The Second Cut | Golf Podcast
The Second Cut gets you everything you need in the world of golf on the PGA Tour and more! Tournament previews, storylines for each week, and in-depth players reviews. Hosted by Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood). Joined by Greg DuCharme (@therealGFD), Mark Immelman (mark_immelman), and Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS). Everything you need to supplement your golf experience.
The Second Cut | Golf Podcast
EVERYBODY Gets A Course Record! | Rocket Classic Round 2 Recap | Leaderboard, Storylines, Notables
The boys are back to talk about the Thursday and Friday rounds of the Rocket Classic and look ahead to the weekend!
#golf #pgatour #podcast #RocketClassic
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0:00 – Welcome to The Second Cut Podcast
0:27 – Birdies are flying at the Rocket Classic
1:02 – Detroit wind picks up: Mark’s on-course report
2:29 – Cut line updates: Will it be -6 or -7?
3:35 – Jake Knapp sets new course record with 61
5:04 – How Jake Knapp went low: driving and wedge domination
7:06 – Chris Kirk’s back-to-back 65s put him in contention
9:16 – Why Chris Kirk is underrated on Tour
11:46 – Chris Kirk’s silky smooth swing story
13:16 – Leaderboard check: Trio tied at -14
14:09 – Rising star Aldrich Potgieter bombs it off the tee
16:08 – Consistent contenders: Ben Griffin & Harry Hall
17:55 – Pronouncing Potgieter: The South African lesson
20:36 – Will Gordon’s cut drama and PGA Tour status
22:26 – The brutal reality of playing on medical extension
23:24 – Data Golf odds and cut line sweats
25:18 – Course strategy: finishing holes breakdown
27:30 – Colin Morikawa surges into the mix
29:22 – KK Limbasu caddying for Morikawa this week
30:59 – Who’s too far back to win this weekend?
33:38 – Saturday leaderboard gravity: what to expect
34:42 – Vegas odds: Kirk, Morikawa, Griffin favorites
35:48 – Luke Clanton underrated firepower
36:23 – David Skins inside top 10 after a hot Friday
37:07 – Rasmus Hojgaard fighting to make the cut
38:07 – Inside broadcast prep for moving day chaos
38:40 – Final thoughts and Sunday preview
39:10 – Outro: Thanks for tuning in
🎤 ABOUT THE SHOW
The Second Cut gets you everything you need in the world of golf on the PGA Tour and more! Tournament previews, storylines for each week, and in-depth players reviews. Hosted by Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood). Joined by Greg DuCharme (@therealGFD), Mark Immelman (mark_immelman), and Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS).
Welcome in. It's the Second Cut Podcast. I'm Rick Gaiman, and we are halfway home in Detroit. The coverage window is ramping down, so we are ramping up to give you a look ahead to the weekend and everything that's happened thus far. Greg Ducharme joins me. Greg, hello, sir. Gentlemen, birdies are flying at the Rocket Classic today and yesterday. It's been just incredible to watch, so I'm excited to break it down. We will do just that. Mark Immelman is here. Hello, Mark.
SPEAKER_01:How's it, boys? It's windy in Detroit. Gosh, was not expecting this this afternoon. Earlier this morning, it was kind of benign a little bit, but shucks, the wind's picked up and it's... that stretch of holes because the golf course sort of goes north and south, not north and south, but in similar directions for a while. You're either downwind or you're into the wind, and that's a handful coming in there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, birdies are a flying, like you said here, Greg. So we have a golf course that played roughly three shots under par on Thursday, about two and a half under par right now on Friday. The current cut is six under par, but I think there's a decent chance this thing gets to seven under. So if you went out and shot a couple of rounds of two under, you can pack your bags and you can go on home. Yeah, I mean, look, if you shot, if you went out and shot six under yesterday, you might be packing your bag and going home. You really had to put two good rounds together. And Mark, to your point on these wind gusts, I think they have played an effect. It looks like there's going to be a wave advantage from the late early guys because yesterday afternoon, the wind wasn't anything like this. So it'll be interesting to see. Hopefully the rain stays away. These greens are firming up and it would be great to see A golf course that's getting restored right after this tournament, it would be great to see this place get kind of baked out over the weekend. Not sure we'll get it, but it would be cool if we did.
