In this episode, hosts Jake Hower and Luke Manning dive into the latest developments in professional golf.
They discuss the surprise resignation of PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunn and the implications for a potential deal with the PIF and LIV Golf.
The hosts also break down the PGA of America’s decision to invite several LIV golfers to the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy’s unsuccessful attempt to rejoin the PGA Tour board, and the state of the proposed “unified tour”.
Looking ahead to the PGA Championship, Jake and Luke analyze the red-hot form of top contenders like Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Brooks Koepka.
They make predictions on how the key PGAT/LIV contingent will fare and who could emerge as the top Australian finisher. Golf fans won’t want to miss the hosts’ insights and bold calls heading into the year’s second major.
Timestamps
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:38 Last week’s results
00:02:36 Jimmy Dunn resignation
00:06:09 PGA Tour getting in its own way with PIF deal
00:07:49 PGA Championship LIV player invites
00:10:45 Mike Whan on pathways for LIV players in majors
00:11:50 Rory McIlroy blocked from rejoining PGA Tour board
00:13:12 Transaction negotiation subcommittee and Adam Scott
00:17:05 Difficulty of change on PGA Tour, cronyism
00:21:18 Brandel Chamblee’s comments on PGA Tour needing PIF deal
00:23:33 Xander Schauffele’s controversial drop at Wells Fargo
00:28:12 Rory McIlroy’s dominant win at Quail Hollow
00:31:46 Jason Day’s contention and Xander struggles to close
00:34:01 Red-hot form of Scheffler, McIlroy, Koepka entering PGA
00:37:19 Sleeper picks – Dean Burmester, Bryson DeChambeau
00:42:00 Pressure on Scheffler, wanting playoff finish
00:42:48 Over/under 2.5 LIV players in the top 10
00:43:43 Cut predictions – Woods, Spieth, JT, Zalatoris
00:44:45 Picking the top Australian finisher
00:46:33 Anthony Kim on Twitter, Chamblee feud
00:50:06 Wrap-up and where to find the hosts on social media
welcome to episode number two of beyond the tour I’m Jake Hower and with me today again is Luke Manning how are you hey Jake really well back for our second episode so we survived the first one even managed to get some decent feedback from a few what I’ll say is astute listeners and it’s certainly been a really big week in golf and also a major week ahead so ready and raring to go and have the discussion with you on today’s pod yep absolutely there’s no opportunity for us to ease into this because it is as you said a very big news week and we’ve got a lot to cover so we’ll get straight into that yep let’s do it so today we’re going to cover obviously last week’s results we’re going to look at the announcement from Jimmy Dunn of his resignation we’re going to go through some of the live invites from the PJ of America Mike Juan’s interviews Rory’s PJ to a board return issues some of the comments on the unified tour we’re going to go through a little bit more in depth in all of those PGA Tour board discussions and everything around that and maybe touch on a few other things along the way also so if we go around the grounds from last week’s results obviously we had Rory maroy over at Wells Fargo winning that he absolutely lapped the field that last day he bet out Zander CHL and really there’s no nobody else in contention yeah that’s right Rory a Quail Hollow specialist so his fourth win now at qu Hollow really just showed who the alpha dog in the field was particularly on Sunday he had the lowest rounds of the day both Saturday and Sunday but when the when the tournament was on the line he just put the foot down he went eight under through uh a stretch of holes between 8 and 15 and and really just blew Xander away unfortunately for Xander he couldn’t go with Rory when when the race really started and Rory going into PGA Championship this week’s got really strong form two wins for him in the last few weeks and I think the pg2 would be delighted to see him starting to rise to the top that it certainly would we’ll obviously discuss that tournament in a little bit more detail later on in the Myrtle Beach Classic which was the opposite field event on the PGA tour that was again one in another boat race by Chris gup who is very much a Brooks keper look alike he bet out alist docky and across on the LPGA Tour we had uh a boat race BS again similar to the Wells Fargo it was between two so Rose Zang beating mine sagstrom on the final hle yeah that was an incredible finish uh on the LPGA there you got a feel for sagstrom had the three shot lead there with only a few to play but came home in four under through her last five holes and that t-shot she hit on 17 was just magic so we’ll get into all of that later I think maybe let’s start with the latest news which has a little bit of an impact on the entire world of go let’s take a look at the jimmmy dung resignation letter what were your thoughts on seeing that this morning shock initially shock because of the timing of it but then when you read his comments in his resignation letter you can understand pretty clearly why he’s resigned he feels that he’s got no power he’s not being consulted and that the true decision making is being concentrated into a few of the players now so we can speculate as to who they are and I think they’re probably the likely suspects but yeah the timing was particularly interesting which noted you commented on X about yeah that I did obviously like with a major weekend there’s no real reason to announce it this week unless the outcome was to cause as much chaos and damage as possible that’s certainly interesting the other thing that I think is of note is that if we go back in time to the the framework agreement on the 6th of June you’ve got Jim done Ed hary and J Monahan who led that discussions with Yia about the framework agreement now from all reports tiger and Co have put