00:00It's no sleep for the weary people out here, and sometimes you might look at the golf schedule and say to yourself,
00:04well, the majors are done, the Ryder Cup, they don't play anymore.
00:07Of course, they continue playing here, and we need those information, notes, and nuggets that we get each and every week.
00:13Donnie Wright said, Joe Ranieri, let's welcome in Keith Stewart, our resident PGA professional here.
00:18Keith, how are you feeling? How are we doing? Golf season's still here.
00:22Donnie, Joe, I'm on site in Sea Island, Georgia.
00:24It's a heck of a lot better than being outside of New York City.
00:27The temperature is perfect. Just a slight breeze.
00:30I love coming here to end the PGA Tour season.
00:33There we go. Now, you say the end of the PGA Tour season.
00:36We have the RSM Classic that's going to take place this week.
00:39Before we get to that itself, what is the rest of the PGA schedule till we get to the end of the year?
00:45Well, Donnie, everyone takes a break next week for Thanksgiving.
00:48Then we're going to have Tiger's event down in Bahamas in two weeks.
00:51I'll be back for that.
00:53And then the week after that, we have the Grant Thornton Invitational.
00:55So we start these cash grabs, these fun December events.
00:59Two weeks after that, we will have the PNC.
01:01I don't think we'll see Charlie and Tiger, but we will see a lot of those father-son and father-daughter duos that we love so much in the PNC.
01:09And then the week after that, we come back strong with the TGL, the Golf Simulator League, down there in Joe's neighborhood.
01:16Before you know it, it'll be the Sony Open out there in Hawaii the second week in January.
01:20And you guys will be doing this all over again.
01:23Way.
01:24Love it.
01:25Yeah, I love it.
01:26All right.
01:26So it is the final event, right, Keith?
01:29So it means this is the last opportunity for guys to actually secure that top 100 status, right?
01:35So a lot on the line for a lot of these guys.
01:38I don't think Harris English is one of them, although he appears to be the favorite.
01:41But is this one of those tournaments, if I recall, it's on two golf courses, not just one?
01:47Joe, you are sharp as ever on this Wednesday morning.
01:50Yes, we have two golf courses.
01:52We've done two golf courses here at the RSM Classic since 2015.
01:56We have the Seaside Golf Course, which is the one that we will play once over the first two rounds and then all weekend.
02:02And then the Plantation Course.
02:03The guys will alternate between Plantation and Seaside for the first 36.
02:07We'll cut down to the top 65 in ties, and then you get Seaside all weekend.
02:11Seaside is that par 70 layout that goes out into the marshland.
02:15It's beautiful.
02:16But you raise a good point, Joe.
02:18Last year, and for many, many years, the cutoff for points in order to get your card for the next season has been 125.
02:24This is the first year we've cut it down to 100.
02:27There are a lot of guys sweating this thing out right now.
02:29And the guys that are here, other than the ones that live here, like a Harris English, are here because they need the points.
02:35So to get inside that top 100, if you haven't won or you don't have some sort of exemption for, like, career money,
02:42you are definitely thinking about not only making the cut this week but making a dent in that leaderboard.
02:48Course looks beautiful as we're rolling some of that B-roll footage there up on the screen.
02:51It looks great.
02:52You know, great time of the year here.
02:53Still have some of these events that really mean something to get your PGA Tour card, as we like to say.
02:58Keith, give us some keys this week and some golfers that you might be looking at here.
03:02Donnie, I've got some great nuggets for you this week.
03:04I tell you what, I sat down yesterday with the Tours agronomist for this venue because there's always all sorts of weather going on here.
03:11But guess what?
03:11The wind is going to be light this year.
03:13The last couple years, it's been rainy.
03:14It's been windy.
03:15It's been a tough week for these guys to compete.
03:17Not this year.
03:18We have perfect conditions.
03:20And the agronomist I talked to, the greens themselves, they're a little bit softer than they want them to be.
03:25And that means scoring.
03:26Vegas set the over-under at 21.5.
03:28I would smash the under.
03:30These guys are going to go about 25 under, maybe even more.
03:33They could go back to that Ludwig number from a couple years ago at 29 under.
03:37But my specific keys for this week, number one, you've got to watch the par 4s.