SPEAKER_01:Because if we somehow manage to skirt the rain and the chances are not good right now, but fingers crossed, holding thumbs. Holding thumbs. Yeah, you know that the rules officials and the membership will just allow this thing to go. They're not going to put a drop of water on it. So hopefully the rain gets by us with not too much– Not too much falling.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no need to save the golf course. Just rip it right on up. There is that morning-afternoon wave advantage of about a stroke and a half right now, Greg, on this Friday in the second round. So those guys are getting the better of it. Speaking of guys who got the best of it, let's start with the round of the day, the round of the week, and the round of Detroit Golf Club. Because Jake Knapp went out and shot a... 11 under 61 this morning, which we were talking about this a little bit before we went hot. Kevin Roy tied the course record yesterday. Eight minutes later, Aldrich Pott-Gieter tied the course record, 62. And then about 12 hours after that, Jake Knapp comes through and breaks it all, a 61 here. I'll just read it off because it deserves it. It deserves it here, Greg. birdies on 13, 14, 16, an Eagle on 17 birdies on one, two, four, five, seven, and 80. Did it all in pairs two for two. This is, this is Noah arch scorecard here. Yes. Incredible stuff. What was really incredible about this round is watching it. It was, you know, he, he made a couple of really nice putts, but it wasn't how to control it. It looked like he could do it again. And the reason for that is he plays the par fives in five under par. He takes care of one and two. There were three par fours where he had inside of 75 yards for his approach shot. And he knocked those close. It kind of felt like everything he was doing, he should do. And part of the reason for that is he drove the cover off the golf ball. He was hitting it long. He was hitting it straight for a while. He was leading the field in strokes gain off the tee. That's fallen off the mark a little bit, but really, really good drive in. couple of putts go your way and you can rock it up the leaderboard, if you will, because he shot even par in round one and now he's in the mix. 123 spots was the rocket up the leaderboard for Jake Knapp currently inside the top 10, as Greg mentioned here. And this is a guy, Mark, who is not afraid to hold his breath, not afraid to go low. This is the second course record that he owns on the PGA Tour. The 59 that he shot at PGA National earlier this year was his first.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's shot 120 at two golf courses in the champion course down at PGA National, now 61 around here. I'd expect this a whole lot more than I would down there in South Florida. But I flew in this morning and I watched some of it on the airplane, that I could. And then I was in the car driving to the course and I heard him talk with our buddies from SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. And he talked about his affinity, first off, to golf. the course down there at PGA National, the champion course, which is crazy. But it sort of fits the mold because as you look at him, to play that golf course well, you've got to be precise. You've got to play from the fairway because when it's overseeded, those small greens down there in South Florida, you can't hold targets. And he said as much in his interview. He's like, it didn't drive it very well, didn't put it very well in round one. But then to Greg's point, drove the thing very nicely here. And, and, That bill, that mold that you guys set up so well on Tuesday is a guy that can bash the thing off the tee. And he said, because ordinarily he's not afraid to go to that mini driver where he almost hits a divot with the thing at times and sort of stings it out there and hit it high. He's like he hit driver 14 times today. So he's just stepping up on the tee, teeing it high and airing it out. And he was playing from the fairway. So that means a whole bunch of wedges. The golf course was kind of crazy to me because in round one, It was damp. So you saw balls hitting and ripping with wedges off the green, spinning like 15, 20 feet at times. But today in the morning, it was just firm enough where it would hit the stick and spin a little bit. So playing from the fairway was a real advantage. You could play some target practice, and shucks, he did. I mean, gosh, he nearly chipped in on his last hole of the ninth from greenside for 60. So tremendous playing. And I'm keen to see if this continues to go because– As I look at this leaderboard, well, last time I looked at it, it looks like there's some bummers up there, so it's going to be fun to call.
