Butch Harmon

Butch is back and not holding back as he previews the PGA Championship. Plus, he shares what it's been like to work with Rory and his take on Scottie's play this year. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host,
Claude Harmon. This week it is a PGA Championship preview,
the second major of twenty twenty four Valhalla, and I
figured hadn't had him in a while. Get my dad,
butch Armon On talk about obviously the favorite coming into
this week, Scottie Scheffler, but he's been doing a little

(00:29):
work with Rory McRoy. Get his takes on that and
just anytime I think we can get Butcher's takes on
you know, players and the state of the game. He'll
be eighty one in August, and I think he always
has amazing thoughts, insights and listen, what a career, right,
I mean, I think he'll be eighty one in August,

(00:51):
and you know, Rory McRoy picks up the phone and says, listen, man,
can you give me an opinion about what I'm doing? So,
you know there are a lot of players that do
that and.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Listen.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
He's worked with the majority of the best players the
last thirty years. So always good to have Butchy on.
He's always a fan favorite and he does not disappoint.
So Sipak and enjoyed listening to there's no one else
like him Butchermon. Well, with the second major of the

(01:25):
year coming, I figured we'd get somebody that always has
great takes on it, Dad second major of the year,
the PGA before we get to that, because there's a
lot of storylines around that. This run that Scotti Scheffler
was on, I remember I had you on the podcast
right after he won his first Masters. He's now a
two time Master's champion, four wins this year, including another major.

(01:48):
You've seen a lot of good golf. I know you
were on the call for Sky Sports at Augusta. You
got to watch it. It's beyond impressive, and I think
Shane Lowry said to me Sunday morning, the most impressive
thing about Scotty is how easy and unimpressive he makes
winning look. Meaning when Rory, when some of the bigger
names win, they dominate, it looks like they're doing something special.

(02:11):
Scotty Scheffler just plays amazing golf and makes it look easy.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, I think he just he knows how to get
around a golf course. He does everything very well. You
wouldn't say there's one thing greater than the other, and
his arsenal, it's just every part of it his driving,
his iron plays, just his control. He's improved his putting
so much. Everything he does is good, and he's on
an unbelievable role. He's hutting better than he has in

(02:39):
a while. I think going to that malahead putter, I
think Rory was the one suggested the two. It was
a good idea. You know, right now, he's definitely the
best player in the world. There's no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
When you look at his statstad right now, I mean
it's very much like you know, he gets compared a
lot to Tiger, but his game is completely different. But
if you look at the stats right now, first in
strokes gain total, second stroke taint off the tee, first
in approach, ninety fifth in putting, first in greens and regulation,
first in proximity. I mean, if he was top twenty

(03:11):
in putting, he'd win every week.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well that's a big if, to be honest with you.
You know, we were doing the broadcast of the Masters
for Sky and Nick Dorty, our presenter, and I were
talking about this and he actually made the statement that,
you know, Scotty Scheffler is almost Tiger s and I said, yeah,
if he can do it for the next twenty years
in a rowtive tiger s. So that's that's the big
if into this. There's no doubt about a card there

(03:35):
right now. He's playing better than anybody and more consistent
than anybody. Look at his distance control of his irons.
He's always pinned high. And that's the one stat that
I look at it all the time with my players.
It's the only one really that makes any sense to me,
is distance control. If your balls are finishing pin high,
are in that relative area every time, you have completely

(03:57):
control of your ball through the air and on the ground.
And he's had it now. He's been off for a
few weeks because his wife obviously hasn't had the child
yet and they're expecting.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, I think they just had it. I think they
just had it.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Did they just have it this week? Why? I haven't.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
So he will, but by all accounts, he's going to
go to the PGA. Dad, when when you have a baby,
you played professional golf. I mean, my sister and I
were born when you know, we were young, when you
were out on tour. For a guy like Scotty Scheffler,
does does having a baby change the way he plays?
Or is he just that he seems to me to

(04:33):
be the type of player and the type of person
that won't be affected by it at all.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, the beauty is skle of Scott. He's a bonderful
human being. I mean, he's a great husband, he's going
to be a great dad. Everything about him is first class.
You know, he's very religious. He lives his religion, which
I admire for him. It's not my cup of team,
but I admire him for being that way. Do I
think it will change the way he plays golf. Yeah,

(04:57):
maybe a little bit. It'll give him a little more
to play for because now he's a dad and he
has another person to worry about. But I don't think
it's going to change his attitude and how he goes
about it. I think he goes about it perfectly. You know.
He and Randy Smith always come up with a great
game plan on how to play. Valhalla is a place
that I understand they changed the golf course. I mean
I've been there for the PGA, I've been there for

(05:18):
the Ryder Cup, so I don't know what the change
in the golf course is. But Scotty Sheffer'd be ready.
There's no doubt.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
About that, and Augusta we saw on Sunday, I mean
we saw that part in the round. I think the
great ones. Dad, wouldn't you agree that they all seem
to do this when they are on these major runs,
that they can put the gas on when they need to.
On the front nine. It kind of got close and
then all of a sudden, he bird. He's eight nine
and ten. And I remember saying to somebody the tournament's over,

(05:46):
and they're looking at me and they're like, what do
you mean. I said, Well, the way he is playing
and the game that he does play, he doesn't really
beat himself, does he. He has that kind of knack
of not really beating himself. I'm not really making big mistakes.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, in my opinion, that's one of his biggest strengths
is he has a total confidence in his own ability.
But he doesn't make mental mistakes. That was the thing
that said Jack Nichols apart, That's the thing he said
Tiger Woods apart from all the other great players, those
two had that ability. Yes, they were great players, they
could handle the pressure, but they just didn't make the

(06:22):
mental mistakes. And Scotty doesn't seem to make any of those,
and like you say, when they get close, he puts
the hammer down a little bit and he knocks its
stick in a couple holes, and all of a sudden
there is with a big lead. I mean, I can't
imagine any of this is going to change unless someone
just a guy like Rory who is really starting to
play well himself, if he doesn't make any push on him,
who knows what's going to happen.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
The footworked out that everybody talks about. I think everybody
looks at his footwork and thinks it's, you know, kind
of all over the place and thinks, why can't I
do that? But the way his feet work is very functional,
and it's very much the opposite of the way the
average golfer, you know, the the club golfer. Their weight
tends to go up to their toes. They get closer

