All right, great show for you guys today, talking Rocket Mortgage with my buddy Brian Kirshner, fresh off a huge Harris English win. But before we get to the show, I want to talk about BetUS. BetUS is an online legal sportsbook in all 50 states, and you can use promo code PICKTHEPUP for a 125% all-sports bonus on your first deposit at betus.com. You can really catch them sleeping sometimes with their golf odds online.
I found some really intriguing ones this week. So make sure to check out betus.com and use promo code pickthepup for a 125% all sports bonus on your first deposit. Let's get to the show.
All right. I'm joined by my buddy, Brian Kirshner, who we were just talking off air. He is the first person to invite himself on my podcast, which I have a ton of respect for and have not had the cojones to do myself yet with other people. But the way you did it was so seamlessly seamless. I think I'm going to start doing your move now going forward with other podcasts I like.
You know, the timing just felt right. I had a few winning weeks and I said, I really want to be on Andy's podcast. I'm a listener and now I'm on and there's only so many people that could be on your pod. I felt like it was my time and I feel like this would be the perfect event for it. So I slipped.
I just want to clarify to everybody listening that I was not asked to be on. I asked to be on. Oh, come on. So sometimes you got it. You were in the, you, come on, you know, you were coming soon. I try and spread the wealth. Come on. You, you, you were, you were in the rotation. Yeah, no, but I, I wanted to, to make sure that it happened and I pushed my way on the podcast and here we are. And I'm, couldn't be more happy to be here to talk the rocket mortgage with you.
Well, I think first we should maybe talk about your Harris English W because as you mentioned, this was a good week for you to come on coming off a huge win. Congratulations, man. Thank you. I really appreciate the kind words. I'm not an outright guy, but my three favorite golfers every week, you know, throw maybe a half unit in total on it.
And it finally worked out, you know, like we talk about and you've talked about on your podcast. Hitting outrights is so hard to do at a consistent rate or at a good clip that it's profitable. So that's why my strategy is a lot more betting top 10s, top 20s and top 40s. But to really love a golfer a week and it all come together and him win in an eight hole playoff is really a great feeling. It's great to be right on Twitter. And it's also great to actually win money. And, you know, I'll be I'll be eating out for lunch this week. That's that's my thing.
So I was watching that tournament and I actually had a dinner with my brother and my mom. I went to dinner right after he drained that putt on 18 and I left and I kept checking my phone and I actually made it back in time from an entire dinner right as the playoff was ending. I cannot believe it went on that long, but I missed all
all of it. I missed the entire playoff. I probably would have been losing my mind if I had that ticket. I know that you hedged, which people, you can say whatever they want about hedging. I probably would have done the same thing. Yeah, I did a small hedge. I was about to win over 500. I only hedged for like 100 because I just felt like
Like we're in the playoff. Like it was a perfect opportunity to hedge. Usually you don't have a perfect opportunity. And I did feel like Harris would win. That's why it was only a small hedge. It was about a 350 difference either way. So I'm happy it worked out right this week. And I'm looking forward to maybe hitting one this week. I think you're due. You're hitting one this week. I can feel it.
I hope so, man. I've been, you know, I hit three really early in the year, kind of in a row. I think I went Berger,
Brooks and Bryson. And two of those weren't very impressive. The Brooks was at a 50 plus, I believe, but the burger, the burger and Bryson weren't very impressive. And I've been cold ever since. I mean, I, I, like you said at the top, I don't really measure my success in golf betting based on my outrights. I throw such a small amount on them every week that they don't really have a ton of effect on how I'm doing in,
in my season long results. If I hit one, it's, it's a bonus, but it's not really how I measure. As you know, I'm a big finishing position and top 40 guy. Um, but you're right. I want one badly. I think of it more as it's like, I don't really care for myself and for my own golf betting. Kind of, like I said, my bankroll, I do so fine and
well in the other markets that I don't really need it. But I feel like for the Twitter clout, that's kind of why you want to hit outrights. Yeah, no, it's definitely a double win when you hit an outright because you cash a big ticket and you get to be like on Twitter, like I was right about this. And I did take a small victory lap, but nothing crazy. I wasn't the only person that had it. Oh yeah, that was a big, yeah. There's a big contingent of guys that had it.
Cause I would say that that was the biggest community win since JT at the players. There's never usually a community win. Like I really feel like it was JT at the players and Harris this week. And ever since then, it's kind of like a few guys have them or nobody has them like some tournaments. So it was, it was really great. Yeah. I mean, I always with the community win thing, you're so right. I'm so dubious of it. I always get like more scared when I see that a lot of people are
are on somebody. I'm the same guy. And I was even talking with my buddy, Mark, who's, who's golf bets one-on-one on Twitter, who actually also had him. So shout out to him. And he was saying like, as soon as he started seeing the more tickets start to come in on Harris as the week kind of
progressed into Tuesday and Wednesday and he saw that more people were betting on him, he was kind of like, oh, we're screwed. This is over and not the case. I was rooting for you. We were DMing a little bit during the final round and I was telling you, I do not have a horse in this race whatsoever. So I hope that you and all the, like a
ton of my friends had Harris. It was like Luke, Feinberg, Mark, you, like literally all the guys that I taught golf with had Harris except me. So congratulations, man. And hopefully we can keep the momentum going into this week.
