00:00Oh, the Ryder Cup is on deck, and we need all hands on deck,
00:03and that includes Keith Stewart, our resident PGA professional,
00:06to give us the latest, the updates on some of the changing odds.
00:10But more importantly, Keith, I need your help here.
00:13What are we doing with the short shorts there for the European side?
00:15I mean, what's going – can you help me out with this?
00:16What's going on over there?
00:17Come on now.
00:20Donnie, Joe, good morning.
00:21Yes, the Ryder Cup is a mere 10 days away, and let the hyperbole begin.
00:25And, you know, there is a rumor that the shorts were the reason why, you know,
00:30their odds jumped to plus 170 on the Euro side.
00:33That's the highest number we've seen since the teams were confirmed,
00:37but I think it has a little more to do with the fact that the Americans
00:40actually went to the pro core, 10 guys played, and 10 guys made the cut,
00:44and, of course, world's number one, Scotty Scheffler, took home the prize.
00:49Keith, in all walks of life, like I always like to say, like, look good, play good.
00:53Like, I played a lot of golf, and even, like, back in the day,
00:55it's like, you know what, got a fresh Nike shirt here, got the khakis pressed here,
00:59new foot joys on the feet here.
01:00Like, I feel great today.
01:01I'm going to play great.
01:02Granted, sometimes you don't play great, but you feel that way heading to the golf course.
01:06I don't like this look here of the European team, but that should impact the odds.
01:10But why are the odds being actually impacted right now?
01:13You sent out that tweet yesterday.
01:15You know, it's like, you know what?
01:16Europe, plus 170, plus 175 in that range.
01:19Why is the movement more towards the Americans right now than the European team?
01:23Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that, like I just mentioned, the pro court.
01:28The Americans played very good, and they did something that they didn't do before Rome.
01:31The second thing is, is that you're going to see the European number climb for a little bit
01:36before the U.S. team gets there, and then all the pomp and circumstance of next week takes place,
01:41and the media can really dig into what's going on there.
01:45Luke Donald has done this before, guys.
01:46It's not his first rodeo, right?
01:48And even though maybe they're picking the clothes out of Joe Ranieri's, like, South Beach closet down there,
01:53the short shorts, the fact of the matter is, is that everything that Captain Donald is doing is calculated.
02:01When the Europeans come over here, they came early.
02:03Why?
02:04They are going to be all over the city.
02:05They're going to be all over Long Island.
02:07They are going to be friendly.
02:08They're going to be glad-handing.
02:09They're going to be signing baby's foreheads.
02:11They're going to be doing all of these things to try to engage the crowd as much as they can in a positive nature.
02:16Europe has been doing this since the mid-'80s when Tony Jacklin was the captain,
02:21and they're going to do it again now.
02:22We have to be prepared as American fans to not fall for all of Luke Donald's tricks.
02:28And you know what?
02:29As the Americans start to show up and we start to see that, you know what,
02:32oh, maybe Xander's not in as great a form in the practice round,
02:36you'll see that plus 170 number drop, and then the American number will drop,
02:40and it'll get closer to the middle line as we approach 7, 10 a.m., 10 days from now.
02:48So, you know, Scheffler is just ridiculous.
02:52I mean, back-to-back years, six wins on tour.
02:55I mean, he's in elite company, Tiger, Jack, Arnie.
02:59But is there a hole in this guy's game that, you know, Tiger, for as great as he was,
03:05this format with the Ryder Cup wasn't exactly kind to him.
03:08He didn't dominate like he did on the tour.
03:11Is this format set up?
03:14Could this be the bugaboo for Scotty Scheffler here, this format?
03:20100%, Joe.
03:21And there's two reasons why.
03:22Number one is that the fate of his foursomes and four-ball pairings,
03:26what he plays in the team pairing events, is in the hands of Keegan Bradley.
03:30Now, I'm sure he has input, but he's going to have a partner.
03:33And Tiger always had a partner.
03:34You look at Tiger's singles record, and it's stellar.
03:36And, you know, Scotty, to this point, is 2-2-3 in the Ryder Cup.
