Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Fantasy Golf: The Memorial Tournament Preview

There was a smattering of requests for further explanation of my match-play disaster from a week ago so we'll be efforting something called Anatomy of a Meltdown in the coming days (or weeks). In the meantime, we've got a top flight event (as opposed to a Top Flite event which would imply untucked shirts and cargo shorts*) on tap this week with the new "Big Three" set to lock horns on a course that usually delivers the goods. 

(Note that "Big Three" wannabe Rickie Fowler doesn't even have the fourth best odds this week. Missing the cut at the Masters and The Players after supposedly announcing your presence with authority on the other side of the world way the hell back in January will have that effect). 

The Memorial could drop the mic solely on the fact that Tiger has won it five times but, to hammer home the point, it can boast a few two-time winners you may have heard of named Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and Greg Norman. Throw-in solo titles for multiple major winners like Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Raymond Floyd and Curtis Strange and you certainly have a better case for a 5th major than that tournament they played on the course next to the tattoo parlor with the windmill and the clown's mouth a few weeks ago. But I slightly digress.

Last year's winner David Lingmerth was the first outlier we've had since Carl Pettersson in 2006 so we're due for a classy Sunday leaderboard. It doesn't hurt that the event may never have boasted a field this strong with the top five ranked players in the world and 18 of the top 30. Someone really good at golf is gonna win this week (hey thanks dipshit). The question is who? 

The obvious pick would be Jordan Spieth who is coming-off a win and finished T3rd here last year. After him, I'd rank 'em (2) Hideki Matsuyama, (3) Jason Day, (4) Matt Kuchar and (5) Bubba Watson and, if I was making a one and done pick, it would be Matsuyama and then Kuchar. Unfortunately, I've already burned those two guys and I've got Spieth, Day and Bubba slated elsewhere down the road. I thought about going with Kevin Na based on his past success at Muirfield (T13th and 2nd the last two years) but picking Na for this event just feels like showing-up for your high school reunion in a minivan so I'm going to drop a couple hundred at Avis and roll-up in a shiny new Lincoln MKZ. (That was a very convoluted way of saying that I'm picking Paul Casey).       
      
Is he related to Kacey Barnfield? 
THE MEMORIAL ODDS

Jason Day - 13/2
Rory McIlroy - 13/2
Jordan Spieth - 7/1
Hideki Matsuyama - 16/1
Rickie Fowler - 20/1
Matt Kuchar - 22/1
Dustin Johnson - 22/1
Bubba Watson - 25/1
Patrick Reed - 40/1
Phil Mickelson - 40/1
Paul Casey - 45/1
Daniel Berger - 50/1
Jason Dufner - 50/1
Charl Schwartzel  - 50/1

One and Done Pick: Paul Casey

Sleeper Pick: David Hearn
Wrong spelling dummy. He'd be
related to "Casey" Batchelor.

FIFTEEN GOOD BETS

Jason Day - $12,400
Jordan Spieth - $12,300
Hideki Matsuyama - $10,600
Matt Kuchar - $9,900
Paul Casey - $8,800
Chris Kirk - $8,300
Kevin Na - $8,100
Marc Leishman - $7,900
Bill Haas - $7,700
Russell Knox - $7,600
Francisco Molinari - $7,400
Luke Donald - $7,200
Scott Piercy - $6,900
Daniel Summerhays - $6,900
David Hearn - $6,700

ONE AND DONE PICKS TO DATE

Hyundai:
Dustin Johnson
$148,000
Sony:
Matt Kuchar
$77,604
CareerBuilder:
Ryan Palmer
$75,897
Farmers:
Brandt Snedeker
$1,170,000
Phoenix:
Hideki Matsuyama
$1,170,000
Pebble Beach:
Jimmy Walker
$143,500
Northern Trust:
Sergio Garcia
$0
Honda:
Patrick Reed
$0
Cadillac:
Rickie Fowler
$197,500
Valspar
Ryan Moore
$414,800
Palmer:
Henrik Stenson
$365,400
Match Play:
Branden Grace
$90,900
Houston Open:
Phil Mickelson
$160,760
Masters:
Adam Scott
$37,000
Heritage:
Kevin Kisner
$11,859
Texas Open:
Charley Hoffman
$1,116,000
Zurich:
Billy Horschel
$28,029
Wells Fargo:
Kevin Chappell
$22,642
Players:
Rory McIlroy
$212,625
Nelson:
Marc Leishman
$0
Colonial:
Jason Dufner
$216,913
Total
$5,659,429

Footnote

* Never forget that I am an insufferable country club douche . . . not that I'll let you.

Email the Fantasy Golf Report at fgr@fantasygolfreport.com

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