A Scottie Scheffler win, back-nine drama, big names – Players Sunday delivers | Golf Channel Podcast

In this final-round recap from The Players, the guys discuss Scottie Scheffler’s thrilling comeback victory at TPC Sawgrass, Wyndham Clark’s (and others’) near-miss and what to expect from the secret meeting with the Saudis. #ThePlayersChampionship #PGATour #GolfChannel
Chapters:
0:00: Rex’s Sunday story on Scottie Scheffler’s victory
04:00: How quickly Scottie’s competitive narrative has changed
07:00: Scottie’s different sort of dominance
10:45: How Lav will remember Scottie’s week: toughness, in three forms
14:30: Which close call was the most painful?
28:00: Rory sounds off on the meeting with the Saudis; what to expect Monday
38:15: How will this Players be remembered?
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A Scottie Scheffler win, back-nine drama, big names – Players Sunday delivers | Golf Channel Podcast
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav we had a surprise winner at the Players Championship who at the beginning of the week probably would not have been a surprise at all Scotty sheffler the world number one made six birdies and an eagle during a final

Round 64 to steal the fifth major here at TPC Saw Grass Scotty’s now won in back-to-back weeks last week at Bay Hill and now the players championship and at the Players he has now won in back-to-back years the first player the first time tournament history that has

Been done Rex you are writing Scotty tonight for NBC sports.com golf so what’s your takeaway I have two lines in my laptop and one of them reads Scotty Sheffer is the friend we all want but few of us deserve I I I’m going to and go backwards some I I I

I’m taken by the idea you you said surprise winner and you kind of hit me off guard all of our favorites he was I’m sure he was one a but you coming into the week the defending champion won last week seemed to Fig out is putting Sublime ball striking all of the things

That make Scotty sheffler Scotty sheffler of course that all changed on Friday when he tweaked to did whatever it is to his neck we asked him to explain exactly what that was and in true Scotty sheffler form he could not so I think what you end up with is a

Historic Victory the first time in 50 years a half century of playing The Players Championship that a defending Champion has successfully defended his title and that guy did it quote unquote slapping his ball around the last 54 holes it was an amazing performance and even last night I kind of had to talk

Myself into and I think I said it twice that’s last night as we’re going down the leader board and I was like well no Scotty Sheffer still has a chance and I would always think real quick and be like well he’s got to get a whole lot of

Help he didn’t get a whole lot of help he got a little bit of help but he did it all on his own it was such an impressive performance it was an impressive performance Scotty SE said he was a surprise winner not because it was surprised that Scotty sheer won a golf

Tourament we know after seeing him over the past two or three years we should never be surprised if Scotty sheffler wins a golf tourament a surprise winner because his five shot deficit ending entering the final round matched the largest in tournament history and you look at the big dogs who were ahead of

Him whether it was Xander schofl whether it was Windam Clark whether it was Brian Haron with the scoring that we saw we saw SIU Kim have a low round uh we saw ludig oberg have a good round and kind of burst into contention as well you had

To figure that one of those three players was going to shoot somewhere 5 you know 65 66 67 which would have put the eventual winning score Out Of Reach for a player like Scotty sh I think the surprise was that none of them did it in

Fact it was Brian Harman who shot 68 and kind of frittered away a couple shots late uh who who had the lowest round of those three players and so Scotty is is the one who has crowned the tournament champion here and and I have to give brandle shamble a monsoon of credit as

You like to say right on live from on Wednesday uh brandle said that this seems like the beginning of a dominant stretch for Scotty sheffler that Scotty checks every single box uh he’s one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world and obviously we know the the

Paramount importance that has uh he’s fantastic with his long irons he hits it hits it closer than anybody he works diligently on his wedge game and has perfected that he has arguably one of the best short games in all the world and now you know six months into this

Project with putting Guru Phil Kenyan on the strength of the of the putter change uh and now kind of oozing with confidence on the greens does not have to be perfect but has certainly proven to be proficient over these past two weeks that brandle said it looks like

Scotty sheffler uh is is going to be beting a dominant stretch here we’re we’re now two weeks into what feels like the Scotty sheffler era and it it reminds me rex that let’s see eight days ago eight days ago I had a a a feature story ready to go with Scotty sheffler

Examining in his own words reflecting in his own words on what was then a 51 week winless drought in official PJ tour events kind of the the the the toll that all of the putting misses had put on his psyche and yet we sit here eight days

Later and it feels like the entire narrative has changed and it feels like everyone else is playing for second place for the time being I think we all want to read that story what was it 1800 words I think you said it it will live

Forever in my email outbox a a close a closely guarded secret between myself and our editor Mercer bags uh no I think we all want to read it because I think it’s a fascinating case study on how quickly he can turn it around two-year point he finished 37th in the field in R

Game putting this week I mean we have made this argument time and time again and now I go back just be average just be average just and I you know we picked up you know 0.4 Strokes on the field for the for the entire week that’s all he

