Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Fantasy Golf: The Wells Fargo Preview

I told you no one knew who was going to win in freakin' New Orleans. I'm in a pair of one and done leagues (nerd alert) with 100+ combined players and the best pick was Charley Hoffman who finished tied for 5th. The Crossing Trend Favorite ("CTF")* Rickie Fowler didn't even scare the cut and I felt pretty good getting out of there with Graham DeLaet and his tie for 29th. You know who's not feeling pretty good these days? The PGA Tour which had to sell a product that featured Seung-Yul Noh, Andrew Svoboda, Robert Streb and Jeff Overton battling down the stretch. I tried to get involved three times but couldn't stick with it and wound-up watching the last forty-five minutes of Elysium** instead. When a guy who writes something called the Fantasy Golf Report picks the tail-end of a "C-" movie over the final five holes of your golf tournament, you may want to find a new way to pitch your product. (Modified Stableford scoring system anyone?)

Anyway, here's the carnage that were the FGR picks:  

Last Week's Report Card: D+

1. Graham DeLaet - T29th
Speaking of bad movies, guess
who wants to be an actress?
This isn't going to end well.

2. Russell Knox - M/C
3. Rickie Fowler - M/C

4. Will Mackenzie - M/C
5. Fredrik Jacobson - T29th

The Muddling Along Report

Hyundai: Gary Woodland - $130,000
Sony: Chris Kirk - $604,800
Humana: Charles Howell, III - $12,198
Farmers: Bill Haas - $20,740
WM Phoenix: Billy Horschel - M/C
Pebble Beach: Russell Knox - $46,860
Northern Trust: Dustin Johnson - $723,600
Match Play: Hunter Mahan - $148,000
Honda Classic: Graeme McDowell - $15,600
WGC-Cadillac: Rory McIlroy - $76,000
Valspar: Harris English - $23,940
Palmer: Justin Rose - M/C
Texas Open: Kevin Chappell - M/C
Houston Open: Keegan Bradley - $18,374
Masters: Matt Kuchar - $342,000
Heritage: Jim Furyk - $187,050

Zurich: Graham DeLaet - $44,200

Season Total: $2,393,362

Now we head down to Quail Hollow where you used to be able to count on a restoration of order until Derek Ernst and David Lynn threw a wrench in the works last year. Prior to that, your list of winners was pretty sound and included Tiger, Rory and Vijay between 2005 and 2010. Runner-ups during that stretch included Sergio, Bubba and Phil. That's a lot of first name talent. If I hadn't wasted Rory at the Cadillac, I would strongly consider using him here because he obviously loves the course (1st in 2010, 2nd in 2012 and he holds the course record of 62). But since I'm forced to go in another direction, I'm going to keep pounding Webb Simpson (I'm pretty sure I pick him every year) based solely on the fact that he's a freakin' member of the club so he's going to win this thing eventually right?

By the way, there is a lot of love for Lee Westwood out there this week based on past performance at the Wells Fargo but Lee won in Malaysia last weekend*** and I have a hard time picking guys who just spent 10,000 miles celebrating in a private jet. I have to believe that's going to catch-up with him at some point on the Saturday back nine.****  

Looks like it was a late night in Kuala Lumpur.
The Wells Fargo Favorites

1. Rory McIlroy - 7 to 1
2. Phil Mickelson - 16 to 1
3. Lee Westwood - 16 to 1
4. Justin Rose - 20 to 1
5. Jim Furyk - 25 to 1

The FGR Wells Fargo Picks

1. Webb Simpson
2. Rory McIlroy
3. Jim Furyk
4. Robert Karlsson
5. Chesson Hadley

Footnotes

* I just made that up. The CTF is the guy everyone likes based on his past history of success on the upcoming course combined with his recent solid play. For the record, the CTF has sucked this year.


** My review of Elysium is that Matt Damon's next charitable cause should be the I Paid to See Elysium Project where he raises $300M to reimburse every poor bastard who bought a ticket for that steaming pile of crap. Jodie Foster should kick-in her paycheck no questions asked or start her own project called The Searching for Clarice Starling Initiative.  

*** Actually it was 10 days ago so take this advice for what it's worth. I must have gotten ahold of an old edition of Malaysia Today.

**** It should be noted that I dropped Westwood from my full season team for Russell Knox back in March. In light of my struggles this season, that is nothing but good news for Westwood who will probably win his first major and bad news for Knox who will probably be eaten by a walrus. 

Email the Fantasy Golf Report at fgr@fantasygolfreport.com.

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