Fairway Rollin' - Inside the Ropes at the PGA Championship with Mark Hubbard. Plus, Final Betting Cards!

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

House and Hubbard are joined by Mark Hubbard to provide a first-hand look from the PGA Championship, his view of the course, how he’s approaching the course, and more (02:36). Then, the guys discuss what they’ve heard about players at Valhalla such as Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm (29:10). Finally, they go over their final bets they’re rolling with ahead of the tournament (44:19). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Guest: Mark Hubbard Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're a fan of the inner workings of Hollywood, then check out my podcast, The Town, on the Ringer Podcast Network. My name's Matt Bellany. I'm founding partner at Puck and the writer of the What I'm Hearing newsletter. And with my show, The Town, I bring you the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. Every week, we've got three short episodes featuring real Hollywood insiders to tell you what people in town are actually talking about. We'll cover everything from why your favorite show was canceled overnight, which streamer

is on the brink of collapse, and which executive is on the hot seat. Disney, Netflix, who's up, down, and who will never eat lunch in this town again? Follow the town on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Friends and welcome for this golf podcast unlike any other. Oh yes, my friend, we have done. This is Faraway Roll! A golf podcast on the Ringer podcast Network. My birdie buddies, my par-saving pals, my eagle and thudely.

I am your starter, Joe House. And this is our PGA championship final preview. We've got boots on the ground in the form of none other than Mark Hubbard, PGA Tour Professional there to compete in his fourth major. He says he loves this golf course. Let's hear it directly from Mark. And of course, we're joined by our inimitable accomplice. our tour boots on the ground.

Nathan Hubbard. It is a beautiful three ball for our conversation with Mark. And then Nathan and I try and give some final thoughts to all the betting buddies out there for how they might fill out, their dance card,

their daily fantasy, and any other kind of ways that you would like to compete this championship. So since none of us are actually playing in the thing. But let's jump right in with Homeless Hubbs himself

Mark Hubbard, very kind. It's a three ball, three pegs in the ground, and off we go. All right, we're very blessed here at Fairway Roll. We're trying to turn this into a tradition. If it happens two consecutive years, I think we can call it a tradition, an actual genuine PGA tour player on the premises at Valhalla, there in Louisville, Kentucky.

Genuine boots on the ground. inside the ropes ready to tell us about his own experiences thus far. Mark Hubbard, welcome back, baby, to Fairway Rowland. What's up, guys? Thanks for having me. Yeah, I feel like two years in a row, we're building something. Three years, it might be a dynasty. That's all it takes these days. Spoken like a Nuggets fan house. Well, look, man, as we sit here and they're taping this,

Nuggets super, super duper live in their own series. and very good odds to win the championship again. But look, I'm more interested in golf this week, mainly because I have lots of exposure up and down the card. But I'm interested in the first place, Mark Hubbard. Have you been to Valhalla before? Have you played this track? No, I got in on Sunday so I could see it on Monday first thing

and play 18 holes then and get as much prep there because I have not been. But it is my fourth major, third PGA, and it's definitely my favorite of the four that I've played. It's really, really cool. So why? Why is it jumping to the top immediately? I mean, it's in spectacular shape to start out with,

but just the whole property is it's a massive property. I feel like they easily could have built two golf courses there and said they just made one really sweet one, which I respect. But I mean, it's just got like a very grand feel to it, the whole layout. But it's, I don't feel like there's a single, hole that runs together like each one is very unique

you play some courses that are good and solid you know even some of the historically great ones and you know a couple of the par fours kind of blend together similar layout dead straight bunker on one side really tough green whatever this one just seems to have a ton

of character every hole is really different I feel like there's a really good mix of short holes with you know some risk reward and then long holes that you just got to buckle down and hit it really straight and really far. So I think it's a good test. I heard you played practice round

with Will Z. and Cam Young? I did. Was Cam Young playing a different course than you? Or did take me through? There's been a lot of talk about the length. Like, how did that feel? And is there a massive advantage for somebody who hits the living fuck out of it like he does?

So, yeah. So I've gained a little bit of length. I've been pretty fast the last month. and I got it on the first tee and ripped a little tight draw right down the middle after him and got up there and was one foot behind him. And I was like, okay. And then I found out really quickly that that was his fairway finder because I hit that same tight draw on two and was 70 yards behind him. But yeah, you know, everywhere we play, there's a huge advantage to length.

