- 3 months ago
Steve Sands joins The Sports Junkies to preview the 2026 PGA Championship.
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00:00I will not be working.
00:01I will be in Dewey.
00:03Oh, that's awesome.
00:04Sansy.
00:05We got to make sure Sansy makes an appearance.
00:07Yeah, we got to hang out a little bit.
00:09What do you think the most orange crushes you've had in one evening?
00:12Ooh, definitely double figures.
00:16That's a lot.
00:18That's a lot.
00:19That's hard to remember those nights if you get double figures.
00:21That's not a lie.
00:23It's not a lie because I remember.
00:24No, I said it's a lot.
00:25I was like, man.
00:26Yeah.
00:27It's way too mighty.
00:28But the reason I remember is because I remember not having one for a few years
00:32because I was thinking, my God, that's the most sugar I've ever had
00:35since, like, stealing sweet tarts at Higgard's Drugstore on Connecticut Avenue
00:38when I was nine years old.
00:40Yeah.
00:40Yeah.
00:41How far is your house in Dewey from Starboard?
00:45A little too close for comfort.
00:47Oh, is it?
00:48All right, so he can make it.
00:50Yeah, I heard it was being built the last time I was there in Dewey.
00:53Has the construction been completed?
00:55You guys want to give out my address and phone number?
00:58No, I have a good source.
01:01His name might rhyme with Schmonty.
01:05Yeah.
01:06Schmonty.
01:07I mean, my man, Scott Abel, Joe Preston, everybody will be there.
01:10It's great.
01:11Excellent.
01:11Scott Abel.
01:12All right, well, we'll be hanging out.
01:13I haven't seen Scott in a long time.
01:14I'm looking forward to seeing him.
01:16Scott Abel is a legend, man.
01:18I know.
01:18I love that guy.
01:19Yeah, good guy.
01:20All right, so we'll see you at Dewey.
01:22All right, so talk to us about the setup here at Aronimic.
01:25When's the last time Aronimic hosted a major?
01:28I was read like 65 years.
01:30Is it that long?
01:321962.
01:34Gary Player won a PGA championship there.
01:371962.
01:38Why such a gap?
01:41Well, you're going to find out because I think someone's going to shoot 20 under par here.
01:45Oh, really?
01:47I'm glad you brought that up, Steve.
01:49I'm going to interrupt here because Valdez, our producer, was basically saying,
01:54whatever you have in your account, you bet on under 267.5 to be the tournament's winning score.
02:01Which would be winning score would be 13 under or better.
02:03And I did it.
02:03I just placed the bet.
02:04I have ultimate faith in Valdez when it comes to all things golf.
02:07Do you think that's a safe bet?
02:08Under 267.5?
02:12267.5 is the total.
02:14It's par 70.
02:15So that's 267.
02:16That's 12.5 under?
02:18Yep.
02:18Yeah.
02:19Oh, man.
02:20I would bet that Dewey house on that.
02:24Wow.
02:25I love it.
02:26Uh-huh.
02:27That's great news.
02:28This place is wide open.
02:29Yep.
02:29This place is wide open.
02:31It's going to be firm and fast.
02:32They thought they were going to get some rain here today, but there's not.
02:34There's a lot of wind.
02:36And then the PGA is not the USGA.
02:38They're not going to set it up, you know, to punish you every single second of the day.
02:42It's just so wide open here.
02:44Mm-hmm.
02:44And, ah, those bunkers are like 290.
02:47These guys will fly them over there.
02:48I think these guys are going to have a lot of wedges.
02:50It's very wide open.
02:51They're going to take a driver and just pound it.
02:53But if they don't tuck the pin here like they do at a USGA, which they normally wouldn't
02:58do at a PGA championship, maybe they will because of the way the golf course is.
03:01But it's a golf course to be had by the big-time, long players.
03:07Right.
03:08Man, I feel like I should put more in my count.
03:10I think 52 has been shot.
03:1152 has been shot in major championships before.
03:14The par 70.
03:15I think there could be a 61 here this week or better.
03:17We really do.
03:19So it's not playing long.
03:20It's not a long course.
03:22Well, I mean, it's long for people like us, but it's 7,300 and change, but it's not that
03:29So what's the challenge of how wide open it is?
