Players Demand the PGA TOUR Fix this NOW!

PGA Tour players are breaking their silence and saying what so many of us have been thinking about the LIV Golf merger…and they’re demanding a resolution now!

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players on tour are now starting to speak out and say what so many of us are thinking and that’s this idea that us as fans are being robbed of a more entertaining product until we’re able to find a solution to bring the best golfers back together now luckily we do have some news that slid a little bit under the radar recently Mike showing a possible indication that we may end up with some sort of advancement in the merger talk between Liv and the PGA tour however there are two sides to that coin and we’ve also seen things like the resignation of Jimmy Dunn which we’ll talk about in a second and what Rory had to say what that indicates if he believes that we are truly nowhere closer and we’ll dig into that in just a second but one thing that is undeniable is the full ugliness was on display and just really cast into the Forefront of the headlines with the recent win by Richard Bland on the Senior PGA Tour did you see this saw this man player wins a major and what happens next exactly well the the the PGA Tour was forced to uh put its policy f up front and center and the one thing that’s important to note here is that the policy has not changed but if nothing else it was an indication that as we come up on a full year it’s been since the first announcement of the merger we are truly no closer when you see this so basically to bring you up to speed what happened was Richard Bland won the senior PGA event now that’s that is a major uh in the senior circuit however it is not part of the PGA Tour no different than what we have here on the PGA tour where you have the PGA Championship is run by the PGA of America y so the the PGA Tour really has no say over that however normally on the senior tour the winner of the Senior PGA what part of what comes with that is an exemption to play on the PGA tour champions for one year so of course fans were calling that out does he get an exemption now what does this mean to which the PGA Tour issued a statement they said in spite of the win because of competing in an unauthorized event by the PGA Tour he will be ineligible for tour Affiliated events the PGA of America USGA and RNA each operate based on criteria of their own so they were kind of forced to say it and I think what it does it’s another black eye on the entire process of this relationship of just saying here’s another guy who won an event and it’s confusing for fans like why does he not get this but if there’s one thing that’s for sure certain it’s that Richard Bland is not going to be shedding any tears over this yeah uh because of the fact that playing on live since 20122 he’s made $9.8 million yeah he’s said he’s doing all right he’s doing all right but you know what just blows my mind about this just in general I think if you win a pro golf tournament even if you won that day a major you won that day and you went back to a job at shopright for a year I don’t care where you go I think if you win defending Champion you need to be able to come back well he’ll be able to come back and play in the PGA Championship but not the senior yeah no this is not part of the tour right so he can can remember the PGA Championship the Senior PGA Championship is run by the PGA of America so he can come back and defend that all he wants what we’re saying is that he did not get an exemption and this is I think ultimately is the the root of the problem here is that the confusion that it creates right it creates a lot of confusion but what it is is that traditionally if you win that event one of the things that comes with it is an exemption to play on the PGA tour Champions that is got it that is part of the PGA umbrella the PGA Tours umbrella I think the hard part is and it’s I think this highlights how for the Casual fans that are out there especially with throwing on PGA and PGA Tour it’s some Blurred Lines um so he’ll have be able to play in the majors but he’s not this does not mean that he is exemp to play into that and that just shows you that basically boils down to the suspension is full full well in there’s no difference when Brooks won it last year the PGA right right in other words same deal it didn’t exempt back PGA tour right so here’s the question and I think this what this highlights here is that you saw what I said Richard Bland $9.8 million I think what we can debate forever is effectively whose fault is it was it was it greed that forced these guys to go over there what what was it but more importantly what’s the effect that it had and recently padrick Harrington had said something that I think again really pointed out what so many of us are feeling so I wanted to read his quote here and kind of talk about that because I think that this might be the predominant reason why we’re seeing declining viewership on the PGA tour yeah you know we’re now seeing two tours that are struggling with viewership both with Liv and the PGA tour and I think a big part of it is the product that’s been diminished because of these names so can you read it in the Irish accent I would could try to do my best Irish accent but I think a lot of people would quickly tune out if I did that so speaking to the Golf Channel right after the PGA Championship which was undeniably electric you know you had uh Xander chafl with an amazing first win in a major and you had Bryson you know at his heels ratings were through the roof Bryson being uh really just captivating moment to watch and then the great show of sportsmanship we saw afterwards Bryson coming out and and congratulating Xander all that type of stuff and and I think what we’ll talk about more is how much this has really endeared Bryson to a lot of fans uh lately but if there what I mean is that if there is a feud in a lot of ways or if there is you know a separation between the leagues you’re not seeing it with the players because you’re two