WAM Golf

The Barclays Preview & Groups To Watch

The PGA TOUR playoffs begin this week with The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey. The field features the top 125 FedEx Cup point earners from the regular season and will be cut to 100 for next weeks tournament, The Deutsche Bank Championship.

(Nick Watney won twice this season and holds the top spot going into the FedEx Cup Playoffs)

Although 125 players have qualified for the Playoffs, Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel and J.B. Holmes will not be in the field this week making the field is 123 players. Schwartzel is currently 21st in the standings and could skip the first two tournaments and likely advance. Holmes is having brain surgery this week and will miss the playoffs, he was ranked 66th.

There's a buzz in the air about Keegan Bradley returning to New Jersey. The PGA TOUR rookie comes into the playoffs in 5th place after winning the PGA Championship just a couple of weeks ago. The former St. Johns University golfer is almost guaranteed a spot TOUR Championship by being ranked this high and a win here could give him the lead going into the final 100. 

The usual suspects are also drawing some attention. Nick Watney has two wins on TOUR this season which earned him the top spot coming into the playoffs. Watney won the AT&T National and WGC-Cadillac Championship, two of the biggest non majors of the season. A win could give him a big enough lead to run away with the playoffs.

Watney may come into the playoffs with a huge advantage but Steve Stricker (2nd), Webb Simpson (3rd), and Luke Donald (4th) all come into the playoffs less than 50 or fewer points off the lead. Stricker currently sits in second place, only 41 points away from being number one. He has the honor of being the highest ranked American in the world and with two PGA TOUR victories this season, knows how to win. I normally write players off the week following their first PGA TOUR victory but there seems to be something different about Webb Simpson. Just 45 points off the lead, his win last week could give him the momentum swing to be a contender in the playoffs. It will be interesting to see how he reacts this week. Finally, Luke Donald sits just 50 points back of the lead in perfect stalking distance. The top ranked player in the world, it will be impossible for Donald to sneak up and surprise anyone. A win here would only help his FedEx Cup chances and increase his hold on the world's number one spot. 

The Barclays Groups To Watch

3. Adam Scott, Jason Day & Bill Haas: Adam Scott could be the hottest player on TOUR right now. He won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and followed up with a top 10 at the PGA Championship. He's my pick to win this week. Aside from missing the cut at the PGA Championship, Jason Day has had a career year despite not winning. Runner up at two majors, it's a matter of time before we see him win again. Bill Haas has two second place finishes this season and has made the cut in 18 of 22 events this year. It's a good year for him and hopefully he can take the experience from this years playoffs and grow next season. 

 2. Nick Watney, Steve Stricker & Webb Simpson: I don't think I need to re-explain why this group is one to watch. The top 3 in the FedEx Cup Standings, we could easily see one of the guys crowned FedEx Cup Champion in about a month. 

1. Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson & Luke Donald: Phil is always entertaining and seems to always play well in the Northeast. They love him in New Jersey and I think he'll thank the crowd with a stellar performance. I mentioned Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald above. It's going to be interesting to see how Bradley plays after winning a major as a rookie. I expect him to be cool and put on a good showing the next few weeks. Luke Donald always seems cool. If he wins the FedEx Cup, I won't be surprised at all. 

 WAMGolf.com Pick to Win: Adam Scott

Webb Simpson Wins Wyndham Championship; FedEx Cup Field Is Set

Webb Simpson shot a final round 67 to hold off charges by Tommy Gainey and George McNeill to win the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. Simpson was bogey free during his final round and made birdies on the 9^th, 15^th and 16^th to get to -18 for the tournament, three strokes better than McNeill.

  (Webb Simpson earned his first PGA TOUR victory this week. Photo: Yahoo! Sports)

The win is Simpson’s first career PGA TOUR victory and caps off a great 2011 season for the upcoming star who graduated from Wake Forest in 2008. In 20 starts this season Simpson has recorded 15 finishes in the top 25 and seven top 10’s. Prior to winning this the Wyndham he had finished in second twice, at the Transitions Championship and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans where he lost in a playoff. 

Along with $918,000 and a two year exemption on the PGA TOUR, Simpson jumped nine spots in the FedEx Cup standings moving from 12th to 9th. He now sits just 45 points behind the lead, Nick Watney. The win just about guarantees he will be in the TOUR Championship featuring the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup Standings.

