The post Should TPC Sawgrass host a Ryder Cup? | Subpar podcast appeared first on Golf.

The post Should TPC Sawgrass host a Ryder Cup? | Subpar podcast appeared first on Golf.

In terms of down-the-stretch drama, there are few courses that pack a closing punch like Players Championship host TPC Sawgrass.

The Stadium course’s final three holes — the par-5 16th, with water in play seemingly everywhere; the famous island green par-3 17th, where water is literally everywhere; and the par-4 18th, which features water on the entire left side of the hole — are tailor-made for a nail-biting finish, making the course a perfect venue for one of golf’s other marquee events: the Ryder Cup.

Could TPC Sawgrass ever host the biennial showdown between the U.S. and Europe? On the surface, it doesn’t seem likely, with the PGA of America running the Ryder Cup and the PGA Tour owning TPC Sawgrass. But that didn’t stop Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz from contemplating what if on this week’s episode.

“Imagine a Ryder Cup at TPC Sawgrass coming down the stretch,” Knost mused. “I mean, like we did this past year, this whole thing is locked up and you’re standing on 17 tee. You got the ball.”

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“I know it’s PGA Tour and PGA of America. Figure it out, for the fans,” Stoltz said.

“I think everyone would just love that so much,” Knost agreed.

“Year after year, with a few exceptions, it’s an unbelievable leaderboard,” Stoltz added. “Best players in the world. It gets you the best players and the best drama.”

Knost also sang the praises of Sawgrass’ course design.

“It’s just such a genius design by Pete Dye,” he said. “He makes the players think so much, and he makes them look at something that they know is trouble. And then make them bail out, and it turns out the bailout is normally worse than the trouble.

“When you get their heads spinning out there like TPC Sawgrass does,” he continued. “That’s when we see these guys really get tested.”

For more from Knost and Stoltz, including the tournament they think should open the PGA Tour season, check out the full episode below.

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The post Where should the new PGA Tour season begin? | Subpar podcast appeared first on Golf.

The post Where should the new PGA Tour season begin? | Subpar podcast appeared first on Golf.

Last week at the PGA Tour headquarters, new Tour CEO Brian Rolapp unveiled six themes for where the league is headed. One of them was a splashy start date on the West Coast, a way for the Tour to get fans excited and kick-start the year in a big way.

“We want to open big with a marquee event at an iconic venue in the west, among other things,” Rolapp said, “allowing us to finish on network television in primetime on the East Coast.”

How might that look? It’ll likely be in late January or early February, and we already know the Tour’s time in Hawaii is probably limited. That leaves a couple of current tournaments as the likely options: the Farmers at Torrey Pines in San Diego, the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, or the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula. The Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles could also be an option.

We might not get an answer soon — and the Tour might still be figuring it out as well — but you could make a case for most of these spots, just as GOLF’s Subpar duo thinks their local event, the WM Phoenix Open, would be the ideal kickoff.

“In my opinion this would go the week before the Super Bowl, in between the conference championships and Super Bowl, there’s that dead week,” said Subpar co-host Colt Knost, on the latest Subpar episode. “This is the week, let’s get the PGA Tour started, get everybody excited and then we take a week off for the Super Bowl — because there is no reason to go against that — and then we get going.

“Their goal long-term is to own the summer,” he continued. “They want golf to be must-see TV throughout the summer, going up against baseball, obviously some basketball. That is their big goal. But I love that we are going to open big.”

Co-host Drew Stoltz, who is also a member of the Thunderbirds, the organization that runs the WM Phoenix Open, agreed.

“I mean, what’s bigger?” he said. “There are some great venues, some great golf courses out west, but if you are going to make a big splash to open the season what would make more sense than that? I don’t have any insider information, not saying it’s a done deal, but if this is the way you are going, we will start basically when football ends, we will call it, even if it’s the week before the Super Bowl, this is the biggest you got.”

For more on the latest Subpar episode, where they break down Cam Young’s Players win and talk more about Rolapp’s six themes, you can listen here or watch on YouTube below.

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The post The wild country club stories you need to hear to believe appeared first on Golf.

The post The wild country club stories you need to hear to believe appeared first on Golf.

If you’ve ever wondered where you can find out the details of the juiciest and most scandalous happenings at golf clubs around the country, turns out, there’s a newsletter for that.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz welcomed the man behind “Country Club Confidential” — a weekly newsletter “where all the dirty laundry gets aired” — as their guest. To protect the man’s identity, he was given the pseudonym “Scott” for the interview.

