Scott and Joe recap Russell Henley's playoff win at Colonial — the one guy they refused to fade — own a Fakers or Makers debut that aged like milk (Ben Griffin to miss the cut; he finished T3), and set the card for Scottie Scheffler's Memorial three-peat bid at Muirfield. Plus Dave Portnoy's $4M Internet Invitational and why creator golf money is getting real. Follow the guys X @kitun, Instagram @kitun and @venmojoe. Subscribe at nostrokespod.com.
Scott Kitun (00:02.4)
All right, Joe. We're still here. We're still talking about golf. Apparently there are people listening to this show, as I as I found out, so it's good to see you.
Venmo Joe (00:07.22)
Garden.
Venmo Joe (00:11.328)
Great to see you too, buddy. We're we we've made it to memorial we're we're we're through kind of the a little bit of a lull. We got memorial on deck right into US Open. Can't frickin' wait, man. It's a it's a great couple of weeks in golf.
Scott Kitun (00:24.258)
This is we've we've spent, I don't know, nine episodes shitting on the PGA and the signature vent model. So it's gonna be kind of awkward to come back and it's just like apologizing to somebody like, I'm so sorry. This is what it's about. These are the signature events that like when you say we're gonna have signature, this is a real one. And so like we're not saying get rid of it. Yeah, we're not like I'm not saying get rid of them. I'm saying be judicious. Like this is this is Jack's place.
Venmo Joe (00:31.22)
Ha ha.
Venmo Joe (00:41.908)
This is when it works. This is when it works.
Scott Kitun (00:53.196)
I'm not gonna lie, I could do without the upside down jack hat though. Not sure how you feel about that. That's it's kinda dumb.
Venmo Joe (00:58.298)
I i I the the whole upside down trend I'm down with. The the ja and guess who bought the jack hat? I saw the I actually saw this on on on X, the everything app. Everything happens on on X this morning. Our buddy Dan Rappaport, of course, is the one that's rocking the the upside down jack hat. And I'm just like, of course he would buy that. Like that
Scott Kitun (01:01.634)
I don't get it.
Scott Kitun (01:22.526)
say mean things because some someday we'll be lucky to have him on the show or something and I I like to friend up fellow media and this fucking guy though. Like I just I can't
Venmo Joe (01:33.982)
Hey, l l listen, Barstool he was a former bar he's a former Barstool guy. Barstool torches Barstool has torched him more than anyone, and he still goes on their programming, so you know, it we'll we'll still take Dan.
Scott Kitun (01:45.89)
Yeah, except we don't have we yeah, you're welcome on the show anytime. You can even cry on this show. but he we have we don't quite have the following. We don't have the following that they have. I going back to the I like your attitude. I like your attitude. So going back to the signature point, I just think this is a great this is a great way to to frame it that I think we didn't do a we not that we didn't do a good job of. It's just been really difficult to explain what a tournament makes you feel like, especially if you're not like a golf sickle. Like if you told me.
Venmo Joe (01:53.184)
Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.
Scott Kitun (02:15.85)
Every tournament was a signature, I'd be like, cool, or not. I'm gonna watch anyway. It may it doesn't matter to me. But for regular people, and for guys like you and I, we have fun getting to gamble and do pools and stuff. And so if our friends are not into the tournament, it's hard for you and I to have as much fun out of as we want. So I really just want people to have a good time and want to watch that the tournament. You can't stick a label and make it be like this is a big tournament because we put the signature label on it.
Venmo Joe (02:21.172)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (02:44.514)
Big tournaments are big tournaments because they're just big tournaments and people like you can sense the energy. You can sense the memorial, Jack's place. He's taking questions about the past and the future. I loved his answer to this one guy yesterday said, what do you think about the tournament being played at whatever course in 2045? And he goes, I hope you guys have a good time. Because obviously he's not he's not planning on being there. When when you have
Venmo Joe (03:06.792)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (03:11.924)
D this reminds me of Tiger when he was still, you know, not tipping cars over. doing the Genesis. The players showed up for him because it was Tigers tournament, Tigers course. He was the big dog. And Jack, as much as he's old, he's still so relevant because he's so involved in the game. These guys show up. And you can tell that they want to play. And this is like Arnold when Arn and Arnold Sermon obviously is still a big deal, but when Arnie was around, guys wanted to be the last one to shake his hand at the end of 18 on Sunday, and it mattered.
And it made it energizing and fun for the fan just because of that. This is the same thing here. If you don't have a backstory, then the course is the story, or a rivalry is a story. And when you have Rory and Scotty dueling, Scotty playing second all day long, all season long for the most part, not winning, and then for three or four consecutive tournaments, one of them's not here, and the other one's here, and you've got random guys like two gloves rye winning, and you've got Wyndham, and you've, you know, just and you've
Even just this week, which was a a different thing, we'll talk about Russell Henry Henley. it just makes it really hard, my guy, finally. And I cashed in on him, thank God. but it it just makes it really hard because sometimes the PGA sets this up and it's like they get in their own way again, like they think they're bigger than they are, and they they say it's a signature of that you care. We don't give a shit. Give me a course that I I feel something for, give me a story I feel something for, give me a rivalry I can chase. That's that's the deal. And this has all of
Venmo Joe (04:14.858)
Your guy.
Venmo Joe (04:25.066)
Yeah.
Venmo Joe (04:35.622)
Yeah. a and Memorial's got it all, right? I mean it's one of the most storied non majors on the tour schedule. Goes back to nineteen seventy six. It plays tough. It plays like a major. I've heard it dubbed Augusta North, right? And there is a lot of similarities between Jack's Place and Augusta, right? So we'll get into that when we're talking our bats, but
Scott Kitun (04:39.1)
Scott Kitun (04:59.692)
Mirfield is absolutely on my bucket list, by the way. That is a course that I want to play so freaking bad.
