PGA Championship preview: Are Scottie, Rory and Brooks on a collision course? | Golf Channel Podcast

In this edition, the guys break down all the early-week action from on-site at the PGA Championship, from the leading storylines to the top contenders to their picks to win at Valhalla. #GolfChannelPodcast #GolfChannel #PGAChampionship

Chapters:
0:00: Early-week vibes from a soggy Valhalla
03:00: Does Scottie Scheffler get a baby bump?
09:00: What does the “stats guy” say about Valhalla?
11:00: Rory McIlroy is our No. 2 favorite, because …
16:30: Lav isn’t all talked out – yet – from his stint on “Live From”
19:30: Will this PGA end with a Scottie, Rory, Brooks collision course?
25:00: Other players to consider (and who is a concern) at the year’s second major
32:00: Our picks to win
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PGA Championship preview: Are Scottie, Rory and Brooks on a collision course? | Golf Channel Podcast
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hello and welcome and to this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav happy PGA Championship week to all who celebrate it is Wednesday afternoon all of the pre-tournament press conferences are in the books Valhalla has dodged a bit of weather over the past couple days so this PJ Championship should get off to a rousing start on Thursday with sunny skies and warmer temperatures Rex how’s your PJ week going this is my fourth championship that I’ve covered here at V H and I got to be honest with you the place has not been kind to me other than the rer cup in 08 which was played in September and if I remember correctly we had beautiful weather that week other than that it’s been a muddy nasty mess go back to 2014 when Rory won here uh a lot of weather delays we almost didn’t finish the final round if you remember the last two groups essentially had to play as a as a forsome coming up the Fairway on the last hole just to get it done just to make sure we didn’t have a Monday finish and I actually went back and looked at this one of the back in 2004 I covered the Senior PGA here I know that was in a different different lifetime ago as a magazine writer and I can tell you I was talking with Carri hag England’s Carrie heg about this the other day and he uh we were reminiscing about the idea that Floyd’s Floyd’s Fork overflowed not once but twice FL fork good try Floyds thanks messed up I knew that was gonna mess with me not once but twice that week there was multiple uh tornadoes uh it was a Monday finish and I spent the night before the final round curled up in the basement of my hotel hotel in downtown Louisville next to an elder man in the pajamas named hail Irwin who would go on to win that week so by comparison the rain we’ve got the last couple of days hasn’t been that bad the forecast doesn’t look great it looks like Friday’s going to be another wet day but it seems like the golf course is still in pretty good shape yeah Friday does to be does appear to be the the trouble day 80% chance of showers and storm shout out to my buddy sea who’s making the trip from n Florida to Louisville Kentucky to attend the second round of the PJ championship and very likely could get washed out for at least a couple of hours that day we were like we were expected to get two inches of rain on Tuesday that didn’t happen we were expected to potentially get uh a significant more amount on Wednesday that also did not come to fruition All Things Considered at least in the run up to this Championship players have been able to make all of their proper preparations speaking recks of proper preparations that’s a great segue to world number one Scotty Sheffer who yes in is playing in the year’s second major was a bit of an open question after he did not disclose whether or not he and wife maredith actually had their baby they did last Wednesday congratulations to the sheffler familyy boy named Bennett however Rex uh Sky said had has not really affected his preor preparation maybe he wouldn’t have gone three weeks in between starts leading into a major championship but he still was able to play uh and practice back home home in Dallas playing money games with some of his buddies what do you think how much of a uh hindrance or obstacle or distraction do you believe this Monumental Life event will have on the world number one player this week you wanted to make a big deal about this on Sunday night and I think I called you out on it because you seem to get lost in the moment and you immediately wanted to go to well no Rory might be the favorite might could be and you were dancing around with it and I go you’re really being a prisoner of the moment here if you’re going to base this on the idea that Rory had a really really good week and Charlotte don’t want to take anything away from him he won the PJ Championship the last time he was here like by all accounts he should be among the top three favorites this week but Scotty sheffler is still by far in a category by himself it doesn’t matter that he