Damien Kayat previews the Northern Trust Open which is set to get underway at the Ridgewood Country Club on 23 August.
The Northern Trust Open | 23 August – 26 August | Ridgewood Country Club
Originally known as the Westchester Classic, this event has undergone various incarnations in the last few years. It was first staged in 1967 and was won by Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus would go on to taste victory once again in this event in 1971. Vijay Singh holds the record for the most victories in this event with four. It was known until recently as the Barclays and has kicked off the FedEx Cup Playoffs since its inception in 2007. The top 125 in the FedEx Cup rankings have qualified for this event and players will jostle for positions inside the top 100. The tour will head to Boston next week for the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston.
The Championship Course at Ridgewood Country Club is fairly unique in that it is a composite of three nine holes courses. A.W Tillinghast designed this course in 1928 though Gill Hanse has recently been making sizable renovations to update the course. A Par 71 measuring 7,385 yards, Ridgewood is a classical tree-lined course that has hosted this event on three occasions. It hosted the event in 2008, 2010 and 2014. Strangely enough, it was Hunter Mahan who won the last edition of this event at a canter. How times change. Heavy rains in the region mean that the rough will prove particularly thick this week, which will encourage those with accuracy off the tee.
Dustin Johnson currently leads the FedEx Cup rankings and will be aiming to make it a fourth year-to-date title this week. Justin Thomas will also be aiming to win his fourth title while Brooks Koepka returns following his heroics at Bellerive. The entire pageantry of proceedings will be exacerbated by the presence of Tiger Woods. Woods is returning to the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2013. Clearly, there will be no shortage of huge contenders this week. Francisco Molinari is the current Open Champion and perhaps leads the European contingent this week. Top ball strikers such as Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose should be a factor while everyone waits for Rory’s game to completely click together for a week.
Past Winners
2017: Dustin Johnson (-13)*playoff
2016: Patrick Reed (-9)
2015: Jason Day (-19)
2014: Hunter Mahan (-14)
2013: Adam Scott (-11)
To Win Outright:
Dustin Johnson 9/1 | Brooks Koepka 12/1 | Justin Thomas 12/1 | Jason Day 14/1 | Tiger Woods 14/1
Value Bets
Francisco Molinari- To Win 22/1, To Place 48/10
With all the exploits of Tiger and Koepka at Bellerive, it’s rather easy to forget that the Italian picked up yet another notable performance. A tie for sixth was the latest in a string of results that read 1-2-25-1-2-1-39-6. The Italian has won three of his last eight events and should be able to navigate his way expertly around this tree-lined course. As I mentioned earlier, the thickets of rough will be best avoided and Molinari’s deadly accuracy off the tee should stand him in great stead this week.
Xander Schauffele- To Win 60/1, To Place 13/1
Xander Schauffele is an absolutely irresistible talent who will no doubt be looking to recall his season-ending antics from last year. The winner in East Lake last year is much like Koepka in the sense that his best golf is often reserved for elite field events. He has top six finishes in his last two US Opens as well as a tie for second at Carnoustie earlier this season. He also finished in second at Sawgrass while he sat in a tie for 15th going into the final round at Bellerive. Final round complications saw him finish well down the field but make no mistake, Schauffele has got it in him to win this week. Additionally, he currently sits 12th in the American Ryder Cup standings and knows a strong finish will be necessary for a chance at those all-important Captain Picks.
Billy Horschel- To Win 100/1, To Place 22/1
I’m once again going to opt for the recently resurgent Billy Horschel this week. Horschel obviously has brilliant memories of this time of the year. It was in 2014 that he won back-to-back FedEx Cup events in a late-season, FedEx Cup-clinching surge. Horschel has been hitting the ball sweetly of late and looks phenomenal value at 100/1. Just last week his stats read second for driving accuracy, sixth for Greens in Regulation and 10th in Driving Distance. Perhaps an 11th place finish ultimately was an injustice. He has that runner-up finish at the Barbasol and I just have a feeling that the Horschel’s ball-striking abilities could propel him up the leaderboard.
The Man to Beat- Jason Day – To Win 14/1, To Place 3/1
It’s hard to pick a player in the upper echelons of the betting, but Day’s form at this very course makes him the one for me. Already a multiple winner on tour this year (he won at the Farmers and Wells Fargo events), Day has played the last three editions of this event at Ridgewood. He finished in a tie for 31st in 2008 before a more impressive tie for fifth in 2010. He then finished runner-up in 2014, highlighting his acumen for this course. Day hasn’t finished worse than 19th in his last four starts and currently sits first in shots gained-putting and shots gained around the green.
