The Masters, PGA Tour and LIV, inside TV: Steve Sands has stories | Golf Channel Podcast

Golf Channel’s Steve Sands joins Rex Hoggard … and Sands has stories. He talks about The Masters, shares his take on the PGA Tour and LIV players, and discusses what it’s like behind the camera. #GolfChannel #PGATour #Golf

Chapters:
(00:00) – Welcome to the show
(01:00) – Sands/Hoggard story
(05:00) – Sands’ Masters story
(07:40) – TV roundtable dynamics
(10:00) – PGA/PIF monday meeting
(17:30) – Was this a positive step? Pathway back or no?
(20:42) – Has Scheffler been “Tigeresque” recently?
(25:05) – Of the runner-ups, who left TPC Sawgrass the angriest?
(28:15) – Clark an example of PGA Tour quickly making a star
(30:45) – Where does Valspar rank in the Florida swing?
(32:20) – NCAA March Madness
(33:10) – Sands’ story about working on TV
(34:00) – How hard is the job as the host?

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The Masters, PGA Tour and LIV, inside TV: Steve Sands has stories | Golf Channel Podcast
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Hello and welcome to the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab I’m Rex hogard and the gentleman next to me is clearly not Ryan lavner Ryan lavner is probably sitting on a beach as we speak with a an expensive drink in his hand trying to

Avoid his family and his wife uh as best I can he’s on vacation this week in Puerto Rico so Steve Sans say graciously it’s a get we got Steve Sans he’s joined us from the parking lot at inisbrook correct Stephen uh I am here yes and and

Hopefully lav has a drink with an umbrella in it he does if you know La at all he definitely has a drink with an umbrella a bunch I want to cover with you thank you very much for joining us I will uh I want to go back to Sunday the

Player championship get your thoughts on that finish I want to talk about Monday’s not so secret meeting between the six player directors on the PGA toour policy board and representatives from Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund and we’ll do a little preview of the valpar championship will you will be

On the call this week before we get there I needed to clear some stuff up apparently and I brought this up on the podcast before people have asked why we have this interaction between us for years every time you and I text each other you always respond back with the same thing

Thank you for your service I always respond back with the same thing your job’s not hard and I want just want to be clear about this because I actually said this in numerous interviews I understand better than anyone I would argue how difficult your job is it’s exceedingly difficult you just do it

Really really well and that makes me irrationally angry so all of these years that’s been my response now the other now I had to but you up because the flip side of thank you for your service is I I think it was two or three years ago in

Houston correct is that so bad I was in Houston it was Veterans Day it was so bad so bad I’m in the I’m in the booth and Rex is on the ground doing that real easy job and it was Veterans Day so the producer and I were talking back and forth during

A commercial I was like you know it would be cool let’s let’s show an American flag because there are plenty of them all over the golf course and let’s see if anybody on our crew uh happened to be a veteran and a couple of our guys are and we showed one of our

Camera guys uh and he waved on camera you know it was very it’s very cool for those of us on camera yeah and you know this Rex those of us who are in front of the camera we get all the credit we get all the blame the guys and and the men

And the women who are behind the camera are the ones who actually make the whole thing go and make it work and we wanted to give them some love so they wave and have a good time and we’re having veterans you know Veterans Day thank you

For your service at the very end I say thank you for your service and they wave and it’s very nice and literally the next thing in our headset says all right while we have a second let’s go down to Rex so Veterans Day special day in

America we’d like to recognize a few of the people uh on our crew who not only serve us so well but have served our country with great honor thank you for your service while we have a second let’s go down to Rex well I’ve been friends with Rex this is

Two years ago in Houston so let’s say it’s 2022 I’ve been friends with Rex for the better part of 25 years 25 years and I did not say and Rex who served admirably for our nation with the Marines thank you for your service instead I just said

Send it down to Rex and after the show was done I’ve never seen Rex so angry in my life no I’m kidding Rex came up to me goes hey man where’s my Marine love I’m like oh it was heartbreaking because as much as we joke around about thank you

For your service and obviously we’re friends and this is in private but in my opinion with our children with me with anybody you should always say thank you for your service to someone who has served our country whether he is a clown like you or actually someone who has

Done so with Incredible vigor uh but in all seriousness I I felt so bad Rex and you know I felt bad and that’s why you still bring it up to me two years later which makes me laugh I cannot believe that I forgot in that

