Latest / The Craig Way Show / Americans getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup, Scottie Scheffler's historic season and the 2025 Major Championship with Geoff Shackelford

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Americans getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup, Scottie Scheffler's historic season and the 2025 Major Championship with Geoff Shackelford · The Craig Way Show

0:00
Speaker 1: And happy to be visiting once again with Jeff Chakraford
0:03
Speaker 1: offer golf reporter and podcast hosts. Make sure you subscribe
0:06
Speaker 1: to the Quadrilateral newsletter, mckiller podcast, and check out all
0:11
Speaker 1: of his work at Jeff Chakraford dot com. Jeff, appreciate
0:14
Speaker 1: you doing this. It's been about a year since the
0:16
Speaker 1: last time you came on, and there's been some pretty
0:19
Speaker 1: big changes in the game of golf lately, the biggest
0:21
Speaker 1: one PJ of America announcing that Americans will now be
0:24
Speaker 1: paid the play in the Ryder Cup, the Europeans still
0:28
Speaker 1: will not. First question for you, do you see this
0:32
Speaker 1: having an impact at all on the matches going forward?
0:36
Speaker 2: I do, Camn thanks for having me on. The matches
0:41
Speaker 2: are going to be on Long Island next year at
0:42
Speaker 2: Bethpage and it's the People's course. It's a public course.
0:47
Speaker 2: And you know, the ticket prices are really high. They are,
0:51
Speaker 2: in fact, they're probably really I call them a record high.
0:54
Speaker 2: I don't actually have a proof. There's probably somebody out
0:58
Speaker 2: there who could find something higher, but they're ridiculously high.
1:01
Speaker 2: Seven hundred and fifty dollars for the three match each
1:06
Speaker 2: of the match days. And you know it's one of
1:08
Speaker 2: the worst spectating events in golf, and so you combine
1:12
Speaker 2: that with kind of the rowdiness of the Ryder Cup,
1:15
Speaker 2: which we like and we love that there's a sort
1:17
Speaker 2: of a partisanship with the fans, the Long Island fans
1:22
Speaker 2: that that can't afford to go. And now you throw
1:25
Speaker 2: this into the mix with player pay where it's never
1:28
Speaker 2: happened before, and it's just hard not to see some
1:32
Speaker 2: people taking it out on the Americans while the Europeans
1:35
Speaker 2: come in and they're.
1:36
Speaker 3: Not being paid.
1:37
Speaker 2: Now. Yeah, you know, both both tours or both sides
1:40
Speaker 2: get a lot of money from these matches already and
1:44
Speaker 2: not a lot of people know that. But it's a
1:46
Speaker 2: big deal to the European Tour to fund what they do,
1:49
Speaker 2: and then the tour it goes to sort of the
1:52
Speaker 2: player retirement fund. They get like twenty five percent of
1:54
Speaker 2: the proceeds. So this pay on top of that and
1:57
Speaker 2: the charitable part, it's it's a mass. The former captains
2:00
Speaker 2: wrote a letter, of course, the great Longhorn. Ben Crenshaw's
2:04
Speaker 2: been the one who has spoken out. He had to
2:07
Speaker 2: deal with this back in ninety nine when he was
2:09
Speaker 2: a captain and here it is again as an issue. So,
2:12
Speaker 2: but this is the first time I really think it
2:14
Speaker 2: could actually play a part in the matches, which is wild.
2:18
Speaker 1: It feels like the Americans always have more pressure on
2:20
Speaker 1: themselves in the Ryder Cup, especially with the recent shellaking
2:23
Speaker 1: the last time in twenty twenty three. Now twenty twenty five.
2:26
Speaker 1: You add this into the mix, and you mentioned the
2:29
Speaker 1: home crowded environment. I know the Europeans at a little
2:32
Speaker 1: bit worried about the reception they would get. I'm more
2:35
Speaker 1: worried now for the Americans if they start out slow
2:38
Speaker 1: with the Beth Page crowd.
2:41
Speaker 2: Well, you could just imagine the cat calls of the
2:43
Speaker 2: first miss put what are we paying you for? I mean, yeah,
2:46
Speaker 2: the New Yorkers are gonna have a blast with this,
2:48
Speaker 2: especially again if they weren't being gouged themselves with the
2:52
Speaker 2: ticket prices. I don't know if it'd be an issue,
2:54
Speaker 2: but I think you throw that in in it. Yeah,
2:56
Speaker 2: it's it's gonna be interesting. And then yeah, the Europeans
3:00
Speaker 2: led by Luke Donald, this very calm, nice guy. He's
3:03
Speaker 2: married to an American, he's kind of going to he
3:05
Speaker 2: lives here. Yeah, it's gonna be hard for people to
3:09
Speaker 2: really be tough on the Europeans, and unless John Rahm
3:13
Speaker 2: and a few guys start in terryll Hatt and say
3:15
Speaker 2: some wacky stuff.
