No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 934: 2024 LPGA Season Recap

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Cody, Randy and TC start our recap of the 2024 LPGA Tour season with some thoughts on the recent announcement of the departure of LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan and the challenges and opportunities that her successor will face. From there we dive into the past twelve months on tour - starting with the winners of the season long awards, our favorite moments from the season, plus a look back at some of our preseason predictions and some player stock buy, sell or hold questions to set the table for 2025. If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining The Nest: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at nolayingup.com/join Support Our Partners: Yeti Titleist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different? Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Cody here today and we are going to be covering the 2024 LPGA season from start to finish. I've been joined with my main man, Mr. Big Randy Fresh, off of his nuptials in the great

state of Texas, I might add. Randy, how is the new life treating you, brother? New life is great. We had a fabulous wedding weekend down in Austin, Texas. I appreciate not only you, but the entire NLU workforce employee team, minus Solly, I should say, Solly has his hands full at home, but. Very much. No, in all sincerity, it was the perfect weekend, both my now wife, which is gonna take me a while

to get used to saying that. We were talking on the drive home, the long drive home, that we wouldn't on the drive home, the long drive home, that we wouldn't have changed a thing. And I think that's, had you told me that that's where we would be on the drive home after our wedding weekend, I could have worried a whole lot less over these last couple months. It would have saved me a lot of stress and anxiety, but it was, it was great. Austin is a very cool city and it was wonderful to get to celebrate with you guys and all our friends and family. Very well said. Also joining us is Mr.

TC Tron. How is the Florida weather treating you? Weather's not good right now. Not quite as bad as it was in Austin for Randy's wedding. It was not good. I don't even think I would have changed that though, Randy. I think it was very much, I think that kind of lent itself to going out and imbibing some libations and hanging out with one another. Yeah, it forces people to be in like tighter groups. Everybody just kind of wants to be bundled up. But speaking of bundled up guys, it's also Christmas season.

The holidays are here and I want to give a real big shout out to our presenting sponsor of this entire year's LPGA tour. Schedule, they've provided us opportunities to go cover events, to talk about it as much as we have. And that of course is Yeti. You can check them out at yeti.com. They got plenty of shopping options still there, whether it's backpacks, duffels, cups, coolers, you name it.

You find any option there, all customizable and still plenty of time to get it shipped for the holiday season. So please check them out at yeti.com. The other person coming in, I love that. Customizable. Great cut there, TC. Yeah, folks. The other person coming in hot this holiday season is our partner, a Titleist. And I want to give a quick shout out to them. And really big, I think the question is, you know, it's funny, one of my favorite Twitter things that Solly does every year is these weird golf

related gif thread that he gets going. But I got a question for you. What's the best golf related gif that you guys have ever got TC? I can tell you very, very, very specifically. It was my Titleist 975F, three wood. It was a 14 or 14.5 degree. I think I had that even before the 975 D. That was the kind of the first golf club that I ever got that was, this was back in like 1997, maybe 98, like probably late, late, probably Christmas 97. And I was just getting really into golf and I freaking love that thing.

I played that same- Steel, graphite in it. No, it had graphite. I think it had the- Pro Force? It might've been the Pro Force. It might've been even pre-Pro Force. Or no, it was the graph, it was a grapholite.

It wasn't the green one. It was kind of the purple one. But yeah, I played that thing all the way through high school. You couldn't take that thing out of my bag. Big? Yeah, this is going to sound crazy, but truly, I think the best gifts I got growing up would be like a box of Pro V1s just because those things are gold, man. And for a lot of my life, I wasn't making enough money to just get new Titleist Pro V1s whenever I needed them.

So it was like, man, if I could find one out playing, that was always a joy. But I knew Christmas time, my mom would always give me a new box. And one year specifically, my kids or my sister's kids, my niece and nephew at the time went into the box and like use Sharpies and like designed all the golf balls. And that was cool. So that's always a special one. And now I got to say shout to Titleist because like, you know, we kind of get a lot of Pro V1. So that's cool.

Exactly. It's Christmas every week for the big guy. But if anybody out there is interested, the two dozen holiday pack is still available at Titleist.com by ordering, or excuse me, by purchasing the two dozen holiday pack. You save $10 with that, whether that's the Pro V1 pack

or the Pro V1X pack while supplies last, and they look great. You barely, you know, you don't even really have to put wrapping paper on it if you buy one of those bad boys and put it under there, because no one has ever complained if you are gifted a dozen Pro V1s or Pro V1Xs for Christmas. That's for sure. Anything else you guys wanna shout out, big?

The wedges? I would shout out Titleist wedges. I think the thing that I have learned working with Titleist that sticks with me is just to get those wedges replaced. About every year, you know, as often as you would, your grips on those, that's something I never knew prior and something I had never done prior. So I would just shout out the Vokey Wedges. They've been a great addition to my bag.

Guys, can I, I'll tell a quick story from earlier this week. Got home on Sunday night from Austin, Randy's wedding and just felt awful. Like truly. It was a combination of yeah, like we drank a lot for three days, but also like just didn't sleep all that much up late, you know, early flight on Sunday, got delayed, all that stuff. So at home Sunday night, my parents leave. They said, Hey, kids are all yours. And then I forgot I had a, we had a Monday here in town and I you know, I wake up Monday I still like I might have felt worse on Monday.

I think I went to bed at 9pm on Sunday. I felt even worse on Monday and didn't sleep very well. And first thing out on Monday I get out there and it's like you're playing three or four holes with Ludwig. Like, man, I'm not playing very well right now. Like lately, I didn't really warm up all that much. And I go out there and I just absolutely piped a couple with one. So it was, it was, you know, it was very much a, it could have gone very, very poorly, but played well. Didn't embarrass myself. And, uh, but man, what a, what a way to start the week on Monday of just like, Hey, you're going to go,

play a few holes with Ludwig. And, and, uh, it was Sally and I plan all shot against it. That video coming out in a future probably the next month or two. But yeah, that was, I didn't need any coffee that morning. For sure. So it doesn't matter if it's balls, wedges, drivers, irons, you name it, please everybody head to tidalist.com. And I would say check out their fitting selector tool.

And if outside of this fitting selector tool, sign up for a fitting, go get fit. Doesn't matter if you're gonna go to a fit crew location and authorized fitter or try to get a time at TPI go get fit it's most important way in the fastest way to play better golf guys. Can I just add sorry on the fitting I know we're I just want to say you guys I hope everybody listening knows like I am not a natural gearhead like just going to get fit wouldn't naturally be something

that like, even excites me. I've done a few title is fittings one here in Denver, you know, with their with their area reps. It's awesome. And they have me hitting three woods and five woods and irons that like the joke at the wedding, my brother in law was talking to another buddy. My handicap's down to a 5.9 right now. It was like, no, he still has the same shitty swing. So it must be, you know, getting fit into the proper equipment.

So all credit to Titleist. If you've ever thought about it, let me just be the one to push you to try that in the new year. Absolutely. Well, guys, like I said, we got a pretty robust agenda that we're going to push you to try that in the new year. Absolutely. Well, guys, like I said, we got a pretty robust agenda that we're going to get through to break down everything that happened in the 2024 calendar year for the LPGA Tour. But surprise announcement last week, I'd say surprise when it

actually happened. I think it's something that we saw for a long time coming now. But effective January 9th, Commissioner Molly Marcuse-Saman will no longer be in her role as Commissioner of the LPGA Tour. This was announced last Monday, December 2nd. And like I said, shocked of when it came out, but not really shocked that it happened. Yeah, I don't think we were necessarily rooting for it. It was just kind of, hey, here's the kind of reading the tea

leaves and what you're hearing from various players and other stakeholders, the tour and kind of around golf just seemed like I don't think she lost the locker room because I don't think she ever really gained the locker room. Does that, does that track with you guys? I think that's right. You know, we just kind of piece together stuff we hear from a ton of different parties involved. And one, I think it's worth acknowledging again, just to follow Mike Wan, who not only won the locker room, but I think conquered the locker room. I've never heard anybody associated, player, caddy,

administrator speak ill of Mike Wan. I do want to just acknowledge I think it was always going to be really tough to fill those shoes. And yeah, when you don't kind of keep up the same level of engagement and clear and consistent communication from the Wan regime to Mali coming in. I think that's where it's just, there were always seemed to be fissures just with like lack of communication and not quite knowing what was going on. And then you sprinkle in the very public kind of fuckups for lack of a better word highlighted at the Solheim Cup this year with the transportation

fiasco. The founders, right? Losing Cognizant as a title sponsor of one of your marquee tour-owned events. It just seems like the CME stuff, sorry, is another very public one. It just seemed like it was everything was pointing this way. And Cody, like you said, not surprising, perhaps the timing a little bit. So but it seemed like it was headed this way for the last several months. Is that does

that kind of mirror what you're thinking, Cody? Absolutely. I think if you go back and look at this tenure is as short as it has been, she set herself up to fail from the very beginning. And I understand she's coming from an academic background where it has a lot to do with fundraising, which you would naturally, and I'm sure the LPGA board thought would include her being very much she's, she's constantly selling whatever brand that she is representing and comparing her and I understand it's a, it's a large task. I don't think every anybody's ever going to do be able to fill Mike won shoes

when it comes to marketing, because that's what his expertise is in. But it really just comes down to communication. And it seemed like her team never really got ahead of communication. And I don't know, you know, from getting to spend time with Molly, we know that that isn't necessarily a strength of hers. And she took it very much as like, I am representing this tour and really diving into the business side of it. But she never really identified somebody who would take that marketing person

and to be that vocal leader. Trust the lieutenant. Yes, like it really, I think it was a, everything, all these failures kind of break down into the operational side of it. And I understand, and I'm not saying that, that Molly, you know, should, should still be in the position. But I also think that there's other people within the LPGA tour that

hopefully are held accountable for not. You know, stepping up when they needed them to most, especially when you look at this. So I think if you go again, back to the beginning and waiting whatever it was, four or six months of just the information gathering phase before she really did anything, and then you get to a couple CME issues, whether that's not showing up to a big party, take dinner, that's very important to the sponsor.

