Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Fantasy Golf: The Tour Championship Preview

Hey everybody . . . golf's back! Did you miss it? Finally something to break-up the monotony of the first two weeks of NFL action and one ridiculously spectacular college football game after another. (We kid because we love). I've actually missed this game that I love from both a playing and viewing standpoint over the past couple of weeks and now we get treated to a double-dip of the Tour Championship followed by the Ryder Cup and this guy gets a little 45 hole two-man competition to closeout golf season in the Mid-Atlantic (someone please shoot me with a six month tranquilizer dart on October 2nd). 

So what can we expect at East Lake? Well, Henrik Stenson loves this course as evidenced by his win in 2013 and his T2nd last year highlighted by an opening 63. But he's not playing. So what else you got? Well we've got Justin Rose who also finished T2nd last year to go along with a T4th in 2014, a 6th in 2013 and a 2nd in 2012 . . . except that he's not playing either because he predictably had one of the worst years of his career after being drafted by the coolers in my fantasy golf league. (These guys are such a reliable jinx that I almost feel compelled to write a letter to their top pick each January and pre-comfort him about the otherwise inexplicably terrible season he's about to have).


Stop fucking around and make some picks!

Ok, here's the problem. Every legitimate contender this week has had some success at East Lake led by Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson who have all won there so we've got ourselves a bit of a crapshoot. D.J., McIlroy, Day and the recently hot Paul Casey all have at least one top five so it wouldn't be a surprise if any of those guys won it. And don't rule-out Bubba rediscovering his game for four days and getting it done. We'd love to pick all of them but we can't so here comes some good old fashioned frontier analysis.

Jordan Spieth is going to win because in the space of a little over five months, he's gone from Cobra Kai to first hour of the movie Danny LaRusso and he's going to turn that around with one seriously awkward looking crane kick in Atlanta. He's been showing signs of life in the playoffs and I think he really wants to avoid ending 2016 as an afterthought. He's also got to be getting jacked for the Ryder Cup where I expect he and Patrick Reed to dominate together (more on that next week). 

After Spieth, we're going with the fairly stock picks of D.J. who refocused at the BMW Championship and Jason Day he keeps being more overdue every week. That leaves Scott, McIlroy and Mickelson on the outside but seating is limited. If gambling is legal in your state and you're building rosters, I'd balance those high dollars guys with some big hitters in Gary Woodland and J.B. Holmes along with a few bargain buys in Emiliano Grillo, Ryan Moore and Jason Dufner. Don't be the least bit surprised when Grillo is in contention on Sunday and how could you be now that I've warned you. As always I'm here to help.      

That transition from golf to football
is always a little awkward . . . 
The Tour Championship Odds

1. Dustin Johnson - 9/2

2. Rory McIlroy - 5/1
3. Jason Day - 9/1
4. Jordan Spieth - 9/1
5. Adam Scott - 9/1
6. Paul Casey - 16/1
7. Patrick Reed - 18/1
8. Bubba Watson - 25/1
9. Phil Mickelson - 25/1
10. Hideki Matsuyama - 28/1
11. Matt Kuchar - 28/1
12. Brandt Snedeker - 30/1
13. Russell Knox - 35/1
14. J.B. Holmes - 35/1
15. Gary Woodland - 40/1

The One and Done Pick: Jordan Spieth


The Sleeper Pick: Emiliano Grillo
 . . . but we'll figure it out.

Ten Guys We Like in DraftKings

Dustin Johnson - $11,700
Jordan Spieth - $10,600
Jason Day - $10,300
Paul Casey - $9,500
Gary Woodland - $7,800
J.B. Holmes - $7,400
Kevin Chappell - $7,200
Daniel Berger - $7,000
Emiliano Grillo - $6,900
Ryan Moore - $6,800
Jason Dufner - $6,400

Email the Fantasy Golf Report at fgr@fantasygolfreport.com

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