Northern Trust fantasy picks: Who should you pick for the first FedEx event?
Need help with your Northern Trust fantasy picks? Don’t worry our fantasy golf expert Matthew Beedle has you covered with a run down of the big names, value for money players and sleeper picks for the first event of the FedEx Cup play-offs.
There are prizes up for grabs every week courtesy of Teeofftimes.co.uk, so it’s never too late to register. And the top three winners at the end of the season will be kitted out in the latest FootJoy gear.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to our Fantasy Golf page and get choosing!
But before you do that, read who our Fantasy Golf expert Matthew Beedle is putting in his team this week.
Northern Trust fantasy picks
This week the PGA Tour returns to Ridgewood Country Club for the first time since 2014 where Hunter Mahan’s last victory on tour came at The Barclays.
There is plenty riding on the play-offs this year for European and American golfers with the 2018 Ryder Cup just around the corner and places still up for grabs in Jim Furyk and Thomas Bjorn’s teams.
The aim in this year’s game is to pick the right players to match the RankBuster. This week’s is set at 183 so who can you fit in your team to beat it? Here are my Northern Trust fantasy picks.
Jason Day
Fantasy Rank: 4
The Australian has a fantastic record at Ridgewood, finishing T5 and T2 at the 2010 and 2014 Barclays respectively.
Day has also started to hit some form at the right time as the season heads into the business end, he hasn’t recorded a victory since May at the Wells Fargo.
However, since his missed cut at the US Open his form reads T12-T17-T10-T19 and you can’t help but feel another victory is just around the corner in his bid to become the first Australian to win the FedEx Cup.
Justin Rose
Fantasy Rank: 7
Rose’s form speaks for itself. Sean Foley seems to have turned the Englishman into a machine.
He has finished inside the top 25 on 12 occasions, eight of those being inside the top 10 with two victories and since October his lowest finish is T52 at the Houston Open in January.
Matt Kuchar
Fantasy Rank: 19
It hasn’t been the best season for Kuchar but he’s another player that likes playing at Ridgewood as he was victorious there in 2o10 and also finished T5 in 2014.
The American could easily be overlooked this week with him being a higher price bracket player. However, if he is successful he could be a player that could help you gain points on other players in your Northern Trust fantasy picks this week.
Ian Poulter
Fantasy Rank: 34
Poulter is one of the names with plenty riding on the play-offs away from the mouth watering prize purses and bonuses.
He’s enjoyed a good year so far and has hit form again in recent weeks. Since his missed cut at The Open he has gone T12-T10-T31 and the Englishman will be hoping a good finish at this week’s Northern Trust will get him over the final hurdle and make the plane to Paris.
Emiliano Grillo
Fantasy Rank: 51
The Argentinian has been extremely streaky towards the back end of this season and you could even put him under the ‘sleeper’ category heading into this week with 3 missed cuts in his last five starts with his highest finish in that period being a T19 at the Travelers.
Despite this, Grillo sits inside the top 50 in the FedEx rankings and boasts nine top 25 finished this season, five of those being inside the top 10.
Kevin Tway
Fantasy Rank: 73
Tway has gone under the radar over the last couple of weeks and currently sits 85th in the FedEx standings. Two weekend rounds of 65 meant he finished T11 at the Wyndham Championship and also finished T23 at the Barracuda Championship and T17 at the Canadian Open.
The big question is whether Tway can mix it with the big names in town this week.
Click here to pick your Fantasy Golf team for the Northern Trust
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Matthew Beedle
Matthew has been playing golf since he was around 13 and took up the game at a local nine-hole municipal course with his friends before joining Pontefract & District Golf Club just over the hedge.
Still a member of Pontefract with a handicap of 3, he currently sits on the board of directors to help with digital and marketing initiatives in order to improve membership and visitor income.
Matthew graduated university with a First Class in Sports Journalism from Leeds Trinity University and has been working in the golf industry since graduating.
NCG’s social media & marketing manager, Matthew’s main job role is to increase website traffic to the National Club Golfer website via our email and social media channels as well as driving entries to grow our NCG Top 100s Tour events amongst other tasks.
Not one to change his equipment too often, Matthew currently plays the TaylorMade M2 driver which has lasted the test of time in his bag. Elsewhere, you’ll find him using the TaylorMade Stealth 2 three-wood with a Ping G425 Crossover 2-iron to aid his long game.
Through his 4-iron to Gap Wedge, Matthew uses the Ping i500 irons accompanied by Ping’s Glide 3.0 56-degree and 60-degree wedges.
Another club that has stood the test of time in his bag is a Nike Method Core MC-3i putter which has had to have the SuperStroke grip changed at least three times. Ball of choice is the Titleist ProV1.
