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1 00:00:11,839 --> 00:00:14,820 Welcome back everybody to Pull Hook Golf, the podcast. 2 00:00:15,195 --> 00:00:16,635 I'm your host, Matt Cook. 3 00:00:16,635 --> 00:00:19,934 Today, we've got a special episode for you. 4 00:00:20,154 --> 00:00:21,114 We've got Mr.
5 00:00:21,114 --> 00:00:26,314 Brent Grant here, who is our co-host and our tour insider and also a tour member. 6 00:00:26,314 --> 00:00:29,900 And then we've got another very special guest today as well, Mr. 7 00:00:29,900 --> 00:00:32,079 Ryan French from Monday Q Info. 8 00:00:32,460 --> 00:00:36,799 Welcome gentlemen to this special edition of the podcast.
9 00:00:37,260 --> 00:00:42,060 And it all stems from something that happened to you, Brent, and something that you wrote 10 00:00:42,060 --> 00:00:43,359 about recently, Ryan. 11 00:00:44,835 --> 00:00:46,935 Actually, the article that you wrote was fantastic. 12 00:00:47,475 --> 00:00:49,015 It's called "In the Hole." 13 00:00:49,234 --> 00:00:50,674 And this is our topic today. 14 00:00:50,674 --> 00:00:55,475 So we're gonna be talking a little bit about the dark side of the PGA Tour that a lot of 15 00:00:55,475 --> 00:00:59,350 people aren't aware of or familiar with because guess what?
16 00:00:59,350 --> 00:01:06,489 Major media is not covering these topics that are going on in the underbelly of the PGA Tour. 17 00:01:06,629 --> 00:01:13,049 And so we're going to go over the PGA Tour's earnings assurance program and the tax debacle 18 00:01:13,515 --> 00:01:15,375 that affected so many players. 19 00:01:15,674 --> 00:01:18,715 But first, let's start off with the background to this entire thing. 20 00:01:18,715 --> 00:01:23,435 Ryan, why don't you give us a bit of background to the overall program that we're talking 21 00:01:23,435 --> 00:01:23,935 about?
22 00:01:24,555 --> 00:01:25,055 Yeah. 23 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,640 2022, Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour. 24 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:31,659 First of all, thanks guys for having me on, Brent. 25 00:01:31,719 --> 00:01:32,120 Thanks.
26 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:33,240 And absolutely. 27 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,240 It was, yeah. 28 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:42,834 So 2022, LIV is starting to actually become a thing, and, you know, they're getting a lot of 29 00:01:42,834 --> 00:01:43,075 money. 30 00:01:43,075 --> 00:01:47,341 So the PGA Tour kind of scrambled for ways to be like, look at us.
31 00:01:47,341 --> 00:01:48,534 We're doing things too. 32 00:01:48,914 --> 00:01:56,250 And so one thing they came up with was an advance of $500,000, which is a good thing. 33 00:01:56,250 --> 00:02:00,409 There's no complaints about the advance itself. 34 00:02:00,409 --> 00:02:01,849 It's how it was handled from there.
35 00:02:01,849 --> 00:02:03,609 But, yeah. 36 00:02:03,609 --> 00:02:09,689 So players were supposedly given the choice, although we've come to find out that that's not 37 00:02:09,689 --> 00:02:13,354 the case, to accept this $500,000. 38 00:02:15,014 --> 00:02:16,715 Rookies got it up front. 39 00:02:17,574 --> 00:02:24,389 Veterans got the difference if they didn't make $500,000 at the back end of the season.
40 00:02:24,689 --> 00:02:29,169 Basically, it's an advance, and also a forgivable loan. 41 00:02:29,169 --> 00:02:36,310 If you did not make $500,000, whatever you know, the difference was forgiven. 42 00:02:37,145 --> 00:02:39,485 So that was the gist of the program. 43 00:02:39,625 --> 00:02:42,284 It's good in theory.
44 00:02:43,865 --> 00:02:49,965 It's good in practice if the PGA Tour had done the things that I think they should have done. 45 00:02:51,229 --> 00:02:56,530 And so, yeah, that's kind of where this article stemmed from, that advance. 46 00:02:57,229 --> 00:02:57,789 I love that. 47 00:02:57,789 --> 00:03:03,549 And, well, I love the fact that you just broke it down like that so simply and really ties 48 00:03:03,549 --> 00:03:06,370 into exactly what we were talking about in the article.
