Rocket Classic Mega Preview | Picks, Storylines, Best Bets

The boys are back to preview the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan.

#golf #pgatour #podcast #RocketClassic

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SHOW INDEX
0:00 – Countdown/Intro
0:30 – Rocket Classic 2025 Full Betting & DFS Preview
1:48 – Golf Swing Thoughts: Should You Share Them?
2:54 – Mark Immelman’s Barefoot Golf Practice (Sam Snead Style)
4:40 – Feel vs Real: Golf Swing Adjustments Explained
7:09 – Mark’s Swing Changes Inspired by Scottie Scheffler
9:04 – Detroit Golf Club Restoration Plans Explained
14:51 – Why Trees Matter in Golf Course Design
15:59 – Rocket Classic 2025 Weather Forecast & Field Strength
16:50 – Strongest Rocket Mortgage Classic Field Ever?
19:21 – Ryder Cup 2025 Qualification Battles: Cantlay, Morikawa, Wyndham Clark
21:12 – FedEx Cup Playoffs 2025: Players on the Bubble
22:01 – Colin Morikawa’s Winless Streak & Putting Struggles
25:47 – J.J. Spaun’s Clutch Finish After U.S. Open Win
29:18 – Keegan Bradley: Captain and Player at Ryder Cup 2025?
31:09 – Is Tommy Fleetwood Overrated for Betting Outrights?
32:33 – Rocket Mortgage Classic Best Bets & Predictions
32:58 – Max Greyserman vs Davis Thompson Betting Pick
34:57 – Ben Griffin vs Keegan Bradley Betting Matchup
37:16 – Taylor Moore vs Kurt Kitayama DFS & Betting Breakdown
38:14 – Steven Yeager, Chris Gotterup, Joel Dahmen Props
41:01 – Rasmus Hojgaard & Patrick Cantlay Outright Picks
43:11 – Luke Clanton & Kurt Kitayama DFS Sleeper Picks
44:56 – Mark Immelman Live from Detroit
45:33 – Breaking News: Tony Finau Withdraws from Rocket Classic
49:30 – Patrick Cantlay DFS Analysis & Key Stats
51:40 – Harry Hall DFS Pick: Birdie Leader on Tour
53:30 – Max Greyserman DFS Value Pick Breakdown
55:36 – Chris Gotterup DFS Analysis: Monster Off-the-Tee Numbers
56:54 – Ben An DFS Pick: Trending Up at Detroit Golf Club
61:13 – Deep Sleeper DFS Pick: David Skinns
63:00 – DFS Strategy: 9K and 7K Range Stacking
65:30 – FedEx Cup Playoff Scenarios & Tour Championship Impact
68:30 – Ryder Cup 2025 Team USA Roster Watch
70:30 – Kit Kat vs Reese’s Debate 🍫 (Bonus Segment)
73:30 – Final Thoughts & Tournament Outlook

🎤 ABOUT THE SHOW
The Second Cut gets you everything you need in the world of golf on the PGA Tour and more! Tournament previews, storylines for each week, and in-depth players reviews. Hosted by Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood). Joined by Greg DuCharme (@therealGFD), Mark Immelman (mark_immelman), and Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS).

[Music] hey [Music] [Music] Welcome in it’s the Second Cut podcast this is your mega preview pod for this week’s Rocket Classic they’ve dropped the mortgage it’s storylines it’s best bets it’s shenanigans and anything else that we come across for this week if you’re watching live we’re early if you’re watching on demand you have no idea what I’m talking about mark Ilman is here hello Mark and I’m the reason why we’re early um yeah nice to see you Greg uh Greg and Rick Rick is shenanigans your word of the day because if so bravo my boy thank you i’ve already worked it in uh one second into the broadcast greg Ducharm is coming to us wow from the big studio good to see you Gregor yes good to see you too gentlemen uh excited to be here i’m glad we could work this out so we can get us all on the on the episode rick I got to point this out you have uh the cut man behind you proudly displayed look is that an LED light that is a custom uh LED cut man over my shoulder yes indeed oh yeah sweet yeah you got to hook us up here please i mean come on now there you go i’ve got I’ve got like on the mark stuff behind me we We got to fix that we got to upgrade i’ll I’ll I’ll uh I’ll work on my sources yes that’s a that is the cut man making his uh appearance right there on the wall i have a question for you guys because uh I played golf this morning i played nine holes this morning and I told Armina I said “Listen I I’ve got this swing thought that’s working pretty well for me but I don’t want to talk about it i don’t I don’t want to share it with you i don’t want to put it out in the universe.” And she said “Okay that’s fine.” um can I tell you my swing thought and I said “No because I don’t want your swing thoughts infiltrating my swing thoughts.” And she said “That’s not a real thing.” You have to ask Mark and Greg if that’s a real thing so gentlemen is it a Should I be protecting my swing thoughts from her swing thoughts mark go you go first okay wow you’re putting uh age before beauty okay here we go yeah here’s the thing about swing thoughts Rick i sort of view it like medication and I always I’ve warned just about every single one of the lessons I’ve given since 1996 that you don’t go and take another person’s medication because that’s bad for you you know don’t go fiddling around in their medicine cabinet you never know what you’re going to find or maybe the stuff’s in the wrong bottle and then you end up doing yourself in so I don’t mind people listening i don’t mind people kind of keeping an open mind but yeah be careful with other people’s thoughts now as opposed to them kind of integrating well you guys sleep in the same bed so I I cannot answer I cannot deal with that question that’s fair what do you think Greg um well I mean you have I I believe that you have to have belief in what you’re doing and if you have enough belief in what you’re doing then it’s okay to hear somebody else’s swing thought um but so like for instance if I know that in my golf swing I have to do X Y and Z to be successful right i have these principles that I go back to then if you tell me that you’re working on you know what your right toe is doing in the back swing i can listen to it and find it interesting i could watch YouTube content or an Instagram swing tip and I can not get distracted but I have to have real firm conviction in in what I’m doing in my game now if that’s a little frail if it’s a little fragile Yeah now you got to be careful my swing thoughts are too fragile i They need They need to um germinate a bit they need to plant roots they need to expand before I’m willing to let other seeds come in here okay i I I’ve got to add this because speaking of swing thoughts yours truly this guy um may have hit golf balls in the garage last barefoot Mark that can’t be that can’t be recommended because drill yeah well that’s the thing Greg right after the show I’m recording and on the Mark show uh with Tom Stikney who’s a great golf instructor and he’s a biomechanist but he’s got a real old school way about him so I said to him I want to do a show where it’s like old school feels meet new school golf swings and what stands the test of time and I got the list he wants to talk about and one of them is barefoot Sam style wow but this is not it what the point I’m trying to make is cuz I thought I’d open myself up to roasting and put the swing on Instagram which I did um I I’ll tell you this feel versus real are two very different things everyone says so but I’m here to say that it’s real and so I always get the club head stuck way behind me over here i hit this ugliest right field starting Roman candles that fly up there and just go with nothing behind them kind of like a firework you know and so I was like in my transition trying to feel like I actually tipped the club in the opposite direction like everyone thinks of shallowing and shallowing is all in vogue and shallowing excessively has called more caused more car accidents than I care to uh you know it’s it’s ruined more golfers than car accidents in my opinion