Players Championship Saturday: Where'd all the stars go?
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Hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lav. Well, credit goes to the on-site meteorologist here at the Players' Championship, Wade Stettner. He said that the winds would pick up throughout the day here at TBC Sawgrass and pick up. They did. Rex, there were just seven rounds in the 60s on Saturday. Just one of those was from a player who teed off after noon.

What stands out to you on Saturday after JJ Spahn took a one-shot lead heading into the final round? I think Wade's the only one taking a victory lap tonight. He's the only one that feels good about what I did. Yep, got that right. Look at me. Boom. Good for him. Yeah, it was chaos. It's what you love. I mean, you sat and you just savored it all day long. I know it was a bit of a hectic day, but you look at just the way the leaderboard kind of came unraveled as the afternoon went on. I think Will Zalatorse was a huge surprise when you have a –

player of that caliber who was playing well enough to put him into himself into contention at what is a major style event and to unravel that quickly. I mean, it was a blink of an eye when he was heading in the wrong direction. You look at what happened to Colin Morikawa, who we talked a lot about last night. I think he was my player to watch going into today.

You and I are going to take a lot of L's on this podcast. Let's just get it out of the way early. We didn't get much right. But then again, it's hard to handicap the field when it starts blowing 30 miles an hour. You look at the way Scottie Scheffler played. I mean, even some players that you didn't expect, certainly J.J. Spahn, deserve all the flowers because he kept his ball under control. He didn't seem to let the moment get too big for him. And it is a really cool story. I think we actually got in a little bit of trouble with the folks there.

who listened to this podcast was we didn't give him enough flowers yesterday. And after today, I think we should just give him, give him all of the flowers right now. Cause that was a heck of a round. You'd also stop saying, give him his flowers. Someone else in the comments about a week ago said they hate that expression. They don't know where it came from. They want you to stop using it. So please do keep that in mind. The scoring average Rex in the third round was 74.02. Not crazy, but,

And I think that's a credit to the PGA Tour setup staff, which I think did a really good job of making this, you know, it could have been an absolute torture chamber out there. And I really didn't think it got out of hand. Obviously, we saw some big numbers like Emiliano Grillo was struggling to break 90. Ricky Fowler had it going in the wrong direction for a lot of the day. Kyle Morikawa came in with a 77. Minwoo Lee shot a 78. But you look at what

Basically, a lot of those players in the final groups, you saw a lot of 70s, 71, 72, 73, nothing to necessarily shoot themselves out of the golf tournament, but also sort of treading water at large. When you zoom out, Rex, what do you think –

of this leaderboard are you disappointed are you thrilled where do you sort of fall as we are now on the eve of the final which keep in mind just a quick note tee times were moved up on sunday split tees off one and ten final group going off at 1001 a.m eastern time and i'm just watching our friend todd lewis on live from do his weather report which i don't know he

He might be elbowing in on Berko's gig. I don't know if Berko's going to like this. Dangerous territory to be treading on Berko's territory. Don't do it. So it's up right now, 11 a.m., no chance of rain, 1 p.m., 20% chance of rain. By 3 p.m., 60, and then it just gets worse as the afternoon goes by. The officials did decide to move up tee time, so it's threesomes off of two sets of tees between 8 and 10.01. And so they have a window to finish this. I think it'll be a tight window. I wouldn't be surprised if we

might have some sort of at least pause and play tomorrow but I'm to answer your question somewhere in between those two extremes disappointment excitement whatever the case may be because certainly there's enough storylines there I mean we can start with Rory McIlroy and I think he did enough to control his game and it could have gotten away from him he shot a one over round he said afterwards that he felt like that was probably the worst he could have shot he talked about making a lot of

quote unquote, soft bogeys. And I kind of, after he said that, I looked at his card and kind of went through the stats a little bit and his ball striking was good. And that's encouraging. I think he ended up having three, three putts though. And so that's always going to be difficult, but the stories that, and I just said this on live from you and I both learned,

journalism school, you don't root for the player, you root for the story. I'm not sure there's a better story right now than the guy who's in second place by himself, Bud Colley, who has gone through just an incredibly difficult stretch. It was a horrific car crash in Columbus, Ohio, way back in 2018. There have been ongoing health issues. He's playing this year on a major medical exemption like he has the last few years. He's from this area. He grew up here. He started coming to this event when he was a five-year-old kid. He was there. He was by the green during the butter...

better than most putt. Like all of the heartstrings are there. What JJ did is amazing. I think Lucas Glover could be interesting. He actually showed up today and was sick.

