No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1027: 2025 KPMG Women's PGA & Travelers Happy Hour

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

First time seeing Fields Ranch East at Omni PGA Frisco for the best women in the world! Join us as we get you ready for it all, plus some Travelers talk, run down news and notes, make some picks, and check in with one of the hottest players on the PGA Tour, Ben Griffin. Presented by FanDuel. FanDuel x NLU: https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/pga?tab=no-laying-up-specials Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation: https://nolayingup.com/esf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. Johnny, that's better than most. How about the end? That is better than most. Better than most! better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the no laying up podcast. Happy Hour Edition KPMG Women's PGA slash travelers championship presented by our

friends at Fandel. Solly here joined by my guy Mr TC. Hello TC. How are you? Greetings, Solly. Happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday. Guys, tough tough go for your boy the last couple of days as soon as the US Open hit a virus of

some kind hit. It's not been great here, but we're we're rebounding. We're battling and we're ready to watch a lot. I'll be doing nothing but watching golf next couple days. Big Randy is here. Major championship week. Hello, Mr. Big. Hello guys. Got a fresh haircut today.

I'm feeling good. Happy hump day to all of you as well. I got a fresh haircut too, big guy. Hey, how about that? Guys look great. Cody is here. We're gonna hear from where he is here shortly. But hello, Mr. Code, man.

Hello. Happy to be here. Excited that we're still in major season. We got a lot of majors still to go. Tonight's happy hour presented by Fandil, our go-to spot for betting all the summer golf action deep into the golf season. Guys are grinding for FedEx cut points,

chasing form ahead of the last major. And Fandil's got everything you need to follow the chaos, including first, second, and third round leader markets. Plus more, the app is clean, bets are fun, download Fandl and make your next bet an ace. Must be 21 older and President selects dates, gambling problem called 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. We also give you some of our plays a little later on for this week's a lot of action spread out in a lot of places. But Cody, where are we finding you today? some of our plays a little later on for this week's a lot of action spread out in a lot of places. But Cody, where are we finding you today?

Yeah, I'm out here doing it. Omni Fields Ranch, as you mentioned, I'm live right now from Omni PGA Frisco Resort and Spa. It's amazing. The golf course, the entire complex, everything you need for a buddy's trip, guys, you know, we've been here before. We had the NIT here a couple of years ago. So they already had a major championship. You got Steve

Stricker, plus the three putt King, all major championships. We're gonna name another one this week. They got everything that you could ask for the swing. It's a 10 hole short course built for fun. It's fully lit up at night the dance floor it's open to like 10 o'clock. It's two acres long, right outside these cool little ranch houses that I'm at right now. You got two golf courses, of course, the East course designed by Gil Hans, the other one the West by Bo Welling, 13 food and beverage options, enough off course and action to keep the group rolling long after the final putt drops. If you're not

into the group trips, awesome spot for a family. I'm bringing the girls up here the rest of the weekend, and I'm really excited about it. So check it out, find locations, OmniHotels.com forward slash golf and prepare to play the possibilities. Thank you to Omni. Yes, they do awesome, awesome work. We appreciate the support there. There was a KPMG Women's PGA preview that went out on our feed on Monday. I hope people got a chance to listen to that. Talking some storylines. I also spent some time with Gil Hans talking about Omni Fields Ranch, the East course.

Our first look at that golf course, diving into kind of the philosophy behind that. But a golf course we're gonna see a ton of. I'm really excited to get a first look at it. I'm very open-minded coming into this. I have no idea what to expect. I think it's a golf course that is an interpretation of What is needed to test modern golf modern golfers at the major championship level?

I'm excited to see how the scoring is. I'm excited to see what the reaction is I'm excited to see how this place grows in and all those things and again a place that a lot of people can visit But Randy I'm gonna throw it over to you Kind of some some lead stories as we get kicked off into the new week where we can watch this week what's going on out the championship yeah thank you Sully let's start with how you can watch obviously the tournament starting Thursday it's gonna be golf channel Thursday Friday Eastern times 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then back again 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. but I want to give credit, you know, Cody, TC,

we've all talked about the need for this event to elevate in stature. It should much more resemble the United States Women Open, for instance, than it should the Chevron or the Evian. And I just want to point out that they announced an increase in purse for the players. It's up to 12 million, which is equal to the US Women's Open, which is the highest on tour.

For context, the purse here four years ago was 4.5 million. So they're pouring money into the purse, which is obviously great for the players. For the fans though, this is obviously great for the players. For the fans though this is where you know we really care about they're gonna be they're gonna be having what they call KPMG champ cast this week which is pretty much the exact same thing as the shot link data which I think really elevates events like this. Besides increase TV time I want to shout out they're doing feature group coverage. This is going to be available on Peacock, the KPMG tournament website, and I'm sure that the tournament app as well. Grant Boone,

friend of the program, and Judy Rankin are going to be calling the feature groups. We know Thursday, I think these are going to be Thursday and Friday. But we at least know for sure Thursday's feature group. The morning feature group is going to be Nelly Korda, Geno Titicum, Lydia Ko, which is fantastic. And then Thursday PM, of course, the not retired Lexi Thompson, Yuka Sasso and Yalimi No. The thing to note about that pairing, I guess they're all former junior PGA champions. So a bit of a cheeky pair there. But in all sincerity, I think the more resources KPMG, the PGA of America can put in this tournament, this should be on par with the US Women's Open. This should be on par with the AIG Women's Open. And it's good to see from both a fan perspective and the player perspective with the purse. I just need to

give credit where it's due because I've taken shots at this tournament before. So I want to praise when they're doing well. Randy, I've taken plenty of shots at the PGA of America. This should be a big time source of collaboration for the new LPGA commissioner who came from the PGA of America of like, Hey, this should be neck and neck with the US women's open. They got good venues, Hazel teen next year, but congressional after that back to Frisco in 31, but kind of a good road coming through on this. And yeah, it should feel elevated and it seems like they're, I read through the presser transcripts from yesterday,

gotta give credit to my guy, D Sprague out there doing it with PGA of America and Liz Moore with the LPGA, kind of holding it down here in the meantime, but step in the right direction. Well, I think it your point to that, Randy is like the credit, I think does go to KPMG. Like I think, unfortunately, this event still lacks a little bit on the television coverage front. And that's I mean, KPMG, but KPMG is the one putting up the

dollars to air it, right? I mean, NBC invests their resources into US women's open but they don't bend over backwards for this event like they and the PGA of America has not treated this event like a major for quite some time really it was until KPMG got involved and started taking this court this event to much better courses we went Randy in 2018 when I was at Kemper one I always remember yeah suburban Chicago just like what huh, huh? This core? Yeah. Whoa, it was like a corporate office park. Like it was, it was something else. And then all of a sudden, they're going to very

real golf courses. And they've done a magnificent I had to look that up. He said a double the persons or the person's 4.5 million just four years ago at the way athletic club. We were there for that one, too. That was crazy, crazy increase in that. So they're doing an amazing job with it. But I think we, we, I know at least I remember Baltus roll. I don't specifically remember for last year Baltus roll. We left very frustrated with how this thing was covered at the very end for Ronnie in. Yeah. Yeah. I hope we're, I hope we don't end that way on Sunday, but I'm suspicious if you allow me to be.

