Fantasy Golf: WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational Preview

I am currently flying in a plane for the first time in over 16 months . . . a very late taking-off and packed to the gills plane. I generally prefer and sometimes demand strict silence when I'm writing yet today there are three people in the row directly behind me talking in such a confident manner that would initially suggest that they are smart when they are in fact complete imbeciles. 

I will therefore do my best to shield the writing content from the inane commentary that is currently wafting over my shoulder like a thick green fart cloud of stupidity. So as I sit here drinking my lukewarm Chinese restaurant coffee and eating my Chinese restaurant blueberry muffin (because the line for Starbucks wrapped around the concourse), I just wanted to let you know that all of these elements may affect the overall tone of this week's preview. And by "may affect" I mean . . . oh you know the fucking joke by now. 

TWEET OF THE WEEK

There were a lot of strong candidates for this honor but, when the King of Twitter graces you with a reply to one of your tweets, that's a game, set and match situation. The exchange below was spawned by a random Twitter invitation from an author named Rebecca Makkai to "please tell me one fascinating thing about one of your grandparents." I of course chose the tragic tale of my grandfather over the fact that one of my grandmothers was an accomplished artist and the other played high school basketball like 75 years ago.

Fun fact. My other grandfather keeled over and died of a heart attack at 39. Just thought I'd lighten the mood a bit before writing about some golf. 

GOLF ANALYSIS FOR THE AIRBORNE AND INTELLECTUALLY CRIPPLED 

Brooks Koepka is the obvious pick this week but alas, I choked and used him at the British Open when either TPC Southwind or Kiawah were the obvious choices this year (to some).  I'm not going to run through every player I no longer have available as I've somehow managed to work my way into second place in this godforsaken one pick per week league that I've been trying to win for like five or ten years. That level of disclosure would be gambling suicide. 

I will, however, divulge the following: 

1. I've still got a couple bullets left in my gun and they're perfect fits for the courses where I have them slotted so watch your ass "Hosel Rockets" because "The Jerkstore" plans to close like Bobby Freakin' Finke (if you haven't watched him swim the 800M and 1500M yet, do yourself a favor); and 

2. This week I'm grappling with the options of Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Harris English, Billy Horschel and Phil Mickelson so, um, yeah. Issues. 

Right off the bat I'm ruling-out everyone who played in the Olympics. If you're going to ask me to pick between two players ranked top ten in the world and one of them just flew back from Japan, I'll take the other one. In short, if you want to take Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, I'll take Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Louis Oosthuizen and Koepka for all the combined cash currently in my three kids' wallets which could range anywhere from $3 to about $475 depending on whether FGK2 left his wad at home or is rolling heavy. 

Speaking of Daniel Berger (huh?), he plays great here too and he just finished top ten at both the British Open and the U.S Open. I of course used him at the Waste Management Phoenix Open where he missed the cut before winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am the following week. I thought I was over it. Apparently I was wrong.

The rest of the picks are pretty straightforward and mostly based on past performance. The one exception is Will Zalatoris. A couple guys from that $7,500 - $8,000 price range are going to crack the top ten and for me it came down to him, Jason Kokrak, Brian Harman or Harris English. I like Zalatoris based on a hunch and I like English based on his 2013 win in Memphis along with his recent performance. Full disclosure, I had Horschel as my pick but just switched it to English and you know how karma rewards indecision so choose wisely. 

And then we have two of the most intriguing sleepers of the year in Mickelson and Stewart Cink. Phil has three runner-ups at TPC Southwind including last year while Cink finished in the top ten in 2017 and 2018. Making Phil the pick of the week is such a tempting proposition (especially in a no-cut event) that I have not yet fully abandoned it. Hopefully I forget the idea altogether before vacation consumption blazes its usual trail to no fucks to give and I have absurd delusions of Phil holding-court on Sunday again. Good lord I'm like three Mai Tai's from that disaster. 

One and Done Pick: Harris English

Need you to come-up really big this
week buddy. Yes I mean you Harris.
I know it's weird. But here we are.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Brooks Koepka 

Sleeper Pick: Stewart Cink

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Brooks Koepka	$10,600
Jordan Spieth	$10,400
Daniel Berger	$9,200
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$8,800
Webb Simpson	$8,500
Will Zalatoris	$7,900
Harris English	$7,600
Billy Horschel	$7,100
Phil Mickelson	$6,600
Stewart Cink	$6,500

Not much to see at the bottom of the chart but sometimes it's what you can't see that matters which is tricky because you can't see it. That's why in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king and the tall man bumps his head a lot.

For example, Lee Westwood actually earned one of his two PGA Tour wins on this course in 2010. Would you know that from looking at this chart? No. But more importantly, is that fact relevant this week? Probably not. So there you go. 

                           THE REASON TIGERS EAT THEIR YOUNG IS 

                             CURRENTLY SITTING IN ROW 10, SEAT B

                                HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

	DK Price	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Collin Morikawa	$11,000	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$10,800	T6	T27	DNP	T52	DNP
Brooks Koepka	$10,600	T2	1st	T30	T37	T2
Jordan Spieth	$10,400	T30	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP
Dustin Johnson	$10,200	T12	T20	1st	DNP	5th
Rory McIlroy	$10,000	T47	T4	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Thomas	$9,900	1st	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,700	T59	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Louis Oosthuizen	$9,600	T6	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP
B. DeChambeau	$9,500	T30	T48	DNP	MC	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,400	T20	T43	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$9,300	T35	T12	DNP	MC	DNP
Daniel Berger	$9,200	T2	DNP	MC	1st	1st
Scottie Scheffler	$9,100	T15	DNP	T43	DNP	DNP
Paul Casey	$9,000	T67	T27	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$8,900	T65	T27	MC	DNP	DNP
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$8,800	T6	T4	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Reed	$8,700	T47	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$8,600	T6	DNP	T30	DNP	DNP
Webb Simpson	$8,500	T12	2nd	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joaquin Niemann	$8,400	T52	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Abraham Ancer	$8,300	T15	DNP	MC	DNP	T18
Cameron Smith	$8,200	T59	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$8,100	T30	T27	68th	DNP	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$8,000	T35	T4	DNP	DNP	DNP
Will Zalatoris	$7,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Kokrak	$7,800	T44	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sungjae Im	$7,700	T35	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$7,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	T10	T26
Brian Harman	$7,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tyrrell Hatton	$7,400	T69	T43	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sergio Garcia	$7,300	T35	T40	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott	$7,200	DNP	T40	DNP	T10	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,100	T25	T9	T51	T4	DNP
Marc Leishman	$7,100	T52	3rd	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ian Poulter	$7,000	T69	8th	DNP	T31	DNP
Justin Rose	$7,000	DNP	11th	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Davis	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Kisner	$6,800	T25	T27	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matthew Wolff	$6,800	T49	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Champ	$6,700	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Carlos Ortiz	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Max Homa	$6,700	T52	T61	DNP	MC	DNP
Lee Westwood	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Phil Mickelson	$6,600	T2	57th	DNP	9th	T2
Kevin Na	$6,500	T35	T43	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Palmer	$6,500	T15	DNP	T51	MC	DNP
Stewart Cink	$6,500	DNP	DNP	T4	T10	T65
Lucas Glover	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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