PGA Tour board and Monahan fatigue, LIV’s puny Hong Kong Course, and SGS Golf Advice

This Friday episode reviews a few days full of significant news both on the disruptor league attempts to the PGA Tour and the USGA’s latest update on its distance plans. Andy and Brendan begin first with a solemn note on the horrific tragedy involving the University of the Southwest golf team. From there, they discuss the release of LIV’s schedule and the stinky roster of courses. There’s also a rumor about another massive signing bonus that leads to further debate about the progress that the Saudi cash could make once/if this thing gets up and running. The PGL’s re-emergence in the form of a report on a proposal sent to Rory McIlroy is also addressed, and they close with the distance issue and the signals this latest USGA and R&A update sent.

18 Mar 202252min

If you need gambling advice for the Valspar Championship, this is the show for you. Andy and Brendan spend one whole minute offering their one and done picks for Tampa. Around that, however, is chatter about brackets, generally, the sponsor exemptions in Tampa, the story of Luke Guthrie, proud Illinois product, and the whether the designer of Copperhead, Larry Packard, is related to Hewlett Packard. This devolves into a discussion on printers and the scam of ink replacement. Also included in this episode is the Elijah Craig Masters Fact of the Day, which leads to a chat on the rental car situation for the upcoming Masters trip. News closes with Henrik Stenson as the new Euro skipper for the Ryder Cup and what that means, if anything, for the Saudi league.

16 Mar 202246min

This Monday night episode reacts to the wild, interminable 2022 Players Championship. Andy and Brendan begin with Cameron Smith’s biggest career win to date, and exactly how he got it done with perfection in some areas and, well, some relatability in others. There are not a lot of kind words for conservative Paul Casey, even though he did catch a crap break. The drama around Viktor Hovland confronting Daniel Berger over his drop at 16 is also reviewed. Anirban Lahiri is praised as the anti-Paul/Pat Casey. Then they get to Saturday, taking on the complaints about an inequitable draw on the tee sheet and an inequitable hole in the island 17th. They revel in the type of shotmaking it produced and praise the journey that may have produced a less-than-ideal leaderboard come Sunday. At the end, Gold Boy is given one last round of applause, while Collin Morikawa gets a critique, and the topic of redesigning of the 17th is given one more pass.

15 Mar 20221h 12min

It’s Friday and where else would Andy and Brendan begin if not for Gold Boy. That’s our sweet little mixed reality boy that came into our lives prancing around the screen on Thursday at The Players Championship. The plan was not to talk about this mixed reality stunt until late in the show, but it gobbles up the first 15 minutes or so as there are a number of questions and concerns surrounding Gold Boy, who will apparently be with us all weekend. There is actual golf talk, of course, even with minimal golf to assess after a rain-soaked Thursday. They discuss the weather for the rest of the week, the “challenge” of spin control, Pat Reed flipping off the hole, and whether there could be a good side of the draw given the forecast. Will Zalatoris’s putting stroke is also discussed. Precision Pro Flashback Friday focuses on a prior Players Championship when the wind and weather wreaked havoc on scorecards, as may happen on this Saturday, but Lanny Wadkins turned in one of the all-time performances.

11 Mar 202253min

This Wednesday episode serves as a Players Championship preview, but there’s not much on the instant event until late in the second half of the recording. Andy and Brendan begin by reacting to the rare Jay Monahan press conference, one of only a couple per year, in which the commissioner was peppered with questions about Phil Mickelson, who may or may not be suspended, the rival league threat, further transparency, and the The Players cufflinks. Jon Rahm’s comments on course setup, Rory’s comments on suspensions becoming public, and JT’s response to a question about Russia are also discussed. Player picks are made, and there’s weather talk about what’s coming the next five days. News hits on a lengthy Golf Channel segment on gambling with the PGA Tour exec on gaming, and a report on some changes made to Augusta National ahead of next month’s Masters.

8 Mar 20221h 2min

It’s a Victory Monday of sorts at the Shotgun Start, which begins with some college basketball chatter. From there, it’s quickly into Bay Hill, where Scottie Scheffler is given his due as the new No. 1 player in the world. But the primary entree in the API reaction is on the course setup and high scores, reacting to Rory McIlroy’s critiques and some concerns that more players may start skipping it because it’s too hard a punch to the face. Andy and Brendan work through this in a back and forth, delineating between “so hard it’s boring,” firmness that’s interesting, and the dartboard of other weeks, with a few devil’s advocate challenges about the U.S. Open at more venerated courses. Billy Boy’s big week is also covered, as is the BFB’s honorable WD, the repeated Pillow Talk on the broadcast, and the Arnie hagiography. Jin Young Ko is praised, the PR Open is questioned, and the Champions Tour is acknowledged. News hits on Bryson’s WD from THE PLAYERS.

7 Mar 202255min

ESPN Senior Writer Kevin Van Valkenburg joins this early “Friday” episode with some delightful insights on golf news past and present. The trio begin with reaction to the final PIP results announcement, from Tiger deciding to poke Phil about his premature celebration to Bubba Watson sneaking in the backdoor top 10 to the Hideki omission. At Bay Hill, Rory’s comments on starting to welcome Phil back into the tent and forgiving him are inspected closely. The Masters Fact of the Day makes its triumphant return as does Flashback Friday. For this one, KVV requested Andy and Brendan come in cold as he takes them on a magical ride re-telling the mid-career boredom endeavor of Phil Mickelson believing, and actually trying, to pitch in high professional baseball, getting a tryout with the AAA Toledo Mudhens with begrudging approval from their major league affiliate Detroit Tigers. It’s a solid 20 minutes of cackling at some of the truly amazing quotes around the experiment that KVV dug up, so thanks to him for his time and contribution to the episode.

3 Mar 20221h 16min

It’s an early Wednesday episode celebrating the arrival of March, a good if not great month. Andy and Brendan begin with a discussion on Bryson’s WD from Bay Hill, and his social media video full of fits and starts announcing it. It sounds like Bryson may be on the shelf for longer than this week, so the two ponder his injury, his career to date, and his post-bulk run. Then it’s on to the schedule for the week, where Brendan confesses that Bay Hill has a piece of his heart and Andy delights in the par-3s of all the same length. The oppo field event at Puerto Rico is a who’s who of the alternate list army, which is covered at length. They close with news, which primarily focuses on Zach Johnson as the new Ryder Cup captain, his hype video, and his retention of six captain’s picks.

1 Mar 202249min