- Dustin Johnson, United States — DJ has victories in the last eight seasons on the PGA Tour, the longest active streak, and he just might extend it to nine this week the way he plays TPC Las Colinas. He has finished in the top 10 in the AT&T Byron Nelson four of the last five years, with the lone exception a tie for 20th in 2011. His best result was a tie for fourth in 2009, when he played the last three rounds in 66-65-65 and wound up four strokes behind winner Rory Sabbatini of South Africa. Johnson shot 8-under-par 62 in the third round last year on his way to a tie for eighth and is 40 under in the top 10s. He has six top-10 results this season, including a tie for fourth in the Masters.
- Jordan Spieth, United States — The demise of the No. 2 player in the World Golf Rankings might be a little exaggerated. Sure, he shot 72-71–143 to miss the cut by one stroke in the Players Championship after a month off following his late collapse in the Masters. But his ball-striking was very good at TPC Sawgrass and he only has to start making putts again got get back on track. Spieth has not played his best since winning the Hyundai Tournament of Champions by eight strokes in January, but he has five other top-10 finishes this season. His best result in five starts at TPC Las Colinas was a tie for 16th in 2010, but if Spieth can make some putts, he should be right there this week.
- Matt Kuchar, United States — With three top-10 finishes since the end of March, Kooch has shown that he might be snapping out of the mini-slump he has been in for the last year or so. He was chasing Jason Day almost all the way to the end of the Players Championship last week, finishing five shots back in a tie for third. That was Kuchar’s fourth top-10 finish of the season and his best result since he tied for second in the Humana Challenge last year. He is making his ninth start at TPC Las Colinas, and his best result was a tie for sixth in 2011, three strokes out of the playoff in which Keegan Bradley beat Ryan Palmer, and he also tied for seventh two years ago.
- Charl Schwartzel, South Africa — After skipping the Players Championship because he played a busy early season schedule, which included victories in the Tshwane Open on the European Tour and the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour, Schwartzel might be the most rested player in the field at TPC Las Colinas. His last outing was a missed cut in the Masters five weeks ago, but he has four top-10 finishes on both major tours this season and also won the Alfred Dunhill Championship at St. Andrews at the end of November. This will be Schwartzel’s fourth start in the AT&T Byron Nelson, and three years ago he opened with a 7-under-par 63 on his way to a tie for third, three shots behind winner Sang-moon Bae of South Korea, and also tied for 11th in 2014.
- Charley Hoffman, United States — The last time he was in Texas, Hoffman wound up holding the trophy last month in the Valero Texas Open, claiming the fourth victory of his PGA Tour career by one stroke over Patrick Reed with a nine-foot birdie putt on the final hole. A streaky player throughout his career, he also tied for 11th in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and tied for 14th in the RBC Heritage recently but missed the cut last week in the Players Championship. Hoffman is making his 10th appearance at TPC Las Colinas, and last year he posted his best result, finishing 65-64-65 to finish in a tie for second, four shots behind champion Steven Bowditch of Australia. He has three other top-10 results in the AT&T Byron Nelson.
- Sergio Garcia, Spain — The Spaniard seemed to be rounding into form when he shot 6-under-par 66 in the second round of the Players Championship, but then he finished 77-75 to wind up in a tie for 54th. He five-putted from nine feet on the fifth hole when the greens were running off the charts in round three, and made several visits to the water at TPC Sawgrass. Sergio hopes to find a refuge this week at TPC Las Colinas, where he won in 2004. He started with scores of 66-68-65 and after closing with a 1-over 71, he beat Dudley Hart and Robert Damron with a par on the first playoff hole. Garcia is making his 12th start in the AT&T Byron Nelson. He also tied for third in 1999 and tied for eighth in 2001.
- Zach Johnson, United States — Zach seemed to be coming on when he finished fifth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and tied for ninth in the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship in March, but after shooting 80 to miss the cut in the Masters, he has failed to crack the top 25 in three ensuing tournaments. Perhaps he can find his game at TPC Las Colinas, which he played last year for the first time in 10 years and was in the chase much of the way before finishing fifth, five shots behind winner Steven Bowditch. Johnson opened with a 1-under-par 69 before lighting it up with 64-68-63 the rest of the way. That got him started on a run of four top-10s in five events, capped by his victory in the Open Championship at St. Andrews.
- Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa — Oosty was tied for the lead in the AT&T Byron Nelson with eventual winner Brendon Todd in 2014 after shooting 6-under-par 64 in the third round, but he stumbled to a 74 in the final round and slid to a tie for 11th. After skipping the tournament last year, he is back for this third appearance in TPC Las Colinas, having withdrawn because of a neck injury while tied for 30th after three rounds in 2013, and he shot 73-72–145 to miss the cut by three shots in 2012. Oosthuizen has played well on both major tours this season, winning the ISPA Handa Australian Open on the Euro Tour and losing to top-ranked Jason Day in the final of the WGC-Dell Match Play a week after tying for seventh in the Valspar Championship.
- Jason Dufner, United States — Trying to get back to the form that took him to the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Duf won the CareerBuilder Challenge in a playoff over David Lingmerth of Sweden with a par on the second playoff hole earlier this year. However, his best result since was a tie for 11th in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. That was one of Dufner’s four victories on the PGA Tour and another came in 2012 in the AT&T Byron Nelson. He sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Dickie Pride and win for the second time in three weeks, having also won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in a playoff over Ernie Els of South Africa for his first PGA Tour victory.
- Steve Bowditch, Australia — Coming into his title defense in the AT&T Byron Nelson with five missed cuts in a row and seven in his last nine tournaments probably doesn’t faze Bowditch too much because he had missed the weekend nine times and was disqualified from another event before winning at TPC Las Colinas last year. And don’t forget, James Hahn won the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago after missing eight straight cuts. Bowditch claimed his second PGA Tour victory by leading wire to wire when he started with an 8-under-par 62 and added 68-65-64 in his adopted home state to win by four strokes over Charley Hoffman, Jimmy Walker and Scot Pinckney. He is making his fifth start at TPC Las Colinas, where he missed the cut in his previous three after tying for 60th in 2011.
–Courtesy of The Sports Xchange, TSX Golf Editor Tom LaMarre
