2024 Valero Texas Open DFS Preview – Picks, Strategy, Fades | The First Cut Podcast

Rick Gehman and Greg DuCharme preview the Valero Texas Open from a DFS perspective with picks, strategy and fades.

Intro, Course Breakdown: 0:00
10K: 7:09
9K: 17:48
8K: 25:18
7K: 33:45
6K: 43:02
5K: 51:52

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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 Gol well welcome to the first cup podcast I’m Rick ging and this is your DFS preview for this week’s Valero Texas open joining me to break it all down Greg duch is here hello Greg hey Rick uh looking forward to tonight discussing the Valero Texas open always a fun one

Fun Golf Course tricky little golf course so uh I’m looking forward to it we were just saying that the next time we do this seven days from now will be us talking about the m yes and how exciting is that I can’t believe it’s here it it doesn’t feel

Like well in a lot of ways it does feel like it’s Master’s time and a lot of ways it doesn’t um but this week definitely spending a lot of time getting into it so I’m really looking forward to it when the Open Championship ends it feels so far away and now that

It’s a week away I’m trying to like really bask in it because I know it’s going to go quickly but but all those days I was thinking oh my gosh 100 days 90 days 80 well it’s like seven days now so we’re it’s here it’s here I

Should enjoy this with all that’s G on in the game of golf and I mean just think about what has taking place between the open and now and how torturous it’s been um and that’s not it’s just that the focus hasn’t been on the golf and

Now it feels like the focus is on the golf which is awesome we deserve it we deserve it and we’re getting a pretty decent field in Texas this week Rory mroy Hideki Matsuyama ludvic Kore CWA H Fitzpatrick amongst others the golf course they are going to tackle is TPC San Antonio Troy

If you want to fire up my screen I have got the scorecard here it is a par 72 Greg 7400 yards this is of course we’ve been going to routinely over the years even though we are getting some guys who don’t necessarily make it part of their

Schedule yes and I said in the intro there which was probably a mistake a you know tricky little golf course and it’s not little it’s a this is a big Golf Course right 7,400 yards it is par 72 and two of the par fives are over 600

Yards on the both of them on the front nine number two and number eight uh you have 18 at five 591 so the par FS are no picnic uh still scoring opportunities of course but they are um they are long you have some longer par 3es as well number

13 241 yards um the par fours are not nearly as long as last week so I don’t think you’re going to see the same quantity of long irons into the greens um much more of a you know middle middle iron you even get some wedge opportunities on this golf course so it

It’s kind of back to for me anyway back to the old Strokes gained approach I think I think covers it best yeah so what’s interesting about this golf course is we have a lot of data on it right we it play we play it every single

Year and even with having a lot of data there’s not one or two things that stand out it’s kind of an average PGA Tour cor statistically that is the one thing Greg that I thought was interesting and I bring this up because you were you were alluding to it the only two proximity

Areas that are that more shots come from than tour average are short shots a 100 yards and in and long shots 200 yards and and and longer which is what you were talking about those those par fives that are going to be uh you’re G to have

To try to eat them up with with you know driver three-wood or whatever that ends up being but still some scoring opportunities coming with wedge in hand I was trying to find another course where the only two places that are above average are frequency of shots from

Basically wedge range or 100 yards in in and 200 yards more and I couldn’t find another example of that so that to me is the biggest statistical outlier of TPC San Antonio on an otherwise average statistical golf course yeah it’s very interesting I’m not sure

Where all these I I guess that may speak to the wind um you know you get some downwind shots and all of a sudden a hole that’s 410 yards is you’re have you got nothing left into the green yeah right a hole that’s 480 and is playing

Into the wind and you got 220 in yeah but all of a sudden so that may be one reason why because statistically last week it made sense why so many shots come from outside of 200 yards every hole’s long you got 490 yard 520 yard par fours you’re going to have

Long shots in um but this week at least looking at the card it doesn’t appear to be that way so that that’s an interesting wrinkle but um one thing that does stand out when you look at winners and players who have had success here I do think there’s a similar style

You think of a um Cory Connor’s winning here twice you think of a Jordan spe at his best is a great iron player Uh Kevin Chapel Great iron player Charlie Hoffman great iron player even with like Andrew Landry in 2018 he led the field and strokes gain approach for the week and

You look at these last six winners Rick three of them were first in the field for um in Strokes gain approach in the week of their win Kevin Chapel was second Jordan spe was fourth JJ Spa’s the only winner that was outside the top

Five of the last six and he was 23rd in that category so I I do think um this is kind of a classic ball Strikers perform really well here that is music to my ears we will dive into this field find those ball Strikers find the guys that

Are going to play well at TPC San Antonio this week but first we’re going to take a quick break and hear a word from our partners it’s time for the madness CBS Sports HQ has your wall toall NCAA tournament cover we got your game highlights expert analysis and

Insights all the way to the final four start and end of March Madness coverage CBS Sports HQ and we’re back this is the cheat sheet rickun good.com we’ve got four golfers over $10,000 Greg Rory melroy leads the way 10,300 Hideki Matsuyama 106 lud Vi oberg at 10,500 colore CWA at

