Golf Glance: Bryson DeChambeau favored in FedEx Cup opener

Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.

LAST TOURNAMENT: The Wyndham Championship (Jim Herman)

THIS WEEK: The Northern Trust, Aug. 20-23 TPC Boston, Norton, Mass. (Par 71, 7,342 yards) Purse: $9.5 million (Winner: $1.665 million) Defending Champion: Patrick Reed FedEx Cup leader: Justin Thomas TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6:30 p.m. (CBS)

NOTES: This is the first leg of the three-tournament FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 125 players in the field qualified for this week’s event, with the top 70 after this week advancing to the BMW Championship. … Herman moved into the top 125 last week along with Zach Johnson and Shane Lowry, while Fabian Gomez, Russell Knox and Charl Schwartzel each fell out of the top 125. … This is the only playoff event that includes a 36-hole cut. … Thomas is trying to join Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to win the FedEx Cup more than once. … Woods will make just his sixth start this season. The 2006 champion at TPC Boston, he withdrew from last year’s The Northern Trust due to an oblique strain. … Vijay Singh (2006) and Mike Weir (2008) share the 18-hole tournament scoring record of 61. … The Northern Trust alternates years between TPC Boston and Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey. … Brooks Koepka withdrew from the event on Wednesday, citing knee and hip injuries. At No. 97 in the FedEx Cup standings, it officially ended his 2019-20 season.

BEST BETS: Bryson DeChambeau (+1100 at DraftKings) won the last event at TPC Boston in 2018. … Thomas (+1300) enters the playoffs as the top seed. He won at TPC Boston in 2017 en route to taking the FedEx Cup title. … Jon Rahm’s (+1500) results have been inconsistent since the Tour’s restart, but he is the top-ranked player in the world and beat a very tough field — and course — at the Memorial. … Rory McIlroy (+1500) had seven consecutive top-10 finishes before the hiatus. He doesn’t have one in six starts since the restart (and only one top 30). He has flashed but needs to put four solid rounds together. … Jason Day (+2000) has quietly finished no worse than T7 in his past four starts. … Dustin Johnson (+2200) has made the cut in nine previous appearances at TPC Boston, including four top 10s, and is coming off a co-runner-up at TPC Harding Park. … Collin Morikawa (+2500) returns to action for the first time since winning the PGA Championship. … Webb Simpson (+3000) won at TPC Boston in 2011 and has a pair of wins and a pair of third-place finishes in his past 10 starts.

NEXT WEEK: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields, Ill.

LAST TOURNAMENT: Ladies Scottish Open (Stacy Lewis)

THIS WEEK: AIG Women’s Open, Aug. 20-23 Royal Troon, Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland (Par 71, 6,649 yards) Purse: $4.5 million (Purse breakdown to be distributed by The R&A) Defending Champion: Hinako Shibuno Race to the CME Globe leader: Danielle Kang TV: Thursday-Friday, 5:30-8:30 a.m. ET, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon, noon-2 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 8 a.m.-noon, noon-2 p.m. (NBC)

NOTES: The event became a major in 2001 and will mark the first major of the condensed 2020 schedule. … Laura Davies, 56, will mark her 40th appearance in the event by hitting the first tee shot Thursday. She won the event in 1986, before any player in the current top 10 of the world rankings was born. … Shibuno missed the cut last week by nine shots in her final tune-up before her title defense. … Karen Stupples holds the tournament scoring record of 269 set in 2004. … Nasa Hataoka leads the tour in 2020 scoring average (68.833). … The average age of winners on tour this year is 29.3, with Stacy Lewis the oldest at 35 years, 6 months. … Royal Troon has hosted The Open nine times. This is the first time it will host the Women’s Open.

NEXT WEEK: NW Arkansas Championship, Rogers, Ark.

LAST TOURNAMENT: Senior Players Championship (Jerry Kelly)

THIS WEEK: Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge, Aug. 19-21 Buffalo Ridge Golf Course, Ridgedale, Mo. (Par 71, 7,036 yards) Purse: $3 million (Winner: $450,000) Defending Champion: Inaugural event Charles Schwab Cup Leader: Scott Parel TV: N/A

NOTES: This is the first of consecutive $3 million, 54-hole events over a nine-day span in Ridgedale. The Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National will be played Aug. 24-26. … Fred Couples has five top-10s in as many starts this year. … Buffalo Ridge served as co-host of the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf team event for the past six years. … Parel regained the Schwab Cup lead with his runner-up finish last week. … Miguel Angel Jimenez leads the tour in putting average (1.693 putts per green in regulation).

NEXT WEEK: Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National, Ridgedale, Mo.

–Field Level Media ()