Well, we've done work with KPMG in the past as our friends at NBC would have always wanted us to note. Of course, of course. No, well, you know, we'll keep guarded. I'm sure it won't be a perfect event from from our fan standpoint, but they are making steps. So I think that's important to highlight those and shout them out. As far as storylines, I would encourage people to go back and listen to the preview pod, TC, myself, Cody, we kind of set out some of our favorites. I'll just maybe some ones that we quickly touched on or more like high-level storylines this week. I've got a few that I'm happy to run through. Let's start here. This year on the, on the LPGA Tour has been unlike last year, where we saw Nelly dominate early in the season, yet Hannah Green, I believe, ended up winning three times last year. The point being there were a lot of multi winners last year.

This year there've been 15 different winners. There has not been a repeat winner out on tour yet. Incredibly none of these 15 winners are Nellie Korda. One of the big things that we talked about is what kind of putter she's gonna bring to Fields Ranch East this week. One thing I will note, her Tuesday press conference, she said she had a full blown neck spasm hitting a

shot out of the rough. Claims she's fine is going to be fine, but just something to keep an eye on there with Nellie Cordova. So yeah, 15 different winners. We'll see if that trend continues this week. Question for you. That's not a that's not a there's mega thick rough out on this golf course that's injuring players kind of thing. Is it, or is that just kind of more fluky or is the rough that bad out there? Bermuda doesn't seem to want to do that. No, it's just, you know, it's summer

Bermuda in Texas. So it's not, you know, you got to push all the Oakmont images and everything of thick rock and it just sits immediately down to the bottom. And I think that, you know, they're coming from playing in Michigan and then in the Northeast, you know, before that, and then even at the US women's open, they're just not used to having to dig stuff out of the rough. Out in the fescue here, it's very, you know, it's very playable. It's sparse where it is. So I don't know where exactly she would get hurt. She looked fine today. There is a putter update. I actually saw her with back for a normal answer style putter and there was a mallet sitting there. So who knows which direction we're gonna go, but she looked fine. Exactly.

I want to see her go to the long putter someday. This event... Yeah, like to your point on just the amount of different people who have won this, I was reading Maggie Eikens in the Friday News this morning about, I think the last 11 or 12 women's majors, there's only one repeat winner. And that's, that's Lilia Vu. And it's kind of, you know, it's both a blessing and a curse, right? We talked about it a little bit on our preview show. But, you know, even looking at somebody went in winning, like I'm looking at Yuka Sasso, she's had more missed cuts this year than, you know, she's the defending US Women's Open champ and had more missed cuts

this year than she's had made cuts. So it's even just a lack of consistency, even when they're not winning from the top players, like Lillia Vu, you know, I'm super worried about her right now. It's crazy. I know. It's been an interesting year, TC. I think of all, at least me getting super into the LPGA Tour, there's just a lot of people that are battling a lot of injuries. And you see that from, you know, the top 10 all the way through like top 50 in the world. And it seems like we haven't really had a solid run where anybody, you know, top 10 players in the world. And it seems like we haven't really had a solid run where anybody, you know, top 10 players in the world are just like, yeah, we're all here firing on all cylinders.

It's just been a weird, I hate that because LPGA Tour has like four starts to the season, but like it's, we're in this weird, you know, early summer start for them. Yeah. Well, we're gonna have to buck some history at the KPMG because, you know, we're talking about 15 different winners on tour this year the KPMG itself seven of the last nine

Winners of this event have been first time major winners You know a question will that trend continue this week? I think if just by looking at the Rolex rankings, the top players currently without a major that you would think, you know, hey, if you're gonna win a first major this week, obviously that starts with Gino Titicum, number two in the world. I think needs to show us something.

Very disappointing week at Aaron Hills, a couple of weeks back, usually has like the highest floor, I think even counting Nellie on tour week to week, just hasn't, she's had top tens at majors, but really looking forward to being contention come the weekend would be a big step for her. Number five. I think we're bouncing off the bottom.

I hope so. I think she bounces back in this one. She, she's too good. I was I was hard on her major record ahead of the US women's open you just advancing too quickly on this one Randy I needed you to apply some of your logic that you normally do to her and I think now I think now I think it's flipped that was such a poor performance that it's like alright, it's time to play some serious golf. I bet she I bet she's at least the top five this

week. I think some sneaky lot amount of LPGA women make their home around Dallas Frisco area too. So certainly a home game Geno is one of them running in is another that that lives in Dallas area. D Sprague was talking about that in his presser. Frisco is very much not Dallas. Okay. as presser. Frisco is very much not Dallas. Okay. It's the plex though, right? It's the plex.

Anybody, you know, there's probably Jason, there's probably 40, 50 women that play full time on the LPGA tour that do live in Dallas. They all either live down in the colony or grapevine. None of them are like, it's not a home game. None of them are staying at their houses. They don't come up here and play. Frisco is a hike up here.

They should come up and play. They should establish home field advantage. They should. Even if it's, you know, and then I think another thing too. Of course. Would it be a good idea for the LPGA to do a few signature events,

limited field, no cut, get 40 to 50 players in and just say, you know, like increased the chances that you're gonna have a big name win an event. Maybe. I mean they have the Asian swing which is basically that. Yeah. I guess they try to with the Asian swings. I mean, truthfully, it's what like the Chevron and Evian should be, or should just be like elevated kind of events. Signature series. Yeah. Um, I guess just to finish a thought on, on first time potential winners, uh, ranking high,

you have number five in the world, Hey Don Rue, uh, number 10 Angel Yin, of course, LC. pronunciation has won the day. Despite being harassed on this one, which that's outrageous. First of all, somebody's in our comments or our DMS about Randy with G, right? Yeah, Tita Coon, not Tita Coom. I have no idea. an M and then be solid the the LPGA website itself and some of the Korean ladies out there Do not know where you're getting this D

From Brady just rolled right off Randy's tongue. I just I thought we had decided there's a letter for this Hate on you hate on you. What's wrong? That's that's that's the audio file that was sent to us hate on you Say it faster with confidence. Yeah. Charlie Hall is there at number 17. He's looking for her first major. So keep going. Yeah. Interestingly, you know, if you're thinking about the first two majors this year were won by Mal Sigo and Maya Stark,

the last woman to win either the Chevron and the KPMG or the US Women's Open and the KPMG will MB Park won all three in 2013. So it's been a while since we've seen somebody pull a double. Maybe we'll get that out of Maya or Mal this week. What else do I have for you? I thought this was interesting. Amy Yang, all right, the last few winners of the KPMG. Amy Yang was ranked 25th, coming ranked 25th in the world, coming into last year's KPMG before she won. The year before that, Roning Yin won. She was ranked 24th in the world going into that week.

