PLAYERS Championship Preview-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams-Tues March 12

Matt Adams gets you ready for this week’s PLAYERS Championship. Joined by PGA Tour winner Mark Carnevale we’ll go over tee times, airtimes, coverage, featured groups, press conferences schedules, TPC Sawgrass and much more. We’ll react to Rory McIlroy’s thoughts on the future of golf and pick our winners

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 bestelling author bat Adams and we welcome you

Into the fairways of Life show on this Tuesday of the players week you can tell that I am on the road I’m out actually outside of a place that we are renting and the internet is not great here but we’re going to do the best we can on

Getting through all of it we have much to get through today on this Tuesday because today is the day that everything really kicks off in Earnest at TPC sass we are hearing reports multiple reports at that that the golf course is already running very very fast I’m not just

Talking about Green speeds I’m talking about the golf course itself a little bit later on we’ll talk more about the speed of the golf course the setup of the golf course what the weather conditions are expected to be for the coming days because if it is warm and if

There’s not a lot of rain in the forecast then obviously that recipe is for even more speed as we move forward tea times are out for this Players let’s take a look at some of those tea times to get you ready now the tea times that

Have the AST on them those are the ones that are the featured groups for PGA Tour live Sam Burns Xander Schley Tommy Fleetwood going out early Victor havin Rory mroy Jordan SP ludvig olberg Patrick cantlay Adam Scott then Nick Taylor Tom Kim and Justin Rose that’s at

857 a.m. Billy horel sunj M and web Simpson will be at 9:08 and then in the afternoon wave Jake knap Matthew Pavone Nick Dunlop which is a really cool group isn’t it at 1:18 PM that we were all recently introduced to over the last few months at 1:29 PM Hadi Matsuyama Matt

Fitzpatrick and Max hom at 1:40 PM Scotty Sheffer Ricky Fowler and Justin Thomas at 1:1 PM Windam Clark Colin morawa and Brian Harmon and then at 202 Tony Fina will zorus and Shane Lowry obviously that’s not everybody but that’s a pretty good look at it and some

Of those groups as I mentioned to you are really compelling in terms of who would you want to watch now granted again you can see if you have PJ Tour live you can see the the stars there let me just jump to that for a second then I

Want to go back to this page uh Andrew and talk some more about these groups but let’s get you up to speed on when you can see the coverage now I will talk about the network coverage on Golf Channel and NBC because they start Thursday and Friday from 100 p.m.

Eastern time Saturday and Sunday the coverage will be on NBC you also can catch coverage on the streaming service peacock but PGA Tour live from Thursday morning and Friday morning for that matter starts at 7:30 a.m. so it’s nearly 12 straight hours of multi-channel coverage from 7:30 a.m. on Thursday morning all the

Way up until scheduled at 7 pm but obviously they can open that window up if they want to given that it is a digital on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. and then Sunday once again from 7:30 p.m. so with that if you wouldn’t mind Andrew let’s go back to the graphic that showed

Some of those notable T times that I was just going over because I think it provides I think a good fod for discussion about who to keep an eye on on this one now one name that’s not on that is minwu Lee minwu Lee and his debut at this event last year finished

In a tie for six so he’s one that I definitely think we should keep an eye on I’m feeling something about Victor havin I mentioned this Dom to you yesterday that I think Victor havin is one to keep an eye on play paired alongside of Rory mroy and Jordan SM I

Think that’s a really good group for them interesting too that Sam burn Xander Schley and Tommy Fleetwood are together again that’s the tour putting together people that like to play with other players and and you can see it right there uh oberg Klay and Scott Scott of course has won this before Klay

Feels like a player that should have won this event EV because of the way that he hits the ball uh we’re going to be talking about with our next guest coming up in just a little bit about who this golf course fits or is their particular player that this golf course fits uh

Nick Taylor is an interesting one to me as well a guy that’s already won this year alongside of another Young Gun in Tom Kim and the steady veteran that is Justin Rose a billy horel is another one lives up in the area plays there often feels like he should win alongside of IM

And Simpsons Simpson not so much but sunj M I think is definitely poised Jake knap Matthew pone Nick Dunlap uh not as much with Nick Dunlap he seems to have come off the boil from his win earlier since he has turned professional which to some extent I I can understand

Because he’s still getting used to the flow in currents of the PGA Tour uh but Jake knap and Matthew Pavone and and of those two Pavone in particular strikes me as having an almost Swagger uh in his belief Jake nap’s kind of one of those quiet players that seems to perform

Matsuyama’s shown form Fitzpatrick has shown flashes and H’s one of the favorites in my mind Scotty Shel I think he’s also one of the favorites of my mind I know that Sheffer is a defending champion and I know that Sheffer won last week no one has ever defended the

This players and it’s in 50 years of the of the event right but it is also very very hard to win the week after you have had Victory again but Scotty Sheffer is not like anybody else so he’s one very much that I keep an eye on Fowler’s not

Doing anything for me right now maybe I’ll be wrong I know he’s won of these grounds before but I’ve just not seen enough from him to believe that this is going to be his week Justin Thomas of course another pass winner here has shown form that I think can translate

