2024 Travelers Championship DFS Preview – Picks, Strategy, Fades | The First Cut Podcast

Rick Gehman and Keith Stewart from Read The Line preview the 2024 Travelers Championship from a DFS perspective with picks, strategy and fades.

Intro, Course Breakdown: 0:00
10K: 6:05
9K: 10:27
8K: 15:49
7K: 23:46
6K: 36:28

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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.

freaking first cut golly welcome to the first cut podcast I’m Rick gaming and this is your DFS preview for this week’s Travelers Championship joining me to break it all down from read the line it’s Keith Stewart Keith thank you very much for jumping in you’re you’re in Connecticut you are boots on the ground for this event absolutely I’m up here in uh Cromwell um and uh I’m GNA sleep in a holiday in express so this should go very well perfect I I love it we will uh all get through this together there is breaking news just minutes ago Rory mroy did officially withdraw from this event uh that is interesting for a lot of reasons but it’s also relevant to our discussion today because he was Keith the second most expensive golfer on this slate uh he will be removed and there will be one less golfer to talk about at the top of the board it seems to me like he paid a heavy price yesterday so today the value has dropped and and he’s moved moved on um which really is it shouldn’t be a surprise to you or I um certainly being down there in Pinehurst um that was a very long week for these guys and it actually was a very long two weeks uh Rory would have been playing four weeks in a row having you know he went up to the Canadian in order to try to um win that title as well so um after the events that took place uh I’m not surprised are you no no not at all and he made it clear that the next time we’ll see him we’ll be at the Scottish open followed by the Open Championship so be a couple of weeks from here on out but like you said these the major championships take a toll on everybody maybe not the greatest idea to pop a signature event after one of these but hey I that’s out of that’s out of my pay grade Keith well you know what the irony in all this is it last year he showed up and said that the golf course was Obsolete and he’s not here so I take that for what it is taking taking a beat in here well let’s talk about that golf course it’s TPC River Highlands and Troy if you want to share my screen I’ve got the scorecard here we’ve got some information we can run through uh over this conversation and this is uh unique Keith it’s a great course in my opinion maybe for professional golfers it’s it’s a little bit different but it is a short course 6,800 yards as a par 70 is there a type of golfer that you think is going to have success this week or is it more a situation where uh there is not a uh a NE a necessity to bomb it around and that a lot of guys are live for this week I I think that well I’m just going to say I think a lot of guys are Live this week in the markets that are you know also winning markets like outright markets I think that this can be somewhat of a wideopen field um when you compare it to the last two weeks where there there was definitely a way to separate on both mirfield Village and of course Piner number two so I I love this event from the fact that it’s going to be extremely entertaining we’re going to be going for a lot of subpar scores 20 or more this week most likely and even though they’ve made changes to the golf course it’s still a par 70 layout that’s going to require excellent wedge play getting the ball in play off the T and then of course a really really hot putter I I I don’t need to stretch it much further than that now they have made some changes based upon those Rory comments of the course being quote unquote obsolete um on the par fives they’ve added some mounding um they’ve taken away some Landing areas on some of the mediumsized par fours they added an infinity look to the 11th hole which is a short par three but at the end of the day if the guys could handle the last two weeks this is point and shoot golf yeah yeah for sure and the anything is going to feel uh soft and receptive after what they’ve been what they’ve been dealing with uh like you said Keith the last couple of weeks and finally uh it is worth pointing out here you know this is a no cut event it’s a signature event so we’re getting 70 some odd some odd golfers here and there is no cut this week so it’s not that normal field that we would see at The Travelers where You’ get 150 guys and almost all of them would be live because of the way this golf course sets up it’s it’s a smaller field more isolated and stronger towards uh the best players in the world and they’re all getting those four guaranteed waack at it as far as course conditions go let me add this too it seems as if the heat has followed me up the East Coast so what I felt last week in Pinehurst the 90 degree days the over 100 the the triple digit heat indexes um we’re going to get that this week up in Connecticut and it hasn’t rained much up here in June at all so it could be firm and fast remember last year when it came to Keegan at 23 under the place was extremely soft now we may see some thunderstorms later in the week in the afternoon just from the buildup of hot humid air but for the most part we’re going to go into a place that’s going to be not nearly as hard as the last two weeks as far as firm texture of the ground but it’s going to be a lot firmer than what we remember from a year ago I was watching The Weather Channel earlier and they described it as uh a heatwave not seen in DEC es or something something like that two places where you can find hyperbole golf Twitter and of