He helped Adam get his job…

Mark Lye finished in the top ten in 33% of the Masters that he's ever played.

He was top six in 1984. You can follow him on Twitter, at Let It Fly. He also never missed a cut in the Masters, so we bring in Mark Lye.

You can follow him on Twitter again, at Let It Fly. Who won the Masters the year you finished in the top six? It was Gentle Ben Crenshaw, and all I saw was his butt as he was bending over to pick the ball out of the hole. He just basically lit it up, and if you go back to the 1984 Masters, you just got to catch the final round. It was absolutely a putting fest, and that should go down as one of the greatest putting rounds in the history in Augusta National. Yeah, he made that long, curling putt, I believe, on ten in the final round. You know, the funny thing is that, in general, it's not really the best putter that wins here. It's really the guy who just hits his approach shots closer. The guy who hits his short irons or his long irons closer to the hole.

We've had a lot of players. Adam Scott won. Heck, was it Angel Cabrera? These guys are not great putters. Sergio Garcia's not a great putter.

Vijay Singh, yeah. Justin Rose, well, he wasn't a winner, but he lost to Sergio that week. He missed a three foot putt on the final hole. Or 17th hole, something like that. It was a critical putt.

But, no, it all depends. It always helps, Adam, to have that 14th club being a great putter. And that's why I give a guy like Cameron Smith a chance.

I do too. But, you know, even Jon Rahm, as good and as serious a ball striker as he is, you can't hit it close enough for four days and just be a lousy putter. Even Vijay Singh, when he won in that nasty, nasty cold weather, I don't think his putting sets were that good. But it was more valuable to be a ball hitting Jesse that week than it was to get on the greens.

It all depends on what Mother Nature throws at you. We've seen a lot of bad things happen out there. In fact, the year that I was leading going into Sunday, we had to finish Saturday's round on Sunday morning. And then the next day I teed off, or excuse me, the next round, I was paired with Tom Kite again, which is probably the worst pairing I could have ever had. I played with him the day before and I couldn't stand it. Why didn't you like playing with Tom Kite?

And this is no kidding. This is what he did that week. Look, I was a nobody coming in there and I was winning that tournament. He decided that on Saturday's round, he was going to putt out every time. And I was hitting it inside of him all day, every day. OK, right.

What he did was he putt and if he put put it five feet by the hole, two feet from the hole, eight feet by the hole on his first putt, he would say, I'll finish. And I've never known anybody to do that. Never, ever. Now, this is what happened. And this is this is what? Eighty four. This is thirty nine.

I don't know how many. Yes. So anyway, we get out there the next morning on Sunday morning, finishing Saturday's round.

Right. And I just three putted from like 20 feet behind the hole on number 12. He up and down out of the bunker. Now we're tied. We go all the way back to the 13th tee.

But this guy did was reprehensible. He hits a tee shot because he made par in the hole before. Right. And I am just getting ready to take the club back. I mean, I have it going.

It's in motion. He does the glove Velcro trick on me. And I stopped my swing. OK, can you imagine how nervous? Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I stopped my swing and I backed off and he looked at me dead in the face.

No smile. Oh, sorry. I said, boy, your timing was freaking incredible right there. So anyway, I had I was saying, OK, if it ain't going to be me, I sure hope it isn't going to be top guy. And I definitely hope it is Ben Crenshaw. So Ben Crenshaw, hell of a nice guy. And yeah, we were talking about putting.

It's not the only thing you need to do out there, but you have to hit it reasonably well. Right. And Crenshaw was holding it from bunkers.

You know, it was one of those Lenny Matisse type things where Lenny almost won. Mike Weir was making everything. Yeah.

Olathaba was making everything. So, you know, you don't have to be a great putter, but you have to have your days out there. Mark Lye is joining us here. I did not I was not aware we were going to get one of those stories by appreciate that because. No, no, no. You got to get over it. Why? No, you don't.

You don't. You never have to get over that kind of stuff. I want you guys ever talk about that in the recording sessions of Jake Trout and the Flounders.

People don't know this. Mark, Mark Lye was part of that group, part of that group with Peter Jacobson and the late Payne Stewart. I have that CD, by the way. You do? Oh, yeah. My my favorite track was low riser. Love that. Yeah.

You got to hit the low riser. All right. Let me all right.

It was really is a great track. Let me let me ask you this, because I know and I is it I think it's fair to characterize you. You'll tell me if it's not fair as somebody who is pro live golf.

OK. Yeah. And the first I don't think it'll be the story on Thursday, but I think it's the biggest story leading up to Thursday is the awkwardness of 18 live tour players playing in the Masters, which I have zero problem with because they are qualified to play in the Masters. They deserve to play. They've earned that right. And the Masters obviously feels the same because they are in the field. The Masters can do what they want.

