00:00Here are the odds on world number one, Scotty Sheffield, to finish top five, plus 115, minus 175, top 10.
00:08Of course, the very short outright price at plus 450 as the tournament favorite entering the 153rd playing of the Open Championship.
00:17Keith, after the quote, what do you expect out of Sheffield this week in Northern Ireland?
00:22I expect Sheffield to do Sheffield things, Ben, Donnie.
00:26You know, this golf course is probably one of the more Americanized Lynx venues.
00:33And I don't mean that by the setting and the coastline and the weather and everything, but these are small target greens.
00:38And if we want to get into Keith's Keys for the week real quick, you have to be a great approach player here.
00:43And that's Scotty's superpower. The guy hits his targets.
00:46These greens are about half the size of what we saw last week in Scotland.
00:49They're about half the size of what we see at Augusta National and places like Oakmont.
00:54You've got to hit precise places.
00:56You're going to be out on the wind.
00:57You've got to control your flight, your trajectory, your spin with your iron game.
01:02Scotty will be involved.
01:03The biggest problem I see for Scotty is that when he gets on the greens over there on these fescue grasses, very slow greens, he tends to get frustrated very easily.
01:12In his four starts over there at the Open, he's never gained with the putter.
01:15And he's going to need to see some sort of a green light there in order to get past the top seven or top five.
01:21Is he going to top 10? Yes. Smash that bet.
01:23But is he going to carry the claret jug home with him and then put it on the shelf next to, you know, or put it in the closet next to Xander's gold medal?
01:30Well, I just don't see that happening.
01:32And I'm certainly not going to bet him pre-tournament at a number that short.
01:36The Open Championship.
01:38The one thing we know, Keith, is that these golf courses certainly at some times can be like, hey, is it unplayable?
01:43Not because of the course itself, but the weather that creeps in, which makes it so much fun to watch.
01:48Tell us a little bit about Royal Portrush, but more importantly, the weather conditions that are expected here over the Open Championship this weekend.
01:55So, Donnie, there's no other week that, you know, that blue screen pops up behind me any more than this week.
02:00And I have to go into Al Roker mode.
02:02But the fact of the matter is, is that it looks like there's going to be rain all four days.
02:07The worst of the rain is going to come.
02:09Yeah, it's going to come Thursday afternoon into Friday morning.
02:12The good news is, is that it doesn't look very windy.
02:14And you are right there on the coast.
02:16So, the wind could be an even bigger factor.
02:19These guys can play in the rain.
02:20There's a bit of bounce over there.
02:22So, my second Keith's key of the week is that you need some around the green acumen.
02:26Some short game, you know.
02:27And when you look at the second favorite, like Rory McIlroy, the kid grew up there, right?
02:30And speaking of kids, at 16 years old, he set the course record there by shooting 61.
02:35You're going to miss some of these targets.
02:37Shane Lowry led the field when he won in 2019 there by hitting the most greens in regulation.
02:43You're going to miss some this week.
02:44And when you do, you're going to need to be able to get the ball around.
02:48And, you know, it's a huge key in all of this.
02:50And in order to hit more greens, the last key of the week is that you're definitely going to have to hit some fairways.
02:55Look at that leaderboard.
02:56Shane, Fleetwood, Finau, Brooks, Westwood, back in 2019.
03:00Those guys are straight flushers of the golf ball.
03:02They hit fairways.
03:03They hit greens.
03:04That's what you're going to have to do.
03:06And, you know, this week with the weather, it's going to be wet.
