Rex Hoggard, Golf Channel Golf Writer

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Find the suit that's perfect for you. Go to Indochino.com and use code PODCAST for 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more. That's 10% off $3.99 or more at Indochino.com. Code PODCAST. Rex, appreciate the time. How are you? Cold and wet, but hopefully we are able to start tomorrow. Yeah, for tomorrow, when you look at the weather forecasts, what are you seeing? Because I know that you work for the Golf Channel, not the Weather Channel, but this is pretty ominous right now. I think all of us have been watching, and it's just a lot of rain, and the good news is I don't see any more lightning, which is essentially what stopped play today, but it's going to be difficult when you look at how much, I think it's like two inches is projected. The harder part here is you have a lot, about half the field has to finish their second round, and I think they're going to start the second round at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, and between the time that they had the first delay and the time that they called play for the day, the temperature dropped about 40 degrees. So it's going to be cold and wet and rainy.

It's going to be a difficult day. For a guy like Brooks Koepka, who's already through two rounds and he's your leader right now at 12 under, is that at all an advantage, where he's already completed his two rounds, where tomorrow it's going to be a lot of stop and go and some guys are going to have to finish round two and then move on to round three? I think it'll be a huge advantage because you normally don't get sort of this weather draw. We talk about it all the time at the Open Championship when you have tee times that last essentially 12 hours. So you can have someone that tees off at 7 o'clock in the morning that gets perfect conditions, someone that tees off at noon that gets just awful conditions, but at Augusta in the spring you normally don't have that, but yeah, I mean, he was at home sitting on his couch watching the rain and the trees coming down and the cold and everything else this afternoon while everyone was struggling. The example that we gave earlier tonight on the podcast was Tiger Woods has to go back tomorrow morning, first thing tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. and hit the tee shot at 12. We all know how hard that tee shot is, again, in the rain and the cold and the wind. I don't know how Tiger's going to hold up. Like if he has to finish up round two tomorrow and then go to round three and play 18 there, I just wonder how his leg is going to hold up throughout this.

It's interesting. He was asked early in the week about kind of what happened last year and I think last year was almost a perfect storm on day one. It was warm.

He played well. We were all excited and then Friday he kind of held on and made the cut. And Saturday, a lot like it happened this year, the temperature dropped.

It got cold and he went out and he was asked about it early in the week and what happened and he had just one more to answer, cold. And we know that his body isn't just going to hold up very, very well. We've seen him even on Thursday when it was perfect conditions, it was warm. It's difficult for him to even walk around this golf course.

So yeah, it'll be clearly a tough, tough road. Were you surprised what you heard from Tiger leading up to the Masters this week just with his media availability? No, he's pretty good. I mean, I think he understands that this plays more than anywhere else. I think he appreciates it. I think this place has defined his career so much. He won here to sort of start his run, his historic run in 97 and then, of course, what he did in 2019.

I think there was always going to be, he will always have an appreciation and respect for the traditions here. The last two days, what did you see out of Brooks Koepke, who's the leader right now? Healthy.

I mean, that really sums it all up. If you go back two years ago, essentially, he just wasn't healthy. He's had hip issues. He's had knee issues. We now know about him. He's talked about the surgeries. He's talked about everything he's gone through. And the interesting thing is, we can sit here and talk about the difference between live golf and the PGA Tour, but I was talking with his dad yesterday, Bob, and he brought up a point that said, look, if he was still in the PGA Tour, he would have continued to try to play through all these injuries. But now that he's on live and it's a very limited schedule, consider that he played his last event last year in October and didn't play another event for almost three and a half months. And it finally gave him time to get healthy.

He went back to Claude Harmon, finally went back to some things that he was comfortable with. And we're seeing that version of him, that version that is, I call it a major monster earlier tonight. If Brooks wins, is the reaction Brooks is back or is it more so, oh, it's a live guy winning? It'll be a live guy winning. I mean, and that's not entirely fair because, I mean, I think we should celebrate the fact that after everything that Brooks went through, and I'll go back to the Netflix series, I don't know if you saw it, but the episode that he was in, I was taken by the idea that at 30-something years old, the injuries were so bad he felt like he was washed and that live golf was his best option, which is amazing to me because you look at Tom Brady just finished playing football at 40-something years old, and this isn't a contact sport, but you get an idea of how debilitating those injuries were. Now he's come out the other side, and it should be celebrated if he is able to go on and win this week, and certainly it gets him that much closer to the career at Grand Slam, but no, I think the general conversation on Monday, if he wins, will be, oh, look, look what live golf did. Is that just a golf purist thing because, like, I'm a golf fan, but I'm not, like, a golf purist, and a year ago I was all worked up over live golf, but with how irrelevant it's really been and how it really hasn't done much outside of just taking the golfers away, I feel like my animosity for live golf isn't as strong as what it was a year ago. That's probably fair.