And like everybody. Everybody knows this which is like the lpj tour bread and butter is like these program dinners i just don't understand. Kind of the shortfall there to flask in the locker room situation in a parking lot and i understand the like maybe that's always been the way but they're also when you tell the players things are new, things are changing, that you want things to continue to change. And then Solheim, it's just like, there's no PR side of the LPGA tour, because they seem to find themselves in like these little micro crisis all the time. And for some reason, us being at the Solheim Cup, and I remember that specifically, like that, I understand that Molly is taking that on the nose because she is overall the one in charge. But it did not need to wait as long as it did for anybody from her team to get information out and steps in a plan on how they're going to fix it. And it seemed like when things that happened quite often came up, it was like she maybe

tightened everything down to where the only voice that was getting out for was hers. And I don't know. It's just, it wasn't a good situation. Well, then even like we're sitting there at dinner and they sent out a, you know, a tweet or a post about, you know, hey, we're gonna like, I don't know, I feel like the details kept changing, right? They sent out a tweet, then they deleted it, then they updated it with without, you know, one of the elements of, you know, hey, we're not, you know, we're not reinforcing people honoring or yeah, yeah. So, you know, just, we're not, you know, we're not reimbursing people honoring or yeah. Yeah. So, you know, just kind of like, it's not from a confident posture, I think is kind of where I would come back to. And, and it hasn't been from the start, right? It felt

like kind of a left field choice from the start. And then I feel like, I don't know. I mean, I think it's a pretty relatively dysfunctional organization to begin with. I think Wan probably papered over certain things or... I don't think they were necessarily well... For instance, the TV stuff. The PGA tour is negotiating on your behalf as a strategic partner. The LPGA has gotten nothing out of that. They're paying to be on network TV. They're getting shitty time slots on Golf Channel. Exposure is everything, right? And

figuring out how to evolve that in the midst of what is currently, we're in year what, three or four of the PGA Tours contract, like nothing's going to change there. They're going to have more power than ever over Golf Channel. I don't think we've, I don't think any progress was made there. Like I know, you know, ESPN plus was, was, you know, a big deal or PR wise, but I don't think from a juice perspective, it's like, Hey, how do you get people in? You get people in by like them knowing where you're located and being on, right? There's too much tape to lid stuff. There's too much just, just shitty coverage, right? Even like KPMG the last few years of when it's been just a skeleton crew. And, you know, and, and, and, you know, I know Molly put put a lot of emphasis on the content team. And, you know, and, and, and, you know, I know Molly put, put a lot of emphasis on

the content team and, you know, beef that up quite a bit content and marketing and all of that. That's up to what 35 or 40 people. And, you know, as a line item, that's doubled or more than doubled in size on the LPGA side. And I just don't, I don't see, you know, maybe the proof is in the pudding in future years, but I don't see though, like that manifesting any results as of yet. If anything, they, they seem to be more behind than ever as far as capitalizing on someone like Nellie or Lydia, you know, having a career year, you know're just left talking about what ifs instead of celebrating successes. So, in the press release that came out announcing Molly's resignation, they always talk about

the good things that she did. And so, I want to read from that press release, I'm quoting it. Under her leadership, the LPGA's prize fund increased by over 90% and athlete earnings reached record highs with average earnings for the top 100 players doubling from just over 570,000 in 2021 at the beginning of Molly's tenure to more than 1 million in 2024. And then it talks about, you know, she prioritized athlete well-being. They had a number of miscut stipends, domestic travel stipends, better access to health and physical resources. So we can talk about that.

But I just thought it was kind of telling that the next line off the course, the LPGA achieved record fan engagement with global audiences hitting all time highs in 2024 and strategic partnerships enhancing fan understanding and growth. And like that's the only thing talking about like anything from a fan perspective. And I just think it's telling, you know, how I remember Molly's tenure is, yes, we've seen a lot of like purse increases. I think Mike Wan laid really good foundation to, you know, bring in a lot of these sponsors. We've seen, you know, the USGA and the RNA and some of the bigger entities in golf really prioritize raising purses. But I just think it's telling. And I think, you know, as we look forward from my standpoint and, and

Tron, I think this echoes what you were saying with the broadcast. Like the broadcast is the vehicle to get your game in front of, you know, millions and millions of people. The, the in tournament fan experience is one thing. And I do think the LPGA does a pretty good job, you know, week to week with that respect. But until they can fix and figure out how to have a broadcast partner that's truly like investing in the product alongside of these purse investments, it just feels like these purse increases, don't get me wrong, they're great for the players, but it comes back to like the fan perspective.

I'm not seeing much. You know, I'm not. I'm not realizing a ton of this like growth and it's not necessarily easier for me to find the women's game and to get really invested and to learn more about the players. I think that's ultimately not only where Molly like really falls short. I mean, again, it's like a once one throwaway sentence in her in the press release. But I think it's also like what whoever they end up hiring as the inbound commissioner, like this is a big freaking deal. And I think it starts with the broadcast and how you deliver the product week to week.

And I wish I could say I was confident. I wish I could say I like I had a lot of great ideas. It seems like they're in a shitty contract and maybe nothing changes until the contract runs out and they have a chance to like totally renegotiate something. I don't know, Cody, that's, that's a lot of stuff. You can take whatever you want from that. Well, we talk about the television deal and you're right. It's hard when you're, you know, they're packaged with the PGA Tour. They're really getting the fourth,

they're the fourth option when it comes to live professional golf because every single one of PGA Tour elements are gonna be there. And I just want to be noted. Sometimes the fifth option when they have double PGA events. So they have champs tour in K of the corn fairy. And there seems to like you also that would be okay, but they also haven't been able to break down like that.

That peacock wall, I guess you would say is like we always say this, like just show the golf. We're just I mean. It's crazy. Unlike the PGA tour where we're saying, harping on commercials and improving the product, we're really still at this stage on the LPGA tour where we're just showing Nellie winning fucking seven tournaments, man. We just want to watch her hit the golf ball. And even the LPGA investing their own monies into ESPN plus, but NBC not allowing or I don't know where it is. I'm very curious on where the breakdown of why are they're not getting additional peacock hours because I'm sure there's a cost, but you got to do something. Again, we talk about growth and women's professional sports across the board. There's been years and years and years of lead up invested into capturing these

moments and then, you know, getting these returns on it. And it just feels like the LPGA tour is not there. Now we mentioned a lot of things about Molly. The one thing that is a glowing example that sticks out to me is where we're at with the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour. And we literally have gotten zero information post a vote that was supposed to happen on the Ladies European side last December that was broken up for a multitude of different reasons. There's a lot of different people and groups that really put their thumb on the scale

and made it so that vote didn't happen. Primarily, we could say Golf Saudi or Performance 54, but really there's nothing since then. And honestly, by talking to both LPGA staff and insiders, it seems like Molly never even really brought that back up. Honestly, by talking to both LPGA staff and insiders, it seems like Molly never even really brought that back up. Like it was one of those things where it's like, no, no, no, it's fine. But if you wanna talk about growth,

and I remember I said this, it was one of the questions on Randy's 24 for 24, the questions that we led this season off with, was what was going to happen with the LPGA and the LED merger. And I still, I said this and I still think it's true. The women's game has an opportunity to do this global tour that we've been talking about. And they need to do it by more co-sanctioned events.

Now they already have a couple that are out there, but there's no reason why on the second Asian swing when the LPGA tour is in China to Korea to Malaysia that a week later, the ladies European is doing the exact same thing. Make those, you know, embrace your fans in Asia. That is where the most growth potential is. All right. Have more co-sanctioned events in Europe. Again, why is the Irish Open not a co-sanctioned event? The Scottish is. It's awesome. But there needs to be more. And then really looking at this time of year and figuring out what they can do with the events in Australia. because there's some really good women's events and we can talk about the Aussie Open sometime else and uncoupling that from the men's

side. But like, they have the opportunity here with a lot of people willing to invest in women's athletics to really take this thing to the next level. And it would be a win win across the board. I agree. I think there's a it's kind of like, if it's, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, it's broken. So you see, you can just dismantle it a little bit and put it back together, you know, in a new way. I will say like they, they brought in that money from like, they, like they raised outside capital as well. Like, you know, I would be curious to see like, all right, the next person's coming

into that. What are you going to do with it? Right? I think the, you know, I'm curious to know too, like, hey, board members or, you know, is it a pretty reflective experience here of, hey, what did we get wrong with the last one? What did Molly not have to succeed? What do we need to with the last one? What did Molly not have to succeed? What do we

need to provide the next commissioner with? Like you said, with the insurance stuff or with, I think she had a lot of small wins, but they didn't ladder up to a larger thematic or a story that she could tell. Nor, I think, and on a very basic level, like just talking to a lot of the ladies out there, she just didn't have any relationships with the players. Like it's just straight up, like just didn't know them as like human beings. And I think that's a pretty, I think coming from the collegiate athletic world, like you would think that would be a strength, right? But I think bringing somebody in from outside of golf is tough, right? Like you're coming in, you know, they kind of outside of golf, outside of the LPGA and candidly too, like, you know, they're down in Daytona,

right? It's kind of a, you know, it's like, all right, a lot of the people live in Orlando, like do they need to be in Daytona? Should they move here? Should they move to New York? Should they move, you know move somewhere else to attract better talent as well? Yeah, real quick before, I think there's probably a pretty long list of things that we could recommend or say this is what we think you would explore. But real quick to close out, I really think this, I'm more fascinated because what is published on LPGA tour or LPGA.com is the same thing that we know was emailed to players, every, every member of the LPGA tour. Now it's

not really, there are quotes in there from Molly, but this is very much led by the board. Okay. So it, it, I mean, an all person, she, she was fired. She was relieved of her job. And I think it's one of those things where it's, it just sucks again. But like, I don't understand why that part of it is kind of swept over because in, in order to show growth, you need to identify what the issues are and move forward. Now the other thing is, so they're going to let her, they're not going to kick her while she's down there. I'm not saying kick, not, not saying kick by, by any means, but I hope they're too.