players who are arguably faces of each tour when sander shaay who’s been many many times asked if he was going to live and many many times shot it down and then you have Bry and the shambo’s one of the biggest faces of Liv and they’re coming together in a sportsmanship moment right so what what Harrington had to say he said what I realized last week was God we miss Bryson like Bryson was box office last week and really really helped that tournament he went on to say uh that Bryson helped push Xander win on it was fantastic exciting interesting watching so we do miss the those guys so he’s he’s saying right there like this is the type of top level not only golf but personality and I’m going to keep coming back to this personality in just a second but I want to continue with that because he said something that you could make the argument that it was a little bit of a dig at Patrick Reed uh but but Harrington did go on to say he said it’s hard to believe we missed Patrick Reed he said rivalries are a good thing in sport that’s always been helpful but we do need a solution I will say that so it begs the question yeah right is part of what we’re witnessing with the decline in viewership on the PGA tour side because and you can’t say it’s for a lack of Great Golf because we’re seeing Great Golf from Scotty sheffler what we just saw I me know that was not a PJ Tour event but ander’s in the mix Mora is in the mix on a week in and week out basis there’s Great Golf right sure but what’s truly missing in a lot of ways is personality and the big personalities right so I’m thinking about this yeah that’s true did Liv although although you can say Liv took a lot of top official World Golf Ranking top players people also make the argument saying that they didn’t take all the best players obviously did they though take away all the biggest personalities at this point if you look at and everyone loves to do those scorecards like if this is a Ridder cup you know live versus PGA Tour who’s the better golfers I think that they’re you know I still give the edge to the PGA Tour even though the Liv has really picked up some strong golfers I give the edge slight Edge there but where I give a heavy heavy heavy weighted Edge is if you did a personality scorecard and you look at Liv sure right just look at some of the names that they took Bryson yep John ROM Dustin Johnson Brooks Kea Phil mikkelson Patrick Reed Bubba Watson yeah now the addition of Anthony Kim those are arguably the who’s who of the biggest Personalities in golf would you agree sure I sprinkle in an Ian poter in there too that guy was always on you know Instagram showing off his cars and you know so personalities were there for these guys absolutely and I think we even did a show you know maybe a month or two ago talking about you know it’s healthy to have villains right absolutely you know Harrington said and when you removed a lot of the villains over to live it it created like a lull of a personality on the PGA tour Scotty’s great Scotty’s awesome but Scotty’s kind of dry you know and and I don’t think even Scotty would deny that sure I think Scotty the the draw in a lot of ways of Scotty is is is you know every person person is going to relate to a different types of personality and and to him it’s he’s just like he’s a guy who’s just he’s a pure golfer and and what you see is what you get but there there’s no y I mean that’s why everyone was so shocked with his arrest right you know uh and I think the way that that’ll play out is ultimately I believe that Scotty’s going to be you know Vindicated sure you know but when I when I say like you think about the top tier golf the the the highest moments of golf the most exciting from a viewership entertainment product standpoint I think so much of it was driven by the matchup between Great Golf and exciting entertaining personalities it doesn’t mean you have to like those personalities exactly it means that you’re excited entertained by them I’m thinking back to you know I’m going here Shooter McGavin right right I mean you it’s like a LoveHate like pompous like arrogant guy but the personality was great on that guy you know like we don’t have a shooter McGavin and like you could get Joel Damon but like these like arguably what would happy be without shooter right right you know like exactly you know so you know I mean yeah you got your speeds and your JT Max Hol is great on Twitter there’s personalities but I think Liv’s got the personality column locked up and and I even think back in a more like real world example at Tiger’s height tiger blew the world away with the way he played golf but he didn’t do it quite as quietly as Scotty does now you can make the argument on paper Scotty has been playing as hot as tiger was in his prime right with the winds he was amassing the he was winning all those types of things but I think a big thing that made the tiger effect was also Tiger’s personality tiger was the guy who went out there and and showed his emotion who the big fist pumps you know the think about all the most famous images you can think about of Tiger Woods and they were him you know walking after the ball with the finger walk right really stuff that I would say you similarly what did we see was that coming from Bryson and PGA Championship him hitting a big shot and walking after it yes right um even back to with Bay Hill years ago when Bryson hit that big Drive he’s got his arms up in the air right Y what I I want to clarify this because I don’t think personality necessarily needs to be dramatic in a way that is like you know what I’m saying controversial no but what I’m saying is like is is showing that emotion right and we saw that from from tiger in the height of his of his days too and I think that that’s where the tiger effect really the the full recipe came was great Golf and great personality yeahh it now makes me wonder when we’re watching the PGA Tour week in and week out is the only story line really for them left is the Great Golf and and undoubtedly there’s there’s unbelievable gol I I still watch the