so I’m trying to get the shaft looking in the opposite direction and man I’m turning this thing on its head in our video and it’s nowhere even close the point I’m trying to make is if you’re having a lesson from somebody Greg or whoever it might be some professional if you think you’re doing enough there’s a high chance and a really high chance I’m saying you’re not doing it enough that’s my preach for the day i I’ll add one thing to that i love when you get to a pl a thought that you can’t overdo right like you’re saying you’re tipping it the other way Mark if you tip it more and more and more and it it’s not too much it’s a really good thing to think about because you can get under pressure you can get on the last hole with a chance to shoot your lowest score and there’s one thing I got to do and I got to do it with all my effort and I’m not going to overdo it you know that’s a good place to be when when you feel like you can kind of rev the engine um but go Well go ahead no no rev the engine is a great way of putting it because I just wanted to share my inspiration for this because I’ve been teaching golf since 1996 i think before Greg was born okay i was five you were five okay there we are i am I left-handed i’ve always been too far inside out because of a When I was a kid I used to sky drives and then I read something in an old golf digest that said “You’re too steep so you got to go in the opposite direction.” So I did and to Greg’s point I went too much in the other direction right and then I’m watching Scotty Sheffler again last week at the Travelers and this freaking guy has the shaft standing up and down like it’s almost vertical on the back swing and the down swing and he hits it like god so I’m like I’m going to steepen the shaft up no matter what it feels like and I’m trying to get like Scotty and it still looks like it’s tilted too much so I’m like I’m on my mission to become a 54 year old Scotty Sheffller by steepening the shaft in my down swing yes i’m a huge fan of over the top and steep yeah yeah here’s my thing and and so Rick to the question I’m sharing my swing thoughts so uh no go ahead and share no I am I am not sh I’m not definitely not putting them out in the internet into the Twitter sphere no I’m keeping them very much between my ears for the moment we’ve got old school swings old school swing thoughts we’ve got old school golf detroit Golf Club established how about this gentlemen 1899 for the Rocket Classic this week but Mark this is going to be the last time we see it as is they’re going to do a little bit of a restoration after this year they’re going to try to take it back to some of the roots that that Donald Ross laid out you know things over the years tend to um erode or go in a different direction slowly over time they’re going to take this back to the to the roots okay first off Greg let’s please recognize that thoroughly professional segue that our leader Greg Rick went from uh old school swing to old school thoughts yeah nice job appreciate you um yeah to that I think I moaned or I ranted about this year recently with a lot of the redoss or or or restore the course to its original majesty and the first thing a number of guys start to do is they’re like “Okay we’ll just rip out all the trees.” Mhm and I’m a fan of trees right i’m just going to say that now yes if the trees are alien I have no beef with you removing them but if they’re beautiful hardwoods and stuff have an in have some sort of a an influence on the way the flow of the hole goes or certainly on how the golf course goes they need to stay so all I’m going to say about this redo about um this golf course which incidentally I love it’s the funnest walk it’s easy to walk yes for the PGA Tour it’s not a lot of ch it’s not a big challenge for these guys because they can just blast it over dog legs and stuff like that but if this is going to become a place where they move some of these trees and they let the tour in there they’re going to widen the corridors for the tour guys and they’re just going to absolutely blitz this golf course anyhow um if it makes the course player better playability for the members by all means let’s just be a little circumspect with removing trees from what’s going on because the the the architect looks at the old picture and the old picture back from 1900 the trees haven’t grown yet now you know hundred something years later we’ve got a bunch of trees that have grown up so so let’s be a little careful with that stuff please I beg of you well here’s the exact quote on the arborist that is going to be doing the job um there are a lot of 100 to 150 year old oaks that we want to save and highlight good news but then he goes on to say but there are a lot of nursery stock trees that don’t have the same value so there will definitely be here we go there will definitely be some removals there will definitely be widening of fairways there will definitely be uh expanding of greens that have shrunk over time irrigation is obviously a big part of this as well but uh Greg the the the invogue thing right now is you know you’ve got to be careful with your words because these are not necessarily renovations these are restorations these are going back to the original architects desires and dreams using old footage uh using um you know stories or or comments or quotes that have been passed down in club history restorations are in vogue right now yes and you know there’s a it’s a very difficult one for me because I appreciate history and tradition and I appreciate the golden age of architecture if you will but the game is so totally different now than it was then and I I think that if you look at the great golf courses in our country they one of the keys the great golf courses even just on the PGA tour one thing that they all seem to have in common is that they evolve with the game okay uh if you look at original pictures of Augusta National the original Alistister McKenzie design it is completely different than it is now i mean the nines were flipped for one um the hole number 16 had the green on the other side of what’s now a pond it was then a creek it is entirely different the shapes of the greens are different the it’s just the the bunker placements i mean they moved the bunker around on number two a a number of times and they did it based on watching what happened at the Masters how did the best players in the world play this golf course how can we make the course better suit that that’s what Jack Nicholas does that’s what uh we just came from Oakmont that’s what Henry Phones did at Oakmont he’d watch play and adjust to what happened with the members and how they played the golf course and I think that’s the best way to go about doing it so you got to be careful with restorations because you’re you’re going back to um sometimes design philosophies that are based on a ball that’s played on the ground and especially here in America now the golf ball is played in the air um especially inland somewhere like Detroit right the ball is going to be up in the air and and so you got to find that’s why trees are so important because those are your hazards in the air when there’s no wind um and and so I think it’s something that you got to be very careful with it’s something I think as an industry we could do a better job of thinking forward we do a lot of thinking backward and the best play like Murfield Village jack Nicholas changes that golf course based on what he saw last year at at the memorial right and and it leads it just gets better and better and better so you know I I worry about these things now um Oakill Andrew Green