Venmo Joe (05:02.68)
y we'll we will we And I want to have a milkshake with you, buddy. Maybe we'll make it a boozy milkshake. But that you know, that that's the content that I like coming out of Memorial, right? Not the not the upside down jack hats, but like those milkshakes that everyone's that everyone's consuming on the practice days, they just look they look unbelievable. Not as good as the course though. But yeah, to your point, like this is
Scott Kitun (05:23.766)
Yep. Five dollars for a milkshake, it better be a pretty fucking good milkshake for my pulp fiction folks.
Venmo Joe (05:30.09)
Chocolate shake w we chocolate shake wiener circle style. but like to your point, like this is what the signature events are supposed to look like. You get the best guys. We get our big four that we have been talking about all year since this show started, right? You get you get Scotty, you get Rory, you get you get Fitz and you get Cam. You get them on a proper you get them on a proper course that's got pressure.
Scott Kitun (05:34.744)
Love it.
Venmo Joe (05:57.364)
That's leading up into the third major of the year. And it's like, hey, who's going to be the big dog that's going into Shinnecock as, you know, the cock of the walk? Right? Like who's who's going to be the top guy? And like this is a this is absolutely a measuring stick week. And I I love that where it falls within the calendar. I think that's why that's part of why you get the players that you get here. But it's also just with the history. It's the fact that
you get the reps needed in order to then go compete in a major the next week. Like it it's got all of it. And I I frankly can't wait. Right. I I absolutely love the field. I love the course. This is not to me one of those tournaments that you just tune into on Sunday. You should be consuming this all four days. It's that good. It's that good.
Scott Kitun (06:48.972)
Yeah, and you know, kind of funny, we've talked about this a handful of the last courses where, you know, whether it proved out or not is a different story, but where the driver off the T was sort of secondary, it's either a putting contest or it's an approach shots. And of course, this is again, approach is king here. Driving accuracy is a real stat at this place. Like this is not screwing around. And I again I want to give a shout out to our friends locally here at FryDag who you can go on FryDag.com right now and check out their course breakdown. They have a drone video.
That hover so close that you can see the grain on the bent grass on the greens. They literally do a flyover where you can see where the grass, where the greens turn gray like ice, and that's the downslope of where the putts are gonna roll off the side of the green. You have a tiny firm fast greens, which is your point before about Augusta. This has an Augusta feel, except the rough is freaking brutal. And that's where I think Augusta, you can get away with shit. Here, you're driving long.
Venmo Joe (07:23.807)
Yeah, yeah.
Venmo Joe (07:34.335)
So fast. So fast.
Venmo Joe (07:43.25)
Yeah, that's sure. It is Yeah, I I I would say the the fairways are a little wider, right? So like th that's a that's a typical Jack Nicholas design, right, where it it's definitely much more about the approach shot and he wants to make the players think and you know how aggressive are they gonna be. But to your point, if you go into the rough here, I mean it's like
Scott Kitun (07:47.072)
And it's gotta be straight or you're in trouble. And then you can't straight.
Venmo Joe (08:11.273)
four inch Kentucky bluegrass, rye, fescue very thick. pretty much impossible to to hold the green if you're coming out from from the rough, right? So what you're gonna, you know, I think what our card is going to center around, which it usually does, right, is yes, we want to look at driving accura accuracy, but it's gonna be shots gain approach and who's great around the green scrambling. Because there is going to be a lot of
You're gonna have to get up and down from a tight lie because you didn't you weren't able to hold the green or you weren't able to get to the green from wherever you were positioned from, from either the fairway or from the rough. So that that that's gonna be the focus here, right? Is is is who's really dialed in from an approach standpoint. And if you get out of position, who can scramble to get back into position and you know, par par holes from positions that they, you know, normally players that aren't scrambling well are gonna bogey.
Scott Kitun (09:08.97)
I'm gonna flip this on you. I'm I'm I agree with you. And this is a subtle difference because we're we're talking about splitting hairs. This is talking about the guys who are gonna win. So to play well, make the cut, be top thirty, forty, yes, all all that is true. And of course you can't hit
Venmo Joe (09:23.529)
Well you do and you do it and you do have to give us a make the cut bet. Remember, you do have to you you gotta bring that back for us.
Scott Kitun (09:27.54)
You know that. You know that. I'm gonna give you a miss I'm gonna give you a miss the cut, but so I they're gonna be good. I I actually I I here's my disagreement. I think what I'm gonna look for, and this is like again, this is nuanced, shots gained off the T to me is gonna be who wins this tournament because of three things. One, I do think that and Jack I mean this is why Jack's courses look this way.
Venmo Joe (09:33.169)
Okay. Long as the odds are good, I don't care what it is.
Scott Kitun (09:57.558)
It's trickery. It's fuckery, is what it is really. You've got wider, wider fairways compared to what they're used to. So in the mindset of the player, they can go after it. And you've already heard the players, like even on courses that are more narrow, be like, I'm just gonna drop it down and see what happens. If you go wide left, you are in rough that you are not on the green in a birdie, you're not scoring. You're just hanging on. So to me, the the handful of players who are piping it straight.
And have the distance to be able to have short, short-ish approach shots, they will be the scores. The guys who have to lay up are gonna have the same disadvantage. They'll make birdies more than the guys who don't hit the fairway, but they will not have any shots at Eagle. They will not be, their burdies will not be inside of 10 feet. They're gonna have long approaches, which this course penalizes with the green. So to me, if you want to pick the winner, I want to find somebody who's gonna be hitting it long and straight. And maybe that's not even their.
Venmo Joe (10:29.727)
For sure.
