This Friday episode brings a game of Quote Roulette and the conclusion of the first-ever "Draft Week" to start your weekend. Brendan is ready to skip forward to Sunday afternoon's big Jets-Browns tilt at MetLife Stadium with rumors swirling that he may meet up with PJ to watch the game in-person. Andy and Brendan run through the early leaderboards for the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship and World Wide Technology Championship before diving into press conference clippings from around the world. Rory McIlroy wasn't impressed by LIV's move to 72 holes and doesn't think they'll be getting too many OWGR points as things currently stand. Lee Westwood took exception to these remarks by the Masters champion, saying that Rory may change his mind next week on whatever he said anyway. Westy believes that the LIV fans are the biggest winners of this "innovation" as they'll be seeing an extra day of golf! Paul McGinley spoke to Bunkered about the impending DP World Tour fine decision on players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. McGinley believes there are larger things at play for the future of the DP World Tour's existence and acknowledges that making Ryder Cup players be members is one of few cards the Euro circuit has left. Perhaps most importantly, there was some late-night beef between Joe Mayo and the Short Game Chef on Instagram on Wednesday night. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Mayo started a grease fire in the Chef's kitchen, airing out some past texts and conversations and calling out the Chef's teachings. Andy and Brendan are giddy about this long-winded IG caption and lose it when Joseph LaMagna joins in to share a comment about "extra Mayo." Lastly, the President of the PGA of America spoke to the 31,000 or 34,000 or 37,000 members this week and apologized for "harming the association" in past months. We play the audio of this apology and have added it to the soundboard. "Draft Week" wraps up with a double whammy and a new guest: Joseph joins Andy, Brendan, and PJ to draft 2026 Pro Golf Venues AND the best players in the world age 28-and-younger.
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1:10:40
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1:10:40
LIV “innovates” to 72-hole tourneys, Drafting the best events of 2025
"Draft Week" continues on this Wednesday episode as Andy, Brendan, and PJ pick their favorite PGA Tour events of 2025. Speaking of draft picks, the show kicks off with Andy immediately having PJ answer for an explosive trade deadline for the 1-7 Jets. The Jets choosing to stockpile future draft picks rather than have actually good players on the current roster is quickly tied into golf and the constant need to find "who's next." Michael Brennan could be "next," and he's back in action this week as the PGA Tour heads to Mexico for the Worldwide Technologies Championship. Andy and Brendan briefly discuss the field for the event, including Brennan, Ben Griffin, and U.S. Open champ J.J. Spaun. The DP World Tour playoffs begin this week with Rory, Tommy, and more teeing it up at Yas Links for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Brendan mentions the event's defending champion, Paul Waring, which leads to a guessing game on Waring's 2025 PGA Tour earnings. There was some real, substantial golf news on Wednesday afternoon as it was announced that LIV Golf will begin playing 72-hole tournaments in 2026. Andy and Brendan find great humor in the fact that this is being spun as "innovation" and the next phase of growing the game, despite now being the same as the PGA Tour. They discuss whether the top players will start to separate themselves even more given another 18 holes at every event, and also mention some new trademarks filed by the league for potential team names. The back half of this episode contains a bit of a Year in Review appetizer in the form of a Best 2025 Events Draft. The three briefly look back at the year and select their favorite highlights from the PGA Tour schedule and a few wildcards.
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1:10:04
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1:10:04
Golf's most popular player draft & McDowell's dumb LIV comments
It's "Draft Week" here at The Shotgun Start! Andy and Brendan went LIVE on YouTube for this Monday episode, kicking things off with an NFL Minute celebrating a miraculous win by the Bears on Sunday afternoon. Andy is riding high while Brendan is down in the dumps about his Commies and the latest Jayden Daniels injury. Having just re-signed with Smash GC, Graeme McDowell is NOT down in the dumps and instead is positioning himself for a run as the European Ryder Cup captain in 2027. Speaking to Bunkered, McDowell said that he'd like to be the "olive branch" that brings European golf back together and that the divisiveness in the game has come from the top players and not guys like him trying to "eke out a living." Andy and Brendan go off on these quotes, citing McDowell's LIV earnings and reported signing bonus and wondering why he's no longer a DP World Tour member, which seems to be a disqualifying factor in being the next captain. In other LIV/DP World Tour news, Tom McKibbin went wire-to-wire in Hong Kong to secure an invite to the 2026 Masters and an exemption into the Open Championship. Brendan suggests LIV should prop McKibbin up as the prime example of playing a worldwide schedule that still allows pathways into the major championships that do not involve OWGR points. Andy then debuts the much-anticipated 2026 TGL Power Rankings as the league approaches season two. Who does he have ranked first? You'll have to listen to find out! "Draft Week" then gets underway as Andy, Brendan, and PJ draft players as if they were handing out sponsor exemptions to their own tournaments. This popularity-focused draft goes for more rounds than expected, allowing for some insane picks to come into play by the end. To close things out, the "Internet Invitational" is briefly discussed after Andy watched the first week's episodes on Halloween night.
