2024 FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN Round 1 Recap + Adrian Meronk to LIV | The First Cut Podcast

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap Round 1 of the Farmers Insurance Open.

0:00 Intro + KP was punctual!
1:25 Let’s talk about Adrian Meronk
6:30 Farmers Insurance Open Round 1 on a rain-soaked golf course
9:00 Patrick Cantlay’s good start on the easier course + Collin Morikawa’s 67
13:50 Other Notables – Hideki Matsuyama, Nicolai Hojgaard’s 67 on the South Course, Ryo Hisatsune
23:00 Kevin Yu takes the outright 18-hole lead
27:30 Betting Favorites

#golf #pgatour #farmersinsuranceopen #PGADFS #golfdfs #draftkings #firstcutpodcast #oneanddone

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ABOUT THE SHOW: The First Cut brings you everything you need to know in the world of professional golf. Nearly every day Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Mark Immelman, Greg DuCharme, Sia Nejad and Patrick McDonald bring you the best analysis in the game. From DFS to betting previews, interviews and recaps… everything golf is on the table when you listen to The First Cut.

Freaking first cut golly welcome to the first cup podcast I’m Rick ging and this is your round one recap for this week’s Farmers Insurance open joining me to break it all down Kyle Porter is here hello KP on time today how about that I dare I say even

Early you were very punctual everything was under control we’ve got no hiccups here on this Wednesday yeah I feel like I have a lot to make up for after my just Gaff yesterday just egregious do you like our new two box that we’re in right now that’s great I’m

I’m I’m I’m losing my voice I’m I I don’t know what’s going on I might maybe I’m getting sick but I’m gonna I’m gonna play through it I’m gonna I’m gonna show up like Jordan in 97 or 98 whenever that was well you know who did not play sick

Today was Adrien Mor what a transition so Adrien Moran this morning with Drew Eric Barnes replaced him okay happens all time he’s he’s sick according to his people uh my buddy Tom Kershaw over at the times in London then just a a bit later releases that Adrian Moran uh is

Set to join Liv Sports Illustrated then confirms it and it seems that Moran is uh headed to play for Liv starting next week yeah you know I was saying about this today because there’s some I think Bob herck had some uh trell Hatton reports as well

Well it I don’t know how you feel about this Rick it it feels a little bit like well well there’s two things really one I I don’t it just seems like such a I was talking to my editors about this today it seems like such a weird thing that

Listen I get it with John ROM and December you’re saying you better do the deal right Adrian Moran and even terl Hatton are are not that that those are not John ROM level chess pieces so what if you’re live what are you what are you trying to do here and then two

Liv feels and this is not a like an original take we’ve probably even talked about this on here before it feels like it’s the new European tour right I mean think about all the old guard that’s there Rah going over Maron going over maybe Hatton going over

There’s us guys that are there but even the US guys that are there like Brooks k uh Peter uine those are guys that kind of came up playing challenge tour European tour stuff it if you dial back the Cal or the clock 10 years ago or nine years ago or

Whatever this looks a lot like what a kind of a thriving European tour that is interesting I I do think that part of the live stuff is that they’re a week away and they like they still have roster spots that are available I mean John ROM’s team

Has not been announced there’s still a couple of teams with two or three golfers on them as far as uh I know at last check so I think there’s part of that but you’re you’re you’re right um you know what’s the sales pitch to an Adrian Moran what’s the sales pitch to

Terl hat and what’s the what’s the incentive to do this now well I think for Moran it’s pretty straightforward right he he felt disrespected by the European tour last year when he didn’t make the writer cup and so if you combine that with whatever amount of money he got for

Going over you know was uh because he he was one of the 10 right they they got a PGA Tour card correct yes he was just named European Tour player or Tour player of the year I know yeah I mean listen like I think I think there’s some Allure and this is

Where the global tour gets really interesting but there’s some Allure and hey you know what you should do instead of trying to play two tours across multiple continents over 11 months should come over here and play 14 events and make more money yeah I mean that that’s right I go

Back to what DJ said in full swing last year where he said you know all of you idiots watching he didn’t say idiots but he meant it you would take more money for Less work at your job that’s all we’re doing and that’s a very DJ take and it’s obviously

The whole thing is a lot more nuanced than that but you know I think I think in some ways it’s it’s kind of not I think it’s it can be very straightforward uh Evan priest who is with Golf Digest Australia tweeted out uh Adrien Moran’s team can’t comment on

