Lucas Glover has been surprising everyone!

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Specifically the distance from you to your remote control. NFL Sunday Ticket, now on YouTube and YouTube TV. Go to youtube.com slash presale to get $50 off. We're about a month away. A little bit more than a month away. Five weeks away from the Ryder Cup.

Matter of fact, five weeks from today I believe we will have matches one through eight already done. In Italy, Rich Lerner of Golf Channel is here to talk about how that team just might look. He joins us.

BMW Championship is the final chance to cement your name on the team making the top six. Mr. Lerner, it's been a while. How are you? Doing great, Adam.

How are you doing? I'm watching Lucas Glover right now on Golf Channel from the BMW outside Chicago. You could not have predicted that we'd be discussing Lucas Glover as a possible Ryder Cup pick. Guy has not played in one single major championship this year. But he's caught fire. And he's a great ball hitter. And he found a putter. He found a big old broomstick. And it's rescued his career.

Which can happen at age 43. Won two straight tournaments. It's one of the better stories of 2023 for sure.

Here's the funny thing. And I guess we'll start with Glover since you brought him up. I was more impressed with the win last week than I was at the Wyndham because of what he had to do under the pressure on Sunday on the back nine with Patrick Cantlay coming at him. The putts that he made for par. The putt he made for bogey.

All of that. And then Cantlay kind of gave it to him on the playoff hole by hitting his tee shot in the water. But Glover really had to show something there.

I know this is going to sound harsh. But I still think he needs to make the team on points. I don't think that a hot streak, even though the hot streak is well timed, I don't think just a hot streak should get you on the Ryder Cup.

Or I'd say should. I don't think it gets you on the Ryder Cup team. I think if he plays well, if he finishes high this week, he can make it on points. I think he's got two weeks. Obviously the top six automatic qualifiers are solidified at the end of this week. He's 16th in points.

I saw even par yesterday. Likelihood is he won't jump into the top six, but you never know. If, however, he finishes, say, 12th this week and then goes to Eastlake next week and finishes seventh, I think you'd have to take a hard look at him. He's an outstanding ball hitter. Would be good, I think, in four balls. And the golf course they're going to play is going to be set up for the Europeans, meaning they're going to try to mitigate the length the Americans typically possess. Europeans have some guys who can move it.

McElroy is nobody better off the tea than McElroy. John Rom we know can hit it, but the rough is going to be high. The fairways will be pinched.

You need to control your golf ball. Lucas Glover can do that. I'm making a case for Glover here. He would be a good partner for his good friend Brian Harmon. They're two sort of tough guys. You listen to Glover, he sounds like a Southeastern Conference football coach. No nonsense.

He's hungry. I think there's a case to be made, and current form has in the past mattered. The issue with Glover is he was such a bad putter for so long that you hope this isn't just some kind of quick fix and then he reverts to the mean by the time we're a month down the road and we get to the Ryder Cup. I wouldn't be disappointed if Glover made the team.

The question becomes, at who's expense? Yes, and that's where I was going to go. That's where I was going to go with Rich Lerner. I understand that this has been arguably the worst season in Justin Thomas' career when you throw out the first couple of years out on tour. I still can't close my eyes and not see Justin Thomas on the team. If we're just talking about who deserves to be there based on form this entire year, it's hard to make a case for Justin Thomas, except 6-2-1, undefeated with Jordan Spieth, the last Ryder Cup, plus you throw in his President's Cup acumen as well. I just don't see Justin Thomas not making this team. I think he's written in permanent marker on a whiteboard for Zach Johnson. He breathes fire. He's sort of become an American Ian Poulter, not afraid to get in the face of an opponent, and that's the Ryder Cup.

It's mano a mano. It's more like football than it is like golf. I think what will happen that we don't see is that Zach Johnson will go to his stalwart players. He'll go to Scottie Scheffler. He'll go to Jordan Spieth, and we're assuming Spieth, while not the top six, will make this team. He'll go to those trusted voices, and he'll ask them, what do you think?

What are you comfortable with? Now, a captain can be too conciliatory. At some point, the buck's got to stop with the leader. We saw how that hurt the American side done in 2012 with Davis Love, and the reaction to that was to bring in a cowboy for 2014, Tom Watson, my way or the highway, and that turned out to be a disaster.

