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Hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lab. We were going to do our semi-annual draft of today's top players in advance of Thursday's NFL draft. That is why I'm wearing a University of Georgia polo in anticipation of three dogs being selected in round one, but no.

This is far too busy of a golf schedule to get into that sort of nonsense potentially down the line in a couple of weeks. Rex, you are clearly in New Orleans. I hear the birds chirping. The storms have gone away. Roy McIlroy is making his triumphant return to competition following the Masters. There's an LPGA major at the Chevron Championship. There's also a live event at Chapultepec in Mexico. How is your time so far in the Crescent City? So

So much food. And also, you're not going to notice this. Maybe you are. You're from the south. That's a big magnolia tree with all the flowers on it. Look at it. Nothing says south like that one. That's very impressive. I know the storms have not moved through. I'll probably get rained on halfway through this podcast. You and I both know how much we both love this city. I've done a very good job, even without your direction. Normally, you map out a very clear...

game plan when it comes exactly where you want me to eat. I've been here since Monday. I've already had a couple of unbelievably good meals. As I've said before in the past, there's nothing better than Wednesday here at the Zurich Classic because the range, which is just behind me a little bit, is filled with delicious food from all kinds of Drago's and Pascal Manali's and so many good places. So it's a good eating week. I have to admit, coming off of essentially two weeks with one of those weeks being the Masters, I probably need to take a break at some point.

If I'm being honest, I wish someone would have told me in pre-production that we were doing a draft because I'm totally unprepared for that. We did it a couple years ago. It was very well received. A couple of players were were egregiously omitted. Others were dismissed roundly, such as Ludwig Oberg, who all he did after that.

was make the Ryder Cup team during the pro-am recs. They still have the little stations like every two or three holes, right? Of local New Orleans restaurants stopping by and offering their delicacies. Oh, man. Great tournament.

I hate the golf course. We'll get into its timing on the schedule, but I certainly do love Pro-Am. By far the best Pro-Am. Commissioner said today. I heard him. Perfect spot on the schedule. No, that's what he said. Strongly disagree. All right. The reason why you are in New Orleans, Rex, of course, is Roy McIlroy. He is the defending champion along with Shane Lowry, the one in the tournament last year. And Roy is returning to competition this week. The first time in a week and a half.

since the Masters, as he outlined on Wednesday with reporters, took a little break, flew with the family to London to check out the house they're building. I can only imagine the size of that thing. They headed on to Northern Ireland to see his parents, see Michael Bannon, his longtime swing coach, see Harry Diamond's family as well. What does it say to you, Rex, that Roy didn't just

you know, take this week off, cancel his commitment with Shane Lowry. And then, Hey, we'll see you again at the PGA championship in a couple of weeks. To be clear, I would have been here with or without Rory, but it was on my schedule. I'm working for golf central and golf today. This week as the reporter, I am the boot on the ground as we called Todd Lewis famously on Sunday night. So I would have been here either way. So just to clear that up for everyone involved, including our bosses. It is interesting. I was actually having dinner on Monday night with some folks from Shane Lowry circle and

And they actually told me that Shane gave him the out from the very beginning. That, look, if you don't want to come, if you don't want to defend the title, certainly understood. After everything that happened at Augusta, it's a career, it's a lifetime achievement. Take as much time as you want and sort of enjoy it as much as you can. It does speak volumes about not only Rory McIlroy, but the friendship that he has with Shane and what last year's victory meant to him. When I spoke with Rory this morning and Shane, I did an interview that ran on Golf Today and Golf Central yesterday.

