The Shotgun Start

The Preferred Lies Super Bowl, Solheim Cup ratings tank, & FBF on the Best PCup Ever

The Shotgun Start

Show Notes

This Friday whiparound episode covers the hottest topics in golf: AI announcers "coming to fruition," PGA Tour Comms tweets, and the latest in RATINGS! after last weekend's Solheim Cup. Andy and Brendan first clean up some more 2028 exemption chatter from Wednesday's show, with Andy learning that the players - perhaps including Lucas Glover, who stands to benefit from the Career Milestone exemption - pushed for these categories to exist on the new-look PGA Tour. Brendan then dubs this week's event in Asheville as "the Super Bowl of Preferred Lies" after the Tour decided that all four days would be played ball-in-hand on Thursday morning. The two also discuss the totality of Duff Foreman's broadcast debut and some quotes from his creator (or father?) that ran in a Golf.com article this week. The two then bring in Kevin Van Valkenburg for a discussion about declining Solheim Cup ratings. Andy calls the disappointing numbers a "fire alarm," and the three debate whether the ratings are even in a place to improve moving forward. KVV then rounds out a year of B. Draddy Presidents Cup Flashbacks with the granddaddy of them all: a look back at the 2003 tie, captained by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player! We will be back on Monday morning ahead of our live show at SPACE in Evanston as we head to the Windy City for the 2026 Presidents Cup.

New to the Pro Shop, our Chicago Collection has arrived. We’ve given our SGS logo a Chicago twist, referencing the light blue and red colors on the Chicago flag. We’ve got that available on hats, koozies and tees. Check it all out at proshop.thefriedegg.com OR if you’re coming to our live show in Chicago on Sept. 21st, we’ll have a pop up shop there with the whole collection available!

The official Presidents Cup uniforms are available to shop now at B. Draddy, alongside their Presidents Cup t-shirt collection! If you'd like to carry a piece of the week home with you, visit bdraddy.com and use promo code SGS30 for 30% off your order. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More from The Shotgun Start

Oct 22, 2026

Andy returns to the pod and promptly reveals his exciting upcoming weekend plans to The Boys, who are left speechless at what he's up to! PJ, Andy, and Joseph digest early results from the Butterfield before turning to more pressing matters: Jacob Bridgeman hitting the campaign trail, the meaning of life in an AI world, and parenting at youth soccer games. They close with some Golf Advice, which gets all three of them worked up about the modern state of Bachelor Partying. Roll. It. Back.

Oct 20, 2026

A Chicago team must have lost something somewhere because Andy is once again calling in sick for this Wednesday episode. The Boys join Brendan for a lively round of In/Out/Alternate as a way of previewing the Butterfield Bermuda Championship shortly before PJ pulls off one of the most impressive feats in golf journalism (no spoilers). Then, they discuss the recent news that Royal County Down may get some work done from familiar sets of hands. They almost forget to run through Tuesday's blockbuster TGL roster announcements, but fear not - the signings of Blades Brown, Ben James, Ryan Fox, and more are discussed at length to close things out.

Oct 19, 2026

At long last, it is Victory Monday again for the Chicago Bears! Andy and Brendan celebrate wins by the Bears and Browns to open this episode in high spirits despite the Cleveland Guardians finding themselves on the brink of elimination in the ALCS. After a shockingly brief Sports Minute, Andy wants to kick things off with the Champions Tour! PJ comes in to explain the thrilling end of the SAS Championship, where Vijay Singh became one of the rare players to make the cut at the Sony Open and win on the Senior Tour in the same year. Brendan wonders whether Vijay's Champs Tour career has been a disappointment and Andy poses the idea that Singh may find himself on the PGA Tour Championship Series in 2028. The two then discuss Eugenio Chacarra's win at the DP World India Championship. Chacarra now finds himself atop the Race to Dubai standings and is putting himself in position to break through the Lads Club for a spot on the European squad at Adare Manor. Speaking of Team Europe's stars, Rory McIlroy found himself in a debate with NBC lead analyst and golf podcaster Kevin Kisner regarding his participation in this week's DPWT event. After wrapping up this week's results, Andy and Brendan react to the latest news regarding the possible redesign of East Potomac Golf Links following a statement posted by President Trump on Sunday afternoon. Lastly, PJ pops back in as everybody ranks their best events of the 2026 golf season as we inch closer and closer to the Year in Review!

Oct 16, 2026

At long last, Andy has made his return to the podcast! He joined Brendan for what he's calling Victory Friday as the two went live on YouTube for a Friday morning recording. After the Milwaukee Brewers swept the Dodgers in the NLCS, Andy has decided that this is a win for the suburbs of Chicago and has deemed the team "his Brewers" for the rest of the postseason. The Friday Frenzy continues with an updated look at LIV's bankruptcy proceedings where most players now find themselves freed from any contractual obligations. Among them is Jon Rahm, who received his NIL rights and the rights to Legion XIII in this split. Brendan then transitions to what may be the story of the year: the "criminal" removal of the Champions Tour pension fund. Andy, Brendan, and PJ bat the ball around about this Adam Schupak report that features insane quotes from Billy Andrade, David Toms, Scott McCarron, and more. In other news, Will Zalatoris will miss the 2027 season after another surgery and the DP World Tour is still planning on holding its year-end events in the UAE. This episode wraps with some Golf Advice questions about a long drive disqualification and some caddie tipping gone wrong.

Oct 13, 2026

Brendan is once again joined by Joseph LaMagna as Andy is still on the run after a disastrous weekend for Chicago sports. BP is especially chipper given his Guardians took a 1-0 lead in the ALCS on Monday night, stealing a road game from the #1 seed Tampa Bay Rays. He opens the show with a bit of housekeeping regarding the next few weeks of programming before discussing the light Schedule for the Week. With the PGA Tour off, the focus is on the DP World India Championship and a field that features European Ryder Cup stars and other proper players. Among those in attendance is Rory McIlroy, who made waves on Tuesday with some new-look pants, a sponsorship deal for health trailers, and some comments he made during a Bloomberg event in India earlier this week. Brendan, Joseph, and PJ wonder if Rory's new health trailers are a way to keep his body in shape for a career lasting into his 50s despite the six-time major winner's insistence that he will not play the Champions Tour. At the Bloomberg event, McIlroy was asked about things ranging from playing golf with President Trump to his daughter's thoughts on TGL. Joseph runs a few clips from the interview and leads a discussion based on Rory's comments about LIV and its impacts throughout the greater golf ecosystem. In non-Rory India news, both Joost Luiten and Anirban Lahiri had something to say about LIV's future and how players should be assimilated back into the DP World Tour moving forward. Lahiri's comments particularly strike a nerve with Brendan, prompting a monologue about how historians will look back upon golf's "wasteful era." Brendan and Joseph are then joined by Austin Hitt, winner of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, to discuss life on the KFT bubble, his best stories from his time on the Latin America Tour, and what he's looking forward to next year now that he has a PGA Tour card locked up.

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