The PGA Tour travels to TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship & the stage is set for an exciting tournament!
Can Xander Schauffele overcome the +1400 odds & repeat his 2022 win, or will he fall short to the favorites, Scottie Scheffler (+280) or Rory McIlroy (+1200)? Our experts break down the odds, discuss the latest PGA Tour news & make their top picks & predictions for the 2025 Travelers Championship.
Analysts Bo McBrayer & Jake Parry share their top PGA Tour bets for the 25th stop of 2025 on “The 19th Hole (S5 E25).”
⏰ Time Stamps:
00:00 Introduction
04:40 News Niblick: PGA Tour News Update
04:59 J.J. Spaun Wins the 2025 US Open
09:53 Sam Burns Drop Controversy
18:43 Wyndham Clark Allegedly Damages Oakmont Lockers
24:53 Caddie Notes: TPC River Highlands Breakdown
30:16 Club Twirls: 2025 Travelers Championship Picks & Predictions
30:39 The Favorites
38:44 The Mid-Range
48:05 The Longshots
51:15 Final Picks
52:40 Plugs + Outro
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good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the 19th hole we are live on In between Media we are sports we are lifestyle everything in between it was a an amazing US Open week even though our bets didn’t win JJ Spawn won we’ll talk all about that and all the shenanigans that happened at Oakmont over those four illustrious days we’re moving on to Connecticut at the TPC River Highlands for the Travelers it’s going to be a good one to Jake Perry’s in the back waiting for me let’s hit it thank you again for joining us on the 19th hole connor Coughlin on assignment jake Perry is back with us our uh our sixth man of the year third man of the year uh the best golfer on the IBT crew how are you doing Jake oh I’m uh I’m good all things considered i’m sad that we don’t get to watch the carnage that is Oakmont anymore but hey you know it was it was fun it’s funny that that’s probably the easiest Oakmont could have played ironically yeah it was soggy and soft and they still had one one man finish underpar over four days which is it warms my heart cuz I love carnage you love carnage there was so much carnage even with soft greens and soft fairways that made them a lot wider than they actually are the rough was still nasty the bunkers were still real nasty and those greens even even running a 13 and a half with the rain was it was nasty like those they’re hard to read they’re they’re you got to be in the right position it was a thinking man’s golf course and one man one man prevailed um we’ll we’ll cover that in the news nibck but uh did you cash any bets because I know I didn’t uh I got uh Rom top 10 i called that out on uh the radio show I do over with Fantasy Alarm that was I think it was plus 225 which I saw that and was just yeah I’m gonna bet that rom was coming in on fire um Scotty didn’t bet him at all uh I had a Ben Griffin top 10 as well so that one split cashed so a couple yeah I didn’t I bet I bet Griffin top 20 and I bet Rom top five so I missed and I had Burns uh I had burns outright but not any other I didn’t have any trail bets on that so I I couldn’t even cash out the avoiding the total tragedy from the week uh but yeah I was I was on the edge of my seat all four days and it’s still it was great to watch even though my my bets didn’t come true because JJ Spawn blew everything up in our face oh well it was still a great moment it was still still a great tournament and what a finish what a finish you know it’s a great tournament when I could turn it on and my wife didn’t complain that I was watching golf even she was having fun watching it it was riveting she’s like “Is it always this hard to play golf?” And I was like “For most of us yes for pros no.” Just this week just just the US Open yeah and on you can truly count on to be brutal every year and on this course it was so nice to see uh and everything I said came true where the top players in the world were complaining from the first round on and it didn’t change anything guess what everybody’s playing the same course you It was really hard for everyone yeah but hey JJ pulled it out yeah well let’s jump right in the most the craziest final putt I’ve ever ever personally watched that was like when Nick Taylor won the Canadian Open a couple years ago but on a way bigger stage yeah way bigger stage way harder course yeah literally like a lifechanging win for JJ Spawn he came came out of nowhere all right let’s hit the news and talk about this in depth because we got a lot to cover the US Open was that good people jj Spawn is your US Open champion his first major his first win this season he had three top fives coming in so he’s having his best season of his career uh normally we bet on him on lesser events on shorter courses like the one this week uh but this is the US Open at Oakmont and he comes in there and basically as accurate off the tea as I’ve ever seen him his iron play was dialed and uh a new focus and a whole different approach on short game thanks to this coach who’s now very much a different person now uh didn’t just change JJ Spawn’s life that short game coach that revamped his entire short game before this tournament that dude’s getting paid oh yeah and uh the short game was absolutely phenomenal for JJ Spawn uh this guy had no business winning the US Open at Oakmont in this field with everybody around him in these conditions and guess what he goes out there and does it on Father’s Day on the heels of a 3:00 a.m cvs run with a puking kid on Father’s Day morning perfect segue to five bogeies in his first six holes fourshot deficit going into the rain delay and he still there nevertheless he persisted and hits a ridiculously good drive on 17 the drivable par4 20 ft two