Fantasy Golf: The John Deere Classic Preview

Today my liver stepped back from center to call timeout partly because it looked over at my credit card which had just taken a knee. Clearly it's time to come home and, after one more day of traipsing through Venice trying to stay one step ahead of the throngs of cruise ship refugees being dumped into St. Mark's Square, that is exactly what I will do. (You can always tell the people who just jumped-off the cruise ship for a three hour power tour because they have a look in there eye that says, "is this what I'm supposed to be seeing at this stop before I return to my cubby?") 

I promise that this will be the last intentionally half-assed FGR post and I also promise that I've been writing some entertaining (at least to me) posts about my travels but I don't like doing final edits when I've been embibing which means there really hasn't been a final edit opportunity since June 19th. The good stuff will therefore have to wait. These golf prediction posts on the other hand are an exception because they kind of write themselves - especially when I plan to gloss over last week's debacle and this week's pick was made so obvious by Steve Stricker's decent showing last weekend on top of the fact that he owns the John Deere Classic (we're going to conveniently ignore the final round 74 which dropped him out of contention at The Greenbrier). The FGR will return to its usual erratic standards by next week because being erratic is at least better than being consistently bad.

Last Week's Report Card: D+

"Hey Bob, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is
behind you. You're videotaping a flagpole."

1. Jimmy Walker - M/C

2. Brendon Todd - T4th

3. Marc Leishman - M/C

4. Bill Haas - T23rd

5. Brendan Steele - MDF

6. Scott Langley - T26th

The Sweaty Traveler 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

Suffice it to say that casting Angelina
Jolie in The Tourist was a stretch . . 

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
Wells Fargo: Webb Simpson - $28,980
The Players: Adam Scott - $38,000
Byron Nelson: Jason Dufner - $17,327
Colonial: Zach Johnson - $12,416
Memorial: Charl Schwartzel - $167,400
FedEx St. Jude: Lee Westwood - M/C
U.S. Open: Jason Day - $326,310

Travelers: Bubba Watson - $32,296

Quicken Loans: Brendon Todd - $237,250

. . . but we'll try to keep an open mind.

Greenbrier: Jimmy Walker - M/C

Season Total: $3,253,641

The John Deere Favorites

1. Jordan Spieth - 9 to 1

2. Zach Johnson - 10 to 1

3. Steve Stricker - 12 to 1

4. Ryan Moore - 20 to 1

5. Harris English - 20 to 1

6. Chris Kirk - 28 to 1

The FGR One and Done Picks

1. Steve Stricker
2. Zach Johnson

3. Jordan Spieth

4. Billy Hurley, III

5. Ryan Moore

6. Chris Kirk