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00:00After one of the most memorable masters we have seen in some time ahead of a new week on the PGA Tour,
00:07Keith Stewart joins us live right here on this Wednesday morning on the early line on SportsGrid
00:12for not one but two segments.
00:14One, of course, to recap what we saw on a Sunday afternoon at Augusta National Golf Club.
00:20And as you see, Keith live in Hilton Head right now for the RBC Heritage,
00:25another signature event on the PGA Tour this upcoming week as well.
00:30Keith, as always, we appreciate the time.
00:32Thanks for being here on TEL.
00:35Ben, Donnie, I couldn't think of a better place to be on a Wednesday morning.
00:38I mean, last week was pretty good.
00:40Let's get into it.
00:42Yes, it certainly was, Keith.
00:44As we saw, what a Sunday it was at Augusta.
00:48The ups and downs, the peaks and valleys.
00:51A final round at the Masters, really indicative of where Roy McIlroy has dealt with
00:57in trying to win that career Grand Slam.
00:59And finally, in his first ever green jacket.
01:02He was able to accomplish that on his 19th hole of Sunday in the playoff,
01:07defeating Justin Rose.
01:08To complete the career Grand Slam, 11 years in the making,
01:12and finally call himself a Masters champ.
01:15Keith, you were our boots on the ground at Augusta all week long
01:19as you were following the action on Sunday.
01:22As everybody was watching Rory deal with those demons and finally put on the green jacket.
01:28What were you seeing?
01:29What was your reaction?
01:31What was the buzz and atmosphere like around Augusta?
01:34Well, Ben, Donnie, it was the ultimate hyperbole overnight on Saturday.
01:39It was Bryson.
01:40It was Rory.
01:41And what it really turned into.
01:42I mean, who would have known at the turn when Rory suddenly up four shots
01:46and it basically, it looks like it's going to be another one of those snooze fest Sundays
01:50at Augusta National.
01:51Well, Rory didn't want to have it.
01:52He dunks the ball in the water on 13.
01:55And next thing you know, we have Ludwig, the kid.
01:57We have Justin Rose, 44 years old.
01:59We have Rory.
02:00They're all tied for the lead.
02:02It is absolutely madness.
02:04It's chaos.
02:05And, you know, the good and the bad of Augusta National.
02:08The bad is that you can't really follow the leaderboard.
02:11You have to be sitting in a position where one of those mechanical leaderboards
02:14lets you know when it's time to have the story unfold.
02:17And whether they show the clip on 18 of when the scores are posted
02:21and the crowd reacting because they're five holes away from the leaders.
02:24I mean, that is one of the most fabulous aspects of the grounds there
02:29because you hear these roars coming around, and it's almost like, you know,
02:33there's tanks coming over the horizon.
02:34You hear people yelling, and you're going to say, oh, my God,
02:37what's going to happen next?
02:38What's going to happen next?
02:39And the anticipation and the anxiety, it was so over the top.
02:43You know, I don't know if it was one of the best Masters I've ever seen,
02:46but it was definitely one of the best Sundays at the Masters that I've ever seen.
02:51Yeah, it is a unique experience.
02:53They tried to relay it through television where they show, like, one of the greens,
02:56and you're just waiting for the red numbers, the black numbers to show up.
02:59There are then the wild cheers where you know that guy actually did an eagle,
03:03actually had a birdie, a par, or a double bogey.
03:05Or worse, there were you here, the groans.
03:06But I do want to talk about Rory McIlroy because on Thursday,
03:09I had a ticket in for him to get a top 20.
03:11Not in the tournament, a top 20 on day number one.
03:13He was cruising, Keith, on Thursday afternoon, then folded up shop late.
03:18And I said to myself, there is no way Rory goes to bed tonight,
03:20wakes up on Friday morning, and feels like he can win this Masters tournament
03:24because he probably already lost it.
03:26To rebound with a 66 on Friday and a 66 on Saturday, that's unbelievable.
03:31You talk about mental fortitude to be able to hold out.
03:34Rory was fantastic with that on the weekend.
03:37Oh, he was unbelievable.
03:38I mean, he had to listen to his own words.
03:40He wanted to take it 72 holes, one hole at a time.
03:43Absolutely fantastic.
03:45And he knew, and he knew, Donnie, that since Valhalla in 2014,
03:49when he won his last major championship, he's had 21 top 10s in the majors
03:55over those 11 years.
03:57I mean, that's a lot of times that he's been in the mix and he's made some mistakes.
04:01Now, I'm sure he wasn't happy about making two double bogeys
04:04or maybe even making two more double bogeys in the final round and still winning.
04:08But you know what?
04:09The guy kept his head down and he kept going.