10,100 that is a very interesting group group of four golfers that we don’t us like those four guys together doesn’t happen often what are we what are we doing up here GRE it’s a very interesting lineup um and part of the reason is because of Rory mroy we’re

Used to seeing the guy that’s the highest price this year it’s been Scotty sheffler uh quite often and anytime he’s played he’s been in Auto press you build your lineup around Scotty sheffler Rory m throughout his career has been in a very similar camp this year he’s not and the

Big concern with Rory has been is iron play I mean I I was looking through some of his statistics today and some of them are really quite good like his his driving accuracy especially is extremely good this year he’s 36th on tour in driving accuracy I am reciting this off the top

Of my head but I believe he’s 23rd in distance from from the edge of the Fairway so he’s been he’s been very very good with that club off the tea um but but the big concern has been the iron play and at that price point he worries

Me and I think he’s a I think he’s a fad option of course proceed with caution there’s a lot of risk there um but I I think Rory’s in a a very fadal camp and then the two guys beneath him Hideki and ludvig just look to be lights out right now

The losses for Rory maoy on approach I think three times in the last five and a couple of them have been massive you flip around and look at hideki’s profile and it looks like a vintage he Hideki profile Greg I mean he is back to being

At least in the last three an elite ball Striker a good enough Putter and the around the green play is always underrated I mean this is this is a guy who looks like he’s like he’s in form again like he’s Hadi again yes and on a

Golf course like this that could be a huge asset right you get the sense that he could just knock the cover off the ball this week and and dominate with his te green performance the I always worry about hideki’s health I wonder if he’s going to just

Wake up have a bad day and not be able to perform or with draw or something like that it always worries me but it’s hard to look past these results it worries me too but I I sleep well at night knowing that it’s unpredictable right which is weird there there is

Nothing that we could do no say hear understand that would give us a leg up on whether hiek is gonna withdraw or not he might you’re absolutely right so so like I don’t even consider it uh there are some guys like oh maybe it’s a nagging thing or I’m going to listen to

His presser nope I’m just like plug the ears I have no idea whether he’s going to withdraw or not so I’m just gonna act like he’s not and he’s played phenomenally well so if you go by that camp then which I think is wise to do because that stuff has been incredibly

Unpredictable uh and and his press conference isn’t even a good indication of that right he’s felt terrible and hit it great he’s he horrible at describing himself yeah yeah he he really is um and he has a T15 here in his last start uh withdraw in

2022 and uh and T30 in 2021 so I mean he seems to check all the boxes for me you mentioned the underrated short game that is such a big asset this week especially on a golf course with really difficult bunkers hii a very good bunker

Player I I love what he does with the short game and I think it could be really really valuable this week uh best around the green player in the last 36 rounds is Hideki Matsuyama uh ludvig I think that um you know I don’t have much

More to say on him right the oxygen that I’ve used on him in the last nine months or so it still stands he is a phenomenal player since he’s turned professional um by most metrics he is a top three player in the world um there’s just not a lot

To dislike about the State of the State of his game no I mean every every single event since the has been a top 30 finish uh and and since the Farmers Insurance open they’ve all been top 25s and it’s felt kind of like he’s underperformed in a strange way so I’m I

Can easily get on board with hey ludi’s gonna win one of these soon and on a golf course where you got to keep it in front of you off the te that a golf course that does have some length and we got to be really precise with your

Irons he’s a like you said a top three ball Striker on tour and so with with both ludvig and Hideki sitting behind Rory mroy with the questions about him and the price difference I’m very comfortable playing Hideki or ludvig over Rory I am too with what let’s wildly

Speculate for a second um and I hate to do this I hate to get try to get into some of these guys heads and all that stuff but I just feel there there I don’t know if I feel this I’m I’m I’m confident in saying next week for Rory

Maoy is all that matters um that is not to say he will not play well at the Texas open but I would be stunned if there is not an ey looking forward to next week no matter what happens here um I just I would find that hard to believe

Now it’s gonna be a big week for ludig he’s gonna make his first Master’s appear it’s gonna be a big week for Hideki he’s won it before but it just feels different for Rory and it always has and it will until he wins a masters it just will I mean Rory mroy

Was in great form last year and all of a sudden at the match play he’s changing drivers and changing Putters and like all this stuff that was going great is all up in the air all of a sudden and that’s a sign of pressure he’s changed

The formula of okay well two years ago he played the week before it it um it didn’t work out in the first three rounds he played a great Sunday uh one of the lowest ever on Sunday at Augusta National came in second and is invigorated and then he plays 81

Practice holes there the week you know in the weeks leading up and there’s this idea well we got to crack the code and that worries me it changes the it does it’s not like Rory heading into a PGA Championship or a US Open or an open

It’s it’s different you can feel it you can sense it and you can understand it it should be different so it’s not a knock on him by any means but you’re right Rick this means everything to him and the whole year I can’t imagine this pressure the whole

Year comes down to one week every year it’s no it’s no wonder the first round like it’s got to be a freaking pressure cooker well that on that first te to to handle that to think you could handle that to think somebody should be able to handle that

Is um I I naive because I I don’t know if you can understand how much this means I mean he made a kind of a tongue and cheek comment or just win a green jacket and kind of get out of here like like this is the last thing I have to do

