It’s KNAPP TIME! Discussing Jake’s win in Mexico, plus LIV rumors

Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme begin the show with a victory lap of sorts after watching friend of the pod Jake Knapp notch his first PGA Tour win, as a rookie, at the Mexico Open. SK explains the approach of a Tour pro sleeping on a four-shot lead, then trying to win without your best stuff. With LIV rumors heating up surrounding likely names (Anthony Kim) and not-so-likely ones (Rory McIlroy), Smylie and Charlie discuss the state of the fracture in men’s professional golf. Finally, we return with another installation of “Swing Notes,” announce our headcover giveaway winner, and make our one-and-done picks for the Cognizant Classic.

#jakeknapp #knapptime #golf #progolf #progolfer #mexicoopen #mexico #vidanta #pgatour #livgolf #anthonykim #rorymcilroy

Smiley do you happen to have a watch on you any form of a Time piece just wonder if you might be able to tell me what what time it is any way to give me some chronological updates here it’s nap time it’s nap time baby pull up a pillow in a

Blanket huge Win For A Friend of the Pod this week in vant huge huge win at what you termed a full sinfest you absolutely nailed it buddy and we’re going to UNP pack this thing in full but people are saying it a lot of comments on social the Smiley Show

Bump we fin hit one we were on such a bad run where where guys would come on and play absolutely terrible after so this we needed we needed the turnaround for the show we needed the turnaround in a big way we’re not going to tell you about

All the losers but we are gonna trumpet the winner and I think the best place to start for that is uh I’ve cut together a little something to just review things we may or may not have gotten right in the past few months so uh let’s let’s

Take a watch and listen right here smiley do you care to throw a little Rookie of the Year pick at us uh Jake Gap interesting yeah I think he’s going to be a top 50 player in the world by the end of the year are you playing vant

In Mexico yeah I will be there send it brother send it I me Fest I saw that feno won that one I was just like all right let’s put a little star around Mexico apparently that’s going to be you’re going to love that place of course you hit it far I

Know exactly I’m going to pick I’m going to take him so you can’t take him okay friend of the Pod Jake nap wow I love that pick I was actually highly considering taking Jake I’m riding on the Jak Jak be so pumped that he was the

Number one draft pick of our one and done he can’t let you down he’s not going to let me down I’m thinking tour win Numero Uno this week tour win Numero Uno it was Smiley I just I just want to just take a moment I’m not a huge

Receipts guy or hey you know I Told You So guy but in this moment it it feels good it really feels good to celebrate a guy that is is so likable like you know just Jake’s Story the whole thing with his granddad like my granddad is a huge

Part of my own you know growing up loving the game of golf so that hit home guys’s got an amazing swing so fluid insane ball speed just easy guy to root for right oh so easy and you know we I hadn’t met Jake gap before I just had

Followed him followed his game kind of just been an admirer from afar and I think it was a little surprising you know once we got him on the show how likable he was and how cool his story was because I didn’t have a relationship with them and you never really know what

You’re going to get in interviews and because you don’t really know uh players personalities you know you just kind of figure it out as you go and I felt pretty confident that we had a good script for the interview but still by the end of it I just felt like we were

Brewing out you know it just felt like I’ve known him for years and I think it just kind of says a lot about Jake as a person that he’s easy to get along for like you said very easy to root for but man he’s fun to watch golf or play golf

Excuse me and he’s just got this uniqueness about him you know because he can do things that are just unlike any other player in the game right now because who can touch these ball speeds that he can hit but also just slow it down to hit these like

Super feely shots and I thought it was actually a great comparison putting up Freddy Couples and and his swing side by side on the broadcast because listen it the tempo is exactly the same but we’re talking about I mean some really quick twitch muscles that he has as well as some unreal

Unreal speed and power that he has in his golf swing that just allows him to play with such free such Freedom yeah I mean well to to to Circle back on on just the interview the conversation you have with Jake I mean you you finished that thing out by saying that you’re

Next time you see him on the golf course you’re going to hit him with a protein shake if if you felt like the ball speed was a little low here’s a little protein shake to to juice it up a little bit that is worth going back and and

Re-watching on our YouTube page or Rel listening wherever you get your podcast really fun stuff there but to kind of to kind of you know move it forward to that final round of of the Vidant the the Mexico open of D where we saw Jake earn

His first PGA Tour win as a rookie uh I I got to just I can’t get too far without saying what a great final group stash and mullet Vibe between Jake Jake’s caddy and even a little Euro version Sammy valaki had it had it working as well uh that was you know

It’s the midm Le ification of the PGA Tour love to see it you know very aussy Vibes there so love that but kind of you’re talking about you know just um on on Sunday just the the you know we marveled so much on really the whole weekend Thursday through Saturday just

His his ball speed and scoring and his Strokes gain numbers for TI to Green approach were just stupid off the charts then we wondered you know what’s this final round going to look like for a guy who’s sleeping on a four shot lead on the PGA tour for the first time and I

Think Jake would probably be the first to tell you uh it was shaky coming out of the gate we had that left Miss off the tea to a two-way Miss to the right and then you know some of his approach shots you know were were you know kind

Of little low trajectory missing r on a lot of them but for me that I thought it was I was just so impressed with his ability to scramble it’s like we’re showing up to see this guy who’s a bomber and then you get him converting seven of nine scrambling I I think he

Didn’t convert the one on the first toll and I I don’t really know where the other one was but just did an insanely good job of getting up and down numerous times on the back to preserve this lead and win his first Tour event that to me

Stood out the most from the whole win more than you know his ability to crush the ball with this effortless speed yeah totally and I guess two comments just about the event and one being you know there is a place in the schedule uh for

A field like this and you know Jake knap actually was the shortest odds for a winner this entire tour season at 40 to1 and we’re talking about Jake knap like nobody’s heard of him you know what I mean it’s just kind of wild that he actually was you know one of the you

Know a pretty decent shot to win this week I mean 40 to1 is probably in the top 15 of the odds board I would imagine so with that being said you know there is a place in the PJ tour season 4 field like this there’s always storylines that

Are compelling uh we saw it this year already with Grayson Murray winning just his story is fantastic we had a great playoff there with a veteran Keegan Bradley and Ben on uh battling that week you know it’s just to me I think people are just trying to find the perfect

