Rocket Classic Mega Preview | Picks, Storylines, Best Bets - The Second Cut | Golf Podcast

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Welcome in.
It's the Second Cut Podcast.
This is your mega preview podfor this week's rocket classic.
They've dropped The Mortgage.
It's storylines, it's best bets,it's shenanigans, and anything

(00:20):
else that we come across forthis week.
If you're watching live, we'reearly.
If you're watching on demand,you have no idea what I'm
talking about.
Mark Immelman is here.
Hello, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 (00:31):
And I'm the reason why we're early.
Yeah, nice to see you, Greg.
Greg and Rick, Rick, isshenanigans your word of the
day?
Because if so, bravo, my boy.

SPEAKER_02 (00:39):
Thank you.
I've already worked it in.
One second into the broadcast.
Greg Ducharme is coming to us.
Wow, from the big studio.
Good to see you, Gregors.
Yes, good to see you too,gentlemen.
Excited to be here.
I'm glad we could work this outso we can get us all on the
episode.
Rick, I got to point this out.
You have the cut man behind youproudly displayed.

(01:04):
There you go.
Is that an LED light?
That is a custom LED.
LED cut man over my shoulder.
Yes, indeed.
Oh, yeah.
That is sweet.

SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Yeah, you got to hook us up here, please.
I mean, come on now.
I've got like on the mock stuffbehind me.
We're going to fix that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
We got to upgrade.
I'll work on my sources.
Yes, that is the cut man makinghis appearance right there on
the wall.
I have a question for you guys.
Because I played golf thismorning.
I played nine holes thismorning.
And I told Armina, I said,listen, I've got this swing
thought that's working prettywell for me, but I don't want to

(01:49):
talk about it.
I don't want to share it withyou.
I don't want to put it out inthe universe.
And she said, okay, that's fine.
Can I tell you my swing thought?
And I said, no, because I don'twant your swing thoughts shared.
infiltrating my swing thoughts.
And she said, that's not a realthing.

(02:12):
You have to ask Mark and Greg ifthat's a real thing.
So gentlemen, should I beprotecting my swing thoughts
from her swing thoughts?
Mark, you go first.

SPEAKER_00 (02:24):
Okay.
Wow.
You're putting age beforebeauty.
Okay.
Here we go.
Here's the thing about swingthoughts, Rick.
I sort of view it likemedication.
I've warned just about everysingle one of the lessons I've
given since 1996 that you don'tgo and take another person's
medication.
Cause that's bad for you.
You know, don't go fiddlingaround in their medicine

(02:44):
cabinet.
You never know what you're goingto find, or maybe the stuff's in
the wrong bottle and then youend up doing yourself in.
So I don't mind peoplelistening.
I don't mind people kind ofkeeping an open mind, but yeah,
be careful with other people'sthoughts now, as opposed to them
kind of integrating.
Well, you guys sleep in the samebed, so I cannot, I cannot deal
with that question.

SPEAKER_02 (03:04):
That's fair.
What do you think, Greg?
Well, I mean, you have, Ibelieve that you have to have,
belief in what you're doing.
And if you have enough belief inwhat you're doing, then it's
okay to hear somebody else'sswing thought.
Um, but so like, for instance,if I know that in my golf swing,

(03:26):
I have to do X, Y, and Z to besuccessful, right?
I have these principles that Igo back to.
Then if you tell me that you'reworking on, you know, what your
right toe is doing in thebackswing, I can listen to it
and find it interesting.
I can watch YouTube content oran Instagram swing tip, and I

(03:46):
can not get distracted.
But I have to have real firmconviction in what I'm doing in
my game.
Now, if that's a little frail,if it's a little fragile, now
you got to be careful.
My swing thoughts are toofragile.
They need to germinate a bit.
They need to plant roots.
They need to expand before I'mwilling to let other seeds come

(04:10):
in here.

SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
I've got to add this because speaking of swing
thoughts, yours truly, this guy,may have hit golf balls in the
garage last night.
I saw that.

SPEAKER_02 (04:21):
Barefoot, Mark.
That can't be recommended.
That's an old Sam's lead drill.

SPEAKER_00 (04:26):
Well, that's the thing, Greg.
Right after the show, I'mrecording an On The Mark show
with Tom Stickney, who's a greatgolf instructor, and he's a
biomechanist, but he's got areal old school way about him.
So I said to him, I want to do ashow where it's like old school
feels meet new school golfswings and what stands the test
of time.
And I got the list he wants totalk about, and one of them is

(04:47):
barefoot, Sam Snead style.
But this is not it.
What the point I'm trying tomake is, because I have I
thought I'd open myself up toroasting and put the swing on
Instagram, which I did.
I'll tell you this, feel versusreal are two very different
things.
Everyone says so, but I'm hereto say that it's real.

(05:07):
And so I always get the clubhead stuck way behind me over
here.
I hit this ugliest right fieldstarting Roman candles that fly
up there and just go...
with nothing behind them, kindof like a firework, you know?
And so I was, like, in mytransition, trying to feel like
I actually tipped the club inthe opposite direction.
Like, everyone thinks ofshallowing, and shallowing's all

(05:29):
in vogue.
And shallowing excessively hascaused more car accidents than I
care to, you know, it's ruinedmore golfers than car accidents,
in my opinion.
So I'm trying to get the shaftlooking in the opposite
direction.
And, man, I'm turning this thingon its head.
In our video, and it's nowhereeven close.
The point I'm trying to make isif you're having a lesson from

(05:50):
somebody, Greg, or whoever itmight be, some professional, if
you think you're doing enough,there's a high chance and a
really high chance I'm sayingyou're not doing it enough.
That's my preach for the day.

SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
I'll add one thing to that.
I love when you get to a plate,when you can find a thought that
you can't overdo.
Right.
Like you're saying, you'retipping it the other way, Mark.
If you tip it more and more andmore and it's not too much, it's
a really good thing to thinkabout because you can get under
pressure.

(06:23):
You can get on the last holewith a chance to shoot your
lowest score.
And there's one thing I got todo and I got to do it with all
my effort and I'm not going tooverdo it.
You know, that's a good place tobe when you feel like you can
kind of rev the engine.
Okay.
Well,

SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
go

SPEAKER_02 (06:39):
ahead.

SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
No, no.
Rev the engine is a great way ofputting it because I just wanted
to share my inspiration for thisbecause I've been teaching golf
since 1996.
I think before Greg was born.
I

SPEAKER_02 (06:51):
was five.

SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
You were five.
Okay.
There you are.
I...
I'm left-handed.
I've always been too far insideout because when I was a kid, I
used to sky drives.
And then I read something in anold golf digest that said you're
too steep, so you've got to goin the opposite direction.
So I did.
And to Greg's point, I went toomuch in the other direction,
right?
And then I'm watching ScottyScheffler again last week at the

(07:14):
Travelers.
And this freaking guy has theshaft standing up and down like
it's almost vertical on thebackswing and the downswing.
And he hits it like God.
So I'm like, I'm going tosteepen the shaft up no matter
what it feels like.
And I'm trying to get likeScotty and it's still looks like
it's tilted too much.
So I'm like, I'm on my missionto become a 54 year old Scotty

(07:35):
Scheffler by steepening theshaft in my downswing.
Yes.

SPEAKER_02 (07:40):
I'm a huge fan of over the top and steep.

SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
My thing.
And so Rick to the question, I'msharing my swing thoughts.
So now go ahead and share.

SPEAKER_02 (07:48):
No.
I'm definitely not putting himout in the internet into the
Twittersphere.
No, I'm keeping them very muchbetween my ears for the moment.
We've got old school swings, oldschool swing thoughts.
We've got old school golf,Detroit Golf Club established.
How about this, gentlemen?
$18.99 for the Rocket Classicthis week.

(08:12):
But Mark, this is going to bethe last time we see it as is.
They're going to do a little bitof a restoration.
after this year.
They're going to try to take itback to some of the roots that
Donald Ross laid out.
You know, things over the yearstend to erode or go in a
different direction slowly overtime.
They're going to take this backto the roots.

SPEAKER_00 (08:34):
Okay, first off, Greg, let's please recognize
that thoroughly professionalsegue that our leader, Rick,
went from old school swing toold school thoughts.
Yeah, nice job.
Appreciate you.
Yeah, to that, I think I moanedor I ranted about this here
recently with a lot of the redosor restore the course to its

(08:57):
original majesty.
And the first thing a number ofguys start to do is they're
like, okay, we'll just rip outall the trees.
And I'm a fan of trees, right?
I'm just going to say that.
Now, yes, if the trees arealien, I have no beef with you
removing them.
But if they're beautifulhardwoods and stuff, have some

(09:19):
sort of an influence on the waythe flow of the hole goes or
certainly on how the golf coursegoes, they need to stay.
So all I'm going to say aboutthis redo about this golf
course, which incidentally Ilove, it's the funnest walk.
It's easy to walk.
Yes, for the PGA Tour, it's nota big challenge for these guys

(09:41):
because they can just blast itover dog legs and stuff like
that.
But if this is going to become aplace where they move some of
these trees, and they let thetour in there, they're going to
widen the corridors for the tourguys, and they're just going to
absolutely blitz this golfcourse anyhow.
If it makes the course betterplayability for the members, by
all means, let's just be alittle circumspect with removing

(10:04):
trees from what's going on.
Because the architect looks atthe old picture, and the old
picture back from 1900, thetrees haven't grown yet.
Now, you know, 100-somethingyears later, We've got a bunch
of trees that have grown up.
So let's be a little carefulwith that stuff.
Please, I beg of you.

SPEAKER_02 (10:22):
Well, here's the exact quote on the arborist that
is going to be doing the job.
There are a lot of 100 to150-year-old oaks that we want
to save and highlight– good news– But then he goes on to say,
but there are a lot of nurserystock trees that don't have the
same value.
So there will definitely be someremovals.

(10:45):
There will definitely bewidening of fairways.
There will definitely beexpanding of greens that have
shrunk over time.
Irrigation is obviously a bigpart of this as well.
But Greg, the in vogue thingright now is you've got to be
careful with your words becausethese are not necessarily
renovations.
These are restorations.

(11:07):
These are going back to theoriginal architects, desires,
and dreams using old footage,using stories or comments or
quotes that have been passeddown in club history.
Restorations are in vogue rightnow.
Yes.
And it's a very difficult onefor me because I appreciate

(11:32):
history and tradition.
And I appreciate the golden ageof architecture, if you will.
But the game is so totallydifferent now than it was then.
And I think that if you look atthe great golf courses in our
country, one of the keys, thegreat golf courses, even just on

(11:54):
the PGA Tour, one thing thatthey all seem to have in common
is that they evolve with thegame.
If you look at original picturesof Augusta National, the
original Alistair McKenziedesign, it is completely
different than it is now.
I mean, the nines were flipped,for one.
Hole number 16 had the green onthe other side of what's now a

(12:18):
pond.
It was then a creek.
It is entirely different.
The shapes of the greens aredifferent.
It's just...
The bunker placements, I mean,they moved the bunker around on
number two a number of times.
And they did it based onwatching what happened at the
Masters.
How do the best players in theworld play this golf course?

(12:39):
How can we make the coursebetter suit that?
That's what Jack Nicklaus does.
That's what we just came fromOakmont.
That's what Henry Fones did atOakmont.
He'd watch play and adjust towhat happened with the members
and how they played the golfcourse.
And I think that's the best wayto go about doing it.
So you got to be careful withrestorations because you're

(13:02):
going back to sometimes designphilosophies that are based on a
ball that's played on theground.
And especially here in Americanow, the golf ball is played in
the air, especially inland,somewhere like Detroit.
The ball is going to be up inthe air.
And so you got to find, that'swhy trees are so important

(13:24):
because those are your hazardsin the air when there's no wind.
And so I think it's somethingthat you got to be very careful
with.
It's something I think as anindustry, we could do a better
job of thinking forward.
We do a lot of thinkingbackward.
And the best place, likeMuirfield Village, Jack Nicklaus
changes that golf course.

(13:45):
Based on what he saw last yearat the Memorial.
And it leads, it just getsbetter and better and better.
So, you know, I, I worry aboutthese things now.
Oak Hill, Andrew Green at OakHill did a great quote unquote
restoration.
He, he did some things that, youknow, the headline may have

(14:09):
caught you off guard.
Like they took out a ton oftrees, but there's still a ton
of trees on the place.
Yeah.
So, you know, it can be done.
It just it's something you gotto be careful with, in my
opinion.

SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
Yeah, I want to I want to say this quickly, and
this is completely deferential.
So don't go and rip me on socialmedia, people like like Oakmont
for argument's sakes.
It's hard as heck.
But you look at the aerials andyou just see like holes
traveling back and forth.
And the only definition is likehigh rough and bunkers.
You know, where trees shapeholes a little bit.

(14:42):
And to Greg's point, I lovethat, you know, the hazards in
the sky.
I'll add to that, Greg, that,you know, part of the game is
being able to judge the variableconditions.
And when there are trees around,wind can get in there and bounce
around the place.
And that just adds to me theallure of a game where it's not
like you can predict the wind.

(15:03):
So you use your best facilities,you make a really good educated
guess, hopefully, and then youswing away in faith.
Because if you've got no treesand wind in one direction,
you've got to be at thecoastline, in my opinion.
When you're inland, there mustbe some trees there to allow for
this variable wind because wedon't get wind like you would
get in the British Isles at thelinks, for argument's sakes, or

(15:25):
out there on Long Island whenyou're right alongside the
coast.

UNKNOWN (15:29):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (15:29):
Trees are hazards in the sky.
The sun will be a hazard in thesky.
90 plus degrees around Detroitthis week.
If you are worried about the sunlike I am, secondcutmerch.com
has your bucket hats.
Keep you nice and shaded.
Not just the bucket hats, thet-shirts.

(15:51):
Maybe you're not in Detroit.
Maybe you want the quarter zipor maybe you want the hoodie.
The fleece hoodie, I don't know.
All of it, it's available.
Secondcutmerch.com.
Mina's done a great job withthat.
She continues to add more andmore stuff every single day.
Gentlemen, the field this weekis strong, at least relative to

(16:12):
other Rocket Classic editionsthat we've had in the past.
This is going to be year numberseven.
Remember, this event wasinstalled with the 3M Open in
2019 for the first time.
So this is going to be yearnumber seven.
And this is going to be, Greg,the best strength of field that
we have had at this event.
Colin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay,Keegan Bradley, Ben Griffin, Cam

(16:35):
Young, Hideki Matsuyama are yourheadliners.
And then you get some more depthwith Guys like Harry Hall and
Luke Clanton and Keith Mitchelland Winsome Clark and Tony
Finau.
This will be, like I said, justbased on strictly OWGR strength
of field numbers and the waythat they issue them based on
the field.
This is going to be thestrongest field this event's

(16:56):
ever seen.
What's so interesting aboutthis, guys, is a lot of those
names, a lot of those realname-recognized players are not
playing very well right now.
They're struggling.
And some of them, many of themare looking for their first win
in a long time.
I mean, for Keegan Bradley, it'sbeen two days since he's won.