Liv speculation but said the Polish star is very sick in his hotel room got off the plane from Dubai and woke up ill quote just not well enough to play end quote I think both of these things can be true Kyle because I was I was down

There this morning and at about 6:05 a.m. walking through the hotel lobby I’m about I don’t I’m like 55% sure it was Adrien Moran and he looked like crap he was coming back with a plastic bag full of bottles of water like like almost like an emergency run to the gas station

He looked ill maybe both of these things are true about 55% sure it was him you saw a 67 polish man and you weren’t sure if it was a well the only reason I said I might know who that is is because it was a very tall Pale

Man uh yeah listen I saw somebody on Twitter say he might be because he he instagrammed his whoop data which was like a 1% recovery like did he did he Photoshop his whoop data probably not I doubt it uh so yes I think you’re right

I think both of those things can be true all right uh Farmers Insurance open north cours south of course I was there all morning I left in the early afternoon it was very wet very very wet we saw that all day long uh thick kind of nasty rough they played preferred

Lies they are going to do it again on Thursday in round two because once you do it on one course because of two course rotations we’ve got to do it already for each of the first two rounds so we know that is coming playing out of

The Short Grass was a big premium in round one W yeah it was I mean Patrick Klay talked about this after his round I think he hit you know I know we’re talking well with Klay we’re talking North course because because he was on the north on on Wednesday by the way I

Keep thinking it’s Thursday my my body is so adjusted to measuring my weeks by the PJ tour that I keep thinking tomorrow’s Friday yeah but and it’s going to be it’s going to be weird then on Sunday yes when it’s like wait it’s not Monday yet but there’s no golf all

It’s going to be weird very strange but yeah I mean can’t wa talked about this he hit 11 of 14 Fairways and he talked about how important it was because it led to him hitting 15 of 18 greens and shooting 65 so you know you were out there you you can probably

Speak to it more than I could but I think that it’s definitely more important or you see a and you probably have the data on this too but you you see a big difference here that you didn’t see last week that maybe you didn’t see at Tournament of Champions in

Terms of the the importance or the the helpfulness of accuracy off the tea yeah I mean I was part of the 20 person search team looking for Carl yuan’s ball three yards into the rough it’s always Carl Yuan by the way always Carl he’s always involved in something isn’t he we

Don’t know mixing it up we had a 10 foot radius of where we where we knew this was we couldn’t find the thing was under the ground it was it was unbelievable so yeah it was and with no roll I mean it was all carry it was play out of the

Fairway be able to get your hands on the golf ball um that’s exactly what Patrick Klay did he shot a seven under 65 that started well three birdies on his first four holes got into a little bit of a malaise in the middle of the round but

Then he ended with a flurry four out out of his last five it’s seven under It’s a 65 at this moment with everybody wrapping up he’s going to be one shot off the lead yeah it was interesting obviously 65 is a great score North course I don’t know

What Strokes gained ended up being he’s probably in fourth or something yeah the north played about 2.3 Strokes easier at last refresh he is yeah fourth you got it fourth in in terms of best rounds of the day so Nick hard and and well Kevin U’s leading in terms of Strokes gain

Nick Hardy and Nikolai hoard are ninth on the leaderboard but second in terms of stroke so I mean it’s a good start it’s not as good of a start as it looks like but I think what’s really interesting here Rick I I was kind of doing a little research on Klay and and

Tory after his round he hasn’t played here very much he’s only played here three times I think it was like 17 1819 or 16 181 19 something like that a t-51 and two Miss Cuts so no success here like he’s done nothing here played bad last week at the American Express I’m

I’m kind of whatever on playing bad at the American Express I I don’t I I don’t really care that much um it doesn’t really affect how I think about somebody like Patrick can’t way but it is intriguing that he just doesn’t he doesn’t have the track record at this

Golf course that Xander does that hom does that even ajm has at this at this of course fow you know all the guys that we talked about or that you guys talked about yesterday on the podcast so that part of it is interesting to me especially as

They go to the South course on uh Thursday well the you know you hear all the like oh the the West CO like the SoCal kids come and they play well here can’t hasn’t even played here that frequently played with Colin morawa today he doesn’t play this event all

That often he’s played it twice and obviously the US Open these two on the front nine just had birdie look after birdie look after birdie look Colin went out in 32 he shot one under on uh his second nine so it’s a five under 67 around the north course that’s about two

And a half shots maybe a little more better than the field average he is to me the prototypical golfer that when you get a lift clean and place situation where hitting Fairways is going to be valuable and hitting greens is going to be Val like that’s a very very good setup for