I think the green conference. complexes are really good. They're big greens. It's tough to tell on a Monday because the pins are right in the middle. So, you know, they're not in the corners. But I feel like if you're a good mid-iron player, like you can, you know, make up some of that distance pretty easy. And they changed the grass since the last time they played here.

It's Zoya. So chipping around the greens is a ton easier. So, I mean, if like for a guy, me that I think I hit like five or six woods given I have a seven wood in the bag and potentially a nine wood, but I think I hit five or six woods into greens on my approach yesterday on the back nine. But at the same time, like if I'm missing greens and it's not overly challenging up and down if I'm hitting it in the right spots, you know, it's not like I'm at a huge disadvantage. But yeah, I mean, obviously there's, you know, a couple holes. There's one hole that they'll move up.

that can be drivable. And really the long par four is like, I think it's like five maybe. Okay. Yeah. But I mean, really it's more like the long par fours that are already hard for everybody.

Like 17, for example, from the back tier T where we played it with the standard wind direction, it's like 275 to where like the fairway kind of starts. It's kind of a severe upslope. There's definitely going to be some, some PGA of America guys not getting to that fairway if they keep it from that back to eat. But I mean, it was, it was, you know, 275 into the win.

So playing, you know, 290, 295 yesterday. And so for me, like, I, my fairway is this big on that hole. But for a guy like him, you know, it becomes a lot wider. So I don't think it's the end-all be all this week. I do think, you know. What does the weather do to the course? it makes it makes that a bigger advantage because for me i was hitting a ton of fairways and it was rolling out but if it gets if it gets soppy uh and and it's going to play a lot longer the rough is going

to play a lot thicker so it's it's going to be harder for me with my you know six iron does it help you on the greens not run out i don't think so i think it makes i think if it plays wet, I think it plays a little bit harder for me personally. I just think because it plays so much longer. Like yesterday, you know, like I said, it's only my fourth major, but this was the first one that I felt like I could attack. And I have gotten a little bit longer, but it, you're better at golf. I never felt like, I am better golf, but I just never felt like Oak Hill last week or last year was just too big of a golf course for me. Like, I just did not have a chance. And it was firm and fast there too, but it's just the fairways were too hard to hit. And when I did miss, I'm like,

I just had no chance of hitting the green. Like here, I still feel like, you know, I can, I'll be all right if I miss a fairway here or there and I can attack when I do hit the fairway. So the reputation for this place, and I'm picking up on the idea that you just mentioned about your own enthusiasm to maybe attack it, is that there is the opportunity to do some scoring at this venue. You know, the scores have been in these championships between 11 under and 14, 15 under. And, you know, the reputation is that the par fives in particular are getable. Did you find that as you were out and about yesterday and today? Yeah, 100%.

I felt like the holes that were getable were very getable. I mean, between the three of us, they were playing a little game. I wasn't in on it. But we, you know, the three of us made a lot of birdies. yesterday given, I think it, you know, I think it was playing relatively easy as far as just that course plays. The fairways were pretty fast. Greens were still receptive. Rough was thick, but down. I think they were with the rain. They might have been expecting it to grow a lot the next two days. So I'm not expecting it to be down the way it was on a Monday, obviously, come Thursday and

Friday. But it was definitely getable. You know, I think I birdied all the part fives and had some eagle looks and you know there are a handful of short par fours that you can get after it's just the holes that are hard are very hard so and i want to pick up on your observation about the changing grass one of the things that's been mentioned in the previews um has been the idea that there's runoff now that maybe didn't exist in the previous iterations of this championship and and these runoff areas around the greens and the surrounds um have been made uh available because of the changeover to the Zoyzia. Do you feel like you said that the Zoyza

makes the getting up and down easier? Are there places where around these greens that you still might be dead? Or can you still sort of solve the puzzle if you miss? No, 100%. There were definitely, you know, when I played my practice around, I kind of go through the green complexes

and put, you know, the areas where it's pretty easy up and down. Yeah. then areas where it's 50-50 and then areas where it's absolute don't hit. And there's definitely a lot of X's still. But if you're missing it in the right places, the grass is just so you can hit some awesome nippers off of it. It's pretty predictable, you know, hitting some little bumps in the hills. It allows you to be really creative and hit lots of different shots. I mean, you can put it for guys that aren't comfortable. So if you're in the right spot, I think it is with the grass easier. if you have a decent short game.

