LIV Analyst Jerry Foltz on PGA Championship, Jon Rahm & Bryson DeChambeau’s odds | GoLow Golf

John is joined by the longtime Golf Channel Analyst and current LIV Tour analyst Jerry Foltz to preview the PGA Championship.

0:00 // Intro
0:04 // Jerry Foltz joins the show
2:37 // How Jerry handled the criticism of joining the LIV broadcast team
5:13 // How Jerry ended up with LIV
7:31 // Jerry’s take on the PGA’s unwillingness to deal with LIV
10:59 // Jerry’s expectations for Jon Rahm at PGA Championship
13:30 // Jerry’s take on Bryson DeChambeau this week
16:18 // The difference of pressure on the weekend vs Thursday at a major
19:25 // You never know who may surprise you at a major tournament
21:48 // The international LIV guys getting to play in their home countries
23:28 // Look ahead to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst

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[Music] okay as we get ready for the second major of the year uh very happy to be joined by longtime Golf Channel analyst and current live golf broadcaster analyst Jerry folz how you doing Jerry I’m good John nice to meet you I’m uh yeah looking forward to this thanks for the invite so what’s uh how’s life what’s been going on life I still trying to adjust to uh jet lag coming back from Singapore for about a week I I just got back a week ago yesterday and I think for the first week I was up at 3:00 a.m. every day which as as it turns out leads to a very productive day but a very boring early evening but um yeah Life’s good Life’s good one thing you guys have done and and you took the plunge back in 2022 you you were there for the first event correct correct yeah I was actually the first one that uh they came to came to an agreement with yeah obviously you know you guys have had a lot of tournaments domestically but one thing they they’ve made a point is to go International uh you’ve covered golf for a long time you played professionally what’s it been like I mean I I saw clips of the Australia event you guys have done that a couple years in a I mean it’s looks remarkable uh obviously the travel is pretty jarring because most of these guys safe to say all live even the international guys now live in Florida uh by you uh what’s that experience been like for you you know it seems like a lot traveling literally uh around the globe uh which we did traveling when we went to Hong Kong and what was before Hong Kong wherever was before Hong Kong um we we literally circled the globe it’s kind of difficult but most of those long hauls are back-to-back weeks so we had you know two events and then we had three or four weeks off and then we had two events overseas again a long ways away we only travel 14 weeks a year and seven of those are here domestically in the United States so it’s it’s not that tough it’s tough when you’re on I had an 18 and 1 half hour flight from Singapore to Newark a week ago that’s a long ass flight no matter how you look at it you literally you sleep a whole night you wake up and you have 10 hours left and and it’s too early in your head to drink and go back to sleep you don’t want to take a pill and be a piece of when you get to nework at the crack of dawn so yeah it that takes a little getting used to but overall we travel nicely we go to nice places we stay in nice places they look after us really really well it’s a small price to pay I work 42 damn days a year so I’m not going to sit here and complain that my work days are longer the travel’s a before we dive into this upcoming week I you have a fascinating story because you know I talk a lot at NFL and I think you know you know Talking Heads when they’re critical of those players can kind of get to a back and forth to me in golf you know Johnny Miller was famously could be critical of a player on an individual shop but it would blow over pretty quick after the tournament right you know when you made the plunge I I I knew who you were because I watched Golf Channel forever I remember seeing a lot of negativity and my take always was simply as like if I had been offered the money I would go as well and the level of players that were constantly going was that a different experience for you just the blowback and I would imagine a lot of your former colleagues uh did did you know what you were getting into when you accepted or was it a pretty eye-opening initial experience no I think I I think I gauged it pretty well the part that I wasn’t expecting was when there was a reporter at the US Women’s open at Pinehurst where I was on my way to go working when we finally when the Golf Channel called me and said uh we’ve decided if this is what you want to do you’ve earned the right to do it we’re releasing you from your contract because they didn’t have to do that so I was up there hanging out with my girlfriend who still works for them and a reporter up there broke the story and and I I you know people who do what we do shouldn’t be the news we report on the news and I was really upset about that but then the the messages that came in through social media and everything was like good for him he’s deserved this for a long time underrated blah blah blah blah blah um it felt like going to your own funeral so I wasn’t prepared for that that was really nice the hard part was a week later when we launched on Friday night when I when I of London when I ill-advised ill-advisedly looked at social media I became the worst person in the world uh overnight but there was an organized orchestrated um anti I don’t know propaganda campaign waged against us for reasons that I completely understand a monopoly losing power in losing market share doesn’t happen doesn’t go quietly and that’s exactly what happened that