Bermuda Championship Mega Preview | Picks, Storylines, Best Bets

The boys are back to preview the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. It's news, it's storylines, it's best bets! 

#golf #pgatour #podcast #BermudaChampionship

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🎤 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).

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:14

Welcome in. It's the Second Cut Podcast. I'm Rick Gaiman, joined today by Greg Ducharme. Gregor is hey, buddy.

SPEAKER_01: 0:21

What's going on, Rick? I'm excited to be here. I'm I'm really excited for this week of professional golf. Uh, we have a couple of great events on the slate this week, and I I'm legitimately fired up about it. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02: 0:37

Yeah, a couple of good events. There are a couple of news items that I want to get to first. There's just because kind of a lot of little stuff going on. Let's let's jump right into this. Um let's go here. In two days, there will be a golf event played at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Mark will be there on the call. This is Capital One's latest thing, right? So Capital One has been part of the matches in the past, and we always kind of wondered what was going to happen when they could stop getting Rory McElroy or Tiger or Phil or whatever. They tried quarterbacks, they a lot of different things. Well, this is kind of the biggest one yet. This is in collaboration with Major League Baseball. 60 players, uh, some active, some retired, uh representing all 30 teams playing in a two-day tournament that will air on TNT. So this is the next iteration of Capital One being involved in golf.

SPEAKER_01: 1:47

Um I think there's a couple things about this. One, uh it's great that Mark's gonna be on the call. Anytime Mark's involved, I'm happy about it. Um two, I think it's really cool that um that golf is in the place that it is in general. Right? I mean, how does this happen? Um Capital One is like this is working for us. What else can we do? Let's get creative. Uh, but we want golf. I I think that's great. I mean, I'm not a huge proponent of having other athletes using other athletes to draw attention to the PGA tour per se. Like I don't I'm I'm not a fan of Tony Romo getting a sponsor exemption into a PGA tour event to draw more eyeballs. I'm against that. But if um if there's any way that this draws more attention to the game of golf, makes the game of golf cooler, then I don't think that it's a bad thing at all in any way. And hey, if you want to see Shadow Creek, you got a good chance for it.

SPEAKER_02: 2:57

Yeah, you only get a couple chances to see it. It's usually on TV in one of these matches. The there is this there is this thirst for golf right now, and I it feels like everyone's trying to figure out where the puzzle pieces fit. Obviously, you have the professional tours, but even the professional tours have been split over the last four or five years. You've got this influx of eyeballs on YouTube golf. Well, that's, you know, edited and entertainment and mostly non-professionals. So you get a little bit of crossover there. You've got this event, which is now, okay, can we get other athletes that you might know and love from a different sport, put them in a in the golf arena and have you watch that. I I don't know where this all fits in long term. It's actually a skills contest we're going to talk about in a second, that also fits into this. There's just like this really strong thirst for golf that everybody's trying to quench something with it. I I don't know what's good, bad, or indifferent, but I guess overall it's a it's a good sign for the sport, uh, which I intentionally separated from like the professional game. Like this is good for the sport, right?

SPEAKER_01: 4:10

Yes, and that's a really important separation here. You know, when when uh the PGA tour does things to try to grow the PGA tour, there are certain lines, there are certain things that they shouldn't do, certain places that they shouldn't go. And and that's an area where it's like, okay, well, I I consider myself a PGA Tour fan, uh as close as you can get to the game uh while being on on kind of on the fan side. And so I'm comfortable having opinions on if these things are various ideas or good or bad or harmful or cool. But in these other buckets, like I would never get upset at a YouTube golfer doing anything. You know, maybe there's like bat not fixing divots or something. I might get I don't even know how I would get upset at one of them. Uh you know, saying something about my family, not that they even know who I am. Like like you would be surprising.

SPEAKER_02: 5:14

Yeah, it would be very shocking. I that Ducharne family is just the worst.

SPEAKER_01: 5:19

I I could not find a way to get upset because that's like you have your own audience, you know what they want. We do things on this show. There's a a golf audience that doesn't like our perspective, so they watch something else. It when it's the PGA tour, if you're a fan of golf, you gotta watch that. So it becomes there, there becomes a uh a need to watch. Like we're all watching this because this is the sport we love. On YouTube golf, you don't have to watch it, you go watch somebody else. And I think this is the case here. If if you're not a fan of baseball and you're not a fan of golf, you're not gonna watch this. If you're not a fan of uh of baseball, you're probably not gonna watch this. Right. Um, and that's okay. So I'm curious to see how it does from a business perspective. I find it interesting. I I didn't really think the quarterbacks was all that great. Again, not my cup of tea. I I'm I'm very curious to see how this does from a business side of things.

SPEAKER_02: 6:32

I think uh I think in general, baseball players are a lot better golfers than football players are. And you get some of these starting pitchers who have four out of every five days to play golf, and they are pretty damn good. John Smoltz, Greg Maddox. Uh, Greg Maddox is in Las Vegas. I don't know if he's playing in this. John Smoltz is you're gonna get some good good players out there. Well, okay, so what's so from Major League Baseball's perspective? Because admittedly, the first I heard about this was last week when Mark told us about it. There was not an official press release announcing this until very recently. So Major League Baseball has not done a lot of promotion in this. So Major League Baseball gets what out of this? It's it's during their MLB awards week. So so they're gonna announce MVPs and Cy Young's, and there's probably a you know a gala of some sort, and they get this added event. Is this just another way that Major League Baseball gets to be at least uh I don't want to say top of mind, but like you're gonna see something major league baseball adjacent in the middle of November, which you haven't been able to see before? Are there people, are people gonna be out there? I don't think so. I mean, it's I don't know how they'd get I mean, I know how they'd get people in there. They've held like LPGA events there, but it's not the easiest thing in the world. It's very secure and gated. I don't know. I I don't think there's gonna be fans out there. I looked to try to buy tickets, I couldn't find a way. I don't think they're selling tickets, so I imagine what it's gonna be is executives and families and shareholders and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 8:16

Yeah, that that kind of thing can have a value, right? I mean, companies put on events, we usually call them outings, uh, that happen all the time. And golf is a great way to do that, it's just a great way to do that. And when you get on the opportunity to do it at a special place like Shadow Creek, that becomes very cool. And um if there's any interest, like Capital One clearly has interest, TNT clearly has interests, why not televise it at the same time? It wouldn't surprise me if Major League Baseball had a golf out in all the time that hasn't been televised. So there's no press release for it. Mark Gimbleman isn't going there to call it. But like, okay, let why not televise this? Uh, you know, I know the Joe Namath Foundation has an out-in in the New York area every year. It's full of celebrities. It's not televised. It probably could be. You know, it's a lot of big-time celebrities, and there'd probably be an audience for it. So I no, I I don't think it's a blockbuster kind of thing, but um, but golf's a great way to throw events for a company, and I guess the TV would, in my opinion, would be like an added bonus.

SPEAKER_02: 9:29

So it will be played the 13th and the 14th, which is uh Thursday and Friday, but it'll air next week, November 18th on TNT at 9 30 p.m. Eastern time, which I will be interested to see. Like it's not live, but it's not a two-month edit. It's just like a small edit to get it out within a week. So I'll be interested to see how that shakes out.

