Chapter 1: What insights does James Sutherland share about the Masters tournament?
Yes, Tom Morris filling in for Gerard Waitley. James Sutherland isn't far away. If you've missed any of the show or want to catch up on it, Luke Hodges' leadership portfolio. Matt Shervington on Australian athletics was fantastic.
Gout, gout, being the centrepiece of that because he's just going from strength to strength, ran under 20 seconds the first time an Australian has done that in a 200 metres race. Ashley Brown on two 300-game milestones, all on your podcast app. Those milestones, of course, Mark Blissarves and Lachie Neal this weekend are
As an aside, I also noticed that Cal Toomey has ranked Nick Dacos' best games 1 to 99 on the AFL website. And you can say whatever you want about Nick Dacos, but I reckon about 80 of those games have been absolutely superb. So have a look at that content. That's right up the alley of anyone in a digital age. Just to have a look to see which one is number one.
I'm trying to think what I would put number one. He certainly had many good games, Nick Dacos. Rory McIlroy is having the time of his life over at Augusta. He was 12 under when he won. What was that? Yesterday morning, just holding off Scotty Scheffler. And the Aussies performed pretty well early. Jason Day in particular in the first couple of rounds, but then they faded.
He was the best of the Australians. at five under. We'll get to James Sutherland in a few moments' time. I want to have a listen to Justin Longmuir and Sean Darcy, first of all. He's got a lot of criticism. Sean Darcy, the ruck rolls at Fremantle. This is Justin Longmuir, the Freo coach, speaking on AFL 360 last night.
I actually don't mind the rule. I was a little bit hesitant when it came in. But I don't mind the rule. It's keeping the ball in play. It's keeping in transition more. Yeah, but we've got to be careful of going to the arc. That's an interesting stat. You get a bit of a sense that it happened every time on the weekend, but only three times.
But a lot of the rules have been brought in to quicken up the game. So to go to review on some pretty, yeah... obvious yeah obvious out of bounds rules doesn't really make a lot of sense so we've got to watch how much time it's taking out of the game for sure yeah I agree with JL on this I think you know there's only four and a half a game
lasso so I think as well if we're trying to speed the game up going to the arc just delays it even more so we've got to as football clubs if a decision is made just the way it is well you've got to cop it and deal with it so I like the idea of keeping the ball in transition as low as quickly as you possibly can and I think with the four and a half times that it's happening it's not been too much of a detriment either
Yes, I'm on the right show here. I think the ARC will continue to be a source of discussion for the rest of the year as the AFL just tinkers with the best practice and the best way to use it, making sure they get the right decisions in the most timely way possible. As I mentioned earlier, Rory McIlroy has won back-to-back Masters tournaments.
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Chapter 2: How did Rory McIlroy perform at the Masters and what does it mean for Australian golf?
It was actually the greens and other areas, of course, were starting to brown off a little bit by the time the weekend came. But, yeah, it was a topsy-turvy sort of, I guess, last weekend for Rory. And they were obviously thrilled to have secured him as our marquee player for the Australian Open.
Like they say, lightning doesn't strike twice, but it has for us with him winning two years and at the end of each year coming and playing in our Australian Open.
Does his price go up a bit now? He's won another Masters or have you signed a rock-solid contract?
Rock solid deal, I hope, Tom. I saw his manager about an hour before Rory hit off and just confirmed that everything was on track, and he confirmed to me that he just had a fantastic time in Australia last He said, we've got the blueprint. We know what to do. We love it down there and we can't wait to get down.
Tell us about the Masters as a tournament more broadly. We know the Masters will always be the Masters. There's certain elements that are particular to that tournament, not just in the way it's set up, but also the no phones, the way the commentators or the media describe it. patrons, not fans, and various other intricacies.
But what can we take or what can you take from the Masters and implement in Australia that would make golf better here from a professional standpoint?
I think one of the unique things about the Masters is that it is played at the same golf course every year, which is unlike any of the other majors. It's just sort of shared around. And that in itself, given, I guess, in many ways, Augusta National Golf Club was established with a view to hosting a championship every year.
They've built a model and I guess a model of economic sustainability that allows them to continue to invest in the tournament. And just by way of example, there was quite a lot of media coverage about the player facility that they built in the off-season that is quite extraordinary.
I mean, it's a huge three-storey building that looks as though it's been there for 30 years, but was just, you know, it's absolutely brand new and all of the players, I didn't see it firsthand, but the players and coaches and others that did have access to it that I spoke to said it was just like nothing else in world golf. What does this say?
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Chapter 3: What unique aspects of the Masters can be applied to improve golf in Australia?
You can either choose to sit on a hole and watch groups come through or follow a player. It's probably a little bit harder with the massive crowds that they have to... to walk around and follow players. But it's a nice thing to do to watch how players plot their way around.
I know you're a footy man, James. I've just got to break into live programming and tell our listeners a story. So Steel's side bottom won't play versus Carlton. He copped a knock to the hip pointer and he'll be assessed in the coming weeks. But he won't play against Carlton. That knock to the hip pointer came during the game. Collingwood, of course, played against Fremantle last week.
So that's a blow to the pies ahead of the game against Carlton. Tell us about participation numbers in Australia at the moment. I know in COVID, golf exploded. Are we still seeing a huge rise? And if so, what else can the governing body do to continue to promote the sport?
Look, the game is in rude health at the moment, Tom. I think in some quarters, almost bursting at the seams, which creates challenges in itself. I think Our research suggests that around the year 2021, so five years ago, there were about 2.7 million adult Australians hitting golf balls in Australia. Last year it topped 4 million. So they're not all members of golf clubs.
They're not all playing rounds of golf. But the amazing thing about the game and one of the things that's really changed about golf is there's all these alternative formats that effectively creates a huge funnel in which people are coming into the game, experiencing the game. And I think the image of the game's changing. It feels like it's a lot more accessible, affordable.
It's not as stuffy as some might have perceived it to be. And that in itself is creating, I guess, huge opportunities, but also challenges in some areas as golf clubs. You know, tee times get booked up and there are waiting lists on various golf clubs. membership lists, all those things, I guess, are better than the alternative, but they create challenges as well.
So when Rory McIlroy comes out here later in the year, is it going to be roughly a similar itinerary for him? Because as big as he was last year after winning the Masters, I imagine that would be amplified after going back to back and the attention around him will just be so strong.
I think so. There's no doubt that his legend status has gone up a level. We're already in planning mode, obviously, knowing that we have him secured and that we're playing at Kingston Heath this year allows us to plan ahead. We did our best to match the significant demand last year at Royal Melbourne. We had record crowds, I think 113,000.
through the gates over the course of the week and we expect something similar at Kingston Heath and the way we'll build the golf course and make sure there's ample capacity is somewhat of a challenge with a slightly smaller block of land but knowing that the team at Kingston Heath are embracing the
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