Schedule the perfect the you know the perfect players playing and you know constantly I think these weeks are ones that I enjoy watching more I don’t know why it’s just because um maybe it’s the PJ tours you know regular season events I just I think just guy’s lives changed

I mean Jake nap’s live changed yesterday and for the better and he’s going to have opportunities the rest of the year to continue to prove himself that you know that he is a worthy of a PGA Tour winner and a guy that can Vault up in

The top 50 in the world kind of like I was hoping that he would I mean listen I I’ll throw stuff against the wall every now and then and luckily this is one that looks good early great when it sticks great when it sticks right yeah I mean that’s it’s you’re absolutely right

I mean I think that uh it is kind of funny looking back at that where we were talking about he could be a swing five guy and he was sitting right out outside of the Swing five for a couple of those early season sign events but now he’s in

He’s in the rest of events for the rest of the season he’s in the Masters he’s in the PGA uh truly life-changing stuff and you know I I got agree with you I mean I I can see both sides of this like it’s it’s a weird place we’re in in golf

Where you have to look at a thing you know that you can enjoy objectively for these these I mean in some ways this felt similar to what is now the cognizant classic the week we’re entering but Year’s Honda Classic of Chris Kirk you know this journeyman battling with tour rookie also a

Journeyman Eric Cole and a thrilling playoff finish and you’re like this was objectively really fun to watch in terms of golf now they weren’t you know household names but I loved watching the end of this tournament and I I understand people who would would look at the field or

Look at a scoreboard without having watched and say you know this is there are no names the top this leader board and this is Dole this is why why we’re you know we’re oversaturating our calendar with too many events and and it’s I’m not going to say people can’t

Feel that way if that’s the way they they View Golf and that’s what you know what what they’re trying to get out of watching professional golf is to see stars at the top of a leaderboard I understand it but at the same time man I mean this season has provided some

Really out ofth blue cool unique story lines Nick Dunlap you know Jake even though he didn’t have his best stuff in this final around just you know being able to kind of hold on and get a win that’s lifechanging this journeyman this former bouncer I mean these are really

Really cool life-changing things that are worth celebrating even if it’s not a a leaderboard that’s littered with star names the top yeah absolutely and you know I think that as we kind of continue on in the season we’re going to continue to see more stars young stars like I

Think Chan Kim’s kind of like the the guy that’s going to be the James nit kind of to let us let us into uh how good of a player that Chan Kim is and then Alejandro tosy like these are some players that I I think will’ll probably

Find a way in the winter Circle by the end of the year and you know it’s just it’s you know just from like a rating standpoint you know I think that’s probably like where some of this gets judged as well back to how successful is the PGA tour right now and that’s

Eyeballs watching golf tournaments even like we’re junkies we’re going to watch it you know we we want to watch it right but does the the average Joe Schmo want to watch Jake nap and Sam valaki is that how you pronounced his last name that was uh is that terrible you you somehow

Americanized Sammy valaki Sam valam manaki yeahi Sam Sammy Sammy V Sam love it now that’s the question right is do does the average golf fan want to watch Samy ve and Jake knap play on a Sunday and hey I I do now I think that that’s the the big

Question of you know for instance this coming week on the live golf tour like there’s going to be a lot of people potentially tuning in and watching Anthony Kim restart but also like you can’t really watch him because it’s ins Saudi and it’s gonna be really weird

Times so it’s not like prime time which is first off a really weird place for him to start as Saudi right like you would think he would start in in the US to be able to capitalize on that momentum of him joining the league uh

But man just just a lot going on um a lot going on theame of golf but just want to give a big congrats to Jake knp as we kind of Clos the door on the Mexico open and we head to the fora swing yeah I mean it’s it’s and we will

Get back to that live discussion because I think it’s an interesting one there are a number of different things happening in that world that are worth covering this week but yes a a hearty congrats to Friend of the Pod Jake nap who’s welcome back anytime hopefully we

Get to recap this first tour win with him celebrate him a little bit with them soon we had and I love this we’re getting more and more of this on social media uh if you want to follow us we’re at the Smiley Show on Instagram on X on

On Tik Tok on YouTube we we had an Instagram message from and this is this is a good continuation of a theme because I’m not going to try to pronounce his last name I think it’s of a Polish variety but cam Z on Instagram who just asking about you know what it

Takes to win and just how we’ve talked about Scotty sheffler the past few weeks and you know having these amazing ball striking numbers but not being able to get the job done and you know we talked so much about the technical aspect of his putting um but just cam camz asking

About you know winning without your best stuff the way that kind of Jake went out and did on Sunday of you know all of his superpowers kind of you know left him in a lot of ways and he was able to find a different way to get it done to win the

Golf tournament and and maybe it does look different if there’s a different leaderboard and there are other guys chasing him but that was the leaderboard he was playing against and he got it done I’m wondering what your Reflections are on that particular question about you know what it takes to shoot a score

When you don’t have your best stuff and and if you relate at all what you saw from Jake on Sunday to what we’ve seen from Scotty you know this past year plus and his his inability to get it done yeah know I think I’ve talked to a lot

Of players about about this question in particular and you know especially for somebody like Jake knpp who had a four shot lead so that’s almost more difficult because it’s really just you and in the golf course and what what you can control that day and and and there’s

Most likely you’re expect a run from one or two people and you’re obviously your goal would be to go out and shoot 500 and win by eight nine shots but it’s just not as easy as that for a firsttime guy and you very rarely see somebody go

And do that and the best advice I got on this was especially when you have a lead like this is to create short-term goals so I would always like my first three holes I would say let’s play these even par the next three holes let’s play these one under

And the following three holes are the easiest holes in the course let’s go two under on those three holes and let’s make sure that we’re at least one or two under at the turn and like that’s how I would break it up into sections to where

You’re not on whole SEC the second hole and you’re like you know counting down it’s like well man how many more holes do I have till I get to 18 and I think that’s uh that was some really good advice I received on that and you know I

Think from the other foot let’s say you’re Samy V and you you start the day four shots back that to me is kind of the the window of four and five shots I always felt like I had a chance if I was five shots back and that’s kind of the

Limit I set it at if I was within five shots I knew I needed to go out and shoot something around 31 on the front side and then just get your name on the leaderboard and go post because I think the best players in the world not only

Do they know what the numbers going to be but they know what the numbers going to be based on who the players are in front of them they know who’s going to choke they know who’s going to be able to make birdies and they know who