Scott Kitun (10:54.69)
their usual, right? Like I'm not looking at who's the best driver for this. I'm telling you whoever plays the best. This is a during the post mortem will know. Whoever has whoever wins, I believe will end up having the best SGA off the T. And I believe that their greens and regulation will be ultimately what wins this. Greens and reg at this tournament and this course are hovering around 59%. Tour average is 68%. So if you're sitting here hitting sh hitting bombs,
Venmo Joe (11:18.259)
Yeah, which
Scott Kitun (11:23.884)
And you can have 160, 170, 150 in, even if it's not tight, you're not scrambling, you're not making mistakes, you get more shots at at scoring. Everyone else doesn't. So like while it does matter approach and all the things, I think that driver, big drivers who have to pull out the mini driver or pull out a well, you know, whatever, hybrid, whatever playing, who have to give up or seed 30 to 40 yards to guys who are piping it, are probably from day like probably from onset are gonna be in trouble.
That's just and and it's it like I said, nuance. It's not that different from what you're saying, it's just the inverse. But I I think that I'm not telling you go find the guy who drives it the best. I'm trying I'm telling you whoever wins will have driven it the best. It's kind of cheating.
Venmo Joe (12:05.011)
Yeah, of course, right? it's the bombers, right? 'Cause their the design is it's more forgiving fairways. It's a little bit wider. So players are gonna be reaching for their drivers, even though you've got that penalty with with the rough, just because the fairways are a little bit more forgiving. but to your point, the closer you are the better it is, right? 'Cause the the trade off on
the more forgiving fairways and being able to pull drivers you're you're gonna have these difficult greenside complexes, right? That's gonna put an emphasis on strong approach play. It's obviously easier to hit the green when you're closer and you're in the fairway, right? I don't know. It's just a it's a proper test, right? I mean there are not that dissimilar from a lot of the stats that we always we always look at, but I think to your point, further emphasis on
shot gained off the T, but again we talked about it a couple of weeks ago. Make sure it's not just shots gained off the T, you're looking at driving accuracy as well. And then I'm always gonna focus in on who are the guys that are playing really well from an approach standpoint.
Scott Kitun (13:15.01)
I like it. I think there's a couple of sort of plays here, I guess, to to pick. I we don't normally jump right in to to pick in the card, but I'm gonna do it because I I I know it's chalk and it's simp simple, but I actually really believe that we're gonna see the back half of this year of majors, meaning US, potentially the British. Scotty Scheffler's gonna thunder back. I think he's ready to go now. I think he's he looked.
Pleasantly frustrated, if that makes sense, in his last tournament. He's a two-time defending champion, would become the first three Pete on any event since Stricker, who I believe did it with a 61 or 62 or 59 or whatever the hell it was. I think he 11, 11, 2011. It's a long time. This is where, you know, every single thing that has happened this year, this year in in golf has had a storyline. Rory completes the slam.
Venmo Joe (13:50.687)
Mm-hmm.
Venmo Joe (13:55.87)
Yeah. Yeah. Like two thousand s eleven or seven, right? Like it's been a long time. Eleven. Yep. Yep.
Scott Kitun (14:12.982)
Speeth won't, but can he? You know, we're waiting for this one. We're waiting, you whatever. Everything's had its own storyline. Scotty loves storylines. Scotty's the storyline. I think he becomes the first three-peat winner. And you start talking about tiger shit, and we start going back into like this, you know, Scotty's the man. And I think it sets him up for the back half of the year being a major contender. I just think he's ready to win it. I think he's the kind of guy we just described who you look back on, and you don't, you know, he's obviously a great off the tee, but you don't think of him as like when I think of bombers.
And guys, so I'm like, the driver. I don't necessarily think of him, even though we probably should. I I think he's the guy you look back and you're like, really solid on approaches, really good out of you know, out of scrambling, really clean off the deck. Like, I don't know. What like he clearly isn't gonna be outside of the top five because that hasn't happened in like ten events. So guys around the cup, he's won it twice, Jack's watching, he's ready to go. He looked, like I said last last tournament, he looked like he was like having fun. Like he was he was having he was struggling.
Couldn't make a couple of putts, but he was like laughing about it and was like, okay, this is I'm about fucking done playing here. So that's
Venmo Joe (15:18.151)
Yeah, I think you're dead on. I mean, it's a the val the val I I I do think it's Scotty's tournament to to lose. Torrible value. That's the this is what we talked about though, right? Like in what what I did at the PGA last year with him when I was really confident in him. I mean, I I would hold out for a better number in the live market, right? Just
Scott Kitun (15:25.582)
It's a horrible value.
Venmo Joe (15:41.012)
You know, he has had some Thursday struggles, albeit a lot less the last couple of tournaments, but maybe you get lucky and he has a slower start on Thursday and he goes from three to one to five or six to one, that's when I would hammer it. I I'm going to more focus on is there a live bet opportunity with Scotty at some point after Thursday or or mid round Thursday? And then I think this is definitely a winner without Scotty.
market kind of week, right? Which all the books offer that you can look at and and still still have some longer shot guys that you feel good about, but without the stress of, well, shit, if this is just a Scotty week then, you know, everyone's dead and he's gonna be going into Sunday up four and you've got a ticket that doesn't matter, at least with that with that winner without market, you've always you've always got a chance.
Scott Kitun (16:10.242)
Yeah. So
Scott Kitun (16:34.03)
Before we do the card Joe, can we take a step back and talk about this odds and stuff? I sent you a random, random rambling text about prediction marketing, about my betting strategy and the degenerate irrationality. We'll use this also, by the way, to recap last week because I frankly I just don't think there's much to talk about. Like the tournament was fine and I enjoyed the end of it. And I ended up putting money on. Yeah. We had a lot of fun watching it.