Right it’s the only thing I haven’t done um maybe the most interesting golfer in this field especially at the top of the board based on the the price that’s being asked for him is Kore Ora uh this does not look like this the the stat profile of what you’d expect from Colin

Morau he’s lost Strokes on approach in three out of his last four including some pretty significant losses at both bill and the PLAYERS Championship the putter is back to you know Mis cooperating off the tea stuff eh some good some bad what in the world do you do here um you fade

Him right I I don’t think there’s really any other option unless you’re just a glutton for punishment and you think it’s fun to take a risk or you’ve been in the camp with he and Mark Blackburn and have seen something noticeably change based on the information that we

Have we saw him at the Players Championship grinding on the swing looking quite frustrated trying to figure it out we’ve seen the patented cut Miss left time and time again which is the biggest concern that there’s there’s just simply no sign at this point with the information we have that

It’s going to be a good week for colum warawa so should you play him it’s a game theory Play It’s I’m not sure it’s a good one but it’s a game theory play uh or you’re just rolling the dice on on Talent alone but he has

The talent for it but it’s really hard for me with the guys that surround him to say okay I’m going to I’m going to fade Rory Hideki ludvig go with Colin morawa because I just I think he’s better than what he’s been doing I don’t

Like to mess with that kind of stuff at this price range uh he’s never played this event before so he’ll be making his debut in addition to all of that the n9k range Max hom Matt Fitzpatrick Jordan spe twice a winner Corey Connors Tommy Fleetwood and Benny

An Greg how would you like to start this range um all right I’m so there’s three guys in this range I’m interested in I guess you could say willing to play and there’s and one of them is a question mark okay that guy I’ll start there that’s Max hom that’s the question

That’s the question mark and I feel a lot different about Max hom than I do Colin morawa Max hom has shown a lot of potential for upside he struggled off the te a little bit speciic specifically in Florida um I I think that can come back into form he’s been working with

Mark Blackburn for a long time I feel a lot better about their ability to get things on the right track whereas col morawa it’s brand new so the trust factor is there with Max hom and with moraa I don’t know if it is I also love

What Max does on and around the greens and he does enough on and around the greens especially when scoring doesn’t necessarily get to that 20 under I mean it has gotten to 20 under but it typically doesn’t it’s typically a similar to what we see it in Houston low

Teens mid teens kind of scoring and and I think someone with Max Hol ability on and around the greens can can uh hold up so I’m I I don’t love it but I’m much more willing to take a chance on him having a an uptick in the ball striking

Yeah you’re right the short game has been Splendid he at least hit it a little bit better at the Players Championship but he drove it kind of all over the yard and lost four and a half Strokes there but um you know outside of that one outside of players and Pebble

Beach which was just a very weird week weatherwise and everything it’s been it’s been a pretty good year for uh for H okay so he’s the question mark who is one of the other guys that you’re like in on well Corey Connor okay you know

The the one issue with him is is he going to be just complete chalk dude I hate this right so so yes he will be Corey Connors has done the perfect amount to be like 35% owned this week and I guarantee he will either win

Or he will miss the cut you will get nothing in between I guarantee it so he has been for a year an unbelievable ball Striker and has given all of it back and then some on the putting greens and then about a couple of starts ago you know

The finishes start to get a little bit better t24 here at Riv t18 at Bay Hill t113 at the Players now he’s trending and what does he do at s grass he tacks on Two and a Half Strokes with the Putter and he’s going back to the

Greatest place on planet Earth for him and now it is just like you have to make a call to be all in or all out on Cory Conor and I am just I am positive I will get this wrong well that’s a terrible attitude going

In thank you it’s such a great spot for him for a reason Rick I mean he’s he’s won here twice his worst finish is a t35 look at these career numbers this is by course uh I don’t have to point out the one that is TPC San Antonio it’s that

Giant green bar that Towers over every other Golf Course that he has played it’s that one yeah he’s played really well here and he’s putted well here too so I mean there’s obviously the two wins he’s played here in five he has five starts here his gain

Strokes put in four out of the five um the only one he he lost a half a shot putting so he’s putted really quite well here uh he’s driven the ball beautifully which he’s been doing and if there’s going to be somebody who’s a little

Volatile this is a great setup and I am definitely on the side of Allin I don’t think it’s Miss the cut or win I think there’s a lot of room in between and I’m looking at Corey Connor as kind of a t29 as the as the bad week uh I I think it’s

A great Golf Course for him for a reason he is the prototypical player for this kind of golf course and I’m willing to go in on it I may pivot if ownership is just crazy High because he’s far from a lock to win so he’s going to put those stinking

Boots on again I know it then play him I don’t know about that who’s the other guy all right the other guy who I really do think could put the boots on Benny on yes I I’m much happier about this right now benon has been getting a his fair

Share of attention in the DFS community he’s been he’s been popular this year a lot of guys have touted him and for good reason because the driver has been Elite it’s been a weapon he’s shown the ability to spike with the irons uh Players Championship didn’t go great for

Him but short game’s been pretty good he’s pretty good in the bunkers too uh I was looking at at Sand save percentages from last couple of years and Ben on is right there inside the top I fifth over the last two years in this field in Sans

