Kevin Kraft’s 2025 tournament season has started as he’s looking to build off a successful 2024 season. The 2nd Swing Master Fitter joins the show to discuss what tournaments he’s playing this year, reflects on his 2024 season and what he’s trying to improve upon with his own game. Then Sean Bower and Drew Mahowald make their picks for the PGA Championship, which gets underway Thursday at Quail Hollow.
00:00 Introduction
05:06 Sepp Straka WITB
11:20 Kevin Kraft
14:40 2024 U.S. Senior Open
19:55 PGA Tour Champions Q-School
23:20 Grading His 2024 Season
25:00 2025 U.S. Senior Open
27:15 New Tournaments in 2025
29:10 Goals for 2025
33:35 PGA Championship Picks
The 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast, presented by 2nd Swing Golf, covers anything and everything in golf equipment and club fitting. The 2nd Swing Thoughts will feature experts in the golf industry sharing insights and latest trends in golf clubs and club fittings. 2nd Swing Thoughts will also cover the latest in professional golf.
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On this episode of the Second Swing Thoughts podcast, Mr. Kevin Craft is back talking about well his playing schedule for 2025 and reflecting on how 2024 went. Plus, we asked him a little bit about his goals for the year and what he plans to achieve in 2025. So, a lot of competition talk with Kevin today. And also, uh, we’ve got really a big week this week as far as the golf world is concerned. We had a pretty significant event at the truest to go over and then also the season second major, the PGA Championship. We’ll go over that as well and maybe make some selections, some picks for ourselves. So, uh, a great episode here, the Second Swing Thoughts [Music] podcast. Hey golfers, and welcome back to the Second Swing Thoughts podcast. Back here in studio with Sean Bower, co-host. And um Sean, it’s uh we got a great one coming. Of course, anytime we have Kevin Craft on, it’s great to c catch up with him uh talking about, you know, his schedule for the year and where he’s at competitively. And actually, as of us this recording right now, he is currently competing. Uh so we have that and of course it’s PJ Championship week. Uh so we got to look look at that, look ahead to that. And um a lot more for sure. Yeah. Um, obviously, like you said, we love having Kevin on the show and I think the audience loves having Kevin on the show and uh really excited to hear about, you know, his schedule for 2025 and uh kind of goes through some of the ups and downs of 2024. Mostly ups, but few uh yeah, few that still, I think, leave him with a little bit of regret, but you know, so good to hear from Kevin. And then yeah, we got a big week here. Uh Quail Hollow, PGA Championship, second major of the year. Um, set up to be a good one. So, uh, we’ll get to there in just a little bit, but we’re going to start the turn off with the truest championship, this past weekend’s one at the Philly Cricket Club, the oldest country club in the United States, and it was uh, Seep Straa with the win. Um, became the second player this year joining Roy Moy, only players to have won multiple events. He’s been pretty consistent. Uh, it was kind of a two-man battle between him and Shane Lowry. Justin Thomas was hanging around but just couldn’t quite uh get anything and ultimately a nice par on 18 proved to be kind of the difference cuz Lowry ended up three putting for bogey which dropped him two back but uh yeah but Sep I think he’s you know he’s a very good player he might be one of the most underrated players in the game just because he’s not a a brand name yet right you know and yeah I mean but Seep has been playing some really darn good golf um the last couple of years now. Um, in terms of ball striking, he’s been among the elites, has a ton of control with his driver. He’s always in the fairway. So, um, he’s been consistently within striking distance at a lot of these big events. Um, and actually, you know, looking ahead to, um, to the PJ championship, Quail Hollow does set up pretty good for him as well. He’s got the game to fit that. Um he’s got enough distance to keep up um you know or kind of stay within striking distance right of the Rories of the world. Um but he’s played well there before and yeah not as surprised to see him up there and he’s been knocking on that door even since he just won recently. Um, I was kind of rooting for for Lowry there just because it had been so long since he won a PGA Tour event. And he has also been a guy who’s been consistently right there so many times and just hasn’t come through since I think it was 2015 since he won American soil. He obviously had the Open in 2019. Um, but yeah, it’s I was it was a really good tournament. Really fun, thrilling. You had Justin Thomas lurking there as well who’s clearly informed heading into the PGA as well. So, um, I thought it was pretty entertaining uh, tournament. Yeah. And just before we get into his, you know, what’s in the bag here, you know, the Philly Qriket Club, I think going into the week, I think people thought this was going to be because it’s a it’s a shorter course, it’s an older school course, that maybe uh it was going to be a lowcoring um affair, but uh it ultimately turned out to be a pretty tough challenge for the guys, mostly due to weather. Um Right. Yeah. You had the weather causing problems. we had. Um, but I mean I it’s one of those things nowadays if it if you if a course or you you know if the tour really wants to make a course difficult, they can. Um, and it’s just a matter of how and plus, you know, like you mentioned, the weather can be a factor there as well with winds or whatever have you. But, um, I thought it played pretty well. I think that’s about what you could you really what you could ask for if you’re um, the tour or Philly Cricket Club. a thrilling event that comes down to the last hole. Um but to your point is I did want to point