John Swantek is joined by Golf Digest editor Alex Myers, PGATOUR.com ‘Fantasy Insider’ Rob Bolton and the President of the Web.com Tour, Bill Calfee.
Talk of the TOUR Golf Podcast
Alex Myers from Golf Digest, ‘Fantasy Insider’ Rob Bolton and Web.com Tour President Bill Calfee
Welcome to the talk of the tour podcast for Wednesday March 30th. I'm john swan tech shell Houston open week with the master's on deck Here's who's coming up on the show Alex Myers from golf digest rob bolton the fantasy insider with the rankings for the shell and A quick chat with web.com to a president bill cowfi about some exciting news for that tour We're also excited to be producing and distributing the show more widely and more often now you can log on to pj tour.com slash podcast You can listen download the pod there or access it via itunes and tune in so for a variety of shows visit pj tour.com slash podcasts and subscribe today My first guest is an editor with the golf digest magazine golf digest calm and uh, like me Unsuccessfully predicted 35 wins for the new york nix about seven months ago It's Alex Meyer. So they eclipsed the the actual vegas over under which I think was 29 and a half But didn't get to the 35 that we envisioned for our boys Yeah, and for a while it looked like they were going to breathe to that, but uh, I know they've really hit hard times again Uh, I gotta be honest. I'm kind of stopped watching them. I mean, I know it. I've been following you know keeping up with our boy christops Making sure he's still progressing nicely Uh, but he really is kind of one of the lone bright spots really so another another year another you're down to two I was listening to bill simmons podcast the other day with david duke company Who's a big nix fan? He's been at the garden through the years played at prince then as a matter of fact and he said I don't know what the With the ceiling is what the limitation is for for zingus and simmons that I think it's pretty much kurt rambas I think it's gonna hold him back right? Yeah, exactly. I don't know what that guy is doing right now Some of the try saw the other day he played, you know jaren grand zero minutes in the fourth quarter And he wanted to go with experience like come on the season is over you got to play your young guys I mean he and he he's playing mellow a million minutes I mean you got to save him and hope that someone will you know trade for him You can't run him down into the ground. So anyway, they were mess Yeah, they used to say the only man that could hold michael jordan to under 20 points was dean smith during his Exactly college days at at unc Right. So uh speaking of hoops by the way the the bubble watts and half court shot at the willando magic game That was a rude lip that wasn't it. I've never seen anything like that I mean obviously if you played basketball you see the you know the ball gets stuck on the rim every once in a while You have to you know if you're athletic you can tap it out if you're not you take a you know a rake or something You but from half court to just stick it on the iron like that. I don't know how he did I mean, I guess you know, we know he puts a lot of spin and curve on his golf shot I guess he does the same with the basketball because I again I've never seen anything like that and that was a great effort though by him Shows that he's you know, he's pretty talented. I think all around athletically, you know his fault that was it didn't go in No, that's god That's a good one Yeah, he misclobbed him somehow, you know gave him the wrong uh win direction inside the uh the amway arena. So yeah, so Here's my PGA two or top five for basketball talent. We've got um I've got Russell Henley run the point. I've got smiley Kauffman as the two and he could also distribute Uh, I've got Gary Woodland as the three who's athletic enough to go down on the blocks Offensively and also he can guard a three or four I've got Dustin Johnson as the four and I've got big tony female last week's winner in Puerto Rico as the five Because he can he's the stretch Bob. They can guard the rim and also step out in two threes You like that spot? Yeah, I like those five and you're right when you started to do the lineup I was thinking man. I don't know how we're gonna fill all those spots up But that's a pretty solid lineup because yeah, he knows a big dude and um and yet DJ's got some height Obviously and yeah, Gary Woodland seems very versatile. He's proud I'm sure he's well, I bet P now is probably the best of the bunch But Woodland's probably right behind him and and yeah, there's other guys can can hold their own I didn't really know much about smiley Kaufman. Is he he a good shooter? Is he in the john starks mode or will gunner didn't dig you long to get the john star All goes back to start didn't dig you long to get to number three. Yes. Molly was like all state uh growing up in in Louisiana. Oh, wow. Yeah, he played like a one and uh and a two. So, uh, okay. He's got some versatility That's a solid lineup then. That's really solid. Yeah I was glad to see tony thienau win last week because he's such a prodigious talent and You know for Fans who are perhaps just acclimating themselves to the pj2 or alex and maybe they're they're just getting their first taste to the game They look at this guy winning and they say that's the profile of pj2 or player. I'm all in Yeah, it's a lot different. Uh when you see a you know a strapping young lad like tony phino is he obviously we mentioned his basketball prowess. He was a high school star could have played collegially Um, you know, he turned pro really early Uh took him a while to kind of get