them in a sandbox and they’ve essentially been muted since then so haven’t been involved in a great deal at all they’ve then gone and signed with SSG and so if you’re looking at it from the perspective of here first of all Tiger has said and that’s who it is really if we’re talking about it Tiger has gone and said that the deal you’ve signed is interesting but we found a better partner in SSG the people who you sign that deal with on our side we don’t like so we’re getting rid of them but hey let’s go and sign a new deal we still want to continue negotiations like that to me is a huge kick in a face to you and I don’t know what they’re thinking in terms of if they’re looking to sign an agreement with them yeah I wrote in the shank show newsletter this week about whether the PGA Tour will be able to get out of its own way and and secure a deal we saw the about face from brandle shambley this week urging the PGA T to strike a deal urgently with the piff and whether that’s actually something that the PGA T is capable of doing remains to be seen you called out a couple of the moves there from the PGA to our stakeholders that really have done their best efforts to insult the piff as part of these negotiations bringing in a third party investor which was never contemplated as part of the framework agreement at Best would be negotiating in bad faith at at worst it don’t it’s just completely insulting we have the comments that were made by Tiger and SP that they don’t feel like they they need the piff now that they’ve got the deal with SSG so it’s it’s certainly not the way that you would build a strong relationship with a co-p party that you’re negotiating with if you really keen on Landing a deal now thinking about all the the outcomes from this this point to me seems to indicate that probably the most likely outcome would be for SSG to essentially sell off the PJ tour share in the European tour because that sort of solves a lot of problems maybe they’ll get the majority of their investment into the PGA Tour back because they can sell it at an inflated value really even though it’s a distressed asset it’s an asset that would be of benefit to the piff and to live so maybe that’s a way that we can resolve this situation without many losing face on either side yeah I’m not really sure what the strategy or where the direction is here the time is ticking along and the more that time goes past and the more that we see these from the PGA Tour powers that be the more I think that a deal is just very unlikely and we may well have a situation where the PGA goes its own way with the SSG investment and they try and maximize their footprint within America and that would force yaser’s hand in terms of doubling down on further investment in Liv and really trying to build out that Global footprint that they see opportunity in so that’s I guess my take on it at the moment it’s going to be interesting to see it play out obviously we could spend a lot of time talking out on it and we certainly will but maybe we’ll keep moving on for now let’s look at last week we touched on some of the invitations to the PJ Championship so obviously now that was expanded out I think was that after last episode where they expanded out it was y y That’s right yep the PJ of America invited danan berm Reed Herbert Moran Neiman puj and of course SC so that’s certainly a positive step and it’s the first major really to break to break out of the other majors in terms of their opposition of live yeah I think the PGA of America has done the right thing here trying to lift itself Above The Fray above the politics between the two tours and I think that’s what the majors should be doing they should be really holding themselves out as above the politics and really striving to get the best Feld possible so I was really happy and pleased to see the special invites to those lived players I was probably surprised at a couple of the the names that were on there I didn’t think Herbert would get an invite but very happy to see that and so we’ve got the seven special invites and that makes now a title of 16 Liv players in the field so I think the PGA Championship field will be better for it I think it’s a good way for the PJ the PJ of America to do it they haven’t put in any permanent sort of exemption or any specific exemptions so it’s not a huge wi for the Liv side but it’s good to at least see is being acknowledged yeah this is I think positive it’s going to be interesting to see how the US Open and the open the RNA follow if they follow suit with any more exemptions that’s right and I think it’s the PGA of America dipping their toe in and also maybe leaning into the claim for having the strongest field in golf we know that the PLAYERS Championship always claimed to have the strongest field in golf but given that the PGA Tour has banned anyone from leave playing in The Players Championship it’s opened up the door for the PGA of America to take that mantle yep and I’ve done it ear well obviously a few changes they made moving from August into May puts a little bit more prominence on the championship and this now as well this year by far it will be the most the strongest field that we’ll ever see in 2024 they’ve done a really good job I’ve got some question marks over whether or not we should have four major championships in consecutive months plus the players as well in terms of how hard it is for a player to get up for and stay up for four months in a row but from a from the perspective of the championship itself they’ve done a very good job moving that forward and I think the the championship is becoming uh more and more prominent it’s they might see themselves starting to get close if not elevating above some of the others potentially and you talked about what might happen with the open and and with the US Open as well Mike Juan talking about Pathways for Live players Etc if things aren’t resolved in