Needs to do and he was back at number one Strokes gain T de green so he did all the things that we expect him to do I was taken by the idea that just two weeks ago we were having this conversation about can he pull it

Together in time for the Masters is he going to be is is it going to reach a Tipping Point where even as levelheaded as he is even as grounded as Scotty Sheffer is it had to get aggravating at some point to go a year a full year have

Getting close week in and week out I can’t think of one instance when he didn’t win and it’s it we always have to point out he did win the Hero World Challenge an unofficial event it seems like we kind of gloss over that one really really easy but I can only

Imagine how aggravating it was and you never really got the sense I’m sure deep down inside he and his wife Meredith had a lot of conversations about how aggravating it was I’m sure Randy Smith the swing codes got an earful I’m sure Ted Scott got an earful but it never

Kind of showed outwardly I I think that’s the ultimate Testament to trusting the process it’s the cliche that you and I as writers don’t want to hear because you don’t really write good stories with quotes like I’m trusting the process but that’s exactly what he

Did and I don’t think you saw him any higher today than we saw him low over the last 52 weeks I mean I don’t I can’t think of a point over the last 52 weeks when he walked away kicking his dog I mean that just didn’t happen and today

Even when he came in it was still it was more he was tired it was more the neck is probably going to hurt really really bad in the morning but you know right now I’m going to enjoy this it you talk about his error and he put it in context really really

Well he told a story tonight when he was in the media center where he was kind of asked a Tiger Woods related question and he said he was walking down Riv and some guy in the crowd yelled out hey Scotty congratulations on being world number one you only have 11 years to catch

Tiger Woods hash hashtag perspective hashtag perspective it’s a funny story but I think it also speaks to the best part of Scotty sheffler that he has more perspective than probably anybody in the game you can imagine how this guy could start to really feel himself you can imagine

How he’s going to walk around now thinking that I did something that had never been done before one the ma I did something Tiger Woods was never never able to do win back toob back Players Championships I’m gonna go into the Masters as the heavy favorite to win

Back-to-back Masters I won Bay Hill all of these things that Tiger Woods did and I can’t think on any level how I would compare him in to Tiger Woods at all I mean just just by ball striking Excellence from a from a personality standpoint you you really can’t find two

More desparate personalities I mean Scotty is so humble he’s so gracious uh he he clearly feels blessed and thankful to be in this position I mean he had to have used thankful a dozen times describing describing the the privilege it is to play on the PJ tour describing

The privilege it is to be in The Cauldron of of final round pressure the privilege it is to compete against guys like like Windham and and and Xander who are worldclass golfers the how how thankful he is to have the support uh system he has whether it’s his agent his

Caddy his wife his family his siblings so on and so forth U and so I I think it’s certainly refreshing to hear that and and like Brooks kka was one of the dominant players of the of the previous generation or the previous kind of wave

On the PJ tour those two are I think they’re they’re Alphas in in completely different ways which I think is fascinating and I think we talked about this last year when you and I sort of touched on the Netflix docu series the first season and I thought the best

Episode by far was that episode that had Scotty and Brooks because there was such a strike dichotomy one of these guys join live golf essentially at the time because he felt like he was washed he was injured and he just needed to cash in a big check the other guy was shown

Skipping down the street with his wife to go to get a cup of coffee and that was going to be the highlight of his day and you’re like oh man these two guys are on completely different planets like there’s nothing that connects these two and I think you could probably make that

Conversation about about a lot of people my guess is he celebrates this Victory the same way he celebrated last Sunday after winning at Bay Hill I think it was burgers and sparkling water and then tomorrow morning he’ll go get a cup of coffee with his wife and they’ll have

Breakfast and then he’ll go right back at it that is about as American apple pie as you can possibly get it’s also a little vanilla to be honest with you I mean you sat through you and I both just listened to his press conference and again I started this with the idea that

Scotty Sheffer is the friend we all want but very few of us deserve and that’s very true nothing that he s said stood out I mean the one tiger story from Rivier is the only thing that I even jotted down in my notes because again

God love him like he’s such a nice guy like he’s the guy you want to have living next door to you but man he just doesn’t say much the this is to me the perfect example of who Scotty Sheffer is so you said that your favorite episode

In season one of full swing was the dichotomy between Scotty sheffler and Brooks kin Scotty sheffler agreed to appear in season one of full swing all you need to know about Scotty sheffler is that he did not like the experience of having the cameras in his face

Following him for weeks and months on end and does not appear as a quote unquote character in season two he is he is the best golfer on the planet and he said n this isn’t really for me the attention I don’t really like it I just

Want kind of want to go out living my life I don’t really care if I get insanely wealthy uh and and everyone knows me when I walk down the street I think that’s the perfect example of who Scotty sheffler is to me to me Rex though beyond beyond all the things that you