Sorry. Was the Terry Duffy just lowing praise before CME for scary. It was like, wait a second. Yeah. Well, honestly we thought like, Oh, post CME, like we're like, Oh, you know, Molly, she's fine. She's going to make it another year because we're expecting it before really more news before that, which understanding why they waited. They named Liz Moore is going to be the acting chief

executive officer. She right now is the chief legal and technology offer the LPGA tour. Now I find this fascinating she's their lawyer and Of all people who they have selected the board is selected. They jumped over their own LPGA tour COO Ricky Lashley Laski I which is very curious Decision on my part because again it goes back to a lot of the things that I believe Kind of have gone wrong have been more on the operational side. Very, very interesting. Now, who knows who's going to be, you know, their names in the hat here, but I've kind of, I've kind

of done a complete reversal on one person that I think honestly now is would be fantastic. And that's Alex Armas from the L.E.T. She's a former player. She understands this. Yes. I honestly if you think about it, think about everything that she has done to maintain the L.E.T. to grow their purses to bring in more from the bottom line. She does not care. She's truly driving and bringing that tour on her back. Look at the events that we go to that are ran by the LET. They're absolutely amazing. And I think when you're looking at somebody,

because this is a job that most people are gonna volunteer for, why not look over there? TC, your reaction. I was not expecting that. Someone who attended the 2023 Solheim Cup at Finca Cortezin. I think that in and of itself is disqualifying. I don't care that the National Federation in Spain was kind of the operator on that. Yeah, I really don't know where to go from there.

I mean, even like small fires, like, you know, there's like small wins, but there's also like you guys said earlier, there's all these just little small fires of like, like Q school, like the venue and the condition of the course, like embarrassing for the first and second stage, right? Like they're playing in Arizona and, you know, 115 degree temperatures on greens that like aren't even alive, right? So it's just, you know, it's like not even letting stuff bubble up to where that's an issue. Just, you know, and I get it. Like there's limited resources and all that, but you've beefed up the content or you beefed up the marketing or whatever.

Maybe you need to beef up ops and tournament, kind of the tournament department there and then build out from there. But I think from a Canada perspective, like I know John Padani from the US, who's now with the USGA, he's their chief commercial officer. I know he's been, he was at the PGA tour for a long time. And he was previously with the LPGA

and kind of set, I think like Molly's big bullet point of purse, like overall purse growth started under this guy. Like he was in, that was his purview was, and I think that's probably a natural thing. And I think last time he applied and did not get the job, maybe that's cause he's a dude, right? Maybe it's cause they felt like, hey, we want to, a female commissioner for the LPGA, which makes complete sense, right?

But I think at this point, it's such a critical juncture. I don't care if you're from Mars, if you can do the job and do it effectively, that's what's important right now at this juncture. Alex Baldwin from the Corn Fairy Tour has been floated as well. I know she pulled her hat out of the ring last time for it, was a candidate, but, you know, like, and kind of has been on all sides of it. But I think bottom line is you need someone who's above and beyond as far as communication goes, because that's what, you know, you got to hire great lieutenants. Like that was one of the things, Cody, we didn't know, hey, who else is making decisions or who's actually accomplishing or going out

and doing the tactical stuff that Molly like, hey, what is your platform? And B, who's accomplishing all this tactical stuff? And I think you need someone to communicate, hey, what's the plan? Get real aligned around it and then be able to hire two, three, four people to really manage those teams to go do it. And then your job is, hey, you know what? I'm going to figure out what the future looks like with the Saudis and with the LAT and the global tour. I'm going to figure out I'm going to talk to all the sponsors. I'm going to talk to Terry Duffy. I'm going to talk to Cognizant. I'm going to talk to anybody. There's rumors out there that Amazon wanted to invest a bunch of money and spend a bunch of money. And they were basically told no

or told that, hey, it has to look like this. Then there's not a whole lot of creativity for how to get them in the bucket. So I think that's part of the thing. Same thing with other events. Certain tournaments wanted to elevate their purse and keep it under that major purse mark, but really get up into the five, six, seven million dollar market and pay some of these. And she basically shot it down because you can't have a tall poppy out there. She didn't want the other people who are not spending that much to feel bad. I don't know. Big, what do you think?

No, I think TC, something you said about just, I never knew Molly's overarching objectives. It just, whether it was her fault or the people at the LPGA or I don't know, but it never truly felt like I knew, hey, this is my commissionership, these are my most pressing issues. Besides like, hey, it's great if purses go up. And again, like I don't wanna diminish that because that's a big deal for the players, which obviously is important. But my biggest frustration was just like, at some point, I think the commissioner has

to speak to the fans and tell a story of like, this is what we want to do to improve the product from your standpoint. It's the same thing that like Jay's failed at too. Right. You know, and I think part of it as well as like she came in and what she was, I think they chose her in May, 2021. She started, you know, end of 2021. And so yeah, that first year assess the landscape, figure it out. But I don't think you're after that 12 months is up. Like do a lot of lists. Like I think, I think I remember saying that

like I'm doing a lot of listening, listening. I'm on a listening tour. That's great. Cool. After that tour, tell me your plan. Tell me what your priorities are because you can't do it all either. Does it start with TV? Does it start with the schedule? Does it start with player empowerment?

What does it start with and then how does it waterfall down from there? She has, she has said it's been about players purses. And I do want to, you know, purses have gone up, guarantees have gone up, travel stipends are a thing, health insurance is now a thing. You know, there are wins. But but again, it's like, like not telling that story cohesively or effectively. And then also on the flip side of it, you've got stuff, you know, you've got issues with, you know, obviously cognizant leaving or like founders being unsponsored is kind of unfathomable to me. Right? It's nuts. Yeah. It's not good. I was really excited for Molly's

tenure, I think because she was coming in completely outside of the world of golf and didn't have maybe a lot of the the preconceived notions and biases. And like you said, Sean, like go on this listening tour and, and like, really tell us what's wrong with with the outside critical eye and then you know, sell me on how we're going to move everything forward. I just thought that was always absent. From talking to lots of players, it seemed like there wasn't that communication with them either.

Yeah, at the end of the day, just not a lot of excitement, not a lot of allies in and around the locker room. And the tour and the board finds itself with a new search. And I do think it's interesting. Which I think the tour needs, I think the tour and the board specifically need to take a long look in the mirror of like, hey, what do we need to provide the next commissioner

with or, you know, like we need to provide the next commissioner with or, you know, like, we're, we're a big part of why this failed. Right. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I understand that there's a lot of voices and it's a very finicky situation, week in week out on the LPGA tour. But I remember TC, when we go back to that listening tour, and one of the biggest complaints, pretty much right out of the gate, were the players believing that she wasn't listening to them. And like, okay, so if this is your main focus and you're already failing on it right out of the gate,

it's gonna be interesting. Anyway, guys, next year, looking forward to 2025. It's the 75th anniversary of the LPGA tour. So if there is a time to capitalize on it with Nellie Korda, with Geno Titical and Lilia Vu hopefully being strong and healthy again, Lydia Ko with an amazing year, 75th, you would think that this would be the year that they can capitalize on it. So there's going to be 35 total events. That does not include the International Crown that's back in Korea and of course the Grant

Thornton. They're paying for $131 million total. Now that number is highly, you know, that's inflated because the majors that they do not control, the three of them are really, you know, pushing that up and helping them out big time. But overall, you know, purses are a couple new events, Black Desert Championship in Utah. The last time the LPGA Tour was in Utah was in 1964. We're going back to Mexico. No, it is not the Lorena Ochoa tournament, but we're going to the Mayacoba Open and then

we're going to get first looks. The US Women's Open of course is at Aaron Hills. KPMG is going to be at Fields Ranch East. We are going to Rural Ports call for the AIG and Founders is now in Bradenton, Florida, unsponsored. So with the Founders, it's February 6 this year. It's the second event of the season. Do we think Molly's last official day is January 9th?

I guess I'd be surprised if they name a new commissioner before the founders. What do you guys think? It's just it's a tough look. One, you're moving the founders out of May from a nice course in upper Montclair in New Jersey. The purse is slashed because it's unsponsored this year. And if they run the founders like without a commissioner in the 75th year of the LPI,

just the optics aren't great. I mean, they might as well call the founders like the drive on. It's the same,'t great. I mean, they might as well call the founders like the drive on. It's the same. It's essentially. Yeah, it is. Throwing that name on an existing tournament or the kind of the placeholder tournament that they have.

You know, the founders are sweet, right? But it is only like, I think we put a lot more emphasis on it because of what we believe that the founders should be, because it's a new event. Yeah. You know? Yeah, but it's also gone. I mean, I don't know, maybe Braden, Country Club's really cool, but it was kind of like,

hey, we're going to spots in New Jersey, or up in the Northeast that are kind of venerable, old school tracks, like, you know, cool venues that like this thing, this thing feels elevated above a rank and file Florida course event. Right. And when you talk about like, where can the LPGA tour tell stories to fans and prospective fans? Like, I do believe the founders is one of the best areas they can do that. You know, the, these 13 women that, that formed the LPGA tour, I believe it's the longest running, uh, women's sports organization in the world.

There's like, that is the history of the LPGA. And I just feel like as the players is kind of the marquee event and celebration on the PGA tour, it seems to me like the founders should be that on the LPGA tour. And yet again, they, and to add insult to injury, you know, February 6th, it's Super Bowl weekend. So you think they're gonna get a strong, you know,

audience tuning in on Superbowl Sunday. It's just like, come on guys. Like that's, if we want to tell stories and we want to build the brand and we want to celebrate the history, like let's start there. And man, it's tough. Yeah, it is tough.

I'm sorry to be negative, but it's just like, that's- The schedule is the product, it seems like a lot of missed opportunities too, right? And like, you know, like I, I know in the past tournament champions has felt like kind of a sore thumb there or, you know, extraneous thing there at the front part of the season. And there's really not a tournament till till March on the LPGA. So I think this Heather's tournament champions to something back to back weeks in Florida at the beginning, and then they go to Thailand and then Singapore and then China. And then things kind of start in earnest towards the

back half of March. It still feels scattershot and it still feels like it did two, three, four years ago as far as just ping ponging back and forth. Right? Yeah. Yeah. The stretch of LA to Houston to Provo, Utah to New York City to Mexico to Wisconsin is going to be interesting. Yeah, just trace it. Like we're right back to where we were. We drew a star across North America. And I think that's an issue. And I'll say this, the shitty thing is, cause these executives, they're, you know,

they're bonus based off of playing opportunities and everybody wants playing opportunities. There's too many damn playing opportunities They need to consolidate some stuff they need to fix the schedule and Get a core of what they want and then they can start adding things on to it outside of there And I again I'll go back to Randy's idea like shit doesn't have to be Thursday through Sunday you know you can do a Sunday to Wednesday event, take advantage

of, of when the PGA tour or nothing else is on TV, but venues matter to sign up some good venues. You know, you're going to find people as long as you're not taking weekends out of them for sure. But you got to try to get creative here. Um, now shocking things on the schedule, at least not so much shopping, I guess, has stood out to me. So the Ford Championship is back for its second year. It's no longer at Seville Country Club down south of Phoenix.

