00:00Right back here on the early line hour number two. A lot of fun, a lot of hot topics and none hotter right now.
00:05It's Donnie Wrightside and it's Joe Ranieri. Let's bring in Key Stewart, a resident PGA Tour expert and our PGA Pro to give us a breakdown here of the BMW Championship.
00:14Keith, how are we feeling this morning in Baltimore?
00:17DRS, you're just poking fun at me right now. The humidity level here is like 112%. It's 85 degrees at 9 in the morning.
00:24The balls are going to be flying down here because when the air is heavy, man, the guys can take it deep and they'll need to.
00:30On a par 70, 7,600-yard golf course.
00:34Ah, $20 million purse. The boys are ready to go.
00:37And by the way, it's in Owings Mills, I'm saying, short distance there, I'm assuming, from the Baltimore Ravens training complex.
00:43Maybe get a little action from Lamar Jackson and the boys, but we got bigger things to deal with here.
00:47Scotty Scheffler always comes up week to week here, the best golfer in the world.
00:51How many tournaments can he win?
00:53But everybody knows you like comfortability and you like to be used to things on a week-to-week basis that are the same.
00:59Some changes for Scotty Scheffler you want to fill us in on here, Keith Stewart.
01:03Yeah, yesterday, Donnie, when I got to the property, first thing I did is I go to PDA Tour Communications and I said,
01:08hey, does anyone know Ted Scott's working this week?
01:11And they were like, you know what? We're going to check on that.
01:14They spoke with Scotty's agent and they found out that Ted Scott is off for the week.
01:17Mike Crommey, who is usually the caddy for Chris Kirk, we all saw his story.
01:21He didn't birdie birth holes last week in Memphis in order to make it.
01:24He was number 51, top 50, make it to the BMW.
01:28So he had the week off.
01:29Scotty is having him fill in for Ted Scott for the week, which is interesting because that's your tournament favorite at a bus,
01:35you know, right around plus 250.
01:37And, you know, anything that upsets your camp just a little bit, it could be any reason to fade there, Joe Ranieri.
01:43Yeah, it's, you know, I loved it.
01:47I thought they could not have had a better start with the way that it went on Sunday and then the extra holes.
01:54And you've got, I mean, 80-year-old Justin Rose.
01:57You've got the U.S. Open winner.
01:59I mean, it just, are we going to get that kind of feel again this week, do you think?
02:05Are we going to be surprised?
02:07And by the way, is Rory even there?
02:09Just asking.
02:09Well, Joe, hey, first of all, go easy on the AARP crowd, all right?
02:15Take it easy.
02:15You're down there in Florida.
02:17You know, you're used to it.
02:18Now, first things first, you asked about Rory.
02:20I've seen Rory.
02:21Rory looks like he is in peak Rory form.
02:23He's in full flight, the driver, just letting the shaft out.
02:26You've got to love it.
02:27And that's important because I mentioned this in the opening there.
02:30Par 70, 7,600 yards.
02:32When we came here in 2021, everybody was complaining that, you know, Bryson and Patrick Cantley were 27 under par.
02:39They get in the playoff.
02:40There was six guys under 20 under par.
02:42The entire field of 69 players was under par.
02:44Well, they made some major changes.
02:46They've lengthened the golf course, and they removed two shots to par.
02:49They've taken two par fives and made them into over 500-yard par fours.
02:53So, to get back to Rory, I mean, guys like that is who we're favoring.
02:57You want to get into Keith's keys, Donnie.
02:59Like, number one thing is you've got to be able to let the shaft out.
03:02This is a big hitter's ballpark.
03:03The guys that can really drive it, Cam Young, Chris Gotterup, you know, Rory for sure, Ludwig.
03:10These are the guys you're going to favor this week.
03:11I have a tough time seeing it like that.
03:13That's not to say that Justin Rose and J.J. Spahn can't continue to play very, very well.
03:17But the driver is going to be such an advantage here.
03:20The second thing is the green complexes are perfect.
03:22They've redone them in 2023.
03:24They put sub-air systems in.
03:26They have them right where they want them.
03:27These things look absolutely spectacular.
03:30And the guys are going to make putts here.
03:32We saw it with Patrick and Bryson last time.
03:34And it's going to happen again.
