The TOUGHEST U.S. Open Ever? Players FRUSTRATED by Oakmont Conditions

The TOUGHEST U.S. Open Ever? Players FRUSTRATED by Oakmont Conditions

all right this week’s US Open at Oakmont is potentially the hardest test of golf that we’ve ever seen and that’s evidenced by guys like Rory Maroy having a practice round the other day that was just brutal on top of that we saw Bryson Dashambo on his own YouTube channel play the course and talk about his ball being absolutely cooked while in the rough we also had the firsthand experience of playing Oakmont just about two weeks ago and that’s even before the rough grew an additional 2 in and I can tell you from firsthand experience it was the toughest golf course I have ever played and it is going to be a true test for these players on top of that we were even hearing from the USGAA as they work to set up an already difficult golf course that they are really hellbent on making sure that the winning score comes in over par so what we’re going to talk about here we’re going to break down what are some of the keys to success if you guys are looking uh putting together a fantasy roster if you’re looking to to gamble a little bit on this uh week’s US Open what you should be looking for we’re diving deep into the stats who some of the favorites are who some of those long shot sleepers are that we think could really make some waves versus this week exactly we’re going to drive dive into the most important stats and we’re going to talk about the keys to winning based on who’s won here before and really diving into even some of the details of like weather and how that can really change things because we’ve got a dicey forecast for this week so a lot to cover but before we do of course we want to thank this week’s sponsor Titus and guys the new Titus Prov1 and Prov1X are here and they are the number one ball at this week’s US Open so if you’re wondering what’s new Titus R&D asked players what they wanted in the new Prov1 and Prov1X and they said more spin on scoring shots into the green well the good news is both models give players increased spin and also provide more speed off the tea and more control with the irons personally I’ve been playing the Prov1 for almost my entire golfing career and I just love what they’ve done with the new 25 model i love the soft feel i love the consistent performance and speaking of the US Open this week that’s what those guys are going to need is consistent performance because every single shot is going to matter at this i mean they it matters all the time but at Oakmont there is zero forgiveness and that is why it is the number one ball all right so let’s first uh let’s talk about some of these headline grabbers that we saw this week we’re everyone’s just looking for some indication of of how Oakmont is going to play and the way we’re seeing that is through some of these practice rounds so first and foremost we had uh Roy Moy went out there and played a practice round with Adam Scott adam Scott was lamenting that he had hit every single fairway on the front nine which in and of itself is its own test because as you guys will see as this unfolds the fairways are not wide at Oakmont and and even doing so he still shot three over so there was definitely some frustration in his uh in his practice round going through it i have like an evil laugh because of how poorly you know I played there yeah you know to hear that but uh that’s crazy to hear because it’s not only about the uh the narrowness of the fairway there is incredible bunkering at Oakmont and it may be right there in the middle of it and some of the walls on those bunkers that they they were just so massive so for him to hit every fairway yeah it’s still going to be a test to get the ball down and we have we’re going to dive into in a second we’re going to talk about Bryson’s round that he showed the whole thing on YouTube he made it through I think 14 holes without even hitting one of those bunkers the first time he made it in a bunker was pretty deep into his round and yet he still very much struggled and we’re going to see some great riskreward holes as well we talk we can talk about length but there’s a couple of shorter par4s uh specifically thinking of big mouth bunker uh which is going to lure guys in Bryson’s round he did hit that green and set himself with an eagle putt however it is a huge gamble and I think it’s going to really matter where guys are in their round whether they do that or not but speaking uh back to Rory uh Aean Lynch reported on this and he had said that and direct quote from me he said Rory MRO explained to me how he made triple bogey on number two today he hit three good shots on a par4 and still made a seven he finished with a couple of birdies that took the sting out of it so you know this is just shows you like when when players are saying it’s it’s not that they’re out of form he’s saying I hit good shots and still you know made triple bogey and in this make no mistake in this US Open a triple bogey can be enough to take you right out of competition and we’re when we talk about how Dustin Johnson won here in a second you can see a huge part of that was real big number avoidance so you know it’s going to be hard to recover from a number like that and I got to think that that’s got to be on Rory’s mind it’s got to be and