Venmo Joe (16:47.956)
Yeah.
Venmo Joe (16:55.657)
Colonial's great. Colonial's great. Great co unbelievable course.
Scott Kitun (17:00.2)
and it was enjoyable. I just there wasn't a ton of things to talk about. Everyone was kind of stacked at the top, and then they didn't have it. And then Henley kind of came to form. It was a weak field, and you got Eric, what's his name? I'm blanking on the the Joan Cole, Eric Cole. So Cole, so I I promise this is merging two things at once. So we're gonna talk about betting numbers and and to your point about picking Scotty during the tournament and not before the tournament. But I'm gonna use this Russell Henley as an example. We talked about on the show last week how.
Venmo Joe (17:10.719)
Cole, Eric Cole.
Scott Kitun (17:28.844)
You know, we've I've been riding Russell Henry for however long. Dude continues to disappoint me, pisses me off. I'm not betting on him. I ended up placing, I gave you guys picks, but I placed no bets. I ended up placing no bets on the tournament. I watched Henley, I watched him come in on Sunday, piss it away. Well, actually, start off really strong, then piss it away, then comes back roaring four burdies in a row. And I was like, I'm watching Davis just like Eric J just literally, I mean, he's limping in. And I looked at them at the market.
Venmo Joe (17:57.088)
Well, you know Eric Cole, he's a thirty seven year, he's never won on tour, right? Like I mean that was to be expected. So I I I like the value that you got there because there wasn't a proven closer that was that was that you were afraid was gonna come and like really clamp the tournament down. It just never came.
Scott Kitun (18:05.143)
Right.
Scott Kitun (18:14.604)
Until he kicks a ball left off the T and I'm I'm like basically counting my money and then the ball shits out right on the fairway. And I was like, you gotta be kidding me. so he actually made it interesting. But the the point here is this, and I think it's an important one. If you're doing if you're gambling value pick fan duel style, and the point of Scotty Scheffler is he's whatever, plus 300 or whatever he is right now, it's not a good bet. The smart bet on him.
Venmo Joe (18:20.189)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Scott Kitun (18:41.418)
Is to just let the I he's not it's it's other than like coming out to a six stroke lead, there's really no way for his odds to get worse for you, like from a betting perspective. So you might as well let him play Thursday. I would even let him play Friday, unless he plays himself in or out of it. Wait till it's like a 50-50 shot between whoever is the leader, or maybe he's got like a 35, 40% chance of winning, as opposed to, you know, 60 or whatever the fuck the numbers represent here. Then make your bet. And I say that.
Venmo Joe (18:48.82)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (19:10.572)
Because even if his odds are not like what you would call favorable, like as far as like the, you know, good, good value, when I look at Henley, his odds were basically a slam dunk. It was bait, like I was honestly more of a chance for me to lose money. It was better than 50-50. I think it was like 58 or whatever it was, percent chance that he's gonna win in the playoff against Cole. And I looked at that and I thought, but he's gonna win.
And obviously there was the weird scare that ball comes out in the fairway and for a minute I look like an idiot. But what ended up happening is he ended up making a brewery from four feet away. And it it's exactly what I thought was gonna happen. And to me, the odds, it it didn't matter what percentage. I was I wanted 500 bucks. I didn't even look at it. I just said 500 bucks.
Venmo Joe (19:49.299)
So you didn't so you didn't you didn't so you didn't you didn't you didn't place it until the playoff. Is that right?
Scott Kitun (19:56.61)
I didn't place it until he took the T on the on the playoff. On on replaying 18, I was like, click. I held the bet for seven minutes. Literally. I held the bet for seven minutes. But my my point here is sometimes when you get into this mentality of like placing a lot of bets and you're sprinkling across a tournament, you forget that there are certain things that are just very likely to happen. And obviously, if you if you have a conviction that it's not gonna happen or you think you got intel or whatever, you know, whatever.
Venmo Joe (20:00.18)
That's awesome. I didn't real I didn't realize that. Wow.
Scott Kitun (20:26.346)
I would look at if you think Scotty's the winner and it's like you don't like odds. I I guess you look for who you think is your top 10, your top five, like all the things we always do, set the card. But if if you're like me right now, who firmly believes Scotty Cameron, or Scotty Cameron, that's the putter guy, Scotty Scheffler is gonna win this. I'm not gonna put the bet in now because he's plus 300, because I don't necessarily like the value. I'm just not gonna put the bet in because there's no point.
Why would I put money in right now when it could potentially be better later? I believe he's gonna win. So unless after Thursday or Friday it like suddenly looks like he is just completely not the not the guy I thought he was gonna be, I'm gonna bet on him regardless.
Venmo Joe (21:05.949)
What what what is Scotty on the what is he on the predictions market? Like how does that how does it differ from what we're seeing on DraftKings or
Scott Kitun (21:11.468)
I don't
I don't have it in front of me right now. I wanna say I looked at it last night. He had a he was like an eighteen percent chance to win.
Venmo Joe (21:20.851)
Got it. Okay.
Scott Kitun (21:22.402)
Something like that. I could be wrong, but it was it was something of that vis like my point in this is, and and this will go down through all these beds.
Venmo Joe (21:26.783)
So that at that point you're buy you're buying you're buying contracts valued at eighteen cents per contract. If he if he wins you get a dollar back. If he loses you're paying eighteen cents on each contract that you bought. Yeah, again, that's better that's better. that's again, that that's what we talk about on like with Scotty, the prediction market always seems to be better than placing it on on one of the standard sports books. You get you there's just more value there.
Scott Kitun (21:39.288)
Yeah, which right now honestly I feel like is really good.
