The Home Stretch: BMW Championship Preview

The concept behind establishing the FedEx Cup playoffs was to increase the drama and add a little more excitement to what has traditionally been a quiet, seemingly uninterested winding down of the professional golf season. Whether one believes that this has been accomplished is obviously open for debate, but despite coinciding and competing with college football and the 2nd week of the NFL season – there is undoubtedly plenty of drama for the remaining 70 players competing for the $10 million prize next weekend at East Lake.

But only 30 of those 70 players will move on to the Tour Championship next week, and a few dozen notables who find themselves nearer the bottom of the pecking order than the top will certainly be feeling some added pressure to stay in the hunt this week in Chicago.

Current FedEx Cup Projected Points Standings

Playing host to the 3rd stop of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff series is Conway Farms Golf Club, situated about 5 miles west of Lake Michigan. The part-links, part-parkland blend was designed by Tom Fazio back in 1991, and although this week marks the first time the PGA Tour has ventured to Conway Farms, the club has played host to a number of high-profile Open qualifiers, collegiate and amateur events over the years. Not nearly as long as some of the more notable PGA Tour stops, the layout will test the players this week with some narrower driving lines and awkward approach angles going into the well-protected greens.

One of the notables who’s hoping to turn a suspect season around this week is Luke Donald, who finished T41 two weeks ago at the Deutsche Bank Championship and finds himself needing a strong showing this week to advance to East Lake for the Tour Championship finale. Donald, a nearby Northwestern University grad, revealed earlier this week that he’s not satisfied with where his game is and that it’s time for change. “I think someone who was at the pinnacle of the game not too long ago and is now 54th on the FedExCup, it’s been disappointing,” Donald said. “It’s been very hard this year. It’s been frustrating at times, and I’ve had to make some tough decisions.”

Photo by AP

One of those tough decisions was informing Pat Goss, the guy who recruited Donald for Northwestern back in the mid-1990’s and has been his only golf coach since, that it was time to move on. “It was a tough decision. He understood it perfectly. He’s always wanted me to be as good as I can be and make those decisions that I think will make that difference in my career. It’s just one of those things that was very tough but I felt like I had to do. I felt like if I didn’t at least try something different, I would have regrets.” Luke is now working with Chuck Cook, who also happens to be newly-crowned PGA Champion Jason Dufner’s current swing coach. Donald admits that the change won’t be easy, but feels optimistic about his game again. “I feel pretty good about where things are headed, and I’m excited about the future. This year I still have time to rescue it,” he said. “I’m going to have to do that this week, and that’s the beauty of the FedExCup. It takes one good week to kind of rescue a year. And I certainly have that opportunity this week.”

As do a handful of other players, like Rory McIlroy, Nick Watney and Bubba Watson, three of the more prominent notables who entered the season having finished solid 2012 campaigns, but have struggled with consistency much of this season.

It should be a compelling weekend of golf, at least for those of us not watching college football and the NFL, to find out who those 30 players will be.

(players quotes courtesy of the PGA Tour)

Scouting the Deutsche Bank Championship

The second round of the PGA Tour Playoffs gets underway on Friday, as the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup points standings prepare to do battle at TPC Boston in the Deutsche Bank Championship. In what should promise to be a great holiday weekend of golf, with a Monday finish no less, lots of interesting story lines abound heading into the action this week.

Notable Contenders

It’s difficult to not include Tiger Woods in the conversation this week. Coming off of a solid ball striking performance last week at the Barclays Tournament, where Woods led the field in driving accuracy for the event, he could finally be a factor heading into Monday. But for Tiger to breakthrough this week and get his first win of the season, he has to once again become the “boss of the moss” and at least get on speaking terms again with his putter. I’ll go out on a limb and say that if Woods can get off to a solid start on Friday, he gets that first post-Elin win this week at TPC Boston.

A Rose is not a Rose by any other name, especially if his name is Justin and was snubbed by Colin Montgomerie for the Ryder Cup team despite having two wins this season. I think Justin Rose has an opportunity this week to prove just how badly Montgomerie goofed in leaving him off the team, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Englishman hold the grudge well enough to factor into the picture on Monday. He’s got a great pairing for the first two rounds – playing with Ernie Els and Dustin Johnson. The winner this week could very well come from this pairing. If Rose were to win, he would be the first player this year on the PGA Tour to win three events, and Colin Montgomerie becomes the most hated man in all of Europe.

Phil Mickelson doesn’t seem into it this fall. Maybe his arthritic condition is worse than he’s let on, or maybe he’s still distracted with the health of both his wife and mother. But Lefty’s game is nowhere to be found, and he’s not emitting a lot of positive vibes in his interviews recently. I think Phil manages the cut this week, but his dream of becoming number one in the world officially ends.

Steve Stricker has a history in September…. a good one. He’s the only player on tour who has played in each round of every event in the fall playoff series since its’ inception three years ago. If there’s a player in the field who could win this week and then win again next week at the BMW, Strick’s the guy. I like his chances this week at TPC Boston.

Jim Furyk was not upset about the change in the pro-am policy that led to his DQ last week. “I think people are wondering whether I’m going to be upset that they changed it. That couldn’t be farther than the case. I think there were enough players who were not in favor of the rule. I think the commissioner himself said he didn’t like the rule in hindsight. Therefore, I think the best option, the best scenario, was to go ahead and change it as quick as possible.” (courtesy of THIS article at PGATOUR.COM) Looking ahead to this week, Furyk comes into TPC Boston on a mission. And it helps that it’s a course that suits his eye, as Jim has finished inside the top-10 the last two times he’s played here. This very well could be “Sleeping Beauty’s” tournament to lose this week.

Rory McIlroy might be last on my list of notables, but he’s my overall pick this week to win. He’ll have to play better than he played last week at the Barclays, but I don’t see two consecutive letdowns coming. Of all the players in the field, I think this kid is the one player who could go on an absolute tear in golf, and I think he gets it done this week at TPC Boston.

Underdog Picks

With a field this strong, it’s really hard to list a lot of players as potential underdogs. But I’m gonna throw a couple of names out there who might make some noise this week. Jeff Overton – the guy is a streaky player. He’s got 6 top-10’s this season and has finished runner-up on three different occasions. If he can manage his emotions, he’s certainly got the game to contend this week. Sean O’Hair is the other underdog pick. Sean’s struggled with his consistency this season, but his game is finally starting to come around. He finished 5th at the WGC Bridgestone three weeks ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him become a factor as Monday approaches.

Tournament News

The biggest news item this week will be Hurricane Earl as it is predicted to move closely to the Boston area sometime Friday afternoon. The tour has moved the tee times up in the morning to get as many holes in as they can, but very few are confident that the weather will hold out for completion of play for the first round. And depending on what weather comes with the storm, it could make the course play totally different than what they players have experienced in their practice rounds earlier this week. By the looks of things, it could be another lift, clean, and place situation again this week.

Kenny Perry withdrew from this week’s event, officially ending his FedEx Cup run this season. Perry was 93rd in the FedEx Cup point standings heading into the week and needed a solid showing to advance to next week’s tournament at Cog Hill, but the 50-yr-old has decided that he needs some time to rest and recharge his batteries.

Click HERE for the Friday pairings and starting times for this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.