Travelers Championship Drama, LIV Nashville Recap, and Women’s PGA Highlights

Jake Hower: 00:00:00

Welcome to another episode of Beyond the Tour. I am Jake, and with me as always is Luke. How are you?

Luke Manning: 00:00:05

Jake, I'm doing well, mate, but not as well as you up there in sunny North Queensland enjoying a bit of holiday R&

Jake Hower: 00:00:12

I am, yes. I've, chiseled out an hour or so to record with you. I think the family are probably happy that I have, to be honest.

Luke Manning: 00:00:19

Half your luck, mate, and I see you're sporting your Four Aces cap there.

Jake Hower: 00:00:23

the only cap I've got at the moment, which is not a bad thing, but, yeah. Haven't had too many comments, though. not many people recognizing the four aces. Thanks.

Luke Manning: 00:00:31

No, you can't get your hands on a Crushers cap either, following Bryson's, Manic couple of weeks.

Jake Hower: 00:00:37

they are completely sold out by all reports. Now, let's get on to today's episode. We've got a review of a couple of big events. we had the Travelers, which is the last of the signature events and we had, live Nashville plus the LPGA major, the PGA. so let's start with, results from the Travelers. We had Scottish Sheffler beating out Tom Kim. In a playoff, coming down the stretch, it looked like he had it won. the announcers had essentially given him the win. And, Tom Kin on the 18th was able to birdie that last to take it to a playoff.

Luke Manning: 00:01:09

Scotty narrowly missed out on closing the deal in regulation. just pushed his putt the right edge of the hole and that gave the opening for Kim to, make the birdie putt and force a playoff. So it was a pretty interesting finale there at the Travelers, interrupted by some clown protesters, from the stop oil, but, we got a good finish nonetheless.

Jake Hower: 00:01:33

there was a couple of, delays there, the weather delays. And I believe on the, was it the Saturday or the Saturday was there, there was some lightning strikes and patrons were struck by lightning and that sort of, I believe they're all okay, but. they've not had a great deal of luck with Webber this year, the PGA Tour.

Luke Manning: 00:01:49

No, and a couple of weather delays, not only, impacted the tournament there at the, Travellers, but also gave Liv the opportunity to attract some more US eyeballs, whilst the weather delay occurred. good to see that the fans, survived the lightning attack, I think behind the fifth green there, it hit a tree. not what you'd be looking for as a tournament organiser, that's for sure.

Jake Hower: 00:02:11

Scotty's win, he has been super dominant in these limited field signature events this year, hasn't he? And even the Masters, is probably the major that is a limited field major as well.

Luke Manning: 00:02:21

six wins this year. And as you say, the signature events he's been cleaning up in, it's really quite an incredible run that he's been on and it seems the only thing that can stop him, is really wiregrass at Pinehurst. he's straight back into groove, within the PGA tour and just dominating these usual PGA tour setups that we're seeing.

Jake Hower: 00:02:45

Yes, but I think it's the full field that he's really struggling with.

Luke Manning: 00:02:49

Yeah, that's a good point. I was turning my mind to whether it had something to do with the course setups Is he only capable of winning on the usual PGA Tour style setups where they're pillow soft and, long rough and soft greens as opposed to what we did see at Pinehurst? I think that's probably drawing a little too much of a long bow. we've seen him win. Sawgrass for the players and also Augusta, for the masters. Although I would say that Augusta hasn't been playing as firm and as fast as what we've seen it previously, he's still a very adaptable golfer. It will be interesting to see as we look forward how he'll go at Troon and, equip himself in the open and whether that, provides a different challenge to him that he's not able to navigate. as I say, at the moment, it only seems wiregrass at Pinehurst has been able to stop him in this current run that he's been on.

Jake Hower: 00:03:46

both himself and also, Akshay Bhatia, mentioned at various times speaking to the media, just talking about, Akshay was talking about his struggle moving from the previous two difficult sort of firm fast conditions and how it affected his swing and he had to try and find his swing again. And Scotty may, mention a little bit of it, mostly around that sort of wiregrass and how, he just doesn't know how that's going to impact his next shot and he prefers that, that sort of graduated rough, that consistency, was really what sort of put him off. what's interesting to me is that, we discussed it previously These guys are all talented enough to be able to adapt and adjust. what we're not really seeing is how long it's taking. These players to adapt and adjust. So that will be interesting coming into the open. perhaps Scotty, if he plays in the Scottish, that might give him that additional time he needs to be able to adjust. So he probably is going to come into it if he's playing the Scottish in, probably his best chance of winning that particular event.

