The 19th Hole Golf Show

Bubba Watson heard it from the fans at the Waste Management Phoenix Open just a day after saying he was only playing the event to appease his sponsors. We talk about the latest incident of Watson putting his foot in his mouth and the phoniness of his promises to improve as a person and appeal to fans.

We also talk about Ernie Els and how he seems to have found a putting stroke that works in Dubai.

Shorts are now OK for players to wear during European Tour practice rounds and pro-ams, and the golf world is in a tizzy. Why? Who cares? And then we put this new policy in the context of the tour's new pace-of-play policy, showing why penalty strokes for slow play are not on the horizon. Finally, we dig into the Golf Scientist Bryson DeChambeau and why he is such a compelling figure.

Jordan Spieth kicked off his 2016 with a dominant, eight-shot win at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. While he demonstrated improvement in several facets of his game, perhaps the most impressive was the way he has figured out how to win every which way.

Meanwhile, Patrick Reed didn't successfully defend his title at Kapalua, but he's evolving from a boisterous player to an assured champion.

In the 2016 opener for The 19th Hole Golf Show, we talk about Jordan Spieth's view that he isn't playing this season as an encore to his incredible 2015. What does he mean by that and why does that make a lot of sense to him -- and other athletes -- but not to the general public?

We look at Spieth's comments in the context of the careers of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, including the need for athletes to always look forward to keep their edge.

Finally, we talk about Justin Thomas' comment that he'd rather be on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team than win a major in 2016, what that does and doesn't say about him and that it might indicate the Ryder Cup Task Force is doing its job.

Jack Nicklaus was asked about Tiger Woods' quest to catch him for about the zillionth time. But what will Tiger Woods say when he's asked about the next generation catching him AND Jack? Will we lower the bar for what makes a great player?

Donald Trump's fascist tone toward immigrants and Muslims is grounds for golf's most important bodies to disassociate themselves from the billionaire presidential candidate. Also, we talk about the difficulty for middle-class players to play great public courses, and why finding those great affordable public courses would be a boon for the sport.

In a Tuesday news conference at the Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods sounded like a man who knew the end was near. We talk about why that made us sad and reflect on why we care so much when our sports heroes start to fade away. We also talk about Woods' legacy compared to that of Nicklaus, Hogan and Snead. Finally, we wonder if Woods has inspired a brand of golf that will further shorten the careers of the next generation of players.

Davis Love III named Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker as 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup assistant captains, but what does that announcement do for the team and what impact do assistant captains really have on the biennial matches? We discuss. We also implore Adam Scott to stop complaining about the Olympic format. Finally, we talk about the season-ending tournaments on the LPGA and European tours, explaining why they're a late-season success.

In the wake of first-timers winning the first five events of the new PGA Tour season, it' time to ask the question if the style of golf required to win has changed. We talk about that in the context of Phil Mickelson firing Butch Harmon, and wonder if this style has evolved from the success of Vijay Singh in the 2000s.

Smylie Kaufman becomes the second 20-something in this new PGA Tour

season to win, and it makes us wonder what skills these young guys possess that prior

generations didn't that lets them win so young and so often. Then, on the heels of Ian

Poulter's catharsis about the nature of pro golf, we wonder if the grind of the game won't

lead to shorter careers in the future.