3:16
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
3:17
Speaker 2: Even then, it might be tough for the crowd to
3:19
Speaker 2: turn on him. One more big picture question for you.
3:23
Speaker 1: I think the last time you're on, we talked about
3:26
Speaker 1: the deal between the PGA Tour and the Saui Public
3:28
Speaker 1: Investment Fund, and I say deal in quotation marks, it's
3:31
Speaker 1: almost twenty twenty five. I'm not sure if we're closer.
3:34
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if anyone really cares at this point.
3:37
Speaker 1: What's the latest, Jeff? And do you see anything happening
3:40
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five to change the structure of golf?
3:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're getting close to some clarity on
3:47
Speaker 2: what's going to happen. Unfortunately, for those who had dreamed
3:49
Speaker 2: of some sort of a merger or all the great
3:53
Speaker 2: players back together every week situation, it's becoming pretty clear
3:57
Speaker 2: that's not going to happen.
3:58
Speaker 3: Live is going forward. They've got.
4:03
Speaker 2: What appears to be a decent little TV deal with
4:05
Speaker 2: Fox next year. I don't think it's a they're getting
4:09
Speaker 2: a lot of money, but it's it's certainly an upgrade.
4:12
Speaker 2: Nothing against the CW, but I think that there's a
4:15
Speaker 2: little more heft being on Fox. And they've signed a
4:19
Speaker 2: few more players nobody, no big names in the offseason,
4:22
Speaker 2: but some interesting additions.
4:25
Speaker 3: And so they're just not going anywhere.
4:27
Speaker 2: And that looks like that they're going to invest a
4:30
Speaker 2: little bit in the PGA Tour six percent ownership stake.
4:34
Speaker 3: It's just not a lot.
4:36
Speaker 2: Uh So it just looks to me like they'll maybe
4:39
Speaker 2: they'll find a way to have some players crossover or
4:43
Speaker 2: maybe a match.
4:44
Speaker 3: Between the tours.
4:45
Speaker 2: But I think we're getting pretty clear picture that this
4:48
Speaker 2: is going to be the future. The PGA Tour will
4:50
Speaker 2: be a US operation or North America, let's say, and
4:55
Speaker 2: then the rest of the world's kind of to to
4:58
Speaker 2: live in the European Tour. And it seems like those
5:00
Speaker 2: two are destined for a marriage of some kind. And
5:04
Speaker 2: so I hope that doesn't spoil somebody's Christmas that they're
5:09
Speaker 2: all not going to be back together. But they will
5:11
Speaker 2: be four times a year maybe, but we still have
5:14
Speaker 2: some issues with that too, with the world ranking so's
5:17
Speaker 2: it remains a bit of a mess. But you know,
5:20
Speaker 2: the PGA Tour is a very lucrative domestic television deal,
5:25
Speaker 2: and that probably is hampering any dreams of a full
5:28
Speaker 2: sledged merger.
5:31
Speaker 1: Could we see some sort of fixed at least the
5:34
Speaker 1: World Golf ranking with some sort of merging here, because obviously,
5:37
Speaker 1: right now, if you want to be able to qualify
5:40
Speaker 1: some of these major championships and you don't have the
5:42
Speaker 1: pass when you're not axtempted, get to do what Joaque
5:44
Speaker 1: Neeman has been doing this basically play globally during the offseason.
5:49
Speaker 3: Well, I think what we're.
5:50
Speaker 2: Starting to see is that the majors have just decided
5:54
Speaker 2: to kind of even though they're all on the board
5:57
Speaker 2: of the world ranking, they're just doing their own thing.