to the big time He's always sort of this curiosity because he you know, he hit the ball so long And uh, he was just this big guy, but now he's really put it all together. I mean last year was his first year Even on the web.com tour or sorry last two years ago was first year and he played fantastic He won there qualified for pj tour had a very solid rookie season last year, you know He didn't win but he certainly had as many you know top 25 finishes as any other rookie out there Gets the a nice uh, we assume a nice big contract from nikey coming into this year So, you know a little added hype and maybe maybe that hype and those expectations kind of got to him because he got off to a rough start this Year, but man, that was a great win took advantage of you know playing in an opposite field event Sometimes that's what you got to do to kind of you know get your way Get your way into the winter circle and he did that and and yeah, I mean certainly the future looks very bright for him I doubt he'll be in the porta reco open next year put it that way. I'm sure it'll be in the match for it Yeah, that's true. Yeah, his backstory is is fascinating Um his dad collepby moved the family to you saw that's where tony who was one of I think six or seven siblings Grew up rose park was the name of the area where he grew up and it was the projects basically and The the boys were so talented and they were intrigued by golf and they didn't have much money I mean his dad literally bought a six iron for 75 cents He bought a putter for a dollar and a little shag bag for 50 cents a copy of Jack Nick was his golf my way That's how tony was introduced to the game. That's like a movie script man That's amazing. I know and and it's you know, you hear some of those stories Some guys are just born with the talent and I know tony's brother is obviously is also a great player Um, I think he was on the big break with him and yeah, you know, you're right kipper. Yeah, he's he's gonna make it I'm sure at some point too. But yeah, that that's an incredible story just to come up from that and to uh again I mean you just see the natural talent this guy has I'm sure you could you could basically put him in any sport I mean, I'm sure he could be a pretty good football player too if you know you just check out his body type so um, yeah natural talent and uh, you know definitely a fun to watch player and uh, certainly someone who you know We keep adding to this big Three big four number, you know, you never know. I mean he's another guy you could see him in the top 10 by the end of the year Who knows? Yeah, right now. It's Jason day. He is He's the man. He's risen in number one the number one in the world. Yeah, and uh, he's just doing Remarkable things at six victories now in his last 13 starts and uh, I was chatting with allen shipnook on the podcast earlier this week And and we came to the realization that it was it was only a short time ago Maybe a couple of years alex that day was just a mercurial talent that wasn't winning as often enough as people thought and My gosh the floodgates have have come crashing open since then Yeah, well, you know when he won on the web.com tour when he was only 19 He became the youngest winner ever there and I think they took a player poll who was going to be the next big star It was a unanimous vote that he was going to be the next big pj tour star and and you know he had plenty of success early But he you know, not now what we thought and not what he thought because obviously he was always very confident in his own game uh thinking that he was going to challenge tiger at the top and uh, you know he won Uh one tour event I think in his first five years and then finally he broke through again at the match play a couple years ago And uh, you know, then obviously last year just man takes that next leap to super stardom and he he really is doing You know, he he always talks about how tiger woods is kind of his mentor and they they exchange text and and all that He really is doing tiger woods stuff right now. I mean six. You just said it's six out of 13 tournaments and these are not Regular tournaments. I mean there are a couple of playoff win. There's obviously the pj championship This is the world match play. I mean these are big events that he's winning and he's winning at almost a 50 Clip, uh, these last six months or whatever. I mean that that is just phenomenal stuff and uh, yeah We joke about the big three or whatever, but right now he really is the big one Uh with Jason day right now and he he has to be considered the master's favorite Yeah, I mean competitively. He's built a lot like tiger. Isn't he? I mean he's got that mindset. It seems Yeah, and he's so aggressive and and and again, right when he's confident It's you know, you see kind of he I think he talked about the other night in ferriti that even when he was playing Alongside jordan speed that the pga last year in that final round That speed at one point even just kind of looked at him and started laughing like how how am I supposed to compete with you? I mean he he gets up on the tee when he's locked in and he just hits at 370 yards down the middle I mean he's just destroying these these golf courses and and especially in a match play situation That's in how the play thinking that is when just time after time your uh opponent is hitting a hundred yards past you I mean it's and then and then the short game that he was exhibiting You know, he got to the point last week where if he didn't make a 30-foot pot. He couldn't believe it so Yeah, he's he's really locked in right now and um and and it's and it's impressive because he