Moment on Veterans Day to not say it so for the world to know I was wrong I apologize and Rex I truly mean this from the bottom of my heart thank you for your service I appreciate that you didn’t have to go that far because it led to the maybe the best unfiltered

Line I’ve ever had the next day I saw you in the trailer and like I think my line was hey bud let me ask you something like it never dawned on you as you were as you were throwing it down that’s fine don’t worry about it I I I

Don’t you know it’s really no big deal but what I told you was just so you know when I was in the Marines I fought for everyone’s Freedom except for yours I thought you said that in all the time you were in South Carolina Iraq never invaded us right is that you

Something like that yeah yeah I spent my entire time in the Marines in South car Carolina uh and I do Circle back around your job is really really hard you’re just really really good at it it makes me angry but LA and I were just talking about this last week because here’s an

Idea I don’t know how long those shows are at the Masters that you host early live from and they’re probably four hours and you’re just going on for a really really long time and you really never miss a beat well I think it was last year lab and I went to the studio

On the Range and you were sitting there and we even made a point of like of looking over and pointing at you and laughing like you don’t even have any notes like you don’t have any notes this is all going to be off the top of your

Head and you’re just kind you hit us with the it’ll be fine and it was it went off perfectly you asked the questions we interacted we did our song and dance you’re going to break and you this word comes out of your mouth stick around we have plenty coming up from the

Augustus and you pause you realize what you’ve done you repeated it Augustus what am I saying Augusta National Golf Club stick around and you just kept moving and I will say that’s the brilliant most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen in TV because had that been me or

Laugh we would have been in the fetal position to this day trying to recover from that brush kept going first of all what’s amazing to me about what you guys do and this is not just some suck up Fest between me you and Ryan but I appreciate you saying that I’m I’m I’m

Great at it and and it’s not that hard blah blah it’s really not that hard they’ll let anybody do it clearly they let me do it so um like any other job Rex you do your homework you prepare you trust yourself you have confidence and

You go and you don’t have notes you guys what’s amazing about you and Ryan is you guys have a double skill set whereas most of us only have one you guys can write like gods and you can present on television that’s a gift that’s a serious double gift it really is it took

Work for you guys to get comfortable on camera because I remember when you guys first came on camera it’s a very odd thing you know but when you guys got comfortable which you can clearly tell you’re comfortable now you guys have a double skill set man I would give

Anything I wanted to be a sports writer you know the story I wanted to be a sports writer and Fred shook the professor for journalism where I went to school said you know you’re not that good of a writer you want to go to TV and I was

Like yeah okay uh but anyway it was uh it’s a lot of fun I love doing that with you guys uh I like opening the notebook up um I’m not on the ground as much as I used to be so I I miss being down there

With you guys so when you guys come up to the set with us I just think it’s TV gold to open up your guys’ notebooks and let the audience go inside the ropes is is something that you guys uh are the best in the business at it it’s always

Fun to have you guys there all right there’s enough of that I want to get your thoughts on everything that’s going on in the game of golf right now but there is a TV perspective that I wanted to ask you about first because I was watching The Telecast I believe it was

On Sunday a few weeks ago at PGA National and we NBC Sports and golf channels trying something it seems a little bit new where you’re going for wide in the booth I believe it was you and Luke Donald Brad Faxon and Dan Hicks if I remember correctly I might have

Gotten that wrong that’s right y That’s right give me the Dynamics of that what how’s that playing out in your mind being in the booth I think it’s great uh I think the concept is fantastic and the concept is very simple uh even for people who are not in TV who are just

You know golf fans watching on TV it’s a very simple concept we give you the broadcasters me and Dan uh give you the whats and the analysts in that case Brad and Luke give you the wise and instead of getting of hearing someone for you know four straight hours call 18 holes

You have two people doing it so Brad and I I was doing the play-by-play for the odd holes you know one three five seven and then Dan was doing the duties on the even holes and he had Luke Donald with him and so Luke was basically the

Analyst um on the evens Brad was the analyst on the odds they’re in charge of telling us why something this happened or how something just happened we are in charge of just being play-by-play guys being Sports casters and you know doing our job and giving you the what and

What’s happening and that kind of stuff and I think it works great Rex um I don’t think the audience really knows a difference as far as the mechanics of it uh but for us the mechanics are a lot different um but I think conceptually it’s fantastic uh and I think that what it

