Mm-hmm.

Jonathan.

Uh, loved that.

Um, yeah, kinda scary coming off...

I think he gained 1.95 strokes on approach last week.

That's Scottie Scheffler.

Um, so obviously he should be, um, the number he's at.

As you looked farther down the board, who popped to you, and the skill set matches the field this way?

but uh christopher powers joins us here on the progressive guests line to help us break it all down and unpack things golf digest senior writer you can follow him on x as well at c powers 14 and when you look at the odds board for this weekend the market certainly seems to think that he will a three to one shot and there's pretty significant separation between he and rory mcelroy xander shoffley as you go down the list three to one to then 13 to 117 to one

Yeah, absolutely.

Nice shout out to John Sterling there, by the way, Jonathan.

I love that.

Yeah, kind of scary coming off.

I think he gained 1.95 strokes on approach last week.

That's Scotty Scheffler.

yeah burns in that 17 18 to 1 range is christopher powers of golf digest joins us here on the progressive guest line well let's get into some of those names then as you looked farther down the board who popped to you and the skill set matches the field this way

Your thoughts on the conditions and whether or not it favors certain guys

or not.

Could not agree more with what you just said.

I think it opens it up to a lot of guys who maybe hit it a little bit on the shorter side, but are in more control of their golf ball.

You've heard guys say that five irons are rolling out 300 yards.

It's going to be interesting.

I would imagine guys banging driver.

He ain't winning these suckers anymore.

If you're dealing with patellofemoral problems, we're thinking more of the long-term benefit by correcting the alignment of the femur underneath the patella.

So we started...

You know, I, I really don't think there's a magical exercise necessarily, but what we've been studying for the last 10 years or so is this whole concept of, uh, glute amnesia.

So basically, the gluteal muscles, the gluteus maximus and the gluteus medius, are the key stabilizers of the femur.

But what we realized when we started developing intervention programs, exercise programs to address the weakness in these muscles, we realized that a lot of patients just simply couldn't activate the muscle.

Like, they have a real hard time.

The brain is just not signaling the gluteal muscles appropriately to generate a strengthening effect.

And if somebody can't do that 30 times in a row, they probably shouldn't be running yet because they're gonna be doing it 1,000 times if they go out and run a mile, so.

What about some other outri- uh, outrights that you have in your pocket, Chris?

Yeah, I'm going with, uh, Chris Raetan, who earned his way to the PGA tour via the DP World Tour last year, so he's very comfortable in Europe.

He's very comfortable in Scotland.

He tied for 13th here a year ago, then he tied for fifth at the Dunhill Links, which is played at three links courses, uh, in the fall in Scotland.

He is a 28-year-old PGA Tour rookie, so rookie in name only, but he's 16th in the FedEx Cup standings.

That's pretty crazy for a guy in his first full season on the PGA Tour.

That's higher than his fellow countryman, Viktor Hovland.

Anything in particular stand out to you this week?

What about some other outrights that you have in your pocket, Chris?

Yeah, I'm going with Chris Raytan, who earned his way to the PGA Tour via the DP World Tour last year.

So he's very comfortable in Europe.

He's very comfortable in Scotland.

He tied for 13th here a year ago.

Then he tied for fifth at the Dunhill Lynx, which is played at... three links courses in the fall in Scotland.

He is a 28 year old PGA tour rookie.

christopher powers of golf digest breaking down the genesis scottish open with us here on the progressive guest line i know you also delve into some of the placement markets as well looking at whether it be top 5 top 10 top 20s anything in particular stand out to you this week

But mentally, he was able to grind through that on the back nine yesterday.

Absolutely.

It was, it was incredibly impressive, not to mention with everyone, like you said, rooting against him.

I think guys, certain guys would hit, hit it like he did off the tee and shoot 78.

To get 73 out of it with his short game and putting was, was incredible.

Just back to your, a couple of your points though.

Like, even when, even when we're rooting against a European, like, there's almost like when the guy does something well and he makes a putt, like a le- like a respectful kind of cheer.

This was during the final round of the US Open, and I just felt that his people made a conscious decision to almost humanize themselves, and him, and his quote, unquote, "team." And just giving of their time when they gave it up is virtually unprecedented.

He's obviously got that type of skill.

Yeah, well, I mean, I guess I would go off your board there and say just the approach play has not been there this year.

