The Weight of Jon Rahm’s Absence at the 2024 Sentry | PGA Tour | First Cut Podcast

The First Cut crew discusses the absence of Jon Rahm at the Sentry.

#golf #pgatour #thesentry #jonrahm

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ABOUT THE SHOW: The First Cut brings you everything you need to know in the world of professional golf. Nearly every day Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Mark Immelman, Greg DuCharme, Sia Nejad and Patrick McDonald bring you the best analysis in the game. From DFS to betting previews, interviews and recaps… everything golf is on the table when you listen to The First Cut.

This is one of my favorite events of the year just because it gets the juices flowing you got raling talking about trade wins you get the whale montages I mean it’s great late night viewing the the views of the golf course and the elevation changes are terrific and you

Know Joseph Boza in the chat uh 700 FedEx cut points to the winner which was a point of contention for those lower class players where the churn rate might not be what the models had suggested maybe they didn’t realize year was a leap year uh like we mentioned at the

Top maybe that might change something but yeah I mean I’m excited for it I I’d be pretty shocked if one of the top tier players isn’t going to win this tournament and like John ROM did last year it’s a great chance to Kickstart your year and I mean start running

Downhill and go on a potential tear with this new signature event series that’s only 80 players and the cuts are limited I mean we could see someone like a Scotty Sheffer someone like a Victor hin just rattle off you know three wins in the first three months kind of how John

ROM did before he went won the Masters so I know it’s uh kind of laidback there in Maui but I’m sure some guys are really up for the test this week I’ve got kind of an opposite view of Patrick Rick in that and I said this last week

But I I have felt more bummed out about capalo this year than before because I I think that rah’s absence is really meaningful and I know not everybody feels that way because people have varying opinions on ROM and pretty hot takes on live and the tour you know everything that goes along

With that but there’s a real gravity to tournaments that ROM participates in where wherever they are whether it’s on the European Tour live PGA Tour Majors whatever because he’s I think a generational player I think it’s him and Rory and if you want to DJ in there DJ’s a little older than

Rory who’s a little older than Rah but I think those are your kind of your three guys from the last 10 years uh who are generationally great depending on how you feel about speed and JT those guys have been probably more up and down Rah has been consistently one of the three best

Players in the world for seven straight years and that’s a that’s a trajectory that not a lot of guys have and so to me there’s just this is the first time that I’ve really sensed this lacking at a Tour event that was a big time Tour

Event because of a live Exodus you know Bryson and DJ and all that th those were obviously big names that left but I didn’t I didn’t feel the gravity of it like I think we’re going to with with ROM and I don’t know how you if you agree disagree but that’s just that’s

Kind of been my feeling going into this week I think that for me personally I I like to look at the field that is put in front of me and try to find who is going to separate themselves from everyone else however I think that uh what is kind of baked

Into the the weekly PGA tournaments is those guys who who matter John Ron matters and also who the defending Champion is and we are going to be reminded of John Ram’s absence here uh Rivier uh what else am I missing American Express was there one more was that it

He got he went on a ter earlier last year but like we’re gonna be reminded of Masters Masters well I guess I’ll be there though yeah but we’re gonna be reminded of the absence which is part of what bums me out because it it it it to

Me by default makes it feel a little bit worse when that guy doesn’t have to show up and defend his title or doesn’t not that he doesn’t have to that he’s that he’s not and it’s because he’s not allowed or whatever it it it will it will make the

Tournament feel smaller yeah yeah and I think that’s I think that’s a little bit of of what I’m saying and yeah that stinks like it stinks and I think a lot of people have alluded to that and and I think some people you know some of the response was like well

John ROM like the ratings won’t be any different and you’re like well that’s not yeah of course not but that’s like not a wrong like that’s because there’s nobody that the ratings would be different for unless like 10 people left or or whatever even then I

Don’t even I don’t I don’t know how much different they would be I think the ratings are kind of just the ratings other than like Tiger Playing or not playing I I kind of think that to at this I mean for for the for the most

Part uh we’ll see I mean we’ll see in 2024 whether that changes but it’s not about the ratings it’s not about whether Rah moves the needle like I I don’t I don’t disagree with any of that I’m just saying personally like the gravity of Rah as the defending champ as arguably

The best player in the world not just right now but over the last seven years not being there is like oh like that just that’s like a just kind of Tak the air out of the balloon for me a little bit how do you think Patrick the Signature Events are are selected are

Selected oh um kind of like uh Beyond the Door handshake situation you scratch my back I scratch your back like hey like hey AT&T because you’ve been a good sponsor for however long and you promised to reup at Pebble Beach for for the next 20 years we’ll we’ll float you a signature

Event type of deal yeah probably well and uh I think what was it originally they said if you hadn’t played um never mind I was thinking about something completely off topic like when you hadn’t played in uh yeah you had to play One new event every four years or

Something like that yeah and I think that was like with Pebble Beach in mind because that field was just getting decimated year after year the idea that Phoenix is not a designated perpetually that’s where I’m at Preposterous Preposterous but then also the idea of not

Knowing this is a this feel the the the selection of Signature Events feels a lot like Liv stuff to me so so so live just golf wise I’ve said this a ton I thought they had two cool things I thought they had a draft and I thought

