Transcript
John Middelkoff (0:00)
You're listening to an iHeart podcast, the Volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Middelkoff with a little Golo podcast. Because today we are going and diving into the second major of the year. We got Rory McElroy won the Masters to get the Grand Slam. The only way to do that, he's got to win. This week we got Bryson a lot of momentum from YouTube to the masters. The dude's been balling Scotty Scheffler a couple weeks ago, got his first win of the season. So we're going to talk gambling, we're going to talk the major, we're going to talk storylines. We're also going to answer your questions. Olopod is the Instagram. We like to separate three and outs Mailbag, which is my Instagram. This Instagram is just golf focused. So at golopod, any dm, you have any question about anything golf related, fire in those DMS and get your questions answered here on the show. You guys know the drill. You got to subscribe to our feed. It is three now podcast as Go Low podcast. It has all of our content as well as the YouTube channel. Just type in my name. Subscribe to that. We put all of our content up on the YouTube page. But before we dive in to the PGA Championship, you know, I got to tell you about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast, Game Time. Best ticketing app in America. Not even close. Cannot recommend these guys enough. Listen, what do you want to do? Do you want to go to a game? Do you want to go to a concert? Do you want to go to a comedy show? Do you want to enjoy yourself? Get out of the house, do something fun. Mix it up. It's the summer. Listen, I've been going to concerts over the summer for a long, long time. When I first moved to Arizona, I think I went to like three or four spring training games, hockey games. I've been to so many events because of these guys, cannot recommend them enough. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code John for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem the code Johan for $20 off down the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. You know, it's funny. In my house, I have Maria shocked how much golf I watch. And she doesn't quite understand. She's like, there's a season never end. I'm like, yeah, this isn't like Football, they play every single weekend. But there are four tournaments that separate from the pack. And, you know, she's a football gal, so I equated that. There are basically four Super Bowls, and they're called the majors. And let's face it, I would say Augusta, at least for us in America, is by far the number one golf tournament. I think you could make an argument on what is the second biggest major. I have a soft spot for the US Open. It's the first golf tournament I ever attended as a kid. I think it was. Was it 97 or 98 at Olympic Club? My dad and his buddy Jerry took me and my friend Travis. I remember they went off on their own. We went off on our own. We followed John Daly. I remember da points. I remember watching him tee off. I think Lee Jansen ended up winning. That was a tournament. Yeah, it would have been 98, because Payne Stewart had a really, really good chance to win, and then he were to win the next week or the next year against Phil Mickelson. But to me, when I think the US Open, the challenge of it, typically at some of these venues, you know, even par, sometimes even over par, was winning it. I'm a sucker for that. And obviously, the Open Championship, there's just something historic about, you know, where golf was invented. They've been playing it for hundreds of years. The elements that come into play, their golf courses look so much different than anything we have beside a couple tracks over here. And this. This thing falls in its own little category. And I want to start before we dive in to just what I think, obviously, the top three contenders, the guys at the top of the betting board. I think this tournament, you know, I listen to a lot of golf content. People often ask, like, what are the football shows you listen to? I'm like, I don't really. I don't take in that much football content. I do take in a lot of golf content, and I think it's probably like this with football, but I think sometimes the golf media can almost be too close to the sun. Listen, I understand that some of these courses, the distance and most people that I would consider, you know, golf media are big on the rollback. I'm like, I don't know if the actual consumer really cares that much. Honestly, I don't think it matters. And I think they're very, very hard on this tournament and the courses. You know, last year, Valhalla got crushed by. By most people involved that they get paid to talk about golf. This year, I think a lot of people just like, you know, we go to this venue every single year. Quail Hollow at Wells Fargo. I. I don't have as big of an issue with it. I think it's very, very difficult to follow Augusta. So, like, they're going to play in random tournaments. There's no easy way to do this. Now, if you wanted to argue Valhalla, never go back there. I'm not going to argue with you. But Quail Hollow Eronomic, which is next year, is in Philadelphia. And when I worked for the Eagles, my brother Jeff had come to visit and we went to the tournament. And at the time, I think it was Tigers tournament in either 2010 or 11. I thought that track's pretty cool. Like, I'm not going to complain about that. Next year is at PG or in 27 at PGA Frisco, then Olympic Club in 28, which they have