Fairway Rollin' - Final PGA Championship Observations and Betting Cards!

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

House and Hubbard offer their final observations heading into the PGA Championship, delving into what they’re hearing from the course and their outlook on the favorites this week (01:49). Along the way, they share their final picks and plays (31:22)! Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the brand new Zach Lowe show. That's right. I'm back to have the same in-depth NBA conversations you're used to. We're going to talk about the games. Yeah, the games, the X's and O's, the drama, the trades, the playoffs are coming up. And now you get to see every episode in full on video on Spotify and on my own YouTube channel. Episodes drop every Monday and Thursday with a collection of guests you're going to love. So make sure you follow and subscribe to the brand new Zach Lowe show.

on Spotify or wherever you watch or listen to your podcast. Let's go. Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. Oh, yes, my friends, we have done it. This is Faraway Rowland, a golf podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your starter, Joe House. as is our way by our incomparable accomplice. Our PGA tore boots on the ground, Nathan Hubbard.

It's a two ball. It is the Tuesday into the Wednesday of the second major of this golf season, the PGA championship down in a soggy. Charlotte, North Carolina, the Quail Hollow Golf Club, is trying to catch a few rays of sunlight to get these boys out there and get themselves. on the golf course ready for some championship golf. Two pegs in the ground and off we go.

Nate Dogg, how are your Charlotte Galoshes? I don't think anything can stop this rain, not even sub-air at the moment. I mean, I think the greens are going to be fine, but it's hard to believe that the fairways aren't going to have some issue with three plus inches of rain and counting, don't you think? Yeah, and there does seem to be. be in the forecast. We're taping this late Tuesday. There's a possibility of another impactful

amount of rain Wednesday. Thursday looks fairly clean, but Friday, the heat comes in. And so there's the possibility of thunderstorms Friday. Saturday. Now, on balance, it seems like it's less rain than we had coming into Valhalla, because Valhalla, you'll recall, one of the primary storylines down there in Louisville, Kentucky in 2024, other than Scotty Sheffler getting busted at the gate trying to bust into that joint, other than that was how much water and whether or not the PGA of America was going to countenance lift clean in place. You're going to let the boys touch their balls. You know what I mean?

They decided against it. No less an esteemed golfer than Zander Shafley complains. bitterly about the mudballs, but a proper champion was arrived. So I've got some intel for us, Nate Dog, based on some boots on the ground. I know you're not there.

You're not there this week. Here are some observations just to start. So we have the inimitable. Speaking of inimitable, Nate Dogg, Kerry Haig, the course setup specialist renowned for the PGA championship of going around to great venues

all across these great United States of ours and coming up with very good competitions, two observations right from the jump. First of all, I don't think that this is going to be a 21 under affair like what we saw at Valhalla last year. No, it is not. So let me hear why you say that, and then I'll share some anecdotes on my end.

I think this is just set up differently. I think the rough is going to be incredibly penal. and there may be one or two guys who can get somewhat close, but I think last year you could miss right, you could miss left, and the rough was okay. It just was, and the course was just not that hard, the way that they'd set up the greens, in part because I think as you talked about the weather,

but it just played like a regular PGA tour course. It did not play like a test of a major, and I think they know that, and they're going to make sure they know exactly what to do at Quail Hollow. It's not a course that they only get to touch once in a while. It's one they see every single year. And they will make sure that it is a test of skill. Amazing, amazing observation. This is dead on the money. It squares perfectly with some of the reports on the ground. One of the things that makes Quail Hollow a little more of a piece of clay that the

sculptor can sculpt is indeed the previous experience. They know where they've played these tour events, what tea boxes, what tea positions, where it pins on the greens. And so there is room for experimentation. This is a major championship. We are trying to identify the best golfers by virtue of this competition. And so some of the indication is that, you know, the setup will, we'll see some unique tea areas. and we'll see some unique pins.

