Keith Stewart Live from Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black

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00:00You know what we need now? Donnie Wright's son Joe Ranieri, a man that has boots on the ground.

00:04Live from Long Island, Beth Page Black. It's Keith Stewart. Keith, we are happy to have you.

00:11The atmosphere has to be building there. Donnie, I tell you what, if you schedule your wedding for

00:17this weekend, you made a mistake. I mean, between the football, the Ryder Cup, the baseball wrapping

00:22up, man, what a weekend we have in store. And we're right here at the center of the universe,

00:27New York City. I love it. Keith, we're going to get to the odds in just a few moments,

00:32but I just like the bigness of the Ryder Cup and none bigger than where this tournament is taking

00:37place. You walking around, getting the vibes, taking a look at the players here. What is the

00:42actual atmosphere here and everything that's building up towards it from what you can see?

00:48Well, whether it's the press room, Donnie, or it is just the grounds itself, there is a ton of fan

00:54support out here. People are getting here early and often. It doesn't matter what the weather is.

00:59People are all charged up for this thing. Everyone's talking about, you know, we went out

01:03to dinner last night. The restaurant is just filled with patrons and everyone's like, how early do we

01:08need to get there on Friday? You know, everybody wants to be ready for 7, 10 a.m. on Friday morning

01:13when that ball first goes in the air. I mean, the place is charged up. There's not a doubt in my mind

01:18that by like midday on Friday, there's going to need to be a PSA that goes out by the PGA of America

01:22that says we all need to calm down because the roof is about to literally rip off the top of

01:28this place. And we're only talking about press conferences. Yep. Yeah. Well, you got 10,000

01:34members that are going to be in attendance, 20,000 members. They're going to be walking up and down

01:39Bethpage Black because it is a muni course after all there, Keith. But what is the format? Like,

01:45walk us through. How does this work? We all know about the singles on Sunday. What leads up to that?

01:51Okay. Really great question. So we'll break it down real quick. It's a three-day event. We're

01:57going to play a possibility of 90 holes. Each side has 12 players in the first couple of sessions. So

02:03on Friday, we're going to play foursomes, which is better known as alternate shot. Joe, if you and

02:07I are partners, then what will happen is you get the odds. I get the evens. And then we alternate

02:11shots in from there. We play match play, not stroke play. So we're not counting every single shot.

02:16We're playing match play. If we win the hole over Donnie and his partner, then we go one up.

02:22So then in the afternoon, we're going to play what's called four ball, which is that four balls

02:26are in play, which is what we know is like better ball of partners. That's where the guys just make

02:30a ton of birdies. And then again, it's match play. And then we rinse, rewind, repeat on Saturday,

02:36Saturday morning, foursomes, alternate shot again, Saturday afternoon, four ball, four balls in play.

02:41And then on Sunday at noon, high noon, we get 12 individual matches head to head. And I tell you

02:48what, I mean, that is going to be a spectacle. We haven't had a close Ryder Cup since, I don't know,

02:532012 in Medina. So if we get Bethpage Black on a football Sunday with a very close Ryder Cup with

03:01two very evenly matched teams, I tell you what, this place is going to go completely nuclear.

03:06It's so awesome. And Keith, understand this, because sometimes you just can't put your finger

03:12on the pulse. Why is the European team so good at the events where they have to team up? And it's

03:18like the team USA is like, I will get them in the singles when it comes to really fruition on Sunday.

03:22Why are they so good at the team concept? It's the same reason that you and Joe are good at

03:27betting is because you rely on things like analytics and data and your actual brain. You don't go with

03:34your gut. You know, the U.S. team forever. Zach Johnson, he did a terrible job. He didn't use

03:38any of the statistical support that the PGA of America gave him. And as a result, what turned out,

03:44they got smoked, right? Luke Donald, he employs a vice captain by the name of Eduardo Molinari.

03:49And Eduardo Molinari is a statistical genius when it comes to the game of golf. And he sets the teams up.

03:55And I believe Europe's been doing this for decades, where they look at the analytics and they partner

04:00guys so that they will perform the best they can together. You know, you just look at the

04:05setup of the golf course, Bethpage Black, all the odd holes off the tee. They tend to bend left to

04:11right. The even holes, they bend right to left. If you take guys that work the ball the opposite way

04:16and you put them on one of those sets of holes and then you pair them together in an alternate shot

04:20format, you are going to lose. I don't care if their kids are named after one another, right? You have

04:26to set this thing up in a way that you would if you were a football coach or you were a baseball

04:30manager looking at pitching matchups, right? Match the players with each other to the course.

04:35That's what Europe's been doing. And that's why Europe, you know, boat raced us over there in Rome.

04:39They set up the course, they set up the team and they took us down.

04:44So talk to us here, Keith, the keys for a U.S. victory here. Obviously, the first couple of days,

04:51don't bury yourself where everything has to come down to Sunday. So talk to me. Who are some of the

04:56guys? What are the keys for a victory here? Well, Joe, I mean, we have this one player. I mean, it's

05:02like having Tom Brady, a quarterback in the Super Bowl. We've got Scottie Scheffler. I think the first

05:06key is that this is going to sound like this is going to sound crazy, but I think we should play

05:11him in all five matches. It's just I'm just throwing it out there. 15 wins in two years. We got to get him

05:16out there. And I think the other thing we need to do, I think that Rory is going to try to take on

05:20the crowd. I think he's going to try to be a lightning rod. I think he's going to try to

05:24deflect all the crowd action away from his team to allow them to perform while he takes on and

05:29becomes the emotional leader of that team. Well, guess what? There is nothing he can do to be a

05:33bigger emotional leader than Bryson can. I think we need to roll Bryson out there. I mean, Bryson

05:38qualified for this team, one of 12 guys with the points in eight events. You know, some of these

05:44guys didn't qualify. Colin Morikawa didn't qualify with 40 events with which to get the number of

05:48points he needed. I think we need Bryson. I think we need Scotty. I think Bryson has been

05:53absolutely electric all week here so far. He's with the crowds, with his teammates and everything.

05:59I think Bryson is really could be the secret sauce for us that kind of brings the team room together

06:04and takes on the crowd and really gets them amped up to the point where then you got guys like Ben

06:10Griffin and Cam Young who are rookies that, you know, maybe they don't have to worry as much about,

06:14you know, being as nervous as they are and everything. I think Bryson takes it all on.

06:19I think Scotty has to play great and then that's the path to, you know, to U.S. victory.

06:25We're going to have you on a little bit later also, Keith, but I just want this from you as well.

06:29Like, you know, you've been around the block. You've talked to a lot of players.

06:32The pressure on this tournament, similar to a major and probably even higher than that, right?

06:39Absolutely, because you don't want to let your teammate down. You don't want to let your country down.

06:42I mean, we're talking about this. This is a tribal event, right?

06:46The Europe fans come over with their chant. The U.S.A., the U.S.A., the U.S.A.

06:50President Trump is coming on Friday. Make no mistake, there is tons and tons of pressure.

06:55What you need to do is have the captain set your team up based upon where guys will perform the best.

07:01They'll roll those putts in. And hey, you know what? I mean, I shouldn't say this, but Donnie, Joe, go U.S.A.

07:06You said it, Keith. We love Keith. We'll have him back doing everything we need.

07:11Who's coming around at Beth Caves? Love this day, Keith. Thanks for having me on.

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