They’re not going to be able to rule out even if they are somebody who hasn’t won but they’ve played with him and they know what type of game they bring and they know what type of mental game they bring like for instance Jordan Speed when he was battling Tom

Hogi at uh the AT&T Pebble Beach Classic probably three years ago or so as I don’t know if you could check the year on that as I continue on here but Jordan really didn’t play Bad down the stretch it was more about Tom hogi uh really not

Giving in he wasn’t giving in to Jordan Speed B you know head-to-head with him in different groups and hogi continued on making birdies down the stretch he wasn’t a guy that was making Bogies and folding and the reason why is that that Jordan had played a bunch of golf with

Him he knows his Tendencies as a a very aggressive player and one that isn’t scared of playing for the big moment so I think it’s all about kind of know who you’re going up against and I think if I was a guy that was seven shots back yesterday I would have

Said I had a chance because Jake knap had not won on the PGA tour yet Sami via not won on the PGA tour yet so in that in my mind I’m thinking I have a chance today so it’s all about knowing who’s around you and kind of what that that

Number needs to be uh Tom hogi that was the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach proam oh two years ago okay which I think was also the Jordan Speed Cliff year if I’m remembering that correct ly so so so that was yeah it was a memorable year for Jordan in a number of different ways

Uh one more before we kind of flip the page to the Liv stuff that we touched on a little bit earlier uh just looking at some stats on these rookies so uh Jake naap this week joins Matthew pavon and and Nick Dunlap as the first first time winners and rookies to win

This season only three rookies won the entire 2022 23 season that was niik Ed Bia Vincent Norman and lud Vic oberg and if you look back at the last 10 years the the most amount of rookies that have won in a single in in a calendar year is

2017 we had five rookie winners do you have a rookie top of Mind beyond the three that have won this year or maybe we’re going to get a two-time winner who you think could Notch the next win this season all right so Grayson’s won and

And Jake Napp is won who was gron is not a rookie uh so it’s Dunlap pavon and now so yeah rookies okay so pavan’s like a rookie of the year can okay yeah um yeah I I just the guy in my head that I can just mention him a moment ago two of

Them Alejandra toy and ch um and Chan Kim yes yes although I’m not seeing I don’t think Kim’s on on a rookie list either I think he previously had tour status uh that’s a good question um he he might be one of those first time or uh first year member there’s there’s a

Separate list like Min W Lee and Ryan Fox are on they must have been in that special temporar know us in categories you know us in categories we’re not the greatest there uh I I will say this is onchan Kim is I thought it was really cool I was looking back

Through the photos last night of um Jake celebrating on the green and Chan Kim’s out there dumping water on him and it’s just cool to see all those guys who were just celebrating getting their their tour cars off the corn fairy tour car celebrating or off the corn fairy tour

It’s fun celebrating a similar fashion like I think we I saw a video last night on social of Jake Naf shotgun a beer in Anaheim Ducks jersey that was the that was after getting his card at the corner fairy tour finals and celebrating with that same group of guys and cool to see

Chan Kim you know celebrating with him celebrating you know shared success of both those guys making a big leap this year so fun stuff fun stuff down in Mexico um big big sort of shift here to go over to uh what you what you briefly touched on before Anthony Kim Liv stuff

Uh you know’s it’s rumored that he’s going to play this week uh and jet out and you you touched on it I I also on on X atcore burner I think said it best which is can one of you live insiders explain why AK would debut at Jetta and not in

The USA where literally all of us sickos would watch live and and that’s that’s the same question that I have like I just don’t I mean there’s been so much chatter and I guess the ne you know may maybe it’s a timing thing where the next

Time they’re going to play in the United States is uh April 5th for LIV Miami you know and and the only event we’re going to have we’re going to have Jetta uh this upcoming weekend we’re going to have Hong Kong the following weekend and then not again until April and maybe

They just didn’t want to delay or maybe they want to beta test AKA to see if he’s gonna play well if he’s worth featuring but I I just don’t because because no matter what happens we’re going to see highlights and we’re going to see what score he shot and then we’re

Going to make it a termination in it’s to whether or not we want to watch going forward you’re going to rule out part of the part of the audience whereas like first time I’m in like sign me up I I I’m just you know pure curiosity Factor

Yeah my curiosity is like one out of 10 I really I I’m just not buying stock I I just I just think that there’s no way that he’s going to be competitive anymore but what do I know I’m I’m the guy at one out of 10 right now I’m sure

There’s everybody else’s 10 out of 10 I just don’t think that his game’s going to be anywhere near as sharp as what the game is now for the best players in the world and there’s there’s some best players in the world over there on the

Live so I just it’s just hard to go out you know from not playing over however many years it’s been and go out and shoot a bogey free 65 I just think it’s GNA be a lot easier for him to shoot a birdless

74 but but I I think that is so I think I’m actually separating those two things right like I’m saying it it you know if if one scale is how good is he going to play on a scale one to 10 I’m probably closer to you over in the one two three

Range but if if the other scale is how intriguing are you to watch this I’m at a full 10 out of 10 because a 74 or an 80 is completely in play and I think that’s what from from just a a a product growth standpoint like if the goal is to

Get more people in the door you know if he goes out people the people that haven’t you know it’s it’s kind of Our Generation that knows who Anthony Kim is it’s not the younger generation has no idea who Anthony Kim is it’s like it’s like my dad describing me like a a rock

Band that he went to college and watched but but I think there’s also like a vintage t-shirt aspect of this where like this younger crowd is seeing all these people talk about this urban legend like who like I don’t remember watching him and it’s like wait maybe I

Could be super cool by being oh yeah I remember Anthony Kim or I I remember his highlights when I was a kid like you didn’t watch a single Anthony Kim shot in your entire life but it’s like a hitp factor of like I’m in on this guy and I

Want to go see him play I don’t know I mean I just I want to watch it regardless but I think that if he goes out and he finishes you know six over for the week week I’m less incentivized to tune in when it’s actually in my broadcast window in the United States

Where they could be moving the needle and putting up broadcast numbers that could help them in a long-term play to sell to a real broadcaster for a real TV contract I just think that I just think the play here is wrong yeah let me know how he plays and and

I’ll well I’m not watching jeda like that’s that’s what I’m saying I’m just going to watch the highlights uh which is you know unfortunate so I guess what I mean it’s it’s unfortunate for all of us who are sickos but uh you know we’re just we’re going to wait and see and

