00:00Welcome back to Newswire. The PGA Championship is coming up this week, and who better to preview it with than
00:05Brady Cannon, who joins us now. Brady, welcome back to Newswire. Great to see you. Before we move forward, let's
00:11quickly look back. I don't know that this will be a huge impact on this week, but man, I was
00:16so happy to see Ricky Fowler playing at a high level last week. I was a huge surprise. He finished
00:2013 under. He didn't win. I had never heard of the guy who won last week, Christopher Ritan. That was
00:26a first for me, Brady. I don't know where you saw him on your card.
00:29Certainly, we'll get into Rory's struggles here a little bit, but first, let's dive in here to Christopher Ritan. Who
00:36is that?
00:37Well, he's got a ton of talent. He's a PGA Tour rookie, okay, from overseas, a European kid, but there
00:47was a lot of people that expected this guy to kick the door down here eventually, and to do it
00:53at a signature event was huge.
00:55But, you know, now that's the second kind of off-the-radar guy we've had get their first PGA Tour
01:01win at a big-time event, big-time golf course.
01:04Earlier this year, it was Jacob Bridgman at Riviera, the Genesis Invitational, and now Ritan.
01:11So the game is in good hands, Craig.
01:15I mean, there's some young stars that, like you say, we haven't even necessarily heard a whole lot from, and
01:20here they are making a big mark on a big stage.
01:23And no doubt about Ricky Fowler.
01:25And I tell you, a little bit of selfishness here.
01:29I'm glad he didn't win, because I'm on him this week.
01:32And the chances of him winning two weeks in a row, you know, are kind of slim and none.
01:37So I'm really glad that he tasted the winner's circle a little bit, but came up just short, because I
01:43think he could be ready to fire here this week at Aronimink.
01:46Yeah, it would be something.
01:47It's been years since he's been a major factor on the PGA Tour.
01:50Okay, so the PGA Championship is this week.
01:54And what I find, Brady, is the practice rounds are getting a lot of attention this week.
01:59It seems like the players are talking about how they're going to have to play the course.
02:05It doesn't seem like there's certainty in terms of how this may go this week.
02:09So why is that happening in particular?
02:11Usually ahead of a championship, you really don't hear all that much.
02:15But a lot of the reporters are seemingly asking how to attack the course this week, and we're getting a
02:19lot of different answers.
02:21Well, it's a 7,400-yard track par 70.
02:25That's certainly not short, but it's not like Quail Hollow last week or Doral the week before, where you're talking
02:327,600, 7,800 yards, and it really just caters to the Bombers.
02:37And the Bombers are what we've kind of been used to as far as flourishing at PGA Championships.
02:45You know, different from the Masters in the U.S. Open and the British Open, the PGA Championship has kind
02:50of become a Bombers major.
02:52But I think it's going to be different this year because this course is a little bit smaller, a bit
02:57more claustrophobic, more of a penalty for missing fairways, a lot of slope in these fairways, and the greens are
03:04treacherous.
03:05The greens are very much like Augusta National with the humps and the bumps and the shaved runoff areas, not
03:11as fast as Augusta National.
03:12But I think what you're referring to there is we could see really two different golf courses this week.
03:19On Thursday, in the opening round, I think you could possibly get some fireworks and a lot of guys going
03:25really low because there is some rain expected on Wednesday evening.
03:30Around midnight Eastern, some rain is expected to last for three or four hours and soften up that golf course.
03:36High temperatures in the low 60s. Fast forward all the way to Sunday, and we're talking high temperatures forecasted in
03:43the high 80s.
03:44By that time, I think, you know, for at least two, two and a half days, I think we get
03:48a very firm and fast golf course.
03:50So that's probably what these guys are talking about.
03:53You could have two different golf courses between Thursday and Saturday, Sunday, and kind of attacking it in different manners.
04:00Okay, fascinating. So Scotty Scheffler is the favorite. Rory McIlroy, who has been complaining of a blister, is plus 950.
04:07He's fallen back a little bit. Seems like a wide open PGA Championship, Brady, this week.
04:12You said you landed on Ricky Fowler. Who else?
04:15Yeah, you know, the shortest shot I took was on Xander Schauffele at 18 to 1.
04:20We saw him win the PGA Championship a couple years ago.
04:23He's one of the best Donald Ross players on the planet.
04:26He's had tremendous success on Donald Ross designs throughout his career.
04:31And then after that, Craig, pretty much all long shots.
04:34I mean, we're getting some incredible prices on top 10 players in the world.
04:38I got Patrick Cantlay at 55.
04:41I got Russell Henley at 56.
04:43Jordan Spieth at 56.
04:45Adam Scott at 70 to 1.
04:48Kurt Kitayama at 80 to 1.
04:50I got Ricky Fowler at 100 to 1.
04:52He's down to about 50 to 1.
04:54And then I took a huge long stab with Sahith Tagala at close to 200 to 1.
04:59So, you know, I've got people kind of all over the board.
05:02And all long shots, Xander Schauffele being my one shorter shot this week for the PGA.
05:08All right, Brady.
05:09Good luck with all your plays this week.
05:10We'll see you next week here on the show.
05:12Thanks again.
05:13Sounds good.
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