course the weatherman so yeah part for the perfect absolutely all right well we are going to jump into uh this field we’ll start at the top and work our way down and see what we can find but first we’re going to take a quick break and hear a word from our partners there’s some new players in town and they brought the plag he got my attention you don’t want that well Kingstown mayor of kingtown new season now streaming exclusively on Paramount plus and we’re back okay Keith this is the cheat sheet over my website rickun good.com and there are or I guess I should say there were four golfers over $110,000 Scotty Sheffer is at 12,500 Rory mroy was 115 he is now out Xander Schley checks in at 11,200 and ludvig oberg at 10,2 so now there’s only three golf off in that top tier Keith how are we starting to make decisions between the big three uh I’m going to go ahead and fade Scotty I faded him last week I didn’t feel like that was a good golf course for him to separate on so I went a different route I built out my betting card and my DFS cards accordingly um and I’m I like the other two instead so I I would have also stayed away from Rory um I feel like every Airline is willing to carry as much baggage as you can bring with you no matter where you go commercial or private you know I felt like Rory was going to have a tough time coming in so I was really looking at the two other guys I mean Xander has an incredible course history and now we’re starting to get to a point where um ludig has played these golf courses before this is where he started his season a year ago as PGA Tour U’s number one player and he got that quote unquote mock card so for both of those guys we have a decent history and we have the skill set that I think is most important um it concerns me a little bit that Xander last week kind of I mean it’s it’s I guess it’s a it’s good B good news bad news he um he seemed like he had about his B B minus game and he still came in seventh um but it worries me that he may not be able to get as many subpar scores as we need this week in order to contend whereas Ludwig looked like he was really good with the putter um you know he got thrown off at a couple areas where his short game kind of showed some weaknesses in his game but I don’t see that as being a problem this week the putter is extremely hot and I I take it back Rick to RSM classic and and this is a a serious skill set comp right he had to hit driver there keep the ball in play he had to hit a ton of wedges and score with his Putter and I was there down on the property at se Island where he went 6161 over the weekend and I think that this week sets up perfect again for him yeah you know what that’s a really interesting conversation on both of these guys Xander Schley you imagine uh in major championships when when par is often a good score and his ability to kind of just hold things together and what he did especially on Thursday where I thought he had his D minus stuff and he still to salvage that round and then put something pretty good together that that’s him grinding it out the there will be no grind if you can’t make birdies this week right I mean even the fact you bring up there’s no cut it just doesn’t matter if if you shoot even par or just one or two under the first day I mean you’re going to be six or seven back I mean that’s the fact and you know you’re going to need to be oh at least five under a day it seems as if even with the course conditions are a little firm and fast the golf course just isn’t long enough I mean it’s 753 yards Less on the scorecard than it was last week at Pinehurst number two and they’re both par 70s so you got to be able to attack these par fours in that 400 to 450 range and you know what I I those guys both have proven they can do it but I’m leaning towards ludig and as far as Scotty goes and that whole discussion I got off of Scotty last week coming into the tournament because I felt like once I got on property the conditions were so firm and fast that no one was going to fire at any pins and that’s what Scotty is able to do better than anybody in any field in the world and if everyone hits it to 40 50 feet on Bermuda grass and they’re putting then I think Sheffer it really mitigates like a lot of his superpowers so I thought for him it was not not going to be a struggle like it was but I just thought that he wasn’t going to be able to distance himself to Warrant 13,000 or 125 or whatever the number is and then this week it’s kind of a similar situation where yeah he can go and and he could hit the ball close all the time and he I’m sure that he will but there’s gonna be a number of guys that can do the exact same thing with a wedge in their hand interesting yeah okay so if you’re trying to figure out a way for guys to separate themselves and of course all relative because of their price and what you’d be asking for them uh Scotty’s got to find some some ways to to separate indeed the the $9,000 range here Keith is is pretty interesting so we’ve got col morawa Patrick Klay and Victor havland up top and then the bottom of this range is sedeki Matsuyama Tommy Fleetwood and Sam Burns so it’s kind of a grab bag is there anything that you like out of here that you’re you’re willing to roll over for this week I think it’s a really interesting conversation about what to do with Patrick kentley this week in all sorts of markets and where to put them on your betting card but also how how often do you use them in your DFS lineups because a lot of people are going to say well wait a second which Patrick kentley am I going to get the guy that won twice at mirfield Village and ejected from that tournament within two rounds or the guy that showed up last week and you know looked