Wes Reynolds | VSIN Golf Host and Reporter

It is the J.R. Sport Brief Show. Here with you coast to coast on the Infinity. A sports. Network.

Man, there's so much going on. The NBA Finals, we're minutes away from the puck dropping for the NHL Stanley Cup finals, and today. right outside of Pittsburgh, We gotta start a something else. It's the US Open. at Oakmont Country Club.

To talk about what we might see the rest of the week going into the weekend, what we have already seen, what has been a little surprising, is someone who covers and talks all things golf for Veeson. It's Wes Reynolds, who you can catch as a host, and also he's the host of the golf podcast. Viesons, long shots. Wes, how are you, man? I'm well, J.R.

How are you, sir? Always good to have you on. I'm great. I'm chilling, man.

So. Looking forward to getting into this. Look. They started off today. JJ spawn here at the top of the leaderboard.

Like, how much longer can we expect this? Yeah, look, he's a solid player. I mean, a lot of people probably that are casual fans or even casual betters don't know who he is. He was in the playoff earlier this year against Rory McElroy, and the players couldn't get it done in that Monday finish. But he's a solid player.

He hasn't won a ton on the PGA tour. But when you look at just he putted the lights out today, he was, I think, second in the field for strokes gain putting over four strokes gain, and that's what he shot for under par and got up and down, just had a clean round from a putting standpoint and around the green. But I don't know how much longer he can hang in there. He might be able to hang in. I don't expect him to win when you look at this leaderboard.

But just four under, very solid round at Oakmont. You shoot 66 on that golf course, you're doing something right. But only 10 of the players in the entire field of 156 shot under bar today. And I expect that that carnage is going to continue throughout the weekend. Or Russ, you mentioned Rory McElroy.

I mean, since winning the Masters and finally getting over that hump. He seems pretty grumpy. He's answering questions about why he's not answering questions. And what's his issue? You would think after winning, he'd be kind of chilled out by now.

Yes, it was going to go one of two ways, I think, after he finally got that career grand slam and that albatross off his back that's been with him for over a decade. He was either going to not feel the pressure anymore and was going to win a bunch right in a row or he was going to do what he's doing now, which is kind of struggling. And I think just getting that career accomplishment It is a little bit hard to kind of continue that. And then what happened at the PGA with the because the USGA randomly tested golf clubs and Something it wasn't anything nefarious. I don't think he was cheating or doing anything wrong, but there was something that did not pass their test with the driver.

So he didn't want to answer those questions. And I just. I I think, you know, just the the pressure that got to him, now he's finally like, you know what, I I don't care anymore and he doesn't feel obligated to answer those questions. And he's not the same affable Rory that we've known over the years.

So, what does this mean? He's going to win another green jacket in another 10 years? He's just going to be miserable? For his sake, I hope not. But I just think he's in one of those rusts right now.

He's still great off the team. He's still one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world, not only length, but accuracy. But the irons weren't very sharp today. You looked at his scrambling numbers. He only was one of five up and down 20%.

So that's not going to get it done. And that's why he shoots four over par for the opening round. Wes Reynolds is here with us, covers all things golf for Veeson. The last time I looked at the leaderboard, we had some notable names like DeChambo, who won last year, and then also Scheffler. These guys were like three shots over.

It's still early. It's just a day. It's around. What are your thoughts on what they'll be able to do the rest of this weekend? Yeah, for Scotty, look, you can never rule him out because he's the number one player in the world for a reason.

So I certainly wouldn't say, okay, he's done here, but he didn't hit enough fairways today. And if you don't hit fairways at Oakmont with the rough as thick as it is, five inches thick, and then the fact that we might get some weather over the weekend, that rain just makes it even thicker and tougher to get out of.

So if you're not hitting fairways, and really that's any U.S. Open, you're not going to win and you're not going to play very well. And that's, I think, was the cause of it, really, for Scotty today. The putting was just kind of like a net zero. And that was what I was worried about with him coming into this event because these greens are super fast.

They're 15 on the centimeter. It's like putting on glass. And that's where I thought it might trip Scotty up, but he did okay on the greens. But he and Bryson, I still think are in it. Bryson, it was a putting issue for him today.

He lost one and a half strokes putting, and that's why he shoots three over par, but drove the ball great, drove it long, drove it relatively accurate, did not miss a ton of fairways. But he's still got to, I think, tighten that up. But I think Bryson and Scotty, even though they're seven back, they're not out of it by a long shot.

Well, Wes, you you mentioned Like just the conditions at Oakmont. Are those the only two things that stand out making it difficult? The rough and how fast it plays on the greens. Are there any other issues that the players need to worry about over the weekend?