And it will distinguish itself from what your mind's eye might have subliminally recorded having watched Quail Hollow all of these years. So that's sort of one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is for sure, there is more room for teeth at Quail Hollow. It is a massive golf course, a massive property.

and there are ways to really ramp up what is demanded of the guys. And this is why, as we think about who's going to succeed, Nate Dog, I don't want to just go in the direction of the guys that hit the ball the furthest because I do think driving accuracy is mad at. God damn, my card has a lot of guys that hit the ball far. Yeah, and we've heard it all week. You and I like to watch the press conferences because we learn a little bit about how people are thinking from how they speak.

you can just sort of catch a vibe. And sometimes they're good at faking it. Sometimes they're not. This week I haven't learned a lot about the players. I've learned more about the way they think about the course. And they can't really hide it, can they? I mean, even Justin Thomas said, courses like this that don't really require any strategy,

you're pulling the driver out of the bag and hitting it as long and as far as you possibly can and as straight as you possibly can. And then you figure it out from there. It's a little bit like how Rory talked about Philly Cricket Club last week, except this is still a much bigger boy golf course in terms of length. I think that the subtleties will be, I can't wait to see what they actually do with the 14th hole.

We talked about this on Sunday, but it's a drivable part four. And it really depends. It plays very differently if they shave down the banks such that you are in the water and, you know, massively penal if you miss. if they keep the rough there so that you're not totally penalized, well, that's a very different calculation that some of the guys have to make. But I think this is just not a course for the feigned of heart.

This is the kind of course that's going to eat people up. I think we're going to see that happen in the U.S. Open as well, big boy golf courses. And it's big boy golf course season. So I just, I will say this, house, the press conferences, the rain has dampened a lot of our ability to learn much from what's happening on the ground.

I think the most interesting thing that I saw coming out of today, which we got a little tip on early, is that the group of Xander and Rory and Scotty are going to be playing together. And it just feels like, you know, a lot of people say, hey, group momentum doesn't matter. Group who you play with doesn't matter. I don't agree, man.

I think the two guys who are the heavy favorites to win this thing, plus the guy who won last year, I think those guys are going to push themselves pretty darn far. And momentum in that group, you could see them almost like a bike race fucking separating themselves from the rest of the pack, can't you? I totally agree with that. And in view of what the early indication is,

we're taping this in terms of what a winning final score might look like, it could be in the high single digits. It could be a single digit score if the teeth really reveal itself. And the way that this will potentially come to pass is the green mile especially, the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, the 16th and 18th holes,

which historically have played among the very most difficult holes on the entire PGA tour over the course of the season, certainly the hardest holes, along with number one in the 2017 PGA championship. But the versions I think we're going to see of those holes. So what I'm getting at in terms of this scoring notion is

you might be double digit under par coming into those holes on Saturday and Sunday and then find yourself single digit holding on for your life trying to get across the goal line. But in view of that kind of scoring climate, right, where birdies will be at a premium, and then your ability to keep the ball in the fair wake, to hit greens, to keep par, par will, I think, be sacred this week. Those three guys together with that challenge in front of them,

it's juicy. I will go ahead and share. Yeah. Say again. You got a little intel about one of those guys that I think is worth probably mentioning. Yeah. So I think, and there is a reason,

you know, when you go into the market, and look at, you know, the Fandu Sports book, how on the one hand, you have Scotty and Rory of Scotty 4 to 1, Rory plus 450. And then you have to go down the card a minute or two to find. Now, he's not super far down, but Xander's 22 to 1. Yeah. The pricing based on the feedback I'm getting is right.

And the single biggest difference, the thing that distinguishes Rory and Scotty from where Xander is at the moment. Again, this is not Zander hating because we are Xander lovers. We're just waiting for him to find himself in the correct form. He is all over the place with his driver. And if you look at his numbers over the course of the season, him coming back, he is 157th in strokes gained off the T. He is 167th in driving accuracy.

That's his season numbers. Just last week, 65th in driving accuracy in a 72 player event. Now, he was 23rd in strokes game off the T, which is progress. But it's a different class altogether. He is not in the class of Scotty Schaeffler and Rory Macquarie. And that's why he's at 22 to 1.

So, Yeah. I mean, go ahead. It makes me anxious because I, I hear all that. And at the players, he lost over a stroke per round off the T. But he finished T-8 at Augusta.

I mean, and gaining strokes off the T. And at the Truest last week, he wasn't terrible. He gained shots off the T. It's not like he was wildly off. But I think what you may be heard was that there's a miss in there. And there's a miss that's showing itself because he's not 100% sharp. And it's not that he's going to be pulling the ball every time, but it's that once around he's going to have that miss.

