The Northern Trust: Power rankings for the FedEx Cup Playoff opener

Not only does Matt Kuchar have experience playing Ridgewood, but he has a souvenir, too.

Kuchar won the 2010 Northern Trust here and followed with a T5 when the event returned here in 2014. After firing a 74 in round one at Ridgewood in 2008 (where he missed the cut by one), Kuchar is 21-under-par in his last nine rounds here, seven of which were in the 60s.

"“I feel like I’ve had success on courses like this, and it’s not a‑‑ I don’t know if I can pinpoint it exactly other than I step up on a hole and I know exactly what I’m supposed to do when I tee off here,” Kuchar said in 2014. “Some places, you don’t have quite as good of eye line, some places just don’t feel right and something about the framing of kind of tree‑lined fairways that just I love, whether it’s Hilton Head, you see trees on each side of you. Here, same way.  It just really gives you a good idea of what you’re supposed to do and I feel like I drive the ball, it’s one of my strengths is putting the ball in the fairway and I think here that’s a premium. So always feel a little more comfortable on the difficult driving golf courses. ”"

Kuchar is hoping his comfort here will translate his mountain of top-25s into a win.

The 40-year-old seeks his first win since 2014. He’s still played awfully well in the meantime.

Kuchar has made 14 of 18 cuts worldwide in 2018. He’s racked up four top-10s and four more top-25s.

He’s 39th on Tour in putting and is one of few players to have seen Ridgewood three times. Kuchar is also 12th in scrambling.

On par-4s, Kuchar is 15th.

With a glimmer of hope to try to make the Ryder Cup team in the final hour as a captain’s pick, I expect Kuchar to rise to the occasion and play well in the playoffs.