Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- The Northern Trust

OVERVIEW
The NORTHERN TRUST (aka The Barclays) heads back to Ridgewood CC this year to kick off the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Ridgewood hosted this event in 2014, 2010 and 2008 producing winners out of Hunter Mahan (what?), Matt Kuchar & Vijay Singh. The Top 125 players in the FedEx Cup rankings are here this week, only the Top 100 moves on to Boston next week for the Dell Technologies. These are the only two events with cuts during the playoffs. The course looks like your typical country club – tree lined fairways, greenside bunkers and average sized greens that will be running fast. There are some chances for eagle out here this week, in 2014 there were 5 eagles on the 17th hole, and 3 on the 13th (both Par 5’s). I think we’re going to see some low scores this week as the course played under par for the event and players today are just generally better than they were four years ago. As usual, the approach game is where our players will live and die this week as the greens don’t appear to be too undulating, but the rough should be thick – especially around the greens. Looking at the previous winners here specifically, I think it’s a strong indication of targeting strong ball strikers as Mahan was an elite ball striker in his prime, Kuchar has been one since he hit the Tour and Vijay is just a workhorse in all facets of his game. We’re nearing the end of summer, but the humidity is still in the air, so there may be some weather/wind to keep an eye on so make sure you keep an eye out for Jeff’s email on Wednesday.

Henrik Stenson has withdrawn from the event

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

o The Course
• Ridgewood Country Club
• Par 71
• 7,385 yards
• Bent & Poa mix
o Location: Paramus, NJ
o Past Champions:
• 2017: Dustin Johnson -13 in a playoff over Jordan Spieth [Glen Oaks]
• 2016: Patrick Reed -9 over Emiliano Grillo & Sean O’ Hair [Bethpage Black]
• 2015: Jason Day -19 over Henrik Stenson [Plainfield CC]
• 2014: Hunter Mahan -14 over Jason Day, Stuart Appleby & Cameron Tringale [Ridgewood CC]
• 2013: Adam Scott -11 over Graham DeLaet, Justin Rose, Gary Woodland & Tiger Woods [Liberty National]

KEY STATS TO TARGET

o Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, SG: T2G, Birdie Or Better
o Important – Greens in Reg, Driving Distance, Sand Saves, Putting 20-25’ & 5-10’

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