And it comes into clarity when he's playing next to Rory and Scotty, who in this moment are not going to have that miss. So all I'm saying is, yes, it's a great price for Xander. Yes, it's probably the case that as he gets even more in form, that this price will not be there again. but I want to just urge caution right now. That's a stay away call from House. You don't have to play him outright.

Go ahead and play him top 10 and top 20. And that's fine. There are reasonable prices for those. He's paired with Justin Thomas at 22 to 1. Do you feel like JT's down there appropriately priced just because he's JT and he brings out the dog and yes, he's won here and he's won the PGA? But he has, you know, he's got Rom and Bryson and Murray and Scotty and in front of him on the odds board and that's the way it's supposed to be?

Or do you see any value in JT at 22? There's only value in JT in the sense that I think that where his game is at compared to Xander, they're not in the same class. But I wouldn't have JT at a price that's much better than 18 or 19 to 1, right? Like he's still in a class that doesn't belong in the same conversation as Roar and Scotty. And we will get to Bryson along the way here as well.

But JT's not there. And JT did have, again, tiny bit of driver miss at the truess. Yeah. It's still there. I told you, I got a little nervous

about putting down the stretch. I mean, he missed a three-footer and then he par to par five with a short miss too that really were given two shots back when he was in contention. So I didn't love that.

But he's definitely playing well. I just, he has a new coach, a new coach. I mean, they haven't replaced his dad. They've just made an addition. Yes.

To the mix. Yeah. But with J.T., it's the putter. Like, I watched some of his winning around this week. And you remember, he made some massively long putts. He had that one hang on the lip forever

that fell that wasn't actually that long of a putt. But he's got to have that putter working to win. That's just what it comes down to. And the good news for Thomas is, it's been, it's been getting better. But as we sit there on the odds board, and I want to get to some of the other guys,

but I do just want to tie it back to the press conferences. Because if you remember, we were in Augusta, and we came away from press conference day and said, John Rom is back. And he sounded confident, and he sounded a little bit chip on his shoulder. Felt like he had not gotten the respect that he deserved for his performances,

definitely player of the year on live. and we thought he was going to have a great tournament. He sort of had a little bit of it in his eye and certainly in a lot of ways, something to prove. And then he came out on Thursday and Friday and pood the bed. He did come back on the weekend and play pretty darn well. But he's sitting here at 18 to 1. And in that press conference today, I mean,

he was pretty clear that he expects and intends to be on that Ryder Cup team, regardless of how he performs from here on out. But there was a confidence again that we saw at August. And I just want to know what your ROM hangover, your ROM over is after Augusta, as you really consider it now, because he's sitting here at 18 to 1. I mean, they're telling us that he's more favored than Zander Shafley right now, more, you know, than Justin Thomas, than Ludwig, than Colin. We just haven't seen it in the majors, except that weekend at Augusta. And what we've learned is that ROM can talk and not always back it up. he also can back it up,

but he doesn't really tip his hand when he's not feeling great unless the game's a mess. So what do you expect from this guy coming in? I have no idea. And part of that... Does that make a stay away for you? Well, I'll play him top 20. It's minus 120.

I'll lay a tiny bit of juice just to have like a protective bet on him. It's not going to be a giant bet. It'll be, you know, something. I just like, it's a bet to... It's an investment in... the future for me. He's in the portfolio so I can keep an eye on what's going on there. I think there's some pressure on him, House. I think he's got. In what respect? In what respect?

Because he was, he's, he's one of the only Europeans ever doing the masters in the US Open. And he's been a non-factor since then. And really, if you and I were going to write the book on this guy, he misled the world about his thinking, changed his mind, went to live, took a huge check and stop playing competitive golf. Like, I don't care that he played well at Liv, but he started showing up to majors, and Bryson did the work, and Roy did the work, and Scotty did the work, and a few others, but Rahm has not been in the mix. And I think he cares about history very, very deeply.

Even last year, at this PGA, when he watched Xander shoot that historic round, he knew all the historical details on how, you know, how many guys had shot a 62. So he's really a student of the game in that way. And I think he wants to be a part of history. But that means he's got to play his way in and earn it. And he has not since he took that check. See, that's the point. Here's what's missing with my guy John Rom right now.

