After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

Producer Jane, I just had a very intense discussion about Labor Day weekend and whether or not it's next weekend or it's two weekends. I mean, it is next weekend. Even though we still have this coming weekend to go, it's next weekend. It's not like two weeks away.

It's days away. People are going to be leaving on their Labor Day weekend, their last jaunt for summer. Well, if you're me, you're leaving on Wednesday. If you're, I guess, the rest of the peeps, maybe you're leaving on Thursday or checking out on Friday, but can you imagine how brutal the airports and the roads are going to be on Friday?

No, thank you. I got a much cheaper plane ticket and I bought this one months ago. I got a much cheaper plane ticket and I feel much better about getting to my destination without major crazy delays if I can leave on Wednesday. So instead of going Friday to Monday or Thursday to Monday or Friday to Tuesday, I'm going Wednesday to Tuesday.

This is my summer vacation. Is this weird? To wait until the very last second to do summer vacation? No, that's not weird.

I've never done this before. I mean, it's still summer, right? Of course. Technically, it's still summer until the third week in September. I don't hate it.

I kind of like it. It's something to look forward to at the end of the summer. It's been a long stretch, though.

That's the only thing. I guess it's helped that this week I've had, or this month, excuse me, I've had some family time. So I had, let's see, not one but two long weekends, supersized weekends already this month. And now it's the actual vacation, summer vacation. So I took my liberties with August, which has been nice.

And now here we are about to get down and dirty with the football season and then, of course, a baseball stretch run. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. When you need an expert to help navigate the home loan process, Rocket can. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio.

Also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I'm not sure if you saw the reaction. I guess maybe you didn't see the news. You'd have to see the news first to see the reaction. But the news that officially Novak Djokovic will not be participating in the U.S. Open, which takes place in New York. This is tennis.

Because the United States still has its rules in place that foreign nationals cannot travel to the U.S. without being vaccinated against COVID. I can't believe we're still doing this. I'm serious.

I'm stunned by this. Of course, we knew it was a possibility. Just seems like a waste.

Considering that we now know the science is... It's not what they thought it was a year and a half ago. Anyway, so Novak, the 21-time major champ, a guy who's been number one for a good portion of his career. He's had to withdraw from the U.S. Open. A guy who... One of the biggest draws in tennis and just won Wimbledon in July. And so he was hoping that the U.S. would change its policies and allow him to play at the final major of the year. He was even attempting to train and be ready on a hard court, but then had to tweet on Thursday. Sadly, I will not be able to travel to New York this time for U.S. Open.

So that's a bummer. And we know what happened with the Australian going back to January and what a mess that was with him being under house arrest of sorts. Not allowed to move around the country.

Was deported once, then twice. And so here he's going to miss two of the four majors this season because of the vaccination status. I mean, I give him credit for this, sticking to his convictions. Whatever his convictions are, whatever he's decided not to have the vaccine. He already had COVID at least once, might have been twice if I remember.

He's already had the virus. And so he's decided that he's not going to do it just for the sake of being able to compete in some of these countries that have different rules to get in. So it'll be unfortunate that the U.S. Open misses him along with Roger Federer who, you know, said he'd like to get back to competitive tennis but isn't quite there yet. And Serena, we know this could be her swan song. The draw is out for the U.S. Open and she potentially could be retiring. She hinted at this in the Vogue article that this could be the end of her in professional tennis. And so there's a lot, always, a lot of anticipation, a lot of potential storylines going into the final major of the year.

But Novak Djokovic will not be part of that. And then while we're talking about these other sports, tennis, and we might as well throw in some golf, I couldn't help but giggle. So we spent a full hour on the changes the PGA Tour is making to its schedule, to its purses, to its formats, because of what's happening with Liv, right? So Liv Golf, whether or not you think it's a viable format, whether or not you think it's worth paying attention to, whether or not you think these golfers are all leaving for the money, whatever the reason, the PGA has been awakened from a slumber in which it's been lazy and fat for a long time, not had to worry about any type of competition. If nothing else, the PGA Tour is rattled by what's happening with Liv and the number of guys who've defected to the Liv Tour. Next tournament comes up in Boston, not this weekend, but Labor Day weekend. And it comes on the heels of the Tour Championship in the PGA, which is taking place in Atlanta.

