Fantasy Golf: The Genesis Invitational Preview

Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year as we welcome in the year of the Fire Horse which represents bravery, resilience, speed and forward momentum. I'm not feeling any of it yet but that could have something to do with the time difference or maybe it works like LSD and it'll hit in a few weeks. At least that's how I'm told it works . . . .

As we ring in the new year, there are apparently some rules to enhance the experience that I wish someone had told me before I ate oatmeal, wore black and washed what's left of my hair. Now I have to spend the rest of the day not lending money (no problem), not doing laundry (seems achievable) and not getting in arguments (Beijing* we have a problem), all while avoiding sharp objects which I tend to do anyway on Tuesdays in February as a matter of self-preservation.   

The good news is that we're shedding the Year of the Snake but not before that venomous mutherfucker got Robert DuVall. And because our censors have advised me that I have nothing left to say about the Chinese New Year or anything else on this godforsaken Tuesday, here are my favorite movies in chronological order featuring the arguably top ten all-time actor:

• 

  If you're a fan and haven't seen this one,
  you gotta fix that. Like this weekend. 

  M*A*S*H (1970)
• The Godfather (1972)
• The Godfather, Part II (1974)  
• Network (1976)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• The Great Santini (1979)
• Tender Mercies (1983)
• Colors (1988)
• The Apostle (1997)
• A Civil Action (1998)
• Crazy Heart (2009)

Honorable mention for smaller roles in Sling Blade, The Natural, Thank You for Smoking and The Paper. Also, I'd put A Civil Action up against any other courtroom drama and Duvall flat-out nails the arrogant big firm legal purist who I aspire to be in my now rare moments of real lawyering. Let's just say that if you stumble on to a Robert Duvall movie made between 1970 and 2010, it is unlikely that you will be disappointed.  

* I made the extra effort to research what Chinese city is home to their mission control center so as to make the Houston analogy more accurate and the joke less racist. At least it was accurate. I'm going to stop talking now.   

GOLF ANALYSIS

We stumbled into some pretty solid advice last week with Sepp Straka top ten at +390, Tom Hoge top 20 at +405 and, if you do what I do and take that "Winner" recommendation and bet him to finish top five, you'd also have had Tommy Fleetwood at +445 (did I forget to mention that?). It was not all sunshine, however, as one and done pick Jason Day finished an almost predictably middling T24. His name could almost be a verb in golf gambling vernacular at this point. "Was having a pretty solid week but got Jasondayed on a couple parlays."

We're going to keep riding with Fleetwood who has quietly climbed to third in the world and would seem to have a game that is ideally suited for Riviera. He's only played it twice but he improved from T20 to T10 and that was back when he was just really good Tommy Fleetwood. The way he's playing now, 2026 is setting-up to be a battle for supremacy between Fairway Jesus, Jesus' favorite player and Rory McIroy who does not appear to be affiliated with Jesus. 

(Fittingly, the writing of this post has now spilled-over to the first day of Lent which also falls under a new moon and a solar eclipse. I'm frankly not even sure these words are my own anymore).

Max Homa has played this course better than anyone over the last five years and his odds have now dropped low enough to offset his current slump. If you're not comfortable with him as a top ten, you can still get him at +175 for a top twenty which is very enticing in a limited field event. And we're staying with Tom Hoge as long as they'll keep giving us +365 to finish top twenty for a guy who's last two finishes on a course that is ideal for him are T8 and T14. I honestly think the oddsmakers just don't like his non-golfer name but we will not stand for Hogism.    

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Tommy Fleetwood	+2250
Top 5	Viktor Hovland	+520
Top 10	Ryan Gerard	+425
Top 10	Max Homa	+470
Top 20	Tom Hoge	+365

One and Done Pick: Tommy Fleetwood

The right guy for this week of colliding
cultural, celestial and religious forces.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Cameron Young

Sleeper Pick: Tom Hoge

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Tommy Fleetwood	$10,300
Patrick Cantlay	$9,300
Cameron Young	$9,100
Viktor Hovland	$9,000
Rickie Fowler	$8,500
Harris English	$7,900
Jason Day	$7,700
Ryan Gerard	$7,200
Max Homa	$7,100
Tom Hoge	$6,300

One last shout-out to Duvall who even gifted us a somewhat rewatchable disaster movie with Deep Impact. By 1998, however, they had clearly run out of good ole boy sounding names for his characters. 