was to be expected but the amount of vitrio that came with it was a little surprising because quite literally I just took a job I took a job working with some great people who I most of them I didn’t know at the time one I did and he’s my producer and my best friend and I always wanted to get back together working with him and uh believe it or not I didn’t sign for a ton of money I have a better job than I had before but it’s less work it’s a way more fun but it is not a ton of money I didn’t I didn’t I couldn’t retire off what they what they offered me put it that way you know I think we have a pretty good understanding right Phil and Bryson and these guys from a broadcasting standpoint farity was making the jump too what’s the connection how did that play out when’s the first time you got a was it an impromptu phone call that you just picked up or was it talks ongoing how did that kind of materialize back in 2022 for you well they had hired their producer they the first guy they hired was a director and uh and with his input they hired the best producer in the business a guy named Keith hin he’s my friend he’s probably my best friend in the world he’s also the most talented at what he does um and when that happened you know I I really wasn’t thinking about it because I had bought into this is bad all bad everything about it’s bad bad bad bad bad bad without even thinking about it then one night after a couple of beers I’m sitting there kind of just thinking about the future knowing what the blueprint on the wall is with with American Golf coverage and incessantly reducing budgets because of losing market share and losing uh viewership and AD dollars and having to pay a ton in rights fees to the PGA Tour which basically closed the Golf Channel um and I just I talked to Karen I’m like you think I should at least listen and she said you’d be really stupid not to listen to what they have to say so I called Keith that night the next day James Watson will stagger are on the phone with me asking what it would take and and I threw out what it would you know they educated me about the what they knew at the time for the product to be and the league to be um and they asked you know and I started getting excited about it but then it was my son who’s now 27 he was 25 24 at the time who cast the final vote he’s a Golf Nut he he knew what the bus business model was he’s a lot smarter than I am and he thought it was genius he’s a big F1 fan obviously and he watches soccer as well and there’s a lot of similarities there from a business model standpoint um and then when he got done when he when I asked him about it and he educated me on it I go what would you think if your dad were a part of it and he he was like ballistic he goes are you kidding me you have a chance to do this and his exact words were dad you don’t have that many years left you don’t want to spend them regretting not having the balls to take a chance for once in your life so that put me over the edge are you shocked to see the push back as we sit here right now on May 14th you know there have been the the announcement last year on June 6th clearly Klay and some of these guys now that Rory’s off the board with tiger of just unwillingness to do a deal where let’s face it we all kind of know the inevitable not necessarily what the future is going to look like but that everyone golf is not football in basketball and even those Sports could not handle if I plucked four or five of the top 10 players right you’ve been around this game your whole life are you stunned by that or not really because uh egos money and just pride of what used to be even though the way the world works as I think we need to look forward yeah I don’t know if the if if the aformentioned players uh feel like Guardians of the game guardians of their of their league of their tour I I I really don’t know why when the smart business people are telling this needs to get done and the longer we delay the weaker our bargaining position is going to be and that’s what they’re saying to a t Jimmy Dunn who who art who was the architect of the deal with Ed hurle he just stepped down from the board yesterday last night saw that um yeah that’s shocking to me so you know it was it was a guy who’s been a a huge critic an enormous critic of Liv Golf League on on Golf Channel who said the the clowns are running the circus now I don’t I don’t know anybody who’s going to call Tiger Woods and Jordan spe and Patrick hle a clown but allowing your emotions to take a precedent over business savvy I think is a mistake and I think there like I said I think when the smart business people tell you by not coming to the table and getting the deal done soon that you’re weakening your bargaining position I I don’t I think it’s inevitable I don’t know if it’s completely inevitable but I think it’s inevitable that a deal will get done and both leagues will coexist with a little intermingling of the players and it makes a lot of sense uh I know Liv isn’t going away I I know that for a fact um and they know that now and that’s got to be a little unsettling so maybe you know they’ve had control of the game for a long long time they’ve had control of the professional game the PGA Tour has expanded its its reach and its dominance over the world Golf Scene gradually and gradually forever and now obviously basically in control of the owgr and every time there’s a rules change with the owgr it only benefits one two or and that’s the PGA Tour you can’t qualify for Majors uh and qualify for elevated events get into the the so-called owgr rankings without being a PGA Tour member now it’s nearly impossible if not impossible so that’s a monopoly that just doesn’t want to give up the