Touched on and what this kind of Victory represents at the Players Championship to me this this really boiled down to his toughness and I I mean toughness in a couple different ways I mean toughness in terms of the physical sense of he felt the the neck twinge actually

Thought that he may have to WD he said he hit like a 56 degree wedge uh 90 yards and and and felt a lot of pain and didn’t know if he was going to be able to take the club back and as you said kind of was was slapping it around I

Think there’s a certain toughness to you know physically not just with the neck injury but but also being in contention uh back-to-back weeks the toll that it took uh on his on his body as well he said how difficult it is uh to play back-to-back weeks in the PJ tour

Particularly a difficult test like beill last week and TBC sress this week but also keep in mind the toughness when it comes to to Scotty sheffler is he is insanely consistent I mean we have not seen this sort of week in week out consistency basically since Tiger Woods

Over the the past 15 years the the toll and the burden that has to put on your mind and your emotions how Frid you have to be after each and every tournament knowing you have a chance to to win uh rationalizing when you don’t celebrating when you do moving forward not getting

Complacent I mean there’s a certain toughness and competitive and competitiveness that resides deep within Scotty Sheffer that I don’t think he gets enough credit for that I think you really have to admire if you’re a golf fan that the fact that that he puts himself in position over and over again

And win or lose continues to do it you know he doesn’t get beaten down and yet he also doesn’t get so high that there’s like a natural let down as well well and I talked to Ted Scott his caddy this afternoon and we asked him did it ever

Did you ever have a conversation about WD and Scott’s response was if it was me I would have wded his quote to me was there’s not enough drugs in the world for me to keep playing like that so I think what the quotes you’re going to read my story and the other stories

Tomorrow is from Scotty is going to downplay this very much and I think that that’s on brand for Scotty Sheffer he of course he’s going to downplay it of course it was just this happens in golf it’s what he told us yesterday when he finished up his third round you know

Everybody’s dealing with something he’s not that kind of person that he’s going to lean ever lean into this however when I asked Ted Scott like how bad did it actually get he said at one point on Saturday he told me it hurt to chip so

That tells you how much it hurt and you also have kind of have to factor in the idea that slapping it around meant he had to use his hands a lot meant he wasn’t hitting stock anything there was no stock eight irons there was no stock wedges there was no stock anything and

Teddy said they were kind of having to have a conversation on every single shot where okay it’s normally an eight iron but are you feeling normal and and Scotty would be honest no I’m not feeling normal so they had to make adjustments that all sounds pretty simple until you’re actually In the Heat

Of a competition and under normal circumstances it’s really really hard to win on the PGA tour it’s especially when you start five shots back on TPC Scottdale chasing down those players he was chasing down Windham Clark who is playing as well as anyone not named Scotty sheffler right now Xander chafl

Who seemed to find something very very special in that new swing of his in his work with Chris KO Brian Harmon who seems like he was built in a laboratory to play this golf course all of those things are hard enough to do but now you’re factoring in my neck hurts and

Every time I’m I turn to the Target I lose my alignment because if I can’t turn my head like I know do how do you turn your head this is a visual audience thing I apologize for those on the audio crowd but you do that and so he asked

Him how he asked Teddy how his alignment was and he said it’s fine when you’re over the ball but then you look at the Target and you go dead left like there was nothing normal there was nothing mundane there was nothing sort of stock about this Victory and I think that

Probably speaks more to Scotty’s Talent than anything he’s done in the game the Masters victory was unbelievable winning the Players last year was unbelievable his his consistency is so impressive but what he did this week was so out of the norm for someone that clearly doesn’t

Like drama in his life and he just ate it all and one so Scotty sheffler is your players’s Champion but Rex I think this players might eventually go down as the one that had this fenetic final hour where three players had an opportunity not just to

Win uh but at least force a playoff and yet none of them did it in order it was Brian Harmon who missed a 20-footer on the 18th hole and then it was Xander chafl who blew his t-shot just a little bit wide right after missing a a

Six-footer on 17 it was unable to uh convert his birdie putt to tie on 18 and then painfully most most painfully it was wam Clark with one of the most violent horseshoes you can possibly imagine but in the autopsy of what will be this 2024 Players Championship which of those three players

Do you think it hurts the most wendam Xander who obviously had the 54o lead or Brian Harmon who will probably Ru some of his chances over the last three holes I’m gonna cheat a little bit here I did not all of them well no all of them it’s

Really really hard no but I’m gonna cheat because I wasn’t in on the Windom Clark scrum you were uh I was obious I’m riding Scotty so I was out with that crowd you walked out and you said you’ve already told me that if if you want to

Listen to something sad if you want to see the true pain the true cost that losing a tournament that you feel like should have won listen to Windam Clark’s interview that’s what you told me so I’m going to go with wam uh I my guess is Zander probably is encouraged if nothing

