The golf season has reached the finish line. Here’s what to watch for | Golf Channel Podcast

The golf season has reached the finish line. Here’s what to watch for | Golf Channel Podcast

Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Laval. Folks, we are at the finish line. It’s the PGA Tour season finale. It’s the LPGA Tour season finale, but also a lot of news to get to. Rex, you’re in Sea Island. That is why I am also there in spirit wearing a Frederria hat, one of our favorite golf courses in the US. How’s it going out there today at the RM Classic? Well, I think we have some highlights coming to you from around yesterday with me and super producer Andrew Bradley at Frederica. It was quite the interesting ground. Oh, there we go. Uh, beautiful. Hi Dyl, if you’ve ever been like it is such a treat, a pleasure to play that golf course and we ran out we got out there late yesterday afternoon and as Davis Love said in his press conference here at Sea Island that you know the weather is perfect in this sort of corner of paradise when people start complaining about the sandats the bugs you know what they are but folks who very very prevalent uh very much so however having spent a good amount of time in this area including boot camp Paris Island just up the road a little bit there are ways to fight it and its skin so soft. Consider that. Write that down. Skin so soft. We’ll keep the sandets away. Whatever it is, the ganets away. But yeah, it was a very nice round. Uh we’ve been having fun the last two days on golf today making fun of you and your driver. Yep. The one person who does not have the driver yips would be super producer Andrew Bradley who hit it like a tour player yesterday. That’s on 18. You came to it a little bit late, but you get the idea. He just stripes showed all the way around. I think in 18 holes he actually hit one drive that wasn’t off the center of the club face. That is not driver hips. Uh I am unfamiliar with that feeling of hitting all but one fairway. Uh boy, I sure wish I could do that. Uh fervent listeners, Rex of the Pod will remember Andrew Bradley who uh was a guest on last year’s I believe it was his year- end show in which we asked him what is your core memory from I don’t know covering golf over the past 15 years and Rex his answer was none immediately come to mind. I don’t have one. and thus ended Andrew Bradley’s podcast career. All right, let’s get into this because there is so much to get to. Let’s start, Rex, with some news that we’ve had over the past uh 7 10 days since we’ve done the last podcast record. We have to first start with Justin Thomas who announced last week that he had undergone back surgery. Said he actually had some nagging hip pain. Got it checked out. It turned out to be a disc. Underwent a microisquctomy. If that procedure sounds familiar, that’s the one that is made somewhat famous by Tiger Woods in recent years. Rex, the typical recovery period for a microisctomy is somewhere around 3 months. Every athlete is a little bit different, but we’ve already heard from Justin Thomas in his social media post. We’ve already heard from Jordan uh Spe who appeared on Golf Central earlier this week after talking to Justin Thomas encouraging him not to rush it. How does this news, this back surgery news for Justin Thomas, how does that temper your expectations for his 2026? It doesn’t because we have seen players who have had this surgery, including our very own Andrew Bradley who had that exact same surgery and we just showed that swing. Doesn’t seem to be impacting him. Tiger Woods would be the outlier here because that was one of, if I have the number right, seven different back surgeries procedures if I’m adding all of those up. So, I think you have to take the cumulative effect when you have Tiger Woods in the discussion. I think Justin Thomas being relatively young, being in relatively good shape and the fact of who he works with. He works with Kay Wayne who is the same trainer who Tiger Woods works with, they have been through this. They know the psychology. They know the protocols they have to go through. Also, I had a chance to talk with Harris English this morning about JT because if anybody knows about coming back from injury, Harris English had major hip surgery back in 2022. I mean, it could have been career-ending hip surgery, the things he was dealing with. And now he’s playing on Ryder Cups. He’s contending in majors. He’s won on the PGA tour since then. And he said what we always hear from professional athletes. No professional athlete has ever come back too late from an injury. Harris actually admitted, “I came back too soon. I was out six months.” And he goes, “I just got sick and tired of sitting on the couch. Didn’t want to miss another major.” That’s what you have to wrestle with. And I think more than anything, that’ll be the one thing JT will struggle with. As you and I both know, he can be, what’s the nicest way of saying that? A bit of a hardhead when it