probably hadn’t gotten much sleep before he arrived here it doesn’t matter that as you pointed out is a major life adjustment Scotty Sheffer probably more so than any other player on the PGA tour has the ability to navigate this one better than anyone just because of he doesn’t seem to get caught up in a lot of the other stuff that other players do if if they don’t have the absolutely perfect warm-up if they don’t have the perfect prep week then they’re gonna let it impact their play I don’t think Scotty is going to do that you actually went out to the range I believe it was on Monday and watched him for a little while and I snarkily asked you how’s he hitting it and you didn’t even look at me you shook your head and said on a rope didn’t miss a shot so no I don’t think it’s going to have any impact at all he had a beard he had a baby and he most certainly had the ball still on a string when you look at the case for Scotty cheffo this week at the PGA Rex like from a physical standpoint from a technical standpoint from a course fit standpoint it’s very good for Scotty we can get to this golf course if you really wanted to I would probably steer you guys in other directions if you want a full course breakdown there are a lot of 475 to 500 yard par force on this golf course it is Paramount to put the ball uh not just in play but also well down the Fairway 300 325 yards and then you’re going to be relying on a lot of midiron play well as I laid out on live from on Tuesday who is the best driver of the golf ball on the PJ tour that is Scotty schler statistically he is the leader in Strokes gained off the team okay well once you’re in the Fairway who is the best midiron player on the PJ tour statistically that player is Scotty sheer okay well with the general difficulty of the golf course this is still a major championship setup if you do Miss greens who’s top five in scrambling on the PGA tour that’s Scotty Sheffer he is thriving if not the best one of the best in every major statistical C category that’s going to be of Paramount importance at this PGA Championship the reason why I bring up Rex the the the the week that has been for Scotty Schiffer is that I do think this week presents a different mental challenge than he has ever had in his entire career to this point and you look back over the past month like I think the Masters presents a mental challenge alleng because you’re dealing with Legacy and history and trying to rewrite it like I think that’s certainly a challenge that an obstacle that you have to overcome the following week when Scotty Sheffer played at the RBC Heritage after his second master title I think that was a different sort of mental challenge where hey look I’m trying to stay motivated I’m trying to stay hungry throughout the course of a competition he exell in that as well this I think is the mental challenge of not getting distracted where tournament competition has so much idle time so much time between shots so much time throughout the a five hour round when you’re playing in three SS for the first two rounds where your mind is going to wander and it is only natural he is only human that your mind would wander to the Monumental Life event that he and his wife just shared together what is his son doing how is his wife doing I I think I think that is a very real possibility again Scotty sheler is immensely gifted in this area where he is I I think the best player at staying present staying process oriented but it’s only human Rex I mean there’s a reason why paternity leave in the US is is one to two weeks like like there is a significant adjustment that goes underway I I still believe if you’re a fellow competitor in this PJ Championship there’s just a sliver of a possibility that he might not have his very best stuff this week mentally which is fair but I still go back to if anyone on the PGA tour can handle a major life change in the middle of a major championship it’s going to be Scotty sheffler just because and this is a the probably the best an anecdote I can give on this the idea that he is always going to put family first and that’s what he absolutely has done uh throughout the entirety of his career and so he’s comfortable with the idea that I was there for the birth of the child I was there for mered with my wife I I I I was able to really enjoy my family for a solid week before I had to get back to work and he understands he had to get back to work two that point his caddy Ted Scott is leaving here on Friday assuming Scotty makes the cut he hasn’t missed the cut in two years so I’m going to go ahead and make that safe assumption uh Teddy’s gonna fly home to Louisiana for his daughter’s graduation and not fly back until for until Sunday’s final round he’s gonna have a buddy his caddy for him on Saturday and like to hear Scotty tell the story it was well of course Teddy would fly home this is what we do family comes first in this particular situation so I get what you’re saying I get the idea that okay and all that down he get distracted