Deep Dive
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Coming up soon, it's right around the corner. Futures are already out. Regular season wins are already out. So this is a great time to check out BetUS and use promo code PICKTHEPUP for a 125% bonus on your first deposit at BetUS.com. That's promo code PICKTHEPUP and BetUS.com. Let's get to the show. All right, I have Chris Powers on the line here from Golf Digest, co-host of the Be Right podcast. How's it going, buddy?
Awesome, man. I'm excited to be here. I appreciate the look. Love a little recognition. Us non-blue checkmark people, it's nice to get some recognition every now and then. Well, I feel like you're close, right? You're kind of stirring shit up on Twitter with your...
So you were the first to post that, uh, that Brooks video, correct? Correct. Yeah. I mean, I feel like the only way for me to, to get, to get a look from people is, is to stir some, some shit up if that, that has to be, you know, ripping a TV from, from golf channel, you know, people were, and that one, you know, you
I always try and find stuff that will really pop. So we're all trying to look for clout and views and all that. I didn't realize how much that would pop because it was just a pretty innocent video. And I wasn't saying, oh, look, his knee's screwed. I just made some dumb joke. And then next thing you know, people are like,
investigating me like, where was that from? That was from the Masters. He was wearing that outfit at the Masters. I'm like, first of all, relax. Second of all, it's from... I was watching golf channels, watching live from the US Open on the range. People on social media are crazy. That's why sometimes I'm like, I don't want a blue check mark. I don't want to stir it up that much. Were you the Spieth one too? There's a Spieth one too where he was twisting his arm...
Yeah, so funny thing, we were having a...
our weekly Wednesday meeting, the whole web team gets together. Funny thing is, um, we were having our web meeting, everyone's on it, you know, all the writers and our bosses. And, and, um, I don't know how I forgot how it came up. Oh, uh, someone on site for us, I think Hallie Ledbetter, um, was following his practice around speeds practice round on whatever it was Tuesday. And he like grabbed his wrist on the last hole and said, I'm done according to Hallie. And, um,
Then our guy, Joel Beal went up and asked him like, you know, when he walked up and you know, are you hurt? And Spieth was like, what are you talking about? I'm fine. And, um,
Turns out, I think he was just done hitting shots out of the rough because the rough was so long. And I think a lot of the guys last week, Joel said, just stopped hitting shots out of the rough because it was either going to risk injury or, you know, what was the sense in practicing those type of shots. And then we see the Getty photo. So Dan Rappaport and I are both on this
uh, zoom meeting. And next thing you know, we didn't, we didn't like communicate. We were both probably thinking about the retweets. So we both tweeted out like an identical picture of him grabbing his wrist. And then, you know, people, I guess, thought I was trying to stir up some injury stuff. So,
Well, I think you do some great work on Twitter. I really appreciate it, even if the guys at Twitter haven't given you the blue check yet. I'm a huge fan. I really appreciate it. But I think that's a decent segue to start talking about the US Open. I think we should talk about it a little bit before we get into the Travelers. What'd you think, man? Just like there's a lot of questions I could ask you, but just I guess we'll start with your overall take of the entire experience.
Overall take is, and I was thinking about this, just how, you know, looking back, like it was pretty simple, you know, to bet on Jon Rahm. And it was kind of all, it all set up with the memorial stuff. And you could almost argue that that helped him his chances even more. And it was almost like it was,
It was an easy bet. And we all hate betting the favorite and we're all trying to be sharp and find 50 to one guy and that 40 to one guy and even the 30 to one guy, you know, to get to actually make some money. But this one seemed like an easy one. And then you also think about it and it's like, it wasn't easy. He had to make two left to right bets.
sliding putts on the last two holes. He needed Usain to hit it, you know, in the penalty area, you know, so many things still have to go right for you. And, you know, last Tuesday you could have said, yeah, it's going to be John Rahm, John Rahm, John Rahm. But on Sunday afternoon when he's one back and he's got to make two huge putts,
I would have been sweating with the Jon Rahm ticket, even if now, in retrospect, it seems like it was a pretty easy bet. What did you think of the Sunday experience? I feel like for kind of two to three hours there, say whatever you want about the coverage. That's a totally different conversation. But for two or three hours there, that was like pure cocaine. That's a great way to describe it. Not that I would know anything about that. But yeah, I mean...
you know, this, all this, these coverage complaints and I'm just as guilty of it. We're all guilty of it, but it's like 2% of us golf fans actually are complaining about that stuff. For the most part, people, 98% are, they're probably loving every minute of it on the weekend, especially on Sunday, you know, guys that tune in just for Sunday, just for the last nine holes. Like that's,
you couldn't really have asked for much more than what we got. And we saw a lot of shots from a lot of different guys. So I had no complaints with the Sunday coverage for sure. And that last hour of commercial free, that is pure cocaine right there. No commercials, no playing through Geico commercial. They're running into the ground right now. None of that was pretty special. All right, Chris, I'm going to ask you a very controversial question. Another one, yeah. Do you like Torrey Pines as a U.S. Open venue?
Look, I get it. I get the complaints. I think they have merit from the woke. I don't want to call them woke mob. They get a little testy when you call them that. It's straight in front of you. It's driver. Hit the fairway. If you don't, you're in trouble. It's a penalty shot.
The first three days, let's be honest, not a ton of juice. I will say that. And then for the people like me or anyone else who was saying, oh, look at this leaderboard. Like, this is amazing. Obviously, this course must be amazing. Tiger won there in 2008. It was an unbelievable Sunday. Well, you know, any major Sunday, if there's a bunch of people within one stroke of the lead, it's going to have plenty of juice. So.
those first three days were pretty brutal. Let's be honest. It was, there was not a lot going on where, you know, we're content machines at golf digest. We're looking for, um, I don't want to say we're looking for controversy, but you're looking for something that's going to, that people are going to click on. That's going to have a spicy headline and not much happened the first three days to produce much of that Sunday, obviously McKenzie using the tree Bryson with the streaker and slipping up on 13 and all that. That was great. But,
Yeah, it is a very boring course and it asks kind of one thing of you. And I did like what our Alan Shipnuck, who does some work for us at the majors now, wrote about it on Saturday night or Friday night that, you know, maybe that's what the U.S. Open should be asking you to hit it long, hit it straight, make a bunch of pars. And that's the other thing I was really impressed by from Rahm.