I think he's here because of how much he enjoyed last year. And I asked him specifically about, did you hear the golf channel cameraman walk by John Faco and Dougie fresh? Always good. They don't understand. See, if they were on the camera. Yes. But then get out of the shot. Yes. Get out of the shot. He says the lights are too bright. Lavner said, yeah, I know you find that hard to believe a long time. Cameraman, Johnny Faco, Rambo's he's a madman. No, it's a testament to not,

not just who Rory is as a person, but also what that victory meant to them. Last year, I asked Rory point blank, do you take more from a victory if it's an individual victory versus a team victory? And you count this week and certainly what he's been able to accomplish at the Ryder Cup, and he actually said team victories.

victories. He said, because the reward, the satisfaction is so much higher. And I think we saw that last year in the celebration that Shane and Rory enjoyed. And it was clear Rory's under the weather and talk today about the ID barely was able to get out of bed on Monday. He's been traveling a lot. There's been a lot going on in his life. So I wouldn't have to, I wouldn't have very high expectations for

for his game this week. But yeah, it's obviously huge for the tournament for him to be here. Yeah, sounded a little stuffy. He said it's a cold, not necessarily a hangover that he's been nursing for the past two weeks after the Masters. I watched the press conference, Rex, on Wednesday on the feed that the PGA Tour provides, and I couldn't help but chuckle because Rory, to your point, said that it's more fun to win as a team. And somewhere in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, Yasir's ears had to have perked up

Because he and the rest of the folks with live golf have been, they gotta be thinking like we've been saying this since 2022, like team golf is where it's at. It's the future. It's so much fun. It's a brotherhood. There's camaraderie. It's more fun to win as a team. The obviously, I think if Roy McIlroy was, was asked to elaborate on that, he would say, look, this is a very fun one-off.

It's a change from the personal satisfaction you can get with just you and your caddy, maybe your swing coach and trainer, a very small team when you win an individual tournament like the Masters. Yes, there's something to be said for collective achievement, and it's more fun when you're both invested in hitting the shots and the eventual outcome. But players of Rory's ilk clearly...

clearly don't want to do this 14 times a year. I think they're more than happy doing this once at the Zero Classic and, of course, in September in the fall at the Ryder Cup.

Well, and of course, this would have been a question that you would have loved the idea yesterday when I was on golf today. And I think you guys might have done it on the roundtable on Monday. The idea of this is so successful and we've seen this event grow from where it was in 2017 to kind of a must stop for a lot of players on the PGA Tour. And is there a way we can take what they do here and put it into another event?

I don't think, I think you're right. I don't think it works anywhere else. I don't think players want to have it more than once a year. I kind of threw out the idea that maybe you could do some sort of mixed team event. We know they announced last week that they're going to have a mixed team event at the Olympics between the men's individual competition and the women's individual competition. That might be cool. We have the Grant Thornton, which is in the challenge season, but if you could,

somehow find a way to work something into the regular PGA tour and LPGA tour schedule. I think that would be cool, but I don't see this being replicated anywhere else. No,

No, I would agree with that. I still think there's a spot on the PGA Tour schedule for a standalone match play tournament, which had been on the PGA Tour schedule for decades, hasn't been played since 2023. I still think that's missing. But yeah, once you start getting into alternate formats, it sort of gimmicks down what is the clear-cut

best competitive tour on the planet. I think the PG tour has, has tried to walk a very fine line of having the absolute best competition while also catering to, to,

to both sponsors, fans, and players who want to just do something a little bit different throughout the course of the season. And I did want to point out, I tried, you watched the press conference, so you saw it. I tried very deftly to get the commissioner to transition from talking about this tournament to the tour championship. They talked about the new tour championship format last week in a player advisory council meeting at Hilton Head. It's getting to the point now, according to various sources, where

have told me that they have an idea of what it's going to look like this year, and it'll probably evolve into something different beyond that, that they're closing in on some ideas of what they want the format to look like. So I tried to do the tiptoe and get the commissioner to talk about that when he wanted to talk about Zurich, and he wasn't biting. He only talked about Zurich, but I tried. Kudos to you. I did watch that as well. It seemed like a big nothing burger as related to pediatric commissioner Jay Monahan, but it's not asked anymore.

about the state of affairs. Then I asked him, there's another meeting on the docket with your serial or mine of the PIF. Really? It was just celebrating the fact that Zurich has re-upped its commitment to the PGA tours, another sponsorship to the end of 2030, just to go back a bit on Rory and Rex. I don't think that this week is probably going to be a very good indication of

of what we're going to see from Rory over the next couple of weeks. He's got a cold, as we mentioned. He's clearly a little bit rusty. Shane Lowry is probably going to have to shoulder at least a bit of the load over the first couple of days of the Zurich. But this sense of Rory being freed up

