In this episode of the Hold The Green Podcast, hosts Boston Capper and Steve recap the US Open and preview the upcoming Travelers Championship. They discuss the thrilling victory of JJ Spaun, who overcame challenges to clinch a major title. The hosts analyze the performance of other key players like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Viktor Hovland, highlighting moments that defined the tournament. They touch on the challenges presented by the Oakmont course and how some golfers, like Terrell Hatton and Brooks Koepka, showed promise but ultimately fell short. Moving on to the Travelers Championship, they discuss the course layout, recent changes, and how the event’s shift to a signature event has affected its dynamics. They also provide insights into key stats and comparable courses to help guide betting and DFS strategies for the upcoming tournament.
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00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message
00:27 Hosts and Initial Banter
00:36 Carson Young and Betting Insights
01:05 Father’s Day Greetings and US Open Recap
01:19 JJ Spaun’s Journey and Victory
03:05 Underdog Stories and Emotional Moments
03:50 Closing Thoughts on JJ Spaun’s Win
03:51 Discussion on Tournament Takeaways
12:03 Sam Burns Controversy
15:12 Player Performances and Final Thoughts
29:46 Analyzing Player Performances
31:34 US Team Changes and New Blood
32:30 Brooks Koepka’s Comeback
33:39 Reflections on the US Open
34:11 Betting Struggles and Insights
35:52 Travelers Championship Preview
39:58 Course History and Design
44:41 Course Adjustments and Challenges
52:19 Key Stats and Comparisons
56:11 Final Thoughts and Sign-Off
[Music] [Music] this episode of Inside Golf Podcast is brought to you by Inside Sports Network what’s up everybody it’s uh your boy Boston Capital Tool Steve on the Hold the Green podcast all right we are live tap in Bernie all right Carson Young is here i bet love gets 28 let’s go i bet I bet I bet him at 25 low sevens i think there’s some guys in here we like harris English at 7300 i love Brian Harmon at 3 and 12% this week [Music] good evening everybody and happy Father’s Day uh it’s your boy Kapper with Twitterless Steve here for a US Open recap and travelers preview uh happy Father’s Day Steve i know yours was a little wild man but I hope it was all right yeah it was um first of all I want to call you out because you know you call me a hypocrite for all the times that go back to Patrick Kentlay um but you sent o over several messages over the weekend about Mr jj Spawn and you would legitimately quit this podcast if he won and here you are by the way how are we how is our audience supposed to take you seriously where is your credibility now sir it was it was more about Burns than it was Spawn i listen I’ll be honest you know me man i’m pretty cynical like I don’t really give a [ __ ] about most of the golfers uh watching Spawn close this out made me so happy like this is the stuff you know how I get mad with like JT wins and then like the golf meter just like ballw washes them like these are the guys who I love to see win this is a 34 year old grinder he’s won once on tour he was like 200 to one he’s got his daughter’s there he’s got his wife there he had a bogey free Thursday um started five of a bad block man hit the pin kicked all the way back couldn’t catch a [ __ ] break to save his life and it just like oh man like poor JJ I just remember been thinking that a bunch of times on the front nine today and to see him come through birdie 17 and 18 that [ __ ] birdie on 18 listen and I know lots of people in our discord and Andy had had Bobby Mack good call on that 100 something to one but listen I for with having no money on it I I can’t think of a time I was more happy watching someone close a major than just watching JJ Spawn do that i was elated like legitimately elated like I came up out of my like jumped up out of my recliner when he sucked that putt yeah what’s uh the better underdog story at a recent major uh JJ Spawn winning the US Open or Michael Black qualifying for Valhalla uh and again up and down from 18 one of the best up and downs in history jj jj all day and it was so funny so like as a dad so you got two little ones too it was so funny like it like like the the wife came out early and and the kids were there and uh Vic still had to putt and he was going you got to shush he still has to putt like and like all the emotions going through JJ Spawn’s head and he still has to like hey baby you got to be quiet for a second he’s still got to putt like I don’t know man it was all the feels like I um I was super happy for JJ like legit like yeah I uh I can’t think of another time where I didn’t have money on the line where I was happier for the winner like super happy yeah so when watching Spawn play today and have that back nine they did um I’ll save like a different take with that when we go to like kind of like our takeaways from the US Open are like our three topics that we want to bring this show but they were trying to make the point about how you know JJ has had trouble closing tournaments out and we’ve seen it a bunch of times this year most notably uh yeah players when he came back and just was awful on Monday which I like that he referenced that at the end uh when they were interviewing him where you know he just came out of the break um you know at the players and didn’t show well he actually used that as energy to kind of reset himself today which was that was I I like I like that little nugget there um but also at the Sony Open where he completely imploded on the back nine as well and it was nice to see that come full circle today because that those thoughts were absolutely in my head on 17 and 18 oh yeah drives yep on 18 i was talking to my wife and I was like look I was like that’s a very [ __ ] long putt i was like I was like he’ll be lucky if he sticks this thing to four feet and then he’s got four feet to close a major and I was like that’s not easy he’s going to be shaking over this putt and then he buries it like unbelievable well it’s not even that it was the T-shots i was thinking about it because as we saw this this week if you were in the rough or in a bunker you were basically dead which I I want to talk about that in a little bit um but he hit two under the gun incredible T- shots amazing dude that shot on 17 was Morakawaesque mhm yeah and actually when the T- shot on 18 it reminded me obviously it went like probably 50 yards shorter than Dustin Johnson but Dustin Johnson like he had it in the bag at that point but he hit an absolute missile power fade off the tea and as soon as JJ hit that I was just reminded of that shot just wow like okay this is just a money T- shot go to your patented left to right shot which by the way that played out again uh guys who fade the ball another winner at Oakmont congratulations to JJ for