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1:26:53
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1:26:53
Bryson’s contract talks with LIV, Flashback on ‘Crazy’ Marty, and more Golf costumes
Start your Halloweekend with some listener-submitted costumes! Brendan kicks off this episode by sharing a few "Feedback Friday" emails with Andy, including one about getting caught playing behind a "golf influencer shooting content at a Bay Area course" this week. Andy comes to the defense of this anonymous content creator, providing some reasons for why said creator was perhaps playing slowly. Brendan also reveals a follow-up email from The Great Manassero's trip to San Diego a few weeks ago. In end-of-week golf news, Jordan Spieth has received one last 2025 sponsor exemption and the LIV offseason is in full swing. Bryson DeChambeau is reportedly in re-negotiations for a new contract with the league and it was announced that players will have a pathway to starts next season through the International Series and a "Q-School" event in Tampa this winter. Gary Player made headlines after declaring himself the third-best golfer ever and Andy believes this can-do attitude is what made the Black Knight so great in the first place. PJ then joins in to help Brendan run through the listener submissions for this year's Halloween costume contest. Highlights include someone actually dressing up as PJ, and hypothetical costumes such as "Collin Morikawa's dog," "Championship Rain," "PGA Tour Comms," "Tony Jacklin looking for equity," and much more. Flashback Friday with KVV sends this episode home, as Kevin stops by to enlighten Andy and Brendan about the exploits of "Crazy" Marty Furgol, a former Ryder Cupper and the final winner of the El Paso Open.
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1:02:23
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1:02:23
Distance shames Old Course into more plastic surgery, Trump exemption, 8th Annual Golf Halloween Costume ideas
Andy and Brendan! once again went LIVE on YouTube for one of the best days of the year: the annual golf Halloween costumes episode. Before diving into some ideas celebrating the best in golf for 2025, the two quickly run through the Schedule for the Week containing just two events for the final week in October. They then move to some recent news, highlighting Kai Trump's LPGA sponsor exemption into The Annika in November. Andy and Brendan call out the continued use of sponsor exemptions on all tours and note that this could not be a an actual competitive exemption. Elsewhere on the LPGA, the Grant Thornton Invitational teams are out, pairing FSU studs Lottie Woad and Luke Clanton, Canadians Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners, and more. For the last bit of news, it was announced that the Old Course will be adding new tees in an effort to make the course longer for the 155th Open. This opens the floodgates for a discussion about the distance problem in golf with Brendan calling this a "five-alarm fire" that should not be celebrated by media and fans alike. PJ is tapped to explain the 2026 Champions Tour schedule that may - or may not - have Tiger Woods in its plans before Andy forces him to rank his top five Halloween candies. The three then present their golf-adjacent Halloween costume ideas, covering subjects like Lucas "King of Takes" Glover, Happy Gilmore*, the Crentist, Keegan Bradley's suitcase, and much, much more. Listener submissions will be read and judged on Friday's episode for a gift card to the Fried Egg Golf Pro Shop.
The Shotgun Start with Andy Johnson and Brendan Porath of Fried Egg Golf is a podcast waiting for you early in the morning that quickly blasts through a variety of topics (usually) related to golf and (ideally) relevant to the day. It covers news from the pro tours around the world, amusing and important topics from the amateur game the rest of us play, and some irreverent stuff in between. There will be short interviews, previews, reviews, and dives into the archives. It provides what you need to know on golf through a rapid and fun catch-up discussion.
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