Find out how how he does so um a few other kind of live ones I wanted to ping you on as well is uh I don’t know how interesting this is to me it’s pretty predictable but uh John ROM joined Sports Center over the weekend it was sort of

Like I watch a little bit of it with with Marty Smith and uh it was asked about you know reaction from tour other tour pros and you know Rory’s been very supportive publicly of the decision and privately as well uh but he I guess he shot tiger a text after making the

Decision and you know let him know hey this is a personal decision and did not hear back from Tiger uh does that surprise you at all do you remember when John was like kind of upset about how tiger would help like Justin out yes you know like it was like almost Petty it’s

Like that he also wasn’t taking John ROM underneath his wing to help you know Propel his career it’s almost like he went to live over tigerd texting him back it’s it’s completely play for John ROM I almost wondered it’s like hey like you think John texted tiger right before

He went and said hey tiger I’m about to sign with Liv golf almost like as a hey like call me are you up you up man I I don’t know it’s just it’s it’s not surprising at all you know Tiger Woods is I think he’s been

Pretty you know on the on the Forefront of of trying to divide the two right now to make sure the PJ tours going the way that it should and I think probably during all this they were really focused on the private Equity side and and John

ROM going to the live golf tour there’s nothing that Tiger Woods can do about that I mean and if he and and Tiger Woods getting a text from John ROM saying hey I’m going it’s a personal decision it’s like what what are you supposed to say back like cool man like

Great thanks a lot you know there’s nothing that Tiger’s going to say back that’s like why would you ever respond to that I I completely agree I’ve heard something uh similar in terms of the interaction he had with hv3 after he left even though hv3 did it you know in

A very um transparent way of like this is life-changing money for not only my family but my foundation and I think of of all the players that left he was one of the ones that left with um you know retaining the the best sort of uh General sense of public uh you know

Goodwill around him because he was just honest about it in a way the other players weren’t um but still I mean I think for Tiger it’s um the guy’s a competitor and I think that as he as he becomes less and less competitive on the course and he gets this role where he

Gets to lead the next version of the PGA war on the policy board I can see how probably he gets more and more competitive there and if you’re losing big names to live that probably doesn’t feel that good especially if you’re a guy who’s trying to you know tell guys

Hey we’re working on a project we’re working on getting this all together we’re GNA try to get you money just hang with me here trust me it’s G to work out so yeah this is I mean I read the headline and I’m like interesting that

He said it out loud I don’t know if I don’t know if I would have said that if I was John ROM uh but doesn’t shock me at all what Tiger’s reaction was to to John reaching out and telling him and what’ you think of the uh sportswashing

Answer because when Marty Smith asked it I was like o i perked up I like what is he going to say that wasn’t dude that wasn’t a softball a lot of these times when when these interviews are scheduled you just get softball questions and that that was a legitimate question that

Wasn’t answered great none of them answered it well my takea away from that and there were a couple other questions that were obviously Sports washing is the the most important one in terms of like you know human beings human rights in the world but there were also questions about like the competition

Itself in the format where rah’s first reaction is like you know like deex T how am I going to spend this one okay here’s my answer that I’ve workshed about a thousand times with my PR team you know and and and that’s the way it’s just you said this when he left

And it’s just so strange to me you know go and do whatever you want but it’s just he was one of the last guys that I felt like made sense going because of what we know about his mental makeup doesn’t make any sense and it’s like

He’s he’s labored with this like I got to explain this thing again like I don’t it’s like he’s almost trying to convince himself that it’s a super competitive product and and you know whatever else and and so you know I’m I am it’s intriguing that he did the interview and

Said what he said but at the same time you know the sports watching answer the for the the league format answer it’s almost like he’s like I have the money and that’s going to tie me over for some period of time yeah but I was really banking on this thing coming back

Together through you know the PF and the PJ tour sitting down hammering out a deal and now that this SSG thing happened uh it’s looking less and less you know solid so I I I’d love to get some honest off- camera answers from John Ram about where he feels about this

Thing going forward uh just you know the way things have gone down since he signed and went over to live so it’s interesting I mean unification would be what any golf fan would want to see you know it’s just there’s just so many things that have to get ironed out you

Know just the live golf players not being a part of any of the equity stake of the PJ tour would probably be the first thing and I just it’s just really hard you know like and now like these rumors of Rory mroy like actually considering live golf it’s it’s like

What Universe are we living in that’s that’s insane I mean we we had that as as kind of you know one of the many items you know there were live rumors and stories popping up this week but that one at first I think it was like a chubby Chandler report it’s

Former agent who was was talking about and he like yeah like if if they offered him $900 million he he’d probably consider going it’s like yeah I mean if anyone me $900 million I’d certainly give it a thought you you know for most things no matter what it is but um but

Then it it the the drum beat kind of started to keep picking up more and more people you’re just hearing kind of rumors on Twitter and and things privately and I mean we texed a little bit about this last night it’s like I it would just be such a stunning turnaround

From where he began being the the loudest critic of live and lock step with Jay Monahan in the tour to see him go on that Direction you just wonder what it is that would motivate him to do that and if part of it is just him being upset

With how it all played out you know you guys wasted a year of my career if if he feels this way uh you know threw away a masters I was so focused on this thing and then you went and did this 180 well guess what I if if you know they have

Money on the table for me that I can go get I’m gonna go get it and you guys can figure it out I just I don’t know what the motivation would be otherwise it just it doesn’t make any sense for his brand and all of the stances that he has

Taken against Liv Golf and just how much he hates Liv and you’re going to see that come out in full season swing or the the new uh Netflix series that’s coming out yes and you’re gonna see that and and then also you see where he’s

Like man I I it’s like you know these guys should just do whatever they want so you start to see it kind of turn a little bit in uh in that episode as well but man just like what in the world if if Rory went it just I think honestly for a guy

That that kind of you know stood and answered all the questions and was the PGA Tour dude that stood up there and and did it all he he played really good golf he answered all the hard questions and you know basically said what everybody else was thinking on golf Twitter he

Said it out loud in the media and now he’s going to be the guy that goes and signs the deal about all the things that he said about how much he hates live and how much he hates the competition and and that Legacy means something to him

But money wins I guess right and that’s what we’ve learned in all this because these these players regardless of what they’ve said in the past and what they think about competition and Legacy and and and chasing records it just it’s starting to go more out the window right