So let's get into the Rocket Mortgage. As you alluded to at the top, it is not the best field by any means, but there's still some decent talent. Obviously, Bryson is the headliner, and then you kind of go into Hideki and Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson and Joaquin Neiman and Matthew Wolfe and Sung Jae, I guess, and it kind of falls off from there. But I want to start with talking about the course a little bit. It's Detroit Golf Club. It's a par 72. It measures 7,340 yards wide.
on the scorecard. It is located in Detroit, Michigan. It is a bent and poem mixture on the greens and it is designed by Donald Ross. I have already talked extensively about the course on my Sunday preview. So I'll just kick it to you, Brian, what kind of comes to mind when you think Detroit golf club? You know, I'm thinking one 50 N I'm thinking Eagles on par fives. I'm thinking opportunities games. I'm thinking birdies gained, uh,
I'm more in the camp of thinking approach and putting is going to be huge this week, like it is every week. But yeah, those are really the stats I'm looking at. I'm obviously not looking at like 175 in. I'm more weighing bent than POA because I think it's kind of more like that this week. But people usually do better on both of those than others. But yeah, I'm thinking a lot of flip wedges in.
A lot of short irons in. You have to be gaining strokes for me to like you 150 in. And if you're not, that's kind of – I just – I'm definitely less inclined to bet you this week.
Yeah, I'm with you. I think that that was kind of the main thing that I talked about as well. It's like, if I had to dumb it down to what I think to be the two most important things is wedges, like you said, and I want guys that can spike with the putter. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to like have a good strokes game putting overall ranking, but I want guys that if you dig into it, they, uh,
are volatile at the very least. And they've shown the ability to spike, right? So like not all strokes gain putting statistics are created equal. There's a type of guy that hovers around even every single week. And then there's the type of guy that one week he loses five and the next week he gained six and the next week he loses five and the next week he gained six.
Those are kind of the guys that I'm more gravitating to this week because just looking at what guys have done at this course, and you can obviously say this about any course to a certain extent that of course you have to putt well to finish well, but not always. I mean, you brought up JT at the players, like that was a tournament where he gained like eight or nine strokes on approach and he gained like one stroke putting in one.
I don't really think that you can do that here at Detroit Golf Club. I think that because the greens are easier to hit, the fairways are easier to hit. Some of those guys, Brian, that normally aren't as good approach players that are normally missing greens and having to get up and down for par. Well, instead of having to get up and down for par,
I think they're going to have like a 20 or 25 footer this week because they're just, it's easier to hit these greens. 72% compared to 65%. Like it doesn't seem like a huge discrepancy, but it is a big discrepancy. So this is one of the weeks where I, I mean, and I know for all the stat guys and model guys out there, like I know putting is kind of the thing that no one really likes to talk about or no one really likes to weigh, but I, I look at it.
No, I definitely think it's important this week. And I think guys that have been consistently gaining about three or four strokes putting every week could be good to look at because there's not going to be this big discrepancy and they're not going to fall off a cliff. Another thing like this is kind of I tweeted about Matt Wolfe before and something that a lot of handicappers look at. You know, I like to think, is a guy a birdie fest guy or is he a difficult condition guy?
Absolutely. Because I want people that have contended in events that are very low scoring. Like Harris last week, he's won a low scoring event. He won an up... I was actually a little bit surprised with the winning score last week. Were you? I thought it would be higher. Yeah. No, it just... It speaks to how good of a course TPC River Highlands is because...
It wasn't even like crazy windy either, but it was minus 12 was the winning score. Yeah, I really wouldn't have expected that. I was there. I really see why. Because it's not like you have to lamp off the tee, but I really do think there's 100% chance the winning score is 19 and above this week. So I want guys that have contended in Birdie Fest and, again, have great distances, great numbers inside 150 yards.
and that can get hot in the putter and just make some seven-foot birdie putts. At the end of the day, that's usually what it comes down to. All right, so let's get into the odds board, man. All odds are courtesy of BetUS. Use promo code PICKTHEPUP for a 125% bonus on your first deposit at BetUS. I'm going to give you the BetUS numbers, Brian, but feel free to throw out any numbers that
that you have bet or are looking at as long as it's not shitting on the bet us numbers i found their numbers to be actually pretty good this week but there are some discrepancies as always i would encourage everyone to shop around but let's talk about 30 and below so you have bryson at plus 750 hideki at 14 to 1 patrick reed at 14 to 1 web simpson at 18 to 1 will zaltors at 22 co crack at 25 neiman at 28 let's stop there are you betting anyone in this range
I seriously was like doing my research and before this, I don't love a top guy this week. I mean, I don't love a top guy this week in any way, shape or form. The two most click guys on fantasy national are Neiman and co crack. Let me give you my concerns with them because I know people will bet them and they kind of make sense. They are long iron guys. They gained their most strokes. One 75 app. They are not flip wedge guys. Yes, they do bomb the ball, but,
I felt like their success comes when they're bombing the ball and then they still have a seven or six iron in. So looking at their numbers inside 150 yards, I do not like them this week. I have not, I do. I, like I said, I can be sold on web, but other than that, I really don't like any of these guys. I'm with you. I like web and read the most. I don't like the numbers.
Kochrak and Neiman, I didn't even consider betting them. And I just listened to Mayo's show right before we got on, and he's betting Kochrak, and I'm going on his tomorrow. So I'm like, oh, no, I really don't want to have to disagree in this sense. But I think actually, you know what? I'll say this about Kochrak. I can endorse an outright bet on
Kochrak more so than I can endorse a DraftKings play on him at a north of 20%. Kochrak, that is absolute trouble. He was number one in my model at the US Open, and I avoided him like the plague because he was getting so much steam on DraftKings, and we all know how that tends to work out. Neiman, I'm with you, too.