and start thinking about baby Bennett but I I don’t I’ve never seen anything in his body of work at least recently that suggests that he has a problem with his mind wandering that he has any kind of problem focusing like that doesn’t seem to be a problem at all and this golf course is going to be a lot to your point it’s going to be a handful I I was actually talking uh to your point about a golf course breakdown and again others will do this better than we will but I was talking with a player and his stats guy and the stats guy did a really good job of breaking it down to you need to do three things really really well on this golf course you need to drive the ball over 300 yards and you mentioned the idea in the Fairway that’s not necessarily the case if you go back and you look statistically back in 2014 Roy maroy wasn’t even close to the straightest driver in the field but he was by far the longest and so there’s things on this golf course that if you can drive at three three 305 310 you’re G to take those completely out of play that’s a huge Advantage I think with with the with the grass changes though Rex it’s not the driving it’s also been lengthened quite a bit it’s also been lengthened quite a bit l but the the grass is so dense it’s not necessarily the length of it it’s the it’s the density and if you’re coming in from 200 yards trying to hit a five or six iron a there you’re just you’re you’re gonna really really struggle so having a driver that goes 325 is absolutely the recipe for success and I would and I would encourage everyone who’s going to watch this week that the golf course is in perfect shape and of all the major championships here and I didn’t realize this until Carrie hag said it this afternoon during the PG of America’s press conference that they haven’t played the members haven’t played around on this golf course since last November think about that you’re a member of a golf club and normally sort of the the mo is if you have a Tour event you usually stop playing it two weeks out more or less if you’re a member of a golf club and they have a major you usually start playing at four to six weeks out this is months ago they stopped playing and that’s why you’re going to end up with this really good golf and probably don’t have $400 dues that the that the members are are sacrificing as well uh no probably not uh so there’s there’s a huge distance bias for this golf course as we’ve seen with the winners here it’s Tiger Woods it’s Roy maroy I think the other half was you need to make 89 feet of putts and because of that it’s going to be soft you’re going to hit more Fairways you’re going to hit more greens and you’re going to have more opportunities and the third thing is and if you look at statistically the way it breaks down if you can play the par 3es in even par you’re going to have a really good chance so you look at those three things to your point all three of those things are things Scotty Sheffer does really well so there is nothing that’s happened in the last week and it was a week ago now that that he that he and his wife celebrated the birth of baby Bennett that leads me to think that oh somehow he shouldn’t be in a category by himself I will still put him first and then we can sit here and have a conversation about who goes right after him whether if that’s some combination of Rory and Brooks and John ROM or whoever else I think it’s quite obvious that that Roy mroy is the the second leading Contender heading into this PJ Championship we can talk about distractions as it relates to Roy mcroy as well I do not want to get into the personal life drama and him filing for divorce on Monday that it feels like very icky territory uh to wade into and so we will not on this very podcast but Rex it was a very short clipped press conference on Wednesday for Rory he was a late arrival to the golf course on on Tuesday after flying home to Florida following the wells champ Wells Fargo Championship Victory on Monday uh still got in his practice time what did you make of his media availability just having seven questions and what did you make of sort of his mindset and mentality as we get ready for the year second major uh seven questions 10 minutes and I know that any people who are going to listen to this are just going to roll their eyes so I I understand from people’s perspective like what does it matter if we talk to him for 20 minutes or two hours or 10 minutes it does kind of matter because there’s a lot going on in golf right now but I can certainly understand uh why he decided to cut that so short given the fact that he didn’t want to talk about what happened on Monday with following for divorce from his wife in South Florida he didn’t want to talk about Jimmy Dunn resigning from the PGA to a policy board on Monday he he probably didn’t particularly want to talk about the of the PGA tour at all he wants to focus this week because this is an opportunity that he’s probably not had in a long time he understands he’s in a really really