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00:00All right, let's get into the major storylines heading into the Players' Championship at TPC Sawgrass with our New York
00:06Post Sports columnist and golf savant, Mark Cannizzaro.
00:11Mark, thanks for hopping on with us.
00:13Usually I'd be jealous that you're down in Florida, but we got some decent weather up here in New York.
00:18They've already teed off.
00:20I think first tee off was like 7.15, 7.30 this morning.
00:24So what's some breaking news you can tell us from TPC Sawgrass?
00:30Yeah, Brandon, the one thing that's kind of dominated the news cycle here so far is Colin Morikawa, who was
00:38one of the favorites.
00:40He won Pebble Beach just a few weeks ago.
00:43He had some back twinge literally on a practice swing on his second hole of the round today and had
00:50to withdraw.
00:52He said it's something he's had before, but he just said he couldn't take a full swing.
00:57So, you know, they put him in a cart and took him away, and now, you know, you kind of
01:01look ahead a little bit and hope that he's going to be okay for the Masters.
01:04But he was clearly one of the favorites here this week.
01:07So that's significant news, and he's only 29 years old, so he's not an old dude like you, you know,
01:14with back issues.
01:16Well, it seems like the back twinge seems to be the injury of the season for these golfers.
01:22I mean, Roy McIlroy withdrew from last week's tournament with that same injury.
01:28It's a game-time decision if he's going to tee up or not.
01:32Regardless if he does or he doesn't, Mark, is this something that can affect him, especially as we're getting closer
01:38to the Masters?
01:39Could this injury kind of slow Rory down?
01:44Well, you hope not.
01:45You know, I mean, Brandon, I mean, back injuries for all athletes, and you're an athlete yourself, a former, you
01:50know, football player, they're tricky.
01:52You know what I'm saying?
01:53I don't care how old you are, you know, and they certainly get into your head a little bit because
01:57you're wondering, you know,
01:59hey, am I going to do something to re-aggravate it?
02:01And, you know, Rory practiced, he came over and practiced yesterday afternoon, walked the course with a wedge and a
02:09putter for nine holes.
02:11And, you know, he pronounced himself as kind of hour-to-hour and a game-time decision.
02:16His tee time today is 1.42 in the afternoon.
02:20He said it looks pretty good that he's going to tee it up, which is good news.
02:24But, yeah, I mean, listen, I mean, he's the defending champion here.
02:27He's the defending champion at Augusta, you know, which is just a few weeks away.
02:31And the first major of the season and obviously maybe the most coveted for many and most.
02:36So, you know, I'm sure that that – how does it not be in the back of your mind?
02:40You know, how can you swing freely?
02:42And when you've had those kinds of issues just, you know, several days ago.
02:46I mean, he withdrew from Arnold Palmer on Saturday of last week right before his round.
02:51So kind of similarly to Morikawa today, he just experienced some issues when he was warming up.
02:58And in Morikawa's case, he was on a second hole but just taking a practice swing.
03:03So I think any time you have a back injury, I don't care how old you are, it's going to
03:07be in your head a little bit
03:08just because it's, you know, it's a complicated thing and you don't really know what you're doing to aggravate it.
03:16And golf is very much about, you know, swinging freely and not having to worry about, you know, any kind
03:22of issues like that.
03:24I mean, you know, you can't – you know, golf is as much of a – it's already a mental
03:29grind
03:30without having to worry about those kinds of things.
03:32So if he does tee up, do you think the back will hold up enough for him to, one, make
03:37the cut,
03:38and, two, possibly go on a run and win this thing?
03:42Well, I mean, he won it last year.
03:44He's won it twice.
03:45So if the – I mean, you have to think if he's going to tee it up today, he's confident
03:50the back's going to hold up.
03:51He did say there was no structural damage, that it was a muscular thing.
03:55That's one of the things he revealed yesterday.
03:57So, you know, yes, I think it could certainly hold up.
03:59You know, these guys all have their physios about 24-7 and whatnot,
04:03and he's been basically taking it easy at home all week since he came back from, you know,
04:08from Orlando with the withdrawal.
04:10So, you know, if he is healthy, he absolutely – I mean, I'd be shocked if he didn't make the
04:15cut,
04:16and I'd be surprised if he wasn't in the mix.
04:19But, yeah, again, I mean, I can't emphasize it enough.
04:22You – when you have a back issue, you know, it might not take – it might just take a
04:28little bit to feel that twinge again,
04:31and then it's in your head.
04:33So – but, yeah, Rick Rory is – I think he was – if he tees it up today and
04:38he made it –
04:38he said it pretty confident yesterday that he was going to, that he'll be okay and carry on this week.
