Charlie Hulme Talks FedEx Cup Playoff Ahead of BMW Championship

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00:00Great to have Charlie whom with us for the first time as well. Of course, the Smiley

00:07show right here on SportsGrid. We talked to Smiley all the time here. We gotta get Charlie

00:11in the mix once in a while and why not second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. These guys

00:16have been running around Memphis last week out to Colorado this week. 50 golfers left

00:21Charlie. Good to see you my man. How are you? It's good to see you too. And you know, if

00:26you can't have Smiley here, at least I can give you a little bit of, you know, the Castle

00:29Pines backdrop here, the 18th green. We're about to do a show out here. So I'm at least

00:34pulling out all the production stops to make it look good. And listen, it's been, you guys

00:39have done a tremendous job this year with the show. It's been a great addition here

00:43on the grid. And I thought last week you guys talked to Wyndham, you talked to Nicky Dunlap.

00:49You guys were probably the good luck charm for Nick, for him getting in here this week.

00:53He played great last week. And now this week, Eric Cole, who also needed a big Sunday to

00:59get himself out to Colorado. Maybe you sprinkle a little dust on him and get himself into

01:04the top 30 this week. I wasn't talking to Eric, you know, many people saying the Smiley

01:08Show bump is a real thing. So we're going to have to test that theory out this week.

01:12No, Eric was great. And yeah, shot 63 at TPC South went on Sunday to work his way. And

01:18it was really cool. Actually looking at the sort of sheet that the PGA Tour provides,

01:22just showing all the roller coaster movement that Eric experiences on that Sunday, you

01:27know, outside and then makes his way inside these back out and finishes strong to kind

01:32of get inside that line. But to me, I think that's the thing that I love so much about

01:36these, these, you know, three weeks and really even going outside the playoffs to the Wyndham

01:39championship where there is intrigue, even in that last group on Sunday was so cool.

01:45You had Hideki Matsuyama playing to win the tournament alongside Nick Dunlap, who's playing

01:49just to sneak inside top 50 and make it in this weekend. And he did just that with a

01:53really convincing finish. So it's, it's high drama out here and more of it this week.

01:58And I think that that's a good thing that they did, Charlie, because you know, you've

02:01been around this a long time, like me watching this, following it, betting on it, et cetera.

02:06I think there used to be the perception that the FedEx Cup playoffs really didn't matter.

02:11There really wasn't a lot going on. You know, then they did that thing where they changed

02:15the scoring. They added the strokes at East Lake and they added all these playoff spots,

02:19signature events, top 50. You could tell there was a little bit more edge last week

02:24for a lot of guys on Sunday who were playing for some very important things getting into

02:29those spots. So now we're down to 50. You're out there in Colorado. This is a very different

02:34element this week though. This is a course that is not a regular on the PGA tour. They

02:39haven't been here in 20 years and now they stick it in here for a playoff event. It's

02:44the longest course we've seen. Uh, there's an elevation aspect to it. How about walking

02:49around there? Uh, the challenge that these guys are going to have. Yeah, it's, I, I just

02:54got off the course, walked the back nine this morning. Although I can't quite say that I

02:58walked the back nine as much as I hiked it. Cause it is a lot of up and down. It's a six

03:036,400 feet of elevation. And it's really interesting to me just trying to kind of profile this

03:08course too. Cause to your point, the last time they play here for the international,

03:11it was a stable for an event. It was a number of years ago. And the thing that stood out

03:15to me the most was the tightness of a lot of the landing areas. And you know, these

03:21guys are pros. Of course they have the best caddies in the world. So they are the best

03:25at calculating, you know, change in elevation and how the winds impacting things. And, and

03:30you know, all the calculations that go into determining what club they want to hit. But

03:35impressive pressure situations. There's just, there's going to be a lot of numbers flying

03:39around, trying to kind of dial in, you know, where's our landing area? What happens if

03:42we go through it? I was talking to Davis Thompson's caddy today. He was, he was playing the 12th

03:48or 13th hole, I believe. And just talking about how in one sort of direction, they're

03:53hitting like seven wood and they're afraid it's going to run through the fairway. But

03:56if the wind comes back, they really got to hit a three wood out there to have a good

03:59a club in for the approach shot. So I think there's going to be a lot of caddy player

04:04math happening out here this week, or, you know, just through the, through the weekend

04:08and, and whoever can kind of nail those numbers, the best, and then kind of play the best approach

04:12shots. That's going to be the guy who succeeds out here.

