Cho Minn Thant

is just like the other weeks. Another good guest, Chowman that the commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour UM. I think one of the fallouts between all the stuff going on in professional golf right now, with the drama between the PGA Tour and Live UM, the DP World Tour, the European Tour UM, they've had to change things and the Asian Tour is definitely now. I think the Asian Tour is going to be on the rise. I think you're gonna to see more players. UM look at Asia

as as a legit option. They've got their international series which are kind of their version of elevated events. But um, you know, Cho talks a lot about Tom Kim is a product of the Asian Tour, and I think we're going to see more players come out of that um, out of that tour. So I was really excited to get a chance to talk to Cho. But before we get to that interview, let's take short break to thank our partner for wellness. You guys have heard me talk about it. I'm a big fan of their coffee, big

fan of the good stuff. I put it in my coffee on a regular basis. The thing I like about it, no sugars, no artificial sweeteners. It's gotten me off dairy. Um. I've quit putting sweeteners sugars in just the good stuff. But I also put the good stuff, put a scoop of that in my coffee. But I also put it in smoothies and take it on the road with me. And the other thing that I've been using are their energy bites. UM. I keep them with me on the

golf course. UM. A lot of times when I'm out on tour, I don't have a lot of time to sit and eat. So these energy bites, a little coffee hit, a little bit of energy. UM. All the good stuff, all natural and UM. If you haven't given those to try check those out. They've given me a special code to share with somen of a Butcher listeners. You can get off your order, plus free shipping and a free starter kit worth thirty dollars for a limited time when

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the Asian Tour CEO and commissioner. Show men. Thank all right, um Joe, if someone had told you man, I've said, there's a bunch of players as well. The golf landscape, the tour landscape has really really changed. I know, the Asian Tour has always been a huge part of the professional game in How excited are you about the things that are happening on the Asian Tour and what is kind of the runway and the future that that you think that you are Guys as a tour can provide

to golfers around the world. Well, I mean, first and foremost, we're just delighted to be in this position. I mean, two years ago, we couldn't play golf because in Asia the borders were shut. Um, there was no telling when they were going to open again. So to be in this position, having restarted our tour in November of last year with nineteen months of no golf is remarkable. I mean, we restarted the tour in November of last year, and um,

up until now, we've played nineteen events. We're going to finish the year on twenty one events, and um, it's a great position to be in without knowing where we were going to be, um eighteen months ago. So really really happy and probative where we are right now. You know, the global pandemic that everybody went through, I don't think people realized that a lot of it was dependent on where you were living. Obviously we were living in the US. The PGA Tour was one of the first professional sports

organization globally that started back up. But in Asia, I mean a lot of uh, what was happening in in Asia and people's daily lives were just really really decimated by the pandemic. And I think you know, I lived in Florida through the pandemic, and you almost didn't think there was um a global pandemic going on because we stayed open. We were working. But in Asia, I mean for a tour like the Asian Tour, which services so many players around the world, Um, it must have been very,

very different. How did you all manage the fact that you had, effectively for almost two years close the door. I mean it was tough. It was really tough for our members who didn't know when they were going to tee it up. And let's not forget golfers their profession. They didn't have a job for two years. Um. And the word you use right, they're decimated is probably the

best word to describe it. I mean, we traveled to eighteen different countries on the Asian Tour, and without being able to access those countries through air travel, there was no way we were going to be able to run tournaments. So I mean, even today you have Hong Kong and China still without borders fully open. We still can't operate in those two markets, and we're lucky to be doing so in Thailand, in Taiwan, um in the countries that

we've we've been able to play in. So yeah, I mean it's it's it was tough, but we're out of it now and flying. The Asian Tour were started in nineteen was the first full season in the time between when the Asian Tour started versus today in two Um, what role do you think the Asian Tour has played on the global stage of professional golf? I mean, obviously, the PGA Tour is has been the holy grail of

professional golf. Every golfer around the world over the last twenty five years, that is not from the United States. I mean, everybody in the US wants to play in America, so that was always the goal. But for outside of America, the goal was to try and find a pathway. And I've I've heard you in interview say your job is the Asian Tours to provide a pathway to further the careers of golfers in Asia and and around the world. But where and how did you all get to where

you are today, to where you are now. One of the six tours that are part of that international um professional golf, you know, federations around the world, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, all the different tours, what what how did you guys get there? Well, I think go One of the main misconceptions about the Asian Tour is that it's just the Asia players, and that's not correct. I mean, we operate in the Asian region, that's our

bread and butter. But anyone who wants to come to qualifying school, anyone who qualifies from any different any nationality, can come and play the Asian Tour. And we've seen the Asian Tour as a pathway to the European Tour in the past, all the way up to the PGA Tour, and I mean it's it's I mean quite easy to look back on the names that have come through the

