Golf talk

Feelings onnews that LIV golf is losing funding

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

So back with another episode of Four Clueless Dudes. Mike here. Mine Solo today. Everybody else is probably working. So I'd talk a little bit about golf. Seen a uh report out by I don't know if it was USA Today or NBC. I don't really know. Both of them are not really reliable news sources anymore. But that said that Saudi Arabia pulled uh their funding for the uh Lib tour, which that's true, that kind of sucks. Uh don't know where their money will come from. Uh that could be why Kepka and Patrick Reed and a couple others decided to find that pathway back to the PGA tour. Um so don't really watch much golf anymore like I used to. It's kind of become a a fucking soap opera. Uh you know, it's all about Rory and Tiger and uh I can't think of the other guy's name, the one that got busted there in Louisville during the one of the tournaments a couple of years ago for I guess not obeying an uh order from a local law enforcement there. Kind of uh Scotty Shreffer, that's what I was thinking of. Kind of a setup there, so who knows? But uh anyway, it's just you know, it's just not really fun to watch. Uh here you got Tiger that's been busted several times for uh under the influence of, you know, pain medicine, maybe sleeping medicine, uh something like that, but uh still don't crucify him, but you got guys that leave the PGA for the uh live and they get fucking crucified because of uh atrocities that Saudi Arabia has committed on people. I think you need to uh re-look at the history of the United States. Uh we've done some pretty bad shit to people too, but you know, they seem to bypass that. And you know, the PGA wouldn't open up their books and see where their money was coming from. I guarantee they were taking money from Saudi Arabia, you know, to help with the purses and all that. So uh take a good look in the fucking mirror before you start talking about people. Uh because uh I almost bet that Rory and Tiger, if it hadn't leaked out about the amount of money that they were offered, if it hadn't leaked out, they probably would have took that $500 million or $400 million or whatever it was they were being offered. Uh that's just to sign a contract, that's not to play golf. So yeah, it'd be interesting to see what they do uh for a pathway, you know, back to uh to the PGA and you know, Bill Mickelson, you know, he's the original guys that called it out about how the PGA was uh treating their players. And oh well, pretty funny that it came to fruition that he was right about everything. But uh, you know, the way I look at it, they're independent, they should be able to play anywhere they want to. They don't sign a contract. Of course, they do have a PGA tour card, I suppose, but uh, you know, they're an independent contractor, you know, they gotta uh have their own health insurance, they gotta pay for their own, you know, plane rides, hotels, all that. Maybe the tour provides a car for them to back and forth, but you know, they have agents that book all that stuff, so that's kind of like being an independent contractor. Uh so they should be able to play where they want to. Uh Lib's having a tournament that weekend, PGA's having a tournament that weekend, they should be able to play whichever one they want to play on. So but the two tours just need to get over the bullshit and uh come to an agreement and uh, you know, maybe bring it back in and change it to the worldwide golf league or something like that, you know, because you've got the European tour that uh, you know, has led a lot of them back on. And so it'll be interesting to see, you know, uh if the Liv League folds or if they get some funding from somewhere else, or you know, if they become a partner league with the PGA or USGA, which you know that would probably be the best case scenario for all involved, because they always talk about how it's the PGAs, the best players in the planet playing golf era. That's bullshit because you got some of the guys that are playing Live are just as good, if not better, and they proved it by coming back and winning the majors. So uh just don't like you know how some of them were saying the stuff they said when some of these guys uh signed on with Lib. You know, it's really none of anybody's business but that player and their family why they chose to go there. But seems like in our life and times now everybody's gotta be in everybody else's fucking business and can't look in the mirror and uh look at their own before they make comments. Uh I don't know. Uh you know, maybe it's just because they played three rounds and there was no cut and things like that, and they wasn't getting on world golf rankings, and which I see I I can see both sides of it, but still some of the best players, you know, in the world were going over to live just because of the relaxed uh atmosphere and more time with their