Well, and the fairways are pretty narrow too. They're only about 28 yards wide on average.

So these are not the cavernous, wide fairways that they're going to get most weeks on the PGA tour, whether it's Live or whatever tour these guys play on, respectively. It's the narrow fairways and it's the pressure of the U.S. Open. It's the rough. It's the greens being quick.

It's the fact that these greens, even though they're really, really big. They have a lot of slope to them.

So you'll hit a lot of these greens and then the balls will roll off.

So you'll have to get up and down in your chipping game, and those short pitches around the greens are gonna have to be on point. It's an all-around game because that's what the US Open is, that's what it's always been about. They want to reward good shots and they want to punish bad shots and they certainly did that in round one. Oh Wes, you you mentioned uh live or the PGA. I'm going to get to that in a second.

Outside of the the big names that we mentioned, are there any other players that we need to pay attention to? That aren't getting so much attention. Obviously, Spawn is sitting at the top of the leaderboard, having one of the best opening rounds ever. Is anybody else that we should pay attention to?

Well, looking kind of near the top, at least on the first page, John Rahm, who I like going before the tournament, and he's certainly a big name in his own right, even though he hasn't won in a minute. He played very well today. I thought a one-under round of 69. If he shoots 69 all four days, I think he's going to win the championship. But I thought played very solid, was terrific off the tee.

He was number one, actually, in strokes gained off the tee of any player in the field. Hit greens, did not make a lot of bogeys. And you're going to make bogeys in the U.S. Open. You just can't make a bunch of them.

You can make one or two or three in a round, but if you're making five, six bogeys, I don't care how many birdies or eagles you have. You're not going to shoot a good round. And then, surprisingly enough, when everybody doesn't back him and nobody really talks about him, there's Brooks Kepka again at 200 par, two strokes back. Nobody I know or saw was picking him this week because when everybody has been picking him, it's like, oh man, look at this price on Brooks Kepka. He's 50 to 1 or 60 to 1 going into this major and then has not really shown a lot of late.

Here he is tied for third at 200 par. But, you know, Cameron Young is another guy that I think if Starting to find something. He was in the mix at the RBC Canadian Open and then just had a bad 17th hole. And that's what found himself out of the playoff last week between Sam Burns and Ryan Fox. But Cam Young was kind of a.

Like trendy, I don't want to say trendy, but a trendier long shot that a lot of people like, then even par, very good start for Cameron Young.

Well, Wes, I I gotta go back to you you you triggered something in my brain. You mentioned live. And I feel like every month, once a month, there's a new story that comes out. And it's nothing new, it's about how they have yet to come to an agreement with the PGA. I mean, ultimately, I think Liv was their plan was to bleed them out with lawyers and then ultimately purchase them.

And then they said, let's just try to be friends and work something out. I feel like this is two years old at this point, going on three or four, and that has proven to be impossible. Are they ever going to have a resolution or will they exist this way, kind of the way it is now? Yeah, it's like wake me up when September ends, wake me up when this happens, when they finally get together, because we've been hearing a bunch of talk, but I think you have two sides that are pretty well dug in. Clearly, Lib has pretty unending funding, I would say.

Yeah, so so they they can they can be you see or can be in it for the long haul here with this public investment fund. And I think the PGA is kind of uh doing their thing. The PGA tour, I believe, just appointed an executive uh from the NFL today.

So, you know, they're doing their thing. They're doing okay. Liv is doing what they do. The ratings aren't very big right now because the T V deal is not that great. And just people don't know what to make of it.

People don't follow it. They know who the big names are on that tour, the Brysons and the Roms and the Brooks Kepka's and the like. And they focus on them when they get to the majors. But other than that, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind, I think, for mainstream audiences.

Well, Wes, how about me and you uh cobble some money together from somewhere else and we start our own league? I wouldn't mind that. Absolutely. I'd love to rule over something with you, JR. And now let's see what we can do.

Yeah, now we just have to find some place that has more money than the Saudis. I'll start looking, okay? Yeah, you let me know when we find that. We're going to be probably searching for a long time. I think if we cobble together all the grandmas in America and we look in their couches, I think we got a good shot.

We can put something together. We can at least have a little fun doing that. I think we certainly can. Hey, Wes, always a pleasure chatting with you, man. Tell everybody where they can keep up, listen, follow, and all that good stuff, man.

Yeah, at vSIN.com is where you get the columns and then the live audio streams, live video streams. And I'm also on the Twitter, the X, whatever they call it now, at Wes Reynolds, and then the number one on the end. Hey, Wes, always a pleasure, man. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, the start of the weekend, and I'll I I'll let you know when I find me a couple quarters in a cushion, okay? Please let me know, JR.

Good to be with you. Thanks for having me.