Asian Tour. I mean if you look at Cameron Smith and he came through the Asian Tour very recently, I'd say within the last ten years, where um he went to corn Ferry Qualifying School, didn't make it through, came to Asian to a qualifying school because that was the

next available qualifying school on the calendar. Played a stellar year in Asia, got into the cimb Classic, which was co sanctioned with the PGA Tour, at the time and then worked his way through by coming top five and top tendeth and then he got his PGA to a card and he's number two in the world today. So I mean that's a perfect example of a guy coming through the Asian Tour, spending a bit of time they're honing their craft and then getting a good break by

playing well and moving their way up. Yeah. I think you know, the list is long and distinguished of the players that have come through UM the former European Tour which is now the Deep World Tour, Sergio Adam Scott, you know, Trevor Immelman, Justin Rose. I mean, those type of players. But I think people forget sometimes that when they arrive. I guy like Cam Smith, who's the current Players Champion, the current Open Champion, and like you said,

the number two ranked player in the world. You forget that coming from Australia, the pathway wasn't always if you were outside the US. UM. Yes, a lot of players came through the European system. The Ryder Cup we got to see them do that, but there have been loads of players UM that have come through UM Asia and and and it is and I think a lot of the players coming from Australia have been able to use the the Asian Tour as a springboard to try and

get to the next level exactly. I mean Australia aphtically is very close to Asia, but there's a lot of guys who come out of college in the States as well and want to take the path list traveled. UM, you have guys like David Lipsky, Kurt kid A Yama I'll come through our system, perform well on the Asian Tour and then work their way up. So uh yeah, it's great to see these guys performing on the world stage. And most recently Tom Kim, I mean, I mean what

a story. I mean, three years ago, the guy came to Asian to a qualifying school and a sixteen seventeen year old exactly and didn't even make it through. He didn't get through to UM the Asian Tour, so he had to play on the Asian Development Tour. He won three times on the Asian Development Tour, and I mean, let's face it, these guys are playing for sixty to seventy thousand dollars a week on that tour, trying trying

to make a living. So he's gone through uh the ad t come onto the Asian Tour one twice, gone through a pandemic where he couldn't play the Asian Tour, but he played back home in Korea on the Korean Tour. One order of Merit, came out to the Asian Tour when we restarted one R order of Merit, and he is where he is today. You've mentioned the Asian Developmental that started in two thousand and ten. What was the

imparticipatory but around why you wanted to do that. You've got the Asian Tour, but was the idea based off of the PGA tour model to PGA Tour Um Canada, PGA Tour Latin America, PGA Tour China to have a way for players to say, Okay, right now you can't play the Asian Tour, but we're going to talk to me about why you guys did that and how successful that has been and and and has that helped you

get players to the actual Asian Tour. I mean absolutely, I mean it was a it was a thing that we created to support the guys who didn't come top thirty five at qualifying school. I mean, paying your two thousand dollars to come to Qualifying School, seven hundred guys playing for thirty five spots. I mean outside of that, if you don't make the grade, what do you do? Um, So we decided to put on the Development Tour strictly

not not for profit. We're not making money off those events, UM, and the players, i'd say, aren't making that much money on that tour either. But at the end of the tunnel, if you come top ten on the A d T, you have your Asian Tour card, and I guess the Asian Tour card is more valuable than ever now. And I mean that's what we're seeing with qualifying school going

into three. Um, just off the back of what we're doing, uh, and where we are right now, the Asian two Qualifying School is completely fully subscribed and we have a reserve list of about a hundred and twenty players just hungry to get onto the Asian Tour. So that's testament to how far we've come. You mentioned, um, the Asian Tour places in so many different countries. UM, I think it is very much. Um. The European Tour has kind of

evolved and changed. Um. There I started working on the European Tour with players in the early two thousand, two thousand one, two thousand two, and there were so many more tournaments in Europe then there are today. There are a lot of tournaments all over the world that are European Tour events, a lot of tournaments in the Middle East. Um, how have you all managed to keep the Asian Tour in Asia. It's not like there's an Asian Tour event in the United States. It's not like there's an Asian

