FedEx Cup: The Barclays Preview

JERSEY CITY, NJ - The FedEx Cup playoffs kick off this week with The Barclays which is being held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, NJ.

The previous two Barclays events were held at Westchester Country Club in Rye, NY and Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ, both of which could be considered traditional golf courses.

Liberty National, on the other hand, looks about as natural as the indoor ski slope being built just down the road at the Meadowlands.

The entire course was built upon a large plot of New Jersey landfill that was deemed toxic before construction began on Liberty National.

"The first time we showed up here, it was a nightmare," said course architect Robert Cupp.   "We were pretty sure any travesty known to man was on this property."

The project to create Liberty National required a tremendous amount of vision and even more money.

The vision came from designers Tom Kite and Robert Cup, and the bundle of money came from former Reebok CEO, Paul Fireman.

“Everything out there is 100 percent created” Tom Kite said on Tuesday morning at Liberty National Golf Club.   “There is nothing out there that is natural.  The big thing in golf course design right now is there's some minimalist design, finding a great piece of property and touch it as little as possible. This is light years on the other side of the spectrum from that. Everything out there is 100 percent created.”

There’s no arguing that the course conditions are immaculate and the views of the Manhattan skyline, Statue of Liberty and Verrazano Bridge are breathtaking.

That being said, the actual golf course appears to have an identity crisis.

The course is extremely flat, contains patches of tall brown fescue, and sits right on the Hudson River.

So, at first glance this would indicate a links-style course...only it’s not.

Liberty National is more or less a parkland course constructed on a completely flat piece of property, with the fescue added for visual affect only.

The fescue will come into play if you hit a push, block, slice or a dead pull with a duck-hook at the end.

In layman’s terms—players will only find themselves in the really tall stuff if they hit an absolutely horrendous golf shot.

If you happen to make your way out to Liberty National for the Barclays this week, don’t be alarmed by the odd looking glass structure you see upon entering the grounds.  Your car’s GPS system didn’t lead you to Newark Airport.  That’s actually the clubhouse.

Playing more than 7,400 yards with small greens, thick rough and unpredictable wind whipping off the Hudson River, the course should present the top 125 players on the PGA Tour with a legitimate challenge, not to mention some great television shots with Lady Liberty and the Manhattan skyline sitting off in the distance.

Liberty National is only three years old, so perhaps it’s too early to make a final judgment on the course.

Tiger Woods may have summed it up perfectly when he described the course as "interesting" during his Wednesday afternoon press conference.

Who will contend?

Although Liberty National is fairly wide open and can play 7,400 yards from the tips, it’s not a traditional bomber's course.

The advantage this week will have to go to the solid iron players.

Why?

Because the greens look about as large as those you’d find at a pitch and putt course and are surrounded by all sorts of trouble combined with unpredictable wind gusts

Unless you are an excellent iron player with more than one ball flight in your arsenal, you’d have a better chance at landing a ping-pong ball on a dinner plate. 

Can players still get up and down if they do happen to miss the green?

Of course they can.

But, with all trouble surrounding these tiny greens, getting up and down will quickly become an exhausting exercise if done too often.

Here are five players who could contend this week at Liberty National.

Steve Stricker

From 150 yards in, there are few players on tour better than Steve Stricker.

Stricker will be one of only a few players in the field who can rest easy on Wednesday night knowing that he will have no trouble landing the ball on Liberty National’s small, slick greens.

Zach Johnson

Zach Johnson’s style of play is very similar to that of Stricker.

Johnson relies on accuracy, particularly with his irons, rather than length to win.

Johnson meticulously took apart Augusta National with his short irons back in 2007, and if he’s striking the ball well this week, he could do something very similar to Liberty National.

Sergio Garcia

Yes, we all know that Garcia let another one slip away last weekend.  

But, the fact of the matter is that there are few individuals on the face of the planet who can strike a golf ball like Garcia.

Garcia has several different ball flights in is repertoire, and if he can manage to make a putt every now and again, look for him to contend.

Y.E. Yang

Let’s just say that the odds are stacked against him.

But, let’s also not forget that Yang was attacking difficult pin locations all weekend at the PGA Championship.

A good ball striker who can attach difficult pin locations?

Perhaps Yang may just catch lightning in a bottle for the second time in three weeks.

Brian Gay

After two PGA Tour wins and more than $2.8 million in earnings this season, Brian Gay finally appears to be cooling off.

Gay’s last top-10 finish came more than two months ago when he won the St. Jude Classic.

That being said, if you had to pick a team of five guys to save the world by winning a closest to the pin contest with short irons, Brian Gay would certainly be a member of that team.

Look for Gay to be one of the few players who attempt to go flag hunting at Liberty National.

Winner: Tiger Woods

Surprise, surprise.

Being that he’s won five tournaments this year, including two out of his last three, not to mention that he has a serious score to settle after his loss at the PGA Championship, how could you bet against him?