SPEAKER_02:Rounds of 72, 61, and 11 shot difference for Jake Knapp. He's inside the top 10. There is a trio at the top of the board. Andrew Putnam just finished his round at 14 under. He is done for the weekdays. Phillip Knowles is there. He's playing on a KFT medical extension. He's from Jacksonville out of the University of North Florida. But the name that most will recognize here, Mark, is Chris Kirk. And he has gone with back-to-back 65 That is seven under par each day around Detroit Golf Club. And this was not as pristine as Jake Knapp or other rounds that we've seen. Blemishes on the card at 12 and 15. But other than that, Chris Kirk has played some stellar golf here once again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and he's a guy, Kirk, that does not get the respect I feel like he deserves because he has got game. And more than these physical gifts because the golf swing is so silky and he's Very reliable. He's got– because he used to beat everybody since he was a junior golfer in Atlanta to when he was in college to the mini tours to the PGA Tour, multiple wins. And, you know, you say the name Chris Kirk and everyone's like, yeah, okay, whatever. But the guy's played in the President's Cup team. He's been one of the leading golfers on the PGA Tour for a while. And it's sort of been here and there. But the cool thing to me about this season, the performance that it's But the cool thing about Kirk is he's got the kind of game where he's never that far off because the golf swing is just so reliable and it's never out of time. And he has this reliable draw, just one shot, just a little right to left ball all day long. And, you know, all of a sudden he'll pop up on the leaderboard. You're like, where's he been? Well, the truth is he's been lurking around the place, but just hasn't got the most out of it. So he's kind of the dichotomy to the bombers on the leaderboard because he's He's going to play from the fairway a bunch, and he's a winner. If I had to advise all the guys that are vying for the title, if you want to win, you're going to stay in front of this guy because he is not going to beat himself.
SPEAKER_02:Six times a winner on the PGA Tour. Greg, do you remember his most recent? The Century. Yeah. Last year. That is correct, indeed. And it has not always been a lot of great play from Chris Kirk in 2025, but... Coming off a T12 at Oakmont, the last time we saw him, game seemingly rounding into form and obviously a big difference between what happened at Oakmont and what is going on at Detroit Golf Club this week. A huge difference. But it's clear that he's found something. I'm not sure that means he was looking for anything. He has this way about him where he's just so easygoing. And like Mark said, where he's just beating everybody as a junior player. And you talk to Georgia guys and they're like, this is the guy they fear. I wonder if... there have been some off the course things with Chris Kirk. I know there have been, but have, have the off the course things taken him away from his real potential because this guy, you know, his, his game is good enough. His compete, you know, his ability to compete is good enough to be like a superstar level. And it feels, it looks, it sounds like it's just very natural for him. And he just kind of shows up and hits it good. There was a guy I went to college with, I'd ask him on the range, what are you working on? And he'd say, Hitting it good. And that's kind of what I feel like Chris Kirk is like. I'm not really ever working on anything. I might start hitting it left-handed. I can break 80 doing that. And if I go back to righty, who knows? I might break 60. He is a natural talent. And when he gets a feel like this, he's... Hard to say in front of. 17 of 18 greens today. Sick. He was the guy, Greg, who wasn't playing well at the end of 2023, spent his fall playing left-handed, and then he won the century, right? Yes. Yeah, that's why I mentioned it. He wanted to break 80 left-handed. You know, it's like barefoot. There are some people that are just, he's savant-like. And it's a scary thing for everybody else in this field.