03:33Right, right.
03:33What's the challenge, then?
03:34What kind of teeth does it have, if any?
03:38The teeth are the greens.
03:40I mean, there's always teeth if there's wind.
03:43There's not supposed to be any wind in the forecast.
03:45Not any significant.
03:46Not Thursday, there's Sunday.
03:49And, you know, the greens are really, they're huge greens and they're undulating greens.
03:54So you've got to make some putts here.
03:56But, you know, these guys are the best players in the world.
03:58What's going to happen is there's going to be a lot of wedges in these guys' hands, way
04:03more than you would think at major championships.
04:05I'm not saying a run is not a good golf course.
04:08It's a very good golf course.
04:09And the reason, by the way, they put it here, and it's been such a long time, is maybe because
04:15of its wide open nature.
04:16But it's a big ballpark, wide open space.
04:20But it's a 250-year anniversary.
04:22You've heard me say this to you guys before on the air.
04:24And I know, Lurch, you've heard me say this to you off the air.
04:26It drives me insane that the USGA didn't put the U.S. open at Congressional this year.
04:34That's the reason Congressional went to the PGA and did the senior PGA last year, did the
04:39PGA Championship coming up, did the Ryder Cup coming up, because they left the USGA.
04:43Because the USGA wouldn't put the U.S. open in D.C. in the 250-year anniversary of the
04:49country, for God's sakes, in the nation's capital.
04:52Well, the Declaration of Independence was signed here in Philly in 250.
04:57The PGA of America decided to put the PGA Championship right here in Philadelphia, where
05:01the country started, in its 250-year anniversary.
05:04So that's why it's back here this year.
05:08And I'm not saying it's not a great golf course.
05:10It's just a golf course that, for today's players, the way they play and the way they
05:14hit the golf ball, you're going to see a lot of guys just taking driver and saying, launch
05:19it.
05:20You're going to see a lot of guys hitting wedges.
05:21And if they don't put those, they can put the hole locations on some slopes and some
05:26weird spots, but they can't do it on all 18 holes.
05:29And I think you're going to see some really good scoring this week.
05:32How penal will the rough be?
05:36The rough is penal, but the fairways are really wide.
05:41So, you know, for these, again, I don't mean to be repetitive, but they're playing the
05:47same game we play, but it's a totally different sport.
05:50You know, these guys launched the ball and they are so good.
05:55You know, the guys who hit it straight and long are going to have a huge advantage this
05:59week because these fairways are much wider than you would normally see.
06:03You'll see on TV, maybe today, but beginning tomorrow morning when they tee it up for the
06:08first round, the fairways are much wider than you would normally see at a major championship.
06:14And that is in the bunkers around 290, 300, which sounds ridiculous, but those guys, they,
06:21they get it out there beyond those bunkers.
06:23So they're going to have a lot of wedges in their hands, which means they're going to
06:28have a lot of scoring options.
06:30You give these guys anything from a, you know, eight iron, nine iron wedge and down, that's
06:36a scoring opportunity.
06:37And there's going to be a lot of those.
06:39Yeah.
06:40So let's see, Ricky's playing with Bryson and Oberg, I believe.
06:44Give me some of the groups that you're kind of interested in here.
06:46We were talking about that a little bit earlier.
06:49Yeah.
06:49I think the PG of America does a really cool job with these kinds of things.
06:54So does the U S open at the U S at the, so does the USGA at the U S
06:57open.
06:58Yeah.
06:58Look at the McIlroy, Jordan speed, John Rom.
07:01Right now, Rom and McIlroy, well, back and forth there, they're Ryder cup teammates, but
07:07they've gone back and forth, you know, with this live thing, you know, for a couple of
07:12years as far as that, not that they're contentious, but they've gone back and forth quite a few
07:16times on that.
07:17McIlroy is the last guy to win the career grand slam.
07:21Did it last year at the masters.
07:24Spieth has a chance to become the next person to win the career grand slam.
07:28The last person to win the first two major championships in one season, 11 years ago, Jordan
07:34Spieth McIlroy is trying to become the first person since Spieth to win the career grand
07:40to win the first two major championships in one season.
07:43So to me, that's the best grouping of the day.