putt birdie 18 one of the toughest holes on the golf course no problem find the fairway you’re gold he hits the fairway he hits the green he barely hits the green but then a gift from the golf gods payback from hole number two where he stuck it off the flag stick and and ended up bogeying a birdie hole payback karma golf gods all balanced out for JJ Spawn in the 18th hole because he hit his approach to 65 ft he needs two putts to win over Robert McIntyre who was three under on the weekend at Oakmont yeah uh Bobby Macks that’s That’s the craziest stat is Bobby Mack when the conditions got nasty the Scott comes out there and says “Pull up your Blney Stones we’re going golfing.” He said “Wait a second i know how to play here.” Yeah he he was great but JJ Spawn on 18 victor Havlin throws a throws his approach shot just a couple inches outside of his line giving the perfect teach on the the lag putt of his life and honestly that was supposed to be a lag putt but when he saw Havlin take an aggressive pace at it and it only rolled four feet past he knew he could go after it and Havlin’s fast aggressive putt still missed on the low side and JJ Spawn knew I can play more break and I can hit the ball hard and go after this whole it’s like why do it in two when he could just hammer it home that’s the crazy thing is like even if that missed he is what maybe 18 in coming back two feet max yeah two feet max because it was it was uphill past the hole he saw that from Victor’s putt and that was a I mean 65 ft on those greens with like you’ve been putting it on fast greens up until that day the whole time and you have to account for the undulation the speed of the greens plus the moisture on the greens and that was a perfect putt it was dead center dead center and even even crazier about this whole thing even with that putt made his only his third best putting round of the week of the event yeah that’s how good he was with short with short clubs in his hand jj Spawn won the US Open on the heels of an immaculate short game performance yeah you you truly couldn’t like if you like if you look at the breakdown if you look at the correlation on data golf between what typically matters and where this ended up like putting technically mattered less here than it does in a traditional event true you see him just ob obviously ran ran away with it because of the putter the rest of his game was good it wasn’t bad by any means but you know throughout the tournament gained essentially a half stroke with every other club in the hand and then with the putter gains two and a half and then you see a guy like Havland who lost strokes with the putter lost just.1 strokes off the tea and like that was the difference is just truly his iron play wasn’t quite good enough to beat JJ’s short game exactly and speaking of putting our best the best putter in the field coming in was Sam Burns he goes out there shoots 65 on Friday that was a ridiculous round of golf that was that toughest conditions of the whole week were on Friday and he goes out there and when guys are shooting an a like that daily average was 76 that day 76 average he goes and shoots 65 with zero he Oh he bogeied the very first hole yep full bogey six birdies coming in 65 takes a one-shot lead into Sunday looking pretty good he’s just making pars while everybody’s kind of falling back he had a couple shot lead then he fell back with a bogey and then the rain delay hit and the course got soaked couple in in a short amount of time is it It’s debatable that they should have Monday finished this sucker since a playoff would have been Monday anyway i think so but they decided to continue play on late Sunday afternoon and there’s a lot of water on that golf course you can see him with the squeegeees uh and Sam Burns on 15 very very difficult hole especially on approach you have to hit the fairway to have any chance at par on the hole he hits the fairway it lands with a splash the only reason that drive did not plug is because there was too much water in the way it hit the water on the ground and splashed as it landed and he gets up there and he’s in uh about three or four millimeters of standing water under the ball and around the ball bottom of the ball and then his stance has as soon as you step on his stance you can see water rise up does the right thing calls the rules official over hey I’m thinking about getting a uh taking a club length away from the standing water from the giant rainstorm we just waited an hour and a half for uh and the first official comes by and says “Nope you’re uh you’re you’re it’s not enough standing water.” Like okay that’s bull so calls another official over they delay even longer it’s a really big deal this is a one of the toughest approaches the toughest tucked pin on the golf course that day on 15 back left and he cannot afford a wet golf ball underneath it like even a couple millimeters of wet golf ball underwater it’s you can’t control the spin you can’t control the trajectory you don’t know where the ball’s going to go it’s like having mud on the side and second rules official comes over says the same thing as the first one the two most bogus rulings in the history of golf by the way backtoback on the same play and it’s the USGA US Open they’re the body they write the rule book i think there’s cobwebs on those officials rule books based on the way they ruled that we’re talking a lot of what he was basically trying to play that approach shot the biggest approach shot of his life in a puddle and yeah it was it was tough it was a tough look a spin hook into the left rough shortsided automatic double bogey where it should have been a par could have been a birdie most likely a par cost him at