Fairway Rollin' - Rory in OG Form With Players Win ... Major Next? Plus, Valspar Championship Picks!

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

House and Hubbard tee off with a recap of The Players, including Rory McIlroy’s playoff win and what this momentum means for the reason of the season (01:56). They also discuss who impressed and disappointed the most during the tournament (24:37). Afterward, they circle back to Rory’s odds of winning a major this year and how the potential Ryder Cup golfers are performing at the moment (45:13). Finally, they preview and offer their favorite plays for the Valspar Championship (56:53). 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 Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you hear the word Seattle Supersonics, what comes to mind? Maybe it's Sean Kemp, The Rain Man, or Gary Payton, the glove, or maybe an image of a tall and skinny 19-year-old rookie, Kevin Duran. For fans in Seattle, it's something else. It's tragedy. It's theft. An iconic team with an incredible fan base that packed its bags and shipped off for Oklahoma City. From Spotify and The Ringer, I'm Jordan Ritter-Con.

And in my podcast, Sonic Boom, I talk to players, politicians, owners, and fans about how Seattle lost the Sonics. You can listen to it on the Book of Basketball feed, on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, friends. This golf podcast, unlike any other. Oh, yes, my friends, we have done it. We're back. This is Faraway Rolling.

A golf podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your host, Joe House. That also makes me the starter. Joined by our incomparable accomplice, our PGA tour. Boots on the ground. His boots were on the ground down in Pondavidra. Last weekend, Nathan Hubbard is here. It is a two ball.

The pegs are in the ground. And off we go. Nate Dogg, did you have as good as St. Patrick's Day? is Rory McElroy? Well, clearly not. Clearly not. Long live the players' house. First of all,

a million and a half people watched that St. Patrick's Day finish. That is a lot for a morning golf show on the golf network. On the golf channel. Something is happening. What is it?

What do you think is happening? I don't know exactly what it is. I think that the confluence of TGL and drama and Netflix is all working. I guess I would have said that we're figuring out what the floor is, but those ratings for a Monday finish. Now, look, it's Rory.

And what we know is that the personalities drive the eyeballs. What was fun about this players is the leaderboard started to sift itself out across Saturday, where it kind of became Rory against everybody else. And I thought that NBC did a pretty good job telling the stories of, some of the other could-bees who were in contention, even though you live bet the shit out of Rory on Saturday. Well, once we saw some of the names that were hovered around there, I was like, I mean, I got to have a piece of Rory.

What are we talking about? And it just became obvious that we were getting, pebble notwithstanding, we were getting the first time Rory was meaningfully in contention on U.S. TV since the big meltdown at the U.S. Open. I am interested to discuss with you how you think he handled this moment. It's a great win for Rory. He seems to be in the driver's seat as we turn that corner heading to the Masters.

His two closest non-live rivals in Zander and Scotty each seemed to be somewhat disheveled and discombobulated for different reasons, although, let's be clear. Scotty Schaeffler's floor is fucking T-20. Like, he's not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere. But, you know, this is a wonderful redemption part of the arc for Rory, but we're not a major season yet. So, as the original ride or die for Rory McElroy, I mean, this has been years, you and I have been talking about this, years, a decade. And he's been your guy.

There was a moment last year in which you were just fucking done and you'd had enough. Did this performance get you back on the train? are you betting Rory McElroy for the Masters? Well, you know me better than most, Nathan Hubbard. I've already bet Roy McElroy to win the Masters. I mean, as soon as the calendar flips to a new year and the sports books are open with odds for the Masters, I mean, it's an auto bet for me,

Rory McElroy, at preposterous odds that I've just grown even more preposterous. Now at this moment as we tape this with his two wins, you know, you've heard it touted all over the place since that fantastic finished by him Monday morning the first time in his career

he has two PGA tour wins and pretty classy wins. Let's talk about Pebble Beach that he dominated with a driver. But my true sentiment, the takeaway for me and the question I'll pose to you,

to me, this was Rory elevating himself into his true OG era. And what I mean by that is he won a golf tournament without his best stuff. Well, that's for sure. He won a golf tournament where Driver was not a weapon for him.

He won a golf tournament where he putted well, which is kind of funny to say because it felt like he could have put the golf tournament away several times on the back nine on soccer. on Sunday. Even the back nine on Saturday. He ganked a couple of puts that felt like... The numbers are very friendly,

very supportive of the idea that he putted very well. Ninth in putting overall for the week. In addition to the putting, let's look at some of these other numbers. So driving accuracy, as we've said, not great, 67th amongst the players that made the cut but he made up for it with his approach game,

fifth overall, and we saw it in all of its glory in the shot that he hit on the 17th green in the playoff, which was really, it should go down in the Rory Lour as one of his all-time great shots. He won the golf tournament with that shot. He had the one-stroke lead going in.

He promptly hit a very, very, very classy, technically difficult. He called it three-quarter of a three-quarter nine. He'd been working on into the wind with the trackman all morning, right? He knew he was going three-quarters. He worked that thing out.

The fun thing is that both he and Spawn talked about hitting that shot. They practiced the shot into 17 on the range, attempting to replicate the wind that they thought. they were going to face. And it seems like I've heard some of the conjecture out there that spawn didn't factor in the impact of the grandstands surrounding.

And so that might have impacted some element of the number being off for him. But I think it was a combination of a tiny bit of bad luck because he've absolutely flushed the eight iron and maybe some adrenaline was part of it. it was a piercing shot that had no chance of being diminished by the wind in the way that Rory's was. And that's just the difference between Rory, McElroy and J.J. Spawn. I mean, it's not a knock on JJ. No. I also think if you listen to J.J., it sure felt like some of that was just rubber the green. And he hit the shot that he wanted to.

We'll come back on J.J. I want to stay on Rory, though, in his execution, because he's, said, I mean, he only hit half the fairways this week and won the golf tournament. And that has only been done one other time at the players. So this was a, there was a lot of chatter amongst the golf talking heads about this being a reflection of Rory as a more complete player. And that Brad Faxon, the Rory Whisperer, had not let him panic when his putting was, you know, kind of mediocre on Saturday. And that instead of feeling like they needed to overhaul it, it was more of a sort of holistic, hey, you're a good putter.