that um but it was nice seeing him get over a lot of the stigma that people have described from him and you know it’s okay that we have a non-traditional non boys club as you call him absolutely yeah especially a guy like JJ Spawn who is a journeyman who has had grinder man yeah he’s had to work his ass off he doesn’t have the god-given talent of just elite length and Trackman Golf he has refined his game he has grinded on the PG tour i also love the fact I I you know I kind of wish we had better reporting but one of the things about JJ Spawn that I pointed out in our previous show I mentioned him and had zero money on him by the way was how bad he was around the green and then they said on the 18th hole “Oh he got a new short game coach and he just completely changed his technique and he was great around the green.” Perfect perfect and you see you see the short games coach reaction he was like “Let’s [ __ ] go.” Going nuts like grabbing his kid i I’m telling you I don’t know maybe it’s Father’s Day like an emotional day but like just super super happy for JJ oh for sure that’s a win for all the girl dads out there you’re a girl dad i’m a girl dad um just that was great also kudos for JJ having the wherewithal when he flipped the putter to throw it in the rough instead of throw it on the putting surface so he wouldn’t damage the green at that point that’s right um good job by him with that no it was it was a great reaction um great close out as well we’re always going to remember that bomb putt at the end there and like I said it’s okay if we get a guy like JJ Spawn winning a major championship to win yeah question because it was looking like like for a couple hours there and this is one thing I really kind of didn’t like about Oakmont just a lot of bad golf and I know people like that that type of golf that they were watching but to me it wasn’t all that entertaining to just see just bad shot after bad shot especially on the back nine where I want to see somebody actually take it take it at the champion and for a while there nobody was doing it and then finally in the last 45 minutes you had two guys doing it you had Bobby Mack who played really good down the stretch als Yep also hit a great T- shot in 17 and then you finally had JJ Spawn take the tournament that’s what I wanted to see I wanted somebody to take this tournament and he finally did it why it was such a great ending to me and it just capped off by that bomb putt congratulations to him worthy champion he actually won it instead of having it it’s so much better that he actually went out and won it instead of having somebody just give it to him 100% and that’s what I was afraid was going to happen just like you like when I was watching this I was like this is just going to be like a war of attrition like like Burns or Scott and it’s it’s just going to be who who doesn’t actually go take it this both of these guys are shooting six and seven over and somehow one of these [ __ ] is going to win because nobody wants to win it and you’re right and then JJ went out and took it uh Bobby Mack posted a number like these [ __ ] announcers were like John Rom sitting at plus four in the clubhouse and it looks Scotty’s still got a chance like no like the coverage was kind of annoying it annoyed me a little bit but um yeah you really couldn’t ask for a better ending like it was it was great it was really good yeah congratulations to JJ Spawn um I know it doesn’t seem like it’s a worthy champion but he absolutely is a worthy champion played great all week a champion actually was the only one other than Bobby Mack on the back nine that actually took the bull by the horns and won it and that and look he’s had a good year he’s had a good year too so he’s absolutely a worthy champion he almost won the players and got bested by one of the best golfers in the world at Rory with Rory and now uh you know he was able to come out and [ __ ] he he didn’t like you said he went out and took it he burned 17 and 18 like holy [ __ ] like amazing on a golf course like this and how it played all week and like you said like look obviously being on the rough you were [ __ ] dead 90% of the time which was fine like look missed the fairway be penalized which is great um man some of the breaks poor Adam Scott got cuz I was rooting for Adam Scott as an old guy uh at the beginning of the day i wanted Adam Scott to win um man that [ __ ] got the worst lies every time it was like it was like he might be all right they went over oh no this is the worst lie I’ve seen all week it’s like oh yeah so that’s the second time we’ve had sentimental old guy who’s going for his second like elusive major doesn’t get it i know it was kind of it was a little heartbreaking it was you could see it on his face coming down 182 he knew he let that get away and I mean look like that just kind of sums up Adam Scott though the last like decade you know we’ve had the joke of like death like if your life depended on Adam Scott hitting up making a six foot putt you’re already dead and yeah like every time he had one of these like 10 15 17footers you just knew that it was just going to miss low and it had no shot and that just kind of Adam Scott in a nutshell but that would have been that was the You’re right that was the guy I was rooting for at the beginning of the day was Yeah and he and he also like Adam Scott also thinks about his legacy and they asked him if he was a Hall of Fame golfer and he said no major not I need that second major and he’s not going to give him any more chances but godamn the man is handsome though and he has that going for him that outfit was bad today though i like he’s always been a bad bad uh dresser i mean the t the tanal the full tanal suit that he always has coming out no that’s that’s not great um what you what do you think of what do you think of Burns’s uh hissy fit so here’s not getting not not getting not getting the drop yeah so here’s the thing um as a girl dad and two girls under the age of five obviously because of the rain delay you had bedtime procedures coming in so I actually missed what happened fill me fill me in what happened that got you all hot and bothered about Mr sam Burns so now everybody who’s listening to this if you’re new I don’t like Sam Burns so mine is definitely a bias take uh so he’s obviously he’s on like a low side like right next to the first cut of rough and definitely a low level right so he’s trying to get like a water ruling like a standing water and when he’s he’s he’s hitting the club there’s clearly a [ __ ] ton of water every time he’s doing it but when he stands there the water doesn’t rise to his shoes and the first judge was like “No like you’re good like you got to hit it.” And he was like “Fine i want another ruling i want someone over here to tell me i want to speak to your manager.” And the next guy came over and was like “Uh yeah no no no you got