2024 Travelers Championship Mega Preview – Picks, Storylines, One & Done | The First Cut Podcast

Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Patrick McDonald and Mark Immelman preview the 2024 Travelers Championship.

0:00 Intro + Kyle’s Reds hat is causing chaos
2:45 News & Notes: Framework Agreement? Maybe? + Rory’s WD & Olympic field set
32:30 2024 Travelers Championship Preview
34:35 Best Bets
52:00 One & Done

#golf #pgatour #golfoncbs #firstcutpodcast #travelerschampionship #GolfDFS #golfpicks #dailyfantasysports #PGADFS

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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.

[Music] freaking first cut golly welcome to the first cup podcast I’m Rick gon and this is your mega preview pod for this week’s Travelers championship and of course this episode of The First Cut is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook make every moment more and I’ve got a crew that’s gonna make every moment more Mark imman is here Mark welcome back it’s so good to be back you see my Beach Tan I’m I am ready to go rested refreshed loaded let’s go always tanned and looking good is Patrick McDonald hello Patrick stop it stop it I’m I’m kneed deep in Dave Johnson’s Wikipedia page because of Kyle’s hat right now this guy started managing in 1984 yeah 30 years 30 years well I remember him for my Nets I’m I’m knee deep in uh Daniel Boon’s Wikipedia page because I went from Kyle Porter wearing a red hat to H who did I say oh Pete Rose to Dusty Baker to Davey Boon to Daniel Boone I’m out on the frontier Kyle Porter is here hey K how we doing I’m I’m glad I could provide that uh that connection for you you are you into the College World Series Rick I’m watching The College World Series right now honestly have not seen a second of it it’s great my my sons enjoy it I’m glad to be back too I went to uh took the whole family to inside out to this morning tremendous film oh okay I did not know sequel there’s a new uh emotion correct there’s four new emotions Patrick oh okay yeah we got we got it got complex in a hurry it was it was wonderful we had a great time so it’s it’s good to be back home I I think it’s insane that there’s an event this week we can talk about that but uh I I’m gonna have a US Open hangover probably until the Open Championship yeah I I I feel you there’s uh The Show Must Go On as they say however because The Travelers Championship is happening this week but before we get to that let’s get to a little news and notes the framework agreement the momentum has been moving very very slowly between the PGA Tour and the piff according to Allan shipnuck and others admittedly this has kind of been floating around the last couple of weeks uh Allan as a of what is this three hours ago says the tour board meeting is happening right now in Hartford texting with a board member he says not to an expect an announcement today that referring to a more official agreement between the PGA Tour and piff he would go on to say with how much is at stake how many lawyers are involved everything is being heavily scrutinized and they do not want to get this announcement or any announcement that might come out or the messaging around it wrong like uh maybe many felt 6 John [Music] R there it is so Mark we’ll start here uh we are now a year and 12 days into some sort of agreement it seems like we are getting maybe closer to a Finish Line despite really not knowing what’s in there yeah uh and all I can really offer here offer here is what I’ve managed to be privy to and and you know for a while out there on tour there wasn’t much conversation about this sort of stuff then all of a sudden over the last few weeks it started coming up and it was dinnertime conversation between announcers and players were talking about it so you got the sense that stuff was on the move and I asked somebody I’m like is this for real and the answer was yes so um yeah look it’s it’s nice that this thing’s moving along a little bit um it’s I I I still don’t see the real reason why they need to try and push things along I’m sure they’ll be uh very very careful about the whole thing because there’s a lot at stake but all that being said it it is heartening to see that there is a little light at the end of the tunnel and that light is not the proverbial Train upcoming hopefully not uh the KP is there any indication about how multiple leagues of this magnitude could coexist along with kind of the financial side because I do want to separate you know live golf is not piff and piff is not live golf I want to remind people of that so is there any indication of what could possibly come out of this deal both on and off the golf course well I yeah those are two very different things right I think that the I actually think in some ways the financial side I thought a bunch of people were talking about this at the US Open last week I think the financial side is is is complex but not um it’s not super Tangled like it’s it’s a I mean we have a blueprint right with the uh strategic Sports group they’ve already they’ve already made an investment into PGA Tour Enterprises so the piff has a blueprint for how that or or PJ tour Enterprises has a blueprint for how that goes I don’t think that is really the hangup I think all the other stuff is the hangup and you talk to a bunch of people at US Open and it’s like man I don’t like I don’t think anybody knows I think they’re like the thing that we always say they’re very much making it up as they go and tiger wants this and spe wants that and Klay has this opinion and it just is I all that to say like I don’t think anybody has any idea what we’re getting on the OnCourse side of things and the league merging side of things uh and I don’t even know if the I would throw the decision Mak the actual decision makers in that group of not really knowing at this point what’s gonna happen yeah I mean there’s a lot of layers to this Patrick and the golf side is probably the