Else because of the work that he’s doing with Chris KO you could tell all day long I mean even really all week long he was kind of still not entirely comfortable with what they’re trying to do they’re clearly heading in the right direction they’re on the right path

Based on how he played but I think you take that as a baby step you probably take that as encouragement I I think Brian Haron would be 1B behind Windom when it comes to being hurt because it it’s funny we talked about this last night this is this is his major

Championship and that’s not fair because he’s the because he won a major champ he’s the guy who most recently won a major championship at the open but if you’re gonna point to a major championship quote and I’m using air quotes for that one course that sets up

Good for him it’s always going to be this one and not it’s certainly not going to be Augustin naal most of the US Open venues are out of the question and conditions are going to dictate if he can compete at at the Open Championship and the PGA Championship is probably out

Of his realm so it’s going to be this one because it doesn’t favor a certain style of game it allows him to do what he does best which is PLA and putt really really well and just be the Bulldog that he is and he had opportunities is the part that kills you

I he didn’t have a great look on 17 but his approach shot on 18 I I don’t know how it stopped where it did it was downwind it kind of came in hot it was off the pine straw and it literally checked up on the front of the green and

He gave it a good run so I would put him one B right behind Windam Windham seems like he was gutted yeah Windham was gutted and I will speak for a long time here as you position yourself to get a little bit lighter as now darkness is

Descending on TBC sass this is a professional uh courtesy to you to find a different position but yeah I was in I was in the Windham Clark scrum and I I asked him uh I thought most pointedly I said you know obviously as golfers you

Lose way more than you win in this sport but the feeling that you have now walking off the 77 second hole I imagine that’s different than some of the other close calls that you had and he I thought he was really good in in kind of going through the self- rationalization

In the moment and his sports psychologist Julie Elion uh was was was just outside the flash area as well and I’m sure she’ll be she’ll be weighing in here shortly to to get Windam on the right track but but wam said look you you you just got a bunch of FedEx Cup

Points you earned a bunch of money but it still sucks and and Windham said that he he had dreamt about making a putt that that really mattered you know having the the fist bump you could see how he was kind of stepping into that like thinking he was about to deliver an

Emphatic fist pump Force the three- hole aggregate playoff with world number one Scotty sheffler uh and so he was he was he was B he was bummed that he was robbed of having kind of that platform and that stage which I thought was was pretty cool but I mean he was still he

Was still in a in a state of disbelief and that’s one of the that’s one of the weird things about this too isn’t it where they come off the 72nd hole they go into scoring uh it takes a minute or two to sign your scorecard and then all

Of a sudden you’re in front of microphones in front of of media who are probing you about what was either uh something that was embarrassing something that did not go your way uh some sort of mistake that you made uh and so it’s all uh very critical uh and

And very um I think painful to go through some of those moments in real time like that and I that was that was among the most crushed that I’ve seen a professional golfer but Russ uh Alex Russell uh golf CH extraordinaire how how did you find it uh well she can

Answer that was some really good gas bagging by the way I have now repositioned I think I have a little bit more light on my face we have called her out we have give her given her shout outs on many many of podcast but ladies and gentlemen this is Alex Russ hello

Everyone Alex Russell of course is she is the vice president of everything there’s the executive president of everything Courtney Holt we just want to give her a proper shout out because we have it this week and she was very kind to us she got us our crew gifts so thank

You Russ you’re welcome guys my favorite what was your takeaway Rex from from Windam coming coming so close this could have been his fourth victory at his past 17 starts I thought he played better than Xander from Tia green uh on Sunday and I think the stats bear that

Out as well uh but but for the first time in a long time the dried up I mean you covered Pebble Beach he had a he had a pun shoot 59 at one of the most iconic courses in the world had a for shut Le

At the halfway point here uh but I think it was a it was a final on to forget on the greens kind of encapsulated with that Miss on the 72 hole as well uh vice president uh Executive Vice President of everything Courtney Hol ladies and gentlemen thank you everything for your

Uh help this week Courtney thank you guys for everything best podcast best bought golf podcast anywhere uh quitney runs the Golf Channel by the way so that that’s that’s why she we’re having her on the podcast we were told it’s we’re contractually obligated mandatory as as we should be uh I’ll answer your

Question I I think it was surprising that he didn’t putt well the last two days given how well he played the first two days he opens with 6565 it seems like there’s nothing that he’s not doing well I didn’t see that coming because what we have seen over the last year

Really since he won at Wells Fargo and of course followed that up at the US Open is if he’s playing well he there aren’t any dips like now we have seen him struggle a little bit certainly we saw him struggling before he won at Pebble Beach this year and he kind of

Made some adjustments to his putting uh but when he shows up and he has his game he normally shoots 65 65 67 67 and wins by three Strokes so that one surprises me a little bit it also surprises me because of the way he verbalized his respect maybe is the way