like a trained killer at times I mean he was calm cool and collected for the most part um and he looks like he’s rolling the rock well enough that he’s coming into a very very comfortable place for him we we all know in the fantasy space that you know cly loves these Pete die positional golf courses he was great at Heritage um that’s one of the few places this year when he was comtable that he was very good uh do we expect to do that again coming off a very hot week I I think he’s going to be extremely highly owned um especially as the average DFS players are really going to chew up that ownership so for me uh I do think kentley is a good play if you’re if you’re not into the whole leverage world and if you’re just doing it in a group or a pool or Community game or something like that but I think Sam Burns is gonna fall under the radar here a lot of people are going to point towards the fact that oh Sam burns with the driver you know he gets a little wild and everything Sam burs not might not need the driver that much here I go back to Canada and how good he was there Sam Burns makes a ton of birdies that’s what he does right and that’s why you don’t put him in forom Zack Johnson you put him in fourball all right I’m not letting that go so I was gonna I like that Zack Johnson is still catching uh catching Drive buys here nine months later and they are welld deserved I mean when when that pairing came out Rick as much as you know about the game right you everybody was like okay we’re done it’s Rome’s over let’s just let’s just fast forward to kentley’s wedding on Monday and have fun it’s open bar I mean honestly this is like I’m like what are we doing now this scenario where Sam Burns right he he started the golf tournament ah okay he had one of the low rounds on Sunday right he’s he’s playing good golf right now and I think a lot of people shy away away from him in a situation like this because all they hear is you gotta be able to put it in the Fairway and then they think Sam Burns can’t do that but this golf course is so short that he can play positional and then he could just attack with a wedge in that Putter and I think that puts him in a very good space and I think it’s it’s somebody that you know where there everyone’s going to see right in that nine came R Who oh they’re gonna see Hideki they’re going to see Fleetwood they’re going to see all these names that really catch their eye and they’re going to be very chalky in the betting conversations and I think Burns is the one is gonna is really gonna light up fire yeah he started his week uh five over through six holes last week and then played the final 66 at five under by the way when winning score was six under the one name that I need to dive deeper on here Keith is K morawa and this is clearly someone who’s trending in the right direction uh since the Masters uh he’s done almost nothing but gain Strokes in every major category he’s been piling up great finishes along the way and in theory this would be an okay spot for him yet he has really struggled round TPC River Highlands he’s played here three times t36 in 2019 missed the cut in 2020 missed the cut last year what is your assessment of Colin for this time around you know he was definitely somebody that I looked at early on in the 9k range and then I saw the course history because you can’t remember how these guys play at every single place and I think the only guy who had worse course history than him was JT Poston who was a guy that definitely was popping in my mind as somebody that was like oh this guy will be a good fit here and then you look and you’re like holy moly they don’t play well here and there’s a reason for that sometimes a golf course just doesn’t fit your eye or I remember last year he played horribly after LACC uh where he had made the cut and he had played decent in the US Open then he came East and you would have thought oh geez so wedge Fest where this guy’s already in good form and he didn’t play well something about this place doesn’t suit his eye and I I feel like I just have more options in the 9k range so I’m going to go a different direction I know everyone’s going to say hey Keith how about the run that he’s on you know it’s like 39 16 4 42 and then what was he 14 over the weekend right like they’re going to say okay at some point isn’t he going to win sure but I mean I think I think I’m gonna stick with who I have I I do agree with you that there are a lot of other decent options around him I felt like um even last week because the pricing came out a little bit earlier and came out before his finish at the memorial he was sitting there at 9400 and it was just smash spot for everybody I I think that this week is it’s a little bit um it’s a little bit easier to to to stay away if you if you want to do that with the way that the the pricing is laying itself out um we’re going to continue this conversation actually let’s do we’re g to do one more we’ll do one more tier here Troy then we’ll get to a break here because this $8,000 range is starting to get a little bit bigger we’ve got Tony fow sahith Keegan Bradley and Russell Henley at the top Justin Thomas is sitting there right at 8,500 and then the bottom of this range is Cory Connors Brian Harmon course horse Jordan spe Tom Kim and Matt Fitzpatrick so we’ve got some guys who underperformed last week some guys that overperformed some guys with great history some guys with horrible history here Keith this is where we start to get into some of those those bigger margins between players I’m going to start right away with I’m sure somebody that’s going to be extremely popular and you’ll just have to make a decision for yourself um but if you’re going to go with the