most difficult side there are guys on live who don’t want nor need access to the PGA Tour they only want access to to major championships there are guys on the PGA tour who might not necessarily want to play in team Events maybe they just continue to coexist um in dependently of one another the other the other Wrinkle in all of this and correct me if I’m wrong Patrick some of these contracts are up soon right this is year three for Liv and weren’t most of these deals three or four years long or I mean that that’s also something that we need to consider I know a number that were four okay uh I wouldn’t be surprised with some three and I know others I mean they just their contracts were just like hey you can play Like Richard Bland he didn’t get any cash up front it’s like hey buddy you can just play here and and look at him he’s he’s an absolute Superstar on live golf now senior P championship winner c yeah most recent winners which uh I I will say Patrick I followed Martin Ker’s practice round at pineur him and Rory were together okay elite elite uh branding on his bag CLE cleck branding the bag is cool much better than uh Sergio which is just inyour face Sergio is cool in its own absurd way Bri bright red in your face he’s got the fireball everywhere on him Sergio looks Sergio’s red shoelaces look Preposterous it’s incredible um yeah I don’t know I’ve I’ve heard weird things that are probably not true so I’m not going to say them um but yeah you you’ve heard guys like Rah and Bryson say they’d like to play in PGA Tour events again they have the ones that mean a lot to them or at least they say they mean a lot to them obviously Ramen Phoenix and one of them Tory Pines as well so I could see a world where it’s just fluid between the two but kind of like KP said I’ll I’ll believe it when I see it type if this past year has taught me anything with rumors and what to expect from the steel and the PGA Tour it is I will believe it when I see it I think one thing that will be really interesting that comes out of this is do they do they just go ahead full tear down World Tour they just read Rick gaiman’s post at the at the meeting and put it into the into the record or do they keep everything sort of separate but sort of collaborative I I’m 95% sure they’re going to go with the ladder they’re going to keep everything separate yeah just because of Who’s involved and who’s high like tiger and like all those guys they don’t I don’t think they want the world and you know you talk to people at the US Open and it’s like hey the the world tour might that might be like a bad business decision sounds cool go Australia go to Royal Melbourne go to all these different places is that a good business decision for the PGA Tour the piff anybody I I I just I don’t know that anybody in that room necessarily thinks that well KP I agree with you and I don’t think that they will do that however you now have an investor who doesn’t really care about business plans and business decisions and can lose a little bit of money maybe we just make this thing happen and focus on 40 years from now is the public investment fund our only route to getting to see royal Mel Melbourne and going to Scotland a couple times a year seemingly seemingly all right well listen we’re not we could spend the next seven days speculating wildly about how this is going to happen I agree with Patrick we’ll just take the information as it comes along next up Rory mroy and Mark I’m interested in your take on this because we did not get a chance to talk to you since the United States open and Rory did not have himself a great final few holes he did tweet out a quick statement about the US Open he acknowledged that quote yesterday was a tough day this is from Monday obviously and the toughest he’s had in nearly 17 years as a professional golfer he goes on to congratulate Bryson calls him a worthy champion and then he uh officially said hey I’m not I’m not going to play The Traveler Championship I’m going to take a few weeks off uh process everything he will be back to defend his title at the Scottish open and then we will see him of course at the Open Championship yeah look um M said here let me read out the disclaimer and say I’m not going to be a roar Rory apologist on all of this um but I will say that over the last few weeks when I have spent time with him because I’ve had his group a few times he seemed like a different guy he seemed more at ease he seemed like um the game was more fun to him and it almost seemed like all of his Ducks were beginning to line up a little bit and lo and behold they nearly did now just take yourself to Sunday afternoon um look if anyone’s desperate for a major Championship win and they all are I guess Rory tops the bill um and then he’s got a lead which um balloon to Two Strokes which I found it kind of hard to believe at the time but he was keeping himself alive with chipping and putting and it was almost kind of smoking mirrors in a way given how he normally plays and so I remember because I wasn’t watching I was listening to this on the radio and I remember thinking after he took the two strug lead I’m like oh my goodness because I’m sort of calculating what’s going on coming down the stretch and the fact that Bryson’s behind him and I’m like he has barely missed yet on the greens and then isn’t it funny how the part of the game he sort of been relying on let him down when it really meant something but that’s just Golf and certain folks can justify that and say well it’s just golf but Rory right now given what’s transpired over 10 years he doesn’t have that luxury anymore because you either win or you fail and sadly for him he failed on a global stage and he did so in a disastrous fashion with those two short misses um I only saw the one8 and I’ll tell you this I thought he hit a decent looking putt there down the hill and that thing swapped across the hole but anyway um I’ll say this having been there and been close to players going