07:47It'll be fascinating to see, you know, how McIlroy plays with this blister thing.
07:51Have you guys heard about that?
07:52Yeah, we saw, we saw that yesterday.
07:54How can that not be like, is it in some weird spot where the doc can't just kind of
07:58lop it off or whatever?
07:59Like, I don't understand.
08:01Yeah, but you still have to walk the 18, you know, it's, it's, uh, you know, you still
08:05have to walk the 18.
08:06Not only that, you still have to practice.
08:08You still have to get out there and play.
08:10Yeah.
08:10You know, there'll be some side hill lies, you know, and they're not a lot of flat lies
08:13here, that kind of thing, which, you know, he's used to that at the masters.
08:16He's one of the last two years.
08:17Um, but to walk on a blister, you guys know what it's like to have a blister, just kind
08:21of a pain in the ass.
08:21Um, and to have it on your foot or your hand in golf would not be ideal, but I don't
08:28think
08:29it's going to be a huge thing.
08:30He'll get, you know, he'll, he'll, he'll lop it off and then he'll get as much treatment
08:32as he can and have a good bandaid or be gauze pad or whatever, but it's still going
08:37to feel just a little different for him.
08:38And you know, when these guys are just a little bit off, that's not an advantage.
08:43I'm not saying that's going to read the reason he's not going to win, but it'll certainly
08:47be something interesting to watch.
08:49He was, if you notice, he was limping a little bit on Sunday at Quail Hollow and people were
08:55thinking that maybe that blister was starting then.
08:58Right.
08:58What about, um, so Scotty's had an interesting year, like, uh, you know, not quite as dominant,
09:04but, you know, still best player in the world.
09:05I don't think anybody would argue it.
09:07Um, little interesting.
09:08Struggles in the early rounds.
09:10Yeah, the early rounds.
09:10Then he comes roaring back and finishes second or something, you know, something crazy because
09:13he's so good.
09:15Um, Cam Young's been playing great.
09:17Matt Fitzpatrick's been playing great.
09:19Would you, would you kind of bet on those guys ahead of Scotty at this point?
09:25Personally, I would only because it's the Thursday thing is a weird thing for Scotty.
09:31Yeah.
09:31Um, you know, he, he's runner up here, runner up there, runner up there.
09:35And he's been a runner up a lot lately.
09:38He doesn't have a win this year and he's still the best player in the world.
09:40Like you guys said, uh, overall, but he's not the hottest player coming in.
09:45Hottest player coming in is Matt Fitzpatrick.
09:47Yeah.
09:47Hottest player coming in would be McIlroy coming off that master's win.
09:51Forget about last week.
09:52He didn't play great on Saturday, but he played well again on Sunday in Charlotte.
09:55Uh, Fitzpatrick has those three wins.
09:57Cameron Young is, is blazing hot.
09:59Didn't play great last week though.
10:01Not that matters, but he still won the players and then he won Doral going away.
10:06Um, Scotty, this first round thing is weird.
10:09You know, sometimes in this sport, certain things can get into your head.
10:14He's been a runner up a bunch recently, but that's not because he hasn't been good enough
10:20to win.
10:21It's because on Thursday he's put himself behind the eight ball.
10:24You know, those, those people have somebody told me this.
10:29Who is it?
10:29Phil Mickelson told me of all people told me this like 25 years ago.
10:33He goes, if I could just get a half a shot better a day, I will, I will be winning
10:38more
10:39of these majors.
10:39I'm like a half a shot a day.
10:41And I'm like, yeah, you know, there's not a lot of blowouts in golf.
10:44You know, you don't see a lot of Cameron Young and Doral win by six, seven, eight kind of
10:48things in golf.
10:49They're usually one or two shots.
10:51Well, if Sheffield is going to continue to shoot rounds in the seventies on Thursday,
10:58he's got to play catch up Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
11:00And you can't win a tournament on Thursday, but you can lose it on Thursday.
11:04And he has lost a few recently on Thursday because he just hasn't gotten off to great
11:08starts.
11:09I'm not quite sure why neither has he, I talked to him about it a couple of weeks ago, uh,
11:14down in Miami.
11:15Uh, he said, I don't know what it is.