(17:19):
But for some of these guys, it'sbeen two years.
So you start going down thislist and you're like, well, all
right, Ricky Fowler in yearspast, he was on the last Ryder
Cup team.
He's way outside.
He's got FedEx Cup playoffsright around the corner that
he's got to go get into.
Patrick Cantlay is on theoutside looking in for the Ryder

(17:40):
Cup.
Cam Young, outside looking in.
Wyndham Clark, outside lookingin.
Matt Fitzpatrick, his game hasnot been where, and that could
be a hard European Ryder Cupteam for him to make.
So this time of year with theFedEx Cup playoffs right around
the corner, only 100 cards andonly 70 spots in the FedEx Cup

(18:01):
playoffs, and a very difficultRyder Cup team to make, these
are valuable starts.
And I think that's why you'reseeing a lot of these guys make
the trip to Detroit.
Well, just to put the numbers tothat, Mark, this is FedEx Cup
standings.
Colin Morikawa is 17th, which isfine, but certainly not where he

(18:23):
would expect himself to be.
Kent Lay is 19.
Hideki is 22.
Then you get to guys likeWyndham Clark.
Set Wyndham Clark would not makethe playoffs if they started
right now, 75th in the FedEx cupstanding.
So, so Greg is onto somethinghere, not just, um, FedEx cup

(18:44):
implications, but Ryder cupimplications and a lot of things
that you could try to make, makegood with four days in Detroit.

SPEAKER_00 (18:51):
Yeah.
And then, you know, that ahundred number is key used to be
one 25 and in the playoffs.
And then, of course, 70 and 30come quickly.
I do want to say this, too.
If you're an aspirant Ryder Cupplayer, and Greg kissed some of
them, but I also want to listthis.
That team that played in Rome,the other guys that are

(19:11):
currently outside the...
the reckoning.
And this is not just the six.
This is the top 12 right now.
Wyndham, you referenced.
Brian Harmon is 12th, so he's onthe list.
Max Homer's out.
Sam Burns is out.
Ricky Fowler's out.
Brooks Koepka's out.
Jordan Spieth's out.
So there's a very real chancethat this Ryder Cup team for the
U.S.
that lines up there in BethpageBlack has got essentially a

(19:35):
bunch of rookies, and thenthere's a guy like Russell
Henley who played in thePresident's Cup but not a Ryder
Cup.
So it could be a really new-lookthing.
And so these guys like a WyndhamClark and stuff that have this
sort of experience, it's timefor them to shine.
And strangely, like we talkabout him, last week when we
were waiting for a potentialplayoff, and I'm standing there

(19:56):
beside the clubhouse with amonitor, Wyndham's fiancée, I
think it is, maybe wife,girlfriend, Wyndham's
significant other, comes up andshe's sitting there in the
shade.
And so I'm like, do you want towatch?
Because she's waiting forWyndham to come in because I
think he was in the second tolast group or maybe third to
last.
And so she's watching the TVmonitor.
And one of my colleagues says,week off next week or what are

(20:18):
you doing?
She goes, no, we've got to go toDetroit.
And if I remember correctly, shewas like, we've got to go to
Detroit.
And that speaks to where themindset is in the Clark
household.
It's like limited starts left.
I think there's five rightbefore the playoffs.
And it's time now to startmaking some hay.
You can't be taking weeks offnow if you're outside of the

(20:38):
playoff numbers and certainlythe Ryder Cup reckoning.

SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
Here's the schedule.
Rocket, John Deere, then we gooverseas for the Scottish and
the Open.
Then we come back.
It's the 3M and the WyndhamChampionship.
That's it.
So six, including this week forthose guys.
And, you know, Greg, youmentioned it, guys that haven't
won in a long time.

(21:03):
The biggest name, and I'll zoomin here, is Colin Morikawa,
right?
Hasn't had a victory since theZozo Championship at the end of
2023.
He's played great.
The statistics are there.
The wins are not.
And I think it's starting toseep into Colin's brain a little
bit, right?
We've had the caddy change.

(21:24):
We've got a guy who is tinkeringwith hitting shots with or
without a glove because he's,yes, Mark?

SPEAKER_00 (21:31):
he has been tinkering going gloveless as
well.
Yes, yes.
Just wanted to, I didn't know ifyou were aware of that, but he's
going glove-free playing.
Yeah, he's looking.

SPEAKER_02 (21:40):
Which is not usually a sign of a very confident
golfer when you're doing thingslike that.
So, you know, I'm not sure whatthe state of the union on Colin
Morikawa is at the moment, butI'm not particularly sure it's
strong.
Well, he's not satisfied.
That's for sure.
Definitely not.
And even if you look at some ofthese numbers, like just think

(22:03):
about this.
At the U.S.
Open, Colin Morikawa gained16.15 strokes tee to green.
JJ Spahn won with 16.3.
So he almost caught JJ Spahnwith just the tee to green play.
You know what the problem is,Greg?

(22:23):
Well, you got a putt.
You got the best part of thegame, too.
Just ask

SPEAKER_00 (22:28):
Mark.
14 clubs in the bag.
There's 14 clubs in the bag.

SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Unfortunately.
And

SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
one of them you use on basically every hole.

SPEAKER_02 (22:35):
Yes.
Now, the other 13 he's beenstatistically outstanding with.
Outstanding.
If he gains.15 strokes puttingat the U.S.
Open, he's in a playoff withJ.J.
Spahn.
Yet the very next week at theTravelers, he's messing around

(22:57):
with hitting shots without aglove on because it seems to go.
I mean, why did he even trythat?
I don't even understand it.
And it just it just speaks tothe frustration, urgency,
perhaps.
Maybe it's urgency more thanfrustration.
But there's definitely a desirefor something better.

SPEAKER_00 (23:22):
Well, I want to add to your observation there, Greg,
because I remember maybe lastyear or whenever it was,
everything sort of blurs for me,where...
Whoever it might have been onthe first cut show was like, you
know, Colin's striking the ballgreat because strokes gain says
that he's 10th or whatever he isin strokes gain approach.
And then I'm like, when I'm outthere, it just doesn't look the

(23:43):
same and it doesn't sound thesame.
And sometimes these professionalgolfers become a victim of their
own expectations.
And Colin...
who's been prolific with theirons in hand, like where he'd
play an entire tournament,barely ever miss hitting a shot
and hitting the ball on thebutton every single time.
Now he's in that place where Isee Rick Sessinghouse, their

(24:04):
bunch.
I see them working hard onranges.
Last year was the same thing.
He was on the range before andafter the round, and stuff
wasn't coming that easy.
So even though he's hittinggreens and the number seems
respectable, yeah, to us itseems respectable, but to Colin
Morikawa, it's like, no.
Something's got to change alittle bit here.
And look, that's admirable to bethere, but it's a dangerous

(24:27):
place to be as well because Ican point to countless times
I've followed winners to PGATour events and they haven't had
their best stuff all 72 holes.
Scotty Scheffler is the bestexample right now.
I mean, he can go through anine-hole stretch, not hitting
the thing well at all, still putup decent numbers for the lion's
share of the event, but he playsgolf and he makes scores despite

(24:49):
things going wrong.
And then you'll see him get alittle you know, and see perhaps
in the range afterwards, butit's not like it settles, seeps
into his spirit.
You know, the next day is alwaysa new day and it's not like he's
got to go and try and changesomething drastically.
That's Scheffler.
We're doing the same thing everysingle time.
Then you get the other guys,Marikawa et al.