for his practice round I mean I wish I was there to witness the whole round but it sounds like he just kind of struggled a little bit out of the gate maybe he was finding his footing and then to birdie a couple coming in maybe he did figure it out out there maybe these guys that’s what they’re all going to do during practice rounds yeah like figure it out finally after the third or fourth hole but regardless if you figure it out even that Bryson video that that par three like the the eighth hole yes 300 yards the eighth hole and it’s something that we got the opportunity to walk it with the caddy he brought us back there to show where they’re going to play it from what he had indicated to us was that uh they’re going to play it and and I assume he has his knowledge from being there and and we’ll see if it really plays out this way but he said they’re going to play that back tea box for two of the rounds and then they’re going to play it up for two of the rounds i don’t know which ones yet but when they play that back tea box it is and it has played before in previous playings here as the longest par three in US Open history had played at 301 and it’s not just the length you look at it where we were playing it the the pin is heavily protected there’s a lot of bunkering around that green and I kind of said this in my own experience playing it there was a lot of times I would rather be in the bunker i was going to say the sand is your friend in Oakmont to some extent in the sand you have the possibility of getting a decent lie right it really depends on how your ball’s going to come in you there’s a lot of as you mentioned earlier high lips where you can get stuck in a side wall however what I quickly found in my own experience was that if you went in the rough you had a 0% chance of a good lie it it’s just too thick it’s too fluffy you’re going to get you know where you’re not going to be able to put spin on the ball you’re going to get deep in that rough at least in the sand there was a chance and I started honestly in my own personal round and I am nowhere near playing at the caliber that they are of just starting to make my misses airing more towards the bunkers originally I thought like bunker avoidance is the key here but the reality was there was a lot of times I would have been better off in the sand than in this Oakmont rough so that eighth hole you know Rory struggled there too in his practice round he made a bogey there he played it at 298 these guys are they’re prepping to play those back TE’s because they know as we’ve seen here they’re gonna get them at least twice you know what’s so interesting watching that Bryson YouTube video he did fairly well out of the rough he was able to advance it towards his towards the green we weren’t like I at least I don’t want to speak for you i couldn’t for me I even I had to go back to the fairway i had to go literally left if I was fairway uh rough right mhm these guys are different animals so if a guy like Bryson can power through this rough like Wingfoot in 2020 and his putting right now after watching that video he’s dialed yeah he had a cold rainy day he was leaving a lot of putts short but if we get normal like summer weather next week or this week I should say he’s going to be locked in i think I I know we’re going to talk about picks but I don’t think anyone could beat him well just based on what I saw look at the end of the day where he’s going to have the advantage and this is going to leak as well into guys like Rory is length now we talk about how with wing foot taking that as a perfect example those long rough the difference between obviously Bryson and us was Bryson is powering it so far up there that he’s hitting wedge out of there so the vast difference for us and I’ll give you a personal experience we when we’re looking at missing a fairway with our drive we’re still looking at 160 180 out which is not something I could put a wedge on and you we’re just incapable really of hitting those six irons five irons out of this rough with any type of control so that’s where for our experience we would have to wedge it back to the fairway and now you’re playing for bogey which is what makes it a tremendously difficult challenge for you know your regular everyday golfer if Bryson can use his length on these let’s say it’s a 410 yard par4 if he can get it under the hundred yards even in the rough he’s still going to be able to get a wedge on it which will give him a shot at the green an opportunity we did not have however and in undoubtedly when you’re that deep in the rough it’s just simple physics you’re not going to be able to put as much spin on it it’s a guessing game exactly so what is going to happen is this is where the conditions are really going to matter if we get conditions similar to 2007 when Cabrera won if it gets firm and it gets fast and you’re now in Bryson trying to hit that wedge and being able to put no spin on it into a firm fast green you’re in trouble if they get the softer conditions where Bryson just played it was cold it was a little bit soggy he could go at it there’s a chance where that green and I I remember specifically in that video Bryson and his caddy were kind of taking a guess at how fast the greens were running he had guessed that his caddy guessed a 10 he guessed a 10.5 that is a