this out before we get into the what’s in the bag that um what a week for team Shrexon or team Cleveland. Um because you had not only did you have Lowry and Straa coming down the stretch, you know, with a chance to win it. But at the Myrtle Beach, you also had Ryan Fox win that one who’s also on team tricks. So big week for team tricks all around in the PJ tour. Chipped in on the playoff. Yes, he did. It was a dramatic win. So pretty sweet there. But yeah, let’s uh let’s take a look at Seb. his team stricks in Cleveland except at the top of his bag where he goes uh paradigm AI smoke triple diamond and max um matches it up with the fairway woods he kind of he goes three-wood 7wood so he’s on that sevenwood trend that you’re seeing you know not only the tour pros playing but you’re seeing more and more golfers put those high lofted fairway woods in there then he goes uh Strickson ZXI combo set ZXI5s for his four and five irons and then 6 to9 ZXI7 and then goes with the new Cleveland RTZ wedge We learned a lot about those with Roger Cleveland a couple weeks ago. Um goes to that for his pitching wedge all the way through the gap and then has an old uh trusty Odyssey Tuttle stroke Lab putter that uh treated him well. He’s, you know, he’s kind of an irons and putting is kind of his strength. It was reflected in his, you know, in his win. Ninth in strokes gained on the approach, second in strokes gained putting. Yep. That’s a good combo, especially at a course where maybe distance isn’t everything that you need there. So yeah, I mean that’s a pretty this is a pretty classic bag. Um in terms of you’ve got I think he there’s a certain you know a lot of guys on tour will blend together or or match up the driver in the woods which he does. Um and then you have a combo set in the irons um which again more and more popular. And I also wanted to point out to um um if you go to the golfwx.com uh kind of the the blog post or the page that they have for his winning what’s in the bag, you actually see a threeiron there and it appears to be a ZXI5 as well that he probably interchanges a little bit with that 7wood. Um obviously this week he played the 7wood. Um but you never know, maybe a different course, maybe a different setup, maybe something like Quail, I don’t know, could uh put the 300 in the bag. So, I think that’s a pretty common, you know, yeah, a lot of I’m sure a lot of pros carry 15 or 16 clubs and just swap out based on conditions or what’s what’s needed that week. So, I just wanted to point that out cuz it’s kind of cool that um we were able to get those, you know, you’re able to see those photos from golf there. Yeah. So, SEP wins the uh the event leading into this week’s PGA Championship. Uh SH It’s got the makings of a great tournament. Obviously, they’re getting a lot of weather down there. Yeah. In Charlotte, lots of rain. I think it’s two days in a row now they’ve had to pull people off the course. We’ll see if if they can dry that out, if it can get a little, you know, firmer. Um, but I think if it if it stays soft like that, then, you know, you want to look at those players that have some distance that have some distance and that, uh, you know, can hit the high irons into the greens with their long irons, you know, those longer holes. So, you’re kind I mean, those guys typically are the ones you’re thinking of anyways, but you’re thinking of your Rory Mroys, your Bryson Deamos, Scott Sheffler. I mean, the, you know, the guys that can hit it far and that are really good with their long irons. When the course does get wet like that, I know we’re kind of, we’re going into the PJ championship preview here and I know we have one other topic we’re going to cover here, but I just wanted to kind of follow up with that point there. Quail Hall is already a long um long golf course and you know, you’ve seen in the history of who’s won that event. Obviously, Rory’s been so successful there because he’s had some length. Uh, and you’re right, like that event is only going to benefit longer hitters because the course is only going to play that much longer if it’s if it’s, you know, soft. Um, the rough is really thick now, probably if you get some rain. So, uh, to that end, you know, if you’re we’re going to give our picks here at the end of the show, but, um, you probably want to lead on guys that have a little bit of distance and can, um, use that strength to not overpower the course, but keep up really with what the course is going to throw at you. Yeah. So, should be an awesome tournament. Like I said, stick around after we talk with Kevin. Drew and I are going to be making our picks. We got a little format for it. Um, so stay tuned for that. But then finally wrapping up the turn here, a guest you all know very well, Bella Macaulay. Um, of course, you know, she’s had, you know, quite the year. Got to play at the Anwa. Just was competing in the NCAA tournament last week. Just missed out on advancing to the finals. Um, but some pretty cool news. She has been named to the US Palmer Cup team. And the Palmer Cup is a now it’s a men’s and women’s combined team event, Ryder Cup style. top collegiate golfers on the American side playing against Great Britain and Ireland. So, pretty cool tournament. Uh pretty cool format, pretty big honor. Um she kind of keeps stacking up those accolades. Uh obviously she’s earned every single one of them, but uh really happy for her. So, congrats to Bella on being named to the Palmer Cup team. Yeah, I mean this is again like you mentioned just another um another addition to the resume that she’s already building for herself, you know, in a strong way that um it’s it’s pretty incredible what she’s doing. And I know she’s you and I don’t think she’s been super um at least in the plenty of times we’ve talked to her hasn’t been super, you know, outwardly expressive about I’m going to play on the LPJ tour someday, but um she’s got she’s building that