to hit it.” And of course it’s in his brain you know he’s going to [ __ ] [ __ ] this shot up because he got told no twice what does he do [ __ ] the shot up all because he wanted he wanted a drop because look every everywhere was wet man all these guys were playing for the same thing where he was hitting from was no different from anybody else i saw in the Discord tough hitting from a puddle my [ __ ] dick it wasn’t a [ __ ] puddle it was just wet like everywhere else on the [ __ ] fairway he was trying to get an advantage and he didn’t and then he mentally melted down because Sam Burns is a mental [ __ ] [ __ ] maybe pray harder on Wednesday on your next Bible study that uh the rain doesn’t doesn’t sit on you i I was so happy when he I knew he was gonna [ __ ] that shot up i was so happy so So All right all right well I mean typically if it was any other player I would believe you on this take but because it’s Sam Burns and your biases I’m probably going to just naturally say Sam Burns that this was water that he No you would no no no there was no casual water i swear to God there was none it wasn’t like there was no casual water like I guess if you like bounced on it or whatever you get some water to rise up but it didn’t bounce on it and when you stand there the water did not rise up hit your shot be a [ __ ] man stop being a [ __ ] be a be a father figure for bear Sam and be a man and hit the shot instead of whining and crying and asking for multiple rulings and then when it doesn’t go your way completely melted down which was exa that’s exactly who Sam Burns is all these country club [ __ ] who any type of adversity hits them in the face they don’t know what to do they have no idea like I can’t believe it didn’t go my way and I’m going to And then he shoots it over and then he flubs it out of the [ __ ] rough h it was chef’s kiss so happy for me i was so happy my wife is like “You’re a psychopath.” I was so happy just laughing the entire time okay all right couple of quick hitters on some players that contended before we get to our our takes for the our biggest takeaways for the tournament um nice to see your boy Terrell Hatton finally contended on Oh finally right yeah yeah i mean he’s had top tens on his resume but they were just hollowest meaningless top 10s like he had a top 10 I think at um Baltus that he was going and he going to the Masters didn’t he top 10 of the Masters yeah he’s got top 10 I think at the Masters that he was never in it he topped 10 at Royal Trune in 2016 where he lost by two touchdowns meaningless at that point yeah exactly um but it was nice actually seeing him mix in for the win and look I mean so many good looks too so many good looks he did he was the only one to get on that back shelf uh and he missed that [ __ ] 10-footer and I was like ah that’s it yeah but it’s listen like besides his antics he’s an incredible player and we’ve been waiting for him to just get in the like mix for to actually win on Sunday like not on Thursday Friday or like a back door respectable top 15 top 12 like actually legitimately had a shot and he was what because it was what a fiveway tie for the lead at like plus one you know late down the back nine love seeing that from him um missed opportunity for Havland as well just just couldn’t quite get there encouraging though yeah you know what it’s encouraging um a couple just stupid mistakes that he made that cost him during this tournament but encouraging that’s there and then I know that I’m very happy for JJ Spawn but I am replaying the I’m going to guess 18 putts under 10 feet that John Rob missed across Thursday oh my god you and me both brother oh my god that’s That’s brutal how many How many I bet you I bet you we I bet you we do hey Saul do me a favor if you’re listening put it in the chat or not the chat but in Discord how many under 10 foot putts cuz he did it earlier on like Thursday Friday john Rom missed so many putts all week it was insane it was unbelievable insane unbelievable the amount of putts he missed some Somehow they have him gaining putting for the tournament [ __ ] I call shenanigans on that this is why he must have had Yeah he must have had a great weekend yeah he g he he had a good putting day today um where he gained two strokes but like on Friday he lost 2.6 because he missed so many like Yeah so John Ron gained three strokes on approach on Friday and lost 2.6 putting brutal yeah that was that was too bad though good for rush yeah you know what i I I’ll probably be going back to a port rush um for sure me too yep yep all right so what are what are some take what are some big takeaways you have like just highle takeaways uh for the US Open uh JT is a look at me [ __ ] okay did you plan any of these or you just coming off your top no we’re going to go off the cuff we’re going to go off the cuff okay the uh All right who hangs around who hangs around after missing the C oh and then he was you’re not even on Twitter so uh like two hours ago he’s like I don’t know this golf course seems to be getting away from him and everybody’s like well good thing you didn’t make the weekend you [ __ ] like [ __ ] off nobody cares about your opinion why are you oh I’m grinding out on the course you know who You know who the winner was hopefully he was still on the course today so his kid didn’t have to be around JT that was the absolute best Father’s Day present for his child without having to be around that [ __ ] JT what a prick like what a what a look at me look at me i missed the cut but I’m still grinding i hate I [ __ ] hate it hate it okay i mean look you’ve heard stories of guys that missed the cut the Masters hang around Augusta National for the rest of Augusta that’s the thing that’s Augusta you may never go back and you have been there it’s a special place enjoy it as as much as you can at that point squeeze the lemon for every ounce of juice that you have you ever do that that’s fine well that was pretty pathetic that he’s hanging around the range and then and then I saw the last person Sam Burns talked to before going out on a round today was [ __ ] JT i was like you got the bad juju on you okay all right so my my first takeway and actually I want to ask you first okay did you like Oakmont this week i did i did okay why did Why did you like Oakmont so I thought it was I guess I guess I thought it was unfair at times but for the most part it was fair like it was it was meant to be mean it was meant to be this style of golf and if you miss the fairway you’re [ __ ] if you end up in one of uh the ravines you’re dead like that’s just the way it goes be accurate and you will be fine like I didn’t think they lost the golf course like it did suck with the rain or whatever but look everybody played under the same conditions i I thought it was a I thought it was a good test of golf i really did okay yeah so I don’t think it was unfair either because