SPEAKER_01:I'll second that. I've known Chris for a long time since he was in college because a few of my golfers are good buddies with him, so they'd hang out, play golf together. And you talk of savant, the one time we were on a plane together, Greg, and he is a rabid Atlanta Braves fan. And it was a two-hour flight. He started from when we were on the ground talking about Braves baseball until we touched down in Atlanta. And he didn't stop with statistics, the whole thing, what was happening, who was doing what, because he's big with the Braves organization. But I was looking through my phone because a couple of years ago he was contending at the BMW championship that Hovland won at Olympia Fields. And so I said to him, hey, man, can I get a video of your swing? It was Sunday morning. And I took the video and I put it on Instagram and the title was Easy Like Sunday Morning because this golf swing is like infectious. It's so smooth. And it was viewed millions of times. It's like everyone just downloaded this thing because it's one of those, it's the kind of swing that everyone salivates after. He's not massively powerful, but he's powerful enough. It's just so reliable. And it just came to me. We were talking about Jake Knapp shooting 59 at the champion course. Kirk has won down there too. So I'm wondering if there's some sort of correlation between between if you play that place well and you play this place well because you've got two guys that are near the top of the leaderboard that have both had success down there in PGA National.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, we'll put that in our bag moving forward, see if we can find any more of those names. So we've got the trio at the top, 14 under for Chris Kirk, Philip Knowles, Andrew Putnam, Jackson Suber, young kid. How about that? 66, 65. He's in at 13 under. Mark Hubbard is T5. And how about this one, Mark? A fellow? South African, Aldrich Potgeater, 62. I mentioned it yesterday. Eight shots worse today, but still plenty good after you shoot a 62 on Thursday. It was a 70 around Detroit Golf Club. The jarring thing that you will notice about him, if you ever get to see him in person, he is number one in driving distance. He's number two in club head speed. He's a big boy who can move it. He's only 20 years old and has the whole world ahead of him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, first off, I commend you for nearly getting the last name correct. Thank you. Yeah, I'm jacked to see this because he's massively talented and everyone knows him for the power. But you have to commend the youngster because the last time I talked with him was at the CJ Cup in Dallas. And I was like, man, so proud of you. And he goes, yeah, but I'm sort of working on my golf swing, trying to get a bit tighter. because he's been close. He was close down there in Mexico, but for the miraculous bounce there off the trees on the 18th hole in the playoff for Brian Campbell, for Aldrich to lose in the playoff. And he wasn't sure how many more starts he was going to get. Now I'm getting back to Aldrich, so forgive me. And so the next time he was going to play, he was at Colonial, which I felt like was a golf course, was not going to fit his skill set. But if memory serves me, he played pretty solidly down there. So it sort of says to me that the changes he's making in the golf swing are settling down a little bit, but he hasn't sacrificed any of the power of the tee. And I'm kicking myself, you know, for some of these bets we had because we know what this golf course can ask of people, and I completely overlooked my South African homie. And so I stand accused. It was a bogey by me. I feel like he comes into this because he's a winner everywhere in the world but here. He comes into this well-equipped. after the run down there in Mexico. And I'm looking forward to him just, you know, letting it go a little bit. That 61, was it 61 he shot? 62. Yeah, he had a putt on the ninth hole for 61 that lipped up. Horrible. So he's clearly playing well. I was not really expecting him because, like I said, I was on the plane and I couldn't see much of it. But I was texting with a buddy of mine. I'm like, gosh, I'd happily take like three or four under for him today. And he didn't do that, but he had a late flourish to finish with a couple under. So I feel like he's in really good shape.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he is. And it's starting to get a little bit more consistent here. So he's in that T5 category. But Greg, a lot of the guys that were those viable, I'll call them the 9K options on DraftKings, right below Cantlay and Keegan and Kalamurakawa, Those guys are in the mix, right? You've got Harry Hall here at T7. Ben Griffin right back at it again with rounds of 66-67. He's in T7. Max Grazerman is right there. What do you see kind of forming from that tier that might just be three or four shots back? Well, what I really like is for the Ben Griffins and the Harry Halls is the consistency, right? 66-67 for both of them. the exact same score, where you see some other guys like Jake Knapp, who we talked about, 72-61. You know, that's a huge difference. And it starts to, you start to wonder, well, you know, what's going to happen going forward? I like what Potgeater did. Sorry for the slight mispronunciation. Well, hold on. It's difficult, Greg, because it requires that, like, That like deep in the throat, which Armina would be great at that. There's a lot of that in Farsi. We don't have that in our repertoire.
SPEAKER_01:It's like an angry cat. Yeah, that's tough for us to get to. You guys are saying pot eater. It's not pot. It's like, oh, pot. Pot. We're going to get this 100% right. Pot eater.
SPEAKER_02:Pot eater.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you guys can be the only two guys in broadcast in the States who are not South African that can get this right.