Tour event in South Africa. I think it's one of the cool things about the Asian Tours. It has kept a lot of kind of I get not so much to eat those but the feel of you're going to play in Asia, because a lot of times now guys are going to play in tours and you're like, we're playing on this tour, but we're in this location and

it doesn't feel the same. I mean for us, I mean the bread and butther is Southeast Asia and we don't even have that made many tournaments in North Asia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore. I mean, that's that's where we play, UM, and it's it's exotic, the foods, great, the destinations, a great um for our players to see um and it's just a great place to be. The atmosphere on the Asian Tour, it's it's not like the PGA Tour. It's not like the PGA of the European Tour. We stay in the

same hotel, we traveled together. It's a it's one big family in the hospitality. Weekend week Out's fantastic. So let's take a short break and we will be back right after this. All right, let's get back to the interview we just um believe tour was just in Bangkok. Um as the guy that's running the Asian Tour, um, you mentioned to me that the crowds there were off the charts. Um that for for an Asian tournament in Asia. I mean, and the PGA Tour has played in Malaysia, they've played

in various ways. But to see those crowds last week, it just shows you how much Asian golf and and it does have a fan base. Now sure, I mean, I think that was quote unquote Asia's major last last week. I mean the caliber of players that we had that um Brooks kept. You had Dustin Johnson, you had Phil Nichols and Cam Smith. The list goes on. I don't think we've ever had a tournament with that many high

caliber players play in Asia before. Um. We've had Tiger Com, We've had a Honeycom, We've had a few players come for the Thailand Golf Championship, but to get this amount of high quality players has never been seen before. And the proof was in the crowds that turned up last week. Um. I mean, you can't expect crowds that that you see weekend week out in America. But for Asia, what was

present at stone Hill last week was incredible. Um. And people flew in from Singapore, they flew in from Taipei, they flew in from the Philippines, and it was just a great week for them. Yeah. I mean I was at the event in Bangkok, and you know when you watch I think a lot of people when they watch golf on TV and they see golf tournaments where they don't see a lot of people, they don't realize one how popular golf is in America, how popular the PGA tourist.

But I was saying, you know, DJ Brooks are the players that I worked with. We were all saying the crowds were very similar to what you see in Abu Dhabi. You see in Dubai, which are some of the big flagship events on the European Tour. Um. You mentioned the

vibe on the Asian Tour. One of the things I think is is great about the Asian Tour is you're pretty much guaranteed, although you're guaranteed it's going to rain every day, you're guaranteed that you're going to be playing golf on at an Asian Tour event in the sunshine, in good weather. I think that's also a huge, huge part of the draw for players wanting to go out and and try and play in Asia. Sure. And the

connectivity as well. I mean playing in Bangkok, playing in Kuala Lumpo, are playing in Singapore, there's direct flights from every capital city, um. And it's it's just easy to get to. It's a great week that's not too stressful, um. And it's just an enjoyable atmosphere. So I mean we get that type of comment from a lot of guys that come and visit. We're I mean in professional golf is a business, um, the business community and and the partners that you all have, UM, where do you all

find them? And what use the typical partner that you will have at the the Asian Tour that wants to be a part of sponsoring a tournament and sponsoring the tour. Well. I think this is where we we are greatly different to the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour. A lot of our tournaments, which are long established tournaments, are put on by people who just love golf. It's not

a corporate exercise. It's not for branding, it's not for hospitality. Uh. They are just individuals who love having golf uh played in their country at their golf course, and they just put it in the year in, year out. Um. Some of our tournaments have been going for twenty thirty years. Even pre Asian Tour, they used to put on tournaments for their domestic circuits and it's just a love for the game. UM. I mean what we've seen this year

is another dimension where the International Series has come on board. UM. The destinations that we're going to, the support that we're getting from Live Golf, UM adds another layer to the Asian Tour. Uh. That's that's part of our fabric. Now you mentioned, um the Asian Tours relationship with Lift Golf. Obviously, the PGA Tour just signed a I believe a thirteen year deal with DP World, the former European Tour, their

strategic alliance. Was that something that you looked at and said, okay, well, in order for us to continue to try and stay, um, keep pace with what's going on around the world globally. UM, the decision to choose Live as a partner. You mentioned the International Series. Um, obviously there is so much toxicity and professional golf right now. That decision to to do that, UM, I'm guessing that wasn't a an easy decision, not a

decision that you took lightly. I mean, like we weighed up the pros and contents, but at the end of the day, it was so heavily waited towards going with Live that it was not a difficult decision in there. UM. I think had we'd stayed aligned with the PGA Tour in European Tour, we would have always stayed defeated to it to the European Tour, where in this case we're expanding, we're growing as fast as we want to grow, and

where true partners would live. So, I mean, if if our players want to go out there and play other tours, they're welcome to do so. If they want to play on the Asian Tour and try and get into the Live Tour and work their way up, then that's also fine, and we're not restrictive on our members on where they can play and where they can't play. When when Lives started, there were a lot of players from Asia that a

lot of golf fans in America hadn't heard of. But for you, as someone you know involved with the running of the Asian Tour, it must have been heartening for you to say, okay, these are This is an opportunity for players that we see all the time play in Asia get an opportunity to play on a bigger stage. Sure, it's been a big, huge, it's been a huge bonus for us to see our guys progress into the live invitationals.

