The post ‘That was a big concern’: Greg Norman on surge of PGA Tour support by top players appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘That was a big concern’: Greg Norman on surge of PGA Tour support by top players appeared first on Golf.

Greg Norman-led LIV Golf Investments made a splash this week with the release of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, which launches in June and will award $255 million in total purses over the course of eight events.

While there are still a number of unknowns regarding the fledgling Tour — who will participate? How will the PGA Tour respond? Which network will provide the broadcast? — Norman appeared on this week’s episode of Subpar to answer a few burning questions. Among them: What Norman thought about many top players publicly backing the PGA Tour at Riviera in the wake of Phil Mickelson’s controversial remarks about his involvement with LIV Golf.

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“No question about it, that was a big concern for us. Did it catch us by surprise? We had rumblings, we had intelligence that that was gonna happen,” Norman told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “But, you know, so be it. That’s one of those obstacles, and you have to figure it out. And we adjusted, we did what we needed to do, and here we are. So look, it’s down to the players to take a look at their opportunities and where they want to go.

“This morning, my phone has been abuzz with players,” he continued. “My emails from 250 of them being sent out last night, my inbox is pretty full, to be honest with you. And each and every one of them is saying, hey — and I’m talking about top players in the world too, by the way — saying hey, I’m looking forward to seeing the news today. And then, boom, out comes the news. It’s just incredible, the amount of interest given for the players to look at the opportunities they have.”

For more from Norman, including his thoughts on Phil’s comments and how the Ryder Cup helped shape Norman’s idea for a new league, check out the full interview below.

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The post Why Collin Morikawa missed the Ryder Cup afterparty appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Collin Morikawa missed the Ryder Cup afterparty appeared first on Golf.

The immediate aftermath of the 2021 Ryder Cup was an incredible scene. Caught up in the delirium of victory, Team USA swigged beers stored in their pockets and sprayed each other with champagne.

It was an especially significant moment for Ryder Cup rookie Collin Morikawa, whose singles halve with Viktor Hovland was enough to clinch a record-setting victory for Team USA, who steamrolled Europe with a final score of 19-9.

Morikawa was a huge star at Whistling Straits that week, going 3-0-1 in his debut. On this week’s episode of Subpar, Morikawa relived the experience with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, but unfortunately there was one part of the festivities that he has no memory of: the afterparty. Why? Turns out, he never made it there.

“I’ll be honest — those Moet champagne bottles that are, like, however large? I don’t think you’re supposed to drink those,” Morikawa began. “I was so, like, determined to drink the half-bottle after I had let it out, and then I had this — I don’t know what I drank. I had a cocktail made for me for the press conference after, and I just, like, drank it. Like, it was just going down like water.”

Morikawa certainly couldn’t be blamed for hitting it hard after such an impressive performance, but he says a contributing factor was his lack of sustenance on Sunday.

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“I didn’t eat anything that day,” he said. “The only thing I ate that day was breakfast. I had like, an avocado toast and some potatoes. And I didn’t eat anything through the day, through the round, I didn’t snack at all after I finished. People were handing out drinks already right when I finished my match. So yeah, let’s just say I did not make it to the afterparty, which I’m a little disappointed about.”

Some reassuring news for Morikawa? He’s not the first rookie to overdo it a little too soon.

“A couple other people told me that they never made it to their first Ryder Cup afterparty,” he said. “I was up at 6 am [the next day] wondering where the hell everyone was. I was saying goodbye to everyone as they left the hotel room. I was hungry, I was ready, I was ready to go again.”

For more from Morikawa, including why his goal is to get to World No. 1, and how dialed in he was on the back nine at TPC Harding Park, check out the full interview here.

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The post Why this PGA Tour player thinks it’s easier to play harder courses appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this PGA Tour player thinks it’s easier to play harder courses appeared first on Golf.

Beau Hossler’s career has been on an ascendant trajectory since he was a junior golfer. The 26-year-old was a star at the University of Texas, played on the 2015 Walker Cup team and has been ranked as high as No. 64 in the world. But one of his most impressive accomplishments occurred when he was still in high school, when he led the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club midway through the second round. He ended up finishing T29.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, Hossler explained to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz why tough setups like the U.S. Open suit his style of play.