through that stuff it’s freaking hard to stomach I don’t care who you are and then it’s freaking harder to have to stomach when you got the eyes of the world on you uh and I have no doubt that there’s going to be some significant scar tissue from this um I wouldn’t say as badly as what he suffered from Augusta National I hope not because part of his statement talked about resilience but I will say this I’m not giving Rory a pass on ducking and not talking to at least somebody afterwards just getting something on the record even if it’s like yeah I choked or yeah that wasn’t planned or yeah that was hard it really sucks right now um I’m sorry guys I’m going to leave but just to leave I think that was a little out of bounds um maybe he’s ruing that decision right now because as I read that uh that release of is I’m like yeah I can see he’s feeling it some so sadly he’s feeling a whole bunch of things right now and now what’s happening is in order to process all of the stuff The Traveler Championship is suffering a little now that’s another side of the argument because there’s so much big golf on the go over the last few weeks that these guys are absolutely guessed but um look it’s horrible to fail like that it’s horrible to fail outright but then you got to stand up and and you got to say something and um I was kind of disappointed that he didn’t that’s where I stand on it uh that quote that Mark was referencing from Rory’s statement is quote the uh the one word I would describe my career as is resilient I’ve shown my resilience over and over again in the last 17 years and I will again KP it’s kind of been Whiplash man with Rory mroy the last couple of months or so um you know close calls everywhere the divorce the the uh the Getting Back Together the leading the US Open with five holes to go then getting nipped by Bryson in kind of the worst way possible we say a lot that guys worlds are spinning fast and we usually refer to it on the on the golf course that that’s the only way I feel like I could describe Rory situation right now yeah I don’t know that I agree with Mark about how about Augusta being worse I think I think this might be worse right hey which one was worse R they’re both bad the problem with this one is that it’s at uh and I shouldn’t even use the word culmination because that assumes it’s over but like it’s at the end of a 10-year drought right like it’s it’s the the time and the opportunities and then to have one and to give it away in pretty bad fashion is I think this is worse yeah it’s uh it’s pretty crazy I I think I think the other I think it’s the only one you look at the last three years right he’s played really good major championship golf over the last three years and you could at least I think I said this on our show on Monday Rick um you could at least plausibly talk yourself into well cam Smith played great at the at the old course wendam didn’t really give it up he hit that great shot into whatever it was 14 the part five I think it was 14 you know I just just came up short and this one it was like you had you had you you were on serve in the fifth set and you were up and you you gave away the serve right like you you lost your serve and uh I think that has to [Music] be it has to be crushing and not just for yourself but you you like you’ve been for the last 20 years I I was thinking about this today for the last 20 years you’ve been this guy that everybody looks to and is like hey dance for us Rory do your thing we want to watch we want to experience it we love it it’s great all this stuff and that’s all fine and good when it goes well and then it goes poorly and I don’t know that he necessarily feels like he let all these other people down but everybody’s St literally staring at you in the parking lot saying well you broke your ankle while you were dancing now talk for us you know and that sucks like that is a crushing just horrible feeling and you know that’s like part of his life and it’s a really just kind of strange life when you’ve just got people staring at you and watching what you do all the time that you’re in public uh but man that when it when it goes really badly like that that was that was a part of me that was like feeling for him as we as I kind of reflected on it uh early this week Patrick you get last word on Rory if you want it or I can give you something else uh I don’t need to talk about him I’m good all right we’re gonna turn our attention to boy we have a lot the Olympics The Travelers Championship Our Best Bets are one and done much more to come after a quick word from our partners at CBS Sports Gazo Network we’re bringing you the game The Madness of Messi AR breaking down the game this is unlike anything else in the world and changing the game get it all for nil that means free wa and O day long 247 and we’re back okay Patty ice the Olympic teams are Set uh the United States the only team with four golfers uh other nations get two or one that is because of uh how the qualifying system works the US have have four golfers inside the top 15 so that makes them eligible the United States will roll with Scotty sheffler Xander Schley Windam Clark and col morawa a couple of notable other teams Ireland that is Rory mroy Shane Lowry Sweden how about this one old and one young ludvig oberg and Alex norin Norway that’s Chris Ventura and Victor havland Spain State teammates John ROM and David po PE pew pew that’s a tough one to say uh Great Britain is Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick there’s a lot of good teams here this I I’ll tell you what I don’t like the Olympics I don’t think the Olympics should exist however just in general oh I don’t think any nationalized should should exist let’s hear it hey hey producer Josh you know how you cut everybody out and you just single shots somebody do that with Rick right now okay in in short uh there is very little evidence that the Olympics or the World Cup or any of these large scale kind of