This year. We get five to six guys in every single field of the eight tournaments that are being held this year, so it's exciting. It's great for them and it's been a huge learning experience for them as well. I mean, you look at Saddam from Thailand, who's played i'd say every one of these live events. I think the experience on live enabled him to play well in the Open Championship finished a credible eleventh place that the Open Championship at St. Andrew's. I mean that, I mean,

that's proof proof in the pudding right there. Believe question the PGA Tour question, you know, showing your opinion. How powerful is the PGA Tour and how powerful have they been up to this point. I mean, growing up as a golf fan, the PGA Tour is what you wanted to watch. That's where you wanted to be anyone with aspirations of becoming a professional golfer. That was the typodies

everyone that everybody wanted to play the PGA Tour. But I mean, I think there's a shift now where there's an alternative and people are starting to realize that maybe the PGA Tour isn't the center of the universe. There's other ways where you can play top professional golf, and there's other places you can play um and I'm glad that the Asian Tour is a viable option for players now. I mean, I find it really interesting that that right

now things are so polarized. It's like you can't before the PGA Tour without being against Lave, You can't be four lived without being against the PGA Tour, and you mentioned that, you know, growing up, that was the aspiration.

Do you think that there is a way that we get to a point where the public and the fans hopefully can get to a point to where they're a fan of professional golf, Because I think a lot of people when when Live happened, UM, a lot of people I thought, well, the PGA Tour is professional golf, and

there were tours all around the world. I mean I I were I started working with my my coaching career, UM started on the European Tour, and the holy the holy grail of being in Europe was you knew that if you wanted to have a career, have a long career, and have a financially secure future, you had to get to the p g A tour. Top fifty was the holy grail, right if you were in Europe, you got in the top fifty. That got you into Players Championship, That got you then into the w g CS. It

helped you get into the majors. Um. Do you see a future to where all of this somewhat calms down or do you think the future is both sides just digging in. Well, I think from the fan perspective, We're almost there. I mean I've been at a lot of these live events this year and talk two fans in the gallery, and they're there to see good, high quality golf. They don't care about the politics behind the scenes. Whether it be a PGA Tour event, a live event, Asian

Tour event, or deep World event. They just want to watch. They just want to watch these top players play golf in their city. And a lot of the venues that we're visiting us have been starved of top class professional golf for decades. So you take Portland for example, they're out there to support Phil, They're out there to support DJ, all the top guys, not there to support a particular tour um. We got that in Bangkok as well. I mean they came out to see these star players, not

to particularly take a side politically. How has the relationship the Asian Tour and you specifically have with the guys in part of VIDRO with j Monahan and the because listen, you know anybody that thinks that the PGA tour um isn't an amazing product, and that's that's what I find really really interesting that you know, I'm currently working with players at my on live, but I still watched the PGA Tour. It's where so many of the world's best

players play. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Scotty Cheffler. I mean, the depth of that is so deep. But there are so many players right now playing on the Live Tour. There are so many players playing on the DP World Tour in Asia. Um, how is the current relationship that the Asian Tour has with the PGA Tour. Um, Look, I'd like to think it was. It's still a professional

relationship that we have. UM. I mean, even though there's only one w g C left on the calendar, was still part of the World Golf Championships and hopefully HSBC in Shanghai comes back. Um, we're still counterparts on the World Golf Ranking Committee and we still have to deal with day to day to A related issues. So from that perspective, I think we still have a professional relationship. But day to day UH, tour to tour, there's no progression from the Asian Tour to the PGA Tour. Arguably

that never was. Um, we don't co sanction with them anymore, but arguably, you know, after the C I and B Classics, stopped. We haven't done so anyways. I guess the biggest change for US is we used to co sanction and be alliance partners with the European Tour. Now the DP World Tour um we don't have any co sanctions with them anymore. And it was a successful model for twenty five years, and there were I mean there were a lot. I don't think the average golfers realizes how many of the

tournaments outside the United States were co sanctioned. They just see somebody playing here, they see, you know, Justin Rose would always at the end of the year go over and play on the Asian Tour, right and as soon as And that's the other thing I wanted you to talk about because I think a lot of people listening don't have a real understanding there this this big talk right now about live getting trying to get world ranking points. The PGA Tour obviously is where you're going to have

the most world ranking points. But talk to me about the fact that regardless of before Live, if three or four of the top players from the PGA Tour, you know, let's take Live out of the equation and let's just

