Fairway Rollin' - Scottie Scheffler Is Inevitable. Plus, Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour Reunion.

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Scottie Scheffler wins yet another tournament! House and Nathan put his career thus far into historical perspective and project where it could go from here. Then, they discuss the star power that Brooks Koepka brings before previewing the Farmers Insurance Open. (0:00) Welcome to Fairway Rollin’!(1:34) Scottie Scheffler’s dominance continues(7:33) How many tour wins will Scheffler get?(21:22) Other guys who performed well last week(30:06) What to expect from Brooks Koepka this week(35:26) Farmers Insurance Open preview(51:05) What has TGL revealed to us? Hosts: Joe House and Nathan HubbardProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Jonathan Frias, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. Oh, yes, my friends, we've done it. This is Fairway Roll. Golf podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your starter, Joe House, joined, as is our case, by my inimitable accomplice, our PGA tour boots on the ground, Nathan Hubbard, my birdie buddies, my par-saving pals, my eagle enthusiasts, it's a historical moment. Not only has Scotty Sheffler won 20 events on the PGA Tour before the age of 30.

Not only do we have a prominent, one of the most prominent players of the last 15 years coming from Live back to the PGA Tour. But my birdie buddies, this show, the Fairway Rowland right here brought you. you by our good friends at Netflix. It's a two ball this week. Off we go. Nate Dogg, how you doing? Can we do a full hour glazing Scotty Schaeffler and nothing else? Is that what our Netflix intro is going to be, House?

Well, I've been warned on Twitter that if Scotty comes out and wins every week like this, that nobody's going to watch the PGA tour, there is no interest. It's extremely boring if Scotty just comes out and dominates it. every week. We tried to caution everybody when we were doing our handicapping, our forecasting of how the field might perform at this MX event in our rearview mirror now. And we said, like, the best price you might get Scotty Sheffler at is the price available at the outside of the golf tournament. Well, lo and behold, he came out and was within one shot of the lead after the first round and hovered around the leaderboard for the remainder.

and then she had nine birdies on Sunday, and that was the golf tournament. Yeah, nine birdies, eight of which were putts inside five feet. I mean, it just was a stomping. And there was this inevitability in the air from the get-go out there that Scotty was going to win. You could just feel it. And I don't know why exactly they went to threesomes on Sunday off two T's other than they were trying to get him in the group with Blades Brown, with Siwu Kim. And I mean, I don't know what you've been warned about on Twitter about it being

boring, but we're starting to see now the ascendance of a guy who is in this rarefied air of scaring the crap out of everybody he plays with and putting the boot on the throat of guys and just ending it. And it's very, very tiger-esque. I think the ratings are going to be okay if he keeps doing this house. Yeah. I think we can officially stop a podcast. apologizing for referencing Scotty in the same airspace as Tiger because he is now officially the reference point.

Scotty, the first player since Tiger to win 20 times on PGA tour prior to the age of 30. Woods 20th win came when he was 24 years old. Of course, Scottie's 29. The second fewest starts to get to 20 wins on tour behind only. Tiger, Tiger had made got his 20 and 95 starts. Scotty and 151 starts. Scotty only four years. So he won the 2022,

WM Phoenix. We're going to get to that soon enough. Boy, that's right around the corner. It is. And, you know, second fastest to get to 20 wins after getting his first behind Tiger. So, 1,400 some days for Scotty, Tiger, 350.

Anyway, we can keep doing these kinds of things. it's not necessary. We started this season in our preview, trying to forecast how many wins Scotty Sheffler might have in front of him. And I set the total at five and a half, and I'm pretty sure that you took the over. We are one step closer to six.

Look, since his 71st start on tour, he has won 25% of the time. He's winning one in four tournaments right now. That's the math. So it's not really fun. to pick winners when he's in it. That's why this week's going to be so fun. But if you're going, if you're betting against Scottie, you're doing so at your own peril, because this guy, a combination of, you know, with Tiger, it was just this hole in his heart. It was this aggressive,

just need to be great, just the relentlessness. There was the swagger. There was the attitude. This guy's something different. And I think it matters in this era. So much of golf, as we say, all the time, is between the years. And this guy has found. away to combine his competitiveness, which is subdued a bit with the faith and family dedication that has kept him humble and taken a lot of the drama and panic that sets in when guys get into this position and just go win golf tournaments. I mean, a lot of people say, oh, he's not as intimidating as tiger. He's boring. Go look at what happened with Blades Brown and Siwu Kim, who played in the same group with him. Those guys, Seawo Claude his way back to even par,

but they were over par for most of the day. And Scotty just, Scotty won the skull tournament by four when he wasn't winning, heading into the day. So he has the same aura of invincibility that we've seen in the all-time grades. And that's really where he is now, isn't it, House? Because he's at 20 wins. We're talking about Trevino had 29.

Rory has 29. Beyond those guys, you're starting to look at Phil at 54, 45, and Hogan at 65. and Arnie at 62. He may not get to Tiger at 82, but those are now very much possibilities that if Scottie keeps winning at this clip, I mean, it's hard to believe he's going to win at one out of every four.

