The Northern Trust Predictions, Betting Odds & Picks

• First event of three-tournament FedExCup Playoffs; 125 players will be cut to 70
• Host course TPC Boston yields plenty of birdies and suits attacking play
• Bryson DeChambeau (2018) won last time the par 71 was used on PGA Tour

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The Northern Trust Picks and Predictions

Dustin Johnson was runner-up at the PGA, is wielding a hot putter and has course form at TPC Boston. He looks underrated to win at +2200 with DraftKings.

Patrick Reed won this event last year and has some hot form at the new venue, TPC Boston. Take him at -112 to beat Daniel Berger in a 72-hole match-up.

South Korean Sungjae Im bounced back to form with a top 10 finish at the Wyndham Championship last week and can make the top 20 here at +260 with bet365.

Picks:

Dustin Johnson to win at +2200 with DraftKings

Patric Reed to beat Daniel Berger in a 72-hole match-up at -112 with DraftKings

Sungjae Im make the top 20 at +260 with bet365

How to Watch The Northern Trust

The Northern Trust Profile

The full entries are in and 125 players will go to battle at The Northern Trust, the first of the trio of FedExCup Playoff events.

The top 70 in the standings make it through to next week’s BMW Championship before the field is trimmed again to just 30 for the closing TOUR Championship at East Lake.

The Northern Trust rotates between TPC Boston and Liberty National in New Jersey where Patrick Reed took this title in 2019.

In some ways it feels we have two defending champions this week as TPC Boston was also used for the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2018; the winner, and therefore last man to win at the course, was Bryson DeChambeau and he’s one of the favorites again for the victory.

Heading into this week’s Playoffs opener, the current No. 1 in the FedExCup standings is Justin Thomas. If he holds his position, JT will become just the third player after Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to win the FedExCup jackpot more than once.

Thomas will be a popular pick as, like DeChambeau, he also has a course win to his name having landed the 2017 Deutsche Bank at TPC Boston where birdies are the name of the game and the average winning score is a touch better than 17-under.

Others in the field to have won at par 71 which awards aggressive play include Woods, McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, and Charley Hoffman.

DJ looks Dangerous at TPC Boston

Dustin Johnson is rated a +2200 chance for the win by DraftKings and that price simply looks too big on the former World No.1. DJ has bags of momentum after following up a T12 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational with a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship two weeks ago.

The monster hitter pieced together rounds of 69-67-65-68 at the latter and 69-68-68-67 a week earlier in Memphis. And let’s not forget that just three starts earlier, he did this column a favor by landing the Travelers Championship at +2800 thanks to a flying 61-67 weekend finish.

Adding to his appeal, DJ has a bunch of course forms too. He’s pegged it up nine times at TPC Boston and posted four top-eight finishes, including a pair of fourths and a run of 8-18-7 in his last three visits. After hitting the ball poorly for a couple of events, DJ gained over six strokes Tee To Green at both St. Jude and the PGA while the big difference in San Francisco was his putting.

Johnson ranked fifth for SG: Putting at the PGA and if he can keep that side of his game strong he’ll be very hard to beat.

The bottom line, birdie machine DJ is in great form and at a course he likes. That makes him an attractive wager at +2200 with DraftKings.

Reed Holds the Aces Against Berger

We’re now on an 8-for-8 streak with 72-hole match bets after Webb Simpson outscored Patrick Reed in the Wyndham Championship.

Simpson’s record at Sedgefield was simply too good to ignore and, as expected, he thrived once more to finish third. However, Reed pushed him by taking ninth spot thanks to a Sunday 64 so it’s time to switch horses.

Reed’s T9 at the Wyndham followed T13 at the PGA Championship so he’s riding some nice momentum into the Playoffs.

‘Captain America’ is the defending champion in this event and although it came at a different venue he has some outstanding course form at TPC Boston too with three top-six finishes in his last four starts.

Reed is up against another player on a roll in the form of compatriot Daniel Berger but I just have a slight feeling that the younger man is cooling off a little.

Berger could only manage 1-under over his final 36 holes when a creditable T13 at the PGA so rather ran out of steam. But perhaps the biggest factor to separate the two is course form. Berger hasn’t managed a top 10 at TPC Boston in four attempts and his last three appearances show T41, T61 and T35.

Reed prefers these putting surfaces and looks the bet at -112 with DraftKings.

Im Can Crack Top 20

Sungjae Im has had a poor stretch of form since golf returned but the Korean, who never stops, looks to have turned a corner.

After recording negative Strokes Gained: Tee To Green figures for four straight tournaments, he finally flipped it at the PGA.

Poor putting cost him in San Francisco and led to an early exit but he got back on the horse at the Wyndham Championship and fired 64-66-65 over the final three days to jump up to tied ninth and land a first top 10 finish in eight starts. The improvement in his long game was highlighted by Tee To Green figures of 7.987, ranking him 8th in that category for the week.

Speaking to the Asian Tour this week, Im reflected:

I haven’t finished very well since the end of the Charles Schwab Challenge (in June) so it feels great to have my swing back.

That’s a notable comment and, of course, the stats back it up.

This is his first look at TPC Boston so I don’t want to set the bar too high for him. However, his ranking of 15th in Birdie Average this season bodes well and, in a field of just 125, Im looks more than capable of making the top 20 at +260 with bet365.