49 00:03:07,754 --> 00:03:15,375 And the part that is interesting to me is that the players apparently in an email were given 50 00:03:15,594 --> 00:03:17,694 the ability to decline this $500,000. 51 00:03:18,474 --> 00:03:23,830 However, when it actually came out, nobody could actually decline it. 52 00:03:23,830 --> 00:03:27,990 And I believe you spoke with one player who was like, it just showed up in my account even 53 00:03:27,990 --> 00:03:29,449 though I didn't want to take it. 54 00:03:29,830 --> 00:03:30,069 Yeah.
55 00:03:30,069 --> 00:03:34,569 I have a copy of the email sent to me by a player, and it's, you know, it says in a very 56 00:03:34,974 --> 00:03:36,814 better way than I'm gonna say it, like, hey. 57 00:03:36,814 --> 00:03:37,794 You have a choice. 58 00:03:38,014 --> 00:03:43,215 And then, yeah, one player I spoke with, he's like, I didn't want it. 59 00:03:43,215 --> 00:03:46,814 His big thing was, like, very just, hey.
60 00:03:46,814 --> 00:03:50,330 I like to play when I make a cut on Wednesday or whatever. 61 00:03:50,330 --> 00:03:51,849 I think that's when you get paid, Brent. 62 00:03:52,330 --> 00:03:53,469 Correct me if I'm wrong. 63 00:03:53,530 --> 00:03:56,009 Like, on Wednesday, I just like to see the deposit.
64 00:03:56,009 --> 00:04:01,610 It's like my reward, whether it's $3,000 at a Korn Ferry event or $100,000, it's just I like 65 00:04:01,610 --> 00:04:04,855 to see it, so I didn't want it up 66 00:04:05,155 --> 00:04:07,635 And so, you know, his was like, hey. 67 00:04:07,635 --> 00:04:08,435 I'm not gonna take it. 68 00:04:08,435 --> 00:04:10,915 If I don't make $500,000, they'll send it to me at the end. 69 00:04:10,915 --> 00:04:12,594 So everybody had their own.
70 00:04:12,594 --> 00:04:17,875 Like, guys could get it if you want to invest in, you know, a TrackMan or there's a lot as 71 00:04:17,875 --> 00:04:19,814 Brent knows way better than I. 72 00:04:20,170 --> 00:04:25,550 You know, golf is very expensive, and so to compete on the PGA Tour, swing coaches and 73 00:04:27,290 --> 00:04:30,889 physio guys and TrackMans are a huge upfront cost. 74 00:04:30,889 --> 00:04:35,055 So, you know, some guys would want it upfront. 75 00:04:35,055 --> 00:04:36,914 Most guys would, I think, that were rookies.
76 00:04:38,334 --> 00:04:39,534 But they didn't give him a choice. 77 00:04:39,534 --> 00:04:42,654 That player told me that it just showed up in his account one day. 78 00:04:42,894 --> 00:04:46,595 Other players asked to have it deferred to 2023 for tax purposes. 79 00:04:47,460 --> 00:04:48,439 They said no.
80 00:04:48,980 --> 00:04:49,540 You know? 81 00:04:49,540 --> 00:05:00,685 Again, and I don't think ever the PGA Tour does this stuff purposefully to screw the players, 82 00:05:01,464 --> 00:05:03,625 but they just don't know what they're doing. 83 00:05:03,625 --> 00:05:10,584 And then when problems arise, they're just gonna do what's best for them, and the players 84 00:05:10,584 --> 00:05:11,884 are gonna get in the way. 85 00:05:12,824 --> 00:05:16,839 It's, I mean, you put it very politely.
86 00:05:17,060 --> 00:05:24,279 I would go on to say that, yes, the purpose behind this had good intentions. 87 00:05:24,339 --> 00:05:24,839 Right? 88 00:05:24,899 --> 00:05:29,595 This was supposed to be a positive thing, but how they handled it was very poorly. 89 00:05:30,714 --> 00:05:36,555 And now let's get into the actual fact that there was no contract behind this either.
90 00:05:36,555 --> 00:05:43,194 So, Brent, did you ever sign anything in order to receive this money? 91 00:05:43,194 --> 00:05:46,910 I mean, tell me a little bit about kind of the process that it went through. 92 00:05:48,329 --> 00:05:48,649 Yeah. 93 00:05:48,649 --> 00:05:54,889 So, like Ryan was saying, you know, halfway, I believe, through the 2022 season, they were 94 00:05:54,889 --> 00:06:02,194 talking about, you know, some sort of program that they were talking about, that outlined 95 00:06:02,894 --> 00:06:07,634 some sort of base salary, that they were looking at other sports.
