The Northern Trust: Jam packed leaderboard makes for exciting weekend

It's been quite awhile since this much talent topped the leaderboard heading into a weekend.

Jordan Spieth (+300), Dustin Johnson (+350) and Rickie Fowler (+400) are all tied for the lead and enter the final two rounds as basically co-favorites. Jhonattan Vegas is also tied with the trio of superstars at 6-under and is 20/1 to come out with the win.

If having those three wasn't enough, the Northern Trust has an all star cast trying to track down the four leaders.

Bubba Watson (22/1) and Matt Kuchar (12/1) sit one shot back at 5-under. Jon Rahm (16/1) and Justin Rose (18/1) are two behind at four-under, while Justin Thomas (22/1), Patrick Reed (28/1), Paul Casey (28/1) and Daniel Berger (40/1) are all in a group three back.

Of the group, I'd look at Rose at 18/1 for many of the same reason I targeted Spieth at 14/1 on Thursday. Rose is No. 1 in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, but has been losing a stroke per round with the putter. Rose isn't nearly as strong of a putter as Spieth, but he's not as bad as he's shown the last two days. He's striking the ball well enough that if the putter gets going, he'll be able to make a run at the leaders.

Looking back at Friday's play, Luke List lost to Phil Mickelson by two shots and tied Charl Schwartzel, so that went down as a half-unit loss.

In the third round, I'm looking at Keegan Bradley over Jason Dufner at +120. Bradley has been solid hitting the ball all week and while missing a lot of short putts. That's pretty much his game. The play is more of a fade on Dufner, who is leading the field Strokes Gained: Putting, but is 64th out of the 70 to make the cut tee to green. That's the opposite of what I'd expect from Dufner. His putter will probably cool off and if he doesn't fix what's been going wrong off the tee and around the greens, he could be headed for a big number on Saturday.

Don’t forget to download the Sports Action app at the App Store or Google Play now.

Joshua has spent the last five years writing about sports and the last 10 years betting them, mostly on golf. One of approximately five people who will watch the PGA over the NFL in November. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaPerry22

Photo: © Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports