THE NORTHERN TRUST: The FedEx Cup Playoffs kick off this week with The Northern Trust, a tournament that is debuting both a new name– it was formerly known as The Barclays– and a new venue, the historic Glen Oaks Golf Club in the ritzy Long Island suburb of Old Westbury.

Founded in 1924, Glen Oaks has been altered several different times by no fewer than four different architects, with Joel Weiman overseeing the most recent renovation in 2014. Commonly known as the Augusta of the North, it features generous, perfectly-manicured fairways, light rough, shaved slopes and collection areas, and strategically placed, snow-white bunkers. And, like its eponym down South, it is best known for lightning-fast, undulating greens that will severely test a player’s touch and imagination.

This “Augusta of the North” thing is something that Glen Oaks openly embraces and perhaps even chases– while most courses on Long Island are heavy on natural areas and native grasses, the focus at Glen Oaks seems to be on clean lines, rich shades of green, a firm and fast tee-to-green experience, and a layout that feels open and airy. Hundreds of trees have been removed in recent years to help create this look, and after the most recent redesign the club hired Craig Currier as the superintendent. Currier had been at Bethpage prior to coming to Glen Oaks, and before that he was an assistant superintendent at– you guessed it– Augusta National. Currier summed it all up in an interview with a local paper last year: “People joke with us, call us the Augusta of the North, but that’s kind of the look we were going for.”

The field this week is extraordinarily strong, as you would expect at an event like this, with only five eligible players opting to stay home: Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Brandt Snedeker, Dominic Bozzelli, and Scott Piercy. That means the usual suspects dominate the top of BETDAQ’s win market, led by Jordan Spieth (12.5), Hideki Matsuyama (14.0), Dustin Johnson (15.0), Rory McIlroy (17.5), and Rickie Fowler (17.5). It’s always a bit tricky when a new venue is thrown into the mix, and all we really know about Glen Oaks is that it’s long (a par-70 that measures over 7,300 yards) and it features freaky-fast poa annua greens. So I think we can eliminate guys who can’t hit it out of their shadow, and I’d steer clear of those who are known as unimaginative (at best) or unstable (at worst) with the putter in their hands.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

WIN MARKET

Recommendations to BACK (odds in parenthesis)

Dustin Johnson (15.0)- Johnson has undeniably faded since his unfortunate Masters week tumble down the stairs, and I would expect many to avoid him this week at a shortish 15.0. He’s picked it up since the Open, however, finishing 17th or better in each of his last three starts, and he’s been unusually vocal about how happy he is with his ball-striking. And while some may say that DJ falls into the “unstable with a putter” camp and should therefore not be trusted at the Augusta of the North, it should be noted that the greens at Glen Oaks are poa annua, and Johnson has carved out a reputation as something of a poa annua specialist over the years– since 2013-14, for instance, he ranks number 1 on the PGA Tour by a wide margin in Strokes Gained at courses with poa annua greens (min. 25 rounds). He was last seen firing an impressive Sunday 67 at the PGA to sneak into the top-15, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see a refreshed, recharged DJ recapture his early-season form this week and put forth a dominating performance.

Louis Oosthuizen (56.0)- Oosthuizen was rock-solid at the PGA a couple of weeks ago, cruising to a runner-up finish and standing out as the only player in the field to shoot par or better in all four rounds. The South African always seems to play his best in the biggest events, and this is a critical time of year for him with the Playoffs getting underway and the Presidents Cup just around the corner. He’s now found the top-25 in four of his last six starts, and his near miss at the PGA was his second runner-up finish in that stretch. Traditionally a great driver of the golf ball, Oosthuizen’s length and accuracy off the tee should serve him well as he navigates the stretched-out Glen Oaks layout, and his record at Augusta National, where he has four top-25 finishes (including a runner-up) in his past five Masters appearances, bodes well for his chances at a place that draws its inspiration from the Bobby Jones/Alister MacKenzie masterpiece. He doesn’t win enough for my liking (or for his, I’m sure), but I’m happy to take a chance on an in-form Oosthuizen at a price like 56.0.

Gary Woodland (88.0)- It’s effectively a new event this year but Woodland certainly enjoyed this tournament when it was known as The Barclays, finding the top-15 four times and the top-5 twice. With his prodigious length off the tee and superior all-around ball-striking– he ranks in the top-20 on Tour in both ‘Strokes Gained: Off the Tee’ and ‘Strokes Gained: Approach the Green’– he should dominate Glen Oaks tee-to-green, and, though putting is clearly a weak spot, he does tend to putt better on fast greens (he’s another guy who has a pretty decent Masters record). Critically, Woodland seems to be catching fire after a lackluster summer: he broke through with a T4 at the Canadian Open a couple of weeks ago and followed that with a solid T22 at the PGA, a performance that could’ve been a lot better had it not been for a final-round 74. He has won twice on Tour, so he knows how to close the deal when in contention on Sunday, and he’s not a youngster anymore, but a vet with plenty of experience in big-time tournaments like this. I think Woodland offers great value this week as a 88.0 longshot.

TOURNAMENT MATCH BETS

Jason Day (1.76) vs. Justin Thomas (1.92)

Thomas is surely still floating after his brilliant win at Quail Hollow a couple of weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean we should overlook him here: after all, he proved that he could carry momentum over from one week to the next with his back-to-back wins in Hawaii earlier this year. Still, the emotional high of winning a major championship can leave a bit of a hangover (see: Garcia, Sergio), and Thomas isn’t exactly a consistent week-to-week performer– he’s missed six cuts in his last 14 starts, after all. Day has dealt with some consistency issues of his own this season but he’s playing some good golf now, with top-30 finishes in 5 of his last 7 starts and a T9 at the PGA. Plus, Day is always a demon on those poa annua greens. Recommendation: Day at 1.76

Jordan Spieth (1.88) vs. Hideki Matsuyama (1.93)

It’s always difficult to bet against Spieth, and if the “Augusta of the North” moniker is appropriate for Glen Oaks, then this place should be right up Spieth’s alley. That being said, his performance at Quail Hollow a couple of weeks ago, when he failed to break 70 in any round, had a “cooling off” feel to it. Spieth has been grumbling about his ball-striking for weeks now– even when he was winning the Open– and at the PGA he stopped making putts from all four corners of the globe. I’m just not sure he’s a good bet to beat Matsuyama, a player who is at the top of his game and is remarkably consistent, with top-15 finishes in each of his past five starts (and three top-5s– including a win– in that stretch). Recommendation: Matsuyama at 1.93