Golf Best Bets: FedEx Cup Playoffs - St Jude Championship

Introduction and Host Welcome Our number two now officially underway on the Early Line Sirius XM channel 159, right here on the Sports Grid network. It's Doug Anderson, it's Donny right side. And now, look, this is the reason why we have this man on this network right now. Because we always need some help Overview of the FedEx Championship on the PGA tour and with golf. And this is the guy that we want to talk to here. So before we get into the Fedex Championship here, before we get into who can actually win this, the Saint Jude numbers. How are we feeling about the actual tournament itself heading into this? Because Rory McIlroy was asked a question yesterday, how do you feel about this whole new odds and the point structure? He goes, I love it. Otherwise nobody's catching Scottie Scheffler. Yeah, and it makes it a lot easier to sort of make inroads up there for the leader. We've got 2000 Fedex Cup points on the line traditionally week in, week out for the regular season. It's just 700 points. So Tournament Structure and Player Insights why does it look a little differently this week. Well it is the playoffs. We've got three playoff events. It's the Fedex Saint Jude 70 players no cut. We go to 50 players next week for the BMW and then we finish with the season finale. 30 players vying off at the Tour Championship. So I'm excited. Playoff golf. It looks a little differently Donnie. Obviously we're not a full field. We've got, you know, a shorter selection there on the wagering side of things, but it looks to be a very competitive edition for this one. You know Scottie Scheffler what a year he's put together Rory McIlroy you've highlighted he's had a couple of close calls. It was another bad beat in the US open. And don't sleep on Xander Schauffele who's had two majors. He's had two majors this year. Talk about a breakout year for the X men. So there's a lot of money on the line. But they're also playing for that prestige of player of the year. And it certainly looks to be between your world number one in Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele who's now playing with confidence. He's playing with house money. The knock against Xander was always that he couldn't get it done. Late on Sunday in the big ones. Betting Strategies and Player Performances Well you've got two majors that silence the critics pretty quick. If we're looking at the tournament itself. And again, as you said, it's a series of tournaments here. Number one dubs. How many tournaments are they playing and how do you actually advance into the next round of these tournaments? You've got to finish inside the top 50. So it's only the top 70 players from the regular season playing this week for the Fedex, Saint Jude will go down to 50 players, 50 top players in the standings going into the BMW next week. And then we cut it down to 30 for that third and final event at the tour Championship. But there's no cuts because we've got smaller fields. So for the golfers who maybe got off to a sluggish start, there yesterday, day one at TPC Southwind, they're going to have every chance to try and make an inroads, but this is a very tough golf course. I know we saw some low scores out there yesterday, but I do think the golf course will show a bit of bite back as we go in to the weekend there. So for a lot of these players on the betting side of things, you're trying to look for players that are probably playing with a little less pressure. The guys hovering right around that 50 spot, they're going to play a lot more aggressive and go after it just so they can try and secure that advancement to next week for the BMW. But with that risk reward, it also brings in a bit of danger. So you'll see this leaderboard this odds board. Tell us the tale of the tape here. I do think we see a I guess you could see a Chase's pack. And then we could see a big disparity before we get to some of the also rans coming in for this one. As you can see Scottie Scheffler up top there at plus 250 followed by Xander Schauffele plus 550 and Hideki Matsuyama who just went through a recent robbery in his travels back out here to the States. He sits there as the third choice at plus 750. So it really is the best of the best from the PGA tour. Vine off there, as we saw on day one, dubs you out there on the West Coast. It's in the 6:00 hour here on the East Coast. It's the 9:00 hour. They're already out there on the golf course and some guys doing some damage. Danny McCarthy opens up his first hole and birdies that going to a minus Chris Kirk's Surprise Lead five under. But if you look at yesterday's round it was Chris Kirk a six under 64 yesterday. Was that a surprise that Kirk was the leader after round number one. And also dubs for the people that don't know Chris Kirk. Tell us a little bit about him. Yeah. Absolute journeyman of the PGA tour. He's just a proper ball striker. He really doesn't hit it a long way. And if you look at the past winners at this tournament at this golf course, it really has been a mixed bag. You know, we turn it back to Lucas Glover last year. But then it was the big hitting Willie Zalatoris the year before that. So he can do it two ways here to par 70 7200 yards and some change. But for Chris Kirk he's had success on the PGA tour I would say it's been a very consistent year for Kirk. But hey he had a hole in one out there