00:00Round number two on cut day Friday at Royal Portrush already well underway.
00:06So to help us make sense of what we are seeing at the 153rd playing of the Open Championship,
00:12we welcome back on our guy, Keith Stewart.
00:15Upright and early on this Friday following all of the action as he did yesterday through opening round Thursday.
00:23Keith, as always, we appreciate the time.
00:25Thanks for being here on this Friday morning.
00:27Ben, Donnie, it's a pleasure to be with you.
00:30And you know what?
00:31Round two is better than round one so far.
00:33The guys are going low.
00:35I absolutely love it.
00:36Cut lines fluctuating.
00:38It's going to be a very, very interesting next couple hours over there at Royal Portrush.
00:43No doubt about it.
00:45That projected cut right now to over.
00:47But as Keith told us in the break with guys going so low on this Friday
00:51and maybe calm conditions continuing into the afternoon and evening hours,
00:56might that cut line be on the move?
00:59Keith, let's start with the story of Friday.
01:00The 2023 champion golfer of the year, the lefty, Brian Harmon, who won at Royal Liverpool.
01:07And now, as he is five under through 16 holes, as he nears the conclusion of his second round,
01:13is the tournament leader once again.
01:15Seven under for the tournament.
01:18What have you seen out of the Open champion from 2023 on this Friday at Royal Portrush?
01:24I tell you what, in the opening rounds of the Open Championship, Mr. Harmon,
01:29he seems to love to play the rounds one and two.
01:31I mean, he was 10 under at Royal Liverpool a couple of years ago,
01:34and he's going deep again two rounds in.
01:37And here's the crazy thing, guys, right?
01:39He's five under par today, and he's losing strokes with this putter to the field, right?
01:43That's how good he's striking it with his driver, and he's second in the field right now in approach.
01:48We've been talking about this all week.
01:50Take the iron players in the head-to-heads.
01:52Take the iron players below the over-unders, right?
01:55The guys that can strike it with those clubs from the fairway are the ones that we want to take,
02:01and Harmon's putting on a stripe show right now.
02:04Breaking through here, talking about some of the American golfers.
02:06How about Tony Finau, minus four on the tournament, three under today,
02:10but also some names that we haven't seen up on that leaderboard quite often.
02:13Justin Thomas is under par.
02:14Jordan Spieth is under par.
02:16Ricky Fowler is under par for this tournament.
02:18Keith, just like an overage on, like, the open championship.
02:22Why do we get to see guys that we typically don't see maybe challenging always have a chance to challenge across the seas?
02:28I love to see it, man.
02:29One of these guys can break through in this tournament?
02:31It'd be fantastic.
02:33Well, the simple answer to your question, Donnie, is length, right?
02:36Some of those guys you just mentioned, Ricky Fowler, Jordan Spieth,
02:38they don't bomb it out there like the Brysons and the Rorys.
02:41So all of our majors over here, they definitely favor speed off the tee.
02:45Now you bring it back to Royal Portrush, which is much more of a shot maker.
02:49It's much more of a creative landscape and setting and scorecard.
02:52Then now all of a sudden, a guy like Jordan Spieth can keep up.
02:55I mean, you didn't even mention Captain Keegan Bradley.
02:58I mean, the Ryder Cup captain.
02:59Come on.
02:59The guy taking the team to Bethpage, Donnie, right?
03:02He went out and shot four under this morning.
03:04He's in the mix.
03:05He's at three under par, and he's sitting in the clubhouse.
03:08So he was fantastic today.
03:10And one of the things that Keegan's done with this season, besides win at the Travelers,
03:14is that he was second ranked in the field in strokes gained around the green.
03:17The guy just gets it in the hole.
03:19And if this thing stays right around 10 under par for the winner or even less,
03:23and in the single digits, if we get weather over the weekend,
03:25Keegan Bradley, that American, is going to be an even bigger factor.
03:29And next Wednesday, a bigger storyline come Bethpage.
03:32Yeah, three under right now for the championship, Captain America Keegan Bradley.
