The Players recap, March Madness bets and more w Stephen Hennessey from the Golf Digest

Getting you March madness ready with Stephen Hennessey from the Golf Digest

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's gonna talk March Madness and golf. And that's when

(00:03):
I bring in my buddy. You know him, well, Stephen
Hennessy from the Golf Digest. K. There he is, Stephen Hennessy.
How are you doing, my friend?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
What's happening?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Man? Gotta talk about that TPC. I gotta talk about
the players. That was crazy.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
It was a great finish. Yeah, it looked like it
might be sort of a lame runaway win for Oberg
and that changed pretty quick, as can happen at TPC Sawgrass. Yeah,
turned into an exciting last hour and a half. You know,
it almost seemed like nobody wanted to win it. There's

(00:39):
a lot of choking going on. Jeh Miller, the old
NBC analyst, would have been in heaven. He would have
been chopping at the bit talking about all the choking.
But until Cam Young stepped up on seventeen and then
hit that amazing T shot on eighteen, he earned that win.
You know, feel bad for Fitzpatrick. He played amazing golf

(01:00):
down the stretch. He played well enough to win, but
not as good as Cam Young. So we finally got
a Cam Young huge victory. Yeah, all these years of
Bettingham and talking about him on your show. Here he
is the Players Champion of twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
What happened to Oberg?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
He was cruising, he really was. I mean he was
on autopilot. Yeah, you know, all week long, obviously since
the second round he was leading. And yeah, he hit
that terrible second shot on eleven, the part five, I mean,
not even close to making it on to dry land

(01:41):
and there's a lot of wind obviously, but I mean
he should have played for that is an obvious Smith
hit and I think that I think that spooked him.
I think, you know, then he goes into the water
on twelve as well, which is a birdie hole, and
he ends up making bogie. I mean, from then on
it was bad. I did not expect that at all.

(02:03):
I put in a huge bet on Oberg to win
the Masters on Friday, kind of anticipating him winning this
and going on a little run here. And I still
feel confident about him at the Masters. Obviously has great
history there the past couple of years. But yeah, you know,
this is a big event and you know these guys
know it, and you had he has all the confidence

(02:24):
in the world until you hit one really squarely shot
and it's naturally what happen to all of us too.
Then that doubt starts to creep into your mind, like,
oh no, I'm losing this, and he start to play
a little defensive and you're just a little off. And
we saw it happen that. We've seen this a few

(02:44):
times from him when he's when he's leading. He obviously
wanted Tory Pines last year, and you know that was
an impressive victory. But people have pointed out on a
Sunday his routine, his preshot routine is so quick. Yes,
that that really helps him. I think naturally, that's just

(03:06):
you know, it's the way he plays. Y Rory McElroy
is the same way. But him especially he he doesn't
take any time over the ball. Yeah he is. And
I don't know, it's like the added pressure maybe this
gets to him and it didn't at all on Saturday.
Played great on Saturday Sunday, you know, for more than

(03:30):
half of the golf tournament. But I don't know, it's
it's something that's happened before to him. So it's worth discussing.
You know, when your equilibrium gets a little off and
now all of a sudden, you're going fast already, and
maybe you're your body stressing and you know you're speeding
things up, you know, based on what your baseline is. Maybe,

(03:52):
you know, maybe that's what affects these, uh, these little
meltdowns that we've seen from him. It was unexpected, but yeah,
it's tough for him. You know, he bounces back. I
think he's going to have a great rest of the season.
The approach game all week was really good. The week
before at bay Hill was incredible, and we know how

(04:14):
good of a driver the golf ball he is. So
I think he'll bounce back and he'll learn from this.
But you know, it's really about Cam Young and the
way he handled this. I was really impressed by him. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
No, he did a great job and he wanted that tournament.
You can see he was the guy that was going
to step up. A couple of other names that I
want to throw out. I'm just curious because we talked
about this guy last week and after Saturday, I was like, oh, well,
he's going back to the same old dude that we
thought he was. But Xander Shaffley actually ended up having
a good Sunday and had a good week.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, I was thinking the same as he was right
off the leads starting Saturday, and yeah, kind of like
I said last week, you know, it wouldn't be a shock,
like if someone wanted to be early on Xander and
beniments of players. I think he's a guy you want
to be early on. And you know, we saw him
start to put it all together the first couple of

(05:07):
rounds and just kind of sputtered a bit on Saturday,
and that's ultimately what costed him because he finished those strong,
birdied three of his last four holes. So it seems
like he is close to being back to the Xanderschoppley
we knew in twenty twenty four, which is great to see.
You know, maybe it was just a matter of being