actually did take an off season Unlike most of these guys. He only played Four holes in three months or something and and so again it shows why he might have been a little rusty to start 2016 but man is he rolling right now Jason day jordan speed broy mackerelroy They're all seven to one currently for the master's next week that sounds about right three cop favorites and it would be those three guys, right? Yeah, definitely if you're gonna have three guys Especially, you know because vegas they always like to play off the name as well Certainly the other two guys have to be bubble watts in an atom scott. They've been playing pretty well themselves Um, I think if you just were going on form alone, uh, you'd probably say day number one scott number two bubba number three Uh when you factor in that bubba has won twice there You might even move him up to the top of the list. I don't know again. It's topped over take day But certainly I think those are the three Guys that you'd have to say have the best chance Um, but then certainly the talent of speed and mackerelroy and what speed did there? Last year when he won with the record setting performance Tough not to keep him at least in that mix of the co favorites Yeah, I have to think that in some small measure Days rise to the top and the way he won the match play and and the fact that mackerelroy didn't has to help rory In some small measure in terms of the expectations Which are going to be you know, just off the charts next week because he's going for the career grand slam Yeah, but if he's if he's not considered the favorite and as absurd as that sounds, but it has to help a little bit, doesn't it? Yeah, no, that's a good point because last year all the talk was about him going for the career grand slam And you really haven't heard much about it this year because again, you have all these other great guys at the top playing Better than rory right now and they've all won at least once this year already so Um, he's kind of the odd man out almost, but he's still you know, he's still the guy who always go Yeah, but he's rory mac or he's won four majors by age 25 or whatever. He's you know when he gets hot He blows away the field and you know, we haven't really seen him do that in a while But we know he's still capable of it and um, you know, certainly last year could have turned out a lot differently If he hadn't heard himself playing soccer, uh, you know, miss the british open where he was defending Came back for the pga if it wasn't 100 and certainly that's kind of when day took off So rory kind of stepping back last year helped day Jump up in there and but you're right in the long run. Maybe that helps him Maybe that takes some of the pressure off him where he he's not the guy because when he became the guy He did struggle that next year. It's funny how we get caught up in in the moment And everything we've just seen is is the greatest thing we've ever seen And that's and that's not a slight to jason day because this is more than just what happened a week ago At austin, but it seems like adam scott is suddenly on the back burner This is the guy who just tore through the first two events of the floor to swing less than a month ago Yeah, you're right. It's funny because two weeks ago We were two weeks ago. We were saying wow jason day's really struggling. He's he's not not the same his last year adam scott's the guy now You're right. It is funny. It can change so quickly and the match play is such an odd event Obviously, you can just have you know one bad round and and I know you don't get the single elimination anymore But still when you lose one of those first group matches you're you're almost assured that you're going home So, you know scott scott scott didn't make it past the uh, the group play he was out So now he's not the hot player and now suddenly, you know day wins for the second time and in eight days And um, and he's the guy but again, we you know and then two weeks before that adam scott's run We were talking about bubble scott being clearly the favorite. So you're right. We do jump on on what's just happened Uh, but again, that's why you have to consider all three of those guys. They're all man They're they're all just playing at the top of their game and and you know speed as much as we say he's struggling He's it's not like he's missing cuts left and right And certainly he did win by eight shots to start the year and and again once he gets back to augusto where he's finished Runner up and one in his first two attempts there at ages 20 and 21 You know, it's tough again to to count him out We've got a short field at augusta next week because only one of the winners this season Had already been exempt and that was vontalia who won at pebble beach and only one player Uh in the top 50 in the world had not previously been invited that was raffa kabrero bayo who played his his way in so Uh considering furox injured tigers injured we're looking at like 88 89 guys next week. That's the shortest field We've had in a while Uh, and it will be strange without woods next week unless something miraculous happened in the next five days, right? Right, and you know, I just saw someone tweeted that when he didn't play in 2014 He let everybody know nine days before the event and today now is eight days before the event So he's definitely not giving us Much of a heads up, but you know, I I'd agree it would be stunning if he's there. Um But it was also it's amazing. I mean, I even forgot this but last year I mean, I know jordan's piece was running away with the thing But tigers on the first page of the leaderboard going into sunday He was in like