Into this week Windam Clark Colin morawa Brian Harmon of those three I think Brian Harmon is the one that could carve his way around the golf course uh with with the best proficiency and then the last group in our notable tea times Tony phenow Wills out to and Shane Lowry I

Think Lowry and zot tus are two that you have to keep a very very close eye on there is no doubt about that now as to who’s going to be speaking to the media today we have an absolutely packed schedule over the next couple of days at 11:00 am this morning PGA Tour

Commissioner Jay monan will speak this is the first time that he has held a press conference since last August so I’m very very curious uh what the commissioner is going to say and I would ask all you guys for the discussion board or otherwise which I’ll check in

For with dom about the question of the day and the discussion board in a moment U but I am curious what do you guys want to hear from the commissioner that that that’s not necessarily the same question as what do you expect to hear but what do you want to hear from the

Commissioner when he speaks at 11: am this morning the anticipation is that what we’re going to hear is is that uh we’re very very happy with SSG and the establishment of PGA Tour Enterprises and establishment of a new board and we continue discussions with piff

Okay in my for my part I’m not trying to lead you guys but for my part I’m hoping for a little bit more than than just a status quo which we’ve been given through other mediums I’m hoping that there’s a little bit more meat on the

Bone at 2m all these times again our Eastern Xander Schley will be addressing the media at 2:45 Patrick Klay will come in at 3M Scotty Sheffer I did think it was interesting when you look at those times for The Press conf conferences they’re in 15minute bites that’s not

Exactly a huge amount of time to be addressing some of the top players in the world on Wednesday Rory mroy will be speaking at approximately 7:50 a.m. from what they call the media scrum area that’s where they stand up with a microphone uh 8: to 900 a.m they they

Call it the first timers will be coming in some of whom are already winners on the PGA tour that will be taking place in the back lawn and then the second half of the first timer will be from 9: to 10: a.m. at 10:45 a.m. Victor havin

Will address the media at 1 p.m Justin Thomas and then at 2 pm it will be Max hom addressing the assembled so with that Dom let me uh turn to you and find out what’s uh we’re hearing from the people already this morning and have you worked on a question of the

Day uh good morning Matt yes I have question of the day is simple today as we are really getting into the week who will win The Players Championship it’s that simple and it’s a right in question you write in you tell us very early in the running here right now but we’ve got

At least four people saying Scotty Sheffer we’ve got a Roy maroy in the uh in the mix we’ve got a Matthew Pavone in the mix um I’m still cruising down here looking through there there’s some folks commenting on J manan’s press conference what to expect or not to expect about

That I I would just like to see at this point something that I’ve been saying to you for years which is just simply transparency I would just like more info more details just what is going on just say what’s going on what’s actually going on and that’s it and if some of

Those answers are I don’t know that’s okay too just say that instead of beating around the bush we got some some folks saying p uh will Wills out Taurus just came in just now as an option another Scotty sheffler so the the the the folks are writing in Matt

They’re letting us know who they think has a good chance to win this week um it’s a very strong field right now it’s uh I believe it’s 18 of the top 20 in the world are on hand so it’s quite a strong field I was looking at Stats earlier for

Myself and I was talking to Andrew behind the scenes there and Andrew gave us his pick and Andrew’s been doing this long enough Matt that Andrew knows he kind of knows what it takes uh to to to win these huge championships and he understands the putting the around

The green and he threw a name out there which I did not see coming Matt but he backed it up Aaron batay is first right now on tour and putting and fifth in Strokes scan around the green coming into this event doesn’t that surprise you I tell

You it surprised the hell out of me I had no idea he’s also he’s so ready for it man fourth in scrambling on tour well that matches up to his strok G around the green yeah that doesn’t yeah but it doesn’t matter all those things together that’s like holy cow that’s uh

Didn’t didn’t anticipate that now I would have never picked up in my life but Andrew picked him and now I’m like wow that’s a I wouldn’t I wouldn’t pick him either where where is he with uh Strokes gain off the te where is he with Strokes gain approach because if a

Player has a very usually the association is that if your Strokes gain approach is then you have to be pretty good with Strokes gain around the green you have to be very good with Strokes gain scrambling and if you are that means you’re chipping it close to the hole

Which means you’re going to be better and less in Strokes gain putting because you’re because you have fewer putts than everybody else you have a lot of one putts in other words you’re way up at the stats of fewest putts so no he wouldn’t he still wouldn’t be my pick

Because the answer your question is very bad in those other categor I wasn’t sure of that but that was the I’m GNA disar Aaron and tell everybody what the numbers are they can look them up but they’re not not great no no no Dom please tell me tell me what the numbers

Are that’s why I asked you for them TD green he’s 146th off the te he’s 173rd and approach to the green he’s 145th all right that’s that’s that’s what we hear there okay so Andre does the graphics what’s uh what are you hearing what are you hearing from the people in

Terms of uh what they hope to hear from the commissioner today I think I think Clarity I think at this point is it really is it really surprising to hear from anybody whether whether you’re on the Liv side whether you’re on the tour side or whether you’re up the middle I think what

Everybody on all sides of this is looking for at this point is just Clarity there’s a lot of gray area there’s a lot of dragging your feet on all sides and a lot of well what if this or what if that or maybe we’re going to try this or we’re working on that