So not only was he dealing with all of those conditions, but he was dealing with some sort of flu. And so he needs to get hydrated, try to get as much rest. No, it does not have the star power that I'm sure Jay Monahan and the rest of the executives in the big building that's right behind you right now would have liked. But it's still pretty good considering the conditions. And any time you end up with those winds swirling and those types of conditions, I think it's kind of hit and miss sometimes. Yeah, a rider sidled up to me yesterday.

on the 17th green and said, this leaderboard is a perfect example of why reunification needs to happen with PJ tour and live basically owing to the lack of star power. It was at the top of the leaderboard. If nothing else, maybe trimming the field size. He also recommended from one 44 to one 20 is what's going to happen.

next year on the PGA Tour. I can see that, and I can certainly understand that. I do think if you dig a little bit deeper, there are some really good stories. You mentioned Bud Colley. I want to dive a little bit into J.J. Spahn, our 54-hole leader. And look, this is a player who has a pretty interesting backstory. He's a one-time winner on the PGA Tour on the 2022 Valero Texas Open, nearly lost his card record.

last year was undergoing just sort of a miserable stretch throughout the spring and the early summer. And it was at that point that he essentially decided like, look, if this is it for me, I've had a pretty good run. You know, I've won on the PGA Tour. I've been out here for eight or nine years. I've got a young family at home. You know, I'm sort of feeling the pull of home and wanting to do something else. You know, I'm in my mid-30s at this point. Maybe it's just not in the cards for me to continue my playing career. And he seemed to be

accepting of that well a funny thing happened when he sort of lowered those expectations he ended up finishing the top 10 in his last two regular season starts to finish inside the top 125 then in the fall continued to play well ended up finishing 96th on the pj tours fedex cup fall list so he's kind of one of those guys you'd think entering 2025 would be maybe on the hot seat with the new exemption rule that's going to be trimming down to the top 100 instead

He seems to be playing Rex the best golf of his career inside the top 10 strokes gained approach had a good week in Hawaii at the Sony open, had a good week a couple of weeks ago at PGA national. Now, obviously in position to capture the biggest title of his career at another golf course, like YLI, like PGA national that really sort of highlights the strength of his game right now, which is precision play. How much confidence does,

Do you have in this new version of JJ spot as he tries to sort of cement his legacy in a new way?

I probably wouldn't have had much until you and I just kind of took the deep dive like this week. We hadn't been paying a whole lot of attention to JJ Spahn, to be quite honest with you. But you're right. He's on a heck of a run. He played well to start the year at the Sony Open. He played well just a few weeks ago at the Cognizant Classic. That got him into the Aeon 5. I'm sorry, the Aeon 10, which, by the way, give – let's celebrate instead of give flowers since that's not going to be the phrase I can use anymore. Yeah.

let's celebrate the PGA tour on this front that they have created pathways. And he's a perfect example of how those pathways work. He wouldn't have been in this field. He wouldn't have been in the field last week at Bay Hill either. So I do think it's a very interesting story, I think, but Kali Kali is a very interesting story. You can keep going on and on down the, the,

the board, there's plenty of interesting stories. There's no denying though, it lacks some star power. And I think whoever that intrepid journalist was that came up to you and said that probably has it spot on. I don't know how many of those players from live would have filled in some of those gaps. You would only think maybe one, possibly two at the most, but yes, I think if you're going to look at it from a star power standpoint, it's wanting, I don't think that's out of bounds to say. No. I mean, if, if Bud Colley, who's going to be playing in the final threesome, uh,

wins the Players' Championship on Sunday. He will be the lowest-ranked player ever to do so at the PGA TOUR's flagship event, 251 in the world rankings, worse than even Craig Perks back nearly 25 years ago. When you look at the rest of the leaderboard, Rex, let's say the victor is not going to come out of that final threesome. How far back is

is too far back. Keep in mind, Scottie Scheffler tied a tournament record last year by coming from five shots behind, shot 64. Given the wind forecast that we're expecting on Sunday, in addition to the rain, it's hard to imagine somebody's going to put a 64 on the board, particularly with the condensed tee times. You're not going to have that huge spread like we saw on Saturday with a seven-hour window. This is going to be

a two hour spread. What do you think? Rory's four back. Akshay Bhatia is four back after a very up and down day. Patrick Cantlay's five back. My pick to win is Abstraka. Five shots back as well. Is that sort of the range you're sort of zeroing in on?

