Memorial Tournament Preview with Ginger Joe | The Punting Green

The Punting Green returns for it’s twelfth episode, with George Elek and Ginger Joe back to preview the action from the PGA Tour which focusses on the Memorial Tournament this week.

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[Music] Hello and welcome to the punting green brought to you by pricedup.bet and odds checker. Uh this is the show where I’m your host George Ell and I’m joined by Ginger Joe as we look ahead to the weekend’s PGA Tour events. Uh we’ve got the Memorial coming up this weekend. one of the best uh PJ tour events of the season, one of the best fields uh of the season. Uh basically we’re just without Rory Makoy. Apart from that, we have the best players on the PJ tour all turning up uh for the memorial uh this weekend and the the the lineup of winners in recent years has been stellar. Um so it should be a decent event. Um but Joe, we’ll kick off with a quick review of the Charles Schwab. What did you make of it? Yeah, it was it was it was good. Um it was a good tournament to to see how nice to nice to see um you know Ben Ben Griffin back in in in the winners enclosure. He he’s certainly a player that sort of been through a lot and he was possibly a player that was coming to the boil at the right time as well. Um really frustrating week for us again and I am going to highlight where our players finished this week just to outline how frustrating it has been. We’re looking at tournaments with sort of 150 plus players. Now, last week we had five uh all six players were in the top 25 positions and we’ve only managed to get a return on one. So, it’s very frustrating. We had Harry Hall at tied sixth. We then had Novak at tied 11th, Barta, Glover, and Graceman at tied 22nd. We had Keith Mitchell at tied 26th. So, it’s really frustrating because we’re we’re finishing at the right end of the leaderboard consistently, but we’ve only had a small return there of Harry Hall. And it was actually the same for me on the DP World Tour this week as well. We had Brandon Robinson Thompson and tied second pretty much the whole way through until the last round and then he just fell apart and he was my one main selection last week on the DP World Tour as well. So, it’s been really frustrating but you’ve got to take the positives in the sense that we’re not missing the cut every week. We’re actually um banging contention round one, two, and three. Just need them to see it out a little bit better. At one point we had five players in the money and to end up with just one on a tied place is painful for our followers, George. But like I said, we are finding ourselves at the right end of the leaderboard at the same time. So we can’t be too disheartened. We’ve just got to wait for the the the the tide to change a little bit. That’s all. Yeah, absolutely. Knocking on the door. Time to beat that door down. Um what did you make of of the kind of headline performance last week? You mentioned Griffin who won. Sheffller kind of never quite put himself into contention despite being a relatively well a very short price at the off. Yeah. Yeah. I mean look, we mentioned last week that there’ll be better times to back Scotty Sheffller. He was 5-2 to win this tournament. And look, rightly so. He’s ended up finishing tied fourth. He never was really even in the tournament, but he kind of scores a 6871 64 on the Saturday and 69 on the Sunday. And he didn’t even play that well. It’s it’s just a testament to how good he is. he still managed to finish tied fourth. That leads uh the form for him in this event being second, third, second, fourth. So, he’s probably going to be 5-2 for the event next week um next year as well. But I like the fact that he’s stayed busy though, George. We we’re not far away now from the US Open where Rory Mroy, I think we’ve seen him once since the Masters. And I would suggest that Scotty Sheffield is the one that’s having the the right preparation for the tournament anyway. don’t like to see Rory Maroy off the, you know, off the tour for for too long because he he’s a momentum player. When he sort of finds his groove, he continues to find his groove. I don’t want him trying to find himself peak form for the day in the US Open because that’s what’s led to his failures in sort of the Masters and things like that previously, obviously up until this year. So, look, Scottish isn’t playing his best, but it’s still good enough to compete and everyone needs to be worried about that. And I’m very surprised that Mroy isn’t playing here this week. That’s a big big shock to me. Yeah, it is surprising. It is surprising. Anyone else that that caught your eye? Tommy Fleetwood threatened sometimes to challenge before falling away. Well, I feel very sorry for Tommy Fleetwood backers. Since 2017, he’s now had 26 top five finishes on the PJ tour and still not managed to get himself a win. Now, we have discussed a few times on this episode and off camera as well that pressure brings a little bit of added tension into people’s golf swings. I’ve mentioned this about players on the DP World Tour that are extremely talented and not able to get themselves a win