The FedEx Cup Playoffs get underway on Thursday as The Barclays begins with almost all of the world’s top players in the field including world #1 Jason Day. 125 players qualified for this event but there are just 122 in the field as Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett and Shane Lowry will not play.
Day leads the FedEx Cup point’s race as he is 34 points in front of Dustin Johnson. It is more than 600 points down to Adam Scott who is in third place. Day is the defending champion of The Barclays and he has three wins this year but none since the spring. Johnson will be making his first start since missing the cut at the PGA Championship.
The top 100 players in FedEx Cup points after The Barclays qualify for next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
Top Contenders
Day is the top ranked player in the world, the defending champion and he leads the FedEx Cup standings so it is no surprise he is favored at odds of 8/1. Day has not played since losing to Jimmy Walker in the PGA Championship.
Dustin Johnson is the second choice in the betting at odds of 9/1 and he also has not played since the PGA. He missed the cut at the PGA but prior to that he had six straight finished in the top 10 including winning the U.S. Open. Johnson tied for third the last time The Barclays was played at Bethpage.
Rory McIlroy is listed with odds of 10/1 but he could be overvalued as he has not won on the PGA Tour this season.
The player in the best form at the moment is Henrik Stenson who is listed at odds of 11/1. He won the Open Championship, was in contention at the PGA and then won silver at the Olympics in Rio.
Jordan Spieth is listed with odds of 16/1 to win The Barclays but he has not won a tournament since May.
Justin Rose is coming off winning the gold medal at the Olympics so a letdown is almost a given this week. He could be overvalued at odds of 22/1.
Tournament and FedEx Cup Notes
This event takes place at Bethpage State Park (Black) which is a par-71 that measures 7,468 yards. It opened in 1936 but first got on the radar of most golfers when Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open at Bethpage in 2002. The course joined the Barclays rotation in 2012 when it was Nick Watney getting the win.
Bethpage is known for having thick rough, small fairways and small greens and it ranked as the 15th most difficult course in 2012 among the PGA tournaments.
Last year it was Day winning The Barclays by six shots over Henrik Stenson. Day scorched the field on the weekend, shooting a 63-62.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs begin with The Barclays and continue with the Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship, and Tour Championship. The Top 125 players make The Barclays and then the Top 100 players make it to the Deutsche Bank with the Top 70 then going to the BMW and the Top 30 then make it to the Tour Championship.
PGA Picks
It is hard to go against Day so I will make him my top choice at odds of 8/1. I also can’t ignore the power of Johnson so I will take him at odds of 9/1. I will take one darkhorse and go with Spieth at 16/1 and one longshot in Brooks Koepka at odds of 28/1.
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