SPEAKER_01: 9:56

Well, you got you bring two days down into one. Right. Right. Yeah. So that's it. So we're gonna film all this, and then we'll put we'll it's almost like YouTube golf.

SPEAKER_02: 10:05

Right. I don't hate it. Uh and Mark can give us the behind the scenes when he there's no reason for that to be live. There really is no reason for it to be live, correct. Yeah, it that would just add to the cost, the logistics, all the headaches to do that live.

SPEAKER_01: 10:20

Yeah, like the added in a lot of the matches, a lot of the things that TNT has done, the part of the criticism has been how much downtime there is.

SPEAKER_03: 10:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 10:31

And one of the things that I offered as a solution was why is this live? It does not have to be. If you made this shell's wonderful world of golf, you cut it, you have an hour show, and you get all 18 holes in, all the quibs, you you keep what you need. If they're not talking, you just show them playing. Right. It makes a lot of sense. Um that's uh that's good to hear.

SPEAKER_02: 10:58

The other golf adjacent announcement from this week is we finally have the teams for the optimum golf channel games. Greg, you know that the world-famous optimum golf channel games. This is a made-for-TV event that will air on golf channel and USA Network. This is oh, the week before Christmas. This is December 17th. Rory McElroy and Scotty Scheffler are captains. We had heard about that in the past. Here's Rory's team Shane Lowry, Luke Donald, Hao Tong Lee. Okay, interesting. Scotty gets Sam Burns, Keegan Bradley, Luke Clanton. So uh I don't know what the through line is from these teams, other than your best friend, the Ryder Cup captain, Ryder Cup captain, and a young guy and random. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how Tong. I love how Tong Lee. I have no idea how he got involved in this. He's gonna be very entertaining, but I I can't believe on a list of eight in a in Florida where you have access to every professional golfer in the world that how Tong Li got on this list.

SPEAKER_01: 12:08

Uh it was so I mean, he's been playing great golf, by the way. He's been awesome, but it it feels so random. It feels so random. Um, I he's probably gonna get his PGA tour card. Okay. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Good segue. But still, he's not a European. Yeah, like there's there's a uh European American flair to this, which Luke Clanton would fit in. Yeah. I I just don't understand. Maybe nobody else wanted to do it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 12:46

Did they make a lot of phone calls before Hao Tong? Does Hao Tong have a great agent who worked him into the I I don't know. It's a great segue because here's Jay Jamie Kennedy tweeted this out. We talked a little bit about how there's two there's two events this week. One very, very big on the DP World Tour. It's their season finale, it's their DP World Tour championship. As of right now, uh, if you're watching on YouTube, you're looking at the 10 cards that would be secured for the PGA tour next year, and then a couple of guys who are just on the outside looking in. There is a massive number of of points for this event. So much, as Jamie points out, that every eligible player in the world, or excuse me, in the field still has a mathematical chance of earning their card because of how big this field is. But but looking at this list of guys that, you know, if this ended right now, would get their PGA tour cards, it's it's a couple of um, you know, off row Marco Penge and Alex Noran into the the obvious ones. They've had phenomenal years. Hao Tong Lee is currently seventh. You mentioned how well he's been playing. Greg, he's he's he's gonna get that PGA tour card again, and a couple of other guys that could be really interesting when we start seeing them on a regular basis. Yeah, I mean, I'm uh like Laurie Cantor has been playing great golf, which by the way, would be the first official player to have played on live golf to get back on the PGA tour. Laurie Cantor, yeah, I think he played a season plus um a couple of reserve or alternate starts in the second season. He would be the official first man back.

SPEAKER_01: 14:21

And he is the first man to play in an event because he got in the players as well. Um, so he has played an event on the PGA tour. Uh, it's amazing that there's been that much time. There's enough time for a player to do that already.

SPEAKER_02: 14:34

Because presumably he's also served the one year suspension.

SPEAKER_01: 14:40

Exactly. Right. And it's just crazy that that's even you could get on, play your way off, or whatever.

SPEAKER_02: 14:49

Yes, play your way off, live, play your way back onto the PGA tour.

SPEAKER_01: 14:53

Yeah, and sit out a year. That's true.

SPEAKER_02: 14:56

It's been a long time.

SPEAKER_01: 14:57

Yeah, it's wild how how long it's been. So he catches my eye because playing on I I paid a lot more attention to him playing on the DP World Tour, and he his name keeps popping up. So that's an interesting one. Dan Brown led the open championship a couple years ago. Like pretty deep, pretty deep into that tournament. Uh, he was a great story. Uh hopefully he can get in the mix in some PGA tour events, and hopefully he can get there. Right. He's eighth. He's certainly not safe. Um, so I I think uh and and Christopher Rattan. Wrighton Rattan.

SPEAKER_02: 15:35

Uh I'm um I can't remember what we looked this up once. I can't remember what we said.

SPEAKER_01: 15:40

Yeah, we've talked about him before because there was, didn't he? Or am I confusing him with uh Christopher Ventura?

SPEAKER_02: 15:47

It might be.

SPEAKER_01: 15:48

Yeah. But we've we've uh been very interested in him before because of great play on the DP World Tour. Um, I'm hoping to learn how to actually pronounce his name. And yeah, I I think he's got a really strong game. So, I mean, that's how you get to number two on this list.

SPEAKER_02: 16:04

Uh I'm trying to see. Yeah, he is uh 27 years old out of Norway. He signed a letter of intent for the University of Texas, uh, but he turned professionally. He did not go to college at all.

SPEAKER_01: 16:16

So definitely not Oklahoma State.

SPEAKER_02: 16:19

Definitely not Oklahoma State. I was thinking of uh Ventura in that in that category. So that is a list of potential players, and like Jamie says here, literally anybody in the field uh mathematically still alive to punch their ticket will know after the next four rounds. The PGA tour announced a couple of weeks ago there was gonna be a good, good championship. We talked about that, Greg. They're now adding another event for the 2026 fall. This is an event back in North Carolina. This is gonna be Asheville, the Built Moore Championship. It's gonna be played at the cliffs at Walnut Cove. I am not familiar with that place at all, but we're we're stuck between, not stuck between, but like, you know, there's been a lot of conversation around um what the new PGA tour leadership is going to do to try to make the product more scarce. That's something that they have spoken about. And there is this, I don't want to say worry, but there's this idea that, like, oh, you know, maybe the fall goes away, maybe there's just less events as sponsorships uh run out, maybe they are not renewed and the schedule gets smaller. We are not seeing that as of yet, right? These two new events already added for next fall that were announced just in the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01: 17:36

And you have uh two events that are kind of, you know, um in question of whether they'll be back or not, which includes the Pro Corps and Napa, and more significantly from what I've heard is the Sanderson Farms in Jackson, Mississippi. So now you either find a way to renew those events and you have more fall events, or you don't and you have the same number. Uh but a lot of these deals have um have some life to them. They have some extension, you know, some uh they have a period of time where they're valuable. But the scarcity conversation, I do think, is an important one, Rick. I I I don't I I don't know what Brian Rolap meant when he said scarcity was a pillar. A lot of people have interpreted that as we're gonna get rid of events.