due to this reason. On the PJ tour, you’re finding this very often with Tommy Fleetwood. You get into the final round, bit of added tension, pressure, whatever you want to call it, and his goal swing falls apart, particularly with his putting. And the same can be said about Colin Morocawa. He’s a player that should be winning much more than what he does. But as soon as that tension comes, his pattern just falls to falls apart. It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see Tommy Fleetwood have his breakthrough in a major perhaps something like the Open Championship. But he must relax because his game from Ter Green is just superb. But you can’t there’s no point hitting it 8 foot from the pin if you’re going to two put. You might as well have missed the green, you know, made up and down to save your park because it’s just it’s just the same outcome. He must learn to relax a little bit more on the greens. Um Bobby Mack played quite well this week. Two-time PJ tour winner. He seems to be coming back to a bit of form at the right time. But one player, George, that must be noted for the future. Well, in fact, for now, is a player called Rio Hisatsune. I think I’ve briefly mentioned him in this episode previously. He’s only a 22y old. Every single week you’re finding him in the top end of these leaderboards, in these big events. Now, he’s not shy of winning either. He has won the French Open on the DP World Tour in 2023. He was only 20 at the time. I actually tipped him that week as well at 80 to1. So, he’s been a player that I’ve been following for a long time, but he’s not going to be disappearing anytime soon. This is a player that’s going to be around for a very, very long time. Four top 25s this year. He’s had to switch from the DP World Tour to the PJ tour, which generally takes some time to get used to. a lot of the best players in the world that are doing this transition. Look at Thristened Lawrence. He’s really really struggled. He was topnotch on the DP World Tour. He’s then gone back to the DP World Tour this week just gone and finished tied fourth or fifth. So, but Rio Hatsune, he’s made the transition smooth as anything. Apart from Aber and Bobby Mack, I think he’s probably the player that’s come over and just handled this really, really well. He’s stayed busy as well. He’s played 16 events this year. He’s made 11 of his cuts. He’s world number 86. He’s only going to get better. Like I said, he won on the DP World Tour when he was a 20-year-old. This is just a really, really exciting player. As soon as there’s a few events where I can back him to beat Matt Syama, I think this is going to be the number one golfer in Japan in the near future. He’s only 22. Look, he was tied six last week. He shot seven under par. He’s, you know, this is a very, very talented golfer in the making. Love it. Uh, hit one to keep an eye on um there. Yeah, certainly impressing and amazing to think he is that young given the consistency of his performances at the moment. Let’s get into this weekend. It is as we said the memorial tournament at Murefield Village um and Scotty Sheffller heads the market as he does in any event uh that he plays in apart from actually the USBJ which he won a couple of weeks ago um where Macro went. He’s 14 to5. Conor Marawa 16 to1. Zander Schoffley 16 to1. Justin Thomas 18 to1. Ludvig Oberg 22. Patrick Kley 22 to1. Tommy Fleet with 25 to1. Cory Connors 30 to1. Victor Hland 30 to1. So they make up the top of the market. But before we get into the players um and your squad of four, what is the kind of player that you’re looking for who succeeds? As I say, it’s if you look back through recent winners, Sheffller, um, Ram, Hovland, Dashambo, it feels like this is where quality, and given, you know, it’s Jack Nicholas’ tournament, it makes sense. This is where quality really comes to. Quality ball strikers that hit a fade and players that have a good short game is a massive, massive requirement this week at Murefield Village Golf Club. Par 72, 7,569 yards. Anywhere off the fairway around Mulefield can be very, very difficult to recover. So, I do want a fair amount of accuracy on side for this week’s tournament, too. And it is a strong requirement to have a good short game. There’s going to be a lot of times this week where players are going to be needing to get up and down for par. There’s no doubt about it. I imagine the winning score this week, George, is only going to be around 12, 13 under par. We’ve been saying these numbers each episode and we’re getting them pretty spot on, actually. And I do feel quite strongly this one is going to be well below 15 under par once again. So I want decent ball strikers that hit a fade and ones that have a reliable short game too. A lot of the players this week in that top 10 that sort of you mentioned there have got big swing issues for me. Victor Hovind’s won this event before ideally suited to this golf course. His game isn’t there. The same can be said with Ludvig Aberg. Xander Schoffé not quite bringing his agame. Color and Tommy Fleetwood struggling with the put in. There’s a lot of players in that top section of the market that I think can be