literally Oakmont kind of shows you exactly what you need to do it’s fairway green don’t miss if you hit in the rough you’re dead if you hit in one of the fairway bunkers you’re probably dead because you can’t get over the lip if you miss a green because of how crazy undulated and how small some of the targets are like I know we we criticize NBC but um what I did love was how they brought out the heat map of the Greens to show the pin positions i did I like that i did like that and I love that they busted it out after Rory criticized 13 about having no pin positions and then uh Gary Co was on like well you can put it here you can put it here put it here i’m like “Thank you NBC thank you for actually doing that.” Yep so I don’t think it was unfair because it showed you exactly what you needed not to do here’s my problem with the setup this week okay one is just one is just a very kind of small net that I hope they fix next time the fairway on 12 the par five is an abomination with how far these guys hit it now because everything Did you notice everything rolls to the right side there yeah yeah yeah that’s fair they got to fix that in eight years like they they got to either move a T- box or they got to rate like get rid of that slope there because it just that was just kind of dumb at that point where like even if you started on the extreme left side of the fairway everything just rolled there like it it reminded me of uh Tennapalua where just everything funnels to the left side there yeah and like you and then you end up having like all these divots like for for God’s sakes I can’t remember so many guys hitting in divots like this week oh yeah so many there’s a lot so that that’s one small nip but there came a point today where I just got tired of the hack out from the rough and where it just became kind of predetermined of and it’s not necessarily I think like that’s unfair my point my problem with it was it just seemed just predetermined like oh well this is just going to be hack out from the rough to wedge shot and that’s it like and to me like as a viewer of this product like it kind of got very tiring seeing that for four straight days where as opposed to people didn’t like this at Pinehurst where if you hit it in the waist areas there was a question of what’s this going to be is this going to be perfect and he’s going to be fine or is it going to be you’re in an ice you’re in like the weeds you’re screwed and I like that tension and drama of it instead of just this is buried in the rough you’re dead you’re screwed it’s predetermined at that point there was there was some lies today like would you go look at okay they look all right like not fast well for the most part though like guys hit it in the rough it’s Hackout City like the bunkers I have absolutely no problem with because those are true those are hazards it’s supposed to be penal and I like that element that they were like bunkers that you see like in the open championship where it’s very difficult to get out they have steel i love that i was going to say I I love that they hit and they don’t just automatically roll to the bottom where it’s a nice easy shot out oh no if you hit it into the face stays in the face like Well that’s also as you’re watching it that’s some sort of tension and drama of like okay is he going to be able to actually get out because you saw plenty of guys hit the face like that adds to it with I just felt like after four days I got tired of just oh this is just hack out to the fairway and then you see that it just felt very repetitive um what I would like them to do for the next tournament is maybe bring back what the the graduated rough from 16 where if it was just off the fairway it was about like three and a half 4 in where maybe it’s more of a question at that point of do you have a good lie do you not have a good lie where there’s maybe a little more variability of what that is and then you have like the five and a half stuff like way off there um as opposed to just if it rolls through the first cut of rough it’s immediately in five inches of rough at that point and I just I to me it just got kind of repetitive and tiring after a little bit and look if you like that this week I’m not saying you’re wrong like this isn’t me like this isn’t a right or wrong thing this is like me saying I just did I just don’t like broccoli at this point like that’s that’s my take on this i got you and if you like broccoli I’m not going to criticize you it just I I just got tired of that and I think it just it got to that point where like I just saw so much bad golf down like where it just got like okay like if if I was watching on DVR like there was a stretch from like maybe two to like 3:00 today where I I’m I maybe would have went like okay let’s put on one and a half speed and just kind of get through all of this because I it was getting kind of tiring at that point and let’s get to like the end where there’s maybe like some drama um okay but yeah that’s that’s kind of my big Oakmont takeaway thankfully though next year at Shinikok hopefully we get some firm conditions where now it’s tight lies around the green and you’re going to see more of like what you saw at like Pinehurst last year where once the ball starts moving and gets going the wrong way and go starts funneling down the slopes it’s like where is this going to go i personally like seeing that that suspense and drama of when the ball is just going it’s out of control versus just oh it just bounds in the rough and stops and that’s really about it and you see that over and over so um well I I would much ra I would much rather see that than the typical minus 20 weeks where it’s like okay drive doesn’t matter you’re not in trouble you can still wedge it into the green here’s a putt like oh for sure this th this this is maybe not to this extreme but if there was if there was some balance right between that and your typical PJ weekly Birdie Fest fine but yeah no I was just Yeah like it it’s to me it’s good in small doses and I I got a little I got a little bit too much of it this week where I’m just like okay I’m I’m kind of done with this um Okay all right what are take I got two other takeaways but do you have anything else or you want me just keep rolling i I would just say like the same thing we talk about every week like these guys who are like pre-ordained to be like the best golfers they’re not like Morawa Can’t this group of golfers that we constantly get between 80 to 30 to1 are just [ __ ] losers they are not good like they shouldn’t be priced where they’re at like I am so happy somebody like JJ Spawn versus these [ __ ] guys and they go out and anytime anytime they see any semblance of toughness they just disappear they melt they [ __ ] melt and it sucks for USA golf and I know we’ve talked about like the Ryder Cup and things like that like I really feel like this is going to have an effect