03:38Brian Harmon, the leader right now, trying to do his best to earn a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
03:44How about his fellow Georgia Bulldog in Harris English, five under par?
03:49Keith, yesterday, we had five guys tied at four under for our opening round leaders.
03:54Harris English in the full.
03:56Currently on the course, we've got six guys at four under or better on this round two Friday.
04:01Do you expect those low scores to continue into the afternoon hours and over the weekend in Northern Ireland?
04:09Ben, I expect the low scores to get lower.
04:12The wind is going to lay down this afternoon.
04:14Right now, this morning, these guys are playing just under a stroke over par.
04:18To give you an idea and some perspective, yesterday, the golf course played in total about two strokes over par.
04:23So it's about half easier than it was yesterday.
04:26And this afternoon, the wind's going to lay down.
04:28The wind's been in the mid-teens this morning.
04:30They haven't really dealt with very much rain.
04:32There might be a band of rain coming in later.
04:34That just softens the surfaces, makes them more approachable.
04:37There's been a considerable amount of bounce there, right?
04:39But when the wind lays down into the single digits, these guys this afternoon, John Rahm hit more greens in regulation yesterday than anybody.
04:47He led the field, right?
04:48That guy is just waiting like a Spanish bull in the gate for Pamplona, right?
04:52This guy is ready to roll this afternoon.
04:55I think they are going to score.
04:56I love the fact that Fitz hasn't been out there yet, and he's sitting there at minus four.
05:00You know, if Harmon sits there right around seven where he's at, these guys that ended the day under par yesterday, five, six under par is well within reach.
05:09And I think we're going to have a really, really tight leaderboard and a fun one going into the weekend.
05:14Top 14 are tied in the top 14 here, Rory McIlroy, two under for the tournament, one under for the day, through 13 holes, measuring him up for the weekend.
05:22Because just watching the highlights and watching anything live, when Rory's up there, certainly the fan favorite there.
05:28Does he have enough to get over the hump?
05:29Or are we starting to run away right now with some of those top guys on the leaderboard, which he won't be a factor this weekend?
05:36Well, Donnie, it's been a roller coaster this morning with Rory.
05:38The driver has been everywhere.
05:41It's been all over the planet.
05:42He has got to ratchet that thing in.
05:44And, you know, it was a common theme with Scotty yesterday, too.
05:47If those two favorites want to get the job done, they got to put the ball in play because some of these other guys are doing it with, you know, with tremendous aplomb.
05:54And it's absolutely fantastic to watch because when they do that, then they carve in all sorts of shots to these hole locations that are sitting behind some humps and some swales.
06:04There's some approachable ones like the par 313.
06:06There's going to be a hole in one there today.
06:08I mean, guys are hitting it so tight there.
06:09The par 5s, they're reachable because of the wind conditions.
06:12This afternoon is going to be a ton of fun.
06:15And just watch that leaderboard start to really rise up.
06:18It's going to be really, really cool, guys.
06:21I'm looking forward to it.
06:2214 to 1, the price now on Rory, double the price he had pre-championship, sixth best currently for McIlroy.
06:30Quickly here, Keith, in the final 30, 45 seconds of this segment, the tournament favorite and still is Scotty Scheffler at plus 223, under in his opening round.
06:40His round score over under 68 and a half.
06:43He tees off in just under an hour.
06:45What do we expect out of Scheffler at Royal Portrush today?
06:48Hey, Benny, he hit it everywhere yesterday and shot three under, right?
06:53So, I think for sure that you smash the under again.
06:56And you know what I'm really going to enjoy?
06:57The next hour trying to watch Bryson to see if he makes the cut.
07:01We got all sorts of entertainment at Portrush, guys.
07:03Enjoy.
07:04It is very good stuff.
07:06You're watching us.
07:07You're watching Keith Stewart break it all down.
07:10Maybe on another screen, if you're at work, turn on the Open Championship as well.
07:14Keith, have a wonderful weekend.
07:15Again, appreciate all the great work this week, my man.