Inji Chun, the year prior to that, was ranked 33th in the world going into that week in G Chun The year prior to that was ranked 33rd in the world before winning the KPMG So if you like recent history and are fishing around and kind of that 24 to 33 in the world right now I think there are five very interesting names Aki EY is ranked. Minji Lee, who I think is a total threat this week, is ranked 24. Heejin Choi is 25. Madeline Sagstrom is 29.

And then Megan Kang is ranked 32nd. So I just wanted to, you know, hey, if you like recent history like that, those are the women that would keep that trend going. So I would throw it to Cody, Tron, Sully even, and any other things that you guys have been thinking about. It's OK if not. But since we did our storylines on the preview pod, anything else to shout out? I'm amped. Yeah, Sully, go ahead.

I'm, I'm curious, I'm very curious to see what fan reaction is to this golf course. Because I mean, I think it's a good golf course. I think it's interesting. It is not like, Oh, I think this was the future of major championship golf. I think, uh, I'm intrigued, but the big takeaway we had from being there is aesthetically, it might not be the most pleasing. And it was one of the few golf courses I've ever played where I've been like, I could use some houses around here to kind of

kind of fill in the sight lines. I feel similar to Trinity Forest, honestly, like I think that's a good golf course, but it's just the aesthetics all around it take away in a way from the fan experience, like it just doesn't look like that much of an aspirational place. And I'm curious if that's gonna be the takeaway. Something I've definitely learned in this job is like some of these things I can really nerd out about

and get interested in, 80% of the golf population doesn't care about at all. And I think there might be some headwinds on that front with this golf course, at least for now. And then maybe by 2027, it's a little more grown in and looks a little bit more aesthetically pleasing and in May it might be a more pleasant environment and climate to play a major championship in than this one will be but That is a question mark heading into this one and one that I

Look forward to weighing in on Sunday to seeing if what wins today Sorry, I totally agree with you. I think even talking to some caddies some players that are, you know, it doesn't sound like everybody's thrilled with the golf course, which actually makes me more excited because I think that there's stuff that like I think that stretch from 10 through I mean the back nine sick. There's like 10 or 12 is such a cool progression of par fours. And then you get that long par three. And I think it's on the PGA of America, Carrie Hague, specifically to set this up correctly.

I'm very interested to see how he sets it up. There's a lot of versatility out there. There's a lot that could go wrong if you set it up too short or too long. But I hope they set it up to really challenge the ladies because I think that would be very interesting. I would like to see this course differentiate and spread the leaderboard out. I want to see great shots get rewarded, good shots and great shots get differentiated from one another too. Um, cause yeah, and you know, like that was tricky at congressional years ago, like similar thing, big golf course, a lot of, a lot of variety, a lot of versatility.

And I think they, they try, they set it up too long the first day and, and, you know, weather didn't cooperate that week, but it's not too long and then totally. You know, overreacted and neutered the whole place. So the other thing too, is just I think we're gonna see a lot of sun umbrellas out there. Cody, like, what's the what's the build out look like? Or what's the like, where where fans going to kind of congregate out there, because there's not a lot of shade. It's supposed to be 9392 on Thursday, 93 on Friday, 94 on Saturday,

and 93 on Sunday. No clouds, just straight sun. I'm sure it's humid too. No, it is a beautiful summer. Hardly any humidity out here. 94 degrees right now. I just looked down at my phone. It's been blowing about sustained 20 so far, gusts up to 20. I love that. Same thing. Sign me up for this. Is that supposed to continue? Yep. And it's going to be the same way all week, not looking for any, you know, precipitation coming through. Guys, I'm so excited to see how this Gil Hands course holds up. We talked a lot about it in the preview, but he moved, it's a 36-hole complex. So they took a lot of the dirt that they moved for the West course over here to reinforce

specifically these holes on the back nine, 10, 11, 12, to build them up. Panther Creek is what runs through this property. And then at a minimum, this whole property is sand capped with six inches of sand. At most, it's up to two feet of sand. So there's no issues draining. But what that does is it creates extremely firm and hopefully fast playing conditions.

The greens are absolutely pure. And I bring the sand and the sand capping up because that sand is the exact same sand that's in the bunkers that they have here. And they're very inconsistent. And because bunkers are stacked up kind of weird shaped, you know, low points and high points next to these greens and really in the fairways where the wind comes in, you know, there's kind of a little drafting effect. It pools at the entrance and then washes everything out at the bottom and kind of blast it out.

So there's nowhere in these bunkers that there's not really consistent sand. You know, they shifted it out to get all the heavy stuff out, but there's never a consistent bottom to it. And it's thrown all the women into a complete, you know, fit so far. They don't know how to play out of the bunkers. And which I think is awesome. There's, there's supposed to be ha hazards. Yeah. We talk about golf course kind of sets up for it.

It's not about like people who are not ball strikers are going to be completely exposed because of the wind. It's just going to blow them completely off the face of this golf course. But really it's about knowing your carry numbers and like, you're going to see a lot of balls landing short and releasing onto them. And I think the green complexes that you have here, there's a lot of them that are, you know, the high point is front to back, not back to front, which I absolutely love. And it sets up to be able to play that. And I think the way that the women play their swing speeds and coming in with a lot of hybrids and everything, you're going to see some incredible

shot making and that's really kind of what's got me going here. But it's hot TC. It's going to be super windy. We're just going to see who kind of who kind of can hold. I've never heard high brands before that just high brands. They better not dump water on this place. I hope I will fly there and personally deal with things if they do because it's it's I'm going to be really disappointed if they if they dump too much water on this place. Well I think there's a big difference here again I think it goes back to the sand is there's a difference between like putting water down on grass to maintain like health health is fine, but very much. I was out here super early there's I have you haven't seen a single ounce of water on this golf

course. Good. If they design this golf course for this purpose to play in this wind to be firm to be fast to be this way, and then come and dump water, I get that would not make sense at all. Like I, I don't know if I trust. Yeah, he's he his reputation has gone off a cliff the last two or three years as far as setups go, in my opinion. I know.