96 00:06:08,029 --> 00:06:11,870 And they said, well, you know, baseball, football, basketball, and whatever all have 97 00:06:11,870 --> 00:06:14,290 these, quote, unquote, league minimums. 98 00:06:14,590 --> 00:06:18,270 And, you know, we think we should have that league minimum as well. 99 00:06:18,270 --> 00:06:25,514 And, again, much like, you know, a lot of the changes with the tour over the last three to 100 00:06:25,514 --> 00:06:33,115 five years, you know, they come in with, you know, a really positive thought, you know, and 101 00:06:33,355 --> 00:06:38,730 maybe even have, you know, some more positive thoughts to back that up, but eventually, it 102 00:06:38,730 --> 00:06:39,930 turns very, very sour. 103 00:06:39,930 --> 00:06:42,810 So, and this was no different.
104 00:06:42,810 --> 00:06:47,689 In fact, actually, I would even call this probably the most egregious change that they've 105 00:06:47,689 --> 00:06:52,810 made to date until the most recent announcement, but we've got another year to see 106 00:06:52,810 --> 00:06:54,625 what happens with that. 107 00:06:54,625 --> 00:07:00,225 What Brent's talking about here, folks, is the fact that he's not calling the 500k egregious. 108 00:07:00,225 --> 00:07:00,725 Okay? 109 00:07:01,025 --> 00:07:02,064 He's not saying, hey.
110 00:07:02,064 --> 00:07:05,185 Throw 500 grand in my account, and that's a terrible thing. 111 00:07:05,185 --> 00:07:06,465 You've done an awful thing. 112 00:07:06,465 --> 00:07:11,699 Like I said, I feel like the tour was trying to do something good that everybody was pushing 113 00:07:11,699 --> 00:07:13,699 towards, which is covering the cost. 114 00:07:13,699 --> 00:07:19,300 I've talked with other Korn Ferry Tour players that have been in debt up to $150,000 after a 115 00:07:19,300 --> 00:07:21,720 season of playing out there because of all the travel.
116 00:07:21,795 --> 00:07:24,615 And Ryan, you put it very well with all the technology. 117 00:07:24,675 --> 00:07:30,355 I mean, you really have to build out a team now around you in order to be able to perform at 118 00:07:30,355 --> 00:07:31,574 the highest level. 119 00:07:31,795 --> 00:07:36,855 And so that costs a lot of money in order to put all those pieces around you. 120 00:07:37,189 --> 00:07:43,990 By the egregious part is that they received the $500,000 and then all of a sudden were taxed on 121 00:07:43,990 --> 00:07:48,729 it at the end of the year because the PGA tour was like, woah, hang on a second.
122 00:07:49,285 --> 00:07:51,764 We we kind of fucked up here. 123 00:07:51,764 --> 00:07:52,264 Okay. 124 00:07:52,404 --> 00:07:54,025 We we kind of messed up. 125 00:07:54,085 --> 00:07:55,525 We didn't take out taxes.
126 00:07:55,525 --> 00:07:58,245 We didn't know that you were gonna have to pay taxes on this. 127 00:07:58,245 --> 00:08:04,600 So Brent, take me through what happened right before Christmas as to you getting notified 128 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:05,420 about this. 129 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:06,439 Yeah. 130 00:08:06,439 --> 00:08:12,360 So, first thing I'll say is, no, we didn't sign a contract with regards to any of the money.
131 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,080 There was never a piece of paper that was put in front of us. 132 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:20,045 I believe we got an email detailing how the payback would work. 133 00:08:20,045 --> 00:08:23,345 So we took that and ran with it for the entire year. 134 00:08:24,045 --> 00:08:29,245 And then right before Christmas, I believe three days before Christmas, I got a phone call 135 00:08:29,245 --> 00:08:39,879 from the tour player relations people, and, essentially, to sum it all up, it was, yeah, we 136 00:08:39,879 --> 00:08:40,519 messed up.
137 00:08:40,519 --> 00:08:41,740 You owe us $67,000. 138 00:08:44,004 --> 00:08:46,504 We didn't see this coming and oops. 139 00:08:46,565 --> 00:08:47,065 Sorry. 140 00:08:47,684 --> 00:08:54,164 And, the subsequent conversations afterwards were detailing where that number came from and 141 00:08:54,164 --> 00:09:00,799 essentially what it came from was the tour paid us the $500,000 and through the money that we 142 00:09:00,799 --> 00:09:02,579 made to pay that back.