But if you're on the wrong spot, yeah, you're super, super dead. So it's supposed to be 200,000 plus people out there this week. You've been to players, you've been to majors. How's it feel out there? And given the move from August to May, there seems to be like a general feeling that PGA sets this thing up really well

and that they take good care of players and that the vibes are really good. That whole thing and the, and the leadership kind of rescued this tournament. What's it like out there this week from a 30,000 foot standpoint? Yeah, it feels like people in Louisville don't have jobs or at least don't go to them this month between the derby and this tournament because there are a ton of people out at the course for a Monday and a Tuesday,

especially a Tuesday where it was supposed to rain all day. So that's been pretty cool. A ton of little kids, I'm guessing schools out. So they're all fired up to be here and having all, having all the big guns and some of the live guys back, I'm sure that helps the excitement and the buzz. As far as the PGA of America goes, they do run an awesome tournament.

I've only played two of the four majors, but comparatively it's just as good, if not the best. The hospitality is great. Everything's a little different because they kind of run it on their own. So, you know, there's lots of little ins and outs that we don't know

that can be frustrating at time because we're used to the same thing every week, but in terms of just the overall hospitality, they run a world-class event for sure. I'm interested in your brain a little bit, if we could go inside the brain of homeless Hubbard. And what I'm particularly interested in is your approach to a major week, yes,

a field of 156 golfers, and then a subset of that that is not your traditional kind of tour golfer. And that all by itself means that this thing is going to take a long time on Thursday and Friday. Now, you know, sunset is in the six whatever range. I mean, sun, you know, sun up is in the six, whatever, six 30. And sundown is like eight 30. So there's lots of hours to get golf accomplished.

But there's also weather in the forecast. So as you sort of, you're sitting here on a Tuesday, you're getting yourself in here, you have a routine. You know what your tour routine is. But this animal is a tiny bit different for some of the reasons. You know, first of all, you don't necessarily get 200,000 plus folks out at every tour event. I don't think they were out there at TPC Craig Ranch. But as you sort of size this thing up, do you change your approach? Do you allow yourself like additional time, additional headspace?

Like how do you navigate that? Yeah, I mean, it's part of the reason, you know, I had an off week last week, so that helps. but it's part of the reason I got in early and played 18 yesterday. I never do that. For a regular tour event, I'm never at the course on Monday, let alone playing 18 holes. So that was a little different. I think that was a lot in terms of the weather anticipation. And a lot of guys had that same idea.

So it was about a six-hour practice round yesterday. It was pretty miserable out there just because I think everybody did what I did, or at least played nine. I don't think it'll be that bad during. Maybe that's good preparation because it's going to take that long. It feels like, doesn't it? Yeah, I don't know if it's going to take six, but it's not going to be under five, that's for sure.

So, yeah, so I mean, it is a little different. But at the same time, I kind of like it that way. Like a lot of times, you know, going between events, you finish late on Sunday and then you can't get out. So you're traveling on Monday. Monday's just kind of shot. So then you feel like you've got to get to the course on Tuesday and cram. and it just feels all kind of rush back-to-back events.

So being able to do like a bulk of the work early in the week and then kind of taper and get the adequate amount of rest as the week goes on, my abs and nuggets are not helping me because they tip off and puck drop at like 10.30 every freaking night. So that's not great for my rest. But I think with how bad the abs looked last night, I think I can put that one to bed and go to sleep early on Wednesday. So I want to, I mean, you and I haven't even talked about this, but talk about like how you approach this week from an expectation standpoint.

Haven't missed a cut this year. You got two top fives. There have been times where you've led the field in approach. There have been weeks where you've been top five in putting. There's incredibly, somehow, been weeks where you've been top five and shots gain off the T. You're coming into this. I know. My square thing.

You're coming into this major, you know, probably I think you and I would say a better golfer than you've ever been at a major. But, you know, you also got the best guys in the world out there and you got a course that's a big boy golf course. So how do you think about expectations this week? How do you mentally prepare for this one having now been in a couple of these? Do you approach it any differently than the ones before? Yeah, I mean, this is the first one. that I've been at that I'm not just happy to be here. I actually feel both from a golf course standpoint.