(07:05):
to the golf ball with that lower body than the
upper body in the head have to back out. Very
similar to one of your former students, Greg Norman, in
the way that his footwork works, that trail foot, his
right foot goes back and his feet actually do a
little bit of what the long drive guys do to
where their feet are actually going back, not forward, and
I think it's it just goes to show you. I

(07:28):
think Randy Smith is someone you his coach, you've known
pretty much most of your adult life. I know you
have a lot of respect for him. I've heard Randy
say before that he feels like in modern coaching sometimes
that we take out what kids do with their feet.
When you look at Scotty's footwork, I mean that is
part of his DNA, right, I mean that is his

(07:50):
kind of signature in what he does. There are a
lot of people that would have taken that away, that
would have tried to make that better, but it's one
hundred percent funk for him.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, first of all, I have all the respect on
the rope for Randy Smith. He's been Scotty's coach ever
since he was a young man, and what they've done
is the things that you and I have been talked about.
You never take away what a guy does naturally, you
just make it better. Going back to the footwork, if
you look at impact, impact position, which is the most
important thing in the game of golf, is how you
put the club on the ball and impact. His footwork

(08:21):
is fine. All the other motion is because of the
speed and the rotation of the torso and the body
and all the speed that he generated. But if you
look at impact the feeder on the ground, the weight
is in the right place. Everything is right, and then
all of a sudden it goes. The only thing that
scares me about it is I keep thinking he's going
to snap that left tangle one day, the way he

(08:41):
gets over on top of it. And I don't think
he can pull a Tony Fenw like he did it
the part three of the Gusta where he snaps it
back of place.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
We've got three majors left. I mean, obviously, when you
win the first one, there's always talk about, you know,
could someone win the Grand Slam. But the way he
plays golf, the way that I mean obviously to do that,
to win all four majors in one year, I mean,
is it is next to impossible. The stars have to align.
But the game that he plays, and I think the

(09:12):
way he handles adversity, the way he doesn't kind of
get too high and too low. You could make an
argument that in the game right now, if someone's gonna
win all four, I mean, he's probably the favorite.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
He's the only one that can he won the first one,
definitely be the favorite. I think it's a tall order.
I mean, there's so many things that have to fall
into place for that to happen. So let's not get
ahead of ourself. Let's let's get to Valhalla for the
PGA and and see what transpires there. If you look
at the courses coming up for majors, you've got Pinehurst
for the US help and you've got Trooned for the

(09:48):
Open Championship. Those are two good driving golf courses. Courses
where you've got to control your ball. I know they've
made changes at Valhalla, and I haven't been there to
see what the changes there are going to be. But
Valhalla is a pretty straightforward course right in front of you.
So I think all three of these courses suit his game.
I remember, I don't think there is a course that
doesn't suit his game the way he's played because he's

(10:09):
so under control. But let's go from the first major
to the second major and see what transpires. Before we
start looking the way down the road.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
He's won two Masters, now, doub what do you think about?
His game lends itself to Augusta Nashvill in the way
that golf course gets set up, and the test and
the questions the design of that golf course demand from me,
what do you think he has, because I mean he can't.
I mean, if you win two majors and you've got
two out Augusta, it would lend it would lead you

(10:40):
to believe that the game that you have sets up
good for that golf course.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Well, he won two different ways. The way he played
this year at Augusta was not as well as he
played when he won it the first time. I mean
he's a different player now. He's better in all aspects
of his game. He has gotten better. That's not the
take away from when he won the first time, because
he played beautiful and he got the job done. But
he went out and won this time. I mean he
just took this place away from everybody else in the

(11:06):
field and just said this is mine, this is how
it's going to happen, and went out and did it.
The first one, it was a little bit of a
chore and stuff, and you know, to win you first
major is not easy anyway. And now that he's won
two times and he's going to have to be a
thousand percent ful of confidence that he can win these.
He's a very confident player. As you said, He's got
all the attributes, especially mentally tough, which you have to

(11:29):
be to continue to win majors. I can't say enough
about Scottie Sheffer. I think he's a phenomenal player. He's
a phenomenal human being. I wish he was a little
more charismatic so the fans could relate to him a
little more, which isn't his fault. He just is who
he is and I admire him for being who he is.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
I think the partnership of getting Teddy Scott on his
bag as his caddie, I think that's been a huge,
huge asset in the sense that they're very similar people
on the golf court. They're very similar people in the
way they live their life off the golf course. What
do you think having ted Scott on the bag is done.
I mean, he county for Bubba Watson when he won

(12:08):
two Green Jackets, So Teddy Scott as a caddy's been
on the back for four Masters Championships. But I think
it's just been an amazing partnership. And the calmness that
that Teddy Scott brings on the golf course I think
is just perfect for the way that Scotty thinks and plays.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
I think it was a brilliant move for Scottis Scheffler
to bring Teddy Scott on. Teddy Scott had semi talking
about retiring, wanted to go do some teaching and stuff
like that. He gets the call from Scotti Scheffler. He
thinks about it for I don't know how long. I
would think only about two minutes and said he has
I'm there and the rest is history. They are a
wonderful team and they're perfect for each other because they're

(12:48):
very similar off the course too. They believe in the
same things, they live their lives the same way. It's
been a great move for Scotti Scheffler and an even
better move financially for ted Scott.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
For damn sure, I mean Teddy Scott is making It's
gonna be one of those years where Teddy Scott is
going to qualify for the Tour Championship. I mean he's
gonna be He's gonna make enough money on the money
list to play in the.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Tour Championship for the years over, whether it may be
the second Lady month later.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
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Play without limits I want to get to the work
that you're doing, that you started doing with Rory. I
know Rory gave you the call kind of right before Augusta.
But Dad, in twenty fourteen, when Rory won his last

(14:42):
major to go to go to four, he had four
majors twenty fourteen, the way he won that golf tournament
again late turning on the gas. If I told you
in two thousand and four, at the end of the
year or fourteen, that in twenty twenty four we'd be
going back to Valhalla, Rory would only have one major
or four majors, and that Brooks Koepka would have more

(15:06):
majors than Rory Macroway, I just don't think anybody in
twenty fourteen would have believed that. Given how talented Rory is.
He what a storyline. I mean, he has an opportunity
to win his first major in over a decade. His
game is so good. But I remember once, Dad, long

