This weekend the tour makes its annual Labor Day pilgrimage to the Northeast, stopping in Norton, Massachusetts for the Deutsche Bank Championship. It’s one of only two Friday-Monday tournaments in the rotation, with the other being Kapalua’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Labor Day always feels like the official end of summer to me, and as August closes faster than an elite NFL corner, I still exhibit low-level PTSD symptoms whenever I see a back to school commercial.

Of course, the upside is three days of work-free golf, and it’s shaping up to be some 

golf. Jason Day comes in on the kind of hot streak usually reserved for one-namers like Tiger and Rory – T9 – T4 – 1 – T12 – 1 – 1 starting with his vertigo-thwarted effort at Chambers Bay. Speaking of Rory, he’ll be teeing it up at TPC Boston, looking to improve his FedEx Cup standings and back up his world number 1 ranking, which he re-captured from his couch by virtue of Jordan Spieth’s 

Since being yoked to the FedEx Cup cash cow in 2007, the DBC has turned into a premiere stop on the tour, with the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup standings competing for a $7 million purse. That means that nearly every big name on tour will be out there, with the notable exceptions of Tiger Woods (178th in the FedEx Cup points standings) and Sergio Garcia (just kind of skipping it).

The strength of this field has usually produced a top-notch champion with Phil, Vijay, Steve Stricker, Rory, and Henrik Stenson among the winners since ’07. Big Cat took the title in ’06 and Adam Scott scored his first pro win here in the inaugural DBC way back in 2003, a year before the Curse of the Bambino was lifted.

TPC Boston checks off a lot of the quirks and design features that typify a New England golf course – exposed rocks and stone walls; sand traps and waste areas edged with uncut fescue; blind approach shots; and relatively small, challenging greens. Gil Hanse has worked with local, semi-legend Brad Faxon to bring these attributes out of a course that was once your run-of-the-mill well-kept Tour stop. The best bit of work they did was to eliminate many fairway bunkers in favor of the more traditional grassy mounds found at courses ’round these parts. The one thing they couldn’t (or chose not to) incorporate was elevation change – the track plays relatively flat the whole way through, which is characteristic of the terrain in the low-lying Norton area but not at all representative of New England as a whole. Many of the more dramatic courses in the Northeast, such as The Country Club in Brookline and Granite Links in Quincy, get much of their character from being routed through and across the rolling New England topography.

At more than 7,200 yards, this par-71 has the bones to test the best players in the world, though the course usually gives up some low numbers. The tournament scoring record is a blistering 262 (-22), shared by Vijay, Stenson, and Charley Hoffman. Having played this course a few times myself, I’d have to say that the buzzword for the weekend (other than ‘fall-line’) is precision. Bombers will have a few chances to let loose with no regard for human life, particularly on the front 9, where 2, 7, and 8 all reward long tee balls without offering too much trouble. But many holes feature cross bunkers, doglegs, and funky looks into greens that slope in odd directions and open at strange angles to the fairway. You need to know your numbers here, and often the best line into the green forces players to find weird corners of the fairway that the average hack (read: me) wouldn’t think to aim for.

Your author taking far too much turf on 17

Though I’ve lived in or around Boston my whole life, I’ve never attended the Deutsche Bank (until this year – look out on Sunday for 

). A friend of mine is a member, and his invite to the pre-tourney member-guest last year was the reason for the grandstands in the above photo. I imagine a lot of his type of dudes will be patrolling the grounds – Vineyard Vines, boat shoes, Ray Bans… think JFK in 

. Also, feel free to insert any generic drunk Irish stereotype you may have here, some real ‘

Everyone remembers last year’s tournament for two things: BillyHo’s Chunk Heard ‘Round the World, and Chris Kirk doing everything short of shining Tom Watson’s shoes (and texting him at 3am) in an effort to make the Ryder Cup squad. Notice that four of the top 5 finishers went low in the final round, and beat out heavyweights like Rory, Day, and the precise, German engineering of Martin Kaymer. This is one of those events where you have to go bird hunting on Monday to put yourself in position to win – there aren’t a ton of holes where they can hide the pin and make par a good score.

The drama of last year’s event was ratcheted up to about as high as it could go without a big-name shootout, as Tom Watson’s Ryder Cup captain’s picks came out the day after the final round. As described 

, the shot-by-shot speculation on this matter was breathless to say the least, but it was all for naught as Ol’ Cap’n Tom took three guys (Mahan, Bradley, Simpson) heavy on experience and (with the notable exception of 

. Not much to quibble with, as Day (6/1) comes in as a slight favorite over Rory and Spieth (both 15/2). If your March Madness Final Fours tend to end up with three 1s and a 2, one of those three are your horses.

DJ at 14/1 is questionable for me, simply because I’m not convinced that he can keep the pedal to the metal and rack up birdies in the final round the way you need to here. Conversely, Stenson at 14/1 is a damn good play – he won the thing in 2013, and he’s gone T6-25-2 in his last three events. Also, if we’re going really deep here, 5 of his last 8 rounds at TPC Boston have been sub-67.

I’ll likely sprinkle some magic jinx-dust over several others as well:

– He’s 17th in the OWGR, and although he hasn’t played well lately, he’s top 10 in strokes gained tee-to-green this season, which will be key when faced with TPC’s precise shotmaking challenges.

 – This is stealing. T9 here last year, top-20s in 8 of his last 10 events. #StrebNation (shout to @BigRandyNLU)

– He’s been skyrocketing lately, and his length will help him get into short-yardage situations (yes, football is almost here) at some of these longer holes. He’s the newest tour #BombThreat

– I’ve become a fan of this pint-sized bomber right along with the NLU guys, and I can’t see a reason not to throw a few bucks on him here.

 – He’s from New Hampshire and he once gave me a glove because I wore his 

I’m not sure anyone wants to hear too much about my fantasy team, as I’m currently bringing up the rear in my league. For what it’s worth, I’m going chalk with Rors, Spieth, and Day, and sticking Finau in the 4th slot hoping that this is his real, actual breakthrough. Other options that will probably work better involve Stenson up top, DJ and Justin Rose in the B slots, and our pal Patty Reed batting cleanup (confession: I ran out of starts for Reed about 6 weeks ago).

If you’re really itching to take a flyer on someone, I’d suggest checking out bomb squad member Gary Woodland (150/1), (Hot) hot Carl Pettersson (150/1, T9 last year), or DL3, who has recently re-entered the golf world’s collective consciousness and sits at 300/1.