You think these guys make, got to make a big birdie run on the back nine, but the U S open, you kind of just got to keep your wits about you and make a bunch of pars. Ron was the only one that did that, you know, around that 10, 11, 12, 13th hole, 14th hole stretch, kind of just kept it together while everyone else fell apart. And then he struck on. I think it depends what people kind of want from their U S open. And, um,
Listen, if you've listened to my podcast with your great colleague and friend, Steve Hennessey, you know that I am really into architecture. I'm not afraid to admit it. I've read some books about it. I think it's cool. I'm really into course rankings. I don't think it's really as niche of a community as people think. And I don't, I don't,
I don't really think that you have to be an architecture bro to point out that every single hole at Torrey kind of looks similar. I was there for two days. If I didn't have Nagels with me kind of navigating, I would be absolutely lost. A lot of the holes kind of do blend together. And I think the no laying up guys put it pretty eloquently and I don't want to rehash the whole thing, but yeah,
I think Tori is really good at testing a very specific skill set, but not really that great at truly making players think differently. Like you can pretty much hit driver on every single hole,
I was there for two days. There's one or two holes that I can definitively tell you that I got a good sense for. A lot of them do blend together, which again, that's not a hot take. That is factually what the holes look like. I think that again, this is the no laying up guys brought up a pretty good point by saying that no player really complained this week and
I don't know if that's like a good thing. Like, I feel like you want them to be at least a little uncomfortable and feeling challenged. And that's not really what Torrey does. It's hard. It's really hard, but it's kind of straightforward hard. Like if you aren't playing well and hitting crisp long irons and 300 yard drives, you're going to get killed, but it doesn't necessarily require like
a ton of creativity or a ton of strategy in general, if that makes sense. No, absolutely. That's why I said before, all of the criticisms do have merit. We may joke about, like you said, the architecture bros, but they are right. And you are also right that it's not as a niche of a community as we think. And I think part of that is that they're so vocal that
People are kind of seeing the light a little bit with a lot of these takes, a lot of these criticisms of the kind of slog courses that we see basically every week. And Torrey is the perfect example because there's also a tournament there in February or January, whenever it was this year.
And, you know, now we have to sit through it kind of twice. And I guess it was a little harder this week because it's the U S open. So they made the rough little longer greens were a little quicker, but at the end of the day, it was kind of the same exact tournament as it was at the, at the farmers. So we do love to see a little more creativity. That's why the Palmetto was so great on a different course, which in South Carolina, you know, it's kind of weird to see a course like that, but it was, it was cool to see definitely tested the guys and,
And it wasn't a crazy birdie fest. I mean, 11 under one and those guys kind of fell apart down toward the end. So it would be nice to see a lot more Palmetto's, Chambers Bay's. And unfortunately the one that the, I guess the Nelson was that, that, that they already deserted. Good old Craig. Yeah. TPC Craig. I was, I was on that week with you guys. You can forget Craig and my Tom Hoagie spicy nugs that, that didn't age great.
But yeah, dude, I think it goes back to the original question of what are you looking for in a US Open venue? It's in an awesome town overlooking the Pacific Ocean going to absolutely produce a leaderboard of really great golfers that can smash the ball and hit their long irons well because that's what Tori asks of you and that's what the best golfers in the world tend to do. I don't necessarily think it's bad to the point that they should drop it from the rotation. I just...
I don't get as excited for it as I would be on like a Shinnecock year or a winged foot year or a Marion year, if that makes sense. And just from a fan experience, have you ever been to Torrey, Chris? I've not been to Torrey, only Pebble a few times. I've been dying to get to Torrey, but I mean, playing it, I'm not sure where the fun lies in playing that course. Like you're just saying now with the
having to bang driver straight every single hole. That's not my forte. Well, someday, hopefully we get to play together and you'll notice that banging driver straight is not my forte. So do I want to get there? Do I want to see the place? Would I love to play it? Sure. But I think I would have a brutal time there. And for whatever it is, 300 bucks, obviously, if you're a resident, it's cheaper, but I don't know how people play there every day.
Yeah, from a fan experience, you brought up Pebble. I think Pebble's an – I went to the 2019 Open at Pebble. I think it's like –
an awesome setup. It's very compact, obviously, because it's a relatively small piece of property compared to what Tori is. Tori is really strange. Like you enter on the 11th hole and your point of entry is the farthest point away on the property from hole number one and hole number 18, where the store is and everything. So you kind of enter at this very random point on the golf course and you're very far from
where you kind of want to be. So you have to pretty much walk to the complete other side of the property. If you want to like post up on 18 or go to the store or see the guys on the putting green, you enter, you're kind of dropped in the middle of like 11 and 12. And it's just really weird. And you have to walk like three quarters of a mile to get to one. But anyway, it's, it's brutal. Yeah. It's kind of just a weird, it's a weird vibe there, but anyway, let's get into the travelers, dude.
TPC River Highlands par 70 measuring 6,841 yards. It's designed by Pete Dye. The greens are a POA and bank grass mix. I've already discussed it a little bit in my Sunday pod, so I'll just kick it to you. What do you think, man? Wedges and putting?
Yeah, I was there two years ago and I, unfortunately, we were doing a bunch of stuff for the magazine. So I really just, and the range there, have you been there? Never. Range there is incredible. It's, it's gigantic. It's like this huge open space. It's in the middle of nowhere in Connecticut. So there's a ton of space.
a ton of land. And I kind of just spent a bunch of time on the range because guys were kind of chilling. It might've been same thing, you know, a week or two after the U S open. So it was a super laid back vibe and guys were, you know, you can go right up to them and chat them up. And so I didn't really, and I was only there for a day and it takes me three hours to get there. Cause I live in Jersey. So,
It was like, I was on the range. I did a couple articles, talked to some guys and then I went home and I don't think I saw like any of the holes. So I think I might be going Wednesday again. I might really give the course a good look. So I can't really tell you too much about the course. Obviously we've seen it on TV. It's a great finish.