I wanted to get into. And, and he talked about, you know, at least Sunday at Augusta, the burden being lifted in his press conference on Wednesday, he talked about the notion of being a little bit taken aback by how much his victory resonated with people, not just in sports, but also entertainment and culture saying that two presidents even reached out to him in the aftermath. Where do you, where do you fall on, on Roy being freed up and going on a tear or,

Or Rory being unburdened and sort of, you know, taking the foot off the accelerator, I guess, for the rest of 2025. You would be proud of my journalistic moment following those comments. He didn't say which president. So after I got done doing my live to tape with him for Golf Today and Golf Central, I asked him who. Like, I have an idea of who one was, but who was the other? And he said President Trump and President Obama. And my immediate response was.

My immediate response was not only did you win the career grand slam, but you found a way to bridge the political gap that separates the United States and get us right back to the center. Good for you. Way to go, Rory. Well done. Fantastic work out of you. He actually told me a funny story. He said it happened on Monday. President Obama called him like 3 p.m., which congratulations. It was a short conversation. And he said a few hours later, he missed a call from Washington, D.C. And he said he immediately knew I probably need to call that one back. And of course, it was the White House, the switchboard. And they put President Trump on.

on the line and his response to me is he wanted to talk about every shot on Sunday that I hit. And my response to that was, you probably didn't want to talk about some of those shots, did you? What were you doing with your third shot on 13?

14, how do you make bogey with your tee shots? Some of those shots he probably didn't want to revisit, if we're being honest. But it is really cool, and it gives you an idea of how this resonated. You're right. Really across not just sports, but across the landscape of the world. It's a good question, and I think you're right. We're not going to get that answer this week. I don't know that we get the answer the rest of this season, if I'm being honest with you. Because...

He could continue to go on a tear, and it's fun. I talk with a lot of players, and Hilton Head last week spoke with a couple of guys this week. The consensus among the people around him, the players, his contemporaries, is this is only going to free him up. This is only going to make him hungrier. This is only going to put him in a position where he no longer has that quote-unquote burden that he talked about hanging over him that was there before. He no longer has to struggle anymore.

to find motivation going into Augusta. It's going to be there because you're eating in the fancy locker room that no one else gets to eat in and you're wearing the green jacket when you do it. I think that's the consensus, but certainly we have seen players go the other way. David Duvall, I think, is the example that I always fall back on. He got to the top of the mountain. He won a major championship, got to world number one, and kind of realized that, is this it? Is this what I've worked my entire life to do and didn't really follow through?

after that. I think there is always a danger of getting there and wanting to exhale hail and wanting to sort of enjoy it. I don't think Rory does that as I think Sahith Tagala told me last week, he's not going to do it because he's a quote unquote sicko, but it will be fun to watch him as he goes through the season. Even Xander Shoffa, the world number three player who won two major championships last year said that look, Roy McRoy having this burden lifted makes him scary to

to the rest of the competitors because of what he's capable of producing. I do think it's a really interesting question to examine because even Rory said on Wednesday, like I will never play a tougher round of golf the rest of my career than what he faced at Augusta national. So everything by comparison should be relatively easier. Like that should be scary to the rest of the competitors that even a major championship pressure still pales to what he was experiencing inside the ropes at Augusta national. And,

I can see the one point where you'd want to capitalize on this form. He was winning his season ever on the PGA Tour. It was in 2012 when he won four times. It's the most he's ever won on the PGA Tour. He has the Ryder Cup off the distance as well five months from now. But Damon Hack, I thought, Rex, on Wednesday made a great sort of analogy to Tiger Woods in 2001, which I think we can both agree was the last –

you know, seriously consequential major round. That was sort of analogous to what Roy McIlroy faced trying to complete the career grants. I'm potentially saying that this is a, a once in a lifetime opportunity. And David made the point that after the tiger slam and Oh one,

Tiger did not finish in the top 10 in a major championship the rest of the way. The next three majors that he played in, despite having a really good season in 01, he did not contend. And in fact, he was, you know, relative to his very high standards,

poor substandard in those following major championships. I'm not saying that Roy is going to do there, but I do think it's sort of a fascinating look into what could happen over these next couple of months. And I think I can't wait to see what happens.