Interestingly enough, the two events with Monday finishes are also the two PGA Tour stops furthest apart geographically from one another. It’s about 5,500 miles as the Titleist flies (or about two drivers and a strong 5-iron from Jason Day, if you’d believe 

Speaking of distance, this course is a bit of a misnomer. It’s closer to Providence than Boston, and sits basically in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts. However, it’s within 10 minutes of the two biggest entertainment venues in the state – the Xfinity Center, an outdoor concert venue which hosts huge traveling showcases like Brad Paisley and Aziz Ansari; and Gillette Stadium, an outdoor concert venue which hosts huge traveling circuses like the New York Jets and Roger Goodell.

Though he came up juuuuuuuust a bit short of making the tourney field (210th in the FedEx Cup standings), Jim Renner is the Tour’s resident native son, and 

 did a great job in following him at the Travelers in June.

A bit of late-breaking news as this just came across my Twitter feed – apparently CBS Sports is 

 after 19 years with the network. Seems oddly familiar to another beloved broadcaster’s 

In the meantime, catch us on twitter for running commentary all weekend 

 if you’re itching for semi-cooked takes on golf, soccer (particularly Liverpool), and shitty pop music. Lastly, a huge thanks to the guys here at NLU for taking a flyer and giving this undrafted rookie a shot with “a small shop.”

2015 Deutsche Bank Championship Preview

Congratulations to all of you who have made it through the completely unnecessary, nearly year long daily updates to the FedExCup standings on broadcasts of all types (my personal favorite, the “now is the time to make a move in the FedExCup!” feature, which aired in January). The 

 start this week, and while the PGA Tour will tell you that the top 125 players from the 2014-2015 season will be there with their ski masks on for season ending money grab, in actuality, there are some deserved players that will be left behind.

becoming an NLU series on the suppression of young American golfers by the PGA Tour

, I present to you, Patrick Rodgers (hat tip to twitter follower 

Tucker Blankinship for triggering this rant

). The masses were introduced to him at the Wells Fargo this year, where he finished T2 (far) behind Rory McIlroy, and it was beaten over our heads profusely that he is roommates with Justin Thomas. This makes him Justin Thomas’ Good Buddy, who is Jordan Spieth’s Good Buddy, aka JTGB who is JSGB. You follow? That runner-up finish helped him earn special temporary membership to the PGA Tour a month later at the Memorial Tournament, thus able to accept unlimited sponsor’s exemptions for the rest of the season.

For those unfamiliar with Rodgers, I blame the media and networks for the lack of attention more than I blame you. He’s a 23 year old from Indiana, and all he did in three years at Stanford was win 11 times, tying a certain large feline’s record there. He earned enough FedExCup points last year to get his Web.com card, and won the second event of the year on that tour this season. Bottom line is, the kid can play.

Rodgers finished his season at 2nd on the Non-Member FedExCup points list (yes this is a thing!), just behind Branden Grace, and just ahead of Danny Willett (Grace and Willett obviously play primarily on the European Tour, so they are not the main focus of this post). Those three are the only Non-Members who have earned enough FedExCup points to make the playoffs, yet because they aren’t technically PGA Tour members, they aren’t allowed in. The PGA Tour is playing the role of the overly confident and bullying bouncer at the club, not letting these guys in because they aren’t on the list. Grace and Willett, the 21st and 26th ranked players in the world, are left out in the cold, along with the young American, Rodgers.

My question is…. why? I know the technical answer is “because they aren’t members of the PGA Tour,” but that doesn’t effectively answer the question. The Tour makes it challenging enough for young players to break through, and even when they do come out and prove themselves, they don’t let them play in the end of season reindeer games? Despite being handicapped regarding the number of tournaments they can enter (until earning special membership, even then, they’re relying on sponsors actually giving them exemptions), these three all performed well enough to play for the money, and we know this because 

! The guys they would be knocking out are Jeff Overton, Ryo Ishikawa, and Camilo Villegas. Of those three, Villegas ranks the highest in the OWGR at 160, and Rodgers was able to earn 88 more hypothetical FedExCup points than Camilo in eight fewer events. What is the case for Villegas being more deserving of a spot in the playoffs?

What’s even more silly is that the “because they aren’t members of the PGA Tour” argument doesn’t even hold up. You actually 

 earn your way into the playoffs without having full membership, but only by winning a tournament. We saw it two years ago with Jordan Spieth, who also went the route of Rodgers, earning his special temporary membership through the dollars he earned from balling out on sponsor’s exemptions. Spieth got his first career win at the John Deere by half-blading a bunker shot on the 18th hole that somehow found the bottom of the cup, thrusting him into legitimacy in the eyes of those charged with bestowing the exclusive entrance into the playoffs. He went on to finish 7th in the final FedEx Cup standings, but if that bunker shot doesn’t go in, he isn’t even allowed in.

Now, I wouldn’t say Rodgers is on the same career trajectory as Spieth. But a guy who finishes 2nd to (at the time) the #1 player in the world, and otherwise 

 enough points to qualify at around 100th in the standings, gets shut out? Sure, he’s not likely to win the Cup, but there’s a 

 at stake for some of these young guys in the playoffs, including their priority ranking for next year, a boatload of cash, exemptions into tournaments for next year, and at least that shot at that fat stack of cash. Remember, Horschel was in 82nd place last year after missing the cut at the Barclays, and finished T2-1-1 to back the Brinks truck up to the 18th green at East Lake and take home the pile. Morgan Hoffmann snuck into the playoffs at 124th, then proceeded to go HAM and make it all the way to Tour Championship, securing his entrance into the 2015 Masters. There are stories like this every single year.

The overall point is that the PGA Tour has made it hard enough on young players to earn their tour cards, and to succeed on the PGA Tour. It seems especially silly to suppress a talented young player, who has proven by earning the FedExCup points on which the system is founded, by not even giving him a chance to play for this manufactured and fabricated sweepstake.

Patrick Rodgers won't be in the FedExCup Playoffs...Why?

: It has been brought to my attention that everything I wrote below is wrong. Just dead wrong. Special thanks to Geoff Shackleford 

. I don’t really know what the standard thing to do in this scenario is, but deleting the post makes it seem like I’m just running away from it, so I’m adding this note and owning the fact that I was 100% wrong, and Koepka’s 2014 FedExCup points still do count. I apologize to the PGA Tour for ripping them a new one, when I was the one who completely messed it up. I’m not sure where my error was in my calculations, but it doesn’t matter. Also, I apologize to Geoff and anyone else that shared the article for making you look bad.

But anyways, if you want to read something that makes no sense, continue on….