It's strokes gained practice. We have the world leader in strokes gain practice. And that's Bryson D. Chambot. And thank, I mean, an amazing, amazing innovation by the green jackets to give us that information, that man at the driving range, at the Masters and the Masters, the wisdom of the Green Jackets,

infinite to say, here's what we're going to do. We're going to give you information, consuming public, golf crazy maniac people. Here's how the guys are practicing. Here's who's out there. Here are the numbers of, you know,

what they're doing out there. And Bryson D. Shambot is a one of one in that respect. But our boy, John Rom, I think he's in a good place headspace-wise. I don't think he, where's the killer? And that's the thing that's most important with him. That's what fuels him. And that's the thing that even, you know,

Scottie talked about it. And in his press conference today, you know, one of the reporters asked the question, what would you borrow from other golfers? You know, what things that other golfers possess? Would you say, you don't, you know, are deficits in your own game? And he was very like, he played along with it and said,

oh, you know, I would take Sam Burns putting and I would take, you know, Rory's driving and John Rom's passion came up in that conversation. But the problem, Nate Dogg, is where's it at? Because my man, I keep saying this, and I said it on the show with Justin Ray. He lost by four strokes to Fred Couples in the first round of the Masters.

He did, he did. And he struggled on approach. He lost strokes on approach that week. Everything else was pretty strong. And the putter wasn't bad either. I mean, he finished T-14. And so that's where I don't want to go too far away from it. I just, I think.

Here's the thing. He's got, he has six rounds at Quail Hollow. And the last time he played was in 2021, and he missed the cut. And I haven't gotten word that the man is on the grounds doing the grinding. So I'm fine with recognizing the talent of just. John Rom, I'm fine with making a small investment in that direction, a top 20 investment in that direction. That would be a winning ticket. It was a winning ticket at the Masters.

But I'm not prepared to invest, leverage any win equity in this man right now. Let me make a, let me make a suggestion. If we even just looking at his shots gain data across the live stuff, it's been approach. Everything else. In Korea, he didn't put well. He put like crap. whatever. Like, he's, he's been a great putter. He put well at the master's. But it's been approach. So maybe the play on ROM, because again, the confidence is there. He's talking like

a guy who knows the game is coming. He's talking like Spieth sounded after, you know, two weeks ago. He's like, so we want to try to be on the leading edge, not the trailing edge, because that's how you make money. This feels like a live bet for me. I want to see Thursday. Great. Thursday, let's look at his approach play. And if the irons are, there on Thursday, you got to think about what you do with Rom, because it is coming and it's been too long for what at one point in time was the best player in the world to be out of this conversation. And, you know, if we get through this year without Ron being competitive in a major, I think it's over. I mean, I just, I think people are going to write him off. And I think the narrative

around it and, you know, he won't take very well to that. And yeah, yeah, it won't forever be over. He's still crazy young. You can. you can be good at golf for a long time. It just says to me that he doesn't actually care enough. That's all. Because we've been having this conversation for a year. And if you're listening, you care enough. And yeah.

That's right. The other thing to observe in the context of this is the PGA championship has been his worst performing measure on balance. And he said in his press conference, some of that has to do with like, it's a different requirement because of the general. gigantic variance in the types of venues that they play. They play a Belrieve.

They play a Kiowa. They play a Bethpage. They play, you know, a Quail Hollow. They play the place in Tulsa, Southern Hill. Like, there is an enormous variety there, and you've got to have that, you know, the mindset of I'm going to go sort of grind out what the best way to get around, the best way to strategize. Now, I'm not saying that he hasn't done.

that in the past, but his best, he said that he thinks his best performance in a PGA championship was at Bel Reve. And, you know, that place also, speaking of Valhalla, basically played like a PGA tour stop. So it's not that. He T4 there, right? Yeah, I think that's right. So, 2018. That sounds right. That sounds right to me. Yes, all of those things. Okay. So interesting on, on ROM. We're going to put them in the top 20 bucket, not excited to do anything beyond. I think if the Iron Game is there, we have reason to jump because I think the odds are just long enough at 18 to 1 that if they don't move quickly, you know, watch those first couple holes.