SPEAKER_02:Okay,
SPEAKER_01:we'll work on that. Put it on the stove.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, maybe another day we can do a lesson. But anyway, you know, he shoots the really good opening round and then settles down today. A lot of the guys that made a huge move in round two, you wonder what round three is going to look like. You know, can you follow it up? And it just... It doesn't happen all that often. So I'm looking for guys right now at this point who have been steady and consistent. And if you shot 66, 67 over these opening rounds, it feels to me like there's a lot more left in the tank. And you probably walk off feeling like it was a good round, not a great round. where you start getting into the 62-61 category, and it's like, you know, that may have been all I got. So those guys are still very live sitting at 11 under par. In fact, I think anybody who's in double digits right now is very live, and I like heading into the weekend. Start getting into single digits, now it starts to require a real low one, which is certainly possible. and can change things heading into Sunday. But now we're back into that conversation again. So I like what Grazerman has done. I like what, especially Ben Griffin and Harry Hall, it's been steady. And, you know, I'd love to see a 63 out of one of those guys on Sunday. Steady Eddie, indeed. Well, I want to get to this cut line because I've been waiting for it to move to seven under all day long. And six under has hung very tough as the afternoon has gotten a lot more difficult. I can assure you that the five unders are out and anybody else down there. So Wyndham Clark will not be around for the weekend. Max Homa will not be around for the weekend. But Armina, if you could share my screen, this is going to be a very, very sweaty couple of hours, Mark, for Will Gordon. And I don't know if you saw this. Will Gordon is on... the last start of his major medical, he needs less than a point, less than a FedEx Cup point, which if he makes the cut, would extend his status, his conditional status, through the fall, which would get him a lot more events, 14 more events or so. If he misses the cut, if this cut moves to seven under, because he made a hell of a birdie on his final hole of the day to get to six, he gave it the fist pump, Yeah, if
SPEAKER_01:he
SPEAKER_02:misses this cut, he's going to lose his PGA Tour membership. So, man, this is about as gut-wrenching as this is going to get for the next couple hours.
SPEAKER_01:Say it with me. Every shot makes somebody happy and somebody really sad. Here's the good news if you're a Will Gordon fan. For the guys that teed off on 10 that are finishing on 9, Nine, you've got seven, which is the par five, which is the little wind help. But eight's not that. It's a shortish par four, but the holocaust is not that easy. Nine's just a good par three. So it's not the easiest finishing hole. If you're finishing on 18, you've got two par fives, which are a par five and a par four. 17's into the window, but 18 is kind of downwind helping. So birdies are on at the finish there. But the tee shot on 18 is just so awkward. So if you're coming down there and you're sweating cuts, it's hardly a tee shot you want to stand over there because you stand and the fairway's angled to you, and with the wind the way it is, they're going to take it over the trees down the left. There's water down there, so the miss is the wide right from the guys, and from there you don't have very much. So I still think the cut's going to be six. I really do. I'm hoping so for Will because, man, what a terrible story this is. You know, you could make an argument on both sides because, you know, you could be in the player meeting and someone could go, well, you just got to play better. You know, that thing. But you're coming back from injury. You're trying to find it again. You're playing against the best players in the best league on the PGA Tour, not in the guaranteed money events. So when you show up, you've got to make it happen. And there's a lot of pressure. And I tip my cap to Will Gordon for the way he finished, man. That was big stuff there. And I hope he makes the cut.
SPEAKER_02:Birdie on 17, Birdie on 18. Greg, I was probably, I don't have the shot link up in front of me, probably six feet for Birdie on 18, knowing that everything is on the line. And Mark is right. Eight and nine this afternoon are both playing over par. This cut line is really not moving. It is stuck there at six. It goes on a little bit of a run where you think it's going to get to seven. It bounces back. It is, God, this is tight, man. Yeah, you start looking at the data golf numbers, and it's saying seven more likely than six. I'll tell you right now. It's just not moving. I mean, Cantlay and Keegan both just missed birdie putts on their last hole of the day to get it to seven. So that helps Will Gordon to keep it at six. And now those guys, obviously much less implications. They're on six under watching the rest of this. So, yeah, I mean, they're dodging bullets. Will is dodging bullets right now with strokes gained, sphincter tightening.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. I was about to say, does Data Golf have that? Because, yeah, when you're sweating cuts– because we mustn't forget this, right? We are in the stretch run on the tour now, and there's guys like Max Homer who's not done himself a big favor. He's outside the top 100. with 100 keeping their cards, right? And then only 70 make the playoffs. And everyone's got something to play for right now. You know, the big dogs are trying to get in the 30 or the 70. If you're in the 50, remember you get in all the Cs, right? All the designated events. So there's a lot of ramifications on the go. And, yes, you try and stay single-minded. But you could see there, Will Gordon knew exactly what he had to do. He knew exactly what he had to do. So there's a bit more to it than just playing golf on the way in and making birdies because the course is somewhat, was gettable.