good position you’re coming off of back-to-back tour victories know one of them was with a teammate in Zurich but still he said he’s he probably drove the ball as car the load on that one uh to be fair and he said he’s probably he told um our kir K Dixon that he drove the ball as well there that he has probably ever in his career which is saying a lot and so he understands like look it’s been 10 years and you’re going to show up here and you’re going to try to focus it’s probably not great for you and I because we we’ve got to write stories but I didn’t have a problem with him just doing 10 minutes because I understand what’s at stake here I think you both of us understand what’s at stake here he probably wants to put the blinders on as best he can and just ride the winning wave that he’s on right now but not try to overthink it not try to overwork it not not get distracted by all the things that are going on going on outside of the ropes and in his life but focus on what he has the opportunity to do here I would agree with that he I don’t think he was nearly as feisty this year as he was last year at at oakill if if you remember he was coming off the miscut at the Masters he just wded uh from RBC Heritage and forfeited the amount of money there didn’t play particularly well at the Wells Fargo Championship and then he seemed to be in a little bit of a mood at oakill that did not strike me at all uh in his press conference here Wednesday at FL Halla I’m I’m with you I think he is is showing some sorts of of of tunnel vision realizing that this a this is a point in time that he can absolutely capitalize on this is the best golf he’s played in several months at a major championship venue with which he has success he’s wielding the driver once again as a weapon and if you look at how he played on Sunday at quell Hollow and the level of intimidation I think that he showed in that head-to-head battle with Sanders shaa we have not seen a we have not seen Rory kind of showcased that level of bravado where he was just he was he was grabbing driver and just absolutely unloading it 350 yards one de ball speed he’s walking ahead of Xander he’s making sure that Xander is well aware uh of of exactly what’s happening and just absolutely blitzed him eight under over an eight hole span I I realize that A decade is a long time to be removed from a major championship Victory but if you look back to vhalla and the way that he played he had that saunter he had that strut he had that stride where you know that Rory’s feeling himself and I think there was a level of intimidation there uh if look a lot of life has has happened in the intervening decade but if he can tap into those kind of swaggering feelings once again I think he’s immensely dangerous because he is such a prolific driver the golf ball that especially on this golf course I mean he just has such a Monumental Advantage compared to some of his per and I said it Sunday when you and I talked about the victory like I’m here for all of it Roy maroy when he’s driving the ball like that is as entertaining as I find go to be because he’s not hitting driver because he has to he’s hitting driver because he wants to because he can I’m going to go out there and show you that this club would scare so many people just not amateurs but professionals as well I’m going to show you that I can beat you with this one Club essentially is what he’s doing so yes I’m here for all of that and and to the point that we were just talking about I’m not quite sure he’s had a better opportunity to win a major in the last decade that he has right now based on just current form back-to-back victories the way he did it last week at Quil Hollow you’re right he has the Swagger back so yes I get the idea you’re going to try to put up walls around you as best as you possibly can and it’s not easy in this environment but he’s going to do it I I do wantan to and and I waited long enough I think it’s fair enough so we don’t get in trouble on this one I do want to deviate a little bit you have spent the last two days on the live from set doing a two-hour shift so you don’t seem to be talked out how you feeling do you feel like you you told me yesterday that it was uh I think invigorating is what you told me yeah it keeps you on your toes because you don’t know where everything’s going how was it uh it was invigorating it was exhilarating it was a Non-Stop Adrenaline Rush uh Peak behind the curtain when you and I do golf today and we’re co-hosting that in Connecticut there is a very distinct rundown that we have two or three hours before the show we know exactly what’s going to happen we know the interview questions we’re going to be asking guests uh we it’s it’s all very timed out you know you have seven minutes for a segment you may you know kind of deviate some of the topics but the time constraints are basically what they are live from the PJ Championship is not bad at all there is technically a rundown but it it almost does not follow it to to a te and so you