Like when are we going to see players that are going to be chasing tiger woods’ record again like it’s just they’re chasing dollar bills right now and I I think it just turns a lot of people off it it certainly does you’re hearing a lot of fans sentiment in that

Direction you’re even hearing players say that I mean McKenzie Hughes has been on that the entire season consistently and and I think that it’s um you know it’s it’s interesting to see the the fractures within the game and and I think a couple Reflections on what you

Just said one is if you’re talking about um you know chasing Tiger Woods record or tour Legacy I mean there’s a good chance that this whole thing looks radically different in two three four five years where it’s going to be even it’s going to be hard to compare

Whatever the new PJ tour is with whatever the Legacy was it’s going to be strange because you know we could theoretically if if some sort of deal is brokered with piff to bring these players back together the tournament structure is going to look completely unique and how you bring it back

Together you know not only in Majors but in you know whatever the Signature Events become or the players or you know Marquee Live Events or team events I just think it’s going to be hard to almost compare um I think uh you said something there about the full swing

Screener we we by the way we we we got these early screeners for full swings we’re really excited to drop an episode with uh Chad mum on March 6 that just previews the drop of that second season was really a lot of really cool storylines there and I had the exact

Same thought reading these rumors and just seeing it’s like he put all this stuff on camera over the course of a year that paints it in one light and then like all all these other things are going to happen where he’s done a full 180 in real time but you’re going back

And watching the old I the thing that makes me laugh the most about that is you’re GNA have some you know golf casual at home watching full swing thinking that that’s what Rory stands for not following the day-to-day like nerdy you know in the weeds news on golf

Not knowing where Rory stands now and then like if Rory goes are like wait what that guy like that same guy that was yeah diametrically opposed to it like that that thing is that’s that was let’s say what maybe the rumors are more about Rory wanting unification between

The two knowing that the PGA Tour is not going to be able to survive against uh live golf and if maybe his in the back of his brain right now is thinking you know if I H if if it if we’re not going to unify these two tours and not merge

Then I might just have to go to live golf because the reason why I’d have to do it is to force a merger and the more players they go to live golf the more you’re gonna have to force this merger I think that to me is is what is happening

But in my opinion I think it’s a bit of a lie that might be being told to him on that because wouldn’t it make sense for Liv G to say hey come over here will it’ll force a merger between the two they’re going to have to do a PF in

Investment the PJ tour would have to but what makes the Saudis and want to do business with the PJ tour if they get Rory you know like why would they in that in that sense like they just went from you know it’s kind of debatable where the top players are then if you

Get Rory it’s like okay that’s a now it’s like all right you can kind of go match for match there and you have now Rory John ROM Cameron Smith I mean it’s like whoa that to me is like you now have the bargaining chips of okay we don’t even need to come the

Table at that point do we I that’s I think that’s the potential of live golf might just potentially become the the biggest tour in the world because then you start to see Victor havin go and then you see other guys follow him because these are the players on the PJ

Tours said I just want to play where the best players are playing and I think Rory going could blow up the whole thing in the wrong way and that to me is what I think think it might be being sold to him right now that I’m like oh man you

Know I think he thinks it would force a merger but I think it could blow it up the wrong way I I think that that’s dead on and and look you’re is it dead- on I don’t know well I mean it’s I I think it’s I think it’s who’s to say really is

What I probably should my guess I don’t know it’s it’s a guess but I do think it’s I think a couple things there is one what you’re describing the names you listed Rory Vic you’re now describing what we’ve talked about a lot which is a global tour International tour and an American tour

Yeah and the PJ tour right I mean listen all their TV contracts are domestic you know all I mean their their most lucrative TV contracts I should say those are domestic all their biggest stars you know that with everyone else leaving are American so it makes sense

For them to try to kind of push their chips in there but you know at the same time you risk alienating all those international players who can get a nice paycheck and go play with increasingly more and more of their Ridder cup I mean imagine a tour with you know Rah Rory

And and havland on it you know not notwithstanding the some of the other big names on it like that’s I mean it’s good luck trying to put together a Ridder Cup team without those guys I mean you’re GNA blow up the Ridder cup at that point what what do you think

Some of those guys on the live golf are thinking that are kind of in the middle of the back of the pack that they see these rumors of like Rory Hideki uh Victor hav and Windam Clark and they’re just thinking please God no stay on the

Tour I did not sign up to play the Asian tour please I do not want to play tour full time I mean it but it it’s a real thing and I think that that’s the other thing too is that and and actually to be fair to live in some ways I this last

Year they had guys that kind of had to shoe out the door and it sounds like they were helpful with like a relocation package or something or a severance package I should say in terms of paying those guys out for their contracts and or paying fines to get them back on the

DP World Tour wherever else so you know I don’t know how they’d handle the guys that would get booted but you know that if Rory signing up someone’s getting booted doesn’t matter what you know maybe and maybe part of that like if we’re trying to be optimistic maybe part

Of what happens there is uh changing the league format to to to make you know to create space for wild card to create more of an open field and to get it closer to a place where it could get you know world ranking points you know that’s one way where it’s like you’re

Bumping guys from teams I think Hudson swapper is just playing as a wild card this year doesn’t have a team know I know so it’s like one of those things where maybe there’s some flexibility there where you get RAM and Rory in the room and say hey guys we got to look at

Adjusting this format now that we’re having more guys come over how can we do this to to you know make space for Monday qualifiers or whatever just do what we need to do to make it so that we can get legit world ranking points and

Then that solves a big problem for us as well and also creates flexibility for more guys to come over and you kind of talk about how the the live golf tour is more of a a global um tour there’s not as many Americans and you just mentioned

Hudson Swafford okay so Hudson to me is I think he’s in the top half of their better players on that tour but he’s not on a team so what does that tell you about what their priorities are it’s about getting the teams and the nationalities that kind of represent

Each team that have a little bit of a culture and unity to it and Hudson Swafford being the American going over there taking a bet thinking listen I I can make a lot more money over here I can be on a team and and really just

Kind of make the jump but you could see where the Liv golf uh let’s say executives are putting their priorities and it’s and it’s in that Global and Market I guess so I I just see that why as an American would you make that jump over there unless you know you’re you’re

Set up because listen look what they’ve done with Hudson which I think is I I can think of plenty of players I would kick off a team before I would put Hudson not on a team well and and look at the experiences of the American players over