Cody, so you have- I didn't love it before. I've never been a Kerry Hague stand by the way. I was just gonna ask, Cody, you think they'll be able to kind of run some shots up like into the front parts of these greens? Cause I was just curious with being Bermuda grass, if it's that weird, like if you land it short it's kind of

going to stick because of the grass or if players will kind of get that hop and release onto some of these greens. Yeah as long as you're coming in with like an eight iron or less you're going to be able you're going to be fine you know if you're trying to come in with something lofty and you're landing it the cool thing here is that where there are the turtle backs and kind of rounded off sides of the greens is that the grain is directly into you. So if you're trying to land a wedge into that and expecting it to bounce up and release, that's not going to happen. But it's one of the few golf courses, and I'll say specifically on the LPGA tour schedule, that makes them think through that stuff. And it's a lot different

even than Aaron Hills was a couple of weeks ago, because it's very consistent grass throughout and bleeding in this is pure Bermuda. From T-box all the way through fairway into greens. It's not, uh, you know, there's no mini Verde or champion or any blends. It's straight Bermuda. And I think it's going to be very, very interesting to see who can actually buckle down. I, it, you know, I mentioned in the preview names that jumped out, but more and more, I'm like, this, it feels like we're more in like a planet course in like Melbourne right now than

we are. It's an Australian PGA. Like it's, it's like Madeline. I like Minji. I like Lauren. I know, I like Mindy. I like Lauren. I know, you know, it's, it's, yeah. It was funny. Just, uh, uh, reading some of the press conferences, I, I, both Maya Stark, uh, she was asked, you know, how does this compare to, to Erin Hill? She, she thinks there probably can, will be a few more birdies this week than than Aaron Hills Certainly the win more of a factor, you know, Titicum who I Thought made a kind of an interesting point saying if you keep your ball in the fairway You should have a good chance to she was like making par is not that hard but making birdie should be a bit tricky so yeah, I I'm really curious the test

and what we're gonna see come tomorrow. And then I think too, like whoever plays the par threes well, I think it's gonna have a really distinct advantage. I think it's so much fun stuff set up wise with the par threes and I really hope they do. I don't mean to downplay the golf course with what I was saying earlier. I just don't know if a lot of it,

it's gonna take a good setup and good coverage of the tournament downplay the golf course with what I was saying earlier. I just don't know if a lot of it, it's going to take a good setup and good coverage of the tournament of the golf course for those things to come through on television and not have the aesthetics kind of over overwatch that. Because it's kind of monochromatic. That's exactly it could feel like it blends all the holes kind of just blend together. I don't know. There's enough. There's a good contrast. I'll say this in the rough and waste areas and things like that and the massive bridges. You guys know, you know, you guys all love infrastructure.

We're walking through the guy here are sweet and there's not a lot of those crazy big houses that have built. They're not do things a little different on today's happy hour. We're into our picks here shortly. And then we're going to talk about the big news on the PGA Tour front, which is the new CEO of the PGA Tour. Then on the very end of the show, as well, we have an interview with Ben Griffin checking in from the Travelers reacting from Oakmont and kind of the hot streak he's been on. Before we get to all that, we'll give a shout out to our friends at Rowback. You guys already know, but you see a lot of different rowbacks on the screen right now if you're watching this. You got a lot of polos you're seeing there. Randy's got the Hezzy hoodie on, a favorite of many. I just got this Tailwind Performance Q-Zip. This thing is fantastic. It's so light. I'm looking for more long sleeve stuff to wear in the summer. Yeah, I need to give him those. This is really, really good. It's like stretchy kind of material. I never good at describing it. But this was an idiot, immediate ad. I like this color to this kind of Heather green color. They got the USA collection, of course, for the

summer collection, there's gonna be a lot of American flags flying around this summer, you get some get some roback stuff on there. July 4 Labor Day, all that stuff. You got the American flag on the back yoke as Cody is showing off right now. The Delta Looper shorts, great for any occasion, especially for the summer on the golf course, off the golf course. Load up now roeback.com, code NLU, generous 20% off your first order through the end of this week. That's R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, 20% off polos shorts and more with code and L you all right. Let's get some of our picks for this week.

If you are new to the happy hour, we do a little team parlay for every week and we do our one and done picks this week with a signature event and a women's major we're gonna be making picks on both sides of the aisle for that one and then give us kind of two of our we our, everyone give two of their favorite bets that they've made as well, which have a no laying up specials tab on the Fandle Sportsbook as well.

So TC, you wanna tell us what's our team parlay? Yeah, team parlay this week is Ronnie Yin, top 10, Mal Sigo, top 10, and a Max Homa top 20. Come on Max, you should be well rested. Let's go buddy. Yeah, and yeah, Loki. I love I always love watching the Travelers. I think it's an interesting tournament, you know, definitely of who's playing well, and it seems like Max is, it has been finding some little nuggets along the way here and I think he's, he's, I think he's ready to start.

He's got Lance Bennett on the bag this week. Uh, Randy, I can get down with that. I like that. Plus 3000, uh, those, uh, and look, it's hard to get super up for travelers on Wednesday, the week before after a major. But I always say this, like I say this for Heritage too, like when Sunday comes around, we're going to be excited to watch that final round. There's going to be some fun storylines still to follow in that one.

For one and done picks for the guys that are not here, DJ is going with Russell Henley this week and Nellelly Korda. Neil is going with Ludwig at plus 2,500 and Gino Titicoon at plus 900. KVV is going Cam Young plus 5,000 and Yalimi No as well. TC who you got in one and done? I have, uh, I like the Yalimi No pick too. That's a, that's proper. She's in a pretty premium pairing this week too. I've got Keegan Bradley. He was my pick in our draft at the beginning of the year, our winners draft. So I'm going to stick with that. I got him at plus 3,300 last I checked. I got Minji Lee at

plus 2,200. I really like that. Yeah. She's, she's, she's been talking about unfinished business. She's loved the way she set herself up for the weekends, the first two majors this year, TC, and just has not played near, uh, up to her, up to her standard on the weekend. So I think she's coming in here determined. Rainey, what are your picks? I'm taking Ben Griffin. Listen, For anybody your picks. I'm taking Ben Griffin. Listen, you know, I have a bit of a moment right now. Let's go with him. He's plus 5,000 to win the travelers.

And then at the KPMG, give me Ronny Yen, obviously former champ and her last three majors, she's been beaten by five total women. She's a couple of T2s and a t four in there. So she's she's been showing up at these big events. How about you, Sully? I am going with sep straka is my one and done. I hope I didn't already pick him. I need to actually, I didn't double check that I might have already picked him.

I'll check right now. I'm such a big set. You did not you did not. And then I'm going with hate on you is going to win this this week. I think It's time for her to make the leap and I think that this is the week that it happens. So I'm seeing great ball striker You know Randy's Randy's nibbling around on Ludwig top Nordic Plus 105 I've got a this next section is our Plus 105. I've got a this next section is our everyone gets to pick their two favorite bets and that is

Two favorite bets get to get listed here TC or and Randy directed it both of you here But yeah, what are your two two other favorite plays people can find on our specials tab? I got Ludwig bogey free round one I love that play. I think that's plus 650 right now. I don't think there's a ton of bogies out there. Um, What else I don't know if they put it up, but I'll shout it out. I Got Celine Boudier winning group B You'll leave me know winning group D Rio Takeda winning group C plus 8207 Parlay there. So it's it's's you know distinct it's not an accumulator

it's it's distinct pools and everything and then you know I've got Tommy winning without Scotty. That's too. Randy what are your two plays? What are your plays? Mutum. Mutum, Coby. Well I do have a couple I'm not going to shout them out. Sorry, please don't hold these. But on our fan duel, if you look under no laying up specials, I have a couple fun ones. One with Nelly and Ronny Yin and then another with Ronny Yin and Patrick Cantlay. But my two favorite like specifically for the KPMG. Yeah, no, no, I just want to shout out what's already up there. Yeah. I like to I like like Angel Yin plus 2,800 as a winner without Haydon Rue, Gino, Nellie, and Ronny. I think Angel,

listen, she's been, she was top 10 at the, at the, at the U S open. She loves hard golf courses. I feel like she's a premium ball striker, can hit it through the wind. So I like that play. And then my other one, we've talked about Madeline Saxstrom. Listen, if you're like me and you like weird stuff, I'm rooting for Madeline this week because it will give us three straight major champions with the initials MS on the LPGA Tour. I'm not going to take her to win,

but she's plus 900 to top 10. So I think that represents some good value. If she's on, I think she's going to have a great week. It's always a question of if she's on or not. I'm going to keep mine short and sweet. Cody's got Cam Young first round leader plus 3,500 over on the Travelers. Guy shot 59 there.