But yeah, like you said, wedges putting, I think drivers big off the tee. I mean, we saw Dustin win here. He actually gained zero strokes off the tee when he, when he won here last year, but Bubba's obviously one here. He's a great driver player off the tee guys. So I am kind of looking towards off the tee wedges, obviously, like you said, and yeah, it's,
It's another, you know, got to have a hot putter week, which seems to be every week on PGA tour. I went to boarding school at a school called Hotchkiss, which is very close to that area. So it's a beautiful part of Northwest Connecticut. I've never been to the course, but I hope to get back there soon. I'm going to be back in New York in a little bit, but not in time for this one. I, I think people love this tournament from what I've heard. It has, I think it has the second highest regular attendance ever.
to Phoenix. I think they're letting around like 10,000 in this week. And I think the fans are a really big part of it. So I'm glad that the fans will be back and,
As far as the field, too, it's kind of awesome. I was really surprised. It's amazing. It's a really good field. They seem to add a big guy every year, too. Dustin started going. Now Brooks goes on. Is Brooks there this week? Brooks is there this week. He has the same odds to win the Travelers as he did the U.S. Open. Yep. Cantley's there. DeChambeau, like you said. Reid, I mean...
Fee now, it is an incredible field and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. I bet it'll get stronger next year. And after the US Open, especially on the West Coast, you know, I guess we'll see if we get any WDs that kind of send the gambling community into a tizzy. But I think a lot of these guys are
do want to fulfill their, fulfill their commitment to this tournament. And I think that that's, that's one of the reasons they get such a strong field is because, you know, these guys want to come play this course. And I think there's a bunch of charity aspects to, to this tournament. So yeah, great field coming off a U S open week. It's definitely not a dud.
So I'm going to give you the guys 30 and below, Chris, and all these odds are courtesy of BetUS. Use promo code PICKTHEPUP to get a 125% all-sports bonus on your first deposit. So these numbers are courtesy of BetUS, Chris, but feel free to throw out any other numbers that you have gotten as long as it's not shitting on the BetUS number. But there is some...
wild stuff going on. Brian Harmon. Let me just kick it right off with Brian Harmon. What the hell is going on? What the hell is going on with that? I mean, I get it. So I'm looking at the bet. U S number is 45 to one. Oh, okay. Wow. So that's fair. That's fair. But,
I just, I don't understand what happened. I don't understand what happened. He was 18 to one and Brooks is 18 to one and read is 22 to one. I do not understand it. No one can explain it to me.
The Brooks, I guess I can kind of get just because I almost wonder if some of these books are on to him kind of showing up this week and missing the cut. But he's still 18-1. That's still a decent amount of respect. But you would think off that finish, another great U.S. Open week, that he'd be the favorite this week. But obviously that's Bryson, depending on where you look. The Harmon number. But yeah, Brooks, Kapka, and Brian Harmon being the same number is –
or close to the same number and read, you know, every week he's, there's a bunch of guys in front of him that just make you, you know, raise your eyebrow. Like this guy wins all the time. He's a major champ, unbelievable grinder will the ball in the hole, all that. And there's guys who, you know, have never won, have never sniffed a win.
ahead of him on the odds board every week so it's it's definitely puzzling Harmon I guess I could I mean I can get some of the respect because he's such a good putter like you said that's so big this week and he's you know he's got some good win equity too and he's won some some solid tournaments so but still the number I'm looking at right now on my screen is I don't get it at all
Of the guys that are 30 and below on BetUS, I'm looking at Bryson at 12, DJ at 13, Cantlay at 16, Brooks at 18, Casey at 18, Reed at 22, Scheffler at 25, and Finau at 28. Is there anyone in that range that you could see yourself betting or do you think you're going to forego it?
Yes. And I was actually going to ask you, it's a toss up between two. You didn't mention the one he's under 30 on this book. I'm sure he's answer. Yes. I'm sure he's right there on your book. Like 35 on that US. That's a good number. Yeah. I'm looking at 28. I saw a bunch of people touting him today.
You know, that's always, you know, you could say the public's on them, but it's all these sharp guys we follow on Twitter and the gambling community that all kind of jumped on them. 33, 35, I saw. Obviously an incredible iron player.
But I was going to say answer Scheffler. What would you do? I'm kind of leaning with Scheffler a little bit. I do think a lot of these guys towards the top, the Bryson's, the Dustin's, obviously Scheffler also just play in the open, but these bigger dogs kind of a lot of travel, the time change, they've got plenty of money in the bank, plenty of wins in the bank. I'm not saying they're all going to miss the cut, but I just like the spot kind of for Scheffler still a strong field to get that first win momentarily.
Memorial played well, runner-up, I believe, or second or third, and had another good week at the U.S. Open. But yeah, if you can get answer at 35, that's really where I'm looking right now. Scheffler answer is kind of a toss-up for me. I'd go Scheffler. I watched him really closely on Saturday at the U.S. Open because he was paired with Zander. He's really good. Scotty Scheffler, he is really good at golf.
Great girlfriend, great family. I know I sound really creepy right now, but when you walk around in close proximity with the same people for five hours, you kind of pick things up. And the trick is, I actually have to give credit to our friend Nagels again for this. I was going to ask you, it must've been such a hilarious- We can talk about that at the end.
But there's a lot of strategy involved watching live golf. You kind of have to position yourself to get out in front and you have to kind of try and figure out some of the shortcuts and the family and the team always knows this too, because they're so good at it. So the smart way to watch a golf tournament is you find out who these guys' girlfriends and families and teams are and
And then you just follow them. Like when they move, you move because they're really good at getting out in front and getting best positioned to kind of see the next shot. Like when a guy hits the green, start moving already to position yourself to the next hole because you find out if they make the putt based on the cheer. Yeah. They're, they are trained golf watchers for sure. And, uh,
I haven't done that in a while. We do get these inside the ropes, which is nice, but I definitely miss it. I definitely miss walking around with a beer in my hand. And I think the last tournament I went to that I was a strictly a fan was Oakmont. My buddies, my one buddy had a college buddy in Pittsburgh. So we had a place to stay. We drove up, we had tickets for two days and obviously Oakmont was great.
such an incredible place to watch a US Open. And yeah, so I haven't had to strategize like that in a while, but I believe that it was a tough time for you. But yeah, that's a good strategy. Follow the team, follow the entourage. I gave you no analysis of Scheffler with that whatsoever, but I like Scheffler a lot. My problem with Answer is
He checks every single box for me, but he just gets pounded to death at these short courses, man. And I just, I don't think that golf tends to work that way. Like I'll give you a prediction.
answer is going to win at a long course that people don't think he sets up well for when he's like sub 10% on draft Kings. That's when answer is going to win. That's how golf works. Like if you played answer at quail hollow, like that was a sharp play. Like that was the time to play answer. That's when no one was playing answer because everyone thought the course was too long. 25% answer isn't going to win this week. And if he wins this week, then I'm going to lose on that every single time. Yes.