And I think people are just looking for clarity and and they’d like the dust to settle and I I mean I don’t know where you stand Matt but I would anticipate the death the dust will not be settling anytime soon well as I mentioned earlier

My my hope is is that we get more than the status quo report because what do we know as we sit here this morning what we know is is that there’s been some $1.5 billion from the Strategic Sports group led by the Fenway Sports uh uh organization that has been invested in

The PGA Tour we know who the members of the new uh PGA Tour Enterprises board are going to be both from a player side and we know that from the board members side which you can see uh Illustrated right here so we know who these individuals are we know that they have

Deep deep roots in sports at a major major level uh whether you’re talking about major major league baseball whether you’re talking about the Premier League uh some cases you’re talking about the NFL when you’re talking about the NBA etc etc etc uh it’s they are deep in in various Sports what we don’t

Know is the stadius with the public investment fund uh we do know that the since the negotiations were apparently commenced last June that the public investment fund has continued to grow and they aggressively pursued and were able to sign John ROM so notwithstanding all of the good news from a p tour perspective

I’m sure as it will be presented that they have $1.5 billion in their Coffer and that they have this plan together that is meant to keep players Happy by paying out some of the top name players and then kind of salting out money to others that will say hey stay here

Because there’s a lot of money here too we don’t have a clear indication and there are strong rumors already starting to Circ circulate about other top players uh players that six months ago we would have been shocked if if they left for live that might be on the the

Menu for live to continue to pursue so as as late as just a few days ago we heard from the likes of web Simpson who’s amongst those names that are uh top leaders of the PGA tour players side now saying no no no we definitely need

An agreement with piff so that the game can come back together and we’ve heard similar comments made from from very very prominent people around the game even outside of the PGA Tour talking about other governing bodies Etc so my hope is today to to go back to to to my

Side and I hope that doesn’t diminish anyone else expressing their opinion because I want to know what you guys think too um My Hope Is that we get real concrete information we get something more than discussions are continuing uh I I think it would have been great if

They if they had uh yaser on site bring him in talk to us about where everything stands I mean really lay everything out on the table Dom you talk constantly about your desire for transparency and what everyone does in sports and otherwise wouldn’t that be a great place

To start have them both sitting next each other again and talking about how is this good why is this good where do we stand what do we hope and anticipate in terms of a timeline in this thing uh again so I I’d like to hear something

About that um I will talk to you about Winners picks here in just a second because I want to get that before we go to a break and welcome back our our first guest uh we haven’t had a chance to talk to this since the news came out

But as you guys know tiger is not at this players uh tiger told us he wanted to play once a month tiger withdrew from the Genesis with the flu I’m not we weren’t sure what that meant other than the fact that he said he had the flu I

Assume he had an upset stomach or what have you but anyway that’s all the information we had he’s won eight times at Bay Hill didn’t play uh he’s won multiple times here at the Players not playing uh so it’s very interesting because I I’ve told you this many times

Before and I’ve said it with with with a grin that the information that we get from Tiger Woods that we take Lock Stock and Barrel and we say this is great this is this is going to be all different and it’s and he’s ready for this week and

He’s ready for this season and then reality doesn’t match up to it many times over the years we’ve had tiger tell us that he feels great he feels better than he’s ever felt and then the following Monday he has surgery so I don’t know what to make of where

Tiger Wood stands right now and it makes you wonder if the more reality starts to speak for itself versus uh press conference speaks can or Andor platitudes Andor hopes and wishes that it becomes a tiger that becomes further and further a drift from the shoreline of hope that he can actually contend

Anywhere uh which sounds shocking because we’re talking about Tiger Woods so yeah we all can wish that Tiger Woods was in a different place in time but what we’re seeing from Tiger Woods right now does not bode well we’re already in March we know obviously he’s going to

Want to play at Augusta National but the Reps that tiger will constantly talk about he doesn’t talk about him in his in his pre-conference that often he usually talks about how much he’s practiced and how close he is and how he’s playing golf with his friends but

Then after he shoots a poor round or misses a cut or what have you he looks at the media with his hands up and goes I haven’t got the Reps what do you guys expect I can only do what my body allows me to do okay so we’ll wait and see

What’s uh Tiger’s body will allow him to do versus what we’ve been told he wants to do which apparently he’s unable to at this time okay so Dom why don’t you give me your three picks for for the players quickly i’ I’d like to know who who you

Could give me your your your win place draw or you can just sorry did you I I get three picks are you giving me three picks did you just say that I’d like to know who you think are the top three players that that are going to contend

If you want to pick one from those three this the guy give you three picks okay so my my first pick and the person I I I think will win it’s GNA sound ridiculous because I feel like I’ve said his name so many times in the last five years but

I actually think the stats back it up uh at least for for the moment moment is Jordan spe I actually think Jordan spe is playing quite well right now and I I anticipate he’s going to have a very good player championship and you know I’m excited to see what he does I mean

One of the things that I I I noticed when I was going over his stats Matt it it’s G to sound weird when I say it out loud but he is inside the top 100 on tour in driving accuracy which is like oh wow good for

Him it actually is good good for him he hasn’t been inside the top 100 in accuracy off the te in seven years so he’s raining it in I mean as much as he can he’s raining it in a little bit and that that’s going to bode

Well he’s also I mean I I mean I can list it all off it’s crazy stats obviously but let’s see here he is top oh that’s that’s the wrong year hold on that’s 20 all right here it is he’s fourth on Toren Strokes gain total he’s seventh around the green he’s 11th in

Putting he’s top 25 in scrambling there’s a lot of things on song for him right now and if you’ve been watching him he’s been playing pretty well he had kind of a crappy round last week on on Saturday but it happens happens to everybody so my number one would be

Would be Jordan spe and where’s where’s Jordan with Strokes game approach Strokes game approach right now is 101st but he’s still on the positive end of Strokes gained approach he’s not losing shots to the field right now so if he if he strikes his irons well

This week I would I I I like I said he’s my pick right now my number one pick but couple other names put the te times up for me uh I like I like Mark hubard because he’s a friend and he’s a really good putter

Come on Mark hover and I also think if you’re looking at that tea times and those and those feature groups there I actually think I like Tom Kim as well all right Tom Kim your three I’m going to give you we’re going to give it to

You really quickly I have to go to break here uh Victor Victor havin minwu Lee and Will zator are the three that I am picking of those three I think that Victor havin has the best chance to win because of what we’re seeing from Victor havin over the last six months in terms

Of how he’s playing the control that he has with his ball his ball flighting uh is very impressive to me the Improvement that he has with his short game uh pitching uh chipping in particular have impressed me tremendously I think he’s going to get a very positive bump from

What he did at the Ryder Cup as well I mentioned minwu Lee with his tie for six in his debut at this event last year he’s striking the ball well he obviously has great confidence in Will’s Al tourus just because the form that he has coming

In from a long time away so uh those would be my three what do you guys think will touch base on that in just a little while the fairways of Life show is presented in part by the PGA TOUR Superstore the number one golf retailer

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Carney we appreciate you taking the time to join us this morning have you had a chance to to see what the the weather forecast is expected to be for the next few days anything crazy coming our way I don’t think so maybe some possible rain over the weekend but uh I I really

Haven’t uh really paid much it’s better than the Outlook when I when I was down in Orlando it looked like there was a good chance of rain Thursday through Sunday uh and now and it’s kind of diminishing and going off so that’s uh that’s key for this golf course uh as

They really protect it throughout the year which I understand but they try to get it in the top shape as possible and little what I know having not been out there a lot but I was out there and I’ve seen the seen sort of the overseed and

Everything uh you the last uh over the last three or four weeks it it looks like it’s going to be spectacular and I know they’re going to do everything they can uh to get this uh this golf course which they tend to do every year in just

The best shape these players will find throughout the year yeah I’m curious about a sharper definition of what that means in terms of how they get the golf course uh what do you anticipate once we get to Thursday obviously what do you anticipate in terms of the length of the

Rough and if it’s going to be dry as that forecast just showed us it would it would say to me that they’re going to continue to speed up the golf course is that all in the recipe I think so that’s what they would like they want this golf course to play

Play fast and that means the fairways and the green complexes I think the other thing Matt over the years one of the things about TPC Saw Grass and what Pete die uh his design and we know that he makes you think of other things than what you’re what you’re looking at uh

When they I don’t think you’re going to see the the rough as certainly not as long as we saw last week what they want is they want the rough and and in my understanding through over the years they want the rough long enough where you have to think about taking a chance

So you know it’s not going to be like we see at Augusta it’s going to be a little longer than that but when you hit it in there they want you to take some risks and uh I think that’s what where this golf course becomes a big challenge is

Is when you do that because as we know uh there there’s so much trouble around this golf course and I think that that’s what they’re going to try to get it to and that’s what it looked like it was again the last time I was out on the

Golf course uh just kind of driving around was about three weeks ago and uh it looks like you know they’re going to be able to do that and the fact that we haven’t had a lot of rain over that time period uh is certainly going to help I I

Want to talk to you more about the golf course coming up in just a moment and I know you’re heading out there today to get a look at it uh but first what will your responsibilities be this week Mark how can we see and hear what you’re

Doing I’ll be on I’ll be doing PJ tour Live this week I’ll be on the course uh on stream to and uh I know on Thursday and and Saturday I’ll be out with 8 for 18 in the morning and then I’ll do 9 with a group in the afternoon and on

Friday and Sunday I’ll just do 18 in the morning so it’s a busy week as always it’s an exciting week and uh it’s going to be a lot of fun out there featured group coverage in from Mark carnavale coming up so uh Carney before we get

Into the specifics of this week I know we touched on it just a little bit but as I promise you I will Circle back around to it again as well uh the commission will be speaking at 11:00 a.m. this morning if if Mark carnavale was the commissioner of the of golf at

Large not just the PGA Tour how would you describe the state of the game right now confused uh I think there’s a lot of uncertainty uh I think that uh I mean I live here in poner Beach Matt and I’ve been a member of the tour since

1992 uh I don’t have any idea what’s going on I have heard a couple of things that I think they’re trying to to get the players to understand and not not that they ever thought it wasn’t but obviously each of these players are their own businesses but I think one of