(05:28):
in contention for the first time in a while. He
did win in Japan in the fall, but you know,
not the type of pressure like a Players Championship or
a major is. So I think this is a positive
for him going forward. You know, if people want to
bet him in future majors, you know, I think that's
you can make a way stronger case. After last week,

(05:48):
it looks like all parts of his game are pretty
much back to what they.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Were for someone that hasn't spent much time watching this
year breakdown.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Jacob Bridgeman, Yeah, man, he's a really talented young player.
Obviously wanted Riviera a signature event and fended off Rory
McElroy and a really impress His performance leading by like
six shots on the back nine speaks to how well
he played there and was right in the mix at
Pebble Beach as well. He for a young guy, I

(06:20):
mean contending a few times in his career and he
did last year at valspart who he was in one
of the final groups. He just has the moxie and
the confidence, you know, to pull off all these shots.
He's got a really well rounded game. So you know,
he's kind of like the thorpe Jornsen, this young generation

(06:41):
who we know they have the talent and the game
to compete, but you don't know how they're going to
handle the pressure until they're in it. And Bridgeman proved
that at Riviera. I mean, you know, it was so
solid all day until the last couple holes, but did
enough to hang on and was right there in the
mix most of this week at the Players too. So yeah,

(07:01):
talented young player that you know people need to keep
their eye out on.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
And he was amazing at Clemson by the way, I
mean he was. Yeah, he was a stud in college.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, yeah, we saw him dap up. Trevor Lawrence said, yeah,
he saw a grass during the final round. You know,
it was composed enough to go say what's up to
someone in the gallery. So I think that speaks to
a lot to his confidence. You know that that's not
breaking his process. You know, going to talk to a
friend during around which in might another young player. So yeah,

(07:33):
expect big things from him.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
I was going to ask you about Scotty Scheffler. Now,
a normal player, you'd be thinking, oh, this is a
great year. But we're talking about Scotty Scheffler. You know,
five under, you know T twenty two, it's Scotty Scheffler.
What's wrong with Scotty Again? Let me say this, a

(07:55):
normal player, like he's having a great season, right, but
what the hell's going on with Scotty Scheffler.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, it's it's interesting. Brandell Chambly did a good breakdown
of his swing. I think it was Friday night or
Thursday night on the Golf Channel, and you know he
showed his swing during the tournament and on the range there.
He was working on his swing after one of his
rounds and you know, maybe it's so a TPC sawgrass,

(08:25):
you can't really miss left. That's the biggest penalty. The
data proves that if he missed left, there's a lot
of trouble to be found. And that's Scottie Scheffler's typical
myths with the drivers to the left. So it seemed
like he was, you know, consciously or unconsciously with his
swing garning against that left miss and going and being

(08:45):
a little quick, like he wasn't going as far back
with the back swing as he typically goes, and you know,
kind of natural for a golfer to do that. But
you know that's thrown him a little off, it seems
like last week. But you know, he hasn't had the
typical Scotti Scheffler year like we've seen the past three years.
So I have the confidence he's he's going to figure

(09:07):
it out. You know, still the heavy favorite at Augusta
and rightfully so uh so defending his title and you know,
I expect him to be there for sure. It was
a surprise this week, but we saw him struggle at
bay Hill too, and we've seen him struggle the past
few weeks. Yeah, yeah, obviously working through something which we all.

(09:29):
We all do in the golf game from time to time.
It's the hardest game to perfect, but Scotti Scheffler has
perfected it the last couple of years. So that that's
why it's surprising to see, uh. But you know he'll
have he'll have a few weeks here to get right.
And you know, Augusta is a it's a happy place
for him. You know, his myth off the tea isn't

(09:50):
really going to be penalized there. So I fully expect him,
you know, to to contend once again at the Masters.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Can we talk about what everybody's been waiting for you
to talk about.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
I'm guessing you're talking about March Madness, which is what
I'm excited to talk about.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Everybody's like man, Steven Hennessy, he does a great job
talking golf. But I like when he talks to them
NFL bets. I like when he throws in those side
basketball bets. I like when he talks March madness. I'm like, well,
you know what you're in luck. It is time to
fill out those brackets. It is time to hear my
brother Steven Hennessy talk about some of the first round

(10:28):
games that he's looking forward to. I want to hear
about your bracket. I want to see your final four.
I know it's early in the week and people like
you and I will go over the bracket one time,
will redo it again, maybe tweak a couple of things
here and there, but early in the week. Your thoughts
about March madness and breaking down this bracket.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, well I'll break down a few opening rounds. Okay,
First that I like. So Furman is probably not a
team that people are familiar with, but if you're a
college basketball sicco like me, I've been following them this season.
They played some really good basketball and they're getting a