SPEAKER_02:It's 11 guys on the golf course at six under. That's T61. So you need five of them, almost half of the guys on the golf course to get to seven in order to move it.
SPEAKER_00:How many guys are finishing on the move?
SPEAKER_02:Of those that are finishing on nine, one, two, three, four, five of them. Come on, Will Gordon. I mean, that's right on it, right? Half of them are finishing on the side that probably takes it to seven. Half of them are finishing
SPEAKER_01:on the side that probably keeps it at six. And get this too, right? 17 to par five. Ordinarily, these guys get irons in there. But it's playing into a quartering wind like this, and there's a right flag just over the bunker. And ask Greg off a tight lie when you get a little frisky with a fairway medal into the wind where the mist goes. It's like... See Kingdom come off to the right-hand side, and you've got nothing from there. So 17 to me, I don't know what the numbers are, but it's not playing as easy as what it normally would either.
SPEAKER_02:Rick, I'm sorry. Mark, my fairway was they don't really waver very much. I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01:Well, if this is the target line, I can say in front of mind to hit that pinch thing. It starts off. Yes. Somewhere. And then like, it's the little, little,
SPEAKER_02:little, little peeler.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. Right. Starting sadly though.
SPEAKER_02:This is wild stuff here. The big three I mentioned earlier, Greg. So we've got Cantlay and Keegan. They're also in at six under par. They are going to have to wait out the next probably two hours or so. Colin Morikawa is safely in. Follows up his opening round 69 with a 64. He just tapped in on 18 for par. He moves up into the top 10, up 59 spots. Colin is leading the field in strokes gained approach this week, which is stellar. exactly what you want to see, he now enters the weekend three shots back. Yeah, he's a real factor right now. I mean, it was like the first five holes. He didn't hit it outside at 12 feet. These wedge opportunities that he gets, there's few better than him. And we've been talking about him over the last couple of weeks in a sense that he's kind of searching for something. But when still... he hits a ton of fairways, whether he's searching or not, and you get a wedge in his hand and he's, he's pretty darn effective. So there's been just a, just a mountain of opportunities for Colin Morikawa. I mean, his proximity to the hole today was 21 feet second in the field. It's, it's, uh, and it wasn't that far off yesterday either. He just, he, he had a seven stroke difference between yesterday's putting performance and this. So from a physical standpoint, uh, It's all there for Colin, whether he thinks so or not. It is. He can win this tournament with a glove on. I promise you that. So I'll be fascinated to see what we get from him on the greens moving forward. It was hot out of the gate, Mark. He birdied one, two, three, and then eagled seven. So five under through first seven holes, certainly a lot of confidence building.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you teed me up perfectly. or intrepid host. You know, if you're searching for stuff and you call in, where did he and Griner finish in their first event out? It was like way up the leaderboard, wasn't it? They had a very, they had a big finish. And now he's got his buddy, uh, corn ferry to a player on the bag. If he's looking for something, maybe he should just try a different caddy every new caddy every week, because that's when he seems to play as well.
SPEAKER_02:Just
SPEAKER_01:hire
SPEAKER_02:local
SPEAKER_01:caddies. Yeah. Yeah. I'll say this about Colin. Um, I've had him in a playoff at this event before, so clearly he's happy. He likes the place. He's the kind of guy where you guys were prognosticating a little earlier about what's too low with guys at 14. Tomorrow is when our production crew in the trucks are going to earn their money because we're going to be 5, 6, 7 wide at one stage, and everything's happening, and you're going to get all these shots shown. So our technical crew are going to shine. But you're going to have someone or a couple people that go out there a little early, just kind of in the pack a bit, and they're going to do the 63, 62 thingish. And they'll get in, and they'll be near the top of the leaderboard. And then some of the folks there on the leaderboard, you're going to have that Saturday leaderboard gravity stuff when CBS shows up and there's cameras everywhere. So I feel like this thing's really going to tighten. Tomorrow, maybe... The lead's going to be at about 18, I'd say. I'm looking at Kirk to shoot four. I think he's the one guy that can go shoot four or five under. But I'll be pleasantly surprised if it's someone else. So I'm looking for someone to make a run. And Morikawa seems to be the guy who fits that bill. He really does.