Luke Manning: 00:04:47

And I think It underscores the point that as golf fans, what we want to see, is the best players in the world playing on the best courses in the world.

Jake Hower: 00:04:59

Yeah.

Luke Manning: 00:04:59

just don't see that on a week to week basis, unfortunately. So with all of the upheaval and disruption that's going on in world golf, one of the great hopes that I have is that we'll see, more often the top golfers in the world. Playing the best courses and seeing a great variety of, conditions and golf course tests put to these guys, as opposed to the standard exam question we are seeing week in, week out, particularly on the tour. But I think also live, their course choices have left a fair bit to be desired in my view, they've picked some good ones. They may be more restricted in their choice given the early stage of their development, there's a real opportunity, as both the PGA Tour and Live and the PIF work out what the future looks like to try and solve for this question of getting the best on the best course more often. And that will be, a better product to put before fans and certainly drive better fan engagement.

Jake Hower: 00:06:07

that variation of courses and conditions, is important because it may not be what the players want. It may not be what the fan think they want, but it truly is what makes it the best product because seeing the same thing week in week out is only going to present a certain type of winner. and it may be to the detriment of others, but it's boring. Like we don't want to be seeing that all the time. even though the dominance of Scotty this year has been really impressive. If we get a lot more of this over the next couple of years, there'll be one aspect of it which will be incredible, but there'll also be another aspect which makes it very boring. like in Formula One now, we've got, Verstappen, really, it's just winning everything most of the time. This year's slightly different, but in the previous couple of years, he's won everything. It's been him and, Red Bull and then Fresh Air behind them. And it's made the product boring, compared to having a product which is vibrant, and different players are popping up and winning. I think that's really probably what we'd ideally love to get to.

Luke Manning: 00:07:08

we just don't want to see a birdie fest every week, that the tour goes from its various stops. we want to see that variability. we want to see the best in the world tested with, it seems to be firm and fast conditions are the way to do that. as opposed to long, rough just lengthening courses. you have to look at the particular courses that you're playing at and whether the architecture will provide for that firm and fast conditioning and also whether I think particularly the green complexes and the surrounds that challenge that we saw at Pinehurst and you're obviously not going to get Pinehurst every week but I think there's great opportunity to do better than what we're getting at the moment.

Jake Hower: 00:07:53

Cam Young with a 59. that was in round two, wasn't it? The second round. Yes, and Lift Cleaning Place was in effect. So he

Luke Manning: 00:08:03

59 is 59. 11 under is still a great round. As you say, the lift clean and place, was in place or preferred lies as we call it here in Australia. I see Joseph Lamagna tweeted out, that, is it just a meaningless achievement in the modern world now with technology, speed and the likes? not sure if that was, an engagement driving tweet or whether it was, a legitimate tweet, but certainly 59. is still awesome round of golf and not something that should be scoffed at. we are seeing it on a more regular basis, with the course setups and the technology. And so it may not mean the total amount that it used to mean, back in the day, but certainly I don't think 59 is something to scoff at by any means.

Jake Hower: 00:08:52

it's certainly an accomplishment. But, there's a few The lift cleaner place is an interesting one because I can understand like it was in play that day in anticipation of the thunderstorms late in the afternoon so he played essentially on a dry course that wasn't playing like it you wouldn't if you're playing his round you wouldn't have put in lift cleaner place in isolation so I think that's one thing. It's a little bit hard for the PGA to control that because if they're talking about fairness, it is something they need to do, just the way that it's structured. That's something that Liv can certainly avoid because everyone's playing in the same conditions. So whether it's lift in place or you decide to send them all out there with mud balls, it doesn't matter because everyone's playing under the same conditions.

Luke Manning: 00:09:41

That is one of the advantages of the Shotgun Start, as you point out. I do feel like the tour though is very, trigger happy in terms of calling preferred lies and allowing the ball to be in hand and I think we'd like to see a bit more rigour and maybe, a bit more tightness around imposing the lift cleaner place or allowing the lift cleaner place rule.

Jake Hower: 00:10:06

I think, and that goes into the course selection and everything I think, it's being a player and organisation. everything is controlled by those guys. Like even, like we go down to the point where I believe the majority of bunkers on tour are essentially using the same specification of sand. and venues in the past which haven't had that particular style of sand have had sand replaced by the, the PGA Tour course set up, people. So that is all designed around, what the players want. And I don't necessarily think that's great for the fans.