wildly different animal than if it dries out and they get these greens up to 134 sure right now a little bit of inside information when we played we spoke with the caddy he said that they were going to slow the greens down a bit for the US Open because he said on a traditional everyday which is wild to even think about this and this is why you know the stimp meter itself was invented at Oakmont you know Oakmont has always been known for the fastest greens for member play day in and day out he told us they play between a 14 and a 15 on the stem he said they’re going to slow them down because members don’t play with seven you know five six seven inch rough sure right they they get it down a little bit and in that case you’re able to get hold those greens he said the if we played you can’t have both he said if they grow that rough up to seven in they kept the greens at 15 he goes no one would ever finish it though so he’s saying but but there’s a certain degree that they won’t be able to control and that is if they get a very hot week and it’s you know there’s only so much water you can put down and stuff like that if if it gets fast on its own and conditions dry it out and it gets really firm and fast that’s when you can see a lot of struggle there for sure yeah that’s true that is true yeah weather’s going to be a big factor no doubt yeah so let’s let that’ll roll right into talking about like some of the previous you know US Opens and and what were the keys to success were and that will kind of inform as we talk about our picks here in a second first of all you had the last two playing of it and and you and Oakmont obviously tons of history there hosted more US Opens than any other venue um you can think about some of like the incred like the miracle at Oakmont johnny Miller 63 63 and not only that like I was watching like some I I love gearing up for these majors watching some of the different films that they have on Golf Channel uh and they were talking about that might have been the greatest round ever played because where it happened when it happened conditions it was lights out but speaking to the last two and because Oakmont has had a lot of changes there are even some changes for this year some tea boxes we saw this which I would say if you if if you’re curious at all if you haven’t seen it go and watch Bryson’s video i think for me this is such a cool thing to see and you would have never seen this years ago preyoutube to have the reigning US champ go out and play his practice round and do the entire thing on camera and and walk through his thinking wild you know and I think that’s where Bryson is good for the game like there’s a lot of guys that won’t do that sure right and Right and it’s like Bryson sharing some of that insight and knowledge before it’s not like he’s dropping this video after right right before so it’s a little unselfish of him which I I got to applaud uh but also for the USG and for you know the tournament itself it’s incredible press you know to have your your champ i mean most times a champ will do uh a couple extra interviews here’s you’re getting a guy going out and play the course but yeah and it I love that i absolutely love that video everything about it and it was cool to relive it and it’s going to be even cooler to relive it this week watching the pros play it and get beat up by it but uh the one thing that I want to add to your note was uh I think one of the changes was some green expansion i think they made the greens larger there since the last time and I think Bryce was even saying how large the greens were how long his first putts were yes yeah you know and that’s going to lead for a lot of long putts so there’s going to be a lot of interesting shots there definitely is so getting back into that history you have 2007 Cabrera won 2016 was Dustin Johnson two very different final scores two very different stories when it comes to key here key takeaway weather so Cabrera won the tournament i mean let this sink in if you’re not sure how tough Oakmont really is he won the tournament at 5 over that year five over and what Cabrera experienced was the firm fast conditions it was a hot week uh everything got really firm and fast flip the script dustin Johnson the early rounds early in the week it was wet rain soaked really slowed the place down and that allowed for some better scoring and that is really was the talk and we were there for USGA media day the talk is really the weather uh the the I can tell you right now the USGA wants this to be the hardest test of golf they I don’t you know they don’t really set scores you know they don’t in a way what I mean by that is and even coming from what speaking to them and what they said is that it’s not so much that they want to have a set score be the winning score like over par what they were really really hellbent on this year was making sure the winner gets every club in their bag dirty they wanted to test where they have got to hit every type of shot out there and that usually does correlate to a much higher score sure what I think is going to happen is you’re going to see a score overpar again with what they can control if we do get rain it slows it down it might be a different story um don’t you think rain in that rough is going to be even more of a nightmare yes the greens will be slow but