Does is it allows broadcasters to broadcast and it allows the analyst to analyze there’s no other sport where the former player does the play- byplay that’s just not the way it usually works in sports you usually have a sportscast or a broadcaster and then you have the expert and in golf it’s

Kind of bled into both over the years and I think what they’re trying to do now is to see if this works out better uh and so far so good we we’ve really enjoyed it I’m gonna switch to the news of the day and I’m going to go straight to

Monday’s meeting and I’m sure you followed this as closely as anyone else two parts and I want to start with this one and because this is a question that came up last week that LA and I sort of kicked around just the concept of what

Is the danger well it’s going to be a two-part question what is the danger of the PGA Tour not doing a deal with the public investment fund and the converse inverse of that would be what would be the danger of doing a deal with the public investment fund I I’ll preface

This by saying my business acument is very low uh but from the experts who we’ve spoken to uh and the golfer and the people in and around the tour uh who are involved in these kinds of things it seems to me that the danger in

Not doing a deal is that live won’t stop and just keep spending money and taking the assets assets meaning John ROM Brooks Kea Bryson as Shambo Phil Mickelson cam Smith all on down the list uh who’s next I don’t know whoever they want if they want to keep spending that

Money um that would seem to me Rex as the only danger in not doing a deal I I have said from the beginning that I think that if they if the PGA Tour loses a little bit in the short term in this I think they gain in the

Long term if they just play it out that’s easier said than done I’m not the one who’s on the receiving end of my best assets receiving hundreds of millions of dollars and being taken away so to me the recruitment part and just keep taking players seems to be the one

Thing that would be or the biggest thing to me that would be the mo the biggest deterrent to not making a deal as far as making a deal you know um does every sponsor want to uh overtly not covertly because most companies do business uh with Saudi

Arabia do they want to overtly be involved uh in that Venture um what does that Venture look like what do those fields look like what are the field sizes is there team golf involved is there going going to be music blaring are they going to play shotgun starts

Are they going to play 54 holes are they going to be you know a team aspect with names that most Americans uh who are watching golf on a regular basis don’t understand um I don’t know to me it doesn’t seem like the PGA Tour needs a

Deal right now um but they also need to make sure they keep their best players so I I don’t know that’s a great question but I I do people want to be in business in that regard not with the Saudis per se but in that type of

Venture I don’t know if all the companies who sponsor PJ Tour golf tournaments right now want to do those kinds of things well and I know this is more than you signed on for so yourself h no no because we this happened last week and I was kind of thrown by the

Idea and I think it was on live from talking about just the comings and goings of the day and I was asked about specifically what does it mean Monday’s meeting what does it mean and and I think the line that I said was it’s a positive step in the negotiations

Because in my mind have boiled this down to the simplest business terms and I I got beat up on X which is nothing new I’m used to it happening but for the reasons that you just pointed out there is still a segment of the population I

Don’t know how large or how small that still doesn’t believe the PGA Tour should be in business with with the Saudis for moral reasons and this is something that and I don’t know why I glossed over it because it dominated the conversation for two straight years I

Felt like we we gotten to the point in a b from a business perspective only where there was no more conversations about should we do this or should we do this on moral grounds I I thought we had moved on from that one the tour when Jay

Monahan decided to Pivot when he decided that okay on June 6 we’re going to sign this framework agreement and try to come up with some sort of deal in my mind that story that part of the story had moved on it’s probably not fair and it’s clearly not accurate because I think

There is still a segment of the population that either one isn’t comfortable with it or two is just flatly against it yeah I I totally agree and I also think how do you get the players back Rex like I think that there’s an inherent risk in taking the

Money and not knowing how the end result is going to play out and I also think there’s an inherent risk in not taking the money and staying and see how it all plays out I I also think that the guys who went hey they’re prerogative go ahead do whatever you want take your

Money um you know go play over there play out the string whatever the situation is for you only you know what’s best for you and your family I have no problem with those guys taking the money and going to live I have no problem with live I have no problem with

Any of it I do think the guys who stayed they have a right to be angry if the guys who left and took the money are just welcomed back I I just don’t see how there’s an Avenue for that I don’t see how they could go to the guys who