(15:27):
time ago, in the nineties, you were working with Greg
Norman and he shut seventy five when he was number
one in the world, and I said, he can shoot
sixty six with his eyes closed, And you said to me,
but sometimes he can shoot seventy five with his eyes
wide open. Rory is like that. He can shoot. He
can make shooting sixty three look so unbelievably easy. But

(15:50):
there are times in the last ten years in major
championships where he puts himself behind the eight ball early,
he doesn't get off to the good start. Then he
has to go on offense. It's hard to be on
offense in major championships. Why do you think it's been
over a decade since he's won a major.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well, we'll go back to that first point. When he
won those four, you would have thought he'd have run
on and had maybe eight by now. You could say
you could say the same about Jordan Speed. He caught
on fire early and he won a bunch of them,
and he hasn't won any either. It just shows you
how hard it is to win him. I mean, I
think in Brooks's case, in Rory's case, in Georgie's case,

(16:28):
they kind of made it look easy the way they
were doing it. In Brooks's case, he's become the major
championship assassin. I mean, you go to a major championship,
he's ready. I mean, it's almost And you know books
better than anybody. You were the one who helped make
Brooks who he is. You had him from the challenge
to our way back a zillion years ago. I remember
when it was the twenty thirteen at the opening of yourfield,

(16:50):
and at the first time I saw him when you said,
he I want you to come look at his kid
books kept going working. Well, we've done a phenomenal job
with him, and he's done a phenomenal job of making
it happen. But it's not easy to win these things.
I mean, these guys sometimes they make it look easy.
That's what made Jack and Tiger so much better than
everyone else as they did it for twenty five years.

(17:12):
I mean you look at Jack. I mean, yeah, he
won eighteen of them, but he wouldn't have thirteen, fourteen,
fifteen seconds. You know. You look at Tiger, he'd been
going on and on. Right now, Scotty Sheffer's the man.
Rory is the guy we would have thought was going
to be that man. But I think a lot of times, Caud,
when things come too easy for you, you just expect
it to always be there, and then when you hit

(17:33):
that speed bump in the road or something and it
kind of gets you off track. You start changing things
and you start thinking the other way. I personally think
that Rory is back to being Rory again. I mean
the work I did with him, it wasn't a tremendous
amount of changing what he did. It was his attitude
on the way he payed certain shots from one hundred
and fifty yards and he made that full swing like

(17:54):
he's hitting the driver, and I wanted him to make
more three quarter swings and chop the bottle through off
a little. He's a very high ball hitter, but with
short irons, highballs aren't good. It's hard to control. We
wanted to bring the ball flight down, and then I've
showed him a lot of different ways to do that.
He's put his own spin on that and he's incorporating
that into this as he goes on to watching the

(18:16):
tournaments of Cuyle Howell. He's still working on the things
to try and do those things, but he's got to
do it in his way. I showed him and explain
to him why he should do it and how he
should do it, but then he's got to put his
own take on it. I think we saw in New
Orleans he felt very comfortable to what he's doing. We
see it again this week as you and I are speaking.
The tournament's going on in Charlotte, and he's right there.

(18:40):
Only what dumb looking it on TV? Only only one
back on Saturday from Xander Shopley. So he's he's got
his game going in the right direction also, and I
think once you see it go in the right direction,
the confidence thing takes over confidence in golf and everything
when everything's going your way. Golfs he's I mean just golf.
He's built for driving golf ball. He's the best driver

(19:02):
of a golf ball since Greg Norman. I mean, he's long,
he's accurate, he can hit it a mile, but that
swing is geared to hit drives. And that's why I
wanted him to work from one hundred and fifty yards
in on wider on both ends, take the ball out
of the air, control the ball fight a little better
so it can one bounce and stop not spinning back.
So all these things he's trying to incorporate into his game.

(19:24):
The thing I admire about him, just like Tiger did,
is he put it right into play as soon as
we talked about it, even in AUGUSTA when it was
all fresh to him. He's still doing it the weekend
and week out. He's continued to do the same things.
So I think he's trending in the right direction. I
think his confidence level is there. He still tends to
miss some putts from six and seven eight feet that

(19:48):
you got to make to win, But I think he's
going in the right direction. Are so many of the others.
I mean, if we look at the other guys that
are playing well over there on LIB, you look at
how good is playing. John Rom's starting to play better,
you know, and I have to admire the PGA.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Cam Smith's starting to play better.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Who's that?

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Cam Smith has really been playing, no.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Doubt, And you know, the PGA, I take my hat
off to him for inviting what sixteen of the LIB
players to play. Because the world ranking thing is a
bunch of bs now, because the top fifty in the
world to get in majors is something of the past.
They got to come up with a new system because
if you look at Live, John Rahm is the only
guy in the top top thirty five, I mean, Brooks

(20:30):
is thirty seventh, Cam Smith is fifty six. You can
go all the way down to DJ three hundred something.
So I mean the world ranking thing, that to me,
they should throw that out now for major championships and
go on quality. And I think that the PGA have
done that, and my hats off to them.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
What do you think is is there a fixed in
your opinion for the world rankings, because obviously the argument
is everybody that went to Live knew what the consequences were,
they knew what they were getting into, they got paid.
But it just seems like, you know, for the majors,
the majors want the best fields. And regardless of which

(21:06):
side of this that you're on, you know, there are
people that are, you know, fiercely loyal to the PGA tour.
There are people that like Live listen, I don't care,
but I think the lawyer the majors now they're the
they should be the best fields. And this argument, Dad
that the best players got together all the time and
we need to have that happen more. You've been around

(21:28):
golf more than I have. That rarely happened. Rarely did
you have tournaments where all of the best players were playing.
The Players Championship always tries to get the best field
of the internationals and the guys that play on the
PGA Tour, the majors have historically been where we have that,
But you said that you feel like maybe in twenty

(21:48):
twenty four and moving forward that given what has happened
and what has transpired over the last two and a
half years with Live coming on the scene, it looks
like the world rankings are are somewhat comical now when
you have players I mean the eye test, right, I mean,
I think for those of us involved in professional golf,

(22:09):
if somebody I don't care where they're playing, if somebody
is playing in Europe and wins four or five tournaments,
that passes the eye test in professional golf, you know,
the players that are the best players in the world
based off of their performance, their toolbox, and the way
they play. Do you envision a way moving forward that
the majors maybe say, okay, I mean the one that