03:40I mean, that's not a very good record.
03:41I mean, even when he was at Whistling Straits, he was great in singles against Rom.
03:45But, of course, in the other team matches, not as strong, you know, finishing 500.
03:50So, at the end of the day, like, we need to roll with Scotty Scheffler.
03:55And I'll get into this right now.
03:57If we're not playing this guy five times, and we have him on a pitch count,
04:00like he's over there at Citi Field, I'm going to lose my mind.
04:03All right?
04:04I'm absolutely going to lose my mind.
04:05If you go back to 1981, the side that plays the guys the most five times in the matches is 14-7.
04:13And Europe does it all the time against us, right?
04:16How are we not as strong as Team Europe to be able to play five times?
04:20If Scotty's not out there five times, hey, if we're boat racing him after two days, I get it.
04:25But, like, if we are not playing Scotty Scheffler and some of our studs in match play, like a Patrick Cantley,
04:31then I just don't know what we're doing, Joe.
04:35Keith, home course advantage.
04:37Bethpage Black is going to be fantastic.
04:39New York, the fan base is going to be tremendous.
04:41We just showed some of that B-roll footage there of how beautiful that golf course looks.
04:44Answer me this question, because for the people that don't know,
04:47does Team USA, do they get to set up the golf course the way they want the golf course set up as home course advantage?
04:52And also, how is this golf course going to play once we get to the Ryder Cup?
04:57Donnie, this is an amazing point right now.
05:00Yes, home team advantage has a lot to do with the way you set up the golf course.
05:03Kerry Haig, which is the PGA of America's, you know, chief championships officer,
05:08he sets up the PGA championship.
05:10They have been in tune with this place for probably over a year from an agronomic standpoint, right?
05:15And if you go back to the 2019 PGA championship,
05:18which was the last time that we had a major or a golf event like this at Bethpage Black, right?
05:24The setup this year, I've seen the official scorecard.
05:27It's already 107 yards shorter than it was for the PGA championship.
05:31Five holes have been made shorter.
05:33Now, why would we be making them shorter?
05:35Well, the fact of the matter is, is that you want to set the golf course up for your strengths.
05:40If you go back to Rome, the Americans, they could not hit any of their wedges.
05:44It was a ton of long iron shots, and that's what Victor Hovland, John Rahm, Rory McIlroy,
05:48Tommy Fleetwood were good at, and we got boat raced over there in Rome, right?
05:52Now, you come over to our Coliseum, and all of a sudden, we're going to set up.
05:55You're going to see the golf course play a little shorter.
05:57You're going to see a ton of wedge play for our guys like Scheffler, Russell Henley.
06:02I mean, Ben Griffin.
06:03These guys are all the best wedge players in the world.
06:06They made the golf course a little bit shorter.
06:08So, yes, you can manipulate things.
06:09You're going to see the rough go up.
06:11They're going to force you to be accurate,
06:12and they're going to force you to use your wedges to score.
06:15Keith, by the way, we're going to have you on again next week
06:17as we really set the primer for the Router Cup, which is fantastic.
06:20If you had an underdog player in this tournament coming up,
06:23who was that going to be?
06:26Oh, boy.
06:27Like, if I was looking for somebody to get most points that was a rookie or –
06:30A riser.
06:30Yeah, I think you're looking at someone on the American side.
06:34I still think the Americans at this point will win
06:36and something straight, like completely crazy happens.
06:39I think somebody like a Cam Young or Russell Henley,
06:42because of their pairings, are going to get themselves some extra points
06:45in those first two days.
06:46And I like their chances to be kind of an unknown secret weapon.
06:52Two worlds collide, rival nations.
06:54I think that came from Rocky No. 4.
06:56We can use that reference here in golf as well.
06:58He's Keith Stewart.
06:59He's our resident PGA professional, and he's ready for the Router Cup,
07:02and we are as well.
07:03We'll have Keith on next week.
07:04Love to hear from him.
07:05Cannot wait for the Router Cup next weekend.
07:07An exciting time right on the Sports Grid Network.
07:10We'll close out the show next.
07:11Stay tuned.
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