that rough is going to be even more grabby sure i don’t know i think but like again just thinking to the way that the pros are going to think if you’ve got a wetter rough I think it’s easier that for them to add one more club to it that what they can’t control is if you’re in the rough if you’ve got if if you can’t control your spin the hardest thing for the pros is to have firm fast greens yes and it’s not even like in Oakmont there’s a lot of spots where they can run it up there was a lot of false fronts a lot of elevated greens which was going to roll back so I think for them wet conditions would still bode well in their favor of shooting lower scores whereas firm fast is not is going to go the other way so I looked ahead at it it is one of those traditional Pennsylvania summer forecasts which is pretty much warm and every day has a chance of a thunderstorm so it’s going to be very hard to predict maybe maybe the day before we’ll have a better prediction even when we played it we had thunderstorms roll through we had a couple rain delays it was going back and forth and I will say that the stronger chances of thunderstorms air towards the weekend yeah so guys are going to be just working to make the cut and then just kind of see what happens but I don’t think you’ll necessarily get a huge favorability of where your tea time falls on those first two days because Thursday and Friday seem like the days with the lowest chance of rain cuz sometimes you’ll get it where like uh you know a group will go out and then there’ll be some rain or there’ll be some rain overnight and the early group gets the edge where they take those soft conditions before it starts to firm up i don’t know if we’ll see that here but either way you know be on the lookout a thunderstorm could dramatically change if at least if you’re betting the final score that could be a big factor yeah absolutely and by the way guys if you are going if you’re lucky enough to grab a ticket to this thing I’d love to know put in the comments let us know if you’re going and pro tip get the slushie you’ll thank us later if they serve them I I They got to serve them to to patrons come on it’s a staple there well let’s see i never been there at an event yeah so I mean what what you’re referencing is the Oakmont slushies that are served at the turn by Oak famous if you know about it yeah i just don’t know if they would if they’re going to also serve those in concession but if they do that would be cool it’s a cool thing it’s like what the milkshakes at Mirfield like the milkshakes do they serve those to the patrons i’ve never been so I don’t know that’s a good question if you guys know then please answer in the comments they’ve got to serve it to the patrons it’s their staple yeah we’ll see you guys let us know it’s a great question so real quick uh keys to victory there you had Cabrera uh ranked in the top 10 in greens and regulation putts per round putts per green in regulation and uh he was first in putts per green and regular with 1.5 so if that doesn’t tell you something you’re going to be looking for if you’re looking for who is going to win this week you’re going to be looking for guys who have the hot flat stick there’s no denying it uh even seeing it like like you saw in that Bryson video I keep referencing because it’s the only one we’ve actually seen someone play it this year uh as far as the the Tour pros go and you even saw it with Bryson it really was coming down to putts uh he was able to use his length to get to a lot of these greens but the big greens and no doubt about it making sure that you’re you’re getting good reads there’s a lot of subtle breaks out there and they’re big greens they’re tough greens they’re known for that and the speeds right now are a little bit up in the air what they’re going to be they are up in the air so does that mean that because you’ve got three big major picks in this event right the big three scotty Rory Bryson yep of the three Scotty’s the worst putter on paper yet hottest golfer on the planet it’s tough to bet against him but then again what you’re saying is I don’t know if his flat stick will come to Oakmont that’s exactly right yeah so let let’s get into these the top three guys we’re going to go into each one but first I just want to finish that thought as far as those keys to victory go on the other side of it in that wetter conditions that we saw with Dustin Johnson really it came down to damage control uh DJ was able to post the better score in the softer conditions and then it was just holding on to it what he was able to do so well is again real big bogey avoidance pars are going to feel like birdies out there making pars are going to feel great bogeies are what need to be avoided and in that entire tournament when Dustin won he only gave up one double bogey and that goes back to what I said before the crucialness of like you see like Rory in a practice round making a triple that can take you out of contention really fast and the other thing to remember as you saw with Bryson there are two par fives bogeying one of those par fives as Bryson said would be like losing a stroke and a half on the field you have to find ways to to par those par fives or you’re going to be in trouble so it’s it it is not as a lot of scoring opportunities the par threes are not going to