have to be prepared for anything I found that to be an immense challenge a lot of fun unlike anything I’ve ever done uh in my career I I certainly Miss Rex and I think the fans most likely miss where was the Rex and laugh segment I mean they kick it down to us to kill s or eight minutes it allows Aon obber hoser Paige McKenzie to go get a snack go to the restroom make some phone calls I I feel like the people are clamoring for I didn’t necessarily get any messages asking where the Rex and lav segments were but I could feel I could feel the pain from the golf audience nonetheless uh sure sure and we’ll be uh you and I both will be dancing at night we’re both on live from tonight and we’ll be on the rest of the week so we’ll be around but you’re right I I missed our early live from song and dance we we have some cart Blanc we don’t have to have adult supervision we don’t have Steve sanss sitting between us to make sure we don’t make any mistakes so I I did miss it I thought you did a really good job I mean that is a challenge because as you pointed out it’s kind of coming at you fast and when you have a show like that where you’re going to switch and probably I was watching a little bit this morning the second you go to that rain shot that to me and I I did this uh two weeks ago I was in Dallas when Sunday I I I pretty much was on the hourlong pregame show and because of the timing they moved up to tea times it was essentially just a live show from the range and you don’t know wherever the cameraman pans that’s where you’re going to talk and if you think that’s easy then it probably is to a certain degree because it’s you’re going to go to someone who’s leading and you probably have something in the notebook on that however doing it on a Tuesday or Wednesday of the PGA Championship week you could land on anyone on that range and suddenly you’re you’re uh you need to talk about the club pro from Wisconsin lavner go and nothing is more terrifying than that 156 man field I mean we got lucky today there was like a it was a Patrick Klay but I mean you’re essentially just saying four or five minutes for just sitting on Patrick Klay and just talk and see where the conversation takes you on Tuesday it with Sam Burns we’re kind of scaring to our laptop see exactly how he’s played over the past couple months look at his major championship record go into you know kind of the Scotty Sheffer parallel with with his wife Sam Burns’s wife also having a child but yes not to talk too much about ourselves here but it was certainly a lot of fun to do that and potentially if I did not get voted off the island I would do that again for the US Open one of the biggest storylines we talked at nauseum over the past couple of days Rex was sort of the the the big three I would say for this PJ Championship which is Scotty which is Rory and a player we have not touched on with Brooks keco all three of those players uh are coming into Year’s second major off of Victory Brooks K of course one lived Singapore a couple of weeks ago heading into the here do you think we are on a collision course at this golf course a golf course that has produ produced fenetic finishes uh and great champions in the past for another sort of Collision Course again with the game’s top players uh I think so because the recipe is there and you’d like to hope for it I mean you want always want to hope for the best like the the leader if the leader board on Sunday looks like that where you have Scotty and Rory and Brooks and throw John Ramen there and and Xander and wiam Clark and whoever arounds you know whatever combination of players I think that’s the best case scenario just not for you and I who talk and right about golf but I think for the fans and I think we saw that when you look at the ratings going back to last Sunday at qu Hollow people like to see the top players going head-to-head this golf course has largely delivered that when you look at the winners here Tiger Woods uh Roy maroy uh the US team in 2008 during the rder cup so I I would there’s a high degree of confidence that that’s going to happen now and I I was taken by the idea that you’re really quick to put Rory into that second spot and I’m not necessarily debating with you on that one but I think the third spot is probably where you and I are going to diverge because I would actually put lock Brooks into that third spot for no other reason and you’re right the Singapore Victory stood out to me I think I mentioned this it that that felt a lot like his victory last year in Orlando right before the Masters where nothing seemed to be moving right he seemed to be a little bit indifferent and he did flip that magical switch that we’ve talked about where he arrives at the major championships and he’s just a different player between that and the way he sounded today because he could not have sounded more like indiff Brooks today than he was if if he would have come out and been bubbly and funny then I’d have been like yep that’s not right that doesn’t feel