(22:32):
could change it all And we talk about this all
the time. The Masters in the way that they run
that golf tournament. The Masters could play with the completely
set of their own rules. They could say to everybody, listen,
you have to play with our golf ball, you have
to play by these rules, and everybody would do it
because they have so much respect for the tournament and
the history there. Do you think that maybe the majors

(22:56):
take the lead and start saying, listen, we are going
to make up our own criteria to invite the players
that we feel are the best.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Well, I think a Masters has already done that the
last two years. They were the first one. I think
they were the event that the PGA, the Open Championship
US help them, was looking at to see how they
handled it, because they have their own rules on how
they invite people, and just because you qualify doesn't mean
they have to invite you if they don't want to.
They were the first one to say, yes, we want

(23:25):
these guys here. They're the best players. You look at
this year, we had a whole bunch of live guys
playing there. We got what sixteen of them playing in
the PGA. This is what we want. We want to
see the best fields we can have. Now they're talking
about they've formed the committee to talk to PIFF and
see if they can start to make this happen. And
I think it's going to happen, CUD, because it has

(23:46):
to happen. The PGA towards losing sponsors. This is the
last year for Wells Fargo hand has already gone. Some
of the others are talking about, well, how can you
ask us to spend all this money when we don't
really have the best players in the world playing together.
The Masters are really the template of how it's going
to be. Now, how we get to that remains to

(24:06):
be seen. There's still a lot of water under the bridge.
They got to clean up and stuff. But I'd like
to see some sort of start where there can be
some crossovers, whether the three tours get together, you get lived,
you get the PGA Tour, get the dp World Tour,
and say, look at certain events, if somebody from Live
wants to play in this, we can invite them. If
somebody from the PGA Tour wants to play in a

(24:27):
live event, Live can invite them to play in it,
and so on and so forth. I think that would
be a start. Now is that going to happen? Probably not,
because it's logical and nothing seems for chological these days.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Ded how much do you feel over the last two
years the fact that Rory was basically the spokesperson for
the PGA Tour, how much do you think that affected
his own course performance in his game?

Speaker 2 (24:50):
I think it affect him a lot, and I think
the powers to be at the tour, i'd have to
just say out of him because he's the commissioner. I
think they asked him to be the spokesman, and to
his defense, he did, and he put himself out on
the limb and then in a way he got thrown
under the bus on a lot of the things that happened.
And now he's kind of changed his tune. He's come

(25:11):
over to being a lot more open minded, which I
talked to Rory about when I was with him about
a month ago, and he has opened his eyes and
he said, you know, maybe I got a little bullheaded
and the way I did stuff, And so I admire
that for him. He's coming out and said that he's
on that committee now to talk to be able to
talk to the people that live, and I think he's

(25:32):
going to be a great asset for that. I think
the problem you have you have Tiger over here on
the PGA tour side. He seems to be very anti lived.
You have a bunch of other guys that seem to
be that way. There has to be a way for
all three of these tours to come together and play
that's all we want. That's all we want. We want
to see the best players in the world playing in

(25:53):
as many events as we can get. And somehow or another,
the three bodies are going to have to put their
he goes aside, and I'm not going to pick side.
I'm not going to pick the tourist side, Live side,
dB World two side. Just everybody, throw your egos out
the door, let's sit down in a room and let's
make this happen. I mean, that's that's the way things
get done. But it doesn't seem to be working out

(26:14):
that way.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, I know from you know, from I mean, obviously,
I'm all of my guys went to Live. I know
there will be a lot of live players and some
of the bigger live players that will look at this
kind of new diplomatic It's like the diplomat Rory right
to where he's thinking. And you know, this is from
a guy that a couple of years ago was saying

(26:36):
he hated live, he wanted it to die, it was
going to die. You're right, I mean, I think it
is a good thing. And then you know, just in
the last you know, forty eight hours, the ultimate, the
epitome of the ultimate Live hater, Brandell Chamblie comes out
and says live on air that there's got to be
a deal to be made and they need to make
a deal. It's it's crazy times right now. Where do

(27:01):
you stand on on this? Do you think that there's
this big push now? You know, I'm standing on the
range and one of the AUGUSTA members said to me,
it just seems like there's a lot of greed in
professional golf right now, and there seems to be a
lot of people talking about the product there's but five
years ago, I'd never heard anybody talk about the product.

(27:23):
I never heard anybody talk about what product professional golf
was putting out. Live comes in, they offer a bunch
of money and stuff. Do you think that, in your opinion,
do you think the players have gotten greedy or do
you think the players are finally saying we finally have
a voice and we've always been told we're independent contractors,

(27:44):
but we have to be told what to do by
the tours that we play on.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
I think some of both, to be honest with you,
and look at the tour you talk about degreed. Didn't
they just come out and start handing out hundreds of
millions of dollars to people in some kind of trumped
up deal. I don't know what it is, what they
take to fend away money and give it all of
the players or something that isn't that what Lived did?
I mean, come on, and if you're on the PGA tour,
you need to open your eyes and say, you know,

(28:09):
maybe you didn't agree with Live, And I got no
problem if you didn't agree with it, because it was
kind of a strange thing that I offer these gigantic
come outs with miney of people. But you can't you
can't get on a guy for doing it, and you
can't say that he can never come back, because that's
ridiculous too. But now all of a sudden, the PGA
Tour is doing the same thing, claude. I mean, I
don't know what they call this thing. They just hand

(28:29):
out what Tiger Woo's got one hundred million and Rory
got X right on down, and they had three different
categories of how much money you get. So I mean,
in reality, everybody ought to thank Live because I think
they live. Open their eyes to what can happen? Okay,
that's important thing. What can happen? Now? Did both sides
are starting to go this way. Live's been that way

(28:51):
for three years. The PJ tours now audishing out a
lot of money. Just because you've been there, I said,
all right, let's get together. Okay, you kind of both
are on the same thing. It's just that some people
do it this way, some people do it that way.
But the money is still coming into the players. You
can't say that the players are being greedy because of
the fact that they're getting paid more money. To anybody

(29:13):
that listens to your podcast weekend and week I would
love to have someone come up to them and say, hey, look,
I'm going to give you fifty times more than you
make doing your job, and do the job over here.
My guy didn't get on a trampoline and leap over there.
And I think now the PGA tour is kind of
drinking that kool aid with this new thing they're coming
up with. So at least we're working in the right direction.

