A guide to this week’s Northern Trust championship at TPC Boston

Tournament details

Schedule

Wednesday: 2-4 p.m., Golf Channel

Thursday: 3-7 p.m., Golf Channel.

Friday: 3-7 p.m., Golf Channel.

Saturday: 1-3 p.m., Golf Channel; 3 p.m.-6 p.m., CBS.

Sunday: 12:30-2:30 p.m., Golf Channel; 2:30-6:30 p.m., CBS.

Patrick Reed: The No. 9 player in the world is the defending champion, although he won the event at Liberty National in New Jersey in 2019.

Bryson DeChambeau: The eighth-ranked player in the world and No. 4 in the FedEx Cup points race had four straight top-10s when the PGA Tour returned in June, including a win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Justin Thomas: Sitting atop the FedEx Cup standings and ranked No. 2 in the world, he has finished in the top 10 in nine of his 15 starts this year, with three wins. Has missed just three cuts this season.

Collin Morikawa: Just 23, the California native already captured the PGA Championship to win his first major, and trails only Thomas in the FedEx Cup standings. He has six top 10 finishes in 18 events played.

Jon Rahm: Ranked No. 1 in the world, he won the Memorial in July and has one victory in each of the last four seasons.

Rory McIlroy: He’d be a crowd favorite — if there were a crowd. When he has his entire game working (which hasn’t been lately), he’s tough to beat. No. 8 in the standings.

Tiger Woods: Sure, he’s back a ways in the standings at 49th, and he’s played only five events this year, but he does have a history here, having won in 2006 and tied for second on two other occasions. Needs one victory to break Sam Snead’s record for career wins.

Dustin Johnson: The former world No. 1 hits it long, which is an asset on this course, but he has been erratic since the restart. He missed the cut at the Memorial, but tied for second at the PGA three weeks later.

Webb Simpson: Third in the FedEx Cup standings and won at TPC Boston in 2011.

Cameron Champ: The long-bombing 25-year-old had a share of the final-round lead in the PGA before faltering a little down the stretch and settling for T10. Had a win this season, in the Safeway way back in September 2019.

Paul Casey: A low-profile veteran at 43, he has been playing well of late, with 10 straight rounds in the 60s coming in. Tied for second at the PGA.

Others: Phil Mickelson (2007), Adam Scott (2003), and Rickie Fowler (2015) have all won at TPC Boston.

A view of the 12th fairway.

There will not be any surprises for the players returning to TPC Boston. There have been no changes to the course since the PGA Tour was last here two years ago, according to course superintendent Tom Brodeur.

That’s not to say that things will look exactly the same. In July, the PGA announced there would be no fans at events for the remainder of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That means fewer temporary structures such as hospitality tents, thus a wider field of play.

“From our standpoint, we don’t have to mark as many things,” said Brodeur. “You start putting all that stuff out there, and it can impact our irrigation system. You lose the potential to irrigate certain things.”

The tournament is being played a little earlier than in years past, when it was held Labor Day Weekend, with the first round beginning on Friday and the winner crowned on Monday. The advantage to that, as Brodeur sees it, is two fewer weeks of the course being exposed to what has been a long, hot summer. But there’s also a down side.

“There’s very little chance of it getting cool in the middle of August,” said Brodeur. “The Labor Day event, we’d get two or three cool days most years.

“Other than that, it doesn’t seem much different to me, just that the likelihood of getting cool weather is less.”

This summer has presented a bit of a challenge, particularly for the turf. The combination of warm and humid weather in the morning, followed by windy and hot in the afternoon, proved to be tough to contend with.

“We’ve got a pretty good result, we think, but not perfect,” said Brodeur. “A few nicks and bruises for sure.”

Brodeur believes the rough will be a little more sparse than normal, while the greens appear to be in good shape.

“It’s going to be medium rough at best,” he said. “It’s been a long, dry summer, and the course looks like it’s been through a long, dry summer, and that’s OK. It’s kind of nice-looking in its own way.

“We kind of tend to a more natural look, and that is what it looks like. It’s not too forced. We’re not trying to outdo Mother Nature or anything.

“Our goal is to try to be as consistent as we can in how we present the course, and hopefully we will be again.”

The field

The Northern Trust fieldBased on FedEx Cup standings through the Wyndham Championship.

