Step inside the ropes with us, Frank Bassett, at the redefined AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where the game's elite face off on the hallowed grounds of Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill. Feel the sea breeze and the competitive tension as Justin Rose defends his title against the likes of Justin Thomas, and where a smaller, more intimate field promises a more riveting contest. This episode peels back the layers of what makes a tournament not just good, but great, from the weather's sway over play to those undeniable moments when golf transcends sport and becomes theater.
Step inside the ropes with us, Frank Bassett, at the redefined AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where the game's elite face off on the hallowed grounds of Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill. Feel the sea breeze and the competitive tension as Justin Rose defends his title against the likes of Justin Thomas, and where a smaller, more intimate field promises a more riveting contest. This episode peels back the layers of what makes a tournament not just good, but great, from the weather's sway over play to those undeniable moments when golf transcends sport and becomes theater.
This is PGA Tour Countdown Music. Hello everybody, frank Bassett, joining you for this edition of PGA Tour Countdown. It is the 2024 PGA Tour Season and we're already into the second signature event, the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. This is a designated event or signature event I'm sorry, signature event. It's just hard. It's been so many different things since we started this stuff.
Speaker 1:Anyway, it's Pebble Beach, it's the old Crosby clam bake, but it's remade, totally remade. The field is smaller, much smaller. You've got 49 of the 50 players in the field. The top 50 or so are there. It's 80 players, 80 players and then, of course, the celebrities amateurs, whatever you want to call them. The clam bake is not the clam bake. It is a $3.6 million first place finish plus 700 FedEx Cup points event, versus a total of $20 million. Justin Rose, of course, is your defending champion and we're only playing two of the courses of the three we used to play Because of the smaller field, because of it being a signature event. The celebrities amateurs, whatever you want to call them, are only going to play Thursday and Friday. After that, they're gone, they're out, and Saturday and Sunday will be the final two rounds, with only the professionals, the Pebble Beach golf links and the Spyglass Hill golf course are the two courses Gone is Monterey Peninsula no longer in the rotation, if you will.
Speaker 1:So it's going to be a great event going to be a lot of fun, going to be a lot different than it ever has been. You have some players making their debut here this week in the field the tournament debut, I should say Scotty Scheffler, Albae Berg, Dunlap, Rio Hatton, Hogard, Tom Kim, Hadecki, Matsuyama, Taylor Montgomery, Kalamakara, Pavel last week's winner and Cameron Young. So, again, a little bit different than it's been in the past, but it's still Pebble Beach. The weather report has been horrendous so far. So far, we dodged a little bit of a bullet this week, but it looks like it's going to get progressively worse.
Speaker 1:Well, what I want to do is jump right into it and let you hear it. It's been a big week. Of course, as you well know, PGA Tour Enterprise has announced that they have entered into an agreement not with PIV, and we'll talk more about that on Golf Talk America. That's the show for that conversation, but there's a lot of news. We would ask you to listen to Golf Talk America this week. It'll be coming out over the weekend with some special guests, but we have some interviews from the Media Center and we're going to jump in with, I think, Jordan Spieth, Roy McElroy and Justin Thomas. So, with that being said, let's get right to it.
Speaker 3:Good morning everyone. We would like to welcome Justin Thomas here to the Media Center at the AT&T Pebble Beach program. Justin, making your second start here and first since 2014. Saw, thanks to a picture from Doug Ferguson, that you got out to practice around. Just want to start off with some comments. What it's like to be back.
Speaker 4:Glad to know Doug knows how to work his camera. Yeah, it's hard to believe when you see this place, like it was yesterday and today, that the weather can get as bad as it looks like it's going to get. Yeah, there's arguably no place better in the world when it's like this at Pebble Beach and, yeah, I've enjoyed being here. It's been an unfortunate kind of timing or slot in the schedule for past years while I haven't come back. I just have always been someone who, after learning my first two years at 4-in-1-0 is not my cup of tea. It's not good for me to do and that and Torrey Pines it just. It was an event I haven't been able to come to in past and I'm very happy to be here in terms of playing well enough to make it my first elevated event of the year and feel like I'm playing well, so I'm excited to get going.
Speaker 3:I'm going off saying you're playing well. T3 at the American Express playing in the final group. How are you feeling entering the week?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I feel great. I'm excited to get going, I'm excited for this year. I've been working really, really hard and I just I feel like I'm in a great space mentally and physically and yeah, it just it's fun, you know, being in competition and being in the heat at the moment. I didn't play as well as I would have liked on Sunday and in Palm Springs, but it was still a huge step in the right direction and I do feel, like you know, some winds are coming here soon, so I just got to keep my head down and keep pushing.
Speaker 3:Perfect, that will open up with questions. If you have a question, raise your hand and we'll get a microphone over to you. We'll get a microphone over to Alex.
Speaker 5:What's it like? Last year? You talked about how hard you were working as well, and obviously sometimes it just didn't get the results out of it. What is the difference? What is it that you feel like has changed that you are now actually getting the results from your hard work?
Speaker 4:I'd say, working on the correct things.
Speaker 4:I think I well I know that I got into some bad habits swing-wise last year and I mean, to be perfectly honest, I think it just took a little bit of time to get out of some of those.
Speaker 4:Just for me personally, I felt like I compare a lot and look a lot at old swing videos and current and try to. I mean, I understand that things change and body changes or so on and so forth, but I still know that there's certain characteristics that kind of make my swing what it is, at least when it's when I'm swinging. Well, I got pretty far away from those last year so it honestly just took some time to kind of get that muscle memory out and it just took a lot of reps and then, once I feel like it got into a better place, it can get more consistent and then with that comes more positivity, more confidence in myself, more belief in myself, and then I'm able to work on the things that kind of have made me succeed over my career in terms of distance control and my iron game and stuff like that. So, yeah, it's just like always, it's just the part of that ongoing process that we play in golf.