If I actually cared about the Presidents Cup, I would make a much bigger stink about this. Also, if this was about Robert Streb (sorry, #StrebNation), I probably wouldn’t consider this post worthy. What I do care about though, is Brooks Koepka. Yes, I’ve admittedly exhausted this topic on twitter, but I feel my outrage of the lack of coverage he’s received this year (mainly by CBS) is justified. So bear with me for a bit…

Bitching about a player receiving what we consider to be insufficient attention and coverage

. It seems hard to believe or comprehend due to what has transpired in the last few months regarding Spieth, but flashing back to the Northern Trust Open at Riviera this year, Spieth bogeyed the 18th hole to finish one shot out of a playoff….. 

and was not shown on CBS until the 17th hole

. Now, the topic of CBS’ coverage probably deserves a post of its own, but the same injustice has been bestowed upon is in recent weeks with another man-crush of ours, and that is of course Brooks Koepka.

Brooks finished T5 at the PGA Championship, and not one single shot was shown live on Sunday. Not one single one. This past week at the Wyndham, he finished T6, and was not shown live until the 16th hole. We’re talking about, by all indications, one of the future American stars of the game, and we can’t even watch him play golf in our own country. It’s not like he’s come out of nowhere, and it’s not like CBS hasn’t had a chance to learn from its own mistakes. He won the Waste Management Phoenix Open this year, and wasn’t shown on TV until he eagled the 15th hole!

The television coverage all is an entirely different topic than the purpose of this post. The point of me mentioning the coverage is that it seems like, in a sport desperate to embrace a youth movement, the networks and the Tour are doing their best to suppress one of the game’s biggest and brightest young stars. Why are we continuing to make it harder and harder for the young talents to break through?

I’m moving my bitching a little further down the line to the injustice that the PGA Tour is bestowing upon the young idol regarding the Presidents Cup. Koepka famously chose to play the European Tour last year instead of playing the Web.com tour, and went the route of using his sponsor exemptions to earn enough money to obtain special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. He sealed up that membership rather early in the process, and played 16 events on the PGA Tour last year, nabbing two top-5 finishes, including a T4 at the U.S. Open. However, as he was not technically a member of the PGA Tour, he was unable to obtain FedEx Cup points.

My initial reaction is closer to “meh” than it is actual outrage. I’ve made it very clear in the past that I think the new qualifying system is terrible, but it is what it is. I don’t care about the FedEx Cup standings, or really even the playoffs for that matter, so I’m not going to feign indignation over him being unable to play the money grab at the end of the year, even though I don’t agree with it. The problem with this system lies in the fact that all of Koepka’s results for the 2013-2014 season count for exactly 

 when it comes to Presidents Cup qualifying.

The qualifying system for the U.S. team is a rather simple formula: All FedEx Cup points earned from the 2013 BMW Championship onward, with points earned in the 2015 calendar year counting double. Despite being credited with zero points for anything before this season, he currently sits at 16 in the standings. By my calculation, if he was eligible to earn FedEx Cup points in 2013-2014, he would have earned 730. With those 730 points, he would be sitting at 11 in the standings, and ready to take Chris Kirk’s spot at 10 that will be available due to Kirk’s injury.

This of course sounds redundant, but the whole point of qualifying is to get a team of the most qualified players. At this point we should acknowledge the fact that it is the PGA Tour themselves that also runs the Presidents Cup. The same PGA Tour that devised a qualifying system that actually encourages young players to pack their bags and play thousands of miles from home on the European Tour, then has the audacity to say that any points actually earned on the PGA Tour don’t even count. Even though he wasn’t technically a member of the tour at the time, why wouldn’t those FedEx Cup points count towards the Presidents Cup standings? Does that fact that he was not a member make him any less qualified to represent the U.S. team? His results in 2013-2014 are events that actually happened. He got the prize money for those events. Why the hell would the FedEx Cup points not count towards qualifying!? I’m sure the answer is “because he wasn’t a member,” but how is that a justifiable answer? Since as of last week, the PGA Tour was 

incapable of calculating the standings of their own extremely simple system

, is it too late to change this injustice?

This may seem like a moot point, since Koepka is going to be a captain’s pick anyways (be ready for me to burn this entire place to the ground if not), but this essentially leaves Haas with only one captain’s pick. Does he then go with his son? Does he want to deal with the outrage of leaving Horschel off another team? How can you ignore what Streb has done this year? Maybe it will all work itself out in two weeks, and this won’t matter, but this egregious oversight by the PGA Tour can not go unnoticed.

Brooks Koepka and the Presidents Cup

The biggest story this week, like it or not, is Tiger. He’s playing Greensboro for the first time in his career, signalling just how far his game (and pride) has fallen. Tiger’s aura was built in large part by his ability and desire to be extremely picky about where he would play (in the process conferring second-class citizenship upon those events left off his list and no willingness to mix things up during his prime). That Tiger now needs an event like the Wyndham, if only for reps, says everything that needs to be said about his standing in the game. My how the mighty has fallen. But what a voyeuristic treat it’ll be this week to watch!

Tron Carter put together an exceedingly girthy Wyndham preview last year – we at NoLayingUp take pride in deep diving the lower profile events. No sense in me trying to recreate the wheel concerning course and vibe, so here are his funny musings from a year ago (note: one quibble I have with Tron is Raleigh/Durham being mentioned alongside Greensboro, W-S, etc. Felt that was a bit unfair – I ride for the Triangle!):

The tour heads to Greensboro this week for what looks like a nondescript event on the surface. To be real with you, I couldn’t pick Greensboro out of a lineup of Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Durham, or any other mid-sized Carolinas city you want to throw in there. Wikipedia tells us that the following hail either from Greensboro or are closely associated with the area:

(Hot) Carl Pettersson (went to high school here)

G.I. Joe (seriously, G.I. Joe spent his formative years here)

Rick Dees (of “Weekly Top 40” radio fame)

Donna Edmondson (Playboy Playmate of the Year ’87)

Ricky Proehl (wide receiver/dirty little slot/BOMB THREAT for the St. Louis Rams of 90’s)

and then some other people who have actually been contributing members of society at large.

If that doesn’t tell you what you need to know about Greensboro, then I’m not sure what will.

But seriously, this tourney’s been around for 75 years, which is remarkable (especially considering the small market, constant shuffling on the schedule, former Chrysler and KMart sponsorships, and current spot in the dungeon of the TOUR schedule) and preserves vestiges of the older, less flashy TOUR of yore. In those 75 years, Sam Snead’s won EIGHT TIMES, including the inaugural tourney in 1938 and his last victory here in 1965, 

Sedgefield is the only Donald Ross course on the permanent schedule and a prototypical example of the Scotsman’s work. False fronts, long par 4’s, and classic design features are the norm. It’s a handsome, no-frills par 71 playing only around 7,100 yards, so it’s a fair test for most of the field and allows for some hilarious scoring. Peep the list of winners since the event moved back to Sedgefield and you’ll notice a pattern: Ballstrikers. Reed, Webb, Serg, Ryan Moore, and Hot Carl Pettersson have all triumphed (in addition to Sneds and Arjun Freaking Atwal). Look for our picks to reflect that ballstriking fervor.