But if he keeps winning at this clip, we are talking about a Mount Rushmore player right in front of our eyes. Yeah, and let's just break up what's left of his career if indeed he's able to keep his very good health. And it does seem like just from, what we've observed over the last 20 years' worth of changes in the way that guys swing and the physical regimen that guys, we make a lot of jokes about these guys as athletes, but the particular swing that Scotty has does not seem to be the kind that would subject

his body to undue duress. It does seem sustainable. So if we say we have a four-year period from his first win and we got to 20, and we go from 29 to 33, that should be, that's still a golf prime. That's still a prime time for a guy to win a bunch of times. And even 33 to 37 now, if he's able, let's say 34 to 38, if he can, again, you know, manage to remain mostly healthy. Let me ask you this question. Over under career PGA tour wins, I'll set it at 60 and a half.

How many? How many? We got to 20. Before age 30, I know it's ridiculous. I understand, but I'm asking. I mean, my answer is under only because I think the future of the tour is going to be fewer events, more competitive, and I think it's going to be harder to win. That said, right now, Scottie's, like, his true shots gained are 75% better than the two guys who are in second place. He's a full two shots, two strokes gained better than Rory over the last nine months.

Like, he just, nine of these 20 wins have come by four or more strokes. So he's just beating the crap out of guys. You talked about the athletic nature of his swing. One of the criticisms of all the Tiger wins was Tiger was so different as an athlete than all of his peers at the time, right? You look back at some of those videos. I mean, you had guys who were still fat as hell, smoking, like doing all the things that the, you know, Sunday afternoon golfers do

at their local clubs. they weren't putting themselves into shape. All these guys that Scotty's playing against have all these benefits of video and fitness. They're eating, like they're doing all the things. And he is still separating himself in this way from these guys. So it's a fascinating number. I mean, where do you go with that? With 60, you're going over?

Oh, I would take over because of a couple of things that we've really tried to sink our teeth into. when it comes to him, what a unique animal he is. You mentioned his competitiveness, and you characterize it as subtle. I think it burns incandescent. He just isn't demonstrative with it. I think that he wants to, he is unlike his peers, you know, in terms of the rarefied air. He is like Tiger singularly in wanting to win every single time that he plays. He doesn't, he's not out there messing around.

I mean, we're going to talk about Brooks here in a couple of minutes. And one of the things you take note of when you think about Brooks at Torrey Pines, he doesn't have a great track record at Tori Pines. Well, that's because Tori Pines is the, you know, historically the start of the golf season. The first, you know, first time we're on CBS, typically, you know, it is like, you know, welcome back to golf world and not necessarily as just PGA tour event, the Farmers Insurance, of Tori, something that, you know, a player like Brooks, gets himself all the way up for.

It didn't. Scottie talked about how much he enjoyed being away from golf for the period of time that he took off, you know, post-Rider Cup and how energized he felt coming out. And what would you say? Give me your grade for his game. I mean, it was better than B-plus? Yeah, I think that's the point. I mean, this was a strong field of players.

He didn't do anything. like Tiger always had those holy shit moments. There wasn't any holy shit. Like, wow, look at that incredible holeout from the fair. Although Scott, he's capable of that for sure. It's just this methodical putting every iron shot to five feet. I mean, his approach game, the stats this week from a, from a shotling standpoint are kind of useless because they played three courses.

And so you really only got two rounds that were registered. But his approach on stadium was mediocre. It's not like he was, you know, middle of the road, 43rd on approach and the two rounds on the stadium course. So it's not like he was absolutely striping it. And still he was putting it to five feet on almost every single, you know, eight half of his holes out there. He was giving himself really short birdie putts. So this game can get better. And you said it.

The question is just like, is his desire going to stay there, given that he does have priority. in his life that are bigger than golf that are part of what make him great at golf. Will he stay engaged to play the number of tournaments that we're talking about? And then I think it is, you know, number two, is he going to break or cut his hands open because he keeps rolling out pasta with wine glasses or whatever happened last year? If he can avoid getting arrested and he can avoid, you know, wine glasses. Yeah, you said it about his swing. I mean, Tiger's problem was, obviously, it was such a violent swing.

and some of his, as we now understand, a lot of his activities off the course, like he just pushed himself physically and the swing couldn't hold up. The only thing you really got to worry about in Scotty's case is he going to roll an ankle sometime on wet grass with the way that the foot slips. But the foot slips sneakily takes a lot of the hardcore pressure out of the back and a lot of the joints. Yeah, that left knee, preserves it. In a way that I think maybe is going to benefit. him with his height over the long run. Now, that's easy to say. We've seen a lot of golfers who have

struggled with the injury bugs, struggled with, I mean, look, one of the things we talk about the season opener is, where is Jordan Speath, right? Jason Day, who's going to be a really interesting guy to look at this week, disappeared for a long time with vertigo and injuries. So you just never know. But at 29, with this level of consistency, we're watching something. And I really think that the haterade that tends to pop up on Twitter is mostly bought because we loved watching Tiger. I think the more that you watch this guy and the way that he carries himself, the more people are going to really appreciate him. That said, House, I mean, can you think of a more understated superstar in any other sport? Like, tennis, Federer was a little, you know,