Speaker 3:I'll keep it with Alex.
Speaker 5:Just to follow up A lot of times guys are searching or chasing something. They get to a level and they want to try to get better and they start doing different things. Was that your case when you were talking about doing some different things?
Speaker 4:Definitely it was. You know, of course I would love to look back and I do look back and I would love to go back in time and wish I didn't maybe push for some of those changes. But at the same time, I mean I look at it as a great learning experience. And it was just I felt like my hands and my arms were starting to get higher and higher and higher, and I didn't necessarily love that, I felt like it just was. It wasn't great, but at the end of the day, I think I unfortunately just didn't like the way that it looked and again, that's something that kind of makes my swing what it is.
Speaker 4:I've always had very high hands and I'm steeper and whatnot. So that was an example of me chasing something that I probably didn't need to. And I mean, my dad and I both kind of when we got together and talked to whether it was last year, end of the year, we both realized that was something that we both should have noticed or not pursued. But yeah, like anything, we learned from it and plan to not make that mistake again.
Speaker 3:We have Dave in the back and then we'll get a microphone over to Brody in the front.
Speaker 6:Good morning, justin. I think you played your last, probably 2019 US Open. What do you remember about Pebble Beach? What did you like about it? What were the, I guess, the challenges that you found?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I really like Pebble. I think it's obviously very situational and how it plays in terms of if it's firm or if it's like it is now, it plays incredibly different during the US Open in June than it does for this tournament this time of year. So that plays quite a bit easier. Shorter, it's not as much of a necessity to hit it to the fat part of the green. You can get away with more when it's this soft, but it's still. The greens are very, very small. They're very undulated. With it being softer, the green the poan is going to be a little bumpier. It's going to be harder to make putts, but I think all of us understand that.
Speaker 4:But I like the layout. I think it's a place that I know you can make a lot of birdies. I think it plays to strengthen my game in terms of distance control and being able to take spin off of the ball with short irons into these very spinny, severe greens. That's something I enjoy doing. I'm pretty sure there's no cut this week. I'm excited to make my first cut at this tournament because I missed in 2014 and missed in 2019.
Speaker 6:I think I can knock that one off, obviously you only played here the one time in the AT&T, but do you like this idea now of smaller fields signature event here, the changes to it? I mean I do. I think it's.
Speaker 4:I know the practice rounds are a lot better. I remember practice round in 2014 taking nine holes, taking about three and a half hours. Rick and I went and played 18 yesterday in about four and a half and we chipped and putted every hole and hit some extra shots. I think that partit's more enjoyable for everybody that's here. I understand that it's unfortunate for a lot of people that have either been supportive of the event whether it be financially or showing up or sponsoring whatever it may be that may not have been able to play this year. I mean, that's obviously unfortunate and I don't wish that could happen, but I think, for the sake of the tournament and also especially, you get a week like this week where the weather doesn't look very good. It's asking for some very, very long days in a very likely Monday finish and just a total scramble. So I think it's going to help with the flow of everything, I would say, and also gets all the best golfers in the world together and at a beautiful place.
Speaker 3:Good Doug, Then Brody.
Speaker 8:Did youhe answered the questions I had about Pavel, but I'm just curious did you as much golf as you played as a kid and your dad had a working class job? Did you guys ever take any golf vacations, you and your dad?
Speaker 4:Yeah, we took, we took some. It was we go. I mean, he would always go to like it's funny enough where we live. Now We'd go to South Florida and play in like the section events and in like December, january, and I would play quite a bit of hooky from school to the beginning of January and have a lot of homework with me. But I don't know if you consider that a golf trip, because we were kind of there for him to play in a tournament and I just got to play golf, but not really. No, he was prettyhe was busy, so anything that we did was probably not necessarily a vacation. It was more of a work trip that we were able to play golf together.
Speaker 8:Did you ever have a bucket list course that you wanted to play when you were again, when you were you?
Speaker 4:knowAgusta for sure. I think I was very fortunate to play Agusta with my dad a couple years ago and that was a very, very special day for us together, because I think I'm very fortunate with the people we've met over the years and whatnot that. I know that that's something that a lot of members there would say. That's very easy, we can do any time, but it's still very, very special to do that. You know, spend those moments like that with your dad.
Speaker 3:We have Brody.
Speaker 9:Just in your opinion. I mean, what do you look for in what makes a great tournament? Is it the historic courses? Is it the best fields? Is it, you know, relation to par and score, like what, in your mind, kind of, is a fan even makes for the best term.
Speaker 4:It's a good question and I think everybody's answer is different. I think some people that watch golf just love, you know, they want to see the best players in the world that are, you know, they want to see the number one and number two battle it out. Or maybe they want to just see. Some people just love to see carnage, especially like at a US Open. They just want to see bogeys and doubles and no birdies kind of thing.
Speaker 4:Me personally, I'm not necessarily, I'm not like super adamant that it needs to be set up a certain way. I just I think what makes a great tournament is. I think a well set up golf course is one I think you want to have. Whoever plays the best and the best players you know over four days generally will kind of make their way up to the top. And I think you know it's great when you have.
Speaker 4:You know you have a Sunday and you have 20, 25 people within three or four of the lead. And I think it's especially at a place like this where you know you can go out and shoot 63 or four on a Sunday and but you can also shoot even par just as easily, I think, to me. I like being rewarded for good golf and penalized for bad golf. So I would say it has a little to do with the golf course, but just the opportunity for a little bit of movement and and you always want someone to have to earn a victory right you don't want it to be kind of like a fluke where they maybe get away with a lot of things here and there, but you obviously can't draw that up like that all the time.