yesterday afternoon. I believe it was on the 14th. This is one of the longest par threes we could get to Donnie. We probably need the big stick. Maybe even the three diesel for us just to get it onto the dance floor. But Chris Kirk posting a round one six under par. He still sits there at 22 to 1 plus 2200. He's never going to go up in flames. He's just a plodder of the golf ball. So Chris Kirk will absolutely be in the mix on Sunday afternoon. Does he have that top gear to fend off the likes of a Scottie Scheffler of Xander Schauffele? I would say Key Players to Watch no. I think the pedigree in the class will prevail as we move through the four rounds of golf. You highlighted players to watch already early here for round two. Denny McCarthy opening up with that birdie. He moves it to five under par. So he's just one shot back and still find him at plus 2800. And then a couple of big names to follow. Matsuyama. He carded a five under par there through day one. You've got the likes of Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler and the X-Men. They're both sitting just two shots back at four under par. And for a lot of these other names, Donnie, you know they're going to take themselves out of the tournament once they look around this leaderboard and see how much money is on the line, all these Fedex Cup points, and you've got the best golfers in the world trying to mow you down through Saturday afternoon. Sunday afternoon, the swing gets a little quicker, the nerves start to escalate a little. And that's why the best of the best are number one, number two in the world of golf, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele. They know how to simplify their surroundings. And I have no doubt that we see another big name prevailing late on Sunday here for the Fedex Saint Jude talking about getting hot out here in round number two Viktor Hovland through three holes. He's already two under moving himself close to that top 20 tie. But the two guys we always want to talk about here. The two Scheffler vs. Shoffley: Who's the Best? sharks here on that leaderboard where if you ask people you get multiple answers. Who is the golfer of the year? Who had the better season. Two guys yesterday shot 66. That's Scheffler and that Schauffele. If we're putting them head to head in this tournament. What did you see yesterday that you liked. And also heading down the stretch who would get the nod for you. And does it come down to who finishes ahead here in the Fedex Cup. Yeah I think it will. Xander Schauffele with the two majors that's probably going to outrank Scottie Scheffler. Six wins. But Donnie if you said dubs you've got a single unit. You've got get one golfer home late on Sunday. I'd have to go with Scottie Scheffler because he just continues to do it week in, week out. Six wins for the tour this season. I mean, I believe I was on with you Donnie the day that Scottie came out of lock up in the orange jumpsuit and I said the very best bet of the season was fading. Scottie Scheffler. We could get him in round one. In round two, match up against Jon Rahm. He made me look silly. He's made me look stupid week in, week out. On the betting side of things, there's not a lot of value behind Scottie Scheffler, but right now he is the very best in the world of golf. He's intimidating by doing it so understated in a quiet fashion. And for Xander Schauffele, the game is absolutely there. But at what point is he going to start to get tired? What time you know, stamina going to be playing an ultimate test there. So if you had to split the two, Scottie Scheffler, the only knock that we get from Scottie is to see if he's going to figure out a golf course, that he really hasn't had great course history on here at TPC Southwind four under yesterday two back off your leader Chris Kirk and he can still get him right around plus 300. That tells me everything I Long Shots and Betting Tips need to see if we take a look at the FanDuel sports book right now and take a look at the top four golfers. Odds wise, is Scottie Scheffler two live 260 Price is Xander Schauffele at plus. 550 Matsuyama here at 8 to 1 price and McIlroy at 12 to 1. If we leave those four out of the equation, are there some longer shots that you're looking forward to this weekend and say, you know what, if they put it together, they can take down a nice price here. Absolutely. Keep an eye on Sam Burns, the Sam Burns hits it a country mile. He posted a three under par. And you can still get him there on the board at 35 to 1. Plus 3500 for Sam Burns. Very good friends with Scottie Scheffler. Not that that helps us on the betting side of thing, but the next step for the likes of Sammy Burns is to have success at the majors, to have success in the Fedex Cup playoffs. And you look at his golf game, he hits it a mile off the tee there, but he's scrambling and getting it up and down out of the ball wash. I think that will pay dividends. And he wants that smoke. Not every golfer is going to welcome the situation of trying to buy off of the Fedex Saint Jude late on Sunday afternoon. Sam Burns is built for the big stage. I like his golf game on a big ballpark like this one. He's just three shots back and we're getting him at a monster. Monster price, that is not a guy you want hovering over your shoulder. Come Sunday afternoon, 55 to 1 price right now at the FanDuel sports book. That's Viktor Hovland. Just