I don't know if you guys remember that, but, uh, and then sep and Vic Hovland to both top 20 is plus 300. I think that's, I think that that's like one of my favorite bets of the year. I think so. Um, on the big news front. So this was, uh, uh, again, I've been sick this week and just like rolling out of bed. And I knew this was coming, but can we shout out a couple more here just no TC we gotta get to some news any two of morikawa no big and cantlay to finish top five

and guys is plus 650 then they threw up a yeah lc plus carlota cut them off top 10 parlay which i really carlota's hot she's yeah she's. Excuse me. Don't take that the wrong playing very, very hot. Anyways, and maybe bigger news. The PGA Tour welcomes a new CEO. This is again a new role, allegedly kind of still a bit unclear as to how the commissioner role is going to evolve. Jay Monahan allegedly staying on through 2026. Off the gut, off the off the jump here. TC, what do people need to know about this news? What about Brian and about how this is going to unfold?

Yeah, my big takeaway is first of all, shout out to both James Colgan at golf.com and Joel Beal at Golf Digest. Both of them had exceptional write ups on, you on, I think Joel's was a little bit more focused on player reaction and internal reaction. And I think James's was a much more like who is Brian Rollap. So we'll get there. I think it sounds like Jay intends to stay on through the duration of his contract, which runs through 2026.

It feels a little bit like, hey, you guys are going to have to buy me out because just hanging around for 12 to 18 months, just focusing on your duties as a board member feels a little bit light. And I did notice Roll App, he was announced as CEO of PGA TOR and PGA TOR enterprises, not just PGA TOR and PGA TOR Enterprises, not just PGA TOR Enterprises. So I think that's a crucial distinction versus what was laid out, say, three, six, nine months ago. The more I've read about this guy, the more it's the right hire. They chose the right guy. I think Thursday Night Football was his brain of brainchild, was his baby.

That's been killer. He's been the one to negotiate all the media deals with, whether it's NBC, CBS, Fox, getting in with Netflix, the Amazon Prime stuff, all that stuff. I think that's all kind of his handiwork. It sounds like he is a serious adult, serious human being. He's got he comes from he's got four kids, I think is one of his sons played played. He walked on to Michigan, he was on the national championship winning teams quarterback. He's got another son who's coming up through the ranks right now really good quarterback. So, you know, comes from kind of a sports family. Sally, he went to Harvard Business School with Scott O'Neill from Liv,

which is interesting. I think they're both, I think they both went to BYU as well. But just every, like everybody you talk to around the NFL or who's interacted with this guy, it seems like he's, he's not a self-promoter. He's not a, he's not a bullshitter. But at the same time, it seems like, like, James Colgan had a great link to a Fortune magazine interview from like 2015 with Roll Up so much earlier in his career. And just talking about how like, I know he's an outsider to golf. So one of your questions earlier was like, Hey, how is an outsider? Is he gonna buck tradition too much? Or is he gonna be too, you know, too focused on over commercializing this thing? And he had some quotes in there just about how none of this shit matters unless I'm paraphrasing here, none of this shit matters unless the product is good. Unless the game means something, unless, unless, you know, like there's a, there was an anecdote about a picture he's got in his office where, you know, it's, it's a couple of Massachusetts prep schools playing a football game and like the science building is on fire in the background and everybody is locked in on the football game. And he's like, Hey, like that just shows

that like it was a good game. The game meant something like, you know, the competition has to mean something. It has to be quality competition and you got to present it the right way. And, and, you know, he's like, Hey, like, if you're doing those things, then the other stuff matters and you can ladder up. And I think, you know, he sounds like he's a pretty creative thinker. It sounds like he's highly, highly attuned with, he's a pretty creative thinker. It sounds like he's highly, highly attuned with streaming platforms and interfaces. From everything I've read, it sounds like he's a pretty thoughtful, forward-thinking leader. Potentially going to be the commissioner, the next commissioner of the NFL. That was part of the, he was lured away. He was, you know, he was the number two guy for many, many years there,

potentially Roger Goodell's successor. Yeah. I mean, he's, he's, you know, like the, obviously the NFL, you know, TV deals are all his handiwork and those are, those make the PGA tour stuff pale in comparison. And I think that was where I think, you know, Jay had those three years, you know, that kind of three or four year grace period where he was the deputy commissioner and then everybody was like, just wait till 2020 or wait till 2021 when we get this new TV deal in place.

And it was like, all right, Jay, those first three years or four years, it was like everything was leading up to that. And then nothing really changed. Right. And I think that was one of our big frustrations of the Monahitian regime. And I think, obviously, next one, I think is 2030. So we've got a few years, but starting to lay the groundwork for that now. And I think that's where, like, hey, well, hopefully we can see, A, the tours showed that, hey, we can change. We can rip the Band-Aid off. They just announced a new format for the tour championship in season. But between signature events and all of that, I think the other thing is the NFL has had a pretty global focus over the last few years. They've played tournaments or they've played

games in Brazil. They're doing a game in Australia, they've got Germany, Spain, like they're reaching into Europe in a big way. And so I think, hopefully that pretends like him, him having much more of a global focus than what the previous administration did, as it relates to just the schedule. It's just been the same taped together schedule for the last however long so well and that's where i'm intrigued and i'm

i would guess the most optimistic viewpoint for the the long handover from monahan to him is where the bodies are buried how stuff works why you can't do this why you can't do this which can be a positive or a negative thing. I think I'm curious to see how much the schedule can change. I mean, there's some tournaments that are lined up to do this through many, many years and they want this week in the calendar and you can't move this because of this and you need the institutional knowledge. I hear that.

Which but but yeah, but this is a pretty it's a drastic. It's a big change. And I guess I'm pulling back. Is it a big change with the goal of, of really changing the way this is done and changing the way the championship structure of this works, you just referenced the tour championship. It's like gone completely backwards and we end up with one of the worst final championships in sports, I'm going to guess that this guy is going to say like, Hey, the super bowl is Bowl is pretty big product.

