Consistent Kuchar can build on opening 71

Sky Sports Golf, Friday 7pm

Matt Kuchar can be a frustrating golfer to back in outright tournament markets as while the Georgian appears an almost permanent fixture on leaderboards, he rarely gets over the line.

But there are still ways to back the former Players Championship winner and he should be supported in his threeball against Canadian Adam Hadwin and Australian Marc Leishman at The Northern Trust on Friday (5.44pm BST)

All three players carded one-over-par 71s in their opening round of the FedEx Cup playoffs and while that left them tied for 55th at Glen Oaks in New York, they are only four shots off a large group of players sharing sixth place so they have plenty to play for.

Kuchar's last tournament success came in the low-key Fiji International in October 2015 and his last US Tour success came at the RBC Heritage in April 2014.

But he displays remarkable consistency and should have been galvanised by the fact he was Jordan Spieth's strongest challenger at last month's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Kuchar has finished in the top 20 in eight of his last nine tournaments and failed to finish in the top 30 in just three of his last 21 outings, so it is realistic to expect him to at least maintain a challenge.

Leishman looks his toughest rival in his group and the Australian will have seen his first round as a missed opportunity after he found the water on the ninth and had to settle for a double-bogey sixth.

However, Kuchar has extra motivation as he stands eighth in the US team rankings for next month's Presidents Cup and he cannot afford to take his eye off the ball with several players breathing down his neck.

Hadwin is rightly the outsider of the three when you consider his recent form.

He tied for fifth place at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational three weeks ago but that was an isolated highlight.

The Valspar Championship winner has missed four of his last five cuts and his performance at Firestone was his only top-20 finish in his last 13 events, so it is difficult to see him keeping up with the pace.

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