(25:09):
You're like, well, let's gogloveless for a week and see how
this works.
So expectation is a reallydangerous thing.

SPEAKER_02 (25:17):
Yeah.
It's just, I saw him, 150 yardsaway from the whole glove in his
back pocket.
And I said, oh boy, here we go.
This is going to be something.
Real quick, I want to go back toTravelers for just a couple of
minutes because I've got anobservation about J.J.
Spahn.
We've got two questions fromPatreon that we'll get to.
Greg, do you know what J.J.
Spahn finished last week?

(25:38):
What position he finished inlast week?
Oh, well, he moved way.
He shot 63 in the final round.
Did he get up to tied 19th?
T14.
14th.
After, okay, hat tip to thisbecause JJ Spahn, I mean, lost
four strokes to the field inround one.
Could have just packed thisthing in.

(25:58):
He's your US Open champion.
He just went through all of thatfun stuff.
He grinds you over the nextthree days and finishes the T14.
I, color me impressed, JJ Spahn.
Well done there.
I've got two other comments andquestions from This may sound

(26:21):
cliched.

SPEAKER_00 (26:38):
But one time I heard an old proverb that went
something to the effect of, theeagle that chases two rabbits
ends up missing both.
Okay.
So now heavy old man stuff.
You guys, you can use that inthe future.
You're more than welcome.
Thank you.
So yeah, in a way, I feel likeit's diluted.
And actually, I was on a showyesterday where the question

(27:01):
was, all right, who's the teamgoing to be?
And why is Keegan playing?
All right.
Well, why is Keegan not playing?
And my response was, He'scurrently the seventh ranked
golfer in the world.
And as I look down the list ofpotentials on this team, I would
pick him before the lion's shareof them, to be really honest
with you.

(27:21):
So it's to a point where it'salmost necessary that Keegan
plays, in which case I'm surehe's on the phone with his
assistant captain saying, hey,boys, roles are changing in end
of September.
And I'm sure every single one ofhis lieutenants is up for this
because when he took the job, hewas playing well.

(27:42):
It's not like the guys he's gotalongside him that are sort of
playing some on the tour and notthat they're ceremonial, but
they're not vying for tournamentwins, where Bradley has now won
twice in the last three years.
So, yeah, I feel like if you'redoing both, it's just too much.
Certainly one thing is going tosuffer.
And I heard a tremendous quote.

(28:03):
I think I might have used it onSunday night.
So forgive me if you've heardthis.
But a colleague of mine said,I'd rather have a win as a
player than a loss as a captain.
And this was a person who playedon U.S.
teams.
So that's sort of where I stand.
So I feel like right now, unlesssomething completely sinister

(28:23):
happens, Bradley plays.
And he's the captain, but it'svery ceremonial.
He'll take questions.
He'll do stuff like that.
But a lot of the captaincy stuffbehind the scenes, I feel like
they let him just do what heneeds to do, which incidentally
behind the scenes is a lotbecause he's got breathing
regimens and all sorts of stuffhe's got to go through to
prepare himself.

(28:43):
Let him do that and let him justtake the odd press conference
once in a while.

SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
Okay, I love it and I agree with it.
Greg, you're going to get Alex'squestion here, which is in
regards to the man on the wrongside of that Keegan Bradley
putt.
Because a wise man once told methat every golf shot makes
someone happy and someone sad.
And in Tommy Fleetwood's case,he falls on the bad side of
things a little bit morefrequently.

(29:08):
So Alex says, after seeing whatFleetwood did not to win this
past week, those are his words,is he...
or anyone else on a list ofgolfers that you avoid to bet on
because of their inability toclose?
Or do you think that that'salready factored in?
Already factored in.

(29:29):
And there's a lot of markets outthere.
So Tommy Fleetwood's a wonderfulplayer.
And he is an outstanding golfer.
So there's a lot of value inthat.
We talk about this a lot.
The reason why we talk about himin this light is because he has
42 top 10s without a win, 28 topfives without a win.

(29:54):
There's nobody else who's donethat.
It may come off as being hard onhim for not winning.
It's because he's so good andthe expectation is for him to
win.
From a betting perspective, youjust don't bet him to win
outright.
He's great for top 10s or topfives, top 20s even, matchups.

(30:19):
All of those things are in play.
DFS, very much in play for him.
And so sometimes, especiallywith like fantasy, you can look
at Fleetwood and say, yeah, he'snot going to win.
But you got a six-man team tofill.
Only one of those guys can winif you're lucky.
So having Tommy Fleetwood isstill extremely valuable.

SPEAKER_00 (30:39):
Hey, Rick.
Rick, he backed toward a topfive last week.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (30:43):
he definitely did.
So I will tell you, I did theESPN bet stream last week.
And when I do that, ESPN betsends us all the handle numbers,
like who is being bet on themost, what markets they're on.
So Tommy Fleetwood was the mostbet top 10 player last week,
which makes complete sensebecause it's top 10 Tommy.

(31:07):
And he did not even sniff.
the top five or six in terms ofmost bet to win.
So people have started to learnthe pathway to getting exposure
to Tommy Fleetwood.
So Greg, spot on.
Spot on there, buddy.
That'll conclude our Patreonsegment for today.

(31:27):
If you want to support the show,there's a variety of ways to do
it.
Like it, retweet it, share itwith your friends, whatever.
Leave us a five-star rating andreview.
If you want to supportfinancially, we have some cool
stuff on the Patreon.
Links in the description.
You can check that out.
We're going to talk about moreplayers here, gentlemen.
We're going to do it in the formof our grid, which if you've

(31:48):
never seen before, we do amatchup, a finishing position,
and two separate outrights.
This grid, don't freak out.
Don't freak out.
It's going to have a new lookfor this week because Mina has
rebranded it.
Go ahead, Mina.
Drop it.
Bang.
There it is.
Nice.
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Clean.

SPEAKER_02 (32:04):
Yes,

SPEAKER_00 (32:04):
clean.
I'm not freaked out.
Mina, can you give me more hair,please?

SPEAKER_02 (32:09):
Yes, she will Photoshop some more hair in
there.
Yes, much easier to read, muchmore on brand.
She's done a wonderful job withthis.
Let's start with the matchupsfor this week.
Mark, love the man that you areriding with here.
Who is it, please?

SPEAKER_00 (32:28):
Well...
credit to Mina because I'd wentwith a group because I couldn't
find matchups on DraftKings,which is kind of becoming a bit
of a tradition unlike any other.
It's a little early in

SPEAKER_02 (32:37):
the week.
They always want to drop themlike Tuesday afternoon and we're
like on the verge of going live.