THE SPURGEON TANNER

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

One of the tougher decisions this week came down to Harris English or Adam Scott in the $7,900 spot. One of them is going to finish top twenty and the other is going to finish top forty so you can't really go wrong. I mean you can if you pick the guy who finishes lower but you get my point.  

	DK PRICE	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Scottie Scheffler	$14,300	T10	T12	T7	T20	T30
Rory McIlroy	$11,300	T24	T29	T10	MC	T5
Tommy Fleetwood	$10,300	T10	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$9,800	T4	T33	T13	T15	T23
Russell Henley	$9,600	T24	MC	T33	T38	T17
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,500	1st	MC	T39	MC	T5
Collin Morikawa	$9,400	T19	T6	T2	T43	T26
Patrick Cantlay	$9,300	T4	3rd	T33	T15	T17
Si Woo Kim	$9,200	T44	MC	73rd	MC	T37
Cameron Young	$9,100	T16	T20	T2	DNP	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,000	T19	T20	T4	T5	DNP
Sam Burns	$8,900	T10	MC	MC	3rd	T23
Chris Gotterup	$8,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$8,700	T37	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jake Knapp	$8,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$8,500	T35	T20	T55	T20	DNP
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$8,400	MC	MC	MC	T5	T30
Ludvig Aberg	$8,300	T19	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Robert MacIntyre	$8,200	DNP	DNP	T15	DNP	DNP
Maverick McNealy	$8,100	DNP	DNP	T7	MC	DNP
Justin Rose	$8,000	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	T56
Adam Scott	$7,900	T19	MC	T4	T38	1st
Harris English	$7,900	7th	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,800	MC	T45	T15	T43	MC
Shane Lowry	$7,800	DNP	T14	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,700	9th	T9	DNP	DNP	MC
Keegan Bradley	$7,700	MC	MC	T48	T60	MC
Jordan Spieth	$7,600	DQ	MC	T26	T15	T59
Min Woo Lee	$7,600	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
J.J. Spaun	$7,500	MC	T33	MC	DNP	63rd
Akshay Bhatia	$7,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$7,400	T39	T33	DNP	T20	MC
Harry Hall	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$7,300	T39	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Pierceson Coody	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Gerard	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Homa	$7,100	T16	2nd	T10	1st	T5
J.T. Poston	$7,100	T10	MC	MC	T43	T30
Wyndham Clark	$7,000	MC	T33	DQ	T8	T17
Corey Conners	$7,000	T24	61st	MC	MC	MC
Alex Noren	$7,000	DNP	MC	T48	T12	T59
Sahith Theegala	$6,900	T37	T6	T48	DNP	DNP
Patrick Rodgers	$6,900	MC	MC	MC	T12	T30
Daniel Berger	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$6,800	T19	T20	T33	2nd	T51
Ryo Hisatsune	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$6,700	T39	T14	DNP	MC	T37
Sam Stevens	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Greyserman	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$6,600	T44	MC	DNP	T43	T47
Rico Hoey	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt McCarty	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$6,500	DNP	T29	T61	DNP	DNP
Max McGreevy	$6,500	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Fox	$6,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Yu	$6,400	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Garrick Higgo	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Michael Kim	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$6,300	8th	T14	MC	T52	DNP
Andrew Novak	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nicco Echavarria	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Bud Cauley	$6,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T51
Marco Penge	$6,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sami Valimaki	$6,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Kim	$6,100	T24	T45	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,100	T35	MC	DNP	MC	DNP
Matti Schmid	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jhonattan Vegas	$6,000	DNP	T56	T55	DNP	MC
Brian Campbell	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aldrich Potgieter	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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