By Rahul Banerji
Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka, respectively world numbers one, two and three, have been grouped together for the opening two days of the FedEx Cup playoffs first stage in New Jersey from Thursday.
The draw for the Northern Trust, opening leg of the PGA Tour’s post season run, pits the FedEx Cup leader, the defending champion and this year’s only winner of two majors in what is clearly one of the groups to watch out for.
India’s 91st-ranked Anirban Lahiri is drawn alongside Tyrell Hatton and Brandon Harkins for the opening two days.
Both groups play the back nine first on Thursday and then switch over to the first tee for day two.
Tiger in tough trio
Tiger Woods, the only two-time winner of the FedEx Cup has a competitive group too in Australian Marc Leishman, ranked 22 in the Cup standings, and England’s form man Tommy Fleetwood (23) who is making his event debut.
Woods is back at the FedEx Cup for the first time since 2013, while Leishman won the Dell Technologies Championship, the second leg, last year and was sixth in the final standings.
No one has ever won the FedEx Cup twice in a row, but the in-form Thomas could make a strong push to correct that record. He has three Tour wins, while Johnson has been runner-up and fourth in the last two years and also has three wins this season. Kopeka is the field as the US Open and PGA Championship winner
One other group that catches the eye is of Justin Rose, Bubba Watson and Jason Day who have collectively won seven times this season.
Respectively ranked fourth, fifth and sixth, they will be in the running for the top five in the FedEx Cup standings. A win for any of the five will guarantee the overall title regardless of where the other four finish.
Another close race
Meanwhile, form player Amandeep Drall, with three wins in the last four events, and Tvesa Malik are doing battle in the 12th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Hyderabad Golf Club
A win for Amandeep will help close narrow the gap on Order of Merit leader Tvesa and Neha Tripathi, who is missing this event. She is currently third in the standings behind Tvesa and Neha.
Also absent are Gursimar Badwal, Gaurika Bishnoi. Vani Kapoor and Sharmila Nicollet, all playing overseas.
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It would be interesting to see them all specially Tigerwood who is already in the field practicing. Thanks for the latest update.