Before we head to the last major tournament of the season at the PGA Championship on August 10, there’s still one more stop on the Tour, and it’s a pretty big one.
The WGC Bridgestone Invitational will tee off this week in Akron, Ohio, sporting a deep field of participants akin to any major tournament. Having said that, there’ll be a good number of viable contenders fighting to win another tournament, and here are three of those players who are in great shape of prevailing victorious at the Firestone Country Club’s south course.
Dustin Johnson’s 17-week reign atop the FedExCup standings came to an end two weeks ago after Jordan Spieth captured the British Open crown.
Nevertheless, we’d be foolish to write-off 2016’s PGA Tour player of the Year this week in Akron, as Johnson is the defending Bridgestone Invitational champion. Not only that, but two of his three victories this season were WGC events (Mexico and the Dell Technologies Match Play). That being said, DJ could become the first golfer in history to win three WGC tournaments in the same year, and that’s one feat that he’ll surely not want to miss out on.
Making his 23rd-consecutive appearance at the Firestone Country Club is 47-year-old Phil Mickelson. Evidently, Lefty’s vast experience in this week’s tournament makes him one of the favorites to win the event, especially since he’s aiming to become just the fourth golfer in PGA Tour history with three or more World Golf Championships victories.
Although Mickelson was cut from his latest start at the British Open, the decorated Tour veteran has still secured four top-10 finishes this season, showing that he still has some fight in him despite his age.
From an old-timer to a youngblood we go, as 28-year-old Rickie Fowler will look to keep his superb 2017 campaign going.
Like Mickelson, Fowler didn’t get the result he was looking for at The Open, finished tied for 22nd at Royal Birkdale. Then again, the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year is one of only six golfers with seven or more top 10s this season. And since June, he secured three top-five finishes out of five starts. To top it all off, Fowler also has a streak of three-straight top-10 finishes at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.