I definitely agree with you there. And I love the Quail Hollow pull. I think we were on him that week, Steve and I might have been. And he made some big putts at the end, which was so good to see. You know, he's like one of these phenols that you think, oh, he's kind of shrinking in the moment. He did not shrink there. And he really had a great chance, made some huge putts. But I love what you said about the longer course. And he hits his long iron so well that
you know he can separate himself at a longer course like that like like quail hollow um so i do agree so yeah you've convinced me on scheffler and seeing all the answer i love a good community win me too but i hate to miss out on it but it it really works i think the last one was like burger at pebble and he was like 18 to 1 that week so i'll miss out on uh that kind of community win
I'll say this. Like if you want to bet answer outright, I think 35 to one is a decent number. I think it's the draft Kings that kills me. So I don't mean to, I don't mean to shit on answer as a, as an outright play. No, I don't either. I, we love, we had one on the pod a few months or two ago. One of our best guests. So I heard that. Yeah, that was great. He's great.
I want him to win. I'm rooting for him. Yeah, no, he seems like an incredible guy. All these guys. The guy that I have started with is I pulled a 44 on Neiman. I think that's just a really good number for him. I really liked what I saw from the U.S. Open. He gained 3.2 strokes off the tee. That's his best off the tee week in a month. And 3.9 strokes on approach. That's his best approach week since the Sony Open.
The short game is a problem. Not looking past it. I'm fully aware of it, but I'll say this. He only lost one stroke around the green at the U S open last four starts. He went from losing 3.6 strokes around the green to 2.9 to two. And then one last week,
We call that progress, Chris. We call that progress. I always handicap the same way when, you know, Steve will be like, oh, that guy's in the red for the last five weeks. I'm like, yeah, but it's less red. It's less red. We're getting there. So I don't hate that at all. And I've been on even a bunch this year. So that's kind of one of those situations where I've been burned by him so much. I think I touted him at the players. I was really feeling him at the players.
And same thing, the short game just killed him that week. He's hitting it great. So I'm probably not on Neiman, although you might talk me into him. The guy I'm on and another terrible short game player, which we saw this weekend, is Matthew Wolfe. And that's 35 to 1 at DraftKings. I'm not sure what he's at at yearbook. I'm assuming he's 35 to 1 at Pat U.S. as well.
I think the natural reaction here is, and I was on him at Torrey. I think a couple other people were, I mean, it's kind of a no brainer. If you throw five bucks on him, he's like 225 to one, 250 to one, you throw 20 bucks on him, you could win huge. So I think the natural reaction will be no way I can bet him at 35 to one. Now I almost just hit on him at 225. Now it's slashed and whatever percentage, but
I love him this week. Great run of Torrey. I was impressed what I saw on Saturday. I know he had some really poor short game shots, but he also recovered nicely from that. I think it was on 14. He kind of chunked one. He chunked it like twice and then got up and down for bogey. So I was pretty impressed by that kind of resolve. I love the attitude right now. Obviously, that was a big topic of discussion on Thursday, Friday when he was really in the mix. Faded a little bit on Sunday, as we know, but...
It's been a while since he's been in contention like that, plus all the fans. So the short game is bad. I cannot deny that. But he putted great at Torrey, gained a bunch off the tee. I'd like to see a little bit better iron play.
The other thing I'll say is I said I'm off a bunch of the big boys because of the travel and the time change and, you know, having to play this week because they committed. This guy should be as fresh as anybody. He took however many months off. Before Torrey, he hadn't played since Riviera. So I kind of like that, too. Maybe he's like, you know, some guys are playing like in the NBA on the second night of a back-to-back, and he's got, you know, really fresh legs. So I just can't.
kind of really like Wolf this week, even at this number that's so much lower than what we just got him at. I think it's a great play. I'll give you one little Wolf nugget that I think will make you feel even more confident. So one of my buddies who I used to live with, he recently moved back to Oklahoma. He's from Oklahoma and he actually belongs to the club in Oklahoma called Oak Tree National. It's
Pete Dye actually course that Matthew Wolf practices on. If you want to take that angle, I think, I think you guys have it. You guys have it ranked like 63rd. I've, I've played it before on a golf trip. It's awesome. And it is the course that Wolf practices when he was at, when he's home and he was kind of hiding out in Oklahoma during this little absence. And I'll,
on Friday at the U S open, he texted me and was like, not a shock to see Wolf playing well at all. That dude has been grinding on the range for hours and just absolutely striping it. And I was like,
That would have been a fantastic text to get on Wednesday. Cause like I would have played him on, he would have played him on draft Kings and maybe like top 20, but that would have been great information to have like two days ago, man. Yeah. He texts you when he's like 10 to one on, on Saturday or Friday night. It's like not a surprise to see Wolf playing. Well, it's like, okay, dude. Yeah.
That's brutal. But yeah, I think it's a good choice in terms of kind of this entire win. Another T E wanted it. What do you want it? Another TPC course. I know it's a different designer, not Pete die, but a lot of these, these TPC courses have a kind of similar vibe of these, you know, last few holes. There's going to be a lot of action. There's going to, you know, they're going to want you to hit a big time shot. You know, that drivable par four. I love Wolf in that type of situation too. So yeah,
there's a lot to like about him this week. You're right with the TPC thing. That was the same thing that we talked about when we were talking about our good buddy, Craig, where I was like, this course, this course is exactly like TPC Scottsdale. And sure enough, the guy who finished second at TPC Scottsdale, KH Lee, who I think none of us bet ended up winning that tournament. So I think, I think you're right with the TPC connection. Um,
I'll kind of open it up to this entire range that goes up to, I don't know, we'll say 60, but you got a lot of other guys in there like Charlie Hoffman, Harris English, Sam Burns, Bubba Watson, who's obviously won here three times. Cam Smith at 50 to 55 to one. I've seen him as high as 60. Justin Rose at 55. Russell Henley at 55 and Siwoo Kim at 55.