nationalized sporting events have done anything but breed corruption um just like I mean we’ve had horrible sexual harassment cases coming out of these you are um generally uh spending money and giving like I mean the corruption that goes on in these places for a month spending billions of billions of dollars then a lot of these places they can’t afford it they can’t fund it taxpayers are being asked to do this there’s been blood doping there’s been cheating there’s been scandals left and right I I just like there what is the evidence of of good like we all just look at it for a month and say oh great like sweet swimming medals or whatever like I don’t I just think it is generally bad for Humanity bad for Humanity bad for Humanity that’s strong that’s a strong allegation take I love this take I don’t know if I agree with it but I love it well Rick since America’s going down the tubes in every metric ever you know what we need gold medals to make us feel good every four years every two years actually when looking at the Winter Olympics and the summer so one one one issue that I have Rick is I think it’s a little tangential to yours but the sweet swimming medals thing it sounds absurd but like what what my my issue I I don’t know if it’s an issue but the thing that I think about is what happens when when these people that have trained for 20 years or whatever 15 years are done and they win they get fifth place in Tokyo or in Paris and you’re done with your swimming career and you have no skills like for the rest of your uh like business or work or career life as an adult and I just feel like there’s there’s s and maybe you could say that of all sports like if you play high school college football or whatever high school college baseball it just it feels like kind of empty right like I just I don’t know what the ingame is for even the ones that do it unless you’re Michael Phelps I mean what is Ryan locky doing like did he go on to have like a maybe maybe he did I I don’t follow it that closely he’s on uh reality TV okay so maybe it’s a platform into doing things like that but it just there is kind of a you’re setup to fail after the Olympics uh narrative that you could talk me into also the the way that this kind of connects back to our pod is no discernable life skills well yeah what would we do if we didn’t have this um one of the things that I think a lot of people talked about with Liv is okay you’ve got uh the Saudi Arabian Government funding this Sports league and if the US Treasury uh created a golf league and paid Phil mikkelson $250 million of our taxpayer money like I’d be pretty pissed right and this is kind of part of like that’s what the Olympics are it’s just all of this all of this Public Funding going into I mean there’s an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to Olympic Games scandals and controversies and that does not include the World Cup it does not include smaller scale stuff I just think in general it’s like a bad place to be wow I you I think you’re talking me into your take I mean I I love this take this is great you know I’m a fan of the doping stories I think they’re light-hearted and fun yeah shout out to the friends in the USSR I’m excited for Victor to get you know involved in the Olympic Village I think he’s gonna have a blast there with all the other athletes and uh I I might be with you Rick not quite yet but maybe well I have the luxury of being International in this conversation although I am an American citizen um and for many many years because of the sins of our fathers in South Africa we didn’t get to compete in global Sports so as far as I’m concerned the Olympics is the thrill of a lifetime now I hear exactly what you’re saying Rick but as an athlete this is what they aspire to be like and I talked to a number of golfers now cuz if we cast our minds back what’s now 12 years how many Olympic golfs have we had we’ve had yeah this will be the the third go around right we’ve had okay um and all the golfers are so into it right now because uh eight some years ago 11 years ago I should say everyone was like no I’m not going I’m scared of the zika virus remember that with Jason day and I don’t want to do this I mean it was like no this is wasting our time now they all want to make the Olympic team and I find it funny how there’s a big brewah heart that Bryson’s left off the team because if you had asked them this a few years ago they’d be say thanks but no thanks um so so all that being said I I think look at it’s it’s a thrilling contest yeah there’s a lot of money spent on stuff I I’m from South Africa and they spent Millions upon millions of dollars for the soccer World Cup to come down there and it generated a lot but we got a lot of white elephants being old soccer stadiums now that aren’t being used so look from the international point of view it’s a big deal and then um at least I’m now closer to my uh bold prediction we had at the beginning of the year coming true where I said a french person was going to medal in Gulf in Paris in this Olympics and I kind of like the French golfers the way they’re looking right now well you’ve got two hot golfers in Matthew Pavone and Victor Perez for that to come true and I do want to clarify like I I do not besmer any of these athletes right the system exists you do go no no I I I am raging Against the Machine I am not raging against got in this in this scenario but uh it is it is interesting KP because uh the US and and I believe most countries I think they could have changed this but uh they basically went with the owgr rankings which is why you’re not seeing Bryson D shampo you’re not you know Brooks kco was not really ever close to to joining this team and that of course is you know the timing of it with Bryson obviously just winning a a major championship is is getting everybody in an uproar yeah it’s it’s uh I mean I think we’ve established that the odg I I don’t use the owgr anymore for the purposes of figuring