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Post by Gooba on Aug 24, 2016 6:32:32 GMT -5
Golfers to Bet - The Barclays
Tournament: The Barclays
Date: Thursday, August 25th
Venue: Bethpage Black Course
Location: Old Bethpage, NY
The top golfers in the world are set to compete in The Barclays on Long Island this weekend. After a rather lousy string of tournaments, The Barclays should bring golf fans the excitement they’ve been waiting for.
This field is set to include almost all of the big name golfers, as Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose will all be teeing off on Thursday.
Vijay Singh will also be playing in this tournament, and he has actually won this event four times in his career (1993, 1995, 2006, 2008).
Two other multiple winners that will be competing are Ernie Els (1996, 1997) and Sergio Garcia (2001, 2004). The last time Bethpage Black was the course played in this tournament was in 2012 and Nick Watney edged out Brandt Snedeker by three strokes to win it that year.
Watney will not be on the course when these guys tee off on Thursday, but Snedeker will be.
With that information out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the best values to win this gigantic tournament this weekend:
Golfers to Watch
Jason Day (11/2) - Jason Day has not played since the PGA Championship in late July, but he was excellent in that tournament and that was without much preparation. Day was with his wife in the hospital in the days leading up to that one, so he went in a bit cold and still shot a 13-under to finish in second place. Now the superstar returns to The Barclays, which he has really dominated over the past few years. Day shot a 19-under to win this tournament in 2015, defeating Henrik Stenson by six strokes. He also came in second place in 2014, so clearly this is an event that he is very comfortable at. Day also happens to be having one heck of a season, as he has won three events and has finished inside the top-five six times. With favorable 11/2 odds, it’d be irresponsible not to put a few units on Day this weekend.
Henrik Stenson (19/2) -Stenson got off to a rough start this season, but he has really bounced back and is now playing as well as anybody coming into The Barclays. After withdrawing from the U.S. Open, Stenson returned a month later and won The Open Championship with a 20-under. There was no let down for him after that, as he finished tied for seventh at the PGA Championship and then finished in second at the Olympics. With the way Stenson is swinging the club right now, it’s hard to pass up on him at 19/2. He could end up paying off huge and it would shock pretty much nobody if he were to win this thing. Of all of the top golfers in the field, Stenson is the guy that is most likely to provide a huge payday because of his odds.
Brandt Snedeker (30/1) - As previously mentioned, Snedeker has come close to winning this thing before. In 2012, Snedeker shot a seven-under and finished in second place in this tournament and that also happened to have been the last time Bethpage hosted this event. He should feel very confident when he gets out there on the course on Thursday, but his performance here last time is not the only reason. Snedeker also happens to be coming off of a very good showing at the Wyndham Championship, as he shot a 15-under and ended up tying for third in that one. He’s a very high upside play at 30/1 and is worth putting a unit or two on in this one.
Emiliano Grillo (70/1) - When looking for a guy that could be considered a dark horse to win this one, Grillo is somebody that really stands out. He is playing extremely well recently and has the talent to earn a big victory on Sunday. Grillo comes into this one after having finished tied for 13th with a six-under at the PGA Championship and then tying for eighth place with a seven-under at the Men’s Olympics. He has now finished inside the top-15 at five of the past seven tournaments he has played in and could make a splash by winning this one on Sunday. He’s a tremendous value at 70/1 and is certainly worth putting a unit on.