SPEAKER_02: 18:27

Yeah, that it doesn't have to be just based on the number of events. You there's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01: 18:31

No, I mean he didn't mention that at all. He didn't mention anything specifically. That's why I think there's been a lot of conversation around it. So but just the idea is it seems like in the conversation, we need to have less events so that people are starved for it. Right? So they miss it, like they miss football in the off season. I I don't think that people who are watching football and not watching golf as a result, which is a lot. I I don't think there's anybody that feels like they have to watch the PGA tour in the fall. You don't have to watch it. So when it's golf season, you're excited for it. Um even the early events in in the PGA tour season, there's NFL playoffs on. People are not quite there yet. The numbers are a lot smaller, and then they pick up after football. And that's like your as a viewer, your golf season is what you make it. It's not like you're a fan of the Jets and you have to watch every game to get an idea of the season. You you don't. And so I don't understand the scarcity thing. I I think the the job of the tour is to create playing opportunities for their players. Uh, they are creating scarcity in a fewer number of cards. I think that it adds to the intrigue of of the fall for some. Uh, it makes it definitely pressure-packed for the players, whether there's fan interest or not. Um, and and there's also clearly an an interest from the corporate world, because you have now two new events. If you include good, good and the corporate world, I I I guess they deserve to be. I mean, yeah. I mean, they're spending millions on a PGA tour event. That sounds very corporate to me. Yeah. So there like there are other purposes beyond what what are the TV ratings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 20:35

I'm I've gone back and forth on this. I think at one time I would have said, have there only be 24 events, and then you can, you know, have PGA Tour plus 24 events where only Scotty and Rory plays, and then whatever. I think that the there is a there's obviously a need and a responsibility for the PGA tour to, like you said, Greg, create those playing opportunities. I I I understand that. This is it's a member, it's still a member run organization. It is still, you know, the structure of this sport is very different than other sports.

SPEAKER_01: 21:13

It's also part of your player development.

unknown: 21:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 21:16

Right. The fall portion develops the PGA Tour Plus, which we kind of have. It's getting right now. You know, we're all we're almost fully if you would count majors and signature events and playoff events and the and the players, you're talking eight, twelve, fifteen, sixteen events that are of elevated stature.

SPEAKER_02: 21:40

There there was a time, some guys might play like I think Victor Hovlin, I don't know if it was maybe it was last year, he played like two non of those events that you just mentioned. That was it. It was his entire schedule.

SPEAKER_01: 21:53

Right. And uh Scotty plays usually 20 events a year. He's got a couple that he likes to play. Rory probably won't play any. Maybe the Canadian Open. Yeah. Um, so that they they don't necessarily play all of those, but they're still important. They they you don't have a college system in golf that feeds the PGA tour the same way. You there are too many levels in between. So you need the Cornferry Tour, uh, PGA Tour Americas, as we've seen with Michael Brennan this year. These all of these steps are developing players that are potential stars. So it's not like, well, we got to get we feel bad for them, so we got to get them opportunities. It it develops your talent pool. And and I think it's a big reason why the talent pool is so deep on the PGA tour now.

SPEAKER_02: 22:59

The only thing that I think is a disservice to the PGA tour and its members are the alternate events. Having two events at one time, the opposite field events, I think is I think it's criminal. I I think you I think it is set up for failure. I think it it just does to run an event opposite of the open or what it's criminal. Um, I would do away with those. And I might, and you could convince me other ways than this, like I think it's okay to work a bye week in here and there, right? I mean, uh there are some reasons. And like there was, you know, that I I think back to the Olympic year a lot. It was just like every week there was a massive event. Like, yeah, let's would we get more guys playing more events or playing all the big ones if we took a week off here? If there were four bye weeks a year, like I don't know. I maybe you start running out of dates really quickly, but that's the other thing that I think about.

SPEAKER_01: 23:56

Well, this fall has had a nice cadence to it. Yes, you know, it it hasn't felt too packed. And I think those bye weeks, they're certainly welcome for me. Uh I I I don't mind it at all. I um uh you know, the uh interesting thing about the opposite field events that you bring up is and I cannot explain this, but those title sponsors of Barracuda, Barbasol, I guess Barbasol changed recently. Isko now, right? Isko now, but it was Barbasol for a long time. It's been Barracuda for a long time, and it's been uh Corralis for a long time. So while I understand the sentiment, it's uh like there's a stale a value, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 24:52

They must get a deal. Um okay, then here's the thing lock lock the field. So lock the field the same time you lock the field for the open and play it the week after the open when it's a bye week or something like that. You know what I mean? Like, like I still I don't want to take away the opportunity, but running two events at the same time is blasphemy. Okay. It it just is you've got a you've got a finite amount of resources on your own end. You've got a finite amount of eyeballs. Sometimes the the big event, the main event, is being played in a completely different time zone on another side of the planet. It is just like I it just feels like it's setting up for it is completely war. You can you cannot ask a casual fan who won and name one winner of the Barracuda or the Barbasol in the last 10 years. That's 20 winners. You I don't think they could name a single one.

SPEAKER_01: 25:54

No, um I know Kalamurakawa won one of those. Yes, that would be like um so I I understand the the sentiment there. And I just wonder what's the it it is it for the fans, and I don't think it is, because I I mean I get them confused all the time. Isko helps, yes, it's go barracuda, it helps because they're not barracuda and barbasol, which sound the same. Um, but right, you don't pay attention to them. And it's okay it's okay not to. And I wouldn't have a problem with uh with restructuring some of that. But as a general rule, I I'm not uh in the scarcity marketplace. Like I don't think the fall needs to go away. I think you need to keep it. And maybe it's six events and not eight. Um you know, you could convince me that that's better. Right. But I I just think not everything has to be about who's watching because there's a there's a player pool that you need to develop. There's a player pool that cares very much, and it and it means a lot to the members.

SPEAKER_02: 27:09

One last thing about non-traditional PGA tour or DP World Tour golf. And this comes from our Patreon, Oliver's question here. Says, hey, second cut crew. Uh, I didn't realize this, but I'm actually looking forward to TGL starting up again at the end of next month. The end of next month, yes, it's it's TGL is going to be back soon. He says, Have you heard of any major changes or new players that we might see in the second season? So thank you, Oliver, for being a patron. So they've they've made the golf course to the green, yeah, to the course. To the bandwidth. Yeah, they redid the green to get some more pinnable locations. And I believe they changed, I'm gonna screw this up, like the actuators underneath that can determine breaks and humps and hollows, I believe, are are new for looks.

SPEAKER_01: 28:01

Well, the ridge, they had that ridge that I think they softened it back to the original or back to the way it was originally intended.

SPEAKER_02: 28:13

Yeah. You know why you know why they did that is because um the people in this in the arena, if you were behind the ridge, you could not tell if you could not see the hole, you couldn't tell if the ball was going in or not.

SPEAKER_01: 28:28

Right, which is pretty wild. Yeah, and it spins. So some sometimes you'd see it, sometimes you wouldn't. Um, it's a fascinating concept.

SPEAKER_02: 28:39

I did I did think they uh they had to do something with the green because it did feel like by the time we were five or six, you we saw that we were seeing the same chips and puts every time because they were limited in that aspect of it.

