Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Paul Pugmire on the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Tony Finau going to make the cut (?) + more

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Paul Pugmire on the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Tony Finau going to make the cut (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: airing of grievances in 21 minutes here on the Sean
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  Speaker 1: O'Connell Show. 877-353-0700 or at Real OC Sports. If you
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  Speaker 1: want to weigh in, unburden yourself with a grievance that
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  Speaker 1: grievance against me. I hope it's not that case, but...
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  Speaker 1: You never know. It's a parking situation. We'll get to
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  Speaker 1: it here in about 20 minutes. Right now, time to
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  Speaker 1: check in on the Black Desert Championship down in Ivins,
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  Speaker 1: Utah at St. George area. This is one of the
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  Speaker 1: courses that you start hearing people talking a couple of
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  Speaker 1: years ago. Really started hearing people talk about it on
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  Speaker 1: the national front. And, you know, these celebrities and these
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  Speaker 1: athletes who've. left the NBA or the NFL or Major
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  Speaker 1: League Baseball or hockey, and they're just like, yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: want to go golfing. Oh, in Utah. You're from Utah.
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  Speaker 1: Have you golfed Black Desert yet? And I always have
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  Speaker 1: to tell them no, and I feel sad about it.
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  Speaker 1: But our conversation with Paul Pugmire, brought to you by
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  Speaker 1: our friends over at You Went to Golf. Hi, Paul.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, how are we doing, OC?
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  Speaker 1: Doing all right. How are things playing down there at
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  Speaker 1: the Black Desert Championships?
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  Speaker 2: It is so beautiful. It is an absolutely crystalline, perfect day.
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  Speaker 2: Not a cloud in the sky, not even a hint
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  Speaker 2: of wind. Scoring conditions are just absolutely bonkers. People are
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  Speaker 2: going low because they got a little rain that softened
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  Speaker 2: up the course here a couple days ago. And so
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  Speaker 2: balls are in the air, birdie putts are falling, and
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  Speaker 2: it is a great time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned people going low. We've seen as low
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  Speaker 1: as a 62. I guess there's still some golf left
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  Speaker 1: to play, but several 63s. Is it going to get
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  Speaker 1: even lower than that, or are we going to be
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  Speaker 1: stuck or happy with 62 as the low?
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  Speaker 2: Well, so far today, the lowest round today is a
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  Speaker 2: minus 8 score, so that's 63. Um, the afternoon wave
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  Speaker 2: is just getting on, getting started. They're getting out onto
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  Speaker 2: the course now. So only half the field has finished
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  Speaker 2: for the, for the day. Our first-round leader, Zach Bauchu,
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  Speaker 2: who was on a great Oklahoma State University team that
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  Speaker 2: included Victor Hovland and Matthew Wolfe. He was the leader
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  Speaker 2: after the first day. He was just minus two today,
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  Speaker 2: so that puts him at minus 11. He's currently T4
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  Speaker 2: as the afternoon wave gets going. And I think that
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  Speaker 2: might be indicative of what we will see. Yeah, there's
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  Speaker 2: going to be players going low still, but... It's going
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  Speaker 2: to spread out, and the course is firming up. It's
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  Speaker 2: baking the moisture out of the greens after the rain
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  Speaker 2: a couple nights ago. So as the course gets firmer,
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  Speaker 2: scores are going to creep upward.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so the advantage on a Thursday and a Friday
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  Speaker 1: was to be in that early wave, and now if
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  Speaker 1: you're in this afternoon heat, so to speak, you should,
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  Speaker 1: You're not going to get as friendly a greens is
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  Speaker 1: what you're telling me.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly true. And you know, the way this
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  Speaker 2: works on Thursday and Friday, each week at each tournament
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  Speaker 2: on the PGA tour, um, the, the field will be
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  Speaker 2: split in half and everybody in the field will get
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  Speaker 2: a morning wave start. Everybody will get an afternoon wave start.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody will get a start on the number one tee.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody will get a start on the number 10 tee.
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  Speaker 2: So they mix it up so that everybody gets essentially
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  Speaker 2: the same experience. But the reality is, if you are
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  Speaker 2: on the side of the draw that favors the conditions
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  Speaker 2: of the time, that can make a difference. And we
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  Speaker 2: really see this. play itself out in situations like the
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  Speaker 2: British Open, where weather can be such a big part
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  Speaker 2: of the story. But here it is, if you're able
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  Speaker 2: to get the greens when they're more receptive before they
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  Speaker 2: bake out in the sun. And so far, it's shown
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  Speaker 2: that that really mattered more yesterday than today.