It’s been 18 months since Scott released the first edition of Country Club Confidential, and any worries he once had about gathering enough content for each newsletter have now been assuaged.

“The club I belong to, I think we’ve already done six of them out of the last year-and-a-half,” Scott said. “If that club has six, there’s thousands across the country and the world. There’s plenty out there.”

So far, Scott hasn’t had to chase down content — most of it comes to him. What kind of stories is he telling? Scott gave a rundown of some of the newsletter’s most outrageous tales, which include the following:

-A con man who managed to pose as a prospective member and scam $20,000 from a club

-The players who managed to get out at Cypress Point as guests of a dead man — for two years

-A man who was creating phantom GHIN postings for another player

… And so many more!

To hear a selection of these stories and plenty of others from Scott, check out the full episode of Subpar below.

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The post How much golf can MLB players squeeze into spring training? appeared first on Golf.

The post How much golf can MLB players squeeze into spring training? appeared first on Golf.

When Oakland Athletics DH Brent Rooker starts the MLB spring training season in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 31-year-old two-time All-Star can look forward to competition both on the field and off.

As the Subpar guest this week, Rooker told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that he was just coming off a sweet round of 75 — but still got blitzed by his teammate, second baseman Jeff McNeil, who posted a 68.

“I was 3 under through five,” Rooker said, noting that he has never fired a round under par before. “I got nervous early.”

Just how often do MLB players have the chance to play golf during spring training? According to Rooker, quite a bit! He explained the details of how it all works.

“The goal normally is like between 45 and 50 at-bats,” he said of his spring training schedule. “I think there’s like 30 games, so that’s probably 18 or 19 games to get those 45 to 50 at-bats somewhere around there.

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“Once you’re established and you kind of know your role and you know what you need and you know your routine and what you need to be prepared for the season, it kind of dictates itself a little bit better,” Rooker continued. “Once you’re kind of set and established, you know what you’re doing, it’s just kind of all about getting prepared for the season.”

Rooker said that the A’s organization doesn’t require game attendance during spring training when a player isn’t scheduled to play, and even if you do have to attend, you can leave after the fifth inning, which opens up ample afternoon time for a round.

“I’ve played five times since being out here, so not daily, every other day so far, probably, which, I mean, I hope to keep that pace up,” Rooker said. “Obviously, I’m by myself right now, my wife and kids come out sporadically in spring training, so when they’re here, no golf unfortunately. But when they’re not here, I try to take advantage of whatever afternoons I can.”

For more from Rooker, including his favorite course and his favorite PGA pro to follow, check out the full episode below.

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The post Jimmy Roberts explains his biggest on-air blunder appeared first on Golf.

The post Jimmy Roberts explains his biggest on-air blunder appeared first on Golf.

Jimmy Roberts has a well-earned reputation as one of the most respected broadcasters in sports, but even he has an on-air moment he’d like to forget.

The 16-time Emmy winner was this week’s guest on GOLF’s Subpar podcast, and he regaled co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz with the story of his biggest broadcast blunder.

The moment occurred during Roberts’ coverage of the Deutsche Bank Championship in the early 2000s. At the time, Roberts said he was tasked with providing short updates during the tournament broadcast that touched on highlights from the wider world of sports.

In this particular instance, Roberts was preparing to introduce a clip that featured a home run from an MLB game.

“The information was kind of sketchy sometimes,” Roberts began. “And you really had to ad-lib, and you had to kind of just fly by the seat of your pants. But that’s OK, because that’s kind of what we do, right?

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“Anyway, so the note that I got, I was doing a baseball game or a highlight of a baseball game, and I don’t even remember who the player was. But I had my rundown in front of me, and I do my intro, and then they’re gonna roll some tape, and I know the first event is a baseball highlight. And I say, ‘We go to Cleveland where, you know, whomever the player’s name was, huge home run,’ and it’s underlined like three times.

“And there’s no more details. It might have said 4th inning, whatever, somebody’s pitching, right? So, we go to the highlights: ‘We go to Cleveland, 3rd inning. Don Smith on the hill, facing Jim Jones. And the pitch …’

“And I’m here to tell you, it’s the most massive home run I have ever seen. And the trick for doing this stuff is not to read, but it’s to watch the screen so that you can intuitively describe what you’re seeing, and that’s broadcasting, right? But I was caught totally unaware about how big this home run would be.