least two shots on the hole and effectively it went from tied for the lead to no chance to win in one decision made twice incorrectly so the controversy is what is wrong with these rules officials of the actual governing body of the rules of golf in the United States and how badly did Sam Burns get absolutely screwed in this deal yeah I mean I will say he I will say he got screwed absolutely that should have changed i don’t think he wins even with a good ruling there it’s it’s fair because of he unraveled completely after that but after the rain delay he double bogey the very first hole number 12 I believe and then bogey or 11 and then 12’s a par five birdie hole makes bogey that That’s a bad look and if he if he comes out of that rain delay at all close to good par he wins going away unfortunately he he’s three over the first two holes after the delay he’s tied for the lead and then 15 happens and then the wheels are fully off after 15 cuz 16 he was messing around 17 he he was already out of it and so a birdie hole it’s still too late at that point yeah i mean he just he had no no semblance of the game he had the other three days on you lost four almost five full strokes total on on uh on Sunday he just on the back nine Sunday too like he lost all those chokes in a span of six or seven holes yeah he just lost all semblance of what made him so good throughout the rest of the tournament it’s It’s unfortunate would the ruling change much probably his paycheck coming home probably cost him a few hund,000 but I mean but I still think he’s there with McIntyre and Spawn at the end for sure yeah especially if if you’re not three shots back going into 17 that that becomes a very interesting hole like what what happened to Spawn is he already 17 and 18 nobody’s really doing that on the golf course but yeah McIntyre McIntyre shooting a 68 on Sunday that is monster that is all time like tell your grandkids about that round of golf like even though he didn’t win you could see he was just full applause for JJ Spawn because Spawn deserves it that was that was an incredible win for him yeah my feelings that I didn’t pick him but what a what a moment yeah i mean courtesy of uh Monday Q Info one of my favorite Twitter accounts to follow if you guys don’t follow him you absolutely should just basically gave the last like 10 11 years of JJ’s career going from making like 2014 made one cut and 825 bucks on the Canadian tour and then you see him come over you know he finally gets on Cornferry gets his card loses his card goes to cornfairy finals to get it back 2021 only keeps his card because it’s the COVID year and they let basically everybody keep their card then has a really good year in 22 and then loses it or doesn’t lose lose it but loses as good of a game as he had in 22 and 23 got even worse in 24 and then just comes out and just masterful performance now he’s got three top fives and a major out of nowhere this season yeah it just truly you truly feel good story and it it was awesome to watch like and for all the things we talk about this season Scotty and Rory is what about like Ben Griffin and and and now we had JJ Spawn with these moments like these are the real stories these are guys that were barely scraping by thinking about quitting professional golf ben Griffin was doing mortgages four years ago yeah he literally did quit playing golf yeah did that and then you look at even just his last six events two wins a top eight at a major a top 10 at a major and a second place finish at the Memorial one of the more prestigious tournaments just out there like dude and he’s like he’s a guy who’s out here he’s not he’s like his golf ball sponsor is Maxfly like Dick Sporting Goods essentially is sponsoring the guy’s golf ball it’s a great golf ball no knock on it i love playing man I played noodles for a while there the Maxfly Pro ball that he plays is pretty close to a It feels like a tailor made to me or a ciron it’s not that far off it’s a tour ball like yeah you you get the stories like that and they’re just so that’s so much more fun to me than just like seeing events like this where we have like you look at the top leaderboard maybe you would probably consider Havlin and Rom Havlin Rom Sheffller to be the only like true household names in the sport that are in the top 10 you have JJ Spawn and Bobby McIntyre Cam Young Carlos Ortiz Sam Burns like half those guys like us nerds know obviously yeah we know lots of golfers but your your average casual let’s say you watch golf on TV when it’s on or when you when you’re flipping through and and you catch it and you just feel like watching it for a while uh they’ll recognize Rahm and all the guys that went to live they might recognize Sam Burns from previous year’s success right but like like Ortiz and Spawn they’re not they don’t know who those guys are they’re not they’re not close enough to the game to realize that even if you go 200 deep on the PGA Tour they’re all really good golfers and every every dog has his day uh we hope that the Ben Griffin story and the JJ Spawn story won’t turn into a Windom Clark story uh over the weekend obviously Windam Clark missed the cut at Oakmont because of course he missed the cut at Oakmont it was a terrible fit and he’s been playing awful golf this year and his frustrations have already taken their toll on the PGA tour with his destruction of the T-Mobile banner a few weeks ago with throwing his driver in disgust at himself uh damage is a his own sponsor’s sign on the golf course that’s the funniest part is that he’s like number one sponsor that’s not That’s going to come up in the board meeting i’m pretty sure we And now uh not just damaging uh sponsorship billboards where