04:15And when you talk about guys who succeed, obviously, when you look at who you want to

04:19back this week, you know, this is an event that it moves around. It doesn't stay at the

04:25same place every year in the FedEx cup playoffs. But one thing stays the same here, Charlie,

04:30and that's big dogs usually eat when you get down to the last 50 and you get to the BMW,

04:35that's just the way it goes. So even though we've got guys between 30 and 50, who are

04:40trying to get themselves to Atlanta, you had Victor last year, you had can't lay two years

04:44before that yet. Rom JT, as the last five years of this event, I'm guessing you're going

04:50to go big dog as well. Or you take it somewhere a little further down the board.

04:54You know, the guy that I just can't get away from here, because I've just been waiting

04:58to use them all year long is Victor Hovland, a guy that just was at the end of last year,

05:05he won this event last year, what was an Olympia fields, I believe in outside Chicago.

05:09And, you know, then of course, goes on to win the FedEx cup at Eastlake, and then plays

05:14fantastically well in the Ryder cup, you know, the famous pair with Ludwig Oberg beat Scotty

05:20Scheffler and Brooks Koepka nine and seven, it looks like he's going to be one of the best

05:23players in the world, and then drops his coach, it kind of goes through a real rough patch at

05:27the start of the year, had a good finish the PGA Championship. But outside of that was not

05:31just in the same form, he was the end of last year, but now finishes tied for second last week,

05:36it all looks like it's starting to click. And you're talking about like elite approach players.

05:40And so guys need to be accurate off the tee. And then guys are going to need to kind of

05:45hit shots close to make some birdies this week. That is Victor Hovland, a spade. So I like Hovland

05:50a lot. But I also like, I just think driving accuracy is going to be really important this

05:54week. So some other guys that I'm looking at that are in the mix here are Aaron rye,

05:58an incredibly accurate driver of the golf, the golf ball, I believe he is the most accurate

06:03driver of the golf ball on tour this season. I like Seth Straka, I like this week. Tommy Fleetwood,

06:09I like a lot this week. And even like a call more a collar. Those are kind of the group of guys I'm

06:13looking at this week. It kind of feels like with Colin, you know, he's a guy that I'm going to back

06:19this week. He's one of he's on my card. I just feel like he's got to pay this year off with a

06:24win at some point, right, Charlie, like he had that run from the Masters all the way really,

06:29you could say to the Scottish right before the Open Championship. I mean, he was in the top 15

06:35every single week, tons of top fives, a couple runner ups. It just feels like he's earned it,

06:41you know, you're gonna win something at some point. And this might be the week for him.

06:45You are absolutely correct. I feel the exact same way. I said it last week, you know, leading into

06:49the FedEx St. Jude championship of like, maybe, maybe this is the week he picks off a win because

06:54if you look at his full season, and his results, nobody's played better without bringing home a

06:59trophy, you know, especially in three of those four majors. So I got to think that it either

07:05this week, it's a little bit tougher to handicap knowing that it's a new course. And we don't know

07:09how he's going to play up here. And I was watching him walk around earlier earlier with his cat,

07:14Jack back and kind of identifying where they wanted to hit some tee shots and looks like

07:17they're pretty dialed in. But also, if you remember last year, he played great the first

07:21two rounds at Eastlake, and had a little struggle on the weekend. But that's one to where it's a

07:26place where he's comfortable. If he doesn't get one this week, I could see him staying in the mix

07:30and lifting the FedEx Cup trophy when this thing's all said and done. Very possible. It was a rough

07:36week for Rory last week. Really one of the worst tournaments you could ever say. You can see Rory

07:43McIlroy play and especially when he finishes pretty much dead last. Usually a very big performer

07:49in the FedEx Cup playoffs. I got to imagine he's got a little chip on the shoulder this week as he

07:55gets out to Colorado and we're going to see a better Rory. Yeah, you hope I mean, I never wish

08:01playing bad on a guy. But I just don't know how I feel about Rory this week, given that I just

08:06think there's going to be a real demand for precision iron shots. And last week, it wasn't

08:12like he drove the ball bad. He was in good positions, then some of the iron shots and

08:16wedge shots he hit with his approach. Just it didn't make sense. Stuff we're not accustomed

08:19to seeing from Rory McIlroy. And for the same reason that I'd stay away from a Max Homa,

08:24who is a phenomenally talented player. One of the world's elite is going to get back there,

08:28but he's he's doing something right now. He's kind of grinding on some swing changes. He needs to

08:33work his way through that before I can say that's the guy I want to place money on. I'm in a similar

08:37boat with Rory. It's like I kind of need to see him fix some of the stuff that's ailing him,

08:41especially the course like this before I'm willing to put money on it.

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