What went down: THEY’RE BAAAAAACKKKKKKKKKKK! We bring you a post Tourist Sauce, post Pebble crew of Soly, TC and KVV this Monday, ready to tackle a weather-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and more stories from the golf week.
Wyndham Clark sets course record 60 in “final round” at Pebble Beach
The trio jumps into Wyndham’s historical round, but first – this is the seventh time Pebble has encountered some chaotic weather at this time of year. Tradition aside, does positioning the West Coast swing at this time make sense? That said, the adjustments to the Pro-Am format in capitalizing on a football-less weekend had the makings of a great week for the PGA Tour – until the inevitable came through.
He vaulted 22 places up the leaderboard on Saturday, which included two eagles. TC says it doesn’t count given that preferred lies were in effect.
They also go into the supposed observation that Wyndham intentionally manipulated the ground for his drop. Pebble’s epically soft greens warrant The Ripper Magoo Invitational title from Soly still applies.
TC calls for everyone to stop using Ludvig’s last name, and notes Ludvig’s improved putting on poa — calls this a “BDE win”...despite finishing second.
(35:40) Discussing Rory’s two-shot penalty over an improper drop rule.
(39:30) Wyndham on why he didn’t go to LIV, and how he didn’t shy away from sharing what his intentions were before and after he made the decision to stay.
(42:30) On the Rory-Spieth exchange: Rory apparently removed himself from group chat of some of the top players and had a one-hour call with Rory McIlroy after he made some comments signaling that the PGA Tour inking a deal with the PIF might not be necessary. Sounds like the last exec board meeting at Kappa Alpha Golf.
(50:00) Are the players really that committed to putting the fans first? (Props to anyone who joined live on the range Tuesday/Wednesday!) It’s not easy to get a player to sit down for an interview, KVV notes – and there’s a lot of scheduling snafus, issue, etc. but there’s a desperate need to connect the fans more deeply to the players they’re watching on TV.
Soly points out that initiative might not be the only narrow focus for the SSG guys – they might be asset-hunting ex. Pebble Beach, LPGA. There’s a lot more marketability for golf that exists outside of the PGA Tour vacuum.
More Pebble insights: Tom Brady’s Entourage reference (that the guys initially miss) and Soly reviews Neil’s Beluga Big Board.
Niemann wins at Mayakoba, but does LIV really have its moment?
(1:12:00) Joaquin Niemann wins LIV Mayakoba after a, uh, lukewarm thrilling. Since the court of public opinion is second-choicing LIV, the guys got to dive a little deeper – but was this actually an apt replacement? Additive at all? Mayakoba as a venue isn’t super attractive, and despite some of the most needle-moving stars in golf being lured away, it points back to the idea that fragmentation isn’t doing anything for golf.
(1:29:40) Soly does a great job of ratio’ing the top LIV players to PGA Tour players in the top players in the world via DataGolf.
LIV also announces its “Any Shot, Any Time” feature as a collaboration with Google? Slated to debut this summer. Soly claims he is in wait-and-see mode.
Other golf headlines: Bernhard Langer, Dylan Frittelli
(1:48:00) Bernhard Langer tears his achilles and will miss what was poised to be his final Masters.
Dylan Frittelli wins the Bahrain Championship on the DP World Tour on the brink of a tough year – when he was on the verge of quitting golf altogether.
The guys wrap with some light commentary on the Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland withdrawals.
No live show on Super Bowl Sunday, but you can expect a Waste Management to hit your podcast feed by Monday morning.
Best take: (1:28:00) KVV, I agree. There’s a little too much thirst trapping on the part of LIV in the implicit and explicit validation seeking. If it’s so good, why are the pro-LIV folks so thirsty for our fandom?
Worst take: (1:33:00) I agree with TC’s larger point that LIV should be luring more promising rising college stars – and that they’re a way better ROI – however, throwing a stray at the allegedly fluke-y U.S. Amateur was wrong. You reached and grabbed two fairly fluke-y examples from 2029/21. It’s started to defeat the fluke allegations in the past two years!
Quotables: (1:03:50) (On Neil’s Beluga Big Board) “I don’t even think he knew, either. It was kind of a vibe – if you came by the range and said hello, he probably bumped you up ten spots on the vibe list.” -Soly
“I asked the lady, I said, ‘Hey, is it crazy for me to get two soups?’ And she says ‘No, actually, that’s not crazy at all. Some guy was in here a few weeks ago and he got three soups.’” -TC
Ads: (3:30) This recap is presented by High Noon! Track down the Snowbird pack nearest you on Drizly, at your local convenience store, or liquor store. You can find all locations at the High Noon website.
(4:05) This episode is brought to you by our friends at Titleist, the choice of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am champion Wyndham Clark!
(1:11:30) At AT&T, connecting changes everything.