at Oakhill did a great quote unquote restoration um he he did some things that you know the headline may have caught you off guard like they took out a ton of trees but there’s still a ton of trees on the place so you know it can be done it just it’s uh something you got to be careful with in my opinion yeah i want to I want to say this quickly and this is completely differential so don’t go and rip me on social media people um like like Oakmont for argument sakes it’s hard as heck but you look at the aerials and you just see like holes traveling back and forth and the only definition is like high rough and bunkers you know where trees shape holes a little bit and to Greg’s point I love that you know they hazards in the sky i’ll add to that Greg that you know part of the game is being able to judge the variable conditions and when there are trees around wind can get in there and bounce around the place and that just adds to to me the allure of a game where it’s not like you can predict the wind so you you you use your best facilities you make a really good educated guess hopefully and then you swing away in faith because if you got like no trees and wind in one direction you got to be at the coastline in my opinion when you’re in land there must be some trees there to allow for this variable wind because we don’t get wind like you would get in the British Isles at the links for argument sakes or out there on Long Island when you’re right alongside the coast trees are hazards in the sky the sun will be a hazard in the sky 90 plus degrees around Detroit this week if you are worried about the sun like I am secondcut merch.com has your bucket hats keep you nice and shaded not not just the bucket hats the t-shirts maybe you’re not in Detroit maybe you want the quarter zip or maybe you want the hoodie the fleece hoodie i don’t know all of it it’s available secondcut merch.com mina has done a great job with that she continues to add more and more stuff every single day gentlemen the field this week is strong at least relative to other Rocket Classic editions that we’ve had in the past this is going to be year number seven remember this event was uh installed with the 3M Open in 2019 for the first time so this is going to be year number seven and this is going to be Greg the best strength of field that we have had at this event kamoria Patrick Kentlay Keegan Bradley Ben Griffin Cam Young Hideki Matsuyama are your headliners and then you get some more depth with guys like Harry Hall and Luke Clanton and Keith Mitchell and Winsom Clark and Tony Fenow like thi this will be like I said just based on strictly OWGr strength of field numbers and the way that they issue them based on the field this is going to be the strongest field this event’s ever seen what’s so interesting about this guys is um is a lot of those names a lot of those real name recognized players are not playing very well right now they’re struggling uh and and some of them many of them are looking for their first win in a long time i mean for Keegan Bradley it’s been two days since he’s won but for some of these guys it’s been two years uh so you start going down this list and you’re like well all right Ricky Fowler in in years past you know he was on the last RDER Cup team he’s way outside you know he’s got FedEx Cup playoffs right around the corner that he’s got to go get into patrick Kentlay is on the outside looking in for the RDER Cup cam Young outside looking in windham Clark outside looking in um Matt Fitzpatrick his game has not been where and that could be a hard European Rder Cup team for him to make so this time of year with the FedEx Cup playoffs right around the corner only a 100 cards and only 70 spots in the FedEx Cup playoffs uh and and a very difficult RDER Cup team to make these are these are valuable starts um and and I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot of these guys make the trip to Detroit well just to put the numbers to that Mark um Color this is FedEx Cup standings colum Morau is 17th which is fine but certainly not where he would expect himself to be mor um Kentlay is 19 hideki is 22 then you get to guys like Windam Clark se Windham Clark would not make the playoffs if they started right now 75th in the FedEx Cup standings so so Greg is on to something here not just um FedEx Cup implications but RDER Cup implications and a lot of things that you could try to make make good with four days in Detroit yeah and then you know that 100 number is key used to be 125 uh in the playoffs and then of course 70 and 30 come quickly i I I do want to say this too like if you’re an aspirant Ryder Cup player and and Greg kissed some of them but I also want to list this in that team that um played in Rome the other guys that are currently outside the the the reckoning and this is not just the six this is the top 12 right now windham you referenced brian Harmon is 12th so he’s on the list max Homer is out sam Burns is out ricky Fowler is out brooks Keeper is out jordan Speedside so there’s a very real chance that this Ryder Cup team for the US that lines up there in Beth Page Black has got essentially a bunch of rookies and then a guy like Russell Henley who played in the President’s Cup but not a Ryder Cup so it could be a really new look thing and so these guys like a Windom Clark and stuff that have this sort of experience it’s time for them to shine and strangely like we talk about him um last week when we were waiting for a potential playoff and I’m standing there beside the clubhouse with a monitor windham’s fiance I think it is maybe wife girlfriend with Windham’s significant other comes up and and she’s sitting there in the shade and so I’m like do you want to watch cuz she’s waiting for Windam to come in because I think he was in the second to last group or maybe third to last and so she’s watching the TV monitor and one of my colleagues says “Um week off next week or what are you doing?” She goes “No we got to go to Detroit.” And if I remember correctly she was like “We got to go to Detroit.” And that speaks to where the the the mindset is in the Clark household it’s like limited starts left i think there’s five right before the playoffs and it’s time now to start making some hay you can’t be taking weeks off now if if you outside of those the the playoff numbers and certainly the RDER Cup reckoning reckoning here’s the schedule rocket John Deere then we go overseas for the Scottish and the Open then we come back it’s the 3M and the Windham Championship that’s it so six including this week for for those guys and you know Greg you mentioned it guys that haven’t won in a long time the the biggest name and we I’ll zoom in here is Colin Morawa right hasn’t had a victory since the Zozo Championship at the end of 2023 he’s played great the statistics are there the wins are not and I think it’s starting to seep into Colin’s brain a little bit right we’ve had the We’ve had the uh caddy change we’ve got a guy who is tinkering with hitting shots with or without a glove because he’s Yes Mark he has been tinkering going gloveless as well yes just wanted to I didn’t know if you were aware of that but he’s going glove free playing yeah he’s looking which which is not usually a sign of a very confident golfer when you’re doing things like that so you know I’m not sure what the state of the union on Colin Morau is at the moment but I’m not particularly sure it’s strong well he’s not satisfied that’s for sure definitely not um and even if you look at some of these numbers like just think about this at the US Open Kora gained 16.15 strokes ta green jj Spawn won