Well, and we had this conversation, I think, a couple of times since then. Like, well, what's what's next on the to do list? Like, what are the boxes he needs to check off now? And I think we both agree that, OK, the Ryder Cup, whether as a player or certainly as a captain, is going to drive him. He's not going to decide that. OK, I have accomplished everything I need to. It's time for me to enjoy the beach in South Florida. I don't think that's in his DNA. And then the Olympics.

just winning a medal in the Olympics. We know how much that means to him. That's not to say that winning another green jacket or becoming the all-time most winningest European or some of the other things that he has mentioned in the past still doesn't drive him. I can see him having a bit of a lull, certainly just from an energy point of view. The buildup to Augusta, the energy that he expended there, I did think, like you, it was interesting to say that's the hardest round of golf ever.

I've ever going to, I'm ever going to play like, forget about in the past. Let's just market right now. Like nothing's ever going to get harder than that. I can imagine how that takes a toll on him physically and mentally. And he does maybe check out a little bit over the next few months, but I also will point to historically, he plays his best golf almost every year in and year out during a Ryder cup year. So it's going to be fun to watch, but yeah, I get where you're coming from.

Plenty more on Rory on Sunday nights, record Monday. If you're watching on linear television, another major championship this week, Rex is a Chevron. We're going to have Amy Rogers golf channel insider on the program on Sunday night for a full recap. Should be a great week at Carlton woods. Now like court is a defending champion. She is winless in 2025, just like Scotty Scheffler, a genothetical Charlie hole, generating some buzz, trying to win their first major championship as well. Lydia co however, nursing a little bit of a neck injury. Again, Amy Rogers on the podcast today,

Sunday. The other tournament Rex this week is live returning in Mexico. Bryce Nishambo, Patrick Reed had good weeks at the masters. Does that tournament have your attention at all? Or are you all Zurich all the time? Well,

Well, I'm here working, so no, it's going to be all Zurich all the time. However, I would be paying attention only because it's another PGA Tour golf course. It's something we can compare to. Now, it was a bit of a different golf course because of the elevation, and it's a bit on the short side. Anyway, so it always felt like a weird place for PGA Tour players to be comparing.

to be competing. However, yeah, I think that part will interest me. You're right. I want to see what Bryson does coming off of what was, I'm sure disappointing on Sunday at the masters. P read showed some form. There were some other players that you would expect to continue to play well. And this goes to the conversation I think that we had before. And we sort of locked into during the Texas open when the tour was in San Antonio and live golf was at Doral. That was going to be the window that everyone agreed that if live golf is going to make up some sort of ground from a ratings perspective,

that's where they can do it. I think the numbers played out. It clearly in the tour's favor and it didn't seem like live golf made up much ground. This will be another opportunity and we'll see exactly what the fans think of the product. That's what this boils down to. And we all know what the players think of the product. We know what both sides think of their product and what they think of the division in golf right now. But this is an opportunity for the fans to speak. I think that's a good point as well. I mentioned earlier, like,

The Zurich and the team format being a fun one-off. I always, I always enjoyed watching Chipotle pack when it was hosting the WGC event. Like it's 8,000 feet elevation. Guys are hitting 400 yard tee shots. They're driving par fours. Like it's, it's a lot of fun. I'm not sure it's necessarily, you know, the, the best, the best tournament venue. You're, you know, you're going to crown the best winner. If you, if you played that style of golf weekend and week out, I do think it's interesting to point out that it's just Mexico and

and then an event in South Korea the next couple weeks ahead of the PGA Championship for live golfers. So a Jon Rahm, who even though he finished strong on the weekend at the Masters, posted a top 15 finish, he was a complete non-factor. Brooks Koepka no-showed. Not a whole lot of time to get these guys tournament tested and see exactly where they stand on two golf courses, again, in Mexico and South Korea that might not necessarily be major championship events.