Let's get back out there, kid. So there was this dialogue about this being representative of the new Rory who has just locked in since the U.S. Open to try to keep up with the young guys who are coming through. I take all that. And I believe all of that house. but it sure felt like he was trying to choke it coming down the back nine on Sunday still and again and the bogey on 14 I mean he was three shots up coming out of that rain break after making the putt on 12 and from there you and I had been talking all morning about what we thought the winning score was

going to be and I said geez Rory's now three under through eight I mean you got to believe in some capacity. He could have four, three more net birdies in him. This thing's going to get to 15. And suddenly, it was not getting to 15. And it wasn't because of the conditions house. It really wasn't. The tension is there. But he feels delicate, even in this moment. And when he walked off that course on Sunday night, he knew he had let this one get away from him. J.J. Spawn very easily. could have made that put on 18. And I think even more importantly, like,

you got a birdie 16 on Sunday. You just have to burdy that part five, especially from the fairway. And he didn't. And so I think there is still this fragility to Rory that despite all of the talking head narrative that, and I don't criticize it because it's true and it's insightful,

Rory is more rounded. And he did win this tournament without his quote unquote A game. But I don't care how much work he's done. there is still going to be that pressure moment where he's looking at the four and a half footer that he did on Sunday on 18 that but for a breath of wind, he would have lip that put out and lost his golf tournament. And it's what we still love about Rory is there he is not Tiger. He never will be Tiger. It's always going to be about what's between the ears. And as much as we got to

celebrate the way he won this, it's, he's still Rory. And he was Rory on the back nine. I mean, it was a full Rory experience. We had a little thread going, and as that back nine arrived, I said to you and our co-conspirator that I needed Rory standing on the T at 13 under because at that juncture, if he makes par on 14, then I feel pretty good about there being a reasonable opportunity for two more birdies. you know, 15 where that pin was. It was an accessible pin.

He proved it to us by the shot that he had been in there. And then 16 should be an auto birdie. And I thought he would get to the 15 that you forecasted at the beginning of the day on Sunday and walk away with this golf tournament that he would get to 15 under

and the next closest guy would be 11 under and that would be it. And we'd be singing the huzzas and doing the coronation. Now we're doing hazaz and coronation with a different version of him, which I think in a way, this is why I'm saying

this OG kind of concept, right? Yeah. That's the spirit. I appreciate it. And look, he missed the fairway on 16 after a bad week of driving. And again,

this was a gutty kind of win in that way. But he was going against J.J. Spawn and Tom Hogi and Akshay Batia and Lucas Glover and Danny Walker and Bud Colley. And you and I both were like, there's only three people. At the start of the day, five holes in, we said there's only three people who are winning this golf tournament. It's going to be Rory, it's going to be Akshay, or maybe

it's going to be Can't Lay. Now, I thought JJ hung in there admirably, even though he shot even par. He didn't completely buckle down the stretch, although, you know, it wasn't a great day for JJ to say the least. And in particular, his putter just was ice cold. He was almost dead last in putting that day. And I think that was a reflection of the nerve. not that big a deal. But I, this is a field that Rory should blow away. I mean, it felt like somebody in the golf Twitterverse said this, and I think it was accurate. JJ really wanted to win.

Rory needed to win. Losing that tournament on the back nine could have been devastating. So I think it was a, I'm happy for him. I'm happy for golf. The ratings reflected it well. But I wouldn't get, as we start looking at the math, When he's being chased on Sunday on the back nine at Augusta, it's going to be somebody like Bryson or Scotty or Xander or some guys. John Rom.

Or John Rom. Big bad mother effort. Yeah, some guys with a little bit more of the dog in them where a one over performance from 13 on in is just not going to do it. You're going to have to go hit fairways and make birdie. So I don't want to take anything away from it. it is a historic win and it does matter. And in part, the fragility is what we love about Rory.

And that's why I love this win. And I was rooting for it. Yeah. And, you know, joining the ranks of guys that have won more than one major and two players, it's Jack Nicholas, Tiger Woods,

Scotty Schaeffler, and Rory McElroy. That's a damn good list. That's a good list, Rory. And it's for sure a career enhancer. His resume grows, his legend grows. But it's all about the majors now, right? That's it. Well, that's right.

I think some combination of majors and additional PGA Tour wins, one of the thoughts that occurred to me watching the playoff that I thought JJ never had a chance in. And honestly, it felt like it was over after Rory's drive on 16, the first swing of the damn day. Ironically, the golf club that we thought had escaped him was the thing. that like the mighty blow that he struck, that was really set the tone. And he went on. And I will very quickly give a kudos.

We'll give more kudos to JJ. But I just want to remind everybody, he did Bertie 14 and 16 down the stretch to give himself that chance. He's standing out of a put on 18. A tough hole that Rory Bogie. The toughest, exactly. He, JJ Spawn did the thing of closing the gap.

So I want to make sure that we give the props to the man who showed the stones coming down the stretch. And that ball could have rolled one and a half more revolutions on that put on 18. It was dead center, dead cut, center cut, win the golf tournament, take $4.5 million and ride off into the sunset, JJ Spahn. Now, I have to console himself the $2.75 million. He's fine. Yeah, I think it'll work out. okay but you know we we have rory i think properly uh treated here covered off they're very very well and it sets us up go ahead yeah yeah well i wanted to just say a couple of things about what

also deserves some treatment and that's the course oh yeah just say to everybody is this is my second favorite tournament to go to outside of the masters it's that well run the course is that fun and well manicured. The crowds are knowledgeable and strong. The energy around 16, 17, and into 18 is, most courses try to emulate it. It's not, it's not as rowdy as Arizona, which is probably my third favorite golf tournament to go to. But it is, it feels more intense. And it's just a wonderful exactly what it's supposed to be, which is a stadium course that presents the product

so well. If you have a chance to go, go see it. It's really worth it, and it's in Florida, so the weather's a little bit more reliable than if you go to Rochester in May to see the PGA or whatever. So it is a tournament.