the short term indicative of where things might go that’s going to be really interesting because that’s that interview he had he did start talking about Pathways he didn’t did he mention specific path or Pathways or live outside of qualifying what I took from it was if we don’t see a deal in the short term we’re going to have to look at the at these Pathways and what it might be so not non-committal in the sense of anything immediate or specific but certainly opening the door and giving himself some latitude and some leeway if need be yep now Rory’s attempt to rejoin the PJ t board was blocked that interview he did I think it was post first round of the Welles Fargo where he was questioned about it seemed quite uh positive and in a really good frame of mind about it having seen it some of the comments if you read them from the transcript seemed like he might have been angry or maybe taking the piss a little but watching the interview itself he was incredibly positive o I was surprised at how well he handled it and he spoke very well yes probably surprised that it was voted down pretty sensible move if he’s got the relationship with yesir that that he’s alleged to have had that he wouldn’t have been welcomed back uh but he spoke as he does often he spoke very honestly about the outcome saying that it got complicated and it got messy that the proposal for him to return open some old scar tissue and some Old Wounds that weren’t able to be closed over obviously that sort of honesty is great to see we want to see more of that from players and Rory has been renowned for it in recent times but but nonetheless he has still made his way onto the transaction negotiation subcommittee so he’ll still be involved just not from a board perspective obviously there were players on the board that just didn’t want him to return and yeah I think the Scuttle butt and the consensus is it was probably the tiger can’t lay spe cabal as it’s being referred to that block the return it’s a bit of a participation award though isn’t it his inclusion on the committee because he has no vote so what’s he going to I don’t know like what he’s like a secretary he’s going to come in and introduce your sir I don’t know it just seems seems a little bit strange to me I don’t know why he would accept that he must feel he can make some impact otherwise he probably similar to Jimmy dun would have just bowed out and said I’m not going to waste my time here if I’ve got no ability to influence the outcomes he must in some ways feel that he can do that when I saw the transaction subcommittee what really stood out to me though was the precarious position that I think Adam Scott is in I doubt highly whether Adam will have any influence or any power as part of this this subcommittee but if things go wrong and there’s a terrible outcome from all this he’ll share equally in the ownership of that outcome view is that he should get the F out of there as soon as quickly as he can but his name’s been penned and and he’ll be part of that committee that is an interesting takee I hadn’t even considered that but you’re right tiger likes to have horns in place that can take a lot of the blame that Klay is the main one really isn’t he I I definitely think that Tiger’s running a a plausible deniability strategy here where he is pulling the strings from above but is doing a very good job in creating layers to Shield himself from any any criticism now that whole side the PJ tour side is doing a very good job of extending this out we’re not seeing any improvements really in the product we’re not hearing talk about what’s happening in 2025 they really need to start we need to start seeing change because everyone’s getting sick of it and think you mentioned Andy Johnson on the shotgun start was talking about how live at times is potentially producing a better product and the fans aren’t going to remain loyal forever no and Andy’s point was that the better product in the end will’ll continue to see live making market share gains particularly whilst the the PGA Tour is rudderless and and in a bit of a mess in terms of which direction it’s going to go having said that the people involved on the SSG side they know Sports they know professional sports they know fan engagement so I think there must be work being done on the product in the background there’s probably a lot of water that needs to go under the bridge to get agreement to changing the product and what it looks and feels like for fans for investors for broadcasters but I’d be shocked if SSG weren’t leaning heavily into that in the behind closed doors in the back rooms given the level of investment that they’ve made it just seems like it’s very hard to make this change there’s so many chefs in the kitchen and there seems to be a little bit of that old boys club you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours like even the announcement of is it Joe Gorder who was named as the chairman of the PJ tour Enterprises he’s he was the was it the CEO of Valero who are a longtime tour sponsor that’s to me RS of pumping money into the tour for years and years and here’s the payoff here’s a nice little cushy sort of chairman job after you’ve looked after us we we’ll look after you now I think crany capitalism goes on everywhere and obviously the PGA Tour is no different a lot of these appointments get done based on relationship and what your relationship is obviously depends on the history that you’ve had and if you’ve been a long-term sponsor tipping plenty of money into the PGA Tour coffers then that puts you in a pretty solid position and then if your views on the future and strategy of the PGA are aligned with those that matter then it’s a nice Pathway to the top really it’s just it’s getting so frustrating because the product itself is suffering and I don’t want to see the destruction of the tour but as we get further and further into it you keep