avoided for now until they find a little bit of better form. So, give it a few weeks. I’m sure they will come back, but there’s some much better value in this tournament for this week’s event. Great stuff. Uh, let’s get into your squad then. Who’s the headline main selection? Uh, and I’ll give you the the price of priced up. The headline selection is Seep Striker the Bold at 40 to1. He’s enjoying a fine season this year, George. Two wins already. He won the American Express and the truest championship. It seems like shaving his head has been a really good idea. He’s had he’s had 10 top 15 finishes in 16 starts. Just let that sink in. 10 top 15 finishes in 16 starts. He’s the world number nine now and rightly so. He’s only missed two cuts this season. Both of those mits cuts came at the majors where he wasn’t actually suited to the golf course, the Masters where Augusta really isn’t a a golf course for Searka and then obviously at Quail Hollow at the PJ Championship. But apart from that, he’s been absolutely exceptional. Now, he’s not a flashy player. I mentioned this about the likes of sort of Keegan Bradley before who’s that good of a player that he still managed to keep himself inside the sort of top 15 of the world without hitting the ball 340 yards off the tea, without being the best putter in the world. But Seb Straer is exactly the same sort of character. Not flashy at all. And with a lot of the players in the top 10 having swing issues, Se is without shadow of a doubt one of the most reliable players at the moment from T to Green. Keeps it very, very simple. And by doing that, he limits a lot of damage as well. So you’re not finding him ever having sort of double bogeies on his card. You’re going to have every player around here is going to make bogeies. No doubt about it. But you need a player that’s going to be controlled from Ter Green, which is Seth Straker. And his short game has improved so much this season. That is what has allowed him to reach up to world number nine as well. So to me, he just seems on absolute cruise control this season. Tied fifth in this event last year as well. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t come into this event full of confidence. And the 40 to1 is a big discredit to his ability when you base the fact that he is already world number nine as well. So he should be probably 25 to1 probably in my book for for this event considering obviously the players that are above him. 40 to1 just seems quite obscene to me. So I think he’s going to have a really good chance at making it win number three this week. Obscene 40 to1 sea. Who’s number two? Number two is Shane Lowry. Another favor of 40 to1 again. 40 to1. Yeah absolutely. He is probably the player that fits this course better than anyone this week outside of those top 10 that are obviously struggling a little bit. But he’s been really really consistent with that shot shape and his short game this year has been absolutely dynamite. He’s a three-time winner on the PJ tour and he’s become very consistent. Eight top 10s in his last 11 events and that includes two runner-up spots. He did miss the cut at Quail Hollow, but they were two pretty satisfactory rounds to be honest. It was just the fact that he didn’t really post a score. He shot 7371. Did very, very little wrong that week. And bar that as well, he’s just been excellent all season long. 40 to1 seems far too big for a player that’s trending in the right direction. And certainly for a player that again hits the right shot shape for this golf course. And as we’ve said, I need we need an exceptional golf um short game this week. Well, there’s not many better out there than Scott um Shane Lowry at the moment. No, absolutely not. Uh Larry 40 to1. So both Straera and Larry 40 to1. We’re priced up at E Trade Terms are fifth to sixth places for the Memorial. Two more. Who have we got next? Yeah. So next we have this is the turning point I believe for Matty Fitzpatrick at 45 to1. Um he slipped all the way down to world number 79, but he seemingly bounced back to form last week at a really sort of tough event. He was tied eighth in the PGA. A really good major performance. Can be a really major confidence booster effectively for these players going forward. Um I mean look, he’s a major winner already. He won the 2022 US Open. Very comfortable out there in America and he’s a class act of a player. He’s really been struggling with his shot shape and his ball striking this year, but in the last two events, he’s been hitting the ball really, really well, enabling him to hit more greens in regulation. And with that being on his side, when he’s playing well, he generally puts pretty pretty good, too. Got some good course form here. There’s no reason why he now shouldn’t be able to kick on from that. There’s been a few issues in his game. Seemingly, they are now fixed. If he can’t obviously kick on from there, then I’d say we’ve got a really big issue going forward. But to me, this looks like the turning point for Matty Fitzpatrick. 