I got to get you outhouse. The players is really well done, and that's not something we always say about the PGA tour, but they do it very, very well. is their flagship event at their home. And, you know, one of the things that has a knock-on effect there is their ability to control every element, every single blade of grass. It's their version of the Masters, right? Where the Masters is able to prepare all year long for a single weekend, a week. Difference is sawgrass gets a ton of play. Yes. And so to get it into shape.

I mean, you know, the mounting that they did and the way they grew up, the rough, and actually the way they mowed the rough, on 14, on the right there, changed the course of the tournament. I mean, that's what had Rory Bogie. Right. And so it made that hole so difficult. It was a very thoughtful setup by a tour that we sometimes, you know, we're going to see CREG, TPC Craig Ranch pretty soon. We're going to see some courses that are pretty blase and not set up in the way that we would love. A 12 under golf tournament, it's all you and I could ask for because it means their birdies to go get. That's right.

It means that, you know, there's some challenges out there. And yeah, there was a tough, real tough day on Saturday with the win. But, again, it was done well. And for all golf fans, you just, it's a great experience. I do want to say we have continued validation of moving this on the calendar from May to March. It really does, I think. Makes it matter. Fill a need.

I couldn't agree more. And it is one of the observations when we talked with our pal Jason Sobel last week, look at the list of winners that have, you know, that this tournament has produced high quality. With this March start, like it's major winners. This is, you know, we're not going to waste our breath on where does this thing rank and stature and all that stuff. And it doesn't make any sense until the reunification and we start seeing. the best players from the Live Tour playing at this venue again under these conditions. It's going to be awesome.

I think it'll be as soon as next year. We'll continue to knock on wood. Obviously, no updates, which is situation normal on that stupid front. But I do want to say, in addition to your observation of the setup, your experience on the grounds, the thing that the tour is able to do with NBC as its broadcast partner is present this tournament, this championship, in a way that it deserves. It really gets great. You don't worry about, is the tech going to be in place? All of the criticisms that we, I think, very fairly throw at NBC for its underperforming effort at, you know, tournaments that aren't this one, you have to hold your tongue. because they do a great job with this one. Yep.

For sure. And I would love to see NBC take some of the learnings from this week and apply it to other broadcasts that they do. Well, I mean, I think that they are willing. It's just the money. Like the money goes into this thing. And all of the energy and effort resources going into this tournament. Tell me, before we keep breaking down the outcome of the players,

what's the best thing you ate? Because the one thing at Sawgrass, very underrated, they do a great job in my experience when I've been down there. The food offerings are excellent. And they've been doing some like bringing some local vendors onto the ground kind of thing. What was the best thing you ate? There was a lot of it everywhere. And I would be lying to if I told you that I ate anywhere other than player family dining.

where they do a great job. Well, they do a great job, so that's why. Yeah, I crushed an omelet. I crushed a filet at night. Oh, wonderful. Why wouldn't you? Yeah, it was great. Was that a Friday night filet?

It was a Thursday night filet. Thursday night, okay. Yeah, it was a Thursday night. As I was, as we were trunk slamming on Friday, there was no time for a steak. Fair enough. It was airplane time. There are plenty of, concessions and food and drink options all over the course.

It is from a fan experience perspective, it is exactly what you want and that you wish every tournament signed up to do because it would make for the kind of energy that we got. And those fans came out in large numbers on Monday for that playoff. Yeah, so the fans impressed us. Yeah. The fans who watch this thing on TV impressed us in terms of players. there was one fan that didn't impress us

and that was the UT golfer guy who heckled a poor kid I don't be a schmutz man but for the grace of God like which of us haven't said the dumb thing at the wrong moment that gets out on you know when you're a guest of the tour

you got to be smarter than that and guess what let's the kid wrote an apology letter it's all good more than one yeah good life lesson apologize to everybody and let's it's okay kid it's okay But for all the rest of y'all, come on, don't be a fucking douchebag. Like, let's have fun.

Just don't be a douchebag. Like, you're better than that. Are we in any of that? Hey, hey, Bertie Buddy's fan duel is dialed in for the PGA tour. And so should you. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets if you win. That's $200. If you win, you think you.

you can pick a winner, well, lock in your bet on outright winners, longest drive, closest to the pin and more, plus combine multiple bets to make a parlay and get even bigger winnings. We are at the Valspar down in the

Greater Tampa area, the Innesbrook Resort, the Copperhead golf course. We like Corey Connors this week. We like Max McGruevy this week. We like Jacob Bridgman this week. We like Jordan's beat this week. Just visit Fandul.com. slash roll in R-O-L-L-I-N

and sync your first bet with Fandul, America's number one sports book, Fandul, the official betting operator of the PGA Tour. Quick disclaimer must be 21 years old or older and present in select states or 18 plus and present in D.C. First, online, real money wager,

only $5 first deposit required, bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit

RG-Help.com. Who else impressed you? What player impressed you? What performance impressed you? What caught your eye this week? You know, there were a couple, there were a couple of things. I guess I was,

I have not seen a Friday round like the Justin Thomas round. Okay. The thing I can think back to is when Spieth made a little bit of that comeback in Arizona and made the putt and the kid

fell over on 17 or wherever it was and there was energy on the grounds for that Speeth round. The place was electric for Thomas as he came down 16 because he had Smiley and Ricky sitting there doing

you know, Smiley's Happy Hour. So you had his buddies sort of in the booth and the whole course was just looking. There are scoreboards everywhere. Again, what a novel concept. And everybody could see Thomas was on a role. And there had been some chatter. Geez, Max really bombed out yesterday. Victor really bombed out yesterday. J.T. bombed out yesterday. There's some guys who aren't going to make it. And as he started to clause way back, man was the place electric. And when he came into that bowl. I've not seen much like that during a non-final round of a golf tournament. And that put he made on 17 to get to his 11th birdie was just, there's nothing short of it. It's a Travis Kelsey overused word, but it was electric, baby. It really was. And it bummer that he

bogeed 18 with just a six iron that just got hung up in the rough that he pulled in the water. but not a bad tie of the course record. And next time I walk off with the 62 disappointed, you can punch me right in the nose. But that was to me, and we've seen the ball striking from JT. We've seen that the game is absolutely coming back. And we've just sort of been waiting to see him break out.

