We’re Talking Playoffs
We’ve finally made it, it's playoff time for the PGA Tour. The FedEx Cup playoffs is a season-long race for the FedEx Cup granting the winner glory and a $15 million dollar check to bat. The FedEx Cup is broken up into two parts, the season long race, and three playoff events, The Northern Trust, The BMW Championship and The Tour Championship. The player with the most FedEx Cup points at the culmination of the Tour Championship wins the cup. So the winner of The Tour Championship does not necessarily win the FedEx Cup. This week the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standing will converge on TPC Boston for the Northern Trust, the first leg of the three event series. After each event the field shrinks, based on points. After the Northern Trust top 125 players, The BMW Championship is the top 70 players and the Tour Championship is the top 30 points holders. The Northern Trust is a crucial event because it can really spring a number of players forward going into the last two events of the season. The playoffs, in my opinion, are some of the best golf because there is so much at stake. Some might say they are more focused for the cup than the majors because of how much money is on the line. $15 million can do a lot to somebody’s life.
TPC Boston is a premier golf course, and it will prove to be a difficult test for the players. TPC Boston is a familiar spot on the PGA Tour. Players can expect a combo of long wispy fescue and thick dense rough. The 7,300 yard golf course will provide the players the opportunity to go low, however their par 5’s are extremely daunting, so smart, decisive play will prove to be valuable. This week we can expect a lot of big names to make huge jumps to propel them forward into the next playoff events. Brooks Koepka,Justin Rose, a previous champion, Jordan Speith, another previous champion, Tommy Fleetwood and Rickie Fowler all need spectacular play this week to propel them forward into next week's event. All those players need to improve by 20 spots or they will be heading home for the remainder of the playoffs. That's why the playoffs are so fun to watch. It's so cutthroat, one miss putt, one bad swing can ruin your chances of moving on. Tiger is another player that needs strong play. Tiger sits at 49th in the points standing which as of now gets him into The Northern Trust and BMW but that could all change if Tiger doesn't play well which will prevent him from making it to the Tour Championship. As all golf fans well know the 2018 Tour Championship was the return of Tiger Woods when he broke through and won his first event since 2013. However, we’ve only seen Tiger four times on the PGA Tour thus far this year. So that begs the question, can Tiger compete for 3 weeks straight, and will his body be able to handle it even with two majors left in the season? For the next 3 weeks golf fans can expect nothing but the best. The playoff fields for the rest of the season will be major championship like and the golf will be played as such. (Mike)
Mikes Pick’s
Playoff picks are like major picks, they are literally so up in the air and absolutely anything can happen. If the putter gets hot for somebody and goes cold for another, who gets a good break down the stretch, and who doesn’t however my picks this week will sound very familiar.
Winner: Justin Thomas. What can I say about this man. He’s the best player in the world so naturally it seems like the correct pick. JT won at TPC Boston in 2017 which later led to him winning the cup and last year with losing it down the stretch JT is coming to the playoff with a level head and a determined mindset.
My notable to miss the cut this week is Brooks Koepka. To be quite honest he has not done anything special this year and personally I don’t believe he is focused enough to hang with the guys that are playing exceptional golf. Look for Brooks to be sent home early this year.
My sleeper pick is my favorite pick. My last few sleeper picks have been pretty spot on with Kevin Kisner’s strong play at the PGA and Harold Varner’s top 10 last week. This week’s sleeper goes to young gun Doc Redman. Doc, is coming fresh off a top 3 last week and he’s playing very solid. He is staying composed under pressure, putting well and he’s confident which is something that goes a long way come playoffs. (Mike)
Darkhorse for playoffs & Darkhorse for this week
My pick for both the dark horse this week as well as the dark horse for the whole playoffs is Jason Day. I have always been a huge Jason Day fan and it was a bummer to see him struggle for a few years after becoming world number one. He has been on a run of top 10’s and I think that continues this week. I would not be shocked to see him finish high this week or even win and use that to propel him forward the next two weeks. (Tyler)
Tyler’s pick for this week
I went back and forth on this one. I think Patrick Reed has been playing some good golf and has success in this event. It is not a sexy pick here, but I think Patrick gets it done this week by two strokes. The playoffs provide us with incredible fields as well as some pressure filled moments and nobody seems to embrace those moments like Patrick Reed does when he is playing well. (Tyler)
Tyler’s pick for playoffs
Hard to pick against JT here. He has been as consistent as anyone this year and is having a career year. It would be surprising to me to not see him right near the top heading into East Lake. I would take his chances if that were the case. He has been great in pressure moments this year and that is why I think he will be lifting the trophy in a couple of weeks. (Tyler)
Final Thought
Good thing we waited to post this blog because this morning Brooks withdrew from The Northern Trust. This ends his PGA season as he sits outside of the top 70 for next week. This is a very interesting development to me for a few reasons. Obviously having one of the best players in the game out of the entire playoffs is a huge let down for the tour, but to me this continues to fit the narrative that Brooks is not great for the game. Yes, he is hurt, but he was taking shots at guys just two weeks ago and he has nothing really to show for it this year. His arrogance runs rampant and maybe in some odd way this is just the golf gods returning the favor to him. It will be interesting to see how and if he plays at the final two majors of the year. (Tyler)