boring maybe, but he was flashy, had more, like, he could not walk into, yeah, he could not walk into restaurants and not have people go, that is, that's Federer. And it's not just because Scottie's wearing a hat, but I still think it would be, you know, as you said, the most, like, the most famous thing Scotty Schaeffler's ever done is get arrested. And I don't think if you put him in a lineup in most countries on the planet and in most states in this country, people could pick Scottie Schaeffler out of a lineup and arrest him. Yeah, I mean, I wonder, I always think about like sort of the set of places up the street for me. If I took him to the Guapo up the street,

you know, the Mexican restaurant, my favorite Mexican restaurant, and we were in there for an hour and a half and join a couple of margarias, maybe. We'll see what we would do. If we were in there for an hour and a half and we got up and moved around a little bit, how many people would recognize him?

And I don't think it's a big number. Do you think that's part of what is allowing him to be great? Possibly. It doesn't have a lot of noise outside the golf course. It's not like Tom Brady. It's not like MJ. It's not like LeBron, right? Well, one of the things, for sure, their family's growing.

You know, we saw his wife, you know, how everybody months along with their second child. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up having a family of five, six, seven kids, ultimately, however many they want to have. And what kind of time that takes, you know, whether that's an impact. But the venues for him, you're going to make fun of me. I'm just saying it out loud. Like, how are we going to get some of more of his personality? There was a good sense of humor that came through on the Happy Gilmore thing.

He is going to, I believe, show us a little bit on TGL coming up here this season. What are we going to get in terms of him revealing a sense of humor, revealing kind of kind of a connectability. Like Tiger was so young and was such a force of nature and just completely took golf world and tipped it up on its, on its ear. Yeah. And had a natural, you know, competitive championship competitive charisma. Scotty's charisma is not that.

No. I mean, Scotty's charisma is him being in tears after he wins the Byron Nelson of all tournaments because it's a hometown event that he grew up loving. right. I mean, he's just a deeper emotional guy who I think for some of that reason probably protects it by keeping up a little bit of that wall. And I still think that he is, you know, when it's all said and done, he's going to be looked back on probably in the way that we look at Federer as one of the Titans of the game who just you never quite totally got inside emotionally. But we're seeing his kid out there every time. Like people know Bennett Sheffler in the golf world now. There is a little bit more access to him and his family and his faith.

And that's honestly just what he's about. And it may not be for the diehard old school traditionalist tiger people who want the guy coming out, blazing, shooting guns and holding up the middle fingers and doing the happy Gilmore stuff. But I do think, you know what? He's a gentleman above all else. And there's good lessons to be learned in that. There's still a place for kicking ass quietly. And he just served notice that 2026 is going to continue the quiet ass kicking that he administered through the balance of 2025. What does success look like for this year now?

To me, he's got to go win that grand slam because he wins that U.S. Open and suddenly it takes Rory's struggle and the master's year that sort of defined 2025 down a little bit of a notch because all of a sudden he's right there on. par, isn't he? Well, I'm not prepared to, you know, downgrade anything relating to Rory, um, comparing to Scotty. Just two different kind of guys, two different career arcs, two different levels of responsibility through the balance of, you know, 20, 21 through 24, right? Like, Scotty was permitted to just go kick ass. Rory was carrying the tour on his back for about 18 months. It's a great point. But, you know, still, it's, It is, we're already in this conversation of where in golf history will Scotty land. So that's fun.

And that, that, that, it's very good for a season that will be the last of its kind in terms of, you know, PGA tour over 50 weeks and, you know, a lot of places that the tour is historically visited. We're not going to see a lot of these places. We might not see Palm Springs next year. And I certainly don't think if we see Palm Springs, it will be in January because I think the tourism is not going up against football. And maybe it will start either in the off week and before the Super Bowl or, you know, coincident with the Super Bowl. But, you know, this is, you know, kudos to Scotty for coming out if this is the last of the Palm Springs golf. Yeah. And I think, again, we speculated last week that maybe the reason the first,

field was so strong is there are some guys who aren't in love with Tori, and I think that's what we're seeing pan out, which is that some people intentionally skip this one just because they just don't love the golf course. But I agree with you. And there, you can tell out there that it felt a little bit like Napa in the fall, which is to say in the desert, there's a lot uncertainty about whether this thing is going to happen. And that makes for some difficulty in bringing out fans. And honestly, when you think about roll-ups plan for scarcity, it's the on-site crowds at a lot of these events that leaves something to be desired. And that's a strange phenomenon in a sport where everybody can have a front row seat. Like, everybody gets a court

side seat at a golf tournament in a lot of ways. It's a very unique part of the golf watching experience with maybe the exception of the Masters. But House, you and I have been there. Every time we've been to Augusta, we've found ourselves a front row seat somewhere, right? DJ hit a ball into our legs. Like, I mean, it's, it's a giant ballpark the golf course. You can get to the ropes with a little, not much effort. And so I think, I think the idea of making fewer of these and making them feel bigger will also bring out more than the retiree in his lawn chair in his front yard, which is what you saw a lot of this week, which is just not, it contributes to the lack of energy. And I'll say this, you know, Scotty won by four shots.