Sa percentage so that’s kind of like a tiebreaker stat that I I’m curious about but not making any decisions on um and so I I think that Ben on checks all the boxes and I’m hoping that both Corey Connor and his Miss cut last week helped

Kind of take some of the ownership and attention off of Ben on and and I think it will I think that you’ve got um Corey Connors who will definitely suck up a lot of that ownership and I I I’m very curious about what people will do with

Jordan be it’s Jordan be does not go 6% owned right he’ll be he’ll be 12% at the very at the very least so I do wonder if that’s enough to get people off bet Bon has been one of the better players in 2024 and most of his damage has come in

Signature Events right I mean not it’s not like he’s beating up on the tours mules he’s beating up on like the big boys yeah he’s playing with him he was on the corn fairy tour two years ago he’s also played well here I think he’s

Got two top 10 yeah six and six last year seventh in 2019 it’s it’s a great setup for him um he’s aggressive which can be a separator because there’s some scary t- shots here he’s not afraid of those so he he will take on shots that’ll give him an advantage over the

Rest of the field and and I think he’s I think he’s in a place where he’s trusting the driver for sure sure and the putter is fine it’s a lot better than Cory Connor that’s for sure oh my God he I cannot believe we live in a

World where Benny on would beat the crap out of Corey Connor in a putting contest yeah we do and and that’s exactly what happen right the eight case now we got a couple of guys here Greg that uh finished really well last week specifically at the top Billy horel and

Alex norin they’re 8,900 and 8700 then you get Brian Harmon and Adam Scott towards that middle upper Harris English towards the the middle and then Russell Henley Tom Kim and Ricky Fowler round out the rest of this range yeah this one is this is a tough range okay there’s

Some guys I like they happen to be right up at the top I I think horel and norin are are really good plays um beyond that there’s some question marks so let’s go to um let’s go to Alex nor okay all right because he’s probably the guy for

Me in this range I I love what he’s been doing with his ball striking um really with his entire game I I just have known for we’ve all known he’s a great putter for a long time so it’s no surprise to see him putting well but looking at some

Of the Scotty sheffler Statistics over the last couple of weeks I was spending some time in the bogey avoidance camp and you know trying to figure out what Scotty does to make so few bogeys Alex noren’s right there he actually had made enter in last week he had made fewer

Bogeys than Scotty Sheffer on the year but had played fewer holes so he was second in bogy avoidance um and one of the reasons for that is his greens are regulation is extremely high this year yeah in fact I believe he’s second on tour in Greens of Regulation uh yeah so

How about this so he is top 10 he’s top eight in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation so when you hit a ton of Fairways and you hit a ton of greens yeah pretty even even I could avoid making Bogies like that yeah yeah it’s a recipe right and that’s what

Scotty does but you don’t drive it in any trouble and you knock it on the green and should you miss one you have a great short game that can bail you out and I don’t necessarily think that green a regulation and Fairway has hit and bogey avoidance is the strategy on a

Weekly basis unless you are Scotty Sheffer and also lead in birdie average right that it that it be that you become number one in the world but in the case of Alex noren there are certain golf courses where you don’t need to make a ton of birdies you need to avoid trouble

This is one of those you just sprinkle in some birdies just sprinkle them in here and there throughout the week like last week in Houston if if you made birdies on the three par fivs every day and made no bogeys you would have tied Stephen jger right and

You think about it from that perspective and it’s like well oh okay I I don’t have to play that aggressive here I got to take care of a couple of holes this is a similar scoring style of golf course so Alex noren fits that mold for me Alex noren’s $8,700 he’s got three

Straight top 20 finishes he played great on the weekend in Houston he finished T15 here last year so yes absolutely on board there you also mentioned Billy horel Greg who we talked about um on Sunday show because he’s been made some equipment changes and all of a sudden

The results are coming in he’s got three top 12 finishes in his last four starts including a Seventh Place finish last year uh last week excuse me yeah look it seem it’s not I I feel like I’m chasing a little bit with Billy horel with these recent

Results but you look at his course history here he’s got uh two third place finishes one’s a T3 one’s a third he’s got a tied fourth here he has a t11 in 2018 so he he has a pretty good pedigree here on this golf course and and he’s

Just hitting the ball so much better he’s like a new player those equipment changes have led to a big spike in his greens of Regulation and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch that that he continues to good play heading into this week so feel like I’ve chasing a little

Bit but it’s hard to ignore what we’ve seen especially knowing there’s the legitimate reason for it um my the guy that I’ve got clicked down at the bottom of the range is Harris English who just continues to pile up these top 25 finishes Greg 17th 7th 21st and 19th in

His last four starts and he to me kind of falls into that Alex nor Andes category of just kind of well-rounded don’t make a lot of uh Bogies just take your chances when they get here and we’ve we’ve spoken about him quite a bit just seems like

He’s healthy and playing well again yeah yeah and if you look at the numbers for this golf course uh average as you say well that means that because somebody’s going to have success when when a golf course is kind of average in its statistics it means it could very easily

Point to recent form as being the most important thing right are you playing well coming in if you’re playing well coming in no matter how you’re doing it you you have a good chance of playing well uh at tpcc and Antonio and Harris English definitely checks that