peeling back the layers and there’s more it’s continually more and it if we look at how the PJ tool is structured I think for years money is being softened away from the players to the different entities like PJ to a Superstore Arthur Blan who is one of the lead investors of SSG he’s essentially protecting his investment in PJ to a Superstore you don’t want to see the destruction of the PJ t for that reason but just seems like there are so many fingers in the pie all across the board and and it’s to the detriment of the product and the players and it gets back to the earlier point about the PGA T getting out of its own way I I don’t think we’ll see the destruction of the tour Never Back Against the ability of Americans to innovate and really produce under pressure and so whilst there’s a lot of fumbling of the ball going on at the I don’t think this the tour is going away I don’t think it will be destroyed what it might be though is a very American Centric tour and it may well miss the opportunity to capitalize on demand for professional golf globally and I think that’s one of the biggest challenges that the tour has at the moment the the blinkers that some of the people in power have on around wanting to maintain the status quo and maintaining the status quo I think will just create an American tour and then a rest of the world tour and the prospects of a unified tour dwindle pretty significantly I don’t think it’s such a bad thing there’s obviously there’s there is plenty of investment dollars in the states which has already been approved the piff I think he’s probably proving that there’s lots of money outside so maybe the two tours or this sort of the US base tour is good for their fans maybe the world tour is good for everybody else it means we’re not going to see the best play against each other as much as you’d like to but maybe that’s where we’re ending up it might be where we end up I think there would need to be a a Chang in approach from what we’re currently seeing from the PGA Tour if we’re to see uh a unification and the best players getting back together playing against each other on a regular basis one of the things I’ve been thinking about is is there a conflict of interest here between some that are in power and the long-term future of the pga2 what I mean by that is people like Tiger Woods personally have an interest in maintaining the status quo because under the status quo Arrangement America is the tour and the measure of success or the second most important measure of success behind major wins is PGA T wins victories and so to preserve Tiger’s Legacy and also to maximize his achievements in the game maintaining the status quo actually does that for Tiger so his personal interest could well be in direct conflict with what might be in the best interests long term for the tour as brandle has now come out and said has a deal has to be struck because in the end money wins it’s a brutal reality but if the PGA Tour can only secure 1.5 billion from SSG um it’s just not going to be enough to compete and the piff will just double down their efforts to sign more bigname players and and to build live into a bigger thing Y what did you think about randle’s comments pragmatic I guess is the best way that you could describe them complete backflip would be also another accurate description but probably not surprised and again he’s looking at self-interest here on sh underneath all of it he his Meal Ticket depends on the PGA T surviving and he sees the best way of it surviving is to not continue in this Warfare with the piff and with Liv but to strike a deal yeah how did you feel like he’s obviously been very aggressive towards Live players if he’s starting to accept this money now accept the fact that the piff is investing in golf should he should he step down I don’t think he will there is an argument for that and and this is the the great challenge once you start introducing morals and and politics into sport it all of a sudden can become a rod for your own back very quickly probably not a sensible play for for him to have gone down such a moralistic path Jay did the same when he was trying to to fend off the threat from Liv and from the piff in the early stages before the framework agreement was landed but the sportswashing thing has to use it for one of a better term has washed away largely I think they misread the landscape there particularly the global sporting landscape where Saudi Arabian money through Aamco and through other entities it’s all throughout other major sports and so to try and use that as uh a shield or a sword was just a silly play from the outset interesting personally whether or not you could go as hard as he did and then backflip I think if we look at his role at the Golf Channel and and with NBC what his goals are and what he’s probably making his money from it’s being controversial it’s it’s eyeballs so taking that particular stance and given the fact that the his audience is US based fans taking that stance and then back flipping is probably not going to impact his profile with the fan it may impact the players if there is some level of coming back together or he’s essentially alienated anyone who’s touched live so whether not that affects his ability to to do his job I don’t know and ultimately it’ll probably come down to ratings as you say he’s paid to be controversial he’s paid to have opinions firm opinions and to put them out there in an uncompromising way which he’s done if the ratings are fine with brandle remaining in his chair then he’ll probably remain there okay before we move on is the PJ T securing a deal with the pif based on current approach I can’t see it happening I’m in a grant so let’s take a look at the Wells Fargo so I think probably led off really outside of Rory’s comments in terms of the board probably the major the major controversy was Xander’s drop in the first round yeah it was