11:16He goes, but it's not in my head.
11:18It's not a big deal.
11:18He goes, but I do need to get off to better starts because what happens is when you have
11:23a game plan to play a golf course, let's just say you're going to be aggressive.
11:28Well, if you're overly aggressive at a major championship, you'll get punished.
11:32Well, if you're behind the eight ball after a round on Thursday, say 71 or 72 or 70 or
11:37something like that, and I don't expect him to do that tomorrow, but if he does, well,
11:41then he's got to play more aggressively.
11:43And if you play more aggressively or too aggressively on a golf course, it doesn't allow that.
11:47Well, then you're going to get yourself in trouble.
11:49So hopefully Scotty gets off to a good start tomorrow.
11:53Uh, and then as well on as well.
11:55Sansy, give us a dark horse in the field for the PGA.
11:59I don't know if he's a dark horse because his ranking is high, but no one ever talks
12:03about this guy, Russell Henley can really play and he can really go and he's got stones
12:11and you know, his bro Raptory would say he's got onions and he can put the eyes out of the
12:17ball and he's sneaky long off the TN accurate.
12:21So no one ever talks about Russell Henley.
12:23I know he's highly ranked.
12:25So it's not technically a sleeper, but I do think that Russell Henley, uh, could have
12:32a big week.
12:32I think a guy, I think Seth Straka could have a big week here.
12:36And I also think, and he's not off the radar.
12:39He's 45 years old.
12:40It'd be amazing if he won.
12:41And he's certainly not a dark horse because he's a huge name.
12:44He's going to be in the hall of fame.
12:46But in 2010, when congressional hosted the U S open at 11 and 2010, the AT&T national
12:52moved here to a running.
12:53Justin Rose one.
12:55And then the last time it was here, same reason they moved it away from DC, put it at the
13:00AT&T
13:00national or whatever it was called, whatever the sponsor was.
13:02Then moved it here to a Ron and Inc Justin Rose lost in a playoff to Keegan Bradley.
13:07So he's been, he's one and he's lost in a playoff on a Monday morning to Keegan Bradley.
13:13So Justin Rose knows this golf course better than anybody on the PGA tour.
13:18And he's had more success than anybody.
13:20Remember it hasn't been played since 1962 at a major.
13:23So you take those two tiger events, Justin Rose is one and two.
13:28And I think Justin Rose could be a factor, uh, this weekend as well.
13:31I would love to see that.
13:32Hey, Sanzi, uh, Eric and I went to the live.
13:35I went last Thursday and, uh, Eric went on, went on Saturday.
13:39I had a good time, man.
13:40And I wanted to ask you about Rom because I followed Rom for a few holes.
13:44He didn't play well for John Rom.
13:45I mean, Bryson obviously played a lot better than him, but just in terms of the live guys
13:49that are in the PGA, Rom's still having problems putting.
13:53Uh, he finished 38th at the masters this year.
13:56Now last year at the PGA finished T eight.
13:58Okay.
13:58At quail hollow.
13:59So he played well at the PGA last year, but.
14:01Do you think he can finally put something together and kind of contend, uh, even though
14:06he's obviously playing on live and not on PGA tour?
14:09Yeah.
14:1011 live guys, Jason are in the field this week.
14:12Yeah.
14:13Here's what I don't like about Rom and live.
14:16Now, Kepka won a PGA live.
14:19DeChambeau won a U S open while he's played at live.
14:22But Rom has not.
14:23And Rom has had something really weird going on a couple of years ago in Paris.
14:28He was leading on the back nine for the gold medal and completely collapsed.
14:32People forget last year at quail hollow.
14:34He had the lead or under his right.
14:36He was tied for the lead on 11 with Scotty Scheffler and then completely collapsed.
14:41Yeah.
14:41It's in his head, man.
14:43Was that something's in his head?
14:45Yeah.
14:46And what I think is in his head, and of course, no one can get into someone's head, but what
14:51I think is in his head more so than the other two who won those majors as live players, as
14:58you saw last weekend, there's music playing guys are wearing shorts and not really anything
15:04on the line other than money, you know?
15:06And when you're playing for money, that's one thing when you're playing for trophies and
15:13stature, that's another thing.
