Deutsche Bank Championship 2012--What to do without Thursday Golf?

Normally, Thursday marks the first round of a PGA Tour event.  Not this week, however, as the Deutsche Bank Championship starts Friday for it's traditional Monday finish on Labor Day.  So what do us golf fans have to do on a Thursday?  No golf for us to watch?  No problem!

Take this Thursday and go out and practice your own game.  Hit up the local driving range, step on the practice green, or just drop a few golf balls in the hallway and a dime on the floor and putt away.  Do you think the pros take a day off?  NO!  We can get better.  We can drop our scores and increase our enjoyment on the golf course.  Who doesn't want to shoot lower scores?

In honor of the Deutsche Bank Championship, make sure to play your round this weekend natural stroke play.  Do not give up any strokes to competitors, just try your best to shoot your lowest score.  Take more hybrids and long irons off tees, putt from off the green.  You'd be amazed at the score you will shoot doing that.  Many strokes are given up when amateur golfers chip from the fringe as it is almost too hard for them to control the exact distance.  Using a putter will help you find yourself closer to the hole.  Also, you'd be amazed at the scoring capabilities you have when you hit fairways with hybrids and long irons.  Yeah, you may be a little farther out, but it is easier to hit the green with a 7 iron from the fairway than a wedge from behind trees or in a bunker or in a hazard.  Aggressively swing on a conservative line.

So, that's what us golf fans can do while waiting for the Deutsche Bank Championship to start.  See you later, off to hit a few putts and lower my scores!  Have a good one!

2012 FedEx Cup Playoffs: The Deutsche Bank Championship

The second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs begins this Friday, as the Deutsche Bank Championship gets underway.  The top-100 players in the FedEx Cup standing will take part in the only tournament on the PGA Tour with a Friday start day and Monday final round.  The traditional setup of the tournament falls on Labor Day Weekend in the United States each and every year.

The tournament returns to TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts, a course well-known to many of the golfers on the PGA Tour.  Fescue-lined fairways and bunkers are cut into the serene setting in Massachusetts, which should be a great venue for late-summer golf.  Playing at just over 7200 yards and a par 71, the course should be playable for everyone left in the FedEx Cup.

The Deutsche Bank Championship is the site of Vijay Singh's win in 2004 where he claimed the number one ranking in the world over Tiger Woods.  Other past winners in the field include Adam Scott, Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, and Webb Simpson.  Singh is the only two-time winner of the championship.  This year marks the 10th year of the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Last week's winner Nick Watney comes into the tournament with a strong lead in the FedEx Cup Standings over Brandt Snedeker and Tiger Woods.  Woods fell from the top spot to number 3 in the rankings.

Predictions for the week:

Winner: Brandt Snedeker

Snedeker is coming off a second-place finish last week at the Barclays after a strong final round.  Snedeker is looking to continue his strong play to further enhance his Ryder Cup resume in the hopes of becoming a captain's pick.  Snedeker finished T3 here last season.

Top 5:
Luke Donald
Webb Simpson
Tiger Woods
Hunter Mahan

Strong Finishes:
Phil Mickelson
Lee Westwood
Adam Scott

Nick Watney will follow up his win with a top-20 finish but will not be able to finish any higher.

2012 Barclays Championship from Bethpage Black--Nick Watney is your Champion

The first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs is complete, and American Nick Watney survived a week of brutally fast greens, finishing at 10-under par for a three stroke victory.  Watney entered the final round trailing Sergio Garcia but quickly made up the deficit as Garcia faltered throughout the round.  Bethpage Black proved to be a tough test for even the best in the world, as many of the top-10 golfers in the world struggled to tame the lightning-fast greens.  Some greens were running upwards of 15 feet on the stimpmeter.

Throughout this final round, though, Watney seemed in control on the greens.  Though three-putting five previous times in the tournament, Watney put together a solid final round to win for the first time since the AT&T National in 2011.  The win strengthens Watney's chances for a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup, a spot that only last year seemed assured to him.  The win moves Watney into the top spot in the FedEx Cup standings and should provide a solid boost in the World Rankings with the stellar field.

Garcia finished a second strong week in a row in a tie for third after faltering down the stretch.  Following his win at the Wyndham Championship, Garcia used a temporary caddie for a second straight week to success.  Finishing one spot ahead of Garcia was Brandt Snedeker, who can use all of the strong finishes he can get to strengthen his bid for a captain's pick to the Ryder Cup.  The solo second moved Snedeker into the second spot in the FedEx Cup standings.

Entering the week as the number 1 ranked player in the FedEx Cup Standings, Tiger Woods seemed destined to have a great week on a course where he has had so much success.  A solid first round of 3-under par set him up for a chance at the win.  But a sore back relegated him to a 2-under par second round, and he could not get the putter working on the weekend, three putting numerous times.  Woods struggled to a 76 in the final round and fell to 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings.

Other players who struggled included Rory McIlroy, who finished at 1-under par.  Finishing at 5-under were Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuisen.  Luke Donald came home at 3-under par.

2012 FedEx Cup Playoffs: The Barclays from Bethpage Black

Who's ready for some playoffs?  In most sports, the playoffs are the most exciting time of the year.  In golf, though, it usually does not live up to the hype, with major championships taking the spotlight and the Ryder Cup looming.  But that does not mean the golf is not excellent.  Let's look back at some of my early season predictions for the FedEx Cup standings heading into the playoffs:

1. Lee Westwood (Actual 51)
2. Tiger Woods (Actual 1)
3. Luke Donald (Actual 16)
4. Webb Simpson (Actual 13)
5. Rory McIlroy (Actual 3)
6. Ian Poulter (Actual 55)
7. Phil Mickelson (Actual 14)
8. Nick Watney (Actual 49)
9. Sergio Garcia (Actual 33)
10. Bud Cauley (Actual 35)

And the actual top 10:

1. Tiger Woods
2. Jason Dufner
3. Rory McIlroy
4. Zach Johnson
5. Bubba Watson
6. Hunter Mahan
7. Carl Pettersson
8. Keegan Bradley
9.Matt Kuchar
10. Steve Stricker

So, two of the top 10 in the FedEx cup are European players while 8 are from the United States.  And all of them are multiple career winners, 5 are major champions, and all but Pettersson are almost guaranteed a spot on the Ryder Cup team this season.  All but Dufner are scheduled to play this week at Bethpage.

So who will take the first leg of the Playoffs?  I believe it will come down to 3 players: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Keegan Bradley.  Tiger finished T6 the last time the US Open was played at Bethpage, finishing the highest of the Early/Late tee times who had the tougher conditions.  Rory McIlroy may struggle if the ball striking is not there as Bethpage is tighter than the Ocean Course, but if he putts like he did at the PGA he'll be right there.  And Bradley is rounding into form, with a win at the WGC Bridgestone and a high finish at the PGA.  I am not going to pick a winner out of these three, but the winner of the tournament will come from these three.

I am definitely looking forward to the FedEx Cup playoffs with 4 solid tournaments in 5 weeks, culminating in the Tour Championship and leading into the Ryder Cup,