fifth place. This was where he played arguably his best golf last year And it kind of just seems like it's been years since he's you know played well But it really hasn't been that long But just when we're so used to seeing him there and and seeing him everywhere being at the top that When when he takes these breaks, it just seems like an eternity, but yes, certainly Um, you know the two back surgeries the the fact that we haven't Had any real reports that he's hitting anything other than a nine iron or chipping You know, it's a it's a tall task then to to take that to august the national and Uh, I don't think he wants to embarrass himself and I know he wants to play, but I know he also wants to be a hundred percent when he comes back S. I cover story on tiger written earlier this week Uh, no no great revelations. No real timetable for his competitive return. No one knows But there was a great story related by charles howl the third From the president's cup down in south africa in 2003. That was just vintage tiger. Wasn't it? Vintage I mean if you didn't read it. Yeah, he's you know, he's out On a boat with charles howl and his wife and tiger was with his girlfriend eel and then and they they were going to go cage diving to see some great white sharks But they they didn't see any for a long time and you know They have this chum out in the water kind of waiting for the sharks to come and charles house as a tiger just got bored And he saw some seals up on the beach or whatever and he just jumped off the boat Dough and started swimming through the chum and the guides or the boats are yelling at him What are you doing? Come back and he just goes sail goes over there hangs out with the seals comes back actually nothing happened I mean, you know swimming through shark-infested waters Charles howl says that that just summed him up that that's how fearless the guy was so it does kind of explain why Under major pressure. He never seemed to melt down when he was at his peak I mean if he if you're not scared of you know jaws his Buddies coming after you then then you're not going to be scared of you know, whatever golfer You bullish on patrick read this week in houston and next week at augusta. I am he's been playing great I mean he he hasn't won but he had a nice stretch. He's another guy He didn't really did not take an off season and he played all over the world racked up a bunch of top 10 Um some close calls. He played great Through three days at the matchfully last week and then if you know he lost to dust and johnson around the 16 But certainly we saw what he could do and he just annihilated bill michlson in that kind of that do or die match Um, the thing that sets him apart is his short game. I mean he's he's up there with the days Um and the speeds for for having the you know, maybe the best short game on tour And certainly at augusta around those greens you need to play a ton of delicate shots and uh Yeah, I like I like petrogate. I'm surprised that he hasn't had as much success there So far, um But but certainly he's he's young. I think he's still 25 He's got plenty of time to figure that course out. You know, I want to I want to buy john daley's claret jug I've been saving some of it. I want to be sure it's offensive. Can you can help me out? Yeah, I know it's that's the weird thing when you see that you're like john daley's claret jug Oh my god, it's the most have but he apparently you know when when the players when the The uh the open championship they get to keep Um a claret jug for a year. They have to return it then they're allowed to Order this is how it is for most majors. You get to order a replica And uh, the replica does not be exactly the same Um, and he actually ordered a couple of them. So this was just one of them that he ordered and yeah It's the last time I checked it was up to $28,000 I feel like you could hire you could hire someone to make a Replica claret jug for 28 bucks probably so yeah, that that that seems a little too much The real a claret jug that john daley secured that would be well loved imagine the stories It could tell from like from 1995 at st. Andrew's till till present day. Oh, yeah, jah I mean, you know what a that was a crazy week that he won uh, you know just totally unexpected and You know, he must have had he must have some really good tales Of taking that thing to a lot of a lot of interesting places Prospects for your Yankees quickly in the ales this year, you know, I'm not expecting too much Uh, you know, I kind of wish they would just reboot and really tear it all down But I guess they you know, they still have a ride. They still have some of these bigger contracts I got to hold on to so You know another mediocre season maybe get a wild card We'll see. I'm just kind of waiting for these older guys to kind of clear out and and hopefully they can start from scratch Kind of like what I've been waiting for the nicks to do for you know 20 years the Yankees don't reboot You know, that's what they don't I know and it and I wish they did I mean the nicks tried to do it I wish the Yankees would do it that I feel because without a salary cap They could then probably do better than what what the nicks ever done, but uh, yeah You know, we'll see we'll see at Alex Myers three follow him on twitter. Uh, check out the grind at golf digest.com. Thanks. Alex enjoyed it Thanks john. Take care I am quickly turning the page from what appeared to be a very promising NBA season for me Uh, at least for a while and now it hurts like it always ends up hurting with the nicks by the end of the season because now I'm turning my attention to baseball season right