03:41You're going to play three rounds on a par 70 golf course.
03:44That means you're losing two par 5s.
03:46You're gaining two par 4s.
03:47Over the last 10 years, the guys that have won have gained over 10 strokes on the field on average on those par 4s.
03:55The second thing is that everyone calls this a wedge fest.
03:57I just mentioned it's going to be a birdie barrage, right?
04:00But on the PGA Tour, guys, everyone's great with a wedge.
04:05So how are you going to differentiate yourself from the field?
04:07What we have found over time is that the six par 5s that they'll play over the first two days and then the two that they'll play each round over the weekend and those long par 3s, that's where these guys differentiate themselves on approach.
04:18If you're modeling this thing out, make sure you include those approaches over 200 yards.
04:23And then just like last week, just like the week before down in Mexico, we are on coastal grainy grass.
04:29Again, it's Bermuda grass, like in Bermuda last week.
04:31You've got to be a great putter here.
04:33Over the years, seven of the last 10 winners have gained more than four strokes on the field with their flat stick.
04:40So, Keith, this has historically been at least, I think, over the last 10 to 15 years.
04:46Guys get their first PGA Tour win at this tournament here.
04:50Do we have one of those guys on the field here today that gets us first?
04:55We absolutely have plenty of those guys.
04:58I mean, you have 18-year-old Blades Brown.
05:00You've got one of my early leans on the early line today, Pearson Cootie at 50 to 1, Joe, plus 5,000.
05:07He starts on the plantation course, which is kind of a cool thing.
05:10Seven of the last 10 winners of this event, guys, have started their tournament on the plantation.
05:15And then went to Seaside on Friday.
05:17It's the easier of the two courses.
05:19He's going to go low early.
05:20You've got to look at his fall.
05:22He's got a 14th, a 3rd, a 31st, and a 22nd.
05:26The guys that have won here over the last couple of years, whether it's been their first victory or not,
05:30they've played a bunch in the fall.
05:31They've kind of led up to this moment and then captured the crown.
05:35I mean, there's no better driver in the field than Pearson Cootie.
05:39He's like number one or two on the tour, strokes gained.
05:41I mean, he's up there with Rory and the way he drives it.
05:44He putts it great.
05:45And the approach game has been sharp as of late in the fall.
05:48Love to see it here.
05:49PGA Tour action this weekend.
05:51But also, Keith, next week is Black Friday.
05:53Next week is also Thanksgiving Day.
05:56The Skins game is going to take place for the PGA Tour.
05:58Started in 1983.
06:00And now we're back here.
06:02I wonder if we're going to have odds up for that.
06:03And also, of the four participants, Keith, is there a guy that you'd be looking at?
06:07Like, you know what?
06:07That guy's going to be able to win some skins in this one.
06:10Well, the Skins game is coming to you live on Friday morning.
06:13So, they're not going to tangle with the NFL or the NHL that are playing those, you know, afternoon games.
06:19So, you've got to love the way that the Pro Shop or Scratch has set this thing up for all of us to be entertained.
06:24They're playing Panther National down there.
06:26Down there in Joe's neighborhood, actually.
06:29At a new golf course designed by Justin Thomas.
06:31Now, Justin was going to play, but we all know he had back surgery about two weeks ago.
06:35So, he had to pull out of the event, and he was replaced.
06:37I think the guy to watch for there is somebody who, in the fall, he kind of resurrected his 2025, and that's Xander Shoffley.
06:44He would be the guy, in my early lean, that I would think about watching for the Skins game.
06:49It's going to be fantastic.
06:50The only thing he's going to be missing is Vin Scully and Lee Trevino.
06:53But you know what?
06:54If these guys can bring some rhetoric and have some fun, then you know what?
06:58The Skins game is going to be back.
07:00Keith, I need a quick early line here in early lean for the TGL for 2026.
07:05You got a club out there, Atlanta Drive, Boston Common Golf.
07:08Who's taking it down?
07:10You know what?
07:10I loved Atlanta Drive, but no JT.
07:14Look towards New York or Boston.
07:16Big comeback by Boston.
07:17Look at that.
07:18Keith's got you covered on everything.
07:20Thanks for joining us, Keith.
07:21We'll talk to you shortly again.
07:22We'll be right back here for this short break.
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