Stayed who turned down the money and I’m not talking about just Tiger and Rory who turned down 500 800 million whatever the heck it is I’m talking about anybody and I would be really upset if I was a PGA Tour player Rex if this framework deal ends up coming together and the

Guys end up right back on tour I I just can’t see how that happens you I just cannot imagine that happening no and it’s too V here and I do I I do want to go back to Monday’s meeting and I do see this as a positive step in the

Negotiations you can make your own decision negotiating for what that’s what I’m asking uh negotiating for some sort of reunification of the game whatever that looks like and I do want to get into that but what what I wanted to touch on was just the concept of they’re not bringing the player

Directors the six player directors that includes Tiger Woods they’re not bringing them to the Bahamas with the governor of the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia Yasir Al rayan I’ve ran scared from that name for two years I finally am comfortable enough to actually give it a shot because I feel

Like that all right if I can’t do it now or is a Yasir uh it’s yaser from what I was told I’m not 100% sure there again I leak a lot of confidence when I try to say that name I love it I I I’m I’m so fascinated by who’s

Decided Rex to be on the board and get involved man when you get Tiger Woods involved in something Rex that’s a big darn deal man and I I I’m so fascinated to see how this is all GNA play out I just don’t see how the staunch tour

Guys allow a deal to take place that involves the guys who left and got the cash to come back and the only punishment is not having Equity I I just cannot imagine a paved road back for the guy who who want to come back from Liv to

Play PGA Tour events I could see them having to take a circuitous route but I cannot see being just a paved Road right back to the PGA Tour do you no no and I think that’s going to be it I I guess Monday’s meeting in my mind is a

Positive setep because you’re not bringing the player directors in to have them go over spreadsheets why why well well he hear me out I like they’re not going to be in on negoti as far as these are these this is a multi-billion dollar deal they’re

Not qualified to be in the room for that what they’re in there for is one to learn exactly what the motivations are of the governor of the public investment fund why does he want to be involved in golf and to tackle the two issues that you just touched on because I think

That’s going to be the Tipping Point in all of this one what does the path back look like because you get a lot of answers from both sides I’ve asked players on both sides and you’re clearly going to get a lot of opinions on that front and two how does team golf fit

Into this I mean I I go to what Rory told me on Sunday at the Players Championship where he imagines a scenario and I have found where Rory talks on this issue he seems to have some sort of insight that the rest of us don’t have he sees it quote unquote on

The periphery team cough would be played in January and October November and December and everything else in between would be the traditional individual stroke play events that we’ve all come to love and know and I’m thinking that’s probably where we’re headed but I don’t know if that works for both sides so

Those two say that I was literally just G to say does that work for the other side probably not probably not and I guess this goes to what the conversation was like on Monday in the Bahamas where if the governor is comfortable with if alayan is comfortable with the idea of

Okay my product live go can be on the shoulders as long as I’m involved with everything else that goes on in between and we’ve been told by people who know who who I feel like know that alayan just wants a seat at the table he wants

To have a say in the direction of the future game if that’s the case then maybe it does work but it doesn’t seem with the investment that he continues to make in LIF Golf and signing John ROM was a huge step why do that if all you

Wanted was a seat at the table yeah no I agree with that and I also think that yeah I know that they want a seat at the table I get all that but when you’re spending the amount of money they’re spending I mean have they ever heard of

The NFL if they’re just going to do team golf in November December they might want to check the calendar and the American audience because the American audience doesn’t really have an appetite for any type of team sport when the weather turns cold other than football

And I I I I it’s so interesting to me how this is all going to shake out it will shake out and I know that the meetings you know the last couple days were productive and I and I get all that but I just I I think the sticking point

Is what’s the schedule going to look like I think there’s two big sticking points among many but what’s the schedule going to look like for both sides uh because both sides have to come to an agreement on that if they’re actually going to come to an agreement

And the other is this team concept and bringing guys back onto the PGA Tour they’re gonna have to pay a price and I don’t know whether that’s monetarily or whether that’s TimeWise or they have to go to Q school or whatever that is but

At at I think think most of the guys on the PGA tour are reticent in a big time way to allow these guys to just come back all right I’m going to take a look back the last weekend we had a Sunday night podcast we broke down everything

But obviously you were not on that so I do want to get your thoughts on what happened Sunday and specifically really the last two weeks with Scotty Sheffer and I was just asking an interview I did with with a radio show in Utah about the idea can you say that this is tiger