Speaker 9:And back to you, now that you have stacked kind of four or five really good starts, and how close are you kind of to where you want to be with your muscle memory, your swing?
Speaker 4:I'm very close. I think at this point it's just starting to win tournaments again and I feel like I'm very, very close to doing that and starting to do it often again. But I fully understand that just because you think that doesn't mean you deserve it or it's going to happen. I seem to keep putting myself in that position and getting a contention. I think that's what I did so often there for a handful of years and I mean it's pretty hard to win tournaments when you're either not playing the weekend or you're teeing off three or four hours before the leaders see off. Last Sunday was Paul Springs, was the first final group I played in on Sunday in a while and it was fun and that's what I'm excited to get back to. Doing more and because you know that's why all of us play is to try to win golf tournaments and win them often.
Speaker 3:So that's what I'm hoping to do hey, mk, then we'll go back.
Speaker 2:Hey, justin, with this being your 10th year on tour, I'm curious when you look at year one, what was the greatest advice you were given when you were first starting out? And then, for a guy like Nick Dunlap, what do you think after 10 years under your belt, what's the greatest advice you could give him?
Speaker 4:Well, nick is very fortunate, where his first year on tour is monumentally different than, I think, everybody's first year on tour out right now. We happened to be dinner at the same place last night. I got Sam Reeves, had some people over and Nick was there and he looked tired and he was like man, I'm so tired and I was like dude, I don't really care. You should be sleeping right now and getting ready to go to class tomorrow morning and I'm pretty sure all of your teammates would happily switch with you. So be careful. He would say that too. Just, I was needle and I'm giving him a hard time, but I think for him it's going to be, and I've told him this. I talked to him a little bit last week of just remember who he is and stay true to that. I think it's very easy for any rookie doesn't matter if they're 20, 30, or 40 when you have access to the equipment, trucks, when you have access to all these coaches, trainers, caddies, like whatever it is. It's easy to want to tinker and want to change, and everybody's different in that regard. But I just think it's important to kind of whatever he's always done, to continue to do that, because I think it's easy to get a little bit taken over by the opportunity to, like, you have all this access and and why wouldn't I kind of change and try some stuff when in Reality, that's probably not for the best For me? The best advice I heard I is I'll never forget it and I've told this to a lot of rookies on tour.
Speaker 4:It was actually from Hudson Swofford, it was in Sea Island, it was 2014. It was like my third or fourth tournament in whatever my rookie season and I'd gone miscut, miscut, mdf, and I had one whole FedEx cut point through three events and and we were. It was Saturday night and like we were just at a bar there. I wasn't playing on Sunday and I think he had missed the cut and we're kind of having some drinks, a group of us and and he's like you know I don't I don't really know what you're celebrating for.
Speaker 4:I don't know like what you're a lot of you rookies are having fun for he's like you. You you think you have your tour card. He's like you don't rookies do not have a tour card. He's like you do, but you don't have the ability to choose where you're playing. You're not in all the tournaments. He's like everybody comes out here their first year and I think they are so excited to finally have a PG tour card and they and they feel like you know they're on top of the world, when in reality you haven't earned that until you have it after that first year and I don't know why that just resonated with me that I pretty much needed to start working harder and and go out and earn it. So I Can always thank HUD for that.
Speaker 3:And we have Matt.
Speaker 11:JT, I think I saw you and Jordan headed out to Ledera. Just wanted to get your thoughts on the experience. And then, how frequently do you have a chance to do that? Play a course. That's not on the road, though, but you get out to on the road.
Speaker 4:Not very often at all, to be honest. I I people often will ask if I've if I've played courses and my response to them is, if there's not a pj tour event there, I probably haven't played it Not necessarily looking for a lot of golf trips, just that we do it enough. But a Ledera was incredible. I thought it was very, very unique and very cool. It just was. It was an unbelievable piece of property and I like I mean Gill Hans, I think, does some really cool Just design and subtleties and unique things for kind of his, I guess, vision, if you will. But I know we had a lot of fun. Jordan had particularly more fun than me because he whipped up on me that day, but yeah, it was a cool day.
Speaker 8:And bleed back over to Doug two things kind of on that nose. I remember Tiger this was probably around 07 at that time had never played seminal and never played Pine Valley. I mean a guy who could probably get on wherever he wants. What would be, for the guy doesn't take golf trips. The one course that you've not played, the you'd like to play.
Speaker 4:So it's funny you asked that because I'm actually doing it in April. I haven't played Pine Valley and I got asked by a buddy and we have a little trip that Think like seven or eight of us and it's just, we're gonna just gonna be a quick kind of day and a half and go in play and I'm excited because I've heard so many great things about it. I've there's been two times in the past where I had the opportunity to play and just things fell through and didn't. But I'm making sure that it happens this year and I'm excited.
Speaker 8:Secondly and I don't know a better way to ask this question, but just what's your reaction to Terrell hatton going to live?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I don't. I Feel like at this point I'm just Not over it. It's just kind of. It is what it is like. I think people At the end of the day I've definitely found that out Over this whole process is that people obviously are going to think about it differently than others. But there's also, you know, there's just people that they're gonna make decisions for what they think is best. And I don't that's I don't. I might disagree with maybe some of them, but I think at the end of the day, if that's what Terrell thinks is best for him, then that's what he's got to do. I obviously I'm bummed and and I'm I wish you wish he wasn't, but but you know it's not. It's not like I'm gonna call him and give him some some spiel about how he, how he shouldn't. It's just it's he's. I'm sure he's done, is I hope he's done his homework and research and feels it's the best decision.