now we’re on to allegedly but pretty much confirmed uh Windham Clark in his frustration from missing the cut by a mere six shots uh he decided to take it out on the lockers the wicker locker inserts at Oakmont which are probably older than his grandma yeah they’re h and the craziest part is learning that that that’s not even the most damage that’s been done to that locker room right yeah i’m sure that lots of people have done the same thing as him and it’s just never been documented because not everything is as touch in touch as it is these days but Windom Clark has is starting to develop a uh an MMO a modus operandi for when he doesn’t play well is he used to be all sad and weepy and now he’s uh enraged to the point of vandalism uh this is a it’s a it’s an alarming trend for Windham Clark who uh has always been a fiery player but he’s he’s already crossed the line and this is this is so far over the line that I I think that any level of discipline short of a short suspension uh would probably be too light because this is this is happening more frequently and he’s progressing and and damage is done yeah it’s I I’ve never liked Windham Clark i’ll I’ll start off by saying that i don’t know if we’ll see a suspension the only reason we may is just because it’s a major kick him off the tour Doug kick him off the door Doug i mean we saw uh was it earlier this year late last year Tom Kim messed up a locker room didn’t really get any punt like they don’t really do it the only reason it might is because it’s Oakmont it’s a super historic venue it’s the US Open run by the USGA i don’t know i’ve never liked Windham um his whole shrink the tour after he had one good season where he would have been the guy that was shrunk off the tour for the rest of his career and then like and he we would never get to see this illustrious 25 season where he’s basically on his way to losing his card anyway yeah he’s in in the official World Golf ranking he opened 2025 at I want to get the exact number here he was the number seven player in the world he’s dropped 20 spots like they’re live golfers who have not dropped as many spots as he has that’s bad cuz they’re not getting any points no they truly are only getting them at majors and if they play like an Asian Tour event or a DP World Tour event so is Windam Clark currently ranked above or below Neman that’s a phenomenal question actually let me because Neman has won four times on the Liv tour and he’s actually placed better in majors at least at the PGA uh Neman is getting no points for his four wins on live he he is still ahead of Neman however unreal neman has essentially been neutral in official World Golf ranking points this year which is impressive that that shows his his results have kept him there basically right yeah he has not dropped 20 spots while getting to play on of in events that give you points every week windom Clark not not making points and actually damaging private property come on Windom dudes do better i texted my buddy Sam and I was like I’m not saying I could beat Windham Clark in a match straight up but I’m not saying it wouldn’t be close at this right now it would be close and you could do it because it would be super easy to crack him in match play like getting in their head playing mind games with that guy piece of cake piece of cake everybody’s played with a hotthead who takes themselves way too seriously and the way to beat them in match play is just to let them implode like to let their let their demons just start just picking at them and like just like little backhanded compliments like when they make a birdie early in the match and win a hole like “Damn that was a really good hole great job dude.” And they hate it because they’re trying to they’re trying to get they’re trying to intimidate you and you’re just like Yeah yeah now I think I think if you got in his head you would you would absolutely beat Windham Clark at his current form he he goes to chip a ball on and still leaves it off the green you’re like I don’t know if laying up was the play there just hit him with some of those quick jabs you should have used the seven iron to get a little more run out you’d be 19 over through seven you’d probably take out the lockers at the club you’re playing at uh sir you can’t flip the golf cart over i’m gonna do it anyway he can he shouldn’t all right let’s uh let’s talk about TPC River Highlands we got to get on to the Travelers it’s a It’s a really good event we love this it’s the People’s Championship where Phoenix is the people’s open because they let everybody in all right travelers Championship at TBZ River Highlands i’ll right off the top of my head i know this course well it is 6,800 yards par 70 Pete die design one of his more generic designs it’s got elements of srass it’s got elements of other of his designs but it’s not really this the championship stadium course we’re typically seeing on the tour with Pete Dye designs this the advantage of this tournament is we get to see a signature event Birdie Fest with no cut uh this this golf course is uh even though it’s Pete Dye and it’s positional play there’s a lot more nuance that you can get away with with shaping the ball or bombing it over the trees like Rory and Ryan Fox probably will this week uh because Ryan Fox can’t hit it right to left so he’s got to go over if he can’t hit a cut uh but it’s it’s uh it’s fun because a lot of different ways can win here as long as you make a lot of birdies so uh what’s your take on this tournament and with this field attacking this course yeah absolute birdief fest like you said um I mean it’s got a lot of those standard Pete die design features to it right like driving accuracy is is premium