argument that Colin morawa is trending towards a win then what’s Russell Henley doing he was number one in the field at Piner number two and if it ever comes to positional golf courses who’s the guy that always you’re talking about on Mondays in this show Rick I mean perennially and they say well you know he can’t win well this isn’t this is an outright show this is a DFS show and this guy is going to make so many birdies he puts the ball in play he’s extremely good wedge player and he’s putting at a very very high level right now that he’s he’s playing play well here before I think that Russell Henley is somebody that we all should pay a lot of attention to this week and then a partner to him in that 8K range that I feel really strongly about and I did last week at Piner number two and he the guy has been really good in majors and I remember probably the the last time that you and I were walking together at a PGA Tour event was Shriners and we all know how Tom kid did there so he can win a birdie Fest right Tom Kim he’s really good at sge right that’s a great comp course this week I know Bermuda is different than bent Keith trust me I know the difference in the Agronomy but the shots and the skills that are required uh are very very similar between those two places I think it’s an extremely good comp in sedgfield I think that Tom Kim has been on a serious heater as well and you know last week I bet him at the US Open and he was 90 to one right so he’s sitting at plus 9,000 now all of a sudden in a signature event where he should be further down the road as far as like where the price is and everything at people know the books know DFS pricers know you know that this guy has tremendous value and this is a really good course fit so in the 8K range those are the guys that I wanted to highlight yeah Tom Kim is really started to figure out the driver he’s now gained strokes and pretty significantly in four out of his last five the ball striking in general is coming back and we’ve seen him heat up with the Putter and then Russell Henley I was just clicking through his stats I mean we are talking about a literal top five most accurate driver on the PGA tour if like the different proximity buckets he’s awesome top 20 from 75 to 100 100 to 125 125 to 150 these are your wedge ranges and then as Keith mentioned not not only does he make a ton of putts but he also never three putts I mean he just like does not make a lot of mistakes with that flat stick so a couple of guys that are really good course fits but I do take Umbridge with one thing that you said Keith all right has has it really been Shriner since the last time we walked together we walked together what about something on the west coast Riv oh you’re right you’re right I said that slipped my mind maybe I was GNA say definitely were we were together at Riv you’re 100 percent right yeah yeah okay A little I was getting a little nervous there couldn’t have been that long Rick I’ve had two straight weeks and like the killer heat now I’m lining up for a third one like go easy on me I I hear you brother I hear you okay one or two other guys in this range that I want to look at um let’s start with Keegan bra he’s the defending Champion I think there’s going to be a lot of questions um from from people about hey can I can I play Keegan can I play him and one of these other guys that Keith has already outlined it’s been kind of an interesting year for Keegan it didn’t start off great but he’s he’s starting to find that rhythm again not only on uh the full swing but also with with the flat stick in hand we saw him make a good run at Charles Schwab and he got off to a great start at Memorial before fading he got off to he actually played pretty well all three days at the US Open but where do we stand on a guy who I mean this is probably his Super Bowl here oh there’s no doubt about that but uh he gained seven with the putter last year in route to go into 23 under and and we all saw it happen remember he kept on presenting it to his caddy as if it was like ex Excalibur right um I I just Keegan’s been great and I was all over Keegan in in lineups and also um in different basement card markets and head-to-head matchups and live matchups last week at the US Open and I had mediocre success so maybe a little bit of recency bias I thought he would have been much better at mirfield Village and he kind of had a really shaky weekend and I get I think that that kind of parlayed itself into the US Open a little bit down at Piner number two so I’m I’m a little bit treading lightly when it comes to Keegan I mean if you want somebody who’s hitting the ball really really good and we just need like an above average week with the Putter and he showed signs of being reasonably decent last week I mean there are few guys on tour that are hitting it better than Tony fow right now so if if you want to just talk about ball striking Flatout ball striking the way that Tony hit it down at Pinehurst and the way that you know he hit it uh he topped 10 what was he sixth or seventh at uh mirfield Village Tony’s on a heater right now with his approach game with his driving of the golf ball he is really good around the green yes the putter tends to let him down but that’s a that’s a very small skill that Tony has shown in the past when you put him on a like a golf course like a Detroit which would be another good comp to this a place that you could bomb and gouge because I got news for you whether they put Mounds on these par fivs or not these guys are pulling out driver and they are going ball speed to the wall right and and if anyone thinks that that’s going to change anytime soon Bryson just made it more sexy than ever bomb and gouge is going to be