Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Fantasy Golf: The Arnold Palmer Preview

The Arnold Palmer Favorites
I love it when the picture
theme comes pre-made.

1. Rory McIlroy - 11/2
2. Henrik Stenson - 9/1
3. Bubba Watson - 12/1
4. Jason Day - 18/1
5. Adam Scott - 18/1
6. Rickie Fowler - 25/1
7. Hideki Matsuyama - 28/1
8. Harris English - 33/1
9. Brooks Koepka - 33/1
10. Keegan Bradley - 33/1

The FGR Top Five

1. Henrik Stenson
2. Bubba Watson
3. Brooks Koepka
4. J.B. Holmes
5. Rory McIlroy

The One and Done Pick: Brooks Koepka

The Sleeper Pick: Jason Kokrak

I promised in last week's edition of the FGR that this was going to be a weak effort as I am currently sitting in the middle of a Gulf Coast paradise on St. Patrick's Day so the distractions are many and the writing motivations are few (at least the fantasy golf writing motivations). Add in the fact that it's my half-mick wife's birthday and I am about as engaged in this process as the island maintenance guy seems to be in fixing our ice maker.*

So here it is in a nutshell. Last week's picks stunk and I even blew my sleeper pick desipte having Sean O'Hair on my radar (Jerry Kelly?). I was really tempted to get things back on track this week by going big with Henrik Stenson because he is striping it and there aren't many who stripe it more impressively than the big Swede but I have it in my head that he's going to take down another Players Championship so he has to sit. Bubba may actually be the best player in the world right now but I semi-wasted him at the WGC-Cadillac and yes, I'm still a little bitter about how he checked-out on the final nine. Jason Day and Rickie Fowler are enigmatic these days, Adam Scott seems a bit rusty, Rory is getting picked at a major and Sonja Henie's out so where does that leave us?

Well if this year's winners and list of guys who keep showing-up in the top five have taught us anything, it's that you don't necessarily have to bomb it but it sure doesn't hurt. Based on that logic, I came down to Brooks Koepka and J.B. Holmes with Koepka getting the nod based on his better all around game. Applying the same theory and running with the "K" theme, Jason Kokrak gets the sleeper spot even if he just barely qualifies for consideration (70 to 1 odds for a sleeper are somewhat borderline). And now if you'll excuse me, it's time to rev-up the golf cart and go grab one of the couple dozen Guinnesses I'm sure they imported for today's festivities before they're all gone. Sláinte!

Last Week's Report Card: C-
For her birthday, the FGW asked if I could
just include at least one picture that was
not of a hot model in a bikini. Fair enough.

1. Jim Furyk - T40th
2. Luke Donald - T53rd
3. Brandt Snedeker - T53rd
4. Kevin Na - T10th
5. Patrick Reed - T2nd

One and Done Picks to Date

Hyundai: Kevin Streelman - $70,667
Sony: Chris Kirk - $42,280
Humana: Russell Knox - M/C
Phoenix Open: Hunter Mahan - $36,729
Farmers Open: Hideki Matsuyama - M/C
AT&T Pro-Am: Dustin Johnson - $281,067
Northern Trust: Jimmy Walker - $24,120
Honda Classic: Keegan Bradley - M/C
WGC-Cadillac: Bubba Watson - $540,000
Valspar Championship: Jim Furyk - $23,600

Season Total: $1,018,463

Footnote

* Nothing inspires confidence like a guy showing-up on a golf cart packing nothing more than a Phillips head screwdriver to fix a major appliance and then telling you, "yup, looks like we're going to have to replace it." I didn't bother asking how long that would take though I did envision the two of us having a hearty back-slapping Bishop Pickering-Judge Smails style laugh at the notion that it would happen by the end of the week . . . "Yeah judge, that's a doozy!"

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

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