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The Shotgun Start

Should Riviera move to Summer, Tiger talks, and an Anonymous Pro Golf Survey

·1 hr 18 min·5 clips
Why are PGA Tour players being asked if they're 'honoring the area' after devastating fires by simply playing golf at Riviera?
The episode opens with the hosts reacting to media questions at the Genesis Invitational about players 'honoring the area' after the Palisades fires, dismissing it as imposed meaning. They then dissect Tiger Woods' press conference, questioning his claimed 100-hour work weeks for the PGA Tour and discussing his influence on potential schedule shifts, like moving the West Coast swing to August. The conversation shifts to Riviera Country Club, with praise for its design but criticism of new tee boxes on holes 4 and 18, which they argue alter the course's intentionality. Player previews include featured groups like Hideki Matsuyama with Ludvig Åberg and Rory McIlroy with Tommy Fleetwood, and analysis of Jake Knapp's iron play. The hosts cover other tours, including the LPGA's Honda Thailand and DP World Tour's Kenya Open, joking about caddie rates. They tease a 'Friday Golf Pro Anonymous Survey' where insiders tiered 42 top golfers, with results showing Ludvig Åberg in Tier 2 and insights on underrated players. The survey also includes radical rule change proposals like a 10-club limit. The episode closes with a historical anecdote about a 1990 survey where pros ranked majors, highlighting Jack Nicklaus placing the Masters fourth.

As heard by us

Riviera's 273-yard Redan gives this late-night golf conversation its sharpest turn.

Riviera anchors this loose late-night outing, as Brendan and PJ sort through a possible August move, the threat of heavy rain, and how softer conditions might blur the course's usual Augusta comparisons.

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Why you'd press play

You get a late-night Riviera loop: rain, August speculation, a 273-yard Redan, and then a cart-fraud detour at Insperity.

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