be birdie par threes playing at you know 216 one of them 300 the other one it just seemed like it was a tough feat but he did it exactly so the you’re going to see like the guys with length so now let’s talk about those top three guys right and then I want to get into in a second i want to get into some of the guys that are less obvious a little bit more sleepers that could stand a chance to make some big waves we all love a Cinderella story i threw a couple of pennies on some yeah and and I I got to call this out before I move on talk about Cinderella stories we got to give a special shout out to our guy James Nicholas who made it in qualify for the US Open a lifelong passion and pursuit for him we’ve had him here on the podcast and he’s an incredible guy if there’s anybody who deserves it it’s him what a feelood story i absolutely love that about the US Open that it’s open for people to qualify in and Cinderella story no matter where he finishes him making it to the Open was a huge step in his continually progressing excellent career so James we get good luck to you definition of hard work just persistent never quit back on the corn ferry tour now and making his way and just made the made the uh the Oakmont US Open so yeah just incredible can’t wait to see him perform incredible so all right so topping jumping into these top guys so first of all let’s talk about Rory Maroy okay obviously there’s going to be some question marks after that that practice round but people are also going to say “Hey it was a practice round you do that for a reason you learn from it.” He is in pretty much as much form as someone can be in five top tens including three wins this year most accomplished golfer this year slight edge over Scotty i’d say Rory’s most accomplished this year yep i I got to agree and Masters players to say that about over Scotty right now to say that i know it just shows you how good and he did have a disappointing showing at the PGA Championship but as we know incredible performance at the at the the Masters um he another big question mark he did miss the cut at Oakmont in 2016 which does make you wonder a little bit if the course it doesn’t suit his game quite well like you you you pair that miscut in 2016 which I know was a long time ago with this questionable practice round it makes me if anything a little hesitant for him as a pick mhm but you know he his his putting is really come along that was always the question mark for me with with him hot and cold he is now sixth in strokes game putting on the PGA Tour uh versus as you mentioned earlier Scotty down at 27 and you see Rory treading in the right direction with putting and and Scotty trending backwards if if if you can see that Rory is able to match his power and his accuracy with that putting then it’s a it’s a simple recipe for success here no doubt i mean if those are all clicking I can’t see how he can lose he’s one of those players where if all parts are firing can’t beat him yeah and and and if as for us as as fans I think the dream scenario is to get Scotty Rory and and Bryson all in top form in this thing i I want all three of them you know really i want it to be like that not one guy you know beats himself out there yeah and you have And what’s cool is you have like you have the different different personalities and and kind of different schedulings of guys you’ve got Scotty who skips this week but he had a long streak coming in i think he played like three or four weeks in a row and he had a bunch of wins during that streak you know the CJ then memorial um but you had Rory skipping the Memorial so that he could play you know last week at the RBC for this week so I don’t know like each guy’s got its own thing you want to take a week off you want to come in fresh you want to come in having played and being hot so we have a bunch of different personalities coming in which is going to be interesting yeah and speaking of personality we’ve got a very different Rory we’ve got Aori who is now I think has the huge monkey off his back with the with winning the Masters and I think what he’s doing with that is he’s just so focused on golf you’re seeing him doing a lot less interviews you’re seeing him you know he does interview speaking his mind i don’t It’s It just I guess to answer that it’s hard to gauge where his mind is at but his mind seems very focused on golf right now yeah i mean you can’t say he doesn’t care anymore after winning the Masters like career accomplished i’m done and I’m going to hang it up and just be a victory no certainly not no he’s still the most competitive i think it’s that he doesn’t care as much about how he’s perceived i think he cares less about whether people like him or not he’s just going to do what he’s going to do and that’s if he if he if it doesn’t bode well for him mentally or physically to stick around for interviews he’s just not going to do it yeah you know what I mean uh which you know we’ve talked about like you could you could get into a whole debate of like where that leaves like from a character standpoint because you know Bryson’s going the other way he’s the guy who’s going to stick around for all the interviews he’s the guy who’s going to you know really get this man of the people thing going or is Rory does he want to embrace that or is he not want to let that