comes to these things. He Yeah, he’s he certainly can. He’s already at least alluded to, at least talked about the need to take things slowly. He has already acknowledged that he’s going to be missing some tournament starts in 2026. How many? I don’t know. If you think about the typical 3-month recovery period, that would put him sort of late February. So, you know, a season wouldn’t start in Sony. We’re sort of unsure how many star players are going to turn up there anyway. We wouldn’t see him in the desert. Likely would not see him in Phoenix. Likely would not see him at Riviera or Pebble Beach. and maybe hopefully optimistically we see Justin Thomas somewhere close to full health around the players championship certainly in time for the Masters. And so yeah, you’re missing a good chunk of the season. He’s going to have to play catch-up for things like the FedEx Cup race, trying to get to the Tour Championship, trying to make sure his game is informed for the major championships. We know how much he has struggled in those since winning the 2022 PGA. It certainly took me by surprise. I because I think it took Justin Thomas by surprise. He did not anticipate at all having any sort of back issue. Again, he said it was nagging hip pain. If you look at the results, you know, Justin Thomas slowed down a little bit in July and August. Wasn’t quite in the same form that he has exhibited in spring. You sort of wonder now in hindsight how much that could be attributed to the hip pain which eventually turned into a disc issue. But like by all accounts, it was a very successful 2025 season for Justin Thomas. won the RBC Heritage signature event on the PJ tour among eight top 10s, was picked for the RDER Cup team once again, uh secured a pretty impressive uh Sunday singles match victory as well that at least sort of kickstarted that American rally on Sunday. So, no, like there’s so many potential landmines for injuries for PJ tour players, right? Like hand wrist not good at all. elbow as as you can see from my current driver’s bad hip issues as you have alluded to also troubling Harris English Billy Horschel coming back from that now as well I think about it as like a running back where knees Achilles like those injuries I think there’s always a level of concern will I be back to the same level back is obviously scary Justin Thomas has a great team around him look forward to getting him back on the PJ tour very soon finger is up which means it’s your turn no you’re right this is the one that always puts up alarm bells. I think technology, I think science, I think medicine has come along enough. I think we’ve seen enough players who have gone through this and come out the other side better, not just the same players they were before. You can become a better player because Justin Thomas probably doesn’t even realize that this injury has been lingering for a long time. And at some point, he finally had to start listening to his body. I did want to say this. You mentioned the driver. Yep. We’ve had fun with that the last two days since I was threatened with an HR complaint. I just wanted to go uh make it public that I apologize. I didn’t mean to use those words as directed to my colleague Ryan Lavner. That’s going to be my only statement on this. Please respect my privacy. Yes, this actually could be Rex’s final episode once he’s called into the principal’s office. He is questionable to return for Sunday show. It is. It is. I’m the first one to poke fun in my own golf game, which of course right now is dead. Some other news to get to, Rex. Victor Perez, who was actually in the field at the RSM Classic, was a Tuesday withdrawal because he has now joined Liv Golf. He’ll be a member of Martin Kimer’s clicks team. Victor Perez, the tall Frenchman, 108th in the FedEx Cup point. So, he was playing Rex at the RSM, the final event of the FedEx Cup fall to hopefully become uh fully secure on the PG tour by getting inside the top 100. Even if the season had ended, he would have finished one 108th. likely would have gotten I don’t know somewhere 20ish events 256 that’s a that’s a different category 101 a reshuffle so he like he he would have been in a good spot instead decides to make the jump personal decision moving to live golf does this move the needle at you for you at all with Victor Perez leaving the PJ tour to become a member of live I think for you and I and those of us in this business of course it moves the needle I mean live golf has spent spent the last two offseason I would argue being pretty idle not really making any major moves, either trying to pick up players or allowing players in via the promotions event. I’m not quite sure this is a name that’s going to move the needle. We talk about this all the time. What’s going to allow Live Golf to take that next step to become a little bit more mainstream, specifically here in the United States? I don’t think Victor Perez is that guy. I will tell you this anecdotally as we mentioned uh myself