with 16.3 so he almost caught JJ Spawn with just the T green play you know what the problem he lostick he Well well you got a putt you got a That’s part of the game too just ask 14 clubs in the bag there’s 14 clubs in the bag unfortunately and one of them you use on basically every hole yes now the other 13 he’s been statistically outstanding with outstanding uh if he gains 0.15 strokes putting at the US Open he’s in a playoff with JJ Spawn um yet the very next week at the Travelers he’s messing around with hitting shots without a glove on because it seems to go I mean why did he even try that i don’t even understand it and it it just it it just speaks to the uh frustration uh urgency perhaps maybe it’s urgency more than frustration but there’s definitely a desire for something better well I want to say I want to add to your observation there Greg because I mean I remember maybe last year or whenever it was everything sort of blurs for me where um whoever it might have been on the first cut show was like you know Collins striking the ball great because Strokes Gain says that he’s 10th or whatever he is in strokes gain approach and then I’m like when I’m out there it just doesn’t look the same and it doesn’t sound the same and and sometimes these professional golfers become a victim of their own expectations and Colin you know has been prolific with the irons in hand like where he’d play an entire tournament barely ever misitting a shot and hitting the ball on the button every single time now he’s in that place where I see Rick Sessing House there a bunch i see them working hard on ranges last year was the same thing he was on the range before and after the round and stuff wasn’t coming that easy so even though he’s hitting greens and and the number seems respectable yeah to us it seems respectable but to Colin Marikawa was like “No something’s got to change a little bit here.” And and so and look that’s admirable to be there but it’s a dangerous place to be as well because I can point to countless times I’ve followed winners to PGA Tour events and they haven’t had their best stuff all 72 holes scotty Sheffler is the best example right now i mean he can go through a nine-hole stretch not hitting the thing well at all still put up decent numbers for the line share of the event but he plays golf and he makes scores despite things going wrong and then you’ll see him get a little you know antsy perhaps on the range afterwards but it’s not like it settles seeps into his spirit you know the next day is always a new day and it’s not like he’s got to go and try and change something drastically that’s Sheffller we’re doing the same thing every single time then you get the other guys Marikawa Etel be like “Well let’s go gloveless for a week and see how this works.” So So expectation is a really dangerous thing yeah it it’s just I saw him 150 yards away from the whole glove in his back pocket and I said “Oh boy here we go this is just this is going to be something.” Real quick I want to go back to Travelers for just a couple of minutes because I’ve got an observation about JJ Spawn we’ve got two questions from Patreon that we’ll get to greg do you know what JJ Spawn finished last week what position he finished in last week oh well he moved way he shot 63 in the final round did he get up to tied 19th t14 14 after I Okay hat tip to this because JJ SP I mean was lost four strokes to the field in round one could have just packed this thing in he’s your US Open champion he just went through all of that fun stuff he grinds you over the next three days and finishes CT14 i color me impressed JJ Spawn well done there um I’ve got two other comments and questions from Patreon that we are going to hit here this first one is from Vinnie in regards to the Keegan player captain thing that we have going on now and Vinnie asks “Mark does Keegan becoming a player captain does that dilute both or should he only commit to doing one of them?” This may sound cliched but one time I heard an old proverb that went something to the effect of the eagle that chases two rabbits ends up missing both okay so now heavy old man heavy old man stuff you guys you can use that in the future you’re more than welcome thank you um so yeah in a way I feel like it’s diluted and actually I was on a show yesterday where the question was all right who’s the team going to be and why is Keegan playing all right or why is Keegan not playing and I my response was he’s currently the seventh ranked golfer in the world and as I looked down the list of potentials on this team um I would pick him before the lion share of him to be really honest with you so it’s to a point where it’s almost necessary that Keegan plays in which case I’m sure he’s on the phone with his assistant captain saying “Hey boys roles are changing in end of September.” And I’m sure every single one of his lieutenants is up for this because when he took the job he was playing well it’s not like the guys he’s got alongside him that are sort of playing some on the tour and not that they’re ceremonial but they’re not vying for tournament wins where Bradley is now one twice in the last three years so um yeah I I feel like if you’re doing both it’s just too much certainly one thing is going to suffer and I heard a tremendous quote I think I might have used it on Sunday night so forgive me if you’ve heard this but a colleague of mine said “I’d rather have a win as a player than a loss as a captain.” And this was a person who played on US teams so um that’s sort of where I stand so I feel like right now unless something completely sinister happens Bradley plays and he’s the captain but it’s very ceremonial you’ll take questions you’ll do stuff like that but a lot of the captaincy stuff behind the scenes I feel like they let him just do what he needs to do which incidentally behind the scenes is a lot because he’s got breathing regimens and all the sort of stuff he’s got to go through to prepare himself let him do that and let him just take the odd press conference once in a while wow okay i I love it and I agree with it greg you’re gonna get Alex’s question here which is in regards to the man on the wrong side of that Keegan Bradley putt because a wise man once told me that every golf shot makes someone happy and someone sad and uh in Tommy Fleetwood’s case he falls on the the bad side of things a little bit more frequently okay so Alex says “After seeing what Fleetwood did not to win this past week,” those are his words “Is he or anyone else on a list of golfers that you avoid to bet on because of their inability to close or do you think that that’s already factored in?” uh already factored in and there’s a lot of markets out there so Tommy Fleetwood’s a wonderful player and he is a uh outstanding outstanding golfer so there’s a lot of value in that like we talk about this a lot the reason why we talk about him in this light is because he has 42 top 10s without a win 28 top fives without a win you know there’s nobody else who’s done that so it’s you know it’s uh well it may come off as being hard on him for not winning it’s because he’s so good and the expectation is for him to win but from a betting perspective you just don’t bet him to win outright you know he’s great for top 10s or top fives top 20s even matchups all all of those things are in play dfs very much in play for him and and so sometimes especially with like fantasy you can look at Fleetwood and say “Yeah he’s not going to win.” But you got a six-man team to fill you only one of those guys can win if you’re lucky so having Tommy Fleetwood still extremely valuable