A Justin Thomas Sighting! + McIlroy, Aberg Go Low – Genesis Scottish Open Round 1 | The First Cut

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap the opening round of the Genesis Scottish Open.

0:00 Intro
1:00 Rory McIlroy is back and he’s off to a good start
4:29 Some DPWT Big Movers: Max Kieffer & Haotong Li
7:34 Davis Thompson cruises + Tommy Lad looks very comfortable in Scotland
11:15 Collin Morikawa is banging on the door of another victory
16:55 Slow Years, but Good Starts: Sungjae Im, Justin Thomas
20:20 Betting Favorites

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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 cup podcast I’m brick gaming and this is your round one recap for this week’s Scottish open joining me to break it all down Kyle Porter is here in KP it’s still morning my time so I’m gonna say good morning good morning coffee golf we’re doing Recaps at what is it two Eastern this is this is fantastic I I love this time of year I love the golf that’s being played and uh we got we got a good leaderboard after after one round we do and we got started early in the morning or last night depending on where you were the man who took a lot of the oxygen leading into the Scottish open Rory maoy was out early making more noise he turned in one under and then got hot a birdie on number one his 10th hole of the day an eagle on three a birdie on four you add it all up Rory mooy posts a five under 65 currently in a tie for seventh Excuse me yes that’s right and three shot off the lead yeah I mean it were you surprised by this no yeah in what sense like did I I I mean because I got asked there were people who were telling me that Roy M was gonna play Bad this week yeah that that’s that’s not smart that’s insane uh it was not surprising at all um I I don’t know that I knew he was gonna go out and shoot 65 but he’s just I think sometimes with Rory you get what happens is you you you get these small moments that obscure kind of the overall picture and I think that’s a little bit of what is going on right now of like okay this three or four hole stretch at Pinehurst is obscuring the fact that he hasn’t finished outside the top 15 since uh harbort toown right like it’s it’s just been like the the the Rory floor which is just preposterously High right and I mean if he wins this week zero zero shocks zero surprises he’s the favorite yeah I mean if you lived in 1984 instead of 2024 and you opened up a newspaper every week and saw Rory mro’s results and knew nothing else about how he got there or any other words that came out of his mouth or any other words that anybody said about him you’d be like oh yeah like of course player in the world yeah it’s it’s a great point because there’s this there’s all this noise is around him right and I think that you know you listen to him talk on uh whenever he talked Wednesday you’re like oh I I think he he seems at least for like we can put Majors into a different category right we can talk about majors in a different way with him but even then like you you can I think you can still kind of throw the first several rounds of a major into this bucket of like oh he’s yeah he’s fine like he’s playing Great Golf I mean look at these results if you’re watching on YouTube second at the US Open T15 at the memorial that was his worst finish since April T4 Canada T12 at the PGA won well as far I mean it’s just it’s the it’s the level of play we’ve come to expect with him and so for him to go out on a you know pretty easy scoring day for this golf course and shoot 65 is just it it feels he did have a hilarious quote where he said you know I hit some kind of squirly shots over the first five to seven holes he said you know and and it reminded me that golf’s not as easy as I sometimes think it is which is kind of a flex of like I’m I’ve been the best player in the world for 15 straight years uh so it was yeah overall great day for Rory and excited to see how his next I guess two weeks kind ofo yeah if there was any rust he ironed it out by the time he he made the turn and all was all was good there three shots off the pace a couple of uh big movers in the morning are names that many will not be familiar with Max kefir shoots a 6 under 64 he’s a German and halong Lee who I mean you might have heard for from him but not in in quite some time also posted a six under 64 howong bogy 2 and 18 but a bunch of birdies in the middle he is he is fun he is exciting he is someone we have not talked about in a long time for sure I mean you think about Harding Park when you think about him leading after 36 and just blasting balls on the range for like 10 hours afterwards shredded for that and then he came out and shot like an 81 or something he shot a million the next over the next two days you know I I was interested just broadly by um this the makeup of this leaderboard Rick there was only I I I I don’t know off the top of my head now but for a while there was only there was like one American and two Germans which is not you know there’s a lot of Americans in this golf tournament and yet there was I mean it was a it was a smattering of different countries including uh including China including howong Lee so I thought it was it was actually a very cool makeup and it’s not a golf course