With Hurricane Earl threatening to affect play on the opening day on Friday, it could just be the start of unsettled times for a few PGA Tour players this week in Norton, Massachusetts.
With just 70 players of 100 advancing from the field of the Deutsche Bank Championship to the BMW Championship the fight will be on at the TPC Boston top earn the coveted spots. And with another 2,500 points up for grabs, with a win any of the top 14 players could jump up and grab the #1 spot away from Barclay’s champion Matt Kuchar.
Undoubtedly many eyes will still be on Tiger Woods, who showed fine form in two of his Barclay’s rounds but did enough to advance to 65th place in the FedEx Cup points, his highest ranking all year. With wide fairways and past winning form at Deutsche Bank many expect he has a great chance to finish between 52nd and 57th or higher this week and advance to the BMW. Depending heavily on what other players do he will need a minimum of two 8th place finishes or a single 3rd place finish (or better) to earn his way into the Tour Championship field at East Lake.
Experience is paramount at this time of year on the PGA Tour. Even though many players say they are immune to extra pressure being put on them by the “playoffs” it is clear that those having the most success in these events have been veteran players. Of the 99 players left (Kenny Perry withdrew Thursday morning citing exhaustion) there are just five rookies among them: Rickie Fowler (22nd), Rory McIlroy (28th), Josh Teater (75th), Alex Prugh (95th), and Blake Adams (98th).
The Deutsche Bank Championship has seen a bastion of successful drive to the podium. In the seven-year history of the tournament there have been six different winners (Vijay doubled up in ’04 and ’08) with a combined total of 162 PGA Tour victories among them. Steve Stricker (9), Vijay Singh (34), Phil Mickelson (38), Tiger Woods (71), Olin Browne (3), and Adam Scott (7).
The odds indicate that trend will continue in 2010. Six players did play their way into the field this week – Kevin Streelman, Andres Romero, J.P. Hayes, Ryuji Imada, Troy Matteson, and Tiger Woods. Among those Woods has a valid chance to win this week after his notable performance in New Jersey. Woods says he was close at Barclays, marred only by poor putting in the middle rounds, but he indicated he was eager to get on with the playoff test. “I’m looking forward to it,” said the World’s #1 player. “The next three events, the next three venues, I’ve won on.”
Last year Steve Stricker made birdies on the final two holes to get past Jason Dufner and Scott Verplank and I will not hesitate to bet that Stricker will be in the mix for the Monday finish, barring any further delays caused by Hurricane Earl.
Watch as well for Kuchar to have another strong event. A win might be tough after the euphoria of last week’s win but his 11 top ten finishes show he is in the finest form of his career. Prior to 2010 he had just ten top-10’s in 149 Tour events played.
Who will be the top 70? Will Tiger get his first win of 2010? Can Stricker defend and move from #2 to #1? And will Hurricane Earl wreak havoc on the golf course and play at the Deutsche Bank Championship?
Hang on tight; it’s going to be a heck of a weekend.