03:35And the third thing is that I'm really looking for par four scoring.
03:39You have 12 par fours here.
03:41Nine of the 12 are over 465 yards in length.
03:45So, again, the driver, the putting.
03:47It's a driver-putter fest, which is kind of cool, guys.
03:49Because, you know, about six weeks from now, about five weeks from now,
03:53we got a little bit of a contest coming to Bethpage Black.
03:57And the guys that are best with their driver and their putter would be the guys,
04:01if I was Captain Keegan, I would be picking.
04:03One heck of a preview this week.
04:06Talking to Keith Stewart here, our resident PGA professional here.
04:09Live on set, which we love to see down there.
04:11But also understand this, Keith.
04:13Sometimes you just turn on a football game, you know the stakes.
04:15Hey, win or lose, here's what happens.
04:16You can move on to the playoffs.
04:18For some of the people that don't know how the playoff structure actually works,
04:21what needs to happen this week for you to advance to the next round here
04:24on this PGA Championship?
04:26We have the top 50 players here from the 2025 season
04:30on the FedExCup points list, right?
04:31We are going to cut that for next week to the top 30.
04:34I mean, you've got some names up there.
04:36A guy like Xander Shoffley has to have a really good week.
04:38Ricky Fowler has to have another good week in order to jump into that top 30
04:42and get to that money grab down in Atlanta.
04:44So 20 guys are going to go home this week and get eliminated.
04:49It's exciting because, you know, everyone kind of feels the tension with,
04:52you know, of that moment.
04:54The thing is, everyone that's here is in the signature events next year.
04:57So they get in all of those.
04:58But next week is huge.
05:00If you make it to the Tour Championship, you get in all four majors.
05:03That's one of the, you know, like the big perks of getting to Atlanta,
05:06besides the cash.
05:08You know, it really sets you up.
05:09And if you get to the Tour Championship, you get your card for another year.
05:13Like, this is a big step.
05:14It is a huge goal for these guys.
05:16And if you are somebody like a Ben Griffin or Chris Goddorup or a Cam Young that,
05:21you know, that absolutely wants to be on that Ryder Cup team,
05:24you have got to make it to the next stage.
05:26And let me ask you, Keith, because one guy I focused in on,
05:31he finally gets his first PGA Tour win, and he finished his top five last week in Memphis.
05:37And, oh, yeah, he led the field tee to green.
05:40So, I mean, is Cameron Young the real deal?
05:43Could we see more of him this week?
05:46You know, it's funny.
05:47As you talk to players and caddies around Cameron Young,
05:50they absolutely want him on the Ryder Cup team.
05:53This kid was super talented.
05:54He was uber talented at Wake Forest.
05:56You know, he came out here.
05:57It took him a little time to win.
05:58But sometimes that happens.
05:59It took Scotty 72 starts to win.
06:02But he's always been contending.
06:03And the point of the matter is this, boys,
06:05is that everybody knows this guy's got a ton of talent.
06:07And you're going to see it on display this week.
06:10I mean, he is an absolute stripe show off the tee.
06:13And he is uber, uber long.
06:16What's really crazy about it is that a lot of those guys aren't the best putters,
06:20you know, historically.
06:21He is rolling the rock.
06:22And having a career season this year in doing so.
06:25And now we're up in the northeast where he's from.
06:27And he's back on bent grass again.
06:29If you love that agronomy stuff, he's a huge fit this week.
06:33Having some quick early leans on the early lines, Keith.
06:36Superstars are out there.
06:37Who's taking it down?
06:38All right, Donnie.
06:39I'm going to the top of the board.
06:40And you're going to love this because he didn't play last week.
06:43But I love Rory at plus 800, right?
06:46The last time they played here in 2021, he finished fourth.
06:49Him with the driver here with all of the dog legs.
06:52He can absolutely carry so many of the different cross bunkers.
06:55I mean, he is a huge.
06:56And guess what?
06:57You know what?
06:58Rory loves the fact that we have Beth Page coming.
07:01I mean, I'm sure this European team with all the talk about the Americans would love to send a message.
07:05Right?
07:06Justin Rose did it last week.
07:07You know that they're talking to one another.
07:09They want to do it again this week.
07:10And the second guy is Hideki Matsuyama.
07:12Almost led the field and approach out there in Memphis.
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