Lefty Links Blog

The BMW Championship is up next—that Monday finish for the Deutsche Bank threw me off—it doesn’t feel like time for a new tournament yet. But here we are, round three of the FedEx Cup Playoffs beginning on Thursday. It’s possible that with another top finish this week, Vijay can clinch the Cup and render the Tour Championship meaningless—which would be quite the kick in the teeth for the PGA Tour, which has retooled the Playoffs in an effort to make them more exciting. Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of the Playoffs, and I would be a bit perversely happy if Vijay wins this week and clinches. But actually I’m thinking the big Fijian will have a bit of a letdown this week. Three wins in a row? He did play amazing golf at the Deutsche, but if I had to guess (and unfortunately I do, because I started this blog), I’d have to say cooldown. We’ll see. If I’m wrong, I’ll be very wrong.

I’m only picking five players to watch this week, given the small 70-player field. Here we go:

Ben Curtis: This year has been a bit of a resurgence for Curtis. He has played very well recently against the best in the world—a T2 at the PGA Championship, and a T4 at the Barclays—and he’ll be taking a healthy dose of confidence into this week.

Sergio Garcia: T2, P2, T5 in his last three starts. I’m thinking he has a great shot at victory this week, which would make the Championship interesting.

Padraig Harrington: A horrible start to the Playoffs, missing the cut in both the tournaments played so far. Frankly, I don’t think he cares too much about the Playoffs, and I don’t blame him—I believe his sights are set on the Ryder Cup. But his pride will kick in—he won’t play horribly three weeks in a row—and also he’ll want to enter the Ryder Cup with some head of steam.

Justin Leonard: He’s steady, steady, steady, and playing excellent golf right now—the first two rounds of the Playoffs he finished T7 and T7.

Camilo Villegas: This guy is overdue to break through with his first victory. He’s coming off a T4 at the PGA Championship and a T3 at the Deutsche Bank, proving he can hang with an all-star field.

Lefty Watch: Four lefties in the field this week: Eric Axley, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, and Mike Weir. Axley I think is over his head at this point. Mickelson, who knows? If his game kicks in he of course can beat anyone. But lately he just hasn’t seemed to have the competitive fire. Watson certainly has the distance to handle this long course, and I thought about picking him, but he just hasn’t been consistent enough. And Weir? His fade at the Deutsche disappointed me, so I’m a bit down on him right now.

Tags: Ben Curtis, BMW Championship, Bubba Watson, Camilo Villegas, Eric Axley, Justin Leonard, Mike Weir, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Fantasy Golf Predictions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.