SPEAKER_01: 28:56

Well, I don't know what the limit is because they like it's connected to the golf course. So think about it this way: you design the golf course on the golf club 2019. I wish and then you connect it with that green, you download it, and then so the slopes are like that green, the green on the yeah, you know, on every hole has a slope to it, and that's how the green that spins adjusts.

SPEAKER_02: 29:29

Yeah, but there must be some there must be some limitation because they must have said, hey, when you design these holes, the green is still only ever X square feet. Right. Totally. And it can only go Y and Z height. Like there must have been limitations in designing it, in knowing that your green had limitations. Totally. Um, talking about this. I know. Download it to the download it to the putting green.

SPEAKER_01: 29:58

What one thing I wish they would do is. And I don't think they're gonna do I I wish they would just have like crazy holes. I know. Even if it had the same green, like that if that green that they have indoors was at the end of every hole, but sometimes it was like fifty feet up in the air, and sometimes it was a hundred feet below, or it was on you know the seventh floor of a building. Yes, uh, you know, in New York City. Yes. Like like if I had if you're gonna go that way, where it's like not real golf, I would just go way more.

SPEAKER_02: 30:37

Don't make real holes. They play real holes all the time. All the time. All the time. Make them hit off the Empire State Building.

SPEAKER_01: 30:47

Yes. You you can play in the Grand Canyon. Yes, you know, wind your way down, or you're uh standing on the edge of a cliff. You could do anything. I mean, you could play on the moon.

SPEAKER_02: 31:00

Yeah, change the gr change the gravity settings.

SPEAKER_01: 31:06

Honestly, it's not a bad idea. I you're we're gonna play a video game. Let's play a video game and let's make it real cool. I think it would help with their data. There's a lot of a lot of the pushback was the collection of data. Yeah. Is the simulator correct? And part of that is, well, you know, Tiger's got a wedge from 100 yards and he hits at 130 over the green. That he would never do that. But if you're in New York City on Fifth Avenue, it it like you don't process it the same way.

SPEAKER_02: 31:45

Right. You don't know how it actually would have reacted when it hit Rodeo Drive. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 31:50

It you don't know. So it it's like, hey, this is the game we're playing. It's not real golf. It it doesn't matter what actually happened. It's uh we're playing a video game here. Um that's what I would do.

SPEAKER_02: 32:04

I I I'm with you. As far as who's playing, I I have not heard any roster changes. So I'm assuming everybody's running it back, which includes, I assume, Kevin Kisner, who was by far the weakest player at TGL. And I I think they'll have to figure out something for Tiger Woods because uh status of Tiger is generally always up in the air physically. He said that he would be there. He did not say that he would play. Yeah, you're gonna have to figure out very vague that he will be there.

SPEAKER_01: 32:40

Uh I I did hear that I I think the teams have like backup systems.

SPEAKER_02: 32:48

And we called that before, right? I think like Nick Dunlap had a start at some point for FNAW. Yeah, FNAW had a start. There is definitely an alternate system in place.

SPEAKER_01: 32:58

Absolutely. So, you know, who knows? You may see more of that. Sounds like with the scheduling, I mean, they're starting in December this year. They they've spread out the scheduling a little more, it seems like. Um, no triple header on President's Day. So we'll we'll see how we'll see how season two goes.

SPEAKER_02: 33:17

December 28th through March 3rd is the schedule. New York Golf Club versus Atlanta Drive. That's a rematch of uh the championship last year to kick us off. We're gonna turn our attention to Bermuda. Before I do that, I'm going to remind everyone who has tuned in that uh just within the last few days, our one and done over on Splash has gone live. This is a$1.25 million one and done. It is$250 an entry. It's eight bucks a week. That's what it breaks out to be over 31 weeks. There are segment payouts. There are paying out the top 10%. This is a big contest that we want to be able to fill. There will be incentives to fill it to get your entries in early, which I'll announce as soon as available. But Greg, this is our this is our one and done. And also, how about this? I'm going to a promo shoot next week in Los Angeles for Splash to promote this one and done. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 34:30

This is the world's biggest one and done. That's right. And there's nobody better to spread the word. Um, so that's fantastic. Very exciting, Rick. And I love one and done. I I think it's the it's the best. It's the greatest thing you can do. Um it's so much fun. You get one guy. When are you gonna play him? Do you pick the times right? Uh, I think the segment idea is great.

SPEAKER_02: 34:59

Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_01: 35:02

Um uh multiple payout payout tiers is so much better than Survivor pools.

SPEAKER_02: 35:08

I actually pitched uh, so Mina scrolled down a little bit more where they uh go to the overall payouts, sorry, instead of the segment payouts, go to the overall payouts. Okay, you see how there's like, you know, every 10 places are the same payout, for example. I actually pitched that every payout. No ties, no ties, like every pay, like if you finish 32nd, you get more than the guy who finished 35th, right? It might be 33rd. Yeah, might be$300, right? But it might be so, you know, but I actually was like, I want an incentive where every spot, every dollar matters, every spot matters. I got vetoed on that, but maybe next year.

SPEAKER_01: 35:52

You know, playing in a golf tournament where it's like, okay, like if you're on the PGA tour and you're in 36th place heading into the weekend, every birdie is like counting money. Yeah. Right. I'm just moving up. More money than that guy, more money than that guy, more money than that guy. Right. That that's a fun thing. I mean, I don't know how motivating it is for the guys out there playing on tour. Um, I don't know if it's more motivating than just wanting to play good golf like everybody does every time they play. But I would be paying attention if I couldn't catch if somebody, you know, got four signature events right and was running away with it. Like I I'm at my fantasy football league is points only. And what do you mean by that? There's it's season-long points. I I don't play seasonal. Oh, this week. It's not head-to-head. It's not head to head. Got it. Season-long points. Okay. There are right now two people who can win. I'm looking at this like there's no playoffs. Right. If if you're in sixth place, you could be in fourth place. You're you got nothing to play for, and it's week whatever, 10. This solves that. I think it does how it is. Yeah. The way you pitched it would do it more, but it's still it still solves it.

SPEAKER_02: 37:20

I think that pitch was like, you're an idiot. Like if we're gonna have to go in and into 500 different payouts in the system. Like, I I hate you. I was like, okay, well, no shot.

SPEAKER_01: 37:33

$123.$124.

SPEAKER_02: 37:37

Okay, so 432nd is gonna get this amount, but 433rd is going to get this amount. Yeah, I think they uh we'll try again next year.

SPEAKER_01: 37:48

Yay. I mean, there's gotta be a can't use AI to do this.

SPEAKER_02: 37:53

You would think, you would think. We'll find out. All right, Bermuda this week. Um Bermuda, if I remember this correctly, I looked this up at some point last year, is the country with the most golf courses. It's either per capita or like per square footage of country. Because I think they have seven golf courses and the island's not that big. Right. Very small island. This is the very longest one they've got. It's like 6,800 yards, it's been lengthened. And the defense around here is the wind. You're gonna see the videos. I already saw Will Haskett uh tweeted out a video earlier where the wind's blowing the outdoor furniture off the deck and all that stuff. Like that's that's the defense around here, Greg.