(11:09):
bunch of points against Yukon, a struggle they've been struggling
really all year. They haven't played their best basketball and
that could come, but they're getting twenty one points. Furman
is against Yukon and the opening round of Furman is
a good team. So that was a game that I highlighted.
Now you might wait a little bit because I think
the public is just going to bet Yukon based on

(11:32):
the brand name. So I bet that number gets even higher, right,
that's a game that I like. Catching twenty one points.
That's way too many points. I think Santa Clara against
Kentucky is that's going to be a popular bet game.
That's the first game on Friday at twelve to fifteen
here on the East Coast against Santa Clara. Santa Clara

(11:53):
is getting anywhere between three and a half four points.
That's a tough matchup for Kentucky. Tucky, you know, is
someone who likes to play fast, play quick. Santa Clara's
gonna slow that game down. As a Kentucky fan myself,
I've watched them pretty much every game this year. They're
in trouble against Santa Clara. So I think Santa Clara advances.

(12:15):
I like taking the points with them, so that that's
another game to highlight.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Okay, I like where you're going with this. Herb Syndeck
does a great job with Santa Clara. They play very methodically.
They're the type of team that will just slow down
the game a ton play their type of basketball, make
the extra pass. And the one thing that I like,
they have a player that comes off the bench that
may be their best player on the team. He's only

(12:41):
a freshman sixth Man of the Year. He knows his role.
He comes off the bench, shoots forty one percent from
three point land talented freshman. I don't know if he
can take over a game, but he's a role player
that knows his role. Again, they listen to herb sind deck.
I kind of like Sam McClair here.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, there you go. You're more familiar with Santa Clair
than me c K. But you're you're spot on. I
think I think, I think they get through. Uh, let's see,
I'll give one more the first round. Well two, they're
in the same little bracket. They're VCU. I think beats
North Carolina. They're really well balanced. They get past UNCA

(13:22):
missing missing their best player, and then Illinois and Penn.
You Penn, Uh, there's gonna be a lot of points
in that game. I think that that total is too low.
I like the over in that one. It's it's gotten
bed up. I think it's up to like one fifty
or so. But you know you, Penn put up a
bunch of points in their title game in the IVY

(13:43):
League Championship against Yale, and Illinois likes to play fast paced.
There's gonna be a lot of scoring in that game.
So Illinois, you penn over. So those are my my
favorite best first round let's see you want to do
one final four?

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, yeah, I'm curious to know. I mean I was
gonna ask you some specific games because I know a
lot of people are saying, hey, I like the high
Point matchup against Wisconsin, and they think high Point could
beat Wisconsin. I know a lot of people are looking
at some other matchups as well, that UCLA UCF matchup.
A lot of people are like, hey, hey, don't sleep
on Ucla. Someone said the same thing you said, that

(14:24):
Furman team is actually a good team and could give
Yukon some trouble. Take Ferman in the points and do
not be surprised if UCLA makes it pass and if
Furman doesn't take out Yukon, even though I know it's
twenty one points, that they believe UCLA will beat Yukon
and be in the sweet sixteen.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, I'm picking that as well. Yeah, Donovan den at
UCLA's you know, he's he's a player. He's probably a
top ten, top fifteen player in this tournament. So I
think he leads them past Yukon. See Miami, I think
could beat Perdue in the second round. There, okay, okay,
asked Missouri.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
I like that a lot, So let's see, and that's
a high leverage spot. I think people will a lot
of brackets will pick Purdue going far because they just
won the Big the Big Ten tournament. Not a lot
of people will have Miami. So that'll make you different.
That's always a good thing. Yeah, yeah, that that region
is interesting because Gonzaga is also down, so Miami could

(15:24):
theoretically get to the Elite eight there. You know, if
they're playing Gonzaga in the sweet sixteen, I think Miami
could could be Gonzaga as well. So interesting little region
there to check out in that coming out into the
final four. There. You know, we both love Arizona. We
love the balance of that team. But people, people are there,

(15:48):
A lot of people are picking Arkansas to get through.
I'm interested your thoughts there. I'm not quite there yet.
I think Arkansas is playing some of the best basketball
in the country, but Arizona is just so deep. So
what are you thinking that.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
You know what? Looking at the bracket, I like Arkansas
a lot, and I believe Utah State could give Arizona
some fits I think Utah State beats Villanova, and I
can see a very tough game against Arizona. Arkansas is
a fun team to watch. I like CALIPERI I think
that when you look at just the pure talent on