and super producer Andrew played Fria yesterday and as we were on the range getting ready, um Tommy Gayy was on the range hitting golf balls. Of course, Tommy Gay, the 2012 winner here at the RSM Classic. Tommy Gayy, who just won on the PJ tour champions last month at our friends uh Furick and Friends uh event. He was on the range and we were just having a casual conversation and he reaches into his phone and his eyes got big and he goes, “Huh? Whoops. I’m in. I just got into the field and I was like, “Oh, who left? Let’s go to the let’s go let’s let’s let’s let’s just go to the right-hander from the bullpen. Who left?” was my was my question. Oh, who left? Not thinking like who withdrew was what I should have said, but who left? And he goes, “Victor Perez.” I didn’t realize how right I was when I asked that question. Yep. Victor Perez. Now on live, I’ve talked a number of times. I think one of the strengths of the PJ tour is how they regenerate stars. And I wouldn’t say Victor Perez was a star, but he was sort of a a rank and file player. He will be easily replaceable. I do think it helps live in terms of like depth. Another name player, he’s a good player, multiple time winner uh on the European tour, including a Rolex Series event. So if you know if that’s what he feel like he wanted to do, he’s he’s probably going to make more money on Liv than he would have won on the PJ tour. So be it. We’ll see Victor Perez on Liv uh beginning with the Saudi event in early February in 2026. Speaking of Liv Rex, there was a little bit of a news as well. We touched on a little bit in the round table on Tuesday was Henrik Stenson uh who is reportedly first reported by Bunker and then followed up by our friend James Corgan of the Telegraph. He has had his fines paid that he was due to the DP World Tour and he will be rejoining the European circuit. Now, James Corgan did say that it’ll be on the European tours terms because the legends category uh from which a Henrik Stenson, a Lee Westwood, a Ian Poulter, a Paul Casey, players of that ilk, the category that they would have been playing out of and thus been getting into some of the signature events, the elevated events, the Rolex Series events on the DP World Tour, that category has been diminished. And so, you know, he’s probably going to need sponsor invites if he’s going to be playing in the, I don’t know, Scottish Opens and the Abu Dhabies of the world. What do you make of Henrik Stenson’s move? Who Stenson is going to be turning 50 next year? Remember, a couple years ago, he was stripped of the European Rder Cup captaincy. What are you reading into this? I think it’s pretty clear some of our comments that Aean Lynch scares both of us to death when we’re on live TV because you don’t know what he’s going to ask. So, I’m very hopeful that Aean Lynch is not going to watch this podcast because I will point to what is happening just not with Henrik Extension, but Lori Caner as well. You have a former player from Liv Golf who will play on the PGA Tour next year. That has not happened on a full-time basis. That’s the pathway. And Lori Caner stopped playing on the live tour, played last season or this season on the DP World Tour, finished inside the top 10 and earned that exempt status onto the PGA Tour. It’s a convoluted pathway. It’s a long way to go to get to where you want, but we’ve been waiting a long time for this to try to see what would what could this possibly look like. And I’m not going to say that’s going to happen with Henrik Stinson because by all accounts performances on live golf the last few years suggest his best golf is behind him. But again, the DP World Tour is the one that’s out front on this particular issue and it’s probably easier for them and their memberships. I understand where you’re coming from. Touch on one of the things you mentioned. Of course, every Rolex event is going to want Henrik Stinson in the field. He’s still a name. He’s still a draw. I could see this happening multiple times over the next few years where the Graham McDows and the Lee Westwoods and the Ian Poulters fall off live golf and just go back to the DP World Tour who will be more than happy to embrace him with open arms. The other part of this conversation which was very interesting it came up over the last few days is Henrik circle back around to get another chance as a European Rder Cup captain. I don’t think so. Only because of what you and I have talked about in the past. I truly believe Luke Donald’s going to get a third try in two years at a Dare Manner. If I was the European tour, I would be begging him right now, sending him flowers. Please, Guinness, please come, come captain again. We want you to keep captaining. So, at some point, you kind of run out of slots because at some point, you would look at Justin Rose. You would start looking at other players. Certainly, Rory’s going to come in to the conversation. So, I don’t think that’s happening, but it is compelling and it’s interesting