He could have easily broken the tournament record, gotten to 30. And the only reason he didn't is because I think he lost some focus on 17, that Island Green, which is a great hole. And there's a stadium there. And that's where the most fans in the course are. But by then, you know, as you come up 13, 14, 15, and even the first part of 16,

on that course, there's nobody there. And except for the groups that are walking. There just isn't that thrill in that. push and that energy. So you get to 17, I'm sure he wasn't fully focused. These tournaments on site, part of the fun. And we're going to see it in Phoenix. We're going to see it a little bit Saturday, Sunday this week at Tori, because the crowds in San Diego do come out. And there are decent, decent folks there. It's part of the sport. When it's all between the ears, you need people there. So it's not just a hit and giggle. That's exactly right. We want to make sure that we give

some flowers to some guys that performed well, some of whom we mentioned last week. Seawu Kim did what Seawu does. All he did was run into Scotty Sheffler. It took him a while to get back to Even on Sunday. Mr. Blades, that's what we like about this golf tournament. We now have two guys, an 18-year-old and an amateur who got to play amongst the final-day leaders done. lap two years ago and and Blades, you know, playing with Scottie Sheffler as an 18-year-old,

um, an incredible. And, and if it, if we weren't going up against, you know, Sunday football, maybe something this sporting world would have paid attention to. And the kid, the kid had just gotten off a plane from playing a corned ferry tour event earlier in the week. And this is the thing where we got to be careful as we talk about where the tour is headed. This is the kind of kid who you want to have in your, golf tournaments. The wonderful thing about the meritocracy of the PGA tour is that this can happen. You can have an 18-year-old going head-to-head with Scotty. And sure, did he, did he wither a little bit? He learned some things. I'm long, Blades Brown. Right. Like, like, so I, I want to, I want to see,

I want to see the tour make sure that they protect the ability of these young kids to go in. Because if there was one bit of good news for Live in the last month or six weeks, it was their signing last week, right, of the kid from Ole Miss, who, you know, let's see how he does. You and I have gotten conflicting reports on how he's going to do over there. But you want the 18-year-old to come in so that you're constantly refreshing. I mean, there are more players on tour below 26 right now than there are above 36. And I think that's a good thing because this next generation of Geiser, as we've talked about,

going to benefit from all of the competitive reps that the 36-year-old pluses didn't get as kids because there just wasn't as much of an organization of the sport. So it's great to see him come out. He's a controversial figure, isn't it? He's a little bit like Akshay in that he went pro early. He sort of bucked the norm a little bit. He's had a little bit of swagger, created a little bit of controversy. I love that he came out and backed it up.

Who? Blades? Yeah. Oh, okay. I didn't see any of the controversy. Everything was a love fest that I had served. Not out there this time, but I think people have looked at his, how early he went pro as controversial, right? And saying maybe he needs to put himself through some of the more traditional channels. Maybe he should go to Texas on and on and on. Okay. That's fine. And we will, to your point, see what we're going to have the size and shape and scope. of what the tour is going to look like in 2027, you know, this information will kind of dribble out here. One of the things I do wonder is, you know, to your point about the pathways for younger players, if we're going to this sort of, you know, this tier of premier players, how can young guys get to that level and how can they stay at that level?

and how will ascendance and relegation kind of work? Some of those mechanics yet to be seen. That's going to be the fascinating part. But what I wonder to you is how does it relate to live? Because the thing that live seems to be sort of positioned to grab is that rest of world market, that rest of world kind of placement. They'll compete in Asia. They'll compete in Europe.

They'll compete in Australia. Will we see a class of guys who take a look at the way that this PGA tour, you know, up, up tier, down tier works and say, you know what? I think I can get, you know, more opportunities and pursue a professional career. more successfully as part of the live, you know, tour. Well, that's the risk, isn't it? And I'd rather be the PJ tour right now than, you know, a different league standing there trying to catch whatever falls out of the trees.

I mean, I think about a guy like Houtong Lee from China, who's come over through the DP World Tour, who played great last week, by the way, and is finding his way on. We're going to see Marco Penge this week for the first time, who, you know, there was some, there was some chatter about where he was going to up. Guys like that, I think, still want to play with the best players in the world. And so, you know, the concern is international players if you're the PGA tour,

and it is the young kids. And so I think you're right that the way that they accelerate players who show, who show the promise is going to be the only potential Achilles heel to putting the best players in the world. But I do think that this week, just this week alone, I mean, Brooks Kepka did his presser today. He was very gracious towards the folks that live. He harbored no ill will. He was appreciative. Clearly has relationships there.

Very happy to be back here, mostly for his family. But you could tell the way that he talked about Scotty, the way that he talked about Rory getting to five, that he's thinking about his place on that Mount Rushmore that we've talked about. And just in the way that it was Brooks getting to five that woke up Rory who said, holy crap, I got to get my game together. I'm not even the, I don't even have the most majors of the guys in my generation. You know, the acceleration of Scotty has woken up Brooks. And Patrick Reed this week, he won on the world, you know, on DP World Tour. With a great field.