SPEAKER_02:A couple of things here. On Colin Morikawa's bag is KK Limbasu, who... if you are aware that KK Limbasu is a friend of the pod, you have been around for a very long time because he came on the first cut during COVID when he was winning Outlaw Tour events. And we brought him on and we had a very nice conversation. I somewhat stay in touch with him over the years, KK. And very nice guy, played it. I was very surprised to see his name pop up as on Colin Moore Cow's bag this week. But that is a very, very deep cut of the first cut slash second cut legacy. Yes. The only reason he's on the bag is he didn't get in to the Corn Fairy Tour event. So he's very much a professional golfer and he's playing. He's just got a lot of work to do on his career. But he was an alternate, so he didn't get in. I mean, he might make more money this week than... than he has all year on the Korn Ferry Tour.
SPEAKER_01:I'm feeling like Jim Nance now because the one thing Jim does is he finds these threads that go back to other things. And I also know of a mini tour player who picked up a bag for a PGA Tour guy at a signature event. That PGA Tour guy and Sepp Strzoka won. And all of a sudden, his mini tour buddy made a handsome check on Tuesday morning when the checks cleared. So maybe this is KK's moment too, where he can get himself a little playing money for the future.
SPEAKER_02:Let me zoom out on this leaderboard a little bit here. We've got three at 14 under, one at 13 under, two at 12 under, and then there are 20 in total who are 11 under or better. And Greg... Mark is right. There's probably going to be a situation where we're five, six, seven, eight wide. There's probably going to be a lot of big movers. So I have to ask you a question that I ask you every Friday. Oh, well, first of all, very well.
SPEAKER_01:That's the best I've ever seen that. That's good.
SPEAKER_02:That's the first time it's ever run. So that is, that is incredible. You know, from like a game show, right? How far back is too far back. That is Armina recording her voice 66 times, overlaying them on top of each other to get a crowd audience.
SPEAKER_01:Wait, before anyone says anything, to our fans listening, if you know of an organization who can sponsor the show, You need to get them to do it, please, so we can pay Armina for everything she's doing behind the scenes. Please, we need the help here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and we will make it worth their while, for sure. You will get our best effort. But yes, that's the new segment. How far back is too far back? And Greg, you get first crack at this. This is a little unusual, all right? I normally wouldn't say it's this tight, but I think single digits is too far back. So the nines. The nines are too far back. And the reason
SPEAKER_01:is very simple. Nine and five is
SPEAKER_02:14, isn't it? Yeah, but there's 28 at 10 or better. That's why. I mean, 28 players in double digits. I think the winner comes from that group. I think there are plenty of guys in there who, first of all, I liked at the beginning of the week, which helps. Okay. That means they have staying power. And I think there's a lot of guys who have just been very steady, who still have a lot more juice to squeeze. So out of those 28 guys, somebody is going to go and shoot one of these great, really low rounds. And it's going to make it really hard for guys that are only five back, which is very unusual to Mark's point. I understand why you're raising eyebrow, Mark, but just with that number of guys in double figures, it's, through two rounds. I think it's going to be hard for the single-digit guys.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. This is going to be six under the cut, and it's going to be a big cut. So that means folks are going to go off early tomorrow morning. Not sure we'll be in threes or two tees, but it's going to be early tee times, and you're going to see a golf course sort of change its personality through the day. I'm trying to make a case for the fact that I feel like someone in the single digits is going to go out. Let's call them the nines. And that individual is going to go out and shoot nine under. So that puts them at 18. And that's my number. And then there's still another round of golf on Sunday. So now I think if you're just saying who's the lead after Saturday, I feel like I'm with you over there, Greg. But if we're looking at a potential winner, anyone sitting at eight, nine under par is going, geez, I just got to find a little groove tomorrow morning, get myself close and then have a big weekend. Joe Highsmith, who did the same thing down and now we're getting back to the stadium course at PGA Nationals. He was playing well for a while, too. So he shot 64-64. It's on around this place, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens.
