LIV Golf Greenbrier: Previewing the Field Ahead of the Tournament
Transcript
00:00for a coast to coast here on a Tuesday. Of course, we have live golf coming up this week.
00:10We are back lives event for this month. They are heading to the Greenbrier, which is safe
00:15for me, Brady. What is it? America's course where they call the Greenbrier America's resort
00:19in beautiful West Virginia. Sulfur Springs, the Greenbrier. Of course, every time there
00:27is a live golf event, I am very happy to have Brady Cannon with me here to talk about it.
00:33We have been to say that we've had a good year for live golf would be a little bit of
00:39an understatement. We're also I know I'm on. I've got the last four events. I don't know
00:43how I'm going to live up to it this week at the Greenbrier. We've got four in a row. Brady's
00:47had tons of winners as well this year. The Steel Mill, everyone else. So we have been
00:52riding high with live heading into this event. Brady, it is good to see you, as always,
00:59my man. Thanks for a few minutes. Yeah, absolutely. Mike and more than I can say than what I've
01:04been doing pre-tournament on the PGA Tour. I've only hit one pre-tournament outright
01:09on the PGA Tour this season. Xander Schauffele at the PGA been lights out in game and joined
01:15the party with all you guys that were on Aaron Rye last week. I hit him in game. But yeah,
01:20the live has been my bread and butter this year. It's for pre-tournament outrights and
01:24a couple in games on that circuit as well. So, yeah, I might just switch over to all
01:29live in twenty twenty five. Why not? And who knows? We might even have a couple other guys
01:36there next year. Brady, you never know what happens between now. I know if we would have
01:41sat here a year ago today, we would have never thought John Rahm would be there in January
01:45at the end of the year. So it's things do change fairly quickly before we get to the chalk,
01:51as I always like to do with you first. Please tell us a little bit about the course of the
01:56Greenbrier. Of course, Bryson DeChambeau tore this place up last year with a record round.
02:02Tell us a little bit about the track. Yeah, the old white is what they call it, a famous old track
02:08that has been around for many, many years and most recently. Well, of course, you mentioned
02:13we saw it last year on the live circuit with Bryson bringing home the victory there. But
02:17prior to that, twenty ten through twenty nineteen, it was a part of the regular rotation on the
02:23PGA Tour, the Greenbrier Classic, and saw it become the site of first time victories
02:29for Xander Shafley and also Joaquin Neiman. You talk about Bryson DeChambeau winning.
02:35We've seen a lot of big hitters win here at this golf course in the past. And that's kind
02:40of where I went with my handicap. You know, surprisingly, it's very similar to TPC Southwind
02:48as far as the par and the yardage. TPC Southwind, of course, starting the FedExCup playoffs,
02:53a par seventy, almost seventy two or seventy two fifty seven thousand two hundred and fifty
02:59yards, right about the same length and also a par seventy for the Greenbrier. So you break
03:05that down and that's a fairly long golf course when it's only a par seventy.
03:10It's got some teeth to it. And now driving accuracy is not really that much of a requirement
03:17here at the old white like it is at Southwind. Not really the deal here in West Virginia.
03:23It's all about driving distance for me. And DeChambeau is living proof number one on the
03:29live circuit in driving distance. So I believe this week that is going to be a big advantage
03:36for these guys. Hit it long off the tee and then be dialed in on approach. And that's
03:40really the direction I went here. And if you look at DeChambeau, number one, like I say,
03:45on the live circuit and driving distance, no surprise that he got it done there at this
03:49golf course last year. Not at all, Brady. That's for sure. So I will give the chalk
03:54here and then I'll throw it back to you and you can start to give who you like. John Rahm,
03:59of course, coming off his first win on live five to one Bryson plus 750. Joaquin Neiman,
04:06who you mentioned, is at eight. Terrell Hatton's at eight. And then Cam Smith, Sergio, Louis,
04:11you stays in Brooks Koepka all, of course, at the top of the board as well. It sounds
04:17to me, Brady, like you have possibly Bryson sitting on your card. I do. You know, I typically
04:25don't like to play the defending champion, but I couldn't get away from him here because
04:30of the emphasis on driving distance and because of the way he's been playing this season.
