A tougher bar to climb

This is yet another malaphor heard on Brian Williams’ podcast, 11th Hour. This time it was uttered by Dr. Vin Gupta. Hear it at 37:36:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-11th-hour-with-brian-williams/id1314368109?i=1000541456964

This is a mashup of “a tougher row to hoe” ( a very difficult situation) and “set a high bar” (establish a desired but difficult to achieve standard). Kudos to Frank King for hearing this one and sending it in.