Olympic Golf Excitement: Pros Compete for Gold in Paris
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00:00Well, coast to coast here on a Wednesday, a golf Wednesday on C2C, Carver High here
00:09with you.
00:10Of course, every Wednesday we get ready.
00:12Usually we say for this week's PGA Tour event, but it's not a PGA Tour event.
00:18Instead, we have Olympic gold that everyone will be playing for across the pond in Paris.
00:25And Keith Stewart from Read the Line is with us every week to get ready for the golf, no
00:30matter who is running the event.
00:32Keith, good to see you as always, my man.
00:35Let us start with this, though.
00:37Before we even get to Paris, we have to first tip the cap.
00:42Johnny Vegas rolling the dice at the 3M in Minneapolis.
00:47Lauren Coughlin on the LPGA as well.
00:51The double for you, an 80-1 for Johnny, a 40-1 for Lauren, a very big weekend at Read
00:57the Line.
00:58Congratulations, Keith.
00:59Great stuff.
01:00Sunday, we hit the perfect pairing, and good afternoon on a golf Wednesday, Mike Carver.
01:05Yes, I'm in a great mood this week, but I'm in a great mood every week to talk golf with
01:09you on a Wednesday.
01:11Sunday was special, there's no doubt about it.
01:13For the second time at Read the Line, we hit the perfect pairing, a men's and a women's
01:17winner on the same day.
01:20I feel good.
01:21I mean, between you, me, Cam, Brady, the whole team here at Sports Grid, golf's a thing,
01:27and we're getting it done.
01:28We have been on a hot streak for about 10 weeks now, where we're picking winners, placements,
01:33all sorts of cash has flown around this place with golf.
01:36Let's roll it.
01:37Let's go.
01:38We want this to roll right through the President's Cup.
01:41We just want this to roll right on through Olympics, FedEx Cup playoffs, President's
01:47Cup, right into the fall schedule is how we're going to try to make all of this happen.
01:52Of course, we have a 60-man field in the Olympics.
01:56This only happens once every four years, just like all the other events.
01:59It's the third time it's been back, Justin Rose in 16, Xander last time in Tokyo, and
02:05now we are at Les Golfes Nationales, Keith, is where we will be.
02:10The men's will be this weekend.
02:12The women will get going then early next week.
02:15Let's start, though, Keith, as we always do, by telling us about Les Golfes Nationales,
02:20which of course the hardcore fans will know as a regular stop on the DP World Tour and
02:25the host of the Ryder Cup back in 2018.
02:29You know what, Mike?
02:30I think a lot of people, we could discount that Ryder Cup.
02:33The golf course was set up by the European Ryder Cup team to kind of handicap the Americans
02:38and win those matches, which they did boat race us in.
02:40So I don't think we're going to see quite the design features that we did back then
02:46in 2018.
02:47But in the fall, every year, they play the Open Day France, and that is your DP World
02:53Tour event that is one of the premier ones.
02:55I mean, it is the French Open, per se.
02:57So it definitely gets a good field, and they also set up a championship course there.
03:02I mean, this is a pretty elite venue.
03:04You have to think back to when the French Golf Federation built this place back in,
03:09you know, what, 30-something years ago.
03:11In the short history of this golf course, they've had a Ryder Cup, they've now had an
03:14Olympics, and every year, they have a premier DP World Tour event.
03:17So we have some history to call upon, especially for the Europeans, and I think that's important
03:22because there's 30 rookies in this field.
03:24You mentioned it.
03:25There's only 60 guys total.
03:27All four Americans are rookies.
03:29So with half the field with no course experience, this place is super quirky.
03:33You've got to hit the fairways, and you've got to come up with a game plan.
03:36A lot of dog legs, not a lot of trees, not a lot of great sightlines, things in the distance
03:41to look at.
03:42I think having confidence played here before in competition is a tremendous asset.
03:46You look at the top of the guys at the board, right?
03:49Of the six that are up there, under 20 to 1, only two have played here.
03:52That's Rory and Rom, and they both had good history here.
03:55Rory with two top fives, Rom with two top tens.
03:59You also have to be a great long iron player here on approach.