here compared to uh driving distance total driving as a result gets a bump here um compared to other PGA Tour events around the green and putting both play much more important factors this week here but I mean realistically you get the ball in the fairway you can hit your you can ball strike and putt pretty decently you’re going to score well here and I mean it’s the reason that we saw I think it was two years ago Keegan Bradley set the scoring record here with two 257 uh 23 under par like we’re going to see a lot of low scores this week it’s going to be fun i think that number gets challenged this week with this field being as strong as it is uh Scotty last week last year when he won this tournament 22 underpar uh with the rounds of 65 64 64 65 yeah that’s that’s super duper consistent greatness uh this course seems to be tailor made for kind of guy like him wonder why he’s just that good uh but I think this tournament really has a lot of appeal to it because of the strength of the field and the fact that it’s not your it’s not your straightforward birdief fest like you see in Puerto Rico or even at the John Deere where there’s not a lot of peril this course still has some danger to it uh you want to consider double bogey avoidance maybe over bogey avoidance so see the guys who can make a lot of birdies but also avoid the blowup hole that cost them the tournament we’ve seen that over the years like from Eric Vanroyan a couple years ago we saw him completely find every body of water on the golf course uh he found some that they didn’t even know existed no they he was that’s why I have always called Eric Vanroyan the willow branch he always finds water uh basically yeah basically this is the this is the kind of tournament where it’s really fun to watch on TV because there’s lots of lots of putts rolling in and you get to see these guys on the attack versus last week where they were definitely getting uh pinned down by a golf course that was monstrous and this golf course is going to get return them to their Parkland uh ball striking and strategy roots of the PGA Tour which is your classic event this is this event’s been here at this golf course since 1984 so that’s that’s something we can really use to be predictive and to pick golfers who not only have had good history here but have also come into this week red-hot in good form because I think that putting element is important if if you’re going to make putts here you most likely going to be putting really well coming into the week so that’s really predictive we’ve seen that over the years where Scotty Sheoffller came in where he was just pulling out of that really bad putting slump that he was in and then we were wondering this time last year whether he could make enough putts to win a birdie fest like this and the answer was a resounding cenor uh he he got in mu infuego with the putter last year at this tournament and so let’s get into the odds because it’s a really interesting breakup the books are throwing at us based on it’s Scotty really versus everyone else and even Rory is kind of taking that back burner position on the books where it’s a really tempting thing to do when it’s a guy who can absolutely light that place up and has before it’s uh it’s interesting let’s Let’s hit the drop and think about where we want to put our money because there’s a lot of choices here so Scotty Sheffller plus 280 at most books i’m I’m referring to DraftKings Sports Books as of right now Monday night uh plus 280 defending champ uh pretty much if you had a perfectly fit glove of golf course that Scotty would design himself to make himself shoot the lowest score possible it’d probably be this one uh so for my money I’m going to say that’s that’s a really nice miniskirt you got there Rory at plus,00 but it’s really not smart money betting on you right now in your current status like mentally he’s not there with us scotty Tiffler here is coming off a week where he couldn’t make any putts but he still ends up top 10 at the US Open and I predicted that would happen is that when you have to ch when the golf course challenges how well you read greens Scotty Shuffler doesn’t make as many putts that’s what happened at Oakmont oakmont’s one of the most difficult places to read putts at in the entire world like it’s there’s so much stuff that to worry about on those greens that we saw Scotty Sheffller’s weakness in reading greens and not involving Ted Scott enough that was exposed it doesn’t get exposed at all at this golf course this is this is going to be like oh Scotty can read this putt in nothing flat and they they roll really true that nice POA blend that they run here it’s it’s a really nice golf course the the the putts run clean and true that’s why we get a lot of scoring opportunities scotty’s going to give himself 12 to 14 birdie chances every single day and if he makes 40% of them he wins by five that’s that’s the scary part and that’s why for the first time this season I’m going to just lay the lumber on the favorite plus 280 and I’m not going to be nonchalant about it it’s going to be very intentional and very aggressive because Scotty Sheoffller should win this tournament this week yeah i mean we saw possibly the worst Scotty Sheffler we’ve seen in three years last week and he finished top seven yeah it’s I I did some some line shopping uh over here bet 365 was the best I could find they have it at plus three that’s what they got that’s where I’m sprinkling um and by sprinkling I mean multi-unit scotty’s gonna win this one like parm parm fountain yeah except it’s more just like throwing the block of parmesan on top of the pasta slam the entire wheel yeah when you especially when you look at like the