The things they’re trying to get the players to buy into and understand is that the PJ tour in general is a business and obviously for years and years and years it’s been a uh you know a 501c3 and I may be wrong about the actual uh clarification but it’s been a

Charitable uh organization and I think one of the things that you with everything that they’re doing and again I don’t have any uh you know words verbatim from anybody but I I know that what I’ve heard them talk about and I’ve heard different people talk about is that they’re trying to get the

Players to understand that this truly is a business and it needs to be profitable and and I think that’s part of it but in my opinion the best players in the game have to play together I I I think that’s what uh sort of separates golf uh from

Some some other sports at times uh certainly you have the but but when you have all these events you want the best to play together uh the issue you have again is you’ve got players who were loyal to the PJ tour and you’ve got players that went to live and again I as

I’ve said many times I have no problem with someone doing that but there are ramifications with every decision uh I think that the biggest thing for me now is there seems to be a downtrend uh in in the fans uh as far as uh you know their interest in the game

And I think there’s you for the longest time Matt golf was sort of immune from all the uh I want to say not not the bickering but kind of the small stuff that a lot of the other professional sports have have dealt with and now with

You know with with what uh Liv has done uh in paying these players a lot of money to go play golf I think it has turned a lot of fans off and that’s my opinion I don’t know if stats or information backs that up but that’s what I hear from a lot of

People uh Mark I’m curious when commissioner Monahan speaks to the media today from your perspective as a winner on the PGA tour as I mentioned the Arnold Palmer Ward recipient what would you like to hear in a perfect world what would you like to hear from the commissioner

Today I I want to hear some sort of outline what what they have planned now they’ve had again they’ve had a lot of time to go through this and then you when the commissioner made the announcement last June at the RBC Canadian open uh there was a there was it was a very

Undefined uh in in my opinion a very undefined uh outline of what was going to happen going forward uh I think players and myself as a as still a member of the PJ tour want to understand what they hope to have happen you know

Is there is there a path uh to what they want to accomplish uh there just needs to be more definition in my mind all right Rory mooy had some comments I’m G to in fact play them for you in just a second to get your reaction about making Fields smaller and

Making it even more Elite it was met with a variety of different responses so let’s go back to what Rory said just a couple days ago I’m all for making it more Cutthroat more competitive um I’m like probably won’t be very popular for saying this but I’m all for

Less players and less tour cards and the you know the best of the best why wouldn’t I speak my mind I guess um you ask me my opinion and I give it to you I’m not going to stand up here and lie to you I guess my thing is I’m all for more

Cutthroat and more competitive and and trying to give Pathways to the younger generation so through corn faery through PJ turu through like I’d rather have have more of a like yeah instead of I feel like there’s a lot of categories on tour that you know people are sort of still benefiting off what

They did like five or 10 years ago yeah and like I I feel like the the most competitive professional golf tour in the world you should have to come out and prove yourself year year after year after year yeah so I would say you know take the best events from all over the

World and and try to create something through that because those events still have history and Legacy and tradition and all the things that are still very important in Gulf I think you know there’s been some experiments with you know creating new tournaments of nothing and I don’t know if they’ve really captured the

Imagination um of of the general public and and that’s that’s what you want you want to like why is the Masters the Masters why is why is this tournament this tournament why is why why are the more historical tournaments the ones that are revered so much in our game it’s because they have

History and people remember Ben Hogan winning or Jack Nicholas or these guys and it’s all about trying to trying to bridge the I guess trying to bridge the the present back to the past and the people that came before us and you know I think that that’s important

All right so Mark carnavale I’m curious what your reaction is to the words of Rory maroy there well I don’t I can’t remember if I said this on your show or not Matt but I think ultimately the the resolution of all this is almost to create like a premier league of golf uh

I think you maybe the numbers whatever number you come up with whe whether it’s 70 80 60 uh I I think if you’re going to do that Rory mentioned the the events around the world and I don’t know the the number whether it’s 10 whether it’s

12 because then you would include uh the major events I think the one the one solution for something like that uh is that you have this Premier League of golf and what you’re doing and as he was talking about all these different tours they all

Feed into one thing so you’ve got the PJ tour over here you got the DP World Tour over here and I think you’re going to a solution a Poss solution is that basically say you take a number of 20 players that get if you had 70 players

Uh 20 players get relegated every season and 10 players off the DP World Tour and 10 players off the PGA Tour that come and go and you know players have an opportunity to work themselves up there now you know do you decide that those top players are based on world ranking I

Don’t know I think certainly players that have done things over the year are important but there’s other ways to to to give them uh access like like Rory was saying if I see that as the only way if you end up combining everything Matt and again I have no information that

This is true or not this is I think this is the reality of the game if you want the top players to play all the time I think that would be something that that might exist or the possibility exists uh I understand that it was funny I was out at the Genesis

Um and of course I I worked the peille beach I worked Genesis I worked B Hill and I was talking to one uh you one of the tournament referees uh and I said you know when I was playing I wouldn’t like the fact that there were 70 players

And there was a cut but broadcasting it’s pretty good when it’s a smaller field and you know is it more competitive I don’t know I I think we haven’t seen it enough like Rory says uh we don’t know if it’s going to be competitive enough but I think if if

