The Shotgun Start

To paraphrase Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour's Opening Drive is *finally* just about underway! Andy and Brendan are beyond happy to have actual golf back on the Schedule for the Week, even if this is still a Victory Wednesday episode for the Bears. It could also be a Victory Wednesday episode for the PGA Tour, as Brian Rolapp's new Returning Member Program has enabled Brooks Koepka's return at the Farmers Open in just two weeks. Andy and Brendan discuss all the details of the new pathway, open to just four LIV golfers for the next three weeks before LIV's season begins in Riyadh. The two wonder if the financial penalty of "equity coupons" and a donation to charity was enough of a punishment for Brooks, but see this move as an overwhelmingly positive for the Tour and Brian Rolapp's tenure. Things seemingly moved quickly over the weekend and Rolapp gets props from Andy and Brendan for decisively striking while the iron is hot. PJ makes a change to his major picks, awarding Brooks with a fourth PGA Championship, but Brendan is skeptical that Koepka will find himself in major shape in 2026. Brooks will not be at the Sony Open this week, but many PGA Tour stars will be to start the season. This gambling pod makes some picks for the first event of the year, riding with two big names and a podcast favorite. Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy and other European Ryder Cup heroes are in Dubai this week for a DP World Tour event as a tune-up before coming back to the states. Brendan comes in with a real winner for the Event of the Week, Tiger's 50th birthday at the Breakers in Palm Beach. Andy and Brendan toss out some musical acts that would fit the vibe before realizing that Jon Bon Jovi is already enlisted to perform. Lastly, some major LIV news came across the desk on Tuesday morning as the Ironheads and Stingers GC have re-branded! This podcast will continue using the Stingers name, but some potentially-AI press releases reveal the new country-based names of these teams. There's also some LIV hot stove news with a former U.S. Amateur winner seemingly making the jump from the PGA Tour.

Apologies to all of our Nico Echavarria fans, but this is the biggest Victory Monday episode to date. Andy is on cloud nine following an improbable comeback win for the Bears over the Packers in the Wild Card Round, leading to an extended Football Minute to kick off the show. He attempts to subdue his emotions to be respectful of the many angry Packers fans in his mentions, but Brendan quickly eggs him on into an outward celebration. PJ is called in to defend Jordan Love's actions (323 yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) after the loss and Andy once again suggests that Malik Willis (injured hamstring) would have been a better option for Green Bay. All three commiserate over their historically-hapless franchises firing a coach as good as Matt LaFleur, but it seems like that's on the table for the Packers following this defeat. After displaying a chart showing the likelihood of PJ losing his job with a Packers win, Andy then transitions to golf and the biggest news of this NFL-centric weekend: Michael Block's new clothing deal. Brendan can't help but laugh at Blockie linking up with Malbon, giving the brand a roster of Champions Tour stars. Blockie was sure to star in a ridiculous announcement video posted on Saturday afternoon, leading to plenty of social media fun ahead of the Bears game. Andy and Brendan then recap the Jones Cup and LIV's Promotions Event after a light week of competitive golf. Richard T. Lee will be LIV's first Canadian golfer and Malbon athlete Anthony Kim held on to earn a spot back on the tour for 2026. To finish off this final week without the PGA Tour, Andy, Brendan, and PJ make their 2026 major picks and highlight some breakout and bounce-back players for the upcoming season. After a long, long wait, the Opening Drive finally begins on Thursday! Join us in Chicagoland for an SGS Live Show on Thursday, February 12! We'll be hanging out at SPACE in Evanston, Illinois for a night of Q&A, Champs Tour Minute, and plenty of Bears chatter. Check out ⁠⁠https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-shotgun-start-space-tickets/14054084?pl=space⁠⁠ for more details.

The content gods have blessed this Friday episode with a piece of news that Andy has called "maybe my favorite thing that's ever happened on the PGA Tour." Vijay Singh, a 62-year-old who did not finish in the Top 20 of the Schwab Cup standings on last year's Champions Tour, has decided to use his career money list exemption for full status for 2026 on the PGA Tour! Brendan and Andy do a bit of a deep dive into Vijay's recent PGA Tour results and Andy applauds him for using this exemption despite calls for scarcity and cuts from the top of the new Tour food chain. Andy even goes as far as to say that he will still be in high spirits if the Bears lose on Saturday because he knows Vijay will tee it up at the Sony next week! In other PGA Tour field news, Scottie Scheffler has committed to the AmEx and WM Phoenix Open, marking the first starts of his 2026 season. With no Sentry, the AmEx has a much better field than in recent years, but Scottie will still likely be three-to-one or less to win the event. Brendan then segues to the biggest news of this week: Derek Sprague's departure from the PGA of America. Sprague stepped down as CEO, leaving an opening in the PGA of America's leadership that could really only be filled by one man. Is this Don's path to permanent relevancy? We'll have to just wait and see. There is also a VERY important Nico Minute in this episode, as a new sponsor has stepped up for a podcast favorite this year. The back half of this episode contains the yearly Over-Under segment, with Brendan, Andy, and PJ making predictions for the rest of the year. Will the major scoring record be broken? How many wins for Rory and Scottie? Can Cameron Young finish in the OWGR Top 10? Will the Bears beat the Packers twice in this calendar year? Listen to find out! Join us in Chicagoland for an SGS Live Show on Thursday, February 12! We'll be hanging out at SPACE in Evanston, Illinois for a night of Q&A, Champs Tour Minute, and plenty of Bears chatter. General public tickets are on sale at 10 am CT on Friday, January 9. Check out ⁠https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-shotgun-start-space-tickets/14054084?pl=space⁠ for more details.

