Fantasy Golf: The Memorial Preview

Before I get to the mea culpa for last week's picks, allow me to first apologize for the tardiness of today's post. You see as a card carrying country club douche-bag, I am required to play multiple elitist sports and my former lacrosse career only serves as a prerequisite (albeit a strong one). The real go-getters will ride horses and/or sail boats but I hate farms and I grew-up in a dysfunctional sailing family so that sport is dead to me. (Pro Tip: If you have a family on the verge of total combustion, put everyone on a boat together for a week . . . it's quite the healing environment). 

You should not need a second
guess as to my favorite player.

That pretty much leaves tennis or squash and, because I prefer sports where I can run full speed without the risk of slamming into a wall, I play tennis and the matches where I get to play for some meager sense of pride against douche-bags from other country clubs are on Tuesday nights. Unfortunately, Tuesday nights are generally when I put in long hours at the office pretending to work while scratching-out this crap. That means I now have to either scratch-out this crap on Monday or post it late on Wednesday and, since I spent Monday disassembling a moldy trampoline (not as fun as it sounds), here we are. I'll try to get my shit together next week. On to the preview. 

At this point regular readers of the Fantasy Golf Report should have learned to recognize when the picks are about to go from "merely inadequate" to "holy shit has this guy even watched a golf tournament since Ben Wright got fired?" Buzz words like "thin" and "wounds" combined with telling phrases like "reconstruct my body" and "spare parts from a junkyard" should inspire you to look elsewhere for guidance or, better yet, take my advice and then do the exact opposite. You know, like the salmon. 

Let's face it. The writing was pretty much on the wall for my one and done picks this season when Hideki Matsuyama withdrew in Phoenix and then Dustin Johnson barely made the cut at Riviera before scratching-out a paltry hundred grand. Those were supposed to be lay-ups. The only consolation about my sixth missed cut with Jason Dufner last week was that none of my other prospects did much better and I resisted the urge to waste Jordan Spieth which means I now have the opportunity to waste him later. 

This week we move to the Memorial presented by Nationwide which is a much classier name than the Jack Nicklaus Invitational (not really). "Presented by Nationwide"? When did this tournament turn into a 1950's radio show? I love Jack Nicklaus because, as a golf fan, I have to but good lord that guy loves to sell shit that literally and figuratively has his name on it. I guarantee you that he will be shilling for Jack Nicklaus Ice Cream at some point during this weekend's broadcast. I know there is a charitable component but don't tell me Jack ain't getting a big old scoop of cash from every pint of chocolate chip cookie dough (see what I did there?). 

"The "Poa Annua Ripple" is made
with real blades of Poa Annua."

I will give Jack one thing. He created a pretty damn good golf tournament that's worthy of his name. The caliber of champions has tailed-off a bit over the past few years but there was a time where you could make the case that THIS should be the fifth major. From 1977-2012, twenty-five of the winners were past or future major champions and five of those wins were by Tiger Woods. By my quick count, we've got fifteen major champions playing this week so hopefully we're due for a return to that kind of high falutin leaderboard.

Justin Rose is the obvious pick. He's playing great and, with the exception of Tiger, he probably has the best record of any active player at Muirfield. What the chart below does not show is that he won in 2010 and was runner-up in 2008. Next best record would go to Matt Kuchar who looks like a steal at $8,500. Especially since he just missed his first cut in forever so he should be fired-up to start a new streak. With that being said, I'm rolling the dice on Justin Thomas. He's been mediocre by his standards lately with no top tens since the Match Play so he's due. Also, don't underestimate how much guys like Thomas, Spieth and Rickie want to win Jack's tournament. That sticky ice cream handshake on Sunday is one of the crowning moments in any young player's career. 

The FGR is admittedly having a hard time
transitioning away from Cowgirl Week.

One and Done Pick: Justin Thomas

Other Guy I'd Pick: Justin Rose

Sleeper Pick: Keith Mitchell

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Justin Rose	$10,800
Justin Thomas	$10,300
Marc Leishman	$9,000
Matt Kuchar	$8,500
Emiliano Grillo	$8,400
Tony Finau	$8,100
Kevin Kisner	$7,500
Patrick Cantlay	$7,400
Keith Mitchell	$7,200
Kevin Streelman	$7,000

A couple things worth noting on the historical performance chart. First, Jason Day hasn't done squat which is surprising considering the course would seem to suit his game. You could make the case that he's due but that record would indicate a disconnect between golfer and layout. Second, over the last three years, Marc Leishman, Kevin Streelman and David Lingmerth have combined for eight top 20's and a win proving that the key is to keep it in play for four days and just hang around (see also: Matt Kuchar, Kevin Kisner and Bill Haas).

                                        THE MEMORIAL BUT NOT QUITE DEAD YET 
                                             HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

	DK Price	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Dustin Johnson	$11,300	MC	3rd	T13	T46	MC
Jason Day	$11,100	T15	T27	MC	T37	T41
Justin Rose	$10,800	DNP	DNP	2nd	MC	T8
Rory McIlroy	$10,800	DNP	T4	DNP	T15	T57
Justin Thomas	$10,300	T4	MC	MC	T37	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$9,800	T13	T57	T3	T19	T63
Rickie Fowler	$9,500	T2	MC	MC	MC	T37
Tiger Woods	$9,400	DNP	DNP	71st	DNP	T65
Henrik Stenson	$9,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T41
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,100	T45	MC	T5	1st	DNP
Marc Leishman	$9,000	T15	T11	T5	T37	T41
Patrick Reed	$8,900	T57	T8	T26	DNP	DNP
Bubba Watson	$8,700	T6	T65	DNP	3rd	T29
Adam Scott	$8,600	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP	T13
Matt Kuchar	$8,500	T4	T4	T26	T15	1st
Emiliano Grillo	$8,400	T40	T11	DNP	DNP	DNP
Phil Mickelson	$8,300	T22	T20	T65	T49	DNP
Charl Schwartzel	$8,200	T35	T11	MC	T8	T8
Tony Finau	$8,100	T40	T11	T8	DNP	DNP
Jason Dufner	$8,000	1st	T33	T24	T19	DNP
Andrew Wise	$7,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeon Hun An	$7,800	T25	T11	DNP	DNP	DNP
B. DeChambeau	$7,700	DNP	T38	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,600	MC	DNP	T11	T15	T41
Kevin Na	$7,600	DNP	T74	T13	2nd	DNP
Kyle Stanley	$7,600	T6	DNP	DNP	74	3rd
Kevin Kisner	$7,500	T6	MC	T8	T46	DNP
Luke List	$7,400	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$7,400	T35	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Chappell	$7,300	T52	T48	T49	MC	2nd
Keegan Bradley	$7,200	MC	T8	T8	T37	T50
Keith Mitchell	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Peter Uihlein	$7,200	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Anirban Lahiri	$7,100	T2	T61	DNP	DNP	DNP
Bill Haas	$7,100	T25	MC	T18	T8	T4
William McGirt	$7,100	T67	1st	T40	MC	T37
Kevin Streelman	$7,000	T13	T8	T18	MC	MC
Kevin Tway	$7,000	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Gary Woodland	$6,900	T49	T4	MC	T57	T16
David Lingmerth	$6,800	T15	T27	1st	T49	T57

Email the FGR at fgr@fantasygolfreport.com.