🍻 We’re back with a Half Way House!
This week we’re breaking down the 6 Captain’s Picks that Keegan Bradley made to round out the USA Ryder Cup Team:
Justin Thomas
Ben Griffin
Collin Morikawa
Sam Burns
Patrick Cantlay
Cam Young
Did Keegan make the right calls? 👀 Should he have picked himself? 🤔
Steve and Dave break it all down — tune in now!
#RyderCup #Golf #PGATour #GolfPodcast #TeamUSA
[Music] What’s going on tonight, Dave? How are you? Cheers. Oh, bourbon into Glen Karen. I like it. Um, so today, this morning, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, Keegan Bradley made his six Wednesday morning, Keegan Bradley made his sixth RDER Cup captain’s picks. Um, and with that, there were a couple surprises. I feel like we should say. Um, yeah. Um I I you know if we go back and if y’all go back and watch our show u from Monday night um you know Greg had some tech technical difficulties and Tuesday night um Tuesday night Tuesday Monday Monday Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday I I’m still thrown off by Taylor and Tra I’m still thrown off by Taylor and Travis all week. though. Um, you know, we went back and and made our picks and um I I I’m not really shock. The only thing shocking to me about all this is Keegan not picking himself. So, let’s go let let’s let’s start with who did he pick. So, JT, Justin Thomas, Ben Griffin, Cam Young. Um, I don’t think any of those are really surprises. Colin Morawa I think was still a little surprise. um Patrick Kentley and Sam Birds. And Kantley to me is the big wild card in that. We had all heard we had all heard that Sam was getting picked. Um so that really wasn’t a surprise that that had leaked to the media early. Um but I feel like um and funny enough, I’m going to assume that it was somebody from the recording team that leaked that because the PGA posted that video today of the call to Sam. So I don’t feel like I feel like the the again from my perspective, Color Maraw like granted he’s the eighth best player in the world is according to world rankings right now. Yeah. But 128th in Strugg putting I’m struggling with wrapping my head around on that team. And then Patrick Kentley won surprises me too. I I just feel like he’s a bad locker room guy. Um and and I don’t think he has played Yeah, he played it great at the PGA Championship and I’m not going to take that away from him, but hasn’t won an event in three years. Past captains have said winning is the number one priority. Uh so having somebody that hadn’t won an event in three years a little surprising. Um but I I would agree with you and the and the one surprises that Keegan didn’t take himself. Although listening to his reason behind it and you knew the question was coming the minute they kicked it to the media. Um you knew that question was going to be one of the first ones asked. Was Keegan Hug mean a pick yourself? And it was. Um, I I think that the overall messaging I think was the right messaging. Keegan had said from the beginning, I got to make the team. I got to be one of the six cap six automatics to play. I felt like he would be great to hit the first shot on Friday morning. Stand there. You and I both we and I both said that would be I think would would have been the boost um you know for everything that everything you know we needed. You know I I said yesterday Yeah. Go ahead. You know I I I said I said yesterday I took Canley as as one of my six um yesterday. I’m still I’m still kind of shocked by it because I I figured that spot would have been Keegan’s um there and not Canley’s. But I I I think overall he put together um you know you leave off you know Maverick McNeely who was number 10 uh Novak who was 12 um in that and kind of leapfrog down there to I thought uh um Harmon was 12 I think Harmon was 12 Novak was 13. So, you know, you leave those three guys off to jump down to Kantley, who, you know, overall has a better RDER Cup record, you know, than Brian Harmon and, you know, to um which would have been two other rookies, um, and, you know, Novak and McNeely. And I I don’t think McNeely has putted as well as of late as some of the other guys. Um, and I think I think I know but I as I said as of late um and I think Kantley’s familiarity with the other players in that group with having four rookies already played into his factor there. Yeah. Um but you and I you and I mentioned, you know, before all this, you know, earlier today, is this still the good old boys club? I I honestly think so there’s that question. I think the other question that I ask is um is it still a good old boys club and is there a pecking order of guys that have to be there and guys that aren’t going to be there? And then the other thing that you have to ask yourself is did he go understanding what Europe was going to bring in and looking at who they’re going to pick and everybody knows who they’re going to pick because it’s literally you can go down the list and say they’re going to go safe and every one of their picks but every one of their picks if if we get on if we get on here Tuesday and their picks are something completely different than what we said this this past week, I’ll eat my hat. Are we doing video of that? That might be a smack of the week segment on its own. Um, are you going to put anything on it? I’m in the Midwest. Ranch goes on everything. You deep fry it. You’re at the fair this weekend anyway. So, yeah. Um, but no, I I think that when you look at the idea of he kind of went the safe route because of what Europe is bringing and knowing that I I again it just the one that surprises me and I know it’s taken another rookie and we’ve got three of them on the