(29:34):
Let's just damn it, let's make it happen.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
If you look at the people that are involved with
the decision making process in on tours, I mean, these
are you know, the ssgs guys that are coming in
now with the tour. They are very very good business people.
You've got yah sir at the piff. They're in business.
I mean, these are some of the smartest business people

(29:58):
on the planet. And if you look at the decisions
that they're making on a daily basis from a business standpoint,
and some of the things that they're able to do
in the business world, and some of the decisions that
they're making and merging companies and coming out with new products.
To me, it seems like there isn't a solution because
they don't want one. Because with all of the smart

(30:20):
people that we have, it just continues to amaze me
that with all these smart people and these business people
and people like Jimmy Dunn and people you know from
SSG and the people that I've met you know in
Saudi from a business standpoint as well, I just I
think there's a lot of people that just don't want peace,

(30:42):
that they don't want this to come together, and it
seems like there's a faction of people that want this
divide to continue. Do you do you get that feeling?

Speaker 2 (30:53):
I hope not. I hope you're wrong. I can see
way you can think that way. As a first of all,
it's backtrack a little. I don't think Jimmy Dunn gets
new enough credit for what he did. Someone had to
go talk to the southeast. Someone had to go. He
was the guy. Jimmy loves golf, he's bizarre at seminole,
he's a remember Augusta and all of these, And I
commend Jimmy for doing it. They've kind of pushed him
beside now, even though he tried to make the attempt

(31:16):
to make some things happen. I just think that now
the players seem to be running the tour. Okay? Is
that good or bad? Well, professional tour players aren't businessmen.
That isn't good that they're running the tour. They need
to have structure ahead of them. They need to have
Do we need a new commissioner? I would say we

(31:36):
probably do, to be honest with you, because I don't
think the players trust this commissioner. Is there anybody that
would be great at that? Sure? I have my opinion
on guys that I think would be a great commissioner.
They're probably not going to do it. But we got
to have some kind of some kind of backbone and
some people to say, hey, look, I may not agree
with this one hundred percent, but what's in the best
interest of the game of golf. Let's get together, let's

(31:58):
make it happen. I hope that you're wrong on the
packs and the people are saying, no, we don't want
to make it happen. We like the divide. I hope
that's passed. Three years ago, I could understand that because
there was a lot of Burgo hostility between the tours.
I hope that that's gone now because I think we
need to go and try and be positive on all
ends and let's make this work.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
What would you envision professional golf looking like in twenty
twenty five if you could draw it up, what would
be your vision of Okay, this is what you would
like to see happen from the tour standpoint, from live standpoint,
from all of the various tours around the world, and
then from what the majors are going to be doing

(32:41):
as well. Would what would be your wish list of
where we are in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
I would like to see the three tours get together
form a end of the season events. You can take
four events, six events, whatever you want to take for
the best seventy players in the world, no matter what
tour they come off of play for fifty million dollars
an event or something like that, and I think the
Savage could make that happen. But it's a combination of

(33:09):
everybody has a chance to play in this and it's
the end of the season. True world championships. Though. I
mean that to me sounds very reasonable and it's so
logical that'll probably never happen, because, like you say, there
are people that are trying to make it not happen.
I actually think claud if the commissioner three years ago
had taken Yastra's phone call, we might have already had

(33:31):
that because I don't think Yonser wanted to own all
of golf in the world. He wanted to be part
of it. I mean, you know him very well, you
and I have had this conversation. I think he wanted
to be part of the process. He could have been
a phenomenal part of the process, just to make what
I just said happen. Can you imagine at the end
of the year, in the silly season, when football is
going on and all this other stuff, World Series and Baseball,

(33:54):
all this stuff is going on, that all of a sudden,
we've got six events, say six weeks in a row.
Pick a number you want. One hundred players, seventy players,
seventy five players, the best players in the world, come
all over the world. Have a criteria to bring the
best all of the world together for a huge prize money.
Make it. If you win the thing, you get eight

(34:15):
nine million dollars, we give you charity five million dollars
or something like that. Make it something that people would
care about and want to watch, and actually they would
turn it on even when there's a football game on.
They say, holy smokes, this is something special. Look at
who we got playing in this thing. Look where they're playing.
They're playing all over the world. They're the best courses
in the world and all these countries. This is what
people want to see. This is what it's all. Why

(34:37):
do you think that the NFL and all these are
going they're playing games in Germany and England and stuff
because people want to see them play. Well, golf's no different.
People want to see these people play.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah, we just got back from you know, Australia and Singapore,
and the crowds that turned out in Australia it was unbelievable.
They just know they've never seen that. Yeah, it's many
good people. The golf courses Dad in Australia, the sand
Belt golf courses, they're just they are just so good.
The design, the bunkering in Australia and those sand Belt

(35:11):
and we you know the Grange where they played the
live event isn't one of the superstar I mean Royal
Adelaide's right across the street, which they say is really good.
But I just love to where there are these green
complexes and the bunkers are basically on the green. There's
these deep runoffs, steep faces and it just it allows

(35:32):
for so much shot making. I know you've been down
there a number of times. The golf courses are just
so cool down there in Australia.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
I've fighted a lot of that, especially in the sand Belt.
I've fighted a lot of those golf courses with a
great tom Crow, my good friend. We go over and
play them. The bunker is phenomenal. I mean, it reminds
me of Tilly Hassen wing Fort, the deep bunkers with
steep slopes. The beauty that I love about the golf
courses in Australia is the banks are very firm and
everything goes down into the flat of the bunker. If

(36:01):
you notice the only rate the flat part of the bunker,
because that's where all the balls end up. Very seldom
do you see one stick in the bank. It can
happen if they've had some rain and stuff. But their
golf courses are beautiful. But there's great golf courses all
over the world, I mean in great parts of the
world that would love to see an event like we're
talking about. And then they would, You couldn't. You'd have

(36:23):
to stop selling tickets so many people would want to
go see the day. Let's get these three tours, Let's
get PGA Tour Live, Let's get dp World Tour. Get
off your ass, and let's make some of this happen.
Let's sit down and talk about it. New haters got
to stop hating. The hate. Time is over. With lives

(36:43):
not going anywhere, it's going to be here, and they're
putting a good product on the I don't necessarily agree
with the fifty four holes. I wish they'd go to
seventy two holes. I don't necessarily agree with the shotguns start,
although the players like it, because then whether it's not
a problem he's on of course, at one time. The
team thing is I'm sure it's fun, but it's very

(37:04):
confusing when you're trying to watch it because they start
talking about this and that. But I think there's a
way to continue along and everybody get along, and there's
just different aspects that each tour has. It's really good
and let's put all these aspects together and let's create something. Well.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
I think you know, if you think about what they
did with PGA too or you right, I mean lud
big Oberg, I mean, who was just so impressive at
Augusta this year, finished in second. I mean last year
at this time he was playing college golf and now
he is was he seven in the world. The PGA
what they did with the PGA Tour, you which was
giving you know, a ranking system to college players everybody.