sprayed his t-shot right up against the boundary fence and was granted Tio Rel I was outraged personally myself I know you you delved into the conversation on X and probably ended up having a slightly different view to me um when you see where his drop was allowed to be taken and where he was following the t-shot coming to rest it just had a real stink about it and I my mind goes to if that was in the club championships would a member ever get that sort of relief and I know we’re talking about the cable on a on a tower that the relief was granted from so it’s a little bit artificial to use that analogy but I feel like the poor old Club golfer gets no relief or no free relief or it’s very rare that you get free relief yet these touring Pros seem to get it all the time and I made the comment on X what was K L’s comment about these Pros being pamper fs and the and the rules officials bending over backwards but but you had a different take so let’s hear what your thoughts were it’s quite similar it’s maybe in terms of the interpretations I’m all for policing of rules and if you don’t like an outcome maybe the rule needs to be changed now before seeing Johnson Wagner’s essent Recreation of this I was also dubious it looked to me like it was a Xander potentially trying to not lie but tell little porkys about whether or not that was a shot was going to play and that that I think is the gray a of a rule interpretation that probably needs to be Stamped Out maybe what needs to happen is that the the rules officials don’t even ask someone’s opinion they make the decision themselves as to whether or not a shot can be played or whatever but yeah my thing with it after seeing that was that well the way the rules went written it was all legal if you don’t like the rule it needs to change I think there is some issues with the way the ti rule is written too broad too much discretion they were talking about it in the shotgun start make him hit the shot that he says he’s going to hit and if it hits the cable or it hits the tower that’s when you get your relief rather than before you actually hit the shot I think there’s some Merit to that I guess the contrasting argument would be that it’s still a distraction having that obstruction that temporary movable obstruction in your line of sight and in your field of aiming field the other thing I think on that is that these pro pro golfs too reliefs it’s also potentially a a liability problem so if you got fans involved and insurers on site it’s potentially something that’s possibly a consideration that these rules have to be in place because you can’t knock a fan out or or you can’t destroy a shotlink tower because it’s so expensive to to erect there I don’t know maybe that’s why these this style of relief has to exist yeah it could be and I’m not I’m not a golf rules official by any stretch of the imagination but just back to your point about the Johnson Wagner explanation it was interesting to see the the pga2 media machine going to into overdrive after the backlash came on social media to get Johnson out there and explain what had actually happened were you confident where he played that shot from was actually where his because I felt like Xander ball was a lot harder up against the fence yeah absolutely yeah again playing definitely could have been that I I did think about that whether the same yeah we didn’t get that as part of Johnson’s explanation but I will say he did an excellent job in explaining how how it unfolded and then he did an excellent job of hitting the shot too that was a good piece of content from the PGA to they handled that really well I thought yeah that was a really good way to do it because it’s clarified it and if it didn’t shoot it down 100% it went a fair way to actually making it acceptable so J day was in contention early as well wasn’t he yeah another Quail Hollow track specialist he’s won the Wells Fargo before and he plays well here got himself into contention early on I think he was second after two rounds but just really couldn’t get it going on the weekend by the end of the third round he was seven shots back and and finished in outright fourth but was never really In Contention when it mattered I do see that he’s come out on social media saying that his game’s trending in the right direction going into the major this week so will be interesting to see how he goes obviously a former PGA Champion himself but but generally the Aussies didn’t make much of it this week at qua Hollow yeah he’s a he’s an interesting one since his dominant run at world number one he’s always struggled he’s been in contention quite a lot really but there’s always been one round that has let him down where he hasn’t been able to it’s it’s not like you have to play Four great rounds to to win a tournament but he’s one round it he’s not playing well he loses a tournament and I fell for it a number of times in Majors where I’d put a little bit of money on him and he just he just didn’t perform there was just always one round that he’s fell apart and hopefully we see that turn around but the trend I think is continuing at the moment yeah Jason’s just never really been the same since he split ways from his former caddy Colin swaton be great to see them two reunite at some stage don’t think it’s likely but as you say we’d love to see Jason back to his best yeah M Rory put it all together didn’t he he that’s that round on Sunday or that certainly even that after whole seven or eight he no one was betting Rory no no one was beating him he really set the tone put the foot down and I think it was five birdies and two Eagles in the round just incredible goal and he really had the putter going and that’s probably one of the things that you see with Rory when he doesn’t contend or well when he’s back in the field he’s just not making the putts or he or his wedge game but this this week everything was firing on all cylinders