- Adam Scott, Australia — Coming off a tie for fourth in The Barclays to open the FedEx Cup playoffs, Scott might be ready to win again, especially if he can make a few more putts. He climbed to fourth in the point standings by playing more like he did earlier this season, when he won the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship on consecutive weeks. And the Aussie has a history at TPC Boston, having won the inaugural Deutsche Bank Championship by four strokes over Rocco Mediate in 2003, when he shot 62 in round two on the way to the first of his 13 PGA Tour victories. He tied for second in his title defense, closing with a 65 to finish three strokes behind Vijay Singh, and has three other top-10 results and a total of seven in the top 20 in 10 starts on the course.
- Henrik Stenson, Sweden — The big Swede is coming back this week after he withdrew from The Barclays following the first round because of discomfort in his surgically-repaired right knee. Earlier this year, he pulled out of the U.S. Open for the same reason and then won the BMW International Open the following week in Germany. Stenson, who slipped 10 spots to 21st in the FedEx Cup standings last week, has finished in the top 10 on 10 occasions this season, including his first major victory in the Open Championship at Royal Troon. He has played only four times previously in the Deutsche Bank, but won the title in 2013 by two strokes over Steve Stricker en route to claiming the FedEx Cup, and seemed to be on his way to winning again last year at TPC Boston, but closed with a 70 and finished one stroke behind winner Rickie Fowler.
- Jason Day, Australia — The top-ranked player in the World Golf Rankings lost his lead in the FedEx Cup standings to Patrick Reed last week, but still recorded his 10th top-10 finish of the season when he tied for fourth in The Barclays. Day has been close in recent months, finishing second in his title defense at the PGA Championship, tying for third in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and tying for eighth in the U.S. Open, but hasn’t won since the Players Championship in May. He is playing in the Deutsche Bank for the ninth time and led most of the way in 2010 after opening with a 63. However, he shot 71 in the final round and wound up in a tie for second when Charley Hoffman pulled away with a 62 to win by five strokes. Day has had two other top-10 results at TPC Boston, a tie for third in 2011 and a tie for seventh in 2014.
- Patrick Reed, United States — The new FedEx Cup points leader after his fifth career victory last week in The Barclays, Reed will make his fourth start in the Deutsche Bank Championship and last year’s was his best. He played the middle rounds in 67-67 and finished in a tie for fourth, although he was seven strokes behind winner Rickie Fowler. Perhaps it simply took him a while to figure things out at TPC Boston, as he tied for 70th in 2013 and tied for 74th the following year in his first two starts on the course. For those who were playing attention, it was no real surprise that Reed claimed his fifth PGA Tour victory at Bethpage Black because he finished second in the Valero Texas Open and the Hyundai Tournament of Champions earlier this year, two of his 10 finishes in the top 10.
- Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland — McIlroy has work to do in the Deutsche Bank and the BMW Championship next week to make it into the top 30 and qualify for the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. After a disappointing tie for 31st in The Barclays last week, he slid two spots to 38th in the FedEx Cup point standings. His best golf this season has come on the European Tour, where he ranks third in the season-long Race to Dubai, but he might be able to turn it around at TPC Boston. McIlroy captured the Deutsche Bank in 2012, leading much of the way after opening with 65-65. He played the last two rounds in 67-67 to beat Louis Oosthuizen by one stroke. McIlroy had a chance again in 2014, when he shot 64 in round three, but closed with 70 and tied for fifth, four shots behind Chris Kirk.
- Dustin Johnson, United States — After posting five consecutive finishes in the top 10, including victories in the U.S. Open at Oakmont and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, Johnson has not been as sharp in his last two outings. He missed the cut in the PGA Championship after opening with a 77 at Baltusrol, and tied for 18th last week in the Barclays to open the playoffs, breaking 70 only when he shot 67 in the third round. Still, he is third in the FedEx Cup standings and leads the PGA Tour with 12 finishes in the top 10 this season. Johnson is making his seventh start in the Deutsche Bank Championship and his best results were ties for fourth in 2009, when he closed with a 66 to finish two shots behind winner Steve Stricker, and another tie for fourth in 2012.
- Jordan Spieth, United States — There probably was no way Spieth was going to match his 2015 season, when he won five times, rose to No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings and won the FedEx Cup, but most players would take the year he is having. He has won the Hyundai Championship and the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, and his tie for 10th last week in The Barclays last week was his seventh result in the top 10 this season. Spieth, who is fifth in the FedEx Cup standings, also has 13 finishes in the top 25 in the 16 events in which he has made the cut, but simply hasn’t been as sharp as he would like. This will be his fourth appearance in the Deutsche Bank Championship, and after tying for fourth by closing with a 62 in 2013, he tied for 29th the following year and missed the cut last year.
- Rickie Fowler, United States — Not only did Rickie squander a chance to win The Barclays by fading down the stretch to tie for seventh, he played himself out of an automatic spot on the United States Ryder Cup team. Now he has until Sept. 12 to convince Davis Love to make him one of four captain’s picks and he can start this week when he defends his title in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Fowler came from three strokes down in the back nine in the final round a year ago, sinking a 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole while outplaying Stenson down the stretch to win by one stroke. That was his first finish in the top 20 in six appearances at TPC Boston. Fowler climbed 12 spots to 16th in the Ryder Cup standings last week.
- Emiliano Grillo, Argentina — The 23-year-old probably wrapped up the 2016 Rookie of the Year Award on the PGA Tour last week when he tied for second behind Patrick Reed in his FedEx Cup playoffs debut at The Barclays. Grillo, who won the season-opening Frys.com Open in a playoff over Kevin Na in October, has added nine finishes in the top 25 this season and ranks sixth in the point standings heading into the Deutsche Bank Championship. He already has guaranteed himself a spot in the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. Grillo showed that he could play under pressure when he captured the Web.com Tour Championship last year, and his first professional victory came in the 2014 Visa Open de Argentina on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica to begin his steady climb to the PGA Tour.
- Phil Mickelson, United States — Lefty started his FedEx Cup playoff run with a tie for 13th in The Barclays and stayed in the running for the title even though he dropped from eighth to 10th in the point standings. He has finished second three times and third once this year, but continues to look for his first victory since the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield. Mickelson is making his 10th start in the Deutsche Bank, and he won it in the first year of the FedEx Cup playoff in 2007. After opening with a 70, he reeled off scores of 64-68-66 to win by two strokes over Tiger Woods, Arron Oberholser and Brett Wetterich. His only other top-10 results at TPC Boston were a tie for 10th in 2011 and a tie for fourth the following year, and he has not placed in the top 40 in the last three years.
–Courtesy of The Sports Xchange, TSX Golf Editor Tom LaMarre