SPEAKER_01: 38:42

Yeah, it uh apparently is gonna be honking. Um 30 to 35 mile an hour winds. Uh even like 20 mile an hour winds out there are gonna be honking because and and you got so many different directions that they go. And the cool thing about it is you have so many par fours that are like 380. And they're maybe drivable downwind and brutal crosswinds and brutal into the wind. They change you have to play so many different shots, but you can kind of handle it with the clubs that you're hitting. You got a lot of wedges, a lot of short clubs. You don't have to hit driver, although when with a lot of these into the wind holes, you will. It just makes for if you're into creative golf shots. This is the kind of venue that you need to pay attention to. You're you're not gonna see traditional golf. Um, I spoke with Adam Hadwin this morning, who's playing this week. Everything you have to say. Uh lot of almost no full shots all week. Everything's a everything's a half shot. Bring the spin down. Everything's being flighted. Bring the spin down, bring the trajectory down. Um, because anything that gets up in the air, you just lose, you you totally lose control. He said I've seen guys, I've seen guys miss by 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 yards.

SPEAKER_02: 40:23

Yeah, but it's already 30 yards and the winds look at another 30.

SPEAKER_01: 40:28

Next thing you know, it's 70 yards away. So you you can you're gonna see a wide variety of shots out here. I I think it's so cool.

SPEAKER_02: 40:35

I like that. Do you you might have looked this up at some point in your research process. Do you know who the defending champion is? Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 40:44

Rafael Campos.

SPEAKER_02: 40:45

That's right. A three-shot victory over Andrew Novak, 19 under. We have seen this go 15 under Lucas Herbert in 2021. We've seen this go 24 under par a couple of times. Again, it depends a lot on the wind. It plays as a par 71. The thing that I find interesting about this field, Greg, and again, I'm a broken record, but a lot of the same guys we've seen in the fall. Uh, a couple of the guys are taken off. They seem like they're comfortable with their spots. But the the favorite to win this event is Rico Hoey. He is 18 to 1. You do not get a lot of events in professional golf where the favorite is as long as 18 to 1. It would imply that there are a lot of different golfers who could win this tournament.

SPEAKER_01: 41:32

Uh, in the DP World Tour, the favorite is four to one. Yeah, second favorite is five and a half to one.

SPEAKER_02: 41:38

And last week Ben Griffin was 10 to 1. JJ Spawn was 12 to 1, and then there was a little bit of a gap, but yeah, that's obviously very different here this week.

SPEAKER_01: 41:48

I mean, uh Michael Brennan, who tried to Monday qualify for this event, because they had this Monday qualifier in like some other time. It's not the Monday before the event. Right. He tried to Monday qualify and didn't get in, and is now in. Pretty good. And he's the highest ranked player in the world. He's the highest ranked player in this field. Wow. In the world. Michael Brennan. He's 40 43rd or 42nd in the world. Um, now you could look at that and say, well, this is a bad field. But it's it's like anybody could win. I was going through this, writing down names. I was like, what what I have no idea. So um I think a lot of the things that we typically look at are thrown out the window. Like you got greens that are a little slower uh because of all that wind. I I think that really and it's Bermuda. So I think that really opens the door for guys that aren't putting well. Um, even guys that aren't hitting it well. Sometimes this can, these kind of conditions can free you up. You don't make your normal golf swing. You don't make your normal golf swing. So um, that's why when you see like Rafael Campos, Camilo Vegas, uh, Seamus Power is like an outlier. You get Lucas Herbert and Brian Gay. These guys weren't playing great golf coming in. And they find something for one week. So I think there's a lot of different paths to victory.

SPEAKER_02: 43:22

Sometimes when your game's not very sharp, getting to be creative and getting to have to hit shots and do something different and it kind of gets you out of just the full swing, perfect conditions. It's not working for you. The the it it lets you think about something else, right? It just takes your brain off it. Right. You have to.

SPEAKER_01: 43:46

There's no need to be perfect. Um, it doesn't matter how it feels. It's like, I gotta make sure this ball stays right. You know, I gotta, I gotta make sure this ball is low. What do I gotta it? Everything's different. Any everything's different for everybody. You know, it'd be different for it'll be different for Michael Brennan, who's playing well, different for Rico Hoey, who's playing well. So while you have these same guys who have been playing the last couple weeks in the fall, it's a totally different venue. And I find that fascinating.

SPEAKER_02: 44:21

I I found something fascinating here. Let's do a little bit of uh knowledge, little education segment. Do you know what the currency in Bermuda is? I just learned this uh one second ago. No, okay. It's the Bermudan dollar, it is tied to the American dollar. So whatever the value of the American dollar is, the Bermudan dollar is the same. There is no uh strength or weakness, so everything is is equal. So they tie it to the USD. Panama also does that. I did not know that. It's just tied to the USD. So in fact, when you go to these places, they will just accept your dollars like normal because it's the same thing for them.

SPEAKER_01: 45:11

Well, that makes sense. Yeah, I almost said to you jokingly, the USD.

SPEAKER_02: 45:16

You would have been right, right?

SPEAKER_01: 45:18

I'm very impressed. Uh I would have been completely making it up. That makes a lot of sense because they they uh their economy is largely tied to tourism.

SPEAKER_02: 45:30

That's right, largely tied to tourism, and let's not make any barriers of you spending money and having to exchange or anything like that. We will just accept your American dollars.

SPEAKER_01: 45:40

I wonder how that can hey uh President Woodrow Wilson. Can we just use your dollar? Sure.

SPEAKER_02: 45:50

Um there was sign right here. One other thing I wanted to point out about this. I don't remember. The there's only 64,000 people that live there, which may be very small. That's like less than the amount of people who will be at the Phoenix Open on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01: 46:09

I mean, how many buildings in New York City is that? Like five buildings? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02: 46:16

Yeah, that's that's it. Like that's like not even a block.

SPEAKER_01: 46:18

Not yeah, right. It's crazy. Crazy to think about.

SPEAKER_02: 46:22

Let's talk about some players here. And it's a very eclectic grid for this week because as we mentioned, it's kind of wide open. So, Mina, click your little fingers away and fire up that grid. Thank you very much. One matchup, one finishing position, a winner each for Greg and I. Mark, uh, I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but he's obviously on his way to Las Vegas right now. That's why he's not on the show. Uh matchups. Greg, a defending or a pass champion for you. What'd you find? A pass champion.