It's at World Wind Golf Club now. Course at Jam Eagle, LA Championship that's usually held at Wilshire. They're still going under renovations there. So that's it. I'm not even gonna say that some other golf course in LA. And then the Portland classic, the standard Portland classic

and the BMW ladies championship are both on the schedule, but we got big old TBDs next to them. But, you know, happy that there's a Portland event still. Yeah. I think there may be an opportunity here as we move along like if as the tour as the PGA tour kind of right sizes their schedule and tells, you know, either shrinks the schedule or the fall series, especially him, you know, if there's only 40, if there's only 35 PGA tour events, you know, grab, grab a few of those sponsors that are getting kicked

to the curb. Granted, it's gone the opposite way right now where Cognizant's sponsoring the Palm Beach event. I imagine that's where some of that budget went. Right? Yeah. There's work to be done. And I think we can kind of wrap the commissioner conversation there probably is just,

it's going to be very interesting what decision and that person's vision and what their priorities are because the underlying is golf. Well, give me some fun ideas. Well- Because people want you to be committed and people want your name in this hat. Right. Right.

I mean, we made it 46 minutes into this thing, but I mean, you should be on the short list. To me, again, to beat on the drum, to me, it starts with a broadcast partner that is willing to invest side by side with you in your product. And I don't think that's the case. And so whether there's wiggle room

in the existing current contract to, like you said, hey, let's try some things, right? I think the LPGA should be an incubator of ideas. The LPGA should not be trying to do an impersonation of the PGA tour in the way they telecast, in the way they operate, in the way that they necessarily do anything, right? Let's try different broadcast options. You know, let's mic players up.

Let's like you said, Cody, can we find some days where we don't just run it Thursday to Sunday? Maybe we try to take advantage of some like off days and get in better TV spots. Which I'll say this, they took it. I don't have all the answers. Yeah. I thought they showed really good flexibility

at Pelican by having footage of the pro-amp. Like, hey, Caitlin Clark is here. We're going to take advantage of this moment. Like we're gonna get some additional footage and everything else like that. Now you can use it if, Golf Channel seemed pretty interesting to do that, because they knew that they were gonna get

some juicy numbers tied to it. But you gotta have the flexibility with them. And you gotta, like another priority, I know KPMG has made a big thing with the KPMG performance insights, but to, to really solidify the statistics week to week in LPGA golf. And I think that's such a ripe area where you can begin to tell stories and,

and get to golf fans where it's like, you know, I would love to know Lydia Cove from 120 yards in how she compares not only to her peers on the LPGA tour, but it'd be fun to see like the guys hit 120 yard and in wedges. Like how does she stack up against the men, right? We should have somewhat even statistics where you can tell the story of like, you know, MB Park when she was playing, like, is she truly the best putter in the world? Cause she quite well could have been, but we don't know because we can't measure like we do on the men's side.

There's just a lot of different areas, but it all stems to me. Like if we're just going to continue to increase purses and the schedule scatter shot, nobody really knows where the broadcast is. And we're on four different streaming things for an hour each. They have to concentrate on the fan experience if they want to grow this thing. And so that's where I want to see the new commissioner really make a mark and really speak to us about what the priorities will be. I think there's two really low hanging fruit things that I've got. Let's say with KPMG, for instance, they got over $10 million in that purse. What if that purse is $8 million? You spend a million or two on the broadcast and then advertise around the

broadcast, say, hey, here's a different look at golf or here's a different experience and all that. I think that is a much better investment in your players over the long term than just writing them. They're still going to get a big ass check. But it's, hey, let's grow this thing sustainably. And so we're not redlining the engine sustainably, and so we're not redlining the engine, you know, and trying to do that when the product or the fan engagement doesn't necessarily support it because TV broadcast isn't there yet. I would say something else too is just set the courses up better. I think it's like, I think that's really part of the problem over the last decade has been

there's too much parity, right? Why is there too much parity? Because you're de-skilling some of these setups because they're all hitting a bunch of wedges in and they're wide, they're too short, and the best players aren't able to maximize what makes them the best players. That to me is like Nelly. It shouldn't have taken Nelly this long to differentiate herself from the other players. Same thing with Lydia or others. It's like really, if anything,

I think that makes Lydia's career look even more impressive. Because it's much more of a flattened playing field where, hey, if it's a little bit longer or narrower or firmer greens or faster surfaces, I think you have a look at a lot more dominance, which is a good thing. That sells, right? Familiarity and that's directly tied into course setup. And there's so many times when everybody just thinks everyone wants to see birdies. It's like, no, like if everybody's making a birdie, it doesn't mean anything. And I thought some of the best, like the best tournaments to watch all year were the one out in Palos Verdes was awesome because it was windy, funky, you know, funky drives and

like there was like real risk off the tee, especially. You know, it's just one of those things where it's like all outcomes need to be in play. It's not like hit it to 30 feet or hit it to 10 feet and both are kind of good shots or you can't tell if they're seeing a good shot and a bad shot or even worse, can't tell if they're seeing a good shot and a great shot. And that to me ties into some of it is venue related of like, Hey, you got to get better venues, but also you got to set some of these venues up better bottom line. And I think the best players will support you on that as well.

See the tour, you know, something that just came to mind be the tour that combat slow play. Yes. Right. Like, like, make that make that part of your brand. You know, I got there's just so many things that I think the majority of players would be into to that, like, start differentiating from the other professional golf organizations. You're right to see on setup, though, just thinking about it real quick. Like, I think that's why you mentioned Palace Verde is but like, that's why we love Wilshire so much because it's, it's, it's different. It makes them hit more creative shots

and we usually don't get to see them playing surfaces like that and surrounds like that where they have to like show their true artistry. That's why we loved Upper Montclair. That's, you know, a completely different look for a different reason, but like that's why. And if you look at the leaderboards, same thing of like, you know, there's a look at the leaderboards. That's where you're bringing, like, of course you have the, the Nellie's that are up there, but that's why, like, I mean, Hannah Green is so good. She wins at all these different golf courses, but she's a grinder.

Rose proved herself this year at the founders cup. Like, I mean, I honestly can't believe her and Madeline played so damn good. It was it's a kind of criminal that that happened at the same week for both of them. But like having those experiences because you don't get to see them be able to hit. And like the true dogs get out there and like and play because of everything is set up the exact same. And I feel like we got a good look at it a few times too, with the, the old course, you know, was it was the conditions were like that provided a great leaderboard. We even got it at Chevron and I thought Lancaster was awesome for the US Open.

And they set it up to challenge the players and all of that. And the And the action delivers. Like the worst thing you can do is just like, you know, same thing with like, I'll be fascinated to see how they set up Aaron Hills for the women. Because if it blows, it's gonna be like hard. But very, very hard. I'm worried they're going to set it up too short and it's going to be, it's not going to challenge best players or, or, or, or there's, there's so many of those spots where it could actually throttle the longest best players back because they're hitting it into other

bunkers on the other side of the dog legs. Well, we know one thing for sure is that the RNA, they're not going to give a crap at Porth Call. And the last time we saw that, the old guys almost got blown off the earth. So it'll be very interesting to see is that date has moved again, because we don't have the Olympics on the calendar. But guys, we started this year. I think we, we had the preview podcast on January 17th.

Uh, I mentioned the 24 questions and 24, the big debuted then one of them. He asked them was a two parter who will win the season long race for the CME points list and then who will win the CME tour championship. Randy Phil Landis, he said Nellie will win the CME list, but Gino, uh, Ty at the time, you know, she, we can't, she changed her. I didn't, I didn't get that prediction. Jeno wins the CME absolutely nails right there buddy. But I think, you know, those two stand out this year, but I, we're, we don't need to go through all of this.

I'm sorry for Minji's year TC. I'm sorry for Lynn's year. I called it the year of Nelly Korda to start out and people doubted me. But- You did. Let me jump in here and give you your flowers, Cody. I listened back to that preview episode as well

and you were adamant. You said Nelly, she's been grinding in the off season. This was last year. She's gonna fix the putting woes. Like you very solidly said, this is the year of Nelly. And that was, I mean, that's as good of a call as it gets. Need to hang the burgundy pants in the hall of fame when she gets there. But really CME tour championship, Gino, she got 4 million bucks for winning that

guys that also you can add an extra million that she got, uh, because the week prior she was awarded the Aon risk reward because she didn't play. Protecting the lead. But hey, I guess that's why not when you're playing for a million bucks and it's crazy to look at her season. So theoretically like she should have won more awards. She just doesn't have enough events because she started the

season out very much hurt. In total, I think she had 17 starts that included 15 cuts made, a bunch of top tens, and then the wins at CME and the Dow with Ronnie. She finished the season fourth on the CME global list. Hell of a year for somebody who didn't even tee it up until Chevron. Yeah, she was, I mean, she was injured to start the year, like

you said, and I think the big shame with with Gino is early in the year, you know, she like her only miss cuts, I think we're at a few of the majors early. And so she was just kind of somebody that wasn't really in the top of mind. But man, since AIG Women's Open, she's top 10 the last seven events, capped it with the win at the CMA. She has, she is a top 10 machine. Like she, I don't have this in front of me,

but really since she's gotten on the LPGA Tour, I would be shocked if anybody has more top 10s over that span than Gino. And we've just been waiting for that ratio of top 10s to wins, right? To kind of shrink a little bit and for her to capture more wins. I hope that's coming. I really think it is coming. I think she could be somebody that could win four, five, six times next year. We don't have to get into predictions, but man, it just seems like she's going to have a monster year, one of these years coming up. And I think she has ended 2024 just absolutely prime to do so. I think I said, or question H, two women,

Ronnie Yen or Ataya Titicum will spend the majority of 2024, 21 years old, who finishes higher the LPGA player of the year race in 2024. All of you said Gino. I said, I don't trust Gino. Which from a whim perspective, I think is, you know, I won't. I think there's a ton of there's a ton of similarities with Gino and Xander. Yes, I think that's right.