right but that wasn’t him it was very dismissive of almost every question it was very bro have you ever played in a major championship it was very frat boylik but that’s Brooks when he’s at his best that was the exact takeaway that I had after his press conference see I think it’s been a lot of fun to see the tone shift over the past 13 months for Brooks kept if you think back to Spring 2023 you know Brooks was you know coming off the move to live which was I think spurred in large part because of the UN certainty surrounding his health he had a very serious knee injury he had the hip history he’ finally gotten right but I think there was a lot of gratitude there was a lot of appreciation about the journey that he’s been on and a lot of the people who helped him get back to a spot where he could compete for major championships well that that that sort of attitude of gratitude shifted on that Master Sunday in 2023 when he shot 75 in the final round and got lapped by John ROM he’d sort of let his guard down he he sort of played defensively he said that he was playing not to lose as opposed to trying to win and Brooks both that Sunday at Augusta and leading into the PJ championship last year at Oak Hill vowed to never have that happen once again and he didn’t he held off a very strong leaderboard beat Victor hin head-to-head to win his fifth major champ Championship ever since then he’s kind of gotten back into that Terminator mode the stoic mode the tough talk Brooks where he’s talking about punishing workouts and punishing himself for for what he deems to be poor or embarrassing performances like he had the T45 at this year’s Masters he is the alpha of all Alphas in in professional golf certainly in the major championships and we we have never seen a player who can look so pedestrian at times and then become so potent when it comes to maj championships yes he is uh incredible in the US Open his record proves that but his best major throughout the course of his career is actually at the PGA there was a a phenomenal stat uh that the research team threw up where he was eight plus 88 Strokes gained Tia green over his last six PGA Championship starts for Brooks kka when you think about why well the PJ Championship has has become sort of a a Kindler gentler version of the US open still a very stiff test but it it it promotes great driving of the golf ball very solid approach play where you have to sort of pick your spots and also play very calculating with it with his approach shots and you also have to be tidy around the greens that is Brooks kepa’s game to a te he’s not typically a player who likes to win shootouts 14 15 16 underpar which I think is what what we’re going to get here for a winning score at Valhalla just because the softness of the conditions but if you’re looking at at 7 to 11 they really put the screws to this place that that’s where he thrives because he’s just built differently to to really dig in on those sort of test and look the the winning score last time around I believe was 16 under that’s a little bit on the high side so if you’re you’re breaking it down and we’re splitting hairs here when it talk when we’re talking about the top three or four players coming into this but he he tends not to enjoy those as much as he he enjoys those six under or those three under victories I mean he he likes to grind it out he likes to be really really hard because he knows that’s going to separate him the rest of the pack and you’re right when you go back to that Masters the idea that he walked away from that embarrassed embarrassed and had to apologize to his team that I I didn’t do what I’m always preaching to you guys that we should all do and that’s that’s be your best every single day I think it shows the maturity that we don’t often see from Brooks to be quite Frank with you normally we just get the frat boy platitudes we we get him just sort of trying to put up some sort of defensive me mechanism and and being as as cool as he possibly can be that that wasn’t the case after the Masters and I think that was probably a good learning experience for him and I would like him on this one my curiosity would be though when you start going down the list I don’t know where to put John ROM I mean he spoke at length yesterday to the media he seemed to be in good spirits he seemed like he had a level of confidence in his game that surprised me a little bit but man that surpris I I I wouldn’t have a clue where to slot him in top five top six surely but I I don’t I can’t go beyond that yeah I he’s he’s a hard one to gauge obviously I mean The Strokes game metric that that Liv golf has are not as complete as the as the very deep shotlink system PJ tour uh employees uh he’s still playing B maybe even B+ level golf it’s just the game has gotten so deep the quality has gotten so high that that that John ROMs b game is not quite good enough uh to win golf tourament I would still firmly put him in probably my top six or seven you know players who I like more I would say than