143 00:09:02,959 --> 00:09:08,799 The states wanted their cut of that money, and so the PGA Tour had to pay that somehow 144 00:09:08,799 --> 00:09:11,860 because, obviously, we didn't get it because we paid the PGA Tour. 145 00:09:12,084 --> 00:09:16,745 So they ended up paying that money for us. 146 00:09:17,684 --> 00:09:24,659 And then, essentially, what they figured out was that they were gonna make that burden, and 147 00:09:24,659 --> 00:09:29,539 take that burden and put it onto us, all of us that didn't keep our card. 148 00:09:29,539 --> 00:09:29,860 Right?
149 00:09:29,860 --> 00:09:34,259 Going down to a tour where you make a tenth of what is made on the PGA Tour. 150 00:09:34,259 --> 00:09:35,320 That's not an exaggeration. 151 00:09:35,860 --> 00:09:42,074 And then to sum it all up, we asked, well, is this gonna happen to the 2023 or 2024 rookies? 152 00:09:42,074 --> 00:09:43,534 You know, what have you guys learned?
153 00:09:43,995 --> 00:09:46,334 And how can we make sure this doesn't happen again? 154 00:09:46,875 --> 00:09:48,154 Well, they just said, well, yeah. 155 00:09:48,154 --> 00:09:53,529 Now we just withhold 100,000 from that 500, and then, you know, we just take it out from there 156 00:09:53,529 --> 00:09:56,209 and, you know, pay the difference at the end of the year. 157 00:09:56,209 --> 00:09:57,529 And we're sorry.
158 00:09:57,529 --> 00:10:00,750 You know, it won't happen again, but you're gonna have to owe us. 159 00:10:01,049 --> 00:10:06,809 And I mean, you know, $67,000 is a lot of money, and I believe they chopped it down by 160 00:10:06,809 --> 00:10:12,785 18,000 of noncash benefits, which was basically them paying the health insurance company on my 161 00:10:12,785 --> 00:10:16,225 behalf, which would usually come out of the earnings that I had. 162 00:10:16,225 --> 00:10:24,279 I told myself I wasn't gonna do this in this episode because it's very serious, but it's 163 00:10:24,279 --> 00:10:28,759 just that type of somber type of mood around this entire thing. 164 00:10:28,759 --> 00:10:31,399 So let's talk about the mistake that was made here.
165 00:10:31,399 --> 00:10:33,480 Ryan, who made the mistake here? 166 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:39,165 Was it on the players that, hey, you guys should have known that you're gonna have tax 167 00:10:39,165 --> 00:10:40,125 implications here? 168 00:10:40,125 --> 00:10:44,625 Or was this a mistake made by the tour to where they kind of rushed this program out? 169 00:10:44,764 --> 00:10:46,445 And then from there, we're like, oh, shit.
170 00:10:46,445 --> 00:10:48,225 We gotta pay taxes on this money. 171 00:10:48,925 --> 00:10:49,245 Yeah. 172 00:10:49,245 --> 00:10:56,450 I mean, here's the thing I always say since I've talked about this article a few times is, 173 00:10:56,589 --> 00:10:58,370 listen, I know nothing about taxes. 174 00:10:58,509 --> 00:10:59,009 Nothing.
175 00:11:00,029 --> 00:11:07,549 But I know that if I hand somebody $500,000 as a company, that I should probably explore the 176 00:11:07,549 --> 00:11:09,409 tax ramifications of that. 177 00:11:09,545 --> 00:11:18,985 And then I'll go a step farther is the PGA Tour knows that pro golfers have an already 178 00:11:18,985 --> 00:11:21,085 complicated tax system for those listening. 179 00:11:21,144 --> 00:11:24,240 You have to pay taxes in every state that you earn money in. 180 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:30,799 So and this is even another layer of very complicated tax code.
181 00:11:30,799 --> 00:11:38,000 I talked to 12 CPAs for this article, and all you know, there were probably nine different 182 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,585 answers among the 12. 183 00:11:39,745 --> 00:11:40,245 Right? 184 00:11:40,545 --> 00:11:47,904 So here is the issue is, like, if you say it's the player's fault, two things. 185 00:11:47,904 --> 00:11:55,429 One, we'll get into the actual taxes of it and why they paid taxes before they earned money.