I mean. A great field, right? And you heard his comments. I mean, did he sound to you like a guy who is happy where he is or who's suddenly opening a lot of doors to maybe try to come back and play amongst the best players in the world. Because for Patrick Reed at this point, he'd love to win another major. He'd love to get back on the Ryder Cup team, wouldn't he? It's hard for me to ascribe motivation or intention to Patrick Reed. The one thing I think we know for sure is that Patrick Reed always has in mind what he thinks is

best for Patrick Reed. And it very well could be the case that what we observe this week in the press conference after he won that event was him trying to establish, you know, a tiny bit of leverage with the live negotiation. Who knows, like, sort of where that negotiation stands and what he thinks he's worth to them. But there's nothing, though, is there that signals that these guys are getting what they want out of the quality of the golf there. And so something is going to have to evolve. I don't know.

How can you say that? He's a good example. He's been very competitive in the Masters. that last couple years, and he just won on DP World Tour, one of the big events at the beginning of the year. All I mean is it doesn't sound like he's 100% in there. It feels like they are gravitating towards wanting to play with the best players in the world. And right now, the undisputed two best players in the world are, well,

I guess Bryson we ought to talk about. But Rory and Scotty being over on the PGA tour, I think is a massive center of gravity. that again, strategically, if you're Scott O'Neill and live, you're trying to figure out what's my attack vector. It's probably the young kids. And to your point, it is if they really shrink this down, you're going to have more Cam Smiths, right, who said, hey, you're not coming to my home country. I want to be playing golf in my home country. That's why I'm going somewhere else. And maybe the next Tautong Lee, maybe the next, you know, a golfer from a different place is going to decide, I'm going to stay where I am.

Yeah, and that's fine. I mean, it is fine ultimately to have choices and have alternatives. I don't know how much as I sit here at the end of January, 2026, and Live kicks off in Riyadh, which requires watching a replay because I'm not getting up at whatever time of day or night it is that I'm supposed to try and catch it live, right? And have you seen Brooks? Have you seen how much the PGA Tours media machine has been focused on Brooks Kepka this week? They have moved the start of this tournament to ESPN, the flagship station.

They are posting to Instagram and Twitter. They are doing direct interview. They are making a point intentionally to the guys who are still over there. Hey, we can put you on TV. We can make you famous again. I mean, the point to basically everybody, thank goodness for them. to have the great good fortune of not being up against football. This is a rare occurrence where the Tory,

because they had been starting it on Wednesdays to get it all in before football playoffs. Yeah, that's right. And that's, this week, they own, you know, good chunks of the sports day.

They really need Brooks Keppkin to make the cut. It would be really good for everybody if Brooks Keppka can make the cut. So hopefully it comes in in that form. He showed a little bit of form at the, in the fall on the DP World Tour, had a tie for fourth and had a tie for 15th, but that was all the way back in October. I hope everything that he's been working towards in terms of sharpening his game, produces.

He did finish in the top five at the 2021 U.S. Open. So what we know about Brooks is he's always up to the moment. He's typically up to the moment. Many times he's been up to the moment, this is a moment. Can he deliver for us? Can he deliver for us, Nate, Doug? Well, I think that's what we're going to see. And I hope we get there.

I think that for Brooks, I mean, he's always been the major player, right? I mean, the most interesting thing with him coming back is whether he's going to be as competitively fired up for these PGA tour events as we would expect. Again, he's got only nine wins in his career. Five of them are majors. Yeah, well, if there ever was an opportunity for him, it's staring us in the face. and the tour is so radically different than the one he left behind, he doesn't have any status. He needs to go perform very well so he can make the signature events.

And those signature events are the ones that are grabbing eyeballs because all the best players are playing in those. The press conference was stunning, if nothing else, than hearing Brooks Kepka say he's nervous and he's more nervous than usual. Oh, I like it. I like it. Now, even with all of that, I'm not betting on him this week. But really? Look up below. Look up below next week when we're in Phoenix, where he absolutely, he owns that joint. And he is going to be met with, I mean, he will be absolutely treated with the hero's welcome, don't you think?

Yes, that crowd is going to carry them around on their shoulders. It's going to be fantastic because they love them already. And the world's biggest outdoors, it is the highest attended sporting event in North America. and it is, it's going to be great. I mean, I think you're going to carry it through. I need to hit up. I need to get some tickets for some friends. You go, don't let me forget that. I need to, we need to talk about it. Well, don't let me forget to point out that we did see a few things at Amex other than

Scottie that we need to remember to carry through because I, people might have been watching football, but there were some very interesting performances house that we got to keep paying attention to. I hope you got on Willie Z at plus 360 for a top 20. because it's coming around and you could see that he's starting to play a little bit better and the body's holding out. Knock your mind for Willie Zee.

No, that's knocking. I love Willie Z so much. I want him to be healthy. You know, we talked about the data being a little bit hard to track because Shotlink wasn't on the two courses, but Windham Clark and Max Homa played really good golf last week, save for basically one round.