04:02Some of these fairways, the guys have to lay back because of those dog leg positions.
04:06You've got to be a good long iron player here.
04:08You're going to see over 50% of your approach shots coming from over 175 yards.
04:12You've got a couple long par threes, certainly the second shots on par fives.
04:16The third thing is that I want guys that can scramble.
04:20I want guys not necessarily just to get up and down for par, but scramble to score.
04:24Again, those par fives.
04:26There's a bunch of short par fours where these guys are going to drive it down there and
04:29have a wedge less than 100 yards or some sort of finicky scoring shot.
04:34I want guys like Xander Shoffley that can scramble with the best of them, hit it close,
04:39keep making birdies.
04:40I think this is going to be a little bit of a scoring fest in the high teens.
04:44We look at Rose was 16 under, Xander was 18 under.
04:47I think the Olympic Golf Committee likes a little showmanship, and I think that they're
04:51going to set it up accordingly.
04:53Keith, it always makes me feel good when I open, whether it's you read the line newsletter
04:58or your email with your picks for Coast to Coast, and I see a lot of the same guys that
05:03I know that I'm on this week, so reading the same mail is always fun.
05:07I like to focus on one of your outrights here, and then we'll do the rest after the break,
05:12and that is John Rahm.
05:14We need to start there.
05:15You just brought him up having history on this course, and for me, Keith, the first
05:19thing that stuck out with Rahm is just recency, right?
05:22I thought he grinded and really showed some heart at the Open Championship.
05:27The way he played, really, I mean, Thursday, Friday, all four rounds, he was grinding
05:31out there for the Open Championship, and then goes and wins his first live event in the
05:37UK last week.
05:38I love the form for Rahm coming into this week.
05:41You know, Rahm's season has been somewhat of a disaster by his standards.
05:44You know, he took the bucket of cash over the winter.
05:46He goes to live, and he had a lot to prove going into defending at the Masters.
05:51It didn't work out.
05:52The PGA didn't work out.
05:53He didn't play the US Open.
05:55Comes back from that injury, goes third at Nashville.
05:58Then next thing you know, he goes 10th over there in Spain.
06:00Everyone says, oh, let's see what happens.
06:02He's in the bad weather wave at Royal Troon, just as you mentioned, and the guy finished
06:07seventh.
06:08Rolls that into a week later, he wins at live.
06:10Over his last couple events, this guy's gaining over three strokes per event against the field
06:17in just his approach play.
06:18That is a perfect recipe for success here at Le Golf National.
06:22That's why he's finished 10th here before.
06:24That's why he's finished fifth here before.
06:26And above all else, Rahm wants respect, okay?
06:31Xander, Scotty, Rory have been the total conversation this year, the big three.
06:36They've all been winning.
06:37They've all been doing their thing.
06:39Rahm has fallen into the background.
06:41He's from Europe.
06:43He's not going there to look at the Louvre.
06:45He's not on the Champs-Élysées, right, Carver?
06:48He is there to win medal, and that's it.
06:51And I love that fact.
06:53He is the Spanish bull, and he wants to push himself back into that best player in the
06:57world conversation, and it starts this week.
07:00One guy, and I love this, because this is a theme that you have brought up.
07:04I remember it from four years ago as well, and that is the Korean golfers with the military
07:09service time and all these other things that need to be factored in.
07:12Tell us who else you have.
07:13Okay.
07:14Well, we're going outright.
07:16The biggest question, you know what, the biggest question across the whole betting card this
07:19week, Carver, is what is your motivation for being there?
07:22Are you there touring museums?
07:24Do you want to watch Simone Biles, or do you want to win a golf medal?
07:28And as such, people have different inspirations, and I get that.
07:31But the fact of the matter is, I love the Irish bear this week, and I love Tom Kim this
07:36week, because I feel like they are there to win gold on behalf of their countries.
07:41I'm not always sure if the Americans, like, you know, LeBron's just better than everybody,
07:46but is he really working as hard as he can to win that gold medal?
07:49Is Scotty really working as hard as he can?
07:52Or is this just a bucket list opportunity that happens once every four years?
07:56I don't know.