It's sort of a mix. You've got to have your finger on the pulse of what your top players want and think is best, but then you, having run the numbers, done a deep dive on the data, then you ultimately have to make the decision. If he does lean on his players, and I suspect he will, then I think it favors Justin Thomas, although Brian Harman, I'm going to go back to Harman, who's very close friends with Lucas Glover. Harman's now solidified on the team by virtue of his win at the Open, and I think he probably will make a case for Lucas Glover. But yeah, look, would I argue with Justin Thomas?

No. I think former world number ones who have a dip in form, and Thomas is down to 24th in the world. It's not like he hadn't plummeted the way Jason Day did, the way Jordan Spieth did a few years ago, but still his last two rounds of majors were, what, 81 and 82?

That was bad. He did play better. He played better at Greensboro. I wouldn't argue it if Thomas was there again. A former world number one who's played well at the Ryder Cup and the President's Cup probably gets a little bit of leeway in the same way that I think Greg Norman back in 09. Well, he didn't have the depth that Zach Johnson will have. Gave a captain's pick to Adam Scott, who's in a bad slump.

It's an acknowledgement. I trust you to get your game back. You're that good. Yeah, I mean, Justin Thomas didn't just forget how to play.

Rich Lerner is here on the Adam Gold show. So I just want to run through. I mean, we're going to say Rickie Fowler, who, by the way, is playing very well this week and has a win this year and has a ton of top 10. I mean, he is all the way in. I would think, even though it hasn't been a great last two months for Xander Shoffley, I would imagine he is in, especially when you consider the partnership with Patrick Cantlay. So if we assume that JT, Fowler, Spieth, and Xander right now, given the top six, if it doesn't change, that those guys are in. You're talking about Colin Morikawa, Cam Young for the last two spots, if it's not Lucas Glover. Keegan Bradley has had a great year and he loves that event. He's certainly in the mix.

But I don't know if it doesn't stop with Young, who still hasn't won, but we know how good he is. And Morikawa, it's tough. Yeah, I mean, Morikawa.

And I think Morikawa is being disrespected slightly in all this. He's what, 26. He's won two major championships.

He's one of the best iron players in the world. Again, I think that's going to matter at Marco Simone. I think you've got to have somebody who you need somebody who is a reliable ball hitter. And if I had to choose between Young and Morikawa, I'd lean Morikawa. Young hits it a ton, but I worry with the high run if it gets away from him.

And it can, whether that will hurt the United States. And Bradley, you know, he's made a good case. There's no question. But again, I would lean Morikawa here. And a lot of this is dependent on what happens with Brooks Koepka too.

That's my next question. If Koepka is bumped out of the top six, those automatic qualifiers, and he could be, depending on how the BMW plays out, then it raises the question, should Zach Johnson consider him? And I would say he will consider him. But my guess is that he'll lean against with all of the controversy that inviting a live player would bring to Italy.

All the questions that will raise. I'm not I'm not saying Brooks wouldn't be accepted. I think he would be. I think of the guys that went to live. Brooks and Dustin Johnson are the are the least. Loads of of that group, and I'm saying that by their peers. Yes, they have a level of acceptance that DeChambeau, Mickelson, Reed do not. And on top of it, in Brooks's favor, is he won the PGA Championship in the PGA of America runs from the United States point of view, runs the Ryder Cup. So there's a case to be made for Brooks. And that part of that case is the guy is all world. Yes.

He's tough as nails. We know that. But if you think this is going to to help live golf, then you you probably don't want Brooks to be there. And if you're uncomfortable with the the arrangement and we don't have the time probably to get into all of that. Right. Here's my here's my thing.

Rich, I appreciate your time. I think there's more controversy if you don't. I think Brooks kept as a slam dunk to be on the team.

Just listen. I listen to Zach on a on the No Laying Up podcast yesterday, and he he almost sounds like Brooks was going to be on the team regardless. I think you can make a case that Dustin Johnson should be considered for a captain's pick as well. But he has not played as well in the majors as Brooks has. So there's no case to be made based on that performance.

Brooks, who has been great in the majors, I think you could just simply say, look at what he did in those big events. I think he'll be on the team if you're going to if you're going to make a case for Justin Thomas is a former world number one who's who who hasn't had great form to be on the team. Well, then you have to make that case for Dustin Johnson, who was five and oh at the last writer.