go it’s hard to say switching to Scotty um as you said there are some question marks of whether he’d be fatigued because he’s played so much this year i don’t think Scotty’s that type of guy i think Scotty’s the type of guy who will uh he he actually feeds on playing regularly a lot of people thought like you know why he didn’t skip you know some of the tournaments you know just being grueling after his wins a lot of other guys would have just withdrew from the the tournament following a big win but I think for Scotty it’s just to stay playing i think stay staying playing uh I think that really kind of drives him so I think that he’s okay there but like you mentioned earlier I think one issue is of course where his putter is going to be but there’s no denying the on PGA Tour strokes gain total first strokes gains off the tea first strokes gain approach to the green first and Scotty just he proved that with his recent win that you know as long as he’s hanging around anywhere in the field look out you know he footsteps he’s coming listen to the last seven starts first fourth first first eighth fourth second yeah no starts outside the top 10 did not finish outside the top 10 so I think a lot of guys are coming into this knowing to win the US Open I’ve got to beat Scotty they’re standing there on the range they’re looking there and they know exactly who the man they got to beat is you know and I think again for us as fans that just turns into such a great story line um but there’s no denying you can’t rule him out i think the only question mark left remaining on Scotty is that flat stick you know like I said he ranks 27th in strokes game putting on tour and that’s him slipping about four spots in recent weeks so not quite trending in the right direction but it’s it’s just one of those situations like if he is uses all of his strengths in that relentless ability whereas he’s hitting those greens in regulation he’s playing smart golf uh he you could just get a situation where he just becomes too hard to you can’t beat him just on one thing right you know what I’m saying um the other one and and I think you tell me if you agree but like I’m kind of going into this thinking my number one pick is going to be Bryson and that’s what we got to talk about here yeah I’m right there where if it was like rank these top three in percentages and who’s going to win it’d be like 34 33 33 for me you know what I mean and Bryson being 34 um I just like like we talked before I love his power i love the way he approaches the game like that YouTube video is great um the way he talks about like the clock like this is a 10:30 this is a 10 o’clock 7 you know like whatever that means like I’m sure there’s a reasoning behind it and all that and everything it’s just talking about how the clock system how far he’s assume you know it’s you know the way but the way that he interacts with his caddy the way he goes after every putt the way they talk about every putt you know there’s two inches out no I think it’s two and a half like he’s dialed yeah this guy is dialed in and if you want to win at Oakmont you got to be dialed right and if we do take again the information that we have which is his practice round which was on film he had tough conditions cuz it was cold uh he talked about he had his his launch monitor with him he talked about he wasn’t getting the ball speed that he wanted because of the weather conditions which we’re not going to get one thing we can rule out is cold weather it might get a little thunderstorm but it’s not going to be cold and he made a few birdies and fired an even par you know and and there was a couple things I’m sure he learned from a couple of those putts that he missed but even par could be a winning score so for him to go out there and fire that on a practice round in you know where he’s also shooting a YouTube video which we all know from doing it takes you a little bit out of your game a little bit so I think that that is is a strong showing uh on top of that he just seems to have another gear for majors that’s just the reality um he’s always in the hunt last six majors T2 at the PGA T5 at the Masters um he did in 2014 you got a cut here but like he’s got first doesn’t play well at the open so he you know he just you know he does he does well he’s the reigning champ he wants he wants to defend that title um and you know he also if you look again we don’t have as good a stats I’ll give you that from Liv that we get from the PGA Tour it’s not quite as granular but a couple that I cherrypicked he ranks first in scrambling on Liv uh which is going to be important because these are these are tough greens and tough fairways to hit so if you’re if you’re not hitting green regulation you got to see the guys who are going to be able to scramble and he’s tied for eighth in uh what and Liv ranks as putting average which is basically the average number of putts per you know per per green so um two big things that that play into his favor and I think the biggest thing for me is the direct comparison to how he won at wingfoot and again if he can shorten up this very long course I think trying to get to these greens from deep rough in faster conditions is a whole different animal with a 60° wedge in your hand than it is with a eight iron 8 iron yeah right and I think that that was what