No, I think you can probably go further than that. I'm going to try to do very limited fake impersonations that I can do. But when I asked Lucas Glover about what do conditions like these and what we're going to have tomorrow, what does that do as far as the competitive nature of a leaderboard? And he kind of growled at me and hit me with a good shot is a great shot.

And it was his kind of way of saying that you can make up a lot of ground with a three or four under round. I had the same conversation with Harris English this morning as he was getting ready. Like you don't have to go out and do anything particularly special. You can go out and do what JJ spawn did, which is play defensive golf. Don't put yourself in too many issues in too many difficult positions. And I love what he said when he was in here. He didn't have any stress today. He's probably the only person that,

besides Wade, the weatherman, that didn't have any stress today because he went out and he hit a lot of fairways, didn't put himself into too many positions where he had to create some sort of magic like we saw from so many other players. You can do that and shoot two or three under par and probably make up a lot of ground. So I would actually go deep. The name that stood out to me, and he's not that far back, is Corey Connors.

And in a par, he posted that round so early that no one even spoke to him. He tied for the round of the day, the 66. He's the type of ball striker that you would expect could play well in those type of conditions. I like Rory. Clearly, I think that's the name with the pedigree that's on top. He's won here before. But I think it's wide open. You could go all the way back to the seven unders, the Jake Naps. And I think if they go out and do what J.J. Spahn did today, I like their chances.

Yeah, I think you could make a reasonable case for a lot of players. I still think I like J.J. Spahn at this point in the tournament. He's not doing anything that's outside of his comfort zone. Like, I look back on where he drove it on 18. Sort of a similar spot to where Rory was. What was that, on Thursday when he hit that sort of, like, low cut underneath the branches that scuttled through the fairway and went up to about eight feet? Like, eight.

J.J. Swan probably could have attempted that shot. Instead, he just took the conservative way out, pitched out, wedged on, and then whirled in about a 25-footer that could have really changed the trajectory of this tournament. It would have been his third bogey in his last four holes, would have dropped into a share of the lead. Instead, he made that play.

putt and now has a one shot lead. But I like the sort of comfort level that he seems to be playing with the acceptance level, not making any big numbers, which is sort of undone. So many other players, you mentioned Lucas Glover, such a solid ball striker. You, you know, you sort of question whether his putting can hold up. I remember we did the podcast. Remember after the opening round, you're like, boy, I don't know if Lucas Glover's putting is sustainable.

News flash. It has not been sustainable. He has gotten worse each and every round. And yet I think the one under the 71 that he shot on Saturday while not feeling his best, I think he was more than more than happy to take that one. Don't you think though, Rex, that like Rory has to be licking his chops?

at this point when he looks at the top of the leaderboard jj spawn one win hasn't happened in three years bud collie zero wins lucas clever's 45 years old and again has gotten worse each and every round that he's played this week at tbc sawgress alex smalley zero wins despite having pretty strong strokes gain numbers in 2025 like that's it those are the only players who are ahead of roy mcroy at this golf tournament what do you think of his chances on sunday

Oh, I think Rory was relaxed in his post-round press conference for a reason, for that exact reason. And I think it has everything to do with ball striking-wise. He probably did everything he wanted to do today. We talked about the idea he wanted to try to keep the ball underneath the wind, and he largely did that. He's playing defensive golf on this golf course. He's playing that little fade off the tee box, which goes to relatively the safe side of this golf course. If there is...