04:12It's kind of like the perseverance.
04:13You know, I'm not a huge Rory guy, but I got to give the guy a ton of credit.
04:17He believes in perseverance.
04:19He talks about it in the press room.
04:20And then, of course, he comes through.
04:22He makes 33s on his scorecards in 72 holes.
04:2733s, guys, along with four double bogeys.
04:29It's insane.
04:30Two sixes, two sevens there.
04:32If you told him that at the beginning of the week he was going to have two sevens
04:34on his card, he'd absolutely say, there's no way I'm winning this thing.
04:37But he pulled it off, and it's a testament to the fact that over the last 11 years,
04:41when he's come close, he's always tried to keep himself in it.
04:46And we saw Rory McIlroy become the first ever golfer to make four doubles or worse at the
04:51Masters and still put on that green jacket in Butler Cabin.
04:56That mental fortitude was tested on Sunday, and it seemed as though some of those mental
05:01skeletons in the closet might win the day.
05:04Rory did in the playoff hall on Sunday evening at Augusta.
05:08Keith, the first ever golfer to make four double bogeys or worse and win a green jacket,
05:12the sixth ever golfer to win the career Grand Slam.
05:16A victory on Sunday in finally putting on the green jacket.
05:20What does it do for Rory McIlroy's legacy in the history of this great game?
05:25Well, you know, five major championships, that puts him in the same spot with probably
05:29one of his heroes, Seve.
05:30It puts him in the modern spot next to Brooks at five.
05:33Phil, he's chasing still.
05:34He's one short of Phil at six.
05:37Palmer, Arnold Palmer's at seven.
05:40You know, we've got Tom Watson at eight with a couple other guys.
05:43And the reason I bring this up, guys, is that if there was a year where you wanted like a
05:47thousand pound gorilla lifted from your shoulders and you were Rory McIlroy in really, really
05:52fine career form, it is these venues that we have coming up.
05:55Quail Hollow, he's won there four times, followed by Oakmont.
05:59Now, Oakmont, the U.S. Open, it was not his greatest in 2016.
06:02He missed the cut, but that's a bomber's paradise.
06:05We know that.
06:05He's got the skill set for that.
06:07He's got a zillion top tens in the last decade in the U.S. Open, more than any other players
06:11that will be in the field.
06:12And then the next one, Royal Portrush, where he grew up in Northern Ireland.
06:17I mean, we could be talking about an actual Grand Slam without a ton of hyperbole, guys.
06:23If he continues to play like this, he, Bryson, Scotty, Xander, these guys are going to be a
06:28part of all the storylines for these next three major championships.
06:32And there's no doubt in my mind, now that he has this green jacket, he's going to play
06:36a little bit freer in these championships and not miss those three foot, nine inch putts.
06:40I think he's a serious threat to become more than a generational golfer.
06:45Two plus majors this year.
06:47You saw it right there.
06:48Plus 160.
06:50That would be just one more.
06:51The career Grand Slam.
06:53How about the calendar Grand Slam at 95 to one?
06:57Keith, we saw the letting out of emotions in that great burden and weight off of Rory's
07:02shoulders immediately on the 18th green in the playoff hole on Sunday.
07:07Maybe that will mean something for the remainder of this major championship schedule.
07:11Elsewhere on the PGA Tour, big week down in South Carolina.
07:15Keith previews the Heritage next.
07:17So Rory wins a green jacket for the first time in his career and completes the career
07:22Grand Slam.
07:23But the PGA Tour does not stop.
07:26A big event this week down in Hilton Head, South Carolina for the RBC Heritage.
07:31That's where Keith Stewart is live.
07:32Joining us once again for a second straight segment here on the Early Line.
07:37Keith, let's start with the natural follow-up.
07:39How do these guys, after playing at Augusta in the year's first major, with all the pageantry
07:44and tradition in the stakes that we saw on Sunday, how do the best golfers in the world
07:50play at Augusta and then turn it around and keep that energy high for a new week on the
07:54PGA Tour?
07:56Ben, it's a fantastic question.
07:58And it leads me right into Keith's Keys for this week for Harbortown Golf Links and for
08:02this signature event.
08:03Now, they have a no cut.
08:05So that gives them a little time, an extra time with which to kind of carry their game
08:09through.
08:10You know, Thursday, round one, manage your energy, and then by the time you get to the
08:14weekend, I'm sure they're all recovered.
08:16But as you know, when I look at the keys for this week, number one is how much energy did
08:20you spend at Augusta National?
08:22Like, what is your deficit?
08:24And a lot of these guys, although some played well, like a Xander Shoffley, he finished T8,
08:29but he was never really in contention.
08:31So he saved some energy.