around the corner. My next guest is very much Aware of that fact and we're also going to dive into this week's pj tours stop the second of back-to-back in the lone star state Shell Houston open week on the pj tour And then it's the masters as we welcome in the fantasy insider pj tour.com's rob boulton. We will get to the golf Momentarily, but majorly baseball season Has snuck up on us this sunday Mets and royals rematch of the world series sunday night espn cubs open in anahime on Monday, we've got to get away. You're going you and I have not discussed this yet, but uh, I assume you're your game for this, right? You know, I won last year's wages. I've been waiting for you to come back to me. You know how this works I'm well aware. I don't need to come to you and I you know I was just curious, you know, if you if you do want to launch another one because uh, you know the public demanded How many games do I need to give you? That was the that was the equivalent of a verbal brushback right there. You just fired one under my chin like cinder guard Hey, the jerseys in my closet, man. So, uh, you know, I have I have the uh, you know front running and all that you get you get a little more leeway to To toss one high and high and tight. All right But i'm looking forward to it should be a great season again I I still can't believe that the cubs and the Mets went to the nlcs and and uh, and you know a year ago We were we were we were we were we were just amazing how much uh, you know changes in just one year Here's what we'll do and we can decide offline what the stakes will be but i'm thinking a secondary Wager this year. I think there should be a regular season bet like we had last year better better record head to head during the regular season And because we're both bullish on our playoff Hopes this year and we assume that both our teams are going to get there a secondary bet on who advances deeper In the playoffs and then maybe see I love it. I'm just gambling as I speak here Because it's a day ending and why and that's what I do and then if maybe a bonus for a world series victory We'll put it all together, but I want this to be a multi layered wager this year. How's that sound? And you know, I should have made the the pre-record the last year that The end season had to head should matter as well because the cubs took down the med seven out of seven at her They play each other again seven times during the regular season this year that has to be in there. So we'll figure it out Okay, yeah, maybe we'll have like a point system for everything. We'll have All kinds of all kinds of proposition bets in side action Okay, shell Houston opened this week Really good field as we come off the match play in Austin last week the golf club of Houston is the venue and You can't copy and paste Augusta national But what they've done at this tournament in the last several years rob is a really nice job of mirroring Some of the characteristics the guys are going to see with that Augusta next week It's helped draw a really strong field and this year's no exception is it? No, it isn't it's a tremendous field in fact, I uh, you know, the more I Dug into it. I just realized wow, this is a really strong condition of golfers this week 34 of the guys That are in this field are headed to the masters next week. They're ready to get after it stay warm Test their game, you know Various golfers have talked about the the differences and the similarities between the golf club at Houston's tournament course which is this week's test of course and then Augusta national Some have said it's it's nice. It keeps them warm Others have talked about like Phil Mickelson. I mentioned the comforts on this week Uh, you know, it's very different. There's no chipping areas at in Houston and the grass is different and so Fair enough obviously, but the test is similar on paper and I think when you're talking about Tea to green tea to cup at Augusta national Uh, the objective is very similar in Houston You can spray it off the tea as jb homes did last year one of the tournament in the playoff But he ranked last and fairway fit just as Anthony kim did in 2010 when he won in a playoff over von taylor Uh in this tournament ranking last in fairways, uh, but so hitting hitting greens and regulation They're almost 7,000 square feet. So a little bit bigger. They are segmented. So the undulate sort of Uh, from a from an aggregate standpoint, but when you find your target when you find that level on the green It gives you a very fair opportunity to score. So we've seen some low scores on this course So precision on approach and you have to be able to scramble though from the rough to save par at times This is one of the most difficult courses on tour and has been for years to be able to salvage par from the rough Although it's not Uh rough as you and I would think of it maybe the us open or another another course. It still demands Uh, the opportunity to be able to spin the ball and keep it tight on the green Where have you gone? Anthony kim wow, that's the first aka reference i've heard in a while So jordan speed didn't even crack uh the top five in the power rankings this week You've got speed that's six. You've got ricky fowler at five fabulous year for fowler Not such a great match play performance though, right? Yeah, I don't care though. Yeah, just like with any major where the dynamics are different Uh, and guys don't succeed. I really sort of dismiss it. Um, you know, sure You can you can call out whatever you want, but uh, the match play has its own dynamics I don't want to use the word vagaries, but hey I just did and that's the way it goes