trajectory and it’s been really cool to watch. And so, uh, it’s been really cool cuz she’s been, again, getting fit with Aaron Roth as you me as, you know, you heard on that discussion with him. You know, what is it, a month and a half ago, we talked with him about that. Um, and it’s been a decade or so that they’ve been working together to. So, to see that progression and what she’s achieved in that time is is really cool for us, a second swing to see that. So, and I know Aeron’s pretty proud of proud of that and proud of her. So, it’s really cool. Yeah. So hopefully uh hopefully we get to hear from Bella here soon on this podcast kind of talking about everything that you just heard. But uh so yeah, that wraps up the turn. So let’s head right into today’s featured interview. We have Mr. Kevin Craft joining the show once again. Yeah, it’s um again we it’s always fun to catch up with Mr. Kevin Craft. Um he has a pretty busy schedule this year as far as compet competition. He’s obviously got already gotten started with a couple of those things. Um, so we talked to him about that and how his goals are going into the year as a guy who’s, you know, he’s kind of almost, it’s almost like split between the stuff he’s doing in senior only, uh, events and also the, you know, trying to keep up with some of the younger guys, um, on in some of these, you know, other professional events he does. So, uh, great to catch up with Kevin here talking about his schedule for the year. [Music] Today we want to talk about Kevin’s competition results um feedback uh from 2024 and then look ahead to 2025. And so um we last caught up with you, this was prior to um Q school. So, we’ll talk about that in a second, but just want to get your your kind of key, you know, take or you know, what you kind of learned what about what you accomplished about your game, about yourself. You know, how do you think 2024 went as in terms of the playing competition side? I think it’s only fair to look at it as a pretty pretty decent year. I would really like to have two maybe three swings back. um whether they were putts or bunker shots or whatever, just a couple in a couple situations would have made 2024 just an extraordinary year. Yeah. Um instead, I’m, you know, dwelling on things that maybe I shouldn’t necessarily dwell on, but um there were a couple of frustrations. There were a lot of good things, too. So, uh, I learned a bit more about what I really need to grind on in order to make myself even more competitive. Yeah. Um, partial shots I’ve been terrible at for too long. So, I’m trying to work on those in the in the simulators in the morning. Um, I need to I need I need a hundred yard club. I legitimately played the entire year last year without a hundred yard club. That seems uh counterintuitive. Yeah, it does. So, okay. What would actually be counterintuitive is if you ever, you know, set up for a T-shot or set up for a golf hole and you’re like, “Well, that’ll get me to 100 yards.” But isn’t that what we do usually? It’s like, if I can get it to 100 yards, be all right. Well, people do if they have a 100 yard club. Yeah. Well, I don’t. So, u I’ve been playing 60° and I can’t hit my 60 100 yards anymore. Yeah. So, but I’ve been playing 54 degree and it’s not really a comfortable 100 yard swinger either. So, I am making adjustments. Fair. Yeah. So, okay. So, again, few swings you wanted back. You did. I mean, you still accomplished some cool things. Pennsylvania Senior Open. That was a good one. You know, winning that is kind of kind of cool. It is cool. Um, probably not quite as cool as, you know, winning the Pennsylvania State Open the year before. Um, I know we’ve talked, first of all, go watch dinner with a winner with Kevin. We dive into the stuff a little bit deeper. Um, kind of how you’re, you know, thinking about, you know, winning that tournament and beating a bunch of younger younger guys. Um, I bet that was kind of fun. Fun. But, uh, it’s, that’s still Pennsylvania Senior Open. That’s pretty cool. So, it’s not like, you know, I think you can, you know, when you you say it would have been a home run year maybe for a couple of things and some qualifiers or Yeah, I know. I I think the elephant in the room I’m thinking of is US Senior Open missing the cut by a shot. So, that’s the one I think that ultimately hurt the most because it was that was right there. And yeah, you know, when you bogey the last hole, it’s so hard to separate the previous 35 holes from what you do on the last hole, right? It just leaves that bad taste in your mouth when, you know, I didn’t do anything wrong on the 18th hole. I missed my T-OT a touch to the left based on the fact that there’s a creek down the right side that I couldn’t fly. So, I didn’t want to hit it over there. So, I hit it over here and I missed the fairway by a foot. my lie. I could get I could line up the top hundred players in the world and I don’t think any one of them that looked at the lie that I had there. I don’t think any of them would have said, “Yeah, man. That’s going to come out hot.” Like it was down there. Yeah. I had a cross bunker about 60 yards in front of me. I didn’t know if I could get it over the cross bunker. I mean, I’m looking at this thing going, “Oh my gosh, what am I how can I get this thing even close to the green? Can I get it over this cross bunker?” So, yeah, I had some wind behind me, but it didn’t even that didn’t even factor. You’re just trying to get the club face on the golf ball. Absolutely. Dig it out of the situation that it’s in. Move it forward. Try to get it up to the front of the green if possible. When that ball came off the club face, I actually went, “Yes.” Because in the air, it looked perfect. And it I’d gotten enough on it that a it was getting over that cross bunker, and b I thought it was going to get up, you know, potentially into the middle of the green. And it went I had I had 137 front, 154 pin, and