The first of the final four events of the Fed Ex cup begin with The Barclays event held in Edison, N.J at Plainfield country club. 125 players will start this week with 100 progressing though to the 2nd event based on their points status come Sunday evening, all in the name of bagging that 10 million bonus put up by Fed Ex. Plainfield is a Donald Ross designed course and this event was held here as recently as 2011 where Dustin Johnson won with a -19 total. Caution there, Johnson did not take part in today's pro am due to illness. Right, I won't go into too much detail and get onto my two selections for this week's event; Tony Finau 80/1 - Big hitting American who has been simmering along well this year, the course should really suit his huge driving if he's finding fairway's and he can give himself plenty of birdie opportunities to compete here over the 4 day's. He's been flagged by many as a person who can go on and dominate events, that is possible but he will have to start converting consistency into big time wins. He's still young though and he's still improving. Starts the week In 39th position and could have a run towards the top 5 over the upcoming events. Solid each way chance. Justin Thomas 66/1 - has an all round steady game and has really found his feet this season, ranked 36th going into this week and 76th in the OWGR (Official world golf rankings) he is yet another 'young gun' that is showing his form and starting to show some good consistency. His best finish this season was a T4 at the Sanderson Farms and also a T4 at the Quicken Loans championship. He tends to be streaky and can post some low numbers...hopefully he can do it over 4 day's and get into the last event of the season in 4 week's time. Medium each way chance. I will be back in action tomorrow also after over a month and a half out with torn ligaments in my thumb. I hope my driver has kept it's manners All the best folks.
DJ won it in 2011 on the same course with a score of -19 after 54 holes because of the hurricane. He'd be a cracking bet if he wasn't suffering from illness
Excellent start for my man Tony who sits joint top at -5, as usual I shan't get carried away as I have had the first round leader plenty of times with my picks this season and most memorable was Thorbjorn Olesesn who shot -7 and was leading by 3 the first day on the ET, only to shoot +8 the next day and miss the cut!! Thomas has work to do to at +1 and will need something in the mid 60's today. With no hurricane Irene forecast, the scoring should remain steady as of opening day. Dustin Johnson shot a 70 for a level par opening round, which might not be as bad as first appears given he possibly wasn't feeling right still, he is capable of throwing In a 63 or 64 here to get into contention so fingers crossed. All the best guy's
Quite happy with DJ to be 5 off the lead, means there is no pressure on him and he can just play his game. Saw Tony at the top of the leaderboard and was thinking where have I seen that name
No big moves of note at the end of day 2, a few in behind played themselves into contention and it's still very tight among the leaderboard. Tony Finau reached -8 during round 2, but 2 bogeys on the way in meant he fell back to -6 to sit in a tie for 2nd position. Justin Thomas made the cut with a 140 2 day total and is just 7 off the lead. Dustin sits on a 2 day total of 140 also and is also still within touching distance. All to play for as we go on to moving day. Who will be the mover and shakers today as we enter the crunch of the weekend.
My old friend Sang Moon Bae and Jason Day still top at -11. Some brilliant shooting yesterday but unfortunately for my pick Tony Finau, he decided to sit at the bottom of the hill when everyone else was running up it. Justin Thomas has gone to -2, 9 back with Finau -5 and 6 off. Place money is all I'm after with Finau now and he will need to go low today to achieve a place.