SPEAKER_01: 46:51

I got Seamus Power over Steven Fisk. Uh, Steven, they're both at minus 110. So um no dog in this fight. But I'm going on the Seamus Power side. He's been driving the ball really well lately. I think his ball striking is kind of coming around. The finishing positions haven't, because his short game and putting haven't been very good. But like I said, I I think this kind of environment can open the door to your putting being okay or the putting the playing field on the greens being balanced out. Not just because they're slow, but because the wind has such an effect. So I think that takes the great putters, really skillful putters, and brings them down a little bit. And I'm not sure it hurts guys who have been struggling on the greens. So I like Seamus power over Steven Fisk here.

unknown: 47:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 47:41

Power over Fisk. I hope you're wrong about that because I am fading one of the worst putters on the PGA tour, though, a guy who's made some improvements here. I have Pearson Cootie at plus 120 over Rico Hoey. And this is um, it's a couple of things, Greg. Uh, Pearson's been playing great golf in the fall. He's this dates back to Corn Fairy Tour. He's got a couple of good starts in a row on the PGA tour as well. And Rico Hoey, who has been probably one of the best three golfers on the PGA tour this fall, I just think that this is an environment of volatility. This is an environment of kind of weird things happening with the wind and water in play on seven holes, and you get ingusted in a lot of different places. And I have these guys in my modeling and my um my statistics like fairly close to one another. So to get Pearson Cootie at plus 120, I just thought that was a little bit too good to pass up. It there is absolutely a little bit of hope that I've worked into this strategy. Um, but I'm also kind of embracing that I don't know what's gonna happen this week.

SPEAKER_01: 48:45

Well, that's also what I was saying with the putting. Like it it doesn't mean that bad putters are gonna putt well. I just think there's a greater chance that. But the thing about Rico Hoey with the long putter, that would worry me in conditions like this.

SPEAKER_02: 49:00

Yeah, it's gonna blow it into a figure eight. Right. That's been the solution.

SPEAKER_01: 49:04

I don't like that at all. Uh, he's not gonna like that either. So I'm fine with your play there.

SPEAKER_02: 49:09

Yeah, too much more more mass for the wind, more surface area for the wind to grab a hold of. Yeah. Look at us. A couple of smart guys. We know. Finishing positions. We each found a top 20. I'll go first. Victor Perez. Uh Victor Perez models really well and has modeled really well this fall. T11 at the Sanderson, T47 at the Black Desert, T21 at the WWT. I I like the way he strikes it, but he's not one of these just purely team no-put guys. He's picked up four strokes to the field in his last two measured starts with the putter. I like the way Victor Perez sets up here, lives in the Bahamas, he's probably used to a lot of this, you know, island golf with the wind. I I'm rolling with Victor Perez to finish inside the top 20 at plus 150.

SPEAKER_01: 50:00

I almost went Victor Perez here as well. So I love the play. Hits a ton of greens. Yeah. Um, you've mentioned modeling a couple times. I ran a model. Oh boy. Um had a bunch of stats in it. Low, I I have a a high number of low-weighted stats.

SPEAKER_02: 50:22

High number of low-weighted stats. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 50:25

Now, typically that's not how I would do it, but it is for this week. The most the highest used player. So I did a model creating lineups for a hundred fantasy lineups for 150 lineups. Okay. And Matt Couture is the player that's in 95% of these lineups. I love it. I love it. I'm like, okay, let's roll with it. Uh, so a couple of these stats that I looked at before I ran the the uh numbers. He's first in this field in par four scoring. Distance, not really going to be an issue. Uh, he is third. Well, he's he's in the upper echelon of birdie makers and also rates out very well in birdie to bogey ratio, which is a highly correlated stat here. Uh so there's a couple things that Kooch has going on in the number column that made me put him in here. And I'm like, hey, I don't know what's gonna happen. I'll go with the computer.

SPEAKER_02: 51:41

I love that. Well, I I have a lot to say about Matt Coocher. I'm I'm gonna save it because we're gonna talk more about Matt Couture in a little bit, but yeah, this is this is the spot for Kuch. You got him at top 20 plus 140. So it's Victor Perez, top 20, Matt Kutcher, top 20. You and I have shared one winner. Now you're going for the perfect grid. So you have picked a winner from the DP Roll Tour and a winner from the PGA tour. We overlap on that winner. Somehow you got a better line than I did. You got him at 40. I got him at 33. Who's our pick, Greg?

SPEAKER_01: 52:16

Uh, this is Sahet Tagala. Um, maybe it went the odds went down after I saw it. I was like, you move the market. Well, he's healthy now. Yes. He was hurt. Now he's healthy. He's finished high 27th in his last two starts. Um, one was in Japan at the Bay Current, and one was at the Black Desert in Utah, where he was performed well across the board. I'm like, okay. I T27 at in a birdie fest like the Black Desert is not bad golf. So now we get Syed the Gala healthy playing in a field where he's the best player in the field.

SPEAKER_02: 53:05

Yes. That I was just gonna say, when it when all of these guys are healthy, Syed's the best player in this field, right?

SPEAKER_01: 53:12

Yeah, yes. And he's at 40 to 1 or 33 to 1. Either. Either, whatever it is. 30. It's fine. Um, and now he he gets to be create. He's a shot maker. I think this is a great spot for him.

SPEAKER_02: 53:27

He is a shot maker. Yeah, I I'm I'm with you. I I I really discovered this when I was, you know, on Monday when I was going through the um I was going through the DraftKings salaries. That's good. I was just kind of, you know, I was looking at the 10k range, I was looking at the nine, I'm like, okay, yeah, some names here, names here. He's like in the eight, he's like$8,000 this week. And I was like, uh how wait, why is his name here?

SPEAKER_01: 53:48

Like we've talked about wanting to be early on him. Yeah. And you've had like three cracks at it now. We could still be early.

SPEAKER_02: 53:56

He hasn't done any, and he has not done anything to make me think we should not be early on him.

SPEAKER_01: 54:02

Right. It's just like another step in the right direction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 54:06

Uh I rounded out my card with Nico Echeveria, who has gone ninth and fourteenth in each of the last two weeks. He was he's been fantastic. In fact, his last uh eight rounds, those two events, he has picked up uh strokes to the field in all of them. He's pretty good on these like coastal golf courses. He's got a win in Puerto Rico. He's got a couple other top tens in some of these places where win starts to become a problem. So I went with Nico here. He is$9,700 on DraftKings. He's 28-1 to win this golf tournament already a PGA tour winner. Uh now, Greg, you have rounded out your card with a man who most have heard of on the DP World Tour side of things. Who'd you pick?

SPEAKER_01: 54:49

If you haven't heard of him, uh you must be new here. And you want so welcome. This guy's name is Rory McElroy. He's looking for his seventh race to Dubai title. Yeah. How'd he say that?

SPEAKER_02: 55:08

His seventh race to Dubai's, his seventh races to Dubai.

SPEAKER_01: 55:14

Yeah, it's a strange it needs to be cleared up in my seventh race.

SPEAKER_02: 55:21

Although Dubai, I guess you couldn't have a plural of Dubai because there's only one.

SPEAKER_01: 55:28

He's won the race to Dubai six times. There you go. Looking to do it for a seventh. It's like the Tour de France. Uh looking to win that race again. And um, it's a golf course he's won at three times. He's played well every time, essentially, and he's coming off a 62 in Abu Dhabi, and he this golf course suits him better, as he says. I I think he's clicking on all cylinders, and it's a limited field. And I think you're gonna see Rory McElroy holding a another trophy this week.

SPEAKER_02: 56:04

I would love uh the the bucket list item, you know that shot of you know, it's it's behind the it's behind one of the tea boxes where it's got this beautiful cityscape, right? You're just in the middle of it's just just these unbelievable and Rory McElroy just hits a drive that you know looks like it's gonna carry over these buildings. I would love this one in person. That would be so cool.