And the rumors or reports, depending upon how you would like to classify them, until I see names, until I know for sure, I suppose, their reports, but I don't know that I would put full stock in them yet. But the reports are that seven more professional golfers will be joining the Liv Tour once this PGA season wraps up, which is essentially with this Tour Championship in Atlanta, this weekend in Atlanta. And they will in fact jump to that new, the new Tour by participating in the Boston tournament. No doubt that's shaking the cage of the PGA yet again. And so you've got Jay Monahan this week coming out and announcing that the PGA has got its top players on board, they'll competed in at least 20 tournaments, 13 quote unquote elevated events that will have average purses that are inflated now to $20 million.

They're giving stipends to golfers who don't make the cut so they don't have to sleep in their cars and they've got all kinds of extras now. They're going extra extra to make the PGA as attractive as possible to not only fans, but also the golfers themselves who maybe aren't making money hand over fist the way that the top golfers in the world are. When you think about golfers, you name any of the top golfers in the world, if you make the cut, you get paid and you win a major, you win some of these big tournaments and you can rake in seven figures or more over the course of a year. But that's not the majority of the PGA. It's a lot like any professional sport. The rank and file, so to speak, the majority of athletes in any sport are not millionaires. The majority are in and out relatively quickly are scrapping and trying to, in this case, keep up their tour cards, get eligible for the majors and qualify week in and week out trying to make the cut. That's what the majority of golfers are doing. And so here's the PGA trying to raise the amenities for the guys at the bottom, but also to offer more money as enticement to stick around for the guys at the top. Jay Monahan knows that he is in a fight against the live tour, even if initially he didn't want to admit it.

What's happening here is unprecedented. You know, you have a foreign government that's investing in and trying to take over a sport, which is much different than businesses that are doing business in that country. And when you're joining that league, you are playing for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And I think that that's an important distinction. And it has certainly been talked about at length and I would expect it would continue to be.

It's interesting that he continues to take that approach as if it's morally reprehensible for these golfers to take the money from the Saudi Arabian Investment Fund, which backs the live tour. Now, you may agree with Jay Monahan, that's up to you. That's certainly something that's up for debate.

And I've said over and over two things. Yes, the majority of 9-11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian nationals. So I understand why 9-11 families would be upset. But on the flip side, that same investment fund has a large stake in other sports in the US, as well as a large stake in Uber.

How come nobody's talking about that? Is it morally reprehensible to use Uber when a lot of that same money is sunk into that company? I'm not making up your mind for you, telling you what to believe or telling you right versus wrong. Because in a situation like this, it's up to each individual. But I do think it's fascinating when the populace, in this case the social media mob, the sports world, picks and chooses when to be moral. I love it when Twitter gets moral. It might be the most amoral and immoral place on the planet, definitely one of the most immoral forums I've ever been a part of, and yet every now and then, Twitter decides to get moral. It's strange how we as humans pick and choose. Sometimes it's because we're not informed, and so we kind of go with whatever we hear. It just is interesting that the commissioner of the PGA has chosen to take this tack, and he's chosen to approach it this way. If you take the money from the live tour, essentially you're on the wrong side of this moral dilemma.

You're on the wrong side of this moral question. We're the good guys over here. Those are the bad guys, and anybody who associates with them. What you get is a lot of other sporting events and leagues in this country, as well as different major corporations that we as Americans use. Regardless of what he says about us versus them, it's clear that he views the live tour as a threat, because the PGA is making major changes moving ahead to next season. In addition to the elevated events we announced in June, we're planning to elevate another four events within the 2023 FedEx Cup regular season. We will identify these tournaments in the near future, and they will feature an average purse of $20 million.

The second item, well to me it's the headline, and I've already alluded to it. Our top players are making a commitment to play in all 12 elevated events, as well as the Players Championship, the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship. They will also add at least three additional PGA Tour events to their schedules. Our top players are firmly behind the tour, helping us deliver an unmatched product to our fans, who will be all but guaranteed to see the best players competing against each other in 20 events or more throughout the season.

This is an extraordinary and unprecedented commitment, a testament to who these guys are and what they believe in. We are adjusting the criteria and expanding the program. The PIP will now reward 20 players, and we're doubling the payout from $50 million to $100 million, effective with the 2022 final standings. And we're revising the criteria to better capture awareness from casual and core fans, removing the cue score and social media metrics. They're trying to make it more user-friendly, so to speak. They're trying to make it easier for the golfers who are attempting to earn their tour cards or attempting to make this a living, to be able to stick around until they can qualify or get their tour cards and qualify for the majors. They're also trying to put their top players front and center and pay them more money so they don't feel incentive to leave. But at least one defector, I do like to use that word, and yes, there is some tongue-in-cheek element to it.