(37:43):
I mean, obviously, I think the PGA Tour did that
one hundred percent to try and counteract believe money trying
to take the best college players. But I mean that
is something that everybody in the professional game has thought
that needed to happen for the last fifteen years, right,
I mean, the players coming out of the college golf
system now are amazing. But what I find interesting is

(38:04):
we can't figure out how to get live World ranking
points because it's fifty four holes, there's no cut. Individual
team doesn't seem to be a pathway on that is
college golf. College golf is fifty four holes, there's no cut,
there's a team and individual winner every week. I can't
pick up if you're seventeen years old, you can't pick
up the phone and call John Fields at the University

(38:24):
of Texas and say I want to play golf at
the University of Texas. He's going to tell you, well,
we would have to recruit you, and you can't just
come qualify for our team. He basically every week through qualifying.
How many times college golfers of you coach that said, yeah,
I finished second qualifying or third and qualifying, but they
didn't take me this week. So the coach picks the team,

(38:45):
and then if you're really good and you're going to
go to Stanford, they're going to pay for you to
go to school there. So if they can figure out
how to get somebody out of that system directly onto
the PGA Tour.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Like you said, there's got to be I can't the
PGA Tour for doing that. I mean they're protectical shelf
I got at all for the tour doing I thought
it was a great idea. I think the stumbling block
for LIVE is fifty four holes. I really do. I
get it. They wanted to be different. I know that
l IV stands for fifty four and renumes. I get
all the coalition with that. I don't have a problem

(39:19):
with the team stuff. The guys seem to like it.
They seem to enjoy it. I mean, we have Ryder
Cup teams and international teams and President's Cup, so we
have team events. But I don't blame the PGA Tour
for doing that. I see where your argument would be,
But I just think that the fifty four hole is
a crutch. I think if you went to seventy two
holes and maybe seventy players or so, because these events

(39:43):
that go on with seventy players in it and no cuts,
I mean, that would be the same thing as what
LIVES doing. You know, designated to me makes sense. I
just think the world ranking, the way it's run, I
never understood it anyway it was. I mean I didn't
go to MIT, I went to know it, so I
mean I couldn't understand what the hell that I had

(40:04):
the guy at de Roll County down. We were having
lunch one day and we were talking about it, and
he was trying to explain it to me, and I
was a deer in the headline frond me. I said, look,
I'm very sorry, but I have no idea what the
hell you're talking about. Okay, I wasn't very good in school.
I didn't like school. If I wasn't a good athlete,
I couldn't have got through school. So I mean, you're
talking to the wrong guy with me, Pale, You're you're

(40:25):
pissing into the win because you're getting it all over
yourself because I have no idea what you're talking about.
So they got to come up with And I don't
think the players have any idea of how it works either.
I mean when I look down to live players and
I see that Patrick Reed is ninety two in the
world ranking. These are major champions I mean Cam Smith

(40:46):
fifty six. He took major championship d Chambeau. He's one
hundred and seventeen. Dustin Johnson is three hundred and seventy
ninth in the world ranking. The guys one major championships.
Bill Michelson just won one a few years ago and
he's one hundred and fifty eighth. What kind of system
is this ideal? What the hell this is? I mean,
come on, let's get a system that works. How about
to get a system. As my dad used to say,

(41:06):
that the guys that shoot the low scores win, that's
the system. The best players in the world are the
ones that are shooting the lower scores. I don't give
a damn what you're ranking as a two year ranking
in all that bullshit. You if you're if you're shooting
good scores and you're winning, that's white. You're good. I
don't give it damn where you're playing.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
And that goes back to the eye test that we
were talking about. Right, you know you know the best,
You know who the best players in the world are. Right,
the ranking system is the ranking system. But those of
us that are lucky enough to be in professional golf,
that that are lucky enough to still work with good players,
you know who the best players in the world are.
When somebody goes, oh, he's one of the best players

(41:43):
in the world, you're gonna if you're looking at the record,
how many tournaments they've won, how many majors they're won.
You might say, yeah, okay, he's he's had a good
year and he's finished second a lot, but he hasn't
really won a lot of golf tournaments. The eye test,
I think is important in the ranking system. One question
I've got to ask you, going back to Rory McRoy.

(42:04):
You'll be eighty one in August. You've been lucky enough
to work with the greatest players of the modern generation
and stuff, but you know you're eighty When Rory McElroy
calls you, does it does it get you excited? Does
it make you go? Man? Roy McRoy just called me
and asked me for help. As an instructor who's been

(42:25):
in the game for so long and worked with so
many great players, does it still kind of give you
that buzz in your stomach that when a great player
like Rory wants your opinion on something, does it?

Speaker 2 (42:35):
Does it?

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Does it still have that same feeling that it's always
had for you?

Speaker 2 (42:40):
You're Dave Daz. I'm honored that he would think that
the calling he's done it before. This was in the
first time we've done it, and there's a lot of
them that have done it. You know, Jordan's done a
JP's done all the best players in coma Cakey just
want to hear something different, or maybe they want to
hear you tell them something that they'd missed him something,
but you don't. I love it when he It was
like when Ricky called me back when he when we

(43:02):
hadn't been together for three years. And I love that
that he had the confidence in my ability as a
as a as an instructor and a coach. And there
are two different things to be honest with you, but
it makes you makes you feel good, because, wow, these
guys still have faith in me. I may be eighty,
but I've still got these two track mans right here
that work pretty damn good. These blue things that you're
looking at right here, that's what these are my track

(43:24):
mans right here. And they've worked pretty good for about
the last forty years with these guys. So yes, I was.
I was humble, and I got a big smile on
my face, if you want to know. And I couldn't
wait for him to get here because I already had
an idea. You know me, I've watched every great player
in the world, and I have a memory bank and
golf swings in my head that I've seen everybody play

(43:46):
So if a guy were to call me, I've never
worked before, I guess what I've watched it play though.
If I've ever had an idea what I thought you
could do? Yeah, I think I could help you. And
in Rory's case was it wasn't difficult what he needed
to do. We had some good, good conversations about how
to handle majors and the deal deals and how you
approach majors and how you go about it and so

(44:07):
you know, so I loved every minute of it.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
How much did you yell at him? How much did
you did you put him in the office and and
and get on him a little bit?