And they did nothing. They said, well, if you're qualified, you're in. So explain to me why you're, I guess, pro live. OK, I am pro live, but I'm not anti PGA Tour. And it's almost because you take a stand somewhere and everyone's going to pick you apart. And on Twitter, I get blasted all the time.

Every time I say something positive about LIV. Look, I played for 18 years out there. You don't think the talent pool was crowded on the PGA Tour? If LIV pulls, you know, 35 players from the PGA Tour, guess what? That helps guys like Rickie Fowler, who was on his on his way out two years in a row. If Rickie, if those 31 guys don't leave the PGA Tour, however many did, guess what?

A lot of guys wouldn't be on the PGA Tour. Now, the fact that I like LIV is because I think it's going to be right now. It's not a world more worldwide tour, but I think it is set up as a worldwide tour with these teams. And I got to tell you, I honestly am infatuated with the team aspect. Number one, I think Team Australia could be good. I think, you know, the four aces with our guys. We've got the South African team. We should have a Japanese team.

I thought of Matsuyama was going to go. But here's the whole thing. Adam, the reason you change jobs is not a lateral move. You change tours. Not a lateral move. This was a massive move for guys like Phil Mickelson, who got paid 200 million.

Dustin Johnson. And you know something? The tour, I played it for 18 years. It is no Rose Garden out there.

It is a grind. And you've got the four rounds. You're planning your weeks by, did I make a cut?

How do I plan? How do I get to the next event? Well, that's what the PGA Tour is now following that model that the LIV tour had. So am I against LIV? No, I'm not. I think it's making the game bigger.

It's making it more worldwide. I think the guys they got out there, one guy called them all the biggest bunch of pricks that came from the tour. I'm thinking, you're kidding. How could you say that about Vito Pereira? About Taylor Gooch, who's a great Christian guy. About Harold Varner. I mean, he's the nicest guy on the planet. What do you say about Harold Varner?

I think those guys made business decisions, and I have zero problem with that. Dustin Johnson. You know, it's interesting, going into the President's Cup this year, there were a number of players who basically said, we miss Dustin Johnson. You know, the guys who had played with him in the Ryder Cup the previous year, they missed Dustin Johnson. I think a fair amount of those guys would be welcomed back with open arms, and I don't think there's any, you know, it's not a mystery that certain guys wouldn't. I don't think anybody's sad that Patrick Reed is no longer on the PGA Tour, you know, for whatever reason. I don't think anybody misses a guy like that. I do think it's funny that Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepke are playing together. I think that's great.

I mean, you know, they sort of hugged it out, but it was an awkward hug at the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits that year. Look, I wouldn't characterize myself as anti-live. I have no problem with live golf, and I have watched several events. I know somebody who is responsible for the broadcast, and he has done a great job. I think the broadcasts are slick. I really do. I think the broadcasts are great. They are absolutely great. Keith Hirschland was my boss at the Golf Channel for 18 years. He's just so fond. He's great.

Playing shot, shot, shot, that's a hard thing to do. No question about it. Again, I think the broadcasts are great. Arlo White doesn't know a golf tee from a cup of tea, but that's fine.

Does it really matter? He's a skilled broadcaster, and David Faraday sitting next to him certainly makes everybody better. My whole problem with live has been that I believe it was a lie, and not the tour was a lie, but the reasoning for the tour was a lie from the beginning. And I don't mean to say lie when I'm talking with Mark Lye at Let It Fly on Twitter, PGA Tour winner and a never-miss-the-cut at the Masters. But when Greg Norman came out and said that golfers need more opportunity, he was not talking about the guys that are struggling to keep their card. Elite golfers don't need more. That's the last thing elite pro golfers have needed is more opportunity. The tour goes for 12 months a year. And it was never additive because it was supposed to be a 15 tour series in year one.

And you're just never going to have that as an additive. So I think there was a lot of dishonesty. And for me, somebody who followed the tour going way back all the way to when Greg Norman suggested a World Golf Tour, and Tim Fincham told him to go pound sand, and then the tour turned it into the World Golf Championships using Norman's... I get why Norman's mad, but a 30-some-odd-year vendetta was just, I thought, handled poorly, and that's where I come down.

Well, the vendetta was against Greg Norman. And here's the thing. There have been three separate organizations try to get into the PGA Tour to look at the books. They always told us, hey, the books are clean. Anytime you want to come in there, you can do it. Well, do you remember a guy named Danny Edwards, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour?

Okay. He went in there with his journey, wanted to go in and look at the books. And now this guy's no dummy. Danny Edwards is a pretty bright dude.

They wouldn't let him pass. And then we had a journeyman go in there, Larry Rinker. I know him too. The tournament he won was with his sister, the JCPenney Classic, so that's an official win for him. He goes there and he tells him he's coming and doing all this stuff.