Pos.	Player	Events	Points	Wins	Top 10s
1	Justin Thomas	15	2,458	3	9
2	Collin Morikawa	18	1,902	2	6
3	Webb Simpson	12	1,878	2	7
4	Bryson DeChambeau	14	1,657	1	9
5	Sungjae Im	23	1,633	1	7
6	Patrick Reed	17	1,426	1	7
7	Daniel Berger	14	1,347	1	6
8	Rory McIlroy	12	1,327	1	6
9	Brendon Todd	22	1,316	2	3
10	Jon Rahm	12	1,295	1	5
11	Xander Schauffele	15	1,258	0	6
12	Lanto Griffin	24	1,159	1	3
13	Abraham Ancer	17	1,099	0	4
14	Marc Leishman	15	1,086	1	3
15	Dustin Johnson	11	1,071	1	4
16	Sebastián Muñoz	23	1,045	1	3
17	Kevin Na	18	1,036	1	4
18	Hideki Matsuyama	17	1,030	0	4
19	Tyrrell Hatton	8	1,025	1	5
20	Cameron Champ	17	951	1	2
21	Adam Long	23	912	0	3
22	Kevin Streelman	21	909	0	4
23	Tony Finau	17	907	0	6
24	Scottie Scheffler	20	900	0	5
25	Billy Horschel	19	893	0	6
26	Joaquin Niemann	20	878	1	3
27	Harris English	17	867	0	5
28	Viktor Hovland	17	842	1	3
29	Ryan Palmer	16	838	0	4
30	Cameron Smith	16	807	1	2
31	Byeong Hun An	20	765	0	5
32	Patrick Cantlay	10	745	0	3
33	Gary Woodland	15	741	0	6
34	Matthew Wolff	19	739	0	2
35	Tyler Duncan	23	736	1	1
36	Adam Scott	8	726	1	1
37	Nick Taylor	16	720	1	2
38	Joel Dahmen	20	720	0	5
39	Tom Hoge	22	716	0	3
40	Kevin Kisner	18	710	0	3
41	Richy Werenski	15	703	1	3
42	Mark Hubbard	22	701	0	3
43	Brendan Steele	18	669	0	3
44	Adam Hadwin	15	654	0	3
45	Jason Day	15	653	0	5
46	Michael Thompson	18	647	1	2
47	Carlos Ortiz	20	630	0	3
48	Andrew Landry	19	626	1	1
49	Tiger Woods	5	604	1	2
50	Dylan Frittelli	22	604	0	3
51	Matthew Fitzpatrick	13	602	0	4
52	Mackenzie Hughes	19	597	0	3
53	Danny Lee	20	588	0	3
54	Jim Herman	19	581	1	1
55	Paul Casey	13	559	0	1
56	Corey Conners	20	535	0	1
57	Max Homa	19	526	0	4
58	Maverick McNealy	21	523	0	3
59	J.T. Poston	21	516	0	2
60	Doc Redman	23	514	0	1
61	Sung Kang	21	512	0	2
62	Talor Gooch	22	508	0	2
63	Matt Kuchar	14	502	0	1
64	Charles Howell III	18	492	0	3
65	Denny McCarthy	22	489	0	4
66	Bubba Watson	18	489	0	3
67	Phil Mickelson	15	488	0	2
68	Henrik Norlander	22	483	0	3
69	Brian Harman	20	480	0	1
70	Xinjun Zhang	24	474	0	3
71	Sepp Straka	24	466	0	3
72	Harry Higgs	23	465	0	2
73	Harold Varner III	21	457	0	1
74	Bud Cauley	19	443	0	2
75	Vaughn Taylor	19	442	0	2
76	Brian Stuard	24	438	0	2
77	Patrick Rodgers	26	431	0	1
78	Alex Noren	15	428	0	3
79	Pat Perez	17	421	0	2
80	Troy Merritt	21	419	0	2
81	Robby Shelton	22	417	0	3
82	Si Woo Kim	23	409	0	1
83	Chez Reavie	21	408	0	2
84	Nate Lashley	19	395	0	2
85	Ian Poulter	12	392	0	1
86	Matt Jones	22	388	0	2
87	Cameron Tringale	17	381	0	1
88	Rickie Fowler	13	381	0	2
89	Tommy Fleetwood	10	380	0	1
90	Jason Kokrak	18	376	0	2
91	Cameron Davis	19	374	0	2
92	Emiliano Grillo	22	373	0	3
93	Matthew NeSmith	22	372	0	1
94	Scott Harrington	21	370	0	1
95	Ryan Armour	20	366	0	3
96	Ryan Moore	15	360	0	2
97	Brooks Koepka	13	360	0	2
98	Brandt Snedeker	15	358	0	1
99	Louis Oosthuizen	11	354	0	2
100	Jordan Spieth	16	354	0	3
101	Russell Henley	18	352	0	3
102	Sam Ryder	24	349	0	2
103	Sam Burns	18	345	0	1
104	Zach Johnson	17	337	0	1
105	Keith Mitchell	20	328	0	1
106	Zac Blair	22	324	0	1
107	Scott Brown	21	323	0	1
108	Brian Gay	22	323	0	2
109	Justin Rose	12	313	0	2
110	Kyoung-Hoon Lee	24	312	0	1
111	Charley Hoffman	19	311	0	2
112	Keegan Bradley	19	309	0	0
113	Graeme McDowell	15	305	0	1
114	Adam Schenk	23	304	0	0
115	Lucas Glover	20	303	0	1
116	Luke List	21	297	0	1
117	Scott Stallings	19	296	0	2
118	Brice Garnett	18	294	0	0
119	Scott Piercy	18	291	0	1
120	Rory Sabbatini	19	291	0	0
121	Beau Hossler	21	286	0	1
122	Shane Lowry	12	283	0	1
123	Tom Lewis	11	281	0	1
124	Bo Hoag	21	281	0	1
125	Wyndham Clark	22	276	0	1

SOURCE: PGA Tour

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