But and both of them have proven in the last year that they for sure that like when the big moment is there, they have not only the game, but they got kind of that, that burning desire in them now to go get it. And I completely agree with what you said to start the year, because from what we learned the year prior, that was Ronnie, like, and, and you know, Ronnie didn't have a bad year. She was kind of banging, she had banged up. And like, obviously, she expected to win more, but she won a lot. She had a really good year.

She won three times. Yeah, she was fantastic. She finishes the year second in the Rolex rankings, the world rankings. Nelly Korda, Rolex player of the year. It's the second consecutive American to earn the Rolex player of the year. Of course, Lilia Vu, who we'll talk about later, won the year. It's the second consecutive American to earn the Rolex player of the year. Of course, Lilia Vu, who we'll talk about later, won the year prior. That hasn't happened for a long, long time, going back to the early 90s. She had seven wins this year, of course, including the Chevron, the one major, nine top tens and 3.6 million in earnings. That's a lot of wins compared to Gino's wins. Gino had more top tens and obviously

CME has got that massive purse. But it kind of goes back to that argument of, we're going to talk about Lydia in a second, but for the amount that Nellie won, she didn't win that much money. No. And while the Chevron is a major and will forever be a major on her resume, you know, like we said a few episodes ago, it's like Lydia kind of won the one that Nellie really wanted. I mean, Nellie herself said if she could have one mulligan, it would be that drive on 16, where she pumped it out of bounds in round four. So yeah, Nellie, awesome, awesome season, but it's like, yeah, he didn't kind of win any of like the real crown jewels, which is an interesting dynamic.

Yeah. T2 at the AIG Women's Open, like you said, Miss Cut at US Women's Open and the KPMG and then really T26 at the Avion, all of that, she still won the major award. I think that's kind of the separator or performance in majors and the amount of wins when you stack up somebody like Lydia. And I know the last podcast we talked about this, who's season would you rather want like Nellie won an awful lot. But I do think like closing the hat trick on Olympic medals for Lydia, and then the AIG women's open for the, you know, at St. Andrews. Man, I've like, I've

turned myself around on whose season that I wanted because now I think it's Lydia. Yeah. Yeah. Mao Saigo ended up rookie of the year, incredible second Japanese player to ever win it. She played so many events guys, 29 starts, seven top tens, only five missed cuts and 29 starts. That's so much time on the road. Like on the first time, basically you've ever been in America or anywhere else.

Like she just absolutely beat it up. She was runner up at the Canadian as well as the the LPGA event in Shanghai overall finished ninth on the CME list. She is the highest player on the CME list that did not have a win this year. But yeah, just phenomenal, phenomenal stuff. Do you think so? Mouse I go she comes over 23 year old rookie this year, but tons of experience on the JLPGA. We should be should she be eligible to win the rookie here? Okay. So that's, I wasn't gonna ask that one. But it's it's in the ballpark because I'm thinking of somebody like Gabby

Ruffles, who had a very good year and we were all very high on her. It seems like, man, I just wonder if some of these Americans might have a thought, especially with Asian heritage, are they better suited to go over to Japan or Korea? I don't know the mechanisms to join the JLPGA or the KLPGA, but it seems like the players that are graduating from those tours and coming to the LPGA, it's not necessarily that they're like winning all the time, but they're just making a ton of money and making a ton of cuts. And it seems like those are great feeder systems. Whereas the Epson tour,

the results are much more mixed perhaps. God, that's a provocative question. I don't know. I feel like there's a big language barrier. For sure, culture barrier. I mean, and I understand just because they might be like US born, like I think there's a lot of things that would tie there. But I like the way you're I think there's a lot of things that,

that would tie there. But I like the way your thing is provocative because not only talking about Malasiggo, but like, you know, yesterday Q series just wrapped and TC's Yamashita just won, you know, she was a medalist there, but she's going to be a rookie next year on the LPGA tour. She's like top 15 in the world.

Okay. She's, she's won like every JLP LPGA tour. She's like top 15 in the world. Okay. She's, she's won like every JLP LPGA event you can possibly think of, but will still be a rookie and will probably take the LPGA tour by storm. Yeah. I don't know. I'd love to see somebody try it. Kind of like, you know, Brooks Koepka went over to Europe instead of PDU line. Yeah. Yeah. Well, even if you look at it now, there's still like, you know, Brooks Koepka went over to Europe instead of PDU line. Yeah. Yeah. Well, even if you look at it now, there's still guys, you know,

John Catlin who like was leading the Asian international series or whatever, and bounces between Asian tour and live. Like he was playing Asian tour before any PIF investment or anything else, just cause that's the only place that he could play at. But I also think when you look at it, and again, I think we should do a deep dive on the Rolex rankings and what that actually ties you into because it blows my mind that, again, Yamashita. that like her world ranking wouldn't just get her into. How is she not have conditional status or something or starts? Like it doesn't make any sense. Just like the announcement a couple weeks ago of like, oh yeah, we have these college pathways.

But really in the history of the LPGA tour, only three people would have ever qualified for that. So it's not a pathway. And I understand that it's not a pathway. Like, and I understand that it takes certain people longer, but like, I just think back to like, you know, is it best for Ingrid to spend this summer driving around Kansas, Iowa and wherever else,

or like playing on the LPGA tour? You know, and I guess on the flips. Ladies European, right? For sure. And on the LPGA tour. You know, and I guess on the flip side of that, I guess you could use the example of like Maria Fossey. He came out, got status right away on her own right. You know, she played well at qualifying school. That's how she got straight to the LPGA tour. But you know, it's taken her a long time to kind of come into her own form.

So I don't know. You're right, big. I think I don't know how it worked because it seems like even on the LPGA tour side, they're like, Oh, yeah, forgot that we have that, you know, developmental tour. Like it's crazy. You know, well, and I think it's a little interesting too, when you consider the brand building potential, it would have to be

the very unique situation, right? I think it might work with somebody again with some type of Asian heritage where they could go play in Japan or Korea. But man, think about an American going over there for a year or two, presumably winning a bunch, doing really well. Like you could build a fan base over there and then you come back stateside and I don't know. It at least interests me. I feel like I need to do a deep dive on just, you know, KLPGA or the JLPGA and kind of

how what those courses are set up like and what the venues are like and all of that too, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, even then the people that come out on top of their points list and they come over either with LET or LPGA like they're performers. We're taught we're going to talk about literally been next. We've been and we have been talking about them so far. So

VAR trophy that's course lowest scoring average for the year with one caveat. They must meet the minimum round count. Okay. Ayaka food away wins that because both Gino and Nellie, they had lower scoring averages, but they just didn't have enough rounds guys. How many were they short by?

I think Nellie was two or three short and Gino was two. Two or three rounds? Oh no, no, events, events. So probably, you know, whatever, six, probably six rounds, eight rounds. That's the highest scoring average that has won it since Danielle Kang won in 2020 was 70.082. First player from Japan to win the award.

And, uh, you know, she's just really, really consistent. She had 24 starts, 12 top tens, uh, including the Evian championship only one miss cut. And that was at Dow. So she can blame it on her partner. I'm not sure how many actual rounds Nellie fell short, but if it's seven or less, I feel like you should be able to, if you can add your wins to your rounds

and meet the threshold, I think you should qualify. Like, I think it's kind of silly that Nelly wins seven times as player of the year and it's like, yeah, sorry, you were, you know, maybe five, six rounds short of qualifying for the scoring title. She also has heard it towards the end of the year, man. She was out, you know, that hunting injury.

She was out shooting her guns in Wisconsin, blew her shoulder. That's what I hear say, that's not true. I just, I'm strictly making that up, okay. Heather Farr Perseverance Award, Lydia Ko, what a year for the Hall of Famer. She did what she needed to do, but I will say this. I thought Lydia Coe

started this year gangbusters. She won Hilton. She theoretically should have won the drive on that Nellie ended up coming in and beating her out in that playoff. Of course wins gold at the Olympics, wins women's open at St. Andrews, then followed it up immediately with Cincinnati. Also went on a couple's trip to Bandan Dune. It's truly the summer of Lydia. I don't know, guys. I think obviously very well-deserving award, but anything else that we're kind of missing

from Lydia's year. Not so. I mean, I think, you know, you hit the high points. Like, I think I'll remember probably St. Andrews the most with the Olympics being second place beyond that. And then I feel like otherwise Hilton and Cincinnati and some of the others, it's just it goes back to like, you know, you're seeing glimpses here or there, some tape delayed stuff or you're just fighting for, you're just fighting for eyeballs, right?

Yeah. I mean, in there was the hall of fame qualification. So I know we had mentioned that before. I think the biggest thing with Lydia goes beyond like the actual wins and what the wins and the Olympics and the Hall of Fame. I think it was really cool. You just you heard people talking about Lydia and you learned about Lydia. And I just think it's really wonderful to just learn more about her and really how revered she is to a player out on the LPGA tour.

I think that's the thing I'll take most is like not only has she had all this on-course success, but she's beloved. And that's really cool. The only thing that I would add to is that I think people quickly forgot kind of how bad 22 and 23 were. Like this was, she was in the doldrums, man. Like her game, she was searching for it at one point in time, she thought about just hanging it up because this weight of these Hall of Fame points is kind of hanging over her. There were swing instructor changes. It's a lot going on.

And man, she's a killer. I'll never forget that hybrid on 17 at the old course. In the obviously, I had like, you know, being out there and experiencing those conditions with them as they're doing it. It was just like, it's phenomenal stuff like all world and she's such a great person, incredible ambassador, not just for the game, but you know, for everything that comes around with Lydia Co.