on it like you watch some of these guys on the Euro Tour uh or or go to play for team Europe rather uh they have way more balls than the guys we have and I don’t think it’s particularly close i don’t um it’s just amazing to me that these guys who are so naturally talented the first time anything doesn’t go their way they completely [ __ ] melt like they all need a better sports psychologist because it’s it’s almost embarrassing with how talented these guys are and how they do not perform in these situations it’s it’s it’s it’s insane yeah i mean I won’t defend my boyfriend here uh Klay was completely absolutely gutless cherry on top of the [ __ ] Sunday by him missing a five-footer on 18 to miss the cut um that was great morawa like a what a hollow forgetful T23 on a golf he shot like plus eight today i I used him in my one induct he shot four over um you think about a golf course where obviously very penal to miss fairways favors a left shot and yeah very forgetful golf today nothing um here’s the thing though you’re gonna go to TBC Mickey Mouse next week and all those guys like GT and Klay and Morawa well maybe not Morawa because for whatever reason he hasn’t been all that good at this golf course but that’s why good using him this week yeah but like guys like that though like it’ll we’ll see a hard regression towards those types I think this week um although you make a good point though this was actually my third point you talk you brought up Europe at the Ryder Cup are we so sure about the state of that team right now because you have Rory being a complete Listen I was defending Rory for a little bit he’s a [ __ ] mess he’s a mess right now and I mean look he finished T19 somehow uh today this He shot like what he shot like a 66 today or something like that no he shot two over today to finish uh T19 um Oh no i’m sorry that was uh that was in round two he shot Yeah he shot three under today early okay so 66 but like his him going to the podium yesterday and just like I was kind of joke i’ve like You know what i prefer you to just avoid the media if you’re going to say that at that point just avoid the media that point just just keep doing that i don’t know what’s going on with him like I don’t understand why he’s just being kind of a prick lately and I you know so I guess I so I guess it might have been Powers who put it on Twitter today like listen I get like you hit your you hit your grand slam right you got your giant monkey off the back but now you’re one major away from this icon you’re two majors away from this icon you can’t get up for that like man like like he he ain’t Tom Brady he ain’t Michael Jordan you know what I mean like he’s not Tiger Woods he’s not a guy who is relentlessly chasing history and wanting to supplant himself as one of the best if not the best golfers of all time right like he’s just not built that way and listen that’s fine like not everybody can be built that way that’s why there’s Brady’s that’s why there’s George that’s why there’s Tigers right um yeah it’s just uh it is I I think it was Powers it was somebody who put it that way but that made all the sense of the world i was like man yeah why can’t he get up he’s got one more major he he clip off another major he’s playing great golf now he’s gonna be tied with him and then two more he’s gonna be tied with this guy like Yeah like it’s just it’s just strange to me very strange okay yeah it’s not just him that’s kind of not playing great right now um Love is an unmititigated disaster right now he was terri he was awful this week uh Fleetwood wasn’t good either like those are these are Fleetwood always stinks he stinks yeah but he’s a he’s a key cog for Europe though and there’s question marks around a lot of guys right now and I know we trash this US team but you know what look like maybe it’s a good thing we’re getting rid of like the fenows and yes hopefully the like give you response for God’s sake almost a lock now right isn’t he a lock now basically points yeah he’s he’s going to get the Brian Harmon treatment he’s definitely going to be on the team but like even like I I we rip on him but like look at least Ben Griffin hits it far and he’s showing a little bit and I don’t know like maybe it’s okay to get some new blood on this team a little bit absolutely good to get new blood on this team all right so my third point though is we were taxing back and forth on Thursday and Friday and eventually he disappointed you though but it was nice to see Brooks turn back the clock a little bit it was 23 holes yeah i mean I I gave him absolutely zero shot at the beginning of the tournament said he basically is cooked and for him to come out and play really solid good golf like vintage Brooks vintage hitting everything pin high nice power fade hearing his quotes about how he’s motivated and just need to get yelled at um it was good to see it and then he got turned into a pumpkin again because I know I know I It’s It’s probably There might be one There might be one more in him i think there might be one more in them i think that’s maybe max max one more maybe i would like to see it but it was nice to see that it’s still kind of in there and then it went away and that was disappointing but I was happy to see a little bit of that so all right anything else no listen I thought it was a great US Open uh happy to see it uh like I said um lots of golfers showed us who they are with in the face of adversity and uh yeah it was nice to see a grinder like uh like JJ actually get it done close the door the stress on his face like even walking up to that eagle putt when he exhaled I was like “Oh my god he’s so stressed out.” I was like “Come on man.” Like “Come on.” Like yeah I just thought I thought it was a great tournament overall um yeah i just uh thought it was great yep yeah uh great tournament overall not a good betting week for me uh at all no me either me either no it’s just it’s it’s this is not a Vic Lab or anything though i’m trying to keep because listen we all go through it we all go through slumps i’ve been in a month-long slump but look I mean I like JJ Spawn this week didn’t bet him i like Ben a couple weeks ago didn’t bet him i said Scotty was going to win the tournament didn’t bet him so trying to keep my head up but look it’s it’s a struggle bus over here maybe me admitting it uh would kind of free you up a little bit but that’s just what happens if you’re in a slump gambling is what it is just keep your head up trying to look at maybe what you’re doing instead of what you’re doing wrong whatever you do don’t press no don’t press but you know what though uh good week for ISN overall some other members reishi loved Adam Scott this week great call by him andy loved uh Bobby Mack almost got it done 110 to1 a lot of winning tickets that were posted in Discord so uh definitely become an insider today uh sign up uh at insider or insidesportsnetwork.com