The Ryder Cup is here!

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See website for details. And there was a question posed to, I guess, Seth Waugh from the PGA of America about the potential captaincy of Phil Mickelson. And again, I'm just going to leave those to the side. Who's the favorite here? Because I know the betting markets say the United States is the favorite. But, like, every European player seems to be playing well than every American player.

So, why aren't they the favorites at home? Okay, first of all, Adam, I want to go through the archives and find our discussion from April and see if you didn't call the Masters your favorite golf tournament. No, no, I didn't.

I definitely wouldn't have. It's not even my favorite major. Oh, okay. All right.

Okay. Secondly, look, there's no other sporting event. There's no other rivalry in the entire world where one team cannot lose for 30 years on home soil. And yet they're the underdog when they come back there. And yet the U.S. has been favorite all along.

They were favorite dig a few months ago. I don't like betting on things where I don't know who's going to be involved. You need to know the participants. Actually, I have a few rules in betting. I'd like to know who's playing before I actually bet on the event itself.

And so I wish I had jumped on your of it plus 200 a couple of months ago. That number has been steadily coming down as we've gotten close to the proceedings. And I just saw one book has it just about even for both teams right now.

I guess we can't really call them the underdogs, maybe a slight underdog right now. But, you know, going through the matches where you start, you know, and I just tried to predict all 28 matches for the Ryder Cup should be out on the action network as we speak right now. But it's an exercise in futility because it really is difficult to predict any of this stuff that's going to happen, especially since you don't know who's playing.

No, we don't know. It's like going back and forth and looking at potential matches. I'm like, the U.S. kind of has the upper hand in some of these, especially when we get towards the bottom end of the roster for Europe. So I can see the Europe. I can see the U.S. being a little bit of a favorite over Europe.

I think it makes sense, kind of. But, man, this is going to be really close. Yeah, see, right now, I mean, I'm just using the draft games and it's plus 115. Europe is plus 115. If I can get the home team, who I think right now on paper, yeah, the bottom of the European roster isn't as good as the bottom of the American roster. But right now, the way Viktor Hovland, Rory and Rahm aren't playing at the top of their game, you'd be hard pressed to find an American player who's playing at the top of theirs.

None of the American stalwarts either had great years or are playing well maybe in the last two months based on what their form was earlier in the year. And I'm telling you, I think there are some European rookies. I am all over Aberg from Sweden, who comes out of Texas Tech, who now wants everybody, right?

He is ready to go. He could play all five matches for all we know. What do you make of Brooks Koepka's mullet and how that will help propel him to maybe being sneaky, the American's best player? Well, the American's have two mulleted players in Koepka and Burns for whatever that's worth. So, a sixth of our team is sporting mullets in Italy this week.

I like it. I think Brooks Koepka is going to play well. Reading between the lines, we had Jim Furyk on our show a couple of weeks ago. He's an assistant captain.

Zach Johnson's echoed the same thing. Marco Simone, the host golf course in Rome this week is a very difficult walk. It's going to be physically demanding for these players.

And so, I'm reading between the lines. I don't think any U.S. player is going to play five matches. Brooks Koepka, I know the knee has been much better. I know he's been playing some good golf, but I don't know that he's a guy you're going to throw out for maybe more than one match a day. So, you look at Koepka, maybe it's only three matches. I do think he's going to be paired with Wyndham-Clark.

He said publicly that he wants Wyndham-Clark. Wyndham-Clark has said publicly he wants Brooks Koepka as a partner, and I have a hard time thinking they won't play together. I think we play really well, especially in four balls, together.

The best ball format. So, I think Koepka's a very good choice, but you have to look beyond. You're looking at, for a top point scorer, more quantity than quality. You know, you have to look at if a guy's going to indeed play five matches, which is possible.

I don't think it's going to happen, but it's possible. That's certainly going to give him an upper hand in having the most points for the team than somebody who only plays three matches. I think Koepka, as the top choice, as the, I guess they call it wild card, but as the top scoring captain's pick is like plus 300, I kind of like those odds.

By the way, same with Aberg. Plus 300 to be the top scoring European captain's pick. He's plus 900 to be the top scoring European.