To put it of Scotty Sheffer he he puts Scotty Sheffer where he probably should be where he absolutely should be he is the pendulum he is aspirational right now that that’s what every golfer should probably want to do is be Scotty sheffler as far as consistency goes as

Far as not getting too high as far as not getting too low and to do that and then to put yourself in the position where you actually had to back up like you didn’t necessarily have to do anything special today the one thing you couldn’t do is what he did which is

Essentially come out completely flat that surprises me as it relates to Xander schofl this was still his his tournament to win Rex with eight holes to play regardless of what Scotty sheffler was going to do regardless of whether Scotty sheffler shot 64 this was still Scotty this is

Still Xander Shuffle tournament to win with eight holes to play and that’s where I think uh Xander is going to be kind of ruin the chances that he had you you look at the par five he’s in the middle of Fairway on 11 flails it in the

Bunker unable to get up and down it makes par on what is a pretty easy par five even though he did get up and down on 12 the back-to-back Bogies on on 14 and 15 and this is how razor thin the margins are at TPC s you kind of

Quibbled yesterday on the podcast when I said that this is I’m gonna do it again because penal one of the most penal golf courses that these guys play on the on the PJ tour schedule not the most difficult we see the winning score it’s 20 under par it’s not the most difficult

I’m talking about penal in terms of if you hit a shot offline you’re looking at either a bogey or a double real quick because the hazards uh because of the water uh because of the and uh because of the muck whatever the case may be and

I think that’s kind of what popped up with Xander schafle he missed his Target rex on on 14 by a foot off the te so he was in the rough he had a little bit of mud on it was unable to control it and he missed the green by about a foot

Again and was in a really tricky spot and and unable to get up and down 15t flails it in the right bunker again misses his Target by about a couple of feet ends up going left and really thick rough and is unable to get up and down just like that back-to-back Bogies that

Makes him have to then press on the final three holes which you know with so much danger that that has to be an uncomfortable feeling but this was his golf tournament with eight holes to play and and we kind of previewed it on the podcast on Saturday night I said I’ll be

Real curious to see how this new rebuilt swing with Chris KO stands up and he’s still doing a lot of rehearsals trying to not get the club as as laate off at the top and get a little more across the line I think the early returns obviously

Are very very promising I mean this was his fifth uh top 10 of the PJ tour season the second most on the PGA tour his ball speed numbers are up which was a main target for him but it’s still a working progress and I think the back

Nine in particular exposed some of the some of the deficiencies that it currently has I think in a couple months time once these changes with Chris Kom are betted in uh I think Ander is is poised to to Really threaten you know the top three or four players in the

World but as he sits here right now on Sunday Night this was certainly a golf tournament that that got away from him uh just to clarify something right here we kind of had to leave the media center tonight we wanted to do this podcast as quickly as possible so we had to leave

The media center so what we did is we came to the interview area which is where I am which is where you are but they’re breaking everything down that’s why there’s so much chaos around us so we apologize for all the chaos all of the noise all of the movement behind us

Uh I I’m not gonna play your word salad game on this one penal difficult it wasn’t in the those are two entirely different things means hard a US Open traditionally is hard that does not necessarily mean it is penal penal means there is a potential penalty for shots

It’s literally in the definition that is and that is the exact definition of TBC sress there’s eight there’s water on 18 holes it is AAL I I don’t know that I agree that it’s the most penal on tour my guess is guys would kind of point out

It’s the one that messes with players heads the most that’s the way I would go with it but to your point I will say if your messes it’s it’s it’s just off the charts on messes with guys heads sure let’s do that as Strokes gain Strokes gain messing with guys heads Heads is

Heads we did this ear it’s a fun game um I will say that it messes with guys heads and a a really good example and I agree with your points on Xander I’m going to say that this is a step in the right direction you’re right Xander’s

Probably not getting on a plane tonight to to fly home thinking to himself wow what a great week I had no I’m sure he’s aggravated because anytime a PGA Tour player gives himself a chance to win and doesn’t pull it off that there’s always

Going to be an empty feeling but it is I would say it’s more than a step in the right direction that clearly you’re right he’s still sort of still trying to figure some stuff out that whatever he and Chris Coma are working on but to do it on this golf course with these

Conditions with that leaderboard and I do want to get into the this is as good as golf gets Sunday because you and I have already kind of hased this one out out between the two of us what I will say about TPC Saw Grass and the example

That I saw at his Xander today was on the fourth hole and he teed off the fourth hole which isn’t a terribly long hole and it does demand some accuracy but he teed off with a with a rescue wood and he missed the Fairway 20 yards

To the right almost went in the water hazard which most because that Fairway messes with guys’s heades heades Strokes gain heades um that so there are some big misses in there and yes this golf course penalizes big misses maybe that’s a better way of doing stroke penal golf

Course we just not agree that this is a penal golf this should not this should not be a controversial take I I don’t I just don’t like your word salad but yes I’m sure he’s aggravated but when the sun comes up tomorrow and he heads back out