families and things like that. You know, I play golf, I'm not the greatest. You know, I might shoot mid-80s on a good day, you know, normally around 90 or 92. Uh I can't imagine, you know, what these guys go through to get to the the point that they're at and they're playing, you know, 40-40. Uh weeks out of the year, you know, it's starting January and they go all the way up into maybe August, September. I mean, they play a lot. Taxes are body, a lot of plane rides, you know, car rides, rental cars. I mean, it's uh yeah, I'm sure it's taxing, and that not just say, you know, the uh uh European League, you know, if they decide they want to play on that, you know, one weekend or something, you know, just the the miles, you know, it's pretty rough. And you gotta play the British Open or the Open Championship now, whatever they call it. You know, you're over there, you know, depending on when you go there, if you go over a week early and you stay all week and then kind of get used to the time change. So uh, but yeah, I'd be interested to see what they do. Uh if that is true, you know, if Saudi Arabia has pulled the money uh and the reason why, see if that comes out, and there'll be a lot of speculation on that, and then there'll be a lot of uh speculation on you know how the players are gonna you know come back. Again, they don't sign a contract, you know, maybe you make them go through Q-school, you know, who knows? Or uh something like that. No, they gotta come up with some formula to let them back on because the fans are the ones that's missing if they don't let those players back. Uh I believe they can go on a European tour and you know start playing. Uh yeah, you know, just it makes it interesting when you got the best players in the world, not just playing the majors, but playing tournaments every you know, weekend when they play. You know, when the chambeaux and uh some of the other ones are are not out there playing, you know, your best players in the world are not there. So uh really interesting. Can't wait to see what happens. So uh haven't really watched much golf this year. I've watched a few um Lib tournaments. I did watch the Masters until Rory, you know, and then you know it's just you know kind of makes you think that some of the guys just not play as well so he can win again. Uh I don't know. I just don't like him. Never really cared for Rory. Great great golfer, don't get me wrong, great golfer, but just you know, don't like him. He's another one that cheats on his fucking wife with one of the reporters there, and you know, nothing happens. Uh but yeah, you got a guy telling other people, you know, how to live their life and where to play golf. So same way with that, you know, Tiger, you know, again, getting in trouble all those times, and you know, everybody puts him up on a pedestal, hero worshiper. He's also a cheater, cheated on his wife. She was trying to whip his ass with a golf club when he had a wreck. Then he damn near killed himself in a car wreck because you know he's you know possibly under the influence of, you know, maybe anxiety meds. I can't remember. I know pain, pain reliever, anxiety, stuff like that. And you know, and all the women he was cheating on, uh, cheating with on his wife when he different different uh you know stops on the tour. So it's not really a good role model for all the players and the young ones that want to come up, but the media, you know, make him out to be the greatest thing, which you know that's not true. And Rory, you know, he's uh cheating on his wife again, you know. So these are your heroes. Uh so I guess you can sweep that shit under the rug because how good they are, but then the guys that go to live, you know, uh they're the villains and they're the bad guys for what another country has done again, you know. The United States is not innocent by no means, you know, some of the tortures that they've done. I spent 32 years in the military. Uh, you hear rumors. So I got friends that served in special forces and other departments, so you know, you hear side talk and backroom talk about, you know, things that go on. So, you know, that's just a bullshit lame answer uh that the news media, you know, they asked their in-trapping questions, and you know, you get a golfer that answers them truthfully, and then they crucify him. Again, Phil Mickelson, he called out all the problems with the PGA tour. And after the live started, and a lot of the players were going, all of a sudden they changed all the stuff that Bill came out and said was bad, like spending more time with family, you know, playing three rounds instead of four rounds, more relaxed atmosphere. Uh you had these guys. I've been to several PG8 tour events, several champions tour events. Those PG8 tours, they hell they they stay in the middle of the fairway, they won't even make contact, or if you say hi and wave, they don't slap your hand, or when they're going from a green to another