The regular season has come to a conclusion, which can only mean one thing. Take it away Jim Mora…
That’s right folks, it’s playoff time! I can feel all your excitement through the screen. It’s truly palpable…
Anyway, you know how it goes by now. We start off with 125 this week at THE NORTHERN TRUST. We drop down to 70 next week before the top 30 finish it off in two weeks at East Lake.
Before we get to this week’s picks, here is a look at the final regular season numbers:
We clearly aren’t experts.
* Two Inches Short won our bracket challenge even though he didn’t pick the WGC-Match Play winner.
While Mike might have taken the regular season crown, everything changes when the playoffs start.
Now, on to this week’s picks…
This week is fun for many reasons. While you have the guys at the top jockeying for position as they prepare for East Lake, you also have the guys that are looking to get into the top 70 in order to qualify for the BMW.
While I could see someone that’s outside the top 70 having a big week and playing their way in to the BMW, I don’t see anyone from that group winning this week.
Nope, this week I’m taking Rickie Fowler.
After taking last week off to rest up for the playoff stretch, Dick Fowler is back on the case this week in Jersey City.
Slick Rick already has a win under his belt this year in Phoenix and he’s coming off a top 10 finish at The Open. Despite his 6 top 10 finishes this year he has still largely flown under the radar thanks to Tiger’s win at Augusta and Brooks basically turning the other majors into his own personal playground again.
That all ends this week as Rickie gets the win and sets the tone for the playoffs.
The season officially begins this week with the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Tiger win the Northern Trust. Why not tie Sam Snead’s 82 win record this week???
In two starts at Liberty National, he’s notched two T2s even though one of which he was literally doubled over on his knees in pain. Also, he’s Tiger Woods.
While he’s basically been MIA playing only 12 competitive rounds since HE WON THE MASTERS, he really hasn’t played in warm, nice weather (ie. British, Pebble). This week in Jersey, the forecast says high 70s and low humidity. That usually a good sign for a 43-year-old with a fused back.
Needless to say, he’s rested but probably still wants to take next week’s BMW off instead of jockeying for position because the format at the Tour Championship changed (which is a whole other). Regardless, he’s still the defending champion.
Did you see his swing yet this week? It’s money. Plus he’s still one of the best iron players in the game and if … IF he’s healthy and IF he gets the Scotty rolling, the man still knows how to close. He wants #82. He knows it. we all know it. LET’S GO!
Is anyone really surprised that I took the “regular season crown”? I’m not!
First off, if you’re onsite at THE NORTHERN TRUST [shameless plug coming] … pick up a program because yours truly is the editor.
Now, for my pick that will likely win.
I like both of my colleagues picks above. I picked Rick to win The Open, and he performed well but didn’t come through for me, however, he’s a solid pick this week even though he didn’t play in this event last season when it was at Ridgewood. Rick did place T9 in 2013, the last time THE NORTHERN TRUST (then called The Barclays) was hosted at Liberty National.
As for Tiger, it’s hard to decipher exactly what he’s going to do going forward considering he has limited his schedule to almost exclusively be majors, finished T2 in 2013. So, both are solid picks if you ask me…
However, and this is a stretch, I’m going to take Koepka even though his only recorded scores at Liberty National came during the 2017 President’s Cup.
|
Year |
Overall (W-L-H) |
Four-ball (W-L-H) |
Foursomes (W-L-H) |
Singles (W-L-H) |
| Brooks Koepka |
2017 |
2-2-0 |
2-0-0 |
0-1-0 |
0-1-0 |
He’s coming off of his third win of the season, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, has finished 2nd three times, and is arguably the best player on the planet right now. It’s hard to look past the guy who doesn’t care to practice and seems to constantly find himself at the top of leaderboards on Sundays.