LIV’s disastrous December, Koepka coming to TGL, and 2025 over-unders audit | The Shotgun Start

Andy and Brendan! are back! After an extended break to end the year, the first episode of 2026 has plenty of news to catch up on and is, of course, a Victory Monday celebration. Andy is still rolling after the first-ever Ballfrogs win on Friday night, claiming that this victory lasts all weekend. Michael Thorbjornsen was a star in his TGL debut, but much of the conversation was on a star who was not yet present in the SoFi Dome: Brooks Koepka. Andy and Brendan unpack Koepka's departure from LIV and Talor Gooch's upcoming captaincy of Smash GC. The two debate where Brooks will play in 2026 and agree that it's unlikely that he'll play on the PGA Tour this year. His PGA Tour standing will apparently impact his TGL candidacy as well, but Rory, SVP, and other major names in the virtual golf universe all made it seem like Brooks's indoor debut is imminent! Will he be the savior Jup Links so desperately needs? In other LIV Hot Stove news, Pat Perez is angling for a return to the PGA Tour before his 50th birthday and Kevin Na has unfollowed the league on Instagram. What does this mean for the Ironheads? Nobody knows! With no golf to preview this week, PJ leads an audit of last year's over-unders, looking back at Zatch moments, destruction of property by international superstars, and missed cuts at majors by many big name stars. As it turns out, all three football minds nailed the under on the 2025 Bears/Browns/Jets total, ushering a Football Minute to close this show. PJ is thrilled with the chain of events leading to the Jets obtaining the second overall pick in April's draft, Shedeur led yet another win for the Browns as Myles Garrett broke the NFL's sack record, and Andy is already preparing for a playoff matchup against the best quarterback on the Packers, Jordan Love. Stay tuned as we preview more and more of the 2026 golf season before the Sony Open kicks off next Thursday. Check out our new No Interest in Fighting merch here: https://proshop.thefriedegg.com/collections/new-arrivals Listen on Spotify and Apple here: - Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shotgun-start/id1435273901 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0jMFGCaFpcG0eKyOCNbb0T?si=174134a0c7b446d8 Sign up for our Fried Egg Golf Newsletter, delivered every Monday, Wednesday, Friday https://thefriedegg.com/subscribe-to-the-fried-egg-newsletter/ Also check out our Membership - Fried Egg Golf Club - which includes in-depth course reviews and daily blog posts: https://thefriedegg.com/membership/ Check out our other course profile videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjqqxh4N0xEaxZ_jhhQBcu901PmlUU-J8 Fried Egg Golf on social media: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fried_egg_golf Twitter - https://twitter.com/fried_egg_golf The Shotgun Start on social media: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/shotgunstartpod Twitter - https://x.com/TheShotgunStart The Fried Egg team: Andy Johnson - https://twitter.com/AndyTFE Brendan Porath - https://twitter.com/BrendanPorath Garrett Morrison - https://twitter.com/garrett_TFE Joseph LaMagna - https://twitter.com/JosephLaMagna Will Knights - https://twitter.com/WillKnightsTFE Meg Adkins - https://twitter.com/megadkins_TFE PJ Clark - https://twitter.com/TheRealPJClark Matt Rouches - https://www.instagram.com/mattrouches Cameron Hurdus - https://www.instagram.com/cameronhurdus