power and in order for a deal to get done they’re going to have to give up a significant amount of power the NBA playoffs are heating up and so is the action at draftking Sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the NBA with same game parlay live betting odds boost and so much more don’t miss out as the NBA postseason winds down and if you’re new to DraftKings you got to check this out new customers bet five bucks to get 150 in bonus bets instantly download the draftking Sportsbook app now and use the code John that’s code JN for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings the crown is yours well let’s talk about some of your guys I was uh rah’s first tournament I think was myoba and I remember flipping it on he was right in the mix till the end that was a fantastic actually little playoff between Sergio and walki Neeman it’s interesting right because last year early on in the season he kind of look like Scotty Sheffer looks right now and you know the Masters did not go as planned though most people you know they when you’re the champion it’s safe to say most people don’t go back to back uh you’ve seen him now the last couple of what are your expectations for them because we keep talking I mean honestly we’re talking about a lot of other live guys with Scotty and Rory like Bryson and Brooks this week and not necessarily John ROM uh are your expectations for him this upcoming week much higher oh yeah yeah yeah yeah he you know feels like a long dry spell for ROM and I think he has a little bit of an ax to grind he he knew what he was signing up for he got into live much later than everybody else so most other guys had already taken the arrows but he was still going to get his share of them I think he wants to feel Vindicated in making that decision by proving he can still go win majors and I think that add pressure to him I’ve certainly know that had to be a factor at Augusta um it’s unfortunate that he feels that way because he doesn’t have anything to prove two-time major Champion one of the one of the top three or four best players in the world and he’s going to be that way for a long long time um but I think that added pressure to him is is something that might you know might make the reaction to bad breaks or bad shots uh a little more extreme than than is healthy in In the Heat of the battle um but yeah he’s he’s top 10 every single live event it’s not a matter of if he’s going to win it’s a matter of when he’s going to win and how often he’s going to win but keep in mind we have 54 players we have I’d say 30 legitimate superstars of the game if not more and you’re only playing against them 13 times in individual competition per year so your odds your odds are pretty tough when you’ve got the likes of the names you’ve mentioned a Kea a DJ a Bryson uh cam Smith obviously John ROM and the list goes on and on and on um it’s not easy and and they know that because these are these are some of the greatest players in the game all major Champions uh of the names I listed and then some others that aren’t major Champions yet as you mentioned Wen nean who’s as good as anybody at his age in the game um yeah it’s tough it’s tough but I think his expectations are higher than mine are for him and certain anybody else’s okay a lot of hype for your guys coming into uh this upcoming week you know I think did Brooks win last year right before the PGA as well but won played well he won before the Masters and then he went in obviously John Ron beat him the last few holes of the Masters he won before the master yeah so he he had had momentum and obviously this year for him the Masters didn’t go well and I think he’s publicly said I told my team like it’s just it’s on me I I wasn’t as ready so I safe to say there’s a lot more momentum for him coming into this and Bryson is a guy that I I I think had to eat a little humble pie at Augusta and he definitely did and he got a new equipment change and he looked fantastic uh less than a month ago and you know this course at balla to me even more than Kea because you’re just playing the odds you’re like is this guy really gonna be a seven eight time champion and maybe he will be but Bryson I I like him a lot this week and that club change that he made right before Augusta what what’s your take on the big guy I haven’t even seen the clubs yet but evidently they have some role from Heel To Toe which I’ve never seen nobody’s ever seen in an iron these 3D printed clubs that are like 10 grand if you wanted to go buy them um I like Bryson a lot I like I like his passion for the game I like his his energy for Life uh I like his honesty which he gets criticized for all the time but I mean my God if doing our jobs when you interview people and interview players interview Superstars uh you get so many canned answers there’s so many guys who I interviewed on the PGA tour at Majors or Ryder cups or wherever else where I could tell you what their answer is going to be before I ask a question regardless of how good a question was um you always knew they were GNA but I love how honest he is uh his talents through the roof he is two literally duffed chip shots away from probably either winning or getting close to a playoff at the Masters they cost him four shots and he and he looked like he looked like a 30 handicapper on those two shots one of them on 15 I believe was on Saturday and he just chunked a little pitch and run um so yeah I I think Valhalla suits his game really well he loves that driver he’s hitting it’s a crank is the manufacturer and it’s a known for being the long drive specialist driver but um it’s actually quite cool the way it’s engineered so different from the other drivers and he has belief that