“So, I’m watching the screen, I say, ‘And the pitch, it —’ and I go, the following: ‘Holy sh!’

“And I only get as far as ‘sh.’ And I didn’t have the presence of mind at that point to kind of pivot and say something like, holy sugar! Holy shamole! Whatever, right? I was just so overwhelmed by the magnitude of this home run. I just left it at holy shh.”

Roberts said he was humiliated by the gaffe, but consoled himself by believing that few people would see it. That is, until he left the booth.

“I start walking back to the clubhouse and I run into Steve Stricker,” Roberts said. “And he says, ‘[Stricker’s wife] Nikki just texted me that you just said holy sh– on the air! Is that true?’

“Anyway. I’m sure I’ve done other things that have been worse.”

To hear more from Roberts, including stories about Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman, check out the full episode of Subpar below.

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The post Beau Hossler details his week-long Ayahuasca retreat appeared first on Golf.

The post Beau Hossler details his week-long Ayahuasca retreat appeared first on Golf.

Beau Hossler is an emerging multi-hyphenate: The 30-year-old joined the PGA Tour in 2018 and has four runner-ups in 233 tournament appearances. He’s also a budding entrepreneur, launching Beaurista coffee earlier this year.

“It’s a lot of work,” Hossler told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode of Subpar. “But it’s been an amazing experience to turn on a different part of my brain and to learn a new skill and to have something other than golf that I’m just investing all my time in and living and dying on results.”

In addition to his new coffee business, Hossler also isn’t shy about sharing the details of his experience with a psychedelic drug. As this week’s featured guest, Hossler spoke at length about his seven-day trip to Costa Rica that included Ayahuasca, a psychedelic plant brew that originates from the Amazon rainforest. Hossler said he embarked on the trip with a small group of people he didn’t know ahead of time, and that they ingested the Ayahuasca in three different “ceremonies” throughout the week.

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“It is a fully out-of-body experience,” Hossler said. “The first night, I just had a really amazing experience. I felt like I had these intentions of what I wanted to get out of it for months, and in an amazing way, they were all kind of addressed during my experience.”

For more from Hossler, including additional details on the rest of his retreat, as well as how his mindset on the golf course has changed since his experience, check out the full episode of Subpar below.

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The post Gary McCord’s bold plan to reinvent the PGA Tour appeared first on Golf.

The post Gary McCord’s bold plan to reinvent the PGA Tour appeared first on Golf.

If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about the inner-workings of the PGA Tour, it’s Gary McCord. The 77-year-old played in more than 400 tournaments before spending three decades as a golf commentator for CBS Sports. During his years as a player, McCord became the mastermind behind the “all-exempt” tour model, which he pitched in the early 1980s. McCord’s idea was ultimately adopted by the Tour, which expanded the exempt list of players from 60 to 125 in 1983.

Given the ever-changing PGA Tour landscape in recent years, such as the increase in limited-field Signature Events, a reduction of PGA Tour cards and an ever-present competitor in LIV Golf, McCord has been ruminating on another idea for the Tour’s future evolution, which he shared on this week’s episode of Subpar.

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The crux of McCord’s vision: a PGA Tour that is divided into two divisions, similar to the way the MLB has the National and American Leagues, and the NFL has the AFC and NFC. In McCord’s telling, each tour division plays 18 events with 110-player fields and 70-player cuts. Add in the four major championships and the Players Championship (tournaments which McCord envisions players qualifying for via ranking on a money list), and you have a 41-tournament season, which could begin right after the Super Bowl in February.

“We’ve taken the Tour from 100 guys — 110 on this side, 110 on this side — to 220. With less tournaments,” McCord told Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “That works. That works pretty good.”

Within each division, McCord envisions the creation of multiple franchises, which could be owned by tournaments like the WM Phoenix Open. Those tournaments could then have the option to draft or trade players to play in a given year, with players having the option to cross over into the other league to play select events.

So what’s the “Super Bowl” of this league in McCord’s mind? A Ryder Cup-style competition between players from each league, winner take all.

Intrigued? For an extensive explanation from McCord on how he sees this playing out, check out the entire episode of Subpar below.

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The post Good Good’s Brad Dalke weighs in on drama that ruled the Internet Invitational appeared first on Golf.

The post Good Good’s Brad Dalke weighs in on drama that ruled the Internet Invitational appeared first on Golf.

If you thought the controversy surrounding Luke Kwon’s missed tee time was going to be the primary drama of the Internet Invitational, well, you were in for quite a surprise.

