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PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA | The chattiest group in golf – the four guys from Barstool Sports’ Fore Play podcast – had gone quiet, quiet enough to hear the bells pealing from a nearby village church.
On the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2, where Payne Stewart etched a memory into history 21 years ago, Sam Riggs Bozoian faced an 18-foot par putt to what they call “the Stewart pin.” One-up in their live-streamed scramble match against PGA Tour pro Kevin Kisner, Riggs – the alpha male of the Barstool boys – didn’t just make the match-clinching putt.
He walked it in.
Not only can Riggs talk the talk – and the Fore Play guys talk golf like no one else – he literally walked the walk.
How big a moment was this?
Let’s go to Riggs, who lost a challenge match to a 12-year-old recently, on the Fore Play podcast:
“(Earlier, Kisner) beat me, 5 and 4, with 14 shots. He just pounds people like us and embarrasses people like us all the time, and we were able to come together and beat him. I lost to a 12-year-old, I got killed by Kisner with 14 shots. That felt f------ great to win. It just felt so good to get a win.”
If you’re familiar with the Fore Play pod on the vast Barstool platform, you know it for what it is: a wide-open discussion about all things golf and some things that aren’t golf. It’s four guys – and often a high-profile guest – talking about the game and their games in a way that sounds like a foursome might talk over a few beers.
The language can lean toward frat party at times and its success is built around the sense that these guys see and play the game like virtually everyone else. They can poke fun at themselves, they are unabashed Tiger Woods fans (getting hundreds of thousands of social-media views of a fist-bump Woods gave Riggs during the Presidents Cup last fall) and while they respect the traditions of the game, they can come across like an electric guitar in the church choir – it’s still music, but with a different sound.
Kisner is practically one of the guys.
“These guys love golf and ran with it,” said Kisner, whose annual foundation fundraiser got a huge boost when the Fore Play group began touting it. “Their base is so loyal. It’s almost opposite of the normal media of golf. They have their base, and there is the normal base.”
Playing the Pinehurst match was part of a long-standing relationship Kisner has with the Fore Play crew, most of whom had played little golf during the quarantine. After 18 holes on No. 2, the group adjourned for lunch then played a gangsome with friends on the Cradle, a couple of the Barstool guys playing barefoot while Kisner rolled around with his shirt tail out and a cold beverage in one hand.
That, to borrow a favorite Phil Mickelson expression, is how they roll.
“We can root for guys. We can root against guys. That’s a huge asset for us. When we watch the coverage we’re tweeting about it or when we react to what happened over the weekend, we’re discussing it the same way most people out there are discussing it, on group texts with their buddies, on a FaceTime with their dad.”
Sam Riggs Bozoian
As chief executive officer of the PGA of America, Seth Waugh represents golf’s establishment. After Riggs mispronounced Waugh’s last name on a podcast, they connected at the PGA Championship last year and Waugh poked back at Riggs.
“It’s casual. It’s fun,” said Waugh, who was introduced to the podcast by his sons. “You talk about a lot of different things. I kind of understand it.
“It’s not inappropriate but it doesn’t have the same boundaries we’ve always had. They’re asking a lot of the same questions, maybe in slightly different ways. You may spend some time talking about pizza as well.
“They’re interesting, they’re creative, they’re having fun. They obviously can’t believe they’ve caught this lightning in a bottle. I’m really happy for them. They’ve tapped into something very cool and they deserve it.”
The four of them – Bozoian, Trent Ryan, Frankie Borelli and Ben “Lurch” Severance – have created a platform that didn’t exist five years ago. Riggs is a former Harvard hockey player who started out writing political blog posts for Barstool. Eventually he convinced Barstool founder Dave Portnoy to let him start writing about golf and in 2017 the podcast was launched.
The first podcast was just Riggs and Trent with Ollie Schniederjans as their guest. They were winging it and it worked.
The concept is simple:
“We’re incredibly honest,” Riggs said. “I mean that about our own games, about our thoughts on the PGA Tour, about players. We’re not afraid to say if we like guys or don’t like guys. We’re not bound by journalistic guidelines. We’re not journalists. Everybody knows that. We’re bloggers. We’re podcasters.
“We can root for guys. We can root against guys. That’s a huge asset for us. When we watch the coverage we’re tweeting about it or when we react to what happened over the weekend, we’re discussing it the same way most people out there are discussing it, on group texts with their buddies, on a FaceTime with their dad.