Luke Manning: 00:10:35

No, and even with courses that we've seen have the subair system, available, they still, have been relatively soft, in terms of the conditions. So I think you're hitting the nail on the head there around the player run organization and giving the players what they want as opposed to what might produce a more entertaining product for fans and what will provide a sterner test for the world's best golfers.

Jake Hower: 00:11:03

Tom Kim, copped a little bit of criticism for being buddy with Shepherd, being good friends with him, what did you make anything of that or?

Luke Manning: 00:11:10

Look, these guys are playing week in, week out, and it'd be hard to be acrimonious towards Sheffler because he's such a nice guy. So I didn't make too much of it myself, but spoken before about how in sports is. Really creates a whole new dynamic for the fan and for the spectator and so you probably do want to see a little bit more mongrel coming out down the stretch rather than the, the nice guy, buddy approach. But, look, you can't change people's personalities on a whim, particularly in that moment. So I didn't make too much of it really.

Jake Hower: 00:11:49

probably one thing I've come to, understand or just become resigned to the fact that with these younger kids and I can say they're kids because I turned 40, it's just. They're just built different like in terms of if you watch down here, AFL, you see the competitors are very friendly. It's just the way they are up and about. There's not a lot of what I would call mongrel, on the surface, involved with them, but that's just, I think society these days. so it's hard to sit here and say that someone like a Tom Kim needs to show that mongrel. I think they just show it in different ways.

Luke Manning: 00:12:23

there are other golfers out there that certainly would have that dog in them as they come down the stretch. you think of Justin Thomas or John Rahm, they would be much, much different. and Tiger, they really go into that, zone mode and they're all business. There's no buddy about what they get up to when tournament's on the line. So it is to their own to a large extent. And as I said before, you've got Tom and Scotty who are just very good guys and a nice personality. So trying to get that tension and that rivalry drawn out of them is a bit more difficult.

Jake Hower: 00:13:03

Kim, he's putting together a very good resume for someone who's, I think he's still only 21. so he's got roughly four wins on tour, at 21. I think one thing that he's been knocked for in the past is maybe, his distance up the tee. but he put a few drives out there carrying over three, eight, five. So it looks like he might've picked up, a few yards, which I think may put him in the mix a little bit more often.

Luke Manning: 00:13:26

he seems to be, a golfer that performs where you've got a lot of short irons into greens. And I think he'd be very disappointed with how the playoff finished where he was in the middle of the fairway for his drive. And in fact, he was well down beyond where Scottie was. I think Scottie might have taken three wood and Tom took driver off the tee, on the playoff hole. But dunking that wedge in the greenside trap in the playoff hole and getting the fried lie. was virtually the end of the tournament for

Jake Hower: 00:13:57

Yeah.

Luke Manning: 00:13:58

he would have been filthy with himself not putting that on the green and giving himself an opportunity to make birdie to win it.

Jake Hower: 00:14:05

So our Aussies, Adam Scott in 39, or T 39, Jason, Dave, T 44, and Davis, T 48. So they all made the cut, but, doing what the majority Aussies have been doing on the men's side this year. And it's being there or thereabouts, but not really setting the world on fire at the moment. Anybody.

Luke Manning: 00:14:22

Adam Scott's been doing quite nicely by virtue of his player director position. sponsors exemptions, I think into all of the, signature events so far this year. And as we know, with no cut, it's free money free points. So he's doing very nicely, from what's supposed to be, a non paid position. and as we've talked about before, it's just not a good look, in our view. and then day and Davis. 48 is Nothing but making up the numbers really, so I'd like to see a lot more, contention from the Australian contingent, but it's not to be at the moment, that's for sure.

Jake Hower: 00:15:04

No, it isn't. and the only other thing I could think of from that one is, Max Homer. it was relatively quiet, but there was, some footage there. What looked like him to be crying after hitting a bad shot? from my perspective, I don't make too much of it. he wears his heart on his sleeve, so he's that type of emotional character. but, it's interesting looking at that inside of a tournament and trying to understand, the pressure and, how hard it is being a tour player.

Luke Manning: 00:15:31

I didn't, I saw the footage, but I didn't see if there was anything driving, the sort of display of emotion from Homer. Has there been anything more reported on that?