the way that every Junior golfer approaches their game from now on going forward because the two longest guys in the field were accurate enough and they were able to score when they were close to the green so so long iron play is almost going to be a thing of the past like 10 years from now Rick you know you look at the way Bryson and Rory dismantled that Golf Course down at Pinehurst and what Scotty’s able to do at a place like mirfield Village so for me um I think somebody like a Tony and then looking for an opportunity where maybe he might be trending with the putter on some simple bent grass poag greens the the greens aren’t very complicated here which is why people make a lot of putts which is why over the years that if you are a good putter that’s probably the place you could separate but maybe Tony hits it good enough over the course of four days not having to worry about a cut that there’s less pressure on his putting and he just hangs around and then next thing you know he’s four groups from the end on Sunday and the guy shoots 62 and you’re like okay well there we go done uh you’re right he will not have to worry about a cut this week but he hasn’t missed a cut since the vbar championship during that time he’s been piling up a bunch of top 20 and even better finishes including his last four 18th at the PGA Championship 17th at Colonial eighth at mirfield Village in that T3 from the US Open last week Tony is certainly headed in the right direction and so are we we’re headed down to find some value in this small field we’re going to talk about those pesky sevens and the 6K golfers but first we’re going to take a quick break and hear a word from our partners we need the sports news anywhere we’ve got breaking news to bring you then get your sports anytime you want them big trade news overnight to the 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 let’s start with the sevens I’m not going to read them all off but Sun JJM and seaka are at the top the middle could get you Denny McCarthy sewo Kim and then the bottom of this range that’s where Robert McIntyre Stephen Jagger Tom hogi amongst others reside before we even jump into this Keith I’m gonna I need we have to talk about uh in my opinion three names these are guys with much better pedigrees than the prices that they are currently sitting on and we’ve got to sort this out so one is Max hom at 7,800 another is Cameron young at 7600 and then will zures self- declared Big Game Hunter and he has been is at 71 100 at least for H this is the cheapest that we have seen on him in basically two years is there one two or three of these guys that you’d be willing to roster this week I have a question not to throw it back to you but thr what’s going on what’s going on in Max homa’s brain that he pulled a fairway wood out of The Wire Grass last week why why on a weekday did he feel the need to press that hard on a golf course where everybody knew at the start of the week that you know three or four under could win for the week and like that shot will never work I I don’t like like why was he pressing why is Max hom not playing like Max hom because I go back to sass and I remember in The Press Room I asked him a question I said you’re one of like four guys Russell Henley being another one but you’re one of like four guys that has had like two top 20s in the last like couple years here at sass why do you think that is he goes oh because my mys are small and this place you know again another Pete Golf Course when your misses are small you tend to be able to hang around and you know I’m a pretty good putter yeah well he’s an excellent Putter and his putting and his chipping has basically been the only thing that saved him all year or kept him in any of these conversations but you could see his value keeps dropping it really was interesting to me why he would feel the need to press so hard there this should be a perfect spot for Max Homa but the ball striking The Strokes gain ball striking right away from the green just hasn’t been there and that that seems very odd to me because this would definitely be a place with the Su of success he’s had on positional golf courses like you know like out in Napa and the fortn net um places where you just got to keep it in play and just keep making putts which is like Max’s Mo so of those three guys that would be the place that I’d go the other two guys I think zalatoris isn’t completely healthy and I think he’s battling back and forth and the driver’s been really inconsistent and the short game has been even worse and then cam young um I mean you and I have talked about cam young time and time again I I think it’s time for that tree to or that flower to kind of like or uh well I want to use the right analogy here sorry strike that I’m GNA go with It’s Time For That Bird to flap its wings and leave the nest if you know what I mean right he’s got to go out on his own look what’s look what happened to Xander when Stefan stepped back and how much better he played right and you got to give Xander credit all the credit in the world this year were coming away from the rider cup not to go back there again nine months ago there was a lot of talk around Xander being being his own man and making M mature decisions and taking the next step and winning a major and doing all those things and since that time he has made great decisions one after another after another and I just don’t see that coming from other camps so I would love to credit Xander for that but I have problems with Cam young in not being able to do a similar thing seven Runner UPS weigh on you like missing a two and a half footer to win the US Open I mean it’s just a lot of baggage to carry around from you know from sight