“I look at that tournament, in my opinion, as difficult as it is, when you go play that event with no expectation, like, par is your friend, when is that ever the case on Tour?” Hossler said. “Like, you go shoot two over on the front, you’re like, it’s all good. Let me get in the house at a couple over, you’re in contention. Shoot two over on the front in Vegas, you’re like, I might as well not play the next day. I literally have to shoot 59 to make the cut.”

Hossler said he prefers competing on tougher tracks.

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“I think it’s easier — in my opinion, when you play a harder course — I even still prefer to play harder courses because there’s way more to it than just like, let me go hit driving-range shots,” Hossler said. “You have to play the game. You have to be smart, you have to strategize, you have to miss in the right places. I think that that starts to like, narrow down the amount of players that can really contend.”

Hossler said tournaments like The American Express in La Quinta have friendlier setups that aren’t overly penal on mishits or mental errors.

“Bascially, it’s a putting contest and a wedge contest,” he said.

For more from Hossler, including his thoughts on the impact of a good pairing and a breakdown of his near-miss at the Houston Open, check out the full interview below.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf.

The post Why this PGA Tour player thinks it’s easier to play harder courses appeared first on Golf.

The post Mardy Fish Q&A: The tennis star talks golf with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz appeared first on Golf.

The post Mardy Fish Q&A: The tennis star talks golf with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz appeared first on Golf.

In a recent appearance on GOLF’s Subpar podcast, Mardy Fish got amongst it with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. The following Q&A originally ran in the January/February 2022 edition of GOLF Magazine and has been edited and condensed for clarity from the original podcast.

Drew Stoltz: You played during maybe what could go down as the greatest era [ever] in professional tennis. You got Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all coming out. To make a golf comparison, is that the equivalent of, like, three Tiger Woods 2000 out there you gotta compete against?

Mardy Fish: No, there’d be a Jack, Tiger, and I don’t even know who’s third…

Stoltz: Hogan!

Fish: Hogan, yeah. But all of them would be 20-something years old. All in their prime.

Colt Knost: That’s totally what it was like for you.

Fish: Those three [tennis] players — they’ve taken everything from us. They’ve taken our legs, our souls, our bank accounts. Everything. We’ll never see another generation like it.

Stoltz: Yeah. Doesn’t leave much room for everybody else. Who did you … fear isn’t the right word … who did you dread playing or feel most helpless against out of those three?

Fish: No, fear is probably the right word.

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Stoltz: Fear is the right word! [Laughter]

Fish: I never beat Novak in singles. I could never find any holes [in his game]. And tennis is different from golf in this way: The better player wins a lot.

Knost: Yes. Right.

Fish: Way more. That’s what makes what Tiger did so amazing. The competition was there, yet he was so dominant.

Knost: You’re also a hell of a golfer. I was just pulling up your handicap, and you’ve currently got a little plus-2.8 index. Hello!

Fish: Yeah. I probably play once a month or so. I don’t even, like, hit balls. [Laughter]

Knost: What?!

Fish: I’m not saying it to be cocky. I have a really hard time going out and just swinging the club and, like, playing a [full] round. I need either three really good friends that I wanna hang out with, or it needs to be a big-money game. I need the action.

Stoltz: You’re one of those guys? You don’t need practice? You can just kinda show up and put the club on the ball? I can’t stand those guys.

Fish: I don’t know, dude. It’s sorta like my lefty golf swing is just like my tennis backhand. It comes so natural. I’ve never taken a lesson, but I know exactly what my ball will, like, do.

Stoltz: No lessons, no practice, shoot 64.

Fish: I grew up playing tennis, playing golf, a little baseball. They invited me out to Dodger Stadium a few years ago, and I hit seven home runs. I’m not very strong at all. But, like, I don’t know…

Stoltz: Jesus. I wanna be you.

Get amongst it! Subscribe to Subpar wherever you get your podcasts.

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The post A 3-time Tour winner who lost 50 lbs weighs in on Bryson’s gains appeared first on Golf.

The post A 3-time Tour winner who lost 50 lbs weighs in on Bryson’s gains appeared first on Golf.