say everybody was still playing on the PGA Tour. If Dustin Johnson, Brooks kept go, Bryceon, d Shambo and Cam Smith currently, given where their world rankings were before they went to live and before they had the opportunity to get world ranking points, that tournament immediately gets elevated from a world ranking standpoint. Yeah, look the way the world

rankings used to be. If you had strong players from inside the top ten, the top twenty five, a top fifty in the world, if three or four of them got together and came to an Asian Tour event or wherever they wanted to play, that would immediately bring the strength of field up. Um. There's been a slight change to the World Golf rankings recently as of August of this year, where the formula for calculation of strength of

field is is very different. And you see the PGA to have massive strengths of fields every single week, weekend, week out, and there's no denying that the best players are playing there at the moment. But it's certainly distancing all the smaller tours from the PGA Tour as well as the European Tour. I mean, they're not immune from this distancing because you're seeing a tournament in America where the winner gets forty five to fifty points for winning.

In Europe it could be as low as ten or eleven. And in Asia. One of our fully sanctioned events in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago, Um, we only received two point two points for the winner. And I mean that's disappointing to say. I mean for a guy like Tom Kim to come through Asian Development Tour, Asian Tour, Korean Tour, work his way into the top hundred in the world, get into majors, get into the top fifties

in the world. Yeah, I mean that that's probably not going to happen again, based on how the world ranking is right now. One of the other things that obviously with Live coming on board this this this constant talk about money, money, money agreed from the players. How much is enough? Um, you and I both know that a lot of the people listening this podcast and the golf fans don't know how the sausage and the hot dogs

are made. Um. If you are one of the best players in the world on the PGA Tour, if you are going to leave the United States and go play somewhere else, you are going to get paid accordingly to go and I am I am all for every single professional golfer being able to make as much money as they possibly can, because you and I both know from a professional golf standpoint, golfer standpoint show and from an athlete standpoint, the runway is not as long as everyone

thinks it is. You have a very very small window. So when we see now the live people, the live tour paying players, everybody's saying, oh, the players agreed. But you and I both know that if any player from Tiger Woods to Greg Norman, to Phil Mickelson, to Nick foul to Rory McRoy, we can just go down the list. If you are a great player. One of the things that that allows you to do as a great player is be able to shop yourself around the world and be able to make money off the golf course by

going to a tour in Asia, tour wherever. I mean, that was very much what we built the back end of the Asian Tour season on. It was the Singapore Open, the Hong Kong Open Malaysia. Adam Scott has one multiple time in the else is one there. Patrick Reid's come to um Hong Kong, Justin Rose has come to Hong Kong and Indonesia. It was very common to see those guys come out and play two or three times at the end of the season, and that was just the

norm for us. I mean that that's very common. And it's like you're saying, it's professional sports, not just golf. I mean, you look at the transfer market in football. You look at football in general. You have top players playing in Spain, you have them in the Premier League, You've got them in the Bundesliga. And France name I've plays in flats France, Ronaldo plays in the Premier League. Um,

you know, they go where the money is at. And if you also look at basketball in America, I mean twenty five years ago, you would never envision as many international players coming from leagues in Europe. But again, the Holy Grail. If you are a basketball player in Europe, you are going to beg, borrow, and steal to do anything you could possibly do to try and get to the NBA. And I think it's it's interesting to me that I find that it's almost like this utopian Truman

Show type. We want golf to kind of be like it was in the sixties and seventies. I mean in two, if Jack Nicholas, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, the big three were playing golf at the height of their powers in two they would be making millions of dollars to go play somewhere else. I mean, it's it's crazy to me that golf seems to be this only entity that people think that the players shouldn't be financially rewarded for

their stature and their position in the game. Well. Absolutely, and look I'm gonna take it right down to Asian two and a d T level. You look at the money that our guys are playing for. Right, if you keep your card on the Asian Tour and you come sixtieth on the order of merit, you're only making a hundred thousand dollars and fifty of that goes to expense exactly, So you're struggling to break even when you get make it to the big leagues. What's wrong with making money?

It's a grind on the Asian Tour, it's a grind on the A d T. As we've mentioned multiple times. But once you get up there, I mean, like you said, your careers fifteen years well that was the thing, you know, when I was working on the European Tour. Um, it was very similar to the Asian Tour. We all stayed in the same hotels, we all traveled together. It was

like a traveling circus. It felt like a family. And then you get to the PGA Tour where you get a courtesy car every week, you get free dry cleaning every week. Um, the golf balls. Which golf ball do you play? Which golf ball do you want? I mean, the golf courses are better, the conditions are better. Um. That was the aspiration to make it to the PGA Tour. And do you think that there will be so where