I mean, I feel like even if I had felt good about my game when I got to O'Kill last year, I would have played nine holes in that course and been like, well, I'll just be happy to make the cut. That was too much golf course for me at that time. I'd love to get another shot at it now. But yeah, I mean, both were my game at and the course itself. I feel like this is the first one I've showed up. hey, I can actually really compete at this course. So I'm very excited for that. At the same time, I don't think, you know, I have to manage those expectations. It's not like I'm a betting favorite

either. So I feel like I'm kind of in a sweet spot for that where I know my game is really good now. I'm at my first major that I feel like I can do great things at. But also, you know, like it's not like I have a ton of pressure on me either. So it's a good spot. I've been working pretty hard on of putting the last couple weeks had a few changes. So I feel like I play well when I'm concerned with other stuff like that. It takes me out of my head and puts me in my process, whether I'm doing it on purpose or not. But I have a few things that I've been grinding on so hard that I'm so focused on that. So that makes me feel good that I'm not going to have to worry about like getting ahead of myself or, you know, worrying about outcomes.

related result related things. I'm just going to be focused on the work that I've been doing. I want to pick up on the putting because we are here at Valhalla back on bentgrass. And I think you just saw bent grass at Craig Ranch, right? Weren't those bent grass as well? Yeah, I think so. Do you, as you go like venue to venue, your preparation, does it matter to you what the grass is on the putting greens? because it's something we talk about

like when we're trying to oh this guy putts really good on poe this guy putts really good does it matter to you? Yeah absolutely everybody has their favorites and their least favorite grass is a butt on

what's that? Poa yeah well name a golfer's who it isn't like Tiger would say it's his Tiger would say it's his favorite because he could say that and act like he could get in everybody's head

and put good there and, you know, he would do some stuff in his stroke to make it so, but everybody's least favorite is Poe. It's the least consistent. You just finished third at Pebble? Yeah, well, I mean, but that's the thing with Poe is, like, I played in college out there. You know, I don't like it, but I know how to get it around,

you know, even if it's 1% better than the next guy, that gives me an advantage because it's everybody's least favorite. And I would say the exact opposite with Ben. If you get on really good Ben Greens, I don't think there's going to be a lot of guys that say that Ben isn't their favorite. I don't know enough about grass to comment on this, but it depends on the quality of the bent. You can play some pretty bad bent greens that get chewed up pretty fast. But yeah, and there's nothing better than good bent greens,

which was part of the reason I was glad the weather kind of held today because the greens were really nice yesterday. and I didn't, you know, with 156 guys and their caddies and coaches and stuff walking around, like soft bent greens can get pretty chewed up pretty fast. And, you know, that's definitely going to be a factor, you know, late Friday afternoon after all that play. So I was glad that it didn't rain as much as it was forecasted. Okay, so continuing the putter thread,

we know that you recently made a switch putter-wise, walk us through like the timing, the idea behind it and kind of what you've found since making the change. Yeah, I, you know, I've putted with the same putter since 2014, basically since I've had status out here and the same style, basically all my life.

But I've been working with my coach for, you know, a good year now just to kind of make my stroke a little bit more consistent and not necessarily change it, but just fine-tune it. And I feel like some of the stuff that we were trying to accomplish was kind of being, you know, held back by my old putter. And it just got to a point where I was tired of working really hard and not kind of seeing the progress that I was hoping for. So I just kind of, you know, after Zurich, which kind of was consistent with what I'd been seeing where, you know, we'd work pretty hard on it early in the week. could start off really good and then it would slowly just kind of get worse and fall back into my old bad habits. I kind of just said, you know, enough's enough and why not

try something. So I switched, you know, putted for about three hours with about 50 different putters on Tuesday of Byron Nelson and found one that I was one of the last ones I would have ever tried. But it's the spider pretty similar to what Scotty and Roy are using little different neck the way it sets in. And I just kind of went with it and putted great with it. So it is a big change, but at the same time, I feel like it's a change that I've been unknowingly working to with the work that I've been doing with my coach.

And this putter just matches kind of the consistency and tendencies I'm trying to implement better. We talked about the last round at Zurich. And I didn't even ask you this, but you played that last round with Rory and Shane. They went on to win. Rory has since absolutely dominated the shit out of Quail Hollow last weekend.

There's lots of news about Rory today that I'm not going to ask you about. But I'm just curious that day, I mean, listen, you guys lost to him by one out there, and you probably felt like things go different way you could have beaten him. Did you see it? Did you see the same golfer that played Quail Hollow last weekend?