They had and I thought being on YouTube was a great thing for them I think they screwed both I think they screwed both of those those things up right because the draft was one team was already set one team already had three guys what it was just stupid um and then they they

Blew up the YouTube thing the the Signature Events could have been so cool where there was like a reveal whether they rotated every every so often so that every sponsor knew hey if you got if you sign off for four years you’re going to get a signature event at least

Once every four years it would have been good for Revenue it would have been good a Goodwill for your sponsors it would have been good to get stacked fields at places they never get to go and of course it would have been cool to reveal it somewhere and of course the the way

That it’s done is opaque and behind closed doors I think some of that is because the I mean think about the revenue model for the tour in general Rick how how I mean if if somebody just asked you somebody who was maybe a sports fan but

Not a PG J tour fan said hey Rick can you explain to me the like in detail the tour’s revenue model you it would be very very very difficult for you to explain and impossible for them to understand right yeah and so I think some of that is

Like and I’ve said this before it’s almost like this soft this the pjw is like this piece of software that got created in 1990 and you instead of like stripping it down and rebuilding it every five years they just keep adding stuff onto it it’s like

The the uh the way that fields are constructed no nobody knows the players barely know yeah the the new update uh causes three more issues from from an update six years ago which does yes that’s exactly which which to the point we were talking about earlier they have

An opportunity now to to do what to Shri it all down and to re and they probably won’t do it they’ll probably just add more software and add more l L of code we’re up to 10,000 lines of code more features more bugs um the favorites at

The top of the board are Scotty Sheffer about five and a half to one Victor havland nine to one Patrick Klay at 12 to one actually Max hom uh up there as well colum morawa and maxom along with Patrick KL at 12 to1 so there is there

Is still despite no John R despite no ma right Patrick let’s be clear here uh there are a lot of big guys teeing it up yeah I think there’s out of the top 12 in the world according to the owgr that is uh which I don’t know if we recognize

Or not these days but yeah I mean a ton of top names like you just said and a lot of guys who didn’t really do a lot of winning in 2023 Xander shafley Patrick hlay Tommy Fleetwood who had a great statistical year but didn’t win Terell Hatton Jordan

SP as well 30 coming off that really poor rder cup he’s someone who we talk about the gravity of you know someone winning this event and kind of stepping into that that shadow that John ROM left I think if if spe comes out the gates in

2024 and has a really strong start to the season I know you can’t replace John Ron but I think his departure would feel I don’t want to say less but it would be quelled a little bit I think if a personality and someone as popular as

Jordan spe got off to a really nice start and so I think it’s a hug huge season for spe in general 30 now second kid is there in the house he’s coming off a really poor rer cup we talk about great rer cup performances propelling people to Great Seasons but you know

We’ve seen a lot of poor rer cup performances do the same Rory maroy in 2021 going into 2022 Fitzpatrick was kind of the same he became a major champion in 2022 and I think speed kind of took it personally just how poor he played in Rome and he said something

Along the lines at the Hero World Challenge where he got there a week early to work on his game for a hit and giggle at Tiger Woods event and so I’m looking for spe to have a a good season this year now that he’s healthy with

That wrist he was kind of humming in the early spring and this is a great course for him to get started if you can find I was trying to find it I couldn’t find it like like a PGA Tour Money winner bet Jordan Speed could not have handpicked a better set

Of like Signature Events he might make he might make $10 million before we get to the Masters he’s got the century he’s got Pebble Beach uh he’s got then api’s in there but then he’s gonna get the Masters right he’s got RBC Heritage as a signature event might make Travelers

Travelers he might make a billion dollars this year I mean if he goes to live he’d probably make a billion dollars could you imagine uh yeah I mean speed’s fascinating I don’t know do we know what he is Patrick I think this season defines that for Jordan Speed because he’s out of

That 1920 Valley 21 he wins he contends at Royal St George’s uh 22 he wins at the Heritage and then last year he was kind of a ghost after Wells Fargo injuring that wrist in his back and so I think for him we always I mean you you

Talk mostly about Rory mro’s second chapter of his career I think spe is this season could Define that chapter for him if he’s just another guy or if he’s someone who’s gonna contend in major championships contend for a couple titles each year or just you know pick

Off a win every you know few seasons or whatever it may be but I have high hopes for him this year I do I think I think one thing that’s going to be interesting Rick and and you’ve probably thought more about this than I have is just this

Idea is is it’s certainly a different era of guys swinging really hard and chasing speed and all this stuff how are guys gonna be able to stay healthy for 20 straight years you know 25 straight years that’s that’s one of the underrated aspects of somebody like Dustin Johnson like he’s he’s never

Injured right or or very rarely and you know you get some guys that are injured all the time and and and I think that I don’t know that spe is necessarily one of those but he’s had some things that have popped up that you’re like man you you not only do you

Have to kind of duct tape the game together but you got to keep your body together too as you start getting into your into your mid-30s so I I think that’s going to be an I don’t know that that’s necessarily A spe subplot but I think it’s an interesting subplot for a

Lot of those guys like JT spe Rory obviously kka that’s been a big issue even Bryson um and some other guys like that that is interesting that’s why that’s why ludvig is gonna dominate because he’s got the perfect swing he doesn’t ex uh put out too much effort

And he hits the ball a mile he’s just going to be the best for the next 25 years