Scott Kitun (21:52.45)
Right. Like truly, if I and I again, this number could be outdated, but if I were to go on tomorrow or Friday and he's like, you know, in the top ten, it's probably closer to forty percent chance or thirty five percent chance that he's gonna win, in which case the numbers got worse for me. All I'm saying is, yeah. No, I just like my my main point of this is sometimes there are s like there are certain things
Venmo Joe (22:09.925)
yeah. Yeah. No, I get ya. I get ya.
Scott Kitun (22:17.698)
That you wanna make a handful of bets. My strategy always is like the one that I think is the surest bet, the one I'm kind of counting on hitting on, even if it's a small, you know, small potatoes. I wanna have a bet that's gonna clear basically all my losses. That's my goal. The goal is like, can we leave here with with like not losing money, which is probably a bad attitude. But I usually try to set up a handful of bets to kind of make it. Once where I get in trouble, but also this year, where I have been very successful, is I look at bets where I just look at it and I go,
As a golf person, as a quasi reader of people, as a person who's done all the research on this and seen it, I just feel really strongly about this. Like if I could pick Scotty top five and get the same money, I probably would do that. Cause I, you know, picking a winner is, you know, obviously, even though it's a better chance he wins than others, it's still, you know, crapshoot. I just think we spend way too much time considering what the value is and the loss. Again, I'm speaking mostly to prediction market.
Because you either believe it's gonna happen or not, I'm buying the right to collect five hundred dollars and I'm paying a hundred and forty dollars for that right. That's how I look at it. I don't look at it like this guy might win, this guy might win, that guy might win.
Venmo Joe (23:23.803)
Yeah. Makes complete sense. Yeah, I completely hear ya. Well you're well you're you're your your degener but your degenerate brain is like I I'm placing this because I'm now gonna win that five hundred dollars. Like you don't even think about the downside.
Scott Kitun (23:36.418)
Yeah. Fuck no. No. And and like I but I take it like a stock market. Like I look at at s it like Salesforce and I'm like, they're at a you know, this is old, outdated, they're like 300. But like at one point they were at $162 or $167 a share. And in my head, I was like, that is a $300 a share company, no fucking doubt about it. And other people are going, you know, it's I had them at 70, it's it's too rich now. It's like, if you believe, this is the same conversation people are having about SpaceX, if you believe it's a
$9 trillion company, then $1.75 trillion IPO ain't shit. And if you believe it's not even a trillion dollar company, then $1.75 is two times more than it should be. One of us is gonna be right. And I think the same way with picking these players, there's certain stuff that I look at. So when we let's move it to the card, when I look at certain things like Sep Straca, to me, he's been hanging around, hanging around, hanging around, playing well.
I think he makes the cut. You asked for make and miss the cut. I think he makes the cut. I think he's got too much game to and he just doesn't collapse the way that, you know, in collapse, I mean not loot not win tournaments. I mean collapse, like he's just always kind of safe. He's an approach guy and an approach course. The guy that has the odds that should be, you know, potentially in the contention top 20, and you'll see a lot of that I personally don't think is gonna make the cup is Chris Goddard. I don't think he's gonna make the cut. I just have this.
Venmo Joe (24:44.468)
Yeah.
Venmo Joe (25:00.391)
Really? Mm.
Scott Kitun (25:01.494)
I just have this feeling that he's been, he's, he's like looked really good when he's on. And sometimes the camera goes off and he's hitting shots where I can tell he doesn't know what the hell just happened. I will be totally wrong here. We'll come back next week like we like we did last week, where we missed on a bunch of dudes, like our guy Gray Gray's man. But I just I that is one that I think can miss.
Venmo Joe (25:21.801)
So great. Great. Grazer Grazerman is on the b he's on the he's on the band list, by the way. Grazerman. He's on he's he's on the complete band list. Yeah, Goderup is kinda like I yeah, I like that. I'm intrigued by that 'cause he is definitely one of the favorites. I think he's like, you know, one of the fifteen favorites. So I'm sure that there's gonna be some favorable odds there. the one thing for your make the cut bet, unfortunately, because it is signature, it's only seventy two guys, and I think the top
Scott Kitun (25:26.896)
he's bench, bro.
Venmo Joe (25:48.82)
Like if you're within ten of the lead you make the cut, so it's not I think the odds for the make the cut, miss the cut are probably gonna be pretty shitty, but I I I like the I like the selling on Godter up this week. I want your opinion on a couple guys that I've circled.
Scott Kitun (25:55.34)
Are tough. Yeah.
Scott Kitun (26:05.389)
Let's go.
Venmo Joe (26:06.983)
Alright. I like Hadeki this week, man. He's just kind of like like he is he's the guy that like you forget about and then all of a sudden he has a week like he did it at I mean obviously he did it when he won the Masters, he did it when he won at Riv a couple years ago, where all of a sudden like you're just like, wait, Hadeki like when he's on is like a top three player in the world. And I don't know
Scott Kitun (26:12.705)
Love a ducki.
Venmo Joe (26:35.539)
The memorial is a big enough tournament where it just seems like it could be one of those tournaments that he just flashes. He's been playing really well. he was close last week in Colonial. Like he's just, I don't know, he's been hanging around. and he's a guy that like obviously has wanted Augusta. We made the comparison of Augusta and and Jack's place. So Hadeki's a guy that I that I've circled. He's not a guy that I've played.
Scott Kitun (26:55.406)
I was just gonna say, what course did you say this reminds you of?
Love that pick.
Venmo Joe (27:04.585)
Probably ever. I don't think I've ever played Hadeki, but I like him on my card this week and I I think I'm going back to Justin Rose, dude. I know we've made fun of him. I don't think I'm doing it to win, but I think not not to win, but like I I think to I think to be like top ten. He's a guy that top nah, I I'm probably gonna do top ten just because I'm a degenerate.