All right, guys, you know, a lot of moments this year, I wanted you to call out everybody's favorite moment of the 2024 LPGA tour year. TC, what do you got? It's tough not to like Lauren winning for me was that was it. What's time? Right? Well, I like I think Canada specifically, and then because I think the way that she did it in Scotland was like, you're expecting her to do it. I think Canada just with even kind of being down and out a little bit on the front nine and making some pots that in the past haven't gone in prior. And you know, just kind of seeing that self-confidence and

belief in herself like manifest into, you know what, I am good enough. Like in all those spots that kind of built up, whether it was at Chevron of, you know, making that putt on 18 at Chevron, like small wins from previous preceding moments, then, you know, kind of coalescing to finally add up to a win was freaking awesome. So, yeah, I agree. Probably not my favorite, like probably not just my favorite moment of the year. Probably like my favorite moment of like, or like one of my favorite moments since we

started to laying off. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Incredible. And you're spot on calling out that putt on the 18th at Chevron. I think, not just the wins, of course, we you know, so high cup in there, but really, I think she learned a ton at the the Evian and learning from those Chevron kind of, you know, faulty, you know, when things weren't going right at the final round at the

Chevron, like, I felt her and John like had a really good plan. And it was one of those moments where I'm like, Oh, man, like the Avian's this final round is not going how LC and John wanted to go. But she's learning so much from this and just like, hoovering up all that information. And then immediately coming out with Canada, you know, a couple weeks later, and like, just getting it done. And I was like, you know, a couple weeks later and like just getting it done.

And I was like, you know, hell yes. It's such a cool moment, man. What a year. At TC you called it, you know, when we were talking about like, oh yeah, who are people that you know, might be as outsiders for Solheim Cup and big years and stuff. You were steadfast and like, nope, this is LC. LC is going to do it this year.

So my moment, we've talked about my moment. I wrote down a few, we've talked about most of them, like everything from Nelly snatching Lydia's soul in February at the drive on to Rose and Madeline dueling at the founders. Uh, Linnea Strom, I want to shout out, shot a final around 60 to win the shop right by one shot. Uh, what else did I have on there that we're probably not going to get to? Lily Avoo's wedge into 18 to tie her match and win the U S the Solheim cup was a really big deal. But for me, it just comes back to St. Andrews

and the women's open. I mean, I believe down the stretch, you had five world number ones at various points, like all, I think there were four tied for the lead at one point on the back nine at St. Andrews. And I believe if Aria, was Aria world number one at some point, but maybe the top six in the final leaderboard at St. Andrews have all been ranked number one in the world at a certain point. From Nelly's drive on 16 to Lydia's medal into 17

and then going and birdieing 18, like that whole final day and specifically that final nine was just like the moment of the year for me, Cody. Yeah, I agree. That's my moment of the year as well. It helps that we were there and saw and experienced it. I just, you know, I was with, I was with Lillia and I thought that she was gonna make it happen on, on 18.

I thought she was gonna, you know, put her foot down on 17 too. And that really just wasn't the case, but what an incredible opportunity. I remember standing like just off of the tee box on 18 18 watching Lydia finish up and make that birdie putt and being like, Oh my goodness, like, you know, now, now there's actual pressure on this. And going up there and like, one of the one of the sneaky things that people forget is that Lillian hit

driver on 18. And it hit that little crossing path. Whatever that little, I can't remember the name of that little road or street or whatever it is. Granny's wind or something like that. Yeah. She flew it in there and that thing catapulted like higher than the, you know, the RNA building and went all the way up there and left her that super awkward distance where chip where she couldn't or pitch, excuse me, where she couldn't get enough spin on it. And still had an opportunity to make that putt. It just didn't go down. But incredible

experience. I can't wait for the next one. I like, let's do it. Let's announce it. Then let's come on. I totally forgot about that playoff in the drive on and just that whole, cause like Cody, we were watching that on the drive from LAX of tomorrow. Right. Like on the way from Australia. Play by play as you were driving. And I was like, dude, you won't, you won't believe this.

Lil Lydia had it in the bag and like she she was Nellie was three shots down standing on 17 T and like out of nowhere is like she chipped in on 16 birdied 17 birdied 18. And then I've never really seen like just, you know, two world-class players, but they play such different games. You know, they played that 18th hole in the playoff like three or four times and just like, oh, Nellie's is a bombing drives up there. Lydia's is placing it strategically on the correct angle of the fairway

and like just the difference to them. And the ultimate jinx by the LPGA tour staff, by the way. You guys remember? That's right. They had the hall of fame, like they were ready to go. They had roses, they had champagne, they had everything out there. And at one point in time, I can't remember somebody's ball like almost landed in the bouquet of roses bad jinx. Nellie's 10. That was the only other one. Her making 10 on the par three 12th, which was her third hole round one, US open, you

know, trying to win, I believe her six straight start. Like that was a true heat check. And then she almost made the cut after that. She kind of battled back. US noble was great. Yeah. You could hit some really freaking good iron shots down the stretch on Sunday there. You know, she says that the shot that she wished she could have back, I understand,

is that the her tee shot on 16 final round at the women's open, but really big. You're right. That the third hole, like everything, all of the momentum for that tournament was, was with Nelly. And honestly, yeah, it was very like after when that happened, I mean, it was a cool U S women's open, but like it was very deflated. Um, I was going to say that was the, to me, that was like the peak of Nelly, like the anticipation, the buildup, like the outside of just golf, you know, the media attention, like it was all eyes on Nellie and for her to go out and make a 10, it was,

you're right, Cody, it was like, ah, damn, like that sucks. Tanner Iskra And a tough, overall tough stretch for there. So she missed that cut, like we said, the US Women's Open, missed cut at the Meyer miss cut at the next major the KPMG and then her next event she took a long break was at Evian she finished t26 there before the olympic so it's it was kind of a you know peaks and valleys but it got pretty dark there for Nelly for for quite a bit TC what's your most brutal moment of this year? We talked about that 10 by Nelly, but anything else you got?

I'll go to, I think, Ryan O'Toole playing the playoff against Nelly and played probably the best golf of her career and went toe to toe on a really difficult funky golf course and lost to her kind of really difficult funky golf course and, you know, and lost to her kind of at the, like you said, the height of Nellie's powers too. So I just remember watching that and being like, man, that was, that was a tough, tough loss for anybody to stomach there.

That's a good one. Again, there's just like these, there's these spots where it's like, there's, there's, there's stuff that like that's set up, right? That's like the venue and like, you got to hit weird uncomfortable shots. And I don't know, that was one of the most impressive things about Nellie's streak to me was she was doing it on so many different types of golf courses and setups where like there was that variety out there. I would say just like for like a purely not even golf related standpoint, like the most brutal moment of the year was the like the morning of the LPGA, like the Solheim Cup. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. I think that's like, you's, you know, empty stands on the first T when they've built

out this entire experience around the first T and you know, and like, don't get me started on like, you know, choosing the wrong venues for the Solheim cup too, that aren't compact and energetic and all of that. They're like disparate and spread out and stuff. But man, like that was one of the biggest own goals I've ever seen in my entire life. Yeah, it was such a shitty morning. Remember walking out there and be like, wait a second, where's everybody at?

Yeah, it was kind of surreal. Like, huh? Like, are dates wrong? And it's not like that was like the first hurt. People have been calling that out for, for weeks. That venue has a history, that parking lot, the transfers, like they have a history of that going back live. Yeah. All the, the president's cups and PGA tour events and everything. Everybody called that out. My most brutal moment of the year, not because of that, but like this player shot 22 under and LPGA Tour

event with around 65, 66, 66 and 69 and got beat by somebody who shot 24 under. The third place person was only at nine under par. And that's of course, Rose and Madeline at the Founders. And those two like lifted and separated themselves. And I thought like, I've never seen Madeline hit the ball that well. I've never seen her make so many clutch putts. And like the sheer determination by Rose of like, wait, this is the this is the player that we all know Rose to be. And I was like, I thought it was a big turning point, not only in her year, but really like where she's at in her career.

Tanner Iskra I agree. It was incredible how easy they were making that golf look and really, you know, the telecast was just showing them, she was like, God, is this an easy setup? Like, no, it's not an easy golf course setup. Like there's nobody else double digits under par. So that's, that's a good shout out, Cody. The only one I wanted to toss in from like a brutal perspective, it's more of like a lifetime honor was just Lexi Thompson in her final Solheim Cup match being three up on the back nine and losing one up to Solheim. that was kind of like, yeah, that's, that's, that's a representative sample. Yeah, that's tough. And then freaking out because she finished on the ninth hole

in there, her final event. It's not really her final event, but turning to Instagram to be like, you know, you know, she got flowers all freaking year, man. And you know, who knows how many events she's going to play, but she's still going to, she still will, will play, um, probably more events than, than anybody else kind of things. Uh, guys, the one thing, uh, we started the year 2024 as Lily of being the number one player in the world. The question was, will she finish 2024 season ranked number one? Jordan Perez, our own Jordan Perez said only player that can knock Lilia off of her number one spot is Charlie Hall. That didn't end up being I said, I said she is great.

She had a phenomenal year, but Nelly is coming. T.C. Lillia will not be number one and it will not be Nelly firing right back at me. It will be Minji. Career year, least three wins to include the major. T.C. What do you have of Minji's year? It was disappointing. I'm not going to, I'm not going to sugar coat it. I don't, I don't think I was wrong. I think I was just early. All right. The best block to be on. That's how I feel about Gino too. I was calling for Gino to essentially have a year that Nelly did.

She only had four top tens. And it just wasn't like, you know, it wasn't bad necessarily. It just wasn't good either. So more to come. I need to dig into the data a little bit more. All right. Randy, of course, says he would love it if Lillia does remain number one, but he thinks that Gino is going to do it. You're pretty close. Gino got all the way up to number four in the world as it sits right now. Nelly, then Ronnie Yin is number two. Lydia Ko number three, Gino four, and Lilia Vu is in that fifth spot. The game's in a great spot. And I think that's what makes me more frustrated when, you know, that first

conversation about just the commissionership and how the game can push forward is like, we have the talent, we have, you know, these young women, international flair that are playing exceptional golf. Like, this is the time to invest. And I think there'll be a lot of golf fans that really want to get interested in this if we can just make some improvements. But I'm so happy with where the encore state of women's golf lies right now, Cody.

Like I'm, and granted my fandom, I'll very much admit I'm more of a Johnny come lately, but in my time following women's golf, like there's not a better top five to end the year. I mean, this, this is as good as it gets. And there's more depth than ever too. Yeah. I feel like, you know, maybe five or six years ago when we talk about this, it's, there's a bunch of players on, you know, 50 to 75 that you're not really as familiar with. And now it's, you know, it's a lot more competitive up there. Yeah, I agree. And with players like really just not, you know, I don't want to say not having a good

year, but it's also hard when like, you know, Nelly wins everything and then you have other, you know, multiple wins by other players And then you have other, you know, multiple wins by other players, but like tough year, really like a very unnormal year for Brooke Henderson. And I know like, you know, she got new glasses, but that didn't seem to help very much. I mean, actually Randy would call it a normal year for her. True.