Three-time Tour winner Scott Stallings has undergone a striking physical transformation over the last several years. The 36-year-old shed more than 50 lbs. using a combination of diet and exercise.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, Stallings discussed his wellness journey with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, and weighed in on the ways an increased emphasis on fitness has impacted the game — especially high-profile transformations like Bryson DeChambeau’s.

“You do need a little bit of mass,” Stallings said. “When I got [my weight] down low, that was the slowest I’ve ever swung it in my life. So, understanding, whatever you want to call it, mass is power, or just kind of a way to look at it. Being strong and resilient is not bad in any situation, but you can say whatever you want, it’s impressive to see the way [DeChambeau] did play the game to the way he plays it now, in a relatively short amount of time.

“And this has nothing to do with the training aspect, but literally to go from a guy that was barely touching 170 to the guy that’s got 200 mile an hour ball speed, it’s super impressive,” Stallings continued.” And he’s played at a high level. You can say whatever you want about the way he goes about it or his personality or whatever, but the game speaks for itself. You can’t hide it. Once that ball goes in the air, there’s kind of no way to beat around the bush. It’s been very impressive to watch. It’s kind of changed the way that a lot of guys look at the game now.”

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So, what are we to make of DeChambeau’s gains? Is the Bryson bulk-up-and-bash-it method the way of the future? Will kids need to start hitting the gym like Bryson to achieve their Tour dreams?

“Cameron Smith is a 175 mile an hour ballspeed guy, and he just shot 34 under on the same course that, relatively, Bryson should have a huge advantage at, especially in calm winds,” Stallings said. “So around the green is probably still most important. But the ability to fly it 350 never hurts.”

Stallings mentioned Rory McIlroy as a player who admitted he started to chase extra distance only to find it didn’t work out the way he expected.

“Next thing you know, you start dropping from knee-height every now and then and it really starts to affect the score,” Stallings said.

For more from Stallings, including his memories of his first time playing alongside Tiger Woods, and the reason he decided to undergo his own physical transformation, check out the full interview below.

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The post Why Rich Beem disagrees with Brandel Chamblee on getting to know players appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Rich Beem disagrees with Brandel Chamblee on getting to know players appeared first on Golf.

Being publicly critical of PGA Tour players can put some broadcasters in a tough position. For one thing, many of them are former players themselves, so they likely have a personal relationship, for better or worse, with the people they’re talking about. That can make it tough to be objective when they need to be.

Brandel Chamblee is one analyst who says he makes it a point not to get to know players. In an appearance on GOLF’s Subpar podcast last summer, Chamblee told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that he prefers to remain indifferent.

“I think my job is incompatible with being friends with Tour players,” Chamblee said. “It’s not my job to be their friends, it’s my job to analyze them.”

Rich Beem, winner of the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine, sees things differently. The 51-year-old is an analyst for Sky Sports, and on this week’s episode of Subpar, he said he not only disagrees with Chamblee’s rationale, he actually told him so to his face.

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“I listened to your podcast that you had Brandel on, and I actually specifically went up to him and said, you know what? You’re wrong,” Beem said. “I said, you do need to have a relationship with the guys on the driving range. You do need to be friends with them to a point, because you can’t judge everything that you see just by how they’re hitting the golf ball, how they’re swinging, this and that.

“You have no idea whether or not this player’s mother is sick,” Beem continued. “You need to understand what is going on in these players’ worlds, because what happens inside the ropes for a player, as we all definitely know, it is partially golf-related, and inside, your mental, but we are not robots. If somebody in your family is not doing well, if anything, anything off-course is going on, it’s going to affect you inside the ropes and there is no getting away from it. This is the real world. This is how it all happens.”

Beem said that he likes checking in on the players, but tends to spend more time picking the brain of their caddie.

“I think the caddies have a better understanding of what’s going on with the player,” Beem said. “The caddies are the truth. They are the reality of it. They know what’s going on.”

For more from Beem, including his memories of his PGA win and what it was like battling Tiger, check out the full interview below.

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The post Why this quote about grinding on Tour is Colt Knost’s favorite appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this quote about grinding on Tour is Colt Knost’s favorite appeared first on Golf.