that shot went 176 yards. I will never to to my deathbed. I will never know how that ball came out of there like that. And that I know well enough how to read a fly or lie. That was not a fly or lie. That thing was never coming out of there and it just came out like a rocket. I don’t know. Again, game of inches because if you hit that fairway, your your T-shot is foot couple feet to the right. That’s not a concern at all. Correct. You more than likely hit the middle of the green in two putt and you’re playing Saturday and Sunday. Um that Yeah, that’s that’s golf. That’s golf. Yeah, it is golf. That’s for sure. Yeah. But that’s I mean to your point though, I think a lot of you know it’s not to this maybe uh level, but I’m sure there are players that can relate to that where they’re in maybe it’s a match with their buddies or maybe it’s trying to break 80 for the first time or break 90 for the first time. And you always think about the last hole. If you end up making a bogey or a double bogey on the last hole, you miss a short putt when cuz you up to that point you put yourself in that spot and you think, “All right, I’ve done my job for 17 holes or I’ve done my job for 35 holes.” So, I just have to do the job one more time when in reality now you look back there’s shot here, shot there, all over that you could have had back on 17. I came up short with my T-shot and I had I think I puted from the fringe and I ran it like seven feet by and made the sevenfooter. If I had missed the sevenfooter and made par on 18, I probably would have felt less bad than I do now. Yeah, probably. Why? Because it’s the exact same end result. Yeah. Right. I still would have failed to make the cut by a shot. Yeah. But it’s just the the fact that you’ve you’ve you’ve dropped it at the last the last second. You’ve you’ve you know failed from the jaws of victory, you know. So maybe we need to look at that as, you know, getting there is the winning. I mean, look, I’m I I mean, that’s that’s three US senior opens in in four years. Yeah. I’m a club fitter, right? Yeah, this is I’m just a I’m just a fat old club fitterer, that’s all. You know, so why should I have expectations that I should be able to make cuts in majors? Yeah, I I don’t even know if I have an answer for that. I I maybe I should. If anything though, something I mean, it’s very clear you have the game. It’s very clear you have the game on occasion. It’s there. Yeah. Yeah. So, just trying to make those occasions as often as possible. Q school. Now, let’s talk about that quick. So, let’s briefly just for the for the viewers and listeners that don’t aren’t aware, what are this what’s the formatting in the stages like for senior or you know, yeah, senior champions tour Q school. For champions tour, there’s two stages. There’s a a first qualifying site and then there’s finals. So, um, they’ll take about 12 to 15 guys per site somewhere in that that neighborhood. So, you get about 40 40 maybe 45 total qualifiers out of the three sites. Um, and then you go to finals and you have there’s five cards on offer. Mhm. It’s hard. So, it is hard. I mean, it’s just mathematically the odds are against you. But um yeah, we we were following you as well during uh the Q school and again it was I mean it the game is there, right? It’s you you’ve it’s so it seems like it’s maybe I think you you know you’ve said before it was um putting at Q school anyway that kind of cost and I didn’t putt I don’t feel like I puted badly. I hit a lot of really good putts, but I only made one putt outside of six feet, and that was on the fourth hole of first day. So, I hit it really well. I didn’t necessarily knock the flag down all the time, but I hit a ton of greens in regulation, managed my game really well. If you were following along, was there any point where you just went, “Will you make a birdie?” Because I only made five the whole week. a little bit cuz I mean it that tone I wouldn’t really use because of Well, it should have. I know. You definitely should have. I don’t feel like I have the authority to use that tone. I feel like I needed just a kick in the pants or something to to get it going. Yeah, that’s it kind of speaks to at that level of golf. There’s a there’s a moment or maybe a line where competitive golf means making birdies when they’re there versus, you know, I know saving pars is a big deal. Yeah. But to like you needed like you just that’s kind of the difference is you needed to make a few more birdies. Yeah. So number two then number six and then 11 and then 15 are par fives. If you are a professional and you take care of business, you should birdie a lot of par fives, right? I mean, if you’re if you can keep it in play, you’re probably going to have wedge in your hand a lot. So, I had 16 opportunities to to birdie par fives. I didn’t do a very good job of that. If I only made five birdies for the week, I did not do a very good job on the par fives. So, you know, that leans toward what do I need to do to be better on par fives? Yeah. And it’s not just putting. I mean, I got to get closer. Sure. Uh I either need to hit better shots out of the out of the fairway going for it or I need to hit better wedge shots when I’ve had to lay up. So, grinding on wedges, number one thing we’re going to do this year. Okay. So, before we go into 2025, kind of looking ahead, um, I’m going to make you give yourself a letter grade for 2024. Yeah. So, I guess I’m going to be the teacher that, you know, woke up on the wrong side of bed and coffee maker broke and had a flat tire. Um, I I guess I’ll give it a B+. Okay. I mean, if you look back at the results, okay, won the Pennsylvania senior. That was awesome way to start the year. Missed getting through US Open locals by a shot, but I shot 68, so I shouldn’t complain too much there. Failed to qualify for the first time for the Massachusetts Open in five years. So, that was a bit of a bummer, but one day qualifiers