At least one defector is a former world number one. Lee Westwood is laughing in your face, PGA TOUR. He said on, I guess it was Thursday, that all he could do was laugh at the changes the tour is making in response to Liv.

He says his former tour is borrowing a lot of ideas from his new one. I forgot about Kawhi. Wow, when was the last time we saw Kawhi play basketball? It feels like forever, doesn't it?

It feels like since he hit that buzzer beater. So Westwood told Golf Digest in an interview, I laugh at what the PGA TOUR players have come up with. It's just a copy of what Liv is doing.

There are a lot of hypocrites out there. They all say Liv is not competitive. They all point at the no-cut aspect of Liv and the short field.

Now, funnily enough, I like that word funnily, it's odd, it sounds awkward, but it's actually a word. Funnily enough, they are proposing 20 events that look a lot like Liv. Hopefully at some point they will all choke on their words. Lee Westwood getting a little caddy.

Hopefully at some point they will all choke on their words and hopefully they will be held to account as we were in the early days. So Lee Westwood, former world number one himself, one of the earliest guys to make the jump to Liv. And he is watching the adjustments and the tweaks that the PGA TOUR is making to try to stay relevant, hip, attractive. And Westwood says, huh, where have I seen that before? Interesting. I just wish that Jay Monahan would drop this act of, hey, it's the right thing to do to stay with the PGA TOUR.

It's so hypocritical. And I also think it's interesting that Phil Mickelson was, he said, now you can believe what you want about Phil. He said that the reason he was interested in this Liv TOUR in the first place, this goes back to February. The reason he was pushing Liv and kind of dangling it out there for the PGA TOUR to see is because the PGA refused to make any changes. Because the PGA was rigid and was run like a dictatorship and wouldn't allow the players any type of say. It took this Liv TOUR and its first few events and the number of golfers leaving for Jay Monahan to take the membership seriously. And their complaints and their questions and their desires to modernize the TOUR and to increase purses and to make it more user friendly. It took the Liv TOUR and the threat of the Liv TOUR for the PGA to wake up. And that's what Phil was asking all along. So say what you want about Phil Mickelson. Not only did he have a point, but it's only now that the PGA is willing to acknowledge that they have to modernize.

And they have to make changes or they're going to continue to lose some of their biggest names. Let it go, dude. Let it go.

855-212-4227, that's our toll free line. On Twitter, A Law Radio. And then on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It's my job to, well sometimes they give you my opinions, but it's my job too to present both sides of things. And so I know that at times can rub people the wrong way. I just think that it's worth considering. And also I think it's comical.

Whenever social media mob gets moral, please spare me. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us. You got full phone lines. How you doing?

I'm a first time caller. Great. I'd marry your wisdom and knowledge. Hi, Amy. You're my late night girlfriend.

I love your show. Hey, how you doing? I'm great.

Those that listen just want to know that you are the superwoman of radio sports. Oh, you're sweet. Thanks.

Good evening, Amy. Great show. Now you're stuck with me for a long time.

Stuck is a great way to put it. I'll give you a buzz tomorrow night too. Thank you.

Oh, well, I appreciate the warning. Amy, how you doing? I'm great. Hey, I love your show so much. I'm a super horn at you. And you jerk it out. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Shut up, touch your mouth.

Can't you hear you talk too loud? Thanks for hanging out with us. Our final show of the workweek. Oh, the weekend is so close. It's crazy because this has been a super fast week in terms of just the blur and all the stuff we've tried to pack into this week. We're doing a lot of football prep since I'll be gone on my vacation starting middle of next week through Labor Day. And so because of that, we're trying to get as much of the planning and priority list made before I go because I am absolutely planning to check out.

Maybe, maybe I'll post a photo, but maybe not. I may not look at social media for an entire five day trip only because once football starts, it's all consuming. I say that a lot. Football season for those of us in the business who cover it is all consuming. And even now in the off season, there's not much downtime. Time to take deep breaths. A couple of weeks here or there, but for the most part, especially this off season because the Deshaun Watson case has been so front and center the whole time. And all the player movement and everything else that's happening, there really hasn't been much downtime. And so I'm looking forward to just a few days with no social, not really have my phone around. Of course, I'll communicate with friends and family, but hanging out with mom and hanging out in mom's pool. That's what I'm looking forward to. So Houston, if you could maybe not be 98% humidity when I'm there, I'd be thrilled.