Was he building then? Or, you know, were you surprised to see the leap that he made from Zurich to Quill Hollow? This is really because House has picked him to win and House is trying to decide whether he needs to hedge his bets. I mean, look, it's Rory. And I've told you this. Like, he's probably the only guy. out here that I've played with that when he's playing well,

I watch just how high and good he hits everything when he's hitting it well. Was he playing that way on Sunday at Zurich? Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, though, is it's, he's never not like that. Like, yeah, he misses shots. It's the consistency, but he still hits those shots, even when he's not at his best, where you're like,

how did that seven iron just come off the face like that? So yeah, definitely he drove it great that day. We both had a thing where we were playing our partner, Strickson balls. And on the greens, I think we were both struggling a little bit with speed and midway through the round on his driver holes especially. But the holes he was putting on, too, he switched back to his tailor-made ball and started making everything. So that's something that I definitely look back at and wonder about,

whether and I'd like to ask him behind closed doors whether that was a driver change or a putter change but yeah I mean I saw I definitely saw you know times where I was very impressed like I said he drove it great his irons weren't awesome but he still hit a few that were awesome so you know it's like I said it's it's Rory I don't think you can really look at it and be like oh I didn't see anything or oh I definitely saw it coming like he always looks like he's really close to playing the kind of golf we know he's capable of. But you played with him both days on the weekend in Canada a year ago. Did you notice anything substantive about the swing or anything that would have told you,

yeah, there's something different now? Not really. I mean, the biggest thing that I noticed is mid, like, he was not putting well the same as me midway through the round and then switch something and started making everything. And then he was. So that was the biggest thing. But, yeah, I mean, he drove it good all day. I think he probably hits his tailor-made ball a little bit further.

So there was a couple of, you know, bombs on the back nine that were extra bomby. But, yeah, I mean, nothing, nothing that different. All right. I want to get focused here. I want to get a little bit fired up if you can, if you can handle it. You know, we spent some time together so, you know, I can get a little over the top with my enthusiasm. We're looking at you appear on a list. where the number of rounds at par or better,

you're on that list. That list has only two other names on it. One of those names is Scotty Sheffler. That's positive vibes only. We're headed in the right direction. You're on a late, early draw. How do you feel about that? Do you like that draw?

I do like that draw. I don't know what they're saying, but just based on the weather app, Friday looks iffy. So playing in the morning then, I think is possibly a bonus. I think Friday afternoon greens are going to be pretty sketchy. So playing in the morning, Friday morning sounds pretty good to me.

And overall, I just like late early in general as a tea time. This is what I'm looking for. This is it. Yeah. No, it's overall. I think if you're playing well, I like going late early. you just kind of stay more in a flow. If you're struggling, early late can be just okay

because, you know, you can go practice and stuff in between. But overall, I think if you're in rhythm, late early is what you want. Well, that's why we set it up the way we did. This gentleman is in rhythm. We like positive vibes only. We've got you on the dance card. I'm not going to say how or where, under what circumstances or denominations,

but I just want you to know it's positive vibes only. coming from your boys here at Fairway Rowling. Your brothers, literally your brother, and then your homeboy. So let's have a week. Why not? I mean, you love the golf course. It's your favorite major. You're playing the best golf of your life.

Let's go have a week. What do you say, Nate Dogg? I sure hope that's the plan. Not flying a fucking Lexington and Louisville did not have a week. I mean, right, Mark? Yeah, no. Like I said, I mean, this is the. first major I've ever felt like I really have a chance at.

So that's, that's really fun to be here and not feel like I'm just, you know, here for the swag. I'll see you tomorrow. Give me somebody get me some swag. So Nathan has my address. I'm on it. Oh, God. That would be my job.

Mark Hubbard, uh, rooting hard for you. As is the, the homeless hub is tracker. We're all behind you supporting multiple birdies. We want that guy to drink 100 course lights by the weekend. All of the course lights. All every course light wherever he happens to reside. Thanks so much for coming on with your pals here, Fairway, Roland. Yeah, thanks for having me, boys.

All right, Nate, Doug. We just heard from your brother, Mark Hubbard, on the grounds at Valhalla. I have done some further research. We've had the ability to take in some of the press conferences. We have a little bit more intelligence around the weather forecast and the draw has come out. We have, you know, T times for a bunch of these guys. I'll just share with you some of the feedback from boots on the ground that I'm sort of hearing and receiving. So Zander Schaftly, yes, I said to Justin Ray, I'm not betting Zander to win the golf tournament.