Jake Hower: 00:15:44

I haven't seen anything, I've been a bit switched off a little bit, but I've been monitoring X and I didn't see anything more about it. So I saw a little but even from all of the majority of what would the mainstream media seem to have ignored it completely. I'm not sure there's much to read into that or not.

Luke Manning: 00:16:00

I think Max gets a bit of protection from the mainstream media, to be honest, so not surprising that it hasn't been reported the way it would have been reported if it was some other players. and it's not the first time that we've seen Max, exhibit a display of emotion. He's done it before at Riviera, where he narrowly missed out, and I think in also, where his major performance hasn't been up to his expectations. So you can't knock the guy for showing some emotion. And as you point out, it goes to, the pressure, and the desire to be successful that these guys have.

Jake Hower: 00:16:38

let's jump across to live Nashville. so I had Hatton really dominating the entire. he won by five shots over Sam Horsfield, which is a great result for him. And, Jaco Niemann with a backdoor top of third, wasn't it? Or even a second at T2, wasn't it?

Luke Manning: 00:16:54

I think he might have got third on countback Neyman. Hatton certainly was never really challenged. I think he had a six shot lead going into the back nine and ended up winning by five. cruising to victory for the fiery Englishman. And of course, there's always some colorful language coming out of Tyrell and we saw a bit from Rahm as well this week.

Jake Hower: 00:17:16

He again was, thereabouts. He was that 12 he? yeah, he's putting together a solid year. Similar to Scotty, Rahm is someone from my perspective who should be dominating. I don't think he's in great form. But, the results probably have to say that he's in second on the season long, standing. even though he's not in great form, from his, typical, high level, he's still putting together a very solid season.

Luke Manning: 00:17:43

a season that would be below his expectations and obviously, yours as a fan, I think he's copped undue criticism for, his form. It hasn't been as bad as some of the mainstream media have certainly made out. He's going to win. it's just a matter of time. He keeps knocking on the door just having a hole here or there that kind of puts him out of. really being in contention for winning it, but it's going to come soon enough in my view.

Jake Hower: 00:18:15

Lee Westwood also had a high finish. and the other one, was, John Catlin who was making, taking great advantage of, the Paul Casey being out injured.

Luke Manning: 00:18:25

certainly taking the bull by the horns and making the most of the opportunity he's got through his starts via injuries to the Crushers players. I think he and Bryson had played junior golf together. So he's got a good relationship with Bryson, as the captain and his form on the Asian tour has been superb as well. positioning himself nicely, for, continuing to be that super sub. But for a future contract too, I would think, as other contracts start to expire or there might be, relegation,

Jake Hower: 00:19:03

What do you think would have happened if he won the event? Do you reckon he would have been given essentially a wild card into the remainder of the season or?

Luke Manning: 00:19:10

I don't know about that. Obviously, they've got numbers that they need to work with and keep them, round enough. I don't know whether adding one more player creates issues in that regard, and if they add one, they've got to add more. but it certainly would be asking the question, wouldn't it, for Norman and the organisers at Live? do we do in the event that a substitute or, a wild card wins one of these things?

Jake Hower: 00:19:35

Yep.

Luke Manning: 00:19:36

they'd necessarily have the answers

Jake Hower: 00:19:37

No, I think you're probably right there. the Rippers, our Aussie team, they didn't have a fantastic week. Smith finished T9, Leash in 18th. Jones and Herbert, in 40th and 48th. Those guys are close to the relegation zone. Jones in particular, looks He might be in a bit of trouble next year. Smith had some sort of flashes where it was pretty good. he's shown us a lot throughout the entire year where he's had periods where he's been reasonable, but just not being able to put together an entire tournament.

Luke Manning: 00:20:07

Smithy did show some glimpses of potentially being back, and then, of course, too many mistakes and bogeys on the cards. he's really got to iron that out before things kick off, for the British Open. And, as you say, with Jonesy, He'll be looking down the barrel of that relegation zone. He was the last player to be signed RIPPO this year. And, I think they'll be some scouts out there. Smithy will have his RIPPO scouts out there to see, who might be filling that spot, in future years is my sort of take.

Jake Hower: 00:20:43

Do you think they've pigeonholed themselves a little bit that the rippers in terms of taking just Aussie players at the moment?

Luke Manning: 00:20:49

yes I do, and I suspect that'll probably continue, but you've got the likes of, say, Ben Campbell, so you could see a broadening into a, an Anzac

Jake Hower: 00:21:00

Zealand.