04:43Another storyline is everyone is talking about world number one, Scotty Scheffler getting off to a quiet start to the
04:52season.
04:53Are you worried about Scotty's so-called slow start, and does he need to win this tournament
04:59to quiet all the noise and doubt early in the season?
05:03No, you know, the funny thing is, Brandon, I wrote a column on this in the post a couple of
05:07days ago
05:08because, you know, these narratives start – you know, I used to see the narratives come with Twin Tiger
05:13was, you know, not mowing people down like he usually did because, you know, he raised the bar so high.
05:18And Scotty raised the bar so high, he won seven times two years ago, won six times last year.
05:24And, you know, he actually, you know, has won a tournament this year.
05:28You know, he won earlier in the year at one of the first tournaments of the season,
05:31and he had – he's had, like, you know, top ten finishes and a couple of others.
05:36And I spoke to him about it the other day, and, you know, he basically said, you know,
05:40the media's expectations of him are week to week.
05:43He said, mine are shot to shot.
05:45That was, I think, the word he used.
05:46And, you know, the thing to look at is Scotty last year when he won six times
05:52and dominated the tour, he didn't win his first tournament until May.
05:55So as we sit here right now, the players in March, he hadn't won a tournament yet last year.
06:01Yet he was, you know, dominant.
06:04So I have zero worry.
06:07I think that these narratives start to take shape.
06:09He's had issues in his last four tournaments with opening round scores of 70 and above,
06:16which is not really like him.
06:17So that's become a narrative.
06:19Oh, you get off to these slow starts.
06:20You know, I saw this happen with Tiger back in the day.
06:23And then, you know, that narrative would take shape, and then he'd go mow off,
06:27you know, win like four out of five weeks in a row, you know, tournaments in a row.
06:31So I'm not worried about Scotty at all.
06:32The one thing about Scotty, too, Brandon, is he is utterly unaffected by the outside
06:37noise, by anybody else's expectations other than his own.
06:41So he has the perfect mentality for golf.
06:44He's just very straightforward, very flatline.
06:48And, you know, I have no concern of his.
06:51He doesn't have to win this week.
06:52He doesn't have to finish top five.
06:54He'll still be the favorite at Augusta in a few weeks.
06:58Now, you've always said that this tournament is kind of like the true start to the run-up
07:02to the Masters.
07:03So who are some of the golfers that you feel like need to have a great weekend to pick up
07:07some steam and to build some real momentum as we get closer to the Masters?
07:13Well, the one guy I look at, and he's having a pretty good start over here.
07:16I'm just looking at the board.
07:17He's two under par today.
07:21He's coming off an injury, a back injury.
07:23He had a back procedure.
07:25Speaking of backs, that seems to be the theme of the day here.
07:29He came back last week at Arnold Palmer, which is a very difficult golf course to come back
07:35to because that's one of the toughest on tour, and shot a pair of 79s and missed the cut by
07:4020 miles and said he was humiliating and whatnot.
07:43And so he's a guy I look to, you know, and again, I love to see these having a good
07:48start
07:49because he's been very open and transparent about how difficult it was to have that start
07:53last year and how unacceptable it is, even though he's just coming back and he's trying
07:56to give himself some grace.
07:58So I think it'd be a really cool story if he's able to, you know, either win this week
08:02or just, you know, be in the mix, you know, to show that he's back because, you know, he
08:07missed a lot of time, you know, with the back thing.
08:10And so I think he's a guy, you know, that I would look to that would really, really, you
08:14know, boost himself with a good finish this week.
08:17Um, one of the guys, you know, I wouldn't say that he needs it because he's won twice
08:21already, but we've got a local guy from down to the Jersey shore that we're in two towns
08:25over from where I live, uh, Chris Godrup, uh, who's won twice already this year.
08:30And I, I'm fascinated to see where he takes this.
08:33Um, this is, I believe his second, uh, players championship.
08:36So, um, it'll be fun to see how, you know, if he's able to keep this thing going.
08:40He had a fantastic year last year, uh, won the Scottish Open and, and, um, and finished, uh,
08:46I think, I think it was T T third, uh, at the British Open last year.
08:50So he's a cool young guy to keep an eye out for, and he hits the ball a mile.
08:54So I think he's going to be a guy that could be a major factor at Augusta next week or
08:59in
08:59a couple of weeks, I should say.
09:01Outside of Chris Godrup, are there any sleepers out there with healthy backs that we should
09:06keep an eye out for?
09:08Do, do any of us have healthy backs at this point, Brandon?
09:12Um, yeah, yeah, no, there's a few guys.