186 00:11:55,429 --> 00:12:01,129 But the second part of it is, again, the PGA Tour should've said something up front. 187 00:12:01,190 --> 00:12:06,070 And then the first tournament that they realized that this was an issue, whatever 188 00:12:06,070 --> 00:12:09,164 tournament that was, I'm gonna argue it was super early. 189 00:12:11,324 --> 00:12:11,485 Okay? 190 00:12:11,485 --> 00:12:19,024 You owe it to your members to go even if it was this article wouldn't have been written if in 191 00:12:19,485 --> 00:12:23,309 after the Sony in January, if that's when they learned that there was an issue.
192 00:12:23,389 --> 00:12:23,710 Sure. 193 00:12:23,710 --> 00:12:29,470 They immediately sent an email to the people who got the $500,000 up front and went, hey, 194 00:12:29,470 --> 00:12:29,789 guys. 195 00:12:29,789 --> 00:12:30,289 Listen. 196 00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:32,529 We're not sure how to handle this.
197 00:12:33,789 --> 00:12:34,929 We've made a mistake. 198 00:12:35,654 --> 00:12:36,554 Here's the issue. 199 00:12:36,615 --> 00:12:40,074 Laid out the issue and said, make sure you talk to your CPA. 200 00:12:40,294 --> 00:12:41,754 We've talked to our CPAs.
201 00:12:41,894 --> 00:12:43,334 We're not sure how to handle it. 202 00:12:43,334 --> 00:12:45,995 It's a very complicated tax code come April. 203 00:12:46,294 --> 00:12:47,815 And you wanna come to us. 204 00:12:47,815 --> 00:12:49,254 We'll help answer the questions.
205 00:12:49,254 --> 00:12:51,034 We'll get you in touch with our CPAs. 206 00:12:51,254 --> 00:12:52,850 This article wouldn't have been written. 207 00:12:53,070 --> 00:12:56,910 This is not like, listen. 208 00:12:56,910 --> 00:12:58,450 Take the taxes out of it.
209 00:12:59,389 --> 00:13:02,210 The PGA Tour owes its members to communicate. 210 00:13:02,670 --> 00:13:02,990 Mhmm. 211 00:13:02,990 --> 00:13:09,115 And let's—I don't know how you hand $500,000 and don't make people sign something and don't 212 00:13:09,115 --> 00:13:11,514 think of the tax ramifications of it. 213 00:13:11,514 --> 00:13:16,095 But let's say we forgive that part, and then you realize you made a mistake.
214 00:13:16,394 --> 00:13:16,894 Okay. 215 00:13:17,274 --> 00:13:21,514 Then you owe it to your members to just simply send the email I just said. 216 00:13:21,514 --> 00:13:22,254 That's it. 217 00:13:22,769 --> 00:13:23,250 That's it.
218 00:13:23,250 --> 00:13:31,670 This isn't again, the tax side of it is the players got $500,000 as an advance. 219 00:13:32,290 --> 00:13:38,554 They assumed a lot of CPAs, agents, tax guys assumed that that check came from Florida, 220 00:13:38,554 --> 00:13:39,375 which it did. 221 00:13:39,434 --> 00:13:40,654 So they paid taxes. 222 00:13:41,195 --> 00:13:46,394 I think what's getting lost in this is that sometimes from the people coming back is it's 223 00:13:46,794 --> 00:13:48,095 players paid taxes.
224 00:13:48,554 --> 00:13:49,855 They paid it in April. 225 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:51,360 They paid federal taxes. 226 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,019 That was probably a $150,000 check. 227 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:55,539 They paid state taxes.
228 00:13:56,799 --> 00:14:01,519 It happened that a lot of them thought that there wasn't any state tax associated with it 229 00:14:01,519 --> 00:14:03,220 because their check came from Florida. 230 00:14:03,444 --> 00:14:09,225 And a lot of the players hadn't even earned close to $500,000 in April of 2023. 231 00:14:09,845 --> 00:14:14,745 So even if they wanted to assign it to a state, there was no state to assign it to. 232 00:14:15,284 --> 00:14:19,779 That's where the tax where CPAs have nine different answers.
233 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:27,279 So it all comes back to at Sony, when they realized there was an issue, you owe it to your 234 00:14:27,279 --> 00:14:30,399 members to send out a simple email that says, hey. 235 00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:31,539 This is super complicated. 236 00:14:31,679 --> 00:14:32,924 We didn't think through this. 237 00:14:35,004 --> 00:14:35,964 Talk to our CPAs.