SPEAKER_00 (32:44):
Well, good.
I thought that was just me.
And maybe there's some recencybias here.
But Sunday afternoon, when I'mstanding there beside 18 Green
up there on the hill watchingthe unfolding of Russell Henley
pitch in for Birdie and nearlyget in a playoff and the Tommy
disaster and the Keegan win,I've got Max Graseman looking

(33:05):
over my shoulder at mytelevision monitor, sort of
trying to figure out what'sgoing on.
Because there were a number ofgolfers that were very
interested in the result.
So just because I had Max likeover my left shoulder, he was
top of my mind.
So as soon as I saw his name, Iwas like, this is a good idea.
And then it became a better ideabecause it seems like this time

(33:27):
of the year is when Grazemanstarts to play well.
Boy from the Northeast, from NewJersey, played golf in Duke, at
Duke, has done really well atthe 3M Open.
And plus 105 over DavisThompson, a guy who sort of
hasn't seemed to have his bestto me.
I don't know what the numbersbear out.
I just felt like Max was adecent bet around Detroit where

(33:47):
he can just open up and blastthe driver of all the corners.

SPEAKER_02 (33:51):
Yeah, so a couple of things there.
Davis has not been nearly asgood since his victory.
And Max Grazerman is astatistical unicorn, Mark.
In fact, last year's season,gosh, I don't remember off the
top of my head, but he was oneof like eight guys ever to gain

(34:11):
a half a stroke per round offthe tee.
and a half a stroke per roundwith the putter.
Something like that.
It is just the longest club inhis bag and the shortest club in
his bag are his weapons, andthat is very, very rare.

SPEAKER_00 (34:24):
All right, I'm good.
Thanks for backing me up.
Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 (34:27):
You got it.
No worries there.
Greg, look at you.
You don't even like America, doyou?
What have you picked for thisweek?
Well, I picked an American.
So I do love Americans.
I just, I also picked anAmerican to lose this matchup.

(34:48):
I have Ben Griffin, even moneyover Keegan Bradley.
Oh, all right.
Now there's a couple of thingsto this one.
That's a big time week forKeegan.
And I don't pick guys to go backto back unless their name is
Scotty Scheffler.
So it's a rule of mine.
Now also Ben Griffin in the lastfive weeks, uh, Ben Griffin has

(35:12):
won, and he's gained strokes inevery single category except for
one, which was a shot in threequarters around the green last
week where he finished tied14th.
Which, can I say, Greg, that isincredibly rare to do what he's
doing as consistently as he'sdoing it.

(35:35):
I mean, we talk about this quitea bit.
Usually it's like two weeks.
If you can get back-to-backweeks gaining strokes across the
board, it's a great indicator.
You might get a great finish thenext week, but something will
fall off.
This is five weeks.
It's crazy.
So I can't look past that.
Knowing that Ben Griffin stillhas a lot to play for, has

(35:57):
finished inside the top 14 everyweek in the last five, This is,
I think, a good golf course forhim with his added length, added
driver ability.
I just, I love the game.
And I think Keegan, it's okay ifKeegan takes a little breath
this week because that was a lotfor him last week.
Ben Griffin, even money overKeegan Bradley.

(36:18):
I might have, Greg might have anissue with me here.
I went with Taylor Moore overKurt Kitayama, which we'll talk,
we'll let Greg give us the KurtKitayama stuff in a second.
Mine was more of a play onKeegan.
Taylor Moore, who I just thinkis starting to plug the leaks in
his game a little bit.
And you're going to behard-pressed to find a guy,
anybody else in this field, whohas three straight top tens at

(36:39):
Detroit Golf Club.
So I'm just trying to be earlyon him, not necessarily hating
on Kirk Kitayama.
So we'll save that.
Go ahead, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
Taylor Moore plays his golf course really well.
He loves to draw a shot, and heworks really hard not to draw it
too much.
I saw a Taylor Moore positionbet that kept my attention for a
bit.
So I'm kind of with you on thatKitayama bet there.

SPEAKER_02 (36:59):
Okay, beautiful.
Well, we'll keep an eye on thatone.
Gregors, you get to go first onyour positional wager, please.
Yes.
Now, this one has a...
What is it called?
A umlaut?
An umlaut.
That is a German...
Yeah, so Mina has given StevenYeager the proper spelling.

(37:19):
Now, do you guys know this?
This is a fun fact.
Mina was born in Germany.
I did not know that.
Yeah, and she was there until...
She was like five or somethinglike that.
Wow.
So we have a German on staff.
On staff, yes.
I mean, if Mina was a Ryder Cupplayer, she'd be on Europe.
Oh, and she'd be a shoe-in,quite honestly.

(37:41):
Yeah, kind of reminds me of likeSepp Straka.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 (37:44):
yes.
But she wouldn't want to shareher swing thoughts with anybody.

SPEAKER_02 (37:48):
That's fine, and that's quite okay.
Yeah, this is the Ryder Cupwe're talking about.
All right, let's get to StevenYeager.
I like him for a top 20 thisweek.
Game's been okay of late.
I think it's been okay in everyarea.
The short game's been sufferinga little bit.
I think it's a little easierhere.
But with his distance and hisliking, if you will, for

(38:11):
driver-heavy golf courses, Ithink this is a really good spot
for him.
So he finished tied seventh atthe Truist.
The talk of the town that weekwas you just hit driver
everywhere here.
In Houston, he hit drivereverywhere.
He finished tied 11th.
In Mexico, you hit drivereverywhere.
He finished tied sixth.
The Black Desert Championship inUtah, you hit driver everywhere.

(38:35):
He finished second.
So I think for Steven Yeager,that's going to be a really good
thing.
There's minimal penalty formissing off the tee.
He'll be able to air it out.
I like him for a top 20,especially at plus 240.
Speaking of hitting drivereverywhere, that's a great
transition to my top 20, who isChris Godderup, who will thrive

(38:56):
in scenarios where you get tohit driver everywhere.
And he is playing justobjectively the best golf of his
career.
By far.
By far.
It is six top 28 finishes in hislast seven.
The advanced metrics look great.
He's playing with a ton ofconfidence.
And if you started to do a, Ialways say this word wrong,

(39:16):
amalgamation, That's what thePlayers' Championship trophy is,
right?
It's a collection of everybodywho's ever won the Players'
Championship.
If you did that for Detroit GolfClub, it's going to look a lot
like Chris Gotterup because thisis a place for him.
Mark, your finishing position,please.
And great job remembering tounmute yourself.

SPEAKER_00 (39:34):
Yeah, well, thank you.
I'm now becoming a professionalat this podcasting stuff.
First off, Matthew, yes, I'mgoing to be in Detroit.
Come and say hello.
This one perhaps is a little, Idon't know, insider information.
When I had a brief chat withJoel Damon in Canada, I was
like, how's the game?
And he goes, it's feeling reallygood.

(39:55):
And I'm like, so, you know, youneed a little run here over the
late part of the summer.
And he goes, I'm feeling goodabout my game.
So when I saw his name, a plus170 for a top 40, I was like,
yeah, I'm going to take JoelDamon at his word.
So Damon for me, top 40 plus170.

SPEAKER_02 (40:11):
All right,

SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
Joel

SPEAKER_02 (40:12):
Damon to get the job done only on the first four
pages of the leaderboard.
I think he can pull that oneoff.
Winners for me, I will hold onto them for a second.
Mark, we're running up against aMark deadline.
So Mark, why don't you give usyour two winners, please?