Resque and I hate using that I think both you we’re both going to agree you and I the skin CWS when you do that because it’s such a unfair comparison but would you say it’s tiger esque I would not say it’s tiger esque what I would say is it’s maroy from 2011 to

2014 or it’s Jordan spe from 2015 to 2017 um and that’s not discounting what he’s done what he’s done is absolutely remarkable and he is a clear number one a clear favorite and he proved it again on Sunday at the Players not only because he is the first guy to defend

The title with the players but because of the way he won the way he was feeling uh he is not playing his best and he still went out and won against the best field of the year uh in the biggest event so far in 2024 and uh he’s a great

Player uh he’s a Hall of Fame player if he never hits another golf ball again uh I get all that but I’m I lean more towards pausing on saying tiger esque until it’s a more stained greatness over time and not every golfer gets on a heater and every golfer struggles and

He’s on a heater and he’s great he’s the best player in the world but to compare him to Tiger just yet to me I don’t like rubbing the anointing oil all over somebody uh too quickly and I think that to say this is Tiger es would be just a

Step too far for me right now I’m always of the same mindset again always kind of makes my skin crawl because it’s it’s number one it’s kind of a cheap sports radio thing to do well yeah it’s a tiger run and but I will say and you and I

Have seen it enough in our careers for him to win as dominant as he was the week before B Hill to win by five the way he puted on Sunday at arie’s place all of those things were impressive enough and then to do what Tiger Woods never did in his career what Jack

Nicholas never did in his career to win the PLAYERS Championship back to back and to do it with clearly not his best up if you I talked to Ted Scott on amaz Ted Scott was shocked he even finished up the Friday round he said Not only did

It hurt to swing the club it hurt for him to even hit chip shots get an idea of how difficult this was and it goes to the idea that that I think all of us have said all along if Scotty just putts average he doesn’t have to put great

Like he did Sunday at Bay Hill if he just puts average he’s gonna win more times than not this was one of those times when he puted average and he won this time more times than not of the two oh go ahead no I was gonna say what’s

Interesting about that is is that remember when tiger first came out and said oh you know I didn’t have my a game and everybody’s like what the hell do that mean you know that kind of remember all that stuff years ago and Scotty did not have his aame man and he still won

And I was I wasn’t joking around on the air but I said I listen this guy strikes the golf poow so cleanly so crisply so well so amazingly great that the putter doesn’t need to be hot it just needs to be stuck in the microwave for a couple

Of seconds just to warm up because if he putts at all he’s going to be on the leaderboard now you can make a case that I I was telling this to our producer Tommy Roy today I can’t believe 20 under held up I can’t believe 20 under was not

Before the week 20 under is amazing I’m talking about on Sunday when you saw the landscape and what was going on when Scotty posted 20 I thought that was going to be at least a two-man playoff maybe a three-man playoff Xander missing that putt at 17 was unfortunate Brian’s

Ball checking up out of the pine straw with his second shot at 18 was unfortunate Windham Clark downwind Windham Clark little bit too much Pace that ball goes in you know eight nine out of ten times with it’s a 270 degree lip out that was crazy um I thought 20

Under was going to be a playoff and it ended up being enough and all credit to Scotty man he is so good he is so great I’m just not ready to call it Tiger Woods yet not yet 82 and 15’s long long long ways away no I agree with that of

The I’m glad you brought up the the guys who finished runner up of the three that finished runner up who do you think left TPC Saw Grass let’s call it the most angry uh great question uh I would say I would say Xander probably had the should have won that uh Windam should

Have been in a playoff because he got robbed on that last one but it was a lot of pace on that putt uh he did not have a great Saturday uh didn’t quite have everything going for him on the weekend uh but Xander was leading uh Xander was

Playing well uh and he just he let a few opportunities slip by and what happens in this Sport and it happens all the time the greats of the greats they don’t get them handed to them they they they earn them all but sometimes the se’s part for the great ones and they don’t

They don’t part for the good ones and the really good ones but for the great ones the se’s part I mean tiger earned that Masters in 2019 he absolutely the Masters champion Molen Ari in the water you know Fen out not much kepka at the

End Ian uh Ian polter maybe um there was one other person Xander Schley uh didn’t hit a great shot uh at 16 uh and then you have this past weekend I mean Wham Clark played very very well probably should have been in a playoff doesn’t