tests. All right. We've gone far enough, Rex. What have you been eating in New Orleans and what are your plans for the rest of the week? I snapped you some pictures. You didn't clearly didn't save them to put them up on the pod. So I won't even gas bag to see because you clearly haven't done it. You didn't do the producer. It was on Snapchat. They disappear on Snapchat. Everyone knows. No, you can save the pictures or take a screenshot like there's a couple of different things you can do. I actually it was flooding on Monday. There was flash flooding on Monday when I landed. A couple of folks

weren't even able to get off their plane. So I couldn't really venture out on Monday, but there is a really cool restaurant that actually I would recommend to you the next time you come to town. It's called the Tackle Box. It's attached to the hotel. Did not receive good ratings. If the owner of the Tackle Box is watching this podcast, I hope not. But I was not impressed once I Googled it. It was not roundly received.

No, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was pretty good. There was a bunch of tour folks in there. It was good conversation, good dinner and enjoyed myself. And then last night, my wife and I were married here. Her family is from New Orleans. We got married at Jesuit, which is right next to the hotel where I'm staying. Ironically, it took me a second to figure that one out. Didn't recognize it.

And then where we had our reception is a hotel called the Hotel Montleon. And they have a carousel bar, like famous carousel bar. So I went and had a Sazerac there last night. And then afterwards, right across from there, right across the street is, oh yeah, is Mr. B's. And so I ate at the bar and it was fantastic. That is the first time you didn't respond to my Snapchat. That's the first time I've had oysters probably in close to 20 years.

i had a bad experience at a restaurant i'm not even going to name here in new orleans and it was so bad acne i'm not going to name to be clear casamentos i'm not going to name please respect my privacy my family's privacy uh

So I don't know what possessed me. Now they were fried. So there's only so much they can do. Anyway, last night they were absolutely delicious. They were so good. And as a matter of fact, they were so good. I went to Drago's today and had charred world oysters and I'm back on the wagon. I'm back, baby. He's back. Some people are back in the booze. Rex is back on the oysters. No, I did respond to your Snapchat and it was very, uh, I was very annoyed because you, you did, you did the carousel bar, uh,

Sazerac, chef's kiss, absolute perfection. You went across the street to Mr. B's and did not get what Mr. B's is famous for.

Mr. Beast is famous for its barbecue shrimp. I don't care if you go three or four times for barbecue shrimp throughout the course of the week. Everyone in New Orleans does it differently. Shame on you for going to Mr. Beast and not getting it. I am glad, however, that you're back on oysters because I love oysters. I love raw oysters. I love steamed oysters. I love grilled oysters. I love charbroiled oysters. I love broiled oysters. I love fried oysters. I love oysters in general. Take it easy.

But barbecue shrimp, you needed to have it. That was a huge, huge mistake. It was not. It was actually planned out. You're going to have a hard time believing that. I'm going out tonight with a friend of mine who's a caddy here on the PGA Tour, and this is our annual tradition whenever we're in town together. Pascal Manali's is the home of the original barbecue shrimp. That's the recipe I use when I'm home. So, no, I wasn't going to have barbecue shrimp and back-to-back nights.

nights. I do the Mr. B's recipe, ironically enough, when I do barbecue shrimp at home, Cajun style. It is absolutely delicious. My father, who was just in New Orleans on a sibling's trip with his brothers and sister, went to Pascal Manali's last week as well. Dozen raw oysters, barbecue shrimp,

And then I believe bananas foster has actually been taken off the menu. Best of luck. Maybe a chocolate mousse potentially as you also wash it down with a couple of betas. A bit of strawberries, a personal favorite of mine. I look forward to your snappy chats. Make sure you save those pictures because folks, we can bring it to you on Sunday night. I have the technology in order to input it on the linear television.

All right. That is going to do it for this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lad. If you guys want to drill, NBCSports.com slash golf for all latest news, notes, and updates. Rex and I will be back on Sunday night for a full recap of the Zurich Classic, Chevron Championship, Live Golf at Chapultepec, and anything else that happens in the world of golf. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. Talk to you guys on Sunday night. I didn't have barbecue shrimp and back-to-back nights.

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