He is absolutely positively striping the golf ball as though, you know, with, every bit as much accuracy and gusto as what we saw at Quill Hollow mentally, Xander's in the exact right place you would want him to be, which is to say, I ran into a bus saw, that dude came out and played a version of golf that is not one that I've ever

attained in my life, and I don't take any bad feelings from that, but razor sharp. Do you like him with J.T. and Ludwig in a group? I think it's fine. I don't think that that poses a challenge to him. He's so laid back. I don't

think that it affects his approach one way or the other. It's going to be comfortable with J.T. He and J.T. are Rider Cup brothers. And Ludwig, I'm sure they're fine with, you know, they'll welcome the young man. I'm glad you mentioned Ludwig. The knee was certainly something that he had on his mind, but there are no lingering effects whatsoever. You could, if you wanted to be a person that's cynical about the world, say that it was a great

excuse for him to take a full week off and get the rest, extra rest that he wanted. But no matter what, it is not an element that we have to factor into the potential outcomes, no reason to lose your enthusiasm for Ludwig Oberg this coming week. Little John Rom feedback that I got, he's looking, how do I say this politely? bigger, which is to say like, you know, maybe enjoying. In a comfortable way or in a I've been in the gym kind of way?

Not the gym. He is the other direction. Now, Aben Lynch on the golf channel, live from PGA Championship, by the way, very quick tangent. I adore. It's my, like, the live froms, the week of the championships are so goddamn good. anyway, we can keep praising that as time goes on.

But Eamon Lynch about John Romps showed sort of the side-by-side of places he's played thus far this year compared to places he's played. He played last year, achievements over last year versus this year. There's really no comparison. I think John Rom is still sorting out the decision that he made to join the Live Tour. And there was a lot in that press conference today where he said he still feels like a member of the PGA tour and he's support. and sounded like Aaron Oberhoesel went bananas on him on the telecast.

He did. Aaron did that. Aaron was pissed. Well, but it is what it is. It tells you that John is still not sure that he made a decision that he's thrilled with. If it doesn't go the way that I think he was told, it would go if he made the decision, which is to say, I think he thought they'd already be together. All of that.

and just confirmatory diligence around our own, is it time to invest in John Rom? My recommendation to all the birdie buddies out there would be no. There is a strong sentiment on the ground that in particular, the live guys are kind of notwithstanding the ROM bit we just touched on, there are a bunch of live guys sort of chomping at the bit to come put on a great performance here because while four of them did finish in the top 12 at the Masters, by and large, it was a meh performance.

They had two tied for sixes in Bryson Deschambeau and Cam Smith. This venue setting up in a kind of U.S. Open style of thing does seem like it creates a bunch of opportunity for some names we haven't heard from. I keep seeing Dustin Johnson pop up in different folks sort of handicapping, like, let's keep an eye out for this. Jason Sobel had DJ on one of his, you know, considerations for a long shot kind of bet. Terrell Hatton is getting a lot of good buzz out there.

We've already shared, I've shared my enthusiasm for Beefy Bryson. Brooks, it goes without saying as a U.S. Open and PGA Championship kind of guy. Brooks sitting out there with Max and Jordan in a group looks like a very, very interesting one we ought to be paying attention to. Well, interesting how? What do you mean? I just think those guys could all... Jordan, I think, is hurt, but you know, you know I'm excited about Max this week. And I think him being in a group with Brooks

and sort of just mentally having that sort of laser sharpness of focus that he's playing with a defending champ is great for Max. If Jordan's wrist was in a condition that you and I trusted, I'd say that maybe the winner's going to come from one of those three guys. The other thing about, again, what we heard from homeless, might speak well of a live guy.

Those runoffs, the grass stuff means that creativity of somebody like Cam Smith could be brought to the table. And he's a guy. You don't think of him as a long bomber, but you do think about him maximizing scoring chances. So that's why my card might have like Camp Smith, Teryl Hatton, some tiny bit on DJ, just like a recognition of what this golf course sort of opens up. It's different from Augusta for a whole bunch of.

them. The other thing that I heard, there's buzz on the grounds, notwithstanding my own pessimism around this prospect, around Cam Young. And your brother played with Cam Young today, and it sounds like he's striping the ball on Nate, Doug. Yeah, he made a bunch of birdies, and I was just going to ask you that, because you added him to the do not bet list last week. And so I just wanted to know if this intel and what we're here and changes the way you think about it. I'm going to go back into the top 10 and top 20 Wells. I'm not willing to do top five. I'm not willing to invest anything

in Cam Young to win the golf tournament. But I will put him back into my top 10 and top 20 marketplace and I may combo it. I have to think long and hard. So that's what I, all that I've taken in. Where are you? Where's your head now that we're

less than 48 hours from first T in the ground? Well, I'm worried about your Rory pick. And I'm worried about it. because news of his personal situation has come out. And look, he knew that he was filing papers when he won at Quail Hollow. So that's not so much what it's about.