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  Speaker 1: You're very familiar with this course. Do they change the
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  Speaker 1: whole layout significantly? When it's a PGA Tour and you're
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  Speaker 1: putting your best foot forward and maybe you want to
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  Speaker 1: make it as challenging as the course possibly can be,
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  Speaker 1: do they do anything special down there at Black Desert?
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  Speaker 2: No, they don't, and the reason is this course was
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  Speaker 2: set up to where the main feature of the course
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  Speaker 2: is the black rock, and nobody's moving that. There's nothing
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  Speaker 2: you can do with it. You can't grow it or
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  Speaker 2: cut it down. It just is there. So interesting development
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  Speaker 2: of the experience with the Black Rock. The very first
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  Speaker 2: year this tournament was played three years ago, that week
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  Speaker 2: the field set an all-time PGA Tour record for the
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  Speaker 2: most penalty shots by the field for the week. They
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  Speaker 2: had 202 penalty shots on the week. Well, people learned
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  Speaker 2: from that, and they learned not to be getting all
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  Speaker 2: jiggy with the black rock. Hit away from it. Don't
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  Speaker 2: try to hit hero shots because there's just no joy
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  Speaker 2: to be had, no forgiveness at all in the rocks.
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  Speaker 2: And so the field is learning to hit away from it,
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  Speaker 2: and that's made a big difference in the scoring as well.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Pugmire is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell
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  Speaker 1: show talking about the PGA tour being here in Utah
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  Speaker 1: at the black desert championship down in Ivan's. Uh, we
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  Speaker 1: saw the projected cut line, uh, with scores going low,
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  Speaker 1: it's four under right now is the projected cut line. And, uh,
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  Speaker 1: Tony fee now, who's obviously a local favorite is just
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  Speaker 1: under that, even though he's playing pretty well, he's through 17.
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  Speaker 1: It looks like, and two under for the day, uh,
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  Speaker 1: potentially unless he can have a miraculous 18, might miss
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  Speaker 1: the cut even though he's under par.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So Tony needs at least a birdie on 18.
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  Speaker 2: I think he might need an eagle. 18 is a
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  Speaker 2: gettable par 5. Now there are ways to get sideways
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  Speaker 2: with the hole. They always are. But Tony needs a
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  Speaker 2: strong finish on 18 to have any chance of playing
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  Speaker 2: the weekend.
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  Speaker 1: What about the other guys, the sort of– Not just
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  Speaker 1: local connections, but your favorites, the ones you had an
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  Speaker 1: eye on saying, all right, I know this guy's playing
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  Speaker 1: style and I know that this course matches up with it.
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  Speaker 1: Are you getting your expectations met when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: who's near the top or within striking distance?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about some of the local guys.
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  Speaker 2: First of all, there are 10 Utah players in the
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  Speaker 2: field and they got into a variety of methods, including
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  Speaker 2: two Utah players played themselves in on the Monday qualifier,
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  Speaker 2: which is stupid hard. You just, it's, it's an absolute sprint.
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  Speaker 2: It's and there's no margin for any slight little air,
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  Speaker 2: but both Carson Lundell and red Rasmussen Monday their way in.
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  Speaker 2: But the, among the Utah players that I really had
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  Speaker 2: my eye on, of course, you know, Tony Finau, it's
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  Speaker 2: really cool that he's in the field this year, Patrick Fishburne,
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  Speaker 2: a big hitter and a play a player who really
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  Speaker 2: needs a good showing. But Zach Blair is the one
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  Speaker 2: who really had my attention. because two reasons. This is
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  Speaker 2: a course that sets up well for his game that
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  Speaker 2: requires that you keep the ball in front of you
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  Speaker 2: and on grass. Zach is exceptionally good at that. And
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  Speaker 2: the other thing is in the first two planes of
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  Speaker 2: this tournament, this is the third year. Zach has made
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  Speaker 2: the cut each year. He's the only Utah player to
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  Speaker 2: have done that, and so he's already got a strong
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  Speaker 2: record here. Otherwise, for non-Utah players, this is really fun.
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  Speaker 2: I had my eye on Max Homa coming in. First
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  Speaker 2: of all, Max is just so easy to like, but again,
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  Speaker 2: a player who generally keeps the ball in front of him,
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  Speaker 2: and I thought, gosh, his game might play real well here,
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  Speaker 2: and that's proving to be the case. He's minus 9
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  Speaker 2: through 36 holes. He was in the morning wave this morning.