Pretty big one. Maybe trust me to lead us towards, you know, kind of figuring out a better way to crown a champion is something I'm really intrigued on. I think worse, again, I'm working off this much information just from reading a couple articles, all that. Worst case scenario is reading like, oh, they got a big media rights deal coming up. Hope this guy can get a bunch of money for the players because he's got a lot articles, all that. Worst case scenario is reading like, oh, they got a big media rights deal coming up.

Hope this guy can get a bunch of money for the players because he's got a lot of experience doing that. That's the most pessimistic view of it. But everything I'm reading about his philosophy on entertainment product is what I want to hear for making the product good and viewable. Because I don't really care if things get better for the players and if he's a great CEO for the players,

we've done enough of the player related stuff. So are you going to make this product better for sports fans and golf fans? I'm inclined to say yes, based on the information we have currently, and I hope that to be the case. And I hope he's just not too hamstrung by a system in place that is going to be still really, really difficult to change on a lot of fronts. Yeah, I think it's like he's not afraid to break shit, I don't think and and you know, I don't I don't think that there should be too many sacred cows within the PGA Tour ecosystem. I think we've already ripped the bandaid off on that front and kept some of the stuff that sucks and broken some of the stuff that was good anyway, you know, so just give the guy a pretty blank slate and he's already got a good, you know, really good roster of sponsors and like they've, you know, shout out to Monahan on that front.

Like they've kept big sponsors in the boat and they certainly know how to sell things. So, but it does seem like 18 months is a long time. You could buy Monahan out and then essentially say, all right, you know what? I bought the Steamboat and you can work on a consulting basis here. I think generally speaking, it seems like we've led up to this for so long and it's just been, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now it's finally happening. I woke up this morning and I was like, yo, like we got a new, yeah, like we got, like this is what we've been begging for, for the last four or five years. And I'm really, really excited about it. And I think it's,

it's truly time for change at the PGA tour. They've, there's been a lot of shuffle in the deck chairs and there's, I think there's been a lot of, uh, change within the organization as far as head counts and building new teams and 15 people around but I think overall it's like all right this guy should be able to hit the ground running pretty good and and like he's not afraid to just ask a bunch of questions wait why do we do this and and I think with Monahan it was because we've always done it that way instead of hey there's a better way to do this. You know? So Randy, am I selling you on this guy or is it, is it

for sure. Are you guys are saying all this much more eloquently than I am. I just am glad given what we've seen the last several years, I'm really glad they brought somebody in from the outside who quite frankly does not have a ton of golf experience. I that's, that's exactly exactly I think what I wanted personally. So I am I'm excited. I you know, the proof will be in the pudding.

But I at least on paper and the things you're talking about, TC, I think it's an exciting hire and an exciting name. So one other thing, I think executive, right? I think the one thing TCS, he keeps bringing up the 18 months with Monaghan is that Rolf coming in with truly like, he can't learn anything really from Monaghan with how SSG, like what their plans are intense or how they're going to kind of establish themselves. And I saw earlier, it was like, you know, I think that was last week when the, somebody was like, oh yeah, you know, the PGA Tour hasn't spent a cent of that money yet.

Like, wow. Okay, well, are they waiting on their executive to be in place and then go? This is what we want you to execute? I think the good thing is we, you've got new leaders in place at PGA Tour, LPGA. You've got a brand new structure going in at Live. You got a brand new structure going in at NBC, Versant, Spinco, all that stuff.

It seems like the time is ripe to kind of break some stuff. What I do worry about is I think there's certain shit that he doesn't need to learn from Monahan. Like go make up your own mind on rollback or on like if you care about the product, well, the product is, is related to course setups and the venues that you can play and all of that. And you've got this whole roster of TPC courses that can't hold a tournament these days. I think the other thing, Sallyali, is, you know, there's some quotes from Kevin Clark, who, you know, he's been on the trap draw before, big fan of Kevin. Like, you know, this guy ran NFL Network. Like, he was kind of the, like, he ran NFL Films, NFL Network.

Like, he's very, very, like, and that's kind of best in class, best in the business as far as, like, and that's kind of best in class, best in the business, as far as like NFL films goes, he's pretty fluent in competent at content. Right. And I think that's, that's something that, you know, you think back to NFL network, like when they had to cover the Ray Rice stuff, they didn't shy away from it. They, they covered it warts and all and asked tough questions. And I think that shows that, you know, there can be two sides of the house and, and he's capable of looking after both sides of the house. And I know that's not a player run organization, but I do think, you know,

if you're a player and somebody comes in from the NFL, which is a, you know, a real sports league and say, Hey, you know what? Here's, here's, here's how we did things at the NFL and why. And like, cool. You guys have been doing it your way for this long. How'd that work out for you? Shut the fuck up. It's honestly just kind of dawning on me how much like, the tour stance on things can change, like, tour stance on live and suspensions and all that might change drastically.

You know, the tour stance on signature events, which were a Monahan creation, like that might change drastically. You know, the tour's stance on signature events, which were a monohand creation. Like that might change drastically. Like stands on rollback, as you mentioned, might change drastically. It's, it does get me excited, nervous and a lot of things, I guess, but, uh, well, well, we'll see how it all plays. We'll be, we'll be covering this in great, great, great detail. I'm sure over the years to come and look forward to, uh, to, you know, learning

a lot more about this and what plans are and seeing how this it's gonna take time. I know it's not gonna be a snap of the fingers and expect everything to change as of next year. But yeah, we can get into it more on the Sunday pot too. I think there's there's plenty more to unpack there because I think there's there's a lot more to unpack there on who they didn't choose. And there's some really, really good hints and stuff in in Joel's piece about, you know, who was a real candidate,

who wasn't and some of the stuff around Monahan of just, you know, it sounds like more and more this is a complete repudiation of Monahan and Monahan is just trying to hang around for to get, you know, like he wants to see the framework agreement through, but no, he like, he just wants to hang around through January 1st, 2026. So that like, he gets paid. I don't blame him. Just just buy him out and rip the bandaid off. Yeah. I honestly don't have an opinion on that. I'm just looking forward to a new tenure and hope hopefully some open mindedness

on how to do a lot of things like honestly, the NFL films, like I don't know how many times we've referenced, like that they should be creating a golf style version of that. And hopefully that's sound effects. They're hard knocks. Seriously, all that stuff. That's that was all rollout. Yeah. And his kids are telling him, Hey, dad, this is awesome. We should do more of this. Okay, cool. Let's do more of it. Like, and then the wherewithal to see that through and make it

a good product. Yep. Other travelers notes. we'll cover the travelers of course in detail on Sunday but Adam Schefter is going to be doing on course reporting tomorrow uh for the Rory Keegan pairing uh on feature group stuff just found that to be sure after her fail improperly reporting on the the PGA tour new uh commissioner role CEO role role, all of that. But I just, yeah, that'll be, if you hear an unfamiliar voice on ESPN Plus tomorrow, that's that one. Shifty. We will be back.