y he’s had it all working through the year at different times so when he started in the desert on the Euro T at the start of the tour where he or at the start of the Year where he won I think he won in Dubai yep yep he won in Dubai so his wedge game looked as good as I’ve ever seen it back then now there was no sort of data that you could really look at to back it up but just just the eye test his wedge game looked incredible and he was holding on to the driver a little bit even that early and that seems to have been his major struggle the early months of the season on the PJ tour is just getting that driver but that seems to have come around he doesn’t look to have too many weaknesses physically at the moment one of the uh stats I was surprised to see at this week at Quail Hollow was that his driving accuracy was only around 50% obviously number one in in driving distance and I think still might have been number one or thereabouts in strikes gained off the te but his driving accuracy was at 50% which did surprise me but his approach play it it was so good it didn’t really matter he was getting the ball on the greens and and close no matter where he was leaving himself off the tea Y and those greens are a little bit firmer that we we’ seen it at qu Hollow so again very interesting he’s maybe has traditionally played very good golf in softer conditions but qu wasn’t that at all yes he’s controlling his ball very good agree with that y zand up he he did what everyone expected really didn’t he yeah just didn’t fire when he needed to the colloquial terms of house cat get trying around about Xander and it’s hard to argue with that I was always a huge believer that Xander would win a major and here we are he’s not had a major and if any you he’s not really contended significantly so he’s got to he’s got to be able to produce in those big moments I think the broadcast with with thy and emman called him out and it he he’s got the game to be able to do it it’s I think probably more a mental thing that when the tournament’s on the line can he produce the best shots he needs to and history would say not at the moment he doesn’t seem to have a different gear it all seems to be the same Pace he’s very good he’s high level good but he doesn’t have obviously Rory is probably the prime example who just has so many gears but Xander he just I don’t know he’s just whether or not he’s being aggressive enough on a Sunday in in contention I don’t know but it it just seems a little bit one paced in terms of his performance you know what you’re getting out of him you’re not getting anything different and that’s the area for improvement in him is to be able to lock in on the back nine on Sunday and make the birdies make the putts make the clutch shots I’m sure he’s fully aware of it and he and his coaches are trying to work hard on it it just hasn’t uh come to fruition in the big moments yet yep now moving on to the PGA Championship we have got the best golfer in the world Scotty Sheffer off the back of his string of wins Rory Mary is probably was number two in the world and Rooks keer all three of them have won their last starts coming into what is probably the most anticipated now major of the year I’m going to say you don’t get that sort of level of form between three of the four best golfers in the world at once yeah it’s all come together nicely for the PGA Championship it’s historically been a major that I’ve probably placed fourth amongst the majors but it’s changing rapidly the way that they’re putting these fields together and I think fortunately as you’ve called out they’ve got Scotty Rory and Brookie in in winning form coming in in the last few weeks that’s a a recipe for a great tournament and let’s let’s hope that they do deliver on that form in the coming week no surprise that The Bookies have them as the favorites Scotty very short at $5 Rory not far behind at $8.75 and then at 16 I think there’s a little bit of value there surprisingly they’ve got shle the same as Brooks so I know who I’d be taking out of those two at 16s yeah absolutely he’s just missing yeah well Brooks is I think probably the pick in my eyes but yeah it’s interesting I was looking at data golf this morning preparing for this and looking at the course profile for Valhalla and it essentially mirrors that of quo Hollow and another interesting one is chipot so it favors driving distance really good eye and play and probably more a little bit around the greens but doesn’t necessarily require super strong putting it doesn’t necessarily require driving accuracy so it’s interesting some of the players that brings to into contention obviously John Ram has performed incredibly well at chap his form has been reasonable but it hasn’t been to the level that we saw leading into or coming out of the 2023 Masters yeah I think Rambo’s got a a rough B of criticism for not playing to his potential in each of the live tournaments he’s been a chance he’s been right up there but I think the expectation is that he would have won by now that’s a harsh expectation but probably one that he places on him himself as well so he he really he could do anything as you say if the course fit is good he won’t be far away but just hearing you talk about those sort of qualities or what what success looks like at Valhalla it made me think of Bryson being being great value at about $29 great distance off the te I think he’s got a very good and probably underrated short game and also with his putting so he he really could be a smokey two others not on purpose but Jac nean mhm and Dean burmister both incredibly long both very long a little bit hard to to assess their games just with the lack of stats and data around lives data golf doesn’t have much on either of them in the last couple of years but Dean is obviously Dano Bryson are all up there for driving distance both very good iron players Dean is probably not as