Mean he’s going to win it um and Scotty ends up winning because he gets a lip out from Windham he gets a short Miss by Xander at 17 and Harmon isn’t able to take advantage of it coming down the stretch and Scotty’s the number one player in the world and he’s number one

Because he’s the best and he’s number one because he’s also sometimes gets a little fortunate and that’s all credit to him I’m a big believer Rex and you know luck is the residue of hard work and I don’t think he was lucky at all he was the best one

But I would say that Xander to me would probably in a quiet moment be the angriest and then Windam and then Brian and Brian is the one who you know plays the angriest uh which I love I love watching Brian Harman play golf and I’m starting to love I I’ve switched on

Windham windham’s not hot he’s great he’s been on leaderboards for a year now he’s a rigning US Open Champion he’s got two other wins which are signature wins he’s on leaderboards every single week it seems like he was runner up to the best player in the world the last two

Weeks if it wasn’t for Scotty sheffler Wham Clark would have won the last two weeks so he has switched from being hot to being great uh Brian harman’s just a a baller and Scotty Sheffer is an all-time talent I I was tinkering with some leads talking about writing on

Sunday and I was going to write Windham Clark because it seemed like early in the round it was going to be put your seat belt on in case someone runs into you I think I hit the gas I think I hit the gas thing sorry I’m trying to

Balance I’m trying to balance this iPad yeah I tell talking to you like it’s been quite difficult I’m sure your arms gotten quite shaky I apologize H you know these these weak arms these non-marine arms are not able to hold this thing up uh I was tinkering with

Some leads on Sunday when it looked like Windam Clark could win and I I came to the idea that the Superstar status isn’t there yet and I’m really I’m kind of curious why he’s got Hollywood good looks he’s got an inspiring origin story if we can go back and and look at

Everything he’s been through he’s already won a major two Signature Events to your point finished runner up at another signature event and runner up at the Players Championship I I have to believe that at some point he’s going to be that’s that’s what Jason Gore talked

About when he told Jay Monahan the PGA Tour can make a star in three weeks I feel like that’s an example of what Windam Clark is no oh I I totally agree you know what’s interesting about the live PGA Tour argument one thing that I think it’s lost in that

Argument do we Brooks Kea and Phil nichelson and cam Smith and Bryson nambo and John ROM of course we miss them of course everybody misses them but the platform that is the PGA Tour this is not a PGA Tour you know you know Love Fest but the platform to the PGA Tour

It’s different than the NFL and the NBA and here’s why the difference to me is we all as sports fans when we see someone get drafted in the NBA and the NFL we kind of know him from college basketball and college football you can be the greatest Amer golfer in the world

Forget tiger and forget Phil a little bit but you know they’re they’re two ridiculously crazy players take Ryan Moore for instance you can’t be a better amateur than Ryan Moore Ryan Moore go look at Ryan Moore you’re bored out there go Google Ryan Moore’s Amer career

And tell me you can be a better amateur than Ryan Moore absolutely no one ever heard of Ryan Moore until he got to the PGA tour in one and that’s the difference between Golf and the other sports so a guy like wam CL Clark Windham Clark no one ever heard of

Him it’s a tremendous player in Oregon tremendous young Talent greatl looking American speaks well is accessible is you know has energy everybody likes him and it took a big big big win before someone really recognized who this guy was no offense to his win at the Wells

Fargo but it took the US Open to take down Rory and Ricky at LACC for someone to think he’s a star then he backs it up with a couple more big wins and you’re like wow this kid’s got a lot of game well the PGA Tour platform allows that

And I I think that wendham man windham’s he’s a great player Rex he’s a great guy he’s a great player and he gonna be around a long time okay real quick the Valar championship this week I’m GNA put you on the spot you’ve been at all four

Of them forever where does valbar rank in just the floor to swing in why oh man it’s it’s I always get this question um it’s the it’s the only course that the PJ tour plays in Florida where it looks like you’re in the north there’s some hills there undulations tree lined thick

Rough fast greens small greens uh it’s an awesome Golf Course uh I don’t think there’s a golf course on the planet with a better finish than what we saw last week part five 16th 17’s most famous hole in the world you can argue it’s the

Best but it’s the most famous and 18 is a is a very very challenging part for um you know you don’t have that here so I would say Saw Grass to me because of the stature of the event and because the golf course is just a rock star um I