That's a really interesting range to me. I've just, there's a lot of guys where I feel like you can make a pretty compelling case for any of them. Anyone else in that kind of mid tier, since it seems like we're both kind of foregoing the top and are going to kind of pepper the middle to, to bottom. Is there anyone else that has your attention in kind of that range?
So I'll never discourage Siwoo at Pete Dye. I think we all know that well, Pete Dye course. I won't bet him this week. The other guy I'm just considering, and I was on him too at Torrey, at a couple different numbers, some big ones, and it's Bubba. And the thing that worries me is that weekend. It was so bad on the weekend, and it looked like it was going to be such a special. Same thing as Wolf. The attitude was great. That interview was awesome. I did a post on it.
you know, he's getting a great spot in his life, all that three-time winner at, uh, or two-time winner, however many times he's won here, I forget, but obviously feels comfortable here. Um, it's a good number, so much win equity, 50 to one, all that, but that, that weekend was so brutal. Um, so I don't know, I, I might, that might be a Wednesday night. Like I don't want to miss out on another bubble week. Other than that, I'm not in
too in love with this range. Maybe Keegan because he was playing so well. His irons are so good. The putter is just obviously you're betting on a miracle with his putter. Yeah. The bets that I have in right now, Chris, is I have Neiman at 44 to one and then three guys at 170 to one. Yeah.
I like it. Yeah, I'm going to go Wolf, I think, and then maybe Bubba, and then a couple other guys that I wrote down we'll get to, but keep it light this week. I know I say that every week, and then next thing you know, we got 10 different outrights, but yeah. Oh, yeah. Not too in love with anyone else here. I would definitely add as the week goes on. Let's open it up to like...
Once you get into this 60 to 100, you have Keegan, who you mentioned I'm seeing at 66, Doc Redman at 70, Emiliano Grillo at 70, Higo at 70, Jason Day at 70, Kevin Na at 70, Mark Leishman at 70, Homa at 70, Phil is playing this week. He's won here twice. He's 70.
Ortiz, 75. Poulter, 80. Aaron Wise, 85. Ricky Fowler at 85. Tringale at 90. Lanto at 90. And then we've got Hadwin at 100 and Kisner at 100 and Stewart Cink at 100 and Knox at 100. And we'll stop there. A lot of interesting guys in this range too.
So love doc, love doc this week. And I know it's a little scary because he really, if you look at his results only pops in like the weakest, weakest fields. But he did finish 11th in this tournament last June. So that definitely helps him.
helps his case just finished second at palmetto obviously almost snuck into that playoff putter has been cooking that's good we need that he's gained in five straight not too good with the driver but like we were just talking about before he's gotten a little better the last three weeks i think he lost like four and a half somewhere lost three and then he only lost point one at
Palmetto, which is wide open off the tee. So I do like Doc a little bit this week. I think he's closing in on that win. He's got himself in the mix a bunch of times, obviously at weaker field events. But like I said at the top, I think a lot of the big guys might miss the cut or just not be all there this week. So it could be an opportunity for a Scheffler for an answer, for a Doc to kind of get that breakthrough win. And then the other guy, I think it was you that was touting him not
Not too recently. It might have been Craig ranch on our podcast and it's Jason day. Oh, wow. Was it? I wasn't prepared for this. Um, yeah, we can do day right now. If we want to talk about the approach and putting has not been there. We know that, um, the around the green plays as good as ever, as good as ever been. He's one of the all timers around the green, uh, off the teas there. So, uh,
This week, you hope it's Poe, like you said. He's a great Poe putter, but the putter has just been so dreadful that it's hard to bet on him. But every time I bet on him, I'm hoping that world number one guy is going to come out. And at 70-1, that seems worth it to me. You do not have to twist my arm one bit. I'll tell you, I actually...
I do a lot of my research a week ahead of time and I kind of compile like this notes document where I kind of do little nuggets on all of the players and I kind of rank all of them and I do kind of pros and cons. And last week for the U S open, I had all of this stuff on Jason day and I didn't realize that he was not qualified for the tournament until like Tuesday. Yeah. Until like Tuesday, I was like, I did not even realize that he wasn't playing this week. So I,
Yeah, man. I think the same thing goes with day. First of all, it's 70 to one. As my buddy, Jeff Feinberg says, you're betting on the ceiling. There's not a, there's not a ton of guys in this range that have the type of ceiling that Jason day does. And the ball striking never left. He's going to putt. Well, one of these days. So you're finally starting to get the price break with Jason day where they're dropping him. Uh,
I mean, I don't think you, I don't, if he doesn't play well this week, you'll probably start seeing it closer to 100. I think I'm looking at a 70 at bat us right now, but I think you could probably even shop around and do a little bit better than that. I'm with you on doc too. I'm definitely going to play doc. My only issue with doc is like, I'm the biggest doc fan you'll ever meet, but he gets really, they bump him up pretty quickly. Um, like I, I,
I think he's a little overpriced, both in DraftKings and the betting market. He top-tend at the Palmetto and Byron Nelson, and he's 70 or 80 to 1, whereas TKD
Taylor Gooch is out here nearly winning the players and he's 170 to one. I think that's kind of stupid. I don't think that Doc Redmond should have the same odds as Max Homa. That is absolutely ridiculous to me. So I wish I was getting more of a break in terms of the price. I think Doc is probably still like closer to a 100 to one golfer right now, but I'm absolutely going to play him in the top 40 market.
Yeah, I like that a lot. You're correct. I want to say before Byron Nelson, before he top 10, heading him at crazy numbers, 300, I might be going overboard, but I think he will. You're not. There were 300s on Doc. I know because I gave him hard looks every time. Right.
And, you know, then you look at a guy like Wolf who's slashed like this. Well, he's kind of earned the right to be slashed down to 35 to one. He's won highly touted amateur, obviously almost won the U S open at wing foot contended again this week. Doc, like I said, really just weak field events. He's kind of popped in. And even that second at wherever the hell it was a rocket mortgage. I mean, he was like six strokes back, obviously last year,
Obviously, Lashley played incredibly, but yeah, he does get slashed pretty quickly. But 70-1 is still okay. And yeah, maybe Jason Day too in this range. I like those two plays. Are you passing on Fowler? I've seen some... He's on people's radars for sure. I'm seeing a good amount of Fowler love. The two recent results are obviously very good. If you believe in this...
perspective angle, I think you almost have to play him this week. So you don't have to convince me on Fowler. I've spent more money than I can recall on Ricky Fowler. So 85, that's still pretty good for a guy who's had some really nice recent results at the PGA, big time event, life kind of coming back around for him, maybe a career resurgence.
