goff and Greg Norman that’s just not going to come due like this just is not going to happen anytime soon it might happen sometime in the future but the world ranking has made it perfectly clear that NOP we’re not comfortable

With the team aspect and we can work our way around 54 holes shotgun starts all of that it’s the team aspect that’s making them uncomfortable so work on a better solution which is what we just talked about the P get with the PG of America try to make them understand that

Look our players are still really really good players you don’t want to play your major championship without the best possible field and if you don’t have our players not I’m not talking about all of them like there has to be a limit here but you need our top players to complete

Complete your major and I think they need to make that same pitch to all four major championships do you think Rex this is actually walk Neeman ketching about his place in the in the world rankings or do you think he’s merely reading off kind of the live talking

Points because I’ve known Watkin since he was a junior player he has been anything but but a whiner throughout his his career I found him to be very accommodating uh I thought I found him to be thoughtful introspective it seems it just seems so counter to his

Personality to be so dug in on a concept that that really doesn’t concern him as we’ve now seen the majors may bend the rules a little bit to accommodate these players if they’re doing the right thing if they’re performing at a level that just can’t be ignored what do what do

You think the actual motivation is for him to be making these sort of gripes it might be that look these are these are the talking points because look it’s it’s going to mirror what we see in society certainly in politics where you just need to start saying things louder

And louder and over and over again and eventually the hope is and we’ve seen it happen where the lie just becomes reality and and in this particular case the LIE is that Greg Norman promised all these players that they would get world ranking points you you can keep saying

It over and over again and I don’t know maybe in my lifetime it will happen but it just seems to me it’s such a waste of time and energy right now for a player like Wen Neiman who has proven that look I I can play well on live golf and I can

Go out of my way and play in these other events and try to connect the dots that way and I’m going to get recognized he’s qualified for three of this year’s four majors and can still qualify through a number of avenues for the US Open so if

A player and I will go to any player on live golf who continues to complain about this Taylor gu being the primary one number one on The Hit List is you have Avenues you may not like those Avenues you may not have the energy or

Want to put the effort into it but there are Avenues and you just sitting there repeating the talking points is not going to work at least not now I think that’s what the main issue with ta with Taylor gu’s gripe was and Taylor grp Taylor gu had a phenomenal season last

Year on live was a leading points earner uh banked more than $30 million like it was a It Was a Very Good Year and yet he’s played just one other event that was recognized by the official World Golf Ranking he could have very very easily done what w Neiman has done over

The past couple months and chase points elsewhere and maybe that then would have been recognized uh by these major organizations that has not yet come to fruition sausage finger is up saus finger is up if you had your choice just out of curiosity uh Eric V royen

Finished up he was one of the lucky few he finished up his round on Sunday at PJ National before the storms came and decided to go ahead and play in the simol Pro member which is a very elite event it it has a lot of tour players it

Probably has the best field of the floorida Swing however it as you want to Define it would you have done it if you were Eric would you have gone over to semon which isn’t that far from PGA National but given the idea idea that something could have happened coming

Down the stretch and he would have had to get in the car and race back over to PGA National so I saw that they that he was going to play this morning and they were going to keep him a breast of a situation and he had said kind of two

Shots for the player heading into the bear trap so with four holes left if he was two shots behind they likely would have shuttled him back to PJ National to get ready why couldn’t they just change the tea times that’s I think about this why wasn’t there just Why was there this

Flood of of withdrawals or were players being upset that they couldn’t do both why why would you just not move them to the afternoon I know Daylight Savings Time hasn’t hit but the last te time I believe was at 1:30 uh and so they could they still could have accommodated them

If need be fortunately for Eric man royne it was an it was it was a moot point uh yes 130 130 was the last tea time and you’re right they could have shuffled all those guys to the back end and it could have been much easier I I

Don’t know why it it seems curious and look I I’ve covered the seminal event it it’s so much fun the golf course is phenomenal Bob Ford is the best in the business I don’t know that I would have taken that chance just me rexus is your favorite

Week on the PG tour schedule a home game at Bay Hill I’m saying that with tongue firmly planted in cheek you’re heading out there tomorrow on Tuesday what are your expectations for the week what do you hoping to get out of it I got to do

A lot of begging because I’ve got I I have more ticket requests this year than I’ve ever had and not just tickets for Bay Hill here here’s the here’s the rub is not only am I having to to get tickets but bunk make wants tickets for her and some friends and she keeps

Asking there’s no way you can get me into a suite and I keep telling her no there’s no way I can get her into a sweet apparently she doesn’t understand how those things work uh so that’s difficult enough and then I have got tickets I have to get for folks on

Saturday but on top of all of that I’ve got a group of caddies who asked me if they if I can get them tickets to the UCF Houston game on Wednesday night so you get an idea of why this is not the most enjoyable week of the year for me

That makes no mention of the traffic basketb by the way basketball the food anything else that goes into the Arnold Palmer Invitational so for yours Rex and all those ticket requests that you’re getting and potentially getting the hospitality I have that exact same conversation with my wife and

My friends next week in a bigger event the PJ tours Flagship event which should absolutely be uh electric with Tiger Woods expected return it being spring break week in St John’s County like it’s going to be absolutely massive and yes I I too am struggling to get my loved ones

Into a Hospitality tent but hey that’s what happens grounds passes are good enough for me uh and we did have a silly conversation on uh the round table this morning on golf today and I don’t know that I got your thoughts the idea that tiger is using today’s simal pro member

Playing in it for the first time that that to me is a little surprising but all right like he he normally doesn’t go in for those types of things that he’s using as some sort of tuneup for next week is just downright silly to me

Because look it’s a lot of things it’s a lot of fun for the I do I do think he’s desperate for any sort of tournament action it does it doesn’t matter if it’s Pro member it doesn’t matter if it’s a hit and giggle like he just has not

Played enough no no no it it’s business look Jimmy dun I’m pretty sure he’s still the president of seminal Golf Club he’s an independent director on the PJ tours policy board he’s one of the architects of the June 6 framework agreement he’s playing close to Tiger Tiger’s playing with Seth wall the CEO

CEO of the PG of America this is a chance for all of the important people in golf to get together before we get to the Masters and have conversations that you and I can only wish we could be part of yeah it’ certainly be fun to be a fly

On thewall for this one unfortunately you and I did not get the invite potentially we get a maybe a sponsor exemption special invitation whatever you want to call it for the 2025 Edition fingers crossed all right that is going to do it for this edition of Golf

Channel podcast with Rex and lab you can see me for the next two days unless it get cancelled on golf today rexi will be out at Bay Hill I’m sure we’ll be calling you in uh for a couple hits as well make sure you guys go to nbcsports.com

Uhg golf for the latest newsnotes commentary features and anything else in the world of golf Rex’s reports Brentley Romine will also be on site this week at the ARL Palmer Invitational before we get to the flagship event of the PJ tour Players Championship the Crown Jewel and

We’ll be doing this podcast this very podcast this recap podcast from my backyard look forward to doing that one as always in the meantime we’ll be back in two days for a full preview of the Arnold Palmer Invitational with some takes on the player interviews that come through and anything else that happens

Over the next 48 hours thank you guys as always for listening talk to you in a couple of days all those used takes