And that's what that was Friday. It was just all of the focus that you can only get from an elite group of dogs of which he is won. Yes. I want to welcome back our good pal Will Zalotaurus. That's who caught my eye.

He was standing on the T at 14, I believe, 11 under par. The winning score for this golf tournament was 12 under par, and he was at 11 under par standing on T of 14 on Saturday. On Saturday. Yes, that is the point. And this is why

I'm so encouraged, so bolstered by what we saw out of him. It looked like he had good confidence in terms of that giant broomstick putter thing. Only one of those that he blew out. It all fell apart on 14, quadruple bogey on 14. Nine over coming down the stretch. It's brutal. So, right. 44 on the back.

after a two under front nine on Saturday. But I'm just thrilled to see him because he reminded us of the incandescent talent. And I think, oh, no, he finished T30. Where did JT end up? JT ended up with T33. So JT just had trouble following up that round. It just was kind of a mess Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was tough anyway.

Yeah, JT went 78, 62, 73, 73. Yeah. Zalotaurus was in position to be among the final three groups walking Sunday until he arrived until he completed the 14th hole and then he was, you know, it turned into a full eject. But I just was, I'm happy to have him back in the mix. It's good for golf. Speaking of happy to have him back, we have a, eyeballs, and we're going to have a continuing conversation, how are you feeling about Jordan

Speeth and the week that Jordan Speeth had? Yeah, I feel like it started well, and then it petered out. I feel like you can tell he's not getting what he wants to out of his game. Okay. It's, he's putting in all the work, the output isn't there, and I saw a lot of frustration in him, in particular on Sunday. All right. And, uh, All that said, he had absolute moments of speed brilliance. And, you know, despite a 78 on Sunday, the 73 on Saturday was not bad. And I really loved his Thursday, Friday rounds. So I think it's coming.

I think he's just putting all the little pieces together. And as we're going to talk about, you're not going to see him at these prices for very long. You're just not. He's going to play a lot better than you're seeing right now. Yeah, so we're going to, you know, foreshadowing here on Fairway Roll, and he's going to be on our dance card at the Valspar. Other guy that caught my attention, and we had a conversation with our pal Sobel

about the prospects of Shane Lowry. Yeah. And he cautioned us that Shane might be tired because of all the golf that he's been playing and the TGL commitments. Sunday 67. Looked pretty good. on a Sunday that was not yielding those kinds of scores because of the weather and another top 20 finish for Shane Lowry.

Now, he is, as we sit here or taping this, he's supposed to play the vows bar, taking no breaks, giving zero Fs, just going for it and riding this good form. I don't mind it either. No, I mean, for the event, he was fourth an approach and 57th in putting overall. But come Sunday with that round, he was like fourth. in putting that day or sixth in putting. So I love to see the game rounding into shape on a Sunday always. And if he's striking the ball well, by the way, this is, of course, this week where that will be extremely helpful.

So a guy who wasn't striking the ball well on Sunday and had visible frustration, but also finished tied for 20th, what is your temperature at the moment on Scotty Schaeffler? Yeah, I think Scottie is frustrated. This is the most frustrated we've seen Scotty in two and a half years. And he's still playing unbelievable world-class golf. Like Rory would have to win the Masters and win the next week and have Scottie do awful just to reclaim the number one player in the world position. So, like, Scottie is the distance is there.

And even this week, Rory talked about how Scotty's the guy that you've got to change your approach to the game if you want to keep up with him. So Scotty is frustrated. There was a little testiness with the media this week that I think was a reflection of that frustration. I think he's fine, man. I really do. I think this hand injury,

if you've ever cut your finger or your hand before, there is some lingering nerve stuff that even after the injury is healed and you can go use that finger or use that hand, you have a little bit of lingering nerve challenge. and I suspect that it's just taken him a little while to get the feel right. He also may have reverted a bit back to the mean on the putting side of things. Last year, it changed when he pulled in the mallet,

but it wouldn't surprise me if there was going to be a little bit of regression on that front, and that's what we're seeing. I think your observation about the time it takes for the hand to heal, if you're looking for an easy thing to sort of point at in his putting performance, because it's his putting performance that is holding him back at the moment. He was 14th in strokes gained off the tee. He was 16th in strokes gained approach.

His greens and regulation tied for six. Now, strokes gained around the green. He was negative. He was 45th. And his putting was 45th. So there we go. I mean, if you're looking for a culprit and I'll confess this,

I'll put my left hand up on this, one. I'm feeling impatient because I feel like it is like we're going week by week of places where he's been extraordinary, the API, this play. I just, I'm looking for, you know, the breakthrough, breakout, Scotty performance to remind us all of what he's capable of. But the hand might be a thing. And it's, I guess, an open question how much longer it will, it will be a thing where we would anticipate that by the second week of April, maybe it could be in the rear view mirror. We would cross our fingers for that, right, Nathan? We would. I think he's going to be just fine. Again, he's still very clearly the best golfer in the world. He's T-20ing with not just not his

best stuff the way that Rory had, but, you know, his putting stroke looks a little problematic at the moment. I suspect he's going to be just fine by the time we get to Augusta. Yes. Let's talk about disappointments. Who disappointed you the most? Oh. Well, I didn't love Minwu's performance. And I love Minwu. I do.

After the 66 on Friday, I really thought that maybe we were going to see something from him. And he just buckled a bit. And he has the quality of play to be better than this. but the few times that we've seen him in the spotlight, he's buckled a little bit. And that happened on Saturday. I thought maybe we might get a bounce back on Sunday, but he still was won over on Sunday.

So Min was, it's early in his career, but there was this focus with him and Akshay playing together. Hey, I mean, it's Akshay who said it. We're the next generation of guys. And they didn't play like the next generation of guys. But that was one where I thought we were maybe going to get a bigger weekend out of him than we did. I do want to give an honorable mention to Akshay.