SPEAKER_02:The boys in Las Vegas have assigned Chris Kirk as the favorite. He's 6.5-1 to win this golf tournament on Friday. That's not very short, considering how many guys are in the mix. Andrew Putnam and Colin Morikawa are second in line. They are 9-1. Ben Griffin is 12-1 all by himself. And then you get names like Hideki Matsuyama, Michael Thor Bjornsson before we get to 18 and 20 to 1. So if that is the case, Greg, if the case is even the 10s are live, some of those guys like Matt Fitzpatrick, 35 to 1, Nikolai Hojgaard, 60 to 1, Matt McCarty, winner and four-time winner if you count the Corn Fairy Tour in the last year, 75 to 1. So if the 10s are live and we haven't even gotten to the nines yet, Very, very good numbers on those guys. Yes, there's great numbers kind of all over the place. One of the guys that I really like who's not here on this board or a notable is Luke Clanton, who's at 11 under par.
SPEAKER_01:I think his
SPEAKER_02:firepower is just underrated.
SPEAKER_01:Greg, say it properly, please. Clanton.
SPEAKER_02:Clanton. There we go. Luke Clanton at 11 under par. I really like where he is, 66-67 for Luke Clanton. There we are. Thank you, Mark.
SPEAKER_01:Look, you're singing off my song sheet. I can't see the leaderboard in front of me, but there's going to be a few guys that I got and shoot low tomorrow morning, and they'll be very much in the mix come Sunday afternoon.
SPEAKER_02:Hat tip to you, Greg, the David Skins whisperer, 69-64. He's inside the top 10 going into the weekend. You've got a way. Do you have a direct line to David and you just call him and ask him when he's going to play well? Yeah, well, I call most of the players and just say, what are you going to shoot this week? That's how I make all my selections. Yeah, that's good. That's good information to have. You can just get it right from the source. No problem with that. Any final thoughts, gents, before I get us out of here? We're going to be back on Sunday and figure out, and I think this is going to be just a completely different leaderboard. I think there's going to be a ton of movement over the course of the next two days, and it's going to be a wild finish with how many guys are involved. So we'll be back on Sunday to get you a winner of the Rocket Classic. But anything else before I get us out of town?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I have a question and an observation. And my question is, did I pick the wrong boy guard or is Rasmus making the cut? Well... Well,
SPEAKER_02:Nikolai played a great round today. Rasmus is still on the golf course, and he's playing 17 and 18. He needs at least one birdie if it's going to be at six. He's five under. All right. T63 for six right now. It's going the wrong way. It's going to seven.
SPEAKER_01:Come on, Wynn. No, no, no. It's going to be six. Come on. Come on, Wynn. The other thing is, I'm going to
SPEAKER_02:be upset. Rasmus has made two birdies and two eagles, and he's only two under for the day. So that's how things have gone for him. He made a double on 12. But he's got a chance. He's got a chance to get– even if it goes to seven, he's got a chance. Holding thumbs. Holding thumbs for him. And what's your observation?
SPEAKER_01:My observation is a little inside the broadcast here. Tomorrow– Even for Dottie, I'm having dinner with her in just a little while with a team. Even for Dottie, who gets the final group, you're kind of unsure until about five minutes before the show if you're actually going to go with your group. So we're flying blind in there tomorrow too because it's one of those days where anything's going to be possible and people are going to be moving around as the leaderboard is moving around. So it's going to be exciting, and I feel like it's going to add something to what is a pretty cool tournament.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you're going to be prepped for about 24 different golfers. Mark, do your homework for tonight, my friend, because it's going to be it's going to be a wild one. Greg, any final thoughts? I can't wait for Sunday. That's all I got. I can't wait either. We will be back then to crown a rocket classic champion. But for now, big thanks, producer Mina. She does all the hard work behind the scenes. Mark Immelman. Great to charm. I'm Rick Gaiman. This has been the second cut. We'll catch you next time.
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