Fantasy Golf: The Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview

I somehow failed to cash-in last week on the fact that I recommended Viktor Hovland (T2), Billy Horschel (T2) and Rory McIlroy (T6). Apparently you should never tie all of your financial prospects to how a guy named Bernd Wiesberger is going to perform on your behalf. I'm pretty sure that applies to everything from sports to the stock market as "Bernd" the financial advisor is definitely draining your account for six months before jetting-off to the Cayman Islands (or in the case of pilfering my account, Myrtle Beach). 

Better to play it safe with a "Steve" or better yet, a "Dennis." You don't have to worry about "Dennis." He's shopping at Jos. A Banks, driving a twice previously owned Honda Accord and feeling guilty about the extravagance of a Netflix subscription "when we have a VCR that still works just fine." 

But I digress. 

TWEET OF THE WEEK 

This isn't actually a tweet but since I still can't figure-out how to embed tweets (and gave-up trying months ago), I'm going to post this picture that was in a tweet and give @dhruvkhullar credit for it. I have no idea who he is.

SPURIOUS GOLF ANALYSIS 

Rory is such the obvious choice that I had to work harder than normal to overthink my way into picking someone else. This is partly because I have a him in mind for another tournament down the road but mostly because I tend to make bad decisions by ignoring the evidence right in front of my face. And in this case, that is the fact that Rory has finished no worse than 6th here since 2017 and he won it by three shots in 2018 with a final round 64. And did I mention that he just finished T6 last week? (Yes you did). 

So who am I going to pick? Well in a perfect world it would be Sungjae Im but I already used him at the Sony Open so there goes this world's shot at perfection. So instead I'm going with a British guy because they love this place as evidenced by the recent strong showings of defending champion Terrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and my pick, Matthew Fitzpatrick. I don't think I've ever picked him to win before so this has the added benefit of feeling fresh and new like spring or a dryer sheet. 

The rest of this week's recommendations lean heavily on past performance and, in several cases, that converges nicely with FGR favorites like Francesco Molinari, Max Homa and Talor Gooch. Speaking of which, Patrick Rodgers is my sleeper. Again. I swear he has to be the worst player on tour who has a recent top ten in every event he plays and that suckers me in like a moth to a flame. Or me to the goddamn Cheez-its at the grocery store. Apparently I have no defense to their siren's call. 
 
One and Done Pick: Matthew Fitzpatrick 

I am counting on Fitzpatrick to be
the first player to win a PGA Tour
event before his 15th birthday.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Rory McIlroy

Sleeper Pick: Patrick Rodgers 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Rory McIlroy	$11,500
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$9,800
Sungjae Im	$9,700
Francesco Molinari	$8,700
Max Homa	$8,500
Marc Leishman	$8,200
Talor Gooch	$7,900
Charley Hoffman	$7,600
Byeon Hun An	$7,100
Patrick Rodgers	$6,800

This week's Historical Performance Chart is named for a current controversy that I will not spend one second trying to understand because I am sure that the effort to do so will make me even more addle minded than I already am.

                              THE GREEN EGGS AND TRY TO CANCEL 
                             THIS MUTHERFUCKER (GRABS CROTCH)
                               HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

	DK Price	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Rory McIlroy	$11,500	T5	T6	1st	T4	T27
Bryson DeChambeau	$11,000	4th	T46	2nd	DNP	T27
Viktor Hovland	$10,600	T42	T40	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Reed	$10,200	T15	T50	T7	DNP	DNP
Tyrell Hatton	$10,000	1st	T29	T69	T4	DNP
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$9,800	T9	2nd	MC	T13	T27
Sungjae Im	$9,700	3rd	T3	DNP	DNP	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,400	T56	T33	T49	T45	T6
Jordan Spieth	$9,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$9,200	W/D	W/D	T22	T23	1st
Paul Casey	$9,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	T41	T9
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,000	MC	T3	T26	T10	DNP
Billy Horschel	$8,900	T36	T50	T54	T13	T20
Loois Oosthuizen	$8,800	DNP	MC	MC	T28	DNP
Francesco Molinari	$8,700	DNP	1st	T26	T7	T9
Will Zalatoris	$8,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Homa	$8,500	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$8,400	T36	T54	T41	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$8,300	T9	68th	T22	MC	MC
Marc Leishman	$8,200	2nd	T23	T7	1st	T17
Jason Kokrak	$8,100	T18	T10	MC	T56	T20
Kevin Kisner	$8,000	DNP	T23	MC	T2	MC
Kevin Na	$8,000	T36	MC	T36	MC	DNP
Cameron Davis	$7,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Talor Gooch	$7,900	T13	DNP	T26	DNP	DNP
Justin Rose	$7,800	MC	T63	3rd	T13	T9
Rickie Fowler	$7,800	T18	T40	T14	12th	DNP
Cameron Tringale	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T27
Lanto Griffin	$7,700	T36	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Charley Hoffman	$7,600	T13	MC	T14	T2	DNP
Shane Lowry	$7,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Branden Grace	$7,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,500	T18	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$7,500	MC	MC	MC	T49	T63
Adam Hadwin	$7,400	DNP	T33	DNP	6th	T36
Emiliano Grillo	$7,400	DQ	DNP	T26	T17	T17
Matt Jones	$7,400	T47	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Alex Noren	$7,300	MC	DNP	T36	T49	DNP
Brendon Todd	$7,300	T18	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Corey Connors	$7,300	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ian Poulter	$7,300	T32	T23	T41	T41	T46
Henrik Norlander	$7,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lee Westwood	$7,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Luke List	$7,200	DNP	T10	T7	T17	DNP
Victor Perez	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	T34	DNP
Andrew Putnam	$7,100	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeon Hun An	$7,100	T56	T10	T14	T49	T36
Maverick McNealy	$7,100	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	T46
Chris Kirk	$7,000	DNP	T15	DNP	MC	T12
Henrik Stenson	$7,000	MC	T17	4th	MC	T3
J.T. Poston	$7,000	MC	T66	DNP	MC	76th
Keegan Bradley	$7,000	T42	T46	T26	T34	T36
Wyndham Clark	$7,000	68th	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brendan Steele	$6,900	MC	T17	DNP	DNP	T46
Matt Wallace	$6,900	T24	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matthew NeSmith	$6,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Zach Johnson	$6,900	DNP	T40	T26	T66	5th
Bernd Wiesberger	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joel Dahmen	$6,800	T5	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Rodgers	$6,800	T24	T46	T7	MC	T20
Aaron Wise	$6,700	DNP	T40	T41	DNP	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$6,700	T5	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP
Russell Knox	$6,700	MC	DNP	T73	DNP	DNP
Charles Howell, III	$6,600	MC	T15	T14	T56	T46
Nick Taylor	$6,600	T56	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Sung Kang	$6,300	T9	T6	T58	DNP	MC

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