Good afternoon. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a giveaway where you and a friend can win a trip to the 2024 Presidents Cup. Stay tuned!

Here's what we've got for ya today:

• Tiger Woods Drill: Stop At The Top

• 2024 PGA Championship: Preview & Picks

• Golf Analysts Irate Over Jon Rahm Commentary

• Shots Heard Round The World

• How Data Scientists Are Helping Golf Bettors For the PGA Championship

• Seinfeld Golf Bit

• Divots…

• Thing We’d Buy

Tiger Woods Drill: Stop At The Top

Watch: Tommy Fleetwood’s Best Short Game Tips

Watch: How To Get More Distance Out Of Your Driver -Phil Mickelson

Preview: The PGA Championship

Is professional golf really in that bad of a place?

Yes, but this is actually the best week of the season so far, so lighten up everybody.

Earlier in the year there was a string of longshot winners, but lately the stars have been shining on their respective tours. That’s good for golf, considering 2024 has seen the fewest amount of pros with a sub-70 scoring average since 1987.

Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler all won their last starts.

They are the favorites in a full field of 156 that features 20 PGA Professionals, including the one and only Blockie.

🚩 Location: Valhalla Golf Club, KY.

💰 Purse: $17.5M - $3.15M to first.

👀 Watch On: CBS, ESPN+, Golf Channel

👑 Previous Winners:

• 2023: Brooks Koepka

• 2022: Justin Thomas

• 2021: Phil Mickelson

What The Analytics Say: Just like last week, it’s really helpful if you can bomb it off the tee. Plus, reports say the course is playing soft. Expect scoring opportunities.

What Our Guts Tell Us: This one is going to come down to the wire, unlike last week where Rory ran away with it.

How To Watch The Wells Fargo Championship

Thursday, May 16: 12-8 p.m. (ESPN); 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (ESPN2 Alternate telecast)
Friday, May 17: 1-8 p.m. (ESPN); 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (ESPN2 Alternate telecast)
Saturday, May 18: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN); 1-7 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, May 19: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN); 1-7 p.m. (CBS)

Weather Report for Valhalla

There’s already been rain in Louisville this week, which has people reporting that the course will be playing pretty soft to begin with, with more rain on the way Friday.

Favorites: 2024 PGA Championship

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg, Bryson Dechambeau, Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann, and Max Homa.

Full Field, Tee Times, Pairings For The First Two Rounds

Big Brain Analytics

Data: “Players hit more than 2 extra shots per round at Valhalla from 200+, which could help explain why length was such an important predictor of success. They also hit slightly more greenside bunker shots and short putts than at a typical PGA Tour course.”

Shanks Picks

We got whooped last week, but Shanks is still up 14.8 Units on the year.

Picks powered by Rithmm

• Winner: Brooks Koepka +1600

• T5: Ben An +850

• T10: Sahith Theegala +410

• T20: Min Woo Lee +185

• Longshot: Akshay Bhatia +12000

• Make The Cut Parlay: Dechambeau, Homa, Hatton, Day, Fleetwood, Koepka +337

Get an Edge with Rithmm

You can try Rithmm for free and use Ai Caddie to make live bets all weekend during the PGA Championship.

Plus, BetMGM has a 25% Odds Boost Token for the PGA Championship, which you can use on your Ai backed picks.

Try Free

News: Golf Analysts Irate Over Jon Rahm Commentary

This is a short story best told through quotes, but I’ll set the scene for you first. In his pre-PGA Championship presser, Jon Rahm was asked about Jimmy Dunne resigning from the PGA Board “now that he’s on the other side”. Jon Rahm took umbrage with that comment. He responded with:

• “See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not,” the 2023 Masters winner said. “I still want to support the PGA Tour. And I think that’s an important distinction to make. I don’t feel like I’m on the other side. I’m just not playing there.”

Then later, on Golf Channel, the analysts were irate about it.

• Aaron Oberholser said “…I want to wring his neck through the television. I’m that mad, right now. I’m that mad.”

• Then Eamon Lynch fired off “It’s not often you hear the arsonists give advice to the firefighters on how to extinguish the blaze and start asking when he can move back into the house…”

Read More

Shots Heard Round The World

🕌 PGA-PIF Dealmaker Resigns. On May 12, 2023, Jimmy Dunne was in Venice, Italy, meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, among others. Jay Monahan was there, too, looking to establish an agreement between the PIF and the PGA Tour to reunify the sport. Exactly one year and one day later — on May 13, 2024 — Dunne issued his resignation from the PGA Tour Policy Board, due to a lack of progress with that agreement. Read

🔎 The Unique One Week Rule That Will Be In Play At Valhalla. For the fourth consecutive year the PGA of America is allowing competitors to use rangefinders at the PGA Championship. Read

🐅 Long Way To Go Still… Tiger Woods, among the negotiators in PGA Tour merger talks with Saudi backers of LIV Golf, said Tuesday there has been progress but a deal remains a long way off. Read.

How Data Scientists Are Helping Golf Bettors For the PGA Championship

Betting on golf is not always the easiest or most intuitive task…especially when you consider that there are 156 players in the field. Sportsbooks overwhelm us with options and make sure only the golfers we know are the first ones seen, often causing us to overlook the bets that are truly valuable. It’s even harder when you consider who you’re betting against - Vegas.

But technology is leveling the playing field. And technology paired with the brains of genius golf fans has created the tool that has leveled the playing field.

That tool is Rithmm. 

Rithmm combines AI with the minds of quants and data scientists to help DFS players and sports bettors easily create custom betting models, find valuable betting opportunities, and more.

And for Golf specifically, Rithmm has absolutely changed the way people bet on every tournament. I was personally able to use Rithmm to hit on Chris Gotterup +1000 to finish Top 5 at Myrtle Beach last weekend (he won outright ;)), Sepp Straka Top 10, Russ Henley Top 10, and tons of other outrights.

Learn How To Use Rithmm

Kramers Golf Bits In Seinfeld

Divots…

Quote: “I was sitting there with a newborn in my arms and the green jacket in the closet. It was a pretty special time.”

That’s Scottie Scheffler talking about becoming a dad. Shout out to the dads out there!

Number: $5,000. The amount that Riggs from Foreplay has placed on Rory McIlroy to win the PGA Championship.

Read: Transgender golfer’s attempt to qualify for US Women’s Open sparks outrage on social media.

Thing We’d Buy: Tombolo

Tombolo’s tagline says it all.

“Inactivewear for leisurely escapes.”

Well, if golf isn’t a leisurely escape then what is?

Shop Tombolo

That’s all folks! See you Saturday Morning.