But I do think there's a little bit of a bigger circus around all of this, lots of rumors about what Jimmy Dunn's stepping down means and what this news for Rory coming out right now means. And there's just really a lot that I think is noise. Now, he's had noise before that's helped him focus and play well. But I just wonder if this is maybe just a step too far in the sort of public, listen, it's not an easy thing to go through. And the public acknowledgement of it is a very difficult step, no matter what's actually going on behind the scenes.

So let's see, but it feels like a lot of chaos, a lot of noise. And when you couple that with maybe Rory shot his load last week, I'm a little nervous. to say it that way. Yeah. Let me just share with you very quickly these circumstances. So these are just some facts. I'm just going to give you facts. Fact number one, Rory McElroy, never won a major tournament while engaged or married.

That's a fact. That's, you know, you don't, Rory McElroy broke up with the woman he was engaged to in 2014 and won the event that was occurring. that week, which was the BMW PGA championship at Wentworth. Roy McElroy, the year of his broken engagement, went on as a single person

to not only win three straight events, back to back to back, the WGC event, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship, because that was back when the PGA Championship was in August.

He also had several top tens, a handful of top fives. He finished tied for second in the PGA Tour Championship. So that was 10 years ago. Different person altogether didn't have a child, right? So the life circumstances now are different, but I am not willing to say that the drama surrounding his relationship status is necessarily going to have a drag effect on his performance. That's the polite way that I'll put it for right now. The hook is so deeply set in your mouth. I'm surprised you got those words out.

He gotcha. I was just trying to do some little J journalism. I mean, you know, you can look this stuff up. You can see how he did. He was a free man back then. He is a free man at the moment. No, I mean, you know, filing for divorce doesn't, necessarily launch you into anything. But obviously, as you say, this was a long time coming.

And the fact that we have two pretty stellar performances that are arriving coincident with this thing that's happening in his life, feels like he's able to compartmentalize. That's all I will say. So here we are now celebrating the 10th anniversary of his return to Valhalla. And the circumstances, while very different, are. in this highly curious way, there's a little bit of a similarity. Yeah, I mean, he said it after, he said it to Amanda on Sunday after the round,

he said, hey, it feels like the stars are aligning, and he knew that there were papers being filed on Tuesday. So, you know, there must be something that, you know, he knew about in that moment. So he seemed to be feeling good. He seemed to be feeling good. I wonder if we'll look back on that moment and, you know, it'll tell us a lot about his performance this week.

There might be some moments that we'll be able to look at over the last handful of interviews he may have given over the course of this year that could be revelatory to us. We shall see, Nate Dogg. But that's kind of all that I had. Are there any other names that you wanted to shine a light on, you know, that that's occurred over the last, you know, little bit here, any other names of players I'm talking about.

No, I mean, look, the weather, the weather seems to have wiped out a lot of these interviews. And so, you know, we got some Tiger today. There wasn't a whole lot that came out of that. I mean, I think we know what we know. He's just trying to get his way around. I'm not sure. Look, the course is what we thought it was. Let's put it that way.

I think the weather, as Mark implied, is only going to favor the big boys. but it is telling that Mark Hubbard's sitting there saying, hey, I can attack this, isn't it? Because, I mean, when he went to Wingfoot, he was like, I am fucked. Right. And, you know, we got... And O'Kill.

O'Kill also. Yeah. Yeah. You know, this course, he at least feels like he's got a puncher's chance. And so as you fill out your top 20 cards, you might go back to... It makes Tommy Fleetwood, for example, who you talk about...

about earlier in the week, much more of a palatable, believable competitor here, if Mark feels like he can go at it. Because those are two guys who can swing irons extremely well. And, you know, so I think it maybe tells you that

there's some guys who are going to come in with momentum who've been playing well, who just because they don't hit the ball as far as Cam Young, maybe have a chance to be a factor in your top 10, top 20 cards this week. Yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned my guy Tommy Fleetwood because as we continue to do the research and stuff, I just love

the form that he's in, plus just, you know, his overall capacity in majors to handle this. And you remember, top 10 finish in one of the previous two majors, he's right there, top 20 in his previous start. He's right there. 21st or better than official world golf rankings. He's right there. Like if you're using some filters to try and find, you know, just a hand. full of names.

Tommy Fleetwood is on all these lists for sure. Yeah. There are for sure courses. Well, let's say one other thing. Look, there are for sure courses where the range of guys who could potentially compete gets winnowed down to about 10.

I don't think this is one of them. The other thing I'll say is, yeah, the Scotty interviews, he definitely was out of his routine house and he came in feeling comfortable. We should note that he's not going to have his caddy, Ted Scott, will not caddy on Saturday because he's going to go to his son's graduation.

