00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid, another big PGA Tour tournament coming up in California as we head to
00:05Florida.
00:06Coming up real soon, can't wait to catch some of the action here.
00:08Let's bring in Brady Cannon to recap what we saw, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and then get to Riviera
00:13this week.
00:13Brady, great to have you back here on Newswire.
00:15And hey, what a great week this past week for Colin Morikama winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
00:22I mean, is this number correct? He shot 22 under par.
00:25Is that accurate? That's a big number for him this week.
00:29You know, this is a couple of home run hitters to close out the West Coast swing, Pebble Beach and
00:34Riviera.
00:35A couple of my absolute favorites, a couple of the best golf courses in the world.
00:39I really love the Genesis Invitational, what used to be the LA Open.
00:43I think it's one of the best tournaments.
00:45A lot of the players on the PGA Tour feel this is the best course that they play as far
00:50as the regular season is concerned outside of the major championships.
00:54But the weather has been a factor.
00:56You know, the wind blew a lot at Pebble before the golf tournament.
01:02You had a little bit of moisture.
01:03We've had some moisture in the LA area.
01:06So that, you know, when you have a soft golf course, that is leading to some of those scores like
01:1122 under that got it done for Colin Morikama, my neighbor here in Las Vegas, by the way.
01:16So that was cool to see him get back in the winner's circle after almost three years.
01:22I think it's great for the game.
01:23People were really starting to doubt his ability to close the door and to do it at a place like
01:29Pebble Beach to hold off Scotty Scheffler makes another charge on the weekend.
01:33Just unbelievable.
01:35And now we go into another signature event, another loaded field.
01:40There will be a cut this time.
01:42The top 50 players and ties will advance to the weekend and also anybody within 10 shots of the lead.
01:48Only 72 players in the field to begin with.
01:52But after 36 holes, there will be a cut.
01:55And then, like you say, we head over to Florida.
01:57Golf season is off to a tremendous start.
02:00Yeah, Cognizant Classic coming up in a couple of weeks.
02:02I'm driving to spring training and I'm seeing the signs on the road for that coming up on Beach.
02:08Okay, so let's take a look at the Genesis Invitational coming up this week.
02:12As Brady said, this name has changed a couple of different times, but the players remain the same.
02:17Scotty Scheffler, of course, is a favorite.
02:19He's 3-1.
02:20Rory McIlroy is 11-1.
02:23Sander Schauffler, 17-1.
02:25So is Tommy Fleetwood.
02:26Deki Matsuyama with the big win a couple of weeks ago is 20-1.
02:29And then Patrick Cantlay at 27-1 as well.
02:34So, look, naturally, it's this time of the year with golf.
02:37It's are you betting, Scotty Scheffler, or are you fading, Scotty Scheffler?
02:40And we have to start off each week, Brady, with that question.
02:43Yeah.
02:44Well, he's never won here before.
02:46And, by the way, the tournament host, Tiger Woods, has never won here before either, nor did Jack Nicklaus.
02:52If you look at the crossover between guys that have won the Masters and guys that have won at Riviera,
02:59it's incredible.
03:00Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Mike Weir.
03:06I mean, the connection between those two courses is something.
03:10And, obviously, Scotty has won the Masters twice.
03:13Rory is your defending champion.
03:14Got some information from my friends over at BetMGM this morning.
03:19The most tickets and the most handle at BetMGM are, guess who, Scotty Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
03:26They're also the two biggest liabilities at BetMGM.
03:30Rory McIlroy, number one, Scotty Scheffler, number two.
03:33And then, out of nowhere, Tony Finau, the third biggest liability at BetMGM.
03:39His odds are in the triple digits.
03:41He is over, you know, I want to say around 120 to one.
03:45Tony Finau, think about that, how far he's dropped off.
03:49He's played in five events this season.
03:51He's missed the cut three times.
03:52But he does come off of a very nice week at Pebble Beach last week.
03:56He's been in a playoff here, losing to Max Homa at Riviera in 2021.
04:01But his game has really plummeted from what we, you know, have come to expect in recent years out of
04:08Tony Finau.
04:09We'll see if he can put it together here this week.
04:13So, let's take a look at Brady's wins this week.
04:16And when I say wins, I'm always having good feelings and good vibes when Brady's got guys in the 30
04:21to one.
04:21So, here we go.
04:22Patrick Cantlay, let's take a look here.
04:24Matt Fitzpatrick at 35 to one.
04:26Sam Burns, 42 to one.
04:28Min Woo Lee at 48 to one.
04:32And then, your Hail Mary of the week is Jason Day at 70 to one this week.
04:38All right, Brady, let's break it down.
04:40Yeah, a couple of Australians at big prices there.
04:43Min Woo Lee, of course, finishing runner-up last week at Pebble Beach.
04:47His short game was outstanding.
04:49He was second in that field for strokes gained putting.
04:52And we have that same funky surface, Poana.
04:55You know, what we see out here on the West Coast.
04:57It's hard to putt on Poana greens.
05:00It's also at Riviera.
05:01So, I'm expecting the good putting to continue for Min Woo Lee.
05:05One thing you're going to hear on the broadcast this week, Craig, kukuyu grass.
05:10Okay?
05:10It's native to Africa and is really prolific in South Africa and Australia.
05:17So, we've seen Australians have a lot of success here at Riviera because I think the familiarity with that type
05:23of grass, it's really tough to chip out of.
05:26You know, the rough around the greens.
05:27It gets nasty and sticky that kukuyu.
05:30So, the more comfortable you are with it, like Australians, Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, I think that gives them
05:36a little bit of an edge.
05:38Now, Fitzpatrick and Cantlay have been playing great golf as of late, especially Fitzpatrick.
05:43Cantlay grew up in this area in Long Beach, California, went to L.A.
05:47He's finished top four here three times.
05:50Now, Fitzpatrick and Cantlay are a couple of pretty popular picks this week as well, but they make a ton
05:55of sense.
05:56Some people not so high on Sam Burns.
05:59He played beautifully last week at Pebble, a short-game magician.
06:03He putted well on the Poana.
06:05He's done well here before at Riviera.
06:07If his irons come through this week, I think he'll be in contention once again.
06:12I'm telling you right now, Brady, that if Min Woo Lee and Jason Day, they don't even have to win
06:19this.
06:19If they come close to winning, and it's because of this kukuyu grass that you're talking about,
06:25I mean, the things you bring to this table here in golf on Newswire and on SportsGrid, I mean, I
06:32did not see that coming.
06:34I don't think you've ever brought that up.
06:35I've never heard of that kukuyu grass.
06:37Is that the only spot that they have it on the tour, or is it somewhere else?
06:41It's here and there.
06:43There is some at Torrey Pines.
06:45Like I say, it's prolific in South Africa and Australia, but this is really the most famous venue for the
06:52kukuyu.
06:53It's a very strong blade of grass that props the ball up beautifully in the fairway,
06:58but when it grows out and gets gnarly and stuff around the greens and in the rough, it is a
07:02bear to deal with.
07:04So you have to know what you're doing with the old kukuyu stuff, Craig.
07:08Newswire brought to you by kukuyu on this episode of the show.
07:12That's for sure.
07:13The ergonomy lesson comes next.
07:15I mean, my gosh.
07:16Good luck this week, Brady.
07:17Thanks again.
07:18Thanks, buddy.
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