Fair or not, I picture a TON of Webb Simpson doppelgängers wandering around the premises all week, mixed with some rabid members of the NC State Wolfpack. This year you can add a bunch of BigCat Truthers to the mix. Per GC’s Todd Lewis event organizers printed an extra 49,000 tickets on account of Cat, experienced an inordinate spike in the number of media credential requests and had to reconfigure the interview area on his account. That’s staggering to me and speaks volumes about how dumb people are. Think about it: in 2013 Patrick Reed and a 19-year old Jordan Spieth went to a playoff in this event and watching tonight’s replay of that final round shows an exceedingly chill crowd. The new wave of talent continues to make waves this year and will certainly make a run at the title this week. And yet the people who actually give a shit about good golf will have a front row seat to the action while Tiger’s sideshow loops on the main stage. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

I honestly don’t remember much about last year’s tournament. I remember Reed beat Spieth in 2013 but nothing endures from last year. And that’s not an indictment of the leaderboard or anything; I thoroughly enjoy these ‘one-off’ events and the boards they produce (not to mention the scoring: LY only two guys who finished top-25 didn’t shoot in the sixties in the final round). Will be interesting this year to see if this one devolves into a veteran moxy-fest on the classic track or if the young wave keeps asserting itself and supplanting some of the stalwarts. Hope I at least made some Heath Slocum needs to get on the whip jokes.

, good luck. Last year picked Koepka, Horschel, de Jonge, Harman and a few others without much success. This year’s field boasts Thomas, Koepka, Matsuyama, Moore, Scott, et. al. Can’t say I disagree with 

 one bit, but they make the University of Alabama Alpha Phi recruitment video look downright diverse. There’s some thoroughbreds in the mix (and in addition to those mentioned, I think Haas sets up really well, too). Other flyers include Spencer Levin (500/1, shorter course, sitting precariously in 122nd in standings and looking to be aggressive to make playoffs), Daniel Summerhays (110/1, I’m shocked this guy hasn’t won yet. Not much history here, just a hunch), and then two guys who I think are undervalued on a weekly basis and will win sooner rather than later, and on a shorter, classic course like this: Carlos Ortiz (240/1) and Jon Curran (350/1). I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Horschel, too – the microwave’s about to get flipped on. Lastly, it’s a damn travesty that Robert Streb’s sixth place standing in the FedEx Cup precludes necessitates him skipping events like this. He’s finished well here the last two years and would be primed to take the title.

My lasting image of the Wyndham is that beach near the 16th hole. First, it always looks like a great time. Second, let’s be real, there’s usually at least a hard-body or two hanging out and the TV cameras linger 

 a second or two longer than normal. Not the worst thing in the world.

Speaking of Greensboro.My first tour win 1990… Walked off 17 after a bird & 10 k screaming fans, look up & girl selling beer topless 

Speaking of 17, by all accounts it was the precursor to 16 at Phoenix, 17 at Sawgrass, 16/17 at Honda, and any every other manner of rowdy outposts at TOUR events. The best part? It was completely organic and not a bastardized corporate scene. Ah, simpler times.

I would give anything for the Cat to be real with himself (and with the world at large) and do the right thing: admit he needs additional reps and play all four Web.com Tour Finals events. It would be like MJ playing minor league baseball, riding the busses, embracing the grind, and loving the game for what it is. Fort Wayne, IN, Davidson, NC; Columbus, OH, Sawgrass’ B track: A taste of America and 

 diner country. Let’s get the feline his “little cup of coffee” with a side of reps!

While researching this event I got sucked down into a Sam Snead wikipedia wormhole, emerging an hour later dazed and astonished. Aside from being re-amazed by all of the stuff I already knew about him (actually reading through the list of his 82 official PGA Tour victories was jaw-dropping), I found out that Snead shot 60 at The Homestead at the age of 71 (!), and shot 78 at The Greenbrier at the age of 85 (!!!!). Also, he won the PGA Club Pro Championship in 1971, which is the least fair thing ever. As always, thank you Wikipedia.

An interesting historical note per Wikipedia: Charlie Sifford, who passed away earlier this year, was the first African-American allowed to compete in a PGA-sponsored event in the South when he competed at the GGO in the 1961.

I’m keen to see what CBS does this week as far as production this week. It’s been a shitty season for them, as their trusty old fluffy, narrative-based telecast that’s light on golf shots, really light on variety of players and heavy on commercials is becoming rapidly outdated. CBS’ telecast was my favorite up until last year, when NBC really made some strides and ESPN showed it was possible to show a TON of live golf shots. Cat’s weekend slot will dictate much of what they do, but I’m curious to see if they show the ability/willingness to evolve. They certainly have talented people in place (Feherty, Kostis, and Macatee are total pros), not to mention people with the requisite production chops to boot. At this point they’ve been on auto-pilot for long enough. Wake up guys.

Looking to get back in the cut over the next few weeks and do a deep dive on the Web.com Finals with a look at those on the ascent to the TOUR and those looking to stave off the inexorable decline to the feeder league. That’s the good stuff, IMO.

Enjoy the week. Tron should be around this weekend as his wife is out of town and he’ll be writing wedding thank you notes, beer in hand, splitting time between the “Made in Denmark” Eurostop (top of mind: Matthew Fitzpatrick getting serious respect at 17/1 and “Is Thorbjorn Olesen still alive?”), the Wyndham and wondering what purpose Holly Sonders serves on the FoxSports U.S. Am Telecast. I should be in and out too. Check in with us on Twitter: @BigRandyNLU, @ TronCarterNLU, @ngschu, and over at the @NoLayingUp mothership.