Scott Kitun (27:15.584)
Justin Rose to do what? Yeah. I don't I would not put him to win.
Scott Kitun (27:25.294)
Top twenty, top twenty.
Last time he's played years twenty eight. He's so he's got he's got forty plus forty plus
Venmo Joe (27:31.709)
No, he played la he played last year. He just didn't play well last year.
Scott Kitun (27:36.246)
at here?
Venmo Joe (27:39.243)
yeah. But he didn't play well.
Scott Kitun (27:40.248)
Maybe I got I got bad intel. I got bad intel then. I thought he, so he's got like one of the largest number of rounds on this course, 40 something rounds, competitive rounds on it. He's he's never been never like litd but never been like awful.
Venmo Joe (27:43.08)
No, he for it.
Venmo Joe (27:57.704)
Yeah, no, he isn't like course history here isn't great. It's more a Yeah, it's just more of those th it's just more of those things where like it's now been what, six, seven weeks with the new clubs. He was relevant at Ironomec. obviously played really well at Augusta this year. If we're gonna make the Augusta comparison, he's a guy that I like to be relevant this week, not not necessarily to win and like
Scott Kitun (28:00.046)
Which I guess that kinda describes his career, doesn't it? Like a couple of times he wins a tournament
Venmo Joe (28:25.927)
I don't know, I just can't shake the the memorial has given us like some standard winners. Obviously Scotty has won one here twice in a row. Rom had that run where he he won a couple of years in a row. It's also given us some really random winners. Like remember the year? I think it was like 2022 that Billy Horser Horsel just went nuclear and like ran away with it. It's like, I don't know, every once a
Scott Kitun (28:48.876)
Yeah. Arcos Billy.
Venmo Joe (28:52.325)
Every once in a while you just get like a r and I'm not saying Justin Rose is random. I do think he would be random to win the memorial this year. But like I don't know. Every once in a while, every like three to four years, it's just like you get a really weird weird guy winning. I I know that there's been some guys that have like their one and only tournament win on the tour is at Muirfield. Like William McGert, if you remember that random guy somehow won it won the memorial.
Scott Kitun (29:17.532)
yeah. Dirt.
Venmo Joe (29:21.203)
So I don't know, that's why I kinda like the Hideki Justin Rose like someone that that's got the game but isn't one of the first guys that's just gonna like flash and be like, yeah, like that guy was on my radar. The other guy I'm going back to, old reliable man, Adam Scott. I just can't quit the guy. I cannot quit him. I cannot quit him. And it would be I just think it'd be fitting for a guy like Adam Scott or Justin Rose later on in their career, like getting
Scott Kitun (29:37.553)
yeah.
Venmo Joe (29:48.852)
getting a win at at a place that, you know, i is a top six tournament every year. It would just be it'd be great for their resume. Everyone would be happy to see it. Great storylines, etc. So those are the three I'm looking at. I'll probably play around with winner without or top five, top ten. But those are the guys that I like. Nah nah I'm not touching Ludwig. After last week, dude, he's benched.
Scott Kitun (30:08.15)
Ludvig Ludwig O'Borg?
Scott Kitun (30:13.238)
Is he benched? Is he benched? He's I was just gonna say, but hey.
Venmo Joe (30:16.145)
Which means he's gonna win this week. So for our listeners, I'm officially I am officially not betting him, so bet him because this'll be when he wins. A hundred percent.
Scott Kitun (30:24.63)
If you listened and learned anything, Joe, from this conversation that we've had, you would know that you don't have to bet on Ludwig to make money on Ludwig. You can bet not nothing on him, wait until the final Sunday, and then short the fucking guy. Go on prediction markets and be like, Do you think he's gonna win? A hundred percent no. I'm gonna put a million dollars on no because he's gonna have a double bogey, double bogey, bogey at the turn. I know it. Count on it. So you can still make money on him and then keep him in the rotation. Just just FYI for.
Venmo Joe (30:40.884)
Yeah.
Venmo Joe (30:47.155)
Yep. Yep.
Venmo Joe (30:51.987)
Yeah, it just yeah, we we we gotta start we we gotta start shorting him. Yeah, I I completely agree. It's it's time to short the L the Ludwig the Ludwig stock. Ludwig Olberg.
Scott Kitun (30:53.346)
Complete degenerates.
Scott Kitun (30:58.453)
I love
Scott Kitun (31:02.614)
I love your picks. I love your picks. I I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I actually, ironically enough, did the math on this. In since we were talking about next year doing like a live fantasy draft pool like the NFL style, if you had picked Rose and Scott in your if we did a pool every week this like this week, if you'd have done that and just kept like odd winners, you would be in the top five percent of DraftKings pools. Just those two names.
Venmo Joe (31:16.467)
Yeah, yeah.
Scott Kitun (31:32.748)
If you had them in your in your picks all season long, close to winning, not winning, close to winning. There, there is like five top fives between them. There's like seven top tens. It's it's an incredible run. So you picking those two is about as safe as it gets. I am going to, I already told you, I really do think Scotty Scheffler has the chance to just win this and become, and again, it's nothing to do with this tournament. It's about the rest of the season for me. That's my only pick, and I'm I'm trying to do the you know reader, reader of the bodies pick.
Venmo Joe (31:41.203)
I know.
Yeah, they've been around. Yeah.
Scott Kitun (32:02.188)
The w the the two things and I mentioned, of course, Substrac, I think, is a a lock for making the cut, which as you pointed out, it's not really gonna pay out much, but you asked for it, so I gave it to you. Got her up, not making it. The one that I think is the surest pick, and and this depends on how ballsy you wanna be. Xander Shafley.
Venmo Joe (32:18.415)
Always always ballsy. Always.