and that uh in that tournament baller was a beast a couple of years ago And um, you know, we know how that works. So but before the match play Uh, he finished fifth first Then missed a cut of the farmers a lot of notables did that week then finished second t six t eight You know, uh, it's it's kind of surprising that he's the lowest is lowest Five in this power ranking swanney. This is his fifth appearance finished sixth year two years ago Uh, he leaves the pVA tour in the all-round ranking fifth and green fit 20th and conversion conversion percentage when he's hitting his greens in regulation. Yeah, so uh, he's been aggressive He's scored. He's ninth in stroke scheme putting a third and adjusted scoring Uh, and he's fifth in the power rankings gives you some idea of just how deep this field is Yes, ricky sneaky long two 302 yards a pop longer than people think lui who stays in fourth in the rankings Look great last week at the match play finished as the runner up He's kind of on my radar next week. By the way, uh, rob for the masters Um looks fit looks fresh doesn't he? As he should be on your radar next week for the masters. Absolutely Uh, you know, it's interesting how much the course history buffs sort of uh, uh, Sort of inadvertently rear their heads when you look at a guy like who stays and was not played very well in use in the last couple of years But he has three top 20s Uh on this track. He's uh, he's comfortable here. He's familiar with the track But we have to remember just how injured he's been throughout his career It's sort of the same approach we take with Jason day on a week-to-week basis The injuries that he's had and he still continues to emerge. Obviously we've seen that the last two weeks with day Um, also who's tied in the scheduled this event? So it's not like he just said, uh, I think I'll play next week and then when I'd play in seven rounds He's had this on his calendar. Uh, he's 20th on tour type of 20th on tour in green fit 29th in y'all around and he actually leads the tour in par three scoring There are four par threes this week that's certainly better than every alternative But my confidence remains high as it should in yours Uh, Phil Mickelson has been a a regular, uh, appearance, uh, type of guy here in Houston for several years Now won it back in 2011, uh, phil had a pretty good week at, uh, at the match play ran into patrick read Both of those guys figure prominently in your rankings this week. You've got the left hander at number three make the case Yeah, and read just kind of blew him away didn't he? Read and match flag. Come on And so you tip your cap to read and you know what that did it gave mikkelson a little more time to rest Recharge and get ready for this week, uh, you know, as you said, he's the winner here since that win in 11 t4 t16 t12 t17 he loves this place seventh and all-time earnings Uh three top fives just this year alone. So the move to andrew gets in his new swing coach Is obviously paying dividends we hear it in the rhetoric, but he's also proving it with the result Uh, and that's a wonderful combination no matter who it is, but it's especially with mikkelson who loved the talk Yeah, he's excited 12 top 12 on tour in par three par four par five scoring leads the tour and adjusted scoring fifth and the all-around fourth and scrambling He's also my one and done swanney and plugging him in this week at so much. I loved him mikkelson She'll use an open, uh, I think more than anything. I just want to get him off my board while he's playing well Yeah, well, you could do worse than houston and agusta from mikkelson certainly Um henryk stenson was the only player in the top 64 in the world golf rankings last week who elected not to compete In the match place. So he's a little fresher. Uh, I suppose and when last we saw stenson He was challenging yet again for the title at bay hill and he felt just short yet again Yeah, time for third a couple weeks ago and uh, and I you know announced several weeks ago that he wasn't going to play last week Uh, and just for the record, uh, he was the only, you know, healthy player that didn't perform Or didn't compete last week jim purik hopes to return and may at some point so he's going to miss the masters Uh, but I love the fact that stenson owns his schedule despite the fact that with the world golf championship then with the guaranteed points earnings, etc Uh four four at the golf club at houston we're talking about stenson t three and oh nine t two just three years ago You know, but that really doesn't matter. He's playing terrifically Uh, he's he knows who he is. He's he's been able to Uh sort of set his schedule that fits where he thinks he needs to play. She doesn't overdo it It's the less his more mentality. He maintains a worldwide schedule He's chasing all sorts of goals this year including the olympics the wider cup Uh, and uh, and perhaps another fat ex cup overall he's seventh on tour in the all-around ranking 14th and green's a regulation So the stats back come up as well, but that's not a surprise. Yeah, I mean Everything stenson has accrued in his career except to major. I mean next week is is huge for him among others Obviously, so you got patrick reed at the top, uh, I guess he's got some texas times. I didn't realize that What was he was he born in texas here? He spent some formative years there. What was it? Golly lives there locally. So this is a home game for one Um, uh, but uh, you know, obviously went to guff the state And and all that but uh, yes, he's a texan and uh, this is his uh, this is his backyard But he's also a winner swining. That's why he's number one of the power