Charlie Hulme Talks FedEx Cup Playoff Ahead of BMW Championship
Transcript
00:00Great to have Charlie whom with us for the first time as well. Of course, the Smiley
00:07show right here on SportsGrid. We talked to Smiley all the time here. We gotta get Charlie
00:11in the mix once in a while and why not second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. These guys
00:16have been running around Memphis last week out to Colorado this week. 50 golfers left
00:21Charlie. Good to see you my man. How are you? It's good to see you too. And you know, if
00:26you can't have Smiley here, at least I can give you a little bit of, you know, the Castle
00:29Pines backdrop here, the 18th green. We're about to do a show out here. So I'm at least
00:34pulling out all the production stops to make it look good. And listen, it's been, you guys
00:39have done a tremendous job this year with the show. It's been a great addition here
00:43on the grid. And I thought last week you guys talked to Wyndham, you talked to Nicky Dunlap.
00:49You guys were probably the good luck charm for Nick, for him getting in here this week.
00:53He played great last week. And now this week, Eric Cole, who also needed a big Sunday to
00:59get himself out to Colorado. Maybe you sprinkle a little dust on him and get himself into
01:04the top 30 this week. I wasn't talking to Eric, you know, many people saying the Smiley
01:08Show bump is a real thing. So we're going to have to test that theory out this week.
01:12No, Eric was great. And yeah, shot 63 at TPC South went on Sunday to work his way. And
01:18it was really cool. Actually looking at the sort of sheet that the PGA Tour provides,
01:22just showing all the roller coaster movement that Eric experiences on that Sunday, you
01:27know, outside and then makes his way inside these back out and finishes strong to kind
01:32of get inside that line. But to me, I think that's the thing that I love so much about
01:36these, these, you know, three weeks and really even going outside the playoffs to the Wyndham
01:39championship where there is intrigue, even in that last group on Sunday was so cool.
01:45You had Hideki Matsuyama playing to win the tournament alongside Nick Dunlap, who's playing
01:49just to sneak inside top 50 and make it in this weekend. And he did just that with a
01:53really convincing finish. So it's, it's high drama out here and more of it this week.
01:58And I think that that's a good thing that they did, Charlie, because you know, you've
02:01been around this a long time, like me watching this, following it, betting on it, et cetera.
02:06I think there used to be the perception that the FedEx Cup playoffs really didn't matter.
02:11There really wasn't a lot going on. You know, then they did that thing where they changed
02:15the scoring. They added the strokes at East Lake and they added all these playoff spots,
02:19signature events, top 50. You could tell there was a little bit more edge last week
02:24for a lot of guys on Sunday who were playing for some very important things getting into
02:29those spots. So now we're down to 50. You're out there in Colorado. This is a very different
02:34element this week though. This is a course that is not a regular on the PGA tour. They
02:39haven't been here in 20 years and now they stick it in here for a playoff event. It's
02:44the longest course we've seen. Uh, there's an elevation aspect to it. How about walking
02:49around there? Uh, the challenge that these guys are going to have. Yeah, it's, I, I just
02:54got off the course, walked the back nine this morning. Although I can't quite say that I
02:58walked the back nine as much as I hiked it. Cause it is a lot of up and down. It's a six
03:036,400 feet of elevation. And it's really interesting to me just trying to kind of profile this
03:08course too. Cause to your point, the last time they play here for the international,
03:11it was a stable for an event. It was a number of years ago. And the thing that stood out
03:15to me the most was the tightness of a lot of the landing areas. And you know, these
03:21guys are pros. Of course they have the best caddies in the world. So they are the best
03:25at calculating, you know, change in elevation and how the winds impacting things. And, and
03:30you know, all the calculations that go into determining what club they want to hit. But
03:35impressive pressure situations. There's just, there's going to be a lot of numbers flying
03:39around, trying to kind of dial in, you know, where's our landing area? What happens if
03:42we go through it? I was talking to Davis Thompson's caddy today. He was, he was playing the 12th
03:48or 13th hole, I believe. And just talking about how in one sort of direction, they're
03:53hitting like seven wood and they're afraid it's going to run through the fairway. But
03:56if the wind comes back, they really got to hit a three wood out there to have a good
03:59a club in for the approach shot. So I think there's going to be a lot of caddy player
04:04math happening out here this week, or, you know, just through the, through the weekend
04:08and, and whoever can kind of nail those numbers, the best, and then kind of play the best approach
04:12shots. That's going to be the guy who succeeds out here.