Speaker 2 (44:18):
I didn't really get on him. We sat down in
the office, we had a conversation with by our families
and stuff, and then we started talking about major championships.
And I tried to explain to him, because I've had
a lot of successful guys that have won a lot
of major championships, about how they went about processing the
major championships, not just this is before we got into
his mechanics of his swings, of the things I thought

(44:40):
he should do. I wanted to talk about Augusta and
the very majors. We talked about preparation leading up, how
you handle it, who you live with when you're there,
Do you get there too early, get there later? Do
you know? And I just explained how everybody did it differently,
and then then I'd laid out to myself and he says,
so what do you Because he had gone to Bay

(45:01):
Hill and made twenty six birdies and finished like twenty
he had gone the next tournament. He's missing greens in
the left bunker with wedges and nine acts. And I
explained to him why. And I explained to him, Look,
you've got a golf swing that's built to drive the ball.
You're the best driver in the game since I've seen,
since Greg Norman drove. I said, you're You're a phenomenal driver.

(45:21):
I said. The problem is you hit your web shots
with your driver's swing. Got this big, old long swing
and this big ol' follow through. The ball's too high
in the air. I said, I need to show you
how to hit three quarter shots. Bring the ball flight
down so one bounce and stops the donecom roaring back
off of greens. Because of the height you're taking it
in there, you'll control the distance better. I explained to
him how he would do it. Then I said, look,

(45:43):
you're going to have to put your own take on it,
on how you do it. But and and so far,
you know, he's done a nice job up and I
can't say, yeah, he's not doing everything that we talked about,
but he's picking the parts that he thinks he can
do right now, and he's playing better. He's more consistent
now every week he's right up there again, which is
what we want to see.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
I mean, you worked with, you worked with two of
the biggest alpha's probably the professional game has ever seen,
in Greg Norman and Tiger Woods. They had everything. They
had every shot, they had everything that you could do.
When you look at Rory Dad and you look at
his game, not just the way that he plays golf,

(46:25):
the toolbox he has, where do you rank him out
of all the players that you've seen, Because I think
he's one of, if not the best players I've ever seen.
I mean, he's to me, he is as close to
Tiger and Greg as you can probably get from having everything.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Well, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say he's is close to Tiger.
I don't think anybody's close to Tiger. There's only one
Tiger Woods. I mean, let's just tell him like it is.
Greg Norman doesn't get the credit for how great he
was because the only one two Mays, because he had
the backles and other ones a lot of them are
his all the love weren't his fault. And we're judged
on major championship but Rory's got four of them, so

(47:05):
he's he knows how to win major championships. He won them,
he knows how to do it. I put Rory right
there with one of the best players of all time.
I don't think. I don't think yet. His game management
is as anywhere as near as good as Jackson Tigers.
Greg had the Australian mentality. He was an Arnold Palmer,

(47:27):
a gopher, broke of everything, and a lot of times
he let his ability to have all that talent get
in his way. And I think Rory has done that
in the past few years. And I think he's getting
away from that now. He's starting to understand his own
game a little better, you know, So we'll see what happens.
But he is truly one of the best players he's
ever lived. I mean, you can't say he isn't. Look

(47:49):
at his record.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Going to the PGA. Give me some dark horses you
think could play well. I mean, obviously, I think everybody's
going to be looking at Scotty. I think everybody's going
to be looking at Rory Brooks. Having just won again,
He's going in there with a bunch of confidence. I
was with him today. He's back to really feeling like
he's playing good. He wasn't happy with the way he

(48:12):
played at the Masters, so I think he's going to
be somebody they'll talk about. But give me some of
the other players that you think could have a chance
this week.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Well, I think the young Aberg kid. I'm not sure
I'm pronounced his name right. I think he's phenomenal. I
think he does. He have the length of time that
I have learned how play and win a major.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
Only second major.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Yeah, I think the guy who plaies under the radar
the most, who hasn't won one, and it's hard to
believe it's Tommy Fleetwood. And I don't say that just
because I work with him. I just know his game
so well and how good he is. And you know,
he could have won the Open Championship last year, he
could have won the US Open Championship. He put himself
in those positions. The putts didn't quite fall for him.

(48:56):
He played beautifully Augusta, finished tied for third at Augusta.
If he puts it all as good as as Steph
or that he would have been right there. Given him
a chance. I think Tommy is a dark horse that
you can look at. If I'm looking at some of
these other players, you can't leave out Patrick Cantley because
he's a good ball striker. He's a strange guy, but

(49:17):
yet he has the talent to do it. Max Holm's
got the talent to do it. If I look at
some of the live guys that are playing there, Cam Smith,
you've already said the rom we know, books, we know.
If Terrell Hadden can keep a cool ahead about himself,
I love it. I love this guy. I got to
say something about Terrel Haffen. Terrel Hadton is what the

(49:39):
game needs right now. The game. The PGA Tour, for example,
to me, these young players are so good, but the
tour is driven by superstars and characters we don't really have.
Steph was a superstar, but he doesn't have that charisma
the other staff. Terrel Hadden's got it, man, He's got
the other I was there. There's a few more like that.

(50:01):
I'm not saying that we need to keep a microphone
around him all the time. But he hits a bad shot.
But Doug gun Tom Bitch is entertaining.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
And how much does Tyroll Houghton reminds you of yourself
when you played the tour?