out who the best golfers in the world are because it doesn’t it doesn’t necessarily do that I think it’s I mean you’re kind of hung up with bad I I guess if you’re the intern I’ve what’s the organization igf International Golf Federation or something like that yes you you could have flipped it to something else mid stream but that would have been a little weird and kind of reactionary I guess to um to the live stuff so I don’t know I saw Dan Rapaport had an had an idea that there should be Olympic qualifying like you get the top eight or 12 or whatever and you play 36 holes great idea I don’t know the guys would you know like be into that or you know want to play that much golf or have a qualifier or whatever but what’s the what’s the Rick run good or the data golf top for how would it have been different if you use one of those oh yeah probably well I don’t think winds them you know obviously depends on time frames and stuff but I imagine the most likely scenario is Windam Clark out Bryson in is yes so I’ve got Scotty Xander morawa and Bryson barely edging out Russell Henley could you imagine the are you kidding me the takes would have been Russell Henley’s playing good golf Russell Henley’s number seven in data golf that might be a spoiler for my for my uh for my Vindication cam Smith there’s a question in the chat not playing for Australia again owgr problem so that’s Jason day and minwu Lee it is um the the qualifier Patrick is is more uh more in line with the way other sports do it right you you go to um track and field qualifying you go to swimming qualifying and you’ve got to like earn your spot on the team in that one moment yeah but I I don’t think they have swimming meets every single week of the Season which uh I think’s a little a little different there it’s so funny how two months ago people were saying wendam Clark is a top three player in the world and now Bryson to Shambo went the US Open and they’re they’re like why the why the hell are we bringing Windam Clark to Paris and even some people online it’s hilarious how uneducated they are they think PE people are choosing I saw some people blaming Zack Johnson for this which is hilarious to me like I can’t believe Zack Johnson left Bryson to Shambo off the team again that’s got to be parody that has to be I don’t think so I don’t think so okay I’ve gotta real quick I know this is not the direction that we’re going in but I threw this out there and I just want the off the top of your head answer who are the five best players over the last 10 years on the men’s side five best golfers over the last 10 years Rory Brooks DJ how long Scotty been around six years I’m throwing Scotty in there he’s got two six Scot and Rah I’m probably I’m probably there with you Rick I think that’s the right answer I think marawa is on the fringes agreed yeah yeah like morawa spe Bryson JT spe is interesting he’s won a lot and he has more Majors than DJ ROM uh JT Rory has no no Majors oh yeah okay I didn’t even think about that yeah s Rory’s out I mean you I think he has to be in because of how consistently great he’s been but you there’s a there’s a path to which you could yeah take like not have him in there I think a sneaky one’s probably hii yeah is Bryson in it is where’s like is Bryson on the fringes Patrick Bryson is he’s probably six or seven okay or eight the I think I think the 6789 is in some order Bryson JT spe and morawa probably yeah I would say that BR Bryson’s weird he seems younger than JT and speed but they’re all 30 right I think Bryson is younger is is it Bryson 30 really yeah huh okay okay well that’s a good stopping point when everybody stops talking that’s when I know we it’s time to it’s time to move on we are going to turn our attention to this week Cromwell Connecticut The Travelers Championship we’ve got bets we’ve got one and done we’ve also got a short break will you need your sports news anywhere we’ve got breaking news to bring you then get your sports anytime you want them big trade news overnight to discuss because we know you need Sports all the time a lot of movement in the rankings this week a legend adds to their legacy we’re bringing you that breaking news right here on HQ CBS Sports HQ anywhere anytime all the time and we’re back The Travelers Championship Mark TPC River Highlands it always gets uh great marks it is always well-received as an event the golf course is always in great shape what for those who are uninitiated what can we expect from the course and from this uh signature event this week oh well look I think at the outset would be that it’s going to be the polar opposite to what you saw last week if you’re watching golf last week you saw a a golf course that kind of looked like burned toast in places and was firm and rolling and fast and and borderline on the razor’s edge off the time and this week it’s going to be receptive it’s going to be a birdie Bonanza um players are going to be airing the thing out and just you going after stuff um I love the closing stretch of holes here at uh at River Highlands I think 14 is a good path for and then 15 the driveable four and then 16 and 17 around the water there and 18 you know I think of a number of good amphitheaters finishing the PGA Tour and Riviera jumps out and valhall a few weeks ago jumps out and here at River Highlands it’s one of those too where you walk down the Fairway and the whole thing just shapes around you and they pack it in there and we’ve seen some stuff I mean Keegan last year was incredible few years ago during Co we had that eight hole playoff with Harris English um which was bananas and Kramer recok and then of course the Jordan Speed hysteria when he hold a bunker shot against Daniel Burger back in the day so it’s a fantastic event always has a big finish and it’s and the fans are great the northeastern fans out there are awesome it’s a fantastic event indeed and we’re gonna make it even better by hopefully uh winning a little money along the way