00:00So now let's talk Zurich a little bit, because you noted just talking about the structure and the format, the
00:05changes you'd make this competition.
00:07We talked on the show a couple years back about, you know, why wouldn't they move this to the fall
00:11and use it as a de facto match play?
00:14I mean, I'm sorry, just a tune up for a partner competition for the President's Cup or the Ryder Cup.
00:20I think that could be a good option. I actually saw some tweets today in the midst of complaints about
00:26the winner's share, you know,
00:28all the trappings that Alex Fitzpatrick earned through this event of people saying this should combine the team format with
00:35the match play format
00:36to make it so that there's a little bit more of an interest, because that's something we've lost on the
00:40PGA Tour in the past few years,
00:42going away from when it was at Austin Country Club.
00:45What's this idea you've been cooking up in relation to the format of Zurich?
00:49Honestly, that's kind of it. You're taking the idea.
00:54Oh, look at that. Look at that.
00:56So I do like the idea of, so the best ball thing is where I'm like, gosh, is that the
01:04best way to, you know,
01:06two days of that at this golf course? I mean, they just tear it up, right?
01:09Yeah.
01:10It's about how many birdies you make that day, and then it seems like the tournament's all about the alternate
01:13shot.
01:15And I just wonder, it's like, okay, can we just do just 36 holes of qualifying like we do, have
01:23a cut?
01:24And instead of cutting it to 30 or so, guys, let's cut it to the top 16 teams.
01:31So 30, 32 teams, right?
01:33And from there, we're going to have nine hole matches.
01:37Like, this is member guest city.
01:39All right.
01:40I love this.
01:40So think of a PGA Tour member guest.
01:43And you'll play nine hole matches.
01:45So right from the get-go, it's if you want to do best ball the first hole on the odds,
01:51and then even holes is alternate shot.
01:53I mean, just make it to where this is right from the get-go.
01:58You've got to bring your stuff, and it's not a drawn-out 18-hole deal.
02:03I wouldn't say pool play is the best way to go about it because you just had it cut, right?
02:07So you now got your 16 teams, and you just play match play, nine hole matches,
02:13and then maybe have that last match be an 18-hole match where you do nine holes of best ball,
02:19nine holes of alternate shot, or whatever you want to do.
02:21Nine holes, 18 holes of alternate shot because that's such a fun format.
02:25But when I was thinking about it, I was like, I'll tell you what, I would tune in on a
02:29Saturday
02:30right from the get-go to watch match play.
02:34And this is like a really fun version of it.
02:36You can mix up some of the different elements, but what are your thoughts there?
02:41I love that.
02:42And I was even, my absurd suggestion to you was going to be, let's just take this.
02:47We have all these pro-ams on the PGA Tour.
02:51And what if we had a different twist on the pro-am where it was like, you're the pro,
02:55you qualify for this, you can pick whoever you want.
02:57You can play with your dad, and he's getting 17 shots, and he's playing against some other
03:01person there, and their brother, their cousin, or something like that.
03:04You can just pick whoever you want and show up and make it.
03:06And that's obviously a little bit in the trending, the absurd, silly suggestion direction.
03:10But I do love the idea of, okay, if you're going to push the boundaries of the suggestion
03:17of the format, like, let's really kind of make it fun and unique and different.
03:21So the stakes of match play, I, I, I, you know, you get excited, right?
03:25Like you get excited when you beat somebody, you make a big putt.
03:28It's a fist bump.
03:29We're on to the next round, man.
03:30And, and, and the better ball format is really to your point.
03:33It's like, I mean, you look at some of the scorecards.
03:35I think the Fitzpatrick's were nine under or better on their, their, their second nine
03:39yesterday on Saturday.
03:41And these guys, especially if they have a partner to back them up, like they're always going
03:45to shoot nothing, I think maybe that changes a little bit if you're playing a match, right?
03:48I mean, it's still like something you'd see in the Ryder cup or the president's cup, but
03:52there's more strategy involved.
03:53And, you know, if you're going to make a birdie and they're going to make a birdie, it's a
03:56little bit of a different calculus.
03:57So I think that, um, I, yeah, I like that a lot.
04:00And I do like the, the member guestification of it, of like, we're going to nine hole matches,
04:05really going to lean into the absurdity of it, uh, and, and, and make something different.
04:09And I don't know if it would impact field strength and the, the knock on, you know, the other
04:12thing you have to kind of look at is, okay, are we still going to give out a two-year
04:16winner's exemption and 400 FedExCup points?
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