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Well, his demeanor reminds me of itself. Not this talent
that I entered into, that talent. I love the guy
and as you know, off the course, he's a nice guy.
He just is passionate about what he does. And when
he goes into these rent and ravens, it's usually about himself,
not about anything else.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Oh no, he's not complaining about he rarely. I mean
he'll complain about hitting the flag or getting a bad break,
but normally the thing he's complaining the most about Tyrol
on the golf course is Tyrol.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Yeah, and you look at you look at Bryson. Bryson
is an odd duck. But Bryson's a hell of a player.
I mean, you in the US Open, the Wing Poot,
you can play golf. I'll tell you that. But see,
we don't have these kind of guys anymore. We don't
have these these out of the box kind of guys.
We got a whole bunch of clones. It all look
the same, beautiful golfers, and I'm not taking it away
from them, because they're phenomenal golfers. But the problem is

(51:05):
you turn on the television and a normal PGA tour
even and you look at the top ten, you may
only know one or two of these people because the
really superstars haven't played that well at various times, so
people turn it off, they go to something else. We
need these guys that are a little bit of a character.
I mean we had it in the old days. I
mean you still have it on the Champions there toe

(51:26):
with John Dadley. People love John tile John Dailey's you know,
poor guy, you can't get out of his own way.
He's a tremendous talent. But we need stuff like that.
We need characters, and I think the Living has kind
of brought that in with the music and the way
the guys have a good time out there and stuff.
So there's a lot of things that I think need
to happen in professional golf. But I think the overall

(51:48):
first thing is we got to get all the best
players playing in the same event that we're going to
have that next week at Valhalla, and quite honestly, I
can't wait to see what's going to happen.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Lastly, we'll see Tiger Woods hopefully again next week at Valhalla.
We saw him play at Augusta. What do you think
we'll get from t Dove? I mean, is are we
going to continue to get more of what we saw
at Augusta to where you can obviously see that he'll
have a day where he's fresh and looks like he
has all the shots and looks like he's in command,

(52:19):
and then halfway through the next round, it's like there's
an expiry date on his body and his body just
gives out on him. And you're thinking, man, if he
can just finish this round and somehow finish this tournaments,
it's a win and a success for him.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Well, let's just tell it like it is. Anytime Tiger
Woods plays, we like it because we don't know what's
going to happen. We all know Tiger Woods. If he
shows up to play, he's going to tell you I'm
there because I think I have a chance to win.
The downside is Claudie can't walk. Can he walk? Seventy
two holes so far has proven that he can't. And
that's a sad thing for me because I hate seeing

(52:56):
Tiger Woods as great as he was, and really he
seems to put a lot of work on his golf swing.
I like the way he's swinging the club with what
he's dealing with with his legs. He figured out how
to offset that a little bit. So the talent level
is still there. It's Tiger Woods. There's nobody's ever had
more talent in the world. Look play golf with Tiger Woods.
The problem is you got to walk seventy two holes.
And he just hasn't proved to himself. Forget proven anything

(53:20):
to us. He didn't prove anything to us. We know
how great he was. I just hate seeing him going
out there suffering and try and make himself believe he
can still do this when I'm not sure he even
believes he can walk seventy two holes. But we're gonna
get it. We're going to get a look at it
and see if he can. And you, you and I
have been at Valhalla before. It's hilly. There's a lot

(53:40):
of hills and a lot of up and down there,
and that's wearing tear on him. But if he shows up,
I know Tiger Woods, and I'm never gonna ever say
he can't do something, because that was what I used
to challenge him with in the ten years I work
with him. When I really wanted him to do something,
I just tell him he couldn't do it. So let's
move on to something else. What you mean I can't
do it? I told you probably come it would take

(54:00):
a long time. No, let's show it to me. So
you know, he's got his mind believing that he can,
and he's used after his strength his whole career. I
just hope if he shows up, he could be healthy
and he can enjoy his time out there. The fans
love him, they love having him back. Television loves having
him back once again. We'll just have to see what happens.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Well, he famously won in a playoff at Valhall against
Bob May. You were working with him then, what do
you remember? What do you remember about that week?

Speaker 2 (54:33):
Oh? I just remember the back nine that he played
and then the playoff bollst I mean it was just amazing.
I mean, you got to hit it to Bob May.
Bob made it everything right. Bob May did not lose
the PGA Tiger Woods just beat him. And to lose
the Tiger Woods, there's no excuse. But Bob Mayde made
some great pots and hit some great shots. He'll be

(54:55):
remembered the fact that the Tiger won. But to me,
and I was doing the broadcast for the Sky, I
was there at the time, bomb he was amazing. Tiger
coming down the stretch was amazing. I mean the putts
he made on seventeen, punting made on the last hole
coming down that hill with that slider was unbelievable. After
coming beautiful bunker shot coming out. I mean, there was

(55:15):
some some cool stuff going on there. Valhalla is special.
I remember the Ryder Cup when your man Anthony Kim
who now on LIB was playing Sergio Garcia and that
what was at the fourteenth hole or something? He won
the hole of clothing. No, he won. He's racing for
the next team, and Jose Riya, one of the vice captains,
had to say, no, hey, k wait a minute, you

(55:37):
won the match. So there's I've got some cool memories
at Valhalla, and I think we're going to see some
more next week at least, I hope.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
So all right, Well, great talking to you, I think
the stuff you're doing with Rory, yeah, I mean, if
he'll listen to you with the WEDG stuff, I mean,
it'll definite help him because he's I mean, he's seventy
seventh and in starts gained approach. You can't win made
if you're Rory McElroy and be in the seventies in
in hitting greens, you've got to be one of When

(56:06):
Rory McElroy is playing his best, he is an elite
iron player, and I think the work that you're trying
to do will help him get back there. Thanks for
talking to us. Always good to talk to you, and
I'll give you some updates from the PGA.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
All right, Thanks having man, Love you, buddy.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
So some really good takes from Butcher there, And as
I said in the in the opening, I mean the
life that he has lived in the game of golf
and the players that he's been lucky enough to work with.
I thought he it's second to none, the record that
he has, how many players he's helped win major championships.
And I thought he also, you know, said some really

(56:50):
good things, some clear thinking things about you know, the
game of golf. In twenty twenty four, live the PGA Tour,
wear all the shakes out stuff like that. So always
good to get his views on things. And PGA Championship
I can't wait for its start. Should be a good
week Valhalla. Lots of storylines. Does Scotti Scheffler get another

(57:14):
major championship? Can Rory get his first in ten years?
I mean this is the last time he got one
was in fourteen at Valhalla. Can John Rahm get another one?
Can Brooks Keepker get another one? Can Max Homa and
some of the guys that don't have one, can they
get there first? Some great storylines. I think the majors
are the most important events in professional golf at the moment,

(57:37):
regardless of what side of this debate you're on. But
it seems to be the time that we're getting the
best players from all the various tours. I think hats
off to the guys Seth Wall and the guys at
the PJ of America for giving invites out. I think
it's time that we try and find a way to
make all this work as supposed to, try and find
a way to make it not work. Son of which

(57:58):
comes to you most Wednesdays, We will definitely see you
next week,