Luke Manning: 00:21:01

But I do, or Foxy maybe, could be, there's some speculation about him joining earlier in the year. So it could broaden into an Anzac style team, and that would be a good sort of entree into maybe getting a New Zealand event. We've spoken before about how the New Zealand market would be quite similar to the Australian market. I think New Zealand fans would really get behind a live event, and of course they've got some incredible golf courses over there that really would put on a super event.

Jake Hower: 00:21:35

Crowds were pretty good, weren't they? Very solid. I think from an onsite perspective, it looked like it was a real winner this week.

Luke Manning: 00:21:43

it certainly was sold that way. Liv was calling it a sell out. I'm not sure what the definition of a sell out is, and I suspect Liv's definition of a sell out is a bit lower than what they're calling it. So the PGA Tour might have, but the crowd certainly did look healthy, particularly on Saturday and Sunday. like anything, you can cherry pick images and there's still clowns on social media taking, images. Screenshots of where there's three fans and then taking a screenshot of, say, the 18th hole where there's a playoff at the PGA Tour and comparing the two saying, no one watches, no one cares. that's all pretty juvenile and silly in my view, but it did seem that, the crowds turned out in Nashville. I wonder where Nashville is. One of those cities in the U S that's been neglected and overlooked in terms of professional golf so they've been starved similar to the Australian market's been starved of the top players. And so when they got their opportunity, they really got behind it. There was lots of marketing activity, that live had done in the lead up to the event. So that seemed to pay dividends in terms of the turnout. And that was leading to. commentators and profiles on X and social media claiming that, Liv's now broken the seal and has, broken into the U S market. Now, I don't know that's necessarily the case. They've had a good event. I wouldn't equate that with, breaking into the U S market and that the floodgates are entirely open, but certainly It seems to be a continuation of an upward trajectory and Liv would be very happy with that.

Jake Hower: 00:23:33

I think that the events itself in terms of the result, it was a bit of a fizzer with, Hatton being so far in front. The leaderboard looked good, but he was just so far in front that it wasn't really competitive without him, capitulating on the final day. So it wasn't a great result there. And I think combined with the fact that they're going up against the pjx tour are a signature event a week after a major, being the third week on the run. I think they hopefully they look at it and adjust next year because I think if we're going to have two tours with the best golfers on them split, we really need to be seeing them not going against one another. They need to find some fresh air for each event so that we can get eyeballs on it. Because I think the TV product is good, but If you're competing against a PGA Tour, the Liv doesn't win, the PGA Tour really doesn't win either because they're looking at diluted fields. So unless both products get fresh air, I think the fan is losing or I'm losing in particular. I know that for sure.

Luke Manning: 00:24:31

it's hard to watch the two events, it was very difficult this past weekend where you had the women's major going on as well, so trying to stay across three events, all overlapping at various times is very difficult, doing something with the scheduling there be certainly advantageous from a fan perspective. I'm just not. confident that the powers that be will have the wherewithal or the willingness do that. There could be an opportunity to inject some cooperation between the two tours depending on what the deal with PIF and the PGA Tour Enterprises might look like. I don't know whether the PIF's investment there would give them some influence so that there can be some cooperation around scheduling and timing of events. I think that's probably too optimistic of you, but you just never know.

Jake Hower: 00:25:30

and we're seeing it. So we had the PGA tour release or the broadcast, was the CBS, I think, previewed their, first, moving drone, shot tracer, which, Frank, Nubolo said was, the first on TV, which he was correct because we've had it for 12 months or nine months or something, but it's been in a fixed position. Behind the player and the PGA Tour are claiming that, it's not the PGA Tour, CBS were claiming that theirs was a world first because it was a moving drone footage. So we're seeing a lot of one upmanship and a lot of petty back and forth between the two. And, I think that's probably indicative of what we're likely to see in terms of a little bit of cooperation would be good, but it doesn't look like we're close to it.

Luke Manning: 00:26:12

No, not at all. I'm not even sure whether there's, a deal to be had here. We've talked about that before.

Jake Hower: 00:26:18

Yep.