(16:22):
this Arkansas team. The only thing that I worry about
is they only go seven deep. They used to go
eight deep, but then a player got hurt, so now
they go seven deep. But I mean it was still
enough for them to win the SEC Tournament. They're playing
really good basketball right now. I think the style of play,
and when you look at the matchup, the guard matchup,

(16:44):
I could see Arkansas beating Arizona. I like Arizona, but
I don't think they win it this year. At one
point they were undeniably the number one team in the country.
But something about Arizona I just am not one hundred
percent sure about. But talent wise, can they make it
to the Final four? The answer is yes.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
I want them to get far. I want them to
make the Final four and see what they could do.
There's so much talent, yeah that team. Yeah, but yeah,
it's a tough matchup against Arkansas, like them pretty much
against any other four seed. But that's going to be
a challenge. So, yeah, that's a difficult one. What about
the Midwest with Michigan, Iowa State, Virginia, what do you think?

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well, you know what, this is what I was going
to ask you about, because I'm looking at this bracket
and in my mind, I'm going I like Akron to
beat Texas Tech. Okay, I think that Hoftra's going to
give Alabama a hell of a game. I think if
Alabama can get through that, I think that they can
beat Michigan. I'm not really sold on Michigan. I mean,

(17:46):
I know, if you look at their record and the
way that they've played all year long, they're a quality side.
But there's something about Michigan that I'm not one hundred
percent sold on. So when I look at this bracket,
it's kind of a toss up to me. I like
Iowa State a lot. I can see Iowa State being
the final four team. And if you go back and
you watch the way that they played in the Big twelve,

(18:08):
man that Iowa State team can compete with anybody.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yeah, they definitely can. And they play defense, yes, and
they could shoot the ball. Yeah. It would be a
fascinating matchup against Virginia. It's pretty much the same style
of play. A lot of points in that game Iowa
state in Virginia that that'd be fascinating. I'm with you
with Michigan. You know, I was higher on them at
the beginning of the year. I think a lot of

(18:33):
people were. But like Elliott Caddo, their point guard is
very up and down.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Your first of all, how many years that dude been
in college?

Speaker 2 (18:42):
He might be as old as us as Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
I'm like, yeah, he needs to leave.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
It's like eighth year transferred from unc Obviously, he's a
Jersey kid. He's a heck of a player, a player inconsistent,
and they lost their backup point guard LJK, who is
great also, so that's going to really hurt them. They're
they're big guy Mara. He's always in foul trouble Luxembourg.

(19:09):
I mean, he's he's amazing, but how far can he
really carry them? I honestly think Saint Louis got I've
talked about Saint Louis on this show. You have Saint
Louis fan. But I'm worried about that Georgia matchup because
Georgia could also fill up the bucket so can they
score enough to compete with Georgia. I'm not sure, but

(19:32):
if they do, either of those teams, frankly could beat Michigan.
So yeah, I'm not taking Michigan out of this region.
I'm with you. I think Iowa State, maybe Alabama, although
Bama apparently their guard Nick Holloway got in some legal
trouble today, so you know, we'll see what shakes out
with that. So I think the safe play is Iowa State.

(19:54):
I think they have an easier path anyways, that that
top of the bracket is is loaded. Texas Tech obviously
doesn't have a topping, but you know they still prove
they want a bunch of games in a tough Big
twelve without him, So that's that's a region of death
right there. Yeah, Iowa State easier path.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Initially when I saw the brackets, I was high on Alabama,
and then when I saw the Holloway story, I realized, yeah,
I don't know if Alabama's even gonna make it past
the first round. I could see some people picking an
upset right there. And even if you don't pick the
upset in the first round, I know many are saying
they can't make it to the Sweet sixteen without Holloway,

(20:34):
give me your final four.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, I mean Florida, Florida against Houston is an awesome matchup.
I hope we get that. I think Florida has a
They're gonna have to go through Vanderbilt again, who just
you know, showed out against them. Yeah, semis of the SEC.
So that's that's a tough matchup for Florida. So I'll

(20:56):
probably take Houston, you know, little if that could set
up a matchup in the final four against Duke. I
think Duke does make it to the final four again,
and we get a little rematches last year's game. Uh
So those two one seeds against UH seed Duke, Duke,

(21:16):
the one seed on Houston, the toy out of the South, Yes,
the one two, and then we'll take Iowa State the
two and uh, I don't know. I don't think Miami
could go on that big of a run to get
to the final four. So give me Arizona. I'll stick