we got weekly monthly and annual plans uh especially if you play DFS Andy’s ownership is uh hard to beat uh with the rest of the market and we got a lot of great content so definitely come over insider today you won’t regret it yep i don’t even have to retire from DFS because I did get three sixes through and uh I was able to congratulations yeah so I was I actually made money this week when on Friday I thought I was completely stoned dead i was like “That’s it i’m just [ __ ] done with DFS forever.” I was like “Oh wait no my bank roll is still there yay.” Nope there you go all right let’s move on to Travelers do it I guess all right so uh full confession was a very tiring weekend for me uh I actually just finished this PowerPoint about about 10 minutes before what did you call it Steve you old prick what did you call it i know i know i called it a PowerPoint sorry about that um this is going to be a very short preview look it’s Father’s Day we had a jam-packed weekend yeah um and honestly on this tour yeah it’s the handicap on this tournament is pretty easy Andy B is gonna have a podcast and honestly also too by the way um you know who else is not ready for this tournament the GCSA because they haven’t even put out their tournament fact sheet seems like this is just Yeah it seems like this is just hangover city at this point um what do you think about the Travelers in a nutshell do you like this tournament do you like this golf course or No so I I mean I guess I like it because it’s like the only like true like northeast one we get right like Yep it’s close to it’s close to mass dop Boston’s gone but yeah I mean I don’t know it’s fine it is what it is it does not need to be a signature event it does not to be need right after the US Open like it’s just silly like we’re gonna have 70 guys out here at what 20 under 18 under like pretty much yeah whatever yeah i I I don’t non plused how’s that non plus okay all right i I should I I’m going to make this take i understand why it’s a signature event because the fans are really good the fans are great dude they they they advertise it on Boston Sports Radio they advertise it like on lots of places and people do come up for it i guess it’s because like it’s a start like the Northeast loves [ __ ] golf and there there’s nowhere near as many tournaments as there needs to be in the Northeast yeah no I I I understand because the fan base is great uh you know 18 is a really good closing hole i mean like architecturally no but from the standpoint of just you have just masses of people on the hill there congregating um you’ve had a lot of great moments on 18 like Jordan Speed getting up and down from the bunker uh in 2017 to win it um you know hometown event even though Yeah it’s from from three states over hometown event yeah like I but like it’s kind of like with the Phoenix Open that I feel like this has enough of its own identity where you don’t need to make it a signature event the fields were always fine because travelers would kind of incentivize a lot of these top players to come so it would already naturally have good fields and like we don’t need signature events right after majors like I feel like it’s a net negative we don’t need signature events at all i hate signature events they suck yeah in hindsight it’s not good no it’s [ __ ] terrible i don’t like any There’s not been a signature event that I’m like super excited for or that it paid me off do you know what I mean like paid me off like a great tournament like okay great no it’s to me it’s Riv it’s it’s the big three it’s Riviera Bay Hill and uh Memorial those are really the only ones that like kind of really get me very excited like Harbortown I love but they get me excited regardless right but they don’t need to be a signature event i’d be excited about those immaterial to that being a signature event which is my whole point like I hate these [ __ ] things yeah they they really need to rotate these things around like me personally I would rather the Rocket Mortgage next week be signature because because listen the Say what you want about the golf course fans of Detroit are pretty passionate fans and I’d rather I I want to see a group good group of golfers there i want to see a good group of golfers play John Deere couple weeks yes exactly rotate it around that’s what they need to do and it just it it’s gotten stale at this point but this is the Traverse Championship this is the 2025 preview so little history and backstory about this place so this is has been the Greater Harford Open for you know since the 50s and um eventually though the TPC uh ended up buying I think they was called the Edgewood Country Club and they renovated it and they brought in Pete Dye to build it and this is actually what it looked like way back in the day like just kind of just your standard you know golf course it looks pretty much nothing or you know very looks kind of similar to what we see today but you’re going to hear a lot of people say “Well this is a Pete die golf course.” And that’s true you know he originally built it but what ended up happening was excuse me in 1989 his protege Bobby Weed who is actually um you know he built uh TBC Summerland the Grove 23 um you know he’s adopted a lot of Pete die principles because he worked under him what ended up happening was they ended up buying or uh acquiring a large track of land down closer to the Connecticut River near the the rail the railroad and that’s how they ended up building and completing the rest of this golf course so all of these holes almost the entire back nine is Bobby Weed it’s not Pete Dye and actually most of the like the old golf course is now just housing development houses yeah i mean that’s really the that was I think one of the bigger motivations of doing the redesign was we want to sell some real estate real estate yep uh including the law offices of Amy J uh Horowitz uh right here uh that I don’t know just it’s apparently it’s notable on Google Earth that apparently she has a very good uh law office right off of the first fairway no free ads no free ads amy you gota you got to hit us up now you got to pay us some money yep so um but look like it’s uh we’ll get the GCSA report this is last year’s short golf course 6,800 yards par70 small greens 5,000 square feet in era area um you know like I just mentioned uh after it was acquired by the TBC network it was originally designed by by P die but they underwent a major renovation 1989 to basically redo the entire back nine which you know there’s some there’s some exciting holes down the stretch like you got the drivable par4 15th which I wish they would shave down the rough to make more balls fall into the water say Lav uh you got the long par three over water 16th 17 kind of reminds me of 16 at PJ National where you got water all the way down the right side and then you got a force carry over water um you know on