because here is the pathway that we’ve been waiting for. Yeah. And exactly like the and the punishments for DP World Tour players is obviously less penal than what we see on the PJ tour. Like Stenson, I believe his fines was somewhere around a million pounds. He’s going to have to sit out two months, which if you look at the DP World Tour schedule, that’s not going to be all that prohibitive for him as well. As long as you do those two checkpoints like you can rejoin the tour, you can apply for membership and play once again on the European circuit. A cynic Rex would say that I think to your point, okay, you pay a million and a half dollars, all of a sudden you’re just trying to get into the good graces of the European Rder Cup circuit again. You know, maybe there’s an opening. Maybe he gets himself back into the team room at least for 2027 at a dare Menor. Who knows what’s going to open up. It’s really hard for me to imagine after the public embarrassment of Henrik Stenson saying, “I’m not going to go to live. My full focus is on the European Rder Cup team.” and then having to be stripped of the captain captaincy. It’s really hard for me to imagine a scenario in which he would be sort of the front-facing figure again. But I sure hope he’s part of the back room staff. I think he has a lot of knowledge uh to to impart on the younger players. He’s been there. He’s done that. I I think the same goes for uh Ian Palter, a Lee Westwood, a Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, a Graham McDall. All of those players I believe in the future should be reinccorporated, but it’s really hard for me to see them being that front-facing figure for the European Rder Cup team after these past couple years have gone. No, and that’s fair. And I think the part that just gives me hope, and you should give every golf fan hope, is that we have been talking in circles about this for the last three and a half years essentially, and there has been no obvious pathway back. And certainly the powers that be on the PGA tour side, they haven’t been interested in creating a clear pathway. We kind of know based on what happened with Hudson Swaffford, but that’s still a lot of gray area involved there. What if Brooks Kepka’s contract comes up at the end of next year like we all think it will, and he decides not to. How in the world do you bring back Brooks Kepka? Because I would guess the PGA tour would be motivated to do that. So I think this is only a good thing. Yeah. And keep in mind the arbitration case is still outstanding for a Terrell Hatton and a John Rom. It was much much more expeditious for the other players like Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. There was a lot of thought that you know after after the Ryder Cup the case had been stayed for those two players. We have not yet heard when they are going to have that case heard for John Rom and Teral Hatton who are appealing the sanctions that DB World Tour has imposed on them. As I mentioned earlier, a big week for the LPJ, the season finale in Naples, uh Nelly Corda, who was a seventime winner last year, uh still trying to get her first win in 2025, certainly a surprise. But one thing that I thought was really notable that came out this week, Rex, was the announcement from the LPGA that they are partnering uh with sponsor FM to get an investment to have some broadcast enhancements in 2026. What that’s going to include is every tournament being shown live. No more tape delay, which always, you know, wrankled fans and and for good reason. They’re going to have more cameras, more opportunities, more storytelling, more walk-in talks. Big picture, 30,000 foot. I don’t need the nitty-gritty details of what this deal is going to entail. Big picture though, how significant do you think this is for the LPJ? Because to me, this was like one of the one of the biggest moments certainly of Craig Kesler’s early tenure as commissioner, but could be hugely successful for the women’s tour and trying to get some more exposure. And I believe it’s going to come with shot link at the events as well, if I read correctly, which kind of dovetales with some of the things that you and I have talked about in the past. Every professional event now should use shot link. That should be the standard. You don’t have this in any other sport. Stats are stats in every other sport. So, there’s no reason. Look at the PGA Tour. It’s proprietary. They’ve invested a lot of money. they deserve to get paid for it, but that’s what the fans, not that I’m not talking about the media or the media partners, that’s what the fans deserve. Something a little bit more in-depth than how many fairways did you hit, but I think you’re absolutely right. This is a huge uh improvement over what the product was before. There’s a lot of ways to go. I’m not a fan of the walk-in talk, but I think you could give the the the public an opportunity to meet these players, get to know these players a little bit better. You talk about