do you see all of this playing out? I mean where do you see the Asian Tours role in professional golf in the next two years, in the next five years, and and the next ten years. What is the goal of the Asian Tour moving forward? Well, I feel like the Asian Tour was lagging behind, Like over the past two decades, we've kind of hovered around the same prize money, we visit the same places, we have the same sponsors. But the injection that we've received from Live is just

rejuvenation of the Asian Tour. I mean outside of live. We have a relationship with Golf Saudi. They provide us with the Saudi International, which we sanction in February. That's the start of our year, five million dollar event stop players from all over the world coming to play with forty odd Asian Tour players. That's a crack over of a tournament to start our tour. And then I mean we go into twelve fifteen events which are over one

five million dollars on the Asian Tour um. Then you have a few which or seven fifty, a few that are five hundred, but I mean it's a collection of two to twenty five events where you're making good money now and kids are watching wanting to get involved in golf, wanting to choose golf as a career, which is important in in Asia where mom and dad always wants you to be an accountant or a doctor or go to Stanford or to so I mean we're not trying to

deter kids from going to school, but they see sports or golf in particular as a proper career where it wasn't before. It was a hobby before you mentioned Asia, and and it's a place where players can kind of further their lives and their careers. Obviously the women's game on the LPGA tour UM. I was at the Women's U S Open and there are so many players from Asia, from Korea, from Thailand, from China, UM the I think it is enriched the the LPGA UM. There's there's talk

about UM. A couple of weeks ago when the President's Cup was on, there were guys saying, listen, the President's Cup is dying because the emerits keeping. There are so many great players internationally around the world, from the from the ladies game that could play. Maybe we get them involved. Do you see the the Asian Tour moving forward with the International series with UM, the alliance and the partnership with Live having an opportunity to build Asian Tour players

not only wherever they play. I mean, I'm I'm noticing now. I mean, if you look at the current UM International President's Cup UM team that just had Trevor implement on my podcast Good Friend UM, the Koreans played a huge, huge part of that. Are you excited that you when you look at a PGA tour UM event, when you go to tournaments, that you're seeing more players from Asia playing on the PGA Tour. Sure. I mean we were really excited to see four Koreans on the President's Cup team.

I don't think that's ever happened before. Even though not every one of those Korean players had played on the Asian Tour before they all started out in Korea. Um, they started on the Korean Tour and then moved their way up to the PGA Tour. So I mean, it's great to see those guys get the recognition they deserve. And what's exciting is we're seeing a whole bunch of them come through the Asian Tour, and like I said,

Qualifying School is fully subscribed. I think we've got a hundred and twenty five Korean kids coming to Qualifying School. So they're wanting to come out of Korea and apply their trade in Asia. Um. Another exciting thing for us is a fifteen year old amateur winning on the Asian Tour this year. UM playing six seven times already on the Asian Tour and missing only one cut and finishing in the top ten three times. I mean, that's incredible for a fifteen year old. What what what were we doing

at fifteen? What a great story. And I saw him yesterday on the putting room. He was one of the alternates here. Um. He was here all day as an alternate, and Pat perez Um walked past him and said, you know you've been here all day and he said, now I had to go back to the hotel and take chemistry test. I mean that story alone, You know, a young kid from Asia who's doing those type of things. I mean, do you feel like a kid like Tom Kim now who basically is a product of the Asian Tour? Right?

I mean there are a lot of people now that that given this whole kind of you know, current battle between the PGA Tour and Live but Tom Kim is a product of the Asian Tour. Do you see him as someone like a from an Asian standpoint, someone like a Rory McElroy to where this younger generation can grow up and if you look at how many kids you look at just to Thomas and the you know, the amazing friendship and relationship he now has with Tiger Woods.

Justin Thomas grew up idolizing Tiger Woods. He was to go right, Yes, Jack, Nicholas, Arnold Palmer, the ones that came before him. But this younger generation of golfers under the age of thirty five, Tiger was there. Michael Jordan's right, he was the benchmark. Do you you feel like a young player? And again we're throwing all this at Tom Kim. The kids only still nineteen, but there are kids that are ten, eleven, twelve that are into golf that are now going to look at a kid like Tom Kim

and said, listen, I can go play in Asia. And Tom Kidd got to the PGA Tour about time, who was nineteen. I mean that is a that is a huge calling card for the Asian Tour. Well. I think Tom Kim is a very unique individual because he has so many touch points with so many different countries. His dad was a teaching professional in Australia, um so he lived in Australia. Then he traveled to the Philippines and

played club golf in the Philippines. Then he based himself in Thailand, played on the Asian Tour whilst being based in Thailand, went back to Korea. He never lived in Korea till the pandemic, went back home to where his parents are from and lived in Korea. Now he's in America. I mean, there's so many different countries that claim a little bit of connection to Tom Kim that it's incredible and all of those countries or in Asia, yeah, factively well,