PGA Tour religiously every weekend and you just see the strength and depth even when some of these you know upand cominging golfers win like it’s just incredible what they’re doing but how much is that one storyline going to carry the viewership especially the viewership of the Casual fan yeah I think the best entertainment is when you have the the Dual story lines or or multiple story lines of not only great golf but as Harrington said rivalries uh big personalities things like that and the tour so largely has been stripped of that no doubt about it there isn’t much rivalries left I mean you take a look at a lot of these shows on like Bravo like Housewives the re like the reason those shows work is cuz you need drama right I think you know there’s not much that yeah you could say maybe maybe Rory can’t lay coming down the stretch on a Sunday heads up because of their beef at the Ryder Cup and it’s still kind of relevant now they’re still kind of beefing I think that’s by the way but even Klay is so quiet about it he’s not a vocal person and he’s very stoic when he’s out there playing you don’t see emotion on his face you don’t so even that coming down like it might not even be as exciting I don’t know there’s just not a well and let me say this I don’t think that the solution is to train these guys to be different personalities or to be more I think what you need is a balance I think you need the stoic characters out there I think you need the klays the Jordan speeds the the Scotty shefflers but but I think those need to be balanced out with some alternate types of personalities right now we’re left in a lot of ways with great golfers all with very similar at least forward-facing personalities morawa you know spe um Xander scha you know you get some out of Xander sometimes like the cigar after he won but but it’s just not the same and further proof and evidence that of how important personality driven stuff is is the Netflix series full swing where we started to get a viewership into like a real visibility into some of the players um personalities yeah right now there’s a lot that was endearing about about Scotty sheffler in that episode right but you if you really again if you come back down to it the biggest most captivating personalities were the were hearing from even Dustin Johnson who I I get it at times he can be a little bit seemingly monotone whatever but you’ll get some interesting stuff out of him and you’ll get some unfiltered stuff same with Brooks will speak his mind right yep Rah will speak his mind Rah was always the guy to do that and and Rah is a is is a person who shows his emotion on his sleeve while he’s out there um and I just think that there so much of that that has been Stripped Away from the PGA Tour and and I think that’s one of the big reasons why it’s not as captivating as a product right now yeah I agree with that and I think Ron by the way is another guy who if he was coming down the stretch of alalla against sander you would have saw the same display a fire of passion of sportsmanship very similar in that regard and it would have just fueled this story even more and more but yeah I mean I kind of agree with you know Harrington I miss those guys too week in week out I mean I loved watching them all together it’s always fun when they come together it’s going to happen again soon and like I said what they create is those guys create a balancing it’s a balancing and right now it feels off balance in a lot of ways now one thing that I’ll say too is that Bryson of recent has has you can see it on social media the takes that are out there that he has really won over a lot of fans right and I think part of that there’s there’s a couple elements of it you know I saw a tweet recently saying there’ll be studies done about how he took all that money and then still became so popular with the PGA Tour fans yep there was a fantastic breakdown I found uh just watched skimming through YouTube the other day just talking about Bryson and and how he has you know elevated himself and a large part of that was attributed to him showcasing his personality on um him showcasing his personality with his with his YouTube channel MH and I I agree with that in a lot of ways and a lot he brought he’s brought in a new audience that is maybe of YouTube golf and now they’re Following over to watch him you know on the in the tour events one gripe I have with that though is this narrative that I’ve heard recently where it’s like he had to leave the PGA Tour uh because the PGA Tour like control a large part of people kind of the way that they surmise this is that the the PJ tour controlled too much of the narrative around him and had to leave that in order to do his YouTube channel and and him control what he puts out there of what people see in him sure that I I mean I think it was a brilliant move by Bryson but my gripe with that is I spent a lot of time I was combing through last night just trying to find any type of Regulation or anything saying that a PGA Tour player can’t have a a a YouTube channel and I think it’s a misconception there’s nothing saying that the PGA Tour when it comes to medor rights they very tightly control any anything with imagery even with the players this was part of the gripe that Phil Michelson had when it comes to PGA Tour events so what if a if a if a player participates in a PGA Tour event basically the tour owns everything that happened there imagery video everything like that and that’s what Phil Michels was saying but outside of that players they’re independent contractors they have every right to produce any content they want on their own y so it wasn’t that that Bry had to leave the tour in order to launch his YouTube career right in fact he did it even I think before he started doing videos before he left the career the the tour and there are others out there done it like Wesley Brian with the Brian Brothers I think there’s a it’s a great vehicle for the players to grow and showcase their personality MH what I think this more poignant here and I think that has been the reason