"It's Never Been Harder to Win"

Kent Paisley and Scottie "Worldwide" Leonard sit down with Grant Boone, the lead play-by-play voice of LPGA broadcasts, for a wide-ranging hour and forty on a tour he argues has never been deeper — or harder to win on. Boone, who called his first LPGA event in March 2000 and has worked alongside Donna Caponi, Judy Rankin, Dottie Pepper, Morgan Pressel and Karen Stupples, uses that span as a measuring stick: in Rankin's era you beat eighteen or twenty great players and all the Sandras; now the depth runs so far down the field that a rookie can lose her card before she's had fifteen real starts. Kent drives the analysis — ranking Nelly Korda's three most dominant seasons against each other, pressing on whether the schedule has drained the emotional juice out of the tour, and mapping the Solheim Cup math down to four players for three captain's picks. Scottie brings the view from inside the ropes, including a 270-yard uphill three wood at last year's International Crown he still doesn't quite believe. Along the way: what's genuinely under-discussed about Nelly, why Haeran Ryu's putter — not her ball-striking — is what finally changed, whether Minjee Lee's 85 at Scottish means anything at all, and a spirited argument over whether four of five majors can really be a Grand Slam. Boone's commissioner-for-a-day answer is the one to stick around for, and it isn't about television. Kent's hot take lands late and cuts against the guest: Boone insists a broadcaster's work doesn't matter much next to a teacher's or a social worker's — and Kent pushes back hard, because unlike the men's game, the LPGA has no beat corps on the ground, which means the stories Boone tells are the only ones many of these players will ever get told.CHAPTERS0:00 — "Everyone's fighting for the Iron Throne"1:24 — Beat the Sandras and you could win5:55 — Ranking Nelly's three best seasons10:58 — Everybody wants a piece of Nelly16:08 — "We didn't have mental health coaches"22:32 — "How many times can you hit a five-foot putt?"26:06 — Haeran Ryu shot 78 on a Saturday31:38 — "Can I go for it?" — 270 uphill33:40 — The breakout pick for Lytham35:37 — Four of five majors — a Grand Slam?39:45 — "Wait, who are they?"45:07 — Saying her name the way she wants it said52:32 — Kent pushes back: nobody's writing these stories57:08 — Who's playing for a Solheim spot at Lytham1:04:56 — Four players, three picks1:09:12 — The Alison Lee Fan Club1:12:28 — Commissioner for a day1:23:22 — One word for Lexi: "potential"1:32:14 — The Hall of Fame math that keeps Cristie Kerr out1:37:18 — Power-ranking ice cream (#heresTheScoop)Links:The Edge WebsiteThe Edge YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@golf.theedgeshowSubscribe to The Edge Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.