The PGA Regular Season is in the books and the top-125 players in FedEx points are teeing it up this week for The Northern Trust. It’s the first tournament in the playoffs and you can probably guess some of the favorites this week starting with Jon Rahm at +1000.
Rahm is the number one player in the world according to the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and he’s 5th in FedEx points. He’s followed by both Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth who are both at +1600. Johnson is holding down the No. 2 spot while Speith is No. 12.
As for FedEx points, Johnson slid down to 17th on the list while Spieth jumped into the second spot before the regular season ended. Only the top 125 players in FedEx points have moved into the playoffs. More on that below.
But first, here are the favorites through +2000 to win the 2021 edition of The Northern Trust outright according to Intertops.
Jon Rahm +1000
Dustin Johnson +1600
Jordan Spieth +1600
Collin Morikawa +1800
Brooks Koepka +2000
Xander Schauffele +2000
How the PGA Playoffs Work: The top 125 players in FedEx points are eligible for The Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club. Then the list is slimmed down to only 70 golfers who will play in the no-cut BMW Championship next week. Next up, the top 30 of those players fight it out in three weeks at the season-ending no-cut Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
2021 The Northern Trust Preview
Where: Jersey City, New Jersey
Course: Liberty National Golf Club
Format: Stroke Play
Par: 71
Length: 7,353
When: August 19-22, 2021
Purse: $9.5 Million.
TV Coverage: CBS/Golf Channel
Liberty National Golf Club is slightly different than it was during play at the 2017 Presidents Cup and when the 2019 version of The Northern Trust was played here – the event rotates between a few venues. Several tee boxes have been moved back increasing the distance of the course overall but mostly on the Par-3 holes. Fairways have been tweaked, bunkers altered, and contouring adjusted.
One thing that has not changed is the small greens that the course is known for. This puts a premium on hitting greens in regulation which may be slightly harder this year but not unachievable. Players should be able to carve away at the course – especially as this event is limited to the top-125 players in FedEx points.
Scrambling from around the greens will be fun watching and expect plenty of SportsCenter style clips of long putts being drained on the Bentgrass greens which average about 4,650 square feet. That’s small for PGA play.
The course sits along the Upper Bay – west of the Statue of Liberty. The weather should be in the mid-80s with slight to medium winds off the water. Chances of showers and thunderstorms exist through Sunday.
2021 Northern Trust Open Predictions
Jon Rahm +1000
Jon Rahm is the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world according to the OWGR and his level of play heading into this event is why he’s the favorite according to oddsmakers. However, if you’re looking for a fade, he’s taken some time off – some of which was due to COVID-19 protocols and the Olympic break. Will that hurt? We’ll know on Sunday. His last event was the Open Championship (British Open) last month where he finished T3. Two months ago he won the U.S. Open.
Daniel Berger +2200
Daniel Berger can carve up courses like this and take advantage of small greens. His resume this season includes a win on Pebble Beach, a T7 at the U.S. Open, a T8 at the Open Championship (British Open), and a T5 at the WGC – St Jude. He’s 6th on Tour this year when it comes to making putts of 9’ and that will come into play at Liberty National.
Harris English +4000
Harris English has two wins this season and a handful of coming oh so close! His last four tournaments include a 4th , a win, and a 3 rd place finish respectively. He’s now 4th in FedEx points, No. 10 in the OWGR, and 3 rd in putting stats for Birdies or better. Coming in with 12 top-25 finishes in 2021.
Others: Patrick Reed (+4000) is the defending winner of The Northern Trust when it was last played here in 2019. He knows this course and the changes should not bother him. He’ll be fun to watch scrambling around the greens. Kevin Kisner (+6600) played well here in the President’s Cup and won last week at the Wyndham.
Tips for Betting on PGA Majors
2021 Northern Trust Open Betting Lines
Jon Rahm +1000
Dustin Johnson +1600
Jordan Spieth +1600
Collin Morikawa +1800
Brooks Koepka +2000
Xander Schauffele +2000
Rory McIlroy +2200
Justin Thomas +2500
Bryson DeChambeau +2500
Abraham Ancer +2800
Scottie Scheffler +2800
Daniel Berger +2800
Patrick Cantlay +3000
Webb Simpson +3300
Hideki Matsuyama +3300
Cameron Smith +3300
Viktor Hovland +3300
Paul Casey +3300
Harris English +4000
Patrick Reed +4000
Adam Scott +4000
Tony Finau +5000
Tyrrell Hatton +5000
Sam Burns +6000
Matt Fitzpatrick +6000
Corey Conners +6000
Joaquin Niemann +6600
Shane Lowry +6600
Sungjae Im +6600
Kevin Kisner +6600
Russell Henley +6600
Jason Kokrak +6600
Ian Poulter +6600
Sergio Garcia +8000
Si-Woo Kim +8000
Kevin Na +8000
Brian Harman +8000
Billy Horschel +8000
Branden Grace +8000
Cameron Tringale +10000
Kevin Streelman +10000
Jason Day +10000
Cameron Champ +12500
Phil Mickelson +12500
Keegan Bradley +12500
Emiliano Grillo +12500
Charley Hoffman +12500
Bubba Watson +12500
Gary Woodland +15000
Maverick McNealy +15000
Ryan Palmer +15000
Marc Leishman +15000
Alex Noren +15000
Sebastian Munoz +15000
Jhonattan Vegas +15000
Matthew Wolff +15000
Matt Wallace +15000
Carlos Ortiz +15000
Stewart Cink +15000
Mackenzie Hughes +15000
Seamus Power +15000
Brendon Todd +15000
C T Pan +15000
Brandt Snedeker +15000
Harold Varner III +15000
Max Homa +15000
Talor Gooch +15000
Roger Sloan +15000
Lee Westwood +17500
Garrick Higgo +17500
Cameron Davis +17500
Charl Schwartzel +17500
Erik Van Rooyen +20000
Chris Kirk +20000
Joel Dahmen +20000
Adam Hadwin +20000
Hank Lebioda +20000
Lucas Glover +20000
Patton Kizzire +20000
Pat Perez +20000
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +20000
Troy Merritt +25000
Doug Ghim +25000
Zach Johnson +25000
Matt Jones +25000
Chez Reavie +25000
Brian Stuard +25000
JT Poston +25000
Sepp Straka +25000
Adam Schenk +25000
Dylan Frittelli +25000
Matt Kuchar +25000
Luke List +25000
Keith Mitchell +25000
Scott Piercy +25000
Kyle Stanley +25000
Aaron Wise +25000
Brice Garnett +25000
Brandon Hagy +30000
Henrik Norlander +30000
Brendan Steele +30000
Lanto Griffin +30000
Russell Knox +30000
Chesson Hadley +30000
Kramer Hickok +30000
Martin Laird +30000
Denny McCarthy +30000
Andrew Putnam +30000
Doc Redman +30000
Scott Stallings +30000
James Hahn +30000
Adam Long +30000
Richy Werenski +40000
Sam Ryder +40000
Anirban Lahiri +50000
Matthew Nesmith +50000
Hudson Swafford +50000
Wyndham Clark +50000
Harry Higgs +50000
Robert Streb +50000
Tom Hoge +50000
Tyler McCumber +50000
Peter Malnati +50000
Brian Gay +75000
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