Should have made the list in terms of who impressed because he did hang in there. Also, there were a couple moments where he clearly, you know, wasn't feeling it. It looked like there was a fall apart coming, but then he kind of bounced back and it looked like he was contending a good bit of Sunday. I liked he showed some dog that I enjoyed. So I will make sure we give him a little honorable mention. What's your disappointment? I mean, was it Tommy?

Was it Morikawa? I mean, they both finished admirably on Sunday. Was there anybody else who really let you down? I mean, you already know the answer to this. I'm going to just, I'm going to hold my tongue. I'm going to hold my tongue. But the Loving Oberg performance was a goddamn abomination. Like, Homeboy was coming down the stretch on the back,

a stroke off of the cut number and my man hits it into the rough on the right side on 16 which should be the birdie hole that should put him on the number to make the cut and my man cole shanks it in the rough and you know i i sat back and i i saw three doubles on friday man well but there's none not every double is built the same. You can't, you can't, that man hit the ball in the water after he shanked on 16 when the cut was in the offing. And if you can't give yourself a chance to be around the hoop, then you got to get gone. And so what I did was spent five minutes of my hard-earned time because he cost me much more

than that in hard-earned money, this boy, because he can't play out of the run. He's a bitch out of the rough. If you go back and look at his numbers at API and get his comments about how he experienced the rough there, they're not good. And if you just look at his season thus far, he's bad out of the rough. His rough proximity, he is 124th on tour in rough proximity.

He misses to the right with his driver a lot more than he misses to his left. That man is 141st on tour in right rough proximity. Homeboy can't play out the rough. Now, look, for him, thank God, there ain't no rough at Augusta National. Because that doesn't ruin the ticket that I already have. I'm standing on Luffy Goldberg to win the Masters. But I tell you what, I for sure in the forecasting,

now this is a whole year removed. I'm tracking his performance week by week last year, diminished results Saturdays into Sundays, because the poor young fella had a torn meniscus, a torn meniscus that required surgery. I wish I'd had a better grasp of how injured he was. But I don't know what the explanation is for why he stinks out of the rough.

He just stinks out of the rough. And if we're at venues where he, to look, right now, cross his ass off. Oakmont, GtFO, bro. He got no chance whatsoever. Zero. Let me go find amiss the cut bet. We'll see between now.

You know what I want? I want him to kick ass. I want him to finish in the top five at the Masters. And I want him to kick. Well, he won't kick ass at Jack's place because. How do you explain him playing well at Tori? He, this is a wonderful question. I went back and looked at the numbers.

He was good around the green. and this is the classic, this is how you do well at Tori. He shot a 64, I mean a 66 on Sunday. He won the golf tournament because he shot a 66 on Sunday. His approach was good.

His around the green was good. And his driving accuracy, I think he hit it into places that was sufficiently, when he missed, they were misses that were not into the ball settles all the way down in the rough

and you can't see it. And that's... They got lucky. That's it. I mean, we've had, winners at Torrey who missed fairways.

It's not that uncommon. Shane Lowry is the famous one. I think he, or Mark Leishman, one of those boys, one at Torrey. I was thinking of Leishman, not Shane Lowry. You know, if he hits six fairways, but in any event, proper rough, you receive three and a half inch

oversteed rye up to four inch deep. I'm Oberg out. Oberg out. That's it. So I spent too much time tearing it down. No, you didn't. I mean, I think it's very important because you have been. I was on the, is there something not right between the ears when you were like, no, it's the meniscus.

And you've actually done the math to tell us that maybe it's the right rough tendency and that he's got to get this work done. So that's going to help us think on a go forward basis. There were two other very disappointing weekends, let's call it. guys who actually did manage to make the weekend. And one was Ricky Fowler, who was five under through Friday night. And then proceeded to shoot 17 over on the weekend. And I would say Xander came through the weekend.

We didn't have as many high expectations, right? I mean, he's shut. I made the case to you and Sobel. I thought he was going to miss the cut. And guess what? He made the cut because he got to play the ninth hole. as his last hole on Friday, and that man has the intestinal fortitude.

He has the cahones. He knew that he had to go Bertie the ninth hole and have a chance and that man went and Bertie the ninth hole. That's a birdie hole if it really matters. And to his credit, did it. He did. But then a triple on 18 on Saturday just kind of unhinged.

And he played 185 over alone on the weekend. So it was a tough. tough finish for Xander. It's just reps. I don't think it matters. Yes. I don't think it matters. I'm more worried about that right now. I mean, we've got Augusta in under a month. Cross him off. He's not going to

do anything. Okay, because what I'm worried about is not just reps, but that this injury is lingering and that it's creating some fear in the golf swing. I don't think that's the case necessarily. And I would never, under any circumstances, come on this

program and say, well, look how he did on TGL, and that's probative of anything except you don't see anything in terms of reservation, hesitation. There's nothing about the swing. Well, he's also, he was also just about dead last on the weekend and putting, so that would indicate the reps too. And by the way, TGL for Ricky after a 17 over weekend shows up and fucking takes your money. Took my money. I mean, you know, good on him. I'll eat it. He made me eat it.

It's fine. I can't be mad. I'm not worried about Zander. I would just say no expectations until we get to Quill Hollow. That's how long I believe it's going to take in terms of getting the game back. I mean, the skill is not, is not a question. Right now, he's your, he won 50% of the majors last year. So this is a, the fact that this thing is taking him out for Augusta, where he's had some very close calls.

and we've thought he was in the driver's seat a few times. That's a lost year, if that's the case. Oh, no, no, no, no. If he's ready by PGA Championship, then he goes to Quill Hollow. He performs perfectly fine there. And then, Oakmont, nah, I'm going to look. See, here's the thing. I would love for him to miss the cut at the Masters or, you know, be right on the cut line

and have another crappy thing as we go into the proper major season. Then I'm going to start. Because here's what's insane. And the markets may never, the bookmate might never give it to us at the price that I'm hoping for. But like he is the second favorite to win this golf tournament at 12 to 1.

This man ain't winning this week's golf tournament. And it's not a knock. I said to you, the only guy I would knock and say, who isn't winning and I trying to find ways to fade every single week is Victor Hovel. We're going to talk about that this week. I gave him to miss the cut.