are tough. You either show up and you’ve got it or you don’t, right? So, no big deal there. but finished um you know qualified for the US Senior Open. Finished 22nd out of 132 in New Hampshire. Finished 25th out of 156 at the Pennsylvania Open. Finished 31st out of 156 at the Colorado Senior Open. First time I played that event. Um had a hole in one a car. That’s right. That’s right. You know, it’s not like I I should look back and be like, “Yeah, this was a bad year.” It wasn’t. But man, couple swag. I think it’s just the natural competitor you competitor in you is just like what if on a couple of those couple of those kind of I mean if I had if I had had that one shot at the senior open and that one shot at at at at Q school I get to play the weekend at senior open I get to finals um you know it would have been a it would have been just magical. It would have been an unbelievable year. So, you know, who who knows if you know what what it’s going to look like this year. US Senior Open’s changing its qualification process. Instead of being one stage and then you’re in, there’s now a local and then a sectional and then and then getting in. The worst part of that was I’ I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed that the place that I’ve been going for the last four years would be a sectional site and it’s a local site. So there was talk at some point of those who had been winners of the state senior opens being exempt through the first stage of qualifying. If that pans out, I’m actually gonna be a little bummed because I would really like to go play that course. I I love the Cascades. It’s just I love everything about that place. Last year when I went down and played my practice round, I got through about 12 holes and the skies just opened up. And I am not one to particularly relish playing in the rain. Matter of fact, if you know, Wednesdays are my day off and if if Wednesday comes around and I look out the window and it’s pouring, I’m probably not going outside. Yeah. At all. So, but I love being there so much. I was just like, let it go. Just I finished out my practice round sping wet. I mean, just drenched to the core. One of the few places, if if not the only place that you would have There’s a few others that I would probably have done it, too, but it’s certainly one of them. I just love that. facility so much down there. So, uh, so I’d like to go back, though, I would also like to not have to go through through that portion of qualifying. So, we’ll we’ll see what happens. Um, I did a little poking around and looks like Deal, New Jersey. Uh, Deal Country Club is a old Donald Ross golf course that looks kind of right up my alley. So, I’d probably try and go there if I if I’m if I get to final or to the to the sectionals. Sure. Um, so with that said, and in 2025, any, you know, you mentioned the senior open qualifying. Is there any other specific goals that you have or you just kind of just go play your best and results will happen? I would just like to be better. I would just like to to feel like like I had a great year in terms of putting last year. Like I had first time in a long time where I’ve had positive self-t talk around the putter, right? I went through 13 putters in 2023. I went I used one last year famously um infamously. Um so like I feel like I’ve got a much better grasp on on that side of the game. I need to tighten up my wedge game. I need to work on the partial shots. you know, how am I going to play it when I’ve got 180 downhill to a back pin and I just feel like seven iron is not going to get there, but I have always been afraid that six is going to blow it over the green. I’ve got this phobia of being over the green. Yeah, I never go long except for 18th hole at US Open. Um, I never go long. I’m always coming up short if anything, which I suppose if you think about it, you know, keeping the ball between you and the hole tends to be a pretty good most of the time, you know, idea. But I sometimes don’t get to where I want to get to because I’m afraid that it’s going to go too far. So, I’ve got to learn to hit partial shots. And I’ve been terrible at trying to take something off of a shot. I typically hit fat hooks. It’s not a good look. Fat hooks are not good shots. Yeah, I uh I agree with that. So, okay. So, we’ve got So, it’s not necessarily a resultsbased, you know, 2025. I don’t think it would be fair to try to to put 2022 against 23 against 24 against 25, right? Because who knows what’s going to happen in terms of qualifying. You know, I’ll go back up try to qualify for Massachusetts Open. If I get into the Massachusetts Open, it looks like they’re playing a really cool golf course on Cape Cod and I get in there. Okay, does that how much influence does that make on my season? Yeah. Right. Maybe I don’t get into the senior open this year. Maybe I do, you know? So, I can’t I’ve been so fortunate to have gotten into three out of four. Yeah. Right. That’s ridiculous. That’s that’s doing something that most people don’t get a chance to do. So, I am extremely fortunate that I’ve been able to do that. Can I continue to do it? Likely no. But won’t be from a lack of trying, right? I love that. That’s the best part. Um, you’re going to keep trying. Yeah. So, we’re going to keep rooting you on. So, that one, you know, that one I’ll I’ll keep doing. Um, going to add a couple events to my schedule this year. Connecticut has a senior open that is now open to anybody. Um, their standard open is now also open to anybody that has qualifier to get into, but I don’t think there’s qualifier for the seniors. And then I’m going to try and do Texas senior as well. So add that add two tournaments to the schedule. I had to skip Texas due to my wrist last year. So um that was the other thing. I went through a a about a six week period leading into uh Q school where I really didn’t play much. Yeah, you were injured because I was cuz I was nursing this wrist. So, um fingers crossed that won’t become too much of an issue this year. I’d really like it not to be. Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s I mean, we as as a as a team here at Second Swing always are rooting for you, but we also just have the respect that like you’re still fitting full-time and you know, the time I know, you know, in a dream world, you you’d have more time and freedom to go practice and stuff and um that would don’t make a difference, but you know, it’s kind of cool in a way that you’re able to beat so many people that are just playing golf all the time. Yeah, that is pretty cool. But it’s, you know, it’s a testament to what this company is and what they’ve done for me that I have the opportunities that I do have. It’s I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s no coincidence that all the good things that have happened to me on the golf course have pretty much all happened since I joined Second Swing. I mean, to have the support and, you know, have all this great group of people, you know, rooting and cheering me on is is awesome. And I I do take everybody with me when when I go because it’s not, you know, I’m playing for me, but I’m playing for everybody here, too, because this is to me, this is just a it’s just a big extended family. Um, yeah, I’m super super grateful. Yeah, that’s that’s a great way to to to close, I think. So, yeah, this is the the beginning of 2025. We’re going to be rooting for you. I know we’ve got uh you know US Open is the kind of the the first qualifier two months away but nonetheless we’ll be rooting for you. So Kevin as always thank you for joining. I know the viewers and listeners will appreciate this one and uh yeah golfer stay tuned for for more content. We we’ve got a lot coming from Kevin’s visit here this week. Love that. [Music] And that was Kevin Craft, our guy, talking about his schedule for the year. And actually, as of this current moment, he is, let’s see, he is one shot back at the Pennsylvania Senior Open, which he is the defending champion of. Um, with looks like 12 holes left to go in the tournament. So, he’s right in the thick of it once again. Um, actually, he was the first round leader with a 68 yesterday, which included 1, two, three, four, five, six, seven birdies. Jeez. And then uh he’s stumbled a little bit out of the gates here in the second round, but um he’s still right there. So I’m hoping that you know maybe in uh by the time you’re listening to this, he may have he might be a back-to-back champion. Yeah, back to that’ be sweet. But uh yeah, let’s get into the PJ championship picks. So we have been toying with a couple different formats throughout this. Um for the for Augusta, we just did the kind of the masters.com format. Um, what we’re going to do now, uh, I don’t know, you may or may not be familiar with the website runyoupool.com, but as a company, we do this for all of our employees. And so, we’re going to use that format. And that format is essentially you pick six golfers, one from each tier. And the tiers are decided by your the golfers odds to win the tournament. So, there’s, you know, the top 10 players in terms of most likely to win are one tier, then the next 10 are a tier. And so basically you have a selection of the you know top 10 players in the world 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 50 you know 50 plus is a tier of its own. So and again those are with the whole live thing. It went from world rankings and now they do it by odds to win the tournament to get those live guys in there. So um so what we’re going to do is make our picks. We’re going to go through each tier who we’ve got. Um and uh we’re going to have our own uh I guess our own lineup of six players. And then the other caveat to the scoring here is that the best five of your six players count and it’s just a pure score relative to par. And the caveat here is if you have any player that misses the cut on that day, so Saturday, Sunday, if you know I pick I pick Rory Maroy and he has misses the cut Saturday, Sunday, he will then be awarded the score that is the worst that actually a player shot that day. So if someone ended up firing an 83 that day, then Rory gets an 83 uh for the score. So that’s that way, you know, you don’t get a benefit of any kind for a guy missing the cut if the course plays tough. So I hope that all makes sense. I kind of threw a lot at at everybody right there. But um nonetheless, we’re going to go with our picks here. So I’ll let you lead us off here, Mr. Bower. Uh you did win the masters.com. We’ve each won one. So you got the players, I got the Masters, and we got you got this one. couple more majors. Um, so we’ll see who who kind of has the year- end uh victory total, but uh so yeah, my first pick I’m going to go with uh world number one Scotty Sheffler obviously got back into the winners column at the CJ Cup. Byron Nelson took last week off, so he should be coming in fresh. Sounds like he’s going to be Ubered to the course every day this year. So that’s good. But uh hard not to pick against him. I know that a debate between him and and another player that you’re probably going to pick just based on his history at the course, but I think Scotty’s kind of due for a major win and one that’s not at Augusta. Yeah, that’s uh yeah, I mean it’s you can’t really argue against picking Scotty here. Uh I am going to go with Rory for my tier one or top tier pick here. Um and I guess the reason for that is, you know, I think the floodgates are going to be open for him now. I think I said that before, but maybe he’s a little freed up to win another major now that it’s been, you know, he finally got one off that that off his back after 10 years or 11 years. And so he’s also this is a course that he’s had a ton of success at. So, um, that is yeah, we went with the the the top two choices here really in Scotty Shuffler and Rory Moy. So to