and they contributed to his career. The club that he played at in the Philippines puts out a newsletter every week mentioning Tom numerous times. Australia, Thailand. I mean, up until a few months ago he was wearing the Singer logo, which is the number one supporter of golf in Thailand. So he was receiving support from a Thai company whilst being a foreigner in Thailand, helping him with his expenses. So he's touched a lot of people in such a short amount of time. Oh, I mean, he's a great

ambassador for us. Lastly, um through the Asian Tour. I mentioned the fact that predominantly the tournaments have been held in Asia. But I look at what's happened, you know. I look at Camp Smith, I look at Adam Scott, I look at all of the great players that have come from Australia and and to me, it it's like Australia just gets overlooked from a tour standpoint. Would there ever be a time to where the the Asian Tour would look at maybe hosting an event, an international series

in Australia. I think the fan base down there for golf is starving to see some of the best players in the world play down there. Would you all, as as as the Asian Tour, ever think about hosting an Asian Tour event in Australia. Um, I guess it's very close to home because it was my home for twenty years. I grew up in Australia. Um, from the age of four. UM, I've played a lot of golf in Australia and watched

a lot of golf in Australia growing up. And UM, what's lacking is that huge Uh you know, the summer of golf that they used to have. They used to have three, four or five events consecutively that brought top players to Australia and unfortunately that doesn't happen right now. But this literally holding it back up. And I think the Asian Tour can collaborate with the Australian PGA and work together on doing something down there. Geographically, it's it

makes sense. We have twenty five Australian members on the Asian Tour as well, so it's just very logical to do well. I think you guys are doing a great job. And and and I know you guys are doing a good job when I have junior golfers, high school golfers, and college golfers saying now, listen, I've just graduated from college. Um, I'm going to look at going to Asia as my pathway as opposed to saying Okay, I'm gonna go try

and qualify for the corn Ferry. I'm going to try and qualify for the PGA to our Latin America PGA Tour Canada. So I think you guys are doing amazing job. I think, um, the fact that Tom Kim is is such a huge, huge part of your story moving forward. Um, and I think you guys are going to continue to do well. So congrats on everything you're doing. And thanks for talking to me. Thanks. And what's really exciting for us is going to new destinations as well. As you know.

Next month we're going to Morocco, a place which is very dear to Yah and Egypt, so you know, expanding our horizons. So looking forward to it. Keep up the

good work. Thanks that so another really good interview there, showman that Um, listen, I think all the tours right now are trying to figure out how they positioned themselves in the crazy professional golf world of two And like I said at the top of the show, I think the Asian Tour, Um, you're gonna start to see more players look at that as a viable way to kind of further their careers, and um, you know it's it's got some really really good things happening on the Asian Tour.

And want to thank Choe for talking to us, so, um, yeah, I mean Brooks kept back in the winner circle, Ricky Fowler had a chance to win last week at Zozo, and I want to take wanted to talk about those two things. I mean I started working with Brooks again about a month a little over a month and a half ago, and my dad started working with Ricky Fowler about a month ago. And listen, I think it's really

easy in the professional game. Um. I'm on the coaching side, I'm not on the player's side, so it's just going to be my opinion. Um, but I do think one of the negative things of what Tiger Woods has done over his career is that, um he has changed his golf swing so many times and had huge success doing it. Um, My dad was part of a massive swing overhaul of Tiger Woods from his amateur days to his professional days,

and they had a lot of success. And then he made the choice Tiger to completely throw everything that helped him win eight majors and become the best player in the world and worked with Hank Kaney, completely revamped his golf swing, had an unbelievable win record. UM, one more majors, was dominant. UM then worked Shawn Foley, then worked with Chris Como, and I think a lot of players, I think that they have to make all of these massive changes in their golf swings. And UM, using you know,

Ricky and and Brooks's examples. I worked for Brooks Kapa for eight years. UM, haven't worked with him in two years, and UM we started working together at the live event at Bedminster and UM he's back in the winner circle again. And listen a lot of this stuff. I've had a lot of questions on social people asking me what we

were working on. We basically just kind of went back to the things that helped him be the greatest player in the world, to be dominant in the major's, win four majors in a very very short period of time, get to number one in the world and just you know, play golf that we just haven't seen in the major championships.