Box um but I got a guy I want to ask you about okay feels like more of a chance much more of a chance than the three guys we’ve talked about already and that’s um that’s Russell Henley the rust bus coming off the yeah coming off a miscut at the

Players but this feels like an like a smash spot for him well here’s the thing he is a he’s a better putting Corey Connors fair right I mean if we compared what Russell Henley and what Corey Connor do well um I mean there’d probably be a lot of similarities right accurate and Elite

Approach play yeah accurate off the te both over 65% lots of greens in regulation very good approach numbers Cory Connor is a worse putter um Cory Conor hits it longer but they’re both very accurate yeah Russell Henley is a cheaper slightly shorter uh better putting Cory coners

But this is the caveat um Russell Henley has only played here twice albe at 2019 2016 he has a t52 and a Mis cut and unlike Cory Connors who putts really well here um he uh Russell Henley has lost three Strokes or more in both of

His two starts here so that might be a concern now those are a long time ago one time um and he’s been putting great lately so I wonder if can turn the corner that’s kind of what why I was thinking that that’s a pretty good one because I

Think everybody was in on him for the players you know he had a couple of t4s in the leadup he misses the cut and the players feels like a year ago yeah I know I’m gonna I’m gonna star Russell Henley and keep that keep that uh yeah

Keep an eye on it yeah because look everybody misses a cut at the Players hell yeah it’s brutal I almost just rule that out good or bad yeah whatever you did at the Players I don’t I don’t care right right it needs to be a part

Of a trend in one way or the other in order for it to count for me H all right uh we’re gonna continue this conversation we’ll get down to the seven sixes and yes those pesky little fives but first we’re GNA take a quick break and hear a word from our

Partners at CBS Sports Gazo Network we’re bringing you the The Madness of messy breaking down the game this is unlike anything else in the world and changing the game get it all for nil that means free wa and all day long 247 and we’re back Greg look at this 7K

Range Christian Baden hot leads us off at $7,900 he’s up there with Aaron Ry and OA paa the middle Hustler McCarthy EVR the bottom of this range how about Mark hubard Sam Ryder um what do you find when you start digging through here well

I I hate to do it because it feels like we’re always starting right at the top but DraftKings has done a nice job with their pricing this week the the play of the week seems to be Christian Biden out to me I can’t get enough I Can’t Take My Eyes

Away from me on this this has been absolutely spectacular I mean every single event this year on the PGA tour except the Arnold Palmer Invitational he’s gained a shot or more approaching the green he gained seven at the Players now he lost six at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but now it’s very

Easy to just write that off he’s just continued spectacular play he is uh I was at this the other day the the Improvement that he has made so the the approach play I think he’s working with Jeff Smith now and it kind of lines up with the uh start of of the

Calendar year so he was already a very good Putter and has now turned into a very good second shot player and did not lose the putting and it has created a very very big leap for him that is starting to show up in all of these uh

Results and if there’s a weakness it’s his driver and it’s not the accuracy it’s it’s the distance which I I think is important to some degree but not like it was last week so I think you can get around this place with precision and Christian has done that so at

7900 um I mean he’s almost the kind of guy you could build your lineup around I agree um where else in the 7K range there’s a lot of guys Rick there are there’s a lot of guys I mean so Aaron Ry right beneath him let’s just go

There this is this is another again very comparable style of um of scoring that you saw last week that’s going to be required here and his game has just been steady he’s a plotter he’s accurate off the te he didn’t even get that Advantage last week the advantage of his accuracy

Was not no where to be found last week and he still finishes t7 I I know he missed the cut at the Valar missed the cut in Phoenix but other than that his play has been so steady and this feels like a steady man’s kind of golf course so I’m

Interested in Aaron Ry well does feel like chasing a little bit what I like about him is he is capable of having one of the best ball striking weeks out of anybody in the field and we’ve seen that kind of a couple times from him just in

This just since the end of end of last year um whether you know the putter cooperates or not TBD but he is a very high upside golfer that has shown it a handful of times um I want to get your thoughts on Lucas Glover here Greg because

I I was ready to write him off and I’m just getting reeled right back into this and the reason for it is again you know what is use Cory Connor as your blueprint right what does Cory Connors do well he keeps it in playoff the T okay that’s what Lucas Clover does uh

Cory Connor is a great second shot player okay great Lucas Glover is as well Lucas Glover the putter same thing as Cory Connor has not been the strong suit over the years however I just listened to the to him talk about now he’s he’s still using that same lab

Putter but he’s using a different head that is easier for him to line up instead of being a big block it like looks better to him and now he gains nearly a stroke putting in valpar and just when I was ready to never click Lucas Glover’s name again I am back

Looking at Lucas Glover’s profile yep he’s one of the names I wrote down here Rick and we talked about him last week as well or at the Valar we talked about him so two Mondays ago uh for just this reason like even though the putting has

Been poor it’s not a Yip and so it gives him because he’s gotten rid of The Yips the chances of him having a good decent putting week goes way up it becomes a becomes a real possibility just without the IPS so I know there we kind of feel like it was