confirm now that eliminates the following players from being picked again, right? So that top tier included Scotty, Rory Maroy, Bryson Dashambo, John Rom, Xander Schoffley, Justin Thomas, Brooks, Kepka, Colin Morawa, Ludvig, Ober, and Waqen Neman. So um, moving on to tier two. Do you want to go and are we going to go snake or do we want to go just alternating here? It doesn’t matter. We can just alternate. Okay. Um, so yeah, tier two I’m going to go with Patrick Kantlay. Um, surprisingly he hasn’t won since uh 2022, but he’s always kind of consistently there, right? He’s always, you always see his name on the leaderboards. Obviously, this past weekend, he made a nice charge late to get him name way up on the leaderboard at the truest championship. He’s never won a major. Last year, you know, his RDER Cup partner finally broke through. Maybe it’s time for Klay to kind of finally get his first major. And he’s got, you know, he’s got the game to do it. So, yeah, he’s had a couple solid finishes at Quill Hollow as well. So, um definitely can’t argue with that one. He does have I don’t want to say a bad track record at majors, but he’s certainly been um I think he’s probably got the talent where he probably should have one or two by now. Um with that said, I’m going to go with Sept Straka. I believe I picked him at Augustine. It did not go well. Uh but I’m going back with him again. I think he he’s had I think he finished was it last year um in the uh well what was the Wells Fargo championship he was the top 10 finish at Quill Hollow. Obviously the game feels good after coming off a win so I’m going to go with him. Um in this category were some pretty big names as well. You had uh you had obviously Canlay and Seraka. You also had Fleetwood, Matsyama, Tier Hatton, Victor Havlin Spe Shane Lowry, Cory Connors and Russell Henley. That is a that is a library of really good ball strikers there in that second tier. So, um third tier is where things get maybe a little interesting. I think not as much of the household names, but I think guys that certainly have the capability of winning. Who you got from uh tier three? Yeah, I’m going to go with Sunjm. Um you he’s a two-time PJ tour winner. He he had a good appearance up at the Masters. Um he’s kind of been struggling a little bit lately. um just not what you’re used to him. But overall, he’s he’s one of the best ball strikers out there except for weirdly his iron play. But you look at he ranks in the top 20 in strokes off the tea. He’s 11th around the greens, 26th in putty, and that’s a really good combination. But he’s 179th in approach, which that’s going to limit you, but I think it’s more he’s the past couple of months he has been getting closer to kind of tour average. Yep. So maybe that’s a sign that things are to come. I’ve always liked Sunjm, so I’m a little biased there. He’s kind of one of my boys and um so we’re going to go with Sunj there and hope he finally kind of has maybe his big major moment. Yeah. Um yeah, that’s uh that’s he has been knocking on the door a few times. He’s been really close to a couple majors before. I’m going with Patrick Reed here. Um this is a kind of another course history play. He has a really good track record at Quail Hollow. Um, and I I think he it’s one of those where kind of taking a flyer on a on a live guy here, mainly because I think there is sort of a it’s almost impossible to really evaluate the live guys versus the PJ tour guys. And so because of this, I think there might be some hidden value there with how he’s been playing. And so that’s my guy Patrick Reed here in tier three. Some really other, you know, big names here. I thought about Windham Clark just with his strength off the tea. Um but ultimately and min I guess in that same in that same breath bunch of ball speed and distance off the tea but um Patrick Reed’s my guy in tier three there. Yeah. So tier four I actually made a last I was debating between two guys. Um ended up I was debating between Cebu Kim and Tony Feno. Okay. Um and I decided to get with Tony Feno. Okay. Um, I know he hasn’t been having the best year by any means, but uh had a top 15 at the truest. And then I think at at Quail Hollow, you want players that can hit the ball far, especially with the wet conditions and can get a lot of birdies. Yep. And Tony Feno is typically one like that’s kind of his game. He can hit the ball far, he can get a lot of birdies. Yeah. Yeah, he’s going to make some mistakes and his putter can get cold, but I just plus similar to uh Sunj, he’s one of my favorite golfers. Yeah. Uh I just I like his style. I like the way he plays the game. Obviously following him through the Netflix series and his family is really cool. So I’m going with Tony Fen. It’s more of a hard overhead take. I like I like I mean I’m going kind of the same route in that regard with with tier four here. And that’s Max. Um and a guy who I mean his struggles have been pretty well documented. He’s talked about it a lot himself. U but I think he may have found something in his game at Augusta. You know, he had a solid finish there. I believe he was right on that top 12 number to get him in next year to that tournament. Um he also had a really good uh I should say a really solid follow-up performance last week um at the cricket club. So I and he has he’s won here too. Again, this is kind of a course history play as well. And I like Max. So that’s my pick there in tier four. You know, tier five. I don’t even know how I just said I went with a player that hits it long and, you know, gets a lot of birdies. Well, I’m going the exact opposite here. I’m going with Brian Harmon. Yeah. Who kind of It’s actually not a bad strategy, though. Kind of covering your bases of the different guys. Two different styles. But, uh, you know, he he obviously won the Valero Texas Open, made the cut the Masters, didn’t really do much there. Um, had a had a rough Saturday. Uh, shot a 77 