Let’s start with a little bit of bookkeeping. Jason Day has withdrawn from today’s pro-am at The Barclays due to injury, and Dustin Johnson has also withdrawn from said pro-am citing illness. I think I’d completely move off of Day and only keep a limited number of DJ GPP lineups in play. With Day, the injury is probably a real thing, and he doesn’t even need to be here in the first place. It’s also his first start since his win at Whistling Straits, and sometimes guys experience a little bit of a hangover effect after a major win (a different type of hangover than the one DJ is probably dealing with). Johnson is another story… Who knows if he’s actually incapable of playing or he just wasn’t feeling the pro-am? If you remember, earlier in the year DJ withdrew mid-round from St. Jude’s citing an illness. He went on to finish T-2 at the U.S. Open the very next week. At this point, I don’t think you can play him in cash games, but (assuming he actually starts on Thursday) he’s probably worth a few GPP fliers. He actually wasn’t generating that much buzz pre-WD despite his 2011 win. I was kind of shocked. With this news, you can almost assuredly get him under 15% and maybe even sub-10%.
On a lighter note, I created a Daily Overlay tournament on DraftKings for The Barclays. It’s a $5 25-man league that pays out the top-5. It will only run if it fills, so join up and have some fun! Here’s a link if you’d like to play.
Now, let’s get down to business. The Barclays is the first tournament of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This year, it will be held at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, NJ. It’s only the second time The Barclays has been held at Plainfield with the other taking place in 2011. Here’s a look at the 2011 leaderboard:
1. Dustin Johnson -19
2. Matt Kuchar -17
T-3. Brandt Snedeker -16
T-3. Vijay Singh -16
5. Jonathan Byrd -15
T-6. Y.E. Yang -14
T-6. Brian Davis -14
T-6. Camilo Villegas -14
T-6. Justin Rose -14
T-10. Nick Watney -13
T-10. Webb Simpson -13
T-10. Charley Hoffman -13
Full Results
Plainfield CC is a 7,030-yard par 70. The course has been altered a little since 2011 when it played as a par 71. The easiest hole on the course in 2011 was a short par 5 that has since been turned into a long par 4, and the modification has brought a couple of bunkers into play off the tee.
I spent some time with their hole-by-hole walk through, and a couple of things stood out.
- There are seven spots where most players will be hitting 3-woods or hybrids off the tee (according to whoever did this write-up).
- Distance will be a major advantage in at least seven spots.
- A number of tee shots are blind.
- OB is in play on a number of tee shots.
I don’t think distance is a necessity for success this week; but if you lack a little length off the tee, you need to make up for it with accuracy and course management. This is a Donald Ross course, so you need to pay special attention to who performed well at last week’s Wyndham; another Ross course.
The experts did a good job (in my opinion, at least) of identifying the skills necessary to compete at The Barclays. They think you should be focusing on:
- Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
- Strokes Gained: Putting
- Total Driving
- Proximity
- Birdie or Better %
- Par 4 Scoring
You can find the field leaders in each of these categories below.
- Bubba Watson 1.916
- Jordan Spieth 1.782
- Henrik Stenson 1.615
- Jim Furyk 1.585
- Justin Rose 1.457
- Jimmy Walker .891
- Brandt Snedeker .626
- Jordan Spieth .622
- Russell Henley .621
- Brooks Koepka .620
- Henrik Stenson
- Will Wilcox
- Keegan Bradley
- Justin Rose
- Graham DeLaet
- Jason Bohn 31.42′
- Jim Furyk 31.42′
- Russell Knox 31.92′
- Jason Gore 32.33′
- Hudson Swafford 32.58′
- Jason Day 26.88%
- Jordan Spieth 26.32%
- Justin Rose 25.21%
- Bubba Watson 25.21%
- Dustin Johnson 24.8%
- Jordan Spieth 3.91
- Jason Day 3.95
- Will Wilcox 3.95
- Hideki Matsuyama 3.96
- Jason Bohn 3.96
And with those stats in mind, these are the guys the experts like this week.
***** EXPERT CONSENSUS *****
Highly Touted
- Jordan Spieth $12,600
- Justin Rose $10,900
- Brooks Koepka $9,700
- Matt Kuchar $9,300
- Brandt Snedeker $8,600
- Robert Streb $7,900
- David Lingmerth $7,800
- Jason Bohn $6,900
Recommended
- Jason Day $11,500
- Paul Casey $8,700
- Phil Mickelson $8,300
- Charl Schwartzel $8,200
- Patrick Reed $8,100
- Bill Haas $8,000
- Tony Finau $7,300
- Harris English $6,800
Suggested
- Dustin Johnson $10,700
- Bubba Watson $9,900
- Rickie Fowler $9,800
- Henrik Stenson $9,600
- Webb Simpson $7,900
- Will Wilcox $7,200
- Camilo Villegas $6,400
I’m working on “Pivots & Punts” as we speak. It should drop in a couple of hours.
oreo