hey Rick yes Rick he back door to top five last week you know yeah he definitely did so I will tell you we So I did the ESPN bet stream last week and when I do that they send us ESPN bet sends us all the the handle numbers like who is being bet on the most what markets they’re on so Tommy Fleetwood was the most bet top 10 player last week which makes complete sense because it’s every time top 10 Tommy and he did not even sniff the top five or six in terms of uh most bet to win so people have started to learn the the pathway to getting uh exposure to Tommy Fleetwood so Greg spot on spot on there buddy um that’ll conclude our Patreon segment for today if if you want to support the show there’s a variety of ways to do it like it retweet it share it with your friends um whatever leave us a fivestar rating and review if you want to support financially we have some cool stuff on the Patreon links in the description you can check that out uh we’re going to talk about more players here gentlemen we’re going to do it in the form of our grid which if you’ve never seen before we do a matchup a finishing position and two separate outrightes this grid don’t freak out don’t freak out it’s gonna have a new look for this week because Mina has rebranded it go ahead Mina drop it bang there it is nice wow clean yes clean i’m not read mina can you give me more hair please yes she will photoshop some more hair in there um we Yes much easier to read much more on brand she’s done a She’s done a wonderful job with this let’s start with the matchups for this week mark love the man that you are riding with here uh who is it please well um credit to Mina because I’d went with a group because I did couldn’t find matchups on DraftKings which is kind of becoming a bit of a tradition unlike any other it’s a little early in the week we Yeah they’re they always want to drop them like Tuesday afternoon and we’re like on the verge of going live well good i I thought that was just me um and maybe this there’s some recency bias here but Sunday afternoon when I’m standing there on beside 18 green up there on the hill watching the unfolding of Russell Henley pitch in for birdie nearly get in a playoff and the Tommy disaster and the Keegan win i’ve got Max Grazerman looking over my shoulder at my television monitor sort of trying to figure out what’s going on because all there were a number of golfers that were very interested in the result so just because I had Max like over my left shoulder he was top of my mind so as soon as I saw his name um I was like this is a good idea and then it became a better idea because it seems like this time of the year is when Grazeman starts to play well um boy from the Northeast from New Jersey played golf in Duke at Duke um has done really well at the 3M Open and plus 105 over Davis Thompson a guy who sort of hasn’t seemed to have his best to me i don’t know what the numbers bear out i just felt like Max was a decent bet around Detroit where he can just open up and blast the driver over all the corners yeah there so a couple of things there davis has not been nearly as good since his victory and Max Gaserman is is a statistical unicorn Mark in fact last year’s season gosh I don’t remember off the top of my head but he was one of like eight guys ever to gain a half a stroke per round off the tea and a half a stroke per round with the putter something like that like it it is just the longest club in his bag and the shortest club in his bag are his weapons and that is very very rare all right I’m good thanks for backing me up let’s go you got it you got it no worries there um Greg Look at you you don’t even You don’t even like America do you what if What have you picked for this week well I picked an American so I I do love Americans uh I just I also picked an American to lose this matchup i have Ben Griffin even money over Keegan Bradley all right now there’s a couple things to this one that’s a big time week for Keegan and I don’t pick guys to go back to back unless their name is Scotty Sheoffller uh so it’s a rule of mine now also Ben Griffin in the last five weeks Ben Griffin has won uh and he’s gained strokes in every single category except for one uh which was a a shot in three quarters around the green last week where he finished tied 14th which which can I say Greg that is incredibly rare yeah to do what he to do what he’s doing as consistently as he’s doing it i mean we talk about this quite a bit usually it’s like two weeks if you can get backtoback weeks gaining strokes across the board it’s a great indicator you might get a great finish the next week but something will fall off this is five weeks it’s crazy i So I can’t look past that knowing that Ben Griffin still has a lot to play for is uh has finished inside the top 14 every week in the last five this is I I think a good golf course for him with his added length added driver ability i I just I love the game and I think Keegan it’s okay if Keegan takes a little breath this week uh because that was a lot for him last week ben Griffin even money over Keegan Bradley i might have uh an Greg might have an issue with me here i went with Taylor Moore over Kurt Kittyama which we’ll talk we’ll let Greg give us the Kurt Kittyama stuff in a second mine was more of a play on Taylor Moore who I just think is starting to you know plug the leaks in his game a little bit and you’re going to be hardressed to find a guy anybody else in this field who has three straight top 10s at Detroit Golf Club so I’m just trying to be early on him not necessarily hating on Kirk Kittyamba so we’ll we’ll save that go ahead Mark taylor Mo plays his golf course really well but loves a draw shot and he works really hard not to draw it too much uh I I saw a Taylor Moore position bet that kept my attention for a bit so I’m I’m kind of with you on that Kayyama bet there okay beautiful well we’ll uh keep an eye on that one gregors you get to go first on your positional wager please yes now this one has a what is it called a yumlot an umlot that is a German uh Yeah so So yeah Mina has given Stephen Jagger the proper the proper spelling now do you guys know this this is a fun fact mina was born in Germany i did not know that yeah and she was there until she was like five or something like that wow so we have a we have a German on staff on staff yes i mean if if Mina was a was a RDER Cup player she’d be on Europe oh she’d she’d be and she’d be a shoe in quite honestly yeah kind of reminds me of like Sep Straa yeah yes exactly but she wouldn’t want to share her swing thoughts with anybody that’s fine and that’s quite okay yeah this is the RDER Cup we’re talking about all right let’s get to Stephen Joerger i like him for a top 20 this week uh game’s been okay of late i I think it’s really it’s been okay in every area his short game’s been suffering a little bit i think it’s a little easier here but with his distance and his um liking if you will for driver heavy golf courses I think this is a really good spot for him so he finished tied seventh at the truest the talk of the town that week was “You just hit driver everywhere here.” Uh in Houston you hit driver everywhere he finished tied 11th in Mexico you hit driver everywhere he finished tied sixth um the Black Desert Championship in Utah you hit driver everywhere he finished second so I think um I I think for Steven Joerger that’s going to be a really good thing there’s minimal penalty for missing off the tee he’ll be able to air it out i like him for a top 20 especially at plus 240 uh speaking of hitting driver everywhere that’s a great transition to my top 20 who