is a safe side of this golf course he probably needs to put a little bit better i mean i think the three putts are probably going to be an issue for him and he was honest about it they slowed the greens down and it was not a secret it was well publicized and he didn't adjust well enough so my guess is tomorrow he doesn't have a whole lot of time before he tees off but he will spend a little extra time with our colleague brad faxton but yeah i mean he would have to be the favorite i'm

This is not a betting podcast. He's definitely not the favorite. He's the third favorite at this point. J.J. Spahn, the odds are still installing. Yeah, he's a pretty reasonable favorite at this point. What's that number? I believe he was 4-1, J.J. Spahn. So, again, not a ton of confidence. He's going to hold on for this one-shot lead. I think our friend Justin Ray said the last 10 players at the Players' Championship who had just a one-shot lead heading into the final round, they have a grand total of...

zero wins oh well over that span it's a very precarious position to be in yeah i like i could tell there was certainly a level of confidence roy was going to come out and say like yeah i can i can pass these guys easily he's not going to come out and say that but i think he has to like the relative inexperience that he sees those players are going to be feeling something on sunday that they've never felt in their entire careers from a ball striking standpoint he's still playing okay

You know, I don't think this is Roy in full flight by any stretch of the imagination, but Saturday was sort of the first round that he did have a poor putting day. He also had a couple of dodgy chips as well that cost him at least some momentum, more likely to make birdies instead of bogeys in those circumstances. But I still think Roy very much likes his position heading into the final round. Rex, who is your winner of the 2025 Players Championship and why?

I'm going to go chalk because, I mean, I could sit here and probably talk myself into a lot of different people. I think Lucas Glover is playing really well right now. I think with JJJ,

JJ spawned it today. If he does that tomorrow, he's going to win. I don't know that anyone can track him down, but Rory McIlroy, as you pointed out, he's the one with the pedigree. He's the one that seems to have the most confidence right now. When he has that walk about him and that look in his eye, it's there right now. That doesn't mean he's going to get it done, but he's already won a really difficult golf course this year under very similar conditions at Pebble Beach against a very similar field.

All the lines are there. You are what your record says you are, and right now that would mean Rory McIlroy.

So Rory's going to erase in your mind, a four shot deficit heading into the final round. If you went chalk with Rory, I'm going to go chalk with the 54 hole leader in JJ spawn. I think he's going to get it done through the bag. Rex. He has been excellent this week. Top 20 in every major statistical category, hitting plenty of fairways. He doesn't hit a long enough to necessarily get himself into too much trouble. I think Saturday was probably the most difficult day that he was going to face being in that position and,

So close to the lead with standing the 30, 35 mile an hour Gus. And I don't think you can discount the fact that he's not going to have that long wait to get to the first tee on Sunday teeing off. What would that be?

most likely four hours earlier than he typically would have going 10 to one instead of roughly a two o'clock and twosome. So I think that's a huge difference as well. It's going to be a very fun day. Looking forward to seeing it. Sausage fingers up, please. The final word belongs to you. We had an interesting morning. You and I, we had to do a, a, a,

corporate speech in front of a whole bunch of Comcast folks here at TPC Sawgrass. We had a really good time. You did a fantastic job, but there was something that was said to me by one of the people that were helping us as we were getting ready that this person listens to our podcast, but she referred to it as her dog walking podcast, which got me thinking, how do people digest the podcast? I've never thought about it. I guess I drive around and listen to it in the car, maybe if I'm working in the yard, but I had never heard

dog walking podcast. And I'd be curious from our listeners, we appreciate all of you, how is your preferred version of this? Is there a cooking podcast that you guys would listen to? Working out? Sure. Before bed? Yeah. Let us know in the YouTube comment section below. That's a great idea, Rex. Way to get the fans engaged with

and involved with the podcast. One of our, one of the guest speakers as well said that he listens to live from what he's saying to go to bed or to go to sleep, to go to sleep. If, if that's your preferred method of listening as well. Okay. We appreciate the download anyway. All right. That is going to do it for this edition of the golf channel podcast with Rex and lab. We'll be back on Sunday. Hopefully not Monday.

for a full recap of the final round of the Players' Championship. Just putting that bad juju out in the open. In the meantime, you guys have the drill. NBCSports.com slash golf for our latest news, notes, and updates. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. Talk to you guys on Sunday or Monday when we shower the champion with praise.

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