I wouldn't be surprised. Look, the guy is really, really good. We've never seen a player in the Ryder Cup who hasn't yet played a major championship in his career. I mean, we're talking about him amongst the best players in the world. He was in college this year. He was in college earlier this year.

He's already won on the DP world tour. The guy, you watch him play and we see athletes in other sports, Adam. We see guys, whether it's a Patrick Mahomes or, you know, somebody in another sport and they just make the game look easy. Shohei Ohtani makes it look easy in baseball.

It's just, you watch Woodvig Aberg swing and boy golf just looks easy when he plays and he's going to be a world beater for a long time. This could be his true, bold international coming out party this week. Jason Sobel, Action Network, Sirius XM hitting the green, which might be on right now. He's joining us on the Adam Gold show. Justin Thomas, Justin Thomas.

I mean, I listen to it on my own. Justin Thomas, captain's pick, sort of controversial, should have never been controversial. He was always going to be on the team unless he forgot which end of the club to hold.

So what do you anticipate from him? Do you think he plays? He and Jordan Spieth go out in alternate shot in foursomes Friday morning.

Yes, and I think they're the first pairing. First of all, thank you for that take because I completely agree. People said that Justin Thomas was a controversial captain's pick. He shouldn't have been on the team. It's assumed that he was the last player to make it of the six that were picked by Zach Johnson.

But I, I tend to believe that Johnson, that Thomas was on the team the entire time that maybe Sam Burns was the last player. I think JT pairs very well with Jordan Speed, the fifth place finish at the Fortinet championship should give him some confidence coming into this week. I think it's going to be the same old JT when we get there and I expect them not only to be paired together, but I think that's the first team off the box. They've paired together in 10 previous matches in the Ryder and President's Cups combined.

Three of those times they've been first off the box in their session. I think if you're trying to quiet the European crowd, that's the most emotional of the potential American duos they could have out there. And I think they want to go out there and make a statement early. And I would think Spieth and JT first off the box for the Americans makes a whole lot of sense. Yeah, and it might not even be their best pairing because I think we have to go to Patrick Cantlay and Xander Chafle maybe for that. I would anticipate they would play three of the four pairs sessions, maybe not going out there Saturday morning as well. But if they play well, I think they'll play both sessions on Friday and then one of the two on Saturday. And also, I mean, Scottie Scheffler, still the world number one. I know he changed putting coaches, but he can just hit it close enough for Sam Burns to make a putt, right?

And foursomes. Yeah, that's absolutely right. I agree with you completely on Schauffele and Cantlay. First of all, I haven't been playing both sessions on Friday, sitting on Saturday morning and then going out Saturday afternoon playing in four balls. I've got for my top point scorer for the U.S., Xander Schauffele. But look, if you like Schauffele and Cantlay together, you can get them both at plus 600 and then essentially you have two choices, two chances of winning.

I bet at plus 300 if you take them together. And so I think that makes a lot of sense as well. So I think those guys have experience. They have experience playing with each other. They like playing with each other.

And honestly, they have high floors because they don't really have any weaknesses in their games. Those are not guys like Scheffler. You mentioned the putting. He's working with Phil Kenyon and noted putting guru.

And maybe that will have some immediate effects this week. But he has an obvious weakness in his game right now. Schauffele and Cantlay are the two guys on the American team that you look at and say there's really no weaknesses there and they should go out there and play some good golf this week. Final thing for Jason Sobel, Action Network. We're going to leave the Bryson DeChambeau thing away because look, Bryson had four kicks at the Cannon major championships and didn't play well enough in the majors and Brooks Koepka did. That's why he's there. I mean, what he did last week at the live event in Chicago is irrelevant. The team was already picked and he only had one really good week. It happened to be a great one at Greenbrier. But there was a question asked of Seth Waugh, PGA of America executive director yesterday by Rich Lerner of Golf Channel who wondered about the captaincy of Phil Mickelson going forward.

And it was evaded. The question was evaded because it should have been because we don't know what the status of Phil is ever going to be again. What's your sense of not only Phil, but who the next captain might be?