SPEAKER_00 (40:31):
I've decided when I looked at the Ryder Cup rankings
and I saw Rasmus Heugard inthere, I think he's currently
seventh or something for theEuros.
Okay.
I've decided I'm going to startthe Rasmus Hoegaard train
because this guy's legit.
So every bet that you see fromnow until the end of the season,
I'm going to find a way to betRasmus if he's in the field.
Blast it off the tee.

(40:53):
Just love his game.
To me, he's worked really hardon the short game.
And there's a lot of that stuffaround here.
If you miss targets, you know,little chip shots to fast greens
of uneven lies.
He went and saw Joe Mayo for abit.
I asked him, so how'd that go?
And he said, just to kind of geta feel on what he had to say,
not necessarily changinganything.

(41:14):
So it looks like he has acontrol of who he is, what his
game is, drives it great,playing decently.
Rasmus Horgard, 45-1 to win inDetroit.

SPEAKER_02 (41:26):
Okay, and your second golfer, maybe some work
to do to make sure he gets on aRyder Cup team.

SPEAKER_00 (41:32):
Yes, he let me down here recently, but I'm seeing a
whole lot of good stuff out ofPatrick Cantlay.
Last week threatened, but justdidn't get everything put
together.
He's sort of the favorite in thefield as far as I look at
numbers.
So again, it's time and there'sa sense of inevitability about
Cantlay finally getting a winagain.

(41:53):
So I'm going to kind of betwhere he's in the field and he's
in the field this week.
So let's go Cantlay plus 1,600.

SPEAKER_02 (42:01):
Speaking of guys who haven't won in quite some time,
Patrick Cantlay getting a lot ofcover from somebody like Colin
Murakawa.
Last time, Patrick Cantlay won.
Anybody?
Anybody?

SPEAKER_00 (42:11):
Caves Valley against Breslin.

SPEAKER_02 (42:13):
No.
No.
Wilmington.
BMW.
What was that?
The next year.
Correct.
Yeah.
So, yep.
Caves Valley 2021.
He defended it successfully thefollowing year.
August of 2022, coming up onthree years.
since that victory.
Ben Griffin and Cam Young forme.
We've talked about Ben Griffin.

(42:35):
Cam Young's the model here.
Like, I'm ready for it.
Speaking of guys who need wins.
Greg, take us.
He let

SPEAKER_00 (42:41):
me down so badly last week.

SPEAKER_02 (42:44):
Yeah, this is such a different golf course, you know,
is crazy.
Take us home, Greg.
All right.
I got Luke Clanton.
I think driver everywhere couldbe a great thing for him.
He hits a lot of greens andregulation.
which is important here.
He's got to get the puttergoing.
There's definitely some cleaningup to be done, but this seems

(43:04):
like the time of year where someof these young guys can really
pop up and make a difference.
So I like him at 40.
And Kurt Kitayama.
Now, this is an interestingrecord.
I don't love it.
I don't love anybody to win herethis week, which is kind of
fascinating, but I think KurtKitayama's been hitting the ball

(43:27):
pretty well.
Over the last four weeks, he'sbeen gaining strokes, ball
striking to the field.
His short game's been in prettygood shape.
And I'm seeing a spotty putter.
It's been up and down.
There's been good weeks andthere's been bad weeks.
The bad weeks have been worsethan the good weeks.
But I think there's anopportunity for Kurt Kitayama on

(43:47):
a golf course like this, wherehe can air it out and utilize
that speed to get hot with theputter and go ahead and win
this.
And I like it at instead oftaking favorites all the time,
like I tend to do because theytend to be right, I think this
one, I think there's a littlemore opportunity here for us to

(44:08):
air it out too.
So I went Kurt Kitayama and LukeKlant.
Luke Klant and Kurt Kitayama,Rasmus Hojgaard, Patrick
Cantlay, Ben Griffin, Cam Young,the outrights from our
perspective.
Mark, I have done my duty to getyou out of here.
I want to say safe travels.
We're looking forward to hearingyou from Detroit.

SPEAKER_00 (44:26):
Before I go, Greg, say Clanton with a T, please.
Clanton.
Thank you.
All right.

SPEAKER_02 (44:33):
Love

SPEAKER_00 (44:34):
you guys.

SPEAKER_02 (44:34):
Clanton?

SPEAKER_00 (44:36):
Clanton.

SPEAKER_02 (44:38):
We have a similar issue.
Thank you, Mark.
We'll talk soon, brother.
Take care.
Be good.
See you, Mark.
Oh, boy.
The pronunciation police havegotten us again.
I still think there's a T in itwhen I say it, but I'm going to
enunciate it from now on.
I've learned my lesson.
That is a verbal feel versusreal.

(44:58):
I feel like I'm saying the T.
I do too.
I guess

SPEAKER_01 (45:01):
not.

SPEAKER_02 (45:03):
I have breaking news.
I have breaking news for youbecause we've got work to do
here.
Tony Finau, this is correct.
Tyler is absolutely correct.
Tony Finau has withdrawn fromthis event.
He has been replaced by...
Joseph Bramlett.
I don't know if Tony Finau wason your radar talking about guys
who are kind of on the outsidelooking in.

(45:25):
51st in the FedExCup standings.
He's had success at this golfcourse before, but we are not
going to see Tony in Detroitthis week.
No, it's too bad.
He had one of the greatperformances here when he won.
He won in 2022 and was...
I mean, he made one bogey thatentire week.

(45:49):
This was when it was played theweek before the 3M Open, the
week after the OpenChampionship.
You know I love looking at thesenumbers, Rick.
He hit 66 greens in regulationat Detroit Golf Club.
That's the magic number, isn'tit?
Yeah.
He missed six greens for thewhole week.

(46:12):
Only made one bogey.
Just remarkable stuff.
He wasn't necessarily on myradar.
I didn't have a whole lot ofaction on Tony Finau, so it's no
harm to me, but I would love tosee Tony get this stuff figured
out.
Yeah, game just hasn't beensharp in 2025.
Okay, we've got a little bit ofwork to do.

(46:33):
So we are going to head into thefantasy portion of the show and
talk through some of these nameshere.
Let's start with the big boys atthe top.
There's only three in the 10Krange and a handful more in the
9K range, Greg.
I'll assist with some visualsfrom rickrungood.com.
Where are we going first here,my friend?

(46:55):
Going first to Patrick Cantlay.
Mark loves him.
I do too.
I think this game has beenreally good.
And if you look at this record,there's kind of two glaring
miscuts in there.
But they're both in majorchampionships.
We know and have known for along time that Patrick Cantlay

(47:16):
struggles in majorchampionships.
Make of that what you will.
This is not a majorchampionship.
So what has he done?
in non-majors well tied 12th atthe travelers tied 12th at the
memorial tied fourth at thetruest tied 13th at the rbc
heritage it's been quite goodthat's a guy that's trending on

(47:39):
winning he's gained strokesapproaching the green
significantly more than a shotin every event that isn't a
major this year it's been verygood iron play for him he's
gained strokes uh off the tee inevery event since the Players'
Championship off the tee.
The guy is striping it.

(48:01):
And the putter hasn't quitegotten hot yet, but bentgrass is
his best surface.
I know this is a bentpoa mix,but I kind of like the combo.
I'm starting my lineups withPatrick Cantlay this week.
All right, Patrick Cantlay,$10,200 on DraftKings.
We'll see...
how that ownership getsdistributed as the week goes on.