I mean, I'm with you on that. Like, look, I think a lot of people look at live golf as this huge challenge, and I think the PGA Tour is going to look at live golf as this huge challenge. I said at the beginning of the week, and I really meant it, is that the idea that Cam Smith is not a top five player in the world, or Dustin Johnson isn't a top ten player in the world, or Brooks Koepka isn't a top ten player in the world is ridiculous. Like, just because they've gone to live golf and they're not getting world ranking points anymore doesn't mean that they forgot how to be major champions, and I think Brooks just proved that. I know Jon Rahm is sensational with starting and then stopping and then having to resume tomorrow and play the entire back nine. Is that at all a concern, or after two rounds he's going to be right up there with Brooks?

It's not a best case scenario. He had just gone birdie birdie to get to nine under, and it seemed like Brooks was going to run away with it. He was at 12 under, and so just to get within three strokes I think was an accomplishment. And it will be difficult, but we're talking about the guy that four putted the first hole yesterday and still ended up shooting seven under par, so he certainly has it in him. And I think when Jon's playing his best, it's going to be a great clash if it comes down to those two guys. When you look at Sam Bennett, what he's done has just been remarkable, the amateur.

What's the expectations the next two rounds? I mean, my colleague Ryan Lavner did a really in-depth and emotional piece on him, and I've learned so much about Sam this week. And just the fact that he's in this position, I think, is an amazing accomplishment first and foremost. But I was taken by not just his confidence, but there was a swagger to him tonight when he was in the media center that I just didn't anticipate from an amateur, someone who's in college. And when you're going head-to-head, and he was asked specifically, like, why do you think you can go head-to-head with Brooks Koepka? And he said, because I'm as good as he is. And you don't get that in any other sport. You don't have a college quarterback saying that I'm as good as Patrick Mahomes. That doesn't happen.

And golf is different, and I was widely impressed by that. The only thing I can compare it to is, like, when you get a 15 seed in the NCAA tournament that wins, and then they start talking big, and that they can go win the entire thing. But then you know eventually they go down in a Final Four or an Elite Eight.

Do you think he could win this weekend? I don't even think, like, FAU is the comparison, right? That's the great comp in this situation, and I love that story. I don't even think that's a fair comp.

Like, I don't know how you would even sort of put this into context. Because, again, Sam Bennett is a very, very good player. He's a U.S. amateur champion, but he's done nothing on the pro level.

So I don't even think you can compare a 64 seed beating a one seed in the championship. I think that that's even outlandish. Rex Hoggart here with us. So I don't like to make much out of a photo, and I know he's getting up there in age for the sport. But Phil looks so just worn down earlier in the week, and I know he barely even spoke to the media. And then he's sitting there four under through two rounds, a 71 and a 69. What have you seen out of Lefty?

Yeah, the photos weren't great. And I will say, I mean, he's lost a lot of weight, and certainly, you know, I'm not going to knock anyone that does that. I'm going to lean more into the idea that when he spoke with the media earlier this week, and by all accounts of what happened at the Champions Dinner, he just seemed reserved.

And I think anyone that's ever watched Phil or been entertained by Phil or rooted for Phil, reserved is not the word that you would bring up. And I think it's kind of sad, because it feels like now that whatever's happened to him, whatever's transpired over the last year and a half, it's sort of just drained everything that was special out of him. Down deep, do you think he regrets going to live? I don't know if Phil regrets going to live.

I think there are plenty of players over there that have had buyer's remorse for whatever reason, and we can kind of go down the list. But certainly in Phil's case, I feel like at 50-something years old, and if the reports are true, I don't know how much money he was offered. But if it is nine figures, which, you know, we can sit and wrap our mind around that, I mean, look, he wasn't going to make that playing golf the rest of his career.

So I've always been in the mindset that I'm not going to question someone making a financial decision for their family, even if it's Phil Mickelson. Wrapping up with Rex Hoggard, I was actually feeling good about Rory McIlroy. He's one of my four picks to win it.

And man, I couldn't be more hung on that one. Five over, we'll miss the cut. I know this has been the one that he's not been able to win, looking for that career grand slam. We all know how he finished last year and just came up short. What happened to Rory these last two days? You and I both picked Rory McIlroy and you and I both are kind of in the same boat right now.

Looks like he's going to miss the cut. I was shocked by it because physically, and I'll go back to the mass play championship two weeks ago, there was everything physically that he could possibly do that would point to, oh, this has got to be the year. He was hitting the ball absolutely perfect. He was driving it like he does when he's winning major championships by eight strokes. He was putting it well. Tiger Woods said earlier this week that he will win a Masters.

It wasn't that he could or he might, but he will, which Tigers take. I talked to Butch Harmon, the famous swing coach, just yesterday morning, and it was like, yeah, Rory's going to do it. Like, this is it. This is the year he's going to break through.