Wyndham Championship Preview

Perhaps I’m not the right person to shepherd you through the endless hype leading up to this week’s 

. I was despondent for most of the afternoon/evening yesterday – at one point between 3 & 4pm I may have blacked out at my desk. I woke up this morning ready to turn the page on Zed-J’s triumph, and attack the day. Got to the office early, settled in with a double-double, and efforted a herculean AM session with the intention of making up for Monday’s astonishing lack of productivity. Shortly before lunch PGATour.com beckoned me, at which point a barrage of Mr. Matt “Lacks Pop/Can’t Play” Kuchar promos for this week’s event hit me in the face (if you can’t tell, I’m non-plussed by the guy). Needless to say, the browsing session ceased and I punted on a preview. Then I realized that with Soly settling back in over in Amsterdam after a week plus spent between DC and Scotland, Neil settling into a new job, and Big Randy on vacation, a preview probably wouldn’t materialize and we’d be doing Canada up dirty for the second year in a row. This was the only non-silly season event we didn’t do a preview for last year and I did a preview for the damn Barbasol Championship last week for Godsake. Alas…

The Canadian Open is actually a pretty interesting event, dating back to 1904 and boasting an honourable list of champs (Hagen, Armour, Snead, Palmer, Casper, Trevino, Weiskopf, Price, Norman, Furyk, Cat – most of whom won it multiple times). It may not be my favourite event on the calendar, but I’ve got a soft-spot for national opens, whether it be the obvious ones or the Mexican Open (did you know Stew Cink is a two-time champ or that Tommy Armour III prevailed against the field AND temptation in Tijuana?); 

 The event is on a quasi-rota at this point between about six courses around the country with seemingly no rhyme or reason to the cycle. This year’s site, Glen Abbey (6,650 metres), is the de facto home-base. Glen Abbey is a quality Nicklaus track (

 perhaps owing to the fact that it was his first solo design and he actually worked on it himself) and offers a pretty stunning series of holes (11-15) on the back nine that run through a valley . It’s a shotmaker’s course – control is more important than distance and this is Canada, land of shitty weather and comically high VAT taxes, so quick greens aren’t the course’s main defence. Ballstrikers roam the Glen Abbey realm: Cat, Norman, Price (twice), Strange, Sutton, and “Hot Carl” Pettersson all prevailed here. Ballstriking and humourously short par fives, eh? 

I joke often about Canadians – it’s always in good fun and I have more license (as an honourary Canadian) than most to do so owing to the fact that Neil and I lived there for a couple years growing up (actually right down the road from the course this week in Oakville, a suburb west of Toronto). I fondly recall those halcyon days of Blue Jays games (and the heady cast of Robbie Alomar, Juan Guzman, Joe Carter, Paul Molitor, Carlos Delgado and company), street hockey during summer, tobogganing and skiing in a toque during the winter. Canadians are an immensely proud bunch, and for good reason. On the whole they’re clean, fiercely loyal (see: Weir, Mike), hearty, polite, respectful, well-educated, foist horrific musical acts upon us (looking at you Sarah McLachlan/Bieber/Bryan Adams) employ a corny sense of humour, own a proclivity for adding unnecessary letters to words, always willing to lend a favour to a neighbour, and buy their milk in bags (

). Politeness is the fibre of their being, and the fans will be queuing up in droves for their well deserved week as the centre of attention for the golf world. A great bunch, all of them (except you, Stephen Ames). Savour it up this week, lads.

Tim Clark won. I don’t even remember this happening. He provided the hydro over the weekend to dethrone Furyk in his year of kerfuffles (keeping in mind that it was at a different venue last year).

, held at Glen Abbey. Heavyweights in the cut.

Sergio bankrupted me last week, however here are a few of the betting favourites that I’ll have some Loonie on this week:

Ryan Palmer 30/1 – if for no other reason than he’s a good calibre ball striker and I enjoy rooting for him. He also played well at St. Andrews.

Scott Piercy 45/1 – won on cruise control last week in Alabama, one of the better tee to green performances I’ve seen in recent memory. Should be plenty left in the tank and he’s played well here before.

Scott Langley 100/1 – on his grind right now. Seems like he’s having a better year than he really is. Watched him play quite a bit over the past few weeks and he’s definitely focused. Course should suit him.

The oddsmaker’s favourites this week all come with caveats: there’s a shitload of pressure on DeLaet. Kuchar and Donald lack pop. Day is probably distraught. RBC has a stable and they all show up en masse here and at Harbour Town. I REALLY like Scott Piercy, regardless of the odds. Koepka in the field, 21/1 odds which I don’t love. Harman’s game sets up very nicely. John Peterson is close to putting it together if he can get the flatstick going even a little bit. I’m going to keep throwing a nominal amount on Curran at 250/1 until he breaks through. Other guys of note – not picks, just interesting stuff. Castro Monday-qualified – he’s showing signs of life. Ollie Schniederjans making his pro debut (get on board). Patrick Rodgers fresh off a week chilling at home in Indy – course should suit his game.

Logistically it’s a nonstarter, but man it would be cool if the tournament could be played just once up at Cabot Links in Nova Scotia. Place looks and sounds dope.

Not trying to pour salt in the wound on the heels of his hiatus announcement, but Mike Weir’s biggest career regret has to be the playoff loss to Vijay at Glen Abbey in 2004. He played his last nine holes one over and watched Vijay birdie two of his last three to force a playoff. Weir then yipped a few short ones in the playoff to seal the deal. Devastating. 

 about Canada’s standing in the game. My biggest takeaway was the astounding lack of young talent in the pipeline. Three of the five guys listed don’t even have full privileges on the Web.com tour. For a country with 35 million people that seems impossibly low, even considering the oft-shitty weather. Maybe they just don’t hit their stride until late (DeLaet, Weir, etc. support that notion).

 struck again this week – they trolled the Cat with a replay of his duel with Bob May at Valhalla in 2000. I’ve watched it no less than two dozen times over the years and it NEVER gets old. It got me so amped I had to go work out. And then the adrenaline yielded to sadness just as the two iron stingers yielded to release patterns. I then recalled this moment from a few months later.

There are a ton of great recaps and wrap-ups from the British Open. Among them:   

Soly has the following to add from the Open Championship this past week:

As noted directly above, there are tons of other places where you can get a summary of the tournament. I want talk about the actual St. Andrews experience, and what it was like to be on the grounds for the 2015 Open Championship. 

 and the folks at Callaway for hooking me up with a place to stay, and a ticket to this truly once in a lifetime event.

Everything you’ve read and heard about St. Andrews as a town and the Old Course as a golf course are 100% accurate, but it really is something you have to see in person to fully grasp. What sticks out the most is the kindness of the Scottish people. Once they hear your American accent, they turn around and ask you about your trip, what you think of the town, the course, and whether or not you’re playing while you’re out there. The people love golf, and you never feel out of place or unwelcome anywhere you go.

Aside from it being an awesome atmosphere, both inside the ticketed areas and outside in the town, the viewing angles at St. Andrews are….. less than stellar. Attending an Open Championship here is still an incredible experience, but I learned quickly that I needed to manage my expectations on viewing a lot of golf. For some reason, when the course was built in the 1400’s, they didn’t think to have auditorium style viewing from all angles (I’m admittedly spoiled from attending the Memorial Tournament for most of my life). The true in and out routing makes it impossible to get to the left of any of the holes, and impossible to follow any players around. This isn’t even a complaint, rather more of an observation.

