The Northern Trust: Fantasy Expert Picks

What: The Northern Trust
When: August 24^th -€” 27^th
Where: Glen Oaks Club
2016 Winner: Patrick Reed (-9)
Purse: $8.75MM ($1.57 to the winner)

The Northern Trust is the first of four separate weekends which are the PGA Playoffs. The top 125 golfers will participate this weekend during the first tournament of the PGA Playoffs. After this weekend the top 100 points leaders will advance to the Dell Technologies Championship.

Course: Glen Oaks Club. Founded in 1924, this par 70, 7,350 yard coarse was created by Joe Finger. The redesigns over the decades have slowly morphed it into a quasi-Augusta course.  The fairways will be generous for the golfers, but given the distance (7,300+ yards) golfers will need to crush the ball to get through the course. The greens could trip up some golfers given the speeds as well.

A Golfer.
Rory McIlroy. The great part about his limited participation in the PGA Tour coupled with him sitting behind the scenes and out of the limelight is that I still have 6 starts from him left. He's said he wants to win before shutting it down for the season and voila, here he is at Glen Oaks . Just a reminder, his last 4 tournaments have all been top 25 finishes (two of them were top 5 finishes), he's right on the cusp of a win. Rory can crush the ball and finished 7^th at the Masters this year.

B Golfers:
Jordan Spieth. I'm not shying away from star power in the playoffs. Top 25 finishes in 5 of his last 7 tournaments, Jordan finished 11^th at the Masters. He's 2^nd in strokes gained approaching the green, 5^th in strokes gained tee to green. I think this first weekend is going to see a lot of marquee names in the top 10 on Sunday. I think Jordan specifically will be a top 5 finish.

Matt Kuchar. 4^th at the Masters and top 25 finishes in 7 of his last 8 tournaments. Matt is 152^nd in drive distance but offsets that with accuracy and approach shots. 16^th on the tour in total strokes gained.

C Golfer.
Brooks Koepka. I've got starts enough to ride him through the remainder of the playoffs, I might just start him the next three consecutive weeks. His last 4 tournaments on the tour: 1^st, 6^th, 17^th and 13^th. He drives the ball a mile (9^th in driving distance), he putts very well (20^th in strokes gained putting) he finished 11^th at the Masters and should be in contention down the stretch on Sunday.

Dark Horse:
Jon Rahm. I still have 6 starts left to go and I keep waiting for him to retain midseason form. He finished 27^th at the Masters but since the Memorial he has finished with two missed cuts, a 44^th place, 28^th and 58^th. The reason I believe
in him -€” 16^th in driving distance, 63^rd in strokes gained putting, 5^th in total strokes gained.

Current Stats on picks so far this season:
A Golfers: Avg finish 45th (33rd percentile)
B Golfers: Avg finish: 49th (36th percentile)
C Golfers: Avg finish: 54^th (40th percentile)
Sleepers: Avg finish 46th (34th percentile)
2017 average 137 golfers per tournament.