The Barclays is the first event in the FedEx Cup finals and this year it is being played on the challenging Plainfield Country Club course in New Jersey. This is one course where sloggers will fail early. The course is designed for finesse rather than power so when looking to make a bet, look at golfers who can place balls well, and who have good putting finishes. There are a lot of eagle opportunities on this course, but with tricky bunkers everywhere, there are plenty of bogeys for careless players.

Jim Furyk is the defending FedEx champion while Matt Kuchar is the defending Barclays champion. An interesting betting statistic shows that the Barclays has not been won by favourites in recent years with the last four winners priced at 35/1, 300/1, 33/1 and 55/1. While history does have a habit of repeating itself, those four tournaments were not played on a course as tricky as this one is.

World number one Luke Donald heads the betting at 12/1 in this year’s Barclay ahead of Steve Stricker and Adam Scott, both at 17/1. Nick Watney is the next best at 26/1 ahead of Jason Day, Phil Mickleson and Matt Kuchar at 27/1. One feels that this years Barclays will go to one of the top-ranked golfers simply because of the skills required to compete. The question for punters then is who is going to be best suited to this course over four days.

Day, Donald and Scott are all in reasonable form while Watney and Mickleson stand out when it comes to playing skill-based golf. The doubt around Mickleson is whether or not he can take advantage of birdie or eagle opportunities since his putting has been a little dubious this year. Scott is a good links players and will enjoy this course and looks to be a good each way bet. Watney appeals as the next best and is also backable at each way odds. This should be a good tournament for golf betting, especially after the first two days – it will also be a good tournament to watch.