A quick refresher: the Internet Invitational, a made-for-YouTube event produced by Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports, was filmed earlier this year and recently released for the masses in the form of six hour-long episodes. The tournament featured a cast of 48 golf-world influencers competing for a million-dollar prize, and has accumulated more than 20 million views.

When participant Luke Kwon overslept for his tee time and was unperturbed about it, the resulting avalanche of online criticism directed toward him seemed destined to be the story of the tournament. That is, until the end, which revealed two even juicer scandals: a question of an improved lie, and accusations of cheating by engaging a rangefinder’s slope functionality.

Which drama ruled the tournament? Good Good’s Brad Dalke, who ultimately won alongside teammates Cody “Beef” Franke (who tragically passed away before just before the YouTube episodes aired) and Francis Ellis, appeared on this week’s episode of Subpar to share his take with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz.

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“Slopegate would probably end up being the biggest one, which I think Kwon is very thankful that both of those things happened on that last episode,” Dalke said. “It took a little more heat off him. But yeah, there’s a lot of drama, and luckily for me, on that last day, I tried to stay away from it as much as possible because I was the ‘A’ player on my team. I knew I had to keep playing well for us to have a chance to win coming down the stretch. So, I literally just made a promise to myself, I’m like, hey, I’m staying out of this drama. I am not getting involved.”

That was easier said than done for some. Dalke said avoiding the distraction of the controversy was necessary for his concentration.

“There was at one point, you know, like 25 people huddled up around one laptop trying to find or trying to see the video of Mo [Malosi Togisala] with the rangefinder, and I’m just like, I’m just standing on the tee box,” Dalke said. “I’m not getting involved. I don’t care. I’m just focusing on my game and trying to give ourselves the best chance to win, and I’m glad I did, you know, because like some of that drama is very easy to get wrapped up in. I think a lot of people did, and I was able to just kind of focus on my game and just keep playing golf and try to help me, Beef and Francis win that thing.”

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Dalke, who films alongside Mo as members of the Good Good squad, said that Mo has been dealing with the fallout from the situation at the Invitational, battling internet trolls that have been criticizing both him and members of his family.

“People going at his family, which is just obviously obnoxious and just unbelievable that people do that,” he said. “But again, it’s the internet, and when you have that many eyeballs on you for one video, it’s like, if you do the right things, you’re going to get praised. If you possibly do the wrong things, you are going to get heat.”

“I saw the video,” Knost said. “Do I think he moved the button? Absolutely. Do I think it’s a big deal? No. This isn’t a PGA Tour event. I mean, it’s a slope on a rangefinder. Who cares?”

“Exactly,” Dalke responded. “I mean, the video does not look good. I will say that. But also at the same time, it’s like, no one will ever know for sure if he did, except for Mo. He’s the only one who will ever know whether he was or not. Maybe he was just freaking out and checking it and it just looked wrong. I don’t know, but only he’ll know for sure.”

For more from Dalke, including additional insights from the Internet Invitational, check out the full episode of Subpar below.

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The post ‘Careers get shorter’: Veteran pro weighs in on PGA Tour schedule’s evolution appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Careers get shorter’: Veteran pro weighs in on PGA Tour schedule’s evolution appeared first on Golf.

After 17 years as a pro, Kevin Chappell recently announced that he’s hanging up his PGA Tour spikes.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, the 39-year-old explained that, after enduring a back surgery in 2018 and recovering in 2019, he struggled to regain his form. He sensed a shift in his priorities and work ethic, but it wasn’t until he played with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic that he realized just how much work he needed to do to regain his competitive edge. After mulling the idea of retirement for a few months, Chappell decided stepping away was the right move.

“This is more of a life decision than a career decision,” Chappell said.

In addition to sharing the reasons behind his retirement plans, Chappell discussed a number of topics with Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, including this thoughts on the evolution of the PGA Tour’s schedule.

“I don’t know what the future holds for the Tour,” Chappell said. “It just seems like it’s turning much into a tennis model where you’re gonna have eight to 12 events a year that really matter, and the rest of it, there will be a tour that exists, but if you’re not a regular fan, you’re not gonna really know what’s going on.

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“There’s an opportunity for guys to make a living in those events, but as far as being relevant, it’s gonna be harder and harder to have that long career that you’ve seen in the past,” he continued. “You’re gonna have your generational talents that are gonna do it, but I think careers get shorter, guys make more money, they move on and go do something else. Somehow they need to get the turnover rate that matches the exit rate and it it could be sustainable. I don’t love it, but if that’s what the business model says that they need to be doing to grow the game of golf, then that’s what they gotta do.”