Overplayed um because he’s still not a great putter but it’s not like he cracked the code he just he just filled a massive hole in the wall right and now he can hang maybe he does maybe he doesn’t maybe it’s a good a nice picture maybe

It’s not but all those uh all those possibilities Now open up so yeah I’m I’m all on Lucas Glover this the style uh the accuracy with both irons and the driver that all comes into play here and you don’t have to fill it up with birdies

Kind of similar to a valpar where he finished T 11 uh 11 solo 11 solo 11 okay um those are probably my favorites CZ Lucas Glover I like Victor Perez down at the bottom is there anybody we’re missing here yeah well we gotta talk about it we at least

Have to talk about it and it’s I don’t know what to do it’s Keith Mitchell oh boy what do we Rick what do we do this ball striking is absurd his record here is pretty good he has a t17 in 2021 a t26 in 2018 it’s pretty pretty solid and he

Seems to be hitting the ball as well as he ever has you know help me I’ve I don’t know if I can I have spent a lot of time not playing Keith Mitchell and I’m not sure I’ve ever regretted it and I just don’t know what it is about him you

Know because the this is one of those guys if you if you had to play a thousand holes I think he I think he’d beat a lot of his peers but you got to play 72 and then you know when it gets down to Sunday and things start to get

Really tight he’s kind of starts to play his worst so I um I don’t know I don’t have a I I don’t have like a day to take I don’t have a anything logical or reasonable I just I just don’t like investing in it all right I’m

Sold it’s a good it’s a really good point I’ve never really regretted it yeah you know and I always like I look at Keith Mitchel right now and I could say okay let’s let’s pretend TPC San Antonio uh the Valero Texas open there’s

A one next to his name at the end of the week you know we like to do this exercise and it becomes so obvious right there are three events since the American Express where he’s gained over six shots or more approaching the green and he’s gained Strokes approaching the

Green in just about every one of them except for Pebble Beach which is one round he lost to half a shot so this is like there’s obviously something going on with the iron play and I like to invest in that kind of thing I like to

Attach myself to that but at the same time where’s the where’s the T3 there’s a couple of fifths couple of ninths couple of ninths so I get what you’re saying but I think I’m I think I’m investing okay that’s fine maybe I’m I’m just I’m just feeling a little I think

I’m gonna invest but I’m still undecided I don’t want to spend your money I’m not gonna let you spend mine so that’s that’s that’s all that’s all good anybody else no the the last guy that I had written down was Victor Perez okay yeah I I just kind of mentioned him

Earlier he’s he’s probably playing a lot better than people realize I mean I don’t know how much how how many brain cells people are allocating to Victor Perez over the course of the last couple of of weeks but third in Puerto Rico t16 at cognizant t17 in Houston he did miss

The cut at vbar but a lot of green uh lot of solid play even going back it yeah striping it so not asking for much but go out and get us a T9 7 100 T9 take that and run yeah the $6,000 range remember we still have the

Fives to get to this does go all the way down to the 5K range uh the top of the sixes are Adam shank Doug gim Davis Riley the middle is uh Andrew Novak Sheamus power the bottom of the 6K range is Ben Silverman Chandler Phillips and Grayson Sig

Obviously there’s a lot more names uh than I read out there Greg but where do you want to go first here boy I love this 6K range wow okay there’s I wrote down eight n eight names that I think are playable just make lineups just make

Lineups out of those eight well if I had Scotty and if I had Scotty at 13k I would Scotty in the long shots Scotty in the long shots right um so I’ll I’ll read a couple to you stop me if any of these guys really catch your attention

Okay the first one I never thought I would say this I was so done with Davis Riley you know who Davis Riley went back to working with oh I do not uh his name has been mentioned on this podcast already Jeff Smith Oh Jeff Smith yes I might have known that so he

Just went back to him uh after the players and all of a sudden he start start S striping it last week starts playing Great Golf and and so again you look at this profile and it’s very easy to say statistically okay well Davis Riley um just simply had a good week and

That that’s all the evidence would say I would I would never get on board here with this but he because he’s went back to his Old Coach Jeff Smith and gotten back to Old Fields like he said I think there’s something that can stick I think there’s something that can click and

What if I just do this Greg what if this was just his whole profile that would look a lot better just his last two starts I just got rid of everything else this is the post the post Jeff the Jeff Smith era right here yeah he’s got a

Miscot at a T14 right like oh okay don’t look at anything beyond this yeah if that’s all it was I would say no but I know that he’s won on the PGA tour he’s cont in a team event he’s contended um he’s a a really good player who I’ve

Thought has been underperforming but I feel like there’s a little inspiration now that something actually worked okay I like a real life change being reflected in the stats I like I eat it up okay eat it up so all all in there uh continuing down Andrew Novak yeah we

Spoken him quite a bit agreed t53 last week not great ke ham he said 6500 ke hammer in the well there uh Max gracer really impressive impressive last week really impressive this has been a short career we haven’t seen a lot but since the cognizant classic you have a

T-15 in Puerto Rico a t33 at the Valar a t7 last week in Houston I think he’s starting to feel comfortable uh and and I I like like what I I really like what I saw out of him getting to watch him on the broadcast last week he’s never been