why fans have been turning their corner and feeling a little bit more F like you know fandom or whatever you want to call it towards Bryson is actually because Bryson in a way is filling a hole that they’re searching for and that lack of Personality that they’re seeing on the tour right now yeah right and and keep this in mind too is that Bryson yes he was always shooting YouTube videos and the stuff he was filming when he was on the PGA tour or a member of the tour was like what’s my protein shake what’s my diet what’s my workout like yes stuff right right so he wasn’t showing any of that um but think about his schedule when he was on the PGA tour that that guy was playing weekend week out as most of these guys are that’s why none of the PJ tour players probably even have time to create a YouTube channel so going to live not only can he go show A Day in the Life at live with me now he can also have more freedom and flexibility to film more yeah he’s hanging out with Grant filming with Grant more and all those guys on YouTube because now he only has like 14 events a year yeah I will give you that I will give you that that that definitely the lighter schedule will give them more room can’t start a YouTube channel that dude’s got a family he’s on the road I mean but what I’m saying is I just want to dispel the misconception that spe can’t because it’s some sort of Regulation the PJ tour has against him right because the stuff we might want to see from spe we can’t see like I would rather see Scotty walking into the locker room at Valhalla today’s a vlog day one PJ Championship yeah but true but most of what Bryson does is off outside of the LIF most what he’s doing is he’s filming matches he’s filming day in the life where he’s he’s showing you at home his workouts he’s doing he’s doing a lot of what I think my favorite stuff that’s coming out of Bryson is his his uh educational like uh instructional stuff where he’s showing different parts he’s doing that all outside of the the ropes of Liv or any other league yeah right so what I’m saying is there’s nothing stop other than time and effort there’s nothing stopping a guy like Jordan Speed so Jordan and JT can’t do a 1 V one at the bare club and it’ll be fine on their on a YouTube channel or you think the tour will come and be like guys you’re ours you’re ours that’s the only thing technically speaking they have the right to create content right the only thing that I’m unaware of and if anybody out there has a better Insight in this because I couldn’t find the exact specific so post it in the comments you hearken back to the match where Phil had this gripe that he had to pay the PGA Tour $1 million in order to do that now that did not come out of his pocket it was actually play paid by the broadcaster but what the what I could find the only evidence that I could find of that was that was because it was a competing broadcast because that was on television and what don’t forget what the PGA Tour is so closely keeping a grip on when it comes to what they relegate with media rights is their Almighty broadcast rights because that’s where the majority of their money comes from sure I don’t think that YouTube is considered in that same realm of broadcast M I don’t think there would be anything stopping Jordan and JT from holding a match against each other being miked up and just playing somewhere okay so what I mean by that is that these other guys have every option to Showcase their own personalities just like Bryson not on TV I think the reality is the subtle Nuance is that there are certain personalities that are a bit larger than life yeah and whether you become in a love them or hate them they’re polarizing and that polarizing draws attention right other guys just they their their game their skill level may be Larger than Life guy like Jordan Speed but Jordan Speed I think is a guy who’s much a regular guy you know what I mean’s he’s not he’s not having that visceral reaction where you either absolutely love him or hate him because of his Personality yeah you think about when Bryson hit the scene even just what he wore the cap the way he spoke it just you immediately had a feeling about the guy and you loved him or hate him and it was a draw right right and what I mean by that is I think Liv was Adept at smartly not only just going after the the the top golfers but their priority at least if it wasn’t said or it was implied now we’re seeing it as we decompress it after the fact was let’s put a top priority on getting personalities because they realize it’s an entertainment product and an entertainment product just isn’t the same without personalities and that goes for All Sport I agree right so that’s where we’re seeing now I think the biggest fracturing and I think it’s going to be the biggest motivation to get these tours back together so let’s pause there let’s do a quick word from our sponsors then I want to give you guys that update that might be the Silver Lining that pot potentially we will see some sort of merger or coming together there is some recent news and we can kind of dive into that in just a second all right we all want to believe in the golf ball that we’re playing and if you’re looking for a golf ball that gives you low flight and low spin with incredibly soft feel then the Titleist AVX might be the golf ball for you now who doesn’t want more distance right I mean AVX is really long te to Green thanks to that large high speed high gradient core and for example if you’re normally hitting a five iron into that green AVX might get you there with a six so you’ll get the short game Spin you need for that excellent green side control and I love what I love most about the AVX is that feel on the green it’s just a very soft feel I feel like I can roll that ball so much nicer on the 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highest level of the game so go and check it out go to footjoy.com all right so it’s been obviously very quiet and we’ve talked about this week in and week out on the on the show about the the merger where we at and and