WGC Bridgestone Invitational: Preview

The best players in the world head to Firestone Country Club this week for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

Dustin Johnson tamed the course last year , and the World No.1 will be hoping to build on both WGC titles he’s already won in 2017 and take the opportunity to be the first man to win three WGC championships in a single year. 

He’ll be in for some tough competition though. Jordan Spieth took a week off following his three-shot victory at The Open, and he’ll be looking to match DJ’s feat earlier in the year of three successive wins in a row. Spieth followed his Travelers victory with his thrilling win at Royal Birkdale, and given the 24-year-old finished in a tie for third in last year’s tournament with Jason Day and Open runner-up Matt Kuchar, we have a feeling there will be some tough contenders this week.

Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy is hoping to regain his position in the winners circle and will take the stage following his fourth place at The Open. McIlroy will be a bit of an unknown entity this week though – as according to Reuters he won’t be joined by caddie J.P. Fitzgerald for the first time in nine-years. 

23 of the 24 men who competed in last year’s Ryder Cup will be present at the par 70, 7400 yard course this week, and with such a competitive field it’s going to be even tougher to pick your fantasy golf team this week.

But who should be in your Fantasy Golf Team this week? 

Fantasy Golf Picks: WGC Bridgestone Invitational

Dustin Johnson: Fantasy Price £15m
The World No.1 and defending champion had hit a bit of a dip in form in his last three events before a T8 finish at the Canadian Open last week, and it looks like he could still target the history books with three WGC wins in a single year. He’s won three times already (including both WGC’s) in 2017 and is ranked first in strokes gained for off-the-tee and tee-to-green, so we won’t be ruling him out! 

Jordan Spieth: Fantasy Price £15m
With three victories in 2017 already at The Open, Pebble Beach and the Travelers Championship, there’s no doubt Jordan Spieth could be a real contender this week. Spieth has has 12 top 25 finishes in his last 17 events and is ranked 1st for approaches to the green, 1st for both scoring and birdie average and 2nd for greens in regulation. He was also 3rd at this event last year. 

Rory McIlroy: Fantasy Price £15m
A couple of weeks after his caddie J.P. Fitzgerald’s pep talk of ‘you’re f****** Rory McIlroy’ helped the four-time major winner recover during his first round at The Open and finish 4th, Reuters have reported that McIlroy has now sacked his caddie of nine-years – and the question is how will that affect him this week? The Northern Irishman struggled with a series of missed cuts before his Open showing, but he did produce some brilliant shots at Royal Birkdale. A complete gamble this week, so we’ll leave this up to you. 

Henrik Stenson: Fantasy Price £15m
Although he started with a 2nd place finish in Dubai in January, the defending Open champion hadn’t had the best start to 2017. But despite five missed cuts (all in the US) in 14 events, he’s gained a lot of momentum from good results in Europe leading up to the WGC and seems to be hitting a stride. His last three events? T10 at the BMW International Open, T26 at the Scottish Open and T11 at The Open. 

Sergio Garcia: Fantasy Price £14.5m
The 2017 Masters and Omega Dubai Desert Classic Champion came very close to winning the BMW International Open a few weeks ago, and he hasn’t missed a cut all year. His worst result in 2017 is T49 at the Genesis Open in February, and excluding The Open (T37) he hasn’t finished outside of the top 30 since then. Coming straight from his wedding weekend, there’s no doubt Garcia will be feeling confident this week. 

Rickie Fowler: Fantasy Price £14.5m
Fowler has already had a win at the Honda Classic this year and has been pretty consistent all season in every part of his game –  with seventh top 10 finish in 15 starts. He’s ranked third for strokes gained putting and total driving, 2nd for scoring average, and 1st for sand save percentage and scrambling from the fringe. 

Hideki Matsuyama: Fantasy Price £14.5m
Matsuyama came close to challenging Koepka on the final day at the US Open last month before briefly claiming the World No.2 spot in the process to become the highest ranked Japanese player in history. The current World No.3 was 14th at The Open, and with three victories in the 2016/17 season he’s still a very good bet this week. Rank 5th for scoring average, third for birdie average and 8th for greens in regulation. 

Patrick Reed: Fantasy Price £14.5m
Reed missed the cut at the Open, but that doesn’t take away from a great season. He was T19 in Germany last week, but in his last four events in the United States Captain America hasn’t been worse than T20. He’s looking for his first win this year, but seems to have found a bit of momentum in the past couple of months. 

Paul Casey: Fantasy Price £13.5m
Casey has knocked on the door plenty of times this year already, particularly in the US Open and The Open, before having at least one really off day. He hasn’t finished worse than 26th in his last eight starts, which includes four top 10s. Could definitely be his week. 

Alex Noren: Fantasy Price £13m
With five wins in the past year, Noren has moved to World No.9 in the rankings and has been a formidable player when on form. He’s a brilliant player on his day, shown by the fact he was barely noticed during The Open and yet still ended up with a top 10 finish. His form this year has been a bit up and down, shown by his past six results (T6- T106-T10-T115-T15-1st) and it is his first time at Firestone – but that doesn’t mean anything to a player of his calibre.

Matt Kuchar: Fantasy Price £13m
Kuchar suffered a dizzy spell last week that had everyone worried, and yet he still followed his disappointing T2 at The Open with a T36 in Canada. He seems to like the big stage, shown by his top 5 finishes at both the Masters and at Royal Birkdale, and given that he hasn’t missed a cut in February, we wouldn’t be surprised if Kuchar wins this week. 

Jon Rahm: Fantasy Price £12m
The Spanish rookie has taken the golf world by storm this year, winning on both the PGA Tour and European Tour in 2017 – including his second start at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open a few weeks ago. He’s had five other top 5s and two top 10s in 15 starts, and he’s performed sensationally at the other two WGC events in 2017, finished 2nd in Mexico and 3rd in the WGC Dell Match Play. One to watch.

Tommy Fleetwood: Fantasy Price £10.5m
The Royal Birkdale hometown favourite and World No 15 didn’t quite get over the line at The Open, finishing T27 – but had a wonderful weekend of results. Fleetwood has already won twice on the European Tour already in 2017 – the last of which came at the Open de France in the first week of July. He’s had four other top 5s, including a 4th place finish at the US Open and second in the WGC Mexico, so we say he’s a great middle value fantasy pick. 

Soren Kjeldsen: Fantasy Price £10.5m
He may not be the longest hitter, but Kjeldsen hits it pretty straight, and with a T9 finish at the Scottish Open last week and bad conditions forecasted – we think he is a great outside bet this week. The Dane has had a mixed season, starting with a few missed cuts on the PGA Tour before a T5 in the WGC Dell Match Play and his top 10 last week. 

Ross Fisher: Fantasy Price £10m
Ross Fisher seems to love playing WGC tournaments. His last three WGC events have seen him finish T6-T3-T5, so we’d say that’s a pretty good reason to gamble on him this week. He’s been banging on the door a lot this year yet not quite pulled off the win. In his last 12 events, Fisher has had three top 5s and three top 10 finishes.

Xander Schauffele: Fantasy Price £7.5m
He was a fairly unknown entity until he lifted his first PGA Tour title a few weeks ago, but Schauffele has been consistently up there in contention this year. The 23-year-old followed up his win at the Greenbrier Classic with a T20 at The Open, and as his worst result in five starts is T35 – he’s a great bet if you are low on fantasy cash.