because this best bet segment is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook make every moment more if you’re new welcome matchups finishing positions outrights Best Bets one and done we are covering it all right now and Josh is going to release the grid there it is wow 4 by4 16 cells and Patrick I would like you to start us off with the best matchup that you could find this is a Vibe check heavily on both players Jordan spe minus 105 five over Justin Thomas JT’s been pretty good miscut at the US Open was pretty ugly but besides that decent so far seemed like he was on the up and up but I’m going with the guy who’s won here before the guy who might have found something in his iron play last week the guy who’s driving the piss out of the golf ball the guy whose risk is a potential serious problem that we got him right where we want him Jordan spe minus 105 I think he contends this week he needs a big week he’s what like 55th in the FedEx Cup or something is he really he’s not looking great I know that much I’ll figure that out KP while I look up Jordan speed’s FedEx Cup standings why don’t you release your matchup please yeah we got Keegan over SEIU seu Kim uh See’s been playing a lot better than he was at the beginning of the year I think he it was the beginning of this year that he was playing poorly maybe it was the end of last year um but I I just I I think Keegan is going to be really jacked up for this and I don’t think he will have some of the same same hangover that that some of these other guys have for the US Open so I’m I’m excited to see what what uh what Keegan does this weekend in in Cromwell Jordan Speed currently 52nd in the FedEx Cup Standing smack dab between Patrick Rogers and Mark Hub tough scene might not those uh those siggies next year on his own on his own Val Victor havin 49th right between Peter malau and Eric Van royan wow got some got some work to do over the final uh few months who was that in 49th Vicor oh he he’ll be fine you didn’t say that about Jordan I mean he needs to finish like fifth in the open to to like I I just I mean that’s his obviously like the tournament where he thrives but I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know what to make of him yeah I don’t think he’ll be fine so that’s that’s that’s why uh he might have left that one out Mark we got a pickle here sticky pickle a sticky pickle very sticky because we found the same matchup yet we are on opposite sides of it and this this is actually well I guess it’s not that surprising but you’re going against a bulldog with a bulldog this is what tell tell everybody what what you’ve got and I’ve obviously got the opposite of this well just to tee this up uh it’s not often I like pulling against my neighbor uh top what’s it seven golfer in the world Kyle what did you call Russell Henley yeah number seven number seven on data golf Patrick’s been working him up from top 20 to top 15 top 10 top five every single week so I think we’re at seven now well look he passes the ey test in many respects um but but he has a thing with Harmon over Henley and that’s how I went you know me I don’t like looking at a negative a minus in front of a bet so I’m always going to try something positive and looking down the list a number of bets were kind of minus 110 versus minus 110 so nothing really jumped out um but as far as Brian Harman goes he’s been playing pretty solid over the last week I think he was just far enough out of The Fray last week at the US Open to not kind of get us opened and come in here exhausted like Henley would be and again I’m betting against the guy who in our draft last week was my best performer I I had Henley in my draft so so this is hard for me but Hyman’s record around is impeccable he stroke average is like 67 he was tire for second last year he’s had six top 10 and I was vacillating between using him here and then sort of lyy golf time but I just love the shape of this place for his left-handed draw so uh I feel like it’ll be be tied but I feel like Harmon Pips Henley Brian Harmon has an unbelievable Excuse me yes Brian Harmon has an unbelievable record at this event uh he’s played 44 rounds at TPC River Highlands and he’s gaining 1.7 Strokes per round of golfers who have that many rounds at any golf course it’s way up there I’ll just tell you that for free um I didn’t have the exact little professional teas for you you’ll have to go to rickun good.com to get that one behind the pay wall way up there as I was trying to find it here it’s basically Bubba Watson at TPC Scottdale oh that’s pretty good I thought you were gonna say at TPC River Highlands I did too that it Bubba’s Bubba’s like a third of a about a quarter shot better he’s Bubba’s won their three times right another Lefty um they move the ball in opposite directions off the te but but you know this place it just seems to kind of like Augusta National welcome the left hand and Hank Leota contended one year yeah there you go that’s a pull I know big pull that’s a sick that’s a sick pull I obviously went with the opposite Russell Henley over Brian Haron I just like the way that uh Russell’s been playing obviously and I’ll take a little bit of uh eat a little bit of the juice here minus1 20 finishing position market we’ve got a top 10 two top 20s and a top 40 KP kick us off please yeah I’ve got uh Shane Lowry top 20 uh Shane’s been playing a lot better recently um had a nice he he was good at times at the US Open and I like the number so Shane Lowry top 20 for me I went with Sam Burns top 10 I think we are getting Sam Burns trending in the right direction ction played great minus the first five or six holes of his US Open he is plus 250 I will take that number Mark what did you choose for this week well when I have laid bets in this these little contests I’ve only really had any Fortune with top 40s so I looked for another and I think there were only about five guys that were positive numbers in the top 40s and one of