effectively something that we’ve been saying regularly is that I think this is an indication of some of the dis the trouble that we’re having with leadership because I think a a big part of great leadership is really good communication and I think the more that and I’ve said this I’m becoming a broken record here but the more that we as fans uh media uh players the more they’re left in the dark as to where we’re at with this the more it drives speculation the more it drives you know the issues that we’re seeing unfolding here where players are calling for some changes so I think we do need some more out of that but the small indication and the hint that we’ve got recently uh this is just first reported on by the New York Times a couple of days ago and basically what they they said they’re calling it a few productive steps forward between the PF and the PGA Tour effectively what they said is that both CH parties have exchanged term sheets okay so what this basically means is that they’ve each kind of put their terms on paper and and it may seem like nothing to us but like when you’re talking about a merger of this size and you’re talking about the lawyers and everything that’s involved I think it’s almost like when you think we’re closing on a house and you’re like okay finally we got this in each other’s hands it feels like a more significant step forward so the fact that it’s been it’s it’s exchanged at least it shows that the negotiations are not completely cold they continue to be ongoing but like I said earlier in the show there are two sides to every coin and I think the bigger indication of of trouble really was Jimmy Dunn’s resignation which happened just just recently um and and Rory kind of put it best you know Rory is a person who’s has a close relationship with Jimmy Dunn he also had a close relationship from more of a you know administrative standpoint when he was on the PGA tour policy board for so long um but he said that basically he said Jim Jimmy was basically the relationship the sort of conduit between the PGA Tour and PF it’s been really unfortunate that he hasn’t been involved for the past few months and part of the reasons I think everything is stalling at the at the minute is because of that it’s really disappointing and I think the Tor is in a worse place because of it um and what he’s referencing is that Jimmy Dunn part of his resignation was his own um gripe or whatever you want to call it with the fact that that the negotiations were not really moving forward and now at this point it seems again I I I hate to say it but it seems like a lack of leadership with this constant shifting where remember recently it boiled down to really just tiger taking the head lead role in the negotiations but in Jimmy Dunn’s resignation letter specifically he cited no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with the PF and he cited that as his primary reason for resigning you know it it seems like a clear indication that here’s somebody who who started he had a vision for this he started it and his frustration is now boiling over that basically we’re not we’re not getting anywhere yeah so I you read read the kind of tea leaves as you will uh but to me it just sounds like it’s always one step forward and two steps back that’s what it seems like and I just I I have to kind of wonder what is it that is going to be the the Catalyst to get something done here how many players like padrick Harrington have to speak out where does the it have to happen that like how many calls from from from fans or even fans basically voting with their eyeballs so to speak by just not tuning into events at what point does it say there has to be a resolution even if they don’t merge and they operate separately but there is as in if you watch that longer interview with padrick Harrington he says there’s got to be a way to do even some crossover events where players can cross over and play together where do we go from there I know I mean how many more Val hallas is it going to take or storylines of positive Bryson’s is it going to take for them to realize like we need this I honestly feel like Pinehurst US Open might be the most viewed major the most anticipated and very well received I think the hype is huge Pinehurst itself has so much hype with their new course that we just went to um but you know I think between that Payne Stewart tiger getting an award while he’s down there Bryson going in there like probably one of the favorites I think Piner is great you’re going to see another great live PGA collaboration and everyone after you watch the story lines we need more of this we need more of this how many more times is it going to take yeah that’s just it and it makes me think tooo I’ll leave you this last thought is that Rory you know being one we’re speaking of here some may argue like he’s the personality that’s going to carry the PGA tour right he’s the he’s a guy with personality who’s left as like the champion of the tour he still says he’s going to play with the PJ tour until he retires but even Rory has been in a lot of ways deinen diviz to be a personality you know here’s a guy who was that face who was the guy you’d hear the quote from and have all that type of stuff when he was part of the PJ tour policy board and his game suffered because of it and as part of that he’s pulled back largely now he’s got all types of things going on with his divorce and stuff like that but I don’t I don’t think that he’s the guy to Hitch this entire personality driven entertainment wagon too yeah you know there’s there’s a reality that that now again on that that personality scorecard the the guys who were larger than life and again I’ll say this a million times love them or hate them the create an entertaining product they’ve largely moved over to live and and as and that in a lot of ways just hurts the PGA Tour but you guys let us know your take do you think that the PGA Tour is a less entertaining product with the lack of those people if so let us know your thoughts in the comments below we’ll see you in the next episode