Show notes
Will LIV golf live? The biggest story in professional golf right now and possibly the biggest story in a number of years - and the man who broke it first is back with us. Ryan French (Monday Q Info) returns to Sandbagger Sessions to walk us through exactly how he broke the bombshell story that PIF is pulling its funding from LIV Golf, what it means for the future of the tour, and where professional golf goes from here.Ryan takes us behind the scenes: one unexpected phone call, 50+ calls to sources inside and outside of LIV, and a long conversation with his business partner before hitting send on a tweet that ended up with him on CNN, the Golf Channel and much more. He explains why he doesn't regret it - and why he was never doing it for the clicks.We also break down the weekend in golf, Hannah Green's ridiculous stretch of form, and make our Zurich Classic picks for a field so thin that Smiley Kaufman could have gotten in.Timestamps0:00 – Welcome to Episode 201:03 – LIV bombshell teaser + Ryan French is back2:54 – Weekend recap: Matt Fitzpatrick wins in a playoff over Scottie Scheffler3:52 – Hannah Green is winning at an 80% rate in her last 5 starts5:10 – Zurich Classic field breakdown9:08 – Fantasy picks for the Zurich Classic11:35 – Ryan French joins: how tired is the man who broke golf's biggest story?13:43 – The timeline: one phone call turned into 8-10 hours of digging17:26 – What is PIF, who is MBS, and how does LIV's funding actually work?24:51 – What happened after the tweet dropped; and why the silence spoke volumes28:02 – Scott O'Neill's response, the deleted interview, and the PR disaster31:11 – The unnamed sources debate: Ryan pushes back36:56 – Vendors unpaid, players on edge - "hour by hour" inside LIV39:09 – The course correction: PGA Tour layoffs, purses coming down, and what golf actually is as a sport46:00 – Why has LIV been so divisive? Ryan gives his honest take47:10 – Ryan's prediction: what does the next 6 months look like for LIV?57:18 – Cole & Stefan react + their own predictions for player movementA big thanks to our guest, Ryan French, for coming on and being so generous with his time. Make sure you follow Monday Q Info: @caseofthegolf1 on Twitter/XSandbagger Sessions is a golf podcast hosted by Cole Atkinson and Stefan Thedorf, a PGA of Canada golf professional. New episodes every week.#LIVGolf #RyanFrench #MondayQInfo #PIF #GolfNews #SandbaggerSessions #PGATour #GolfPodcast #LIVGolfDead #MattFitzpatrick #ZurichClassic