SPEAKER_01: 56:30

Have you seen the videos of that like through time? How the skyline has changed.

SPEAKER_02: 56:36

Yes. In like the last 30 years, right? It's just like it's gone from nothing to like the biggest city you've ever seen.

SPEAKER_01: 56:44

Yeah, it it's it's remarkable. That t-shot is so emblematic of that. So I hope to see it this week. Getting up early.

SPEAKER_02: 56:56

Now I'm Googling Dubai, oh, 1991 to 2020. That does that looks fake. It looks fake. Yeah, it's insane. Oh my gosh. Um Roy McElroy 4-1, Sahith for both of us, Nico Echeveria rounds out our outrights for the week. We now also use this opportunity to talk about more golfers, and we'll put a little perspective in terms of fantasy items. And one of the things I always ask you to do, Greg, is to pick a golfer of the week. And you factor in everything, you know, your price, your recent form, your course history, whatever it might end up being. And I do not think this golfer has ever gotten the uh G G O W, Greg's golfer of the week. I don't think he has ever gotten that designation yet.

SPEAKER_01: 57:46

No, and he may never again. Uh likely will never again. Even if there's nothing he could do this week, even win to where you would feel comfortable ever again. Yeah, I don't think it's gonna happen again. It's 47-year-old Matt Couture. Yeah. 8,600. I actually wish that price was a little lower.

SPEAKER_02: 58:12

Oh, don't be now. You're just being now you're just being greedy.

SPEAKER_01: 58:16

I feel a little greedy. I feel a little greedy. But um, you know, tied 11th last week, tied 18th at the Sanderson Farms, tied 13th at the Pro Corps, and this feels like a better fit. Like he's been bleeding strokes off the T. He's got a having a hard time hitting it out of his shadow, but he's very accurate. I don't think that's a problem here at all.

SPEAKER_02: 58:42

The only reason he loses strokes off the T is because he's 170th in driving distance. He's 53rd in accuracy, and this is a golf course that's the shortest on the PGA tour, 6,800 yards is a par 71. That he gets to lean, he did he is not going to lose uh to the field because of distance, and he gets to lean into all the stuff that he's piled up three top 18s in a row. Like, yes, let's go.

SPEAKER_01: 59:12

So I I think there's uh that's why I have him for a top 20 golfer of the week. I I don't really feel extremely confident in any in anyone. So he's he's as close to I I think anything could happen. So he's the golfer of the week. All right.

SPEAKER_02: 59:32

Matt Couture, golfer of the week. Now, the 9K and plus range, there are a lot of names. Kevin U is up there, Rico Hoey is up there. You've given me a couple, but you've also put a couple question marks out there, Greg. Again, this might go back to your kind of lack of confidence in this field. What are we doing with some of the more expensive players?

SPEAKER_01: 59:51

Well, Thor Bjorn Ollison, I really like. Uh, he's in the 10K range, um, behind Hoey and U in price. And I just this is a really solid golf game right now. Just through the bag, really solid. T fourteen at the country club of Jackson, T9 when he went over and played the Spanish Open, T three in Utah, T fourteen last week, been solid across the board. So I I also think this is just a good fit for him.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:27

On a comfort level, he's got to skew towards the higher numbers relative to this field. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:32

Totally. Right. Rico Howie and Kevin U, they get a lot of their work done with great driving and distance, especially. And I'm not sure how valuable that's going to be this week. So that gives me some concern with them. They're not question mark guys, though. Pearson Cootie and Maddie Schmid are the question mark guys. That's because I love what they've been doing with their game. Like Pearson Cootie's been, as you mentioned, Rick, Corn Fairy Tour, PGA tour, he's been fantastic. Yeah. Um, and he get he actually just completed his 15th PGA tour event. He also played 15 Corn Fairy Tour events, but he he is ranked in the stats, and he's number one on the PGA tour in strokes gain off the T.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:22

Oh, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:24

Yeah. Just came out. So hot off the presses. Yeah, hot off the presses. So he qualified for the stats. But I you know, I don't know what the value of that is going to be. Like, is that a bad thing? Probably not. But it just makes me put a question mark next to it. Is this going to get thrown off by the 35 mile an hour wins? And I feel similar about Matty Schmidt.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:50

Yeah, you were you were so right on Matty Schmidt last week. Now we've got question marks next to his name.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:56

Yeah. Well, they're it's because the same reasons are there. I loved him last week. He performed, but now we got a coarse fit question here. It's ultimately what it is. He leaned on the putter a lot. Is that going to get thrown off this week?

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:11

It is a pretty just like a pretty stark contrast from one week to the next of course fit potential.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:20

The la if you well, including Utah, the last two. Yeah. So I I worry. But they're, I think, options. You could take a chance on them. There's one other guy that I like in this range. Yeah, that's 9100. Yeah, talk to me about Matt Wallace. Matt Wallace. Uh, he just makes a lot of sense from a coarse fit perspective. Um he's you had a stat about him just preying on weaker fields.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:47

Oh, yeah, that's right. He just destroys weak fields.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:51

Yeah. He I I don't know. I don't know how that uh stands up now, but he's he preys on the weak.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:04

He he's got a runner up at the European Masters. He finished 10th at the at at the Bay Current. Those are better fields. He might, you know, might be getting a little uh a little stronger. Might not just be he might be picking on somebody his own size now.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:18

Well, that's the other thing, is I think he's playing really good golf for a long time. And I think he knows how to handle these conditions. He's he won at Corralis, he won an island event.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:29

He won at uh I believe that's right. I'm gonna confirm it here for you, but I think Corrales is right. Yes, he did. 2023 Corrales Puntacano.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:39

So he can he can handle the uh island conditions as well. So I like Matt Wallace. And at 9100, you get a little break from Schmid or Cootie, who are a little more expensive.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:51

Yeah, that's true. There's a little bit of a couple extra hundred bucks you can save. So 8K range, you've given me a handful of names. We've talked about Matt Kucher, we've talked about Sahif Fagala, they're both on your list. We talked a little bit about Victor Perez, but I'm gonna make you go to Eric Cole here because that's a name that we have not spoken about, Greg. And I want to hear what's going on with the Cole train. Who maybe this is a good week for him because he's wearing the MLB logo. Ah, yes. Is he playing at Shadow Creek before the event? I'll tell you what, it's Eric Cole. He freaking might be, dude. He's might be. Yeah, we might see him out there. He's like on the red eye Wednesday night to Bermuda.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:30

Like he just flies around for tea times. Yeah, it's free tea time. He's got one at Bermuda. So one thing that turned my attention to him, um, Rick, you have in your course key stats, highest correlated stats, birdie average is very highly correlated. Eric Cole fits that bill. Um, you know, there are some other, I think a lot of short irons and wedges can be a really good area for him. But the other thing I like about Eric Cole is I I'm seeing when you look at the way I traditionally break this stuff down, he finished tied ninth at uh Sanderson Farms and 10th at the Worldwide Technology Championship. And we've seen a little uptick in his putting performance, the last two measured events, an uptick in his approach play, two of the last three measured events, and that top 10, we got no strokes gained. So my assumption is his approach and putting are kind of rounded into form. Not gonna have to worry about the distance issue this week.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:36

He is a stout, short iron and wedge player. Um, 150 yards to 125, so that way, 44th, then it only gets basically better from there. From 50 to 125, he's 17th. 100 to 125, he's 29th. I mean, he's just a he's a very, very strong short iron player and wedges. And then, like you said, if that putter, that birdie making ability is is back, like it's gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:05

So yeah, yeah. Um, so I I I'm very interested in him this week.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:11

7k range. Guys that might not make you feel as comfortable. You've got three on your list. Where do you want to go first?