238 00:14:35,964 --> 00:14:37,024 Talk to your CPA. 239 00:14:37,485 --> 00:14:47,004 You don't call people who have lost their job on a missed Q-School four days before Christmas 240 00:14:47,004 --> 00:14:49,120 and let them know that they owe $60,000. 241 00:14:49,820 --> 00:14:50,639 That's it. 242 00:14:50,860 --> 00:14:51,899 That's all there is to it.
243 00:14:51,899 --> 00:14:52,500 This is, yeah. 244 00:14:52,700 --> 00:14:53,500 This is not a comp. 245 00:14:53,659 --> 00:14:56,480 Take all the taxes and all the tax code out of it. 246 00:14:56,620 --> 00:14:58,059 You don't do that to your members.
247 00:14:58,059 --> 00:15:03,535 I wouldn't do it to my employees, and I know they're not employees, but they're members of 248 00:15:03,535 --> 00:15:06,654 your organization that are an intricate part. 249 00:15:06,654 --> 00:15:08,014 You just wouldn't do it to them. 250 00:15:08,014 --> 00:15:09,134 That makes it even worse. 251 00:15:09,134 --> 00:15:09,455 Right?
252 00:15:09,455 --> 00:15:11,875 Being members even more so than employees. 253 00:15:13,070 --> 00:15:13,230 Yes. 254 00:15:13,230 --> 00:15:13,616 Yeah. 255 00:15:13,616 --> 00:15:14,776 Again, yeah.
256 00:15:15,163 --> 00:15:18,750 Taxes are a huge part of pro—Brent knows this way better than I. 257 00:15:18,990 --> 00:15:25,230 The taxes, you pay 25 state taxes and you like, different state taxes. 258 00:15:25,230 --> 00:15:31,274 Like, it's a prominent part of off-the-course shit that goes on every year. 259 00:15:31,335 --> 00:15:33,514 They know how important tax stuff is.
260 00:15:33,654 --> 00:15:35,274 This isn't like a surprise. 261 00:15:35,735 --> 00:15:36,054 Nope. 262 00:15:36,054 --> 00:15:44,500 Like, taxes are a huge, huge part of off-the-course life as a pro golfer. 263 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,899 So it makes it even more egregious that it was not communicated.
264 00:15:48,959 --> 00:15:49,919 That's all there is to it. 265 00:15:49,919 --> 00:15:50,079 Yeah. 266 00:15:50,079 --> 00:15:54,995 And as you're talking about it, Ryan, it really makes me think too that because this was an 267 00:15:54,995 --> 00:15:55,794 advance, right? 268 00:15:55,794 --> 00:15:59,014 That they're going to take the money back from your winnings.
269 00:16:00,274 --> 00:16:04,615 That's what actually complicates it even more so because if it was just a paid-out salary, 270 00:16:04,995 --> 00:16:07,829 let's say, then that's coming from Florida. 271 00:16:07,829 --> 00:16:10,730 You don't owe the state taxes in Florida because there are none. 272 00:16:11,029 --> 00:16:17,509 However, it's because the PGA Tour is now recollecting that money throughout the year at 273 00:16:17,509 --> 00:16:18,970 each one of the locations 274 00:16:19,429 --> 00:16:20,629 in which the employee has 275 00:16:20,629 --> 00:16:21,289 more money. 276 00:16:21,654 --> 00:16:21,894 Yes.
277 00:16:21,894 --> 00:16:24,054 And they're not employees, right? 278 00:16:24,054 --> 00:16:26,855 So I talked to CPAs who are like, oh, this happens all the time. 279 00:16:26,855 --> 00:16:27,815 People get advanced. 280 00:16:27,815 --> 00:16:28,615 Well, they're employees.
281 00:16:28,615 --> 00:16:30,075 They're not independent contractors. 282 00:16:30,134 --> 00:16:33,975 Then it's not really—it's not a loan. 283 00:16:33,975 --> 00:16:37,669 Some CPAs were like, oh, you just claim it as a loan. 284 00:16:37,669 --> 00:16:40,889 Well, it's not really a loan because it's a forgivable loan.
285 00:16:40,949 --> 00:16:49,689 So, again, all of that adds up into you talk to 9 to 12 CPAs, 9 different answers. 286 00:16:50,644 --> 00:16:54,485 That's when, as the PGA Tour, you go to your players and go, hey. 287 00:16:54,485 --> 00:16:55,924 Make sure that this is straight. 288 00:16:55,924 --> 00:16:56,644 That's it.