Speaker 8:But it is what it is, I guess and then, just as a guy who's involved in the game of golf, as you are, now that the that the roster, I think is is set for the year, what kind of topics or stories do you expect to hear about live golf this year? I mean, obviously I don't get it, since anyone else can assign for the rest of the year, like we've gone through Previous years. You know who's going next type thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, I think At least like what, from what you know what Greg said, they haven't gotten anything close to what he's kind of said. I mean, it sound like you know they're gonna sign 10 or 15 people, this however many months, and haven't. But I don't, I don't know, I don't and I'm not just saying this like I don't, I don't really know enough about what's going on to even kind of give you Give a storyline. I think, at the end of the day, the, the guys that are out there, that are still, if you want to call it, kind of in their prime or can still, you know, play their best golf, I would say that their priorities are still set on the majors versus their season out there, and so I think that the, the storylines, in my opinion, will continue to be if, if those guys play well in major championships and win major championships, I think that's more of a storyline I would think then they could create on that tour.
Speaker 3:Perfect, unless there are any other questions, who's calling me? We'll go ahead and wrap things up, justin. Thanks for the time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, best of luck this week, chance of this one for my.
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Speaker 12:I started with like to welcome Jordan Spieth into the interview room here at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He's making his 12th start at this event, with six top 10 finishes and a win in 2017. And, jordan, as an AT&T ambassador, I know this tournament means so much to you. If you can talk about being back at Pebble Beach.
Speaker 13:Yes, I mean any golf lover would say this is one of the best places in the world if they've been here, and I think I said it in previous years. But the fact that you get paid to play this course and don't have to pay to play this course is a nice benefit this week and the fact that it's an elevated event I'm extremely excited about. I think the idea that you could have a few guys and three to eight guys in the world kind of top 10, 15, coming down the stretch at Pebble Beach, regardless of the conditions, would be something that would be very exciting to watch and other than the US Open, that hasn't really been possible on this event. So I think the field this week will make it possibly the best AT&T yet and I'm extremely excited about that. It looks like it'll be unfortunate with the weather for a couple of days, but you kind of got to hang in there. But this weekend, sunday, looks like the worst of it. So as long as you're anywhere near it, you'll have a chance on Sunday.
Speaker 12:And before questions, you finished solo third in Maui. Just talk a little bit about the state of your game now coming into the week.
Speaker 13:Yeah, I was excited to get off to a good start. The fact that the season technically FedEx season started in Maui makes me feel really good about a solid finish. I kind of wish that I had played in the last few weeks because the weather in Texas was kind of all time bad, but I came out to California a little early and I've been trying to kind of get my game back to where I left it in Maui and it feels really good. It's just a matter of going out and executing now. But, yeah, I'm excited about what this season can be for me. I feel like when I was in Maui I felt like when I was teeing it up I had a chance to win. I feel that way sitting here Wednesday afternoon now and it's a good feeling to know that if I go out and do what I feel I'm perfectly capable of doing, there's nothing holding me back right now. So I just got to try to get better each week.
Speaker 12:All right, thank you for that. We'll open it up to questions and we'll go to Dave in the back.
Speaker 6:Yeah, jordan, you probably could answer this better than anyone because you've played here so many more years. But does this week have a different feel to it? Does it feel elevated, signature and in some selfish way? I'm sure you're glad to have all the top players here, but you kind of had the place to yourself a little bit too.
Speaker 13:Yeah, I don't feel the latter part of that. It has a feel of it because of who I'm walking around the locker room and on the driving range and on the course scene and who I'm playing practice rounds with. You know, it's a top field and it's very cool to see that. The fact that I don't have Jake as a partner is probably the only negative, but I haven't met my partner yet and I'm sure we'll have a good time too. It's a lot of years with Jake for a change up here, and I know he's, and most of the amateurs who weren't able to come back, especially the entertainers, are bummed and are curious about what the future holds, and I don't know what that is either. But that's. The only thing I'll miss is our rounds with Jake. But I think, as you mentioned, it's just the fact that the field is what it is and we're at this place. In particular, it's to highlight the best the PGA Tour has to offer around. Pebble Beach is something that was a goal and it's nice to finally be here doing it.
Speaker 12:Alright, let's go to Brody.
Speaker 9:Jordan in terms of the deal with SSG. As a board member, I guess what is your expectation at this point of what that funding could create, what that might lead to in terms of the future of the Tour?
Speaker 13:Well, I think that the coolest your question being specifically about their funding I think the coolest thing about it is the players are now owners, so not only you know do they benefit with the Tour, they now are equity owners, so they want to push it themselves. They want to make the product better themselves Not that they didn't before, but you directly benefit from owning a piece, and so I think that part is maybe the coolest part of the funding. Obviously, having, you know, some big guns behind us, some backup and the strategically that this group offers was actually something that was very important when we were looking at it. So to have, I think it's like 200 years of sports owning experience, the idea they can help navigate, you know, our future, how content will be consumed when our next media deals are up, stuff like that. To have these partners in perpetuity is I don't think that can be overlooked.
Speaker 9:You know you talk about the funding, but really the strategies that they can have in navigating that space, I think will be very important and I think there's been some comments, like Max tweets on today also about kind of hopefully, this is an opportunity to make things better for fans and viewers and whatnot. And, just in your personal opinion, what is something that you'd like to see done to make the game better for fans?
Speaker 13:Well, I think stability, you know, would be something I think fans in general you know I don't think that it's been, I'm not actually sure because I'm not a typical fan, it's hard for me to speak on their behalf but I would say that the idea that there's been any kind of negativity within our membership, within fan-based sponsors, whatever that may be, I hope that this starts to turn the corner and recognize that, you know, we're in a place where we could be better than we've ever been as a tour.