Him I’m interested and and this will be more interesting kind of as the week wears on but to me in my head Rick and and I I don’t want to put you on the spot because maybe you haven’t run the numbers on this recently or maybe it was

In I didn’t get to to the newsletter your newsletter this week but to me in my head Tor South is a little bit like what you and I were talking about with Wingfoot where uh you’re trying to blast it as far as possible right because but maybe

It’s a little different because at Tori it seems like you can actually hit Fair Wingfoot it’s like the fs are so narrow for a US Open you can’t hit them so you might as well just bomb it correct is Tori a little different in that it’s

Wider so somebody like a more CWA H actually has a real chance to hit Fairways yeah so I did do um I I probably made a couple of comparisons to Wing foot this week because you’re absolutely right it’s only like 24 28 yards wide in some spots and softer is

Is effectively wider right the other thing about Winged Foot is even if you landed it in the Fairway it wasn’t even staying in the Fairway like you had just no chance of hitting you know so many of those of those Fairways it just it just became that that bombest but you’re

Right yes there is a lot of that I mean Wingfoot is is you know far up and to the right in its own it’s its own outlier yeah the South course is reminiscent of it if that makes sense yeah but probably less like it like like I said it’s

Probably and and we’ll I mean morow hasn’t played the South course yet so we’ll see but it it seems like an easier spot he played didn’t he play well at that 2020 uh 2021 US Open that that ROM one I mean I I just remember we had a

Just a pile up of of high octane vehicles on Sunday just all the all the big dogs T4 yeah there you go there you go that’s pretty good so I I think he’s uh I don’t know KL is surely the favorite I haven’t looked yet but Mora’s

Got to be right up there uh yes I’ve have not looked yet either but I imagine he is in the mix couple of other names here let’s stick on the North Course Hideki Matsuyama opening 66 and it was bogy free again around the North Course

And Eagle on number five that was on his second nine Hideki is kind of weird right I mean the the metrics have been great he’s been a great uh iron player that level of eliteness that we would expect from Hideki the results haven’t really come through this place is always

A safe haven for him hasn’t won it but has piled up a bunch of top 15 finishes yeah I’m interested by Hideki this year in general and and this is like you said this is a good spot for him but if you if you dig into his numbers a little bit

He’s kind of been on a a little bit of a it’s not a steep decline but it’s it’s a decline over the last two or three years you know he’s he hasn’t been playing as well I don’t know it’s always hard with him to tell what’s injury and what’s

Just swinging it poorly he he’s always kind of a little bit of a mystery there but I I’d love to see I I love it when hii is kind of dialed playing well it would be fun to see him get in it this weekend everyone that we’ve talked about

Thus far has been a North corser let’s talk about what is currently uh the second best round of the day that’s Nikolai hoard’s 67 on the south course he got off to a hot star birdies on 10 and 11 another on 14 17 18 makes the

Turn at five under plays his second nine at even par he has played nine holes of practice this week he has uh I believe he said he has not seen the North Course yet because he just got back from Dubai and he’s seeing everything for the first time and maybe that’s alleviating a

Little bit of pressure because he’s out there wheeling and dealing yeah he he said that afterward actually Rick he said that sometimes it’s better not not to see the golf course he he’s he’s another intriguing guy this year he is somebody that I didn’t realize this but he because I don’t understand anything

That as it has to do with like earning your PJ tour card but say I don’t understand anything that too but uh he earned his PJ tour card in the fall and it was kind of a weird complicated way way that he did it but he basically said

Uh to uh to Golf Channel after his round I’m gonna I’m gonna be playing the PJ tour and that is uh you know I think especially in in in light of the news of um of of maybe Hatton going of Adrien morona going to live you know this is a

Rder copper that we’re talking about he’s really good really really good and I’m intrigued by you know he would not I would not be shocked at all if he went out and won this Golf Tournament this week would you would you have been more nervous if he

Said yeah I’m planning on playing more golf in the United States this year no no no I’m playing on the p and also Hong Kong and Jetta all right um we will talk about uh the guys who wrapped up the day on the back half of the broadcast window

Including a new projected leader in the Aon swing five more on that but first first a quick break from our [Applause] Partners and we’re back currently in a tie for second seven under par uh with a 65 is the man who currently has in my opinion KP the most difficult name to pronounce now I I try to get these right right I’ll do my homework reach

Out to local media see how they want it pronounced sometimes there’s like you get the what’s acceptable in English because we can’t say things the guy that I’m referring to is Rio Heat is the way that uh I had a native Japanese speaker tell me that that would

