On The Range Blog - August 22

• By On The Range Team
• Aug 22, 2012 9:00 PM ET

On The Range Talent
Host: Gary Williams (Golf Channel)
Analyst: Billy Kratzert (4-time PGA TOUR winner)
Analyst: Bill Harmon (Instructor & Caddie for Jay & Bill Haas)

This Week’s Event
The Barclays
Bethpage State Park (Black Course) - Farmingdale, NY
Defending Champion: Dustin Johnson

Featured Player
Rory McIlroy
-2012 PGA Champion
-#1 in Official World Golf Ranking
-3rd in FedExCup Points Standings
-2nd in Scoring Average on 2012 PGA TOUR
-Caddie: J.P Fitzgerald
-Swing Coach: Michael Bannon

Courser Survery
Bethpage State Park (Black Course)
Par 71 – 7,468 yards

-Driving: Both U.S. Open Champions at Bethpage had a good combination of distance and accuracy off the tee. ’09 Glover and ’02 Woods both ranked Top 2 in Total Driving, Top 8 in Driving Distance and Top 13 in Driving Accuracy.

-Ball Striking: ’09 Glover and ’02 Woods both led the field in Ball Striking and finished Top 4 in GIR (Woods led the field).

-Par 4s: ’09 Glover and ’02 Woods both led the field in Par 4 Scoring. It should be noted both U.S. Opens played as a Par 70 and The Barclays will play as a Par 71. The 7th Hole played as a 489-yard par 4 in 2002, a 525-yard par 5 in 2009 and will play as a 553-yard par 5 in 2012.

Course Difficulty: Bethpage Black played as the most difficult scoring course on the PGA TOUR in 2002 and 2009. In 2002, 6 of the 10 toughest holes on the PGA TOUR all season were at Bethpage including the 15th hole (459-yard par 4) which ranked 1st with a 4.599 average. In 2009, the 15th hole once again ranked toughest on the course and 3rd toughest on the PGA TOUR. 

Top 5: FedExCup Favorites
The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup start this week with The Barclays. Tiger Woods enters as the points leader but will he hold on for a 3rd FedExCup title? Here's how our expert rankings of their Top 5 FedExCup Favorites:

Gary Williams
1.) Keegan Bradley
2.) Rory McIlroy
3.) Tiger Woods
4.) Matt Kuchar
5.) Bubba Watson

Bill Harmon
1.) Tiger Woods
2.) Rory McIlroy
3.) Jason Dufner
4.) Keegan Bradley
5.) Sergio Garcia

Billy Kratzert
1.) Tiger Woods
2.) Rory McIlroy
3.) Keegan Bradley
4.) Luke Donald
5.) Jason Dufner

Next Show - August 30
Deutsche Bank Championship
Special Date: Thursday 8PM ET