team in JJ Spawn, Ben Griffin, and Cam Young. And I feel like that’s probably about as many as you’re going to take at that point because of what Europe is bringing. I think the concern that I have is you have one guy that didn’t get picked who was sitting there who stared down Rory in Scotland and said, “Hey, come get me.” And he couldn’t. Um I I think I think it would have and we said, Greg and I said this in the in the show that you missed. I think it would have been different if this was being played over there this year. And I think God would have been a lock playing over there this year. Yes, he’s he’s a Jersey guy. Went to Ruters. Um and would have had a whole hometown. Um I I think he needed to be just a hair higher than number 20 on the list right now. You weren’t going to drop all the way down to 20 to pick somebody. You weren’t going to, you know, but yeah. Is he the guy that stared down Rory and had a great run over there? And I think if the the RDER Cup was being played across the pond this year, I I think that would have been more into consideration than at Beth Page. So I I think that when you look at what are we doing with our team, I’m going to ask I think everybody could everybody in Team USA could benefit from the Bridgestone Mindset golf ball. Wow. Got to love. Yes, Bradley. Um, I’m gonna ask you this. Is this is this a group of dogs that can take that European team down? I in my heart I want to say yes. Okay. I I I I want to say I as we get closer to this and you know we’ll do you know some more shows and we’ll discuss this and um you know join us you know coming up as you know we’re going to be watching the RDER Cup and you know playing some golf al together at that same time. Um correct you know I I I I think you need 14 and a half to win the cup back. Right. And I’m I’m gonna go like I want it I want to say it’s gonna be like USA 17 and a half right now. It’s gonna I think it’s gonna be closer. Um I think it’s going to come down to matches on Sunday. Um I think it’s going to come down to to start what does Scotty do Friday morning? Yeah. Um because at the end of the day, we all know he’s going to go out first. It’s going to be him. I’m gonna tear down who’s gonna be going out first. It’s gonna be him or Bryson going out first. Yeah. Or do you or do you wild card one and take Cam Young and say, “Go get it, boy.” Cuz it’s yours. This is your This is your hometown event. Let’s get the crowd on our side and let Cam Yeah, let’s get that, you know, that would and that would have been, you know, Cam Young and Chris Goddup going out together on tea number one. That would have been amazing. I don’t know if I was either one of them though that I could have kept my breakfast down. Yeah, you’re going to send somebody out with experience at that point. Um, you need to send somebody out that understands what that first tea means on Friday morning. Um, so to me it’s Scotty or Bryson and you let them go and you pair the two one of them up and and you you just say, “Okay, um, one of you is hitting the opening T- shot. I don’t care who it is. We’re playing alternate shot. one of you is going to hit it. Um cuz they’re playing they’re playing Foresomes Friday morning and then four ball in the afternoon. Mhm. So, um I almost would have rather seen us flip-flop that on Friday, right? We are way better at fourball than we are at alternate shot. And I I really think that if I was Keegan on Friday morning, I would have stacked the deck to not I mean there’s a chance as bad as we are at alternate shot and this was evident last year at the President’s Cup when we won the morning session 5 and then got beat 5 in the afternoon session squad an alternate shot. I mean that was that was or what was it? Thursday then Friday. That that was Yeah. Well, evident as bad as we are shot. How how far back did Keegan set that up that they were going to play um alternate shot in the morning and four balls in the afternoon? Cuz that was way Yeah. way before he made his picks. It was announced last week, you know. So, if he said he was he’s been pretty good on this for 48 hours, you know, I I know this is all say, you know, how much say does Keegan have on which way they’re going in the morning or is that more an executive level uh tour decision? That is supposed to be Keegan’s decision as the captain. Um yeah, and he was asked that today actually in the presser about that and he said, you know, you always uh regardless you usually start on Friday morning with forsomes. And I was like that would have been why I wouldn’t have done it because we suck there. Um like that would have been my um my go-to on that sticking with tradition and the the good old boys way of doing things. Right. Right. And I honestly think it’s time to mix it up. Yeah. I think if anybody was going to do it and get away with it, Keegan would have been the right guy to make those changes and not necessarily ruffle some feathers, but do it his way. I think that when you look at I think as we go into this and there’s going to be obviously a lot of talk here. I mean the the Monday morning Labor Day, we have the captain’s picks for Europe. Um M I think you’re going to see, you know, what we expect that to be. I think all of us have the same picks and it’s pretty easy. I don’t see Sergio getting a pick. I really don’t. Um I don’t see anybody out of that group not make I mean Matt Wallace is currently 12th and is going to get passed up for John Rom. So let’s be realistic about that. Yeah. I don’t I don’t see you how you leave John Rom off of that team. Yeah. I mean what are you going to say? He didn’t win this year. He also won player of the year