I'm kind of over that guy, man. Like, I don't know why the hell he's 28-1. Did you know that he had the fourth best short game week of his career last week, and he didn't even sniff the top 25? Like, he didn't even sniff it. I mean, I feel like he's somebody that everyone loves to bet, but he doesn't like cash. Like, he hasn't had a lot of really great results. I'm so guilty of it, too. The weird thing is that his stat –
But his stats always look good, but it just doesn't seem to come together to put even a top 10 finish in there. So I'm not down for either of those guys. But I would like you to sell me on Webb. And my biggest concern, obviously, and this is nothing crazy, but he has pretty poor recent form and hasn't shown great recent results. Why do you think he can turn it around this week?
So I love web and draft Kings. I think the number 18 to one is tough. And I don't know if I'm going to get there. I was really hoping for 20 and above, but I do think that the perception of web like is a little bit off right now, just because he hasn't been playing a ton. But when he played, when he has played this year, like he's been really good. I'm willing to throw the U S open completely out the window. I think that was a terrible spot for him. I think most people did. Right. I think,
This is a perfect course for Webb. He's the king of Sedgefield. He's played really well at Eastlake before if you want to buy into the Donald Ross thing as well. He's way better on average to easy courses than he is to hard courses. And I just think that Webb is probably reaching a point in his career. He's got four kids now where he's just going to
pick his spots a lot more. And you're probably going to see him as much as you see someone like Adam Scott. He's going to play the majors. He's going to play the players. He's going to play the WGCs. And the only other courses that he's going to play are the ones that he legitimately believes he has a chance to win on. I don't think we'll ever see him again at Riviera. I don't think we'll ever see him again at Torrey Pines. I don't think we'll ever see him again at Muirfield Village. But
He's playing this week because it is an incredible course for him. And I'm not a huge motivation guy, but he's in serious Ryder Cup trouble too, right? I can effort this and do the research, but I don't have it pulled up in front of me. But I feel like he needs to make a lot of noise this summer or he's not going to be on that team, right? Am I correct on that? He's really losing his standing?
Yeah, he was like on the last person on the front page, and there were like four or five guys in front of him. No, but the thing about Webb that I can kind of get on board with is that he's shown that he can succeed at this course. It's not – he was like the leader last year with Brooks after round one or round two. I vividly remember that. Yeah. So –
You're right that he has not, it's not like this course sets up super well for him. It literally does because he's contended on it last year. So of the top guys, I would, I would agree with you and say Webb is my favorite, but no one else really is, is getting me going. So I'm totally fine to just, this is going to be definitely more of a top 20, top 40 week for me, maybe one or two outrights. I am not, it's not going to be a huge week for me either. Yeah.
But top of the board, I don't love anybody. And I definitely don't love the two top owned guys. Is Reed getting the second most ownership? I can pull this up too. Yeah, I have it. No, Bryson is third owned. And then it's Sepp and then Homa, which makes literally no sense to me. And then Doc and then Grillo and then Zalatorst. And then, yeah, Patrick Reed is... Of the top guys, Reed is the second most. Because I get Patrick Reed. I understand that. He gained four strokes on approach and...
and 2.6 strokes off the tee at the travelers. He lost 2.8 strokes putting. So for the third week in a row, he's gained over three strokes on approach. Reed's only done that twice in his entire career where he's gained that much on approach and three straight starts. The last time it happened was like 2016. So I kind of get the Reed thing. Like he's hitting the ball incredibly right now and he's coming off a week where he lost strokes putting.
which in the last year, Patrick Reed has lost strokes putting five times in his following start. This is the kind of stuff that I love to look at, but like play good putters after a bad putting week, I promise you he has gained an average of plus 5.1 plus 2.4 plus 5.2 plus 0.6 plus
plus 6.7. He's just too good of a putter to do it two weeks in a row. So I agree the number with Reed 14. Um, absolutely not. But even, even if he is one of the higher own guys in draft Kings, I tend to differentiate so much at the bottom and just play guys that no one else is even considering whatsoever that I could always afford to eat a little bit of chalk and
at the top. And I do think I will have some read in DraftKings because I just think he's hitting the ball great. And I think that he's going to putt well this week. No, honestly, looking at the numbers, I do think that he will have a good putting week. And if his approach numbers are on, he will be in contention. I really have no doubt of
out it and I think his ownership is actually really I mean it's only 14% I'm looking at it right now pretty yeah no it's pretty low no it's not it's not that high he's not that clicked so I do think that is good I do think that is a good person to maybe start your lineup with if you're not fully sold on web I think Patrick Reed could be a good person to start lineup with but his ownership is looks good this week and I agree with you that he is too good of a putter that
I mean, the last time, I mean, you're looking at it too, but he lost two strokes putting up the bounce bar, missed the cut, and then he had a top 10 next week and gained six strokes. So, I mean, it's there. It definitely could work and make sense this week. So I think of the top two guys, I honestly, after this session, I think I'm more sold on Patrick to start my lineup with than Webb. But I think those are both two good plays.
Yeah, I don't have a strong... I wrote up Webb in my Rotoballer article, but Reid's kind of grown on me as the day has gone on. I like them both relatively equally. Let's open it up to some of these guys a little bit farther down, Brian. Like
Sung Jae is at 33. Matt Wolf is at 33. Gary Woodland's at 35. Bubba is at 40. Hoffman's at 40. Keegan Bradley's at 40. These are when you're going to start to find some differentiation with the numbers. So like I'm seeing Ricky at 40, Kevin Kisner at 45, Higo at 50, Brendan Todd at 55, Doc Redman at 55, Cam Tringali at 55,
Those are all the guys below 60. So let's cut it off there. Is there any, any of those guys that pique your interest? I, I, you know, you just said, I actually like a 45 on Kisner. Like, I don't think that's really bad of a number. Interesting.