They wouldn't let him in. Now, Greg Norman knows business. I put on my Greg Norman slacks, my Norman shirt. I play on my Greg Norman golf course. I have my Greg Norman wagyu steak. I play on Greg Norman 1 turf grass. I'm thinking, you know, this guy's no slouch. And if you ever get a chance to go to Myrtle Beach and eat at his Australia Grill, it's one of the best restaurants you'll ever go to.

I have been there and I played on his course at Barefoot Landing. There you go. You and me both. So anyway, I'm looking. This guy, he doesn't need the money.

He doesn't need the vendetta. He's just trying to do something bigger and better for golf. Me as a member of the PGA Tour since 1977. I'd be stupid if I criticize the tour overwhelmingly, but the tour is not perfect.

And the way they have handled this thing is absolutely bordering on stupid and is bordering on pride. And I've seen this before. Does it make me hate the PGA Tour? No. It asked me. It makes me ask questions. Why are they doing it like this? Well, what does the tour handled poorly other than defend their turf? Trashing the players that go.

Making it impossible. They run the official world golf ranks along with the other major tours. They said, well, there's got to be a cut. It's got to be 72 holes. It's got to be this.

It's got to be that. Hey, dude, this new system that they have where they're they're having, you know, 60 to 70 players, no cut events. Everybody gets paid. You know, they're basically following the model of LIV. Now, here's here's the difference between LIV and PGA Tour. PGA Tour runs the gamut on the meetings and all that stuff. There's a player advisory council.

They get schooled. And I like a lot of these guys, but they get schooled by the PGA Tour. Now, the PGA Tour players that left, they're leaving the PGA Tour not because they hate the tour.

They want other opportunities. The tour doesn't let them play in other events. Well, sure they have. They've always they've always allowed that. They gave all those guys outs to play in the Saudi International. Absolutely. But now that they compete against the PGA Tour, the Saudi is, oh, this is bad.

Yeah. Well, why would they why would they allow that? They they they knew the end game, which is why they didn't allow those players out to play in the I guess it was the first London Internet.

The first LIV tournament. Correct. They knew they knew what the end game was. So why would they allow their players and out? They just said, basically, you make your decision. I get it.

I understand what why they did what they did. Adam, let them use the rules that are in place right there. They have unrestricted exceptions, OK, where they're given to the sponsor.

They're saying you can pick anyone out there in the world, including Mark Rippon, Joe Theismann, Tony Romo. You can ask any of these guys to play non members of the PGA Tour. Right. You can ask them to play at any time. And they do without they violate their own rules to appease the sponsors. Right. But but but all of those players broke the contract with the PGA Tour.

No contract. Well, there are PGA Tour rules. There are rules. Yeah, I guess. And the rule is you can't play in a competing tour without without a permission, written permission from the PGA Tour. And why don't they give permission for three events?

Why don't they let why don't they let the why don't they allow them? I mean, are you kidding me? Phil Mickelson was a huge hit in enormous song. He'd be excuse me. I said, no, enormous.

He's he's been an enormous hit everywhere he's gone. Exactly. And so, you know, look, the other tours, the Aussie tour doesn't not allow Cameron Smith to play or Mark Leishman or or Matthew Jones. Right. I mean, how bad could it be for the sponsors to allow Dustin Johnson to play in his hometown?

It's, you know, Hilton Head or near his hometown. How how harmful would that be? But they say, no, you take a bite of that apple, you're poisoned. And that's the only thing that I don't like about it is that they violate rules. I mean, until they started three terms for Tiger, you know, the Genesis. Well, hero.

It's Tiger. It's like world the hero world challenge with 18 invited guests. They get official World Golf Randy.

Yeah, they don't they don't get a ton of them, but they do. And I 100 percent agree on an unofficial event should not get any world rankings points. I, I agree. We have to cut this short. You got it, Mark. First of all, you got you're going to pick a winner. First of all, I think Cam Smith is a great pick to win. So he's one of my three.

All right. Give me give me give me your other two. I can't pick against Scottie Scheffler. I can't pick against John Rahm.

They're both trending. They're both great players. They have that extra gear. I don't know if Rahm is as good a putter under pressure as Scottie, but I do know that Cameron Smith is probably the best pressure putter out there, as evidenced by the way he won the players. And by the way, he schooled Rory McIlroy on Sunday at the Open Championship. Man, I can't decide whether I want to see Rory paired with Sergio or Rory paired with Patrick Reed some point during. We know it will not happen on Thursday and Friday that the Masters Committee won't do that. But man, by luck of the draw, it would be fun to see Sergio and Rory. That actually might be painful because I know those two guys were really close and now are not. Rory and Reed, they've always been sort of at each other going back to the Ryder Cup.

Oh, my gosh. What a great rider. The greatest first eight holes ever in any event at any time. What those two guys did to each other. It was hysterical. And then it just calmed down. There was nothing after that. Mark Lai, I appreciate your time always, sir. We'll talk golf again. At Let It Fly on Twitter. Thanks, Mark.