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  Speaker 2: He is finished. So he sits at T7 as we
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  Speaker 2: talk through this and definitely making the weekend, and he
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  Speaker 2: will be within reach going into Saturday's round.
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  Speaker 1: Big picture, PGA being in Utah, obviously this state, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's northern Utah, southern Utah, the Salt Lake Valley, getting
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more attention nationally, more people moving here,
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  Speaker 1: growing from an economy standpoint, but the sports atmosphere in Utah,
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  Speaker 1: with now an NHL team thriving, and they just announced
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  Speaker 1: a UFL team, and Major League Baseball is supposed to
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  Speaker 1: be coming. And look, Black Desert's not the only great
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  Speaker 1: golf course in the state of Utah. Is the success
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  Speaker 1: of this tournament, or this tournament continuing to be successful,
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  Speaker 1: is it going to bring more of this to our
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  Speaker 1: state and to the sports culture in our state?
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  Speaker 2: It darn well could, in no small part because there
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  Speaker 2: are some really top-notch championship courses that are being developed.
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  Speaker 2: And interestingly, they're being developed by Reef Capital, which is
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  Speaker 2: the group behind Black Desert. And so very clearly people
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  Speaker 2: who know what the devil they're doing and have proved it.
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  Speaker 2: Having said that, whenever you're looking at bringing a tour
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  Speaker 2: event to a facility of any kind, Yes, you look
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  Speaker 2: at the course, and yes, we really focus on what's
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  Speaker 2: inside the ropes. But it's what's outside the ropes that
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  Speaker 2: can make a difference between the tournament being successful or not.
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  Speaker 2: The infrastructure that can support what comes with this traveling circus.
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  Speaker 2: And Black Desert is a resort course, and the resort
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  Speaker 2: is right handy here on property. Really, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: got hotel rooms, top-end restaurants. It's got support facilities for
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  Speaker 2: the families and the players. And so you look at
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  Speaker 2: the big picture of what the facility has, and it
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  Speaker 2: really meets up well with what's required when the PGA
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  Speaker 2: Tour comes to town. And so that has to be
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  Speaker 2: included in the calculation as well.
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  Speaker 1: Who's going to end up winning this thing, Paul?
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. What a great question. Um, I will
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  Speaker 2: tell you right now, the one I am cheering for
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  Speaker 2: there are two in particular, uh, and it's for personal
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  Speaker 2: reasons right now in solo second is Kevin Streelman. And
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  Speaker 2: Kevin has been a journeyman player on tour for several years.
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  Speaker 2: He's won two times, but he's 47 years old. He's
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  Speaker 2: been on the tour for 20 some years. Um, getting
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  Speaker 2: ready to play on the Champions Tour, of course. But
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  Speaker 2: there he is, solo second after two rounds. He's still
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  Speaker 2: out there playing. He's got a couple holes left. But Streelman,
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  Speaker 2: it was announced last night at an event I was at,
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  Speaker 2: that Streelman is now a member of Marcella by Jordan L.
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  Speaker 2: near Park City. And Marcella, again, of course, it was
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  Speaker 2: developed by Reef Capital. So Strillman is now a Utahan.
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  Speaker 2: He's moving to Utah. We're so glad to have him.
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  Speaker 2: And then the other one is Austin Smotherman. This one
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  Speaker 2: is personal to me. Austin Smotherman is a former First
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  Speaker 2: Tee kid. He grew up being in the First Tee
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  Speaker 2: in Sacramento. And so I love it when the First
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  Speaker 2: Tee kids go out and do big things and make noise.
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  Speaker 1: You love it. Enjoy the time down there. It's great
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  Speaker 1: to see our home state being put on display. I
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  Speaker 1: hope the scores continue to be low through the weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe not this low, but it's sexy seeing these big numbers, right?
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  Speaker 1: Like these minus 12s, minus 14s, minus 16s.
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  Speaker 2: It is, and it's a lot of fun, and it's
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  Speaker 2: fun to see players hit great shots and make birdies,
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  Speaker 2: but they have turned off the sprinkler system. There won't
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  Speaker 2: be any more of that this week, and so it
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  Speaker 2: will absolutely be, the scores will be inching up as
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  Speaker 2: this course firms up.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Paul, appreciate your time as always. Thank you, sir.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Pugmire, you can listen to him right here on
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  Speaker 1: Saturday mornings.