Starts this week. Should be well rested. Like we said, no US Open. Same with Jason Day. So yeah, I could definitely get behind Fowler.
The guy that I've been staring at all day is that 95-1 on Emiliano Grillo. Here's the thing about Grillo. The price bump that guys like Streelman and Harmon are getting, I actually think there's maybe a better case for Grillo to be getting. None of these guys win anyway, and Grillo's just out here doing mini Morikawa stuff with his irons. He's gained over six strokes on approach this season four different times. The only other players that have done that
are Charlie Hoffman, Justin Thomas, Morikawa, and Griot.
I think 95 to one is pretty damn fair for Emiliano Griot. I've talked about how this course is, this tournament can turn a little bit into a putting contest. So that scares me, but his putting has actually been a lot better recently. So I have some interest in Griot and then like, I'm always interested in Lanto. He cashed a hefty top 40 wager for me last week at the U S open. He's awesome on POA.
I want to play Kevin Kisner really badly. He's not allowing me to do it. Yeah, I know. I want to play him so badly here. He's just not letting me. And then Stewart Cink rates out really well for me. I don't know why I don't trust him. He's won twice this year. Is Stewart Cink going to win three times and just steal player of the year? He's won here twice. I think one of the wins was in the 90s, though. Yeah.
Love Sink. He was my biggest hit this year at Harbortown. It was a big number, obviously. Griot was right there at Harbortown, too. You could bet on Griot every week, and eventually, I would say it'll be worth your while if he just has that special putting week that...
that even guys like Morikawa can have randomly and they're going to win. So grill, gorilla is, is always an interesting play. Kisner. Like you said, Steve talked me into him at Palmetto because he played Palmetto and he had all this inside information and he saw, thought he really liked Kisner. And I was saying, you know, that's great and all. And, and the home game angle is great and all, but he's been so terrible that it's almost impossible. And he did show a little life at the match play, but that's just because he's so such a good match play player, I guess. Yeah.
He really is making it impossible to bet on him, which sucks because 100-1 on Kisner feels good, but it feels like he should be much bigger right now the way he's hitting the ball. Yeah, there are a lot of guys, and we could start talking about them now, but there are a lot of guys in this 100 range and kind of above 100 that I think I'm probably a little bit more attracted to. In terms of...
Going up all the way now, everyone's in play. Is there any moves that you've made above 100-1 or even any guys that you like just in general for DFS or finishing position, whatever? Who has your attention kind of more in the bomb section? Well, a guy who's had my attention all year, I know Steve too, is another Georgia Bulldog, not Kisner. Chris Kirk is 110-1, I believe, on DraftKings.
Just kind of banking on this kind of resurgence win, this coronation win. He's come close a few times, was really in the mix with the players and really faded on the weekend. But then bounced back since with a few top tens. Had a rough stretch, Valspar miscut, PGA miscut, 70th at Charles Schwab. But then played pretty well at the Memorial, gained in every area except off the tee.
putting it great. I just, I'm a big fan of Chris Kirk. And I think, you know, he was a guy who won a bunch kind of at his peak. And I think he still has that in him. So I do like Kirk way down in this range. I didn't really, maybe the Gim Reaper, Pat Mayo's guy, he's the stats just pop every week. And you're like, man, this kid, this kid should be able to win one of these days and a TPC course at the players is where he played pretty well. So this could suit him nicely. Yeah.
Other than that, though, I don't know. I'm a big Troy Merritt guy, too. I think he has the ability to just throw up a random 60 on Thursday or Friday, and then you'll be feeling good with a 135-to-1 ticket on him. And then McNeely. I'm trying to hit that McNeely week. He's another guy who, if he just cooks with the putter and keeps it in the fairway, he's going to win one of these soon. So maybe McNeely, Merritt. But I do like Chris Kirk this week.
Yeah, I'm with you on Kirk in the sense that like I definitely at one point in the last month have bet Chris Kirk at like 50 to one. So I've definitely done it. I don't remember. I don't remember what tournament was. I've definitely done it twice. Yeah, it could have been Craig. It could have been Craig. Yeah, he got way down there for a little bit. But now he's back up to to where we like him, I think.
Speaking of Craig, did you see that DraftKings had Tom Hoagie as plus 100 to win? I saw that.
I saw that glitch between Hoagie and Harmon, the numbers. You might have to bet them this week. Somebody might know something. They're be right listeners. They've been listening to my spicy nugs clearly on Hoagie. But I want to give you a hard sell on Taylor Gooch at 170. When you said him before, I was going to say I'm always in on Gooch and I wasn't.
I didn't think of him this week, but you can, I'm already in. So, but sell away. Yeah. I, I auto bet him at 170 to one. He, I do not think he's 170 to one golfer, Chris. I think he's Taylor Gooch is really good at golf. He's made 12 of 14 cuts this season, including five in a row. Um,
21st at the Amex on a shorter Pete die course, 12th at Riviera on POA fifth at the players on a shorter Pete die course, 14th at colonial on another short approach and putting course 26 at quail hollow and 18th at Mirafield village. And just like good fields on hard golf courses. I think it's a stupid number. I would have bet him at 80 to one, which he is in at some spots. I think he's really mispriced and draft Kings too. So I'm all in on Gooch this week.
Sold. Don't have to sell me on Taylor Gooch. I will definitely bet him. Okay. Give your guy first because I was going to say the Gooch sell was surprisingly easy. I can give you- Oh, so easy. Yeah, I know. I was like, I kind of want to work for it a little bit harder. So I've got some, I don't have to twist your arm. I think he's a great top 10 or two. He's one of the
top 10 Kings. He cashes a lot of those tickets too. Give me the other guy you were going to mention. I was just scrolling along and I want to give one bomb and
You can tell me I'm dumb, but I just looked him up on Fantasy National and he pops on POA. Another guy I'm betting the ceiling here is Brandon Haggie. I can't quit Brandon Haggie. Hits it so long. If he could just kind of have a good week with around the green, good week with his wedges. I know this is probably a tough sell, but, you know, I cannot quit this Brandon Haggie guy, especially at a crazy number like 400 to one.