6:01
Speaker 2: And they you know, last year, the Masters invited a
6:03
Speaker 2: few players, which they've traditionally done, but it was it
6:07
Speaker 2: was still a big leap for them to do that,
6:09
Speaker 2: and the PGA of America invited some players. The USGA
6:13
Speaker 2: has already now said they're open to thinking about some
6:17
Speaker 2: different ways of building the field, So that the majors
6:20
Speaker 2: are just saying, you know, we're we're gonna do what
6:23
Speaker 2: we can to put forward the best field and to
6:25
Speaker 2: do what we've always done and bringing the world together
6:28
Speaker 2: on these weeks, and I just don't know how they're
6:31
Speaker 2: going to do that with all the algorithms and stuff
6:34
Speaker 2: in terms of dealing with those players who kind of
6:38
Speaker 2: went over to live and haven't gotten many points, and
6:42
Speaker 2: so I mean, there are mechanisms to repair this, but
6:45
Speaker 2: it's it's also complicated.
6:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
6:48
Speaker 1: Under the actual golf capaloo it begins in two weeks,
6:51
Speaker 1: which means we're getting closer and closer to major championship season.
6:55
Speaker 1: Of course, starting off with the Masters. I thought twenty
6:58
Speaker 1: twenty four was a great year for major championships. What
7:01
Speaker 1: are you looking forward to most in twenty twenty five
7:03
Speaker 1: That features Oatmont quil Hollow and Roy Putt russ Port
7:07
Speaker 1: Rush obviously in addition to augusta National.
7:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the great news. This year was just a
7:11
Speaker 2: tremendous year in the majors. They were competitive, of course,
7:14
Speaker 2: we had spectacular finishes. We had, you know, I don't
7:18
Speaker 2: know how to quantify it in terms of comparing the
7:21
Speaker 2: past years, but amazing final round performances and you throw
7:25
Speaker 2: in the Olympic golf Scottie Scheffler sixty two, but then
7:28
Speaker 2: also just remarkable golf and clutch putts down the stretch,
7:33
Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera.
7:33
Speaker 3: I mean, you just don't always get that every year
7:35
Speaker 3: camp It's just not the way it works.
7:37
Speaker 2: But this year we did and both men and women,
7:41
Speaker 2: and then twenty twenty five were set up for I
7:44
Speaker 2: think an even better year in terms of quality venues.
7:49
Speaker 2: Obviously Augusta there could be a lot of questions going in.
7:51
Speaker 2: There's been some big changes there with the hurricane Heleen's
7:55
Speaker 2: remnants going through quill how is probably the one sort
7:58
Speaker 2: of dud on the Majors schedule, and it's not nothing
8:02
Speaker 2: against Charlotte or the course. It's just they go there
8:04
Speaker 2: every year for a tour event and they had a
8:06
Speaker 2: President's Cup.
8:07
Speaker 3: It's it's a little we overexposed.
8:09
Speaker 2: But Oakmont should be wild for the US Open on
8:13
Speaker 2: another number of levels, the way the guys play the course,
8:16
Speaker 2: and of course it's just a hard golf course.
8:18
Speaker 3: And then Royal Port.
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Speaker 2: Rush is the best of the of the lot and
8:22
Speaker 2: that that'll wrap up the men season on a great note.
8:26
Speaker 3: In Ireland.
8:27
Speaker 2: It's only been six years since we were last there,
8:30
Speaker 2: but it was a huge success in Northern Ireland and
8:32
Speaker 2: chain out Lowry One and and it was kind of
8:34
Speaker 2: a dreamy week, So hopefully we'll we'll have another one
8:37
Speaker 2: of those, but it's uh. And then of course we
8:39
Speaker 2: have the Ryder Cup and uh and uh and for
8:43
Speaker 2: real golf geeks in the fall. Right before that, we
8:46
Speaker 2: have the Walker Cup at Cyprus Point, which is not
8:48
Speaker 2: a place many people have seen, so to get that
8:51
Speaker 2: on television and there might even be a Longhorn h
8:54
Speaker 2: on that team if all goes well.
8:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, excited for that. Kind of remind to when they
9:00
Speaker 1: played the USAM at Bandon Dune's a beautiful golf course
9:03
Speaker 1: that isn't seen a lot. Nashally, to your point about
9:06
Speaker 1: cool Hall, I'm from Charlotte. I've attended many Wells, Fargo
9:10
Speaker 1: and PJ Championships. I don't understand why they still play
9:13
Speaker 1: that course on a major championship or the PGA rotation,
9:18
Speaker 1: but that's just how I feel about it.
9:20
Speaker 2: Well, they'll set it up a little bit differently and
9:24
Speaker 2: it'll be fine.
9:25
Speaker 3: It's a big venue. They make a lot of money.
9:27
Speaker 3: That's why they like to go there. But yeah, I mean,
9:31
Speaker 3: there's just something to be said.