to sight to site so of those three I’m going with Max Sam uh excuse me seven Runner UPS Runners up and also long stretches of of slumps which is I just I always hate to see it I agree with you about will Z Torres he’s not hitting it well enough and he’s no longer even putting it well enough to out to to fix the the ball striking issues which then does get me back to Max hom who I think is like longterm an unbelievably great player I think that you talk about uh the pressing that’s exactly what it is I mean he’s driving it horribly dating back to Heritage I I think he’s trying to make something anything happen and he’s compounding errors and as much as I can convince myself that long-term Max hom is better than a lot of these other guys he’s 0 for five in finding the weekend here now I I guess the good news is he won’t have to worry about it this time he won’t have to worry about that but I mean there’s just there first of all there’s a lot of guys in this range and just because these guys have a big name that hasn’t always served them well here at TPC River Highlands you know a lot of people don’t know uh Shay reevy right and there’s a guy whose Strokes gain career here I mean the guy he he he’s been he’s been colle he’s been an ATM machine up at this place you know so like for me this is one of those weeks even though it’s a signature event where I think you have to go I mean these guys have played a lot of very elite High Press golf over the last couple weeks who has been good in that time and those are the I’m going to strap a saddle on okay well let’s talk about some of those horses because there are some good options and there’s been guys who have been playing well you know I I see sep straka here I see chrisan Baden ho here but where if it’s not those bigger names uh the brands the big Brands where are we going here in this 7K range Keith I’ve got three guys I’d like to highlight you just mentioned one of them Christian Baden hoot um I think this is a good fit for him he was what 32nd last week at Pinehurst um I anyone that finished between 50 15 and 50 played great golf at Piner number two it was extremely demanding golf course and the top 10 sure those were your contenders but everybody else just to make the cut played really really solid golf maybe they didn’t play their their personal best but they played very very well and Christian’s been doing that for a couple of weeks now great approach player and somebody that can really score with the putter he he’s somebody for sure that I think can get you a lot of birdies this week get birdies and streaks that could definitely put the ball in play enough that he’s going to continue to score points with you um and you don’t have to worry about you know maybe because he’s a lesser name that he won’t be there for the weekend I I just think he’s played very very solid he was top 20 at Schwab he was what fourth at Memorial um he played very well on that on that very difficult Sunday and then last week like I said he was 32nd the second guy is um and I know you love this guy right AE batia oh this is this this is the perfect setup for him because he will ball strike it like Tony feno and but he’s proven a couple times this season that he can go hot with the Putter and I think that he’ll hit it so close because the golf course is so short and he’s so good with a wedge in his hand that I that I like him and he’s also going to be a guy in DFS that the strategy wise I mean he’ll just string together you know he’ll get holes like on on the back nine where you go par five short Par Four and then driveable Par Four you know and you’re G to go he’s going to go Eagle birdie birdie and you’re gonna go woo points you know like you’re going to go nuts and you know whether or not he wins the tournament I don’t know but that the guy could go 20 subpar scores deep so I love him at in in the 7K range and then the third guy that I want to talk about and this is the guy I want to get your opinion on because he’s been really good in Signature Events he’s never missed a cut in a US Open but the ball striking is like baffling but the putter is always like nuclear and that’s Harris English he’s won here before um he’s been really good in Signature Events this year and then in other events he’s just kind of been off like on walkabout but you know again he did it again he he made the cut in the US Open he was great I don’t know I the ball striking numbers they’re not going to model out well but that guy he seems to play well here and I I was curious to get your opinion on him yeah you’re right he never models well but he’s one of these guys and it sounds so corny is he’s he’s just good at getting the ball in the hole right some weeks it’s some weeks I’m gonna gain eight Strokes with the putter some weeks I’m going to gain five ball striking some weeks you know it’s just whatever it is I’m just going to take whatever I have that week and and kind of turn it into into something um the oet thing is really interesting because I don’t think many realize at basically back-to-back major championships for lack of a better term he finished 22nd at Memorial and 16th at the US Open that is that is cooking and you’re right it is you know he has already 22 years young gone to you know the long putter he’s willing to go out there and and fix a flaw in his game and he’s done just that he’s he’s electric oh there’s no doubt about that and you know in a number of conversations that I know that you’ll have creating content all week is that there’s going to be this big fatigue Factor how much did last the last two weeks weigh on these guys well that’s one in two reasons why I like the kid I love ludig and I love oxe this week he’s these guys are 22 