is Chris Gotup who will thrive in scenarios where you get to hit driver everywhere and he is playing just objectively the best golf of his career and that is by far by far it is six top 28 finishes in his last seven the advanced metrics look great he’s playing with a ton of confidence and if you started to do a I always say this word wrong amation that’s what the players championship trophy is right it’s a collection of everybody uh who’s ever won the players championship if you did that for Detroit Golf Club it’s going to look a lot like Chris got her up because this is a place for him mark your finishing position please and great job remembering to unmute yourself yeah well thank you i’m now becoming a professional at this podcasting stuff uh first off Matthew yes I’m going to be in Detroit come and say hello um this one perhaps is a little uh I don’t know insider information when I had a brief chat with Joel Damon in Canada i was like “How’s the game?” And he goes “Feeling really good.” And I’m like “So you know you need a little run here over the late part of the summer.” And he goes “I’m feeling good about my game.” So when I saw his name at plus 170 for a top 40 I was like “Yeah I’m going to take Joel Damon at his word.” So Damon for me top 40 plus 170 all right Joel Damon to get the job done only on the first four pages of the leaderboard i think he can pull that one off winners for me i will hold on to them for a second uh Mark we’re running up against a Mark deadline so Mark why don’t you give us your two winners please i’ve decided when I looked at the Ryder Cup rankings and I saw Resus Hoygard in there i think he’s currently seventh or something for the Euros i’ve decided I’m gonna start the Rasmus Hoyard train because this guy’s legit so every bet that you see from now until the end of the season I’m going to find a way to bet Rasmus if he’s in the field um blasted off the tea just love his game um to me he’s worked really hard on the short game and there’s a lot of that stuff around here if you miss targets you know little chip shots to fast greens off uneven lies he went and saw Joe Mayo for a bit um I asked him so how’d that go and he said just to kind of get a feel on what he had to say not necessarily changing anything completely so it looks like he has a control of who he is what his game is drives it great playing decently rasmus Hoyard 45 to1 um to win in Detroit okay and your second golfer uh maybe some work to do to make sure he gets on a RED Cup team yes he let me down here recently but I’m seeing a whole lot of good stuff out of Patrick Canle last week threatened but just didn’t get everything put together um he’s sort of the favorite in the field as far as I look at numbers so um again it’s time and and there’s an sense of inevitability about Kantlay finally getting a win again um so I’m going to kind of bet where he’s in the field and he’s in the field this week so let’s go Can plus 1600 speaking of guys who haven’t won in quite some time Patrick Kentlay getting a lot of cover from somebody like Kyler Morawa last time Patrick Kentlay won anybody anybody kz Valley against Bruss Wilmington BMW uh in the what was that the next year correct yeah so beat Yep caves Valley 2021 he defended it successfully the following year august of 2022 coming up on three years since that victory ben Griffin and Cam Young for me we’ve talked about Ben Griffin cam Young’s the model here like I’m ready for it speaking of guys who need wins Greg take us He let me down so badly last week yeah that this is such a different golf course you know is is crazy um take us home Greg all right i I got Luke Clanton um I think driver everywhere could be a great thing for him he hits a lot of greens in regulation which is important here he’s got to get the putter going there’s definitely some cleaning up to be done but this seems like the time of year where some of these young guys can really pop up and make a difference so I like him at 40 and Kirk Kittyama now this is uh this is an interesting Rick i don’t love it um I don’t love anybody to win here this week which is kind of fascinating but I think Kirk Kittyama’s been hitting the ball pretty well right over the last four weeks he’s been gaining strokes ball striking to the field his short game’s been in pretty good shape and I’m seeing a a spotty putter uh it’s been up and down there’s been good weeks and there’s been bad weeks the bad weeks have been worse than the good weeks but I I think there’s an opportunity for Kirk Kittyama on a golf course like this where he can air it out and utilize that speed to get hot with the putter and and go ahead and win this and I like it at instead of taking favorites all the time like I tend to do because they tend to be right uh I think this one there’s a I think there’s a little more opportunity here to to for us to air it out too so I went Kirk Kittyama and Luke Clan luke Clanton kirk Kittyama arasmus Hoygar Patrick Can Griffin Cam Young the outrights from our perspective mark I have done my duty to get you out of here i want to say safe travels uh we’re looking forward to hearing you from Detroit before I go Greg say Clanton with a T please clon thank you all right love you guys clon clanton we have a similar We have a similar issue all right yeah thank you Mark we’ll talk soon brother take care be good see you see you Mark oh boy the pronunciation police have gotten us again yeah I still think there’s a T in it when I say it but I’m going to annunciate it from now on i’ve learned my lesson that is a verbal feel versus real i feel like I’m saying the T i do too i guess not uh I have breaking news i have breaking news for you because we’ve got work to do here tony Fel this is correct tyler is absolutely correct tony Fen now has withdrawn from this event he has been replaced by Joseph Braramlet i don’t know if Tony Fenau was on your radar talking about guys who uh are kind of in on the outside looking in 51st in the FedEx Cup standings he’s had success at this golf course before but we are not going to see Tony in Detroit this week no it’s too bad um he had one of the great performances here when he won this was he won in 2022 and was sensational i mean he made one one bogey that entire week it was this was when it was played the week before the 3M open the week after the open championship he hit you know I love looking at these numbers Rick he hit 66 66 greens in regulation at Detroit Golf Club that’s the magic number isn’t it six yeah I think it that’s s He missed six greens for the whole week only made one bogey just uh remarkable stuff so yeah it’s a he wasn’t necessarily on my radar was I didn’t uh have a whole lot of action on Tony Fen now so it it’s no harm to me but um would love to see Tony get get this stuff figured out yeah game just hasn’t been sharp in 2025 okay we’ve got a little bit of work to do so we are going to head into the fantasy portion of the show and talk through some of these names here let’s start with the big boys at the top there’s only three in the 10K range and a handful more in the 9K range greg I’ll assist with some visuals from rickr rungood.com where are we going first here my friend uh going first to Patrick Kentlay um Mark loves him i do too i I think this game has been really good and if you look at this record um there’s kind of two glaring miscuts in there but they’re both in major championships we know and have known for a long time that Patrick Kentlay struggles in major championships make of that what what you will this is not a major championship so what what has he done in non- majors well tied 12th at the