Like for me, Kisner is somebody that I like. I think people like to bet him because like he's popular with Barstool and he's a good guy and he's good personality and that plays in. So people want him to succeed. Yeah. But now I feel like he's actually playing some really great golf and he's going to a tournament that he's had success at.
Those are kind of the two things, you know, recent form and course history. And he kind of has both of them going for him right now. So I have, I like that 45 number. I will probably get the best number I have. I could probably get like a plus 180 on him, top 20. That will 100% be on my card. I think that's a good way to develop him.
double your money, throw a unit on it. So I like Kisner. I do like Kisner this week at a 45 number and a top 20 and maybe a top 10. The other guy I like in this range, your best boy who you've talked about on your podcast, I think it's Doc Redman. And it might be kind of-
I don't know. I kind of feel it this week. Okay. You got to sell me. Ben's his best surface. I could get like a plus 250 top 20. He easily gains the most strokes on easy scoring conditions. He's been consistently gaining on approach and putting, and he has two good finishes here. Yeah. Those are a lot of boxes to check. I know that you might have some prior biases to him, but am I being fooled by the numbers?
I love Redman. As you know, the thing that frustrates me about Redman is that he gets market corrected so quickly. For all the stuff about Max Homa, we're now two weeks in a row where Doc Redman is sizably lower odds than Max Homa. That is ridiculous.
ridiculous to me. And he basically, he has two top tens in the two weakest fields of the year. And he goes from being 300 to one to 55 to one in a blink of an eye and goes, I mean, at the,
beginning of the season, Brian and I was tracking him pretty closely because I love the guy. And I gave some of those three hundreds a hard look, but like he was 6,900 on DraftKings. Like he was 300 to one, like a month ago. And he finished, he finished second at the Palmetto where he never really had a chance to really win that tournament, although it was encouraging. And then he finished top 10 at the Byron Nelson. And like, suddenly he's priced next to Higo. Um,
My problem with Redman is not Redman as a golfer. Like his irons are back. My problem with Redman is that I think he's one of the more missed priced golfers. And I think books are able to take advantage of that because me and you are not alone in loving the guy. He's a really easy guy to root for everyone on fantasy national. He's going to pop for all of those guys too, because he's such a good iron player. And that's tends to be what people weigh in their models. I,
I have a hard time getting there at these odds. What did you say the top 20 for him was? Yeah. So I'm, I'm looking at a plus two 25 top 20. Like that is a good number for me.
me. I like that. My philosophy with betting is that it's so hard to hit outrights. I'm betting top 20s at plus money, and all I'm banking on is, is this guy going to have a good week? Is he going to have a good week? We have the same philosophy on that. I'm 1,000% with you. I don't think he's worth your money outright. Is he really going to do it? I don't know, but I do think that he would be a good top 20 play. Even if you want to be more conservative, you could probably get up
like a plus 150 top 30 and then maybe like a plus 100 top 40. I think, again, this is how we can be consistently profiting every week. We don't have to hit outrights. That's not our thing. So he will 100% be on my card top 20, 100% this week. I really do like it.
What do you think about Woodland? I, you know, I'll pull up his, his, I know you like him and I, I don't think that is like a bad play at all. Oh, by the way, feel free to disagree. No, I'm going to. Yeah. Okay. No, I'm not. I embrace it. I embrace it. So when has he contended in a birdie fest though?
That's a good point. I'd have to check on that. So his birdie numbers are good. I see what you're saying. Like if you look at his best results, obviously he's known for his finishes at majors and he always plays the Honda classic really well. He has some good results in WGCs and some good results in playoff events too. But let me see. He's,
Yeah. He makes a lot of birdies. Like he's 28th and birdies are better gained. Um, 39th and opportunities gained decent in all of the proximity distances as well. Nothing special. Great on par fives too. And plays so well on classical golf courses. You raise a good point with like the birdie fest thing. He's didn't pop totally for me. And like, did you look at by any chance, did you look at like strokes gained, um, in easy scoring conditions?
Yeah. So he's about even, he's about even, he gains about 0.6 strokes on easy conditions, which is equal to average. And then on difficult, he gains about like 0.5. So it's, there's no big discrepancy there. So I don't think that's a problem. Um,
How, what do you, do you like his wedge numbers? Because he could drive the ball. He's going to have some wedges in, like, he's going to have some short numbers. So if, if you like his wedge number, like if you like his proximity, they're fine. They're, they're like, yeah, they're fine. I think with Woodland, like to quote my buddy Feinberg, like I just, I really think his ceiling is a lot higher than a lot of these guys that are getting some respect in the odds market close to his range. Like,
it's so weird because Keegan Bradley, I don't trust him whatsoever at a birdie fast. Like he is, he like top 10 finishers on average have gained like around four strokes putting over the, like that's their average of the last two years. Keegan hasn't done that in like three years. He's done that like 10 times in a decade long plus career. Jason day somehow top 10 last week. And I feel less confident about him.
Bubba, same thing. I don't trust him. If there was any sort of question as to whether he can close a golf tournament or win again, yesterday just completely threw it out the window. There's just no way that he can win a golf tournament. It's right there in front of us. So I don't think he can contend outright and win. And he only cashed a top 20. Yeah.