Ultimately there is some resolution to getting the best players back together to play on a on a regular basis I I it wouldn’t shock me if there’s something along those lines yeah I mean for me Carney the thing that I’m not as comfortable with is that there there seems to be a

General uh train of thought right now in the game that thep players the stars of the game were almost Born Into the position and to a certain extent that the that the FedEx Cup points and these Signature Events are structured in such a way that that the rich get richer uh I

I think your comments about the the the pathways for other players are well founded because part of the thing that I find enjoyable in the game of golf is watching the ascent of young players now we’ve seen that with Dunlap we we’ve seen that with Jake knap but those are

Out ERS those those are are the rare ones that we get a chance to see and and I hope that there are opportunities where we can see players evolve I hope that there are opportunities where we can see larger Fields I hope there are opportunities where there’s there’s more

Equity in terms of the point distribution because I think it’s hard to win on the PGA tour regardless of where they’re at uh and and to that point even when we’re talking about this massive sum of money that came in from the group called The strategic Sports

Group they’re talking about a huge sum of of whether it’s that amount of money or the potential second $1.5 billion going towards a very very small group of stars I understand why they’re doing it because they want to make it attractive to them in the marketplace when they can

Make other choices as you duly noted but I’m wondering let’s go back to where you were you mentioned it when you were playing actively when you were out there was a guy that was grinding it out to see how much is being invested in just

The top guys uh at some point don’t you look at it and say well you know what happens if if I don’t have the opportunities how am I going to be able to evolve to the point where I can compete at the same level as those guys

It just it seems to me with all due respect that there’s a level of imbalance I absolutely agree with you Matt uh when I played this game it was never for the money I I mean I loved it and obviously I made a living off it and

Now I make a living off of that based on what I had done and the and the ability and the certainly the confidence that people have in in having me uh work as a broadcaster the thing that scares me is that it’s becoming more of a greed thing

I think and that’s you know as I mentioned that before I think that’s what’s turning maybe some golf fans off um it’s it’s going to be a challenge as to how they how they do this uh as as I said it’s it’s you know I mean even

Myself I mean I’m sitting there there and you know the announcement made and okay we’re going to try to take care of the guys that are out here and then the future guys but you know think about the people that have made help make the tour

Mold the tour to what it is uh that’s important I think we can’t we can’t get away from what golf represents as far as a a facilitator for for Charities and and and the raising of money for Charities because I think that’s what separated golf for such a long time uh

Over the years all these tournaments generated for their communities uh which is something that having been a tournament director I understand a lot more than a lot of players understand and to me that was an important part of it and I think when it comes entirely about

Money uh it loses something it’s it loses some of its uh character I think it loses some of its passion and again I have no problem I mean the best players in the world are are just phenomenal and they do so many things and each of these

Players do so many things to benefit people but what I don’t want to just see that it becomes beneficial to them because that’s in and maybe that’s not the right word I mean as a whole I want it to be extremely beneficial but when it becomes so

Selfish uh it it you start to look like all the other sports and that’s what I I don’t want I mean there you’re always there’s always a changing environment there’s always a changing uh you know sort of uh definition and and focus of what you know who are we trying to

Attract and and obviously you know life is evolved the world has evolved in a lot of different areas but that’s what the purity of the game of golf I just I don’t want to see that go and and I just have a I have a fear that

With with what I would consider some greed uh I mean how much is enough at what point how much is enough um uh it’s it’s entertainment and I understand trying to put a a dollar value on the entertainment and I think that’s very important but I just don’t want the game

Of golf to lose what I truly think it represents uh Carney when we look at a sampling of people who have won this year on the PGA tour it goes to what I was saying in terms of Ascension and the fun that I have in watching it happened but the

Variety from you know Nick Nick Dunlap to Jake knap Matthew Pavone Nick Taylor Austin eot uh young players or firsttime winners however you want to Define it uh some people that have come back after having not won in a long time like Grayson Murray uh yeah maybe it’s a

Reflection of diluted fields on the PGA tour that these other players can break through but again uh we didn’t Define that that’s the currence of where the the game is right now the players are going out and teeing up and playing the best they can against the field that

They’re facing uh but it is it is a great deal of variety I guess the the the simplest way to ask you is is what do you think’s happening on the PGA tour right now that we’re getting introduced or reintroduced to so many faces I think

There a lot of good players out there and it continues I think all those Pathways that we talked about uh I mean I mean Jake knap I mean what a what an unbelievable Story I mean the kid qualified uh at at the farmers as as back in 2015 and he’s playing he was

Finished top top five there and he goes on to win in Mexico I think it provides hope that for for people that love this game and are passionate about golf that yes even though maybe you’re not a you’re not you’re not a Macaro or a Sheffer there are opportunities and I

Think that’s the beauty of the game and that’s the beauty of of the PJ tour because you don’t get that over it live uh I mean you get these stories I mean I had a I had a chance uh obviously to follow Samy valami in in in Mexico who I

Had never really heard of and and uh what a what a great story that is and uh Nikolai hoard and it just golf provides so many Avenue you mentioned Nick Dunlap and in the stories look there were a lot of the top players in the world in those

Fields that those those guys won so I mean how do you how do you separate it and say well they haven’t earned the right to play in those bigger events I think that’s the problem is but that’s to me that’s always been the beauty of