15:15And when you take yourself out of that realm and nobody of all the live players is a bigger
15:21baller than John Rom.
15:23He is a baller, man.
15:25I mean, that guy cares and he is somebody who works his butt off and is a great, great
15:31player, but you take away the edge from these guys.
15:36I think that the edge has been taken away from Rom just a little bit because of the nature
15:43of live golf and it's just different when you're not playing for trophies and you're
15:48only playing for money.
15:50That's just a little different.
15:52And in this sport, at this level, you're just a little off.
15:57You know, that's what I was saying about that blister with Rory.
15:59I don't know how that's going to play out, but if you're just a little off in this, in
16:03this level, at this level, I think that that's a bothersome thing.
16:08So to me, you know, Rob's a great, great player.
16:11If he wins this week, I don't think anybody would be surprised, but I just don't see his
16:15form coming in this week.
16:17And as you've heard me say a million times, Jack Nichols famously told me, you don't find
16:22your game in a major.
16:23You bring your game to a major and he's not bringing his.
16:26Yeah.
16:26Yeah.
16:26Yeah.
16:27Sansie.
16:28But having said that, he's such a great player.
16:31Wouldn't surprise anybody if he got himself in contention, but the last few times he's gotten
16:35himself in contention in big, big, big spots, he got completely folded at the end.
16:41It's weird.
16:41I can relate.
16:42Talking to Steve Sands, anchor reporter at the golf channel.
16:45Hey, are you upset that the commanders drafted another SS?
16:50Scotty Stiles.
16:51Listen, man.
16:53Sonny Stiles.
16:53I think it's Stiles.
16:54I'm sorry, Sonny Stiles.
16:55We were talking about Scotty.
16:56Yeah, Scotty.
16:59Sonny Stiles can play.
17:00You listen to him speak.
17:01He's a terrific young man.
17:03And I was in Columbus last Tuesday.
17:08My God, do people there love Ohio State football?
17:11But anyway, I was in Columbus for the Jack Nicklaus charity luncheon.
17:16And I'm hanging around with all kinds of big time Ohio State people.
17:20Jim Trestle was there, actually.
17:21It's pretty cool to talk to Jim Trestle.
17:23He's the lieutenant governor of Ohio.
17:25I didn't know that.
17:26But anyway, we're all kind of hanging around talking.
17:28So, of course, they're like, yeah, where are you from originally?
17:30By the way, I said, D.C.
17:31And they said, oh, I'm talking, oh.
17:35And I was like, I go, what?
17:36And I was waiting because I want them to tell me, you know, all the biggins are there from Ohio
17:40State.
17:41All of them.
17:42And they were like, oh, you aren't going to love Sonny Stiles.
17:46I said, he is a great, great player.
17:49His work ethic is incredible.
17:51He's very bright.
17:52He's a good young man.
17:54And that guy can really play.
17:56I was like, oh, that's great to know.
17:58I said, you know, you don't know how it translates to the next level.
18:00And they said, well, we do.
18:03And I was like, okay.
18:04They were really, really hot.
18:05As soon as I said I was from D.C., they literally all went, oh.
18:10Love it.
18:10Love that.
18:11Just like that.
18:12Very cool.
18:12I love it.
18:13I think it's a great thing.
18:14Look, man.
18:15If Jaden Daniel stays healthy, I think that we have a chance to have a good season.
18:20If the defense gets a few turnovers and gets them a short field every once in a while,
18:25that certainly will help.
18:27I thought they had a terrific draft.
18:28I liked what they did.
18:29And I think they wanted Sonny Stiles, not saying if they had a number one pick, they
18:33would have taken him.
18:34But they were very happy to quickly take Sonny Stiles when he was still on the board.
18:38We got to run, Sanzi.
18:39Always great talking to you.
18:40And we'll see you in Dewey.
18:41See you at the starboard.
18:42See you, bro.
18:44I'm not having double-digit crushes with you guys.
18:46We might have a few, though.
18:47All right.
18:47All right, man.
18:48Perfect.
18:48Looking forward to it.
18:49Thank you, buddy.
18:49Steve Sands, anchor reporter at the Golf Channel.
18:52Next, we open up EB's entertainment page here on The Fan.
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