years old 23 years old right like this is the time this is the time where they are hungriest and they’re thinking to like and that’s not to say that Xander’s not hungry but he’s also probably weighing his efforts at some point maybe he flies he knows the golf course he flies in on Wednesday he just gets used to it and he rolls into his usual routine he knows he’s got four rounds to build up whereas you know OE could be your first round leader you know Ludwick could go Friday Saturday back toback 62s and then the thing could be over right because these guys like I just don’t see them getting tired right and and now we’re getting to golf courses where ludvig’s seen them before and AE I mean he’s just a special ball Striker so if he if he ever even starts to putt just plus one plus two I mean you know ox’s the type of ball Striker that and I remember this from last year because I was chasing Denny McCarthy around in the round that he was going to shoot 59 right and he ended up shooting 60 but like if oay could ever putt half as good as Denny he would threaten 60 every time he plays that’s how close hits it all the time it’s crazy good so like I down here in the 7K land when AE is kind of off people’s radar that’s when I love to play him yeah and he does go on these little mini runs right where he goes like 14th 13th 13th 17th 11th win right and that win I mean he and speaking of Danny McCarthy they were Head and Shoulders above uh the rest of the field they were both filling it up in a big way this might be another one of those little mini runs you could easily easily see this being 22nd 16th and then four fourth or something like that yeah and I and I remember I remember my favorite golf data website tweeted out that either one of those guys right that was you um either one of those guys would have won like something with the amount of Strokes gain they had total for the week which they were both over like 21 you’re going remember this now it was like aund I I can’t remember the exact number I want to say it was 167 straight events they would have won on tour but only one of them could win like I think I think the quote was like Denny McCarthy would have won every single event going back 167 straight events except this one because he was out he was he was out Strokes gained by OE and I was like looking at that I go man that’s forever like no one spiked that much I mean these guy like AE could Spike man uh well first off thank you for remembering that and yes I don’t the exact number it was it was yeah High 150 160 something in that range but I remember the last the event that was the last that uh either of them would not have won was the 2020 US Open Bryson’s Winged Foot win oh because he kind of whooped up on everybody one by six yeah that’s the last time before that Texas open that either one of those scores would not have won or the famous Scotty Memorial where he gained 20.5 ta green and he lost nine putting right like if he had even gained three he would have done it but like that to to to your point and why it was such a great tweet and why I remember it is it like wow those guys did something that people if people haven’t done it in years right then you on the tour then you know that’s a huge outlier move and that takes a certain amount of skill to be able to pull it off so correct yes huge outlier indeed this 6K range the value options the top of this range Chris Kirk Justin Rose McKenzie Hughes the middle that is Michael thorbjornson teen it up this week Sheamus power Victor Perez and then the Min price golfers there’s three of them Brendan Todd Chris gdup and Peter Mount nauy so Keith this is where we Thrive this is where uh we can find those Diamonds in the Rough do we have a diamond or two that we can extract you know uh cut color Clarity and uh cost right the four C’s of every Diamond um and you got to do it in the DFS board too right how do you not go back to Matthew Pavone do you think he really expended that much energy over the course of those four days or does he just absolutely stripe it this guy right like um he’s definitely somebody down here that I felt like how come this guy’s not even in the sevens I mean he he showed up for four straight days at Pinehurst and he was very very good that cut that he plays that’s so reliable um would be a very good fit in and around TPC River Highlands if you walked the golf course then you know that he can kind of just on the holes where you know you might it might be a little bit of a movement to the left there aren’t enough trees that he could just he could just cut it and fit it in there or he can lay back or he could but the ball striking with him I remember watching him on the range at API and this was after he’d won farmers and I knew nothing about him and this guy put on a stripe show and I was like wow I was like this guy’s impressive and uh and I was thinking to myself he’s going to continue to show up because the ball striking is that good when he’s down in the sixes he’s somebody even if it’s not the week after he finishes top five at the US Open I still tend to lean towards the other two guys the putter concerns me just a little bit but Amano Grio is a great fit here you know for the same reason that he won it Colonial right he puts the ball in play he’s an extremely good approach player in these yardages that we’re talking about he’s awesome on par fours in the range of like uh 400 to 450 yards I know CZ or Christian bazen hoo was number one ranked in the field in that category so so the the range where you have what like eight to 12 of these par fours like cbz is number one Gio’s top five right he he’s a he’s great off the tea he is definitely somebody who has putted much better this year