Had plenty of that already this summer in the New York area. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4CBS.

Let's start with Corbin, who's in Dallas. Welcome to After Hours. Amy, thanks so much for taking my call. You're amazing. I've enjoyed your show for the last decade.

You're fantastic. Thank you for being fair and balanced with some announcers out there. I just had a quick question here. You were talking about the life tour and talking about the morality and the social dynamics, and you were touching a bit on some geopolitical stuff that I was curious about. This is a country that is very much, very, very restricted. Lots of restrictions on not only women's rights, but very focused on religion, which is totally fine. That's their prerogative. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not huge in the government dictating those types of things, and I do understand that they have a horrible track record when it comes to women and women's rights specifically. I'm not debating whether or not Saudi Arabia is a place I'd like to live or if I agree with all their policies.

My point is only that we as Americans pick and choose when we want to be moral and when we want to stand on our soapbox. That's the dynamic that I wanted to actually peel back on. It mainly comes to the game of golf. I grew up playing golf, did the Hank Caney thing.

I'm from Dallas, obviously, so Hank Caney is right over there. One of the big things is the integrity, the fairness, and the conclusion of the game and for the love of the game. When we have this entity, this government, which is, again, they can do what they want.

That's not a problem. But when they go literally against what the game has taught us and what I think is beautiful about golf is the integrity, the inclusion, the partnership between you and your competitor at the end of the day. You shake hands, you embrace, you love one another, you fight for that competition. That is absolutely everything I think is against. I'll give you an example. Because of where they stand on a political spectrum, and I have friends who actually take money from this government to have funds and things like that, and I tell them the same thing. I'm like, you don't believe in these things, why would you do it?

And they say, oh, you have the money. Great. Cool.

That's awesome. But now we're talking about a game that is defined by those kind of attributes that is now completely against what that entity actually stands for. For instance, let's say we have a gay champion, right? Whether female, doesn't matter.

Male, female. Where does that stand in that situation? Because that's totally against what they would represent and want people to see. I get it, money talks, but it goes against what the game's foundation is. And that's my issue with that entire situation is more so fundamentally what the game represents is absolutely, and you are absolutely fair on almost every opinion I've ever heard from you, I love listening to your show.

But it's really, really hard for me to say, you know, there's green and there's red check boxes that happen, and there's a lot of red against when you compare what that game stands for and what that entity stands for. So you're saying because golf is supposed to be a gentleman's game, because it's supposed to be a partnership, an agreement that when the competition is done, you shake hands, you're mature, you are maybe even friends, you support one another, you do things the right way, not because you have to, but because you agree to, because that's the standard of the game. I understand all that, and I appreciate that you feel that way, but that's not the case for most professional athletes. I get it, they will follow this rule standard that they were brought up with, but most professional athletes don't have the same altruistic outlook that you do.

Totally. And that's not the conversation I'm saying, I'm just talking about as the game itself, what it represents. And to the point of the money, that's the fairest point, without a doubt. I mean, you can see the response that the PGA has done, clear as day.

They're making a response, they're saying, oh yeah, we kind of dropped the ball on this, we should probably do a little bit better of a job. Obviously, not everyone's going to get the Tiger Woods treatment. Not everyone's going to get the nine holes, backyard, billion dollar net worth.

It's just not going to happen. But the integrity of the game, what it stands for, and I would say it's the same thing as baseball. I was really against the steroid era, although I enjoyed it. But one of the things that I think about when I think about this situation is Nazi Germany, back in the day, the Olympics, when we showed up. As Americans, we showed up. And it makes me think of that. There's a representation in Munich that happens. And we showed up, and we showed the right way to my belief.

And I just feel like this is kind of, there's a somewhat of a similarity from a cultural standpoint and kind of an ideological standpoint with this situation. That's all I'm going to get into because I think there's a lot of ways you can actually go through this conversation in many, many ways. Agreed, but Corbin, the money is not just invested in this live tour. I mean, I mentioned Uber. I was blown away, and I don't use Uber, but I was blown away when our friend Matt Adams of the Golf Channel mentioned that the millions and millions of dollars they sunk into Uber. How many Americans are willing to cut off their usage of Uber because the money comes from Saudi Arabia? I mean, we in this country use Saudi Arabian oil.