I gave all you birdie buddies, eagle enthusiast, parsay of pals, and Solville came on and made a very emphatic, gave his own boots on the ground on how we watch Hoblin. I'm just trying to make money for y'all. It was plus 108 on the Fanduals sports book. Go cash that ticket, please. I'm begging you to figure out a way to fade Victor Hovlin

until he shows us. I mean, all I'm doing is hunting, head to heads now. We'll argue about this, but I'm just telling you he shot a 68 on Friday. He's plus 320 to top 20 this week. Nope. In a weak field.

Nope. He found it on Friday House. Watch out. Don't care. Don't care. Plus 320 to top 20, Victor Hovland. It is of no moment to be, no consequence. It's perfectly, it's better for me and for golf if he goes and kicks ass.

But, you know, he's in search of. And until he's not in search of, we need four rounds of Victor Hovlin. It doesn't have to be like when he won the Tour Championship, it beat everybody by what felt like 15 strokes because of how pure his game was and his brain was. But there's no semblance of that version of that dude. We haven't seen it since the PGA Championship last year.

Okay. Well, I want to ask you about two takeaways from this as we dial it back out to 30,000 feet. The first is I assume that Rory's odds are going to be, be moving in the direction we're not happy about for Augusta. But if you're really smart at this point, you've picked him up for Quail Hollow, right? I mean, that's the one that I'm going to be actually surprised if Rory doesn't get a major this year. And if he doesn't get it at Quail Hollow, how do you feel? He's six to one at the Masters. No chance. Not doing that. I have him at double

digits that I got at the beginning of the year, but it's only like 10 to 1 or 11 to 1. 6 to 1. You've just got it you got to let him fuck up there and then get him at quail haula and he's plus 750 right now on fandul to win the pgay championship scotty sheffler plus 410 i mean you know the book the book after last year was scotty winning uh nine times the book is like you know not gonna mess we're not yeah we're not giving ourselves any sheffler exposure rory plus 750 i don't know that's fine um it might it'll it will get better if he doesn't have a good masters i'm not rooting for rory to not have a good masters no i'd love for him always always But do you believe the OG argument?

Do you now believe that he is this more well-defined, well-rounded player and that we've got a different Rory post-US Open meltdown? Well, I'll call your attention to our kind of pre-season pod, early in the season pod, where we, and maybe it was also at the end of season in 2024, in that time frame, you and I had a conversation, around the proposition that Rory was forcibly taking all the side shows and casting them aside. We both acknowledged, like, this could be, he might be ready to go burn some shit down. Because he told everybody, I'm not doing no more of this.

I'm not your spokesperson. I'm not your negotiator. I'm not sitting on calls. I'm not doing committees. I'm not coming out here to lead the tour's charge. People want to ask me questions. I'll give them thoughtful answers because I am Rory, effing McElroy, but I'm just playing golf.

And I'm just going to play and try and win some golf tournaments. And he played effing great in the early portion of the DP World Tour, the events that he served notice a little bit. And then he came over here and whooped ass at Pebble in a way that reminded us of his capacity for dominance, and now validating that with a radically different way of winning at the players. That was a combination of both talent,

but really the strategy part of it, which we've never really accused him of being top-notch. I'm reminded of the conversation we had after the U.S. Open, where I am openly saying, look, this relationship with Harry, his caddy, doesn't fit him well enough because he does the thing that he wants to do.

He follows his impulse. He takes a seven iron when he should have hit an eight iron on whichever one of those two par threes that he hit over the green with the adrenaline where Harry was visibly disappointed at Rory's club selection

where Harry had tried. Now, do you think about the strategy that went into that, the impulsiveness that went into that and compare it to this moment? To me, that's what, you know, puts them into this potential OG class. Yeah, I don't think Harry necessarily is the one who changed that approach. I think Harry tried.

I do think the cabal of people around Rory really starting from that scene in full swing where Rory was like, we got to burn this down. We just got to do something different. I think he watched the way that Schaeffler manages his way around a golf course. And he is playing differently. and that's a combination of Faxon and others who've played with him. It'll be very interesting to see as we come into this major season now, because clearly the game is better.

Yes, he's able to do things when everything's not firing on all cylinders. We still got glimpses of it being between the ears. And look, sometimes the putts lip in, sometimes they lip out. They lipped out at the U.S. Open. He lost. They lipped in at the players, and he got that win. So that's still this year remains the overarching number one storyline for me is, is this Rory's final revenge tour, finally his revenge tour where he gets this major. The second thing that I just want to ask you as we come out of this is related to Rider Cup, because Rory clearly would make you get nervous about the European side.

but with the struggles of Victor, with the quasi, you know, what you've just pointed out as a statistical breakdown of Ludwig and his struggles from the rough, you might step back

if you're the U.S. side and say, I see J.T. on the rise here. I see Scotty about as bad as he could possibly be. I see Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood playing well, but not world-class go-win golf tournaments.

How do you size it up in this moment? Yeah, that's a good. I have been tracking this. It's a good observation, a good, good question. If you side by side, the performance of the guys that you feel like are headed in the right direction. So I have Victor Hovlin not on the Ryder Cup team for the- Shinto. Well, you just can't have him on it.

In this version of him, he's not competitive. So I'm rooting for him to be competitive, but right now I would not have him there. I mean, he was first guy out in Italy. and made that chip in, right? And it was fucking over. Yeah, but you can't hit the ball in the middle of the club face right now. It can come back. And maybe over the course of the summer, he'll get the return to form.

But there's other European players that are playing better. I mean, Bob McIntyre finished. Yeah, he played great. Tommy Fleetwood, another T-14, Shane Lowry, another T-20, Sapsraka, another T-14, like, you know, the Euros. Those were all guys who were on it last go-round, right? Now it's really, what are the spots that are open?

Do the Hoy guards make it? Yeah. You know, if Victor drops out, who else is going to come in? Is Dietri on it? Maybe Lorry Cantor has been playing his ass off. You see his name, some on the DP World Tour. But really the thing to me is, Sergio.

