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PGA power rankings: The 2019 BMW championship

By Chris Aliperto

PGA Power Rankings: NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA - SEPTEMBER 08: Brooks Koepka looks on next to the FedExCup Playoffs logo on the eighth hole green during the third round of the BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on September 8, 2018 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR)
PGA Power Rankings: NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA - SEPTEMBER 08: Brooks Koepka looks on next to the FedExCup Playoffs logo on the eighth hole green during the third round of the BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on September 8, 2018 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR) /
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PGA Power Rankings
PGA Power Rankings: AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 29: Patrick Cantlay of the United States plays a shot in his match against Tiger Woods of the United States during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club on March 29, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

PGA Power Rankings: The BMW Championship

10. Patrick Cantlay – (9)

Cantlay was solid last week at Liberty National finishing 10-under par, but it was only good enough for a T-12 finish. That is back-to-back T-12’s for the 27-year-old, and he was able to hold his current spot of 6th place in the current FedEx Cup standings.

His game checks all of the boxes this week, and I fully expect him to creep inside the top-ten this week considering his consistency as of late. He is averaging almost 305 yards off the tee and is currently ranked 5th year-to-date in SG: T2G.

9. Webb Simpson – (12)

Simpson wasn’t quite as good as he was the previous two weeks, as can be expected off of back-to-back runner-up’s, but he was still solid finishing 9-under par for the tournament and tying for 18th.

He is probably lacking the distance off the tee to make legitimate noise here at Medinah as it will play over 7,600 yards, however, his accuracy has been plenty good, considering he is ranked 14th in SG: T2G on the season.

Despite a top-20 finish, my guess is nobody took in a bigger hit in the FedEx Cup standings considering as much. Simpson fell out of his top-ten spot from 9th to 11th, and he will need to keep up his stellar play to creep back inside the top-ten heading into the final week.

8. Adam Scott – (17)

Scott has been up-and-down as of late, but his play on Sunday at the Northern Trust that led to a final round 65 was enough to push him into a solo fifth-place finish.

Scott was great in limited action heading into the playoffs, grabbing three top-tens in a row at one point, including at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, and it was only when he started to experiment back with the short putter again at the Open Championship in which his game took a hit.

To my knowledge, Scott did have both putters in the bag last week, but I only saw the long one in action, which is obviously what seems to be what works for him.

He has only played 16 FedEx Cup events this season, but the solid finish last week was good enough to move him up seven spots from 21st to 14th, and we no doubt will see him at East Lake now next week because of it. Another top-five or better though and Scott could be looking at a huge bonus. He is currently ranked 4th this season in SG: T2G.

7. Justin Thomas – (10)

Thomas continues to quietly play well, but he is still trying to take that next step and crack the top-five since returning from his wrist injury, and the subsequent rust that he obviously had to shake off from missing so much time. He T-12 last week at the Northern Trust, and now has four straight finishes of T-12 or better.

JT is also pretty much a lock for the TOUR Championship next week as he is currently in 15th place in the FedEx Cup standings, but he is also right on the cusp of some huge bonus money if he can keep up the solid play another couple of weeks.

He hits the ball long enough off of the tee here to post some low scores and is currently ranked 2nd year-to-date in SG: T2G.

6. Dustin Johnson – (2)

It started out great, as we saw vintage DJ at Liberty National as he fired a 63 and took the early lead. You would think that alone would at least keep him inside the top-five in this week’s PGA Power Rankings right?

Unfortunately not. Even after a 67 on Friday, DJ fell apart on the weekend, proving he just is not completely on top of his game right now.

Johnson shot a 74 on Saturday and a 73 on Sunday and fell all the way down to a T-24 finish. At one point on Sunday, DJ took his first triple-bogey in quite some time, carding a seven on a par-four, and for a quick minute looked like an average Joe plodding around there.

I am sure he has plenty of money, but he also fell from 7th to 10th in the FedEx Cup standings, and another rough tournament will cost him a bonus. Nobody wants to miss out on free money, do they?

DJ has not had a finish better than T-20 in his last six events, and something will need to click for the 35-year-old this week.

He obviously has a huge advantage here being one of the longest hitters in the game, and if he can make some putts this week and keep it in the fairway he could easily dominate. I bumped him down in the rankings, but I still would never count him out at this point in his career. Not yet.

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