John Ron this week would be certainly Xander schofl um who has proven in major championships that he has the game he’s proven this season there it is he’s in very good form I wouldn’t pick him to win because I’ve sworn off picking Xander schala to win uh because I I I’ve just been hurt too many times uh but it would be a surprise given the completeness of his game if he were not once again in contention on Sunday you just kind of wonder if he’s going to have that dog in him I think K morawa although this is a very big test uh he’s a supreme iron player going to have to really he’s going to have to really put the screws to his four five six irons uh this week I like K morawa as well I think maxom I I liked what he said on Tuesday in his press conference how he’s learned how to play these major championships not coming in here trying to to be perfect he likes the fact that he can play his way in and see what his strengths and weaknesses are uh those are all sorts of players um who who I like this week I like his Trend in major championships lud Vigo Berg big tall strong hitter of the golf ball and Cameron young and BR nambo just throw out a couple names as well who I do who I do think will have good week I think the I think the leaderboard is going to be absolutely phenomenal I think this is a ball striking contest and the best players tend to be the best ball Strikers no I I tend to agree and then look as long as the weather Co cooperates and it looks like it it might outside a Friday now I’m going to do the sports radio thing and I’m GNA I’m going to gas bag a little bit here just to give you uh some room to think about this but who concerns you the most and I bring that up only because I was just doing radio show with our buddy Jason soel and he was asking me kind of about the injury reports that are out there and you mentioned ludic and he’s got a brace on the knee although he he sort of dismissed it and said it wasn’t that big a deal missed last week’s signature event I would tend to agree with the the young 20-some who doesn’t seem to have any Kryptonite in the world that okay what for whatever reason he had some swelling on his knee and felt like he should be prudent and and Miss however when it comes to major championships you’re looking for reasons not to pick players or top players at this point more so for reasons to pick top players because you and I just rifled through five names and talked about well yeah you have to like Rory you have to like Scotty you have to like Brooks you have to like John R so what I’m doing now is sort of splitting hairs and trying to come up with reasons that one does concern me will zator who I wrote about earlier in the week he’s he’s coming off uh I’m less concerned with him because it sounds I I talked to his performance Coach Josh Gregor it sounds more that Will was just being prudent more than injured more than anything else he said he wasn’t hurt uh but probably if I had to pick someone it’s going to be Jordan we’ve talked a lot about the the wrist injury how much how concerning it is that would be the one that I would say at the top of my list concerns me the most yeah Willie Z has has typically played major championships better than he has played in regular season starts however he did not have his best stuff certainly last week at the Wells Fargo Championship his first start uh since harbort toown as well as you mentioned the WD at the Nelson finished 60th uh was very poor t degree and and also struggled uh on and around those greens as well now traditionally and even historically this season on the PJ tour he has top 10s at the Masters Riviera and Bay Hill all exceedingly difficult test he does seem to rise to the occasion and sort of his his his putting uh is if not improved at least sort of marginalized by the difficulty of the greens I still think will zorus uh if if he can find some ball striking form over these three preparation days I think he could once again contend in a major championship I’m with you on Jordan he talked very optimistically about his game on Tuesday how close he feels how it’s been sort of a weird year how he’s driving the ball as well as he ever has the stats do not bear that out whatsoever I mean he’s fallen off in every major statistical uh category he’s making uh some some boneheaded mist akes uh on the golf course as well just kind of throwing away shots and then letting those com those mistakes compound themselves I think this is his seventh attempt to complete the career Grand Slam and the The Narrative around him the dialogue around him the pressure surrounding his pursuit of the career grand slam it stands in such stark contrast to how Roy maroy feels each and every time he tees it up at Augusta National I think that’s a byproduct of spe’s current game but also how his game is just not suited for the current version of the PJ T PJ Championship which are just big beefy bronny styles of tests well and this goes back to the wrist injury and we talked about it in Dallas because he