Congratulations to Jason Day on his PGA Tour tying FOURTH victory of the year this past week at the Barclays Championship. Day put on an absolute clinic on Sunday, making long putt after long putt on a day when the greens became crispy and many other players struggled. Day has now won three of his last four starts (RBC Canadian Open, PGA Championship, Barclays) and even more importantly, moves to the #1 spot in the Fed Ex Cup Rankings, overtaking season long mainstay Jordan Spieth. Combined, they have accounted for eight wins and twenty three top 10's in 37 events. Day has always been one of the most talented players in the world, but it looks as though his PGA Championship victory has opened the floodgates for him. The world #1 rankings debate has been a Jordan Vs Rory debate for the last six months, but we better make room for Jason in there. World Golf Rankings are not the easiest to calculate, but by my estimation, Day could be very close to the #1 ranking if he were to win this week and both McIlroy and Spieth were to miss the cut. This is very much an estimation though, as the Fed Ex Cup event points were significantly lowered this year, right around 20% lower than previous seasons.

Speaking of Jordan Spieth, he looked disinterested at the Barclays, which was either a function of him playing poorly or his Bubba Watson-like candid course comments of Plainfield CC and its POA-Annua greens. He four putted the 18 th green on Friday, barely taking the time to pull his putter back (let alone actually setting his mark) before advancing the ball several inches and grossly misreading a slippery putt. I mentioned in my column last week that POA greens mitigate the advantage that great putters have, as you have to expect that everyone will putt worse on average. This effects the better putters more because their advantage is in one putts vs. two putts, not two putts vs. three putts. This was true for Spieth, Brandt Snedeker, Russell Henley and even the very steady Zach Johnson. Zach racked up another top 5 finish, but his putter really let him down, as was the case for Bubba Watson. They both missed quite a few putts inside five feet, and Bubba even managed to three putt from five feet on two different occasions. Day was very much an outlier in this discussion, but I don't think it mattered if he was putting on POA greens or straight gravel…he was going to make everything in sight.

The greens will be much more consistent this week so as usual, the players will have a field day at the TPC Boston. The course averaged .5 strokes under par last year, and that was considerably tougher than previous editions where the course played close to two strokes under par. Last year's winner, Chris Kirk finished at (-15) on the strength of a hot flatstick and some great wedge play and I'll look for the winner to continue on that path. Despite stretching to 7400 yards, the course plays much shorter with several very short par 4's and some long (200+ yard) par 3's. There are also three par 5's on the course, two of which will be reduced to driver/short iron by some of the longer players, and are reachable in two by every player in the field.

The biggest winners this weekend (aside from Day) were Camillo Villegas, Jason Dufner, Spencer Levin, Johnson Wagner (MET Section, WHAT!), Zac Blair and Luke Donald, who all advanced to the second stage of the playoffs after solid performances. After starting the tournament out like gangbusters, Villegas needed to roll in a tough 7ft putt on the 72 nd hole just to guarantee himself a spot this week at the Deutsche Bank. Things did not go over so well for Stewart Cink and Nick Taylor, who both came to the 72nd hole with the same predicament as Villegas. Unfortunately for them, they both missed and will be watching the tournament on TV.

The Deutsche Bank Championship sets up very well for the top three players, Day, Spieth and McIlroy. I would look for Spieth to make a statement coming off a really bad performance. McIlroy will be playing only his second tournament since returning from an ankle injury, but he looked sharp enough at the PGA Championship that I can't possibly count him out. Day had tweaked his back during the Pro-Am at the Barclays, but it obviously didn't affect him much, if any at all. We will all be in for a treat if these three players are in contention on Sunday afternoon.

Another top player who comes into this week in great form is Henrick Stenson. He finished in solo second at the Barclays, playing well enough to win on most weeks if not for running into a buzzsaw in Jason Day. His ball-striking is in top form, which will serve him well on a course where he could realistically hit 80% of the greens on the week. Stenson tied the tournament record in 2013, shooting (-22) on his way to a victory and an eventual Fed Ex Championship (as well as a Race to Dubai championship). Considering his recent form and course history, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Stenson in the last group on Sunday afternoon alongside one of the top three players.

2011 Deutsche Bank Champion Webb Simpson, comes into this week playing solid golf after struggling during a recent summer stretch. Since transitioning to a non-anchored putter Simpson has not putted well. This is to be expected, but unlike some other players like Adam Scott he has not gone back and forth, and he has started to break out of his putting funk. In addition to winning in 2011, Simpson has made the last three cuts including a 9 th place finish last year.

After losing his father in a devastating car accident last week, Ryan Palmer played admirably at the Barclays. You could see the emotion on his face when he putted out on 18. Palmer is well respected by his peers and for good reason. He's a grinder and doesn't seem to get the respect he deserves as a perennial top 30 player on tour. TPC Boston suits his game pretty well, especially on the par 5's, where he ranks 48 th in Par 5 Birdie or Better Percentage.

As is always the story with the Deutsche Bank, Keegan Bradley returns home to his native Boston where he will have incredible support from his New England brethren. Currently, Bradley is ranked 71 st in Fed Ex Cup rankings, meaning he'd be on the outside looking in for the third leg of the playoffs. TPC Boston has treated him well though, where he's finished 16th or better all three times he's played in this event. He is someone who always seems to feed off the crowds, and with so much to play for this week, Bradley is my dark horse pick for a top 10.

Tune into tomorrow's article where I will break down the TPC Boston, its relevant stats and who stands to benefit most from the course layout and setup.



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