Boy, it's a great question right now. I certainly don't see Phil Mickelson being the next captain of the US team if things play out the way that this framework agreement is suggesting and everyone gets together and and things get back to some sense of normalcy in the world of golf. Maybe Phil gets back into the PGA of America's good graces and he can become a captain further down the road.

I would have thought he would be a lock two years ago. I would have said Phil's a lot for being the captain at that page and I thought at one time that Phil could be almost a captain in perpetuity. He would have loved that role.

Players would have loved him in that hole. Tiger could have been a behind the scenes assistant captain where he doesn't have to do the press conferences and get in front of the cameras. But he can make the pairings with Phil and Phil could be the guy doing all the showcasing in front of the cameras. I just don't know. Right now I'm sure Phil's sitting at home somewhere wondering himself whether he'll ever be invited back to another Ryder Cup as part of the team.

Yeah, I am too. I know Freddie Couples has not been a Ryder Cup captain but he's been an assistant and he's been a President's Cup captain multiple times. I think he'd be great in New York City at Bethpage coming up in two years. Players love him and they all know the Tiger would be heavily involved.

If Tiger is not the captain, we'll see what happens but I get the sense the Tiger is going to be the captain in Ireland next time the United States is on foreign soil after this one. Jason Sobel. At Jason Sobel. TAN. Action Network.

Sirius XM. I appreciate your time, man. I'll be texting you throughout. But not at 1.30 in the morning when they take off. You can do that.

I'll be up. I will point out one thing. I know you were probably watching the Solon Cup this past weekend. I did. I know it didn't make major news outside of golf circles but it finished 14-14 and there's no tiebreaker. A tiebreaker is essentially whoever won two years previously, they retain the Cup. That's what happened.

Europe retained the Cup. It's been big news. We spent two hours on our show talking about it yesterday. I hate ties. I mean, if the Kansas City Chiefs go to the Super Bowl this year and they're tied after four quarters, can you imagine they just hand the Lombardi Trophy to Patrick Mahomes?

Sure. Here, you guys won last year so you keep it again. No, you go to overtime. You break ties. I can tell you right now, there's no tiebreaker. The Ryder Cup is the same way as the Solon Cup. The Americans won two years ago.

There's a very good chance. There's a 14-14 tie and this becomes major news at the end of the week where we go, wait a second. We got the trophy but we didn't really win it because we tied and there's no tiebreaker and people are going to be up in arms about it. I love it. By the way, yesterday on our Place Your Bet segment, I've got a tie.

14-14 plus 1200. I'm rooting for it. Oh, I'd hate it. You know what?

I said on my show, instead of taking the trophy home, just drop it halfway between Europe and the U.S. and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean if you're going to do that. Oh my gosh. It's okay. I love it. All right, man. I'll talk to you later.

Thanks. So, I don't understand. First of all, this is my problem with the whole thing. It's not a new concept. It just isn't. Not every sport is the same. I have no problem with games ending in a tie.

It is what it is. Sometimes a tie is a fair result for both sides. Sometimes neither team deserves to win. Sometimes neither team deserves to lose. In that case, both teams walk away, maybe not happy, but at least not mad.

I think it's okay. That's just a separate issue, but the fact remains that the Ryder Cup cannot end in a tie because if it does, if it is 14 for Europe and 14 for the United States, the United States wins. It doesn't go down in history as a victory, but you keep the Cup, and that is the point, to keep the Ryder Cup. So, the team that won it last has to do just a little bit less to keep it. We've all heard the phrase, the tie goes to the runner, right?

Well, in this case, the United States is the runner. Or, in football, two people go up, a wide receiver and a defensive back go up to catch the ball, and simultaneous possession, we don't have a tiebreaker, we don't do an arm wrestling match, we don't flip a coin. If two people, if two players have simultaneous possession, you know who gets it? The offense gets it.

That's the tiebreaker, right? Again, not all sports are the same. So, again, not a new concept. Brand new. The Solheim Cup, which I did watch some of this weekend, was, I thought, great theater. I am looking forward to the Ryder Cup in Rome, which will also be incredible.