04:35Obviously, the guy's been outstanding, one of the best players in the world, no matter
04:38what tour you're associated with. So I did go back to the well with DeChambeau, got him
04:44at seven to one. And then I also went with Neiman, a guy that won here in twenty nineteen
04:49at the same golf course when he was a member of the PGA Tour, got him at also seven to
04:54one, missed the best number there. There are plus seven fifties out there. But I also looked
05:00at other golf courses that I felt were correlated here, Mike. And I came up with Quail Hollow,
05:06where they play the Wells Fargo Oak Hill, where they played the twenty twenty three
05:10PGA Championship Southern Hills side of the twenty twenty two PGA Championship and then
05:16Caves Valley, where they played the BNW Championship in twenty twenty one. Patrick Cantlay beat
05:23DeChambeau there in a playoff. If I recall, DeChambeau was runner up there. And you look
05:29at what DeChambeau has done elsewhere at Quail Hollow in twenty twenty one. He was ninth.
05:35And if you look at what he did at Oak Hill, the PGA Championship that was won by Brooks
05:39Koepka, DeChambeau finished fourth there. So not only is he done well at this golf course
05:44winning last year, he's done well at courses that I think correlate as well. So I went
05:49with DeChambeau. I mentioned Neiman, a winner here last year. This guy also just had a runner
05:55up at Live UK a couple of weeks ago, Mike. So I think the form is certainly there for
06:00this guy. And then you look at what he's done on the correlated courses. Twenty ninth at
06:04Caves Valley, twenty third at Southern Hills and 18th at Quail Hollow in twenty twenty
06:10one. He's number one on the live circuit and birdies. He's number four in greens and regulation
06:15and second behind DeChambeau in driving distance. And so I took a couple of chalky guys there
06:22in DeChambeau and Neiman. But then I went further down the board because this guy just
06:26kept popping up when I'm looking at these correlated courses. And that was Abraham answer
06:31at forty to one, who already has a win, by the way, this year on the live circuit. He
06:37was second at Quail Hollow in twenty twenty one. And at the at the PGA Championship at
06:43Southern Hills in twenty twenty two, he was ninth at Caves Valley in twenty twenty one.
06:48He was ninth. And then also at Oak Hill at Oak Hill. I pardon me. I thought he had another
06:55high finish at Oak Hill, but that was not the case. But at Caves Valley, Southern Hills
06:59and Quail Hollow, Abraham answer checked all of those boxes. Now, he's not a huge hitter,
07:05but he's number one on the live circuit in driving accuracy. So, you know, he's going
07:09to find the fairways and he's also 12th in greens and regulation. So those are my three
07:14guys this week, a couple of chalky guys and then one longer bomb and answer.
07:19I love Bryson this week. Brady, I'm with you on him. I didn't. I'm going to play him. I'm
07:24going to go with you and play Bryson this week. I didn't have him initially on the card
07:29because like you said, it's hard to play the defending champ. Go back with all that. You've
07:33talked me into it. I'm there. Here's who I am going with. I have Patrick Reed this week
07:36at twenty six to one. He's played well here on live like it just hasn't cracked through
07:42for him yet. Brady, he's played this course a bunch, of course, like you said, with it
07:46formerly being on the PGA Tour. So Patrick Reed and it's twenty six to one. Richard Bland
07:51has had an unbelievable year and he finished in the top five here at Greenbrier last year
07:56on live. So I'm going to go with Richard Bland at twenty nine to one. Dustin Johnson, thirty
08:01three to one. Now, Brady, I know Dustin Johnson was really miserable in all the majors this
08:07year. He's won on live this year. He's got a bunch of top fives and top tens. He's thirty
08:13three to one. This guy used to be one of the top five guys on the board on live every week
08:16when you would look at it. So I think Johnson slipped a little too much for me. You mentioned
08:21you need some bombers. Dustin Johnson at thirty three to one and Peter Uline. Seventy to one
08:27is going to be my big bomb this week. Purely, Brady, because he's coming off that win in
08:33the Asian tour last week where he won, beat Caleb Surat over there. So I'm going to take
08:39a shot with Uline at seventy to one. Yeah, I like it. Uline makes a ton of sense. And
08:44actually, when I was looking at the results at all these correlated courses, DJ pops on
08:49a couple of them as well. I just didn't go down that direction because I don't know if
08:54it may be DJ's past his prime, but I can't argue with you at all. DJ, I think it definitely
08:58makes sense for this course. If he was 17 or 20, I'd probably pass him by. But thirty
09:06three was just a little too much for me to give up. Brady, let's stay scorching hot with
09:11the live golf. The Greenbrier this week. Let's go. America's resort on Coast to Coast.