The world’s top 50 players head to Akron, Ohio, this week for the third WGC event of the 2018 Race to Dubai. The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational takes place at Firestone Country Club for the final time and the venue’s South Course will be the setting to another exciting week.
Tiger Woods sneaks into the field of 78 that will look to win one of golf’s most coveted titles. History suggests that strong tee-to-green ball strikers perform well here with the likes of Tiger, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama all taking home the silverware at different times throughout the years.
The 7,400 yard, par 70 course is known for it’s long, straight holes, manicured greens and tree-lined surroundings. With no cut, players have 72 holes to climb up the leaderboard and the world rankings with a solid performance.
With all that in mind, here’s who our statistics guru thinks you should have on your Fantasy teams this week at Firestone.
Favourite: Paul Casey
Paul Casey enters the week ranked inside the top 15 in the world, and for good reason. Over the past twelve months, the Englishman has played in 25 tournaments across the world and finished in the top 20 in 21 of them. He arrives on the back of a top ten finish at the Porsche European Open in Germany and has 21 top 20 finishes in his last 25 worldwide starts. The Englishman has seven top 20 finishes at Firestone, including a top five finish here last year and appears to be ready to contend once again. A pair of 67s over the weekend last year proved to many that Casey has the all-round game to compete on the challenging South Course layout and with a guaranteed 72 holes to build a score, few would question Casey’s chances of mounting a challenge again this week. Since 2004, Casey is gaining 0.81 shots a round in approach play, a number that ranks second overall behind only Tiger Woods. A win or top finish this week could see Casey secure a place in Thomas Bjorn’s Ryder Cup team and move the Englishman into Race to Dubai contention on this his comeback season on the European Tour.
Form horse: Thorbjorn Olesen
With four top 15 finishes in his last six starts, it’s easy to see why you should like Thorbjorn Olesen’s chances this week in Ohio. The Dane has been working hard on his game and that is evident by his stunning final round 61 to win the Italian Open, a second place finish at the BMW International last month and his top 15 finish at The Open Championship. The 28 year old finished in the top ten here twelve months ago, having appeared to get to grips with the course thanks to weekend rounds of 67 and 65, second best of anyone in the field. Olesen holed 417 feet worth of putts at Firestone in 2017, more than anyone else in the field and he’ll be hoping to remember a lot of those reads as he tees it up this week. The Dane high birdie-rate and improved approach play should make him an attractive, albeit overlooked, selection in Fantasy teams this week.
Wildcard: Russell Knox
It’s been a wild few weeks for Scotland’s Russell Knox. Arriving in France, the Scot approached his summer schedule with a ‘wait and see’ mentality but quickly changed all that with a runner-up finish in at the HNA Open de France and victory a week later at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. Now ranked 54th in the world and 6th in the Race to Dubai, everything is to play for as the 33 year old looks towards the Ryder Cup and end-of-season tournaments. Knox finished in the top five at this event last year, showing that his ability to consistency hit fairways has merit at Firestone Country Club. In 2018, the Scot is beating the field by an average of 2.18 strokes per round, bettered only by Rory McIlroy and Major winners Francesco Molinari and Patrick Reed. He ranked in the 20 on Tour in Stroke Average, Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained Putting. It doesn’t take a genius to know that is an effective combination.
Click here to pick your team.