that par4 and then 18 you know kind of a forgettable hole just I think in general but you have the large amphitheater setting of uh behind the green there also very accessible to protesters who want to run down from the hill and put paint bombs on the to your sugarin but you know it’s it’s I think got a decent closing fringe as far as like the ability of I wish they’d pull that [ __ ] in like Florida or Texas or some random like super red state where like they would actually be punished i’m sure they were like Makes me so mad okay i’m glad that I’m glad that’s what makes you mad so um Well it makes me mad that they ruined my [ __ ] Tom Kim outright bet yeah as far as aronomy goes this is another bent poa golf course you know we just saw bent poa at TBC Toronto a couple weeks ago i think the difference with this one though is this one I think is mostly bent uh it seems like these rings are a little easier to putt on that usually is more indicative of less POA in the green and more bent grass is a little more consistent as opposed to what we saw at TBC Toronto where a little more POA in the green more inconsistent rocket Mortgage at TB at Tri Golf Club also a bent poa but it’s more on the POA side that’s a little more difficult to putt on um this one is seems like it’s a little more bent so bent poa greens the rough is four plus inches of Kentucky blueg grass uh and fescue we’ll get to some of the changes they made last year to the tournament to try and make quote unquote accuracy matter um growing out the rough seems like something they wanted to do to try and maybe curb a growing trend that we saw in 2023 that we’ll get to um in a little bit so let’s go over the average scoring because you kind of see through the years a big change in the difficulty of this golf course so in 2021 the average score was only a quarter uh stroke under par now it wasn’t as good of a field and I think they had some more firmer conditions that year were playing his favor but in two years time after that the average score in 2023 was minus 1.8 and a big reason for that is guys just kind of decided that they were going to start hitting driver everywhere everywhere yeah everywhere at the golf course and fairways are you know relatively generous there the rough wasn’t quite as high and when you get a 6,800 yard golf course and guys that can blast it 310 320 suddenly they just have a bunch of wedges in their hands and it made scoring kind of easier they basically broke the golf course a little bit so they ended up making some changes this is just a smattering of examples i’m not First of all Google Earth doesn’t have the updated photography of the golf course like Oakmont did but just high level this is just only a couple examples they mostly narrowed a lot of fairways like on hole number one they narrowed it about 10 yards uh they narrowed the par five uh six hole as well add a couple mounds and make it supposedly a little more penal to miss a fairway number nine actually something that seemed like it worked so you know number nine the big dog the guys would just bomb it over and they would have like 50 yards in yeah exactly well they shifted the T- box right to which is closer to the tree line to prevent you from going way up top seemed like that worked um you know doing making that adjustment guys were having a little more trouble getting it over the tree line so at least that was good but most of the changes they made was just narrowing fairways thicker rough uh I think on one of the holes they actually uh they shortened the fairway to only 300 yards they took driver out of the guy’s hand just adjustments to try and make quote unquote accuracy matter and maybe make it a little more tougher well you get a signature field last year of you know a much better field and the average score ends up jumping again to minus 2.4 so again stronger field but when you adjusted for just PG2 or average it was still easier than the previous year minus.3 unreal yeah so congratulations to all these adjustments that they made to TBC River Highlands uh basically didn’t do jack [ __ ] um what it did do though was um we’ll we’ll get to that a little bit with the driving stats but just in general just what is difficult there versus other places still at least a little more difficult than average than PG or Golf Course as far as the ability to gain strokes off the tea it’s more of a function that it still is a golf course where you’re for the most part the field isn’t hitting driver everywhere so where you usually see when you guys are clubbing down at these golf courses it’s hard to separate yourself so it’s not necessarily that it’s difficult it’s just hard to separate yourself for the most part that’s why you kind of see it’s a little more tougher than average but don’t let that kid you it’s not really like it’s very like the task is like extremely difficult like you saw this week what is pretty easy though and we’ve seen the last couple years extremely easy approach shots um we’ll get to it but it’s a high volume of short shots it’s a wedge fest yeah pretty much and actually the last three years the greener regulation rate despite being very small greens has been 70 plus% um not great uh around the green that seems like where it is a little more difficult for everybody um I mean I’m trying to figure out exactly why that is it’s one of the more difficult uh place to get up and down from the fairway the rough and bunkers i know specifically there’s are a couple bunkers that are really tricky um the greenside bunker on number 11 the short par three down the hill that’s like very deep below the putting surface that’s pretty much an auto bogey that point i know the green on 18 uh the one where Tom Kim ended up being in that cost you the outright that one’s pretty difficult to get up and down too so um but that’s where a lot of the challenges putting and this is why I think this is you kind of see this is more bent versus poa very easy greens to putt on these definitely roll a little better than most bent poa greens um probably not as a whole lot of undulation in the greens either so you see like guys can gain a lot more of advantage on the greens in other places and it shows in the stats here some of the driving stuff too um you know you saw in this was always one of the more penal places to miss the fairway it’s more I think to do like there are some areas where if you do miss a fairway can incur a penalty stroke there is water there are some native areas where you can incur a penalty stroke like you see kind of high penalty rates here but you saw in 2023 as guys were just blasting driver everywhere it got a little less severe at least the changes that it did make it did restore the miss fairway penalty but it’s kind of like with um John Deere TBC Deer run that you know it’s an easy golf course but has a high miss fairway penalty and has more to do with the fact of if you