Travelers tied 12th at the Memorial tied fourth at the Truist tied 13th at the RBC Heritage it’s been quite good that’s a guy that’s trending on winning he’s gained strokes approaching the green significantly more than a shot in every event that isn’t a major this year it’s been very good iron play for him he’s gained strokes uh off the tea in every event since the players championship off the tea the guy is striping it and the putter hasn’t quite gotten hot yet but bent grass is his best surface i know this is a bent poa mix but I I kind of like the combo i I can’t I’m starting my lineups with Patrick Can this week all right Patrick Can $10,200 on DraftKings we’ll see um how that ownership gets distributed as the week goes on okay we’ve got Patrick Kentlay where are we going next yeah so now in the 9K range we got a couple of fun ones we got Harry Hall who I really like this week um tied ninth last week he was tied sixth at the Charles Schwab tied 24th at the RBC Canadian Open there’s a tendency in a week like this where you know birdie fest uh birdie average is a pretty strong indicator uh you need to make birdies in fact go over to my notes here find the find the sheet four four of the last five winners entered the week top 31 in birdie average um but even more impre you know a couple of them were in inside the top 10 which I I think is a pretty strong indicator every all all the last five winners all six winners have made at least 23 birdies in route to victory here at at the uh Rocket at the Rocket Classic harry Hall’s fourth on tour in birdie average he he makes a ton of birdies part of that is he’s the second best putter on the PGA Tour but the real kicker is that his iron play has just gotten better and and it’s like unlocked this puttin magic it’s conver it’s turning putt in for par into making a ton of birdies because he’s hitting it better ta green it’s his last four weeks and five out of his last six he’s gain strokes approaching the green so I love Harry Hall let me let me ask you about this question here from the chat because Matthew says and we’re not talking about Ben Griffin but we have talked about Ben Griffin he says are you worried about Ben Griffin playing nine out of the last 10 weeks going to be hot here all weekend he was off June 7th the week before the US Open are you worried about that um I definitely take it into account um you know somebody else was saying they were worried about they’re worried in Detroit about him possibly withdrawing uh I Yeah I’m worried about it a little bit the thing is that Ben Griffin’s pretty used to it right if there’s anybody I’m not worried about it’s Ben Griffin he does this all the time only only Eric Cole has played more than Ben Griffin and Ben Griffin has played like earlier this year played like 15 weeks in a row i just do not care i’m generally in that camp too now is there a chance that like what happened to Jordan Speak happens to Ben Griffin yeah of course um it could happen to anybody you know so I’m not overly worried about it if it were like Scotty Sheffller playing that often I’d be I’d be maybe a little more concerned yeah or like Patrick or like Patrick Kentlay who goes from like playing 14 times a year all of a sudden playing 28 times a year would be Hideki Matsyama right who struggles with injury from time to time yeah I’d watch it but not Ben Griffin uh we have spent a good bit of time talking about your next golfer here but I love him so we’re going to bring it back up it’s Max Grazerman grazerman um you know surprisingly he hasn’t been putting very well i know this is I think this might be the might be the first time in his career he’s lost putting three weeks in a row and it’s been pretty significant i I think that’s more of an anomaly than anything else Rick i love the way he’s hitting it three out of his last four weeks have been top 25 finishes he’s been hitting the ball well in all of those the putter’s been letting him down but um you know I think he’s got a really high floor this week and he can make a ton of birdies too i think he could win i I I think he could too i think he’s just splendid and this is a really good spot for him um both those weapon the the rare combination of weapons that he has are both very valuable this week so I’m I’m excited about I’m excited about Max let’s round out the last one here and this one this one is interesting to me you he he’s on your uh he was on your board and a a newly minted professional it’s it’s Luke Clanton greg what have you what have you seen that’s got you that’s got you excited for Luke this week yeah it’s a it’s surprisingly nothing new right this is more of what who he is as a player so I like him in DFS and I like him in outright markets i don’t trust him for top tens or top 12 like he’s not a consistent reliable player but I I think that there’s a an upside here that could be win any one of these weeks and this golf course will be perfect for it because he can absolutely blast it the putter is very much hot and cold it It’s streaky it struggles it’s streaky it’s struggled and looking on rickr rungood.com uh over the last 36 rounds he’s way up there in greens of regulation which I think is pretty pretty important as well so I could see Luke Clanton putting something together this week having a great run of it there’s some risk but I’m I’m willing to take it because I think there’s winning upside the AK range are two golfers that have already been mentioned on the show but I’m interested in your take particularly on Rasmus Hoygard who is first off here greg yeah course fit spec this is a course fit specific right i think um when when you look at Bryson and Tony and Cam Davis guys who have won here uh hit it a really long way off the tea and even Ricky Fowler is not short off the tea there’s something that driving distance is pretty valuable you can when you can hit it everywhere and you can hit it like Rasmus Hoygard i think it gives you an opportunity to separate yourself and in the last two weeks he’s been pretty good with his approach play much better than of late uh and and that kind of that kind of talent is has an opportunity to be on full display this week so look I don’t love the 8K range at all um I could see some lineups with Kantlay and maybe one of those 9K guys and loading up in the 7K range because I really like that range but uh if I was going to go in this it’d be Hoygard and it’d be Chris Goddarup who I know you’d like too Rick yeah i mean this is just this is just it’s great it’s great stuff it’s f it’s phenomenal he’s been playing awesome plays well on these grasses it seems um he he’s got like two of his last four weeks he’s gained over five strokes off the tea five you know that and here he’s going to do that again yeah he’s building himself a really solid floor with the driver and he is no longer a one-trick pony he was kind of a onetrick pony when he won did he win Myrtle this year or the year before no last year thank That’s why he’s here that’s why he’s here this week because he wasn’t gonna keep his card without him right right so and I thought that that was like whoa where did that come from he wasn’t He wasn’t playing all that well before he’s playing much better golf now yes look he was there there’s like a threshold with these really long hitters with driving accuracy where if you can hit 53% of your fair 52 53% of your fairways and you’re hitting at 320 you’ll be gaining strokes to the field you’ll rank you’ll rate out pretty nicely in the driving stats if you start to get below that 51 50 he was hitting like 43% of his fairways right it was not useful distance he