With just a week until the season’s final major, the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, the third World Golf Championships event of the year is the appetizer. Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, hosts the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Adam Scott is the defending champion here, while Tiger Woods is a seven-time winner of the event.
Be sure to join the Golf Channel Fantasy Challenge to test yourself against our panel of experts, including defending champion Win McMurry.
Here are 10 players to watch:
1. Tiger Woods: He’s won this event seven times, has won three times this year and finished T-3 at the British Open for his best major finish since 2009. Lock.
2. Zach Johnson: Was T-6 here last year for a career-best finish at Firestone and boasts multiple victories this season.
3. Lee Westwood: For some reason, he likes Firestone. He has three top-10 finishes in his last four starts in this event. It’s a ballstriker’s paradise.
4. Luke Donald: It’s hard to count the guy out. He quietly finished T-5 at the British Open and was T-2 here a year ago. Sneaky-good fantasy investment.
5. Hunter Mahan: Mahan has cooled since picking up his second win in Houston, but was the 2010 champion here.
6. Rory McIlroy: After opening with an encouraging start at Lytham, he slid quickly. His length and high ball flight should be a plus this week.
7. Scott Piercy: Why not ride the hot hand? He won last week, was third at the Deere and T-12 at Greenbrier. And he likes the driver, which he’ll need at Firestone.
8. Jason Day: Day returns after becoming a father. Could get a baby bounce this week. He finished T-8 in his last start at the AT&T National.
9. Bo Van Pelt: He scored a T-7 finish in Canada for his seventh top 10 of the year. Was runner-up at AT&T National, which should be a good proxy for Firestone.
10. Adam Scott: The defending champion from a year ago will have to bounce back from the greatest disappointment of his career this week. Were it not for that burden, he’d be ranked higher.