I sort of touched base with him earlier in the week and the idea that it can pop out that the ligament can pop out at any time in his wrist and he doesn’t know when it’s going to happen it can happen when he’s lifting weights it can happen when he’s getting out of a chair I can only imagine how concerning that is for a professional golfer not to know if this swing if this back swing is going to be the one where it pops out and I’m going to struggle the rest of the day now at the time in Dallas he told me that I I need to fight through that and put that out of my mind and just be aggressive and and and try to swing the way I know that I can it’s easy to say that I can’t imagine how difficult that could possibly be it’s funny you mentioned the career Grand Slam I was in that press conference the other day when he was asked about it and for the life of me I was I was blown away because it it didn’t even dawn on me that that should be any part of the narrative only because to your point this is not the one especially injured that I would expect him to win now I’m not saying he he he never does it because he’s certainly a talented player and he has plenty of opportunities but it wasn’t on my radar this year with everything else that’s going on around him so that was a little surprising when someone even asked him about it Rex who is your winner of this PJ championship and at what number uh I’m gonna go with Scotty because that seems like the obvious choice so I’m just going to go straight chalk just to make it easy and again it’s going to be double digits I I feel like with the rain we’re supposed to get on Friday as good as these players are as long as there’s no big delays and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a lot of win something around 1600 again is probably the number I’d go with well this is gonna be very anticlimactic because I’m go with Scotty shuffer as well I’ll go a little we might have spent some time uh going back and forth before we actually started the Pod deciding okay who are you picking maybe some pre-production is a good thing I’m just saying yeah uh 14 underpar is my winning score I do think on the days that are not going to be hampered by rain which again the the days are expecting rain are Friday and a little bit of a chance on Saturday I think they can um kind of tweak the setup a little bit on Thursday and Sunday to ensure that it’s not necessarily a pushover Again Carrie hay does a phenomenal job of setting up these PGA championships no player is ever ketching about the setup saying it’s unfair saying it’s a you know a shootout saying it’s way too difficult like he always see to strike the perfect balance I think it is going to be a phenomenal week here at Valhalla with the best players in the world trending in the right direction you think about the narrative Rex a couple months ago right on the PJ tour think about the Florida swing like where’s all the great players why are why aren’t the Stars winning and we still don’t have a a Xander Victory we still don’t have a Victor havin Victory we still don’t have a Justin Thomas or a Jordan Speed Victory this year but a Scotty a Rory a Brooks all in uh incredibly good form heading into the year second major it feels like we’re set set up for a doozy here yeah and the Englishman k h you know very very well he uh a player told me this this morning that the way he sets up the venues feel like PGA to venues plus where it’s fair giving you a lot and Rory kind of touched on this during his press conference you talk about how important it is to hit Fairways but he pointed out it’s got big corridors like you don’t want to be in the rough because you pointed out it is really really juicy however you’ve got some room a lot like you had last week at Quail Hollow so there is a premium on ball striking there’s a premium on playing well however I think you get to see the best players in the world do what they do best whereas maybe sometime in the past and this is not recent past but in the past the US Open has gone over the top where you’re just not getting the best performan at out of the best players because all they’re doing is hacking out when they when they hit into the rough so I I like this combination better that is going to do it for this addition the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and La Rex and I will both be on live from the PJ Championship on Wednesday night Rex for a note segment with tou myself to have a 7c lead in to my Eric Van royan piece and a tag on the back end but you can catch Rex each and every night on live from the PJ of course you guys know the drill nbcsports.com golf for the latest news notes and updates Rex and I will be back each and every tournament round as well in the PGA to give our thoughts in what should be hopefully fingers crossed a 15 to 20 Minute Podcast each night Wi-Fi strength permitting but as always thank you for listening thanks for the support we’ll talk to you guys in 24 hours or so after the first round the PJ championship