After Justin Thomas picked up the $10 million FedEx Cup prize in Georgia last week, the end-of-season blues are starting to sink in for golf fans across the globe. Like a great Hollywood film (or a rubbish one, for that matter), the PGA Tour climax has been reached and all that's left now is to iron out the details to ensure even the lesser minds in the audience understand what happened. In this case, it's the Americans making sure everyone knows they're the best via this week's Presidents Cup. I have no doubt this will be a smooth resolution for them. However, like any good Hollywood film, there is another enticing plot in the form of the European Tour. This plot is far from over. This week we will see the British Masters present an exciting field of golfers which includes the likes of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and reigning champion Alex Noren.

Lee Westwood will host some of the world's finest on the Colt Course of the Close House Golf Club he helped design. The Newcastle golf club presents a course of less than 7,000 yards over 160 acres, but you won't want to miss too many fairways due to punishing roughs. With holes ranging from 157 to 504 yards and a wide variety of different layouts, there will be opportunities for all players to pick up points on the par-71 course.

As I said before, the tournament will feature some big names from the world of golf. Rory McIlroy accepted an invitation to the tournament after failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup's TOUR Championship finale, whilst Sergio Garcia will be looking to emulate Sandy Lyle's 1988 Masters double by adding the British Masters to his Masters victory at Augusta National earlier this year. Understandably, the two powerhouses go into the tournament as favourites. I can see why, but I disagree. Any golf-gamblers will be licking their lips at some of the prices being put up for the rest of the field, with McIlroy & Garcia the only ones priced in single figures. With 2016 champion Alex Noren at 14/1, 2016 runner-up Bernd Wiesberger at 20/1 & 2015 champion Matthew Fitzpatrick at 22/1, I can't help being suspicious of the bookies. I mean, yeah, McIlroy is one of the best golfers of his generation, and, yes, Sergio Garcia already has one Masters title this year, but surely the three best finishers since the tournament's 2015 reinstatement deserve more credit than that.

I have a good feeling about Wiesberger this week. The Austrian took T9 in his last outing- the KLM Open- and, as I mentioned previously, he finished runner-up in this event last year. I could probably fabricate a stronger case for him but, in truth, it’s partly just a hunch. I know how that sounds, but let’s face it, when does golf follow logic? Alex Noren, who edged Wiesberger to last year’s crown, is another man in with a shout. His last appearance was a T6 in the Omega European Masters in week 36, but he does only have a single win to his name for the year (week 21 BMW PGA Championship). A win here would help him recover some of the ground he’s lost in the world rankings this year, having slipped from ninth to fourteenth, so he’s got a fair chance. One more player that I want to single out prior to this tournament is England’s Chris Wood. Despite a winless season (so far) seeing him slip more than forty places in the world rankings and behind fellow Englishmen Ian Poulter and Jordan Smith, Chris Wood is a good price at 40/1. He loves playing at home (his last win came at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last year) and comes into this week off the back of a top-ten at the KLM Open. This is Wood’s chance to boost his rankings and maybe put together a string of decent results on the tail-end of the season.

To wrap up, Wood and Wiesberger are my big tips for the 2017 British Masters. Noren also has the potential for back-to-back wins in this tournament. I won’t rule out Garcia entirely, but he’s not cracking my favourites list for sure. There’s a reason Rory McIlroy is playing in this tournament. It’s an exhibition to him; a practice tournament of sorts (a financially lucrative one, I’m sure). He won’t care about winning until after his scheduled break. There are, of course, plenty of other potential winners I would love to put under the microscope (Haotong Li, Martin Kaymer, etc.) but that’s the shortlist I’ve gone for this week.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

What happens when you take an exclusive group of the top thirty golfers in the world from the past season and dangle a $10 million dollar carrot in front of them? Well, we're about to find out.

With the exemption of the Presidents Cup, this week's TOUR Championship will signal the end of a thrilling 2016-17 PGA Tour season. It also spells the culmination of the FedEx Cup (the $10 million carrot), meaning two trophies are up for grabs on Sunday. For the top five players in the FedEx Cup standings (Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Marc Leishman & Jon Rahm respectively), victory in the TOUR Championship will guarantee victory in the FedEx Cup.