those was Brendon Todd another Georgia Bulldog um this golf course is kind of democratic in way where long guys have won around you I think of DJ I think of babba Watson then some accurate guys in Kevin stelman have contended in one around here and and Brendan Todd a few seasons ago didn’t miss a fairway for 54 holes was in the final round with DJ and the final group and got blitzed but he showed me that he could really play and it’s this time of the year that BT sort of starts showing up he plays well here he plays well at the John de so as a top 40 I think you can almost book this one plus plus 100 yeah even money plus 100 Brendan Todd top 40 I will now give it up to Patrick who can round us out here in terms of finishing positions I went with seu Kim top 20 plus 165 he has three straight top 20s in these Signature Events Tia green he’s great at this golf course he is Dreadful he’s made missed missed four out of his last five so I think that’s why we’re getting a decent price on him I mean the putter is starting to show a little bit of life it’s got a little bit of a heartbeat over these last couple weeks so if it does that again I think he is a sure thing to get inside that top 20 see woo shaking that ass shaking that ass there is a golfer in this field who has played here exactly five times and has made the cut exactly zero times and he’s pretty good he’s a six-time PGA Tour winner maxo maxo oh good job wow oh for five that’s crazy yeah you know what we talk about recency by a season remember about a few months ago everyone was like Max Homer a top five player in the world I I can’t imagine there are a lot of guys in this field who have played any event at least five times and have missed the cut in all of them well guess what Rick he’s GNA see the weekend this time oh that’s true he will he’s he’s one for six as long as he’s done it he’s done it congratulations to maxom what’s the what’s the field 69 players or something like that 71 71 got gups lead in the pack he’s carrying the Olympic torch Thursday morning he’s gonna zip around in 240 do we know who’s uh who’s who’s the torch the torch what do they call it torch Bearer Tor a Dei right she’s sick in C wait in Paris It’s gotta be a person each no each country the flag the flag flag yeah okay not the torch sorry uh L yeah probably she I saw I saw a um I have a funny story about her oh please so my sister she’s in uh she’s kind of like a talent broker for corporate events she has like clientele of speakers pretty much bunch of famous people like George castanza Jason Alexander is a big one huge on Broadway they have Katie Lei and so when they come in they have to kind of give their Spiel they test them on like Q&A and everything and one guy on her team was so nervous when Lei came in they’re at this big conference table they’re talking everything’s going great he just throws up everywhere what throws up everywhere nervous wreck ran out of there big huge ktie Lei fan I think so I mean she’s she’s from uh the DC area I think she’s Bethesda Maryland her numbers I mean there should be a rick run swim Rick swim good yeah I mess that up that’s okay also a long week this is this is the graphic Josh share my screen please I don’t know how how updated this is but when this graphic was made she held the 177 fast times in 1500 meter women’s history like what’s crazy is that the the years Bounce Around yeah it’s insane this so it’s it’s her and this event 1500 meters I guess is like her thing and she is by far the best to ever do it not there’s a 10year gap between those times yeah hey Patrick speaking of best to ever do it yes my prediction Rua Nadal carries the Spanish flag into the opening ceremony what do you say humor David come [Laughter] Onis yeah it’s got to be Rafa Dey makes sense I don’t know who’s gonna like the torch Rick we had this conversation what about Rafa Cabrera Bao what if he carries it zadan who’s the best French athlete uh goodness oh he’s too young he’s too young it’s usually it’s usually a much more experience it could be Jean Vander Gregory hav here to our outright Wagers so we’ve got look at this like you guys are idiots we’ve got picks from 20 to1 to 70 to1 I don’t see Scotty sheffler I don’t see Xander schaw I don’t see col morawa on this list uh Patrick start us off Michael platini um sorry I clicked the first thing on Google for best French athletes of all time uh I’m going with the best English athlete this week in Cromwell Connecticut that’s gonna be Tommy Thomas Fleetwood 35 to one he’s been doing everything pretty good not great I’m hoping everything’s great this week kind of just hovering right now we need to get him going and then also in the Olympics well I’m going with two Olympians here jeppi straa at 50 to one what’ you call him I’ve been told that I’ve been told that his full name’s actually he’s a ysep and he goes by sep I find that hard to believe he’s got to be a jeppi to me so I’m going with him at 50 to one I would be shocked if he’s not in contention this weekend he’s playing so good and this is a great hold on hold on hold on he’s a ysep I believe it’s ysep straa maybe ysep sep STA and so you called him Yepi I called him yi yi or uh ji ji sorry his name is ysep and he goes by seph yeah I think shouldn’t he go by seph that’s got bad connotations there man I’m Just sh his name’s not just sepi like you would think if there’s a name that is shortened to sep it would be JPI Rick move us along please there was a jpp’s restaurant in still water when I was there okay KP well while you’re while you’re thinking about Still Water think about releasing your one your outright picks please Russell Henley Tony fow both played uh really really good golf last week both in the top 10 at the US Open I I love feno here uh he’s got that sort of Bubba length at at at a course where he can that he can ED to take advantage of I like the number 28 to one I I kind of feel like big tone might win this week big tone might win this week if he