There that are supposed to be more Marquee stars like I’d say probably the American that’s maybe had the best experience in terms of tour success has or you know live tour success has been Taylor gu but the flip side of that is he’s not getting into any Majors he

Didn’t get a special invite the same way that Waco and Ne got one into the Masters you think is going to get one like do you think he was ever you think if he would have played better in other Majors like like already contended in Majors like wae Neiman has uh do you

Think that would have made a difference I I think it it’s such an interesting topic because we were discussing this on another PJ to a radio show where it’s like it’s almost like the the wacon Neeman had two things going for him one he had all the international success he

Represents this sort of this growing Market Australia played good there too yeah good in Australia and that was if you look at the release that the Masters put out as part of the invitation they don’t mention any of his his finishes on live tours all this other stuff he’s

Done well and they understand that that South America you know that’s a developing Market that’s part of their mission is to grow the game of golf yeah it’s it’s really interesting in the context of this discussion where Augusta National is like yeah we’re about this International stuff we’re going to try

To keep growing our product there you know even if it’s at the expense of some of the stuff in America we’re going to do that so I think it was that and I also think it’s it’s that he was showing a real effort like he was he was playing

In all these random tournaments trying to get back into the top 50 because you know his state of goal was to get into the Masters right and I think probably Fred Ridley and others probably saw that and said you know what like this guy should probably be there because he’s a

Good player and he represents a lot of things that are important to us let’s give him the invite and and you know and Taylor on the other hand wasn’t doing a lot of that stuff now I think Taylor has two young kids he doesn’t have to right

Like why would he you know he did I guess he could like last year he didn’t even try to qualify for the US Open right so so then so look so Taylor so that’s he’s probably one of the best case scenarios of Americans that have

Gone over now look at some of the other ones I mean Brooks kepco won a major but had a major Feud with another American teammate Matthew wolf Wolf’s falling off the face of the Earth in terms of like where how how his golf’s been Bill mels

Think I think I I feel like he’s not as bad as we think it is but I could be wrong I mean guys to be fair I would have had to watch a lot of live golf that I didn’t watch no and I didn’t so I

I love the I love the blind take on it cuz I think he’s actually a little better than we think he’s done I just I’m not positive I think it’s been more the drama I think we expect that he’s played bad because Brooks said he’s played bad but I don’t think it’s been

Like that bad right well I mean and that’s a whole other you know the drama with him and Brooks is like you know overshadows a lot of different things you know but you know work ethic I don’t know I mean the the whole thing there I

Think what you can say is he came in with Victor havin and call him morawa and it’s pretty clear out of that group who’s doing better than the other one and that’s a tough group to be compared to but nonetheless um so you got that you got Phil Mickelson aging played

Great in the Masters last year but hasn’t had a ton of success on Liv Bubba Watson still kind of struggling making his way back from injury um I mean shoot other guys Peter Yulan was a good go like that was a really good go for him

He’s he’s been on the aces he’s played well I think he’s on the Bryson’s had team success Bryson’s played really well over there and uh Harold Varner had a good year last year he did um I think it’s kind of the exact same golf he’s played on the

PJ tour he’s played on the LI golf it just happens to be less guys and so that kind of bumps you up as far as the amount of players that you’re you’re playing against so and you know and then DJ I guess had team success early but

Like in terms of coming over and playing in majors and trying to keep himself higher in the world rankings that way hasn’t had a ton of success be beond the tour so to me I I guess my point there is it’s been a real mixed bag for

Americans on that tour and kind of going back to you know the point where we started where it just it does feel like this league is set up more to support these international units and growing into new markets and and by the way I think it’s a smart you care about that

Do you care about that do I care about that I mean I you know I care about American stars like I I care about European stars like when they’re mixed in going up against Amer Amer stars like I love watching Young American players that are needle movers over here that

Are going up against you know guys like Rory guys like Rah Victor like th that to me is where the game is really fun when you have a bunch of different players from all over the world that are battling out at at big events which we

We see in the majors right I mean I I I think I care about it I care really I care about it in the context of the PGA Tour like I love a diverse tour I think it’s amazing I I mean I think a lot of the International Players end up being

Some of my favorites because they bring something so unique and different to the table you know we feel that way about minwu Lee such a funny guy unique sense of humor we were talking to ludvig I was just struck by a guy that is seemingly so robotic and quiet just this dry sense

Of Scandinavian humor so I love things like that but I think that it kind of out ofs side out of mind kills those guys like cam Smith was one of my favorite players on tour he left after winning the Open Championship and I really haven’t thought a ton about him

Outside of him showing up at Majors since then if you go this blew my mind if you go to that John ROM clip hosted on the ESPN YouTube page that has 11.4 million subscribers and was posted a day ago as the time of this recording do you

Want to guess how many views that thing has and I guess I’m I’m not like view watching is our view counts are lower than this but I mean it’s got 13,000 views I mean that’s that’s not that many for for an 11.4 million subscriber account that’s that’s

Minuscule and so I just wonder if part of what’s happening to these guys as they’re going over there and I just haven’t thought about John Ramat ton since he left and you know it sucks because I’d care a lot about him if he was still on the PGA tour but because

He’s not like yes of course I’ll care about him when he shows up for the majors but it’s it’s just we’re this this fracture World it hurts everybody it diminishes the value of the PJ tour but it doesn’t really gain a ton on live to it it really just keeps hurting the

Fans over and over and over again and so if we’re really going to bring this full circle back to where we started it I’m off you start to see these rumors come out because I think there is conversations that happen on these off weeks and Rory I think is playing

Middleman right now between the PJ Tour live golf tour and I think he’s just kind of trying to unify the the uh the two parties and I think he thinks he’s the he’s the what it be the poker chip I don’t I don’t know how much he’s actually really considering going to

Live I think it’s more about if I go to live this will unify the tours but I also think that’s a gamble that if he makes and then it doesn’t unify we’re like okay now what right right and it could certainly backfire and I think it’s something worth considering but I

Mean definitely um it’s it’s who knows how it shakes out it’d be really great if if he did decide to go it brought things together but it it’s you know it’s it’s tough to see a world in which that just happens and I mean you know in

The same way that we played John ROMs pledging fty you know sound over and over again when he left or live like that line from full swing of you know I’m closer to Jay than probably another player on the tour if he left I mean