Luke Manning: 00:26:19

competition is a good thing in the absence of the cooperation, in my view, because it is both, of the tours to put their best foot forward, try new things, in the interests of improving fan engagement the fan experience. Fan engagement is really the future for any of the golf tours. Leaning into that fan engagement, and really being willing to try new and different things is the future of golf, in my opinion. and people that are thumbing their nose at those types of innovations and calling it exhibition golf, and carrying on that it's not. real sport, I think they're going to watch the future of golf pass them by.

Jake Hower: 00:27:06

I think you're right there. now Bryson, so on that point, he was playing well again and we saw Bryson's antics, a putt there on the 15th on the last day where he just missed and he's handing it up on the ground, falling over I had, Greg Millman on the Saturday tending the pin for him. I think these antics are okay and play into that fan engagement thing. They're treading a really thin line here, I think, Liv, and I've got to play it really carefully because I think this is okay, you're going to get away with that while you've got someone like Bryson playing so well. If they continue to try and jam Bryson down the fan's face when he's not playing well, I think that is probably going to be interesting to see how they handle it because, to me. Any golfer is really only relevant if they're performing, first and foremost.

Luke Manning: 00:27:55

100%. They've got to back up the antics with the performance as well. So you're going to look pretty silly on in those terms, if you're not putting in the results majors or, whatever crossover events there might be in the future. Performance is still key and you can't lose sight of that. You've got to perform in the big moments. if you don't, you will look silly. As you've said, question for you. Do you think Bryson's getting close to overdoing it? There's a risk here, I think, that he plays into the hands of his detractors, who have been saying it's all a gimmick, it's all an act, none of it's genuine. I don't actually subscribe to that, but is Bryson walking close to, walking a fine line here?

Jake Hower: 00:28:41

he is, and there is, I've got no doubt in my mind that he will have some controversial moments where the fan and the audience will turn on him. as I said, he gets a lot of it now while he is performing. I think that's the difference. If he continues to do what he's doing now, when he's not performing, I think the fan and the media will have a completely different narrative across it, which we've seen in the past already. he's mentioned prior, pretty much at the start of his career, he was talking about floating his balls in the Epsom salt and stuff like that. he mentioned it again at the US Open and the response from the media and the narrative around it in general. Those two separate occasions are completely different. So yeah, a hundred percent he's walking that line as well. And, if I think he's probably smart enough now to realize that if he's not playing well, he would probably shut up and try to avoid that. I think that's a risk.

Luke Manning: 00:29:33

what's your sort of take on the broadcast team with Liv? We're two and a half years now into Liv and we've had largely the same broadcast, team. I think Trey Mullins might have been the only one that's left, but we've got, Arlo, Gerry, Dom. and Sue Anne, are they cutting it in terms the actual announcing and the commentary that we're getting, are they doing, the live product, a service?

Jake Hower: 00:29:58

For me, no. and I think this is probably, it looks to me that it's like a, it's more a sort of a production directive because they're all quite, seasoned, commentators. And if you listen to them on their other products, they're not like this, or they haven't been like this previously. So I think it must be something that is production directed. And that to me then makes me wonder if us, the hardcore fan is their target. so maybe they're playing it up like this to try and target that younger audience or a new audience who may not understand that, a live event in Nashville isn't as big or anywhere near as big as a U. S. Open. I think was it Arlo might have, asked Hatton whether or not, this week compared to last week. so maybe that's what it is. I'm not sure, but certainly for my own personal taste, that's too much.

Luke Manning: 00:30:49

I think Faraday's great and you'd certainly keep him in the call team. I'm ambivalent towards Jerry. I think he has some good things to say, but equally it's probably not adding a huge amount to the team. I think there's a big question mark over Arlo and just whether he's got the right background. not necessarily has he got the years on the clock in terms of, broadcasting, but is it in the niece that, that it needs to be? for me, I think the broadcast team, the mix isn't quite right, and it is one of the weaker points in the overall live broadcast. visual stuff, the different aspects and the different, images and graphics that the team is putting together, I think, has really been at the cutting edge, and as we've talked about, it's prompted the PGA Tour to do better. but yes, for me, I think there needs to be some work done on the broadcast team.

Jake Hower: 00:31:45

Now across to the KPMG women's PGA. So you had Amy Yang winning her first major by three shots. she was very good. very tough course. What were your thoughts on that?