08:32And Scotty talked about this in his press conference yesterday.
08:35He goes, you know, I was in it for a while.
08:37And when I was in it, you know, I am expending a lot of mental and physical strain.
08:42And I'm glad that at the end, well, if it wasn't going to work out that, you know, I
08:45could kind of cruise.
08:46Teddy and I were like, we're just going to cruise, you know, in here, get done and get
08:49out of here and get on to Hilton Head.
08:51So it is a major concern.
08:52Another thing, though, is that it's kind of ironic, but 10 of the last 13 winners here
08:56at the RBC have played in the Masters.
08:58So maybe the strain and stress of the whole thing, if you're not in contention, is a very
09:05good warmup for what they need to do down here, which gets me to my third Keith's Keys, which
09:09is that you have to be an absolutely stellar iron player.
09:12We know Augusta National is a second shot golf course, and these guys are going to need
09:16that same skill down here.
09:17The Greens are the second smallest on the PGA Tour behind Pebble Beach at an average of
09:213,700 square feet.
09:23You got to be good with your targets coming from the fairways and maybe just off on the side.
09:27Yeah, it's a beautiful golf course.
09:30I've walked it before, but I do like the PGA Tour also, Keith.
09:32Back in the day, it was like, okay, you're playing the Masters, you take the next week
09:35off, which was the RBC.
09:36Now, being one of those preeminent golf courses that they sort of upped the ante, we get some
09:41really good guys on the leaderboard just to start the week.
09:43But as you said, it's a unique golf course.
09:46It has some iconic images like the lighthouse there.
09:48How's the weather this weekend and maybe an impact on that advantage?
09:52Well, Donnie, as you can see, it's a little breezy this morning.
09:54Now, it's 10 a.m. Eastern time that yesterday afternoon, I did a hit and it was really windy.
09:59And it's going to be windy this afternoon when I'm with Carver and the guys.
10:02We are at the tip of the island.
10:04We're at the southern tip of Hilton Head.
10:05So even if you're using your weather apps and you're trying to bet from home and you're
10:09like, oh, it doesn't look that windy, eight to 10 miles an hour.
10:11You know what?
10:12The weather app's not sitting here.
10:14My hair is, okay?
10:15Guys, it's blowing.
10:16It's going to be beautiful out here.
10:18But the fact of the matter is, is that sunny and 65 degrees at the tip of this island is
10:24going to be a little bit of a challenge because these are corridors here and guys are going
10:28to have to hit their targets and manage their trajectory with that golf ball with the wind
10:32that we're going to feel all weekend.
10:34So, Keith, we asked a similar question, the response, the bounce back from Augusta down
10:39to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage last year when we focused on one guy who had just won
10:44his second green jacket in a three-year span and Scotty Scheffler, who decided to still
10:48play in the RBC Heritage and then won the RBC Heritage at Harbortown Golf Links in 2024.
10:56No Rory in the field this week and thus Scotty Scheffler, a very short favorite in front of
11:00everybody else at plus 360.
11:04Scotty Scheffler in contention on Sunday at the Masters, but not really in it late as you
11:10shared.
11:11What's your outlook for Scotty atop the odds board?
11:14To hopefully being atop the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.
11:18Ben, we live in a world of recency bias and everyone wants Scotty to win nine more times
11:22this year like he did last year.
11:24I think they forget the fact that that was pretty historic and I've been guilty of this
11:27myself thinking that Scotty is just going to snap back into it, but it is pressure yesterday.
11:32He definitely has the same sentiment that we have heard for about six weeks out here on
11:36tour and that is I'm just not happy with where my game is at.
11:39Now, we know that Scotty can find it probably pretty quickly, but that miss left with the
11:45driver that he had at Augusta that he's had all Q1 is if that's still here, that's going
11:49to be a problem because he's going to be rattling around the pines and he's just not been as
11:53sharp.
11:54And there's a couple other guys that I do like that I think are a little bit sharper.
11:57And, and you know what, they're not as scared of Scotty right now.
12:01And I think he's aware of that too.
12:0330 seconds, Keith, give us the early leans here on the early line for this week on the
12:08tour.
12:09For the second week in a row, guys, I'm going with Xander, right?
12:12He was eighth at Augusta and he spent no energy.
12:15The approach game is really, really solid right now.
12:17And this is a well-rounded test and he is one of the most well-rounded golfers in the world.
12:21Second guy, Wyndham Clark last year, top third here.
12:25And he missed the cut at Augusta plus 5,500.
12:27I know Donnie loves those odds, right?
12:29He's always good on positional golf courses, just like RBC heritage.
12:34Keith, we appreciate the time.
12:36Enjoy the week at Hilton Headmore on the early line.
12:38Next.