That's interesting. Brandon Hagee. I mean, listen, he finished second at the Honda. That is a shorter approach course. So yeah, I mean, listen, I can get behind it. The
The work that I tend to do most weeks is I find these kind of bargain bin guys that my numbers have them as mispriced. Most of the time, outright-wise, they're in that 100 to 200 range, and I just hammer them to finish in the top 40, and I do really, really well that way. So
I'll have to give Hagee a deeper look because if he's 400-1, that means his top 40 number is probably pretty high. He's probably like 5 or 6-1 just to finish in the top 40. The guy that I am all in on, and I tweeted about him today, but...
I think CT Pan at 175 at 171 is an absolute cheat code this week. Chris, he's made four cuts in a row already this season. He's finished 20th at Riviera difficult field, POA third at Honda short approach course 18th at Wells Fargo in a difficult field, 32nd at colonial on a short approach course. He gained 15,
3.1 on approach and 1.9 off the tee at Palmetto. So his ball striking continues to trend in the right direction. He's been awesome on these short courses. He won the heritage in 2019. Yeah. Pete Dye, second at the Wyndham, third at Colonial, sixth at the RSM, eighth here at the Travelers in 2017. He's a cheat code this week. That is my gift to you. Top 40 DraftKings. He was like 3%.
at the Palm Meadow. I played him there, finished 30th. No one noticed. It's going to be the exact same thing this week. I tweeted about him and there are some people that listened to me, but not too many, thankfully. CT Pan. I should listen to you. The top 40 market, I need to dive headfirst into. I'm too much top 20s, too many top 10s, too many outrights.
You sharper guys, that top 40 range, I think, is where you can make a lot of money. So I'm fully behind on that. I'm in on C.T. Penn. Looking at his fantasy national page now, you're right. He's just quietly a cut-making machine.
Top 40 machine. Those plus odds, top 40 guys. That is where the money is made. I agree. I just wish I would actually do it. It's the best. And then the last guy that I wanted to mention for me, you can throw out guys all day. I love talking about these guys more than I love talking about DJ and Bryson, but I
I have some interest in Brendan Steele. There's a rogue 170 to one on Brendan Steele. I just think this is a really good spot for him. He's good on Pete Dye, really good on short courses. He is
eight top 25s here and 10 appearances, including a six place finish last year in like a really good field third at the Honda earlier this year, fourth at the Sony open. He always plays well at the Sony Amex and Honda. I just, I think this is a really good course for Brendan Steele and, and,
I just think for a guy that's actually won three times on the PGA Tour, whereas Brian Harmon and Kevin Strillman have both won twice, what is the actual difference here that we're talking about between Brendan Steele and Brian Harmon and Kevin Strillman? Why are those guys 18 and 30 to one and Brendan Steele is 170 to one? What's the difference of the same guy? The only difference, Chris, is that Steele actually wins a little bit more. I just think it's so stupid. I don't mean to...
I don't mean to pick on Harmon and Streelman. It's not their fault. And I get mad at people who pick on Zander for his odds being low as if it's Zander's fault. So I don't mean to pick on these guys. I just don't understand it. No, I agree. There's always a lot of guys down in this range that, yeah, it's very head-scratching. Now that you mentioned Zander, though, I have to ask, how was it with Nagels on the weekend watching Zander play?
Almost get it done again. It was awesome, dude. It was a ton of fun. Like I said, I would kind of be lost at Tor.
Torrey without him. He is really good at navigating. So I went with him on Friday and Saturday and he had gone already on Thursday. So he really knew the lay of the land. And we also like, we played golf together on Friday morning with his brother, who is a San Diego resident and has played Torrey like 40 times. So he knew the way of the land really well too.
if you are, are you, are you game to do like five minutes on Xander? Are you, are you here for people? Don't tend to like it. I get pushed back on it all the time. It's like, listen, it, Chris, if I was maybe working at golf digest or if I had like a press credential or, you know, working for the golf channel or CBS, like I would act completely unbiased, but the reality of the situation is like, I'm a fan, you know? So I am biased and I love my guys and I love rooting for my guys, but,
Xander is so good at golf, Chris. He is so good at golf. And I know this. I know this. I'm not just like coming in with no context here. I've been to a lot of golf tournaments. I've seen a lot of live golf. I've seen Woodland take it down at Pebble. Brooks take it down at Shinnecock. I've seen Keimer win by eight strokes.
Pinehurst. I feel like I have context where you know how if you go to like a golf tournament for the first time and you see live golf, it's almost hard to differentiate between everyone. Everyone hits the ball on the center of the club face. So I listen, Xander led the field. I
I didn't check on Sunday night, but I know he hit the ball pretty well on Sunday too. But through three rounds, Xander outplayed everyone from tee to green. He literally outplayed everyone from tee to green. He was out driving Phil and Scheffler by like 20 yards. It was unbelievable.
unbelievable to watch, Chris. And I know he didn't close the door, but I, as a Zander fan, am walking away from that experience so much more confident in his abilities to win majors going forward than I was beforehand. And some will probably say that is crazy. Some will say that he choked, which I
I get it. That is fair to say, if that's the opinion that you want to have. But I was just so impressed by the guy. I watched him in 2019 at Pebble Beach.
He's so much better now. He's like, he is so, he's so, so, so much better now. No, I, everything you said is correct. We'd like to poke fun here and there with certain guys, but you're, you're right. He is an unbelievable golfer. And I think a great comparison right now is Ram to where kind of getting himself in the mix a lot. And all he's, all he's going to need is a back nine. Like Ram just had makeup two or three putts.
He's going to keep putting himself in position because like you said, he is so unbelievably good. So it's going to happen for him. It almost did at Augusta. It could have very easily happened at Torrey form. Big Xander fan. Another guy we've had in the pod. It seems like a great dude. Great family. Again, great. I was, I was watching a great team.