To the range I I feel like he knows that he’s headed in the right direction and the things that he are doing keep in mind it’s been a minute since he won on the PGA tour so there probably is something to be said for and Rory has

Kind of touched on this in the past that he almost needs to learn how to win a major again since it’s been a decade what’s been a minute for Xander so putting himself in a position like this where you had so many top players playing under these kind of conditions

It’s probably a really good litmus test to let him know exactly where he is with his game speaking of Roy mroy Rex a Another forgettable Sunday shot 72 ended up finishing in a tie for 19th but I think more interesting was what Rory said afterward regarding the meeting uh with

The uh piff Governor Yasir Al Mayan which the PJ tour policy directors are scheduled to do on Monday here in Pon aidra I’m sure you’ll be scoping out the location as soon as this podcast wraps in you were in that scrum what did you what did Roy say and what did you take

Away from it it was it was quintessential Ro Roy he was so on point I asked him specifically and and this is one of the deals I think we’ve talked about this before I I workshopped this question because I wanted to be very like I was trying to get to a very

Specific answer and it got to the answer that I didn’t expect in a million years I said Rory has met with the governor of the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia uh yaser Al ramayan it’s the first time I’ve done it on the podcast hold off nailed it uh he’s met with him

Before at the end of 2022 must be all that liquid courage yes uh he met with him at the end of 2022 and I asked him since you have been you’ve met him you know what his motivations are in golf are what do you hope the players take

From this meeting on Monday and the answer went in a direction I did not expect he started the answer with he feels like that Liv Goff and those who represent Liv goof he specifically mentioned Greg Norman the CEO of Liv goof are not doing piff any favors he he

His comment was he feels like they Mi have misrepresented what Yas called them a disservice a disservice and then he went on to say that having the conversations with Yasir he feels like he wants to get in the game for the right reasons and then when pressed a little bit more

Exactly what the public investment fund wants out of this he gave another really good answer about this is a sovereign wealth fund they want to be able to park their money his word not mine Park their money in safe businesses that are going to be around in a long time intelligent

Businesses and the PGA Tour is certainly one of those businesses it sort of opened my eyes to exactly what the motivations are because from Rory’s perspective and keep in mind he hadn’t talked the last two days so I I wasn’t 100% sure he was even going to talk to

The media today he didn’t have a particularly good Round Shot 72 on Sunday here at TPC Sawgrass but the motivations here are clear all along he has been against Liv go all along he’s been very much against Greg Norman he’s clearly made it personal but

When he made his heel turn and went to the other side as a result of June 6th and decided that okay that uh some sort of merger between the pga2 and the public investment fund is not only inevitable it’s probably good for the game that he was kind of in an awkward

Position because it probably felt very hypocritical to a lot of people but now that he made that distinction and his answer today I I sort of dissected it and kind of came to the conclusion that maybe he’s right I don’t know I’ve never met y my guess is I never will but if

That’s truly the case then it’s a distinction that will serve the tour well and I got I was a little surprised at some of the comments we got from the podcast the other night when we actually reported we talked about the news that there is going to be a secret meeting on

Monday and I said that it was a positive step a lot of people came at me about is it a positive step that the PGA Tour is going to get in business with murderers I thought we’d move Beyond oh my goodness yes I I thought we’d move beyond that conversation apparently we

Have not so I I just want it’s a positive step so we can stop talking about this ad nauseum with zero progress no it’s a positive step because so we could reunite the game because we can all agree and this is a really good segue to where I wanted to take this

Conversation we can all agree that where we are right now is not good for the game of golf that a fractured game where you and I essentially roll our eyes every time someone mines the World Golf Ranking because I think we both agree no it’s really not a very good measure of

Who the best players in the game are and it’s all because many a lot of the best players are playing on a tour that’s not getting world ranking points what I what I felt like it was a positive step is moving towards that I’m not judging

Whether or not the tour should be in business with the public investment font or not but for the good of the game and to reunite the game that’s the only way to do it but don’t you think Rory has to be regretting his decision to leave the PJ

Tour policy board don’t you think he’s regretting that he’s not going to be in that room don’t you think he’s not going to be part of the conversations with tiger and Klay and Peter Milady and web Simpson and the like actually forging a path for the future of the PGA Tour his

Only platform right now is is the one that we’re providing him in the tournament flash area that you’re sitting in right now being asked questions it’s a pretty big platform to be fair it’s a really big platform it’s it’s a big platform but he cannot enact

Change he is no he is no longer in a position to directly enact change on the PJ tour he can certainly sway public opinion and I think he’s probably done a pretty good job of doing that but if he is kind of aligned in his Viewpoint with

With yir and he’s met with yir and he understands what yir is doing and there’s some resistance on the P Tor policy board as as opposed to what the the piff might bring don’t you think the pitor policy board is worse off if the best outcome is to partner with the piff