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So we've got Zanderwe. We've got ROM, a couple ideas on those guys. How you feel up Bryson in this moment? I watched the entirety of his press conference. The dude is in possession of all of his faculties in terms of his self, his confidence,

his confidence in front of that group, his confidence in terms of his place in the game. He gave a very generous answer to the question about participating with the, he was invited to participate in the Rider Cup dinner. You know, Captain Kagan out there. He's got, I like the moves, Captain Kagan. I like the moves.

Yeah. My man's like, hey, we're going to, I don't like the roster, but I like the moves. We're going to be in Philly. So let me get all the boys together and the extended invites to both Brooks and Bryson. Bryson was touched by it. He gave a very nice answer and response.

He missed the dinner because he couldn't fly out of, I think he was down in Dallas. He couldn't get up to Philly. They had storms that made him like a four-hour delay. So he participated. They put a Zoom. They zoomed his ass in. And he got to watch some of the conversation and, you know,

the speechifying by Zoom. And then he had a one-on-one conversation with Captain Kegan after that. I'm bullish. I'm bullish on Bryson. I saw a video of him today blowing it over the corner on one. You talked about one being one of the hardest holes on the course, and he just absolutely smoked it around the corner over the trees, and no problem for him.

So it's not Wingfoot at Quail Hollow, but the things that had him win at Wingfoot are going to serve him very well here. He's a different player now, too. 14 rounds, so you're not worried about, you know, does he have enough loops at this joint? He has a fourth place. He has a tied ninth, both of those in the last. So the fourth place was in 2018.

The T9 was in 2021. So not like exactly yesterday, but also no, no negative vibes coming out of his experience. He's very strong in terms of, you know, the strokes gain metrics. He's in the top 15 of, you know, course history-wise at this place. So, and you're looking at, it's a historical top 15.

It includes guys like, you know, Joey, I said this on the thing, Joey Sindelar and Bernhard Langer and, you know, funny names like that. And look, he's coming off, you know, he's coming off a win. And, you know, a recent win. Yeah, in Korea. So I think that's helpful because some of the things that you and I have quietly talked about is that Bryson has not been great in a few final rounds in contention. He won in a round that he wasn't great at. And he definitely kind of fell apart at the master.

So I will be interested to see how he, and even last year at Valhalla, let's be honest, he chipped in and suddenly he was maybe in the game and he didn't bring the A game for Sunday. So it's about Sunday for Bryson. He could have won. I mean, his major record over the last, you know, six, seven majors has been exemplary.

He had an awesome, he missed the cut at the Open Championship most recently at Trune. But otherwise, you know, top five, top six, you win, you know, whatever. it is. So he's right there. Golf is better when he's in the mix. And I'd love to see it again.

I think he's going to be in the mix. I'd love to see it again. But I do think you should talk about what you also heard from the ground in that group with Scotty and Burns and Zander and Kantley, which is that the guy who we saw just ripped the heart out of TPC Craig Ranch. It's translating. That may not have been the best golf course and we can take issue with, you know, should he have finished 33 under instead of 31? Should we even be on that golf course? But, you know, when Siwu said it was really hard to play with Scotty

because it made me feel like I'm awful at golf. He said it felt like the pins were reeling in Scotty's balls. And that's how great he was hitting the ball. He's like, I just have never seen anybody play like that. That's the difference, right? we can say, oh, it's the course. But when this peers and a great peer is saying, I have not seen a guy play like this,

we kind of got to perk up and pay attention. Very good setup, Nate, dog. Great job by you. The report that I got from the grounds was he's walking with these boys. And these are, you know, Zander has won a major. Patrick Cantlay has been around the hoop. Also a Rotter Cup, Stal Ward, Patrick.

And Sam Burns, you know, Gassum Tor wins under his belt. The observation was that Scotty Sheffler is in a class all by himself, that these boys are playing a different game right now. Just, you know, it's a small sample. But the quality of the shot making, the quality off the T, a different class altogether. And so I absolutely positively, unequivocally have Scotty.

to one. You have, I mean, I just, yeah, I, you just have to do it. Because here's the problem if he comes out and shoots, you know, 67 or 68 on Thursday. It's not that the best price you're going to get. It's going to go to plus 250. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then down from there.