Enjoy the week. Come this time next week we’ll be ramping back up for the WGC.

RBC Canadian Open Preview

Parental Advisory: if you’re a casual fan this preview ain’t for you. It’s dry, largely devoid of pictures and focuses upon an event you probably aren’t even aware is taking place.

While the heavyweights jet-set across the pond, a collection of upstarts, journeymen, and grinders (some NLU favorites to be sure) rumble down I-55 from the Quad Cities and East on I-20 to 

 down on the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Opelika, Alabama for the Barbasol Championship. I thought it only fitting that I squeeze out a little quick hitter to kick off the inaugural iteration of this event. While the timing is certainly curious (seriously guys, mid-July in East Alabama?…think highs in the upper 90’s, steam room humidity and pop-up thunderstorms out the ass), I’m confident this event will be a welcome addition to the tour schedule. Why?

For one, the RTJ Trail is strong and deserves more visibility. With well-maintained, demanding courses scattered throughout the state (and owned by the state pension fund, I believe) it’s about as good a value as you’ll find anywhere in the country. You’ll find eleven different sites, most of which have at least 36 holes and some have an 18 hole short course to boot. Of the half dozen sites I’ve played (the junior golf circuits hit these places up on the reg, so I was over there a lot back in the late 90’s and early 00’s) my favorites are Capitol Hill (near Montgomery, which has three courses: Judge, Senator, and Legislator; the Judge tips at 7800 yards, has a 700 yard par 5 and serious elevation changes) and Grand National (which has two regular courses – the Links course is meh IMO, and then a short course).

When I look back at any of my rounds on these courses, the par three’s always stick out, especially on the Lake Course at Grand National. 

Here’s a course tour if you’re so inclined

 (also note, I believe they have the nines reversed for the event this weekend). The course is routed around Lake Sougahatchee, which is in play throughout the course. Holes 15 and 16 (playing as 6 & 7 this week) are the most memorable – the former a 230 yard par 3 over water and the later a drivable par 4 back across the lake (although they have it listed at 358 yards on the Tour site, which is a bummer if true). I’d guess the Golf Channel crew will post up there for some fireworks. Regardless of the routing, the finishing hole will be a dud, with both 9 and 18 relatively mediocre uphill par 4’s back to the clubhouse. Topping out at 7,300 yards the course won’t be a pushover, but I’d guess it’s playing firm and I’m not sure they can get the greens all that quick without burning them out. Strategy off the tee will be paramount as RTJ throws quite a few cross bunkers at you – if you challenge some of these holes with driver off the tee the landing areas really squeeze in. Overall, birdies should be in abundance, heat may be the stoutest defense, and streaky (read: lousy) could find themselves in the mix on relatively flat greens (again, by Tour standards). I think 18 to 20 under is a safe assumption (par 71).

And a word about the title sponsor – a bit about Barbasol. Founded in Indianapolis in 1921 and now based in Dublin, OH, it ranks right up there with Jergens Soap as a lasting Midwestern, household Brand (until a Japanese conglomerate bought Jergens in the late ’90’s…making Barbasol even more of an American Classic). Little known fact: it’s the official shaving cream product of Tron Carter – megacheap but a consistent and quality product. I’d say the field and timing of this event fit the Barbasol #Brand perfectly. D. Rovell would be proud of this guy:

The goal at the beginning of the year was to use this space during silly season/oppo field events as a somewhat periodic accounting of who’s emerging and who to look out for, both on the big tour and on the Web Tour. I apologize that hasn’t happened due to a variety of factors (chief among them, my real job – yes, I know some of you have wondered, we do have real jobs here at NLU). This and Reno are the only bottom of the barrel events between now and the end of the reacharound schedule, so hopefully this will serve as a prelude to more regular appearances during the Cash Grab Fall Series. Since this event is hard to bet (total crapshoot and since the “favorites” are 20/1ish, there’s not a lot of value out there with name guys. Here’s who I will be watching:

Patton Kizzire local boy, went to Auburn, #1 on Web.com money list, this is like his super bowl. The Tour even threw him on some of the promotional stuff this week. He’s listed at 26/1 – ahead of a lot of reputable pros (Boo, Cejka, Hadley, BVP, GFC to name a few) but knows the course better than anyone so it’s probably warranted. He’s got a sultry swing.

Carlos Ortiz I’ve had my eye on all year after what he did on the Web Tour last year. He’s missed four cuts in a row though and needs to get it back on track.

Maverick McNealy in the field again this week after a great showing at Greenbrier a couple weeks ago.

John Peterson should be right at home in the Southeast this week (30/1).

Scott Langley (23/1) is in good form and his blend of precision iron play should suit this course well.

Spencer Levin (65/1) is starting to heat back up and showed his face the last few weeks prior to late round ejections. Far and away my favorite player on the Tour. Here’s a bit from Big Randy last week 

Received the following from a Mr. Ron Lee via email this week (nolayingup@gmail.com if you’re so inclined):

“Normally I wouldn’t be so attentive but my good friend Josh Broadaway Monday qualified into the Barbasol so I’ve been patiently waiting to see his tee times so I can make arrangements to go up. Only one problem: they apparently can’t set the times because only 130 of the 132 spots in the field are accounted for and the alternate list appears to have been exhausted…..could they be attempting to track down grizzled veteran members such as Nolan Henke, Lance Ten Broeck, or dare I guess Dick Mast to judge their interest in playing in the inaugural Barbasol Championship??? Inquiring minds want to know.”



Thanks Ron – I went ahead and took a look and the list of alternates normally found at the bottom of the field is curiously blank. While the likes of Omar Uresti, Robert Gamez, Brett Wetterich, Ted Purdy, Steve Lowery, Len Mattiace, David Gossett, and Glen Day are all in the field this week it was absolutely CRUSHING not to see Dick Mast listed among the combatants. The 64 year old throws his name in the ring for seemingly every alternate list on Tour and the one week he’s got a shot at getting in he doesn’t enter. For shame. Appreciate your question and good luck to your buddy Josh.

Some rando vets in the field, including NLU Hall of Famer – TA3! We were lucky enough to chat with TA3 

. We can only hope he knows a great masseuse offering some great rub downs in Auburn this week. TA3 is a Great American. full stop.

We can take Aaron Baddeley off the milk carton – he’s been found, and with 90/1 odds. Yikes.

This area is no stranger to the PGA Tour – it’s not too far from Callaway Gardens, site of the former Southern Open turned Buick Challenge. Buick used to be DEEP in the game. It’s also a reminder that the Tour footprint still tends heavily toward the Southeast.

TPC Stonebrae in the Bay Area is the Web.com stop this week. Neil played it last month during the 

, and the track is pure, and the field is wide open with some of the circuit’s heavy hitters plying their craft in the Barbasol. It’s worth noting that Tony Phenom Finau won here last season to kick off what’s been a break out year for him. The list of alternates is a factory of sadness, with Steve Marino, Dicky Pride, Casey Wittenberg, and James Driscoll headlining. Godspeed fellas.

 is the article about the lady who eviscerated Zach Johnson’s will to live with the boom heard round the world at last week’s John Deere Classic. But skip the article and peep the comments section – some delectable stuff in there.

I’ll keep my Open Championship musings confined to Twitter, but here’s two I had to offer. Has anyone been more ridiculously under the radar of late than Adam Scott? He doesn’t play often and yet peep his major results over last three years. AUTOMATIC.

Enjoy the Barbasol, and enjoy Sergio winning The Open. I know I will.

A Beginner's Guide to The Barbasol Championship

We wait eight long months between the final major of the year, and the first major of the next year, but in mid major season (not talking about you, Wichita State-Gonzaga-Butler, calm down) they come at you fast. The British Open is situated perfectly between the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship, and is the biggest golf event of the entire summer. Gone are the complaints about the course setup, the ego of the USGA, and the carnage of the U.S. Open. In comes golf at its purest.

It may seem like hyperbole, but history is literally at stake here. Since the majors have been played in the order that they are currently in, no human has ever won the first three legs of the grand slam. Jordan Spieth would have a chance to do that this week if he were human, but six wins in nine months has me questioning whether he’s human or a man made robot from the R&D department at Under Armour. The opportunity presented itself for me to attend the oldest championship in golf this weekend, and the fact that we’re talking about the Old Course, combined with this truly once in a lifetime chance at history, the decision was a no brainer.

It's incredible to me how little play Spieth going for the Slam is getting outside golf circles. If Tiger had even sniffed the Slam in…



— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) 

I couldn’t me much more Pro-Spieth (or Pro-Porter for that matter), so it shouldn’t come at a surprise that I 100% with this statement. Granted, I don’t watc- (wait one second……*puts on flannel shirt and lens-less glasses, strokes overgrown beard*), I don’t watch much TV, but I feel like this should be a bigger deal than it is. The fact that a 21 year old American is doing things on a golf course that even Tiger never did has been beaten to death over our heads by the golf enthusiasts, but my God, we get amped every year for the possibility of an animal winning three races in a row, yet nary a focus on a human doing un-human things. Maybe this is the week this all changes.

I’m going to include the normal disclaimer that there is so much coverage of the majors by much better writers than us, that are on top of their game on weeks like this. So it’s difficult to come up with a fresh angle that no one has considered, but we’ll do our best. You can call me many things, but please don’t call me a hero (see Venn diagram below):

Ever heard of it? For almost six hundred years, St. Andrews was known as “The Home of Golf” (a title which was passed down to Patrick Reed as soon as he entered the real estate game). The club is owned by the Fife Council, and operated by St Andrews Links Trust, who had a scare in 1797 when they went bankrupt, only to receive a TARP bailout a reprieve from the Town Council of St. Andrews to allow rabbit farming on the course (all of this courtesy of 

). Then, in 1754, the whitest event in the history of the world took place, when “22 noblemen, professors, and landowners founded the Society of St Andrews Golfers.” It’s safe to assume that the entire Lumineers’ album was played at the initiation party, right? And Peyton Manning was there?

The course has obviously evolved over the years in many ways, but it’s still incredibly unique with it’s shared greens, and true outward/inward routing:

I’m confident in saying that this course is pretty straightforward, and rather easy for tour pros. The scoring will depend 100% on the weather, particularly the wind. (

 of how the weather is likely to play out this week). I’m betting on scores being low. It’s not going to be the JDC, but given the over/under of -12.5, I think someone beats that number.

When looking at the routing, and I can’t help but notice that almost every hole is shaped the exact same way: slightly left to right. One would think this would favor a fade, but you’ll also notice, at no point on this course can you miss right. It’s going to play soft, and it’s going to favor bombers. But hey, I’m sure that kickaround with your mates was a blast!

Barring an ex-pat contingent and father-son once in a lifetime golf trip patrons, the gallery is best summed up in this video:

The local caddie element has always been an interesting element to The Open Championship as well. Knowing the majority of caddies are responsible for their own Travel and Expense (such BS), many don’t make the trip across the pond with the pros using a local looper instead. I can’t wait for Tom Rinaldi to serenade us with a special that opens with the clinking of Guinness Glasses and closes with an emotional salute to one of St. Andrews’ finest, an ode to the birthplace of the game.

Overall, The Open Championship vibe is similar to nothing else in golf. Everything is different. The reactions of the crowd, the sound of the applause, and the ambiance is unparalleled in this sport, and to a certain extent, sports in general. As much as we pretend to hate Europe every two years for the three day Ryder Cup, this sport was founded on these islands, and their fans deserve a salute. Enjoy your week, lads.

Roddrick Muckelroy pretty much had things wrapped up by the weekend, carrying a four shot lead into Saturday after a pair of 66’s, extending his lead to six shots going into Sunday. Sergio and Rickie tried to provide some drama on Sunday (at one point Segio was two down heading to the 14th), but ultimately Rory was too much, keeping it firmly between the mayonnaise and mustard down the stretch for a two shot victory and his third career major championship.

I’ve been asked who my sleepers, are, but I can’t picture a sleeper winning. The game is too deep at the moment, and there is one guy that is deeper than them all.

 – I just can’t not. I’m worried about the draw he got (see link to Shane Ryan’s piece above), but I can’t not pick him at this point. I feel like this is going to me more like the U.S. Open, where he sort of wonders around near the top of the leaderboard, and emerges triumphantly with bagpipes blaring as he strides down the 18th fairway while adoring fans hurl roses from the gallery (people still do that right?). Then this is the scene when he returns from Europe:

Spieth is my pick, but this is the part where I get really chalky. I love the next two guys on the board in Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler as well. I giggled at Tiger being 4th on the board at 17/1. I equally love Adam Scott and Henrik Stenson’s chances as well. I love Koepka. I love everyone. Every time these majors roll around I fall in love with the entire field and get frustrated trying to make picks until I realize the glorious state of the game that we’re currently in. It can’t be said often enough. It’s going to be a pu pu platter of big names on the leaderboard the entire weekend, and I need it to just be Thursday already.

I’m done with the British Open vs. Open Championship debate.

Regrettably, I will not be able to live tweet the coverage this weekend. I’ll be watching Thursday from my hotel room in DC, Friday from my flat in Amsterdam, but will be off to Scotland to spray some sauce of my own, and witness an Open Championship at St. Andrews in person. The rest of the NLU gang should have you covered: 

. There’s also a lot of other people that I would recommend you follow during the week, but I hate listing them out because it’s inevitable that I would miss some people.

Since I won’t be around, I might as well get the Patrick Reed jokes out of the way now. He’s flying way under the radar this week, and I think we should start being concerned about whether or not we’re going to have an international incident on our hands this week. Wearing the scripting below, and majestically galloping around on a horse and stabbing players with five irons like a spear is an act of war on foreign soil. Does he even make it on the plane back to the states, or is he shipped directly to the International Criminal Court in The Hague?

This week marks the the one year anniversary of #PrayForTedScott (

). It’s been a long year for you Teddy, but we think about you every day.

Enjoy the week, everyone. Spieth be with you.

2015 British Open Preview

I love the John Deere. Course is pure, rookie bombthreats galore, Midwestern charm abounds, and fantastic teemarkers. Top 10 event of yr IMO



— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) 

The JD captured my heart when Esteban Toledo was leading until a spectator nuked his vibe w/ a “HOLY TOLEDO!” call on a tee ball. — Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) 

The list of winners is a hilarious smattering of wily vets (I see you, 

), young guns (in recent yrs), and a ton of Steve Stricker.



— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) 

Tron speaks for all of us in that this is one of our favorite tournaments of the year. Young guys trying to YOTTO amongst the old dudes who own this place (i.e. Stricker/ZJ), a super easy course which yields 

low scores, and a healthy smattering of no-namers and randos to make for some especially pithy jokes and ultra rich side-conversations throughout the weekend. But it goes deeper than that. The four of us are proud of our midwest ties and enjoy pimping the heartland. The Quad Cities stop has a great history (Payne Stewart won the 1982 edition of the Miller High Life QCO for his first Tour victory; David Toms captured his first title here in 1997; and of course Spieth a couple years ago at the age of 19), and boasts some of the best community support on the entire tour, along with a great corporate sponsorship situation. In short, it represents a lot of what’s right with the tour and doesn’t get enough recognition for that.

Found this on the course today and thought of you 

Situated against the Rock River in Silvis, Illinois (one of the four quad cities), birds have been getting poached here since 2000 at a fully-explicable clip.

Seriously, since the course moved to this farmland locale in the middle of nowhere, the ‘

 winning score is -16, with Steve Stricker setting the scoring record in 2010 at -26. The course is so easy that Stricker shot 60 on Thursday that year…. 

. Seriously. He was -11 after day one, and not leading the tournament. Paul Goydos shot an opening round 59, finished at -24, and 

The D.A. Weibring design is less than spectacular both visually, and from a challenge perspective. The wide, rolling fairways give the players a green light to fire away with the driver, and the only par 4’s with any real teeth are the 9th (503 yards), the 15th (484 yards), and the 18th (476 yards, with a tough dogleg, and a green guarded by water). Despite the length of these holes, you’ll still see the longer hitters take 3 wood on them due to the firmness of the fairways. Soly played the course a few years ago, and noted that it’s an easy course even for an amateur.

The Quad Cities are located at the junction of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers, and used to serve as a major port in the mid 19th century during the industrial revolution. Beginning in the late 1970’s, economic conditions forced major industrial restructuring, which led to many companies relocating and scaling back their operations along these rivers. In recent years, significant progress has been made by the city governments to redevelop the region. Despite this, it’s hard not to feel like you’re in a time capsule looking back at what was once such a proud symbol of American capitalism, especially in and around Rock Island.

Set against the Illinois/Iowa border, this tournament is truly the most midwestern event 

. It’s basically a Big Ten clash between Illinois and Iowa fans, but for once they’re rooting for bosses of their sport rather than an Illini-Hawkeye Big Ten pillow fight on the gridiron. Honestly, the people drive hours to root for one of two guys. Those in orange pull for Illinois grad and three time champion Steve Stricker, and those in black and yellow are pulling for Wiz Khalifa Zach Johnson. In true midwestern fashion, just about every fan there thinks they know Strick and ZJ as personal friends, just because they’re wearing their school colors or their uncle’s best buddy’s son’s wife is somehow connected. You’ll hear plenty of first name basis yells on the broadcast for these two players from the masses who treat this event like it’s a family reunion.

It’s impossible to discuss the merits of the Quad Cities without referencing their favorite sons, hailing from Davenport, Iowa:

Brian Harman, another of the many thoroughbreds from UGA Racing Stables, broke through last year for his first career PGA Tour win. Again, I’ll throw it to TronCarter for his thoughts:

(all lines courtesy Ladbrokes.com, the Official Bookmaker of NoLayingUp.com)

*Little known fact– the term “horse for course” was coined specifically to describe the following two dudes:

 – A win and three runner-ups over the last six years will get you certified horse status.

 – Since going three-peat in 2009/10/11, he hasn’t finished worse than T11 in the last three years. Even semi-retired and lacking much form this year, he’s an obligation play.

 – “Hit it again.”–Hans Gruber. Coming right back to the well here. His form is ON POINT (with Tom Ashbrook) as Tony hasn’t finished outside the top 25 in his last seven starts dating back to the Wells Fargo. His prodigious length could re-write scoring records if he’s clicking.

 – The Illinois grad is trending in the right direction with a T25 and T13 last two starts. Each week has included a third round clunker (73 and 74, respectively). If he can put together 4 rounds, he’s got enough to win.

 – Pretty quietly having a good run of it over the last two years, as he was 46th in the FedEx last year, and currently sits 64th. Maybe the most anonymous American ranked in the top 100 of the OWGR? Anyway, outside an MC at the US Open, George is playing good golf with 5 top-25’s in nine starts since the start of April. Feels like the kind of profile who can and has won here.

continuing to use its exemptions on top-ranked young players

No Laying Up

Writing

2015 Deutsche Bank Championship Preview

Patrick Rodgers won't be in the FedExCup Playoffs...Why?

Brooks Koepka and the Presidents Cup

Wyndham Championship Preview

RBC Canadian Open Preview

A Beginner's Guide to The Barbasol Championship

2015 British Open Preview

2015 John Deere Classic Preview

2015 Greenbrier Classic Preview

2015 Travelers Championship Preview

Birdies for the Brave Recap

2015 U.S. Open Preview

2015 FedEx St. Jude Classic Preview

Musings From a Day Spent at Sectional Qualifying

2015 Memorial Tournament Preview, Part II: The Stories

2015 Memorial Tournament Preview, Part I

2015 Byron Nelson Championship Preview

Peter Kostis Helped Me With My Golf Swing, Because Peter Kostis is Awesome