That would get brought up a lot so yeah uh interesting interesting stuff on the live front uh probably went longer there than we even thought we were going to but all worth recapping discussing because that’s that’s the state of our game right now but we are now returning

To a segment we debuted last week R working title swing notes uh and the reason we’re returning to it is because we have a viewer listener submission for their swing which I’m really excited we have Brian Brian STS on Instagram who sent in an eight iron video and a driver

Video uh how’s the angle uh well I’ll show it to you so he’s a six handicap going through a swing rebuild and and he’s G he said he’s the driver is having a big problem with open face and he’s coming over it he’s feeling like his body compensates

The responds to that positioning uh we’re we’re we’re going to let’s just dive right into it let’s just see if this works we’re just throwing stuff at the wall right now and see if it if it if it sticks which I’m completely fine with um all right so here’s Brian

Hitting eight iron Smiley how do we first of all camera angle good I don’t know keep going okay all right here we go we’re rocking yeah camer angle’s not good cam angle’s not good okay a lot of Waggles definitely Brian’s a waggler yeah he’s uh he’s got a steep

Problem yeah we got a steep problem okay so can you slow it down I I can slow down yeah let’s let’s go Super C at the top of his swing okay so here we go yep I need to just be able to pause okay can we get people to send these in

Slow-mo because this is gonna be hard to do first note everyone please send in slow-mo okay so this is Brian the top okay like if you if you cut cut this in half and you just looked at his lower body you would say okay good start uh

You know looks like he loads his right his right leg really nicely uh get his weight into his right foot so so far we’re in a good spot but at the top of the Swing here definitely has a little bit of a cued left wrist which is fine

Um but the thing is he doesn’t get into any type of bowed left wrist in the down swing he actually goes to more cupt yeah see that right there was a very like that’s an early extension type of move because you got to get rid of it somehow

Like you have to lengthen your arms and basically just extend extend your wrist and kind of stop turning you stall out and you’re going to have two-way misses you’re going to hit you’re going to hit some hit some hooks left and you’re gonna hit a lot of shots short right so

If I were Brian Brian Brian yes if I were Brian I would continue to do what you’re doing with your full swing or excuse me your your lower body um but what I would do I would go and get um a a tool uh that you can put on the top of

Your grip it’s I think it’s called The Hanger and it kind of screws in on the top and what it’s going to help him do it’s going to help him feel that your forearm and your left wrist doesn’t get quite as cued in transition so you could

Even get the pro sender I think would be a nice thing for him to get um help him feel a little bit more of that left wrist not getting quite as much CED and then getting into that extension in his lower body in the down swing to where

Maybe we can get that shaft to pitch a little bit back behind him um in that first couple moves there in the downswing uh where the club face isn’t quite as open which is he’s totally right like yeah my I think I remember you saying his face was open he swipes

Across it it’s because he just loses all of his hand depth in the down swing and has a cued wrist you’re there’s nothing you can do about that so um there’s the that that’s all great stuff and smiley I’m going to I’m going to make a

Suggestion here and you tell me if this is a good one or a bad one because all the things you’re saying about Brian were things that very recently connected to and probably still connect to my own swing things I’m trying to go through I was really steep I had early extension

Uh I don’t know that my wrist was cued at the top but I definitely was not you know covering the ball and and when you’re talking about laying that shaft down one thing that you know this began last week with each of us showing sharing what we were working on and I

Was working on some some stuff out at at old shadam with John Marino who’s been fantastic and um John has been having me work this week on at the top of the back swing just kind of the the move feeling like that feeling like on the like when

The club’s behind me that shaft kind of laying down and feeling like my right palm is facing the ground and then from there just turning turning through the ball so just feeling like the bottom Knuckles facing the ground on the left arm and the right arm the Palm facing

Down and then turning from there and I think that you know that for me you know certain swing thoughts click for for certain people differently but for me before where I was scared to death of of sticking the club head in the ground and popping out of it it felt like I could

Get more side bend that way and kind of turn through it and get closer to the ball and cover it more so Brian I don’t know if that’s a good suggestion or not Smiley can chime in and maybe clarify that but just one I’ll pass on since maybe we’re in similar

Boats if you told Brian to lay the shaft down right now he would hit it right of Mexico and so no I wouldn’t tell him to lay this the shaft down right now because his wrist structures are are not are not there um I think he’s got to fix the

Most important problem which is the club face and then eventually maybe we can start talking about laying the shaft down showing it a little bit but I’d rather try to fix the thing that hits the golf ball first which is the club face which is you got to kind of fix the

The uh the way the wrists work a little bit which is um it’s totally doable um that’s a that’s something easy that you can figure out you’re going have to do a lot of slowmo swings um but I actually like what you’re working on Charlie I just think if Brian tried to start

Laying the shaft down right now he would get even more cued and get more stuck and would hit so he would just have to go into even more early extension to try to get to to try to throw the club face at it Brian i’ I’d like for you to go

Take a video trying what I just suggested and I want you to take a video of you hitting the ball and then I want you to take your phone and go take a video of where the ball ended up and then when you’re done with with that uh

Go get a prender or whatever it is that smiley suggested to get the hanger device is good one The Hanger device love it well hey look I’d say that’s a pretty successful second voyage for uh swing notes and please keep sending in your videos we we’d like to time

Permitting get to one of these a week to get Smiley to chime in on everybody uh so we’re Brian we’re gonna skip the driver video this week I think you have enough to work on as it stands so uh that’s that has been swing notes and and

Then we have yet another band based thing to pay off here because this last week on Instagram we uh we tweeted out a picture of a Jan Craig uh knit head cover little Smiley Show head cover one of the first ones we do have a winner and his name is Tyler Sweeney Tyler

Sweeney4 on Instagram listen we had a ton of responses on X and Instagram I wish we had 50 of these things we give them away to everybody like greatly appreciate everybody taking the time to go and subscribe and and to watch us on YouTube and and to chime in all the nice

Things you all said about the show we appreciate every last one of you and hopefully we’ll have more giveaways in the future to get you guys some cool show swag but Tyler I really enjoyed the Photoshop Tyler sent in a screenshot had an arrow pointing at at us on the banner

Of our YouTubes uh leaning on the the 18th whole uh signage uh at spy glass Hill and it said the boys and then another arrow pointing at subscrib and said me being subscribed I was like love it love it Tyler well done buddy good photoshopping so we appreciate all of