basically are in the rough you kind of take away your ability to get a birdie good birdie yeah but if you’re in the fairway it’s very easy birdie opportunity it’s more to do with that um you know and you kind of see with the rough penalty too where it’s a relatively high rough penalty it’s just harder to make birdie uh at that course because you have a short iron from the rough versus a short iron from the fairway right um the driving stats you can see that it got up to about an average of 290 in 2023 with the changes that they did make guys still had to club down a little bit it went back down to 284 which you know for a signature field with the best players in the world the fact that it went down about seven yards six yards interesting yeah interesting mi mission accomplished but you still had 70% green and regulation rates yeah guys are still hitting 65% of our fairways like there just really isn’t much of a challenge uh ball striking at this place anymore because guys are so long and unless you make it like 15 yard wide fairways it’s not really going to matter to these guys no make a difference at all no like you alluded to proximity buckets high concentration of shots under 175 very low concentration of shots over 175 like the fact that only like look at that only 10% of your shots would come between 175 and 200 which usually is like 18 to 20% of your shots at most courses cut in half yeah cut in half same thing with 200 225 like really your only long approach shots are you know the two par fives it’s really about it and maybe a couple longer par fours everything else though it’s contest of who can hit their you know short irons pretty well on the week so and that’s consistent throughout the last couple years so focus on all your proximity strokes gain stats from under 175 as far as comp courses go probably no surprise uh the one comp course on data golf is Sedville Country Club Windham Championship uh that’s I see all your favorite I see all your favorite golf courses up here oh look at all the TBC East Lake and although I I like the changes that Andrew Green did to East Lake the problem is I think he made it easier for these guys um but TBC Deer Run I mentioned that that’s a golf course that it’s has a high miss fairway penalty but it’s because you’re basically taking birdie like the opportunity to get birdie out of your hand well we haven’t covered we haven’t covered John Deere in five years so so we that’s something we got to talk about um we were going to cover them this year but the field is literally atrocious and maybe we should take a breather that week but we’ll get to that maybe a couple weeks uh but like Sawrass Twin Cities those are golf courses with a high misferry penalty Murfield Village Inisbrook Concession like you start seeing like there’s a lot of guys who have a big crossover at a lot of these as far as like it rewards accuracy short iron play um you know stuff like that you know if you look at some of the guys been pretty good at some of these golf courses like for example Scotty Shuffler at a bunch of these um JT Poston would be another one brian Harmon pretty good a lot of these so yeah I mean you’d have Keegan one you know TBC PTOIC and Srass and put Keegan in with those [ __ ] losers he’s Well I’m just saying well all right well Keegan won here and Keegan and he won Travelers yeah he won Travelers and you know he finished runner up at PTOIC he’s been good at Sawrass he’s been good at Murville Village he’s been good at push them at Sawrass yeah so like you know those types of courses so you know these are definitely this is a good list of uh um you know comp courses to use this week y and then as far as like the leaderboards go because like you kind of see the same like with within event correlations the last couple years then I think we’re just going to see that going forward because we have a stronger field now um you know you look at the guys who did really well like Scotty Shuffler Tom Kin Tom Hogi Sunj like those are your guys that definitely are more accuracy finders you know um you know solid short iron players those types you still can see bombers do well here like JT just bombed it everywhere last year um Windham Clark just bombed it everywhere last year cam Young just bombed everywhere last year i actually forgot that Cam got a 59 on Saturday um he did at that course so but as far as like how you separate yourself last year at this tournament you can you definitely can separate yourself with a better driving week but it’s mostly because of more fairways you hit versus how far you hit it there definitely is a little less correlation there um it’s harder to separate yourself with a pro shots but that’s a function of most guys when you have a lot of short pro shots are really good at it so it’s just hard to separate yourself yeah but if you have if you do miss a green is how difficult it is you can separate yourself a little more with that and it kind of turns into a little bit of a putting contest that day so those are kind of your attributes you want to look for this week guys who you know usually tend to find a lot of fairways you can try and go the bomber route with like DFS if you want to try and get different i mean for God’s sakes Bubba Watson’s won this three times so it can be done but for the most part though what usually works is guys who just hit a lot of fairways guys who are pretty good with their short irons and pretty good putters that’s really about it yay yay so yay um do you even want to go through the odds board or no we can do that on Tuesday it’s fine okay we’ve gone We’ve gone an hour yeah go an hour we’re good okay we’re good re recap the open yeah I mean I don’t really feel like actually looking at the odds board and telling you I’m going to bet Patrick Hanley again this week i will slap you you will not do that yeah but you know what this would be a Patrick Hanley godamn it no easy short steve I swear to [ __ ] God Steve I’m telling you you have to stop you have to look man pat covered my car with rose petals all right he left a nice note listen I don’t even He’s in the doghouse but you know he’s you know he’s we’re working on this 10 times the degenerate you are and I don’t even know what addiction I have that you have to can’t it’s [ __ ] insane it’s nuts yeah you know but the thing is though if I when he does turn it around though that’s when you’ll appreciate him you’ll know the real Patrick after that jesus all right why don’t we end on that terrible awful all right yeah we’ll be back on Tuesday night for the best bet show for the Heritage uh I guess what how many people we get on this one is it 70 i think so yeah it’s signature field yeah 70 so listen good thing we had a great US Open hope everybody had a great Father’s Day uh call your dad if you haven’t talked to him yet and hug your kids other than that uh we’ll see you guys on Tuesday for the Heritage bye