Be an acceptable way to pronounce his name 7 under 65 he is rolling yeah you can just call him uh T2 if you want he’s got the minwoo shades by the way which which are sweet uh I mean it was it was an awesome R I don’t I don’t know anything about

Him like I don’t know what he’s just been kind of crushing the DP World Tour okay so he won he won in France at the end of last year was that at leg golf Nation yes we we uh he finished T6 at the Zozo uh then he went to Qatar and

Finished 21st Ninth at the Ned Bank golf challenge I think that’s the one that Max won or Tommy won Max won I think Max uh yeah I think it was Max Max won then he finished uh 18th at the DP World Tour Championship 13th at the Australian PGA

Which is a pretty big event eighth at the Australian Open these are all in a row 30th at the Sony Open and he finished t11 last week so I mean he has been I did not skip a start there that that is basically all since his victory

And now he’s in the mix again I wonder if he’s uh I’m looking it up right now I wonder if he’s in the mix to oh he is he’s currently qualified for the Olympics oh yeah he’s got to be it’s got to be him and Hideki right yeah would he

Be the favorite since he just won at with golf National oh that’s dirt can I can I get a number on Rio right now he would not be the favorite the the the Olympic the Olympic qualifying is like so weird and interesting to me if you yeah listen if you think there

There’s so many different ranking systems that are all screwed up the Olympic one I guess at least it sticks to its own rules right where it’s like okay well you only get two except if you have I think it’s four in the top 15 yeah and right now the US is the only

Yeah is the only country that has four which I think is what happened in 20120 as well they were the only us was the only country with four everybody else gets two which does then create some it it creates some interest interesting things where you might get like John ROM

And like adri arnest or something like that or you might like or like somebody who’s like the third the third best Australian golfer kind of gets screwed in this yeah I mean or the fifth best American or the third best like Canadian like like where a lot of these like

Where there’s like a ton of representation yeah so yeah you’ve got Scotty shuffler Rory and ramen havin at the top and then at the bottom you’ve got Nico etaria uh call samua my guy um I’m not even gonna try to pronounce some of these names M Miguel to

TOA not say but but now they use they use wgr points right yeah I believe so and it’s interesting Rick because to to bring it back to to our guy here Rio could we just call him Rio I would prefer that yes is he the new Rio Rio

Isa was out Rio is a how did you say how do you say uh I’m going with hisat his hisat okay so Africa has two Asia has 14 players currently qualified he’s one of them and then you’ve got Australia and oce with only four uh Europe has

26 lot a lot of 14 countries represented North America seven South America seven so he’s one of the well I think I said yeah 14 Asians from from eight countries now that’ll go until um does it tell does it tell you what the deadline is what the last

Tournament is no it’s just the rankings it says rank as of January 22nd so that was Monday um so it’ll be the the Olympics are like the end of July uh early August so somewhere around there this usually like couple weeks out does he even have any competition does he have what does

He have any competition as the as the second Japanese player yeah I mean I’m okay so k k Nakajima is 9 in the world and Rio is 72nd so he he’s got guys that are like kind of right behind him yeah okay third yeah Rio isawa is

186 I I love the Olympic thing that’ll get me that’ll get me all fired up um finally I guess I guess he might be qualified for the Olympics soon at this pace Kevin you an eight under 64 on on the North course if that name sounds familiar it should because he finished

T3 last week at the American Express and the the Uber talented Kevin Yu who made a bunch of records at Arizona State who has been just a little unpolished on the PGA tour has started to figure it out at least over the last five rounds yeah he’s been great you know he birdied

I think he started on the back on on the North Course on on Wednesday and I had my can’t lay leader thing all written up ready to go and then he birdied two the last three and I had to had to do some amendments for Kevin U but yeah playing playing good

Again it’s such a such a weird deal there’s such a long way to go Rick obviously after any PGW event after the first round but especially when you played the North Course on on Wednesday here uh he is currently in the Olympics he okay could you could you tell me so

He is from Chinese taipe okay there is a second golfer from Chinese taipe currently in do you know what that team would be if this ended today I think the other guy meddled last time oh he did Kyle he did CT the bread man CT pan CT

Pan the bread man that’s right Kevin youu is also so now so now on the PJ Tour website they’re doing the projected points so because Kevin Yu is in first I guess he’s getting the 500 points although I have an issue with all of this but he is currently number one in

The Aon swing five uh couple Pack 12 guys by the way just a couple a husky and a and a sundevil former former way the Pack 12 I don’t know what they are now even know are they both I think Arizona State’s in the in the Big 12 and Washington’s in