9:32
Speaker 2: For going to places and then forgetting about them for
9:36
Speaker 2: a little while and coming back. There's just a more
9:38
Speaker 2: of an excitement around that, but it's a course that
9:43
Speaker 2: will be in great shape. They spend a lot of
9:45
Speaker 2: money there and I'm sure they'll put on a good.
9:47
Speaker 3: Show and there'll be a good crowds there, no doubt.
9:49
Speaker 1: The last PG Championship, justin Thomas's back nine, that was
9:53
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to be there. We're in Austin,
9:55
Speaker 1: we're in long worn country and the course it means
9:57
Speaker 1: we're in Scotti Scheffler territory. Fantastic season in twenty twenty four,
10:02
Speaker 1: nine wins ten if you encount the Crypto dot com
10:04
Speaker 1: showdown that he just won this past.
10:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not on my list, but go ahead.
10:10
Speaker 1: The thing it's on in many people's list. A great season.
10:14
Speaker 1: Do you expect him to follow that up again in
10:16
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five?
10:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
10:18
Speaker 2: I just don't see anything slowing him down right now.
10:21
Speaker 3: He looks like he's healthy.
10:23
Speaker 2: No, you know, lingering injury things, which is probably the
10:27
Speaker 2: one thing. I mean, you can speak to another Longhorn
10:31
Speaker 2: about that or of one and Jordan Speeds. You know,
10:34
Speaker 2: he had a wrist injury and I've had one of
10:36
Speaker 2: those in golf. It's one of the worst ones because
10:38
Speaker 2: you get into bad habits and he finally got a repair.
10:41
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens with him next year. But
10:43
Speaker 2: Scotty seems healthy. I think there's room to improve, if
10:48
Speaker 2: you can believe it. I mean, he just had one
10:51
Speaker 2: of the more spectacular years you could muster. I mean,
10:54
Speaker 2: as did Xander Schoffle, who was actually better in the
10:57
Speaker 2: four Majors and won two of them. But Scotty out
11:00
Speaker 2: of players and an Olympic gold and he's in a
11:05
Speaker 2: FedEx Cup and he you know, actually, I think has
11:10
Speaker 2: room to grow on major type golf courses that are
11:12
Speaker 2: a little firmer and faster. I think his game tends
11:16
Speaker 2: to be a little bit more into the soft green
11:19
Speaker 2: tour week to week set up, and it just takes
11:23
Speaker 2: time for a lot of people, I mean Rory McElroy,
11:26
Speaker 2: Phil Mickelson, it took them forever to come around to
11:28
Speaker 2: playing that kind of more just a little crispy, er,
11:31
Speaker 2: more intense style of golf. And Scotty already has a
11:35
Speaker 2: lot of the shots for that. He can play in
11:36
Speaker 2: the wind. He's so good around the greens, so even
11:40
Speaker 2: when he misses greens, he's one of the best chippers
11:43
Speaker 2: in the game.
11:43
Speaker 3: If not the best one.
11:45
Speaker 2: If if I had to take somebody to get up
11:47
Speaker 2: and down to save my life, it might be him.
11:49
Speaker 2: So and the putting, you know, he just has to
11:53
Speaker 2: be less emotional on the greens. He you know, he
11:55
Speaker 2: really talks himself out of some weeks occasionally. So he
12:00
Speaker 2: again he's got room to grow, which is which is
12:03
Speaker 2: crazy new.
12:04
Speaker 3: Putting grip at the hero. Yeah, we'll see you good. Yeah, yeah.
12:08
Speaker 2: I mean I'm never a big fan of uh, you know,
12:12
Speaker 2: when you see people tinkering that often. But look, it's
12:15
Speaker 2: the weakest part of his game. But I watch him
12:18
Speaker 2: play and I I don't see a bad stroke. I
12:20
Speaker 2: just see somebody. It's more mental stuff he gets. He
12:24
Speaker 2: lets little things get in his head and he maybe
12:27
Speaker 2: overthinks it. And a lot of the guys overthink putting
12:30
Speaker 2: these days and and get very technical and and sometimes
12:35
Speaker 2: you just need to go out and have some fun
12:37
Speaker 2: and relax. And so hopefully I'll listen to Ben Crenshaw
12:41
Speaker 2: a little bit more on that kind of thing, because
12:42
Speaker 2: Ben has a good sense of putting and uh not
12:46
Speaker 2: getting too mechanical. How do you compare what Scotty has
12:50
Speaker 2: been able to do these last couple of years to
12:52
Speaker 2: previous golfers because obviously a lot of records he makes.
