This article is part of our Weekly PGA Preview series.
The Monday finish. It's a phrase that no golf fan wants to hear unless it's preceded by the phrase, "U.S. Open 18-hole playoff". With that said, there is one event each year where a Monday finish is actually scheduled and that, of course, is the tournament formally known as the Deutsche Bank Championship. This event has finished on Labor Day since its inception in 2003 and while traditionalists may not be comfortable with the notion of a Friday start and Monday finish, the golf-viewing public has become accustomed to this one aberration on the schedule. The only problem is, bad weather doesn't care if you finish on Sunday or Monday, bad weather is going to happen and that's exactly the scenario that we ran into this past week at the Deutsche Bank. Instead of being able to watch the return of Rory McIlroy live, in the afternoon during the normal time slot, viewers either caught wind of the comeback early in the day and had their viewing plans spoiled, or played that game that we are all used to playing -- avoid all forms of media and watch the tape-delayed broadcast. Either way, it's not ideal and while there's nothing that can be done, we can still whine about our collective misfortune. On the bright side, it sure looks like McIlroy has figured out his putting issues and if that's the case, we could be in for a very exciting finish to the Fed Ex Cup. Now, if we could
The Monday finish. It's a phrase that no golf fan wants to hear unless it's preceded by the phrase, "U.S. Open 18-hole playoff". With that said, there is one event each year where a Monday finish is actually scheduled and that, of course, is the tournament formally known as the Deutsche Bank Championship. This event has finished on Labor Day since its inception in 2003 and while traditionalists may not be comfortable with the notion of a Friday start and Monday finish, the golf-viewing public has become accustomed to this one aberration on the schedule. The only problem is, bad weather doesn't care if you finish on Sunday or Monday, bad weather is going to happen and that's exactly the scenario that we ran into this past week at the Deutsche Bank. Instead of being able to watch the return of Rory McIlroy live, in the afternoon during the normal time slot, viewers either caught wind of the comeback early in the day and had their viewing plans spoiled, or played that game that we are all used to playing -- avoid all forms of media and watch the tape-delayed broadcast. Either way, it's not ideal and while there's nothing that can be done, we can still whine about our collective misfortune. On the bright side, it sure looks like McIlroy has figured out his putting issues and if that's the case, we could be in for a very exciting finish to the Fed Ex Cup. Now, if we could just get Day, DJ and Spieth to start playing well...a comment I certainly didn't see coming a month ago.
This week: BMW Championship - Crooked Stick Golf Club - Carmel, IN
Last Year: Jason Day shot a final-round 69 on his way to a six-stroke victory over Daniel Berger.
PLAYERS TO CONSIDER
Rory McIlroy
I honestly can't recall a period of time like the past few weeks where guys are moving back and forth between the "consider" and "avoid" lists on a weekly basis. Enter McIlroy, who entering last week, looked like he was going through the motions, looking ahead to the Ryder Cup. One solid week with the putter and McIlroy is suddenly in the hunt for the $10 million bonus at the end of the season. McIlroy also happened to win this event the last time it was held at this location.
Dustin Johnson
Continuing the trend of players that have moved from one list to the other, DJ didn't look good during the first week of the playoffs, but managed to play well last week at the Deutsche Bank. If DJ is to cap this fantastic season with a Fed Ex Cup Championship, he'll have to ramp-up his game very soon, as in this week. He showed signs of his best game last week, but the consistency wasn't there. I expect a full four rounds this week from DJ and a top-5, if not better.
Adam Scott
Momentum seems to mean more this time of the year. After all, the eventual playoff champion is usually the guy who goes on an insane run for one month and while Scott isn't at that level yet, he has played extremely well the past two weeks. Scott has finished T4 in both of the playoff events this season and he finished T6 the last time this event was held at Crooked Stick.
Patrick Reed
Speaking of momentum, no one is playing better than Patrick Reed right now. Reed won two weeks ago at The Barclays and he earned another top-5 last week at the Deutsche Bank. Reed is in the midst of one of his hot streaks and the only thing keeping him from the top of this list is his lack of history on this course.
Ryan Moore
The fields are shrinking each week, as are the number of sleepers and while Moore isn't exactly a "sleeper" most weeks, against a field like this, he certainly qualifies as one. What makes him a solid pick this week is his play over the past two weeks. He hasn't really contended per se, but he has ended up in the top-10 each week.
PLAYERS TO AVOID
Charley Hoffman
This time of the year, it's hard to find five guys to avoid as everyone going has played their way into this event, but Hoffman is coming off a brutal showing at the Deutsch Bank where he shot 75-76, so he may be one guy that's easy check off the list this week. Hoffman also struggled to a T54 in his last showing at Crooked Stick.
Justin Thomas
Much like his entire season, the past two weeks have been quite the roller coaster for Thomas. Thomas finished in the top-10 at The Barclays and followed that up with a MC last week at the Deutsche Bank. His previous two events were much the same, a top-3, followed by a MC. If the pattern holds, he should play well this week, but there are too many good options this week to bank on an inconsistent player like Thomas.
Billy Horschel
It's not going to be easy to find relevant players to put on this list, so some might be a stretch. Horschel is a former Fed Ex Cup Champion, so he's shown to ability to play well this time of the year, but he missed the cut last week at the Deutsche Bank and that's not an easy thing to do.
Charl Schwartzel
Schwartzel managed to make the cut last week at the Deutsche Bank, but he played poorly on the weekend and finished dead last. This on the heels of another poor showing on the weekend at The Barclays. Three of his past four weekend rounds have resulted in scores of 74 or higher; that won't be good enough this week.
Jon Curran
It's pretty obvious at this point that I've run out of relevant players to put on this list, so I'll simply go with someone that is highly unlikely to accomplish anything this week -- Jon Curran. Curran hasn't cracked the top-25 on the PGA Tour since June and though he's made the cut the past two weeks, he hasn't done anything on the weekend.
ONE AND DONE GOLFER
Last week: Rickie Fowler (T46) - $22,731; Season - $9,603,132
This week: Ryan Moore - For lack of a better term, I'm almost out of bullets, and Moore might not even be considered a bullet at this point, but he's been playing well lately, so even though he's not a huge name, I'm actually quite comfortable using him this week.
YAHOO PICKS
Points: 4877
Rank: 17,035
This Week:
Group A: Jason Day, Adam Scott
Group B: Patrick Reed, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Rose
Group C: Paul Casey, Matt Kuchar
SURVIVOR PICK
Last week: Rickie Fowler (T46); Streak - 2
This week: N/A - N/A