in the live tour. We can debate that and whether or not that was kosher or not, but um yeah, I I think that when you look at where we’re going with what’s going to happen with our team, it’s the team. Like whether we like it or not, whether we agree with the picks or not, I I I actually like the idea of Keegan not playing. Um I had said all along I either wanted him to hit the opening shot. I didn’t really want to see him on the course after that. um because I really wanted to see him out there as a captain walking up to guys getting getting on him and to me he’s the closest guy we had to pay Stewart who I think rest in peace Payne, you know, I think Payne would have been an amazing Rder Cup captain. Um, like when you look at what he w what he brought to the RDER Cup, I think Keegan is the closest now at this point and um, and I think that there that we’ve got a good we’ve got a good captain and I I I would rather utilize him as the captain. Now Dave, let me ask you this question because I saw this posted a few times today on social media and I want to ask you this one now. There are four past RDER Cup players that weren’t selected for this team. Um, and they are the names as follows. Patrick Reed. Yep. Brooks Kepka. Yep. Dustin Johnson and Jordan Smith. No, I just talking Liv. Just talking live players. Um, so there’s some guys over there that are past Radica players. Do you think current standard of their games and we’ll just take Brooks, Patrick Reed, and um DJ and DJ. Okay, just take those right now. Do you think any of them right now state of game are better players than any than the guys that we selected watching having not watched a whole lot of Liv um and only go I’m going to base this off of their performance in the majors when we had dual fields. Out of the three of them, Patrick Reed had the best showings. that wasn’t Bryson Desambo. I from a play standpoint, a play only, I probably if I was to pick one of those three people, I would have taken Patrick Reed over Patrick Kentley. Okay. Would have been would have been that. Kantley Kantley is is the is the one guy in this 12 that I could flip-flop with almost any and I yeah I picked him you know the other night but just because I didn’t like having another rookie there and I think y you know Patrick Reed with as even as brashes and flamboyant and everything he is he there at Beth Page he would get the correct Now, controversy aside, he would be, you know, the one person based on Major’s performance there that I would take. Oh, I remember who the fourth player was, by the way. It was Phil. Um, and and he wouldn’t he wouldn’t he won a major and didn’t get picked in in any in the same year. So, um, correct. So, then let’s Okay. And I I agree with you. I mean is Brooks Kepka to me Brooks Kepka is the wild card in that group. Uh Dustin Johnson hasn’t played great since going to live. That is and I don’t think Brooks even on Liv and in the majors this year I don’t think Brooks you know you know you know we all saw the photo of him picking up a 12-pack you know in like the 7-Eleven you after one of the rounds because that’s just the way it went. I think that when you look at Patrick Reed played great at the Masters. Yep. After that, it was average. He didn’t play great at the at the open championship. Like, he showed up at the open. Did he even make the I don’t even know if he made the cut at the open. He made the cut. Yeah, he made the cut. What did he finish? Like 40th or something. It wasn’t good. Um, so I think that when you look at that and you say players in form and players like that, um, and I take into account, and this is how I look at Liv, um, and John Rom pretty much said it too when they talked about his top 10 streak. Well, you’re finishing 20% there with your top 10s when you have 54 guys in the field. So you have to look at where does that fall in with a full field event. Where is he finishing? That’s how I see it now. And that to me is outside the top five. You finished top five in a live tour. Okay. You’ve played, you had a good week. Okay. I’m not arguing that. But beyond that, again, you’ve got to kind of assess that against a full field event on the PGA Tour. Yeah. So, I think when you look at where we are with this, I don’t think any of them were playing up to form. Had Patrick Reed had a good open championship, I might have agreed with you and said, “Yeah, I mean, he finished top five at the OB, let’s just say he had three top fives in majors this year.” I think you got to take a long hard look at now. Yeah, I don’t think he because he didn’t play well in the majors the year before. Um, correct. You know, but that’s a debate for another for after this Rder Cup is finished and we go into next season and um after we come out of the PGA show and everything else going on, like why are we acrewing Ryder Cup points now and not the year of the cup, but so in theory double the year of the cup. Yeah. Um I’m I’m going to ask I want to ask you one more question in regards to Liv. Had Bryson fallen out of the top six, was he going? Yes. Okay. I would agree with you on that. Um had fallen said Keegan said he was going. I have I you know even if Bryson was number you know for he’s the John Rom pick right now. You know, you you take Bryson over just about anybody else on that list right now with the way he’s played ping pong balls in his house right now. I will give Keegan a lot of credit. In the press conference today, Keegan did say that anytime they’ve done anything team related, Bryson has been there and Bryson is being a great team guy for Team USA. So, I will give Bryson a lot of credit for that. Um I think he’s he’s also