T box, they just stay in the middle. It's like they're afraid to fucking touch somebody. But the champions, you know, they're more open, you know, they'll they'll come up to the the thing there and they'll shake your hand and talk to you, ask you how you're doing. I can remember one event down in when I was stationed in Georgia and uh took my daughter, McKenzie, to the Liberty Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, and uh We were walking, and I had the military have some vehicles there, and we were stopping me and my daughter looking at them and talking to one of the players come up and ask me, you know, uh about that vehicle, and it was a striker, uh combat vehicle, and uh asked what it did, and they said it kind of a troop carrier, but it also has some firepower to it. Uh you know, they used it in some pretty bad situations to get troops out and in and uh like that. So, you know, they just come up and talk to you, and then uh, you know, later on we're going and McKenzie's walking against the the uh uh ropes there, you know, as the players are walking down, and there's one certain golfer, his name's Craig Stadler, which I believe he's passed, but you know, he was a master's winner, and they get sun plate on the tour for a while, but he walked the whole length of a hole talking to my daughter and ask her how she was doing in school and things like that. You know, that makes a kid feel good. She don't know who he was, but it makes her you know kid feel good when you got a professional golfer that's still good, and he walks the whole length, you know, of a hole, you know, 450 yards until he's got to hit his next shot, and he goes out and hits it, and he comes back and walks with her and talks to her all the way, you know, to the green. That makes a kid feel good when they do that. You know, nowadays pros don't do that. Just you know, I don't know if they think they're better or they're just trying to concentrate. You know, some of these guys that play a little looser and a little more free, you know, yeah, they might become better golfers. Uh yeah, I don't know. I just you know, I appreciate that. You know, probably never meet him again because you know I believe he's passed away, but you know, it meant a lot to me, it meant a lot to my daughter. Uh you know, we used to go to that tournament every year, and you know, you get to see these. I guess the highlight of my golfing career would be I got to stand on the side of the ropes and uh talk to Jack Nicholas and Gary Player. I mean, how many guys get to do that, you know? And again, see them on TV and playing, and uh, you know, they're over there, and I I I just I said I thought you guys would be bigger. I mean, you know, you see it on TV and they look big, and you know, they're they're uh not big men in no means, but they hit the dog shit out of the ball, and you know, some of the two of the probably the best golfers, you know, in the world, but it's just nice for them to come up and talk to you and up, you just say, Hey, can I shake your hand? They say, Yeah, shake their hand, and you go on. You know, you don't come up and you know autograph hound them and all that stuff, don't really need that. But it's just kind of cool to see how down and laid back, you know. Two of the best golfers in the history of the game are. But then, like I said, you see Tiger and Rory when they played, they just ignore the fans. You know, you gotta remember the fucking fans are the ones that come to see you play and buy the merchandise, and you know, when you you have merchandising contracts and you you know you get a percentage of that, the fans are the one that do that, so you know you know give them a little bit. So, yeah. It's just cool to see those champions guys that would you know talk to people and you know, been to a few uh I can't think of the name of it. It's the lower level before you you know you try to get your PGA tour card to go up. But you know, some of those guys are uh you know, really, really personable. And then one other thing that uh before I retired, you know, I was working orthopedics many years ago, and uh I was working with a doctor named Dr. Gable. Uh he was an orthopedic guy. He was a uh foot doctor, so he was a podiatrist. But he uh lived in Newburgh, and he had a uh uh membership to Victoria National. He lived right across the street, so he just said, hey, you know, one day why don't you just come over and play around and golf with me? Bring who you want to. So at that point in time, my cousin Jeremy, who's another host on this, and my father-in-law, uh my wife's dad, was here doing an outage, and uh those guys, so we went over and played, and you know, Dr. Gable, you know, paid for everything, the alcohol, the food, and all that, and of course was in great shape. But before we started, uh we went out to the range. Now again, this was 2021, 2022, maybe 2020, not quite for sure. You know, time flies by when you get old