A Tour Champ rotating out of ATL, Trump Doral joins schedule, and questions about the Payne Stewart Award

The Shotgun Start

At long last, Andy has returned from sea (and air!). He joins Brendan and is fired up off the jump, coming in hot to defend the city of Chicago after last week's "slander." Andy's back just in time for golf's Super Bowl - the Tour Championship at East Lake. Brendan shares some quotes from an Adam Schupak article about the event possibly heading out of Atlanta sometime soon, only to find that Tim Finchem might've promised the event would stay there "in perpetuity." The winner of this week's event, which is now being played without Starting Strokes, will win both the tournament and the FedEx Cup for the 2025 season, unlike Jon Rahm's LIV title that came with zero victories. Rahm compared his win-without-winning to climbing Mt. Everest, sending Brendan off the rails at the preposterousness of that comparison. After running through the Schedule for the Week, Andy and Brendan then get into the 2026 Schedule for the Year after the PGA Tour announced its dates for next season. Trump Doral will host a new Signature Event in May, making it nearly impossible for rookies and those without signature status to play between the Masters and the PGA Championship. In other news, Paul Azinger will receive the Payne Stewart Award this week and Andy has a few questions about how the committee chose him as the 2025 recipient. TGL has announced the start date for its second season, going head-to-head with an NFL Sunday in December. This leads into an NFL Minute to close out this episode - Andy loves what he's seeing from the Bears, Joe Flacco is starting for Brendan's Browns, and PJ is already apathetic about Justin Fields and the Jets.