Speaker 13:It's the premier place to play professional golf and these partners will help us continue to make it that way and will have, you know, some impact, while the membership will still have the majority of the impact on what that can look like going forward, but the fact that it'll be collective and very upfront. They want to talk to us, they want to know what we want to know. We want to know what they can do. That as just the talent, we can only go so far just playing golf. So I think that it should be extremely positive at this point that the ship's turning and it can only go the right way from here.
Speaker 12:Alright, let's go to Doug and then up to Cam.
Speaker 8:A couple things Jordan. How important is it for PIF to be involved in this whole investment?
Speaker 13:Well, they aren't involved in this investment.
Speaker 8:I thought the tour was still negotiating with what's that, the tours I mean? They said they're still negotiating with PIF.
Speaker 13:Sure, but this specific investment announced they aren't a part of, while we're still yeah, while the tour and SSG are both still in conversations about how they could going forward.
Speaker 8:How important is it for them to be involved?
Speaker 13:to be part of it. I think it just depends. I think, from where I sit, which is hopefully representing our entire membership, it matters how they feel about the entire situation and at this point, if the PIF were interested in coming in on terms that our members like and are the economic terms at, or are not beyond SSGs, and they feel it would be a good idea, then I think that's where the discussions will start. But it's going to be, you know, I think the idea is that I understand it could take some time to even come to those kind of terms and then, beyond that, you know, the Department of Justice and a regulatory review would be intact. So it would be a timely situation, but I'm not sure of the level, necessarily, of the importance, because it'll be up to our members to figure that out.
Speaker 8:Secondly, rory made a comment yesterday that he doesn't think anyone at Live wanting to come back should be punished, and I just wanted to see if you had an opinion on that.
Speaker 13:I think that I've asked a lot of players. I've done a lot of talking with a lot of players in the last couple months. That is Rory. I saw that too. That's Rory's viewpoint. I could name some guys with the same viewpoint. I can name some guys with the totally opposite viewpoint. So it's certainly mixed on how players feel about that. That's how I, that's what I think.
Speaker 12:All right Cam.
Speaker 14:Jordan. I think if you add up players, amateurs, caddies, I think there's something like 300 fewer people out there. Jt said the speed of the practice round was much better. I was wondering what other changes you've felt so far compared to a normal Pebble Beach tournament here.
Speaker 13:I think it has. I mean, honestly, it has a little less Bing Crosby to it. It was fun and unique in the way that it was, but it has the feel of closer to a major championship and so I think it'll depend on what people that are not me want to do going forward with this event. But this week it feels more like a golfer's major championship type feel, the fact that you can add in and still make it a pro amateur too. Hopefully those amateurs feel they had a similar or even better experience. But yeah, it's a lot less people and without the entertainment stuff it certainly has a different feel in that regard.
Speaker 13:Off the course, on the course I'm only seeing, you know, I'm playing practice with guys who played the US Open here and that's the last time they were here and it's pretty cool to see them out here. So it's again, there's just different ways of looking at it Depending on who you are. Maybe you like this way, maybe you don't. On course it feels like a major and off the course it feels a little less like, you know, the old Bing Crosby that it is.
Speaker 12:Alright, let's go back to Brody.
Speaker 9:Similarly in your just overall golf opinion. I mean, what makes a good tournament to you? How much is it you know, wanting to know certain classic courses, or how much is it relation to par and score or having the best players, Like, what are the most important things to you and what makes a great tournament?
Speaker 13:I think, yeah, it's a combination of the players, the course, the course setup. Yeah that's probably. I mean, that's what makes a great tournament. Players, course, course setup.
Speaker 12:Alright, back to Doug, and then we'll go to Alex.
Speaker 5:Where did you play today?
Speaker 13:I played back nine at Pebble.
Speaker 8:Anything stand out, Not so much in birdies and bogies but any kind of club selections and birdies.
Speaker 13:Have you looked outside? We played a par game today. The rough has been taken in on quite a few holes, more so than usual. The biggest change that's extremely noticeable is number six. Even in the US Open there was no rough down the right side, at least as far as I can remember, and it's cut in quite a bit, which will be if you missed the fairway to the right now but you're not in the hazard, you're just in the right rough you'll have a pretty difficult decision trying to hit up that cliff or you lay it back. That's probably the biggest difference is the narrowing of the fairways. Everything else seems pretty much the same.
Speaker 8:I was curious about just the wind and what it was like today 17 as an example.
Speaker 13:Well, I hit three wood in at number 10.
Speaker 8:Is that unusual.
Speaker 13:It's highly unusual. It's normally like an eight iron or nine iron and then 17 was like a rip five iron. I hit the grandstands but then I hit seven iron into 18 and hit four iron into 14 and had a chip wedge into 15. The wind is everything out here. It is Pebble Beach links. The wind makes the tournament. If it gets wet, like it's going to, and then the wind is down, the only defense will be the greens. But you should look for some low scores pre-Sunday, for the wind picks up, let's go to Alex.
Speaker 5:Jordan on June 6th when they announced the framework agreement, the understanding was there would be a possible PIF deal in that situation and they were talking 300 million or somewhere around that neighborhood. Now that you've got 1.5 billion and another 1.5 billion possibly in your pocket if you guys want it, why do you need to do the PIF deal?
Speaker 13:I don't think that it's needed. I think the positive would be a unification, but I think that, like I mentioned before, I just think it's something that is almost not even worth talking about right this second, given how timely everything would be to try to get it figured out. But the idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it's operating right now, without anything else, with the option of other investors, whether them or somebody else. That'll just be a decision, with them obviously being the active talks. But I think the short answer is we don't have to, and I think the long answer is the positive there is a unification, but, like I've mentioned earlier, we have members that feel strongly on both sides, and so, until that would be able to be solved and that would be number 10 on the list of 10 things despite any government interference on what they've talked about being a lengthy process, it would be a situation that we should try to have, but I'm not sure if or how or when it would get done.