wasn’t even beating the field with his driver despite all that speed it’s hard to do and he was spraying it but now he’s now he’s got control he knows where the golf ball’s going the 7K range is becoming more interesting so we talked about Steven Jagger we’ll probably pass on that for a second kevin U has withdrawn from this event so we can we can bop him out of here which leaves us uh with Ben on and I’m I’m um envisioning what Ben does well and what he doesn’t do well and yeah I understand why Detroit Golf Club would be a fit for Mr on here he’s a lot longer than you think oh yeah you know he he’s like a bomber you may not think of him that way um but I’m starting to see this game round into form over the last three weeks right he finished tied sixth in Canada tied 14th last week at the Travelers um he’s gained off the tea in his last three two out of his last three approaching the green all three around the greens the putter which is a problem has been much closer to even over the last three weeks in fact if you combine the last three weeks he is gaining strokes things are trending in the right direction so it makes a it makes a ton of sense from that standpoint um he also has a tied 13th here now that was back in 2019 but I think his game is I think his game’s in really good it’s in really good form it’s it’s heading in the right direction yeah clearly i mean since he since um he missed the cut at the Memorial three really strong finishes or at least three strong weeks in a row as you laid out there Greg and then if you’re looking for uh value and this is a guy you you find this guy you find this guy a lot it’s it’s David Skins you love David Skins no I don’t yes you do well I I think he’s really good one he’s longer than you would think because he kind of looks like a you know a like Yeah yeah i was going to say like a crafty old fisherman he honestly does look like a crafty old fisherman he looks like he should be shucking oysters down on the pier i I actually really like shucking oysters of course I’ve never done it on the pier but it it’s uh I’ I’ve done it and I actually enjoy it there’s something extremely satisfying about it to me anyway I I don’t know where what to do in this 6K range it’s like well the guys that are at 686900 I’m like I don’t really I don’t really like that um go down through the whole range it’s like no no no no well all right at this point if I’m going to guess I better get some real value out of it so I go down into the mid6000s my Kevin David Skins oh you finished tied ninth in Canada hit it great hit it pretty Hit it all right at at the Byron Nelson i know that was back in May um but I’m guessing anyway so why not go to the crafty old fisherman David Skins it’s a terrible answer see if he can catch us a a reel us in a top 20 that would be nice all right let me do this because that’s just a horrible it’s horrible analysis all right okay well while while you do that while while here’s what I’m thinking though because you said something that that definitely jives with me i don’t want to be in the 6K range and I think that I’m gonna start a lot of my lineups in the 9K range because I also am not like super stoked about the like I think I’m gonna be piling in 9K guys piling in 7K guys not necessarily have to get as deep down the board as uh I do in previous weeks yes so I want to just throw some 7K names out there okay just confirm for me if you will that these guys are all in the tournament okay still uh Alex Norin as far as I’m aware yes I would play him uh Kevin you was not he was on my list do not play him steven Joerger we talked about in Benon we already talked about Ameliano Gilo yes right he’s back he’s he’s back to being team n putt yes so I’m I’m fine with that in the 7K range and Rio Hisatsune like there’s a a lot of upside with him a lot of upside with him he’s got top 100 he has like top five upside yeah he was tied fourth at the Valbar tied fifth at the Valero um and you think that’s just tied 10th in Mexico you think that’s kind of like a just a nice little hot streak but he was tied sixth at the Charles Schwab as well you know it’s happened throughout the entire season i’d really like I I think he’s worth looking at this week the nines and the sevens will be my happy hunting grounds for this week so I those names you’re throwing out I’m sure I’m going to have a lot of exposure to i mean I’m I’m not against the Kent lay and sevens can’t lay in the sevens this week either um I just think he’s going to play grade two we’re going to be back on Friday and Sunday this week for the Rocket Classic uh to make sure we’ve got you all covered there we’re going to keep an eye out for any other Tuesday field updates but as of right now the latest is Fenow out Bramarlet in we’ll see if anything else changes today uh Greg anything else before we put a bow on the show well I’m looking forward to seeing like we talked about going back to the top of the show how do how do these guys that are name brand players how do they compete in a field like this on a golf course like this can they get some momentum heading into the end of the season and and really make this RDER Cup race interesting can they solidify their spots in the Tour Championship for instance which this year Rick it’s a big deal because all you got to do is get in yes and you and you can win you got to have one good You’re one good week away from winning if you get into the top 30 so it’s a big deal that is a good point we talked a lot about how it affects like Scotty Sheffller how about guy 30 who now has a real chance of winning the golf tournament yeah can you go beat 29 guys yeah yes they all can and if you’re 30 and if you’re 30 you might have gotten in because you’re hot as it is right right you play great at the BMW or Memphis or both or or the Rocket Classic so I’m really This is that time where it doesn’t seem like it but it’s it’s crunch time it is It is crunch time for the FedEx Cup playoffs and so I’m looking forward to those storylines do crunch Do crunch bars crack your top five candies uh no i’m not against them i like I like them but top five is tough yeah yeah what’s your top five you know Crunch Bars are kind of I always They’re They’re never as good as I think they’re going to be well that’s a great great endorsement yeah I’m always let down by the Crunch Bar what’s What’s number one number one is Kit Kat wow yeah i’m not even sure it’s close what yeah i love Kit Kats um I would have Reese’s in there that’s the clear goat it’s It’s hard to beat but the Kit Kat beats it in my mind so those are my top two you would love so KitKat um when we were in a Australians must love Kit Kat and they do Kit Kat there’s lit I’m not exaggerating 90 variations of Kit Kats so it’ll be like I know you’re he’s already shaking his head he’s like absolutely hates this let’s just say it’s like you’re such like of course of course it’s like classic Kit Kat guy um but yeah they’ve got like every variety of Kit Kat that you can imagine and of course you hate them all you don’t mess with perfection oh my god uh no i’m sure some of them are pretty good so hey put one in front of me we’ll see if I eat it or not i’ll I’ll put I’ll put some put some together for you and we’ll do a little maybe we’ll do a little taste test at some point next time I see you we’ll do a little taste test kit Kat uh all right well we’ll be back uh again Friday and Sunday for now big thanks to producer Mina she does all the hard work behind the scenes greg Ducharm i’m Rick Gaiman markman already out of here this has been the Second Cut podcast we’ll catch you next time [Music]