Who is, right, right. Sergio, that's the question. Could be the answer. But that's it. It's like if Victor doesn't make it, and with Sergio, getting a couple wins on Live and there's this loosening, that to me is the drama on the European side.

Are they going to find a way to include Sergio, especially if a couple of these European players don't earn it? I would say yes. And I think it would be tremendous. Sergio in New York makes a lot of sense to me. Sergio at Beth Page makes a lot of sense. to me. But quickly, look at the U.S. team. Who do you think was the best

performer that was, you know, on the most recent Ryder Cup, on the most recent President's Cup? Who was the top U.S. performer? Can't lay. It was not Cantlay. That's close.

He was the second best performer. It was Morikawa. He finished tied for 10th. Now, Morikawa, we thought for a minute there Sunday morning could be charging up the leaderboard. And he was hitting the ball fine, but man, he can't make a putt. He just can't. And he, you could, you could see him, you know, visibly upset, visibly distracted. He just can't make a put when, when it will change the outcome of his trajectory in a round that matters.

He's not making the putts. It's not saying statistically, you go through, the numbers are all going to look fine. And his performance is almost dead last on Saturday. in putting. And on Sunday, he was 39th. Who cares? I'm just saying on balance, right? You know, he's collecting top fives all season long. You know, runners up and so forth.

And we've been on this run now of that. Like you said, he lost over a stroke and a half coming in, putting. And you just, you can't do that. You just can't. Can't. So those are some U.S. guys who are hanging around. And then you got

Scotty Sheffler, you know, T20 and Keegan Bradley T20. Daniel Berger. Wyndham Clark out, you know, injured. Max Homa, not on a team, not going to be on a team. I mean, knock on wood, we love Max.

I hope, yeah, I would love for him. I'm not sitting here. Brian Harmon, no. So, like, you know, we have some up-and-comers. Russell Henley is on the team. And I think that's, that's fine

as a grinder. But, you know, this moment in Ryder Cup, obviously, it's March. So it's just a fun thing to talk about. But as we're side-by-siding... Yeah, but I mean, it's a fun thing to talk about, but you got J.J. Spawn, fifth in the FedEx Cup right now. And Michael Kim, who's 10th, like, these guys, you know,

they're not going to make the team, probably, but Matt McNeely's 15th and certainly could make that team. He could. You got some... Look, a win from JJ... Spawn or Michael Kim deeper in the season. And you certainly have to think about it. You've got 12 guys.

You've got to pick the guys who are playing the best. And what I'll tell you is Keegan is not going to pick the Blue Bloods this time. He will find the guy who is Keegan from two years ago, who he thinks could add the culture and has the game in the moment and will put him on the team. Well, I will tell you right this second, JJ Spahn is on the team because he auto qualifies at 6th. He is on. I have it open right now. The list is Scotty, Zander, Colin, Russell Henley, Bryson, Bryson, which makes a ton of sense, and JJ Spawn. Those are your auto plays. And then below that, it's Mad McNeely, great call by you, can't lay. Lucas Glover,

the OG. That boy was fighting his guts out. Like he was, I believe watching him at the players, He got every last ounce out of his game. I love him in this moment. He was fighting. Tooth and nail. Tony Fienow is 10. Brian Harmon is 11. Then you got J.T.

sitting there at 12. Harris English and Billy Horschel. I really want Billy Horschel. Akshay is 15th. I would love for Billy Horschel and Akshay both to play a tiny bit better and to earn their way in. There's a couple names. I'd be fine with sort of knocking out of this. contention-wise.

But we're just going to keep eyeballing it. It's a fun little conversation. As the Euros... We're only a third of the way through the PGA Tour season. We have twice as many events to go as we've played. Yes, but it is worth

having a conversation about because the Euros have been playing very good golf thus far over here on U.S. soil. Nate Dogg. Speaking of U.S. soil, we are at the last venue on the Florida swing.

It is the Valspar, where we are at the copper head course at the Innesbrook Resort. It has a great reputation and so much so that you see a wonderful field. So a bunch of guys decided, you know what, we're right here. We can just drive across. It's not a very long drive from Padavidra over to the Tampa, Greater Tampa area. And a lot of these guys like this golf course. 24 of the top 40 are playing this week at this venue. And it produces a whole wide variety of winners. You have super classy major winners,

like your boy, Jordan Speath. And then you have a bunch of guys that, like, you know, you have Kevin Strillman, who's a winner. You have Peter Malnati, who is the defending champion, Taylor Moore, winner, Adam Hadwin, a winner at this venue. Sam Burns has won twice in the last couple of years. Yeah, right. So and just a whole lot of different kind of skill sets there, which is fun.

You get a little bit. There is some weather in the forecast for this week. It's Bermuda Greens. The weather right now seems like the early forecast was wind late and early. Right. So what you want is the guys in the early late slot in terms of T-times. Right. Maybe.

I mean, look, it's so boldly. It's awarded us off being too prescriptive. Meteorologists. But it did seem like the markets moved when the T-Times were released, that they were legitimately concerned about the late early waves because there's some wind that's supposed to plow through. But there's not going to be rain. I don't know. I actually think that might be an opportunity.

I might zig or zag because I just, you know, I don't, I think that your odds might be better because of that. Corey Connors. Yeah. I mean, he was fourth off the T last week and 21st in putting. It was the ball striking that led him down. He was 41st. I mean, you asked, he was sitting there at 8 under heading into Sunday and quiet.

I mean, the same position as Rory. And I sort of thought, God, if the putter's actually working for him this week, if he can do what he does well on Sunday, he might pull it through. But he's sitting there at plus 360 to top 10. I think he maybe is going to figure out the ball striking. and if the putter stays where it is, Corey Conner's a very dangerous player. That's an example of a guy where you might go in there

and grab a little bit. I kind of like that a lot. I mean, I feel like I'm going to play a bunch of guys to top 10 and top five. I don't want to go super chalk even because of what feels like random kind of outcome for winning this golf tournament.

Oddsboard has Tommy Fleetwood as the top dog in this thing, even though he's never won a single tournament. on the PGA tour. Here's that man sitting there at 11 to 1. Zander's right behind him. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. 12 to 1 odds. Don't do that.