The Big 10 buddy you could tell me anything I would buy it right now you think you think the uh the field lists are hard to figure out go to go to call conference reignment oh my god um who’s who are the other five in the in the swing five or

The other four well okay Grayson Murray okay well but he’s yeah I know okay Rio is now up to third this is this includes Tory like if the tournament ended right now yes okay Chris John bazen hot is four good for him yep Michael Kim is

Five man Michael Kim I I saw an interview with him after the round he played great to I think he shot five under I think he Bogi the last I think he Bogi the last as well yeah and he he was great he was talking about Tori and

Matt playing with Max in college and all these different things he is I think he is on Twitter what people think that Max is on Twitter Max is great right the swing the roast and people swings and like he he he chimes in on things that you want

Golfers to chime in on he answered my who’s the most underrated player in the world question the other day with uh potentially live golfer turo Hatton uh but I think Michael Kim offers this unbelievable insight into like what it’s like to be a regular Tour player and he does it with a consistency

That I don’t I don’t think there’s anybody else out there that does it as consistently as he does it is the regular of it right it’s he is not a private jet guy he might not even be a first class guy he’s playing 35 times a

Year kind of because he has to like there there is there is that that I it’s certainly not relatable but it is more relatable than um putting shoes on my dog and sitting on a private jet oh don’t remind me of that which I love by

The way I would do the same thing if I could but just to kind of compare that was brutal that was I did not love that yeah no you’re right and and you look at Michael Kim you’re like I don’t know I think I could do that you can’t you

Couldn’t in a million years but it it is there is some relatability there let’s look at those betting favorites Josh uh I have not looked at these yet I’m assuming Klay is probably yeah okay Klay is the favorite plus 450 Xander 8 to1 Colin 10 to1 Nikolai 11

Then you can get hom at 16 Kevin Yu at 18 FAL Hideki Rio 2020 and 22 now remember uh these are spread out over different courses so they’re gonna flip tomorrow and try their hand at the opposite one yeah I’m going morawa or hoard here

I think can’t L at plus 450 is in saying what did Xander shoot uh 67 68 69 69 okay um that’s interesting but I I think I’m going morow or or hoard hoard I think is really interesting there a he he WN he he’s a win like he

He gets buckets he wins he does win I’m um you know I was I was with Colin before the before the event started I’m I’m I’m riding him now it’s just basically the same number I think I got him an 11 this is this is 10 to one I

Liked what he did I actually wish you know what Max did his 72 or excuse me 70 could have been 77 he held that round together he made unbelievable he was three over at the turn he got back in he got to two under that is still two shots

Better than the field average on the south course it might be too far back with a lot of these other guys who are already up there the can’t lays the but but I am very impressed with what Max did he he will only Ascend up the leaderboard from

Here I I agree and you know Max’s recent history is just I I don’t know I think I I’m not sure Rick that people understand how what a consistently good player he’s become I mean I think he’s I want to say you can check me on this seven or eight

Events in a row he’s finished in the top 15 he just he just gets in it in a way that I think that’s sort of the the holy grail for these guys right is to is Rory kind of represents like what they’re all trying to do which is to

Be you know I put the stat out there uh last week he’s been in the top three now 80 times in his career going into the final round which is just Preposterous but that’s what you’re trying to do because you I think sometimes we look at

These guys are like well why doesn’t he win more it’s like well because he’s not in the top three going into Sunday it’s it’s so it’s so or top five or whatever you know and I think Max has has kind of reached not Rory’s level but he’s

Reached a level of consistent great play that is that happens on a Wednesday you know afternoon like he’s gonna be in the if he’s in the top six on on Friday night it’s because of what he did on Wednesday afternoon how many straight top 15s do

You think he has I think it’s like seven or eight I got him at nine nine okay dating back to FedEx or something or St Jude Scottish open Open Championship FedEx BMW TOUR Championship which I guess counts I don’t know if you if it counts or not uh fortnet Ned Bank hero

Century okay fortnite we will be back uh God uh Thursday night I almost you and I again back to back baby call it a streak never know what’s gonna happen don’t call it a comeback but you can call it a streak uh they will flip they will play

The opposite course and we will see where this lands we will make a cut tomorrow night and then everybody’s headed back to the South course where they belong big thanks to producer Josh who does all the hard work behind the scenes Kyle Porter is available on

Twitter at Kyle Porter CBS you can find me at Rick run good this has been the first cut we’ll catch you next Time You