More than two and a half percent owned so I also think you’re gonna get him at a pretty decent number too um all right this one may surprise you also at 6,500 I don’t know where this has come from but Ryan Moore yeah I’m surprised have you th Rick this is what

He has done in the last three events has been sweet oh my heart yeah and then look at his record here I knew his record was good yeah he he has a his first ever start in 2012 he finished T8 t18 and 17 seventh in in uh in 18 third

In 19 in his last two starts he has a 76 cimus cut but all of a sudden you look at this recent play he was T5 at the Val bar and he gained nine Strokes approaching the green he gained six Strokes approaching the green at the Players seven uh uh 4.7 Strokes

Approaching the green last week in Houston he’s he is one of the slowest Club head speed players on the PGA tour and he’s gained Strokes off the te in the last three weeks what is going on he is uh he’s back on Team No putut but because he’s

Old it’s like team no putut Amer like he gets like an honorable like welcome back maybe an AUM situation he a career earnings exemption to team no puttre exactly exactly this is yeah this is I was not S I was not expecting to see this no I wasn’t

Either and I don’t I think it’s when you have three weeks in a row like that and then you combine the course history here I it’s a lot to ignore it’s really good at 6,500 lot to ignore course on tour for him over his whole career yeah uh of

Sorry I should clarify of courses that are on the schedule this year okay yeah that’s where I okay well still still yeah uh so that’s fantastic uh I’m surprised you have not named the guy yet the guy the guy who’s mispriced the guy what is it is it does he have a nickname

Uh no no way I don’t think he no I the guy’s on my list the guy who’s mispriced right he’s at 6,300 that’s my yeah that’s yeah yeah he’s on my so my debate there were two guys that I think it I wrote him down I’m not sure I need to go

There but this this I do need to go here because it’s MADD Schmidt unbelievable how disrespect what the disrespect it’s sickening he is $ 6300 the same price as Adam senson who has missed three out of his last five sorry Adam uh Alejandro tosy fine JJ

Spawn he has gone T10 t26 t17 t21 unbelievable off the T very good putter with that long stick okay on a like this he has been he is vibing vibing right now right and he’s smiling around the golf course he’s having fun like this is just working out for him things are just

Going well and like we said average golf course when it comes to statistics uh you go heavy to recent form mty Schmid checks that box by the way he smashes it which isn’t a prerequisite here but I don’t hate it yeah if you want to smash It smash it I

Don’t care um yeah that’s that’s the guy right there yeah Top Choice Top Choice I agree um all right also I [Applause] had this feels like I’m chasing a little bit but Chandler Phillips oh coming off the T3 and the T45 so yeah T3 T45 but it’s been four events in a row

With basically gaining three Strokes approaching the green uh in each of those so the the ball striking has been pretty high quality he’s been yeah Bland on the greens he’s a Texas guy he is playing in Texas and he’s at 6,000 flat so I mean

I’m not saying he’s gonna go win but if he can give you another T45 you take that right I would yes I would I would take it if he was going to give me another T45 so the other two guys that I wrote down Rick we don’t have to look at them but

Sheamus power and Bud collie yes also in this range I think they’re also playable Sheamus has been playing a lot better uh and then bud colie you know the place that I thought was going to be like the best place for him is where he missed the cut but otherwise he’s been he’s

Been he’s been very good very solid the 5Ks starts with Aaron badley Chan Kim Chris gup the middle is Grayson Murray Hayden Springer Matt neith the Min priced golfers this week include Kevin kizner Josh Teter and JB JB Holmes is in every field isn’t he every week you mention him Min price

Every week I’m stunned that he’s in the field and he has missed a lot of cuts in a row 1 2 3 4 five 6 7 8 8 nine 10 11 11 straight cuts for JB Holmes he has not made a cut on the PGA tour since the

Valpar last year so over a year Honda Honda 23 Honda I have boit you got valpar oh I’m sorry I’m sorry yeah yeah okay so no no you’re right uh he missed a cut at the Valar right that started the Stream right yes my bad so so so it’s been 14

Months since he’s made a cut on the PGA tour and it wasn’t much better before that with respect how’s he getting into these fields I wonder if he’s playing on like a career I haven’t looked into it um so I apologize you I should be more prepared how JB Holmes is getting into

These fields you haven’t looked no I apologize um but this could be like a career money exemption kind of a deal he’s in on a at least for this week he’s in on a major medical oh okay so he gets a certain number of starts well that there’s your answer

Yeah so he’ll get a certain number of starts and he’s gonna have to contend if or get hurt again those are his two options yeah because he can’t have that many more events left he can’t you don’t get that many no and he’s played already one two three four five he’s played six

Already yeah so you know he may have another six depending on what that major medical was but we might not looking good we might not be seeing JB Holmes for a while okay who else who who do we have here in the 5K range all right

There’s a couple guys that I I think are interesting at at the very least um one probably my Top Choice in this range top curiosity level Ben Martin he’s at 5600 okay I have no idea what what’s about to show up when I click this I it’s pretty good it’s

Pretty good uh t67 at the valsar t31 at the players t42 in Puerto Rico for his last three starts uh he’s gained Strokes approaching the green and ball striking in all three of those the putter was pretty bad at the Valar but everywhere else it’s been pretty good um it it’s