The PJ tour and what the tour has done through corn fairy and and and the PJ tour Americas and everything and and I think as I’ve mentioned to you I think the PJ tour University is an unbelievable uh Avenue for players to get to the tour I mean ludig obber who

Who again we’ve seen what he can do uh and they’re going to continue to come from there and and I think that’s so important and it’s you know back when they had qualifying you know the the the full qualifying matter you always you know I guess you could probably call me

One of those you know sort of Cinderella stories cuz you know I didn’t play a lot of Amer golf I played collegiately and it took me a long time to get to the PJ tour those stories create interest in the game and yes fans love the top

Players but they also like those stories and we’re seeing a lot of them this year and I think it’s absolutely wonderful yeah I think I think it’s definitely been a great deal of fun there is no doubt about that when we come back we’re gonna have more fun with Mark carnavale

I want to get back to talking to him about the golf course the design philosophy of this Pete Dy golf course what are the lines that you take off the tea how much does Pete Dy implant doubt into your mind as a player all that and more as the fairways of Life show

Continues on this Tuesday of players week I guess hello world huh and with one subtle hello tiger began an amazing and Unthinkable career [Applause] yeah I’ve done it for 20 years now with with Bridgestone allows me to play an aggressive style around the greens and it’s allowed me to win a lot

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People go to the gym is so that they can like have muscles and you know be strong and be healthy and and a lot of the reason why they struggle to play golf is their body doesn’t move properly for them to be able to hit a golf ball and

When you’re training for golf it’s a little bit different because you’re focused more on flexibility and mobility and being uh strong in motion when you’re able to kind of have a warm-up and have a workout routine and kind of gradually build up to where you’re training your body to move properly yeah

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Group coverage of the event this year carne is it too soon to ask you who you might be assigned to do you have any uh sense of what groups you’ll be following yet well I know for sure in the afternoon on Thursday I’ll be out with Scotty Sheffer

Fowler and just Thomas is that I can’t remember um yeah I know that the main feed will be on uh uh Victor havin Rory maroy and Jordan spe in the morning and I think I’m either G to be with the Sam Burns sof Lake group and Fleetwood or

The ludig oberg and can’t lay and Adam Scott it’s one of those two groups I think I’ll be with in the morning but I know in the afternoon I’ll be out with Scotty Ricky Fowler and Justin Thomas that sounds very very cool it sounds like a lot of fun and for those

Of you that are answering the question of the day I can give you this assessment that for the vast majority of you you feel as though it’s going to come down to the following uh first position Scotty Sheffer second is Victor hin and third is Max hom so Carney

I I want to pick your brain from a philosophy standpoint about this golf course it’s it’s taking me years to come to terms with it I struggle a lot with of many p d designs uh and my curiosity about this golf course is that what is the philosophy can you

Describe a philosophy for it and I I I’m not sure how to ask this fairly but is the golf course actually Fair to play is it more of a mental chess game than it is the physical act of putting the ball where you have to well first I need to

Clarify I have I have very much a LoveHate relationship with TPC yeah saw grass Stadium Course uh it’s it is it is more of a chess game without question uh I I I I can’t say that I’m a big fan of Pete Dy golf courses and I’m not a big

Fan of this golf course in the sense of I don’t really like to play it it just it beats you up but at the same time I think it’s a great venue for this competition because if you look over the history M there’s no consistent sort of

Uh what do you say it uh you know a mark of the player that wins uh it’s so it’s a what I would say is as I said it’s a chess match it is it is about diversion or you know how how Pete Dy makes you

Look away from what you need to do uh Pete Dy has always made you challenge the the the trouble in order to be successful on this golf course uh there are so many T’s on this golf course that point you away from where you really need to hit the golf ball uh

It’s such a visual Challenge and what that does throughout throughout a round of golf is it beats you up Mally and you you have to remain focused but what I what I learned over the years and this is a case with a lot of golf courses Matt you have to play this

Backwards you have to go you have to start at the green complexes and you know these players and caddies have an idea where where the whole locations will be for all all four rounds I mean they’re pretty similar over the years and then you play back from that you

Play uh so if if the location say for example uh and I’m trying to just uh you know pick a a good hole um uh maybe you know 14 and it’s a back left hole location uh you have to challenge the right side in those mounds and Mogul

But at the same if you get too far right then you get in those mounds and Mogul and it becomes a challenge where if it’s maybe a front right hole location you can challenge the left side there uh that’s what I that’s why I tell anyone I’ve ever known that’s played this golf

Course any any players I’ve talked to that really haven’t played played here much you really have to go from green to Fairway to te in order to figure out I think how to play this golf course successfully uh is it you know have long hitters won here absolutely have short

Hitters won here absolutely guys I would I would consider him short but shorter than than the norm uh I will say this uh over the years I think iron players good good ball Strikers and and players that hit a lot of Greens in regulation uh tend to succeed here you

Have to have a not only a great short game but you have to have a great short game imagination around this golf course uh but I will say this that if you look at the history and you know whatever Stacks you want to do and I’m I’m not a Strokes