We have a new podcast coming out Thursday night. KPV and I are doing another little deep dive. We'll have a live show on Saturday night, setting up the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA. And of course we'll be live on Sunday night covering two events, the Travelers and this is getting doubled up this year, two majors, two women's majors up against signature events but those are always really fun shows so it'll be a two TV Sunday so and next up we're gonna play this on our way out as well a little sit down with Ben

Griffin. I did this this morning guys I'm not'm not going to lie. I wasn't feeling great this morning. If I look a little rough, uh, in the video version of this interview, we were battling, uh, the nausea this morning, but we made it through it. But, uh, good, good to get our first chat we've had with Ben. I know we want to get them on for a full length interview in the future, but, uh, appreciate his insights and things. My man's confident. And he made me feel confident by the end of it as well.

So, uh, thank you to our friends at FanDuel, Roeback and Omni Cody running the ones and two's look forward to a great week. Here's our little conversation with Ben Griffin. And when I play a good round of golf, I don't want to go to sleep at night. I don't want because I know if I wake up the next day, you know, that feel might be gone. Are you afraid to take a week off right a week how well you've been play just kidding. Um yeah, I

after the memorial before So yeah, it's good to, it rest, but you definitely really well, you don't wa days off and kind of lose So I feel like right now of managing rest, but al bits of practice and to m lose those same feels. So now I'm doing a good job but also getting little b

make sure I'm staying in you go back like a year f whatever time, whatever t to and say, you know, in where you're at today, if a year and said, what woul like if I do this, blah, I could be this player.

Is there some perspective you would have on, it's maybe easy to say now, like what you've done really well to get to this level, but if you could have called it when you were, you know, kind of at a different level just about a year ago, would you have been able to predict, I need to do this better and this is where I can get to?

No, I mean, I think I was kind of on a nice progression. It was just, it's just kind of the way professional golf works. Like you kind of you learn through experience. Um, you can't replicate experience and practice a ton. Um, you just gotta kind of get out there. It's hard. I gotta say it's pretty hard right now for like even PGA tour, you guys coming out on tour, you've got to get your reps in and kind of get a feel

for how PGA Tour golf works. You go from college to professional golf, you got to manage different things, you own your own business now. And so I guess going back a year, I don't think I would give myself really any sort of advice, it would just be more maintaining positivity and understanding that good things are to come. And you you just gotta keep grinding and getting progressively a little bit better and believing in yourself and I kinda had that a year ago. It's just recently

I've gotten on this hot streak and you know I I had some hot streaks even going back to my rookie year on tour last year on tour but you know the second third fourth place finishes just weren't wins. Now, those top finishes are like wins. So it's just changed a little bit. And I just feel like I'm on a really good path and I just gotta keep going down it. Well, on top of the two wins you've had, you were in contention, very seriously in contention in a signature event with Scotty Scheffler, the number one player in

the world, player who's been breaking records everywhere. Was anything different about that moment? Did you have to try to convince yourself you had to do something special on that day to beat him? What was it like kind of looking back in retrospect of going toe to toe with Scottie? Yeah, I think going back maybe a year or two I would have said I had to do something really special, but I think now it's like I've got to go out there and just believe in myself and execute and I felt incredible that final round. Slept great going into the round. I was fully confident that I was going to win that golf tournament. I think you go back a year or two and you know there might be not necessarily negative thoughts but just maybe

a little bit more anxiousness going into rounds whereas now you know obviously I'm playing extremely well like physically I feel like my game's in a good spot mentally I'm going to be playing in the final rounds. Whereas now, you know, obviously I'm playing extremely well. Like physically, I feel like my game is in a good spot. Mentally, I'm in a great spot. And so like it's easy for me to go into these rounds and

feel really good. Whereas in the past, maybe I would have just a little bit of anxiousness, I would say. So now I'm going into these final rounds, even in majors like US Open. Like I was fully committed to trying to shoot seven under the final round at the US Open and win that golf tournament, even though I started the day at four over and actually only needed five under, lo and

behold. But it just, it comes down to execution. Sometimes you can tell yourself all these things mentally and you can be in a great spot, but it just doesn't happen from an execution standpoint. I hit it on the front fringe of the first hole at Oakmont, that final round, and I'm thinking, all right, let's just two-putt this. But the pen's like two pt this but the pins like two paces from a slope that takes

it off the green and of course my ball comes off a little slower than I want it to and it catches that slope. So I degreen my pot on the first hole and all of a sudden, that's like, alright, seven under might be a little

stretch but um yeah, I mean, it's just uh I'd say just I'm way less anxious nowadays in terms of going into rounds. I'm sleeping great going into rounds. I'm feeling confident going around and it just comes out execution. What how would you describe the test that was Oakmont and how does that differ? Does it differ greatly from what you experience week to week?

I imagine that to be the case, but how would you describe what makes it different and what makes it special? It's just nuts that Oakmont mean one under obviously, with the 70 footer on the last hole, incredible moment for JJ Spahn, like so amazing watching that happen, so happy for him and his caddy Mark Harrens. But yeah, that golf course doesn't have a single water hazard on the property, nor does it really have out of bounds. There's like, you could maybe hit it out of bounds on the first hole. I think there might've been a couple guys that did, but it's really not that much in play. And the rest of the golf course is just wide open. There's not even hardly any trees yet. One under par wins that golf tournament.

That just shows how difficult the rough is, how difficult the contours of those greens are. Even with soft conditions, you know, it was pretty, it was starting to get firmer after the second, you know, first, second round. And then kind of when that rain came in on Friday night, it was pretty, it was starting to get firmer after the second, you know, first, second round. And then, um, kind of when that rain came in on Friday night, it softened the course a little bit. And then obviously the rain on Sunday made it even softer. So, uh, it's just nuts that a golf course, uh, is able to do that. Shout out to the superintendent of the golf course, uh, USGA, everyone that was able to kind of put on a really good test.

And it was not like some people were like, Oh, it's borderline. It was, it was incredible. Like that was a good, fair, hard us open. Like if you hit it really well and you put it in the right spots, you're going to have chances. And I definitely had plenty. My problem was I three putted if you included off the fringe, which some holes was like, you know, five paces off the green, but the, the fringes were like literally greens that I grew up putting on. So it was fine. But I had six or seven three putts, I think the last two rounds, and the first two rounds I didn't have a single one.

So I was putting it great, lag putting it great, and then the weekend, I think the softness, the greens kind of messed up my speed a touch, and it was hard to really judge some of those putts, whereas I was in a really good flow kind of the first two rounds before the rain came in. So I think that was the most difficult thing for me. It was less of like the golf course playing longer balls, not running.