rest of you know call our cuto off 2500 for you know kind of the favorites in the group that really gets you the top you know five six guys here the only other one that I have a little interest in is Patrick Anlay and that’s mostly off of course history here he’s got seven straight top 15 finishes will he put it all together probably not it’s kind of what he’s known for he’s a much more comfortable top 10 top 20 bet guy here um which is where I like most of the guys in this range quite a bit more colin a little interesting at plus 1,800 but again like it’s if I’m betting as much as I’ I’m comfortable betting on Scotty this week the rest of the money is going to go elsewhere for me yeah and and I’m looking huge into birdie or better percentage this week because I want to see guys who have been converting on those chances and it goes Scotty Rory JT and then Seb Straa who we’re going to talk about for sure in a little bit but Ludvig Oberg for me at 25 to one is the kind of guy with the upside I’m looking for at that at that number where the other guys I’m I’m like okay I can see you finishing top five but I don’t see you actually pushing it over the top to win in this field this field is nasty strong it’s like the strong one of the stronger ones we’ve had like just in concentration and like how condensed the talent is at the top of this board ludvig Goldberg’s the kind of guy that I can see him just lighten the place up because of his his ball striking and not worrying so much about his short game shortcomings uh it it’s it’s more of like can he be the guy who goes 23 24 under and you have to say that Ludvig is definitely that guy uh that and him and Straka are the guys that I see in that range that that kind of give me that vibe that hey we can go really low on a co a golf course that requires accuracy yeah if if we can get the JT form from kind of the truest and prior the off the tea game needs to straighten up JT cuz it’s killing him it’s kill he’s so good on approach his short game’s so nasty and off the te’s just been crippling his scores yep but you can get him at plus 3,000 on bet 365 right now and God that’s tempting that’s That’s not fair if if he can figure it out if he if we get like I said if we get the ball striking and driver play that we got kind of before the truest prior so many birdies when he’s in the fairway it’s he just hasn’t been you look at his accuracy percentage relative to field this was his best performance and he still lost 9% accuracy to the field like 9% more of his drives went not in the fairway than the average player in this event and that’s when everybody was awful off the tea yeah and I have him 45th in my filtered model off the tea uh that’s the only thing that doesn’t look good on the stat model because he’s third in mine uh but 30 to1 with with all those stats except for off the tea it really is tempting and I will have to consider it especially if it slips even a little farther yeah if it if it’s been trending down basically every other book has him at about plus 25 um so getting it at plus 30 you know if that continues to stick on that trend there yeah he opened on bet 365 at plus 22 so 22 to1 so he’s all the he’s down to 30 to1 basically every book he opened at 22 so we got three days for that to slip even just another five 35 to1 JT is green green light yeah there’s there’s a guy at 35 a couple guys at 35 that I’m really interested in this week and if JT falls to that those guys kind of go to the wayside and it’s a JT all the way if he gets to 35 yeah so what do you think of Stepha cuz he comes in fifth in my model and the only thing that I can see that he might get messed me messed up by is short game uh chipping and putting haven’t been his strong suit but he’s also so accurate off the tea and on approach that he might not have to worry about short game as much as the average player here because of his strengths on ball striking seth Stro on a on a sub7,000 course oh yeah baby does he get results yeah he’s a he’s a short shortc course merchant and you know it’s no surprise to see him so highly here um even looking at his past performances and I think we can all agree this is probably the I shouldn’t even say probably this is the best Seth Straa we’ve ever seen on the PGA tour currently he’s getting better all the time and he’s got a top 10 here in in the past four years he’s got a top 25 here last year when he was playing objectively bad golf all the way around like this is a course he’s comfortable on if we can if the rest of his game can continue to be what it has been and he can just not lose strokes with the wedges in his hands yeah it’s really what it’ll boil down to I think who else you like in this range keegan uh surprisingly is another guy that I do like here lake Keegan this week i get it he won a couple years ago and he’s of course a fan favorite is a very popular tournament second most uh attendance behind Waste Management uh and a lot of them are going to be behind their guy Captain America i mean this guy is Oh yeah he like Keegan Bradley is playing good golf but he’s an even better storyline in the golf world because he’s already been an endearing figure in golf like people just generally like him and he’s quirky and he’s not standard he’s definitely not a country club whitel laced kid like this is this is the quintessential Rder Cup captain he should stay the captain for as long as he wants to be captain because he makes the American team better just by by leadership like having the aura like aura matters at the Ryder Cup you you can call it aura farming but it matters but he’s also like I don’t he’s not probably gonna be a playing captain i I would imagine he’s probably not gonna put