07:57But when I look at Shane Lowry as the flag bearer for Ireland and coming in at 30 to
08:021 at plus 3,000, here's a guy that won the Open Championship in 2019 in his home country.
08:08He feeds off opportunities like this, right?
08:11Sixth at Troon, ninth at Travelers, 19th at the U.S. Open.
08:15Not was the ball striking perfect there, because it was, but the putter was reasonably good
08:20as well.
08:21He's always been the Pacadillo there with our boy, the Irish bear, right?
08:24Shane is rolling the ball relatively well, and he's a great fit for this golf course.
08:29He drives it good.
08:30You have to be super accurate here with both sets of ball striking off the tee and on approach.
08:35So I love Lowry this week, and I also love Tom Kim.
08:39And the narrative on Tom Kim is really interesting.
08:42Last fall, he played in the Open Day France.
08:45He came over to Europe for a couple weeks.
08:46It was during the Ryder Cup.
08:47It was during the fall.
08:49He jet-setted back to Vegas to win there in the Shriners, and you're like, why is this
08:52guy going to France?
08:53So the media asked him.
08:54They said, Tom, why did you come to the Open to France?
08:56He goes, well, I'm thinking about next summer.
08:58That was a preview for him for this very week, and it's for the same reason that you talked
09:03about.
09:04This guy's 22 years old, and he faces mandatory military service, okay?
09:08We can't even wrap our heads around that.
09:10He has to go into the Army sometime before he turns 35, no matter if he's won six green
09:16jackets.
09:17It doesn't matter.
09:19This guy knows he's got a great opportunity on a positional golf course that super suits
09:22his game.
09:23When he came over last fall, he finished sixth.
09:25He's now prepared this week.
09:27If he medals, he gets out of that military service.
09:31What could be more motivating than that, Carver?
09:34And it is if he medals, right?
09:35It doesn't have to be the gold, right, Keith?
09:37If he could get silver or bronze, is that the same?
09:39Yes.
09:40It's the same thing.
09:41Any medal.
09:42Any medal covers it.
09:43Yeah.
09:44Because I played him for a top five also, Keith, for that same reason.
09:47So I got him out right at top five.
09:48I want to make sure the motivation's there.
09:50Speaking of placements, why don't we go there?
09:52I see you have Kim as well, and a couple of Italians, one who I absolutely love this week,
09:58double M, Matteo Manassero.
10:01Oh, baby.
10:03Let's just start with the medal game, right?
10:05Over on one of the books, you can get top three.
10:08I took Xander because guess what?
10:10He's the best player in the field.
10:11I can't take his number outright for gold, but there's very little doubt he will probably
10:16get a medal.
10:18So at plus 220, a good number there.
10:19Tom Kim, if he has heartbreak and comes in fourth, I'm still going to cash.
10:23Top 10 there for Tom Kim for all the reasons outlined earlier.
10:26I mean, remember that 2022 President's Cup team?
10:29He was the heart and soul of those international matches for his side, right?
10:34This guy's going to be fired up this week, and he's focused.
10:37Top 20s.
10:38Let's go with the Italians first, Guido Migliozzi, right?
10:41This guy, he won there in 2022 on Le Golfe Nationale.
10:45Top 20 for him.
10:46And then Matteo Manassero, right?
10:49Plus 210.
10:50Hey, I'm on vacation down at the Jersey Shore.
10:52You don't think I'm going to take a couple of Italians over there at the Olympics?
10:56These guys play at Le Golfe Nationale every single year, and they're very good.
11:00Another guy, Victor Perez, he's hitting the first tee shot.
11:03He has the favor of France in order to open up this competition.
11:06And the last one, Fabrizio Zanotti from Paraguay.
11:09Write it down.
11:10Trust me, it's going to happen.
11:12Now, the head-to-heads.
11:13Noren over Niemann, plus 110.
11:15Noren, he's won there before.
11:16Niemann doesn't show up in elite events.
11:19And the other one is Shane over Victor Hovland, minus 110.
11:22Lowry, a couple top 20s at Le Golfe Nationale.
11:25And of course, Hovland, he's been struggling, and we're just going to take advantage.