Like, you know, I think I was fourth in driving distance last week, the US Open. So the length wasn't an issue. Um, it was just, uh, it was just tough to judge a lot of those putts and you'd have five footers that you got to play a cup out or two cups out. And usually on the PGA tour, most of the greens that we compete on are not quite as severe and most of the whole locations they actually have to put on like, you know, smaller slopes because the greens are so fast so that they have to make it playable and US Open, it's just like they're fast

greens but they're also like they're not quite as fast as normal tour event but there's so much slope that you can get pups that are crazy fast compared to a normal event. So just takes a lot of touch. It was very difficult. I loved it. I wish I could go back and play another US Open this week and just run it run it back again and give myself another chance but I'll put in more chances in my lifetime.

It's a one on one thing man. I mean that golf course is just it's such you said it's so fair. Right? I didn't hear one single person which is kind of some people are rooting for you guys to say it's unfair to US Open, but, you know, it was, I didn't hear one single person say it was unfair. Do you? The only thing that was unfair was maybe Sam Burns' shot in 15 where water was splashing.

I wanna go, I wanna go and listen to the conversation with the rules officials, because after seeing that and understanding the rules of golf, I feel like I understand the rules of golf pretty well. I feel pretty bad for him. However, when you take casual water relief, you actually have to take a drop. You can change surfaces. So you can go from fairway to first cut of rough. You don't have to stay in the same surface. So I think his drop would actually have been probably in the right rough. So I don't even know if he would have taken a drop, but I

felt bad for a situation having to hit out of basically water. That could have been fair, but everything else I feel was. That was I learned a little bit about that rule this past week. I still still am quite confused about that one. But when when did the Ryder Cup enter the picture for you? How heavily into the picture is it currently? Be prepared to get a lot of questions about the Ryder Cup between now and

September as well. But is this something now you wake up thinking about? Have you had conversations with captains or any of that kind of you're firmly in the mix, I would say as of now, what's that journey been like? Yeah, I've definitely had a lot of conversations recently and had zero conversations prior to March. So that's pretty much how quickly things can change in the golf world. If you get playing really well and have success. prior to March. So that's pretty much how quickly things can change in the golf world.

If you get playing really well and have success, a lot of opportunities come your way, whether it's sponsors, whether it's Ryder, I mean, there's just the list goes on. So great golf takes care of itself. Everyone always kind of says you're struggling, just play better and it'll take care of itself. Like, you know, trying to get out of the corn fray tour, trying to get out of the mini tours and grinding that slow. It's just, you keep playing better, you're going to give yourself more and more opportunities. And so, yeah, extremely blessed and grateful to be in that conversation. It's pretty, pretty nuts. I guess just kind of look at my story, just kind of where I've come from to now be in that conversation, but I feel like I belong there. You know, I feel really confident playing

against the best players in the world now. I have the experience of beating the best players in the world and that's going to be a tremendous asset to have at Bethpage. You know, looking at Bethpage itself, it's a golf course that I feel like suits my game pretty well right now. Starting to hit it a little bit longer, one of the longer guys on tour, trending that direction at least, and my putter tends to be what kind of gets hot and helps my golf game the most. So I know that'll be huge at a Ryder Cup setting. I just got to continue to play really well this summer and earn my spot. I really don't want to rely on any sort of picks because it's just an interesting landscape in golf right now where the ranking system can be

I don't know between live and PJ Tours like you don't know exactly what maybe a captain is thinking and so for me you know I feel like I belong on that team right now I'm doing everything I can to try to represent the United States try to send a message to the European guys that you know we're playing really well. It was awesome to see JJ Spahn win. It was awesome to see Sam Burns kind of get on a little run, even Cameron Young. It'd be really cool to have a lot of momentum from the United States side going into that.

And whether or not I'm a part of that team, I think it just comes down to me playing extremely well and especially playing well when it comes down to the playoffs. Oh yeah, got me fired up there. It's got, yeah, Beth Pages has got 18 holes, so I think you've got a great course fit with the way you're playing right now.

Your record though at TPC River Highlands, not great so far. What needs to change this week or now again, compared to how you, the way you're playing right now, is it, do you throw out past results when you get to this golf course and say, I'm a new guy anyways, who cares about pass results? Yeah, I'd say I'm more like that throughout the past results and I'm a different golfer probably now than I was a year ago

and a different golfer than a year before that. Even if you go back the last couple years, I played really, well actually I guess I'm playing really far right now going into it. But I had some good weeks where I felt like it was kind of hard to back up good weeks maybe a year or two ago. I don't know why that might be, but finishing second at the RBC Canadian Open. Last year was two weeks prior to the Travelers and then struggled there. And I'd just come off an off week.

Because I hadn't played the US Open the last two years. And so I had an off week. And maybe I wasn't staying as sharp as I needed to be and now after playing really well I'm focused in more on my process and staying sharp so I feel like my golf game is actually in a really good spot whereas the last couple years I think it was okay. So yeah going into this week I mean I'm not too worried about what I've done I'm just kind of focused on each individual shot and trying to play well. The course has a couple changes, it seems. The second green is a little different.

I think the 12th fairway is shorter, which I think they changed that last year. But yeah, it'll be fine. I can handle most courses, I feel like, nowadays. What does, even before Travelers was a signature event, it's always had the reputation as being a player-friendly or one of the guys' favorite events of the year. Why would that be in your experience?

What makes this event stand out? They just do an incredible job of taking care of not only players but wives, families. It's honestly, it doesn't even compare to a lot of events and even go back to the US Open. The tournament provided a charter for all players playing the US Open to come here and traveling is one of the most difficult things on tour. It's not like I'm in the NBA NFL where I have an owner of a franchise that basically pays for

everything and pays for our meals. It's like professional golfers are our own business. We pay for everything out of our pockets pretty much and the travelers does an amazing job of kind of alleviating some of that financial pressure. I mean, not that it's really financial pressure. So, a lot of us on tour or this week because we're all very very grateful to have made a ton of ton of money in our careers and aren't really super focused on that. Uh I'm very fortunate for that but um yeah, I mean, it's just like the charter and then you come here and then they give um the wives like a little lemon um I'm very fortunate for that

Um which most events don't Um which most events don't Um which most events don't even do dinner. Uh I shouldn't even do dinner. Uh I shouldn't do dinner. Well, I shouldn't say don't even do dinner because it's just nice to even have breakfast and lunch, but they provide dinner here. And it's just a big clubhouse that is super family friendly and they have a lot of events for a little, you know, different things set up for kids. And so it's just all around an incredible event. The whole fan. The amount of fans that kind of come out is

tremendous. It's not often get to play in the northeast on tour. This is really like the only event outside of when a major kind of goes to the northeast. So, it's really fun because there's a lot of big golf fans up here and yeah, it's just a it's a fun weekend. There's no cut. So, how can you not be stressed out too much?

Alright, well, we'll let you get to it. Really appreciate your time. We'll have to have you back sometime for a full-length interview because I enjoyed chatting with you and I've greatly enjoyed watching you this season and we hope to continue to watch you to keep dominating out there. So, appreciate the time, Ben. Absolutely. Thanks a lot.

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