00:00With that criteria that George has put together, the players that remain on his list that fit all those boxes
00:06are Scotty Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Ludwig Oberg, Xander Shoffley, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Colin Murakawa, Patrick Reed, Minwoo
00:20Lee.
00:21It's a pretty good bucket.
00:23It's a pretty good bucket.
00:24Did you say Cam Young?
00:26I did not say Cam Young.
00:27So then here's my second list.
00:28These are the ones I just identified.
00:30Who does that leave out, and why did they get left out?
00:31Why did Cam Young get left out there?
00:33Cam Young got left out because he missed the cut last year.
00:37So Cam Young's got actually a really interesting profile here where he's had four starts in the Masters, missed two
00:42cuts, but he has two top tens in the years he didn't miss the cut.
00:46That might buck a trend right there with your whole list.
00:49I think so.
00:51It's an outlier.
00:52It's an outlier because if you go and you look at both those years for Cam, why did he miss
00:55the cut?
00:56Really bad putting weeks.
00:57And as we know, that's something he's worked on a ton.
01:00He's really improved on.
01:01So I think that's an outlier for me.
01:02I think another outlier is Jon Rahm.
01:05He was not inside the top 75 in the world to start the year.
01:07Well, we know that's because Liv was not getting any points for their top ten finishes as they are this
01:12year.
01:13And this year he's had one top, one-fifth, three-thirds, and a win.
01:17And now he's rocketed up to 30th in the world.
01:20Some other names that didn't make it.
01:21Justin Rose below, plus one strokes gained TD Green this year.
01:25Robert McIntyre missed the cut last year.
01:28Chris Goddorup and Jacob Bridgman, no prior starts.
01:30And J.J. Spahn, only one top ten this year, which is his win this last week.
01:33So an interesting profile, though, there.
01:36Like, I think of that list, I just wanted to, you know, we'll talk about individual players, but just, you
01:41know, do you agree with that set of criteria?
01:43Like, does that seem to profile the right guy?
01:45I think it's a good starting point.
01:46I think there's a total of about 20 guys that probably have a chance to win this week.
01:50Yeah.
01:51That feels like the number.
01:52And I think you named a fair amount of guys.
01:54I would probably add a couple more to the list of players who I think can win.
01:58But, yeah, I think it's setting up for really, you know, just an incredible leaderboard.
02:04But the one the one vibe that I have from this Masters is that it feels a little bit more
02:10open compared to years past.
02:12And this Masters, it feels like we've had dominant players coming into the Masters over the last couple of years
02:17with Scotty Scheffler winning multiple times.
02:19Rory McIlroy winning a couple of times.
02:21And so and then there's been times where John Rahm has had had great West Coast coming in here in
02:272023.
02:28This year, I don't feel that way.
02:30You know, Scotty's been been good.
02:32He hasn't been elite like we've seen.
02:35Rory McIlroy back injury hasn't necessarily hasn't won yet this season on the PGA Tour.
02:41We've had young guys winning on the PGA Tour.
02:44Nobody been able to keep leads.
02:46But we've had Cam Young kind of breakout.
02:48Fitzpatrick, bit of a breakout.
02:50Ludvigo Berg's played really well, who's had really good good Masters.
02:54So it's an interesting lead up into this Masters.
02:58So I think that there's a possibility for a first timer to win a Chris Goddara, but Jacob Bridgman.
03:04But then also guys like Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, who've won at one this at this place.
03:09And with the Furman Fast Masters, it feels like it caters into just precision iron play and really good stuff
03:15around the green.
03:16So I don't know where you want to start with this whole list of guys, but I think the conversation
03:23should be very open about who like, of course, Scotty's going to be the favorite and rightfully so.
03:28But I think a lot of players deserve a conversation about their chance to win.
03:33I agree completely.
03:34I think more so than, golly, maybe any major that we've covered since we started this show.
03:39This is the one where, you know, as we kind of talk through it and Jax and I are prepping,
03:43it's like, I don't really have a good short list this year.
03:46I don't have a pick as we sit here.
03:48When we do our picks later in the show, I'm just going to vibe it out.
03:52So I think it's interesting if you look at the board right now that there are nine players that have
03:58odds of 30 to one or shorter to win outright.
04:00And they actually segment out into two perfect little groups.
04:03And so the first one is kind of your big four.
04:05So let's just start at the top of the board, Smiley, with the favorite to win the tournament, Scotty Scheffler,
04:10going off a four to one.
04:11He has made six starts here.
04:13He's won twice, of course, in 2022 and 2024.
04:16His last start was a tie for 22nd at the Players.
04:20He was supposed to play at the Houston Open, but he had to withdraw because he and Meredith, of course,
04:23welcomed their second son, Remy.
04:25Might have to poke around and see if there's any newborn stuff in the merch shop for little Remy this
04:29year.
04:29But his last three starts, ball striking just not up to the usual Scotty standards.
04:35going to care about it. You're going
04:35to care about it. Don't join
04:35favorite? Be trans?
04:35I don't.
04:35walk like that guy. We'll do that together. In
04:35professionals. It's 1500s. I won't
04:35or whatever.
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