12:55
Speaker 2: It's you know, he's the first part to do this
12:56
Speaker 2: since Tiger Woods. But Tiger isn't a completely different route. Yeah,
13:02
Speaker 2: it's tricky and and it's sometimes unfair, but there's some
13:05
Speaker 2: great I mean, we have shot linked this amazing stat
13:08
Speaker 2: system from the tour, and so there's some there's some
13:11
Speaker 2: cool numbers you can look at and and you know,
13:15
Speaker 2: I guess the bummer for me, this is a strange one. Again,
13:18
Speaker 2: maybe a little inside baseball, but you know, they're getting
13:21
Speaker 2: rid of these these events with with cuts more and
13:24
Speaker 2: more and and and any of course Tiger played the
13:27
Speaker 2: during his time the World Champion Golf Championship events, which
13:30
Speaker 2: also were cutless. But there there is something to fall
13:34
Speaker 2: fields and cuts that they're chipping away and getting rid
13:37
Speaker 2: of that that bring in intensity and also just just
13:42
Speaker 2: a different factor that can sometimes lead to bad weeks, uh,
13:46
Speaker 2: for for unfair reasons. So that's one thing where comparison wise,
13:51
Speaker 2: I get a little disappointed. But all in all, I mean,
13:54
Speaker 2: he just had one of the greatest years imaginable really
13:57
Speaker 2: and uh and again he has.
14:01
Speaker 3: Room to get better. We'll wrap up with this.
14:04
Speaker 1: Your your picks for the twenty twenty five major championships
14:08
Speaker 1: right now?
14:10
Speaker 2: Well, I for some reason, I think John Rum's gonna
14:13
Speaker 2: play well again next year at the Masters. He's already
14:16
Speaker 2: won one and I think it'll I just feel like
14:18
Speaker 2: he and Scott he'll have another duel.
14:21
Speaker 3: I would.
14:22
Speaker 2: I mean, it's hard not to pick Rory McElroy Quell Hollow,
14:25
Speaker 2: the way he plays there. He's just so ridiculously overdue.
14:29
Speaker 2: He's played so beautifully in some majors US Open.
14:32
Speaker 3: I have no idea.
14:33
Speaker 2: I feel like we're due for just a total shock
14:36
Speaker 2: winner one of these days. We haven't had one of those,
14:38
Speaker 2: I don't think in a while. Maybe Brian Harmon at
14:40
Speaker 2: the Open last year, but he's had some moments and
14:45
Speaker 2: of course sentimental, uh, sentimentally, I.
14:47
Speaker 3: Would love to see Rory McElroy win at royal Port Rush.
14:50
Speaker 2: He missed a cut there last time, had the stupid
14:52
Speaker 2: out of bounds on the first hole and he hit
14:54
Speaker 2: it out and it was it was toast from there.
14:57
Speaker 2: So he would be the Shane Lowry of course who
15:01
Speaker 2: won there. It'd be a really big deal to see
15:03
Speaker 2: him win, but a lot of good players. Xanders Schoffley
15:08
Speaker 2: is just incredible. I mean to do what he did
15:09
Speaker 2: this year win at the PGA on a very soft
15:14
Speaker 2: course with a birdie shootout and then go over to Troon,
15:16
Speaker 2: which was just a grind and the wind and the
15:19
Speaker 2: rain and weird wind directions and intense in a different
15:24
Speaker 2: kind of way was pretty spectacular. So I don't I
15:28
Speaker 2: don't see him slowing down either. He's in uh, he's
15:31
Speaker 2: at the peak of his career. He is Jeff Chakiford author,
15:35
Speaker 2: golf reporter in podcasts, so check him out on Jeff
15:39
Speaker 2: Chakraford dot com, the mckiller podcast in The Quadrilateral newsletter. Jeff,
15:43
Speaker 2: thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it all right, Camp,
15:45
Speaker 2: thank you.
15:46
Speaker 1: Always enjoyed talking the game of golf with Jeff Schackraford.
15:50
Speaker 1: If you're a fan of golf looking for some in
15:52
Speaker 1: depth analysts in coverage, subscribe to his newsletter, The Quadrilateral.
15:57
Speaker 3: I cannot recommend it anymore. Okay, we're gonna continue here
16:01
Speaker 3: with our number two.
16:02
Speaker 1: Gonna hear from Texas women's basketball head coach Fitx Schaeffer
16:06
Speaker 1: as the Longhorns get ready for South Dakota State on Sunday,