And I think you're right about that. Hoffman. Um, I think he's a little bit at the end of the run. Like he's just tired. Like he's, he's, he's starting to, yeah. His ball striking is starting to go down. He finished 30th last week, gaining 5.2 strokes, putting, I'm not ready yet on Matthew Wolf. I love the guy and I'm rooting for him, but like, I'm happy to be a little bit late on him. Um,
Fowler, that was a bit of a gut check for all of us last week, and I think we all learned our lesson. I'm seeing Brendan Todd in here at 55-1, Cameron Tringali and stuff like that, and I just look at a guy like Woodland. By the way, I found a 50 on him, which is...
probably has your interest a little bit more than a 35 that I'm seeing at that us. But I just look at Woodland on a classical golf course. He plays so well on these classical golf courses, these tree lined courses, like a quail hollow, like a colonial. And he peaks my interest the most in this range. But the problem I'm having, Brian, as you mentioned is like
I don't like the numbers on any of these guys and I don't love the top of the board either. So I'm looking at a guy like Woodland and I'm like, okay, I guess I could get there.
Yeah, no, it's really tough this week, but it's fine. I think we're just going to have to have a little bit of a different card, but like sometimes it's like, Oh, I don't like the top of the board, but like, I love a bunch of guys in the fifties. So I'm just going to like pepper them. And it's not really like that this week, but I do think if you look at the odds board, the people around Gary are like, not really on his level, but his like winning equity and like just his, his, the fact that he's contended and won a major and like,
Like you said, it has a very high ceiling. So I really don't dislike it at all this week. And I do think that Ricky and Keegan are just –
They have to contend a lot more to be worth your money. Keegan had a great run. He really did. And he cashed a lot of money for me and he was a great guy, but I don't, I don't see it anymore. I think that he liked Charlie Hoffman kind of peaked and it just, you can't keep waiting for them to turn it around because maybe they're just regressing in the wrong direction.
All right, I'm going to open it up now to pretty much all these guys that I have here on BetUS under 100 to 1. And then at the end, we can talk about some bombs. But let's add some Griot into the mix. Let's add some Si Wu into the mix. Danny Willett is 66 to 1. I'm seeing Phil. You're getting a 70 on Max Homa. I'm seeing 70. Maverick McNeely, I'm seeing 70. Alex Noren, 75. Brant Snedeker, 75. Charles Howell, 80.
Lanto 80, Harold Varner, 80 SEP struck a 90 Lucas Glover, 90 Kyle Stanley, 90 Chaz, 90 McKenzie Hughes, a hundred Adam Hadwin, a hundred. What, because the odds are so kind of all over the place here, we can kind of open it up to, even if there's a guy that I didn't mention, we can kind of just take this giant group and talk about the rest of the board.
This is a good range for me, Brian, in terms of what you talked about with the finishing position market. Like there are a lot of guys that I do think really can play well this week. And I think there are a couple of guys from an outright perspective that they have odds North of a hundred to one that they're
They should not be at that number compared to some of the guys that are at 70 or 60 to one or something like that. So I do think there are a couple guys that are worth a sprinkle on who kind of sticks out to you when we open it up to kind of the rest of the field.
My top 40, I think my top 40s in this range, I think 100%. I'm with you on Brant Seneca. Nice. I'm down to bet him. I'm getting a plus 300 on a top 20. So we could get a good top 40 number. Oh, yeah. I really do think that he can make the cut. He's shown that he can contend this year. I mean, he's had some really strong finishes. Yeah.
And I mean, I'll look at his recent results, but I do think that he would be worth a plus 150 top 40, depending on how...
difficult you want to get he does gain his best services are Pella and bent and he does gain the most strokes on easy conditions so I like that play another guy I like in this range that I want to talk about is he's the third most click I'm fantasy national I'm like I'm not alone in trouble and like this is okay okay but if
If everyone and their mothers has a top 40 or a top 20 on Sepp Schraker, it still cashes if he finishes in there. It's not like DraftKings. So I don't care. It's so square. It's the most obvious thing in the whole world. I love Sepp Schraker this week. He has the recent form and he has the course history. And he's contended on birdie fests. And Poe and Ben are his best services. So...
I'm not playing on DraftKings. It doesn't really make sense. And I really hate DraftKings after last week because I lost money and hit an outright. But I do think that I'm – Sepp will be on my card top 40. I think I could get plus money on that and top 20. It's square. It makes sense. But I like it, and I'm going to go with it. Okay. All right. I'm not going to talk you out of it. I think that he is one of those guys – Go ahead.
No, I was just going to say, who are you looking at for top 40s this week? A lot of guys, man. All right. So give me a big card. A lot of guys. I like Norrin. I think Norrin's a good play. He's kind of the proximity distances aren't great.
But, you know, I think he makes up for it a little bit with his putter and he's six in par five scoring. So he scores really well on the par fives. You know, I used to think that he was somebody that you really wanted to play on harder courses because he's played to open so well before, but he makes a ton of birdies. And now he's like, I believe he's way better on easy courses. I think that he's close to the top of that list in strokes gained on courses with easy scoring conditions. Yeah.