the storytelling. That’s one thing that you and I always seem to want to lean into. If you have this real estate, if you have the opportunity to take a little time and put a little air in the room and explain exactly why Nelly Carter is on this historic pace or maybe why she’s struggling this year and not winning like she did last year, I think it’s only good for the product. Yeah, I I I couldn’t agree more. And there’s always been like this chicken and egg argument when it relates to the LPGA cuz cuz some fans will look at the ratings and be like, see, there’s not a there’s not an appetite for this. There’s not an audience for this. But is there not an audience for this? because some of the tournaments are on tape delay or some of the tournaments are overseas or some of the tournaments are not on broadcast television. This is a great way to sort of show what the appetite and what the audience is because having more cameras is huge. It’s going to dramatically improve and increase the pacing of the broadcast. If you watch an LPGA telecast, Rex, like it’s it’s much more aligned with what I would call like cornfairy tour coverage as opposed to the PJ tour. Typically on a corn fair tour coverage because there are fewer cameras, because there is less production staff, you sort of hone in on one or two groups and you sort of watch like their entire routine and it could just seem a little bit slow, a little bit tedious. Having more cameras, 50% more cameras I believe was the was the statistic. You’re going to be bouncing around to players more often. You’re going to introduce the audience to more players. You mentioned the shotling camera. Think that’s huge as well because now we can finally contextualize what these players are doing not just to our own numbers which are obviously uh poultry and mediocre and a little bit pathetic but also how does that relate to PJ tour players? just better contextualizes to me it’s just a it’s a massive win early for Craig Kesler and a great way a great easy way with this investment opportunity from FM to to increase the exposure for the tour and just see can this really help boost the reach and the audience uh for the circuit and there there is sort of the hidden trap door on this that probably no one wants to get into but the reason the PGA Tour invested so much money in those shotlink cameras and it took them years to come up with something that was as close to full pro proof that was going to work. I think the threshold was 98% correct or something along those lines. Like it had to be almost perfect. There’s only one reason why it needed to be 98 or 99% correct and that’s for gambling purposes. And if anything is going to move the needle in any sport, I don’t care if it’s the NFL or the LPGA Tour, it’s going to be gambling because the degenerates love to pay attention to something they have action on. Great point. How about the PJ Tour season finale? Certainly, you look at the various races that are going on. I mean, it is a glorious day. Remember the McKenzie Hughes uh when a couple years ago, it was practically a chance of snow. No one wants to see me. I’ll just move out of the 80°. It’s beautifully sunny, light breezes, just idyllic weather uh in Seattle, not just right now pre-ournament, but also expected through the tournament days. Great uh great to see because it can be so difficult. But Rex, like what is what is the feeling on the ground? It’s a it’s a sleepy coastal town. You know, there’s not a whole lot going on. A lot of vacationers there. Do you feel the tension? A lot was made. We’ve been talking for literally 11 months about this move from 125 100. The sort of underscoring the point that the PJ tour has gotten more cutthroat. Do you actually feel that vibe now that we have reached the finish line and they actually are really making the start cut off? My report I did on golf today, I just wanted to touch on the various bubbles and they’re a little bit more nuanced than I think most people realize and I think they’re a little bit more nuanced than what we usually say when it’s live and on air like you don’t have a lot of time to explain it but certainly we’re talking about that top 100 down from 125. We want to look into the guys who are trying to keep their job. But I kind of took a little bit deeper dive and looked at the various bubbles of 100 is one of them, but you also have number 51 through 60. Those players who finished in the fall points list, they are going to get into the first two uh signature events starting next season. That’s big. I use this as an example. Brian uh Ben Griffin played well last fall. Got into those first two signature events and went on to have a career year. Just a breakout year. Two three feet PreG tour victories. made it to the Ryder Cup. Everything he did there, that’s compelling in my mind. And there’s also sort of this inside baseball idea that there are going to be separate categories after that 100. So, it’s going to be 101 to 110 is going to be