They each were very, very impressive. and the game seemed to be coming through. Matt McCarty, who is somebody that you have highlighted earlier on this show, starting with the Wyndham at the end of last year, and I don't mean Wyndham Clark. I mean the Wyndham tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. He's got a T-8, T-14, T-3, and last week it was a T-2 in his last six events.

So he's really starting to round into form, and I think the last one to highlight from this week, and we're going to talk about it this week, Ryan Gerard, who now, Bro. Won the barracuda last year. We talked about him as a guy who we thought might break through at the start of the year. Second in Mauritius.

He was second in Hawaii, where he also was second T to Green. This past week, he T-Tooed, but he was only 35th T-D-Green. So, like, he's doing this in different ways. Like, this is a guy we have got to pay attention to. He put us on notice, and I took notice, and he featured very prominently on my betting card. the combination of having the Seattle money line this weekend and Ryan Gerard as top fives and top tens, it was a good week. It was a good week on the, don't, don't, I don't, I won't say anything to my wife about it,

but it was, it was the green portion of, of the outcome was satisfactory. We'll just leave it. Speaking of good for house, this is a challenge this week, Torrey Pines. It is, to your observation, not the same kind of stellar, field, but it's still a very good field. We have Zander at Tori. We have Cam Young. That's going to be very good.

Jay, Sean, Justin Rose. Jason Day and Siwu Kim, both of whom finished in the top five last week at AMX. I mean, Jason Day is serving those. Patrick Cantlay did what Patrick Cantlay always does at MX, which is just to collect another top 20. Matt McNeely, who reminder to everybody, had such a good performance in the latter half of last year that he made it to the Tour

Championship and finished in the top 25 of the Tour Championship. And at this golf course last year, went Mano E. Mano with my guy Ludwig Oberg in the version of this that was the Genesis when the weather was a little more, you know, kind of friendly. And those guys coming down the back nine, it was Mad McNeely and Ludwig Oberg, you know, putting on a little bit of a show for us. Hedeky is here. Alex Noren is here. Alex Noren, who was one J.B. Holmes, 10-minute swing on 18 away from getting

himself into a playoff. So guys with credentials, guys with track record, guys with some decent performances at this particular venue. And this is a big boy golf course. And they set it up, they set it up big boy. Like they're not, you know, they could cut the rough down. They don't do that. for this event.

The guys are going to come out. They have minuscule greens. It's the longest golf course on tour. The fairways are hard to hit. You typically have fairways hit in the 50 to 51% range. The greens are POA. And then they're the West Coast Po, so they're hard, you know, the five footers to 15 footers,

you don't see guys rolling in a ton of those. It's just a very fun test, which is why you see, you know, guys who, who perform well here also perform well in majors. It's not like a leap. I mean, Harris English won on this golf course last year in this event and then went on and had one of the best performances over the course of the season in majors. And that's not a coincidence. So what's your sort of overall sense as we come in here to Tori? Welcome CBS. Welcome the CBS broadcast. Welcome Jim Nance. Welcome the drones. Welcome Amanda. We're happy to see everybody.

Happy to see you. All our friends, all our family. Welcome ESPN. Welcome ESPN, right? Yes, exactly. We're making it feel big anyway. As you said, I hope it feels that way comes Sunday. Remember that these Poa Greens, there's, first of all, there's a lot of guys playing these things.

They get punched up. They're probably the most frustrating greens that they're going to play this year because they're just unpredictable. So don't get too upset if your pick on day one is not putting the way you think, because the rub of the green happens, but what goes around comes around also happens and everybody's going to struggle a little bit on these greens. I'll tell you, Ludwig being second on this odds board, I stayed near him out in the desert.

I walked back behind him from the course back to where he was staying. He looked okay Saturday. He was out on Sunday. And I want to remind you that the last time he was ill, it took him out for a long period of, I know. And so I get a little bit nervous with where he is. I'm staying away from Ludwig. I think you have to because he came out and kicked ass in the first day or so of this thing, this time last year and then had to withdraw. And then he came back when it was the Genesis and won the

thing out right. So any kind of illness uncertainty does feel like a reason to tap the brakes with making too big an investment. He carries himself. Yeah, he does. He just carries himself. Watching him two years ago, you were like, oh, okay, he's going to do it. And you feel the same way about Cam Young on a big boy golf course like this. Plus 280 to top 10 feels a little scary for me. So, I mean, how do you feel about Cam and his odds? I will play him to both top 10 and top 20 because I think that the confidence that has grown in him.

I'm just making a confidence bet. And I might lose the money. This isn't going to be a big stake for me. But he thinks he's a stud now. Well, he knows he can do it at least. Yeah. Like, he knows he can do it. And that's what the Ryder Cup above all else did after the win.

Speaking of the Windham. So he's there. And it's just, is it going to translate? These are the kinds of courses that it feels like he could win on. I just got a little bit spooked by his odds. But I mean, you tell me, who else? The weather looks great. Sometimes we've got bad weather, so we're going to get a nice little warm California weekend.