does it’s 28 to1 I took Keegan Bradley 45 to1 to go back to back and then give me a young guy who can play three weeks in a row not feel anything about it who’s great with the wedge who can get that uh jailbird going $70 to one AE batia Mark finish us off please yeah I’m going my first pick is a guy who shot 60 years in amateur many moons ago Patrick Klay who flashed form um last week so game trending and then I’m highing Brian Brian hman this week I think at plus 4,000 he’s worth laying one or two shekels on that one one or two shekels for Brian Haron at 40 to1 let’s move on to our Best Bets this is where Josh gives us an extra 50 bucks to see what we could do and Mark let’s just snake this right back around to you yeah um I’m betting against myself a little bit here I’ve sucked in this best bet thing um one thing I know for certain the way this golf course finishes it lends itself to being extra time and that is kind of the bane of my existence but I feel like we go extra time plus 350 for a playoff this week I took here we go Michael thorbjornson top 30 at plus 165 he is headed to the PGA Tour and what if he has the same trajectory as ludvic I don’t need that I just need a top 30 yes Mark just a few years ago he was contending in this event he had headed into weekend he was inside the top 10 for a little while there I like that I mean he’s a stug he’s very very good KP what do you call him Patrick Russ bus yeah Russ bus Henley top seven player in the world upgraded this episode top top 20 minus 120 book it give it to me let’s go Patrick uh is this is is this leftover from a previous week or is this your is this your selection for this week this is it are are the odds wrong I think uh I think they’re correct seems like uh the Rory WD kind of threw it for a bit of a loop but I believe Scotty shuffler plus 360 to win this golf tournament I’m uh I’m not super confident this week right the the US Open obviously takes a little bit of wind out of our sales but he’ll finish like top three minimum He he’ll get in the mix he’ll get back in the mix Thor bornon top 30 Russell Henley top 20 Scotty sheffler to win and a playoff are the Best Bets for this week and that best bet segment was brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook where you can make every moment more one and done Greg is beating our brains in right now with the win from Bryson D Shambo he has jumped jumped up to 17.8 million and he is now in sixth overall in the entire run your pool unbelievable he has gone with Russell headlin oh no so has Josh and Kyle who’ you go with it’s just a blank box on the on the outline yeah I I just realized that I I did put somebody in um I don’t know how to time stamp that but I put uh SE sep stra in jpp SE me and Pat seaka and is the for both Kyle and Patrick you happy about that yeah I I think I think uh I had to get a little creative this week I feel like and uh he’s a guy who’s playing like a I’d give him top 15 top 15 substa top 10 Russ Henley top five Matthew pavon so I’m I’m going with sep this week I took Colin Mor out and I’m as desperate as I could be to stay ahead of Kyle you don’t have to be the fastest gazelle you just got to be fast than the slowest gazelle and that’s my situation right now I just got to stay one step in front of the other Mark uh you are losing ground on the top of this board we all are who’d you go with um I’m look I was all over the show I had plans sth but I’m not seeing out enough out of him I’ve love I love Harmon this week but I have a sense I’m going to use him a little later this season um I thought about Russell Henley but I think I might use him a little later the season but now it’s all up in the air when these guys are going to play all that being said I feel like uh short field no cut I got to go with the guy’s playing well and that’s hii Matsuyama now I might Ru this decision but I just have a feeling he’s played here one time before last year I think he finished inside the top 15 and he’s just striking the ball beautifully right now so come on ADI make some putts over the weekend make some putts over the weekend so for those just listening here are the selections Greg at 17 points 8 million Russell Henley Patrick 12.8 sep straa Mark 9.1 Hideki Matsuyama Josh 8.5 Russell Henley Rick 7.8 K morawa Kyle 7.6 sep straa those are the one andone selections gentlemen I did find the most decorated or at least in gold medals the most decorated French athlete uh it’s by gold he does not have the total number his name is Martin Cod or it’s actually probably like Martin for or for or something like that guess what sport wrestling Javelin no shop put donos sking uh no is it summer or winter it’s winter and I’m not actually sure I know exactly what this sport is but I think Mark was kind of close Okay but bathon yes all right bathon Kyle wow is that is that cross country skiing and shooting yeah yeah it’s insane people are quit man dang imagine imagine skiing like that then having to stop and shoot something that is nuts almost every other French athlete who’s on the top of the uh medals list is it’s like from a hundred years ago and it’s fencing the top five is that washed washed we need to get Martin trainer on that list years ago he’s got time he’s got time all right Jens any final thoughts before we get out of here uh congratulations to Boston Commons hudi monama on the big day big day the ini he’s gonna parlay this a positivity parlay into a big finish in the one and done League yeah yeah he got a new jacket a snazzy Blazer just uh really jazzed up about that coming in 2025 all right that’ll do it round by round Recaps Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday big thanks to producer Josh who does all the hard work behind the scenes Mark imman available at markor IML Kyle Porter oh I went out of order Kyle Porter CBS sorry Kyle Patrick McDonald P McDonald CBS you can find me at Rick run good this has been the first cut we’ll catch you next time [Music]