rankings, uh, you know It's amazing because uh, he played so well early in the year, but he's still just sort of off the leaderboard Uh, and then since september 10 top tens worldwide And uh, and here he is, uh, you know, we talked about him just a minute ago taking down michalston in the match play Uh, and uh playing exceptionally well last week We know he's supremely confident. We love that as a gamer. We want that we want him to be able to back that up Uh, and he does it sixth in, uh, and you know, he what he's best known for maybe other than being a score is being a scrambler Yeah, they proved that last year at the valspar championship, uh, uh, sort of showing us in the playoff before losing the jordan speed And uh, for that reason alone, uh, you know, he he draws interest, uh, on this week's course because he sixth on tour in scrambling And sixth on tour in scrambling from the rough, uh, now he still hits green's in regulation, but that's a nice Uh, backup plan just in case and also comfortable here Um, he's the third appearance finished the entire 17th last year So that's enough of a familiar familiarity factor also a guy that new is going to be here this week Uh, but I go back to the first point he is a winner four wins, uh averages, uh, one win per every 26 and a half starts That's a pretty good clip If we we could just get him to be a little more confident have a little more belief in himself Can you imagine a master's green jacket ceremony with patrick reed the possibilities of How wildly entertaining that would be He don't what it might not be so much of a, uh, that could be a reality sooner than later The way he plays, oh man, and how comfortable he will be on that course and, uh, uh, uh, uh, certainly how well he's been playing lately He's certainly trending to that, uh, but yeah, that would be sort of a nice, uh, nice little side story that would rise to the top pretty quickly How's my man coupe? I heard he's on the disabled list these days your son You know, it just thinks, you know, he, uh, I wouldn't say he necessarily loves school He's, he's good at it like but he's a pretty typical kid in that regard But yeah, he's he's he's on the shelf this week with a couple of serious illnesses He's fine. We're medicated. He's doing well. We hope to get him back maybe for a half day on friday, but You know, this is the last two months of of grammar school and uh, and you know He may be being a sucked with work For for I don't know how many days before he can kind of come out of it and get back to normal So we're going to hopefully get him back back, uh, you know, sort of on the Into a groove here before the weekend, but we'll see they don't actually have any homework on the weekend at this school So it's pretty cool. So he might be able to catch up and really reset for monday How does that work no homework on the weekend? They don't give any on friday. You mean when the kids leave school That's correct. It's a charter school. So, uh, part of the deal is uh, every class every night There's usually homework and then uh kids get to uh, you know, basically live on the weekend right away life Yeah, yeah, and burn as many sick days as you can He's coming up with many creative ways to not go to uh, not go to school is what it seems like at rob bolton gulp That's how you follow, uh, cooper's dad on twitter. Thank you big fella. Enjoy the shell Houston open this week Oh, I will man. You too. Take care really deep field in houston, uh, this week and uh looking forward to that it's been a really strong gathering there for Several weeks and uh, you can expect to see some great coverage by the way pj to our live We got you covered exclusive feature group coverage thursday and friday morning Beginning at 8 30 a.m. Eastern time for the golf club of houston You're going to see phil. You're going to see sergeo. You're going to see dj. You're going to see speed You're going to see valor all of those stars in our coverage pga to our live dot com our next guest was a uh, long-time member of the pj tour more than two Uh 200 career starts close to it actually during his uh, competitive career and uh as the president of the web.com tour has had a very watchful eye on the future stars Of the pga tours. We welcome bill kelphie to uh, the talk of the tour podcast bill. Thanks for some time. How are you? I'm great john had a big day today so far. It's a good way to start today a little exciting announcement about the web.com Cartoon web.com tour championship. Yeah, we'll uh, we'll get to that. There's a new venue and Certainly we'll get to that momentarily. I wanted to begin with something however from your competitive days specifically 1982 Do you realize the hallmark of your career in 1982? What statistical category you were atop? Yes, I do. I tell people i'm living proof of drive for show and putt for doubt Number one on the pj tour and driving distance average back in 1982 you should remind the guys on the web that that was the deal and you were the man back in the day Yeah, I was ahead of my time. Uh, take a guess at what your average was. You recall what it was? See if you can come within five yards. It was something like 276, 277 Nicely done 275.3 in fact was number one on the pj tour. How crazy is that to think about that? Yeah, uh, today that would rank, uh, I know 206 you'd be tied with brian gay, but I think you could take them I think actually with all the equipment the balls. I think I hit it farther down. I used to it Yeah, I believe it. What's uh, yeah, what equipment were you using back in the day? What was the driver? Oh, he's in the you know, the the lot of tightless ball and Uh, power-built