and retire. But uh, so we went to the range and hit some balls, and there was a guy over, you know, on the driving part of it, you know, hitting some irons, and then switched over to his drivers. And uh Dr. Gable said, man, I'd like to introduce you guys to uh somebody because uh they were uh there for the season ending tournament of the I guess that used to be the Nike Tour or whatever the hell I can't even think of the name of it right now, but uh they were playing uh uh some practice rounds over at the Pearl over in Oklahoma, or Oklahoma on Owensboro, Pearl National, and then they were you know doing their national championship final, whatever the hell it's called, the end of the year tour there at Bic Victoria. But anyway, so we go up there and he introduces us, and it was Bryson DeChambeau over there, you know, practicing on the driving range uh that morning before heading over in the afternoon to tee off over at the Pearl. So it was just kind of cool to see him and then see him where he's gone to, you know, since then. Again, that's five, six, maybe seven years ago. Not really sure the exact probably 2020, 2021, but you know, just to see guys like that. And uh, you know, when I was in the army, still I was down in North Carolina and uh went to uh a place down there called Anderson Creek Club. It was a new course that they just opened up and houses and all that stuff, but uh uh had a couple of uh pros there. Uh of course the club pro and then you had the guy that actually designed it and owned it was Davis Love III, and uh he gave like a demonstration, and you know that's really the because I hadn't been playing golf a long, long time. That was probably 2008, 2009 when I kind of picked it up. And I played a little bit before that, just wasn't really, really good, but just to watch him give that demonstration on how far he hit the ball, but how easy he swung and uh yeah, all those guys to see, you know, and he well and he's a big band, you know, the Shambeau's big too. He's 6'2, 6'3. Davis Love's probably 6'1 or 6'2, but skinny. But it's just uh, you know, Jack Nicholas is not 5'10, maybe, you know, Gary Player, 5'7, you know, small, but just just effort effortless swings just to see how far the ball goes. And I'm sure they're the golf balls and their clubs are uh special made for them, you know, and they're tailored to their swing and all that. But it's just the way these guys hit the ball, and some of the ladies. I mean, seen some of them too, but just the way they hit the ball. So uh, yeah, I just wanted to come on here and touch a little bit about golf, you know, the state of golf right now, with the LibTour possibly losing their funding and uh how they're gonna create a pathway back, you know, for some of these guys that are you know already established, you know, Mickelson, uh Bryson, you know, Tommy, not Bleetwood, he's already on there. Lee Westwood, you know, some of these guys that still, you know, probably got some game. You know, Ian Poulter, you know, he's kind of you know on the back twilight of his career, but he's a hell of a Ryder Cup player, you know. Sergio, it's you know, John Rom, you know, different guys, you know. How what's their pathway gonna be back to get back on the uh main tour? Uh, you know, are they gonna uh hit him with a fine? They're gonna make him go back to Q school, they going to go over to the European tour and have to play a year before they come back, you know, what do they gotta do? So it's gonna be interesting. Hope they don't play favorites, you know, like they let the chambeau, and I'm surprised they let Patrick Reed back in, you know, some of the stuff he's tried to pull in the past with uh suing that one dude on the golf channel, which you know I don't like him anyway. Uh you know just tries to tell these golfers how to do when he was a suck-ass golfer anyway. He's not a very good commentator either. Brandle Chambly's his name, so not a very good golfer either. So I think he tried to do a comeback on the champions tour, couldn't do it. So but anyway, yeah that's just my take on that, and hopefully, you know, if it is, they can kind of integrate some of these and all these guys back on there, you know, some of these young ones. Um, you know, how they're gonna do that and what's gonna make sense, and uh how they're gonna do it, you know. I know they did on for Kepka and Patrick Reed and a couple others, you know, that they'd been major winners within the last four or five years, and that kind of gave them a pathway back. So Shambeau falls in that category, Rom does. Uh that kid from Australia does too, Cam Smith, because he won a uh, you know, a major. So you know third to, but I don't know how far back they'll go with it. But uh yeah, we'll kind of see what happens. So I'll just end this video with here. Peace out, and hopefully we can uh get everybody back together and do us, get all four guys together here soon. So have a good rest of your day.