Playoff Roundup

The FedEx Cup playoffs started in the tail-end of August with The Northern Trust and will finish at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club this week. DJ won The Northern Trust in New York, beating Spieth with some playoff magic, before Justin Thomas claimed the Dell Technologies Championship- with Spieth lurking in second-place again. The third playoff- Lake Forest's BMW Championship- saw Marc Leishman crowned winner. For Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, their respective first and second spots are results of remarkable seasons, with JT taking five victories and Spieth totalling three. Third-place DJ is in a similar boat, with four victories for the season. All three of these players, though, have required solid playoff form to consolidate their places at the top of the standings. DJ and JT both have playoff wins, whilst Spieth has two runner-ups and a T7. Like I said: solid. Australia's Marc Leishman has relied more heavily on playoff form to hold fourth-place, with the BMW Championship making it only two PGA Tour wins for the season. However, when paired with a third-place the previous week, the Aussie looks in good shape to challenge for the title. To roundup this roundup, Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler sit in fifth and sixth respectively, despite only one victory each this season, thanks to consistently high finishes on Tour. Hideki Matsuyama, on the other hand, has suffered the effect of the playoffs' inflated points system as his late-season form has caused him to swap his fourth-spot with Marc Leishman's seventh-spot.

Now, who will come out on top in this thirty-man field?

Jordan Spieth

Spieth is the ultimate competitor. He wants to win everything, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The East Lake course demands precision and isn't forgiving when it comes to errors, making it ideal for the young American. That said, the 24-year-old has the potential to win on just about any course. When the TOUR Championship, FedEx Cup and Player of the Year titles are all on the line, I expect this man to put aside his long-standing friendship with nearest rival Justin Thomas and become only the second player to win the FedEx Cup twice (he won it in 2015).

Justin Thomas

Perhaps the only man more deserving of the Player of the Year title than Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas can look back on this season with an extraordinary amount of pride regardless of his TOUR Championship result. That said, the rising star shows no sign of faltering. It's possible that he will be edged of by his close friend Jordan Spieth simply due to his opponent's strengths, as opposed to his own weaknesses, but I have him pencilled in for a top-five finish. Don't worry, I'll keep an eraser handy!

Dustin Johnson

For me, it's between DJ and Spieth for the top prize. It's rare to see the top players in the field actually finish where they should on paper, but at this stage it is as much about the state of mind as it is golfing ability. That is why I have DJ and Spieth as my top-two. You've got Spieth's superhuman competitive edge and DJ's superhuman prowess under pressure facing off head-to-head. We saw it in the opening playoff event in New York, when DJ produced his trademark off-the-tee magic to win a playoff in which Spieth did absolutely nothing wrong, so it could simply boil down to whoever is more suited to the course. In that case, Spieth has the edge.

Best of the Rest

How fantastic would it be if Jon Rahm capped off his first full season as a pro by winning the must lucrative prize in the sport? Despite only one win in 2017, the Spaniard knows that victory in this week's event would secure both titles come Sunday. Rickie Fowler also sits on a single PGA Tour win for 2017, but the Californian is the only player I give a realistic chance to. In fact, I favour Fowler over Leishman when it comes to winning the TOUR Championship despite Leishman's victory last week. I'm afraid I simple don't see much of a chance any outsiders, with the stakes for FedEx Cup front-runners too high for an outsider to butt in.

There you have it: my predictions. Spieth and DJ to clash for top spot and a top-five for Justin Thomas. Jon Rahm to challenge, but never ruling out Rickie Fowler. Basically, the best continue being the best... except Marc Leishman.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

Having opened with the Czech Masters at the end of August/start of September, Europe's elite golfers are battling to get a good start to their 2018 Ryder Cup qualification campaigns. Following the European Tour's REAL Czech Masters and Omega European Masters, as well as the PGA Tour's Dell Technologies Championship, we can now just about justify getting carried away with the early-stage rankings.

Team Europe seem to have done everything in their power to optimise confusion and frustration around the process, with grandee players like Rory McIlroy vocalising concerns with the European-Tour-only system. Paul Casey missed out on the 2016 encounter due to this rule, as did the in-form Russell Knox. However, Team Europe seem to have learned (to some degree) from their mistakes, having added an extra pick for Captain Thomas BjØrn and increased points in the latter stages of qualifying to encourage in-form players to make the team.