FedEx Cup Field Is Set

Webb Simpson wasn't the only one to move into a better position. While Nick Watney and Luke Donald  hold the top two spots, Ernie Els, Camilo Villegas, and Padraig Harrington all played themselves into at least one more event. Villegas, who has had a disappointing year, came into the Wyndham Championship in 125th place, holding the final spot to make the playoffs. A top 10 finish moved him up to 109th place and gives him a fighting chance at advancing to the "second round". 

Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington, both major championship winners, rose to the call and moved from the outside in this weekend. Els came into the event in 126th place but finished in a tie for 30th to sneak into the playoffs in 118th place. Harrington cut it even closer. Coming into the final event he was in 130th but earned enough points with his 47th place finish to climb to 124th place and just make the field next week. 

The most notable name to miss the FedEx Cup, Tiger Woods. Woods, who didn't compete this week, finished in 132nd place. He missed the playoffs by just 20 points despite playing in only eight events. 

The FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week with the top 125 golfers at The Barclays. Matt Kuchar is the defending champion. 

The Wyndham Championship Preview & Groups To Watch

The dust has settled from the PGA Championship and the TOUR is in Greensboro, North Carolina for the Wyndham Championship. Arjun Atwal will hope he can defend his title but this is the last opportunity to earn valuable FedEx Cup points before the playoffs begin next week at The Barclays. 

(Brandt Snedeker won here in 2007)

Most of the buzz this week is about David Toms. Toms finished second to Atwal at this event last year and has a great 2011. Toms won the Crowne Plaza Invitational earlier this year earned a second place at The PLAYERS as well as a third place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It's been a true comeback year and 44 year old and now he's looking to make a run at the FedEx Cup. 

Chasing Toms and Atwal this week will be names like Lucas Glover and Brandt Snedeker. Glover, a former major championship winner, showed signs of life this year with a win at the Wells Fargo Championship. It was his first win since the 2009 U.S. Open. The win is his only top 10 this year but he did finish in a tie for 12th at the British and a win this week could give him a boost in the FedEx Cup race. Snedeker won this event in 2007 and already has a win at The Heritage this season. He's finished in top 25 all but once when he has made the cut in 2011. It's a great opportunity to for Snedeker to join the list of players with two wins in 2011. 

 Three Groups To Watch at The Wyndham Championship

 3. Tommy Gainey, Jason Dufner & Ben Curtis: These names you don't hear much but Curtis is a former British Open Champion and Gainey has finished 3rd twice this year. Who am I kidding? I want to watch this group to see how Jason Dufner reacts after a tough playoff loss at the PGA Championship just four days ago. 

2. David Toms, Bill Haas & Webb Simpson: There is a Haas getting some credit this week on Twitter but his name is Hunter. Bill Haas is having a great year and a win could really cap it off for him. He's made the cut in 18 or 21 events and has six top 10 finishes with, two of them losses in a playoff. Webb Simpson is another "almost" guy this year. Making the cut in 16 of 19 events, he has two second place finishes to show for it too. He's my pick to win this week. David Toms is back and win here would really make things interesting!

1. Lucas Glover, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh: I though Vijay would win this year and if that's going to happen, it has to be now. He has three top 10 finishes including a second place at the Northern Trust Open. Jim Furyk won three times on the PGA TOUR last year and I was expecting big things in 2011. Needless to say, I was way off and Furyk has only two top 10's this season. As I mentioned above, Lucas Glover showed he can win again this year, can he add another 2011 victory in the final week? 

Keegan Bradley Wins The 2011 PGA Championship In A Playoff

A triple bogey on the 15th hole by Keegan Bradley looked to be the end of his PGA Championship dreams. Little did we know, it was only the beginning. Bradley responded with back to back birdies on 16 and 17 while Jason Dufner, the leader at the time, made back to back bogies. The combination of the two caused the players to finish the 72nd hole tied for the lead and head into a three hole playoff. 

(Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in a playoff. Photo: DailyMail)

The swing in momentum was clear as Bradley and Dufner headed to the first playoff hole. Bradley nearly made birdie on 18 to win outright while Dufner was left to figure out what went wrong. Heading to replay three of the toughest holes in PGA Championship history, the big question was "could Dufner recover"?. 

It didn't take long for our question to be answered. Like he did in the final round, Bradley made a birdie on 16 to take a one stroke lead over Dufner who made par. It was more of the same on 17 but this time it was Bradley needed only par to take the one stroke advantage as a tired looking Dufner made a bogey. The 18th hole was anything but routine when Bradley, with a two stroke lead, decided to go for the green over the water guarding the front. His shot carried the hazard by a whisker and left himself about 20 feet for his first major championship. 