redone, which I don't think anyone ever complains about playing an Olympic Club. Like, I think they're doing the best they can. There is no perfect venue for this tournament. I also think people underestimate how difficult it is for private clubs to give up their course to. To a tournament like this. And, you know, especially at this time of the year, depending on where you're at, like, if you're in the Northeast, like, golf is just starting again, and you're giving up the first couple weeks for your members to play, and if it's in a nicer area, like, the members aren't able to participate. And that was a big issue with LA Country Club a couple years ago. It's like, the membership wouldn't let that many people in the venue. And it's like, yeah, this is complicated now. If you want to argue, like, why don't they just put the PGA Championship at Pebble beach every single year? Look, I don't know who would push back on that, right? I mean, people have talked forever. Put the PGA or put the FedEx Championship at Pebble Beach. I also think it's probably a little more difficult to get pebble beach, which is charging currently like, $900 a round, to give up their course for a while, you know, so a lot of people are so down on the venues in this tournament, I got to be honest with you. Like, you tell me, the PGA Championships being played, they could be playing in my backyard. I'm going to watch. I don't have as big of a problem with it. Let's dive into the top three contenders, because I. Listen, Jordan Spieth was quoted last week talking to Rory McElroy when Rory said, looking forward to watch you try to get the join me at the career Grand Slam next week. And then Jordan responded, you mean at Rory Country Club? Rory dominates at this course. He has won here several times. He won last year in a duel against Xander Schoffley, who would go on to win two of the next three majors. He fucking drubbed him on Sunday. I looked up today because I remember watching it. I mean, he destroyed Xander. They were in the last group. It was basically match play. And Rory shot 65 and one by five strokes. And it just felt like, God, the momentum Rory had going into postmasters like Valhalla, the US Open. The British are like, I think Rory might win two of the next three majors. It was actually Xander who would go on to win the following week. But I think Rory, like you could argue Rory and Bryson are a true coin flip this week. I've never been to this course. It is clearly going to benefit the longer hitters. And I was listening to. I went for a walk today and no laying up. Had a preview on the PGA Championship. And Solly's really good with numbers. And he was saying, the season currently that Bryson is having driving is one of the greatest driving seasons we've ever seen. And like, I think sometimes with golf, I was just playing in this member guest last week and by the second day we're in this group with these guys and they're, they're fun, they're older. And by like the third or fourth hole, you play five, nine hole matches and we're on like hole three or four. It actually, yeah, it might have been the third hole we played. And I look at Mark, who again, this guy was a college quarterback. He's an athlete, he's a scratch golfer. And I go, this dude we're playing can play. Like, do you think he played college golf? Like, this guy clearly was once a good golfer. Then a couple holes later, I kind of make a comment. I'm like, did you play in college? And he kind of laughs. He's like, yeah, it was Phil Mickelson's roommate from 88 to 92. And you're like, God, no, this guy's a stick. And sometimes you can just watch a guy play, especially live. And you go, this guy's really, really good. I think if you've scouted BRYSON through the YouTube, if you just watch the tournaments, or not the tournaments, but his videos, even if you watch the break 50 when he's playing the red, definitely if you watch the random. And I've Been saying this for a while when he just goes to random courses and tries to break the course record. If you just watch him tee off, how reliable that power draw is going 340, I mean, it is a weapon. And obviously Rory is, I think, widely considered the greatest driver in the history of the sport. Whatever Bryson is currently doing, he's a menace. Now. His irons, especially at the Masters, a little off, you would say, Rory with his irons, a little on. I would be stunned if one of these two guys doesn't win. Honestly, if there was a bet and I look there isn't, I would have no problem putting like $10,000 on one of these two being like a lock top five. I think it would be stunning if come Sunday one of these two guys doesn't even either have the lead or is in one of the last two groups. Like this course I saw today. I follow a decent amount of, like, caddies on the PGA Tour just on Instagram. And Aaron Fleener, who is J.T. poston's caddy, who's a Kentucky guy, big sports guy, was just walking down the fairway and he's like, pretty sweet conditions. And his feet were just going basically like a couple inches underwater. I mean, it has been soaked out there. It's been raining. Well, what benefits do you have by hitting it far in the air, carrying it 330, 340 yards? Well, anyone knows that's played in the rain, the ball ain't going to roll. So that is a huge advantage to these guys. You know, Bryson, when he was on the PGA Tour, had played well at this course. Obviously, Rory has dominated here. I mean, he's won here several times. He's just very