Speaker 5:Because we all got a copy of this two-page document from the tour. That kind of outlines, to the extent that it can, what the deal is. How much do we not know?
Speaker 13:Should know most of it, I think, the details of the equity program which I couldn't tell you about a certain individual there. It's going to be between the individual members and the tour to see where they are on that list. So certain things that aren't public to anybody. But I think for the most part I imagine you have I don't know exactly what you have, so I don't know what I'm supposed to- I think we have the same thing.
Speaker 5:You got the tour put out. Right, okay, yeah, I think you would know most of everything from that, and do you see I mean I understand that the 1.5 billion or 4.5 billion at some point is going to be in grants to players what would you see the other 1.5 billion going to, and how do you see the tour being able to generate revenue that will make those investors, the SSE investors, satisfied with their investment?
Speaker 13:Sure, it's actually going to be a lot on the investors. They're going to have an extremely active participation in the new co-board to be. That was the kind of strategy part I was talking about. We're going to be relying on a lot of their expertise to help figure out how to grow it. It's a good question because it's a very high valuation. How do you possibly make that, how do you possibly grow that at a high rate of return?
Speaker 13:But we're going to rely on them to help a lot in that, considering all of those investors have personal skin in the game, including who will be on the new co-board. So I think that's a very good thing that their own skin's in the game and in order to actually grow it if I had the answers I feel like we'd be doing it already. But I think it starts with figuring out how these elevated events are working on the competition side. It's navigating the next media rights deals. It's trying to figure out how to better monetize the content that we have at the PGA Tour. I think that's probably the easiest way to get it going is doing a better job on that front. But we're going to rely on them, as the short answer, to help dictate how to grow that new co-board All right, let's take a couple more Back to Doug.
Speaker 8:Alex asked part of it. But the time you spend on the phone, do you expect it to go down or stay about the same?
Speaker 13:Probably down. I hope so.
Speaker 8:Seemed like a couple players that I spoke to have more questions than answers how this equity program is going to work. Sure, how soon, would you guess, before players start having a little clearer idea of what's in it for them?
Speaker 13:My understanding is there will be tour representatives through the Cognizant Open every single week. There will be a broader player meeting next Monday to ask questions. Anybody individually can go up and figure. I think the easy answer is within 30 days, but it's up to the players. I mean they'll be able to. I mean we'll be scheduling meetings in places where you can have Q&As and whatnot, but we're willing to answer any. That's what I've been reaching out to everyone, saying I'm willing to answer any questions anyone has from with anything that I know. I don't know what individuals receive how much equity. I don't even know what I receive because I haven't asked the question. But I know, ish, how it's determined and how it will continue to be as these new grants go in each year. And so, yeah, within 30 days everyone should have a very clear picture. Why haven't you?
Speaker 8:asked the question, are you not curious?
Speaker 13:It's not. It wasn't on the top of my agenda to personally figure out what I gained from this matter, because it's not been my job.
Speaker 12:All right, anything else? Okay, one more Alex.
Speaker 5:Could you see or would you recommend at some point that PGA Tour Enterprises go to public?
Speaker 13:I don't know. That's not been discussed at all. That would be the first time I've heard of that. What's that? Maybe not?
Speaker 12:All right, jordan's beef. Thank you, sir. Thanks, appreciate it.
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Speaker 12:All right, we'll get started. We'd like to welcome Rory McElroy into the interview room here at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM. He's making his season debut on the PGA Tour and his second start at this event. Rory, welcome back. If we can get some comments on the week ahead, yeah, good to be back at Pebble Beach.
Speaker 11:It's been a while. Played this event in 2018, played the US Open here in 2019. That was my last time here. Of course, obviously, play is a little different this time of the year than in June. So, yeah, just trying to re-familiarize myself with the golf course a little bit. I played Pebble today. I'm planning to play spyglass tomorrow, depending on how the weather is, but it's good to be back. It's a different format and having most of the best players in the world here is a really good thing for the tournament. I'm excited for what's hopefully going to be a great week and hopefully the weather cooperates and we'll go from there. But, yeah, good to be back.
Speaker 12:And obviously the state of your game is very good with recent success. But just talk a little bit about that coming into the week.
Speaker 11:Yeah, two good weeks in Dubai. It's always been a comfortable place and a comfortable way for me to start the year. I've had a good battle with Tommy the first week and learned a lot from that final day and tried to put some of that into practice the following week and was able to get a win there. So, yeah, obviously a great way to start the year. Two weeks played two times in contention and to get a win early on is always a nice confidence booster and a nice way to come into the game. A pretty busy stretch here, going sort of into the spring and beyond.
Speaker 12:All right, thank you for that. We'll open it up to questions. You'll raise your hand? Okay, yeah, over on the left, and then we'll come up to Cam.
Speaker 15:Hi, rory. Just, you were talking about the weather. I just wanted to know what are some of the trouble holes during this competition that you're going to have to really worry about, especially with the rain that's going to be flowing in during the next couple of days.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I think all the holes that are exposed and right on the coastline, so jeez, there's not many that aren't, I guess. But I'd say that 7, 8, 9, 10 stretch is going to be pretty gnarly if the weather is what we're expecting. So it can change, and hopefully it does. But yeah, I think we're going to have to just knuckle down and get through some of those tough stretches.
Speaker 12:All right, let's go Cameron.