A lot of guys. I really like Kazire. I mean, all these guys. I like Ryan Armour. I like Troy Merritt. I like Kazire. I like Labioda. I like Munoz. I like Vaughn Taylor. I like Nick Taylor. I like Austin Eckro. We can talk about anyone. You have a lot of difficult decisions to make this week. How many top 40s do you think you're going to place? I mean, I'm a little worried for you. You seem like you just love this range this week. Well,
Well, it always starts out like this. So I have a significant kind of weeding down process. I start with, it's kind of the same way that you think of a player pool in DFS, right? Where
I start with a certain number of guys. And as the week goes on, I try and whittle it down, try and use the podcast to try and help me whittle it down. So I'm curious to get your thoughts on some of these guys too. But what I'll do, Brian, is I'll never go more than, I never like having more than like eight to 10 units in play pre-tournament. And what that usually looks like for me is I'll bet
six outright guys and with like a grand total of one unit for all of the outright guys. And then I'll add like between four or five more top 40 guys and have a top 40 on some of my outright guys as well. So what it ends up being is like at the end of the day, I have like 10 to 12 guys start on my leaderboard.
Yeah, no, anytime you get more than that, anytime you get more than that, like it gets, I've done the thing where you have 25 guys starred on your leaderboard. It's just, I wouldn't advise it.
Yeah, no, it's not. It was great. But of the guys you named, I can't say that I like to dive really deep into these guys' names. But one guy I'm betting this week, top 40, I think it's a good play, is Hank Lebiota. He's gained strokes in the last five events. He's gained a significant amount putting in the last three events. I really do think he's trending in the right direction. He had a top 10 last week.
He's playing well, and he showed that he can contend in birdie fests. Let me find his top 20 numbers just so maybe I can get a sense of what he'll be top 40, but I think it will be a good number.
Good number. But I am 100% in on Hank Lebiota this week. He has a dope name, which also always helps. Yeah, plus 400 for a top 20. I think that I probably would play him top 30 or top 40, but I'm 100% down with Lebiota. What do you like about him this week?
Well, I mean, he's great with his irons, really good wedge player. You know, he held a share of the lead there for a second at the travelers too. So obviously he's playing well. Um, he did miss the cut here last year, but he did so losing six strokes putting basically. So I don't think you can put a ton of Scott stock into that. He finished fifth at the travelers, which is
I think that's his best finish of his entire career in a full field of that. So we're catching them hot. We're catching them hot. We're catching them hot, which by the way, Brian, like I probably need to do way more of. I tend to, it was one of the reasons why I was off English last week is I tend to get like a little bit more squeamish when I see somebody really pop off
big time. Just kind of the idea of them being able to, when they're not like a proven player, like one of the best players in the world, the idea of them kind of carrying it over right into the next week. Sometimes I like playing guys like coming off of missed cuts where they lost some strokes putting, but hit the ball well. I've gotten burned that way a little bit and Lebiota's playing
playing great. Like, I don't love the fact that he, he did a lot of it with his putter, um, last week. And I don't love playing guys after a spike putting week. Um, they tend to kind of come down to earth a little bit. Uh, but his irons are so good that even if his putter does come back down to earth a little bit, like I think that he should be fine. Top 40. Absolutely. So I, I,
I like Lebiota for sure. He's one of those guys I got to narrow it down with. I,
I understand like that philosophy, but sometimes I feel like you just have to ride the hot horse. And like somebody that I think is a perfect example is Russell Henley. Like Russell Henley is like a model darling and like people that follow trends and look at, they love Russell Henley. And then everyone was on it for all these weeks. And then no one was on it at the U S open. He has a great week. And then he tops it off with a top 20 last week and, and played really well. So yeah,
I think sometimes when you have some of these guys that don't always play up to their potential or super amazing and they're not a super elite, it's I feel like sometimes it's worth it to just ride the hot horse and hope that they can just carry it week to week. And, you know, if it keeps going for three or four weeks, OK, then maybe it's time to hop off. But I think after one good week, I think it's I think it's worth it to keep it going.
I you're totally right. And I mean, that was kind of like, I had a bad week last week and like, it was because I didn't play guys like Russell Henley and Harris English, because I didn't really, I didn't really trust what was going on with them. Like totally at the U S open now, obviously like it can work in other ways too. Like Matthew Wolf was a big fade for me last week too. And obviously we saw that that was a little bit of a,
I don't know. He was kind of just leaking oil at the end on Sunday there. So I'm by no means saying that that's like a hot take to not have been on Matthew Wolf last week. But yeah, I mean, it's tricky, dude. I think probably for me, I really look more so at the numbers as opposed to the finishes. So I kind of look at what they're trending in. I'll give you an example of this. So Vaughn Taylor.
So Vaughn Taylor is 200 to one, but I don't know what the top 40 is going to be. He's really cheap in DraftKings too. But Vaughn Taylor's now gained over 3.6 strokes on approach in back-to-back starts. And he is a guy that...
that his finishes, they're not going to tell you that he's playing great right now, right? Because I believe that he missed the cut. Some of these notes that I have are from over the weekend. So I'm pretty sure that Von Taylor missed the cut at the Traverse Championship. He did. Yeah. Okay. But he hit the ball really well and he lost strokes putting, but Von Taylor is a really good putter. So now I'm getting a guy that is
underpriced, undervalued because the public perception is, oh, he missed the cut. He stinks, but he's hitting the ball better than he has all season. And he's a really good putter that tends to spike with the putter. Yet he's coming off of a bad putting week. Like those, those guys, Brian, those are the guys. Those are my bread and butter.