himself in the lineup there at all he’s borderline right now so it’s it’ll be interesting to see if he takes the selfless route and includes a guy like Ben Griffin who might actually automatically qualify he’s an easier captain’s pick but uh the American team is looking stronger by the day and Keegan Bradley if he does end up playing his way into where you’re just like hey here you’re still the best guy for this team it shouldn’t matter that you’re the captain as well like it it doesn’t hinder you in any way to be the captain who also plays it has happened before especially with younger captains who are still playing regular tour events yeah and you know for this week especially he lines up really well his over the last call it six seven events his around the green game has been absolutely insane consistently gaining strokes on that his approach has been really solid off the tea he’s back both he’s accurate and long um which is something that he was missing from his game quite a bit we’ve seen the putter bounce back after some you know he definitely had some struggles there with it but couple you know couple back-to-back positive weeks overall with the putter uh compared to the field it at plus four 40 to1 I’m intrigued yeah it’s it is intriguing and I’ve just seen a lot of people on him so I’m going to have to dig deeper into that because there’s if when there is smoke there’s fire among among people who do this that’s that’s what happens is you get one pick that’s just really really easy to make at the odds that they’re at and and that that’s one of them it’s it makes it you don’t have to think twice about a Keegan Bradley Brett because even if it’s not even positive value you’re you’re always got the root for him element like I’m I’m going to be all in behind this guy and fired up just like he is on the golf course uh to get results out of it and there’s something fun about whether it’s a bet whether it’s in your DFS lineup just having a guy in there that you like and that you like to root for well I bet him at 2023 when he won and that was mainly because I knew the hometown element and he was coming in hot just like he kind of is right now so why not why not my next one’s not is not until 70 to one so uh if you haven’t been anybody in that 50 range or thereabouts do you want to talk about yeah I got one guy um we’ve talked about him kind of in length uh to an extent already on this pod uh Ben Griffin at 55 to one yeah that’s a great great line great line exactly the type of golfer that you want at this type of course doesn’t really get too too wy out there um he’s definitely a guy that you want to book shop because some books have him as high as 45 fanduel you can get him at 55 to one right now but you know just a guy he’s putting out of his mind the wedges have been insane irons phenomenal driver started off pretty neutral kind of on this hot run for him where he wasn’t gaining anything but he wasn’t really losing a ton distance and accuracy wise his accuracy does worry me because he’s he’s a he’s a slasher he’s he’s going out there for speed to try to get the bomb and gouge advantage it’s been working for him at this place the bomb and gouge only works if you’re Rory or Ryan Fox or somebody like that ben Griffin’s not quite in that tier of ball speed uh where he’s going to be taking crazy angles over trees uh so I think Ben Griffin could struggle off the tea here but he could still also go on a complete tear because that’s how hot he is right now he’s a birdie making machine and I always say with the driver so much of it is confidence he gained 17.7% at the US Open on distance and 4% on accuracy if you can drive it far and accurate at Oakmont going over going here is not going to intimidate you and I think that’s going to be truly what gives him more of a shot than I would typically be in on given his accuracy struggles at times well we’ve reached the point in the show where I make the most aggressive bet of the entire week and it’s based on odds it’s based on course fit it’s based on just recent form this whole season how did Oshay Matia open at 70 to1 at this golf course because yeah I don’t know Bob uh right now I’m thinking uh all the all the [ __ ] that didn’t lay on the Scotty Sheffller side are going to go towards the Osha Batia side and I’m going to be pretty forward about it because that’s an insane insanely positive value bet for a guy who shapes it well off the tea he’s been playing great when it requires shot shaping on Pete Die courses his approach game with wedge in hand it’s like 150 and in as good as there is in the world and now this guy is riding a hot putter abatillaia can absolutely put 25 under on the board at this golf course he was top five last year in his debut at this tournament when debutants really don’t do well at this golf course it’s this is kind of one you have to see once and then come back and play stronger in years so if that trend continues for young players like Ox Batia then we’re in for a treat well we’ve all we’ve seen him be successful on a similar course like I don’t know if there’s truly a better like kind of your two best comparison courses I think on tour Colonial and TPC Dear Run both courses he’s had success on in the past we saw him earlier this year Colonial Tied for 22nd where I don’t think he was I don’t think he wanted to be playing golf with a wedge in his hand that week uh but that part of his game has bounced back pretty heavily the ball striking has been super consistent of late he drove it well all things considered at Oakmont he just didn’t putt super well and that’s really you know kind of what killed him but like you said when you get to these courses where it’s just okay there’s