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00:00because the PGA season begins, the 2025 year,
00:04which always begins with the Tournament of Champions
00:08out in Kapalua, Hawaii.
00:10Everybody, I'm excited.
00:12We wait.
00:13Listen, me and Keith did this all.
00:15Ken, everybody.
00:16We like the fall season.
00:17We like the swing season.
00:19We're back now, baby.
00:20We are back for the real schedule on the PGA Tour.
00:23And Keith Stewart from Read the Line
00:25is always with us before every event.
00:26And it's a Monday, Keith, I know.
00:28But, you know, it's New Year's Eve tomorrow,
00:31New Year's Day on Wednesday.
00:32They key off on Thursday morning.
00:34I wasn't gonna not get you in
00:37before they started on Thursday morning.
00:39So here we are.
00:40Happy New Year, Keith.
00:41It's always great to see you.
00:42Happy New Year to you, too, as well, Mike.
00:44And leave it to the PGA Tour.
00:46If you're gonna screw something up,
00:47might as well be the schedule.
00:48I mean, we're gonna start January 2nd.
00:50You know, can't give it one more week.
00:53You know, we need to start right away.
00:55So here we are.
00:56And, you know, we've got news with the world's number one.
01:00What do you got for me today?
01:01It's a Monday.
01:02Let's get started.
01:03Well, let's start here.
01:04Because obviously the Tournament of Champions,
01:06we have every winner from last year, all the events.
01:10And I believe they also give, if any, top 30 guys, right?
01:13Keith, is it top 30 from last year's FedEx or top 50?
01:17I forget what they do, but they score.
01:18It's, go ahead.
01:20It's the signature guys, Mike.
01:21It's the signature guys plus the winners.
01:23Those guys have the right to attend.
01:25There's 60 guys in the field, $20 million purse,
01:283.6 million for first, no cut, 72 holes,
01:32trade wins, Mark Rolfing, whale watching,
01:34whatever you want, we've got it.
01:36We're out there in Kapalua, Maui.
01:38It's beautiful.
01:39But obviously, when you look at this field,
01:42we have a few guys who we would consider champions.
01:45Obviously, Scotty Sheffler was the biggest champion
01:47of all of 2024, and he's not going to be there.
01:50We told you last week that he had to have surgery,
01:53cut his hand, the wine glass.
01:55Give me an update, Keith, kind of just,
01:57I know we'll try to do the main guys,
01:58but Scotty, how long,
02:01why is Rory not here this week either?
02:05Do we know what's up with Jordan?
02:06How long he's still going to be away?
02:08Like, give me some updates on some of the guys
02:11that were hurting.
02:12Ludwig had the surgery.
02:12He played RSM.
02:13Is he good to go?
02:14Hovland's had some issues.
02:16What's the deal with our biggest guys as we start this week?
02:20Boy, I tell you, you just opened up Pandora's box
02:22right there.
02:24We'll start at number one with Scotty.
02:26Scotty got hurt during Christmas supper.
02:29I guess he had a little dance with a wine glass.
02:31As I mentioned to you guys off air,
02:34I've never cut my hand on a Coors Light can.
02:35So like, you know, if you go be bougie,
02:37then you know what, you might have a cut in your hand.
02:40Your world's number one.
02:41I don't know what to say.
02:43You know, to me, it's like tiger driving.
02:46Like, why?
02:46Why are you ever putting yourself in a position,
02:49you know, to put yourself at risk with injury?
02:52And who knows what happened?
02:53You know, Scotty's a pretty tame guy,
02:55but it's sad to see him not be here.
02:57They're talking about the Amex in three weeks
03:00when the PGA Tour comes back to the mainland
03:02and they're out there in the Palm Desert.
03:04I don't know why he would rush for that.
03:06I think most likely we're gonna see him at the AT&T
03:08when I'm out there at Pebble Beach
03:10the last weekend in January.
03:12Amex seems like a little bit of a rush.
03:15A little bit of news, a little bit of chatter
03:16around the one and only Victor Hovland this week.
03:20A couple of years ago, this guy won the FedEx Cup.
03:22Last year, it was a, you know, a carousel of coaches.
03:28There was a lot going on.
03:29He went back to the coach
03:31that helped him win the FedEx Cup.
03:32Of course, there's news this week
03:34that they have now split ways again.
03:36He also lost a battle, according to his Instagram account,
03:39with a bedpost.
03:41It looks like he has broken his pinky toe on his right foot.
03:44That can't be comfortable.
03:45So Victor's got a little bit of question marks
03:47starting around the beginning of the year
03:49with maybe some injuries.
03:50Jordan Spieth, as you know, and I know,
03:52we talked about it in the fall, he had wrist surgery finally.
03:55So he's been rehabbing all fall.
03:57Now, because of his season last year,
03:59he doesn't have any of the signature designations.
04:02So we won't see Jordan for a little while.
04:04He's gonna have to play in some of these January events
04:07to get inside that Aon Top 5
04:09in order to be able to play Pebble as an AT&T sponsor
04:12or probably a sponsor's exemption.
04:14So I'm sure we'll see him there.
