Matt and Dom have been going over the recent performances and stats from top professional golfers who have yet to win a major, and they have some pretty interesting sleeper picks in a category that is deep with great players.
Yesterday we had a huge response from all of you about the question of who will be the next first time major champion and after we got done I’ll give you just an example of some of the things that came through this is a a note that came
Through to me this was from Norm he said just a note to pass along to Dom Sam Burns has played in 14 majors made the cut in just eight and his best finish is a tie for 20th not a promising look for his pick for the next guy to break
Through and he did a little emoji with the wink so with that Dominic with with the response that we’ve had and I don’t actually think Sam Burns was all that bad a pick because he’s what eighth and putting if I remember correctly where do you stand right now how Restless a night
Was it when you heard back from all the people uh it was brutal it was absolutely brutal and it got me thinking about how exciting this topic is and so I got a bunch of graphics and I got a lot of thoughts and I want your thoughts
And we’re going to going to discuss this I know we got a really an amazing guest coming up uh who can probably help answer some of our questions but for now let’s speculate Andrew put the first graphic up so I what I did is I put together a a
Pretty heavy duty list all right this is the first graphic we’re gonna have a second graphic with an additional eight Matt when you look at this list what do you think well based on what you said yesterday right the question was yesterday if I remember correctly it was
Who do you think’s going to be the next firsttime winner of a major and you had Xander you had Patrick Klay and you had Max Hol then you had an other if I remember correctly and then then you had a write in and everyone was writing in
For Victor havin at a at a high percentage it is my recollection cor correct on all of that yes it is all right that’s correct and so and then you and I made picks our own picks we we threw out some I I had not done I had not done my typical full-blown
Producer research so I selected Sam Burns and we put this up on the screen that Andrew and I had collected yesterday before the show and here are my thoughts about why and I really think he’s he’s the next guy and here here’s here’s why I think that and
Then I went through it all I spent some time we collected some data and today’s question of the day is Dom has changed his pick would you like to change yours so I have changed my pick Matt and this is my new pick are you kidding me I’ve
Changed my pick here here’s here’s the new pick all right let me read just let me read what you see on the screen okay it’s bananas Tom Kim is still only 21 years old he already has 12 professional wins already three of those are on the PGA
Tour big boy stuff he won when he was on the Asian tour T at only 17 he’s still inside the top 20 in the world also also last year 2023 was his first full season on the PGA tour 27 starts in his first full season essentially a 20 years
Old he made 22 of 27 cuts and was 19th on tour in Strokes game total and you can see there at the bottom he’s got a little bit of Team experience additionally he had two top 10 in m last year tied for eth at the US Open
Tied for second at the Open Championship I changed my pick would you put Dominic back up on that split screen so I so we can go through the the reality what take place so not only are you telling us that you changed your pick I take a sip of this
When I’m not on camera now you put me on camera right but not only are you telling us that you changed your pick but you’ve cast yourself as a victim of circumstance in terms of how you chose Sam Burns to begin with and now with a much more sober mind you’re saying
You’ve decided that it’s going to be Tom Kim yeah well that’s just my pick but Andrew put the put the second page Sam burs is online too could you put Sam burns on D please put the yeah there you go so here’s another collection of eight guys
We we’ve given you their age also interesting and important to note when we write professional wins that is not PGA Tour wins because a lot of these guys have won on the corn fairy tour in the case of walk nean he’s won on the live tour some of these guys have won uh
On on tours all over the world so I think a professional win is a professional win and there’s tremendous value in that and so that’s why I just listed it as professional wins and then we have obviously of course the top 10 that they’ve had in major championships
And how they’ve done in Majors now there’s a couple things I want to note Matt that I just want to point out to you that surprised me when I was going through them the first is on the page you’re looking at of the 16 guys that that I went through
Because the previous graphic and this graphic Ricky Fowler is the oldest of the group that surprised the hell out of me I thought I thought it would be Tommy Fleet I thought Tommy fleet was old I knew Moma was in his mid-30s you know I know
Terell Hatton was old not old it’s all relative obviously but I did not think Ricky fower was the oldest also interesting to note you can see there next to Ricky Fowler’s name he has the most top 10 in major championships out of the entire group also something that
I didn’t expect that surprised me and now Andrew go to the other one uh switch back to the other graphic on this graphic Matt first of all you can see why I picked Tom Kim right he’s got the most wins most professional wins of of every Everybody in the group he’s also