Luke Manning: 00:31:57

had a six shot lead there with not too many holes to play and stumbled a little bit coming home, but was still able to win, as you say, by three shots there. former Gold Coast school student at Rabena High School, and she had won the Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast, as a 16 year old. So was lots, expected of her. But it's taken, I think, 75 majors, for her to win her first. and so now she's got that, monkey off the back. at what was a very testing golf course, over there at Sahale. Some of those tee shots were incredibly imposing. just fairways dominated on the edges by these massive pine trees. Probably surprised that the scores were as good as they were, given the danger lurking everywhere on that golf course.

Jake Hower: 00:32:53

after round one, it will look like a very promising leaderboard. We had, Nellie Korda was way up there as was Lexi, Nelly went on to make an 81 in the second round, to miss the cut.

Luke Manning: 00:33:04

devastated she was. there was some footage of her walking up one of the fairways on the back nine in her second round. yeah. in tears realizing that she was probably not going to make the cut. And I think that's her third miscut in a row now. So it goes to show how fickle the game of golf is. She won six outta seven starts on the LPGA, in a scheffler like, stanza of golf there only a matter of months ago. And here she's, bombing out. in a major and in tears on a fairway. It was tough. It was a tough scene.

Jake Hower: 00:33:40

Aussie in the field. So we had, Ji and Hannah Green finishing T 24. Gabby Ruffles in 46. Kim 60th and then Kemp and Nave both missed the car.

Luke Manning: 00:33:50

tough, event for the Aussies and as you say, Minji Hannah Green were the leading lights for the Australian contingent, but never really in contention. not much to talk about there.

Jake Hower: 00:34:04

no. Now, moving forward to this week, the PGA Tour has Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. that's a 9. 2 million purse with, not too many notables in the field being the first event for, a regular season PGA Tour. This is the fourth week now. So many of these guys, haven't played any tournament golf.

Luke Manning: 00:34:25

I think the major players will definitely be taking a break, having a pretty solid three week run. So they'll be, looking forward to some R& R. We've already seen Rory saying he won't be playing again until the Scottish in a few weeks time. I think Ricky Fowler's defending champion here at this event. I don't expect it to be providing too many highlights given the weakened field.

Jake Hower: 00:34:50

No, actually he's playing again. so it'll be interesting to see how he goes. Michael Thorburnson, I've spoken about him a few times. He's in the field again. hopefully he has a reasonable finish if he's to lock up his card. over on the DP World Tour, we've got the Italian Open, with, Guido Migliosi coming off a win, last week, he would, I'm sure, love to win his home Open.

Luke Manning: 00:35:13

Definitely would. And, I've got some other recent winners on the DP World Tour playing in this event with, Laurie Cantor and Nacho El Vero playing. Also Patrick Reid,

Jake Hower: 00:35:24

Yeah,

Luke Manning: 00:35:24

making a start in this Italian Open. it might be some decent viewing, from. Thursday, our time through to Sunday.

Jake Hower: 00:35:32

it's interesting that we're starting to see some of the live guys, Patrick Reed in this particular case, playing. So it just makes you wonder about, we've heard it said that Live were paying fines. We've also heard that players such as Westwood weren't happy to pay fines at all. So it'll be interesting to see, would love to hear a little bit about how this has come to be and whether or not fines are something that are going to have to be paid in order to get some of these other guys playing in these events.

Luke Manning: 00:36:03

you'd love to be a fly on the wall with these behind closed doors discussions and all of machinations that have been going on to get starts in these events. But the DP World Tour has just really been jammed, hasn't it? it has to take quality players when it can get its hands on it, in my view, and we're starting to see that given that they're allowing their 10 best to go up to the PGA Tour as part of the strategic alliance. If they're getting, major winners like Pat Reid or, the likes wanting to apply, If they're wanting to put on decent events,

Jake Hower: 00:36:36

I think we need to see more of it. So hopefully they continue down that route. The LPGA Tour is at the Dow Championship, which is at the Midland Country Club in Michigan. Notables there. We've got Yuka Sasso, Lexi's back in the field, Jennifer Kupcho, Gabby Ruffles and Lydia Koch.

Luke Manning: 00:36:54

coming off the back of a major, the field won't be as strong as players take, rest, but still, some quality notables in that field and a worthwhile watch.

Jake Hower: 00:37:04

Now in some other stuff, we saw, the player dominated boards, agree on something and were able to push through, a decision. Have not been able to do this with the PIF, but they're able to put through a lifetime exemption for Tiger to play in the signature event.