Odds to win The Barclays
Jason Day 11/2
Dustin Johnson 8/1
Rory McIlroy 9/1
Henrik Stenson 19/2
Jordan Spieth 29/2
Justin Rose 19/1
Hideki Matsuyama 22/1
Brooks Koepka 25/1
Phil Mickelson 25/1
Adam Scott 30/1
Brandt Snedeker 30/1
Bubba Watson 30/1
Branden Grace 35/1
Matt Kuchar 35/1
Jim Furyk 45/1
Patrick Reed 45/1
Rickie Fowler 45/1
Louis Oosthuizen 50/1
Billy Horschel 60/1
Daniel Berger 60/1
Jimmy Walker 60/1
Si Woo Kim 60/1
Charl Schwartzel 65/1
Russell Knox 70/1
Emiliano Grillo 75/1
Zach Johnson 80/1
Ryan Moore 95/1
Kevin Kisner 100/1
Kevin Na 100/1
Luke Donald 100/1
Paul Casey 100/1
Justin Thomas 110/1
William McGirt 110/1
Johnson Wagner 120/1
Bill Haas 130/1
Keegan Bradley 130/1
J.B. Holmes 140/1
Kevin Chappell 140/1
Gary Woodland 150/1
Lucas Glover 150/1
Marc Leishman 150/1
Daniel Summerhays 170/1
David Lingmerth 170/1
Graeme McDowell 170/1
Harris English 170/1
Danny Lee 180/1
Jason Dufner 190/1
Russell Henley 190/1
Ryan Palmer 190/1
Steve Stricker 190/1
Ricky Barnes 210/1
Tony Finau 210/1
Webb Simpson 210/1
Charley Hoffman 220/1
Jhonattan Vegas 230/1
Aaron Baddeley 250/1
Brendan Steele 250/1
Charles Howell III 250/1
Chris Kirk 250/1
Francesco Molinari 250/1
Graham Delaet 250/1
Patrick Rodgers 250/1
Robert Garrigus 250/1
Robert Streb 250/1
Scott Piercy 250/1
Jamie Lovemark 300/1
Roberto Castro 300/1
Alex Cejka 350/1
Hudson Swafford 350/1
Martin Laird 350/1
Ben Martin 400/1
Brian Harman 400/1
Jason Kokrak 400/1
Luke List 400/1
Patton Kizzire 400/1
Brett Stegmaier 450/1
Colt Knost 450/1
Jonas Blixt 450/1
Scott Brown 450/1
Seung-Yul Noh 450/1
Andrew Loupe 500/1
Billy Hurley III 500/1
Blayne Barber 500/1
Cameron Tringale 500/1
Jerry Kelly 500/1
John Senden 500/1
Kevin Streelman 500/1
Sean OHair 500/1
Smylie Kaufman 500/1
Adam Hadwin 550/1
David Hearn 550/1
Freddie Jacobson 550/1
Jon Curran 550/1
K.J. Choi 550/1
Kyle Reifers 550/1
Spencer Levin 550/1
Harold Varner III 600/1
James Hahn 600/1
Jim Herman 600/1
Vaughn Taylor 600/1
Ben Crane 650/1
Boo Weekley 650/1
Brian Stuard 650/1
Bryce Molder 650/1
Chad Campbell 650/1
Chez Reavie 650/1
John Huh 650/1
Sung Kang 650/1
Tyrone Van Aswegen 650/1
Vijay Singh 650/1
Derek Fathauer 700/1
Fabian Gomez 700/1
David Toms 750/1
Jason Bohn 750/1
Mark Hubbard 750/1
Michael Kim 750/1
Peter Malnati 750/1
Troy Merritt 750/1
Zac Blair 750/1
Odds Subject to Change
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Post by Gooba on Aug 24, 2016 6:33:01 GMT -5
10 to Watch: The Barclays
By Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange
1. Jason Day, Australia -- The No. 1 player in the World Golf Rankings also leads the FedEx Cup standings and is defending champion of the Barclays. Last year in the FedEx Cup playoffs opener at Plainfield Country Club, he played the weekend in 63-62 to win by six strokes over Henrik Stenson of Sweden, a year after tying for second, two shots behind Hunter Mahan at Ridgewood Country Club. The Aussie is 31-under-par in the event in the last two years and has finished outside the top 25 in the playoffs opener only in the first of his eight appearances, when he tied for 31st in 2008. Day has won three times among his nine top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season, the last victory in the Players Championship in May, and eight of his 10 titles have come in the last two years.
2. Dustin Johnson, United States -- The U.S. Open champion is second in the FedEx Cup point standings and the World Golf Rankings heading into the Barclays, in which he is making his eighth appearance. Johnson won the playoff opener in 2011 at Plainfield Country Club, claiming a two-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar when the tournament was shortened to 54 holes by the threat of Hurricane Irene. He has three other top-10 finishes in the Barclays, a tie for ninth last year at Plainfield, a tie for third in 2012 when it was last played at Bethpage Black, and a tie for 2010 at Ridgewood. Johnson also won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and leads the PGA Tour with 12 top-10s this season, but had his streak of six in a row snapped when he missed the cut in his last start in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol.
3. Henrik Stenson, Sweden -- Coming off a runner-up finish behind Justin Rose in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the big Swede is enjoying a season in which he won the Open Championship at Royal Troon and the BMW Championship in Germany among 10 results in the top 10 around the world. The 2013 FedEx Cup champion is No. 4 in the World Golf Rankings, second in the European Tour's Race to Dubai point standings and 14th in the FedEx Cup standings. This will be Stenson's fifth start in the Barclays, and last year he posted his best finish, recording four rounds in the 60s but still wound up six strokes behind runaway winner Jason Day in solo second at Plainfield. In 2009, when the U.S. Open was played at Bethpage Black, site of this year's Barclays, he tied for ninth, five strokes behind champion Lucas Glover.