Gain guy and I’ll be the first one to tell you that but if you look at Fairways hit greens and regulation if you look through the years the players that have won here I think have probably been the on who have played uh have have

Led or been top to the lead in all those categories fascinating it’s actually a brilliant explanation Carney and you and you’ve modified some of my thinking on this I am excited to see the way that that plays out amongst the various players and one of the thoughts that

Just popped in my mind as you’re describing all this is that and this is probably something that I would guess that bookies never take into account but how important a veteran caddy would would be on a player’s shoulder and their relationship to listen to that caddy that’s going this is a deception

Here here’s the line that you really should be thinking about on that that point of focus yeah I mean without question uh it is uh it is a challenge uh I mean I play it with with guys I maybe don’t play it until after the tournament is over

Because from October when they overseed through the tournament it’s all cart path only and even though I love golf I don’t love golf that much to go out there and walk from the cart under the because it’s a hard go course to walk

That way I mean to play that way I I say that jokingly because I don’t play as much anymore Maddie but uh it it is a challenge and again I I I respect Pete died to the utmost uh his imagination with design I give him that I I just

Don’t happen to be a fan of Pete dof horses uh because I just think at times it’s it’s too penal uh I mean they still and I and I hated the fact they went back to some of these ERS on this golf course Maddie that I could barely get

Into and now you’ve got to actually make a swing out of them but that’s his trait that’s you know you saw that up at Whistling straights you see it a lot of some of his other golf courses and and and look like anything else like players

That used to complain about the US Open with the way it was set up you don’t have to play here if you don’t want to I mean no one’s making you play but of course if you’re a tour player and you’re member of the PJ tour and you

Want to be successful in this game you’re gonna play and you just have to deal with it and you need to find a way uh that you’re able to play your best yeah I mean I I I agree with you in in concept with everything that you described in terms of architectural

Philosophy and design my my personal feeling is that the easiest Golf Course to design is the hardest Golf Course to play basically what you do is you take away options and uh there there is some element of that there and I think that’s kind of why I like the way you described

Kind of a LoveHate relationship I do have tremendous respect for what you described from the chess game perspective but there is elements of it that I think are like nah depending on some circumstances and conditions that you get the options are taken away which which makes it a little less fun but

Having said all that and and you duly explaining that any any player of any ability at at the level that these players are at uh can can grasp the brass ring this week I’m going to ask you the difficult question okay well I I’ll give you three to to broaden the

Spectrum but give me three players that you think are going to potentially win this week well I think we could in the history of this event have the first back-to-back winner in Scotty shefford uh I followed him uh three days last weekend and just I mean we know his his

Number one ranked player in the world uh there’s so much to Scotty Sheffer that I don’t think we uh truly understand and what makes him such a good player um it’s it’s hard to it’s you know and it’s I’ve gotten to know his family and everything and I and I understand a lot

More about him I I I think he’s maybe one of the most grounded people uh that has played this game uh I mean certainly you’d say that about Jack Nicholas and and but there’s just something about Scotty Sheffer and and a lot of these players and I’m not I’m not saying no

One else has this there’s there’s a humbleness to him and his his understanding that he is playing this game for a living and he’s he’s he’s darn good at it and he wants to win every time he’s out there but also the understanding that when he’s off a golf

Course you know it’s it’s about his family and uh you I asked him after he won last week Maddie and he and his wife Meredith are are are going to have their first child in a little over a month at the end of April and uh you know I asked

Them I said you know you you one out here you’ve done all this but you’re going to be a father and and he just you know he kind of smiled and and uh it just and I’m not saying I’m again I’m not trying to single him

Out from anyone else but I just I don’t know if it’s through uh you know my family and I’ve seen how families interact and how his uh I there’s something very special about this guy and obviously he’s an unbelievably talented golfer that’s and that’s what’s you know when you hear all this chatter

About his putting and all this and I I just I just kind of blow that off but certainly I I think he you know he’s obviously the favorite uh but I think he’s capable of of becoming the first back you know back-to-back winner here in this history not multiple winner

We’ve had a numerous multiple winners but the first backto back back winner uh I like uh you know what what uh what D said earlier I do like Jordan spe uh I followed him last week for a couple of rounds uh it’s that the game is

Tightening up a little bit uh I think his imagination is what uh can help him uh on this golf course and I think Xander Schley who outside of his first event uh here when the first time he played here hasn’t had a lot of success but his ball striking is is so important

And that’s something that I think could eventually carry him to a victory here awesome stuff Carney I I tell you we cannot wait to see and hear your work which will start from Thursday morning PGA Tour live which you can find on ESPN Plus thank you so much for your time I’m

Looking forward to you joining me after the players when we’re back on Golf Channel again to recount everything that you saw and heard from the week that was but for the week that lies in store where like I mentioned very much looking forward to what you do because you are

Excellent at it thank you for your time MD anytime my friend see you next week appreciate that maybe even bump into you this week too if if Poss POS thank you to all of you for joining us on this Tuesday of the players as well obviously you can tell that we’re excited about

Everything that lies in store I hope you guys are and we’ll be back with you again tomorrow to continue our discussion and to give reaction to everything that took place today which includes that press conference by the commissioner of the PGA Tour J manahan and until that time we wish you to be

Well and goodbye for now