My eyes just keep going to Jason Day. Yeah, you got to do something with him. You can't have to have him on your card. T2 last week. He's got two wins here. He's got a second and a third here. He's plus 360 for a top 10. That feels a little bit more appealing to me than Cam Young at plus 280.

Yeah, I get it. And for these top tens, I'm usually doing, you know, six to, to 10 players and, you know, splitting up the units, allocating them equitably, of course. The, the, there's no reason to not play Jason Day. You have to play. And the reminder for this golf course and this setup is that the guys play two golf courses.

The first, you know, they alternate the first two days between the North Course and the South course before they move to the weekend. So the South Course is the big, brawny U.S. Open venue. The North Course, they go out and they can be. it up. They can go. It is a bombers. It favors bombers and you can get guys to go out there, especially the big hitters. The one thing about the South course, the reminder is it features the highest number of approach shots of 200 yards plus because of how long this thing plays. So you need ball strikers. You need guys that are comfortable.

under difficult sort of circumstances. And, you know, the guys have the models now, Mayo, noon, and they have models where you can put in there, give me a filter that shows me guys who perform well on difficult golf courses, on long golf courses, long approach shots, you know, guys who can score from the rough because you're not going to be in the fairway here. And those are the kind of filters that you see, you know, strokes gain-wise. That's what you want to put into the mix.

and of course you want Stroke's Game Poa some success there. I have a couple named. Taylor Pendrith shows himself. He has T-16 or better 4-05 career starts at this place. I'm going to do something with Matt McNeely, just on the idea that maybe, you know, it seems like he was one of the last guys to potentially make that Rider Cup team that was left off and maybe.

there's a belly in his fire to come out and validate last year and why not come to the place that he's very comfortable and, you know, start off the year showing everybody that he belonged. He still belongs. He's an upper tier player. And I don't need to look any further than the performance last year at this place. So those are a couple of names. You give me a name or two. Well, the Pendrith, the Pendrith thing I love, he's top 10, his last two times out. He's plus 410 for a top 10. He was 11th off the T overall last year in 14th and distance. So this is the kind of place for him. I also love Sam Stevens.

Now, people are picking up on Sam a little bit, but he's plus 2 to 20 to top 20. He was T13 and 23 here. He was solo second last year. And he's had top tens and two of his last three starts, including his T6 last week. So I like him coming in. There's a few others. I mean, are you watching TGL House? You have been riding or dying.

for TGL. Are you watching my ballfroggers? Well, this is a thing that we're there. I was going to ask you, two out of the three are showing up on the card as performing. You can't leave Keegan Bradley off. Now, Keegan Bradley, I said this about him at the Sony, and he kind of stuck it to me. He kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because he missed the cut at Sony. But both him and Michael T. Bourne Thorneborn. Thorbornson. Thorborn. Thorbornsh. Thorpeyne. Flying. They've already flown. Oh, yeah. From Palm, you know, Garden there in Florida. What's it called?

Palm Garden, West Palm. And now they are successfully out in the greater San Diego area getting ready for their week's work. Well, Thorbiornson's plus 250 to a top 20. He had a T3 or T7 and a third in the fall. Stay less. And he's draining all these points. But this course is suited for his driver.

Yeah, exactly. It's his greatest weapon. Total driving over the past 12 months. He ranked second in this entire field. So, yeah, we got to have a little bit of, I need it. When I'm Thor, that's what we're going with. That's fine. We can't say that anymore.

I need to have some Thor on my card. If we're going to have some Thor, we might also need some Thi, as in Sajith, who's plus 320 to top 20. It seems like his focus. The game's coming around, played well last week. He's home in California where he went to college. I think when you're looking, he is, it feels like the confidence is there. The game is back after a little bit of a lost season.

Speaking of a lost season house. Wait a minute. Is this the home a minute? Are we there? No. Oh, it's not time for Max Homa minute. Let's do the Homa minute. You can make the case.

I don't know. I mean, he's playing with Brooks and living. Yeah, and he's comfortable on a big stage. Just got a sponsor invite to the Genesis, so we'll see him there as a past champion, but we know he lives California.

He deserves it. He's one year before. Yeah, I'm playing him top 20. You are. I think that's the right bet. Yeah, yeah. Finishing the top 20 in three of his last four starts last year, open the season with inside the top 30,

um, uh, down there at Palm Springs. And his, his irons were very good on the, on the stadium course. So just a tiny bit on maximum a minute. I was just going to,

we've looked for the like crazy long shots. And these are, these are things that this is a buyer beware. But Matthew Pavon won this event two years ago. True story. He's plus 8.50 to top 20. He's made both the cuts this year. And this event has got some junk in the trunk.

Like there is some bottom heavy dudes who are in this tournament, who are not playing great golf. So sneaking your way into that top 20 is a little bit easier this weekend. It's not that the game has been showing off. It's just there's some of those horses for courses, especially at Tori. Jason Day is one of those guys. John Rom is one of those guys. Tiger Woods was one of those guys.

