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A new venue for what is traditionally the penultimate tournament of the FedEx Cup Play Offs. It has sort of morphed out of the old Western Open which was a prestigious event that settled at Cog Hill in Chicago but that is old news these days. True, they played this new version of the event at Cog Hill in four of the first five editions but since then it has travelled around the north-west of the United States. This year, therefore, is something of a departure from the norm with a journey back towards the Pacific Ocean, although it pulls up short in Colorado at Castle Pines GC in Castle Rock near Denver. The course is well known to veterans of the PGA Tour because it hosted The International from 1986 to 2006. That event was the forerunner to the current Barracuda Championship in that it used a modified Stableford format. It had much better fields than the Barracuda, however. Indeed, among the winner were Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Jose Maria Olazabal, Vijay Singh, David Toms and Retief Goosen. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson were two-time winners. The course was always long at over 7,600 yards but now it is over 8,000 yards but that number is a little deceptive. Why so? Well, it’s at altitude and not Madrid or Munich altitude either. Castle Rock sits 1897 metres above sea level which isn’t quite Mexico City (2,240m) but it tops Johannesburg (1,753m), Nairobi (1,795), Crans (1,500m) and Barracuda-host Truckee (1,773m). The other angle this week is the course designer Jack Nicklaus. As we’ve learned down the years, the 18-time major champion has distinct ideas about creating a test. His fairways are wide but one side will provide a better angle. The greens are often set at an angle in order to test distance control of irons. He often has deep greenside bunkering. Oh, and he likes fast greens if he has any say in it.
Angles to consider 1/ Altitude The success of Goosen and Els, who have extensive experience of thin air in Johannesburg, points to winners needing proof of ability in it. The last three winners who weren’t South African (Dean Wilson, Rod Pampling and Davis Love III) all had top 10s at altitude already. 2/ Nicklaus Form on the great man’s tracks look a good way to go. Think Muirfield Village, Glen Abbey, Valhalla. 3/ Montreux and Tahoe Mountain Both these two venues are Nicklaus designs and they are at altitude. Castle Pines winners Toms, Pampling and John Cook had top three finishes at Montreux. Tahoe Mountain is a more recent addition to the schedule.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Collin Morikawa The 2020 PGA Championship winner and 2021 Open champion is gun on Nicklaus designs. He won at Montreux (tick for altitude) in 2019, added victory at Muirfield Village in 2020 (and was second there in 2021 and this year), and won again at The Concession in 2021. He was also fourth in this year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla. His ability at altitude was proved again by second at The Summit in Nevada in 2021. Patrick Cantlay Another Nicklaus/altitude expert. He’s won and finished second three times at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. At 610m that’s not as high as this week but still has an impact and he has won in Bogota too (which is 2,626m). What about Nicklaus layouts? He’s won at Muirfield Village in 2019 and 2021 and in-between he won at Sherwood. Nick Dunlap An amateur at the start of 2024, he won The American Express playing one round of golf on a Nicklaus track, was T12 at Muirfield Village and then won at Tahoe Mountain last month. It’s a big ask for the 20-year-old but he showed his savvy with fifth place last week in the FedEx St Jude Championship. Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Collin Morikawa at 14/1 (W Hill, Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, Ladbrokes, Coral 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 28th 1pt e.w. Patrick Cantlay at 18/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, Unibet, Coral 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 13th 1pt e.w. Nick Dunlap at 70/1 (Ladbrokes, Coral 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 31st
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