00:00The second of the four major tournaments on the tour has teed off.
00:04Can Scotty Scheffler pull off the rare repeat?
00:07To get you guys ready for some PGA Championship action that's going down all weekend,
00:12our New York Post sports columnist, Mark Canizzaro, joins us for some championship talk.
00:18Live from Aronamink Golf Club down in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
00:22Thank you, Mark, for hopping on with us.
00:24We're going to go from 156 golfers to just 70 after the first two rounds.
00:30You made your picks on who could win it all on the Post's website.
00:33We've got Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Scotty Scheffler, Cam Young, and Ricky Fowler for a couple of names.
00:40So two-part question here.
00:42Out of these names, who has the most pressure on them to win it all,
00:46and which of these guys are your actual favorite to win it?
00:51Well, I'm going to start with the back end of that question, Brandon.
00:55I think you have to make Scotty Scheffler the favorite just because he's number one
00:59in the world for the last three years.
01:02He's finished runner-up in his last three events.
01:04He's been kind of victimized by some slow starts in opening rounds.
01:09You know, he's clearly playing as well as anybody, you know, out there.
01:14And it's funny.
01:15You would think because he's number one in the world and everybody expects him to be the guy,
01:19there would be a lot of pressure.
01:20The most pressure would be on him.
01:22But Scotty just doesn't really, you know, pressure is nothing to Scotty.
01:26I mean, he's absolutely a flatliner.
01:29So I would not really say pressure on Scotty.
01:32If I was throwing some pressure on those handful of guys that you mentioned, you know,
01:37a Ricky Fowler, who I actually picked to win it, it was a little bit of a fun pick.
01:40I mean, he's been in really good form.
01:42But Ricky's 37.
01:44He's, I think, his 56 career major.
01:46He's come close a bunch of times.
01:49He's actually in pretty good form right now.
01:51He hasn't won in a while, but I just, I kind of threw him out there because I thought he'd
01:56be a fun winner.
01:58You know, I'm kind of looking for good stories.
02:00There's a ton of good stories on this board, obviously.
02:02Jordan Spieth is fascinating because he's going for the career Grand Slam.
02:06You know, this is his 10th try at it since he won the British Open.
02:12And I quite frankly think that that would be the best story to come out of this week if Jordan
02:18were to win because he's,
02:19I think he's one of the most popular, if not the most popular player on tour, just in terms of,
02:23you know,
02:24the way people love to watch him play.
02:25He's a kind of a, it's a roller coaster ride with Jordan.
02:29And he's just a, you know, he's just one of these guys that says and does all the right things.
02:32So to see him win again and not only win again, but, you know, to have all four majors, you
02:38know, on his resume,
02:39be the only the seventh player of all time to do that, which Rick, I mean, which Rory has obviously
02:43did last year by winning the Masters.
02:46I think that'd be the coolest story out there.
02:48But yeah, pressure, you know, you could say there's pressure on Ricky because he's getting older and, you know,
02:55he's gotten close and he's actually in form coming into this week.
02:58So I'd probably throw that on Ricky, but it's probably, it's not really outside pressure.
03:03It's probably more internal.
03:04I always ask you about the sleepers and guys that you feel as though we should keep an eye out
03:10on who you think could make some real noise in this tournament.
03:13Are there any real like underdogs in this field that have an actual chance of one making the cut down
03:22to 70 and two actually winning this thing?
03:26Well, I'll tell you what, I mean, he's been in such good form lately.
03:28It's hard to call him an underdog, but Matthew Fitzpatrick's brother, Alex, who just got himself a PGA Tour card,
03:36is in tremendous form.
03:39He's been on a meteoric rise, you know, with him and Matthew.
03:45Matthew, he basically got his PGA Tour card by winning a team event with Matt down in New Orleans at
03:52the Zurich.
03:53And he has continued to play well.
03:55He's certainly justified his existence on the PGA Tour already, if you will.
04:02He would be a, and he's right up there right now.
04:05I'm just looking at the board right now.
04:06He's very early times right now, but he's one under priority this morning.
04:11I think he would be a really, you can call him an underdog.
04:14I would throw a couple of guys out there that are under the radar.
04:17You know, Patrick Reed, who's obviously just left the Live Golf Tour.
04:22He's trying to work his way back out of the PGA Tour.
04:24He's a major champion.
04:26He's unafraid.
04:27This is a golf course that sets up pretty well for him.
04:30I could see him making some noise.
04:33Another guy that's on Live right now is a guy named Joaquin Neiman,
04:36who is playing extremely well, and he has played well in these majors as well before.
04:43Hasn't broken through.
04:44You know, he would be a name I'd keep an eye out for.
04:47And another guy that's been, just hasn't really done much of late is Patrick Cantlay.
04:52His form has not been bad.
04:54He just hasn't really, you know, shown the results, you know, in the winner's circle, if you will.
04:58So I'd throw those guys out there as a handful of guys that I would look at
05:02that aren't right, you know, on the forefront of your mind.
05:05Are there any major storylines surrounding the championship that you feel as though
05:09we should be keeping our eye out on, especially before they make the cut?
05:13And then, two, are there any holes out there that you feel as though
05:19could get a lot of guys in trouble?
05:22Well, with the holes, what I would say, Brandon, is the par threes here are very long.
05:29There's 17th, there's 220-something yards, and obviously it's the second-left hole of the round.
05:34So that, you know, by come Sunday, that could be a game-changer.
05:40Now, in terms of the storylines, I am fascinated to see, as I am with these major championships,
05:47how the Liv players play.
05:49I'll start with, you know, with Bryson DeChambeau, who's obviously one of the most popular players out here,
05:55and one of the best players out here.
05:56And there's so much speculation with Liv, you know, whether it's going to survive or not.
06:01You know, Bryson talking about just playing major championships and playing his YouTube golf.
06:07You know, he's got this massively popular YouTube series that he does.
06:12So I'm interested to see how Bryson does here.
06:15I am really, really fascinated with Brooks Koepka.
06:18He's a guy also who has come off the Liv Tour.
06:22He's working his way back up to get a status on the PGA Tour.
06:26This is the kind of golf course that he has devoured in the past.
06:32He's also a three-time PGA champion.
06:35There's only three guys in the history of the sport that have won three or more PGAs,
06:40and the company's pretty good.
06:41Jack Nicklaus with five.
06:43Tiger Woods with four.
06:44So I would keep a very, very keen eye out on Brooks Koepka this week.
06:49I think he â you know, I had a one-on-one conversation with him
06:52that I did a piece on for The Post on Tuesday for yesterday's paper, Wednesday's paper.
07:00And, you know, he is in a really good place mentally.
07:03He hasn't won yet this year.
07:05He's played nine PGA Tour events, only has one top ten.
07:07But the putting is the only thing to keep holding him back,
07:10and he just seems to be in a very, very good headspace right now.
07:14And he has the game for this.
07:17And, you know, he's traditionally been a big game hunter.
07:21He's got nine PGA Tour wins and five of them are majors.
07:24So that's all you need to know about, you know, how much he gets up for these big events.
07:28Mark, appreciate you taking your time out of your morning to join us.
07:33Thanks, Brandon.
07:33Talk to you soon, man.
07:35Bye.
07:37You
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