Yeah. And I do think narrative wise and in terms of what the golf gods might have in store for us, after delivering the incredible Rory Bryson two ball at the Masters, and giving us that as blessed of a event. I think we will. That's what I mean. I think we will. I think we're going to get because what we have now is this incredible top heavy, crazy chalky.

And I think they're just going to take turns playing each other down the stretch. And the head to head that I'm imagining for this tournament is Scotty Sheffler and Bryson D. Chambot head to head Sunday final two ball. That's what I'm imagining. I just think I have not been as excited for the competition of a major in a very long time as I am in a very long time because I think we have you mean you said the other day four guys maybe five can win but I think the entire top of the board is coming in playing about as well as they possibly could yes and Scotty Scotty transcendent Rory with the monkey off his back Bryson hungry to show that you know the Sunday collapse that he's better than that. Rom looking for redemption. Zander, you know, our defending champion.

J.T. finally back and playing while coming off a win. On and on and on. Morikawa having statistically one of his best seasons ever. Ludwig, who, you know, so it's just on and I think, I think this could be one of those. It's just hard to see somebody fully separating

because these guys are too good. I agree with that. That part I wholly subscribe to. And so this is going to be, a tournament where what we tell all you guys out there are birdie buddies, our parisaving pals, is to do what the Nate dog is doing, which is get yourselves into live betting markets early and keep that tab open because, you know, there are going to be some opportunities finishing position wise,

ultimately winning the golf tournament. I do think it's going to be tight. And that's part of the feature of a tournament that might finish, you know, in the eight to eight to 11 under kind of category, bud. Yeah. And I think the live betting in particular, this is going to be one of those terms. Look, last weekend in Myrtle Beach, I mean, it's silly, but you had McKenzie Hughes, you had Ryan Faw. They went to a playoff.

And you could just tell in the moment, and Harry Higgs, you could just tell in the moment that this was going to end in something lucky. Like there wasn't enough differentiation between the way the three of them were playing. And sure enough, Ryan Fox chips in. And my sense is that in a tournament like this, you got to look for the guy who gets an unfair luck, you know, break that gives him a stroke or two. Because for the most part, these guys are going to be neck and neck. And I would say Thursday, Friday, if you see a guy hole a wedge from a fairway for a two or get it, you know, that, and the markets will move in response. But I really think these guys are going to play each other pretty even through the course of the week. And because there's five or six of them who could definitely win this thing,

you're looking for the guy who grabs a few lay up strokes early and then assume they're going to play head-to-head the rest of the way. Yeah. Well, speaking of head-to-head, I have continued to do some work, been in the lab, looking for some additional names. We will remind everybody of some of the names that came up in our conversation with Justin Ray and some of the observations he shared about why he thought guys might farewell in your top 10, your top 20 class, those names from Justin Ray's observation.

And you can please listen to the show. We would love it very much. Patrick Reed is a name that shows up quite prominently because of his history at this place and because of the form that he's in. Justin Ray encouraged us to pay attention to Justin Rose. So that's a top 20 play that's emanating from that show. I like the idea of Tommy Fleetwood. I knew you were going to say this.

Well, after his performance at the truest and his course history at this place, a top 10 and a top 20 on Tommy Fleetwood, these are just names like, you know, I'm going to have some exposure. I'll look for head to heads to see if I can find an advantage that I like at a price that's comfortable. But these are the kinds of names that I'll be hunting. I have to tell you, I've lost a little bit of enthusiasm for Shane Lowry. I did too.

You realize he hasn't won on U.S. soil since 2015. Yeah. And the grind of Truest, like that, just that Sunday night, you know, he was standing over a putt, a birdie putt

that, you know, had the potential to, to, you know, change the outcome. Right. Change the outcome.

And he missed the line by a foot. Like, I don't mind having a little amps. and going six feet by the way he did. And they don't play greens that have that much slope in them. Those guys are not accustomed to standing over top and having that slope. So, you know, but he misjudged it. Okay, that's fine.

But missing the line by the amount he missed the line by, that was a little alarming. So I don't want to, I'm not going to do Lowry, even though I like him very much. I love him at Oakmont. And you'll be able to revisit how, you know, well he played at Oakmont, you know, in previous U.S. opens.