That's been the strength of his game over these last few years, that he's kind of taken over the sport.

He's been number one in strokes gained approach.

He's nowhere near number one right now.

You're going to need that to be dialed this week.

But I do agree with you, slow starts.

When you look at someone who gets up and down because they're going to miss one, do they change a little bit of the way they play? Cause missing shorts better here, or is it just missing in the right spots? And then when you look at that, who's the guys, who are the guys you like because of their ability to get up and down.

So what are we doing with the matchup the, this, uh, for this weekend?

My matchup this week, what did I put in there? I, I actually like a lot ...

Oh, Keith Mitchell over Aaron Rai.

I know Aaron Rai is obviously a hot golfer right now, a major champion.

Um, but like I said, you gotta hit it long.

You can kind of wail away with the driver here.

That's not his style.

Okay

So what are we doing with the matchup for this weekend?

my matchup this week.

What did I put in there? I actually like a lot.

Oh, Keith Mitchell over Aaron Rye.

I know Aaron Rye is obviously a hot golf right now, a major champion.

But like I said, you got to hit a long, you can kind of wail away with the driver here.

That's not his style.

And do you have a long shot for us today?

Is there a guy, you know, that maybe hasn't played as well this year that this could be their week? Is there someone, I don't know, 40, 50 to 1 or on, that you go, "I could see this guy having a really good week"?

[sighs] I mean, I, I like Patrick Reed, but he has had a, a great year.

Now, like you mentioned, he has not played since the Masters, which is certainly concerning, but, um, everybody was on him at the Masters, and, and I understand that's because he plays so well at Augusta National, and he had played well on the DP World Tour leading in.

Um, then he goes and finishes T12 at Augusta, and now he's, like, double the odds.

I just find that to be a little bit off.

I, I gather it's because he hasn't played in a month.

But I have, I don't really have any concerns about Patrick Reed.

Who has an advantage on this course when you look at the short game, if you will? Because I think that's where you win and lose majors.

Is there a guy, you know, that maybe hasn't played as well this year that this could be their week? Is there someone, I don't know, 40, 50 to 1 or on, that you go, "I could see this guy having a really good week"?

[sighs] I mean, I, I like Patrick Reed, but he has had a, a great year.

Now, like you mentioned, he has not played since the Masters, which is certainly concerning.

But, um, everybody was on him at the Masters, and, and I understand that's because he played so well at Augusta National, and he had played well on the DP World Tour leading in.

Um, then he goes and finishes T12 at Augusta, and now he's, like, double the odds.

I just find that to be a little bit off.

I, I gather it's because he hasn't played in a month.

green.Who has an advantage on this course when you look at the short game, if you will? Because I think that's where you win and lose majors.

I'm not-

Well, I, actually, that's kind of where I was about to go.

You know, like, Masters, he had the press conference, he did media.

He had some distractions.

This week, I mean, we like to find these under-the-radar guys, the guys no one's, quote-unquote, "talking about." He kind of fits that bill this week, and he's just, you know, kind of flying solo in there, under the radar.

He's double the odds he was at the Masters when the whole world was on him.

Um, I think that's kind of where he thrives, and he thrives in the Northeast.

No, we're not, we're not going there.

Uh, any, uh, golfer outrights that you would like to share with us?

Yeah, oddly enough, I don't have anyone under, um, 50 to 1.

My first guy this week is Ben Griffin, because I think 50 to 1 is a pretty crazy price on a guy who made the Ryder Cup team last year, had an all world season, and kind of got off to a really slow start to 2026, which I think was kind of expected, him coming back to earth.

But he started to round back into his 2025 form as of late, uh, highlighted by a T3 last week at the Cadillac.

Hit it great off the tee.

Like I said, you gotta be long, you gotta be straight, and you gotta make putts.

That's what Ben Griffin does.

Mm

What, what's that like for you?

Well, yeah, for a while, I mean, I, I go to, I go to The Players every year.

Uh, I've gone to the Masters the last four years.

Um, every time there's an event in, near my area, I go.

But I'm not on the road every single week, which I think makes it a little easier to act the way I act on, on social media.

Um, and especially before I, you know...

After The Players, I kinda really blew up a little bit as, in terms of my following.

... we've talked about it on this podcast several times, but like I don't know if cookie challenges are exactly growing the game and the... [laughs]