it’s to me and I’m curious about your thoughts on this it’s more of an aerial Golf Course like if you saw this leaderboard at the Open Championship you’d be like yes of course this is Link’s golf it provides the opportunity for all these different styles to kind of come together to me this is more aerial so I was a little bit surprised by that I think this might be a a common phrase we’ve heard this week but I do think a really good way to describe it is that it’s it is a modern links course right it’s it’s a brand new golf course especially by Scottish standards I think it’s like 20 years old which is new for golf courses in general but yeah there are elements that are more through the air than a golf course that was constructed in 1780 or something yeah yeah and I think that um yeah that’s why the leaderboard sort of surprised me a little bit but I gotta say like I love these I love these um what do you call it like co-sanctioned events I I love them because you get different styles different St it just it sometimes the the PGA Tour this is a weird comp but it can it can feel like just a bigger corn fairy Tour event um which is I know that’s absurd to say but I just I love these events where you get Euro tour guys and Asian tour guys and I just I think it makes for just a more interesting golf tournament honestly yeah it’s fun there’s a lot new a lot more names there’s Americans there’s uh South Africa excuse me South Koreans Germans CH Chinese uh Sweden France all within the top you know eight or so of the leaderboard the one surprise so Rory not a surprise at all the surprise in a positive way was Davis Thompson yeah fresh off the victory shoots a five under 65 it is really hard to keep it rolling after a win let alone your first win let alone then having to hop a plane go many time zones in advance into a different continent across the pond whatever else you want to throw at him right back to business yeah and I think this gets it a little bit of what we’ve been talking about with Davis Thompson of hey this is not a this is not a like out of nowhere oh Aaron rise play had a nice little streak this is like a top 20 type guy right top 25 top 30 what whatever you whatever bucket you want to put him in and I think at some point if this if this continues you have to say oh maybe Davis Thompson is somebody that we should think about as a potential American Star because I don’t know that anybody even though the pedigree is good and he’s had like a nice career so far I don’t know if that anybody puts him in that class of of player um and look we’re kind of a long way from I mean we’re not a long way but we’re still ways from saying oh President’s Cup rer you know different things like that but it this is emblematic of the fact that he’s not a 250th rank player he’s he’s a top 25 type guy yeah I like that and uh last guy here from the morning wave a very popular selection across many Industries this week it’s Tommy Fleetwood who got off to a little bit of a slow start KP it was it was clean but he was only one under through his first 11 holes and then he finished in a flurry Bird’s on 356 and eight he finished up on the back nine on the golf course and Tommy Fleetwood who has had a very strong season obviously without the victory is lurking yet again yeah it’s Tommy season it’s it’s uh it’s July in in Scotland so it’s Tommy season he uh he sh him and Rory boo shot 31 on the back well on their back the front nine of the course uh which was super impressive um I’m I’m man it would be cool we we talked about this on Tuesday it’d be so cool for him to get a win or two uh over the next you know month well specifically over the next two weeks narrow it down just a little bit Yeah Yeah and this is a great start you know again it’s not it wasn’t the weather or necessarily the course that makes you think like oh Tom like this is this is Tommy’s Tommy’s place but he didn’t he play well here last year wasn’t he in the kind of in the mix he’s got I think he’s got like two or three really good starts here yeah so uh I I’m I’m pumped about it he he’s if you if you said hey who’s been playing the best golf under the radar so not like a lud viig he hasn’t been under the radar or a Rory or a Bryson but who’s been playing the best golf of guys that we haven’t talked about very much Tommy would be up there like he’s he’s had a really solid year uh to date I yeah that’s that’s pretty good yeah because he hasn’t won but it’s been a bunch of like top 20s and all that stuff yeah who else would you throw in there if if I said like best guys that were just kind of ignoring well one guy Harmon see I was even going like I was thinking like colum morawa is that too good oh yeah no that’s totally he’s the Forgotten man yeah totally yeah best best statistical season of his career it’s unbelievable and it’s it’s vintage morawa it’s so good it’s sustained he actually I tell you what K he played in the afternoon we’ll talk about him after a quick word from our [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] partners all I know is this [Music] and we’re back that man col moral went out in 33 a little bit of turbulence uh in the first part of his round but he gets it together makes birdies on 10 16 and 17 he’s five under he’s three shots off the