Speaker 14:Hi, rory LeBron and Steph Curry got into a double overtime game over the weekend and they spoke sort of glowingly of each other and it was a very elite group that knows what it takes to sort of play at that level year in, year out. Do you look at that and say, oh yeah, I kind of know what they're talking about, and how do you sort of keep it fresh and keep the motivation? I think you're going into your 15th season here.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I think it's my 15th season on the PJ Tour. I've been a pro, so I was like half of 07, but so if I just go full seasons, I think I'm going into my 18th full season as a professional. So basically over half of my lifetime I've been a pro golfer. So you need to keep it fresh and you need to try to keep inventing ways to motivate yourself, but I don't find that overly difficult. I think there's always things that you want to achieve and things that you can get better at, and trying to have a growth mindset to goal set and try to achieve certain things is something that I've just learned to do as my career has progressed. But I'm always, I think, just grateful for the opportunity to do what I love to do. As long as I wake up every day and I think that way, then I think that's probably a part of the reason why my longevity and consistency has been what it's been.
Speaker 12:All right, let's go over to the far right, and then we'll come over to Rex.
Speaker 10:Hi, rory, you've obviously started the year off very strong and one of the things that we follow that you've changed is the golf ball. What's that process been like, because you've played the same golf ball for a number of years now. Have you found the new one has performed for you, and what was it like going through the process of changing to the new one?
Speaker 11:Yeah, I thought it was a good opportunity to at least test it in Dubai. You've got desert conditions, there's not a ton of wind at a place that I'm comfortable with. My test obviously tested it a little bit at home, Like that. It was a touch of a lower launch than the golf ball I was previously playing and then a touch lower spin as well. And it was a great test those two weeks in Dubai because the Greens got pretty firm at the weekend at both courses. So it was a good test to still make sure that the mid irons were spinning enough to go into the Greens and still be able to hold Greens.
Speaker 11:And it's fast, it's a really, really fast golf ball and definitely feel like I've picked up a little bit of speed with it, especially off the tee. But it's a little. It's funny. It's a lower spinning ball but it feels a touch softer to me around the Greens. So I like that feel of it. But I think the sort of lower launch with the short irons and then the little bit more of a softer feel around the Greens was the sort of the big selling point to me. And yeah, as you said, it worked pretty well the first two starts of the year.
Speaker 10:Is that mid iron control, like probably one of the most other than the short game, probably one of the most important things for you?
Speaker 11:Yeah, I like to play a low spin ball, but not so low spin that when you're hitting a six iron or something in the green that you can't hold it. I also like that. You know, a very comfortable shot for me at the minute is sort of hitting this like hold off, sort of cut, and the fact that it doesn't spin too much when I hit that shot I really like, because I've always had this fear, with whatever golf ball that I've played, that if I hit that shot that there's a tendency to come up short because it spins a little too much. But you know, I don't really have that fear with this golf ball, which is a really nice feeling.
Speaker 12:All right, let's go right up here to Rex, and then we'll go Alan, and then Dave.
Speaker 15:I know you stepped down from the policy boy, but you still seem to be involved in the decision making process on some level, and there was a meeting last night. There will be a meeting again tonight. What are your expectations coming out, If any?
Speaker 11:Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm involved in the decision making process at all really, but I just hope they get it done. I know that they were supposed to vote on it on Sunday night and then there was a delay. They're supposed to vote on it last night and there was a delay. I feel like this thing could have been over and done with months ago and I think, just for all of our sakes, the sooner we sort of get out of it and we have a path forward, the better.
Speaker 15:When you say vote on it. I'm just trying to clarify here. You're talking about some sort of agreement between the PGA Tour, PIF and SSG, all three together, or just?
Speaker 11:No, I think the PGA Tour and SSG. I think is yeah, I said from my understanding. Again, I'm speaking off not as much knowledge as I used to have.
Speaker 12:All right, let's go to Alan, and then Dave behind him.
Speaker 16:Rory, going back to the weeks in Dubai, what did you learn specifically from the first tournament that you were able to apply in the second one?
Speaker 11:I think there was a couple of things in terms of just game management. There's a couple of left misses off the tee that I still had the week after, especially down the stretch on Sunday at the Dubai Dizer Classic. But I feel like I sort of got a really good feeling with the driver to not hit that shot. It bit me on the last hole the previous week and it could have bit me again coming down the stretch, but I stood up on 17 and 18 and hit two really good tee shots when I needed to. So I got a ton of confidence from that, especially with the sort of feeling that I had in my swing. But that was really it.
Speaker 11:I felt like for the most part I made so many mistakes the week before I think I made a quad and three putted from three feet that final day, hit that waterball on the last and I still had a one-shot lead playing the last. So I think it was just about trying to eradicate some of the mistakes that I had been making. So just a little bit of course management and it's going to be that way. I only played one competitive tournament in the last three months leading up to it, so I think a little bit of sloppiness creeped in and just, I guess, trying to sort of get that out of my game on the second week and it felt like I did a better job of it.
Speaker 16:All right, let's go. Can I just quick follow up? You said in the past that sometimes you watch highlights of your victories just for inspiration and maybe to draw something from that. Will you ever go back and watch a tournament that you didn't win to see what you can glean?
Speaker 11:There's been times yeah, I think, even certain shots on certain holes that whether it's like a certain swing or is there a certain tendency. But I think, like most people, I'd much rather watch the good stuff than the bad.
Speaker 12:Let's actually go to Ben here, and then we'll get Dave and Ron in the back.
Speaker 1:Rory, is it fair to say that golf lends itself to long shot winners more than most, if not all, pro sports, and why or why not?