Scott Kitun (32:20.716)
Xander, Xander Shoffley, whether you want to put him as a winner, which I don't I don't hate. He's probably my non-Scotty winner, Xander Shoffley. Let me read this to you. Nine straight years teeing it up at this tournament, five top tens in his last nine, top ten in the field, T to green, form, fit, course, name on the board. He literally strikes every single part you'd want to win. And then you throw in the whole, like, you and I talk about like cool names that come in in waves here.
Venmo Joe (32:39.796)
While
Scott Kitun (32:50.54)
Xander Shoffley one two out of three here. It's perfect. He fits the narrative.
Venmo Joe (32:51.135)
That would that would be a good one. That would be a good one. That would be a good one. And like and I think it fits like I owe, you know, you and I are both like suckers for storylines. Like I could I could see I could see Yeah, it does. Well, but we but like I like to envision what's the what's the storyline going into Shinnikok next week? And it's either, hey, Scotty just three peat first three peat champion at Jack's place.
Scott Kitun (33:02.594)
Well, it that it tends to play out that way. I don't think it suckers. I think it plays out that way. Life is silly that way.
Scott Kitun (33:17.112)
He's ready to yep.
Venmo Joe (33:19.517)
He's going to go complete the career grand slam. Or it's, hey, let's not forget about Xander just won at Jack's place. And by the way, he won two majors in 2024. We got to start talking about him going into the U.S. Open.
Scott Kitun (33:31.672)
Right. And he's another guy who's been hovering in the top 10, top twenty all season long, and he is leading the field T to green. So this is our guy. So my non-Scotty pick, Xander Shoffley. in general, I just I feel like this is gonna be a tournament that is gonna be an absolute blast to watch. I'm excited for all the postgame interviews. Jack's gonna be walking around. I love when he shows up on the green and you see the guys like walking around all of a sudden, it's like, whoa, and like they're like you can tell.
Venmo Joe (33:51.785)
So fun.
Scott Kitun (34:01.42)
when a legend is there. so I'm I'm excited for this week.
Venmo Joe (34:05.961)
So excited. let's hope they they don't do like a honorary tee shot with Jack to kick off the memorial like they do Augusta, do they? 'Cause his tee shot at Augusta almo it almost killed someone. So let's hope he's not doing that this time.
Scott Kitun (34:15.532)
His last tee shot wasn't great.
I I mean, maybe maybe he'll maybe he'll he'll do it 'cause he wants a redo. I wouldn't be surprised. The so like
Venmo Joe (34:24.319)
Yeah. He's been gr he's been grinding on that for the last two months. Like I gotta redeem myself from that terrible drive.
Scott Kitun (34:31.276)
I mean, do you would you put it past him? He's definitely mentally like, even though he's what eighty-seven years old, he's totally that guy who would be like a range rat after that.
Venmo Joe (34:34.311)
No, he's a no. No. I ge I guar I guarantee I guarantee he's been grinding about that, man. Guaranteed. There's no doubt about it.
Scott Kitun (34:44.354)
You you can't take the take the fight out of them. all right, we got last little thing. I think it's kind of funny. I know how big of a fan of the online invitational you are, RIP Beef. I am as well. I have talked about this since the beginning of this this show together with you. How much I believe the future of golf is this parallel universe of of the PGA Tour tournaments and this sort of online digital golf creator, you know, YouTube sim.
Venmo Joe (34:55.89)
R I P V
Scott Kitun (35:13.194)
Off-season tournaments and invites, and then what I thought last year was an incredible tournament, the online invitational. I know you love this. I just want to set you up here. Dave Portnoy has moved the purse to four million for that tournament. It's good to be Dave Portnoy sometimes. But I I just that's a real number. That like brings out real guys. And so I I would love to know your your take on.
Venmo Joe (35:19.327)
So good.
Venmo Joe (35:28.041)
Good to be Dave Fortnoy. It's good to be Dave Fortnoy.
Venmo Joe (35:39.518)
Well and like they they already I listen, I think I think last year's Internet invitational was highly entertaining. Like and not embarrassed to say I consumed every every minute of that content and it was a lot of it was a lot of content. I think it was like fourteen total hours of of videos that there were episodes that they released 'cause the the episodes usually were were two hours long.
Scott Kitun (35:52.588)
I have no doubt.
Venmo Joe (36:05.949)
You're you're gonna continue what I love about it is that you you truly merge like the internet personalities that aren't the best golfers but they have they've grown a following within the golf world or even like outside of the the golf world, right? Like I know they had someone from Mr. Beast production was in there last year. They had like one of the top gamers in the world last year. so you and then you get like the four play guys, which they aren't the b they aren't the best golfers, but they're certainly
part of kind of the YouTube. Yeah, they're well somewhat entertaining, right? some unintentionally so so like Riggs and in his golf swing. But you get the the drama of the Barstool world and then you get guys that aren't used to kind of that pressure cooker of like Dave Portnoy Portnoy talking shit to them and Big Cat talking shit to them. You saw Luke Kwan last year completely fold under that pressure.
Scott Kitun (36:35.958)
Entertaining.