lead KP uh it is it is not just because I bet him this week but I did it is not just because I’m excited for him but I am like I’m I’m ready I’m ready for the Colin win he’s been unbelievable this year the metrics are back to where you want them he’s putting well like it it is it is time yeah I think look we’re on the same page with moraa I I think that you and I were on the same page with um Sheffer about this time last year I think we both said hey he’s about to win a ton we were nine months early almost a year early and I also didn’t think it was going to be this much yeah for sure for sure I thought it would be like two or three and it turned out to five or six uh so we’re on the same page as Mark Al I think my question for you is and and I’ve kind of flip-flopped on this and I I’m curious about where you’re at we saw a ton of weather and wind on the weekend here last year do you have concern about morawa because because the open that he won was you know very benign as everybody knows do you have concern about that if he’s near the top of this board come let’s say Saturday afternoon so yes but I do also remember uh there were a couple of rounds recently because we’ve been because because you’ve you have floated this before and it was every time he got in any type of wind or he just got swatted and it was brutal but I feel like the last one or two times that I’ve been waiting for that moment and he’s played in windy conditions he’s actually been pretty good so I I’m now I the answer is I don’t know but yes I’m concerned I’m also just concerned that and this is really unfair for a guy who’s won two major championships a you know a handful of PGA Tour events a guy that I like I think he’s really great for the game I think he’s like kind of soft like I’m not you know what I mean like I’m not sure he’s like a super like a super killer um but I so that that worries me a little bit but it’s it’s such a sick such a sick stat profile yeah it is and and we’ve got it pulled up on YouTube this is from from Rick run good um I I don’t know if we can dig into this producer Josh but the the round that sticks out to me is the third round of the Masters this year I think it was the third round maybe it was the second round um remember that day it was like insanely windy and just crazy at at Augusta we were getting blown over was that Friday it was Friday okay so Friday and I’m pretty sure we can look at it maybe on here with morec I I think he shot like 68 or 69 so Josh probably I think he showing an image right now uh I can pull up what he did in in that day for me and this is why I said I flip flopped on it a little bit that day for me kind of uh re um reimagine just the way that I think about more cow because I was with you like okay I watched him at Southern Hills on some crappy weather he just got blown out this like he it was just like poofy just poofy all over the place and I think part of my fear in that is like he doesn’t have a lot of different shots I mean I’m sure if you’re like on the range with him he can hit different shots but he only kind of takes that one stock shot into a tournament and so you’re like well if it’s windy if it’s bad weather what C can he combat that but he he did so on Friday at Augusta yeah so he’s he gained five Strokes on Friday he gained three ball striking that was yeah that that was one I feel like there was one more where I was expecting the because you actually you know we spent a lot of time talking about K MOA at Augusta and you had him nailed like okay Saturday is going to be great he’s going to my fade a little bit on Sunday like it was it was very sharp and so we were paying close attention to what he was doing every single day yeah and it was it was impressive there’s this round by round stuff at the master so this is so that’s uh round three round two is round two is the windy day sorry yeah sorry um what is What is the teer there I can’t is it one uh so 2.7 ball striking and uh one point I’m highlighting here this is terer green right here okay okay so yeah that’s I mean look it’s one round so I I don’t know that there’s like huge conclusions to draw from it but it it gave me pause of you know everybody now it’s become kind of invogue to say well Colin can’t play in the wind and I would have agreed for the most part throughout his career but this this round that that that uh performance that I guess gave me a little pause because that was I mean you were there like those wins were as they were it was nasty it was like howling and he he stood up and did it and I I was super impressed by that they were bad and obviously that was my first time but people were like wow I’ve been here for 10 straight years and this is the windiest I’ve ever seen it here yeah it was it was nuts a couple of interesting names to the top of the board here guys that have had certainly subpar Seasons we’ll start with the man who’s in Solo second that is sunj IM a 7 under 63 he did the howong thing a bogey early a birdie excuse me a bogey late and a bunch of birdies in between he shoots a seven under 63 and it has not been a good year for sunj KP he’s starting to play a little bit better but this would this would be a big boom if he could get himself in the mix and contend again this week I think he showed