Don’t you think the P PJ policy board is worse off without Rory maroy as an ally I think the PGA Tour policy board is probably worse off without Rory on it to be quite Frank with you because I think he’s a voice in the game that’s important I think he having well having

The other six the six polic policy uh directors on the on the policy board player directors on the policy board right now have never met with any representatives from the public investment fund not even the governor Rory being the only one that would have met I think he would have been a voice

In the room that could have at least conveyed to the other player directors and the other independent directors exactly what the motivations might be of why they want to get in the game of golf I’m going to push back on the idea that he regrets decision twofold and and this

Is a little bit of inside baseball but and we had this conversation right around the SSG deal when the PGA Tour announced that Roy Mao is very very close he’s an investor in fway Sports Group and SSG is essentially being led by Benway Sports Group and John Henry it

Probably would have been a conflict of interest like that was sort of the convers ation on the ground we never got there because he resigned I don’t know if that was his primary motivation but it was always going to be a little sticky there was always going to be some

Questions there there’s also the idea that Rory would not have been able stood stood behind me right where I’m sitting right now tonight and fired those shots and made his Public Announcement of how he wants to sort of sway that public opinion if he was on the policy board

Because as we seen representing the entirety of the membership I can certainly understand that Viewpoint because he as we’ve learned over the last two days that the players were terrified to talk about this they clearly are up against it and realize that they can’t say they can’t give it

An opinion they try to keep everything to facts uh Peter Mady kind of talked himself into a pretzel yesterday I mean it was a very long and rambling interview and you can tell that he tried to say more and when he probably should have tried to say less and I like Peter

A lot I’m not being overly critical here even Adam Scott who I find is one of the most well spoken and thoughtful players on the PGA tour he was just flumix when we sort of all jumped around him on Friday afternoon and and hit him with

The news that we hear there’s a secret meeting on Monday thoughts police I I think all of the player directors are under the thumb right now of not saying a word because they can’t same reason Jake uh Jay Monahan the commissioner couldn’t say anything on Tuesday in his

Press conference this is a active ongoing negotiation and anything you say or do is going to impact those negotiations Rory on the other hand is just a player and he can get on the stage behind me and he can say whatever is on in his mind and in his heart and

That’s what he did today I truly believe it so no I disagree with you he could not have done any of this on the policy board so he’s better off where he is right now and and we we’ve talked about this before the idea that Tiger Woods is

Leading that policy board Tiger Woods’s voice is going to be the loudest voice in that room so whatever happens on Monday tiger is going to be the one that ultimately decides how this plays out we will of course send folks to nbcsports.com golf uh for any sort of news how much

News if any are you expecting when I talked to Patrick Klay uh on Sunday here at TBC socc grass he did not expect any sub anything substantive from this meeting uh he said it was kind of a meet and greet uh an informal Icebreaker if you will but are you expecting any sort

Of memo to the membership kind of rehashing how it went or will we just kind of get a a slow uh drip uh and and and some rumors from how the meeting actually went what are you what are you what are you anticipating Plan B the

Other side that the slow drip yeah the ladder uh I I don’t think it’s going to be any of that because look this is as I said and and apparently uh offended a lot of people this is a positive step in the negotiations whether or not if you

Agree that the tour should be in business with the Saudi Arabian public investment fund or not this is a positive step to get to some sort of deal along the line I think it’s an initial step and so there’s still a lot of things that have to be done I think

What this is what this single what we can read into this is that they’re far enough along in the process that they believe they can come up with some sort of deal that worked for everyone involved now the trick is convincing all of just not the player directors but

Also the independent directors on the policy board that this is a good idea and you should vote for it it’s also worth po pointing out the new board of directors for PGA Tour Enterprises which is the for-profit arm of the PGA Tour they’re scheduled to meet on Tuesday so

My guess is that the timing of this will be they want to they want to have this meet and greet they want to be able to put a face to it name which is the way wow the wind is coming up uh they want

To be able to put a face to a name which is the way um Adam Scott Describe describ the meeting and then they want to go into the meeting on Tuesday and try to figure out where they are in the negotiations but no I wouldn’t expect any

News Rex we have three full weeks until the Masters and the year’s first major how will you look back though on this Players Championship it’s a PJ tour Flagship event the PJ tour has never been in more turmoil than it is right now uh so as your final thought how will

You remember the 2024 players you and I talked about this this is as good as it gets I think there was four players out of the top 10 maybe five players out of the top 10 all kind of vying yeah but the owgr sucks

Now you’re right am I am I am I doing that right uh I didn’t check the data golf rankings maybe I should have done that however it is you want to slice it it had about as good of a leaderboard as you could have expected and granted

Jordan spe and Justin Thomas both missed the cut but those things ro ro was a non-factor Roy was a non-factor so it could have gotten a little bit better but what the tour delivered on Sunday the 50th Players Championship is pretty much as good as you can expect on on on