wooden headed driver and you know guys I look at those clubs now if they're hunting the world to ever hit this Isn't that crazy? I mean, I I think there's probably more than 50 guys that average more than 300 yards these days Yeah, I'm sure of it Uh, so big day big announcement this morning, uh in the ponavita beach area. Tell us, uh, what's happening with the word was Well, we announced the 2016 web.com tour championship will be played at the Atlantic beach country club in atlantic beach just up the road from Ponavita our headquarters and Great golf course a night really nice club. Uh, we're excited about it. Yeah. Let's back up a little bit. This is this has been held at the Valley course at the tpc sawgrass adjacent to the player stadium course But there are some renovations going on that will preclude the web.com tour from having it season finale there, right? Right, you're going to shut the players of the The stadium course down right after the player championship redo the greens Uh, they're going to be a few other changes to the course the range will be completely redone Uh, so, you know, it really the valley course will be open but given all the construction and the range being out of action it really didn't make any sense to try and play the the tournament there and we had the opportunity to To partner with with the landing beach country club. It's a good golf course. Some of our members are our members up there They played it. They really like it Um, and so we're excited about it. Uh, wilson's children's hospital is going to be the Mean beneficiary. So that's something that's new and it's uh, it's a good big day for us So, uh, what other options were you're looking at in terms of venues when you knew the valley was not going to be There for you guys later this fall Well, we looked at every Club around the area talked about it. We didn't talk to all of them specifically But we we looked at them and and thought through the you know, the pros and the cons and in the day We thought, you know, all the things that the landing beach had to offer given the community up there. It's a family oriented. They support Uh, their community golf course is great. Uh, new club exciting New membership. Uh, they really wanted to partner with us. So it it and all these things we just felt like it was a good fit You know, there's no stronger testimony to the quality of a venue than hearing from tour players themselves bill And there's a lot of local guys that play pj tour the web.com tour that live in the pond of edre beach area That typically go to Atlantic beach on their off weeks. They love to track. Don't they? They do love it. I had the chance to play it Uh several weeks ago and it's got a good feel to it. Good luck It's you know, pretty straightforward neat bunkering. It's of course It's really designed to play kind of firm and fast not much rough interesting greens of it really challenges of Long hitter the shorter dreams are small and Just the whole course is a good golf course got to hit a lot of different shots I hope you're hitting it more than 275.3 up to when you played it Well along the strait A lot of history here too, uh, the course which was known as selva marina country club back in the day Founded in the late 1950s and we're talking Legends who have played there? Arnold palmer sam sneed and jack nicholas who did something really special through the years didn't he? He did. He uh, I guess he doubled eagles the 18 toll on in 1966 so I think there's a plaque out in the fairway commemorating that shot. So we even even mentioned it today in my remarks to the group You know, this is uh really the culmination of pretty exciting stretch of four events the web.com tour finals bill Uh cleveland is new to the rotation this year and labron james is sort of involved with the presentation of that event, isn't it? Yeah, we're moving to um Canterbury country club in cleveland, which is you know got a deep tradition in golf and and hosting major championships And we've also partnered with the uh labron james foundation And we have a new title sponsor in the dap company there So a lot of good things happen in the cleveland for us can't a berry in 1986 right bob tway hold up for the bunker to beat norman I thought that was tallido, but maybe you're right. Oh, no, you're right now. You got me on that Yes So cleveland uh columbus and boisy long time web.com tour stops and then uh atlantic beach It's a that's a good four event run there later this year It will be it the path will the path will end at a land beach country club and there'll be 50 Excited players moving on to the pj tour. Look forward to it bill kelphy president the web.com tour. Thanks for jumping on with us today bill john, always a pleasure That will do it for talk of the tour and the podcast this week. I'm john swansick Want to thank my guests uh alex meyers from galt digests who cannot dunk from a standing position like uh, tony fenau can uh rabotan who will soon put his money where his mouth is with regard to his cubs and my nets and i plan i'm cashing in this year entirely Also by thanks to web.com to a president bill kelphy who led the pj tour in driving distance in 82 kids with an average that would not crack the top 200 on tour Today Thanks for listening being part of the show. You can log on to pj tour.com slash podcasts and listen download the pob there or Access it via itunes and tune in certainly there's a pj tour.com slash podcasts and subscribe Today i'm john swansick. I leave you with this people be yourself Not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be Think about it people. I'll talk to you on friday