Luke Manning: 00:37:17

I think the lifetime achievement exemption category is for golfers that have 80 plus PGA Tour wins to their name. I think that effectively means it is a Tiger only exemption because I think it's extremely unlikely that we'll see another player win ADPGA Tour titles, given the dominance of a once in a generation player that we saw in Tiger, but also the depth of, the tour now in terms of young talent, it's just so hard to win and to think that anyone, would win. 80 times in their career now is virtually unfathomable. some more free money for Tiger given that, the signature events, as we said, are no cut events. and, he'll play in them as long as he wants to.

Jake Hower: 00:38:06

we read the tea leaves a little bit here? Do we think that this means that potentially we're going to see sponsors exemptions disappear because there'd be no sponsor mad enough to give one to Tiger if he wanted one. so maybe they're disappearing altogether, the sponsors exemptions into these events. and the other thing I think I'll say is that we're not seeing Tiger play in a signature event. but we're not even going to see him playing more than two of those surely.

Luke Manning: 00:38:29

I wouldn't have thought so. he, we've talked before about how he just doesn't seem capable of walking and playing four rounds in consecutive days. So it may end up being a bit of a nothing.

Jake Hower: 00:38:44

Yep.

Luke Manning: 00:38:44

leverage it more than on a handful of occasions, and no other players going to leverage it, at least not for many years to come. an interesting sort of development nonetheless, but, it won't be something that features very prominently.

Jake Hower: 00:38:59

The other sort of Tiger ish news, we saw the announcement that, Tomorrow Sports, have completed their Series A investment, which values the company at 500 million, which, puts them in the territory of some of the biggest sort of, tech companies. series a valuation. So someone like a Robin Hood, the trading platform was valued at 1. 3 billion after their series. A, Coinbase is another big one or Instacart and, Slack getting up around those ranges, I think what stood out to me is that I don't think tomorrow has any sort of revenue or anything like that. So this is, the, I think their first venture really was, the simulator series, which is it's, yeah. Which is very much a, to have a valuation like that with no actual revenue. it seems crazy to me.

Luke Manning: 00:39:46

It is crazy and I think Andrew Kirby made a good point on X saying that, the people who believe that. The 500 million valuation is solid are the same people that are out there saying that lives worth nothing. there seems to be quite a bit of subjectivity, in the here, particularly for, as you say, a company that's not generating any revenue. What we've seen from the TGL Honestly, it's been a bit of a debacle. They had the SoFi Stadium collapse,

Jake Hower: 00:40:15

Yeah.

Luke Manning: 00:40:16

and it was, supposed to be launched earlier this year and it got kicked 12 months down the track. Whether we actually see it launch in 2025, I'll be very interested to see. I know they continue to make announcements of players signing and I think Hideki just signed to the Boston Common, in the last week and there was an announcement there, but, don't know, I'm a bit sceptical on whether the TGL is going to get off the ground certainly sceptical around that valuation.

Jake Hower: 00:40:46

That seems crazy. the only other thing really was, Phil was on the Fairway to Heaven podcast and talking a little bit more about, the teams on Liv and how they Plan on potentially operating courses and facilities. I haven't listened to the entire podcast. So I've just seen a few clips on social. did you have any thoughts on that?

Luke Manning: 00:41:02

I just thought it was interesting. to hear Phil talk, he's always really engaging when he talks about golf. but the team ownership, of home courses, was interesting and particularly the ambition to build these world class coaching and practice facilities that they will use as a draw card for emerging talent. So definitely. Giving the impression and the vibe that live in these teams are playing the long game and they're looking at making big investments infrastructure like golf courses, practice and coaching facilities with a view of competing for that top emerging talent that's going to be coming out of the amateur and college ranks.

Jake Hower: 00:41:52

It's very interesting that they've obviously, got, they're holding their cards close to their chest. so we hear little bits and pieces and snippets it's going to be interesting over the coming weeks. Two or three years to see how it continues to unfold. they're doing a really good job. I think at the moment, they could be doing better, maybe better communication. I'd love to hear a little bit more, but, it doesn't seem like that's going to change. like, they've probably learned to, keep their cards really close and, just play their own game. All right. Lukey, I think that pretty much does most of, this week's episode. Do you have anything else you wanted to cover?

Luke Manning: 00:42:28

I think that's a

Jake Hower: 00:42:29

One?

Luke Manning: 00:42:30

thanks everyone for listening enjoy your weeks. And, we'll look forward to having you back next week.

Jake Hower: 00:42:35

Thanks for listening guys.