strong as yaka around around the greens and on the greens but berm is at about $180 on BET fair so that’s offering pretty good value and with value yep yep so I think Dean’s probably more Smokey but having said that on the the PJ T side maybe players like a jake knp would also probably offer a little bit of value yeah hits the ball a mile how will he’s still pretty green in terms of majors and that’s probably my question mark over yako I was very bullish on yako for for the Masters had great form leading in and he didn’t really do too much unfortunately you could see he was very disappointed in his play he was really grinding hard to try and get a great result at Augusta but it just wasn’t happening for him there and so my jury’s out on yako in the majors on at the moment but no doubt he’ll he’ll prove me wrong there I hope so I think the Champions and it’s remained to be seen whether he is one but he has all the traits of one and this applies to Ram as well I think the criticism and their performances I think would really drive them and we know the very bests in any sports tend to rise to the top in the biggest events it’ be very unsurprising to see either of those guys right up the very top of the leaderboard MH and then just on Dean but a lot of people won’t know too much about Dean he’s a golfer that flies under the radar unless you’re tragic like us and you pay a lot of close attention to it but uh I remember seeing him at Liv Adelaide last year in 2023 and was really impressed with the quality of his ball striking and his just generally his game so it’s not so surprising to me now to see him starting to poke his head up on on leaderboards and get some win or threaten to get some wins so be an interesting test for him a great opportunity he been given the special invite and from a South African point of view I’m sure they hope he makes it pay yeah absolutely it’s weather conditions quite interesting looks like we’re going to get a little bit of rain potentially all day uh Friday is looking like it’s probably the worst of the bunch at the moment yeah I wasn’t sure what the weather was doing I know that weather permitting the course is likely to play firm and fast from reports on the ground over there the course has recently changed its bent Fairways over to a type of zoer grass yep and so this this species of zoia bounces a lot more so they expect the ball to roll out in the fairways a lot more regularly so I hope that the rain holds off and we do get the firm and fast conditions cuz I think that tends to bring in or allow the best golfers to rise to the top what do you think of abber or arber in terms of his chances look he played exceptionally well at the Masters coming in at second there he’s got a knee injury or he withdrew from qua Hollow this past week gone with a knee injury how significant is that I guess we don’t really know he’s absolutely got the driving game to be in contention here hits in a mile hits it pretty straight as well so that could be a lethal combination the talk is that some of the aim points for the players will need to be adjusted based on the firm conditions so accuracy with your driving does then become a bit more of a premium it won’t surprise me at all to see him you know contending and and being up there in the top 10 or top five yeah i’ probably agree with that what I’m interested to see is the pressure put on Scotty a little bit so I think he’s clearly the best golfer in the world at the moment like he’s just heads and shoulders above everybody else but a few things remain his putting has been he’s got some technical problem with his putting now he seems to make the putts that matter but he misses he still misses some putts that he should make and they’re not potentially like maybe this is on a Thursday or Friday that he misses a one or two sort of butts he should have made but so it’s not under the gun on the Sunday but those pots are still going to matter in a championship like this that’s number one with him that I want to see how he’s going with his putting number two I want to see him under pressure on Sunday someone like maroy with Brooks with ra with them taking it to him because the Masters and in most of his other wins I haven’t seen him contending when he’s in and around there he’s either come from way back or he’s already been out in front and he’s similar to what Rory was on on Su day once Scott is in front you’re not catching him yeah I’d love to see it go down to the wire be great to see a playoff uh and you point around Scotty once he’s in front he gets the job done I think if you think go back to his master’s win last year sorry two years ago yeah Smithy was challenging him until that third hole and then he chipped in for for Birdie on the third hole after they were shortsighted on the left side there and then that was the end of it he he just ran away with it from there but really hoping that we have a close finish let’s get the best golfers all applying pressure to each other and and have a grand stand coming home yep um over under for the Live players in the top 10 where do you think that line needs to be set so there’s 17 in the field I think there’s about 156 in the field totally so let’s say it’s it’s roughly 10% look I think the line’s probably over under 2.5 what do you think yeah you’d be thinking 30% of the top 10 would be to me benchmarking so I’m happy to accept that I’m taking the over though you’re taking the over who who who are you three that are going to go over or more well Brook Smith Ram you can keep going it’s going to be deep this year I think it’s going to be pretty it’s going to be good performance from the live guys yep and then I guess a couple of fun cut or Miss cut I’ll get your views on tiger does he make the cut or miss the cut he makes the cut JT mrss oh that’s a big call it’s in his home Hometown Louisville Kentucky what about Jordan I want to see him make