Think that that’s the best one but the valpar and this golf course are so good Bay Hill’s great it’s Arie always a good field all the memories from Tiger all the great players who have won there the whole deal the Arie celebration can’t beat it the cognizant sometimes gets

Lost in the shuffle depending on its date and depending on its field um but this golf course is widely regarded by all the best players Rex as one of their favorites on the PGA tour and one of the toughest tests on the PGA tour and usually when the test is tougher the

Cream Rises to the top and I I think we’re gonna have a big week this week Stephen Sans good job it’s not hard thank you buddy that’s it that’s it that’s all we got that’s all you got who’s gonna win the NCA tournament uh well since the Maryland

Fighting Steve sandes don’t seem to have much of a chance I don’t know you probably would have picked had we done this yesterday you would have picked Virginia right you got to be in it to have a chance Rex uh no I would not have taken UVA UVA

Can’t score they stink they do stink hey UVA basketball I saw this on a t-shirt is Iowa football which I thought was a brilliant te oh that’s a great comparison that’s really good is it yeah hey are you andna bring are you and Ryan gonna bring some heat at live from the

Masters absolutely are you going to bring notes can I just tell the audience one thing are we are hurry we got to go no no one of my favorite things to do ever is in our ear if you can picture this out there in in podcast land in our ear

We hear okay minute to air 30 seconds coming back in 15 you know whatever 10 that at about the 15 or 10 Mark Ryan and Rex are kind of getting their stuff straight and their note pads and they’re straighten out their tie and Ryan always

Or you are the one who always has goofy socks on and the whole thing and of course we got nothing in front of us and about the 10 second Mark I love to look over at Rex and go is that what you wear is that what you’re gonna wear and you’re like and

You always the first time go huh because you don’t catch it the first time huh and I go I mean is that what we’re gonna go with as the guy as the director’s going two one it just makes me laugh every time and Rex and Ryan they get all nervous

And oh my God does it not look right no I’m just messing with you man you always look sharp uh it’s a it’s a good joke it’s an old joke I did want to ask and again we got to get Goldie out of here I did want

To ask though because the hardest thing when I joke about that your job’s not hard the hardest thing is you’re doing these things with someone talking in your ear man and and when most producers I work with Arthur vulpi for example a really good producer that we have he has

Come to understand that and he won’t talk to me if I’m talking he’ll wait for me to do but you can’t do that in the position you’re in is that the most challenging part of the job for you or is it something else yeah the the probably the biggest difference between

My job and your job is that as the host we’ve got to know what the traffic is we’ve got to know where we’re going what we’re doing what’s going on we don’t need to be told what to say but if they’re going to go to the range because

Tiger Woods just walked onto the range we’ve got to know that in our ear because if you’re talking they can do that uh the only time it ever gets really tricky is at the very very very beginning of your career when you answer the producer on the air says did you do

That have you of course everybody everybody does it everybody goes yeah okay oh sorry uh you know that kind of stuff but that’s why you go to Scotts Bluff Nebraska and where you know very few people are watching um but the most challenging thing is when you’re talking

And something’s going on in the truck uh that they know about that you don’t uh and they have to tell you while you’re talking the other thing that’s interesting is sometimes you’ll be speaking I used to joke about this with tiger when I was doing interviews on NBC

I’m in the booth now but when I was doing when I was on the ground doing the interviews I used to joke with tiger all the time because tiger used to say goes what’s going on in what’s going on in the head set you know I’m like oh

There’s a lot going on you want to hear he goes no no I’m good I’m just just curious I said you know what’s amazing is sometimes it’s so loud in there in your ear headset if you would have said I said this to Tiger if you would have

Said hey man I’ve just decided I’ve had enough I’m gonna retire I might I might be apt to say congratulations on a great day tiger see you tomorrow and like not even hear him so sometimes when you’re saying something it’s so funny because sometimes when you’re saying something

Which is quality journalism and Ryan and you are going back and forth if they’re telling me something in in my ear I can’t really hear exactly every word you’re saying so sometimes it gets a little um a little squirly as as as far as that goes but for the most part like

Anything else Rex what you do what everybody who’s watching this or listening to this does once you get reps and you get used to it it’s really not that big of a deal I I’ve been I I laugh and I tell people all the time really truly the only learned skill in our

