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00:00And we are back for El Coast to Coast here on a Wednesday, and yes, a supersized golf Wednesday today as we get ready for the Masters teeing off in the morning to drive down Magnolia Lane.
00:13Let's do it, baby. Smiley Kaufman, of course, is with us every week. You catch the Smiley Show every week here on SportsGrid, and he is there getting ready for the Masters in Augusta.
00:24Smiley, it is great to see you as always, my man. First thing, like, you're down there. It looks awesome.
00:29The course looks great. The weather looks great. And I'm seeing you with the Smiley Show.
00:34I mean, how about talking to Ben Crenshaw this week about winning the Champions Dinner, everything? That was really cool, Smiley.
00:42It was pretty legendary stuff, getting to sit down with Ben Crenshaw for 30 minutes.
00:48It was definitely a highlight of the Smiley Show for certain, and this is just a great week.
00:52You said it. The weather looks incredible. It rained pretty much all day Monday, and then yesterday was fantastic.
00:59Today was great. Had a chance to walk the golf course today, get a pretty up-close look at every single hole.
01:07It looks a little bit different, I'll say, just with 11, 12, 13, the amount of trees that are down compared to years past.
01:15So visually, it looks a little bit different to my eye, but if you went for a first time, you would never be able to notice.
01:21But I think just some sight lines are a little bit different.
01:25And then just overall course-wise, it was pretty slow yesterday, but the greens got ramped up again today, and the place appears to be fairly dry.
01:35And I think it's going to be a very firm and fast Masters this year.
01:39Of course, Smiley, I would say the biggest storyline, and we love the Masters for storylines.
01:45That's what it's all about.
01:46I mean, look, you have Scotty going for three out of four, two in a row, hasn't won this year.
01:52He's the favorite on the board.
01:54And then you have Rory, who's playing the best golf ever going into the Masters.
01:58He's won twice this year at Pebble and at the Players.
02:01So those are like the two titans right now, Smiley.
02:04I'll get into the rest of the field in a moment, but how about these two big guys, the two big storylines going into tomorrow?
02:11Well, I think Rory is probably the biggest story, knowing that this is the one he hasn't been able to win to complete the Grand Slam.
02:21He's already won a couple times this year, big events.
02:25And it just kind of seems like it's his time for the Masters this year, the mental side of the game.
02:30It just seems like, to me, watching from the outside and even watching him inside the ropes early this year, the game just seems natural to him.
02:40He's not fighting himself.
02:43It's really impressive to watch.
02:45And then, of course, Scotty going for three out of four.
02:47I mean, it's pretty dang impressive.
02:50He said earlier this week in a press conference that this is the best forum he's been in heading to any tournament this year.
02:56And when you think about this golf course and how well he's played it and how suited it is to his game as far as just how good he is with his irons and underrated he is with his pitching around the greens.
03:06And what it really all comes down to this week is can you go out and just hammer out the par fives?
03:15If you can go out and play these par fives well and then be really good tee to green on the other holes, you're going to have a chance come Sunday.
03:23This usually, Smiley, isn't a tournament where you've got some big long shot bomb that comes in.
03:30Now, look, we've had him.
03:31I mean, there's no doubt about it.
03:32It seems like once every 10 or 12 years, somebody does come out of nowhere and win it.
03:37But for the most part, it's the big dogs that are going to eat here, Smiley.
03:40And I actually think there's a bunch of them near the top of this board that are kind of getting slept on a little bit.
03:47Whether that's Jon Rahm, maybe, who's won here, Xander, who won two majors last year.
03:52How about these other guys that are right below Scotty and Rory?
03:56Well, I think Colin Moore-Cal is the one that is the first one that comes to my brain just because of how good of an iron player he's been in his career.
04:05He's typically gotten better each year with the putter.
04:08You don't necessarily have to be the best putter in the field to win this golf tournament, but what you really need to have is the ability to control your golf ball, avoid three-putting.
04:19And, you know, Colin Moore-Cal, he's done a really nice job of that.
04:23He's had some good events here, of course.
04:25But other guys, too, that are a little down the board.
04:28I mean, I lean more Bryson DeChambeau probably over Jon Rahm.
04:32I just think Bryson's length is such an asset and obviously playing well in the major season last year, getting off to a nice start last week at the Live Miami.
04:42I think he's another player that's going to have a good week.
04:45But, you know, distance is, I think, a really key aspect of this golf course because I think landing angles into these greens that are going to be very firm, players are going to have shorter irons.
04:56And I think that's a tremendous advantage.
04:59How about Smiley a little bit further?
05:02First of all, I don't want to run out of time.
05:03Give me who's your pick this week because you always have the one-and-done pick.
05:06You hit a couple weeks ago with Ben Wu.
05:08Who do you have?
05:09Who's your guy to win Augusta this week?
05:12I took Bryson.
05:13And so with one-and-done, of course, you know, the idea is to, you know, maybe not use the PGA Tour players because the Live guys you can only use four times during the year.
05:24So my strategy has been to try to go live golfers at the majors.
05:28So Bryson's my favorite of that group.
05:30But other guys I really like, too, Shane Lowry is a player that I really think has played really well this year.
05:36Sef Straka.
05:37I think Will Zalatouris is really being slept on.
05:41And even a player like Victor Hovland.
05:43I think he's got tremendous value just because of how talented he is.
05:49And just look at even last year at the PGA Championship, had no form and just about won that event.
05:55So Victor Hovland's a guy that I think people continue to sleep on.
05:58And he's already won this year.
06:00And even so, it's crazy that he's probably still working on everything.
06:05But Victor Hovland could just as easily win this event, too.
06:08Yeah, really not being talked about at all, Smiley, even though he won three weeks ago.
06:14You know, some of the older guys are playing well, too.
06:16Sergio, Phil.
06:18You know, there's a few guys that have been playing some pretty good golf.
06:21Maybe can hang around that leaderboard Saturday and Sunday.
06:26Maybe even a guy like Keegan Bradley, too.
06:28The captain of the United States Ryder Cup team.
06:31Keegan Bradley could have a good week.
06:32That wouldn't surprise me.
06:33And he's trying to play his way onto the team and not have to be a captain's pick.
06:38So this one would go a long way for him.
06:40He'd get plenty of points this week, Smiley, if he could pull it off.
06:44He'd go a long way towards making that happen.
06:47Smiley, enjoy it down there this week.
06:49We will be watching you right here on Sports Grid on the Smiley Show for all the great stuff
06:55you're going to have down there.
06:57Enjoy it.
06:57And we'll talk to you next week, buddy.
06:59Thanks, Mike.
07:00I appreciate it.
07:00It's the best, man.
07:01Masters week.
07:02You can't beat it.
07:03Let's go, Smiley.
07:05Masters week, baby.