4. Justin Rose, England -- The first Olympic golf champion since 1904 has some work to do in the next three weeks because he is 51st in the FedEx Cup standings and must be in the top 30 to qualify for the Tour Championship. He was slowed by a back injury early this year, but still has five finishes in the top 10 on the PGA Tour and showed his game was coming around when he shot 66-68 in the last two rounds of the PGA Championship to tie for 22nd at Baltusrol. Rose, No. 9 in the world, is playing in the Barclays for the 11th time and his best result was a tie for second in 2013 at Liberty National, where he had a chance to win on the final hole. But he ran his 25-foot birdie putt five feet past the hole, then missed the comebacker to make bogey and finish one stroke behind Adam Scott.
5. Jordan Spieth, United States -- The defending FedEx Cup champion is fifth in the standings at the start of the playoffs and hopes to get his game back on track after taking three weeks off since tying for 13th in the PGA Championship. He has two victories among six finishes in the top 10 this season, but has not been as sharp as he was in winning five times last year and rising to No. 1 in the world. Spieth is making his fourth appearance in the Barclays and last year he shot 74-73 -- 147 to miss the cut by five shots, after tying for 19th in 2013 and tying for 22nd in 2014. However, he had such a big lead in the standings that after also missing the weekend in the Deutsche Bank, he tied for 13th in the BMW Championship and won the Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup.
6. Adam Scott, Australia -- Victories in back-to-back outings at the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship to start the Florida Swing earlier this year, plus runner-up finishes in the CIMB Classic and the Northern Trust Open have Scott at third in the FedEx Cup standings entering the playoffs. However, his only other top-10 result since was a tie for 10th in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but his game seemed to be coming around when he finished 67-69-69 to tie for 18th in the PGA Championship. The Aussie is playing in the Barclays for the 13th time and won the tournament two years ago when he went out early in the last round and shot 66 at Liberty National. That stood up for a one-stroke victory over Rose, Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland and Graham DeLaet of Canada. He also was second, two shots behind Vijay Singh in 2006, and tied for ninth in 2010.
7. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland -- Most of McIlroy's good golf this season has been played off the PGA Tour, as he won the Irish Open, finished third on the Open de France, tied for fifth in the Open Championship at Royal Troon and had two other top-10 finishes on the Middle East Swing. He ranks third in the European Tour's Race to Dubai, but is only 35th in the FedEx Cup standings. Rory does have six finishes in the top 10 on the U.S. tour, the best a tie for third in the WGC-Cadillac Championship, but he missed the cut in the U.S. Open at Oakmont and the PGA Championship at Baltusrol. This will be his fifth appearance in the Barclays and his best result was a tie for 19th in 2013 at Liberty National. In 2009, he closed with a 68 to tie for 10th in the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, site of this week's tournament.
8. Phil Mickelson, United States -- Lefty remains winless since the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, but he has finished second this year in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, the FedEx St. Jude Classic and the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon, and has four other top-10s. He has climbed 21 spots in the World Golf Rankings this year to No. 13 and he enters the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 8 in the point standings. Mickelson is making his 14th start in the Barclays and his only top-10 results were a tie for sixth three years ago at Liberty National and a tie for seventh in 2007 at Westchester. However, when the U.S. Open was played at Bethpage Black on 2009, he tied for second, two strokes behind Lucas Glover. That's one of six runner-up finishes he has in our national championship without winning.
9. Sergio Garcia, Spain -- Returning from a tie for eighth in the Olympic Games in Rio, Garcia has finished in the top 10 in five of his last six outings on both major tours, even though the Games' result is not considered official. He started the run with a playoff victory over Brooks Koepka in the AT&T Byron Nelson in and ranks 20th in the FedEx Cup standings, as he also finished second behind Scott earlier this year in the Honda Classic. Garcia won the Westchester Classic before it became the Barclays to kick off the playoffs, in 2001 and 2004 in Westchester, and also lost to Vijay Singh in a playoff in 2008 at Ridgewood, and has three other results in the top five. He tied for 10th in the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, where the tournament will be played this week.
10. Jim Furyk, United States -- It seemed the 2010 FedEx Cup champion might not qualify for the playoffs this year until he shot a PGA Tour record 58 in the final round of the Travelers Championship to tie for fifth. Furyk followed that up with a tie for 10th in the Wyndham Championship last week, although he faded a bit in a closing 70, and climbed to No. 82 in the point standings. He didn't get started this season until May after undergoing left wrist surgery in February, and his push actually began when he tied for second behind Johnson in the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in June. Furyk has played what is now the Barclays 16 times, and his best result were solo second in 1998 and 2005 at Westchester and he has not finished outside the top 11 in the last three years
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Post by Gooba on Aug 25, 2016 5:50:06 GMT -5
PGA Tour Picks: The Barclays Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
by Alan Matthews
The PGA Tour's regular season concluded on Sunday at Wyndham Championship outside Charlotte with a guy I'll admit I know little about winning: 21-year-old South Korean Si Woo Kim for his first career Tour title. He shot a final-round 67 on Sunday to finish at 21-under 259 (tying tournament record) and beat out former world No. 1 Luke Donald by five shots. Kim really won the tournament on Friday with a course-record 60 and never looked back.