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:19

Uh the 7K range does not make you feel comfortable at all, but I think there's a lot of I I just have there are so many guys I'd be willing to play. Um one this comes out of the model. Okay, Kevin Roy. Kevin Roy, 81 per he made 81% of my lineups. Wow. I'm like, why? Um how? So there's not a lot of I guess he, you know, he's been playing okay. Yeah. Not great.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:54

I guess the trust the computers, right? Yeah, he's got some, I mean, depending on how far back you went. He's got some he's got some good stuff in the summer, the fall, you know, and end of the summer started to cool off a little bit, played well at the Sanderson, you know, complete gain across the board there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:12

I like his game. And I don't think it's in shambles. So I'm like, all right, well, I'll uh I'll trust the computer here and and throw his name out there. Because I really do believe in volatility this week. Like Rafael Campos, if we were here last year and I said Rafael Campos, he would have laughed at me. I'm sure we did not mention his name last year. No, because there's nothing Camillo the year before, he might have played a little better in the fall, leading into that, if I remember correctly. But anyway, here nor there. So he's one. Seamus power, another. Uh, like I said, I I like the way that his ball striking is trending. He's been driving the ball really well for a long time, hit it a little better with his irons um in in the fall here. So Seamus Power would be an option for me. At 7,600, I think that's a pretty good deal on a past champion.

SPEAKER_02: 1:08:08

Yeah, it's not bad. And like you said, he's been playing a little bit better as well.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:13

Lee Hodges is a guy that came up in like just a a number like the 100 to 125 category. He came up in the birdie average category, birdie to bogey ratio category. So his name just popped up a lot, and his iron play for for a long time has been just awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 1:08:36

He is uh I was running something yesterday, the day before. Uh round one relative. So basically your round one stats, but like uh compared to the other three rounds. So round one relative would be compared to round two, three, four, round two relative would be compared one, three, four. Uh he is like the one of the best. No, no, I shouldn't say that. He's he's pretty good in round one. Not the best on the tour, but he's pretty good in round one. But relative to his other three rounds, that is by far his best round. Like a bit of both things in that. It's not like he's Keith Mitchell, he's not like the best on the tour in the first round or Keegan Bradley or anything like that, but he really does fall off in rounds two, three, and four.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:23

Yeah, I guess that could be a concern. But he's also won wire to wire before.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:28

Yeah, and it's the 7k range of the Bermuda Championship. Like, if you don't have concerns, like what are you doing?

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:34

Yeah, you're gonna have concerns over everybody. Yeah, so that's that's really the reason why I'm putting a little more attention into weird stat combinations this week. Like, birdie to bogey ratio uh has my interest this week. Um, par three scoring average has my interest. Like any edge, anything I can find, I'm clinging to. Yeah, it's good enough. There's a couple for Lee Hodges.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10:06

Um 6k range. You are you are you you've got a little thing for the the 40 plus year olds this week.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:13

Well, I mean, look at what Brant Snedeker has been up to. Yeah, Rick. This is I when I get into this range, I'm in your holy grail. I just kind of click through. You know, I I'll run something and see, but I'm really just clicking to see like, is there anything here? Right. I'm looking for green. Brant Snedeker's got some green. Um he finished tied ninth in Utah. Yeah, his he's been hitting the ball like surprisingly well, and I'm not worried about distance. Um, he's a I I love his putting stroke in conditions like this. Legend has it, he putts great on bad greens. Not that these are bad, but they're a little they're a little longer, a little shaggier than we're used to seeing. So I'm like, hey, why not? Why not Sneds?

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:03

Why not Sneds? Now, this guy is uh he's been around so long, it feels like he should be in his 40s. He is not, but Mateo Manasero, back on your list.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:13

Mateo Manasero, uh, I mean, the driver's concerning. Hopefully, most of that comes from distance, but he just popped up in inside of 100, 100 to 125. Uh, he popped up in a couple of other categories as well. I want to say par four par four scoring average. I mean, just think of par three scoring average, excuse me.

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:42

Just think of like the guys who have won this event or the guys who have had success at this event. They are not Rory Macle, right? Right. I mean, they it just it just it's this is so different. This is if you are gonna get freaky, if you want to get freaky, here's your week to get freaky. Right. It's a very strange golf course relative to other PGA courses. There's a lot of outside influence, it is a very weak field. Go get freaky. I'm I'm allowing it. Let's go. Go do something weird.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:13

So, like Mateo Manasero, uh, Zach Blair also made my list. I would never choose him. He's been hitting the ball great.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:22

Literally the model of guys who win this golf event. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:26

Absolutely right. He has been hitting his irons pretty darn good. Uh and and this week, those are with reasonable clubs. So I'm a I'm a big fan of that, and I'd take a take a crack at Zach Blair this week.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:43

Zach Blair, Brant Snedeker, Mateo Manasero offering some options down at the bottom of the board. But like we said, I think you can get away with just about anything. Vegas is not super confident in one player. You might have a wind and weather advantage. Like there's just it's gonna be, it's it's gonna be weird. It's gonna be it's gonna be freaky. Uh, don't be afraid to embrace it. What else, Gregors?

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:10

I think that covers it for me, Rick. I feel good.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:14

Okay. I feel good as well. Friday night, we will know who is leading going into the weekend. We'll have an idea of what's shaping up on the DP World Tour as well. They've got a ton of points on the line. Uh, we'll see if any other news drops. Who knows? Maybe a new event will be announced. Maybe we'll, I don't know, learn how how Ton got into that, into that field for a week.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:40

I want to, I want to know. Yeah, I want to know.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:42

We'll hear maybe I don't think Mark will. I think Mark will be on Friday. I can't remember, but I'm interested to hear. Maybe he won't be able to tell us. We'll be like, oh, I'm under an NDA. We're not allowed to say.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:54

Yeah, I don't know when he's flying back. If it's two days, my guess would be it's a Wednesday, Thursday event.

unknown: 1:14:02

Right?

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:02

Because today's Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:04

It's it's uh uh it's technically three days though. Well, there it's a practice round and then two days. So I think I think the event is Thursday Thursday, Friday. So he's probably flying now on Saturday.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:14

Yeah. So we'll see. Maybe it'll be sitting right next to you.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:18

Uh we are planning on getting the tentatively planning on getting dinner, I think Thursday.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:23

All right. Great. Yes. Well, tell him I said hi. We'll do. Give him a hug for me. We'll do. And uh I'll see at least you Friday, if not both of you. Hell yeah, brother.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:33

All right. Big thanks to producer Mina. She does all the hard work behind the scenes. Greg Douche Charm at The Real GFD. You can find me at Rick Run Good. This has been the second cut. We'll see you Friday.