Yes, in Wisconsin. And it is arguably a better talent, even as good as Justin Thomas is, but a better talent, even even than Thomas for this 24 wins versus 15. He's older.

I get that 15 for Thomas. It comes down to to to to what degree do we want to continue to legitimize live golf? I'm still not entirely comfortable with that enterprise, given their association with the Saudis. And I understand where all of this is headed.

I've been down this road with every single argument. They invest in every American company. We buy their oil.

What about China? I don't really need to hear at this point. I'm still I'm still uncomfortable with it all. Oh, you know, make peace with it.

But at this point, this is only my preference. I would prefer if there was a statement made it. These guys and Mickelson in particular do not forget they tried to end the PGA Tour.

I don't care what they said. If they had their druthers, they would have picked off Woods. They would have picked off McElroy. They would have thrown this illogical money at every superstar and ended the PGA Tour.

That was the plan. We can have we can we get out of the debate whether some of Mickelson's issues were legitimate. Some were. Many were not.

Most could have been resolved had he had he stayed around. And we're getting far afield. But I'm I'm just not I'm not prepared personally to to legitimize what live is all about, who backs them and and what they represent to me personally. And I concede that they're. Panthers playbook, download and subscribe today at sports fan dot com or wherever you discover your favorite podcasts.

Pack therapy wherever you listen to podcasts or listen on WRAL sports fan dot com. It's not black and white, and there are a lot of angles on this issue, many of which make some sense. And I've heard them all.

I get them all. But but if I were calling the shots, I'm not I would I would not go down that road. But if they do, they do. And if you're going to go down that road, then and you're opening it up to to live.

Well, then, yes, then you have probably have to look at to Shambo then, too, who just shot 50 nothing on on the list. He did so. Right. So so then if you're going to open it up and then I don't know, you know, is everybody comfortable with that? I don't actually think Bryson hasn't had a good enough year to really put him in, put himself.

I would say Glover and his recent streak over Bryson to Shambo's two days. And they tried to end a great American sports league and we're going to go we're going to go wait. We're going to wait at the red, white and blue again. But there's nothing cynical here. There's nothing that seems quite as American as selling to the Saudis.

And that's you know, that's what we're in the process of doing. And, you know, they still have not fully been held to account. And while, you know, they've made numerous investments in American public companies, these players were in a position as private contractors to to make some sort of a statement. But they did.

They did make a statement. Look, I understand that there's another argument as golfers should not. You know, why are golfers being held to a different standard than than Uber and Starbucks?

Then pick the company that has Saudi money. It's not apples and it's not apples to apples there. But look, we're the Ryder Cup.

I would say a couple of things away from that. U.S. hasn't won on foreign soil in 30 years. That's that's a story line there. They're likely to be without the Americans. A significant portion of the lineup that blew out the Europeans in Wisconsin.

Some may. Dustin Johnson went five and. Oh, right. Right now, there's no sense that he's going to be on that team. DeChambeau was unbeaten on that team on the European side. This was a group that always was defined by the camaraderie, the indomitable will to win that fighting underdog spirit.

Nine countries coming together with one mission to beat the Giants on the other side. That's gone. They're divided. You're talking about captains who've been deposed. Henrik Stenson was the captain and he went to live.

He's no longer captain. None of those guys are. Garcia Garcia and McElroy friendships that were broken apart because of lived golf and everything surrounding that. All of that said, they do have a strong lineup. If you look at their first date on paper, it includes McElroy and Ron and Victor Hoblin and Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton. I mean, it's a strong group and you factor in their playing on home soil. And I would say if it's not pick them, I don't know what the odds makers have that it's going to be very close.

At least as the odds makers see it. But I think the Europeans will have a little bit of pressure on that. And they've lost what is it to where they lost in 16 and 22.

And they were on for four. So it was in Paris and the United States was a disaster there. But I would say the Europeans have a little pressure on them. This idea that maybe they aren't what they once were, which is this impenetrable group that was fully bonded.

No, they have some questions to answer as well. I want to talk about this again before we get to the end of September. Rich Lerner, I appreciate your time always, sir. It's good to catch up. I will talk to you again soon. You got it. Rich Lerner here of Golf Channel.