(21:36):
with Zona, and then it's then I think Houston has
has a little too much depth for for Duke in
the final four. I think they get the best of
them again. And then it's Houston against Arizona has a
tough path. But Arizona and and I'll say Houston's cutting down.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
The nets, okay.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
For Kelvin's Dampston. We all thought it was gonna happen
last year. I think they get some redemption. And I
love it Houston gets it done.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
I like that a lot. I like that a lot.
I'm still keeping my eye on Arkansas. I'm still keeping
my eye on Arkansas to possibly possibly upset Arizona. It's
just something about John Caliperry. Been been a fan for
years and I know that he made this move to Arkansas.
He was on a mission. And this is a good,

(22:28):
very talented Arkansas team. They only go seven deep, that's it,
but man, it is a damn good seven I will.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Say as a as a lifelong Kentucky fan and follower
of cal Party. Yeah, remember the last two times his
team was a four seed better in the tournament. Kentucky
lost to Oakland in the opening round. As of Oakland
was a damn and Saint Peter's was a fifteen seed
and took them down.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
So oh damn.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
I gotta throw that out there. I've been watching I
lose lose big games his his entire career. He should
have had like three national championships with him and they
only got one.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I get it. I like Darius A. Cuff Man. The
guy can play that man. He has fun to watch.
I'll tell you that right now. One of my favorite
players to uh look forward to in this tournament. But
you know, using what you just said, if Arkansas is
won and done, I'm I'm gonna be disappointed.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Now. I think that matchup against Hawaii is a good
one for them. Uh you know, Hawaii, they were not
the top seed in there in the Big West or
where whatever conference they came out of, so that was
kind of that's kind of a break for Arkansas. Yeah,
it's more so against Arizona, and Arizona hasn't totally clicked

(23:53):
in the in the last month or so. They haven't
been playing their best basketball. But so I'm not sold
on them. But okay, yeah, I think the talent there,
I mean, they got so many players who could take
over a game. I think that's big in March. So
we'll see. Man, it's it's a fun time.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
One more thing I want to ask you about because
I'm looking forward to this round two matchup and I'm
believing it's going to happen. The Johnny's going up against Kansas.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
It's a tough one. I think honestly, cal Baptist I
went back and watched they their title game. Cal Baptist
could play. That's that's not gonna be Yeah, they got
the leading scorer is the fifth best scorer in all
of NCAA. Yeah, they have another another guard who could
really shoot. They have some big guys who could match

(24:45):
up with Kansas as BIG's inside. So that's another bet
I like.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, No, Dominique Daniels A Dominique Daniels from Compton. Let
me say that again. Dominique Daniels junior from Compton. He's
five to and man, he could flat out score.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yes, yeah, he's he's That seem's gonna be fun to watch.
That's a sneaky good opening round matchup. But yeah, Saint
John's against Kansas, it's I think it depends what kind
of game we get from Darren Peterson. I mean, he
could win that game alone. I think Kansas has enough

(25:24):
to beat Saint John. Saint John's is playing some of
the best basketball out of anyone, and you know, you
could argue that five seed is a little you know,
they got they got a tough seed there as a five,
and Northern Iowa was pretty too. Yeah, Rick Patino against
Bill self that that would be a lot of fun.
I'm picking Saint John's, but I don't feel great about it.

(25:46):
I'm mostly picking them because I think there's a chance
cal Baptist could could shock the world Kansas, so uh yeah,
but I do kind of hope we get the Saint
John's Kansas matter.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Same same, very excited about. All right, let's go ahead
and talk about the Loop as we get ready. What
is the valspar this week? Who do you have on
the Loop?

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah? Valspar this week? We got Jerry Kelly on the podcast.
You know, great career on the PGA. Tory had some
great stories from his career. He famously contended at the
Players back in two thousand and one when Tiger won it.
He was in the mix. I believe he played with
Tiger actually in the final pairing. So fun chat with

(26:28):
Jerry Kelly. So yeah, everyone go check out the Loop
wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
There he is. Steven Hennessy from the Golf Digest can't
wait to see how this all plays out. Week one
of the NCAA Tournament we're gonna get Thursday through Sunday,
and then we'll talk next week after the Valspar, and
then we'll go ahead and get ready for the Sweet sixteen.
What about that?

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Let's do it. That sounds great.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
I most wonderful time of the year, most certainly Steven
Hennessy from the Golf Digest, Thank you so much for
your time, buddy, Thanks for having me.