comfortable in this moment. I also think there's just, there's a little extra pressure that's just off him, you know, I mean, whatever he slayed at the Masters, which is one of the craziest Sunday roller coaster rounds in the history of golf, especially for a guy that ends up winning it in extra holes. I mean, honestly, what he was the equivalent if Vanderbilt, in whatever year that was 99, 98, would have won because people forget Vanderbilt went to the playoff. If Vanderbilt would have won the four hole playoff, that would have been the equivalent of what Rory did. Except Rory had all the baggage of the last decade and the previous wins that he carried with him in that playoff against Justin Rose. And the thing with Bryson, I don't know if it's just simply YouTube, but I do think it's fair to say that world has Changed the guy's life. It's taken a pressure of everyone just thinking the guy was a loser geek, douchebag. And listen, I don't know the guy. I know people that know him. He's a Fresno he. I mean he's not a kid anymore, but that's where he grew up. I have a lot of second and third people in my life that just, you know, either grew up playing golf around him, knew him when he was a kid and listen, if golf is your life. I always defended Tiger when he got in the situation, you know, personally in his life. Like how come pro athletes in other sports can handle like cheating scandals a little more smoothly? It's because when you hang out with Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley or some of these quarterbacks and the people Tiger was running around with, two things. One, they're the cool kid from the moment they're like 12. And two, they're used to being around a lot of other human beings. They're on a team. Whereas a golfer, you are isolated, you're by yourself in Tiger. You know, back when Tiger came up, golf wasn't even cool. And Bryson is like a nerd's nerd brain. But it's a very isolated profession where Michael Jordan, even if he is just into his own shit, he's still around other human beings a lot and he's dependent on other guys. I mean, he passed to Steve Kerr to win the NBA championship, right? He passed to John Paxton to win an NBA championship. It's on Rory, it's on Bryson. And I just wonder if the break 50 playing with Tom and Stafford and Romo and Trump, I don't know, it just made Bryson, the perception around him feel a little bit different, which has taken made him feel a little bit different because he has been a dominant bright lights guy. I mean going back to start in 2024, tied six in the Masters, he finished second in the PGA. And if Xander misses on 18 on hole 72, they're in a playoff in the PGA. Last year of Valhalla, he wins the US Open. He's T5 this year in the Masters and honestly didn't even play that good on Saturday and Sunday with his irons like you put the lights on the brightest. This guy's going to, I mean if he was a basketball player, he's like Jalen BRUNSON, he's scoring 35, you know, and I think him and Rory, if you told me this is like the US Open last year, if this is like the Masters this year, it's Just these twos going at it. I think it's very believable. And yeah, I mean, I think that I think the winner is coming from one of those two other. Those two guys. When it comes to Scotty, I definitely look at him a little bit differently because it's been a weird start to the season after he cut his hand making the raviolis, which is a little bit of a bizarre story. But he's. You give him the benefit of the doubt. You know, anyone that knows a few people knows that that story a couple years ago when Dustin Johnson fell down the stairs, you know, got red flagged by a lot of human beings. This story, you know, because it's him, family guy, you know, pretty serious cat. Like, I don't think a lot of people red flagged it. I'm just a human being who's been around the block, just seemed a little different. I don't know what he would have been doing, but it clearly got him off to a weird start. And then a couple weeks ago, he plays in a tournament against kind of randoms and he beats the living piss out of him. I just don't know if this is his ideal event. He does not play this course typically when it's, you know, he doesn't enter the Wells Fargo. That's not really his jam. I think the last time he played it was 2022 in the President's Cup. I actually love him. In a month at Oakmont, I think Scotty Scheffler is going to win the US Open. I'm actually, if I win a little money this week, I will have no problem putting like four figures on him immediately to win the US Open, even if he finishes like 10th or 8th or 12th in this tournament. But listen, I think you have to have a little exposure to him. He's got, I think when it's all said and done, going to go down as an all time great. But like this specific venue, this specific week with the rain, those guys are just longer than him. Not that Scotty's not long, but I think he's clearly three of the three big dogs going into this weekend. And again, like, it's not taking anything away from. I would expect him to win multiple times the rest of the season. And I think he's the heavy favorite over Bryson and Rory at Oakmont here in a month. I think the other names that you got to really like are this guy has, you know, we've seen guys go in the wilderness, you know, spee, spin in the wilderness. Max home is kind of currently in the wilderness relative to like their stature. Justin Thomas a couple years ago was struggling to break 80 at