But I have a few other names to kind of bounce off of you. And I'm interested to hear if you're working the lab has some additional names for us as well. I want to make sure that we get some Corey Conner's exposure into the portfolio this week. Just in just in general, he's been playing damn good golf. Over the last six months, 13th in total strokes games, He's ninth in ball striking.

He's 14th off the T, 11th T to Green. His last two visits to this venue, he's got a T8 and a T13. So I love the idea of top 10, top 20. The other thing, if you get into some of the filters with the models that are guys like Pat Mayo and Rick Damon pump out, you know, and you can go into their models. I encourage it. It's great information.

It's great research. You can break down, like, how do these guys perform on long courses? How do these guys perform on courses where the scoring is difficult, where the scores aren't, you know, through the roof? And Corey Conner's fares very well. So if that's a combination that you believe, and I believe it about this venue, then Connors is definitely going to get some allocation out of me this week, Nate, dog. Tough to hate it.

Okay. any other names before I go I have a couple more but do you have any thoughts on anybody? I want you to go through it. I mean, I'm looking at Terrell Hatton this week just because of the odds and because he showed very, very well

at the Masters and his performances on Live since then have been pretty strong. He didn't put very well in Korea last week. But, you know, right now he's like plus 360 for a top 10. And he was T-14. at the Masters with a little bit of a breakdown. I really think this is a guy who,

you know, early in the week there, it felt like he was in the mix and could absolutely win that golf tournament. So I just looking at his odds, we're paying attention to a lot of the... He feels like one of those live players that people haven't paid a lot of attention to, and so his odds have dropped.

Just feels like there's some value there. Yeah, which is, you know, kind of understandable. It was brought to my attention, but by no less a luminary than our buddy. Jason Sobel, and I do like this quite a bit. It's Denny McCarthy. And Sobel's playing him in a top 40 kind of context. That's the way he's thinking about it.

But here's the thing. And I was reminded of this. McCarthy plays well on long, difficult golf courses. He's got a very nice track record. And you can both take course history at this venue, Quill Hollow, T6, T8, the past two years. But really what comes to my mind's eye is his, you know, his, his, his, his, his round at Torrey, uh, down the stretch where it was he and was it Patrick Rogers? Who was he going? No, it wasn't Patrick Rogers. In any event, you know, Tori, that the event that

Ludwig won, um, he was like super competitive, Denny, uh, down the stretch finished, ended up T5. And you're, I'm, I'm reminded of his playoff loss at Murph. Field Village in Jack's event to Victor Hawley. Victor nipped him right at the very, very end. But when I think about, you know, the challenge that Quail Hollow is going to pose, the thing that Denny brings to the table is, is accuracy. So the distance for sure is impactful, but I love Denny. I'm going to play him top 20 for sure.

That's going to be on my dance card. you were such a homer. I love you so much. I am. He's straight out of the DMV. He's got the Denny McCarthy, you know, practice center over at Argyle right here in Silver Spring. Another guy who keeps showing up. I have some people pushing this name at me is Minwu Lee.

Now, this is a pure, you know, boomer bus play. It's a 100% boomer bust, isn't it? You know, I didn't love the Min Woo Lee victory. I didn't love it on that golf course. It didn't validate for me. I felt like he's We're not saying bet him to win

Don't bend him the win He is triple digits He's in the hundreds to one category But we're not saying Bet him the win The players I didn't yeah I mean Akshay and

I kind of like Akshay better than Minwu But Minwoo's going to hit the pants Off the ball and if he's got some control of the driver I understand Yes Yes yes yes It's just a ceiling play You know

Yeah and it's just a recognition of his ability to carry the ball. There's no distance challenge that he can't meet. That's all. There is some sentiment for Captain Keegan. And I liked his press conference today. I feel like he is now very comfortable

in his captain suit. Yes. And there is, I think he's buoyed by that a little bit. He's playing decent golf. He had a decent performance. at the truest. Yeah.