Despite the lack of (outdoor) professional golf during this first week of January, Andy and Brendan know the show must go on! The two are admittedly down in the dumps a bit with no Kapalua on our TV screens and wonder if we've already seen the final PGA Tour event played at the Plantation Course. This "rite of passage" may not be kicking off 2026, but there has been plenty of TGL to fill the void! The Bay GC and Atlanta Drive match on Tuesday night was a "second-screen filler" for Andy, Brendan, and PJ, and all three admit some level of fatigue with the screen golf league after just three matches of season two. Some of the new holes are nice, Chris Gotterup has been a star, and Roberto Castro has improved the ESPN broadcast, but nobody knows where TGL should rightfully stand in the golf ecosystem. Even with all of these outstanding questions facing its first league, TGL has expanded and founded a WTGL, coming this winter! Lexi Thompson, a semi-retired professional golfer, has signed on to be the face of the women's league, which Andy and Brendan both deem to be "too much" screen golf. Andy thinks a WTGL league could be better than the LPGA's week-to-week product, but doesn't have much faith that the TGL will figure out how to get there. There's a lengthy discussion about TGL rosters and how nobody can figure out who's on what team with all of the "alternates" in play before everyone agrees that too much time has been spent on screen golf in this episode. Speaking of teams, Talor Gooch made a strong, Sam Presti-like move adding Harold Varner III to Smash GC! This trade came as a result of Thomas Detry joining fellow Illini Thomas Pieters on the 4Aces, marking another signing for LIV during this Hot Stove season. Elvis Smylie has also joined the league, teaming up with Leish and Cam Smith on the Rippers. After a very, very abbreviated Schedule for the Week, Andy leads his yearly look at the Top 10 of the OWGR as the group predicts which players will fall out of the top spots by the end of 2026. Join us in Chicagoland for an SGS Live Show on Thursday, February 12! We'll be hanging out at SPACE in Evanston, Illinois for a night of Q&A, Champs Tour Minute, and plenty of Bears chatter. A presale for FEGC members begins at 11 am ET on January 7, with general public tickets going live on January 9. Check out https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-shotgun-start-space-tickets/14054084?pl=space for more details.

Andy and Brendan! are back! After an extended break to end the year, the first episode of 2026 has plenty of news to catch up on and is, of course, a Victory Monday celebration. Andy is still rolling after the first-ever Ballfrogs win on Friday night, claiming that this victory lasts all weekend. Michael Thorbjornsen was a star in his TGL debut, but much of the conversation was on a star who was not yet present in the SoFi Dome: Brooks Koepka. Andy and Brendan unpack Koepka's departure from LIV and Talor Gooch's upcoming captaincy of Smash GC. The two debate where Brooks will play in 2026 and agree that it's unlikely that he'll play on the PGA Tour this year. His PGA Tour standing will apparently impact his TGL candidacy as well, but Rory, SVP, and other major names in the virtual golf universe all made it seem like Brooks's indoor debut is imminent! Will he be the savior Jup Links so desperately needs? In other LIV Hot Stove news, Pat Perez is angling for a return to the PGA Tour before his 50th birthday and Kevin Na has unfollowed the league on Instagram. What does this mean for the Ironheads? Nobody knows! With no golf to preview this week, PJ leads an audit of last year's over-unders, looking back at Zatch moments, destruction of property by international superstars, and missed cuts at majors by many big name stars. As it turns out, all three football minds nailed the under on the 2025 Bears/Browns/Jets total, ushering a Football Minute to close this show. PJ is thrilled with the chain of events leading to the Jets obtaining the second overall pick in April's draft, Shedeur led yet another win for the Browns as Myles Garrett broke the NFL's sack record, and Andy is already preparing for a playoff matchup against the best quarterback on the Packers, Jordan Love. Stay tuned as we preview more and more of the 2026 golf season before the Sony Open kicks off next Thursday.