Deutsche Bank Championship preview

The PGA Tour travels to Massachusetts this week for the Deutsche Bank Championship and the second leg of the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs. Charley Hoffman defends the title at TPC Boston.

Charley Hoffman defends
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Lowdown: The PGA Tour travels to Massachusetts this week for the Deutsche Bank Championship and the second leg of the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs. Charley Hoffman defends the title at TPC Boston. After his victory in last week's Barclays tournament, Dustin Johnson heads the FedEx Cup standings going into this event. He leads from last week's runner-up Matt Kuchar with the regular season points leader Nick Watney in third. The Deutsche Bank is one of the youngest tournaments on the PGA Tour, beginning its life in 2003. Since then it's produced some notable champions. Adam Scott won the inaugural event and Messrs Singh, Woods, Mickelson and Stricker have all tasted victory at TPC Boston since then. Last season Charley Hoffman fired a superb final round of 62 to take the title, finishing five shots clear of Luke Donald, Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy. Played over Labor Day weekend the tournament finishes on Monday. Labor Day is a holiday celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. The TPC Boston opened for play in June 2002, it's a private members' course designed by Arnold Palmer Course Design. It tends to play as one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour schedule so expect to see low scoring this week - Charley Hoffman won last year with a four-round total of 22-under-par.

Venue: TPC Boston, Massachusetts Date: Sep 2-5 Course stats: par 71, 7,214 yards Purse: $8,000,000 Winner: $1,350,000 Defending Champion: Charley Hoffman (-22)

TV Coverage: Friday 2 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 10pm Saturday 3 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 8pm Sunday 4 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 6pm Monday 5 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 5pm

Player Watch: Jason Day - The Australian has confirmed his place as one of the best in the world in 2011. He was runner-up in this tournament last year. He's had nine top-15 finishes in his last 18 starts on the PGA Tour.

Luke Donald - The World Number 1 was another man who tied for second in this event last year. He's supremely consistent and is ranked second on the PGA Tour for birdies made. That's a key skill this week as the scoring is likely to be low.

Matt Kuchar - Surely he's going to step up and claim a significant victory soon. He was runner-up last week and has nine top-10 finishes to his name in 2011.

Key hole: 18th. It's a par 5 of just 528 yards. The longer hitters will carry the fairway bunkers and leave themselves a fairway wood or long iron to the green. The very longest hitters will carry the bunker on the right off the tee and be left with just a mid-iron in.

Where next? European Tour: Omega European Masters preview

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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