a separate category and from the fall points list. And that’s important because number one, they won’t reshuffle. So, it doesn’t matter if you don’t play great to start the year. You’re not going to start losing status. That’s big. And according to most players I talked to, they imagine they’re going to get 20 maybe 25 starts next year. Now, they’re not going to be in the signature events or the majors or the players championship, but if you have 20 or 25 event starts, I think most guys on that range over there will tell you that’s good enough. If I can’t get it done in 20 or 25 events, that’s good enough. All that being said, I was a little surprised and I I’m going to tease this and I strongly recommend everyone go and listen to my report, not because of what I said, but what the players said. Mackenzie Hughes, I asked about it. He’s sort of vying for that 51 to 60 spot right now. He’s at 48, I believe. He made it clear, I don’t I’m not happy with a new system. I don’t like having fewer cards. Justin Lowour, who was on the outside of that 110 spot. He I think he’s 118 on the fall points list. He clearly wasn’t happy. Bo Hustler, who’s just outside, I think it’s 108, so he’s outside that top 100 number. He clearly is not happening. And it’s this isn’t about you’re just setting arbitrary numbers. This is just about the PGA Tour has made a conscious decision to do something that most almost every other sport is not doing, and that’s contract. you’re gonna have fewer and fewer playing opportunities. Everyone can see the upside. We all know what Brian Rolap is angling for here. He wants an elite product that brings the best players to the best courses on a more limited basis than what we have right now. I can see that as a positive business model. However, now that this week you have those numbers adding up to real life consequences. These this isn’t hypothetical anymore. This is real life consequences. I think everybody is taking a really hard look to answer your question. And yeah, man, it’s tense here. But don’t you don’t you think, Rex, with those various checkpoints that you mentioned and sort of the 101 to 110 range, don’t you think, you know, it’s not quite what we thought last year? Like we thought there was you’re going to be dropping off a cliff, right? Like once you get to 100, everyone else all of a sudden you’re fending for yourself in the corner tour. If you finish outside that number, maybe you’re going back to Q school, you know, maybe you’re back to the PJ tour Americas. It seemed at the time really stark, really dire, really cutthroat. They’re still offering a pretty sizable raft here for players. I mean, 20 starts is a lot. Are you going to have to play some pretty serious stretches? Yeah, I think you would. But if you want to be on the PGA Tour and you want to have access to millions and millions of dollars, you’re going to do whatever it takes. You look at the players who are going to be finishing against that top 100. It’s not like they’re playing significantly more than a 100 tournaments. Sure, you have some some iron men, you know, the the Adam Shanks of the world, the Max Grayman’s of the world who are who are ironmen and they’re going to be playing nearly every single week, the Brian Campbell who played nearly every single week on the PG tour. But the majority of players, Rex, are somewhere in that like 22 to 27 event range if you’re a fully exempt member on the PG tour. It still seems like a pretty good spot in my opinion. 101 to 110 plus, you know, the the the dozen or so events that you’re getting in that other conditional category. Couple things, and you like to skip past these, so I always have to circle back around and make sure that it’s worth pointing out. I guess where I would counter with the argument that the difference between the guy that finishes 110 and the guy that finishes 111 is going to be dramatic. It could be 10. Yeah, probably probably half 12 events, half starts. And like look, it’s a number. You have to set a number. I’m not sitting making the argument that maybe it needs to be a little bit more tiered maybe would be the way I would put it. But it is going to be dramatic. Like I know you’re looking for real life consequences. Well, that’s going to be real life consequences. You go from 20 or 25 starts to 10 or 15. That that’s a pretty big difference. Like 10’s probably not enough. I mean, you’re going to have to have one really good week. You’re going to probably have to have a career week to pull that off. And I think most players will tell you that. Look, if I if I don’t finish inside the number, that’s entirely on me. I think where the hang-up is right now is that you have the have and the have nots and there is such a distinct hard line between those players who are in the signature events and those who are not that it’s only going to be increasingly more difficult to play your way in. You see a handful of players do it and like we’ve gone through this now basically for two years