Ricky Fowler, my dad and I worked with Ricky. Uh, we were both let go um at the end of nineteen and um, you know, Ricky's now back working with my dad, and you know they're working on a lot of the same things that they were working on in the past. I think players players have DNA's right, players have UM signatures in their golf swing. And when you do work with a player at a very high level for an extended period of time and they have a tremendous amount of success, and then they decided to go

in a different direction and do something else. If it works, great, but if it doesn't work. Um. I think one of the things that that I've been able to do with Brooks in in in working with Brooks again is to just simplify things, to just go back to the basics of Hey, listen, we we had a pretty good blueprint in the eight years that we worked together. Um, we had a lot of success. Um, you got to number one in the world and I said to Brooks, listen, we're gonna go back to doing some of the same

things that you used to do. And it was interesting that a lot of the things I think that Brooks was trying to do UM over the last couple of years. UM, he was trying to work on some of the things that we worked on in the past. But one of our main job abs his golf instructors, but certainly as coaches UM at the tour level, is we're a second

set of eyes. And I think Brooks was trying to work on some of the things that we had worked on in the past, but his set up, the things that he was doing before he even hit a golf ball just weren't allowing him to do some of the things that he was able to do before. So really in the last month and a half, we've done a lot of basic work on posture, alignment, ball position, all of the things that Brooks does before he hits a golf ball. And as a result of those things starting

to feel a little bit more normal like they used to. UM, he's been able to swing the golf club the way that UM he wants to and the way that we want to. UM. So I think you should if you are trying to make massive changes in your golf swing, you have to kind of think about, you know, what you're trying to do, why you're trying to do it, and what direct should you're going to go, and you know, sometimes those changes don't work. I mean, my dad's been

working with Ricky Fowler. UM. He's played three tournaments this year, and I think he's come close to accumulating in three tournaments the same amount of FedEx Cup points that he achieved in the entire season last year. And three events, and again going back to some of the things that made him a great player, going back to the things the formula that that you know, my dad knows works with Ricky. UM, I've gone back to working on the same things with Brooks um that I know made him

the number one player in the world. UM. And so it's been interesting. UM. I think it was a really important win for for Brooks. I think it was a really important win for Ricky Fowler, even though he didn't get back into the winner circle. Because professional golfers are just like everybody that's listening, they play a lot on confidence and and all of you know that are listening that if you're hitting a lot of fairways, if you're hitting a lot of greens, the game seems easier regardless

of what your handicapped level is. But if you're a bad driver of the golf ball and you're a fifteen handicapper and driving is one of the weak parts of your game, if you have a round of golf where you hit ten eleven fairways, your confidence is going to go through the roof. And I guarantee your iron game gets better as a result. Um, if you're you know, a streaky putter and you're not putting great, and all of a sudden you get on a run to where you're making a lot of puts, it trickles down to

every other part of your game. So tour players in

general play so much on confidence. And I think that you're seeing that in two players, um that have that have struggled over the last you know, two to three years, and Brooks and Ricky, and I think in going back to some of the things that are familiar and some of the things that UM, the people working with them, my dad and myself, we know the things that we're working on, UM myself with Brooks, and I know my dad looks at the stuff he's working on with Ricky.

I worked with Ricky for a number of years. I look at the stuff they're working on and in my opinion, it's what is going to help Ricky get back into the winner circle. It's what's going to help Ricky get back inside the top fifty. It's what's going to get Ricky to have opportunities to win golf. All you want as a tour player, um, regardless of where you're playing,

is to have an opportunity on Sunday. And I think it's huge for Ricky Fowler's confidence to take a lead into the final round and maybe not have his best stuff, but to to have an opportunity to finish where he finished given where he's been, has been a huge, huge plus for Ricky and I would expect Ricky continues to play well this week. Um, Brooks listen, whether you're a fan of Live, whether you're not a fan, whether you think it's an exhibition, whether whatever whatever side you fall on.

At the end of the day, Brooks Kepta is playing golf. He is playing the same golf courses everybody else, and he shut the lowest score and won the tournament and that is going to be huge for his confidence moving forward. That is going to be huge for his game moving forward, and confidence is a huge, huge part of tournament golf. So UM really really happy to see Ricky Fowler, UM have a chance to win again. UM. I love Ricky

and UM I root for him. And as someone that's working with Brooks, UM, I've never seen the guy work harder. And I know a lot of people listening you're gonna go, oh, this is the guy that says he does in practice and everything. He said that comment three years ago, and somewhat that comment, that comment was taken out of context. UM, I'm just telling you as someone that works with him, UM, I've never seen him work harder than he's worked in

the last month and a half. And I've never seen him want to win more than I've seen him want to win in the last month and a half. And I'm glad that he did it. And UM, I'm excited to see what the future holds, not only for Brooks but also for Ricky Fowler. So if to everyone for listening, UM excited. Got some good guests in the pipeline. Tough to get everybody's schedule. It's not easy to kind of

schedule everybody. Everybody's got kind of real world stuff going, but we are going to have some really good guests for you in the coming weeks and the coming months. Son of a Buch comes to you every Wednesday. We will see everyone next week