Well, I like it. That does make sense. Looking at his stats, I mean, he hasn't been hitting the ball that well, and he did last week, and he just couldn't make a putt, which obviously happens a lot on the PGA Tour, and it's very difficult to watch, especially in person. So I like that philosophy. I think that does work, and I think Alex Norton's a good example of it this week. Another, like, bomb top 40 play, I think I'm going back to my best boy, Kadira, and
Um, like, again, this is just me literally riding the hot horse and hoping that he stays. He's probably trending in the wrong direction, but I think it's worth it for me to find out. And this is no way, this is kind of like an Eagles thing. Like he was so nice. Like he was like, I said, we're up to him twice. And,
He probably doesn't know much English, so all he knows is Kadira. And most people going to the Travelers don't know who that guy is. So he was super nice. So I think a top 40 on him, again, I'm down. I think he can do it. He is, again, great in my model. He has great numbers within 150. So he's on my card, top 40. He cashed for me last week. I hope he can do it again. And then I think I might go back to Chad. Yeah.
Yes. I mean, he's just playing great golf and he usually has a good number top 40. He's cashed it for me the past two weeks. And they were last week was kind of a birdie fest. I kind of want guys that can play well in those type of events. And I think last week is kind of similar to this week. So I think my top 40 plays will be Hank Labioda, Kadira, Sepp,
And Chaz. I like those as my T40 plays this week. Yeah, I love Chaz. I played a ton of Chaz last week. I had him in top 40 and I played a lot of him on DraftKings too. And it was kind of one of the only things that went right for me. So he's on my short list too. I guess the only other guys that I'll throw out just to talk about that I am considering...
I think that Munoz at 175 to one, that's a pretty big number for a guy that can get pretty scorching hot and loves himself a birdie fest. I know our friend John is a big first round leader for Munoz. I'm not, I,
I am not a first round leader guy at all. I don't think I've ever played one in my entire life. Um, I fully endorse it this week with Munoz. I mean, I think that, wow. Yeah, I really do. I think, listen, I mean, he's third in proximity from a hundred to 125 yards. He's plays par fives really well. He's 23rd and birdies are better. He just like, he,
he does all of his best work on easy courses and he can get scorching hot with the potter. He gained 10 strokes putting at colonial just three starts ago. And I know that he's missed both of his cuts here, but this feels like such a perfect Munoz course and spot to me. And no, he's going to miss cuts and he's going to have a few weeks where he's just going to pop and contend and win a tournament. He's a really volatile player, which is kind of what I like. So I'm
I kind of like Munoz at this course, and I kind of trust him in a birdie fest. Kazire is the number one player in this field over his last 24 rounds in easy scoring conditions. Did you know that, Brian?
I didn't, but it hasn't shown. It hasn't shown. So I think that could work. I think, like Munoz, he's a guy that can turn it around off a few missed cuts. They're not going to miss every single cut. These guys are better than the average player. They're going to turn it around and have some high finishes. So I do think that both of them are worth it for their upside this week. And just because they don't have the recent form doesn't mean they can't turn it around.
Okay. Anyone else you want to talk about? And then I want to talk a little Beth page with you, man. Cause I've got questions about Beth page for this upcoming summer, but anyone else you want to talk about? I think I gave my, my favorite plays. I gave my least favorite plays and once the top 40 numbers will be out, my card will be out. Um, but yeah, I'd love to talk about that page, my home course I play like twice a week. Um, so yeah, I've
Ask the wife, please. Okay, so what's the deal, man? So I grew up in New York. I moved to LA for about...
Three years ago, I moved to LA, but I grew up in New York in Manhattan and I actually grew up like playing a lot of courses on Long Island. I've never even really, and I'm a golf course architecture guy. As you know, I love trying to bang out all the top 100 courses. I haven't even really let every time I've heard about Beth page, I've heard that it's like a nightmare and you don't stand a chance. Um,
But what you're basically saying is fuck the black course. The other courses are awesome too.
Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's, they say it's the people's country club. I mean, I am so lucky to live 10 minutes from it and be able to get a tea time, like whenever I want, but this is basically how it goes. Like for black, like on the weekends, you need to camp out. So you need to stay overnight, sleep. That's what I heard. Wake up and go. But during the week you could go at night.
8 a.m. and get a tee time for 11 o'clock or even earlier. And you can play black and you can get a caddy and you could walk and it's 50 bucks and it's an amazing course and it challenges every single golfer and it's totally playable. But the other courses are, are really nice. I mean,
There's so many different skill levels. So like the red's difficult. And then the blue is their front nine is really difficult, like almost comparable to black, but the back is really easy. And then green and yellow are great for a high handicapper like me because I can hit a two 20 drive and have a wedge in, which is what I want. But if I play black, I'll never have that. So we're going to play in July. I'll get us a tee time and it won't be a struggle. I'll just go early and,
and we'll get one for later in the day. But I know a lot of people like golfers, and they play black all the time. And you could get a Twilight Black and play the front nine pretty easily online. So it's not impossible. I think that you might have been a little misrepresented. But if you're not down to sleep overnight, then it might be a little tough on the weekends. Okay, what about the – so on the week, though, because I think like –
I have, I think I'm down to play like a ton this summer. We were talking about it before that. I have really kind of not been able to play so much because I've really just put all of my eggs in this basket and focused really hard on kind of trying to grind this out to the point where, you know, I could start to monetize it. And now that I'm able to do that a little bit, I feel like I can kind of relax just a little bit and play a little bit more golf. So I'm, what I would be down for is like, I I'm down to play black
once. I just want to knock it off during the week. I think that'd be really fun to play black once, but I am so not picky. And the other courses, if you can get on the other courses so much more easily, now that I think about it, you aren't the first person to tell me that
red and blue are really awesome. I know that area because I grew up playing a club called The Creek in Locust Valley. And my grandfather lives in Locust Valley and my mom grew up in Locust Valley. So we would always go to Locust Valley for like Christmases and stuff like that. And I know that's like right in the Manhasset kind of Oyster Bay area.