the cut I’m ready for Jordan to perform in in a major again and of course the the social media Superstar blocky does he miss the cut or does he make the cut my God for my next 12 months he has to miss the cut we we cannot we can’t go back there no we can’t do this for another 12 months seriously what if he to 15s again top 10 well he he’s got his own documentary this year he’s for for a top 15 he’s a professional golfer amazing that there’s a blockumentary they call it that’s been made about him I was watching the the 2014 official film at ball obviously Rory’s win just because I wanted to watch the full round the full final round but it doesn’t exist as far as I can find it so watching this film and block is featured in the 2014 edition he’s the he’s the needle mover apparently the content we never knew we needed blocky blocky content oh crazy now who’s the top Australian who’s finishing top yeah I’m not sure that this is a course that sets up well for Smithy I think Smithy needs the open Fairways and a bit more trick and challenge around the the greens to really separate his strengths from the field so I’m not going with Cam he’ll probably prove me to be an idiot but I’m not going with Cam I think I’m going to go with J day J D and I we were besties back when he was on his run I feel it’s time for us to to bond again and this mjor is going to be the one so I’m going with jayd yeah it’s a good choice he’s in good form and he’s looking good as well okay so I was just going to say can we quickly about his outfits here a Melbourne guy or not a Melbourne guy I’m really not I I like that that that fit he had on was it maybe Thursday or Friday that was a pretty good I like that look I’m like oh jeez could I rock that on the golf course I don’t know but the Masters was not good he’s the jacket they asked him to take off so someone put it perfectly on X I think they said would I wear that stuff voluntarily hell no but if someone’s going to pay me to wear that [ __ ] sign me up so I think I’m in that camp I think that I hope we do start seeing a little bit of that sort of fall over into recreational golf because I think that is one thing we’re wearing we’re wearing 1950s 1960s style gear on the golf course so it would be good to see that get updated a little bit yeah and that’s all part of the game modernizing there’s definitely going to be some clubs that just won’t come at that and they will have particular membership bases and and demographic but I think clubs that want to grow their membership base they can lean into some of those things Anthony Kim on X he’s he’s good isn’t he he’s a great follow certainly going very hard down the the Gratitude and an appreciation angle but I I guess it’s good to see he’s been in the depths of Despair throughout the last 12 years or parts of the last 12 years and he’s really open with how he appreciating and being grateful for the good things that are happening to him now yeah it’s all been very positive on on X except for his attack on brandle yeah which kind of did come from Left Field I’ve been really enjoying reading his replies to all the EX trolls out there that have been criticizing him for going on a 12E Coke bender and and the like he’s got really witty and nonpersonal rorts I think that they want to play the man not the ball and and he’s got a way of responding to take the oxygen out of their attacks but I was very surprised at the brandle won uh where he was more the aggressor and more on the front foot um I liked seeing it uh and I thought brandle uh responded with a pretty good touche as well um which wasn’t too grubby but uh just gave him gave him enough of a backhand to know that he wasn’t going to take that line down yeah it’s good think this whole Liv side and the the piff and Audy money has soured me ever so slightly on brandle I’ve always liked him like he’s I I don’t agree with a lot of what he says but I like the fact that he’s saying it and he’s making me think in different ways so listen it it’s going to be good to see the back of this or at least some healing starting to happen because the focus the negative Focus across the golf world is is something RS a bit over now and that’s a common sort of theme that we do see from a lot of people although I can I do think it can be extrapolated too far into the whole progolf is broken narrative pro golf’s going through a period of significant change it’s not broken and I do think honestly it will come out the back end of this in a much better and stronger state but it’s going to be uncomfortable for a while it will yes but as you say like it’s not at all broken we’re seeing lot more b a lot more golf around the world being played in different time zones which I think is important golf is not a US sport it’s a global Sport and I I do feel for the US fan because they are seeing their world turned completely upside down they’re losing access to the best players at the end of the day it’s a sacrifice that I’m glad that they’re making because it benefits everybody else in the world 100% agree yeah I think we’ve covered most things there Luke have you got anything else no just one last thing for people to um get involved in the conversation you can follow Jake and I on X it’s j cower and then also you can follow me at the shank showcore shank show also has an Instagram page or profile that you can follow the shank showcore and if you’d like to subscribe to the shank show newsletter you can do so using the link in the Bios of my ex profile or inag gr but we’d love you to get on board and join in the conversation tell us where we’re wrong tell us where we’re right and give us feedback on how we’re going absolutely good luck and I hope we have a a good tournament this week and yeah we’ll speak again in in s days time hopefully having seen EPA raise his fourth PGA championship trophy or an Aussie or an Aussie yes all right Luke thanks mate see you J bye-bye