A regular basis right now and if the ratings are down again like they were last week on Sunday at Bay Hill then if you don’t want to watch that you’re probably not a fan of golf and I’m probably going to get in trouble for saying that one too but that was that

Was compelling I think both of us you were texting me non-stop from the golf course as a matter of fact I wish I could kind of read some of them but great cell signal here at TBC sress kudos to the PJ tour for running a tournament in which you don’t just go

Into a black hole out of the golf course you could actually keep up with what was happening kudos to the tour uh I’d read some of those texts but you got a little blue there towards the end so I don’t don’t want to offend the audience on

That one that’s as good as they get so I’m really really normally I could care less about the ratings on Monday but this one I’m I’m really curious on Monday to see exactly how this was going to compare to last year and previous years because I think this is a good

Litmus test of this is the product that Tor can deliver and is it going to be good enough for the public who clearly has been sort of Jaded by the idea that there’s this conflict in golf and you have the Stars playing two different tours and all we do is talk

About money and mergers was it good enough to override all those things I would be curious what’s your biggest takeaway I had the exact same takeaway that I cannot wait to see what the ratings are for this tournament because would this tournament have been uh enriched by having

John ROM and cam Smith and Brook Kea and Dustin Johnson Rocky Neeman yes I think it’s inarguable that that would improve the tournament but it’s it’s especially at this golf course it’s it’s not a guarantee that they would have factored in the final result and so to get what

The PJ tour had which was three of the top five players entering the day at least no let let me get this right they had three players inside the top five at one point who were all T2 or better and eventually you had four of the top 10

Players in the world uh in the mix for this title like that’s the best the PJ tour can offer right now could you swap in a speed could you swap in a Rory sure but when I was walking around the golf course this afternoon I said the the

Level of play is outstanding we’re seeing something from Scotty sheffler ball striking wise that has not been done since Peak tiger you covered Peak tiger that was slightly before uh I started on on the golf beat like it’s extraordinary to watch Scotty Sheffer play golf if you watch Windham Clark you

Cannot help but be impressed uh by how he launches it off the tea uh and and at least until today kind of his tidiness on on the greens you cannot help but be awed by the completeness of Xander Sha’s game or be uh really optimistic about what ludig oberg’s future looks like you

Can still have the great stories whether it’s a Maverick MCN who pops up or a Nate Lashley who has come out of nowhere uh like these are all stories that can still happen on the PGA tour does it still resonate does it still matter has the last two years of conflict so badly

Damaged the the product and has it so is it has it turned off fans so much that they don’t tune in for this shootout I I’m fascinated to see what the ratings are going to be because if if this doesn’t work if this didn’t resonate I I

Fear that the tour model is broken and this is what it’s going to look like for the for the rest of your ratings wise because this is this was quite frankly As Good As It Gets no you’re absolutely right and I’m my my hope my heart tells

Me that they are going going to be better at least year over year compared to what where we were I I still feel that it’s gonna take a long time for the tour to sort of make up what they did to to to fix this what they did to not I’m

Not talking about professional golf I’m talking about what they did to the fans of professional golf because we hear it you and I walked around this golf course for four days and I’m every fan wants to talk about the same thing like Roy said this is not going to be an overnight

Overnight solution like there’s still going to be continuing down their path he mentioned the live contracts uh some of the bigname players who had signed that initial wave or at least through the end of 2025 like like we’re we’re going to be stuck in sort of this Paradigm for the foreseeable future but

I think that PJ tour could go a long way in kind of extending the Olive Branch the PJ tour fans and repairing that relationship by making some strides with the piff showing what a what a potential future could be because right now they’re they’re pissed off because some

Of their favorite players have gone uh they’ve miscalculated kind of the the equation thinking that that fans actually care about how much money these guys are making and that money uh equates to significance which was a which a ma major miscalculation on their part the product the PJ Tor product

Stood for itself on Sunday here at TBC Saw Grass uh when it comes to the ratings and how many how much that resonates with fans it will be very interesting to see how much that still matters all right that is going to do it for this edition of the golf showel

Podcast with Rex and lav is getting dark at TVC sass we still have plenty to write up on the website so you guys know the drill NBC sports.com for all of our latest news notes features and commentary from the final round of the PLAYERS Championship I’ll be on vay enjoying the last adult

Break with my wife in Puerto Rico Rex of course will be delivering all the news and notes from this private meeting with yir alayan on Monday and the board meeting on Tuesday I think we’re also scheduled to have a Fillin guest on the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and T on

Wednesday potentially if that comes to fruition but Rex and I will also be on golf today for our usual round table on Monday thank you guys so much for listening not just to the preview podcast on Wednesday but to each and every every one of the mini podcasts

That we’ve been pumping out from players championship week it seems like you guys are really enjoying them we certainly enjoy doing them and chopping it up with you guys so as always thanks for listening we’ll be back in a few days thank you guys see you soon