Decent, right? Top pass. T-18 at RBC. You know, his best finishes of the year, T-5 at API and I think he finished

T-6 at Sony. The putter is the only reason. Yeah, the putter is the reason to be worried because the rest of the game is actually in pretty good shape. But he's been losing strokes each of his last

four tournaments putting while hitting it off the T and hitting it approach pretty well. So you just got to see, is that something he can figure out? He didn't put well at the Genesis, but nobody puts well at Tori. I mean, it's so hit or miss. But, you know, Augusta, RBC Heritage, those are greens that were in pretty good shape. So I don't love where the putter is right now. The rest of the game is there, though, House. And he's, he's at this venue. He plays it. He's got 26 rounds, 25 rounds. I got two, not my glasses. 25 rounds. 25 rounds. 25 rounds.

here at Quill Hollow, each of 2021, 2023 and 2024, T18, T35, T21. So that's a top 20 play for me. The captain's pick, right? We're going to do a little captain's pick. He's missed the cut in the last two majors. I think he,

if he's going to bolster his own case to play on this team, it's now. Now's the time. Now's the time. I only have one other name. Talk to me, then that's it. I'm looking, I keep seeing some of the, these models are spitting out Davis

Thompson. And again, this is a guy that's going to be in the top 20, top 30 kind of play and maybe a head-to-head kind of thing. There is some some folks have identified a correlation between this venue and TPC Sawgrass.

So a good performance of Sawgrass and he had that. He finished in the top 10 at Sawgrass. T-10. He was okay just last week. at Truest, but there is, again, this idea of when the challenge is heightened, that he has a game for it. He finished inside the top 10 at Pinehurst last summer.

So it's just, you know, again, this is a guy. It's not that different for me, the top 20 that I'll play on Davis Thompson. I want to put down the money because I want to watch him a little bit. I want to have the incentive to like just sort of see how he's looking. And it's the same as ROM. But he popped on a couple different, you know, smart guys that I listen to and track and, you know, research. So I've got to have a little exposure to Dave's Thompson as well, Nate, Doug. I think that there, we've spent a lot of time, rightly so, on the chalk at the top of the board,

because I think those are the guys who are going to win. And it does feel like we're going to have a horse race like that. But I think you're right to look down the board and see because of that if people are missing a few conversations, you know, Andrew Novak's plus 400 to top 20. Max home is plus 450. I am not on Max Homer. Don't get me wrong, but I'm just saying,

you got to look a little bit further down and say, okay, McKenzie Hughes played pretty darn well last week. Lost in the playoff. The driver got a little loose on him on a few occasions, but overall he played pretty well. He's plus 500 to top 20. There are guys down the board who are interesting.

Rasmus is third, I think, right now in the European Rider Cup standings. now admittedly Ram is not there but he's he's ahead of Rasmus but he's on the team Rasmus is plus 500 so you just there is a little bit that's that's lurking for value as you go make those plays I got out the highlighter for some of those names I'm highlighting them on my my card right now great my birdie buddies my par saving pals my eagle enthusiast speaking of highlighting we here at the fairway role and are are here for you to help you be build out your fantasy lineups, your own betting dance cards, however you want to allocate your

pools with your pals. Get down on it. We've got a whole bunch of names for you. You heard them all on the Instagrams of the Nate Dog and the house. You shall see where our ultimate preferences reside. You've heard a bunch of the names. I'm going to go ahead and put some pen to paper. We'll get it out on my Instagram. We'll work with the good folks at the ringer so that that we can get this out there. We'll work with the good folks at the Fandual Sportsbook so you can find where our ultimate final selections fall. But look, don't go crazy.

You heard us with Justin Ray. Justin Ray took Bryson. I took Scotty. Nate took Rory. That's the right way to play it. Don't mess around to win. If you want to go ahead and take... This is not a rich beam week, I don't think.

You want to take five bucks and put it on your long shot and root on turning that one beer into 50 beers, please by all means do that. But that's not our recommendation. Our recommendation is in these finishing positions and any head-to-heads with an advantage. But we shall be back here on the Fairway Rollin podcast, Sunday night with a recap for sure.

And we're giving ourselves permission if the mood strikes to jump on this thing and knock out another little bit of a reaction. If anything crazy, like the number one player in the world, getting arrested for some crazy-ass reason. If that happens, we will be live on these airwaves right here on the Ring of Podcast Network. Please be playing some golf.

It's beautiful weather all across this nation. If it's not raining on you like it is down in Charlotte, North Carolina, get a peg in the ground and please let's hit him straight up there. Must be 21 years older, older, and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present. in D.C. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Halp.com. Call 1-88-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline m a.org or call 800

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