289 00:16:56,644 --> 00:17:01,944 This is relatively simple from the standpoint of you made a mistake. 290 00:17:02,245 --> 00:17:03,944 I don't know how that mistake happens. 291 00:17:04,250 --> 00:17:08,330 And then you go to your members that you're supposed to protect all members and say, here's 292 00:17:08,330 --> 00:17:08,970 the issue. 293 00:17:08,970 --> 00:17:10,970 Make sure you are on the up and up.
294 00:17:10,970 --> 00:17:12,350 We'll help if you need to. 295 00:17:13,769 --> 00:17:16,730 The shocking thing to me is what happens next. 296 00:17:16,730 --> 00:17:17,049 Right? 297 00:17:17,049 --> 00:17:20,954 With the actual solution that the tour came up with.
298 00:17:21,335 --> 00:17:26,454 And why don't you take us through that quickly, Ryan, around what was the result? 299 00:17:26,454 --> 00:17:28,055 Like, what ended up happening? 300 00:17:28,055 --> 00:17:30,075 We obviously know that there's a tax implication. 301 00:17:30,679 --> 00:17:35,179 Did the tour do the right thing, or did they end up putting it onto the players directly?
302 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:36,279 Yeah. 303 00:17:36,279 --> 00:17:41,740 I mean, so, you know, they made the players pay it back. 304 00:17:42,599 --> 00:17:44,625 Some did it up front. 305 00:17:44,765 --> 00:17:46,625 Some did it with their first check.
306 00:17:47,164 --> 00:17:51,984 Brent would be in the group that, you know, paid it off throughout the season. 307 00:17:53,005 --> 00:17:54,625 Still not done yet, by the way. 308 00:17:54,765 --> 00:17:55,244 Yeah. 309 00:17:55,244 --> 00:17:56,625 Brent's still not done.
310 00:17:57,670 --> 00:18:04,390 And, you know, again, you could argue this point. 311 00:18:04,390 --> 00:18:10,970 People can argue this point, but I think, you know, the combined total is probably $250,000. 312 00:18:11,509 --> 00:18:14,154 The PGA Tour is a drop in the bucket. 313 00:18:14,294 --> 00:18:14,775 Right?
314 00:18:14,775 --> 00:18:22,134 And if you don't wanna put the full blame on the PGA Tour, there's no argument that they 315 00:18:22,134 --> 00:18:25,015 share in the blame, but not even close. 316 00:18:25,015 --> 00:18:25,515 Right? 317 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,600 The communication factor, the fact that it wasn't up front, all of those things. 318 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:30,100 Right?
319 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,519 They give away tens of millions of dollars to top players all the time, and I have nothing 320 00:18:35,519 --> 00:18:36,340 against that. 321 00:18:36,559 --> 00:18:37,920 You could just be like, hey, guys. 322 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:38,820 We made a mistake. 323 00:18:39,894 --> 00:18:42,714 Understand that if this happens again, you would owe us this amount.
324 00:18:43,815 --> 00:18:44,634 We're sorry. 325 00:18:44,855 --> 00:18:45,755 You're lucky. 326 00:18:46,694 --> 00:18:47,674 Thanks for coming. 327 00:18:48,214 --> 00:18:49,194 Have a good day.
328 00:18:50,214 --> 00:18:57,430 Again, three days before Christmas kinda sums up, you know, kinda sums up what the PGA Tour 329 00:18:57,430 --> 00:18:58,710 thinks of their employee. 330 00:18:58,950 --> 00:19:02,309 You're talking to seven to ten guys who just lost their 331 00:19:02,309 --> 00:19:02,789 job. 332 00:19:02,789 --> 00:19:03,269 Mhmm. 333 00:19:03,269 --> 00:19:03,430 And 334 00:19:03,430 --> 00:19:06,089 then because of your mistake, 335 00:19:09,484 --> 00:19:11,565 they're even more more than 336 00:19:11,565 --> 00:19:12,705 their next season.
337 00:19:13,805 --> 00:19:15,884 Checks are gonna basically disappear. 338 00:19:15,884 --> 00:19:16,045 So it's 339 00:19:16,765 --> 00:19:17,565 Now let's 340 00:19:17,644 --> 00:19:19,019 just a lack of care. 341 00:19:19,180 --> 00:19:21,740 Let's put this into perspective for everybody as well. 342 00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:22,140 Right?