“And I think we’re funny. When you make people laugh it disarms any kind of ill will.”
What comes through on their twice-weekly podcasts is the passion. They love the game and while their discussion doesn’t sound like what you’re going to hear on Golf Channel’s Live From … programs at major championships, it resonates.
Their podcasts draw thousands of listeners and their videos can go viral. Major companies have flocked to the Fore Play platform to boost their brands. Barstool has mastered the art of social media to the point that daily pizza reviews (just cheese pizza) can attract more than 2 million views.
They’re not afraid to call out players. When Justin Thomas had a fan removed from yelling at his ball to go in a bunker at the Honda Classic a couple of years ago, the Barstool guys went after him.
“An incredibly soft move,” Riggs said of Thomas’ actions.
J.T. responded on Twitter, there was some back and forth and, eventually Thomas joined the podcast. Now they’re buddies.
For a year, Frankie ragged on Bryson DeChambeau on the podcast, ripping him for his scientific approach and criticizing DeChambeau for blaming any mistake on science. Finally, after being offered the chance to defend himself, DeChambeau did – having recently won three times on the PGA Tour.
“He kind of shut me up,” Frankie said.
Knowing Frankie struggles to hit wedge shots crisply – hence his nickname “Butter Knives” – DeChambeau pushed back at the host but eventually brought him onto the range at the PGA Championship and gave him a lesson.
After Brandel Chamblee joined the podcast, the feedback was surprising.
“The tweets came in saying ‘I really hate you guys because I wanted to hate Brandel Chamblee for the rest of my life, and now I like him,’ ” Riggs said. “We got that with Bryson, with Bubba Watson.
“Ours is just a longform chat where we edit pretty much nothing.”
Riggs grew up playing golf, emulating his older brother and his dad and once his dreams of playing the NHL evaporated, he immersed himself in golf. He’s a good player and can talk at length about course design. He made a brilliant play during the pandemic, escaping his New York City base for Pinehurst, where he originally was scheduled to leave on March 23 but he’s still there.
Trent is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, loves Zach Johnson and believes the John Deere Classic is the fifth major. Frankie’s family has run an Italian restaurant since 1955 and he learned the game playing late afternoon golf. He’s served as Portnoy’s right-hand man for years. Lurch is a software salesman and Riggs’ roommate and he joined the show last year.
Without intending to be anyone but themselves, they’ve carved out their own place. They’re not part of the traditional media, which has rubbed some the wrong way, but they are there to entertain while showing and telling their audience what it’s like to visit the famous resorts or hang around with some of the world’s best players, borrowing on the Barstool theme of “By the common man, for the common man.”
“I don’t think what we do there has anything to do with the people that write for the websites and the magazines,” Frankie said. “The world needs that. You need people talking about the game of golf in a structured way with no opinion, just facts. Here’s what happened at the Presidents Cup, here’s what’s going on.
“We respect that and think there’s a lane for that. At the same time, we think there’s a lane for this new-age media. We have a ton of followers. Barstool is this huge machine that picks up a ton of steam, a ton of views and millions of eyeballs. Our role there is to get people to care about the tournament that’s going on.”
At a place like Pinehurst where history and tradition are baked into the sandy soil, the Fore Play crew and the resort have developed an unlikely but close relationship.
“When I first met that whole crew, we met at the (Pinehurst) Brewery,” Tom Pashley, president of Pinehurst Resort, said. “We sat and started talking about the history of Pinehurst and I could tell we were kindred spirits.
“Sure they are younger than the average guest that comes to Pinehurst but they have the same level of passion and enthusiasm and ultimately respect for what this place is all about. The word respect does it.
“You don’t have to be a traditionalist to show respect.”
An hour after holing the putt that eventually closed out Kisner and gave the Fore Play guys bragging rights in their friendly battles, Riggs had a small carry bag on his shoulder, a cooler in his hand and a smile on his face as he played the Cradle.
Where does making the Payne Stewart putt when it mattered rank on his list of personal achievements?
“Gotta be near the top doesn’t it?” Riggs said. “Gotta be.”
Top: (From left) Sam Riggs Bozoian, Trent Ryan, Frankie Borelli and Ben "Lurch" Severance in front of the Pine Cone beverage cart at Pinehurst Resort
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