not a he’s also not a Ryder Cup rookie. He’s he’s been there before. Correct. He he knows how he he’s he was on a winning team before too. Yes. He he knows how this goes. Right. And I actually the Bryson of today is much different than the Bryson that won a Ryder Cup as well too. Four years ago. Correct. I would agree with that. I I I think the Bryson of today I think Bryson will actually be along with Scotty that probably the two Well, I’ll throw JT in the mix, too. Probably the three leaders in that locker room. Um and JT because he’s JT and what he’s done. I’m going to be intrigued to see over the next couple weeks if you don’t end up seeing Jordan Speed there as a bystep. I I I would put it past because he can you can name as many vice captains as you want. Correct. I believe so. I don’t think there’s a cap on that because wasn’t Jordan was a vice captain one year. Right. There was a couple there was a few years ago where I don’t know if it was the President’s Cup or the Rder Cup. Bubba didn’t make the team and Bubba’s like, “Listen, I want to help this team anyway I can. Can you make me a vice captain?” And they did. So, would I be surprised if they brought Jordan along for the ride on this one? Especially because him and Kizner are boys. Um, yeah. And so would I be surprised GT and you know Yeah. You know, so I also think in the long term Jordan could make a really good Ryder Cup captain. So why not put him in that locker room now as a captain as a vice captain just to see. Um I think let him learn from, you know, Furick and Keegan, you know, and these guys that have been there, you know, Jordan’s been Jordan’s been there. He’s seen it all. He’s done he’s been he’s been on winning teams, he’s been on losing teams, he’s he’s watched, you know, things sway back and forth all over the place. Um so it’s just one of those where you don’t really know um what’s going to happen until it happens. Correct. Um, but you know, I think, you know, when you look at where we are for this team, I’m I’m confident in this team. I do think, um, and Greg and I had this conversation, I think with this team, two years ago when we went to Rome, um, on paper, we were a much better team. Much better team. Um, and then we got whitewalled. Like, we just got whitewashed out of Rome and they were just like, “Yeah, go out. we’re we’re going to win this thing and it’s not going to be pretty. Um I’m hoping that’s what happens here is that we aren’t the better team on paper. Um but we’re the we’re the better team on the golf course and and I I hope that that is um the American crowd. Now I will say this, I love that the PGA is going around and handing out tickets to people playing Beth Page and things like that for the Ryder Cup. Um, New York is a very easy plane flight from the UK. Yeah. 7, eight hours from most of Europe to New York on the way over here. It’s like six going give or take. I think I think for when I went Minneapolis to Paris, it was like 10. I we were nine coming back from um Dublin into Minneapolis and we were eight going over there. So yeah, I mean relatively easy flight into New York. I feel like they’re gonna there’s going to be a pretty good European crowd there as well. So, yes. Um, I just hope that, you know, you have the four guys that aren’t playing the morning matches and Keegan Bradley on that first tea getting the crowd pumped up on Friday morning. Um, and uh I know I’ll be up to watch it. No, you’ll be up to watch it. I’ll be I’ll be at work. No, you won’t. No, no, no, I won’t. We will be we’ll be together on the golf cart. Yes. Um so with our TJ10 speakers in stereo on the golf cart. Correct. Um but no, I think that there’s a a really good um you know, I think it’s going to be a really good RDER Cup as they all are. Um I don’t think you know, looking back two years ago, I thought Zach took a couple guys that were not in form. I think we’ve taken guys that, you know, I I can I don’t like, again, I don’t like the Colin Marcow pick because of putting. I think you need to take good putters and put good putters on there. Um, but I I understand the Colin Marcow pick. Yeah, he’s long outside of Scott, he’s the best long iron player out there. Yeah. But and I think you know looking at the yeah looking at the looking at the list right now you know and trying to pair you know do you put Morau with somebody like um you know Cam Young and ESPN misspelled Sam Burns’s name. Um they have Sam Burn. Yeah. Um, you know, you know, do you pair him up with somebody like a Russell Henley or a Harris English? Um, oh, no. You know, I I I actually think you pair him with Sam Burns. Yeah. I think with Sam Burns, he’s the best on the team. We talked about this the other night. I don’t see Morawa playing both sessions. Scotty, yes. Bryson, yes. JT, yes. And maybe JJ Spawn in both sessions. Some people are going to have to play both sessions, right? But I also think that when you look at I actually think you put Colin out there alternate uh better ball. Yeah. With a guy like and and hope hope for the best on his putting, right? So, but no, that’s what I got. Hey, you know, like, you know, if we go if we go par birdie, you know, with him and somebody else, that that’s almost a win and you you get a push and then maybe you get, you know, he rolls one, he gets a long iron on a par five and gets one close for eagle and takes a hole. Yeah. Well, that being said, uh, great addition to the halfway house today. Uh, hope everybody has, uh, enjoyed it. has been a while. So, welcome back to the Halfway House and we will uh definitely uh see you on Tuesday night. Cheers. 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