00:00Oh, recaps. We love to recap here. Big events over the weekend. You want to college football?
00:04We gave that to you. You want the NFL? We gave that to you. You want Major League Baseball people?
00:08You can't handle the truth, but we give you the truth in Major League Baseball.
00:11It's Donnie Wrightson and Joe Ranieri. Now we need the truth from Keith Stewart, our resident PGA professional here on the Ryder Cup.
00:18So first, Keith, let's get the pleasantries out of the way. How you doing?
00:23Hey, Donnie, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall, okay?
00:27I do. I am doing great. You know, if you ask me that on Saturday night, I was certainly not going near any sharp objects or bridges.
00:35There's no doubt about that, but I'm a little bit calmer today, but we'll see where this conversation goes.
00:40Oh, let's take the conversation right there because for some reason, we are team players on the Sports Grid Network.
00:44I need Joe. I need Keith. Keith needs me. Joe needs Keith, and we sort of share the information around.
00:50Why aren't we team players for Team USA? Why can't we play nice together and win golf events? Why?
00:58Well, I mean, there's a lot of layers to that onion there, Donnie, but the fact of the matter is, is that we don't have complete buy-in.
01:06We treat this as something that shows up every two years, and we put somebody like a captain, and I'm not going to put all the blame on Keegan Bradley,
01:14but there's a systemic issue here in the way that the PGA of America, which I am a dues-paying member of, runs this operation.
01:22You know, we've seen it time and time again. We saw it with USA Basketball when they had to bring in Jerry Colangelo around the turn of the century,
01:30and then he got Mike Krzyzewski. I mean, there is no consistency to the way that we're doing this,
01:35and I don't mean that that's the case just because Luke Donald did it twice in a row.
01:39Luke Donald follows a long line of what's maybe like a secret binder or something,
01:43but the European team has complete buy-in from their best players.
01:50Rory goes to everyone on that team, Rahm included, and says, hey, if I'm fully in on this thing, you're fully in on this thing.
01:57Now, conversely, you look at the other side, and I don't know enough about Scotty Scheffler's personality,
02:02but I do know this. Only one time in the history of the Ryder Cup has the number one player in the world won the Ryder Cup,
02:11and that was Tiger Woods in 1999 at Brookline, and that was a miracle.
02:15So what does that tell you? More often than not, the number one player in the world is American,
02:19and that person is not becoming a leader of this team.
02:23So if you don't have a general manager that's consistent every two years coming up with a plan,
02:28and you don't have your Tom Brady saying, hey, what, you know, guess what?
02:33I'm the hardest worker on the team, then you're set up for failure, boys.
02:39Listen, Keith, I can make the argument that, yeah, Keegan Bradley is going to be the scapegoat here.
02:44He's the easy guy to point the finger at, but the reality is he should have never been made captain to begin with.
02:51They could have used him as a player. He would have been much better as a player in this than he would have been.
02:57You asked the guy because you felt sorry for him and then basically set him up to fail from the rest of the way there, Keith.
03:04He should have never been the captain of this team, to your point.
03:09100%, Joe, 100%. And you know what? The term captain for a Ryder Cup franchise is antiquated.
03:15It started out that way because the captains were actual players on the team back in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, right?
03:21Now it's a coach, okay? So, I mean, you could have chose Nick Saban, and it would have been a better choice.
03:28Maybe not Belichick, you know, but Nick Saban would have been a better choice.
03:32Mike Krzyzewski would have a better choice. Hey, raise Herb Brooks from the ground and bring him up in there.
03:37I mean, seriously, it doesn't have to be a golf guy. Yes, it does. I get it.
03:42But, like, my point is this, is that Keegan was not equipped to do this, and putting him in the position of wanting to be a player on the team and the captain,
03:51where Luke said it time and time again, I put my game on hold for the last three and a half years to make sure this was done right.
03:59And Keegan's out winning tournaments, and God bless him for doing that.
04:03But there's no way that you could manage both of those things with the same amount of aplomb and then say to yourself,
04:08at the end of the day, I've got no regrets. I gave this my all as a captain and a coach for the U.S. side at my home golf course from college.
04:17Where do we go from here for Team USA, Keith? Like, is it going to be set where things are in motion?
04:22Because when you have your losses, and by the way, credit Team USA, at least on Sunday, for making it close, and I was enthralled.
04:27Like, I love to watch the NFL. I was watching more golf in the afternoon. Like, can we make this comeback?
04:31But no way, shape, or form should they even make a comeback of that big.
04:34Where do we go from here, and how can it improve where maybe we get off to a hot start, or not be embarrassed, or guys buy in more,
04:41or you have a true general manager that's keeping tabs on things. Where does it go?
04:45Dottie, I mean, this is the most important question. We could all react to what happened to Beth Page Black,
04:49but the fact of the matter is, is that we need, like the NFL, we need a Black Monday, right?
04:54We need to clear house, and we need to start over from the American side.
04:58We need to manage this thing as a successful, like, USA Olympic franchise.
05:03We need to have a couple people in place that their full-time job is just working on the Ryder Cup.
05:08Because, you know, and someone will say, Keith, maybe that's a little bit of overkill or whatever.
05:11Our guys just need to putt better. It has nothing to do with putting better.
05:14You putt better when you're putting the proper pairings, when you're putting the proper order,
05:18when you put the golf course together. I mean, the fact of the matter, when Keegan sits there and goes,
05:22I didn't know the greens would be this wet. Whoa, whoa, bro. Like, it's a home, it's a home,
05:28it's a home Ryder Cup, right? Like, you didn't know that the greens were going to be wet.
05:33You didn't know that there was two inches of rain on Thursday night. Like, none of that went into your
05:37planning. Adwaro Molinari is running circles around our team. We need to manage this thing as if it is
05:44the franchise that draws in a billion dollars, right, in travel and tourism. We need to manage this thing
05:51as if we want to win it, as if we want to win a Super Bowl, right? This is a season-long team,
05:56and it's two years worth of points. Donnie, the simple answer to your question is, is that anyone
06:01that's involved, they need to be sat down, they need to be interviewed, we need to ask them exactly
06:06what their plan is for the future, and if they are not prepared to take care of this thing going
06:10forward, then we need to put people in place that are proven sports leaders and sports business
06:17leaders and then take it from there. Yeah, it just sounds like that's probably the best way to go
06:22at this point here as you take a look, but also, Keith, the PGA never stops. We're up this week,
06:26Sanderson's Farm Championship. You won't see many of the superstars in this one, but we still have
06:30opportunities, so enough about the Ryder Cup. Let's put that in the rear view. Let's look center
06:35cut right now. What happens at the Sanderson Farms? All right, real quick, Keith's keys. First thing you're
06:40looking for for players this week is you got to get guys that drive it in the fairway. Guys that hit bombs in the
06:46fairway with a ton of accuracy. Strokes gained off the tee are notoriously good here. The second thing
06:50is that we've got Bermuda grass greens, so you got to be able to putt those grainy surfaces, and the
06:55third thing is that you got to go low. Average winning score is 20 under par. Vegas at the over-under
07:00at 21.5. A couple guys I like early leans on the early line. Rico Hoey at plus 3,500. Christian
07:06Bezadenhut at plus 7,500. Both great ball strikers. Bez a little bit better on the Bermuda grass.
07:12Hoey with a new long putter. You never know, boys. I'll see you next week.
07:16The passion from Keith Stewart. We need it here. Come on, Ryder Cup. Get it together.
07:20Joe and Donnie, we'll close down the show next. Stay tuned.
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