Alison Corpuz, maybe everybody was just riding a little bit high coming off of Pebble. I don't know. It's just one of those things. TC, the other people that we were very, very high on was our Swedes. And I would say not the year that we thought from both of them, I thought they played pretty good at the Solheim Cup. But really, I think a big growing year for Maya, like putting herself in an awesome position, like, you know, not only at Chevron, but then at Wilshire too, like probably, you know, if hads

wouldn't have went away for whatever bachelor party, whatever the hell he was, and stayed on the on the bag, she probably would have won there. No offense to Jack, of course, but that's just kind of how it turned out. And then, you know, just uncharacteristic from both of them. And I know they're working on swing stuff. It's just weird. Like, I don't think we, we don't want to do that.

Just like play good golf again. Yeah, Lin, Lin's, I'm getting whiffs of thrower, not pitcher from Lin. Monitoring that. I want to see the right shots at the right times. All right, I Will say Lynn it looks like Well, who knows but she's played some good golf the last couple of months I think 2025 is gonna be both important and fascinating for for Lynn

The other thing that we talked about was like that the all important overall Rolex top 10, um, who's going to move in, who's going to move out. Randy said, Celine and she's out. Rose is coming in. Rose is in. Celine is barely hanging on. I think she's currently in the eighth spot, but overall, like not a horrible

year for Celine, uh, no, no real horrible year for Celine. No real like high points, but no real like down spots either just kind of ho hum. And then, you know, the very traditional that we have now appearance and performance at the Solheim Cup of like, what the hell is this? Like she's one of the few players that I've ever seen that They're like their weekend week out game just does not show up at all in these team events. It's very, very weird. I can't figure her out. I don't know if it's a French thing. I have no idea. I have no idea. The one person in the top 10 Cody Hey Ron Rue, we've spent some time the last couple months

just highlighting what a top 10 machine she was. She did win this year. But she's somebody that like, I don't know, like, could she be the new, I don't want to say the new Jin Young Ko, that's not fair to either of them. But I just feel like Heyron Rue is somebody that appears to be another of these like top 10 machines, like very, very high floor. Yeah, I completely agree there. Phenomenal year. Happy to see her get that win. But yeah, the top 10, I think, again, we say the top five there, but really, I mean, the women's game is

in such an awesome spot. And I hate doing it. The other question that we had was on the three kind of young Americans that we had Rose angel and Megan Kang, um, who was going to have kind of the best year I was in on Rose TC angel Jordan angel, Randy, I don't think you ever really answered that. I will say that Rose obviously, you know, got another win and played a pretty good year. But for Angel, like being injured and not getting a lot of reps, like she turned it on, man. She showed up right out of the gate at match play and then finished the year. Awesome. Yeah. Angel has dog mentality, I think. And I don't, you know, I'm impressed there.

Cody, you skipped over the Lexi enters 2024 ranked number 32 in the Rolex rankings. What's that? Well, there was, there was a question. Lexi enters 2024 ranked number 32 in the Rolex rankings. Will she finish 2024 ranked higher or lower? Jordan said higher, Cody said higher, and I said, she's joining the cliques. Yes. She hasn't done that yet, but that's still on the table, I think. Yeah, not a good year.

Probably rightful decision for her to realize and hang it up. Hang it up full time. We'll see. Guys, any other call outs for for the year? I think, you know, we're all very in on Team USA at the Solheim Cup. I'm kind of shocked you got as close as it did, but pretty cool. We're off. We're all very, very high on Gabby for Rookie of the Year. But anything else that stood out to you guys? She did most of her damage earlier in the year, but it was great to see Patti Tevataneket play some good golf.

She won the Saudi, and she won, oh, god, what event did she win on the LPGA Tour? Oh, in Thailand. And, you know, still inconsistent, not quite, I don't think at the height of her powers, but at least trending in a better direction than we had seen the last couple of years, which is good. Cody, one other call out I had was,

said 2024 LPGA player of the year will be, you said Nelly, Randy said Gino, both great picks. I said Minji, not a great pick. Jordan said Alison Lee. Fascinating. Jordan took some swings. I respect that, Jordan. But I mean, she was very, she was in on Alison Lee and really had her best year ever on the LPGA Tour. I mean, it's Solheim Cup. Playing pretty good at the Solheim Cup. I like Solheim Cup. Nobody really talked too much about it at the time, but like how open and honest Alison was is like, hey, I'm like not the young girl anymore. Everybody thinks that I am and I'm kind of like in a different phase. I theoretically should be a rookie, even though I hadn't

played on one of these teams in like eight years, but really was awesome. Totally embrace the situation. It was kind of a cool moment. All right, guys, let's look ahead. I want to give each of you the opportunity to talk about a couple players. Let's figure out what are we going to do a little buying,

holding, selling. Let's start with what are we going to do a little buying, holding, selling. Let's start with who are we holding on to first big. I'm holding Nellie. I obviously there's there's really, I don't think a ton of room to go up. She's got a huge lead as world number one. I wouldn't be shocked if she holds on to that through 2025. I expect her to win a boatload of tournaments. I'm holding Nellie. We need more real majors, Randy. Yeah, yeah. A US women's open or a AIG women's open preferably. open preferably.

Yeah, or, you know, KPMG, just anything outside of Chevron and Avion, like it is, but I'm right there. I'm also holding Nelly TC. I'm holding Minji. I think, I think there's great golf in there. I think, you know, maybe she was a little burned out coming into, like, she talked about how she was kind of burned out in 2023. And maybe that kind of carried over or whatever. But I think she's, I think she's really freaking good. And I think the, the ball striking is just

absolutely elite and that's going to rise to the top. Are you more in on Minji or Lin? Are you more in on Minji or Lin? I'm more in on Minji. Okay, I think that says a ton. All right, who do you guys wanna buy? I had four, Cody, and they're all kinda, they're different tiers of the world of the Rolex ranking. So you tell me, we don't have to go through all four, but you tell me what tier you would like.

Well, let's start at the top. Let's see what you, what you got. Gino. I feel like I've said it. I just think she's primed to have a monster season. Her ball striking, just to add some stats to this. So Nelly led, uh, shots, total shots gained 2.44 per round. Gino was 2.4 per round, and then nobody else is above two on the LPGA tour. I mean, I think Gino's top gear is like best in the world.

And I think we're going to see a big season. TC? I'm going to go back to the well on Gabby. I've got three or four as well, but I'm going to go back to the well and Gabby. I think wasn't wrong just early. No, I completely agree. I've got three or four as well, but I'm gonna go back to the well and Gabby. I think, wasn't wrong, just early. No, I completely agree. And really, awesome, awesome year. I'm the same way.

I think I've mentioned her a couple times, kind of jokingly, but also, I'm like super in on Alexa Pano. I think as she continues to- That was my fourth, Cardi. Let me just get that in. Yeah. Okay. She continues to grow and we always hear these things of there might be a potential caddy switch coming, but even if that doesn't come, it seems like the relationship that she has with her father, there's nobody else really that she would like to travel the world with

and have in those moments with her. And they've proven that it's been successful so far. Um, I just think that maybe a caddy change and separating a little bit of that could bring her to the next level, but I'm so in on it. Uh, I think we always forget how young that she actually is and kind of the experience that she's already had under her belt to include a win on the LET very much in there. Fine.

So a couple of quick numbers. Alexa Pano ranked eighth in 2024 in shots gained T to green, second in driving, fifth around the greens. And so you're like, how is she, you know, she's world number 110 abhorrent putting negative 1.26 shots game putting per round. If she can just get mediocre with the putter, I think she's gonna you'll see her jump in the world ranking. She hits the ball very, very well. All right, let's talk about who's some dead weight we want to get rid of guys. Well, I got I I got, I got two more I'm buying.

Oh, go ahead. Continuing to buy up a Yaka for a while. I think, I think she's going to win. I think she's going to win a major. She's so consistent. I think she's still in like 24. Then I'm buying Andrea Lee. I think she's the heir apparent to like the Celine, you know, kind of doesn't hit it very far, pretty precise, precise, you know, good Potter kind of crown.

So I think Andrea Lee's best best golf is ahead of her. And then yeah. And then I don't know, we could go way down the board, but I don't think we need to. I think those are those are some good. The only other one I wanted to shout out, Cody, and we've mentioned her, Yalimi Noh found something this year. She was in the wilderness.

The ball striking is really, she's a lot like Alexa Pano. The ball striking stats point to like top 15 type player. And the putting is like, is she, you know, should you be putting left handed? So I think I think again, and she's another one where like, man, if she can just find a way to roll the ball, she's going to have some really good results on the ball striking. What do we do with Ingrid Lindblad? Buy her up if you want. I know, I think I'm waiting to see on her. I agree. I also want to go out there and say like, you see, I need a little bit of some share opportunities here on Yamashita.

I think you rightfully called it out pretty early. She's going to have a massive year. Already has a phenomenal career. But really, I think the other one, a lot of people talk about Ingrid, Julia Lopez Ramirez also turned professional and got her card through Q series. She played in Mississippi State, has been at ANWA and almost every other major championship she's played in. Incredible player, Spaniard. I like, you know, it's one of those things where I- We need more young Spaniards. We need that, yes.

And like, I, you know. I talk myself. There's a lot about Carlota and her golf that like I really, really like, but it's just the pace of play is so bad that I just cannot bring myself to do it. And I'm hoping that Julia is that for me. So we'll see. It's that's yeah. Carlotta. I'm like, man, I love

I love her game. She's really freaking good. It's just she's like on the terrorist watch list for pace of play, you know, so bad. Question for you guys too, this kind of goes along with buying. Does Lottie Wode win a professional event in 2025? She gonna be a sophomore at FSU? Junior? Junior, right? Great question.

I'll say no. I mean, the safe pick is no. So I guess I'll play it safe. She's a junior. She's a junior. She's a junior right now. And rightfully so, when we talked about predictions again, TC called her out as winning the ANWA, which at the time I was like, what?