now and you can do it but it’s really difficult. You make a great point that the PJ tour is doing something that every other sport is not doing by contracting. every other sport is looking into expansion. Where I would counter what the PJ tour is doing that is different than other sports is that they’re still offering these lifelines. You look at the other sports, there is a very clear delineation. There is a very clear relegation. Just because the Atlanta Falcons Rex have now Michael Penn out for the season and Drake London more than likely out for the season and they’re currently three three and seven. All of a sudden, you don’t just, well, they’ve had some injuries, so they’re not gonna, you know, they’re going to miss the playoffs. Well, let’s give them a higher draft seed, you know, just just to even things out. It’s very clear line. They missed the playoffs, and this is the punishment that they received. There’s still I I I still think a little bit of a safety net for PJ Tour players who have been unproductive from the season. That’s all I’m That’s all I’m saying. I I still think there are opportunities for those players to earn their way back onto the tour time, not just in 2026 with the A on swing five and the next 10 and all that, but also just playing enough starts to get to 2027 full status and and that’s a good point and just to put a bow on this and I do want to circle back around and look, Jordan Spe went on Golf today and spoke with our very own Damon Hack and it was an interesting convers conversation. He’s been dealing with some injuries. He certainly has put him through himself through the rigors in the fall. He’s on the outside of that 60 mark. He could have played once or twice in the fall and tried to play his way into that 51 to 60. And we’ve had this conversation a lot and sort of the expectation. I talked to a tour official about this this week and it’s like, okay, those first two events are AT&T Pebble Beach, a longtime sponsor of Jordan Speed and the Genesis Invitational. Tiger Woods, you know, he’s going to get in there. That’s all well and good. It’s a really bad look to the players who are here and have played all fall and trying to get into that 61 I mean 51 to 60 mark when and you have guys that decided that they weren’t going to do it. Not to pick on Jordan, but he’s the best example. Don’t have sponsor exemptions. Then we just talked about Kai. We talked about Kai Trump last week. Everyone was up in arms about her sponsor exemption. You crushed that by the way. I I was very impressed with your take on that. Very well done. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For the LPJ event, we talk about the signature event sponsor exemptions. just don’t have them and you would not have this issue. All right, that is going to do it for this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lav. As a reminder, Rex, we have a made for TV linear episode. We’ll be recording on Sunday night. It’s going to be hitting your televisions on Monday, November 24th. Full recap of the RSM. We’ll be putting a bow on the entire PJ tour season. Some highlights, some superlatives. That should be a lot of fun as well as touching on any other news that we have missed over the past week or so. That is going to be our penultimate episode for Linear Television. The other one Rex will be on Monday, December 8th. That is going to be our season finale. Looking at the year in its entirety, every tour, every player, what really stood out, our best memories from the year. Looking forward to doing that one for sure. In the meantime, if you guys want to be a part of the show, if you have some listener questions, hit us up in the YouTube comment section. Hope to have time to get to a few of those. We always love getting to those in the show. It’s always a lot of fun. In the meantime, you guys know the drill. www.golfch channel.com. We’re back and just might be better than ever. In the meantime, look forward to talking to you guys on Sunday night with a recap in the RSM and everything else. Thanks for listening. Thanks for support. Have a great rest of your week.

In this week’s edition, the guys discuss Justin Thomas’ back surgery, Victor Perez’s departure to LIV Golf, Henrik Stenson deciding to rejoin the European tour, the ramifications of the LPGA’s new TV deal and what’s at stake this week at the season-ending RSM Classic. #Golf #GolfChannel #PGATour #LPGA

Chapters:
(0:00) Rex is in Sea Island, in one of his favorite places, and making fun of Lav’s current plague
(2:30) How Justin Thomas’ back surgery affects his 2026 expectations
(7:30) Victor Perez, on the Tour cut line, bolts for LIV Golf
(10:30) What Henrik Stenson rejoining the DP World Tour could mean
(16:00) Broadcast improvements coming — finally — to the LPGA
(20:00) Does the PGA Tour’s season ender actually feel tense for the top 100?
(27:00) Get in your listener questions for Sunday’s made-for-TV show!

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