there, I believe. Other than that, he was one under every other round. Um, but T for three at RBC Heritage, place he’s played well. um trourist championship. Not a whole lot going on there for him, but he’s a previous major champion. He’s got a win under his belt. He’s got a few, you know, good performances. And if you go with the every other week because he went first, T for 36, T for third, T for 46. Maybe that uh math is mapping up there. So, yeah. No, that’s that’s good. That’s good. And Herman has clearly he has the sort of mental makeup, too, to stick around in these big events. Obviously, if you win the open in those conditions the way he did, uh there’s a certain advantage you have over most players there. So, um I actually am also going to make a bit of a a change here, a last minute uh curveball, if you will. I had been leading De Murmister. He’s got some strength off the tea. Um but something about Willuraus’s name is is is is calling me right now. He’s had, you know, he’s a he’s a big game hunter in a sense. You know, these majors, he typically tends to show up. He hangs around. He nearly won that year. Thomas did a few years ago. Um, and I I think he’s got, you know, he’s had some injury concerns and hasn’t been super consistent lately, but um, he tends to, weirdly enough, the putter has been a struggle for him, but he always putts well in majors. So, I’m hoping that rings true this week. So, I’m going to go with Will Zelator. All right. I like that. Hopefully, you know, it’d be good to see Will back up there. I think just one just for his confidence, too. He’s a he’s a fun golfer to watch. Um, yeah. My last pick, I’m going to go with Harris English. Um, he’s got a win already this year up the Farmers Insurance Open. Um, three of his last four starts, top 20 finishes. Uh, includes a t for 12 at the Masters and then a T for 11 here this past week at the truest. So, he’s playing good golf and he’s a veteran and he’s already got a win under his belt. So he kind of knows knows how to close a tournament and uh and he has played well in majors like this where you know it’s length is needed, ball striking is needed, there’s going to be some thick rough. Um I I think back to the US Open at I think Ram won at Tory and I think he was up there for a lot of that as was Russell Henley. Um and so that’s that’s another name there that’s he can certainly make some noise in this weekend uh this weekend’s events. I’m going to go Gary Woodland again. and another one that’s kind of like a fandom pick, but um you know, obviously him he’s got the he had the brain tumor and he’s been kind of coming back from that the last year plus or so. And I think he has found some form this year. A couple nice finishes lately and uh he also has that that ball speed and that distance to keep up with the the Rories of the world um this week if it if that ends up being a big advantage. So I’m going to go Gary Woodland. So we’ll do a quick like we’ll each kind of read our teams. So, uh, this is for PJ Championship. Our six picks. Drew, what’s your roster looking like? Yeah, I got the roster here. Rory Moy, Seb Straa, Patrick Reed, Max Homa, Will Zatatorus, and Gary Woodland. All righty. And I got Scotty Sheffller, Patrick Canle, Sun JM, Tony Feno, Brian Harmon, Harris English. So, those are our teams. Let the best man win. And uh reviewers there, comment, you know, whose team you like more and if if you’re running your own picks or something, drop those in the comments as well. We’d love to hear them. Yeah. Tell us if we made crucial errors, but do it before the tournament starts. Don’t tell us Sunday afternoon that we made a mistake in picking one of these guys. Uh we get that all the time actually. It’s kind of funny. But um so yeah, that that’s great. Obviously, a major week is a lot of fun. So I hope everybody enjoys watching the tournament. got some YouTube things to discuss here quickly as well. Uh we got live at lunch this week. Uh we’re going to be actually joined by Blaine Sites, our fitter down at the PJ Coaching Center, second swing fitting location doing some testing. We’re going to do kind of that that long game testing where you have a 7wood four hybrid iron. We’re going to be doing all those via Trackman. So tune in for that. Also stay tuned of course for our Fitter’s Choice and our tour van series. Those are both um you know right in the thick of it launching some really cool content, unique stuff. Um really cool for sure. Yeah. And then on the second swing side, we have our major contest for the second major of the year happening in the month of May. Um can win, you know, custom set of irons, custom wedges. Uh you can win the Rory Maroy Spec Driver and Fairwaywoods along with a a custom set of irons. So some cool prizes. Head to our social media channels. you can earn some extra entries there. And then obviously you want to submit your main entry on our website. And then as always, check out our, you know, if you’re in the market for some golf clubs, check out our best value golf clubs page. Um, anything from drivers, irons, you name it. A lot of very recent models that aren’t brand new, but you know, a generation or two old in excellent condition going for unbeatable values. So check those out. Yeah. Um, and without further ado, subscribe to the Second Swing Thoughts podcast or subscribe to the Second Swing Golf YouTube channel or you know what, maybe just do both. Maybe subscribe to the podcast on the audio platforms such as Spotify and Apple and uh then also subscribe to the Second Swing YouTube channel. Uh, we got all kinds of content turnurning out every single week, including this here podcast. So stay tuned. We’ll be back next week and hopefully with uh some really good news at least on my team with my roster, take down Sean’s team at the PJ Championship. So, thank you all for tuning in. We’ll see you next week. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