The youngest of the entire group I thought it might be ludvig or I you know I was like yeah I feel like Victor H’s still pretty young but these guys are mostly in their mid 20s Tom Kim is 21 years old additionally with ludvig look at this zero starts in Majors yeah he’s
Going to be playing in the Masters coming up that will actually be his first major start it’s interesting that he’s on this list only 24 he’s number 11 on the world he’s never even played in a major but somehow we have him on this list and I think he belongs on this list
As a potential major champion this year and then so Andrew go camera two with Matt and bring in the other graphic that I was telling you about with the uh yeah that’s the one I put this list together Matt and I’m curious what you think about this list and I think our next
Guest is going to be a great guy to answer this list there are your qualities that’s what’s required to win a major read those off and tell me if you agree if for those on the radio side mental strength clutch Factor putting prus I know those two are very closely aligned ball striking
Distance and recent form now the only thing the the one change that I would make would be total distance versus just distance just raw distance there are Majors like what we saw with Bryson do at wink fooot there are times that you can overcome a golf course with distance
But it’s rare particularly in a major by the way as this conversation goes my BR one of my brothers my brother Bob just wrote in he said Cameron young for him than Victor so the conversation is going on in all quarters everywhere the only thing I could say to Cameron young was I
Was with Cameron young I was doing the encourse play-by-play for the world radio last year at the open and I was with him for his final 36 holes and with all due respect to to Brian Haron who won because he did what he had to do Cameron young should have won that event
By multiple Strokes you could make an argument it’s as high as like 10 Strokes he had so many birdie opportunities he couldn’t get the ball in the hole he was just snake bit that week so for Cameron young for me personally I just need to see more performance on The Greens in
These crucial situations such as major championships all right but let’s go back to to Dom’s recasting of reality here and let’s talk let’s talk about Tom Kim for a second right go ahead throw that graphic you have up there Andrew about Tom Kim and and where he stands we we heard all
The pr that that Dom’s throwing in 21 years old 12 Pro wins yeah I mean I like Tom Kim I’m just what I’m saying is is this and this is what you did yesterday when when you were promoting Sam Burns and I don’t know who you’re going to promote
Tomorrow because when you tell us that Tom Kim was 19th in Strokes gain putting in 2023 that’s great that was a great performance in 2023 but then you just showed as a chart you put together on current form Tom Kim current form Strokes gain total is 99th Matt there’s been like three
Tournaments no disrespect the tournaments all right let’s go down that road Tom Kim Century tied for 45th American Express Cut AT&T Pebble Beach proam tied for 31st Waste Management WM not waste management WM Phoenix Open put a quarter in the jar tied for 17th Genesis Invitational tied for 24th trending
Maybe Strokes gain total 99 Strokes gain off the te 96 Strokes gain putting critical at a Gustin naal he’s 155th Dom driving distance he’s 106th driving accuracy he’s 86 so not not only is he right now short by comparison to his peers but he’s crooked
And when he gets it on the green he’s not even close to average in making a putt iub speed he ranked 15 job just to trash my pick no no no what I’m waiting for is not what this is about no no what I’m waiting for is when you going to
Cast yourself as a victim now and go you know what I made a mistake I looked at last year’s numbers oh come on SO Resolute Tom uh Sam burn should be high on this list yes uh Ted says Kim is possible Tom Kim is possible John says
Havin needs to get his game going quick if he’s gonna grab a major this year all right let me see sta is a sleeper they write Andrew is sep on this list is he on the second page yeah he’s on a second page lower yeah put it up there Andrew
He’s 30 he’s got three wins and two major top 10 for whatever that’s worth I also have paper out I have some honorable mentions Andrew put the honorable mentions up there um Kurt kyama the these guys didn’t make the list but they’re like just barely off
The list okay Kurt kyama Milano Grio sah theala Adrien morun Min wo Lee which I like that by the way I like that too and then Taylor gu and you can see there NE this is a totally separate discussion but you can see next to Taylor gu it
Says 449 that is his current world ranking yeah which means you got to St gotta be honest that makes no sense it’s clearly not correct but yeah that’s got to get that’s got to get worked out too all right so let’s because the the Masters obviously is our next
Major and everybody’s going crazy about havin let me see where havin is I I with Victor it’s a really small sample but I’m going to say right now currently because because the fact that the PJ tour season starts in January again Strokes gain TD green victor havin is
132nd ranked on tour Strokes gain approach the green 144 Strokes gain around the green we’re talking about the first major to Gustin asash I’ll note he’s 167th total driving 91st driving distance is good 47th driving accuracy is 14th so you know Victor I do believe that Victor havin has what it