made a difference for him at Wingfoot happened here as well he did reference Wing Foot in that video yep he did so let’s do a quick break there and then I want to come back i want to talk about what no one’s talking about which is some of these dark horses these long shots you know we can talk about these favorites all day and they’re what’s going to make this really exciting but there’s a couple guys out there who can make some big waves let’s do a break let’s do a word from our sponsor and come back to it all right guys the FootJoy Premiieres are easily one of my favorite golf shoes on the market i mean not only are they clean and classy but these shoes come with premium leather and the details give them an iconic look for players looking for style and comfort you’re going to see a lot of these uh this week for sure uh but the Versatras I want to talk about the outsole which is engineered with traction elements that creates uh that outsole for perfect oncourse performance you want that stability and you want comfort and that’s where the Ortholite Echo Plush Fited comes in i love that line uh to ensure that all day underfoot comfort you know that’s key you know we’ve got a lot of golf trips on the horizon we walk a lot so we want to be comfortable out there and the Premieres are totally comfortable and even those Hyperflexes they’re great shoes those are brand new this year so definitely check out the entire lineup of shoes at footjoy.com stock up season is here and you will see a lot of both at the US Open you definitely will see a lot of both no doubt yeah all right a couple of picks here that we got to talk about because I think they can make some waves and they’re not the headline grabbers right now but they could definitely be in you know very shortly one I I told you this the other day i said “Mike look out for Shane Lowry.” Yeah and uh you know we even see him doing some stuff at the RBC right and just showing a proof of inform but I just think there’s a lot of things that Lowry possesses that not as many not many players in the field do uh one of those is he’s another one of those guys who seems to rise to the occasion for a major championships he’s a guy who’s has experience winning major championships he can make it happen also I know 2016 was a long time ago but he did finish tied for second i think at one point he held the lead as well in that so it just shows you that he has the ability to navigate uh Oakmont in its most recent form uh but I even though that’s a long time ago what I think is like you can take that experience and that history and couple that with form he is definitely in form he’s got two second place finishes this year trending in the right direction i think that Shane Lowry is a guy to look out for and he could definitely make some waves at this one i agree um you and I were putting these picks together we had to narrow down to our favorites and and we we agreed on this one um didn’t win any this year but he’s a major winner he’s one major and uh I believe he’s ranked top 10 in the world he’s he’s up there in the top 10 so he is definitely uh one to look at for sure this he’s one of those guys that has no lock there’s nothing like that but if you you’re looking for like if you’re doing you know some sort of fantasy and you’re looking for a mid-tier pick or if you’re looking just to place you know a bet on a longer odds that could really pay out look to Shane Lowry odds change every day so I can’t tell you what they are when when you’re watching this but I got to feel like he’s going to be one that’s could be a decent payout hey big big spender here by the way uh threw 10 bucks on him to win 650 i mean come on let’s go guys get in the game you know that’s a great pick i think I think it’s a smart pick and I think that he’s the type of guy who could definitely do it um and he he’s he’s not somebody who gets frazzled by the big stage there’s a lot of checks in his column the other one that I think is look out you know is Sea 100% and no one thinks about it no one thinks about him we’re gonna run through his stats in a second but like this guy is in form yeah in form and and I also when I first like like you can look at all the stats you want but I just kind of think about like the way they play the game the personality type and I told you the other day I said you know what this he reminds me of is Gary Woodland i think about when Woodland won the US Open it was a similar type of power and grit and all that type of stuff it’s similar what I see with Straa yeah and and when I look at like whether it’s gambling on golf or picks or fantasy whatever it is I almost don’t care about the year before you know with guys like how they do last year se he has never won a major i’m sorry he missed I hang on a sec yes he’s never won a major but this year he missed the cuts in both majors so immediately you’re like “Oh maybe this guy’s not cut out for majors.” For me I just like what form are they in a month leading in cuz you know the game i know the game we know the game if you’re hot you’re going to be hot right you’re feeling good you’re going to play well and there’s a certain degree like Augusta plays wildly different than Oakmont you know what I mean like I just feel like there are certain guys that even if they’ve missed a couple of cuts yes you