45 to1 again probably a discredit to his true ability really and I think he’s a very valuable selection for this week. There’s Patrick 45 to1 the priced up there joining Striker and Larry and Joe’s uh team. One more to come. Uh who’s the fourth and final selection? Fourth and final selection is world number 42. A player that absolutely loves it around here and that is Denny McCarthy at 45 to1 I believe with Price becoming a really consistent player. How he is still a maiden on tour is absolutely beyond me. This course couldn’t suit him any better. T Green, he has that perfect soft soft shot shape. He’s been more than exceptional with his short game. He was fifth here in 2022. He was beaten a playoff here in 2023. And even though he didn’t play well here last season, he was having a real rough patch at this point of the season before finding his form again. His form is seemingly progressing this year on a consistency basis. I don’t think it’s going to be long until he finds himself back into the winners enclosure. The beauty as well around Denny McCarthy, he can hit the ball left to right. He can hit it right to left. It doesn’t really matter. As long as he sticks to his game plan and his short game is there like we know it is usually, then he is going to have a big chance as well at 45 to1. I think the squad range is 40 to1 to 45 to1. So, we’re all in that sort of same area. But these four players are very much in good form. They’re trending in the right direction. They hit all of the right shot shapes. I’d have these over the top 10 in this field. Barcotty Sheffle I suppose every single day of the week at the minute. Lovely stuff. There we have it. Sracker 40 to1, Shane Larry 40 to1, Matt Fitzpatrick 45 to1, and Denny McCarthy also 45 to1. All those prices with pricedup. If you haven’t got an account already, make sure you go and sign up for one. Um, generous prices as Joe says and they also got the price boost page on site too. If you look on that, you can find price boosts every day across different sports. Um, any bets for us in the subm markets this weekend? Yeah, well, I did have a look through. I looked at some of the top 10s. I looked at some of the top nationalities and they almost tie in with my squad already. So, what we’re going to do instead is we’re going to play some cross doubles from the PJ tour to the DP World Tour. My DP World War is obviously live already there on odds checker. But we’re going to take my top two from this week. So Se Striker and Shane Lowry both at 40 to1. We are going to cross eachway double those two players with Halong Lee at 22 to1 for the DP World Tour and Richard Manel at 50 to1 on the DP World Tour. So that’s four bets in total. We just need one to place from either of the two on the on the events, but hopefully we can have all four in the places and maybe even Scraper Winter to boost those to boost those uh those wins. So, we’ll do Seth Striker and Shane Lowry cross doubled with Halong Lee and Richard Manel this week. So, a little bit different for us. Absolutely love it. Uh yeah, Manel 45 to1 Lee 22 to1. Also, fifth to sixth places if you’re going to have an eachway cross doubles. Um there we go. some spoils. Joe, if you manage to land both winners, um I don’t think I’ve seen many people try. Um but uh haven’t seen many people. We did it last year, George. We did it last year and a 373 to1 double. Incredible. Jorge Campio and Scotty Sheffller. So there you go. Next double. Was that this weekend? Same weekend. No, no, it was about this time last year when we had the Kenya Open and the other event. I can’t remember which. Scotty won them all this time last year, didn’t he? didn’t. Of course he did. Yeah. We’ve also got the US Women’s Open this week, George. Um, just for people to keep an eye out. I will be putting up a few selections there on the odds checker column as well. Just something to keep an eye on. We could have even looked at a little bit of a Trixie, but we’ll stick with a double. And um, yeah, if we find a week where we’ve maybe got three or four events, we can do a few more multiples uh, as the as the series goes on, I guess. Cracker, brilliant stuff. Uh thank you very much to Joe uh as ever for sharing his tips and his insight and his thoughts ahead of the weekend’s uh golf. Should be a brilliant weekend at Mfield Village. So make sure you keep an eye on that. And we’ll of course be back next week uh to preview the event coming up and not until the US Open too. So uh loads going on. We’re right in the in the thick of it now in full swing um of the of the golf season and it is coming thick and fast. Hopefully the next winner is just around the corner. As I said, if you haven’t signed up for Price Up already, make sure you do sign up for an account. Um it’s brilliant there. Um we really look after their their customers and as I say lots of price boost under the price boost page too. Want to check have you covered for your fixed lords betting needs as well. Uh and make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel for every week episodes of the punting green. Uh thank you Joe. Thank you George. Thanks everyone to tune in. Hopefully we can pay you back with the winner this week. Great stuff. See you next week. Please ensure that you’re gambling responsibly and enjoy the golf. [Music]