The victory jumped Kim, the youngest Tour winner this season, from 43rd to 15th in the FedEx Cup points standings, meaning he's probably going to qualify for the Tour Championship regardless of what happens in the first three playoff tournaments.
Needless to say, I didn't have Kim winning last week. I went with Charlotte native Webb Simpson, but he disappointed with a T71. I was also really high on Bill Haas, but he was T22. I did hit on Jim Furyk for a Top 10 at +200 and he finished T10. I also hit on a few head-to-head props.
So now we move on to playoff-opening Barclays at Bethpage State Park's tough Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. The course hosted the U.S. Open in 2009 (Lucas Glover won at 4 under) and 2002 (Tiger Woods at 3 under). I'm sure the course isn't set up near as tough as those Opens, but it will still be challenging.
The Top 125 in the points advanced to the Barclays. Perhaps the biggest winner in Charlotte other than Kim was Shawn Stefani, who shot a final-round 66 on Sunday to finish T14 and jump from No. 133 to No. 123 in the points. The other guy who was on the outside looking in and played his way into the playoffs was Kyle Stanley, who was also T14 to rise from No. 127 to No. 116. Thus that means two guys who were inside the Top 125 had to be knocked out, and they were Matt Jones and Whee Kim, who both missed the cut at the Wyndham. The current guy at No. 125 is Seung-Yul Noh. The Top 125 in points also retain their Tour cards for the 2016-17 season and qualify for next year's Players Championship. Nos. 126-150 in the FedEx Cup retained conditional Tour status for next season.
The Top 100 after the Barclays move on to the next event in Boston; No. 100 currently is Jonas Blixt. Bethpage Black is a par-71, 7,468-yard monster public course. It also hosted this event in 2012, and Nick Watney won at 10-under 274, two shots ahead of Brandt Snedeker. Not all of the Top 125 are playing: Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry and Danny Willett and Anirban Lahiri aren't, but the first three have enough points where they will advance regardless.
The defending champion is points leader and world No. 1 Jason Day. He shot a final-round 62 last year at Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey to finish at 19 under and lap the field by six shorts. Day, who nearly had to pull out of the tournament after hurting his back two days before it started, began the final round in a tie for the lead with Sangmoon Bae, who shot a 72.
Golf Odds: The Barclays Favorites
Day is the +750 favorite to repeat. Since the playoffs were instituted in 2007, no one has gone back-to-back in the tournament or even won it twice. Day was also second in the event two years ago but a different course than last year. He hasn't played since a runner-up in the PGA Championship.
Dustin Johnson, just 34 points behind Day, is +900. He won this tournament in 2011 at Plainfield. Johnson missed the cut in 2009 and was ninth last year. He comes off a MC at the PGA Championship.
Rory McIlroy (+1000), Henrik Stenson (+1200) and reigning FedEx Cup champion Jordan Spieth (+1400) round out the favorites. Stenson finished second to Day last year and comes off a silver-medal performance in Rio. McIlroy didn't play this event last year and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. Spieth missed the cut at the 2015 Barclays and also last played at the PGA (T14).
Golf Odds: The Barclays Picks
For a Top 10, I like Day (-120), Stenson (+125) and Hideki Matsuyama (+250), who has back-to-back Top 5 finishes on Tour. I lean Stenson at +275 as the top European, Matsuyama (-150) as top Asian and Louis Oosthuizen (+185) as top South African. I'm not that high on McIlroy or Spieth this week.
Head-to-head, go with Day (-130) over Johnson (even), Stenson (-105) over McIlroy (-125), Justin Rose (even) over Spieth (-130), Brooks Koepka (-115) over Phil Mickelson (-115), and Matsuyama (-125) over Adam Scott (-105).
Always tougher to handicap a tournament that rotates courses, but I'll go with Stenson as he's on the best run of his career.
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Post by Makers on Aug 28, 2016 5:37:17 GMT -5
Fowler builds 1-shot lead at Barclays
Rickie Fowler kept bogeys off his card for the second straight day and closed with a 5-foot birdie putt for a 3-under 68, giving him a one-shot lead over Patrick Reed going into the final round of The Barclays
Fowler had three par putts of 10 feet or more. He has gone 45 straight holes without a bogey at Bethpage Black.
Along with having a chance to win his first PGA Tour event in a year, Fowler is in prime position to earn a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
He was at 9-under 204.
Reed overcame a stretch of bogeys early for a 71, missing birdie chances on the last two holes.
Adam Scott had a 65, the low score of the tournament, and was two shots back.
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