For Bradley, the win came in just his 24th career start and the first major of his career. It is his second win of the 2011 PGA TOUR season, he won the HP Byron Nelson Championship earlier this year and finished in the top 10 at the Valero Texas Open and the Bob Hope Classic. The 25 year old rookie moved from 24th to 4th in the FedEx Cup standings and 29th in the Official World Golf Rankings, he was previously ranked 108th. 

PGA Championship Notables

Adam Scott followed up his win last week by finishing in 7th place. Scott stalked the top of the leaderboard throughout the week but a double bogey on the 18th on Friday seemed to slow him down. He made only five birdies during the final two rounds of play. The 7th place finish moved him into 7th in the Official World Golf Rankings, ahead of Jason Day and Dustin Johnson. He also moved from 15th to 13th in the FedEx Cup Standings.

The top two golfers in the world, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, finished in a tie for 8th at 3-under for the tournament. It was a good recovery for the two who both missed the cut at the British Open just a few weeks ago. It's the 12th consecutive week that Luke Donald is the top ranked golfer in the world. 

Steve Stricker didn't win this week despite leading after round one but his 12th place finish was good enough to move him into 3rd in the Official World Golf Rankings. Stricker has been the top ranked American for the past few weeks and jumped over Martin Kaymer who dropped to fourth. Kaymer missed the cut this week. 

PGA Championship Preview & Groups To Watch

We have reached the final major of the season and properly nicknamed "Glory's Last Shot", the PGA Championship is the final opportunity of the year for players to become a major champion. It's hard to believe it was just one year ago Martin Kaymer defeated Bubba Watson in a playoff while Dustin Johnson's penalty on the 72nd hole kept him from participating. 

(Dustin Johnson didn't win the 2010 PGA Championship but all eyes were on him at the 72nd hole. Photo: Golf.com)

The 2011 PGA Championship has plenty of stories coming in. Can the top two golfers in the world, Luke Donald (1st) and Lee Westwood (2nd), win their first major championship? It's just a matter of time before one of these two wins a major. It looks like Luke Donald will be first but when these two are in event we expect one of the to win. After missing the cut at the British Open Lee Westwood will be looking to show he's a major competitor. 

You can bet over the next few days we will be flooded with images and video (like the one above) of what happened last year to Dustin Johnson at Whistling Straits. Right now, Johnson is playing as good as anyone in the world and I can't think of a better way to avenge last years unfortunate debacle than a win here. 

Tiger Woods return last week with a new caddy and Adam Scott winning the WGC Bridgestone Invitational with his old caddy created a new storyline. Woods was less than impressive and most of the talk as been about his former caddy and new Nike golf shoes than anything else. The focus has now shifted to the play of Adam Scott and the impact Steve Williams will have on his career. If it's anything like last week, Scott could walk away a major champion on Sunday. 

Will the Americans ever win another major? Phil Mickelson was the last one to win and that came at the 2010 Masters. It's now been six in a row with South Africa claiming two and Northern Ireland claiming three. Who from the United States will put an end to this streak? We mentioned Dustin Johnson above but U.S. also has three players ranked in the top 10 in the world: Steve Stricker (5th), Mickelson (6th) and Nick Watney (10th). Mickelson is the only major winner but this week I'm picking Steve Stricker be a major champion. 

Three Groups to Watch at the PGA Championship

3. Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy & Darren Clarke: The three major winners from 2011 paired together caught my attention. Schwartzel looks like the favorite for PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year while McIlroy and Clarke look to bring another trophy to Northern Ireland. McIlroy has become a contender every time he walks on the course. No surprise if he wins here. 

2. Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler & Sergio Garcia: Rickie Fowler is coming off a strong showing last week at the WGC event where he finished second and the British Open where he finished 5th. It's a good time to play your best golf of the year. See Dustin Johnson comments above. I think everyone has a soft spot for him this week. Sergio Garcia loves to finish in the top 10 at majors. I wonder if he will ever win one but you can be sure he will be near the top of the leaderboard.

1. Matt Kuchar, Lee Weswtood, & Jason Day: I feel myself pulling for Day every week. Second place finishes at The Masters and U.S. Open have made him a household name. It's now a question of when he will win, not if. Kuchar was Mr. Consistency but fell off the wagon at the British Open and the following week at the RBC Canadian Open. Missing back to back cuts dropped him out of the top 10 in the world, a place he's hungry to get back to. The #2 ranked golfer in the world, Lee Westwood, is in a race to his first major. A disappointing British Open, he's hungry for a major championship and to show he's the best golfer in the world. 

Picks To Win

WAM Golf: Steve Stricker