Business is that you can multitask other than that I think a monkey could do it all right uh Goldie is gonna kill me for this but I I do want to do the follow oh Gold’s fine keep going because we were we were talking about this a few weeks

Ago when it was probably during the cognizant when you guys were four wide in the booth and I said that has to be really difficult because one of the things that I do admire about anyone who does the live telecast is you have to work in such small Windows where if if

Lavner and I are on live from with you lavner is going to gas bag for three minutes out of a four minute that’s just what he does he can’t do that you can’t do that during the live telecast right right and for me I only do live telecast

Except once a year I do the studio show and I’m honored to do it and I love doing it Matt Hagerty and live from those guys the men and women who work on those shows are absolutely remarkable uh and that brand is just huge for us at

Golf Channel and I’m honored to be the host in the morning at the Masters it’s it’s one of my favorite weeks of the year but it’s the only time that I’m in a studio in that particular week it’s a long form show we’re on the air for four

Hours I mean forever and ever with no live golf we’re just going and on live golf on live whatever the sport is if we’re doing live sports those windows as you say are small so a lot of times for the play-by-play guy for us you know we’ll just say Thomas for birdie at

Three and then let it open up for the person on the ground and the analyst to talk and then he comes back to us and he makes the Putt and you say oh he’s only one back you know that kind of stuff and for the live from stuff the studio stuff

When I’m with you and Rex uh you and Ryan when you guys are going I’m always thinking the difference between live golf and live from is exactly what you just said it’s a small window in live golf unless a guy backs off a shot and we don’t go somewhere else that’s when

You can throw in a story or a no or a nugget or a conversation you had with a player but on live from when it’s me you and Ryan up there or whoever’s up there with us and we go to the range and we can talk about something you have all

The time in the world for the most part and it’s it’s such such a different week uh a rewarding week uh but a lot different uh as you say than doing live golf we we don’t have that kind of time in live golf because people don’t want I

My mother my mother’s no longer alive but my my mother was alive she used to say to me all the time she passed away five years ago that’s I was telling you so my mother used to say to me all all the time she was Sports fanatic she used

To say all the time why aren’t you guys on more like a typical mom why aren’t you on more I see Lester Holt on all the time I see Brian Williams on all the time why aren’t you on more you I’m like Mom in sports it’s about the competition

It’s about the golf it’s not about us now news is not about the anchor either you just see the anchor all the time for us there’s no reason ever see us uh and there’s no really no reason to hear from us either when it comes to live golf live from

That’s a lot different we’re trying to get the best conversation out of you guys who are the experts and that’s what the host job is and that’s what makes that job that particular week so much fun is hearing from you guys bringing it how about when Jack Nicholas comes in

And Raymond Floyd comes in and Ben khaw comes in and you guys come in it’s it’s amazing it’s a it’s a lot of fun it’s an honor to be there it’s a lot of fun now you just gas back for 39 minutes on this podcast if you had to take the entire

Telecast from I don’t know pick a day Thursday at the cognizant how how many words how many minutes do you think you actually talked is it in a three-hour telecast is it going to be 15 minutes I’m glad we don’t get paid by the word

Let’s put it that way uh I’m glad I didn’t get paid by but but Rex I will say this I will say this I was told years ago so when I got the job with the Golf Channel I was doing football and basketball and baseball and hockey and

Horse racing and Tennis all these other sports had never done live golf and love golf play golf watch golf I never done live golf on TV and I was told a great phrase and 25 years later it still resonates with me every time I go on the

Air you should broadcast golf the way you play it you would never speak over a golf shot so if someone standing over a shot you need to hear and we can speak up until that point you can speak afterwards but you cannot speak while the player’s hitting if you and I went

To go play we’re in golf carts we’re in shorts having a couple of beers you know betting a couple of dollars we’re not talking each other’s back swings talking while we’re you know doing that we’re telling stories we’re laughing but for the most part you want to broadcast golf

The way you play golf and that’s something that hopefully the audience understands uh that we’re trying to do for the most part we really are trying to get out of the way thank you buddy Stephen Sans all week long at the V bar Championship check out golfchannel.com

Or nbcsports.com golf for all your news and notes this week we’ll be back on Sunday night when Ryan laer may or may not be back from Puerto Rico if not Steve I’ll be giving you a call thanks buddy I’ll be here bud thanks for having me on sh