04:15And when you talk about guys who succeed, obviously, when you look at who you want to
04:19back this week, you know, this is an event that it moves around. It doesn't stay at the
04:25same place every year in the FedEx cup playoffs. But one thing stays the same here, Charlie,
04:30and that's big dogs usually eat when you get down to the last 50 and you get to the BMW,
04:35that's just the way it goes. So even though we've got guys between 30 and 50, who are
04:40trying to get themselves to Atlanta, you had Victor last year, you had can't lay two years
04:44before that yet. Rom JT, as the last five years of this event, I'm guessing you're going
04:50to go big dog as well. Or you take it somewhere a little further down the board.
04:54You know, the guy that I just can't get away from here, because I've just been waiting
04:58to use them all year long is Victor Hovland, a guy that just was at the end of last year,
05:05he won this event last year, what was an Olympia fields, I believe in outside Chicago.
05:09And, you know, then of course, goes on to win the FedEx cup at Eastlake, and then plays
05:14fantastically well in the Ryder cup, you know, the famous pair with Ludwig Oberg beat Scotty
05:20Scheffler and Brooks Koepka nine and seven, it looks like he's going to be one of the best
05:23players in the world, and then drops his coach, it kind of goes through a real rough patch at
05:27the start of the year, had a good finish the PGA Championship. But outside of that was not
05:31just in the same form, he was the end of last year, but now finishes tied for second last week,
05:36it all looks like it's starting to click. And you're talking about like elite approach players.
05:40And so guys need to be accurate off the tee. And then guys are going to need to kind of
05:45hit shots close to make some birdies this week. That is Victor Hovland, a spade. So I like Hovland
05:50a lot. But I also like, I just think driving accuracy is going to be really important this
05:54week. So some other guys that I'm looking at that are in the mix here are Aaron rye,
05:58an incredibly accurate driver of the golf, the golf ball, I believe he is the most accurate
06:03driver of the golf ball on tour this season. I like Seth Straka, I like this week. Tommy Fleetwood,
06:09I like a lot this week. And even like a call more a collar. Those are kind of the group of guys I'm
06:13looking at this week. It kind of feels like with Colin, you know, he's a guy that I'm going to back
06:19this week. He's one of he's on my card. I just feel like he's got to pay this year off with a
06:24win at some point, right, Charlie, like he had that run from the Masters all the way really,
06:29you could say to the Scottish right before the Open Championship. I mean, he was in the top 15
06:35every single week, tons of top fives, a couple runner ups. It just feels like he's earned it,
06:41you know, you're gonna win something at some point. And this might be the week for him.
06:45You are absolutely correct. I feel the exact same way. I said it last week, you know, leading into
06:49the FedEx St. Jude championship of like, maybe, maybe this is the week he picks off a win because
06:54if you look at his full season, and his results, nobody's played better without bringing home a
06:59trophy, you know, especially in three of those four majors. So I got to think that it either
07:05this week, it's a little bit tougher to handicap knowing that it's a new course. And we don't know
07:09how he's going to play up here. And I was watching him walk around earlier earlier with his cat,
07:14Jack back and kind of identifying where they wanted to hit some tee shots and looks like
07:17they're pretty dialed in. But also, if you remember last year, he played great the first
07:21two rounds at Eastlake, and had a little struggle on the weekend. But that's one to where it's a
07:26place where he's comfortable. If he doesn't get one this week, I could see him staying in the mix
07:30and lifting the FedEx Cup trophy when this thing's all said and done. Very possible. It was a rough
07:36week for Rory last week. Really one of the worst tournaments you could ever say. You can see Rory
07:43McIlroy play and especially when he finishes pretty much dead last. Usually a very big performer
07:49in the FedEx Cup playoffs. I got to imagine he's got a little chip on the shoulder this week as he
07:55gets out to Colorado and we're going to see a better Rory. Yeah, you hope I mean, I never wish
08:01playing bad on a guy. But I just don't know how I feel about Rory this week, given that I just
08:06think there's going to be a real demand for precision iron shots. And last week, it wasn't
08:12like he drove the ball bad. He was in good positions, then some of the iron shots and
08:16wedge shots he hit with his approach. Just it didn't make sense. Stuff we're not accustomed
08:19to seeing from Rory McIlroy. And for the same reason that I'd stay away from a Max Homa,
08:24who is a phenomenally talented player. One of the world's elite is going to get back there,
08:28but he's he's doing something right now. He's kind of grinding on some swing changes. He needs to
08:33work his way through that before I can say that's the guy I want to place money on. I'm in a similar
08:37boat with Rory. It's like I kind of need to see him fix some of the stuff that's ailing him,
08:41especially the course like this before I'm willing to put money on it.