John Maginnes jokingly describes himself as the worst player to be fully vested in the PGA Tour’s retirement program. But despite the fact that he never won on Tour, the 53-year old played in 196 PGA Tour tournaments — and made 87 cuts! — before stepping away from full-time competition in 2005.

These days, Maginnes spends his time as a popular host on SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio, as well as providing on-course commentary for PGA Tour Live. And in his appearance on this week’s episode of Subpar, host Colt Knost declared that Maginnes had one of the best quotes he’d ever heard, because it was so relatable to him: “Throughout my career, I knew that if I just got a little better or a little worse, that my life would have a better chance of making sense.”

“Living in that area, at 125 on the money list, that’s just a nerve-wracking place to be,” Maginnes said. “And I did, I got worse, unfortunately. Actually, I’m not so sure I got worse, it’s just everybody around me got better.”

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Maginnes attributed the increase in the level of play from 2000-2010 to improved equipment technology and the Tiger effect, where players started working out more.

“Everybody got better. Somehow I missed the boat,” Maginnes said. “I felt like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders when I stopped playing.”

“I agree with you. That’s why it’s a great quote,” Knost said. “And I’ve never heard anybody say it that way. It’s always like oh, if I just could have had this or that go my way. And it’s like, no, if I could have actually got a little s—-ier …”

For more from the Get Amongst It crew, including what it was like for Maginnes playing with Tiger Woods during his rookie season, and what pros thought of Woods when he first came out on Tour, check out the full interview below.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf.

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The post Why this top-40 player says he has a slim chance of ever winning a major appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this top-40 player says he has a slim chance of ever winning a major appeared first on Golf.

Kevin Kisner has established himself as one of the Tour’s top players. Currently ranked 39th in the world, Kisner has four PGA Tour wins and two top-seven finishes in the majors, including a runner-up at the Open Championship.

Despite his success, Kisner says he isn’t bullish on his chances of contending at majors in the future, mostly because he’s not one of the Tour’s long bombers.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar, Kisner explained to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that in order for him to compete, he’d have to play “perfect golf.”

“I don’t even think I can contend in most of ’em, to be honest,” Kisner said. “I mean, I’d have to play, like, perfect golf, waste my 4-iron right at my target and make putts. It is what it is. It’s fine, that’s the way the game is movin’.”

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Kisner said that certain venues might give him a chance, but that’s asking a lot.

“St. Andrews I could win, if things lined up properly. But that’s one out of four, and that has to be the week. So I can either learn how to hit it further or just be content with where my career is.”

One major that would be especially meaningful for Kisner as an Aiken, S.C. native and University of Georgia alum is the Masters. But Kisner’s best career finish at storied Augusta National is T21, and he’s missed the cut in his last two appearances.

“I can’t hit it close enough with the irons I have to hit in, to be honest with you,” Kisner said. “I stand on 4 tee one under par or even every year, and I’m like, okay, I’ve gotta play 4, 5, 6, 7 in even par to compete, and I can’t do it.

“I’ll never forget: Last year on Friday at Augusta, it was kinda a little bit breezy, it wasn’t great,” Kisner continued. “And I hit 3-iron on 4. The pin was back left. It landed in that bottom shelf. It ran up to the top, rolled back down to 55 feet. I two-putted. Great two-putt. I go to 5 and I lace a driver and I lace a 4-iron right at it to the middle-left. It rolls up the hill, all the way back to the front fringe. I got 80 feet. Three-putt. So I’m one over on those holes. I walk to 6 tee, the pin’s back right, I hit what I thought was a cut, so it probably went dead straight. At the flag. Six-iron. It lands in the back fringe, one-hops in the gallery. Now you’re playing for bogey. Now I’m two over. Then I walk to 7 tee and I pull in in the left rough and I gotta hit a low hook in a pot bunker. I’m like, [Duane], I’ve missed one shot in four holes and I gotta get this up-and-down to stay two over in four holes. And the leaders are 15 under. I’m out.”

For more from Kisner, including the players Kisner most likes to win money games against and his thoughts on Ryder Cup snubs, check out the full interview below.

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