Venmo Joe (37:01.011)
miss his miss his first tea time and like was utterly shocked when Portnoy like eviscerated him and made him sit out for six holes. So I I personally love the dynamic of, you know, the YouTube golfers that are just yes, they're entertainers, but like they're really good golfers, right? Grant Horvatz of the world, the Bryan brothers, etcetera. And then you throw them into the melting pot that is the bar stool kind of
internet drama and it just makes for great content, right? And like the storylines that you had coming out of last year with the Melosi was the slope on or was it off? Like I just I just think you're naturally like you always do with Barstool, you naturally just get these really funny organic storylines. And with it being a four million dollar pot, I think they're gonna be they're gonna be able to be much more selective as far as who they invite and they're gonna make sure that they get
the golfers that they want, but they're also going to make sure that they get the cast of characters that they want. Jason Williams, right, who works for Barstool now. White Chocolate is going to be at the internet invitational. Like you're going to get the spit and chiclets guys. couple like, you know, hand pick the good, good guys that are entertaining. And it's it's just going to be fantastic. And you know, whoever ends up in that final round for four million dollars, you're going to get some really
High pressure like content shots where it's not PGA tour pros that are hitting these shots under pressure for four million dollars. It's guys that are like a 10 handicap or a 14 handicap. And what you saw last year was the pressure on 18. Frankie Butternives Borelli went over the green. Like you never see that in a PGA tour event, right? Where in a guy literally skulls a chip to lose three million dollars.
Scott Kitun (38:33.516)
Right.
Venmo Joe (38:52.903)
So like I I can't wait for what we're gonna see come out of that. And like Barstool, they they produce great content and like they've proven that they can do it on the golf front and they're only gonna build on the momentum that they created last year and you're gonna get King James tweeting about it and everyone else in the sports world. I can't wait.
Scott Kitun (39:13.344)
I totally agree. I I think that the only thing these events are missing is and this is where the purse comes in, is that what you just mentioned, which is the seriousness. It's amazing and it's funny and there's all kinds of stuff going on for entertainment purposes, but we'll turn this into something that is perseveres over a long period of time and grows on it is having a couple of guys who take it really seriously because this is like really life changing money for someone to come out and play and it's like, the pressure goes on, you do goofy stuff, but like it could be I don't know, I think it'd be funny.
Venmo Joe (39:37.757)
Well then what
Venmo Joe (39:42.92)
And and what and what's been cool too is that so Brad Dulkey won last year with Francis Ellis and then Beef who, you know. And look at that. Like he he used the Internet Invertational as like a launching pad to professional golf again, right? Where he's got the sponsor exemption at the Rocket, he's got a exemption into the into the good good tournament later this year, and it's like
Scott Kitun (39:48.034)
Yep. And now he's playing in a tournament.
Venmo Joe (40:10.461)
Hey, if you golf is a fickle game, right? Like that that wasn't a professional tournament, but like you got real pressure reps, and now he's springboarding that into, hey, can I actually make it on the PGA tour? Like I did it at the Internet Invitational for three million bucks on the line. Maybe I can do maybe I can do it at the Rocket. It's awesome.
Scott Kitun (40:30.818)
I mean, you know, there's there there's guys like the the the the PXG of players Bryson DeShamba who do the opposite and they use the PGA tour to rock up themselves into the YouTube world, which is baffling, and I I'm not gonna not even gonna touch it with a ten foot pole today. I'm hoping that I'm gonna make my own invitational debut this year. I'm hoping to make my way into the the internet invitational next year. A little quick shout out for
Venmo Joe (40:40.587)
Yeah.
Venmo Joe (40:53.501)
Let's get s let's get some good tape out there. Let's get some good tape out there this summer, Scott, for you.
Scott Kitun (40:58.552)
We're gonna get it. I want a quick shout-out, thank you to to Noel Duckworth, who's hosting the the 312 invitational in your backyard at Mount Prospect. And he's invited me to to join one of 32 golf creators online to play in this invitational. They're recording content for all of it. The entire inspiration is no doubt Barstool's internet invitational. But what I have heard from a handful of guys is this is not the only one. There's a bunch of guys who are doing the same thing in Austin area, and there's another SoCal one that's doing it. I think these guys are trying to make
sort of feeder leagues where they can say, Hey, we have two or three guys or a team here that should play in your internet and where it's it's a tryout. So in my mind, I'm gonna take it seriously. I'm gonna have a good time, probably, you know, shotgun a handful of beers and then hit the ball four hundred fucking yards and see what happens.
Venmo Joe (41:40.105)
Wait a good qua question. Are are you riding carts or is it is there a caddy needed for that day? 'Cause you know, your co host your co host might be willing to caddy for ya, okay?
Scott Kitun (41:46.318)
So I I haven't I haven't read the doc. I I haven't read the doc. I'm gonna ask him. I saw in a video carts, if there's caddy ability, I would definitely want you to come in and we would just do some goofy shit together because I I think it'd be fun to switch shots. It's I I d I don't think they're taking it seriously.
Venmo Joe (42:03.135)
Alright, good. I'm putting my I'm putting my name I'm putting my name in the caddy hat, man. I will I will caddy for big kit and we will win that invitational. And that that I think that course is in my backyard. I got some intel on that, my friend, so
Scott Kitun (42:10.37)
Man. You know I don't go there to lose, so I'm excited about
Scott Kitun (42:19.542)
As we approach, it's July 18th is when it when the tournament is. As we approach, I will definitely we'll do a handicapping of it. What do we think is gonna happen? It'll be a whole time. We'll probably just have Noel on the show. We can we can prep up the the entire tournament. He has no idea that we're out scouting the course before they play it. So it it it'll be fun. Joe, as always, this is great. Love talking golf with you. I'm excited to watch Memorial this week. And you know, the t let the text ride.
Venmo Joe (42:29.599)
That'd be great.
Venmo Joe (42:42.761)
Can't wait.
Venmo Joe (42:46.451)
Let's go, baby. Enjoy it. Jack's place. One of the best tournaments there is. See ya.
Scott Kitun (42:48.28)
Trying.
Scott Kitun (42:51.874)
Don't give up on Ludwig. See you later.
Venmo Joe (42:54.365)
Yeah, I'm probably gonna have to bet him. You y you you've got me. Alright, see ya. Bye.
Scott Kitun (42:59.342)
Short Ludwig.