The Omega European Masters offered up a great deal more points for the competitors than the Czech Masters, so Matthew Fitzpatrick's playoff victory in Switzerland hurls him up to the top of both qualification leaderboards (European Points & World Points). The fact that Fitzpatrick's playoff rival was Australian Scott Hend bodes even better for the Englishman, as he now holds a very comfortable early lead in the Eurppean Points rankings. Another Englishman, Lee Slattery, finished the Czech Masters as the best European, having finished runner-up to South Africa's Haydn Porteous. Slattery followed this up with a sixth-place finish at the European Masters, making him Fitzpatrick's nearest rival on the European Points leaderboard. Tyrell Hatton makes it an all-English top three on the European Points list, having finished third at the Swiss event with an impressive -11. Tom Lewis is perhaps the most surprising English name at the top end of the leaderboard, just outside the crucial top four on the European Points list (Finland's Mikko Ilonen occupies fourth spot), but currently in line to make the team (albeit at a VERY early stage) through the World Points rankings.

Jon Rahm's decision to join the European Tour in an attempt to make the team is showing early signs of being a smart move. His T4 at the PGA Tour's Dell Technologies Championship sits him in third on the World Points list but, since the top two- Fitzpatrick & Slattery- already qualify through European Points, Rahm is in pole position so far. Joining Rahm & Lewis in the World Points qualifying spots are Sweden's Oscar Lengden and Iceland's Birgir Hafthorsson. Lengden is not the only Swede sitting pretty, with Pontus Widegren holding seventh and ninth in the European & World Points respectively. Alex Noren, meanwhile, has already begun his quest to avenge his disappointment in missing out on the 2016 team at Hazeltine, with his -9 securing T6 at the European Masters and sixth-place in the current European Points standings.

Callum Shinkwin entered the qualification process as a hot tip to qualify, but is yet to deliver despite a fantastic opening round at the Czech Masters. On the other hand, Rafa Cabrera Bello, who impressed at the last Ryder Cup, appears to be finding his feet again at the right time. His T18 at the Dell Technologies Championship didn't hog the headlines, but I have a feeling he's on the right path. Having won his first tournament since 2012 at this year's Scottish Open, Cabrera Bello has every chance to kick on and make the team for the second time in a row.

There's a hell of a long way to go, but it's always nice to get an idea of who's looking good and who has work to do. How many players will retain their spot? Which young guns will make the breakthrough? We'll keep you updated at Foremost Golf.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

It has begun. The Ryder Cup is upon us. OK, it's still over a year away, but the qualification has started for the European team. Thomas Bj∅rn has the unenviable task (although I don't know many people that would turn down the offer) of trying to lead Europe to victory over a frighteningly good United States team lead by Jim Furyk. With the likes of Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth & Co. rising to prominence, Bj∅rn will have his work cut out for him. However, there have been plenty of promising signs from Europeans in 2017, including Tommy Fleetwood's sublime surge from number 99 to number 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) leaderboard and Jon Rahm's cosmic rise from well outside the top 100 to well inside the top 10. The OWGR will be crucial to Europe's team, as the top four Europeans on the World Points list between this week's Czech Masters and next year's Made in Denmark tournament will take automatic spots on the 2018 European Ryder Cup team. In a bid to reward loyal European Tour players, the top four earners on the European tour in the same time bracket will also take automatic spots, leaving Captain Thomas Bj∅rn and Vice-captain Robert Karlsson with four 'Wildcard' picks.

Back to this week's tournament, the D+D Real Czech Masters, and there are plenty of Europeans looking to hit another level as the qualification process commences. St George's Cross dominates the leaderboard after day one- as expected- with Callum Shinkwin topping the field. Shinkwin had been my pick for the week, along with Jordan Smith, so I can't say I'm surprised to see his name at the top. The World No. 159 hit a -6 on the opening day at Prague's Albatross Golf Resort, while Jordan Smith sits at PAR despite opening with an eagle. Englishmen from the 2016 Ryder Cup, Lee Westwood and Matthew Fitzpartick, are also sitting pretty in Prague after opening rounds of -2 on the PAR 72 course. On the flip side, Europe's 2016 Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke risks missing the CUT after opening with +2. Belgium's Thomas Pieters and Germany's Martin Kaymer, who also played in that 2016 defeat, sit at one-under at the end-of-play on Thursday. Shinkwin's nearest European rival at the top after day one is Sweden's Pontus Widegren at -5, with Dylan Frittelli of South Africa equalling that score.

As the tournament moves into the weekend, we will surely see some big turnarounds on the leaderboard and a few indicators as to which Europeans could be pushing to put their name up there amongst the more elite, who are competing in the PGA Tour's Dell Technologies Championship as part of the FedEx Cup playoffs. In that PGA Tour event, the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm are perfect examples of players who have catapulted themselves to the very top inside a year. Can any of the aforementioned players follow in their footsteps? Only time will tell... but we'll try to predict it anyway!

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com