Just live bet if it looks like he's, you know, turned everything around. Scep Straca, who I think deserves the placement inside the top five, odds-wise, 18 to 1. JT, 20 to 1. J.T. has kind of a, he's had success at this place,

not the same success. As Speed, Sam Burns has had a quiet start to the year. 22 to 1. Tom Kim, 22 to 1 has really been great at TGL golf so far this year. Shane Lowry, 28 to 1. Michael Kim missed the cut. Finally cost us a little bit of a top 20 ticket. But I didn't, you know, we weren't going hard.

We were just trying to ride the heater with Michael Kim. Maybe the miscut helped him 30 to 1 to win. It makes me nervous. He's been playing a lot. Yeah, that's right. But you got to go home early. Maybe that little bit of rests. We have Connors on this board, the wind board, 35 to 1. But here's the thing, man.

I'm going all the way down. There's two names down here in the 55 to 1 and 60 to 1 range. I got you last week. You're all in on it. Well, I mean, the first name's Rasmus Huygard. You didn't know that I was going to go. there. But I just want everybody to understand, like,

both Rasmus and Nikolai can win every golf tournament that they enter. That's how classy they are. Both of them have shown us bursts of brilliance. Neither one. They haven't carried it through all four rounds.

They're sort of alternating which one's going to play well, but 55 to 1 for Rasmus Hoygard. I'm just talking about a number play. I'm not sitting down and trying to look at the correlations between this venue and venues that he's played well at or where the strength of his game. I'm just telling you, this is a golf course where you have to be able to hit good approach shots from 200 yards or further out. That is also a trait that was

required at the players and putting well on Bermuda, whatever. You can you can go into any of the models that are out there, down the rabbit hole with Ron Close or my guy, you know, Fantasy National with our boy Pat Mayo and put in a bunch of these variables and have him to put it out. I'm just saying Rasmus Waygard at 55 to 1 to serve a little bit of attention. But here's the thing.

Right behind him, Nate Dogg, Jordan Speeth is 60 to 1. 60 to 1 at a venue that he's won. He's won this tournament at this golf course. Now it was 10 years ago. Don't have him to win. Yeah. No, I know.

I'm just, we're just making the observation. You keep telling everybody. I do. That the pricing doesn't feel right and not reflecting the trend line that he's on. Yeah, it doesn't feel right. But if he sits at these odds for a top 20 for six weeks, like you can put money down each week and you're going to come out with it. So I think he's not going to stay down here forever.

He's just not. He's too good at golf. That's it. So, yeah. If you want to play. Speed just to top 20 and keep like building on the trend line, you can play Jordan Speeth right this second. He is available at plus 260. So that's, you know, better. That's two and a half to one odds. You're going to need some bankroll because you're going to lose your money betting on

college basketball. Go ahead and get the hedge it off with a little Jordan Speed. There's going to be some fun. In fact, I will be doing and I'll see if I can put out a parlay or two. on the Xbox Twitter machine of some top 20s, top tens, and put them with some college basketball plays. The only college basketball plays I have right now, nobody asked, but I like both Yukon to go ahead and cover. I play them on the money line. In fact, let me see if I can do a Jordan Speeth top 20

with the Yukon money line. Let's see what kind of odds we can get for ourselves here. Look at this one. Jordan Spee, top 20 plus 260, parlay that with the Connecticut money line, which has gotten expensive. America has awoken to the fact that the defending national champ is an eight seed and laying, they were laying four and a half. Now it's up to five and a half. Minus 2.30 on the money line. That combined is plus 416, no two leg parlay.

And then you're ready for your own sweet 16 here, America. anyway. Nate Dogg, tell me about some other names you're looking at for this Valspar thing. Well, I think about the Vick, Victor Top 20, bet at plus 320 is the same that you feel about Speeth just because I liked the 4-under on Friday. But that aside, Max McGruevy was fifth T-de-green last week, but was 64th in putting. He is plus 400 for a top 20. And his last four starts, he's finished T-25, T-4, T-40, T-20. So he's been around the hoop, and the rest of the game is pretty good. This is a course where you've got to drive it well. It's why Sam Burns

won. Max is doing that. If the putter can click for him the way it has in a few of those earlier starts in this field, I think a top 20 at plus 400 looks pretty good. Okay. I like the sound of that. I'll have one other for you, a guy

who just showed up with a nice performance at the TPC. And that's Jacob Bridgman. A little bit out of left field. He's got a really good short game, but he has been on a good stretch of form through the Florida swing here, tied for second at Cognizant because he putted his ass off at PGA National.

He followed that up with a T-15 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Gnstrokes on the field in all four of the SG departments. And he's not a bomber, but you don't need to be a bomber at Copperhead. So you just need to have him put a little bit. His strokes gain putting is inside the top 20. His scoring average is reasonable and his strokes gained around the green. Inside the top 30, little Jacob Bridgman, just going down the card trying to find a guy with some value, just playing him at a top 20 price.

Nate Dogg, any other names for us? No, that feels like what you want to do this week. Let's put some capital towards the NCAA, tournament. But let's conserve because we got the masters just around the corner house and you and I are going to get ready to be boots on the ground there. And this, I really think we're gearing up for a very historic one this go round. This excites me so much. My birdie buddies, my par saving pals, my eagle enthusiasts. There you have it. Hopefully something to build on as we round the corner and head down the stretch towards our first major of the season. Great job, Rory.

McElroy at the Players' Championship. Great job, Nate Dogg, for being there on the grounds, enjoying all the player dining. Great job to our producer, Eduardo Campo. We are back next week with the results from the Valspar. We're just chugging along here, getting everybody primed for this Masters. We're going to all go down Magnolia Lane,

together, my birdie buddies. In the meantime, weather has turned. Everybody is playing golf here in the Mid-Atlantic. If you're able to do so, throw a peg in the ground and please let's hit me 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-Helpshelp.com. Call 188-78-9-77-777 or visit CCC.C. pg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline m a.org or call 800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call

1-8-7-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N-Y in New York. You know,