And the idea that everything was there physically and everything was angling in that direction kind of reinforces the idea that I think we've all kind of been toying with. This is a mental hurdle. This has nothing to do with his ability to play that golf course and his ability to hit golf shots. That it's just going to be difficult for him to overcome this. I was shocked. And it's only going to get harder for him because he knows how we all know how important this is for him.

It's going to complete the career grants plan. Clearly, the conditions are bad today, but you being there and we could only I could only see it on Twitter and on TV. You see the trees falling down. It's amazing. And thankfully, no one did get hurt or injured. But how did you kind of describe just seeing all that weather unfold today? It was pretty amazing. And it didn't feel like I mean, we were obviously caught off the golf course. We were in the media center.

But, you know, you have a really good view of everything outside from that fabulous media center. And it didn't seem that bad when the trees fell down and they stopped play. But certainly, as you pointed out, it was scary. It was very, very frightening. And what got me is from the second they pulled us off the golf course and it was probably in the low 90s, like it was very, very warm and humid. By the time we went back outside less than two hours later, the temperature had dropped 40 degrees. Like it was amazing.

I mean, it's just one of those things about this area. And it'll only make again, I'll go back to tomorrow. It'll just make tomorrow so demanding. What are your expectations for speed the rest of the way five under through two rounds? He knows how to play this golf course. So I would imagine he's going to make another run. It's going to be difficult when you look at the guys in front of him because I can't imagine certainly John Rhome is going to go backwards. It looked like Brooks Kefka is going to go backwards. And I would say the same thing about Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion.

And I kind of had him and Rory as my co-favorites. They could both. They're both going to make the cut.

And I'm sure they're both going to have very, very good weekends, but it's going to be an uphill climb if they have any chance to contend. If you had to kind of guesstimate what the score is going to be that wins it, where do you kind of throw that at? Well, it's interesting now that Brooks is at 12 under par. Someone brought out that the only other player that's 10-12 under par through 36 holes is Greg Norman. So you can connect whatever dots you want there with live golf. But I think the funny thing is, is I probably somewhere close to that, but I wouldn't imagine it's going to get much lower. Again, golf course will be it'll be soft, so you'll have that going for you.

But it's so long and it's so difficult now. I think 12 under is a really good winning score. It's kind of shocking and it just shows how great he's been when you look at Scottie Scheffler 1 under for the tournament. It's like you almost just expect to just see his name in the top three for all these tournaments. He is, I think he's dead last in the field in putting.

And so when I picked him and I said that to our colleagues tonight, I did not see that coming. Like of everything that he's done well. And you look at and I kind of compared it to last year leading up to this. He defends his title in Phoenix. He is the players championship, so he's actually playing better in theory than he was last year coming into this. You talk to him and he was at our awards banquet for the Golf Writers Association of America on Wednesday night. And I spoke with him at length and it was that confidence level was through the roof. He was much more confident than he ever was coming into this last year because he's done it.

He has a green jacket and for him to do that, it's pretty surprising. What's the future of live golf clue? They threw all this money, the Saudis at these golfers and a lot of them took it some big names.

But there's been no results. It feels like what's the future of live golf, Rex? I spent the better part of day, unfortunately, and this is sort of the reality that I live in writing about lawsuits and filings and court hearings and everything to do with lip golf and antitrust lawsuits that's going on right now. And unfortunately, it'll kind of hinge on that just because of the way the system is set up that the PGA Tour is going to protect their product and they're going to lean into the fact that they have rules and regulations that keep their players from playing both tours. And as long as they do that, it's going to be difficult for live golf, even paying nine figure bonuses to players to come over and play for them to continue to get those top players. Because it doesn't become financially viable at some point. So I really argued earlier this year that it's going to be product versus product.

And you mentioned it. Would you rather watch, last week, Brooks Koepka winning in Orlando at the live golf event? Would you rather watch the Texas Open? It's going to be difficult to imagine a scenario going forward where the majority of people want to watch Orlando and live golf.

When Brooks eventually says, okay, I want to go back to the PGA Tour, I know it's one thing to talk big now. They'll accept them back, right? I don't know.

That's a really good question. I actually wrote a story at the Random Players Championship Week because there were a lot of rumors about Brooks, actually. Yeah. About maybe wanting to come back. And the kind of the theme of the story was, is there a path back?

And if so, what does it look like? And I was taken by the idea that the vast majority of players I talked to about this said that, yes, there should be some sort of path back and look at varied about what it should look like. There's obviously going to be some sort of suspension and some sort of fine and some sort of penalty. But the one person, Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour that I asked about this, he's still dead set against it.

So I don't know how it happens in the current environment. Rex, appreciate it. Hopefully you stay dry because that means we'll get through this weekend. Thanks so much. Thank you. Podcast.