(48:23):
Okay, we've got Patrick Cantlay.
Where are we going next?
Yeah, so now in the 9K range, wegot a couple of fun ones.
We got Harry Hall, who I reallylike this week.
Tied ninth last week.
He was tied sixth at the CharlesSchwab.
Tied 24th at the RBC CanadianOpen.
There's a tendency in a weeklike this where birdie average

(48:48):
is a pretty strong indicator.
You need to make birdies.
In fact, go over to my noteshere.
Four of the last five winnersentered the week top 31 in
birdie average.
But even more, you know, acouple of them were inside the

(49:10):
top 10, which I think is apretty strong indicator.
All the last five winners, allsix winners, have made at least
23 birdies in Route to Victoryhere at the Rocket Classic.
Harry Hall's fourth on tour inbirdie average.
He makes a ton of birdies.
Part of that is he's the secondbest putter on the PGA Tour.

(49:33):
But the real kicker is that hisiron play has just gotten
better, and it's unlocked thisputting magic.
It's turning...
Putt in for par and making a tonof birdies because he's hitting
it better.
T to green.
It's his last four weeks andfive out of his last six, he's
gained strokes approaching thegreen.
So I love Harry Hall.

(49:56):
Let me ask you about thisquestion here from the chat
because Matthew says, and we'renot talking about Ben Griffin,
but we have talked about BenGriffin.
He says, are you worried aboutBen Griffin playing nine out of
the last 10 weeks?
Going to be hot here allweekend.
He was off June 7th, the weekbefore the US Open.
open?
Are you worried about that?
I definitely take it intoaccount.

(50:20):
Somebody else was saying theywere worried in Detroit about
him possibly withdrawing.
Yeah, I'm worried about it alittle bit.
The thing is that Ben Griffin'spretty used to it.
If there's anybody I'm notworried about, it's Ben Griffin.
He does this all the time.
Only Eric Cole has played morethan Ben Griffin, and Ben
Griffin has played like Earlierthis year, he played like 15

(50:41):
weeks in a row.
I just do not care.
I'm generally in that camp too.
Now, is there a chance that whathappened to Jordan Spieth last
week happens to Ben Griffin?
Yeah, of course.
It could happen to anybody.
So I'm not overly worried aboutit.
If it were like Scotty Schefflerplaying that often, I'd be maybe

(51:04):
a little more concerned.
Yeah, or like Patrick Cantlay.
Or like Patrick Cantlay, whogoes from playing 14 times a
year, all of a sudden playing 28times a year.
Yeah, Hideki Matsuyama, whostruggles with injury from time
to time.
Yeah, I'd watch it, but not BenGriffin.
We have spent a good bit of timetalking about your next golfer
here, but I love him, so we'regoing to bring it back up.

(51:25):
It's Max Grazerman.
Grazerman, surprisingly, hasn'tbeen putting very well.
I know.
I think this might be the firsttime in his career he's lost
putting three weeks in a row.
And it's been prettysignificant.
I think that's more of ananomaly than anything else,
Rick.
I love the way he's hitting it.
Three out of his last four weekshave been top 25 finishes.

(51:47):
He's been hitting the ball wellin all of those.
The putter's been letting himdown.
But I think he's got a reallyhigh floor this week.
And he can make a ton of birdiestoo.
I think he could win.
I think he could too.
I think he's just...
and this is a really good spotfor him.
Both those weapons, the rarecombination of weapons that he

(52:10):
has are both very valuable thisweek.
So I'm excited about Max.
Let's round out the last onehere.
And this one is interesting tome.
He was on your board and a newlyminted professional.
It's Luke Clanton, Greg.
What have you seen that's gotyou excited for Luke this week?

(52:33):
Yeah, it's surprisingly nothingnew, right?
This is more of who he is as aplayer.
So I like him in DFS and I likehim in outright markets.
I don't trust him for top 10s ortop 12.
Like he's not a consistent,reliable player.
But I think that there's anupside here that could be win

(52:59):
any one of these weeks.
And this golf course would beperfect for it.
because he can absolutely blastit.
The putter is very much hot andcold.
It's streaky.
It struggles.
It's streaky.
It's struggled.
And looking on rickrungood.comover the last 36 rounds, he's
way up there in greens ofregulation, which I think is

(53:21):
pretty important as well.
So I could see Luke Clantonputting something together this
week, having a great run of it.
There's some risk, but I'mwilling to take it because I
think there's a winning upside.
The 8K range are two golfersthat have already been mentioned
on the show, but I'm interestedin your take, particularly on
Rasmus Hojgaard, who is firstoff here, Greg.

(53:43):
Yeah, course fit specific.
This is a course fit specific,right?
I think when you look at Brysonand Tony and Cam Davis, guys who
have won here, hit it a reallylong way off the tee, and even
Ricky Fowler is not short offthe tee.
There's something that drivingdistance is pretty valuable.

(54:04):
When you can hit it everywhereand you can hit it like Rasmus
Hoegaard, I think it gives youan opportunity to separate
yourself.
And in the last two weeks, he'sbeen pretty good with his
approach play, much better thanof late.
And that kind of talent has anopportunity to be on full
display this week.
So, look, I don't love the 8Krange at all.

(54:28):
Um, I could see some lineupswith can't lay and maybe one of
those nine K guys and loading upin the seven K range.
Cause I really liked that range.
But, uh, if I was going to go inthis, it'd be Hoy guard and it'd
be Chris Goddard up who I knowyou'd like to Rick.
Yeah.
I mean, this is just, this isjust, it's great.
It's great stuff.

(54:48):
It's fan.
It's phenomenal.
He's been playing.
Awesome.
Play as well on these grasses.
It seems, um, He's got...
Two of his last four weeks, he'sgained over five strokes off the
tee.

SPEAKER_01 (55:05):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (55:06):
Five.
And here, he's going to do thatagain.
Yeah, he's building himself areally solid floor with the
driver, and he is no longer aone-trick pony.
He was kind of a one-trick ponywhen he won...
Did he win Myrtle this year orthe year before?

(55:28):
No, last year.
That's why he's here this week,because he wasn't going to keep
his card without it.
Right, right.
And I thought that that waslike, whoa, where did that come
from?
He wasn't playing all that wellbefore.
He's playing much better golfnow.
Yes.
Look, there's like a thresholdwith these really long hitters
with driving accuracy, where ifyou can hit 52%, 53% of your

(55:54):
fairways, and you're hitting a320, you'll be gaining strokes
to the field.
You'll rank, you'll rate outpretty nicely in the driving
stats.
If you start to get below that51, 50, he was hitting like 43%
of his fairways, right?
It was not useful distance.
He wasn't even beating the fieldwith his driver, despite all

(56:15):
that speed.
It's hard to do.
And he was spraying it, but nowhe's, now he's got control.
He knows where the golf ball'sgoing.