So you never know. If you're looking for a little bit, if you're going to spread your bets across the roulette table, maybe there's a little one on plus 850 at Matthew Pave on previous champion to top 20. So I thought that where you're going with that was somebody like the Hoygard, Rasmus is the one I think that's playing this week, or Marco Penji, who, you know, is making his debut because Pavon, Penge, it was a debut for Pavon when he won. Most of the time, the winners at this event have done well at least once on this venue before they've won outright. And that's the, you know, two-thirds of the winners at least fit that category. But you get a little bit of these, you know, out of nowhere.

And Pavon was one of them. And the same thing. Who's the guy with two last names that's coming in? Another Rasmus, near guard, Peterson. That's one of those. It's like we got to, it's like Barkley on inside the NBA. Who we play for? Who we play for.

I know he's coming over from the World Tour, the DP World Tour. This is his debut event. I think it's Rasmus. I'll get it right here. It's not Adrian Dumont de Chessart. It is not him. Congratulations on getting that out, though.

I'm impressed by you. Thanks so much. I just wanted to know. Yeah, it's not him. Let me see. Let me see if I can get him right. Oh, it's not here. It's not where I want it.

It's fine. I'm betting Ryan Gerard again, by the way. You are. I have to have Ryan Gerard. Yeah. I'm just going to keep back. him. Why wouldn't you? Right now? He's returning exactly what you should be doing. So I don't, it's Rasmus Niergard Peterson and he's plus 360. That's not my fault. He won the Australian

Open in December. All due respect to Rasmus, R&P, rooting for the best for him. I'm sorry that I didn't get your name right the very first time. You will. I mean, just like you eventually are going to get Houtung Lee's name right, who's plus 360 for top 20. I don't mess up how it's on me. He was, before we knew he was how it'sung Lee, we probably might not have gotten a right, but he was T-8 last week. In those measured rounds on the stadium,

of course, he was second T-Dade Green. And he's a big guy who's played some big-boy golf courses, so I think that's an interesting one, too. Oh, you know what? European tour players who are going to show up here. I think we get both hoigards. Yeah. We have a Hoyguards.

We've got just a cornucopia of hoigards this week. Nicolai tied for fourth to Dubai. Rasmus only was in the top 45 at Amex. Does the jet lag bother you? I don't know, man. This day and age, we have two guys flying the ball frogs are coming from to fly cross country. Did you hear Rory making the plane joke last night about why he had done better with the jet lag

than Shane Lowry? And Rory said, because he doesn't have a plane. Keegan, like, sort of fake chuckled. So maybe Rory put him on the plane to get him out here. Who knows? It's very rude. Yeah. Who can say?

I have a sense that TGL's taking care of people as they fly in those places. Oh, I think so. I think they're traveling in great comfort, and they'll be just fine. And on top of that, you know, we're getting what we want. It's giving us a little bit of insight. I like the way that Thor threw down the gauntlet, not the hammer, but the gauntlet. With his putting prowess in the first season, the best putter of anybody. and then he came out and validated that on the TGL Monday night was very good.

And our boy, Tony Kornheiser was on there, which I enjoyed very much. And Tony came on and said good things about the TGL. He said, this is a way to get to see these guys in a different light. And you know, you get a little bit of the personality. And which way does that cut? For some guys, it could be helpful. For some guys, it might put you on alert in terms of what you want on your betting card. Yeah.

And, you know, you look at the ratings. and the first couple of weeks didn't quite do what the first season did, but this week did. It actually outperformed week five of last season. So it feels like we maybe have a thing there, House, that's hanging in there. We'll see. We're going to be patient and let this continue to develop. And, you know, it is helpful to see some of these guys that you don't know very much about, for sure.

There's no two ways about it. Well, that's for sure. This is a sneaky big week for the tour, because they really, have hyped it up. We got no Sheffler. We got no tiger. We got no, but we do have Brooks Kepka. And they are, they have clearly, uh, either twisted an arm or made a gentleman's agreement to get this stuff on ESPN on Thursday and Friday. There's some good buzz about golf at the moment. This tournament without a few of its stars is, is the one every year that starts to feel like the start of that golf season. CBS has the boom camera. They've got a lot of, a lot, you know, like you said, Amanda's back, Jim's back. So,

There's a lot kind of riding on this one this week quietly. It's not that big a thing. No, I know, but it's a great opportunity. It's a great moment. Exactly right. Three quarters of the country is under snow. You know, we're still shoveling out here, definitely on the East Coast. The weather forecast has more snow potentially coming this weekend for certain portions of the East Coast.

I mean, let's just get Brooks Keppa across the cut. That's not. Let me just have Brooks so I can watch in prime time and enjoy looking at that beautiful. No, nobody's watching the pro bowl. No, everybody's watching golf because, you know, those, those, there's genuine stakes. That's, that's the whole point. My birdie buddies, my PARSAving pals, my eagle enthusiast.

Thanks for joining us. That was a terrific celebration of our good guy, Scotty Sheffler, a terrific celebration of Brooks Kepka's return and a terrific celebration of your fairway, rolling boys, right here on Netflix. We're back next week. week. Until then, go find a simulator and please hit them straight out there.