can’t rule that out as a as a data point but there just like the way that their game plays could suit a specific course and vice versa there could be guys who don’t suit that course and that’s a question mark that I have for Rory you know the way Rory Yeah he he’s the exact opposite of that here’s a guy who won a major this year you know yeah but he missed the cut last time at Oakmont and he’s had a tough practice round it might just the course might not suit him but generally speaking couple important things about Straa so you got he ranks first in birdie average on the PGA Tour right now that’s incredible first in birdie average and greens in regulation and greens in regulation those are two stats he sits on the top come on right then you’ve got third in scoring average right behind Rory and Scotty he’s already not sounding like too big a long shot is he no right uh third in strokes game total also right behind Rory and Scotty and his putting is trending in the right direction uh he jumped up 12 spots recently in strokes game putting this is what I mean when when when things come together at the right time he is now 16th on tour in strokes game putting so if he’s putting these things together if he can put together greens in regulation and that putting is trending in the right direction look out and I think he’s a lot of the keys the power that he needs that undoubtedly Oakmont’s going to demand there are going to be some guys in this field you know who are going to struggle to reach this is crazy as it sound reach the eighth green par three you know with their T- shot uhhuh especially if you can get it’s very wide open Oakmont you can get some breezy conditions you get a little wind in your face on that particular hole there are going to be guys who don’t have enough club in the bag they’re playing in the US Open and don’t have enough club in the bag to get there yeah 100% you got to look to guys who have some of that power that that’s not necessarily going to be a factor so just a lot of things to think about but I think if you want to get your dark horse your long shot kind of pick Straa is is where I’m rounding out my line i love that pick got some pennies on him he He’s got a nice payout and I guarantee his odds are going to change as we get closer and closer as these storylines keep coming out but here’s something I want to put in your brain to think about this is something we don’t think about if Scotty Sheffler pulls it out this week he could win the career grand slam this year when he goes to the Open could be a double career grand slam in one season talk about a headline for professional golf yep and for Scotty to do it at such a young age he’s got 16 events he won he’s like trending what i I saw a stat the other day he’s trending to get where Tiger got like his first 200 and whatever i saw that that’s crazy what he’s doing if it for him it’s going to boil down to like the longevity of staying hot i think the thing that Tiger did that no one else could do is stay hot forever you know what I’m saying like what was it 800 weeks at not world number one ridiculous but Scotty already like he it’s he has not been a flash in the pan we’re talking about quite a while that he’s been keeping up this pace yes so there’s there’s no denying there’s so much golf left this season like he can he could be at 20 wins by the end of this year career yeah i mean I think what’s what’s the other story line we’re looking at it’s it’s it’s it’s Phil right phil’s for the career phil might be his last chance last shot at the career yeah long shot but you never know phil hung around recently what was it what other major was it that Masters a couple years ago he was right in the hunt he he hung around i I I think it that that’s really Wasn’t long ago he stretching it as a long shot but who knows i mean like I said with so much history there with so many US Opens being played there and so many guys who want to win a lot of guys talk about the the kind of the bragging rights or the pride of where you won your US Open a lot of guys they want to win it at Oakmont which I think will undoubtedly result in a lot of storylines this week and it’s going to be one of the most exciting weeks of golf I think of of the entire year of the entire year that’s talking about that in a Ryder Cup year yeah so just look out this week like I said we’ve had the firsthand experience of getting our you know really beat up really good at Oakmont uh it was a a beating I happily take over and over again because it’s just such a special place to be uh but it was nice to get an experience for us firsthand of just how difficult it is and look at the end of the day this is the US Open it they want to be the hardest possible test of golf and that is what you are guaranteed to see this week no matter who wins so this is who we think you got it’s got to take a look at if we miss anybody if there’s any picks that you want to call out make sure you drop them in the comments below to subscribe where you get your podcast and we will see you guys in the next

Wildly difficult conditions at Oakmont Country Club are setting the stage for what might just be the most difficult U.S. Open ever played, leaving many players frustrated and confused by this legendary championship venue.

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