343 00:19:22,140 --> 00:19:28,539 So we're talking about a total tax implication for these players that total combined together 344 00:19:28,539 --> 00:19:31,440 is around $250,000, give or take. 345 00:19:32,174 --> 00:19:36,494 When we look at what the PGA Tour has been doing now, they could have done the right 346 00:19:36,494 --> 00:19:36,994 thing. 347 00:19:37,214 --> 00:19:40,974 They could have absolutely gone to each of the players and been like, Hey, this is what 348 00:19:40,974 --> 00:19:41,454 happened. 349 00:19:41,454 --> 00:19:47,069 So next year, make sure that you're aware that there's going to be a tax implication because 350 00:19:47,069 --> 00:19:47,950 it's our error.
351 00:19:47,950 --> 00:19:52,029 We're gonna take it on the chin for this one, and we're gonna make sure that we take care of 352 00:19:52,029 --> 00:19:52,529 you. 353 00:19:52,829 --> 00:19:56,369 And $250,000, like you said, it's a rounding error. 354 00:19:56,429 --> 00:19:56,929 Error. 355 00:19:57,390 --> 00:19:57,890 Error.
356 00:19:58,109 --> 00:20:00,210 I don't know why I stumbled with that word. 357 00:20:00,269 --> 00:20:04,065 However, that being said, again, I wanna put this into perspective. 358 00:20:04,924 --> 00:20:11,664 Scottie Scheffler won over $62,000,000 because of all the Signature Series, the increased 359 00:20:11,724 --> 00:20:15,424 purses that were out there on the PGA Tour this year. 360 00:20:15,484 --> 00:20:21,710 Jay Monahan, he could have even to him, this is almost a rounding error for his own personal 361 00:20:21,710 --> 00:20:27,089 salary, but which has been reported, by the way, in 2022 was over $18,600,000.
362 00:20:29,390 --> 00:20:35,164 So even the players like the PAC could have come together and been like, hey guys, this is 363 00:20:35,164 --> 00:20:40,465 kind of messed up that this happened to some of our newer members that received this stipend. 364 00:20:40,684 --> 00:20:45,539 Let's go ahead and pull together and actually get this done so that we can make sure that 365 00:20:45,539 --> 00:20:49,799 these guys are taken care of, but none of that happened. 366 00:20:50,259 --> 00:20:55,960 So I just in your opinion, what should what should they have done? 367 00:20:56,835 --> 00:20:57,815 Go ahead, Brent.
368 00:20:58,194 --> 00:21:04,194 Well, you know, I don't wanna, you know, I don't wanna make this a boohoo session and and 369 00:21:04,194 --> 00:21:06,835 the tour is so terrible session or anything like that. 370 00:21:06,835 --> 00:21:12,329 But I think to add a little bit of a little bit of, to what you guys are saying, you know, 371 00:21:13,049 --> 00:21:14,329 we've talked to many people. 372 00:21:14,329 --> 00:21:19,210 Ryan has obviously talked to to, you know, dozens and dozens of people about this from the 373 00:21:19,210 --> 00:21:22,809 tour, tour players, people in and around the tour. 374 00:21:24,250 --> 00:21:34,644 This was not common knowledge, and the reason why I know that is I emailed multiple people, 375 00:21:34,704 --> 00:21:42,039 texted multiple people, called multiple people, and these are all people that deal with the PAC 376 00:21:42,039 --> 00:21:46,299 and or at the corporate level and even on the player relations level.
377 00:21:46,519 --> 00:21:50,600 None of them knew that this situation had happened. 378 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:57,095 The last thing that any of them had even thought about was they knew they had to make 379 00:21:57,095 --> 00:21:58,694 some phone calls to us saying, hey. 380 00:21:58,694 --> 00:21:59,994 You know, we messed up. 381 00:22:00,295 --> 00:22:03,335 And then that was the last anybody had thought about it.
382 00:22:03,335 --> 00:22:09,115 And I spoke to, I spoke to a rather high-ranking member in the corporate structure, 383 00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:12,840 who has since basically blown me off. 384 00:22:13,380 --> 00:22:14,660 And his words were what did 385 00:22:14,660 --> 00:22:15,320 you say? 386 00:22:15,860 --> 00:22:16,660 You heard me. 387 00:22:16,660 --> 00:22:17,960 Blew me off.
388 00:22:19,059 --> 00:22:19,559 Yeah. 389 00:22:20,340 --> 00:22:21,585 And not the good kind. 390 00:22:22,944 --> 00:22:26,865 So he essentially kinda shrugged me off and was like, hey. 391 00:22:26,865 --> 00:22:30,544 You know, I'm just trying to understand this situation even though I haven't thought about 392 00:22:30,544 --> 0
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