04:17A couple other guys, you know,
04:19we didn't have any major defections to live,
04:21you know, with all the rumors around Tony Finau,
04:24but he does have a bad knee.
04:26You know, he withdrew from not only the Hero World Challenge,
04:29but also the Grand Thornton, which was the mixed-team event.
04:32He was expected to play in both.
04:33So there are a couple guys near the top of the betting board
04:37that have some question marks.
04:38And, you know, we do still have a heavy favorite
04:41in Xander this week.
04:43If they can find sponsors exemptions for Webb Simpson,
04:46they can find them for Jordan Spieth when we get...
04:49I mean, that's just... I'll just...
04:51I'll leave that one at that.
04:52When he's ready to play, Keith,
04:54they'll find a way to get Jordan Spieth
04:56into the biggest events.
04:58All right, Kapaloo, of course,
04:59Tournament of... Always a birdie fest.
05:01You're always gonna get lots of very big numbers here.
05:05Surprise winner last year, too.
05:06You had Chris Kirk, who won the Tournament of Champions.
05:10Don't have Scotty, don't have Rory.
05:13Are we gonna get another down-the-board,
05:15big-shot winner this week,
05:16or do you think some of the favorites will be there?
05:19Xander is a very heavy favorite this week
05:21in the 5-to-1 range.
05:23Well, I think, you know...
05:24I mean, Xander's been here seven times.
05:26He's got to win.
05:27I don't think he's ever finished higher
05:28than 15th or something like that.
05:29So this is definitely a good golf course for him
05:32when it comes to the favorites.
05:33But, you know, you keep calling it
05:35the Tournament of Champions.
05:36And, you know, if we bring in the accuracy guy from PTI,
05:39I'm gonna have to tell you that
05:40we can't call it that anymore, Mike,
05:42because they're not all winners, right?
05:44And when they expanded the field last year,
05:46we actually brought in some very good players,
05:48guys from the top 50 of the previous year
05:50FedEx Cup points list,
05:51that were good enough to win this thing.
05:53And Chris Kirk did it at 200-to-1.
05:55So when you expand the field
05:58and you almost double it in size,
05:59this event used to be 30, 35 guys.
06:01That was it.
06:02Now, all of a sudden, we have 60 guys,
06:04and we probably have 30 or 40 guys in this field
06:07with how easy this golf course is
06:09that if the putter goes nuclear,
06:11they could definitely win.
06:12And Chris Kirk proved that last year.
06:13So it becomes a lot more fun.
06:16And then, you know, considering, you know,
06:20Scotty's little dance with the wine glass,
06:22you know, it opens the field up even more.
06:24I do like Xander as a favorite.
06:26I mean, I'm not gonna bet him,
06:27but he is a strong favorite on this golf course.
06:29But I think it's much more wide open
06:32than it has been, you know, from let's say 2023 and prior.
06:36We've only had one year with the 60 guys,
06:38and it's already proven to like,
06:40kind of open up the field a little bit,
06:41which makes it much more interesting
06:42from a betting perspective.
06:44And look, and by the way,
06:47we never bet anybody under 10 to one, Keith.
06:49You know the rules here.
06:50Nobody under 10 to one,
06:52so Xander's not on anybody's card this week.
06:54But if you go and just look
06:55in the last four to five years of this event,
06:58you know, you can make a case for any guy
07:01who's a big name that they've had success here.
07:03You know, it's always a limited field thing.
07:06There's years, you know, Cantley's been in the top five.
07:08There's years Fino's finished in the top five.
07:09Everyone's kind of had a crack
07:11at finishing in the top five and top 10
07:14of this century tournament of champions at some point.
07:17These guys are the best in the world.
07:18They're going to be able to get some big numbers
07:20on this course.
07:21For me, I still believe, Keith,
07:24Colin Morikawa owes me one from two years ago.
07:27He owes me a ticket for what he did
07:30on the back nine on Sunday and let Ron play great,
07:33don't get me wrong,
07:34but Morikawa owes us at this entry.
07:37So for every year for the rest of my life
07:39that he plays in this event,
07:41I have to play him because I don't want to be there
07:44when he wins and he still owes me from two years ago, Keith.
07:48Well, I'm with you.
07:49I'm going down that road too.
07:50I was there in 23, you know, when Ron got after him
07:55and, you know, he had that collapse on the back nine.
07:58It was terrible.
07:59But you know what?
08:00What led to that collapse that year
08:01is the same reason why I'm very bullish
08:03on Morikawa this year.
08:05He had a career year last year around the green
08:08and with the putter,
08:09which with Morikawa was like unheard of
08:11for the first couple of years
08:12when he was winning major championships.
08:14He was a top five iron player in the world.
08:16And last year's iron game was very average.
08:18Morikawa has always been good in January.
08:21He's got seven top tens in his career
08:22in the first month of the year.
08:24This guy works during the holidays.
08:26I'm not sure every guy does, but Morikawa definitely does.
08:29He's played well at the century.
08:30He puts well on these greens.
08:32That iron game is going to come back.
08:34And when it does and it compliments
08:36what he was able to do in his career last year,
08:38especially post-masters,
08:40all of those times that he contended in those top fives,
08:43I think Morikawa has a very good chance
08:45to rattle off a couple of wins.