the line hit it now yeah yeah i I like Betas so much that that’s that’s going to be a full ladder bet for me yeah it’s that’s a good one one guy in this range who I I hate that I’m in on this guy and I you probably know who I’m about to say yeah but indulge us indulge us it’s Brian Harmon oh I know i hate I hate him i just can’t stand watching him play he’s He is the only pro that I’ve seen where it bothered me how he played like it just bothered me to watch him play and most golfers you can’t be bothered it’s it’s it’s art it’s science it’s It’s everything and then Brian Harmon comes out there and you’re just uninspired you’re like “Why?” You want to quit golf because you’re watching Brian Harmon play it quite literally but but he’s so good on this course a guy you got to bookshop again cuz some books have him all the way up at 55 to one fanduel’s got him right now at 90 to one oh that that’s that’s a good one he’s missed one cut in his last seven starts here and has never finished worse than ninth in that span i I hate it i hate the guy i hate it but when you have that track record of success here make it stop it sucks but and even like he’s played bad of late but really bad he’s still been super accurate with the driver he just doesn’t have the distance we know that doesn’t matter as much on this layout the putter’s still been solid enough he’s had good weeks with the irons he’s had some good weeks with with the wedges he’s gonna have to put it together but this is a course he’s consistently put it together on regardless of him coming for him yeah I hate to say it but you might be on to something uh I’m going to drop down and two guys i’m just going to wrap up my last two because they’re kind of in the same range tom Kim uh course history and just recent form he looked really good at Oakmont for a while he he didn’t look good the whole time but for a while Tom Kim was pretty dialed and I I like the way his putting is bounced back because it was atrocious for a good long while and now it’s very passable so uh I think Tom Kim at 90 to1 is is a really nice value and then I’m going to go back to a short another short cork short course merchant in the making uh Ryan Gerard 100 to1 that’s that’s where I’m going uh to wrap up my card and I’ll probably throw in a couple top 20s on each one of those because I think that they’re they’re the kind of guys I want to see on this course because they they’re those accurate planners that can just kind of technician their way around and shoot 68 67 and then maybe throw in a 64 one of the days and they’re right there exactly yeah the my last two guys uh are very uninspiring i’ll I’ll be very honest here um Nick Taylor has absolutely horrid history here but the dude’s playing some really really good golf he’s playing better golf than than this season than he has in years past even when he won he was playing better golf this season yeah if you look at his last six starts he’s got one miss cut it was at the PGA so again tough field tough course tied for 23rd this past week putt it really really well the putter’s been good the wedges have been fine irons have been good he’s accurate off the tee you can get him at at 110 to one can he make enough birdies it’s unins you said you said uninspiring so it’s it’s uninspiring you want Hold on it’s going to get worse i kind of don’t hate sprinkling a little bit on Lucas Glover at 200 to one oo he’s accurate the really good this year the wedges make some putts if he can make some putts he’s got to give himself chances he’s always he’s always going to be close to the hole when when a wedge is in his hand he’s he’s really good at that but the guy just can’t putt at all and it’s frustrating because he’s always right there he gets really mad at aim point but he may want to give it a shot because anything something’s got to give at some point for him because like the rest of his game is still for you know a 45year-old career guy who’s just been out here forever doing it like he’s close he’s been close this year he was third at the players third at the Pebble Beach last year third at Black Desert third at Sanderson like not too dissimilar layouts overall to to what he’s going to see here it’s a straightforward course he’s a straightforward golfer uninspiring but hey if I can bet two bucks to potentially make 400 why not that’ll work spent $2 in so many worse ways way worse all right so let’s wrap up the show here and with your score prediction and who gives it to us i’m going to I’m gonna lean into Scotty here i truly do think Scotty takes it i think we’re going to see a new record this year i’m going 26 under that would be fire be so fun that would be 62s and 63s on the board and that’s fireworks because when Scotty gets hot Scotty don’t get caught when the man has just a straight pull off the tea that he can’t correct and still gain strokes with the driver and finishes in seventh place it’s not fair it’s not fair at all uh I I think that if that’s if Scotty doesn’t do it that way uh it’s going to be Osha Batia at 25 underpar because I want fireworks and the guys that make the most birdies ver very often are guys like Osha Batia Scotty Sheffller Justin Thomas when he’s right and of course Rory for for for example we barely talked about him but it’s just we we like to see the mental state get a little better yep one guy that we didn’t mention and I’m only mentioning now because I managed to go an entire show without mentioning him luke Clayton can easily get to 20 plus under and he could sneak into a very good place this weekend all right let’s call it on that thank you for joining us next week is the Rocket that’s going to be fun from Detroit Rock City we’ll see you next time