UNKNOWN (56:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (56:24):
The 7K range is becoming more interesting.
So we talked about StevenYeager.
We'll probably pass on that fora second.
Kevin, you has withdrawn fromthis event.
Oh, he did.
Okay.
We can bop him out of here,which leaves us with Ben Ahn.
And I'm envisioning what Ben Ahndoes well and what he doesn't do

(56:45):
well.
And yeah, I understand whyDetroit Golf Club would be a fit
for Mr.
Ahn here.
He's a lot longer than youthink.
Oh, yeah.
He's like a bomber.
You may not think of him thatway.
But I'm starting to see thisgame round into form over the
last three weeks.
He finished tied sixth inCanada, tied 14th last week at

(57:07):
the Travelers.
He's gained off the tee in hislast three.
Two out of his last threeapproaching the green.
All three around the greens.
The putter, which is a problem,has been much closer to even.
over the last three weeks.
In fact, if you combine the lastthree weeks, he is gaining
strokes.
Things are trending in the rightdirection.

(57:28):
So it makes a ton of sense fromthat standpoint.
He also has a tied 13th here.
Now, that was back in 2019, butI think his game is in really
good form.
It's heading in the rightdirection.
Yeah, clearly.
I mean, since he missed the cutat the Memorial, three really

(57:50):
strong finishes, or at leastthree strong weeks in a row as
you laid out there, Greg.
And then if you're looking forvalue, and this is a guy, you
find this guy, you find this guya lot.
It's David Skins.
You love David Skins.
No, I don't.
Yes, you do.
Well, I think he's really good,one.

(58:11):
He's longer than you wouldthink, because he kind of looks
like a You know, like, yeah,yeah.
I was going to say like a craftyold fisherman.
He honestly does look like acrafty old fisherman.
He looks like he should beshucking oysters down on the
pier.
I actually really like shuckingoysters.

(58:33):
Of course.
I've never done it on the pier,but I've done it and I
actually...
There's something extremelysatisfying about it to me.
Anyway, I don't know what to doin this 6K range.
It's like, well, the guys thatare at 6,800, 6,900, I'm like, I

(58:57):
don't really like that.
Go down through the whole range.
It's like, no, no, no, no.
Well, all right.
At this point, if I'm going toguess...
I better get some real value outof it.
So I go down into the mid sixthousands.
My Kevin, David skins.
Oh, you finished tied ninth inCanada.

(59:18):
Yeah.
Hit it.
Great.
Hit it.
Pretty hit it.
All right.
At the Byron Nelson.
I know that was back in may, butI'm guessing anyway.
So why not go to the crafty oldfishermen?
It's a terrible answer.
See if he can catch us a realistin a top 20.

(59:40):
That would be nice.
All right.
Let me do this because that'sjust a horrible.
It's horrible analysis.
All right.
Okay.
Well, while you do that, here'swhat I'm thinking, though,
because you said something thatdefinitely jives with me.
I don't want to be in the 6Krange.
And I think that I'm going tostart a lot of my lineups in the

(01:00:01):
9K range because I also am notsuper stoked about the...
I think I'm going to be pilingin 9K guys, piling in 7K guys,
not necessarily have to get asdeep down the board as I do in
previous weeks.
Yes.
So I want to just throw some 7Knames out there.
Okay.
Just confirm for me, if youwill, that these guys are all in

(01:00:23):
the tournament.
Okay.
Still.
Uh, Alex Noren.
As far as I'm aware.
Yes.
I would play him.
Uh, Kevin, you is not, he was onmy list.
He's not play him.
Steven Yeager.
We talked about in Ben on, wealready talked about Emiliano
Grillo.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:43):
Yes.
Right.
He's back.
He's,

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:45):
he's back to being team.
No putt.
Yes.
So I'm, I'm fine with that inthe seven K range and real.
He sat soon.
Hey, Like, there's a lot ofupside with him.
A lot of upside with him.
He's got like top 500.
He's like top five upside.

(01:01:06):
Yeah.
He was tied fourth at theValspar, tied fifth at the
Valero.
And you think that's just tied10th in Mexico.
You think that's kind of likejust a nice little hot streak.
But he was tied sixth at theCharles Schwab as well.
You know, it's happenedthroughout the entire season.
I really like, I think he'sworth looking at this week.

(01:01:30):
The nines and the sevens will bemy happy hunting grounds for
this week.
So I, those names that you'rethrowing out, I'm sure I'm going
to have a lot of exposure to it.
I mean, I'm, I'm not against thecan't lay and sevens can't lay
in the sevens this week either.
Um, I just think he's going toplay great too.
We're going to be back on Fridayand Sunday this week for the

(01:01:54):
Rocket Classic to make surewe've got you all covered there.
We're going to keep an eye outfor any other Tuesday field
updates.
But as of right now, the latestis Finau out, Bramlett in.
We'll see if anything elsechanges today.
Greg, anything else before weput a bow on the show?

(01:02:16):
Well, I'm looking forward toseeing, like we talked about,
going back to the top of theshow.
How do these guys that are namebrand players, how do they
compete in a field like this, ona golf course like this?
Can they get some momentumheading into the end of the
season and really make thisRyder Cup race interesting?

(01:02:38):
Can they solidify their spots inthe Tour Championship, for
instance?
Which this year, Rick, it's abig deal because all you got to
do is get in.
And you can win.
You're one good week away fromwinning if you get into the top
30.
So it's a big deal.
That is a good point.
We talked a lot about how itaffects, like, Scottie

(01:02:58):
Scheffler.
How about guy 30 who now has areal chance of winning the golf
tournament?
Yeah.
Could you go beat 29 guys?
Yes.
They all can.
And if you're 30, you might havegotten in because you're hot.
As it is.
Right.
Right.
You play great at the BMW orMemphis or both or the Rocket
Classic.

(01:03:19):
So I'm really, this is that timewhere it doesn't seem like it,
but it's crunch time.
It is crunch time for theFedExCup playoffs.
And so I'm looking forward tothose storylines.
Do crunch bars crack your topfive candies?

(01:03:41):
No.
I'm not against them.
I like them, but top five istough.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's your top five?
You know, crunch bars are kindof, I always, they're, they're
never as good as I think they'regoing to be.
Oh, that's a great, greatendorsement.
Yeah.
I've always let down by thecrunch bar.

(01:04:02):
What's number one?
Number one is Kit Kat.
Wow.
Yeah.
I'm not even sure it's close.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:12):
What?

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:13):
Yeah, I love Kit Kats.
I would have Reese's in there.
That's the clear goat.
It's hard to beat, but Kit Katbeats it in my mind.
So those are my top two.
You would love, so Kit Kat, whenwe were in Australia,

(01:04:34):
Australians must love Kit Kat,and they do Kit Kat.
I'm not exaggerating.
90 variations of Kit Kats.
So it'd be like, I know you'realready shaking his head.
He's like, absolutely hatesthis.
It's like, you're such, ofcourse, of course, it's like
classic Kit Kat guy.

(01:04:54):
But yeah, they've got like everyvariety of Kit Kat that you can
imagine.
Of course you hate them all.
You don't mess with perfection.
Oh my God.
Now I'm sure some of them arepretty good.
So yeah.

UNKNOWN (01:05:08):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:09):
Put one in front of me.
We'll see if I eat it or not.
I'll put some together for you,and we'll do a little taste test
at some point.
Next time I see you, we'll do alittle taste test.
All right.
Well, we'll be back again Fridayand Sunday.
For now, big thanks to producerMina.
She does all the hard workbehind the scenes.
Greg Ducharme.
I'm Rick Gaiman.
Mark Emmerman.

(01:05:30):
Already out of here.
This has been the Second CutPodcast.
We'll catch you next time.

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