majors and this guy this year, I don't know if it was just relaxing a little bit, changing his putter just he has a kid. Maybe Tiger gave him some advice. Whatever it is he is balling, he easily could have three wins this season. I mean he is a missed putt and a squirrely drive from winning that tournament in regulation last week, let alone just a missed putt away from being in a playoff against Abstraca. And clearly he had won whatever the previous signature event at the rbc. JT is playing fantastic golf now that Scotty's kind of got his groove back. You could argue more than Morikawa. You know, right there Bryson's going to be on the Ryder cup, but Scotty Bryson and JT is our lead dogs right now for the Americans that, you know, give you confidence going in to this fall. But I. He won here in 2017. He is going to be very comfortable here. He's already won this trophy twice. I don't love him necessarily to win, but I feel very, very confident putting a top 10 bet on Justin Thomas. Xander, you know, unlike Scotty, like he legitimately just had a rib injury, which I would imagine when you're swinging out of your ass as all these pros are now trying to get however many miles an hour ball speed in the 180s, it can't got to be pretty painful. Hell, even any movement when you have a golf swing, if you have a rib injury, it can't feel good. But he is trending and to me, like JT feels like a lock to be in the mix. And unlike these other guys, you know, to get Rory's four and a half five to one, even Bryson now is under 10 to one. Scotty's four to one, right. So you can get Xander at over 20 to one. If Xander had not been injured and just been playing like he did last year. To me Xander's number is probably like 12, 13 to 1. But that also means top fives and top tens. He started getting his groove back at the Masters T8, RBC T18 last week T11. Another guy that bombs it again was right there with Rory last year coming on Sunday at this golf course. I like JT and Xander a lot. So to me we'll get into the bets here in a second. A couple other guys, you know, the top 20 would be guys like Hidecki, ball striker deep. Anyone that saw the viral photo of him putting in the torrential rainstorm. Not quite sure that that translates to, like, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But I'm just a sucker for Hidecki. I do think Lowry and Fleetwood wouldn't shock me if one of those guys top 10. I mean, Fleetwood plays well in the majors. Lowry's been excellent this season. I definitely like both guys to top 20. My one long shot, because people sometimes tweet at me or DM me like, who's your long. I don't really do long shots in. In the majors anymore. Look at who has competed the Masters. You can a little bit. But to me, when it comes to the PGA and the US Open, moving forward, like, I'm going with the horses. And Gary Woodland, I saw this clip that he did with Dan Rapaport where he said that Quail Hollow is his favorite course on the PGA Tour. He has finished top 10 at Quail Hollow multiple times in his career. And he's also really long. I think he's top 10 in driving this season. He is just. He's a guy who's proven to play well at tough golf courses over the course of his career. But when it comes to length, you can get a top 20 for Gary Woodland at plus 450. You can get a top 30 at plus 250. So to me, when you just look at DraftKings odds for a guy, you know, again, top 20, top 30, top 40, even has plus odds. He's the only guy that I feel comfortable under. Like, you know, Fleetwood, Hideki, some of those guys are 30, 40 to 1 range. And then obviously the top fives, top tens work off from there. But Gary's the one guy with much longer odds that I'm going to mess with a little bit. My betting card goes as this. I'm going to have action on Rory and Bryson. I just. I respect him too much. I put a little on Scotty as well. Just because you don't want to, like Saturday or Sunday. And Scotty's tie for the lead, like, of course, he's one of the great players of his generation. And it's, you know, Rory and Bryson because again, it's a golf tournament, so you have a stretch on a Thursday or Friday if you're Bryson and Rory hit a couple shitty shots, all of a sudden you go double bogey and you're just way behind. Like, it's. It's hard to play catch up a little bit. But I'm taking all three of them to outright the one guy I hammered to top five. Scotty and Rory are Don't have good odds to top five. Bryson, I got, I think plus 130 to top five. I hammered that. Justin Thomas hammered a top ten. Have some top. I have a top ten parlay which could pay out pretty big. Again, it's hard because you got three guys in the top 10, but ties at DraftKings count. Justin Thomas, Xander Shoffley and Fleetwood have another one with Xander to win. JT to top 10. I have some parlays with like Bryson to win. Xander to top five. Hidecki to top 20. Shane Lowry's a guy that I dabbled a little bit to top 10. I have some Scotty win with Xander and JT. So I'm basically just sticking to six, seven guys. I am not messing with randoms. Like maybe this is Sam Burns, maybe this is even Ludwig. He's playing like shit off John Rom Morikawa off. So I'm sticking with the same six or seven horses and just letting it ride. If they all have bad weeks, I'm screwed. If we get three or four of them in the mix, I'm cooking with gas. So other than that, I'm pretty excited. I think there's something pretty special about major golf that just feels pretty big when you're watching on television.