Ladi, whoa, no, that's not, that can't be the case. We were still very much in. Ingrid wasn't even like our top LSU pick. A lot of Latana stone love of all things. But. I think we'll hear from Latana again. Yeah, seems to be out there absolutely, you know, grinding, trying to make it happen.

But the thing, not to deviate back to like Ingrid, but I think Ingrid like winning and winning the money list is something that that needs to be said. Like she didn't just go out there and travel around and everything. Like she did what everything she needed to do, um, to move on up. And I think that, you know, I don't know what that number actually is for wins, but like she will be on the next

Solheim Cup team. And so that gives her two years to figure this stuff out. But I honestly wouldn't also be surprised if she's not on the international crown team for Sweden next year. Yeah, she's interesting me. I just need to watch her more. I feel like I'm just not as familiar with like how good is her best. I wanna know who you guys are selling. Just give me some names selling.

I'll start with an easy one. I'm selling Amy Yang. I feel like, you know, won a major this year, near the top 10. I don't expect it to continue. She's a little older. Yeah, this pains me to do it, but like, is Leona done?

Are her best days behind her? I think they are. I think they might be. Is that crazy to say? Because, and then we're gonna look at it and be like, you know, she's not only a lot lower, but she's kind of gonna have like a polter thing where they're only known for team events and like the, the wins and like showing up when they needed to head balls. Just right there.

Head wall. Yeah. At least state side. Yeah. Headwall. Guys, I got Jin Young Co. I'm selling. I feel like this. I don't think it's going to be precipitous, but I feel like we're in the, you know, we're on the backside of that career. I'm going to, I'm holding onto Charlie. I'm getting rid of Georgia. I think she is weight that we no longer need in the, in the team house. And I'm sorry, I know we built out a new simulator and fitness center in the backyard,

but I don't know if Georgia's got it anymore. I don't know where her head's at these days, TC. That's fair. I'm selling on Yuka. I just, I think it's in there. I just, you know, the three top tens in a season with a win at the US Open, it is truly feast or famine.

And I just, it bugs me. It's not my kind of golf, you know? So that's, that's kind of- So proper at the US Open. I know. That's the thing. Like, how do we, you know, like what happens week to week? I know.

I wonder if it's just a motivation thing. It's very strange trying to be a perfectionist and, and you know, everything has to sync up at once. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's like figure out how to get the ball in the hole when you don't have your a game. Cause you're only going to have your a game. You know, like I was talking to, I was talking to, uh, uh, Russell Henley about this the other day. I was like, how many rounds a year do you have your A game for? Like your best stuff? He's like, I don't know, maybe like six. So that's a lot of other rounds that you just got to figure it out. You got to tape something together or deal with uncertainty or not know where your miss is going or make a bunch of putts. I feel like making cuts

and banking top 20s is kind of an underrated skill that has been a little bit washed away in the modern program, both men's and women's of purses are built such that it's either it's kind of feast or famine. If you want to make a lot of money or you want to like, you know, you got to maximize your best days and then, you know, it's okay if you miss a bunch of cuts. I'm not cool with that. I'm not cool with missing, you know, 10, 15, 20 cuts a year. If you're a top 30 player in the world, like, you know, I think that your floor should be higher. And I think that, you know, modern equipment has made it to where everything's just optimized and what gets lost in that optimization is grit and grind and, you know, turning a 73 into a 71, you know, you can might tell you like,

I'm dying to grind more and these setups, they just won't let me, you know, they won't let me grind. A couple of US Opens. Yeah. I mean, she's kind of got like a lead dancer thing going on right now. Right? Yeah. It's fascinating.

Yeah. It's, it's, it's going to be interesting. I think there's a lot more people that we honestly, we could sell. I know that that breaks our heart, but I just think it's one of those things where we're clearly seeing like this separation of like the top 30 in the world from kind of like the rest. And it's interesting to see it kind of playing out here.

They definitely need some consistency. And the last thing that I'm, I want to sell is the pace of play on the LPGA tour as a whole. You got to make some changes here. It's it's really, really bad. It's hurting. Not only the play, it's hurting your television product, it's hurting your reputation. Like, be the change, be the leader in the bullpen. Like take the bull by the horns here and just do something about it. Because when you have your best players, your most marketable players in a Nelly and Alexi and everyone else, like vocalizing how

much it stinks out there, you gotta do something about it. Alright? And I hope, I really hope they do. Because it's a great opportunity, not just for them, but for golf, and professional golf as a whole. Alright, the only other thing that I kind of wanted to run through here is... Kari Webb was announced as an honorary member by the RNA, which I think is pretty sweet. We always forget like how good Kari was. She's, you know, before our time, we almost got her on a live show last year big, which would have been incredible to actually have her have her join us, but

she wasn't able to or just didn't want to, who knows. But a pretty, pretty enlightened cat. People who live down in South Florida and see her on the reg. And Mel, you know, back home in Melbourne, she, you know, I think she has a foundation or something there where the players that we know that have come from Australia have come over like on a cariweb scholarship.

Kind of the same thing that Cam Young, or excuse me, not Cam Young, Cam Smith has been doing with the Young Aussies. But that's how like Minji afforded to first come over and start playing. Same thing with Hannah Green because Kari and her foundation gave them money to do it. Joins the list, other notables here that are honorary members that Dame Laura Davies, Ernie Els, Podrick, Paul Laurie, Katrina Matthew, Rory, Nick Price, Bella Robertson, Annika and Tiger Woods. So pretty cool list there and definitely, you know, deserving of it. Anything else you guys want to cover before we talk about like, you know, what do we want to do next year? Big,

you're kind of the captain of this ship here. Any changes? We, no, I mean, I think any changes, we're going to try to improve what we do. Incremental changes. I don't think there are any huge changes in store. I think from our perspective, this has been a great 2024. It's been a ton of fun to cover the women's game. We've we've had some eager sponsors that want to support what we do. And I think next year, Cody, to me, at least it's we got a ton of good feedback on the the deep dive

around the history of the women's open. I would love to honestly turn Jordan loose and Tasker with producing and we'll get a handful of those out. I think another thing you and I have talked about is maybe just trying to incorporate a few more interviews or outside voices from time to time on our LPGA regular podcast. Marina's got a lot of free time. And then I was gonna say for the live shows, just continue to build out a stable of people

that can come in and help educate us. And now that Marina has retired, I mean, she's top of the list, of course, Jane Park. So I think continuing to have fun and do the live shows at the biggest events. But yeah, I think it's a lot more of the same with just hopefully getting better and bringing more voices to the people. Any events you guys are excited for next year? I mean, we got

we're going to some new places the first time the women are looking at Aaron Hills, you know, on the professional side, I think there was a women's pub links there back in the day because I'm pretty sure that's where Tiff John won it. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It's, yeah, it's going to be a great, great year.

I think outside of, outside of Aaron Hills, like I'm just very, very excited to go experience some wind at Porth Call because I've never been to Wales. I just am very excited to see what it looks like. Yeah, it sounds like it's pretty remote spot too, not a whole lot out there. That's one on my list. I think really to get a preview,

see how the ladies attack Frisco. I think that's gonna be pretty interesting. And that's typically earlier in the season tournament. It's not, it's the- Is that what June? Like end of June. Oh, it's end of June. Oh, I think they moved that a couple of years ago.

I can take that back, not end of June. It's more like middle of June, but it is, you know, people that are used to coming to Texas, there's a reason why, you know, the Schwab is the end of May. And that week is always like blazing hot. Like that's when it's like, oh no, you can't like play golf here anymore. Now this is going to be another three weeks post that it's going to be a big walk. Oh, it is a big walk. Yeah.

Again, setup was going to be fascinating because I thought, you know, Kerry Hague and the crew with the PGA of America, like Matt took a massive, massive L at Congressional a few years ago, which was a similar thing of like a lot of different ways to set it up and not quite knowing how to challenge them. And they overcorrected from day one to day two. And I think it'll be really interesting to see how they set up a Fields Ranch for that. And then we got, yeah. And then I think otherwise Black Desert. Really looking forward to that. I quite enjoyed that tournament. And I think if we're. Really looking forward to that. I quite enjoyed that tournament. And I think if we're talking about TV product, making that one that,

hopefully the TV window is good. It's put that on a little bit later on. And it's a really pleasant place to watch golf from. It just looks like the lava rock and the green and just some really, really engaging short fours and a lot of variety in the par threes. So that's a, that's a cool course and I'm stoked to see the ladies tackle that one. I don't think I'm going to make it, but I think it'd be so much fun to go to the international crown in Korea. That would be, that would be a cool one to do. Maybe we got to fire up the vlog boys and take it back to see. I know you're in it's like right outside of Seoul.

Yeah, I was going to say, I think it's near Seoul. We could, we could double up just stay for the BMW. I think they're back to back. They are back to back. Yeah. I wish they have the BMW down in what's the city way down south. They had to be in there. The IC is that new Korea country club. Okay. Busan is down south.

That's where the players play, Randy. I like that. I like that. But yeah, otherwise, Randy, you'd stick out like such as sore thumb in Korea, oh my goodness. I know, I'm gonna tell people I play for the Denver Nuggets. So it's literally like north west of Seoul.

Theoretically, like probably still considered Seoul, just right up in the hills that we saw from that very, very tall building that we were in, TC. Yeah. The Lotte building or something. Probably between there and the DMZ. For sure. We can take, yeah.

One other one, I wanna shout out Jasmine Koo from, with USC, she's, I think she's getting a lot of reports, guys, that we could have a predator on our hands. An absolute stud. Yep. Like different kind of things. You could be looking at your next, next great American golfer. And it sounds like, again, appreciate all the listeners out there. It sounds like the

same listener, probably, you know, copy and paste and reports here via via the DMS, the TC and I, we love it. I've got I've gotten a few. It's probably the same one there. But like, I think, you know, from her club where she grew up or whatever. But but talking to other people as well. Yeah. Predator tendencies. Well, I think that does it in typical NLU LPGA fashion. We made it two hours somehow. And I don't know, any parting thoughts, Big? Like I said, this is your show. We'll see what happens with the commissionership. We have, I would tell people enjoy the Grant Thornton this weekend. And we'll be back sometime in January, late

January to do a season preview pod. But honestly, it's kind of nice to have a little bit of an off season here. So we can we can put this season to rest and there'll be plenty to talk about in 2025. Absolutely. All right. Cheers, guys. See you