A this is a at at 5600 this is a go make a cut and and I think he’s trended in the right direction and very capable of that okay uh he also yeah he finished T10 here in 2023 so another little check in the Box

Made a lot of cuts here he’s made three straight cuts um all right let’s go also to down to 5500 and take a look at Grayson Murray um this is pretty interesting t-25 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational t42 at the Players uh he obviously won

At the Sony this is not a prediction of another win but it feels to me like he got that win there’s the winners l Y and I think he’s working his way out of that and he’s seems to be doing it with some improved ball striking which I’m very

Clearly in favor of this week which the Winner’s L he he would not be the first to fall victim to that no no no no that’s many many players he will not be the last but you’re right that the two last two starts of of uh metrics look a

Lot like the win and then the American Express which he missed the cut but he had uh uh one really bad round the other stuff was the other stuff wasn’t wasn’t too bad I think it was the first round at the American Express it was the I

Have it as the third round oh okay maybe he fought back you know I think he was well over par in the first round and fought back I think you’re right so but anyway I think he could be trended in the right direction and at 5500 we need a

T40 Lono gri Griffin’s back to making cuts and he’s finished 34th 53rd and 15th here in the last couple years yeah his game in theory you know really wide lens would be a nice fit here because he’s a really good driver of the ball tends to be a good putter um in theory

In theory would you would you play would you play padri Harrington who is crushing the senior tour but kind of getting crushed everywhere else no come on Patty no I’d rather play Joe heith he’s 5,800 21st last week gained 6.7 Strokes ball striking had a T6 at Puerto

Rico where’s a where’s a that’s not really a bucket hat it’s more of a sun hat right that’s like a Australian hat like a which I actually have some of those the same ones from Titleist they’re awesome I have the same one uh Titleist with the TPC Las Vegas logo on

The side because it was a billion degrees out there one day and I said I’m going to melt unless I unless I get this hat and I bought it it helps when I was uh when I was standing out on the lesson te all day I wore one of those it’s awesome

Um I don’t play in them I I have I don’t um but I will wear it on the lesson te and if you ever go to the beach yes perfect for the beach it’s like an umbrella for your head yeah yeah You Gotta Have You Gotta Have It yeah so big

Fan of the Aussie style hat yeah thanks Joe High Smith appreciate it yeah good luck this week what else we got uh those were the three I had high Smith Martin and Grayson Murray in this range okay I had Aaron battley is at the top of this range he’s played this a billion

Times he’s he’s been pretty good and he’s he’s got a 17th in valbar 23rd in Puerto Rico um I had him I had Dylan woo at 5700 I I looked at him too he’s interesting and then I had a question mark next to padrick but you you just missed it

Pretty quickly so now I’m now I’m now yeah I I just don’t I don’t know I the like the upside just doesn’t seem to be there he’s you know he’s outclass he’s CR he’s crushing the guy he is he’s like Scotty on the senior tour and then he comes

Here and it’s like you know it’s amazing to keep up but you know you said something to me a couple years ago Rick when you get down into these ranges there are some guys that you know you know know their names and it’s very easy to click them but like their

Potential is very limited where there are some guys that you don’t know who you might know in a few years and it could be a real big asset to your team so that’s why I said Joe heith because he’s played 11 events on the PGA

Tour we don’t know who he is yet yes and and we could learn very quickly that play that kind of player has a much higher chance of somehow winning than Potter Carrington in my opinion I I agree with myself from a couple of years yeah wise I always remember that it’s

True like like I know exactly what Ryan Palmer is I have no idea what Joe heith is yeah and Joe heith could be really could turn out to be a superstar who knows could just yeah if he just turns out to be like the 40th best player uh for $5,800 that’s pretty good

Yeah all right anything else GRE I’m excited for this week it’s going to be fun to build lineups because there are a lot of options in these lower tiers and I and I think um because of the this absence of Scotty sheffler there’s a lot of options up top as well

It’s going to be fun to build them I’m looking forward to it I’m looking forward to it as well remember this is the start basically starting tomorrow just like full team ahead on Texas open and master stuff so we talked about this last night but just to remind everyone

Tomorrow at 2m eastern time we are doing an early Masters preview it’s is a 44 minute show that will be live on CBS Sports Network when the show is complete they will send us the audio and the video and we will upload it to this YouTube channel so you can watch it live

Which we encourage or you can catch up afterwards here on YouTube that does not stop us from doing a Texas open megapod tomorrow at normal time 5: PM Eastern Time Live on YouTube all that fun stuff and then Greg we are rolling right into round by round Recaps

And then we were rolling right into Master’s coverage where we’re doing the pods on CBS Sports Network so it I mean basically this is the last day of normaly and then starting tomorrow is going to be the Sprint the the Mayhem and I can’t wait it’s going to be

Awesome gonna be an awesome tournament to cover uh both this week and obviously next week so sick so sick I can’t believe it’s here okay well uh big thanks to producer Troy who does all the hard work behind the scenes that right there is Greg du charm who you can find

On Twitter at the real gfd and you can find me at Rick rungood this has been the first cut we’ll catch you next time