Yeah, no. So that's, yeah, that's more like North Shore. I've only played like, I'm just so lucky with Beth Page. It's really like all I play. Does it work in the sense that, what advantage do you have by living close to it? Is it because you're-
whatever, I'm going out drinking, wake up, set an alarm for seven o'clock, wake up, drive 10 minutes, get a tea time for 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, go back to sleep. All my friends can sleep in. And then we all show up and we play a great public chorus for 45 bucks. Okay. So you have to go there and get the tea time. Yeah. Yep. Got it. You have to go there and get the tea time in the morning. And then if you want to go early, you
And then you want to play early, you kind of have to sleep over or get there extremely early because it's obviously very popular. Okay, that makes more sense. That's probably why all of my friends in New York City were like, don't even, yeah, okay. I'm starting to understand a little bit better now. Yeah, yeah. No, but we'll play.
I'm getting a lesson with my Harris money. I just want to gain some more strokes on approach recently. I've really been losing a lot of strokes on approach. But my proximity within 125 yards is excellent. But once I start getting to my 7 and 6 iron, it just all falls down for me. So I got to work on that. I'm looking to get some lessons. I can take a look too. Yeah.
You know, I'm trying to get, I'm very, I'm very flat. I'm trying to get less flat and more upright, get some more hip rotation in. But, you know, it's, it's a, I'm a mental midget basically. And if I have no confidence with my irons, it's just, it's a snowball effect. So I'm trying to work on my golf game. I feel like Beth page, you have to be driving the ball. Well, even the easier courses, I feel like, I feel like easier courses. Now they're pretty open. Yeah.
They're pretty open and they're not very long, but like blue...
like I won't like blue or red if I play them like I won't score well on them because they're just too long. I just don't have that like advantage and then but like green and yellow I can if I had a good drive I'll have a good number and because I say this all the time you know this golf is all about being in position on your second shot. If you're not in position on your second shot like it's just so hard to score. So
That's why, obviously, driving is so important. But that's my thing on just high-handicap golf. It's like, you got to be in the fairway. You got to be in position. You got to have a comfy number. And it's just tough to put a good round together. Dude, I bet you're selling yourself short. Like, when we first started talking about playing, you were like, do you mind that I'm a high-handicap? Are you kidding me, dude? No, I'm not like that. Yeah, I know. Like, dude, what do you think? I only play with, like...
Like, come on, dude. I don't get it. No, I can hold my own.
I would just be it. I didn't. Yeah. I just know you're good. By the way, you're going to be wild. You're going to be wildly unimpressed by me. I don't know where you got the, like me being like amazing. You'll be, I guarantee you're like a single digit handicap. Like most people aren't, but I hope that you have a good day and I've played green. So like if we play green, we'll figure it out. But I've played green with a few people and they both shot their like PBs on like,
It's a very scorable. Yeah. Like I have a friend that's like, he's in his men's league. He's like, um, probably like a nine or like eight or a nine handicap. And like the second time he broke 80 was on green and like, he didn't even hit a bunch of fairways. So like, it's definitely scorable. So I think it would be fun for you to, to go low. Love it. And we'll have to get, uh, we'll get John in the mix too.
Yeah, we got John. I don't know what his handicap is. Maybe he's like in between us. I think he's in between us. I think he mentioned something like that. But anyway, dude, I think that'll do it from us. Thanks so much for joining me, man. Any parting shots before we head out? Who do you think wins? We didn't really like give me your winner right now in a vacuum.
I'm going to say Doc Redman wins that 55-1. And it will be a good win for both of us because he's going to fulfill your prophecy of saying that he's going to have a breakout season. So that's my take. Who do you think is going to win? I'll go Webb. I'll go Webb. That's safe. I mean, I...
I think Austin Eckraut's going to really shock the world this week and surprise some people. Last week he was coming up. I really do believe that. Last week was not as breakout week as this week. But yeah, just a plug. I really have no sort of, my Twitter is just Brian Kirshner. I'm a degenerate golf better. I do my podcast Tuesday night. It's called Tapping Birdie. It's live on Twitter.
By the way, when am I like, what's the deal, man? When you invite yourself on my podcast before inviting me on yours, like what's the deal with that? You, okay. You can't for the open.
I'm in. Will you come on? You're on for the Open. Of course, dude. I'll come on for like the John Deere. Like, I don't care that much. No, that wouldn't be worth it. I want you on for a major, so the Open at, where is it this year? It's at Royal St. George's. Royal St. George's? Xander Bucket.
You're on major week. That's when I get, you know, I've got to have some star power. So some more people watch it, but yeah, I'm looking forward for you to be on tap and birdie for the open in two weeks.
Ryan, thanks so much for joining me again. You are welcome on anytime. And I know that we will be in touch very shortly about this golf game coming up. I think I'm heading over right after July weekend to the East Coast. So looking forward to a couple rounds with you over the rest of the summer. And thanks again so much for joining me, buddy. Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun. I hope we gave out some good content and some good bets this week.
All right, that's it for the show, guys. I will be back on Sunday talking John Deere Classic, giving a little John Deere Classic preview. Until then, best of luck with your bets this weekend. Later.
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