what he’s capable of in terms of scoring right that’s three six nine birdies uh in his first 16 holes which is is just crazy um yeah I mean the the stat the the stats are all messed up today from shotlink but I think his putting was kind of out of control so I don’t know that you’re gonna get 4 63s from sunjay but it would be cool to kind of get him going uh ahead of the he had a great open last year and uh it’d be cool to get him going before this year’s yeah the shotlink stuff is is all screwed up but the DP World Tour uh is tracking it so yeah he gained 3.5 Strokes putting which was the third most in the field today okay so that’s that’s the the the Baseline there so yeah it’s it’s unlikely that he he does that again on Friday or any other day this week but good signs from Sun Jane then how about this that’s that’s a familiar name but we don’t talk about it the top too often Justin Thomas an eight under 62 Justin Ry had a very good stat that says he has not LED following any PGA Tour round since his win at the 2022 PGA Championship it’s over two years yeah I I I did not see that that’s a phenomenal stat that I’m gonna have to include in my Roundup but look if you just said okay little wind aerial game JT plays great You’ be like okay like yeah I can see it like it’s it’s he’s I mean you know the thing I was thinking about during this round as I was I was watching him he looked he looked very uh I don’t know he just looked very like comfortable and obviously you shoot 62 and you’re comfortable but he he he’s been so bad at opens which makes no sense to me it’s almost like can’t lay at Majors in general you’re like I I don’t this should be his best major just because he can fight it so well and and he has so many different shots um this is obviously different than an open and different weather than a traditional open um so I I don’t know that there’s not a a ton of parallels to draw but it it my point being like this course and this setup I think favor him better than like f next week doesn’t mean he’s not gonna like he might play very well next week but uh it does like if you had to pick one for me to like if you said yesterday hey is he gonna play better than the Scottish or the open I would have said the Scottish so this was cool to see it’s also funny like the day after or two days after Keegan gets named captain JT leads the tournament try to make a good impression no NOS he has has to show Captain something I was cracking up about that I was I was sitting here giggling to myself about that it was good well if you think the leader boards uh really good Vegas agrees with you because the odds are basically Big Boppers only right now Justin Thomas narrowly ahead of Rory mroy on the odds board five and a half to one to win this Scottish open Rory is six to one he’s three shots back lud Vig who pops himself up in there six under two shots back he’s six and a half to one sunjay is 10 to one col morawa is 12 to1 fleets you can get him at 14 to1 if you’re interested everybody else longer than that yeah I I I love the way lud Vic’s playing I mean it’s just so it’s so reputable I know that’s what everybody says about him I but it’s a little short I like Fleetwood here I like I like Davis Thompson here I think Davis Thompson might be just really good and and and I don’t know that the numbers have necessarily caught up with that yet um so yeah I like if you had to make me pick here I would say more C Fleet with Davis Thompson yeah that’s interesting I think that um what we talked about a lot last week was that there was just a lot of leaderboard jumping around and it was you know guys were making big moves and I didn’t really want to touch the top of the board this feels like we’re not going to get a huge weather wave I know conditions can change but it’s going to be pretty clean all week like these are the guys who are who are going to be in the mix so I’m I’m okay kind of keeping it on on the first page here um I mean Colin looks great I’m happy with that but if yeah if you made me bet one no it’s probably Colin at 11 if I like if I had no other interest it’s probably Colin at 11 I think that’s right um but I mean I think Rory’s gonna be very good all week and uh he’s just he’s just so like like his tea green is just it’s it’s it’s very difficult to like play better than than him consistently you know over four over four days so I’m I’m intrigued to see doesn’t mean you’re going to make all the putts doesn’t mean he get doesn’t get like a bad weather draw or whatever but I do trust him um to to go out and shoot 66 tomorrow or or whatever I think I might go have some brunch that’s what we’re gonna do all right well we will be back approximately actually no definitely this the same time tomorrow because we’re live on CBS Sports Network that’ll be our round two recap then we will post the audio and podcast version of that show uh on on YouTube and wherever else you get your pods and all that fun stuff but we’ll definitely see you 2 p PM eastern time tomorrow CBS Sports Network big thanks to producer Josh who does all the hard work behind the scenes that right there it’s Kyle Porter you can find him at Kyle Porter CBS and you can find me at Rick rungood this has been the first cut we’ll catch you next time [Music] oh [Music]