Northern Trust picks

Paul Casey ov Jon Rahm

Rahm has really started to slow down after his blistering start to the season. Starting in June, he missed two cuts, and then had a 44th, 28th, and 58th on the Pga Tour.  Meanwhile Paul Casey has been world class.  Since the Masters, his worse finish is 26th, he has 7 top 15 finishes, and he’s coming off of two strong performances at the major championships.  I think Rahm is slowing down, maybe the season is starting to wear on him…but I love Paul Casey in this matchup, especially when Casey is the underdog.

Charley Hoffman ov Justin Rose

Since losing to Sergio Garcia at the Masters, Justin Rose has gone missed cut, 65th, missed cut, 54th, 63rd, missed cut.  No idea if he’s injured, or if he’s still embarrassed to lose to Sergio Garcia, but he’s been terrible.  Hoffman has been a little up and down recently, but even his worse finish recently isn’t as bad as Rose’s best finish.  Hoffman has 4 top 10 finishes in the last 7 tournaments, no missed cuts.  This is just a massive fade of Justin Rose.

Rickie Fowler ov Rory McIlroy

One golfer is healthy…one golfer almost shut it down for the rest of the season because he keeps re-injuring his back.  I’ll take the healthy golfer.  Not only is Fowler healthy, he’s been great.  5th, 9th, 22nd, 9th, 3rd, 5th in his last 6 tournaments, so even if Rory finishes the tournament, Fowler can easily be ahead of him.  I think Rory will probably finish the tournament, but I’m not sure if he can finish strong on the weekend, and if he’s not feeling good, I think a withdraw is a possibility.

Tony Finau ov Ollie Shenanigans

It’s juicy, but I’ll happily take Finau ov Ollie.  Ollie finished 2nd last week at the Wyndham…congratulations on finishing second in a garbage shit tournament.  Let’s look at Ollie’s finished before that.  Missed cut at the Barracuda, 54th at the Canadian, 39th at the John Deer, DQ at the Greenbriar…we don’t like cheaters on our podcast.  He didn’t play in any of the majors, where as Finau played in the last 2 majors, made the cut in both, 44th and 27th, and hasn’t missed a cut in 10 tournaments.  Five top 15 finishes in that span, and this course sets up nice for him in this matchup.  He drives the ball 10 yards longer than Ollie, and these fairways are big, so I like Finau big here.

Lucas Glover ov Kyle Stanley

Kyle Stanley has kind of fallen apart in his last 5 tournaments.  He won the Quicken Loans, and since then has gone 55th, 41st, and 3 missed cuts, including a missed cut last week at the Wyndham.  Lucas Glover has been much better than that, and has finished way ahead of Stanley in the last 3 tournaments they’ve played in together.  Sneaky play most people will miss.