Our president met with Saudi Arabian leaders not that long ago to talk about oil. I mean, there's so many other sports where this money is also invested. And I've said this before, I'll say it again. I shop at stores where I can get the cheapest prices because that's what I need right now. As Americans, many of us are living paycheck to paycheck, and it's tight. It's not that I don't care what these stores stand for, but I don't have the luxury of only shopping at stores or only shopping and buying from corporations where I agree with their politics and their human rights stances. So, I mean, we all draw a line somewhere, and if for you, you draw the line at golf, then I understand that. It's interesting that Americans will hop on something like this, but yet when it comes to affecting us personally, we're not willing to make those sacrifices. Well, there are things that I think in life that we have to – you totally hit the nail on the head. There's a utilitarian cause that we've got to use these things, some things.

We might not like it, but we need it. But my point was more so about – you made a comment probably about, I don't know, 15, 20 minutes ago about why are people so – don't they understand kind of notion, and I don't mean to put words in your mouth, so apologies. But that was the kind of message that I was receiving, and I think that when people say they're upset about this, and I mean golfers, people who note the game, I think that the standard of what golf stands for, for people who play the game, who know the game, who grew up with the game, taught it by the grandfathers and whatnot, there's a checkbox like I mentioned earlier. Okay, but Corbin, I appreciate that, but you know there's a lot of people who think golf is elitist, right? There's a lot of people who think golf has been a racist sport forever, so I mean if you're going to talk about the unbelievable values and standards that are passed along from grandfathers and fathers, most of it have been white families, not families that are minorities. So I mean I get what you're saying, I understand to the purists what golf represents, but it's also a professional sport with billions and billions and billions of dollars that are sunk into it, and these guys are professional athletes, in many cases they're on their own, and so who am I to preach to them, you have to do this versus this, or this is the moral road to take, but go ahead and use Uber then. That's what I'm saying Corbin, I understand what you're saying and I appreciate it, I'm not telling anyone what to believe, only that it's hypocritical to pile on the live tour and talk about where this money comes from, and then to go ahead and use other products where this very same money is part of the financial backing.

I agree completely and I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me, but I was just comparing the differences and you mentioned something, so I appreciate you taking the call and letting me highlight that, have a great night and I enjoyed listening to you. Thanks Corbin, good to talk to you in Dallas, and Corbin makes a good point, I mean golf has this tradition where it's supposed to be a gentleman's game, there are rules, there are also standards that you follow simply because it's the right thing to do. There's a lot of golf where you could get away with cheating if you wanted to, you could certainly bend the rules here and there, but it's supposed to be on your honor, there's an honor when it comes to golf, but that's the ideal, and as I mentioned to Corbin, there are a lot of people around the United States that would say golf is elitist. I mean still think about the Masters and their membership and other golf courses and clubs around the country, they've always been primarily white males and money, a lot of money there, so there's a lot of people that wouldn't have that same picture of golf, so it's all about perspective. Let's see, we've got to take our break and get to our update and then we'll get back to your calls, 855-212-4227 on Twitter, ALawRadio on our Facebook page too, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. We've had a remarkable year on that front with more and more stars emerging, we made some announcements yesterday that only enhance that going forward, and this game is all about the trophy that you're looking at, the titles that these guys are seeking for, the history they're trying to make, and that's the competitive fabric of the PGA Tour has never been stronger, and you couple that with all we stand for.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Jay Monahan has definitely tried to play up the altruistic moral aspect, the charitable aspect of the PGA Tour, and use that as a reason why it is superior to the Live Tour. And in most ways, the PGA Tour is superior to the Live Tour, and because they're increasing the money, they're trying to be more competitive in that area too. There are a lot of people that think the Live Tour format is bogus, and that it's not interesting, and right now the majority of the best golfers in the world are still on the PGA. But I think it's significant that you're seeing the players get together and band together as one voice, with Tiger Woods as their front and center, and they are now demanding change, and Jay Monahan is listening and responding. That's what Phil Mickelson said wasn't happening before, and now it's happening, but it took the Live Tour to make it happen. It took a number of defectors to make it happen, and that's the point of, I'm pretty sure it's Bryson DeChambeau who was tweeting, or who was making the statement for the Live Tour.

That's the point of the very brief statement that the Live released on, I guess it was Wednesday, in response to this announcement, which is, hey, this is the best thing to happen for professional golfers in years. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Marcus is listening in Detroit. Marcus, welcome to the show.