I went to the range at the players this year and I found myself sitting there for an hour watching Stefan, his dad and Xander kind of just interact. It's a fascinating little thing they have going there. Stefan, Stefan's outfit for, for Friday, he was wearing white linen pants and white, a white linen, like see-through shirt with Miami. Yeah. With straight. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaking of cocaine for the U.S. Open, follow Stefan Scheffle around for a couple days. He is such a character, man.
And we actually got to, we did the thing where I think this is like my favorite part of going to a golf tournament. But if you go to the putting green after you can really get some solid access to these guys. Um, even if you're just a regular fan. And so after Xander's round on Friday, um,
He struggled putting big time. He struggled putting all week. And I believe he was the only player to finish in the top 20 to lose strokes, putting at Torrey. So Xander was out there grinding on the putting green with his coach. I believe his name is Derek Ucada or Ucada.
UK to something like that, but they had the machine all set up and, uh, Nagels actually, I give him full credit, but he, he initiated the conversation, but we actually got to like share a little exchange with Xander's putting coach. It was unbelievable. We were the last ones there just watching Xander putt like absolute madman. Like we were literally just standing there watching Xander putt. And finally Xander's putting coach, like he, he gave us the time of day. Yeah.
You're right. Putting green is a great spot to hang out, especially in the evening when they're all kind of coming through there and trying to figure it out, grind for one last half hour. I love, I used to love going to the putting green. I sometimes do wish I was a fan again and I could just go to these events and do whatever I wanted and see whatever player I wanted. And like I said, have a, you know, walk around with the beer, but you know, I get on site now. It's kind of like, you gotta, you gotta find something to write about. So yeah,
Uh, I'm not saying I'm mining for coal, but I do miss, uh, I do miss being a fan for sure at golf tournaments. Well, I'll tell you for your next assignment, just say, I'm going to follow Stefan Shoffley. You will have loads of content by the end of following him. He is, he is hysterical. He pops, he brings a little chair with him and he brings a little chair with him and he brings a flask too. Yeah.
I remember at Sawgrass, this is on the other side of the range, which is great. If you ever get to the players, you'll see that the main range is
But if you walk all the way around, if you hoof it, there's a back part of the range with a little short game area, another putting green, more slots to hit out of, obviously. And Xander is back there. And I mean, it's just like, it's not even so much that they're kind of going back and forth so much, but they like kind of silently know what to say to each other. And there was one point like...
Stefan was sitting so close to him that Xander was like, you need to get out of the way. I'm going to hit you with the club. Like literally sitting on top of him while he's hitting balls on the range. It's one of the funniest dynamics I've ever seen.
Yeah, he's amazing. Well, Chris, dude, you've been incredibly generous with your time. Is there anyone else that you want to touch on? And we kind of started going off on the Xander US Open thing. Was there any was there any other deep bombs that you wanted to touch on or or anyone else before we get out of here, man?
Well, I guess I'll end it with my signature and I'll ask you to talk me out of it or talk me into it. And that's Patrick Rogers is all the way down at 200 to one at the book I'm looking at. He was leading at one point, I believe on Friday or Thursday, kind of stayed in it on Friday, ended up having a good Sunday, climbed up the leaderboard. I think he shot like one under, but he climbed a few spots, has some decent history here. He's got a third place finish at TPC river Highlands and,
200-1 seems pretty ridiculous for a guy who just played really well at the US Open. Smashes the ball. People don't realize how long he is. It's Bryson and all these other guys who are in the top 20 in the world ranking. Obviously, they deserve more recognition than Patrick Rodgers, but Patrick Rodgers hits it as far as all these guys. The putter actually was cooking on this past weekend. He's a good poet putter. Talk me out of it. Talk me into it.
I'm not going to talk you out of it. He's pretty good. He's been pretty good at the travelers. I'm just looking right now. He is finished. Yeah. I know he missed the cut last year, but I think that was a little bit misleading because remember that was like the second event after COVID and like
everybody played that tournament. It was like the field of literally WGC. So before that, he's made his last five cuts here, including a third in 2016. I'm not going to talk you out of it at all, especially, and this is something that we didn't really talk about a ton, but I talked about it more so in my Sunday pod when I kind of do like a super deep dive on the course. I think this is a great week to go more field-based because
because I, of all the research that I did on the course, kind of the biggest takeaway that I had is,
A lot of it is a putting contest, man. And obviously there are some T to green indicators that you can draw from. Of course, this is a approach course and every course is a T to green and a ball striking course. I just am saying that more so than other courses. I think that a lot of this has to do with who catches a hot putter and putting being such a volatile statistic to predict, like you're going to drive yourself absolutely mad trying to predict a
putting and stuff like that because it almost from all the research that I do I've almost noticed that putting kind of like flip-flops more than it trends in the right direction you you'll literally drive yourself crazy trying to predict it so if this is a week that I think this is as good a week as any I should say to go with a more feel-based approach agree on on especially on the putting you know I'm looking at his Rodgers stats right now he gained six and 6.2 putting last week
That's not, it's not possible to replicate. Let's be honest back to back week. So, um, that would be one reason to, to back off of him, but he's good on POA. Really good. Yeah. Really good on POA. He was not, he's not going to gain 6.2 again, but you know, maybe he gains two or three and that's enough to get it done. So I'll end up betting Patrick Rogers like I do every week.
I love it, man. Well, Chris, it was a absolute pleasure having you on, man. You're welcome on this podcast anytime. And I will be back in, I'll be back in New York in July and August. So I'd love to, I was talking with Steve about this when I had him on, but we should absolutely play. I would love that. And before we get out of here, why don't you tell everyone where they can find you?
Oh yeah. By the way. Yeah. We need to play golf. That'd be awesome. Find me on a golf digest.com pretty much every day. Be right. Podcast comes out every Tuesday. Listen to it. Uh, you know, I don't really do these reads. This is kind of Steve's department, but whatever, like, and subscribe all that nonsense. Uh, really appreciate you having me on here.
I'm not a guest that often, but when I do, I like to bring in and I love the recognition. So I really, really appreciate you asking me and I would love to do it again. Chris, absolutely, man. Thanks one more time again for coming on and we'll talk again soon, buddy.
That's it for the show, guys. Please remember to like, rate, review, and subscribe. It helps me out more than you know. Continue to be able to crank out all of this free content, and I will be back on Sunday night with my first look for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Best of luck with your best this weekend.
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