Takes but right now his form is not the best so Dom kept asking me before we went on the air he asked me 100 times are you going to change your pick and I said Dom here’s the way I did it yesterday you told us that you had
Essentially four guys cuz I went to and said what’s your question of the day and he said who’s going to be the next first-time winner of major right and again Xander KL hom telling me the right in was Victor havin so I stayed away from those four because I thought that was the
Rules yeah but I’m the producer I make the rules I also change the rules yes yes on the fly so picked I picked walki Neiman and I did it because of current form his last six starts either the third 30th a win fourth wins at the Australian Open fifth
At the Australian PGA he’s got current form he’s only 25 years old right so I I I was I’m G to stay with Wen because he was my pick if if if I thought depending on Dom’s moving Target of rules that I could pick anybody I would have picked Xander
Sly as to pick the first one go ahead Matt yeah he’s he’s putting up this the uh the chart I mean it’s yeah it’s all good all right so here’s the thing did given this conversation given the reaction and given the public scorn that you were subject to what is today’s question of
The day where did you go uh today’s question is Dom has changed his pick for the next firsttime major winner would you like to change yours you’ve got to be kidding me and right now it’s 90% no and if you recall yesterday a majority of the people said the next major winner
Would the next firsttime major winner would be Victor hland right now Andrew put that list of of the qualities of what it takes to win your first major uh back up on the screen because Matt our our our next guest coming up is going to be able to answer this question for you
All these questions will be answered for you by our next guest and I I just love I love the idea of going down the road of what does it take to get over that hump and is there value in showing up big time at a Ridder cup like Max H
Right so max hom maybe doesn’t have 10 years of playing a major championship experience but showing up big time at a major under that at a Ridder cup under under that Crucible is that is that what is is that is that what it takes is that
What you need to cross over all right we’ll go down that list with with our very next guest now I will say this if we’re going to talk about current form and we’re going to talk about attributes for Augusta National I’ll throw a couple names at you that I don’t think’s
On any of the lists so far recently a winner on the PGA tour Matthew Pavone is number three in Strokes game putting other highly ranked players in Strokes game putty and that are showing good form flashes Justin Su and Eric Cole a couple more names just to throw
Into the to the mix I’m sure this is a conversation that we can continue for some time as we March closer and closer to the first major of the year on the men’s side of the game how did you like that the first thing that Mark Calia
Says is yeah Eric Cole is a really good pick he didn’t even call it a sleeper pick he was just like yeah that’s a really good pick right there so some of the stuff coming in I forgot about a com auberg I always say
It wrong how do you say it you seem to know how to say it auberg Auber well that’s because Daniel Chopra who’s Swedish I can’t say it the way he says it but but ludvig told everybody because the pronunciations were just brutal he just said just call me o Berg but but
Daniel told me that it the the correct ER way there’s a word for you correct ER correct the correct ER way is to say alberg so it’s like almost like an au allberg so alberg I forgot auberg Michael says he’ll win one before too long after watching burns on day one at
The Ryder Cup I’m not so sure about that hland isn’t playing strong right now these are folks commenting on on the our topic which you can see right there that we’ve been talking about we only have about two minutes left uh I would love to zalatoris has best Majors form over
The last few years but he has been struggling with that injury and remember he sort of changed his putting style although he has he’s kind of playing again which is great must be du they say uh Neiman someone writes in Neiman there’s a lot of people talking about
Havland here so with about 90 seconds left Matt Andrew you can you put up the uh what it takes to win a major graphic um the little floater that we had so what I took away from Cal and I know we only have a about a minute left but what
I took away from Cal when I looked at that is it seemed to me that he was he was kind of intimating that that first thing on that list mental strength is the just full stop separator in major championships so with only a minute left
Matt I would ask of you of the names that we went through yeah do you think you could identify who you believe has the the best mental strength of the group all right so pull up the first graphic if you would Andrew we’ll go we’ll go graphic one graphic two and
The seconds we have have left and Dom and my earpiece you keep me honest on the time I I on on this page in terms of mental strength I like Victor havin I like Max hom I’d like lud Vig but he’s young uh Terell Hatton can can come from behind page
Two again I like Sam Burns because he’s he’s doing great in putting outside of that I’m G to go zorus but if I’m going to go dark horses I’m going to say seiw Kim and Eric Cole going into the first major