which was nice to see and he was popping earlier in the season um he’s back to playing a little bit more that way where the where the Putter’s just been you know above the Mendoza Line there you know what I mean so like he’s definitely somebody that I like there down in this range uh he’s a great course fit here and then the third guy is is and this is kind of a an oddball pick but when it comes to the ball striking and what he’s really really good at Kurt Kama is a good fit for this golf course I do need the putter to be better so if you bring him up as a chart um you’re going to need a tourniquet over there to the right but that being said right like he’s he’s definitely somebody that he he can be um like a Tony Feen now he’s going to hit a ton of greens he’s going to a ton of Fairways and he’s just going to be rolling around and the fact that he doesn’t need to work way through a cut I think relieves a little bit of pressure like it might on Fen now for the Putter and when that happens if there’s just a little bit less pressure in the weakness of their game you know like that’s where ludvig you know where his weakness was around the green Acumen over the weekend right and he got that position where we’ already seen Rory and fow like fail on 13 right you were like oh boy and I and I had a ticket on Ludwick I was like this could be trouble here right and it end up being the case well we’re just not going to run into spots like that here it’s just not that difficult of a golf course so if you know that the ball striking really suits the task at hand then somebody like K kyama could do some damage here because he’ll just be more comfortable with the fact that you know what I don’t have to make every putt I look at and I don’t have to make a bunch of six-footers to save par because I just won’t be hitting those uh I’ve zoomed in enough to cut off Kurt Kitt yama’s uh putting numbers so now we’re only looking at the good green stuff and he looks a lot a lot better Keith oh no but when you zoom out you do get a little do run into a little bit of trouble but it is interesting right I I think that one of the things and you’re out on the grounds so much is that all of these guys are capable of going low in a moment’s notice all of these guys are unbelievably talented and we see it with first round leaders or we’ll see somebody pop up and have the round of the day on Friday but it they’re none of them are very far off from winning and we’ve seen that for the most of this year I mean for the first half of the year it was basically Scotty and the zits right either Scotty won a golf tournament or somebody was 300 to one won the golf tournament and this is kind of that range where um some of these guys are pretty dangerous oh yeah yeah I mean especially when you look at a place like this where a guy is going to hit 16 Greens in regulation inside 25 ft because the greens just aren’t that big and and the shots just aren’t that tough because they’re hitting it from 140 yards and when you when you have a guy that keeps hitting it that close that often like a Lucas Glover like a Tony fow is like you know all these guys that we mentioned right they’re eventually go They’re Gonna Make putts You know will they do it enough to win that I can’t guarantee for you but when you’re playing DFS and you’re looking for Value down in the you know six the mid sixes or the low sevens right just make sure you pick people that are actually going to be able to hit this week like 15 plus greens anded regulation that that’s what you need it can’t just be someone who’s going to be wild and like chip their way around this people aren’t chipping and shooting seven under right right they’re just not you know like you have to understand the recipe of the golf course and this place is calling for you know you’re throwing darts from 140 yards and then how many you know 20f Footers or less can you make and those aren’t for those aren’t to save par per say no they’re not if you’re relying on that aspect of your game you are probably in trouble for this week Keith Stewart of read the line Keith you are at a lot of golf tournaments you produce a lot of content if people want to hear more from you which they should uh what are the best ways to get in touch and to see that information if they like to look at things I’m on Sports grid all week you know I chime in there I’m their golf analyst from on-site and then uh the second place is Golf Digest so if you’ve heard of that right um a majority of the betting content that’s written there uh comes from me some of the videos too and the third thing is just go to readel line.com you can subscribe for free if you like the narratives and the betting stories that I tell um then you could certainly you know pay a couple dollars a month and you can get the premium version but the most important part is if you go there all the content I create on a weekly basis is housed there and it’s just a click away right yeah that’s that’s what I like about it it’s all right there at your fingertips and Keith is the eyes the ears the boots on the ground and much appreciated uh thank you so much for coming on Keith appreciate you I tell you what Rick um this is a this is a nice um addition to my week because it’s been five out of the last seven I’ve been on the road so it’s a pleasure to see a friendly face and uh best of luck everyone this week all right brother I appreciate you well we will be back on Tuesday for a mega preview pod and of course Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday for round by round Recaps big thanks to producer Troy who is doing all the hard work behind the scenes this has been another episode of The First Cut we’ll catch you next time [Music]