So I'm just saying all the stats on Scotty are great. Nothing else in terms of what he's coming in with having just had a baby last week, saying that he's thinking about that all the time on and off the course, having a weird caddy mix up on a Saturday. None of that says that Scotty Sheffler is going to dominate the way that he has dominated

coming into this tournament. And if with all of it, of those things. Scottie Sheffler wins this tournament. Ooh boy, we are talking, maybe then you'll give me the word historic when we start to talk about Scottie Sheffler. Well, it would be another major and the Grand Slam would still be in order. So for sure, I mean, I, that wouldn't be, I wouldn't really be going out on a limb to do that. I will say, I'm not cowed at all from my top tens and top 20 plays with Scottie this week. Because even if everything goes absolutely wrong for him and including a, you

know he could have a bad putting week it does happen if he has a bad putting week that means he finishes in the top 10 as opposed to finishing it as opposed to winning or finishing in the top five so i'm comfortable with all of the scotty exposure that we have out there lurking in the shadow still once again very quiet brooks kebka out there just doing his thing very quietly night dog let's keep an eye on it all right my betting buddies couple final thoughts that the fando sports book does indeed have up odds for tiger and phil i'm on tiger to miss the cut this is not augustin national i think the walk is going to be a hard walk it's minus one ninety two for tiger to miss the cut if you bet tiger to miss the cut let's see here uh you you can't combine that with phil

Mickelson to make the cut, but I do like Phil to make the cut at plus 166. It's top 70 in ties. You'll remember with this field, Tiger to miss the cut, Phil to make the cut, Phil plus 166 to make Tiger minus 192 to miss. And then I'm looking at some of the names that Nathan and I just touched on where I want to do some small combination. So I have them on the card. I really like Xander Shafley to top 10 this week.

So I am willing to do Xander at plus one. to top 10. And then I'm going to marry that up with my guy Tommy Fleetwood, who's available to top 10 at plus 360. If you combine those two, you don't have to on the Fandall Sports. But you can. And it's fun. That two-leger is 10 to 1.

It's better than 10 to 1. And then I also, notwithstanding some of my observations with Jay Ray, I'm going to go ahead and continue to support Cameron Young a little bit available for a. a top 10 at plus 450. I might have like a tiny amount on him at that plus 450 price, but I'm more likely to play Cameron Young to top 20,

and that price is plus 200. So two to one for Cam Young, who is played in, I believe, eight majors coming into now and has more than half of those have been good finishes. So I like the idea of him. We're going to do some stuff involving some Cam Smith because of his creation.

around the on the ground the greens. That's going to be top 10 and top 20 territory. Another guy who's born out that the notion that majors are his time. And then some nostalgic stuff, why not? Why not with Dustin Johnson? And we don't have to spend a whole lot of money. If you want to do it, Dustin Johnson, on a standalone basis to finish in the top 20 is sitting there at plus 280.

if you want to put him with his live brethren, Bryson D. Shambo, who I think is one of my most preferred names on the entire dance card. Bryson's plus 25 to finish top 20. So plus 125 plus 280. That combo pays out plus 755. So those are just some of the things I'm thinking,

the names that I'm sort of looking at, some of the feedback we've heard on the grounds. And again, this is all, don't do this in denominations that are going to hurt the wallet. This is to have a wonderful week at the PGA championship. The way our guy homeless hubs is going to do, look at homeless hubs odds. I have, I'm superstitious, so I will not give out any of those odds, but rest assured that we're heavily invested in our guy, Mark Hubbard, this week. And there we go. There we have hit my Eagle enthusiast, my parisaving pals, my birdie buddies.

It is a championship week. Thanks, as always. Our new tradition, Mark Herbert comes on the week of the PGA championship and gives us the breakdown and the lowdown. Hopefully all that information we imparted as useful to all of you and your own pools and daily fantasy and betting cards.

Nathan and I shall be back with a recap on Sunday evening. It'll be on Fandle TV on Monday morning. and it'll be up on the podcast, Aeroaves overnight. So be looking for that on the Ringer podcast network and Fandul TV. And in the meantime, my birdie buddies, our thanks to Nathan Hubbard,

our thanks to our producer, Eduardo Ocampo, our thanks to all the social teams pushing out all this great content. Please, if you're able to, I sure hope you are. It's golf season all across these great United States and all over the world. Throw a peg in the ground and let's hit them straight out there.

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