Speaker 11:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I think there's more parity in golf than maybe some other professional sports. I think it's the way the structure of the game is set up that you can have an amateur play in a professional event and have the chance to win, which I think is an amazing story, and it creates these amazing stories in golf that I think are hard to create with other sports. I mean, you have Leicester City won the Premier League a few years ago, which was an amazing story. Or I'm trying to think like Emma Rattacanu won in the US Open in tennis a few years ago. I thought was an amazing story as well. So you do have them, but I think they're more prevalent in golf, just because of the way the structure of golf is and that sort of meritocracy. I guess and I think that's the amazing thing about this game that we do have these storylines and we are able to. You know, instead of Nick Dunlap being in school this week, he's playing with the best players in the world and his life's completely changed and that's an amazing story.
Speaker 12:Alright, we'll go back to Dave and then Ron.
Speaker 6:Rory, an odd set of dominoes falling, with your TGL being pushed back here and then, obviously now today, tyrell jumping over to live. And you know, just curious, are you kind of numb to these movements?
Speaker 11:now, with these guys going over to the other tour, yeah, I think like at the end of the day, everyone needs to do what's right for them. I had a long talk with Tyrell on Sunday, completely understood where he was coming from. I've sort of been, you know, I've talked to him quite a bit about it over the past month and it got to the point where they, you know, negotiated and got to a place where he was comfortable with and he has to do what he feels is right for him. So I'm not going to stand in anyone's way from making money. I don't know what they deem life changing money absolutely.
Speaker 11:But I think the delay of TGL was a blessing in disguise. I think 10 months is a long time, especially in the game of golf right now. Who knows what the landscape is going to look like in 10 months time? So I think at this point all I see is opportunity. I certainly think that there's tons of opportunity within the game to do great things and who knows, terrell might still play TGL in 10 months time, depending on what happens.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I was going to just follow up. There seemed to be a suggestion that he had committed to TGL. I think it was a your team.
Speaker 11:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so there was some discussion that he had to buy his way out of that commitment or in some way. How did that eventually have to go for him to be released from his TGL commitment?
Speaker 11:I don't think that. I mean, I certainly have no knowledge of that. But if I did have any say in that, I wouldn't again like I'm not going to stand in someone's way to. You know he hasn't earned a penny from TGL, so I wouldn't make him pay to get out of anything and so yeah.
Speaker 12:Yeah, thank you All right, Ron.
Speaker 7:Hi Roy, since you made the decision last year to sort of step away from the business slash political set, your success earlier this year would suggest it's had sort of the desired personal effect. I mean, has it had the effect you wanted and do you sometimes think shut up?
Speaker 11:done this a little earlier. Should I never went on the board? I think so. I actually. You know, I think I said this when I did step off I'm happy being busy. I just like to be busy doing the things that I think are not worth it. I think that's the wrong way to freeze it, but more I just didn't feel like I could influence things the way I wanted to, and I felt like I was just banging my head against the wall and it was time for me to step off and sort of concentrate on my own stuff.
Speaker 12:All right, let's go to Alex.
Speaker 5:Yeah, roy, the discussions you had with Terrell. Were they different than they would have been a year ago? First of all, and second off, what kind of tenor did they take?
Speaker 11:Yeah, I think they're different than a year ago because you know we're potentially about to do a deal with Piff, who owned a large majority of live, and sort of hopefully seeing things come back together here at some point.
Speaker 11:So, yeah, I think the nature of the conversation was probably different than it would have been a year ago.
Speaker 11:Absolutely, and again I said to him, just like I said to John, I'm totally supportive of your decision if that's what you feel is the right thing for you.
Speaker 11:Like, these are guys that I've spent a lot of time with and I guess I've said this before, but I've come to the realization is I'm not here to change people's minds. I'm here to just try to especially when I was at the board level trying to give them the full picture of where things are at and, hopefully, where things are going to go. They can do with that information what they want, but at the end of the day, you know, I think I'm done with trying to change people's minds and trying to get them to see things a certain way, or try to see things through my lens, because that's ultimately not the way the world works. And you know these are guys that I respect and that I've spent a lot of time with, and if that's what they feel is the best decision for them, then I'm going to, you know, be supportive of that decision and let them go and do their own thing.
Speaker 12:Let's take a few more. Let's go to Doug.
Speaker 8:In this effort to kind of repair a fractured landscape. Do you have an opinion on how that gets done in terms of bringing guys back who cashed in to join with the guys who didn't, and is that difficult?
Speaker 11:I think life is about choices. Guys made choices to go and play live. Guys made choices to stay here and you know, if people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try to do something, let them come back. I mean, I don't think, I think it's hard to punish people. I don't think there should be a punishment for Obviously, I've changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PJT and having a diminished lifter or anything else is bad for both parties, Be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game, and that's my opinion of it. So you know, to me, the faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest feels possible, I think is great for golf.
Speaker 8:Is a win here at Pebble or at RIV, cheapened by the fact that John and DJ and Phil in the blank is not playing that week.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I'd like to win here and stand up with a trophy on the 18 green and know that I've beaten all of the best players in the world, so yeah.
Speaker 12:All right, anything else? Anything. All right, rory, thank you for your time, thank you. Best of luck this week.
Speaker 1:So there you have it. You've heard the interviews. We're ready to rock and roll with the tournament. Get it going. Let's get the wind blowing going and blowing and rain going sideways and it's just going to be a lot of fun. The golf balls blowing off the green will see what happens. Maybe not. Maybe not quite that bad, but it's going to be bad. I'm Frank Bassett, thanking each and every one of you for listening to PGA Tour countdown. We certainly appreciate it and look forward to bringing you the interviews weekend and week out for the PGA Tour countdown crew and all the folks at the Golf Talk America Network. Thanks for listening and we will catch you around the clubhouse.