2021 The Northern Trust: Justin Thomas holds value at Liberty National

Another week, another playoff, a crazy finish at last week’s Wyndham Championship marked the second consecutive week on tour that an event came down to a handful of players playing it out across an extra session for the title. In fact, it was the third consecutive week that we have seen a bonus session if you want to count the Olympics where a playoff was required to decide the bronze medal winner (C.T. Pan if you are wondering). Attention now turns towards the Playoffs and the first leg of the three-event schedule for the 2021 Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club.

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The 124 man field will tee it up at the beautifully modern Liberty National Golf Club this week in the final event on the schedule that has a cut taking place after two rounds. After this week the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings will move on to next week’s event in Maryland, before the elite top 30 in the standings compete the following week for the ultimate prize of the FedEx Cup and a cool fifteen million dollars.

Liberty National site of the 2021 Northern Trust

Par 71
7,410 Yards
Robert Cupp and Tom Kite Design
Bentgrass Greens
Last hosted The Northern Trust in 2019 (Patrick Reed Won)
125 man initial field with top 65 and ties cutline

Previous Winners of The Northern Trust

2020: Dustin Johnson (-30)

2019: Patrick Reed (-16) *At Liberty National

2018: Bryson DeChambeau (-18)

2017: Dustin Johnson (-13)

2016: Patrick Reed (-9)

The Favorites

(Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images) /

The odds used in this article are provided by WynnBet and are current at the time of the article.

Jon Rahm (+850) returns to action this week as the clear favorite. The world number one hasn’t competed since the British Open back in July following his second COVID-related incident this year. The Spaniard has a 3rd, 7th, and win in his last three starts prior to the pause and will be anxious to return to action following the disappointment of not being able to compete at the Olympics.

Jordan Spieth (+1400), Dustin Johnson (+1750), and Collin Morikawa (+1750) round out the under 20 range this week. Johnson only finished 24th the last time The Northern Trust was held at Liberty National but he does have two wins to his name at this event in the last five years, albeit at different locations. It’s difficult to argue against going with any of the elite players this week in what is quite possibly the strongest field of the year. Both Spieth and Morikawa come into this week in remarkable form and both have complete games that should work well in this spot. Jordan imparticular is intriguing after his 6th place finish at Liberty National back in 2019.

Olympic Gold Medalist Xander Schauffele (+2000) is joined by a plethora of golf’s biggest stars in the twenty range this week. Rory Mcllroy (+2250), Paul Casey (+2500), Bryson DeChambeau (+2500), Brooks Koepka (+2500), and Justin Thomas (+2500) can all be found in this range and it’s Thomas who I’ll begin this week’s card with.

JT has had a pretty quiet year by his incredibly high standards with the standout result of course being the PLAYERS victory back in March. Since that time Justin has recorded just one top 10 finish however and he has struggled with inconsistencies for much of the season. There are some signs that things are coming back around though, Thomas got off to a rough start at the Olympics but he was able to rebound and work his way back up the leaderboard, he really struck his irons sweetly but couldn’t buy a putt for the week. The PLAYERS Champion carried his excellent numbers with the Irons into his next start at the WGC in Memphis where he gained significantly again with both his approach game, as well as his tee to green performance.

Thomas recorded a 12th place finish at Liberty National in 2019, and he had some success during the 2017 Presidents Cup held at this course as well where he went 3-1 for Team USA. Justin seemingly just needs the putter to marginally behave to find himself in contention once more and with putting playing less of a factor at this event the last time it was held at Liberty National there is hope for Justin yet.

I’ll go with another this week who struck the ball really well in his last start in Daniel Berger (+3000). Berger gained absurd numbers during the WGC St. Jude in his last start both with his irons and overall game from tee to green, and he has recorded three top 10 finishes in three of his last four starts now. Berger missed out the last time the Northern Trust was held at Liberty National but like Thomas, before him, he was a part of the Presidents Cup team in 2017 and he put together a 2-1 record across his matches that week. He also finished 3rd at last year’s edition of The Nothern Trust and has generally performed well in this event even with its rotating courses each year.

Hideki Matsuyama (+4000) is well-positioned for a bounceback this week following his struggles at last week’s Wyndham Championship. The 2021 Masters winner has fared ok at Liberty National in two previous starts and even with last week’s mishap has been exhibiting some nice form of late, both at the WGC in Memphis where he finished 2nd, and the Olympics before that where he was 4th. Hideki ranks top 10 in both tee to green and approach metrics in 2021, and even with his struggles last week he still gained in both departments. Matsuyama simply needs to turn things around on the greens, and at this number is well worth taking a shot with this week.

Next. 2021 Wyndham Championship: Winners and Losers. dark

I’ll finish this week’s card with another player who has struggled with consistency for much of 2021 in Tyrrell Hatton (+5000). The Englishman has recorded just one top 10 finish since March but he exhibited some nice things in his last start and he ranks inside of the top 25 with his iron play in 2021. Tyrrell gained in both the tee to green and approach departments in his last start and he typically is fantastic on and around the greens, if he can combine the two this week he could do well here.

The Northern Trust Card

Justin Thomas +2500

Daniel Berger +3000

Hideki Matsuyama +4000

Tyrrell Hatton +5000

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