09:15I mean, you know, so Akshay Batia just won last week, you know, and now I, he's kind of
09:20middling, he's started his round this, you know, just so, so today, but, um, you know, he's a guy
09:25that, you know, if he, you know, it'd be fascinating to see if he can get hot.
09:29Uh, and you know, cause golf is very much a, you know, you can kind of ride that momentum
09:34hits him a little bit, so he's a guy I could see doing something this week.
09:37Siwoo Kim has won here before, you know, he's not like a big name on your, on your starboard,
09:43if you will, but he seems to always play well around here.
09:46Um, I'm also kind of curious to see what happens with Brooks Koepka.
09:50You know, he, this is his, I want to say it's his fourth tournament back since coming, since,
09:54since coming off of Liv, you know, leaving Liv and rejoining the PGA Tour.
09:58Um, and he's slowly gotten better.
10:00His first two starts were pretty dodgy and, uh, um, he played very well a couple of weeks
10:05ago at the Cognizant, uh, I believe he, like, he had a top 10 there.
10:09I think it was T7.
10:10Um, so I'd be curious to see how he does, you know, around here as he gets back into the
10:15fray a little bit with, you know, with the top players in the world.
10:19For our audience that that's watching, Mark is on site at TPC Sawgrass.
10:24He's been around for the events, obviously, uh, out there for the, for the golf tournament
10:28as well, uh, Mark PGA tour, CEO, Brian Rolap kind of announced some major changes to the
10:35PGA and a state of the tour type address.
10:38So what major changes stood out to you that you feel would directly impact one, the tour
10:45and its fans?
10:47Well, it's fascinating.
10:49Uh, Brandon, Brian, um, comes from the NFL.
10:52He was one of Roger Goodell's, you know, right, right hand people, uh, at the, in the
10:56league, uh, with medias, media partnerships and strategy and whatnot.
11:00And he seems to be bringing that kind of mentality here to the PGA tour.
11:05I thought I was very impressed with what I heard from him yesterday.
11:08These are all things that are not in concrete.
11:10These are things that they're working over, you know, ideas they're working over with the
11:13players association, et cetera, and, and, and, and sponsors and tournament directors and
11:18whatnot.
11:18But, you know, the, the biggest theme that I felt that came out of yesterday is he's
11:23trying to make every tournament consequential, you know, you have a lot of tournaments on
11:28the schedule where you have like, you know, less than optimal fields, the big players aren't
11:34playing.
11:34He wants to have, he wants to basically make it so that the tour, the biggest tournaments
11:41on the tour schedule, the fans know that they're going to see the top players there every
11:45week, you know, and, and so he also, so he's kind of, it's a tier system to some degree.
11:51He's going to have 21, 25 top rent, you know, top flight tournaments, if you know, those are
11:57my words.
11:57And then there'll be kind of a second tier group of, of, of PGA tour events where players
12:03can kind of play their way into, you know, the meritocracy, meritocracy system, play their
12:08way into the, the bigger money events.
12:10You know, they call them the elevated events here, the signature events, they have eight
12:14of those right now on the tour schedule.
12:17Roll app says he wants to have at least double that, you know, in the coming years.
12:22And so what's interesting is you, they're looking at, you know, at a little bit of a
12:26relegation system like English soccer does.
12:28So if you're in that top tier of tournaments and playing for the biggest money, if you're
12:33not performing, you're going to slide down to that second tier of tournaments and guys
12:36can get, can get back up to those.
12:38The other thing I liked a lot about it is these signature events right now that he, that are
12:42in place are shorter, smaller field.
12:45There's 70 player fields instead of 120 or 140 or whatever.
12:49And there's no cuts, which I think takes away from the whole meritocracy, you know, system,
12:56if you will, to have no cuts.
12:58He wants to have cuts in all these events.
13:00He wants these events to be at least around 120 players.
13:02So it gives more guys an opportunity.
13:04And there are cut, the cut system, which would, would obviously play into the relegation
13:09that would take place to, you know, back and forth from these second tier events versus
13:13the first year events.
13:14So his biggest thing is he wants to create a situation where almost every golf tournament,
13:19even the second tier events, you know, like in the English Premier League, for example,
13:24there's consequence because you can get your, you can elevate yourself up to the big, you
13:27know, to, you know, to the premiership or you could be relegated.
13:30So he's trying to create more drama.
13:33And I think the things that he laid out, I was pretty fascinated with.
13:37I think that they're all great ideas.
13:39And I think we're going to see these things, you know, come into play in the next couple,
13:43three years.
13:45All right, Mark, have a good time down in Florida, man.
13:47Appreciate you hopping on with us.
13:49Thanks, Brandon.
13:50Be well.
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