it’s 26% straighter than any other driver he’s ever hit now only Bryson would figure out a number for that I would just say hey It Go straighter to me but uh he he loves and they’ve made him some Fairway Woods that he absolutely loves um Bryson’s I think going to be a factor I mean you can’t if you’re looking to handicap the field which I know you do and you do a lot of research in it right now it’s three guys though that are the favorites and that’s Brooks uh Rory and and Scotty and Scotty’s kind of the Wild Card unknown how many how many how many clubs has he touched in the last two weeks you know I think Kea had that comment I forget how many years ago when describing a major championship and I think it fits this one perfectly right because you have so many PGA professionals added to that you’re really facing you cut the field in half immediately then you get another half of those guys not playing well and then a couple other guys the pressure is going to get I’m really competing if I’m playing well against probably less than 15 guys and I think the Masters that’s certainly the case at the master thee and this course given that it’s I I think going to be set up more US Open style especially with the length it’s going to be one of the longest courses of the year it it does feel like the number of guys which are all kind of at the top of the betting board obviously there will be a few guys you know farther down the list but like you said those three guys I would throw Bryson and hom in there as well uh you know Xander doesn’t win but he plays really well in these big events you’ve been around golf for a long long time obviously these guys you know are playing at a really high level is there anything like and we’ve been hearing this forever and I I played junior golf and still play golf but the pressure of Saturday and Sunday and one of these tournaments the crowds you know what’s at stake I mean the advantage for these former major Champions like the top guys Rory Scotty and Brooks when you’re facing a ludvig you know even Bryson won a major now it was a covid major but still he’s Bryson’s been winning for 15 years at every level so he he knows how to win there’s a big gap between guys that know how to win and guys that are still trying to figure it out no matter how good they are how would you describe the pressure you know you’ve walked the grounds at these tournaments does it feel different on the weekend than it does just you know on Thursday but well there’s no question about it you can sense it you know most of my commentary time has been as an encourse commentator and and you can sense it I mean the pressure coming down the back nine on Sunday of a major is very akin to what the players will say they feel on the first te of a Ryder Cup or or a solheim cup I was just listening to Max hom you mentioned his name he was his interview from Valhalla today his press conference and he said you know no matter how many people are around you and tell you you can do it and believe in you and know you have the talent to do it and experts who believe you absolutely have the talent to win uh whenn a major or even a PJ Tour event he goes he said you don’t really know that in your own mind until you’ve done it you know and he’s crossed that threshold with PGA Tour wins and they you know they probably feel a little easier with each passing one after you’ve got over that hurdle the first time and he’s desperate to get over that hurdle again because he had a really really good chance I’ll be it for a bad break on number 12 in the final round at Augusta to to maybe peel off his first uh his first major championship there so he’s got the game he’s uh he’s he’s obviously got the game he’s got the length he’s got everything he needs to do it you can’t count him out but I will say if Rory mroy and Scotty sheffler play the kind of golf this next week and Brooks Kea that they have played leading into this uh I don’t think there’s going to be anybody else holding that trophy I think the cool part about golf is it’s a little like the NFL in the sense that sometimes you get the elite guy coming out of college and he’s just awesome immediately some you know just Blue Chip Talent spe Rory and then you get M Max or kka is a good example it takes them a little bit longer and they figure it out a little bit later they they either start on the PJ tour get knocked off and then you see a guy an international player now Raam I would consider a blue chip but ludvig goes to Texas Tech and all of a sudden you see him for the first time time even early on in his PGA career you’re like what the hell is this you’ve been around you did the Nationwide tour for a long time just watching that swing that body type and how good he I mean honestly he’s a shot in the drink at the Masters away from being right there as well is that one of the most remarkable things in your career around golf to have the first major of your career and being toe-to-toe with everybody I mean that’s that that was I I like him and I gamble on him a lot I was still shocked by how good he was in that tournament yeah the the talk of his peers is what sells those of us who haven’t seen him play a whole lot on his ability because they they have said it since the moment they first heard him hit a golf ball not even watched him hit a golf ball that this kid’s the real deal that he has all the tools he proved that at Augusta he’s already proven it with a PGA Tour win he played really well at the Ryder Cup could you imagine playing a ryer cup before you’ve competed in your first ever major championship it’s absolutely nuts it’s absolutely nuts um so yeah I I I think it’s pretty cool and to get to your reference kind of a weak