The advent of big-money, limited-field, no-cut Signature Events has also proven to be a divisive issue for some players.

“Nothing should be given to you, but with these Signature Events, like, if you finish in the top 50, you’re good for the entire year,” Knost said. “And we saw this year only one guy that was in the top 50 last year finished outside the top 100 that wasn’t injured, and that was Matthew Pavon, who just had a really bad year. Like, you really got to mess up to lose your card.

“As a player who’s obviously played a number of these events, where do you stand? Would you rather see more people in the field with a cut?”

“Yeah, I think that’s an integral part of the game, making a cut, there’s a good feeling there, there’s a sense of accomplishment, and that needs to happen in the game,” Chappell replied. “Maybe they don’t want to do full fields, but let’s everyone that kept their card the year before on the PGA Tour is exempt. Let’s do a 110-man field and let’s have a cut. It opens up opportunity, it creates less of a divide amongst on the money list and the points list, and it allows people to earn their way into the event a little bit easier.”

For more from Chappell, including his thoughts on World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, check out the full episode below.

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The post How Barstool’s Riggs picks his ‘H8er’ match opponents appeared first on Golf.

The post How Barstool’s Riggs picks his ‘H8er’ match opponents appeared first on Golf.

The Internet Invitational — a made-for-YouTube tournament hosted by Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports — has taken the online golf world by storm, amassing millions of views in each episode. But Barstool Sports host Sam “Riggs” Bozoian is no stranger to showcasing behind-the-scenes drama of golf matches online. Since last year, he’s been confronting his “haters” by engaging in high-stakes rounds of golf — and showcasing the footage of the matches on YouTube.

The series, which launched last February, pits Bozoian against internet trolls who have criticized him on social media. There are currently eight episodes available to view on YouTube, each of which has amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, Bozoian joined hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz in studio to break down the success of the Internet Invitational, but he also explained how he selects his “H8er” match opponents.

“It’s hard. It’s actually hard,” Bozoian said.

“It almost incentivizes people to lean in more, like I’m gonna go at him super hard, and then he’ll pick me.” Stoltz commented.

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“We had a plan at the beginning to film like five of [the H8er matches] before we released any of them because of that reason,” Bozoian replied. “You can kind of tell. Like, I could look back if somebody DMs me something mean, which happens. I can scroll through pretty quickly and be like, oh if you also sent me something similar in 2021. You’re probably a hater candidate.

“So we’ll do it that way. And then I gotta shout out my producer, Kyle Tims, who’s one of our editors who crushed it with the Invitational, but he is like as ride-or-die a guy as you could possibly find,” Bozoian continued. “So he’ll just like, in his free time, go after people that are going after me in the comments. He’s the best. So if I put him on the case, he’ll find people.”

But even once potential candidates are identified, it can still be difficult for the stars to align for a match.

“It’s almost like this Goldilocks zone of people that you have to try to find,” Bozoian said. “They need to truly have a history of hate so that you can really play it up and it gets people in the video. It can’t be like BS where they’re doing it just to get on camera, because that sucks. They need to be willing to actually do it, which right away eliminates like 90 percent of the people, who are not willing to actually do it. And then they do have to be in the sweet spot from a handicap range because like, I get people think I suck, whatever, but then every time we ever come up like, OK, I’ll play it, they’re like, well, I’m a 7, so I’m gonna need a couple of shots.

“I’m like, no, you said there’s no way I’m like a 5 handicap,” Bozoian continued. “So if we play against someone, I would go anywhere from like a 2 to a 7 I could play against, but then you start to get into, like, if someone’s got the best hate record of all time and they’re gonna be perfect for the show, but they’re like a 10 handicap — I’m not sitting here claiming I’m the best golfer in the world, but it will be a stupid video. I’ll just kill you. And also if you’re like a scratch, you’ll just beat me. I’m not claiming I’m a scratch golfer. So you gotta find people that are like right in that area, and then you get people that like just from a logistics standpoint can’t do it.

“We’re like, hey, we have a two-day window we’re gonna be in Boston, we’re setting up golf courses. Can you make it August 4th or 5th? And they’re like, no, I have a real life and a job. So it’s actually way harder to schedule.”

For more from Bozoian, including his thoughts on Internet Invitational villain Luke Kwon, check out the full episode of Subpar below.

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