You but Tyler uh check your your DMs we’re GNA get your address and send you that head cover soon congrats Tyler congrats to Tyler so you know what Smiley that leaves just one more thing for us to do in the show uh and it’s a segment I’m very much looking forward to

Because it is our second week of our one and done okay first week went pretty well first week went pretty well uh we rolled the tape off the top of the show I picked Jake knap I earned 500 FedEx Cup points Smiley picked Tony fow he earned 54.67

Points so far back it’s I mean it’s whaton finish you know I’d have to go find that uh I was so like invested in Jake naap winning for you that I didn’t really care what Tony finished Tony finished t13 like not terrible it’s just you get a lot more FedEx Cup points for

Winning than for t13 and so that’s just how that one went so so now we have to decide what happens here is this a situation like the game of golf if you win the last week you you have the honor you’re on the tea or is it the the player from

Coming from behind gets a chance to make their way up on think we alternate every week just flip every week love it okay so and I have three players in between I’ve gone back and forth and back and forth and I’ve landed on uh a winner already this

Year I’m going to take Chris Kirk I love it I love it uh I mean it’s obviously one here last year uh it feels like a great course fit of course because he won who’s played better on bermo this year and and it’s Chris Kirk has played really well

In bermed this year you talked about this you know we’re moving away from from po we’re heading back to to the you know Florida we’re we’re going to get some of these guys who have had putting struggles we’re going to get them right down there on the Florida swing uh and

This is this is actually a perfect little Duo this week because uh the guy I’m going to choose is Eric Cole so we’re going to have both the guys in the playoff last year I I just I’m looking at you know we’ve got this run of sort

Of long shot winners and Eric would not be a long shot winner he was a rookie last year he still hasn’t broken through with the win yet he’s gonna win this week isn’t he are you gonna go two for two if if I go two for two I mean I’m

Just going to keep clipping these and just handing them out like candy to our our followers on uh on all of our social platforms but T10 at the Genesis uh T14 at Pebble t-21 at the AMX t13 at Sony T14 at Sentry like he’s he’s he’s playing good consistent Golf and I feel

Like you get back to a place where you almost got it done and and maybe this is the Breakthrough week for Eric and continues our trend of you know these long shot winners are not household name type winners you know breaking through getting getting their first win so good

Uh if you’re building a lineup as well I definitely want to give some more names um so other two players that I had in mind Shane Lowry and and sep straa those were the three I was between and end up going with Chris Kirk mainly because I

Think I know where I’m going to use the other two guys throughout the year so I just wanted to use Chris Kirk knowing that that guy once he gets off the West Coast it’s like all right game on um other players that I kind of put a star

By where young guys Alejandra toasty I think he’s going to have a good week and let’s see anybody com to your M brain as I’m kind of scrolling through here Christian B I think it’s gonna have a good week I had three names that I wanted to just

Run by to see if you liked any of these guys because you know it’s this course is as you’ll find out when you watch our Shane Lowry interview which drops on Wednesday uh Rel living some great highlights of uh Smiley and Shane playing the bear trap this is a golf

Course that requires good ball striking right there are a lot of tough approach shots here so the three guys that kind of came to my mind uh were JT Poston Keith Mitchell and Ben on you like any of those guys I I like all three of them

You can’t go wrong it’s just like if you’re building lineup so you’re not going to be able to use all those types of guys you know so I like all three of them I like Russell Henley a lot a lot this week um let me try to find something like

Middle of the pack guys like Mark hubard I’m going to keep just giving you mark Hub just he’s just a really good iron player so he’s a player that I think would be nice Carson young had a good week last week uh good putter good iron player uh Andrew Novak he’s played well

At the Honda Classic before he’s a player that’s in good form um who else how about like a how about like a Ben Griffin or a Lee Hodes you like either of those guys Ben Griffin I think is a good pick for any week I just think he makes a lot of

Cuts and finishes top 25 a lot so yeah I like Ben Griffin leod end of a lineup I I don’t remember what type of form Lee Hodes is in right now and that would that would steer me away a little bit just because I can’t remember how well

He’s been playing but the other player that kind of comes to mind here and maybe it’s a a little too soon on this but Adrien Dand day Chase s addc baby love it he’s a player that I feel like we haven’t seen yet at all yet this

Season when is he going to pop is it this week I don’t know but he’s a player that I think is a high upside guy you know like if he just gets up around the lead type of player maybe he’s a guy that misses a lot of cuts but

When he does play good he finishes top five and I think he’s a guy you can just stash at the bottom of lineups too so I don’t know addc when I’m looking at that rookie list we talked about earlier and you’re picking like he is jumping off

The page to me like just I I think that’s a guy that he he he’s too good of a player to not round in some form at some point this season now I don’t know enough about like which you know what suits his game in terms of grasses or

Course fits or whatever else but it just feels like one of these events like a cognizant a little bit of a weaker field he could pick off a win this year uh you know with right timing right form so I love Ben another guy Ben Kohl’s Ben Kohl’s

Yeah another kfd grad Ben Kohl’s good putter confident player just get him up around the Lead watch him go love it well there we go lots of names thrown at you we are going with the playoff pairing of last year at what was the Honda Classic now the cognizant classic

Smiley taking Chris Kirk I’m taking Eric Cole we’ll we’ll make sure to clip this put this up uh if and when we we win and if we don’t you’ll never hear about it again so uh that’s all for this week on the smiley show as mentioned earlier we have

Uh a really fun interview with uh Shane Lowry dropping Wednesday that spans a lot of topics uh gay look football Irish football I think is the name of what what it is that that uh iidea GIC football did you know what Gaelic football was I I’d heard of it i’ heard

Of it I had no clue what the rules were I thought that was like the team name I thought the gelic was like the the franchise or something I didn’t know that was like the sport you know that was a fun a fun subplot to that entire interview was you just na Irish

Culture you just navigating Irish culture and and names places in general but it’s ton of fun talking to Shane and then of course you know your your shared experience at what was the Honda so a lot of fun so stay tuned for that uh in your pod feeds and of course on YouTube

And uh yeah we appreciate you watching and listening as always and we’ll talk to you back here soon I’ve actually watched a couple of episodes of of of y’all earlier and uh you guys have some good takes so thanks for uh thanks for what you guys do it’s cool to see what

You guys are doing and uh I I know golf fans appreciate it but we we do too so please keep it up I think you’re doing a tremendous job and and you know I listen to this podcast it’s really cool and