attempt to relate to the reference of this being football right now on TV they have Michael block being interviewed and what he did last year I mean a a middle-aged club pro golfer Club golfer or Club Pro uh actually contending for a few days at a major that just doesn’t happen in other sports and I think that’s one of the beauties of the golf I think it’s one of the beauties of the PGA who boasts the best field in golf every single year and now with the depletion of the of the field at the Players Championship it legitimately even with 20 Club Pros is the best field in golf every year moving forward until there’s some sort of deal between Liv and PGA Tour um and and then you can have the 20 Club pros and a guy like that show up and it just kind of capture the imagination of everyone it was it was so cool so you guys the PGA Championship then you guys have a Houston event in a couple weeks leading into the US Open uh and then you guys go a little International before the British Open which I I see Spain is on the schedule which yeah I said this forever if I had grown up internationally and then I was a great golfer and come here to play if I ever got the chance to go back I I didn’t choose America it just chose me because the industry it’s why cam Smith’s interest you guys go to Australia I didn’t even realize till I was getting ready for this you guys going to Spain makes a lot of sense for John ROM right when would he get that opportunity uh it’s just a human element of yeah I like to play in front of my home crowd you I’m not I’ve been here because of college and my profession but I had to come here because that’s where the money was originally right right right no and and Sergio as well we played there last year Ser it’s phenomenal valderama obviously is known as one of the Great Courses in the world and has its place firmly entrenched in uh in history of the DP World Tour and also the world golf championships I used to play down at valam it’s awesome but I tell you what I I had Never Been to Spain before last year and I by the time I got off the plane I was in the car ride to the hotel about an hour and I and I called U my I call her my wife I’m like how have I how have I never been here and can we move here now I just I just absolutely loved it down there it was gorgeous um so I think it’ll be the crowds because of Rah and Sergio but because of Rah they’re going to be absolutely enormous um and and very vocal and if if he manages to not win before then look out there I I want to end on this just there’s a little bit of a look ahead I’ve never been to Pinehurst uh obviously I’ve seen it a million times on YouTube or TV but from a US Open standpoint just a little bit of a look ahead what’s it take you know I think we had a lot of hype on Lac I got a chance to play it a couple years ago but there’s no rough out there and if the weather you know it’s it feels like Pinehurst is going to be a much more difficult than historically a lot like Olympic Club it’s it’s not an easy place to play what translates out there especially from a gambling standpoint like you don’t need to bomb it right accuracy is a much bigger deal so it’s gonna bring in the the Brian Haron let’s say type players and obviously short game so the cam Smiths the Scotty shefflers I mean they’re in the mix no matter what but that’s that’s going to be emphasized is that fair to say because the the greens are elevated elevated sort of but not like Val Hall not like Nicholas elevated greens um what separate I think separates that Us open at Pinehurst compared to most other us opens is it’s it’s much more akin to I’ll still call it a British Open Open Championship Val Halla this week you have to control your golf ball in the air not so much on the ground at an Open Championship you have to control it more on the ground than you do in the air and you don’t really have much control over what’s happening on the ground so it takes creativity imagination experience touch um and that’s what you see at Pinehurst as well you really have to control that ball on the ground um whether it’s trying to keep it in those relatively flat Fairways with with minor contouring from running into the trouble or around the greens trying to figure out a way to get it up and down the way Martin kimer did so brilliantly was it 10 years ago using putter most of the time um there there’s really there’s really a lot of creativity on and around the greens at Pinehurst compared to other US Open venues and and it becomes a lot more I think of a short game and and a tacticians type tournament than it does a bombing gouge which we’re going to see this week but there is quite a bit of rough so even H when I was listening to his interview he said he said the the PGA has kind of taking on the identity of the old US Open with long tight holes with smaller Fairways and penal rough he goes the creativity scale is low but it tests the skill uh skill level monumentally you have to hit it long you have to hit it straight you have to be accurate you have to hit greens got well obviously you got to make putts but it’s not going to be a putting contest about Hollow so it’s safe to say for a look ahead to Pinehurst of your crew cam Smith would be a name that would kind of jump out absolutely first name that came to mind first name that came to mind he uh he’s a name that I I definitely already have circled so that’s that’s going to be a fun one we we Jerry enjoy the international travel uh PJ championship and uh have a great week watching golf all right keep up the good work and by the way you are very very well research the knowledgeable so it’s a pleasure to talk to you I I appreciate you Jerry take it easy you got a man take it easy