Oh, man, I can't believe it. Amy answered my call. How you doing? Boom. I'm good. Thank you. I appreciate it. You're awesome, by the way. I listen to you every, unfortunately, only once a week. I do this, I'm a truck driver, so I do a little late night run on Thursday into Friday, and I always listen to your show.

I generally don't follow golf a lot, but I've been listening to a lot of the back and forth about this Live Tour, and a couple of things I take away from the same as you. I don't want to say throw the morality issue out of it, but come on, man. This is the United States of America. We've been about as immoral as any other country could ever be.

With the treatment of black people over the years and anything, as an African American, it kind of rubs me the wrong way to listen to the moral conversation or the moral conflicts involved. This country and other countries of the world, so much dirty money or whatever, just because you're against some other country's politics, it's all of a sudden dirty money. I don't understand that. But anyway, I think with golf, as in other things in life and sports, the guys in the Live Tour just made the PGA admit that they were wrong at the end of the day. When change happens so swiftly, it's because you're trying to right a wrong, just like the NIL with college football. That's what happens. You see that your way of doing things is going to go out the door, whether you like it or not, so you try to make change, and that's what the PGA is doing to combat this. I think it's unfortunate that it had to come to this, and I think that's really where the failure was. You allow all these great players to walk away from the PGA, and because you wouldn't make the changes that were asked, and as soon as they walked away, you did.

That's unfortunate. They didn't force you into a corner. They just made the necessary adjustments because you wouldn't. I think that's a big failure on the PGA's part, as far as that goes. And not just the PGA.

Like I said, the NIL and the way college football finally succumbed to their pressures, and a lot of other things that happened in this world. That's how it is. But I do appreciate the way you handle it, the perspective that you put it out in, and allowing people to voice their opinion on your show. I appreciate it. Thanks, Marcus. Good to have you. Drive safely. We appreciate you listening in Detroit.

855-212-4227. Let's talk to Dave, who's in Alabama. Dave, welcome to the show. Dave.

Wayne is also in Detroit. Wayne, welcome to After Hours. Hi, Amy. How are you?

I've been playing for your show for maybe a couple years, enjoying it very much. Thank you. Anyway, I just have a couple of comments about the whole week. Well, your phone got really muffled, sir. I'm not sure what's going on with your phone. Is that getting any better?

A little bit. Well, my phone isn't the greatest. Anyway, I just want to preface my comments by saying I'm 31 years old, a lifelong golfer, you know, high school, college.

In fact, that's how I put myself through college, 4-inch sheets, AA letters, so on and so forth. But, you know, preface with my phone is not like to brag about myself. But here are my two comments, or a couple of comments about you, Liz. Okay. Wait, I'm sorry.

I really want to hear your comment. It's just that your phone is extremely muffled. Okay. So right there is okay. Whatever you just changed. Okay.

How's that? Better. Okay.

Anyway, initially I was kind of like, hey, what is this? You know, is Norman trying to upset the apple cart or, you know, whatever, because you're probably aware this is like his third attempt to start his own tour. I don't know if you knew that or not. Yes. Okay.

And it looks like he's going to be successful because he has the Saudi Arabian money. But now, okay, I want to make two comments. One is- Okay. You have just about a minute, so you got to cram them in. Okay.

Real quick, big difference. PGA Tour, if you're leading, Sunday, you know, I mean, you don't tee off till, say, 2.30, 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon. All day, like you might be in your hotel room watching the tournament on TV that you're leading, whatever. A lot of pressure.

Okay. Live tour, scramble, right? You start at the same time. Basically, you end at the same time. And I'm sure you've even played in tournaments where you play like a scramble.

You start on all the different holes and- Shot gun start. You have a dinner and so on. But I guess the one thing that I'm thinking about is, like as a business person, I find it very hard to believe that the Saudi Arabians are pouring all this money in there and eventually they're going to expect something back in return. It only makes sense, you know. Okay.

I have no idea what that is, but I think there's going to be a shoe that's going to drop there. And anyway, that's about all you have to say. And once again, I really enjoy your show a lot. Thank you, Wayne. Good to talk to you.

I appreciate that. I would say that what the Saudis are about, and I can't speak for them, but I would think that it's the business venture. It's the idea of having as many big name golfers as you can. Remember, they tried to throw a ton of money at Jack Nicklaus to be their spokesperson. Tried to throw a ton of money at Tiger Woods, even though he's maybe only going to play a couple of tournaments per year now. What they're trying to do is attract corporate partners, of course, but also probably a broadcast partner as well to air their tournaments. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio.