Fansided

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Northern Trust

By Chris Aliperto

PGA Power Rankings: PARAMUS, NJ - AUGUST 25: Brooks Koepka waits to play his tee shot on the first hole during the third round of THE NORTHERN TRUST at Ridgewood Country Club on August 25, 2018 in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR)
PGA Power Rankings: PARAMUS, NJ - AUGUST 25: Brooks Koepka waits to play his tee shot on the first hole during the third round of THE NORTHERN TRUST at Ridgewood Country Club on August 25, 2018 in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
PGA Power Rankings
PGA Power Rankings: PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO – NOVEMBER 09: Matt Kuchar of the United States celebrates his birdie with his caddie on the 15th green during the second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Mayakoba Golf Course on November 09, 2018 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

PGA Power Rankings: The Northern Trust

***The following golfers are my top 20 overall. Each golfer will be followed by their official golf world ranking OWGR in parenthesis.***

20. Matt Kuchar – (17)

It was a close call here between Kuchar and Tony Finau, but I am giving Kuch the edge by a nose for the number 20 spot in this week’s PGA Power Rankings. Finau has had a rough overall season but is trending the right way, and Kuchar is doing just the opposite.

Kuch started the year with a bang with early wins at the Mayakoba Classic on the fall swing, and again shortly after the calendar turned 2019 at the Sony Open. He was consistent all season, notching a total of eight top-tens, but he is coming into the Northern Trust of two of his worst finishes of the year.

Kuchar T-41 at the Open Championship, and followed it with a T-43 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, which was only a 64-man field. Not that it matters because there is no course correlation, but Kuchar T-60 at Ridgewood C.C. last year.

However, he did T-19 here at Liberty National in 2013, and he also T-28 back in 2009, the other most recent year this course hosted this event.

19. Francesco Molinari – (6)

It was a solid season for the 36-year-old Italian, notching a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, tying for fifth at the Masters, and missing just one cut going all the way back to the Northern Trust last year.

He hasn’t played much in the last couple of months, so although he is the sixth-ranked player in the world, his ranking is taking a hit this week.

Molinari T-16 at the U.S. Open in June, and he has only teed it up twice since. He struggled a bit at the Travelers Championship and finished T-57, but after a month off, he was able to bounce back and T-11 at the Open Championship in his last action.

Molinari has not played here at Liberty National, as he did not play the 2017 Presidents Cup or the Barclays that was hosted here in 2013 or 2009.

18. Sungjae Im – (60)

For the first time in months, Sungjae Im actually looked over-matched dealing with the conditions at Royal Portrush for the 148th Open Championship. He ended up missing the cut, and it was his first since the Charles Schwab Challenge back in late May.

However, he was able to bounce back and find himself inside the top ten once again at the Wyndham Championship last week, where he T-6.

Im has been steadily climbing up the FedEx Cup standings all season long, grinding it out nearly every week, and his T-6 finish last week moved him up two spots to number 23. He would have to play pretty bad to not make the TOUR Championship at this point, and it will be interesting to see how he finishes out his first full season on tour.

17. Shane Lowry – (18)

I mentioned in the intro that wind may come into play a bit this week. Could that equal back-to-back wins for Lowry? He was incredible keeping his ball flight down at Royal Portrush en route to his victory at the Open, and if we do get wind gusts Lowry could be at an advantage once again.

This will be Lowry’s first trip to Liberty National, as I was actually a little surprised that he was not on that 2017 Presidents Cup roster for the International squad. Either way, he comes into the Northern Trust great form, as he was quietly playing really well before his win as well.

Lowry has only played six events since he missed the cut at the Masters, and he has been in contention more often than not.

He bounced back from the missed cut with a T-3 the following week at the RBC Heritage, starting a stretch of three straight top-tens over the span two months, including a T-8 at the PGA Championship.

Lowry plays well at tough courses, and if anything, I may have him ranked a little low this week. However, at this point, the wind is not expected to be a factor.

16. Collin Morikawa – (87)

Morikawa finally had just an average week, as he finished T-31 at the Wyndham Championship coming off of his win at the Barracuda Championship two weeks ago.

There was possibly nobody hotter in golf, as Morikawa ripped off three straight top-fives capped by his win, and he is proving quickly that he will be a force on this tour for a long time to come. His iron play is incredibly solid, and that should help him a ton at Liberty National.

Home/Fantasy Golf