Fantasy Golf: The American Express Preview

On the last Sunday of the NFL's regular season, I was sitting with my nineteen year old son watching yet another meaningless game narrated by mindless announcers when I suggested that maybe we find something more intriguing like a documentary about sand and he suggested the movie Amsterdam. Apparently he had already started it but magnanimously agreed to re-watch the first 20 minutes with me. If you have a teenager of your own, you are probably as stunned by his offer as I was considering that no generation in history has coupled less patience with fewer pressing obligations. 

Amsterdam had previously caught my attention for obvious reasons. It stars three of the most engaging actors on the planet in Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Robinson working under the direction of David O' Russell (American Hustle, Three Kings, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook). It also has Rami Malek, Michael Shannon and Robert Freakin' De Niro in key supporting roles. I mean just back-up the Oscar truck and start unloading the trophies right? Wrong. 

It sucks. Like really sucks. With the exception of watching some great actors play quirky roles, there is no reason to give it two plus hours of your time. It's plodding and unimaginative while it chases some kind of Wes Anderson/Cohen Brothers vibe which it misses like a trapeze artist repeatedly whiffing on the bar before ending in a faceplant. To quote critic Robbie Collin, "Amsterdam might encompass 15 years of history, straddle two continents and throw in innumerable subplots, but it becomes increasingly hard to shake the sense that you’re watching a very thin idea twiddling its thumbs."

With about ten minutes left to endure, my twenty-one year old son who had already seen it joined us for the sheer sake of comradery I guess because when it was over, he said "I thought that was awful." So given that prompt, and the fact that they're into movies enough to take a shot on Amsterdam, I started interrogating them on their repertoires and man they were pretty weak but that's what you get when you were raised on franchise film making instead of Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg and Reiner.  

So now I'm on a mission to put them on a better path by creating the FGR's top 100 movies of all-time. Don't worry as I won't let it detract from the salient golf analysis you have come to expect but I do plan to start counting them down ten at a time in the next few weeks. Just need to finish the list and I'm here to tell you that ain't easy when you're trying to cover the full spectrum of movies watched over nearly fifty years from Schindler's List to Better Off Dead (currently clinging to the 99th spot). At this point, I'm probably more excited to see how it turns out than you are (#lowbar).    

TWEET OF THE WEEK

It's as if this tweet knew I was going to start my first round of the year yesterday by going +1 through six holes before jumping on the bogey train starting with one on the 7th hole FROM 110 YARDS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING FAIRWAY!!!  

The first 30 seconds of this Bobby Knight video are me playing the first six holes of a golf course. The last 11 seconds are me playing the 7th hole.

pic.twitter.com/vj98wGvLCH

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) January 10, 2023

GOLF ANALYSIS

In my effort to not overthink last week's pick, I made a last minute switch from Corey Conners who finished T12 to Tom Kim who finished on Friday. I should have trusted the same part of my gut that stated with absolute certainty that either Brendan Steele, Chris Kirk or Russell Knox would finish top five (Kirk finished 3rd).   

Despite the relatively loaded field, this is a week to hunt for some value which is just plain common sense for a tournament that's been dominated by Hudson Swafford and Adam Hadwin since 2017. If you want to get frisky with Patrick Cantlay or Sungjae Im, I won't hold it against you but don't come crying to me when Pebble Beach rolls around and you've already played your Cantlay card or you don't have Sungjae when we get to Florida. 

I'm torn between Tom Hoge and Cameron Young. The argument for Hoge is obvious as he finished 2nd here last year and T6 in 2020. On the other hand, Young has in his column the fact that he's a better player. The deciding factor is that this tournament is a total crapshoot and I won't shed a tear if I lose Hoge for the season after a T54 but there are a few venues where it will be nice to have Young as an option. The old if I'm gonna fail, let me fail with a worse player strategy just reeks of confidence doesn't it?    

The rest of the picks kind of make themselves including Will Zalatoris who would seems logical in a ball-striking birdie fest. And we're going to ride this Michael Thompson sleeper train until (a) it pays off with a win, (b) derails, or (c) we forget we ever mentioned this terrible idea. 

One and Done Pick: Tom Hoge

This week's source of angst
for the nothing better to do
with their time crowd.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Cameron Young  

Sleeper Pick: Michael Thompson 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Patrick Cantlay	$10,100
Will Zalatoris	$9,600
Brian Harman	$9,300
Cameron Young	$9,100
Andrew Putnam	$8,700
Tom Hoge	$8,400
Denny McCarthy	$7,800
Chris Kirk	$7,500
Luke List	$7,200
Michael Thompson	$6,900

Some political controversies feel more manufactured than others but this week's chart honors maybe the all-time cake taker. 

                    THE GIVE ME MY GAS STOVE OR GIVE ME DEATH

                              HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

Worth noting below are the aforementioned Adam Hadwin and also Russell Knox who have made a combined eight cuts here in the last five years which is nothing to sneeze at but no one sneezes in the desert anyway. At least that's what "they" say.  

	DK Price	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Jon Rahm	$10,800	T14	DNP	DNP	6th	1st
Scottie Scheffler	$10,500	T25	MC	3rd	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$10,200	T40	4th	T14	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$10,100	9th	2nd	DNP	T9	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$10,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sungjae Im	$9,800	T11	T12	T10	T12	DNP
Will Zalatoris	$9,600	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Kim	$9,500	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$9,400	DNP	MC	T6	T18	DNP
Brian Harman	$9,300	T3	T8	T21	MC	T20
Si Woo Kim	$9,200	T11	1st	W/D	T40	DNP
Cameron Young	$9,100	T40	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Wise	$9,000	DNP	MC	MC	MC	T17
Taylor Montgomery	$8,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Davis	$8,800	DNP	DNP	T29	T28	DNP
Andrew Putnam	$8,700	T14	T21	T10	T34	T17
Sahith Theegala	$8,600	T33	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$8,400	2nd	MC	T6	MC	T57
K.H. Lee	$8,300	T63	T32	T21	MC	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$8,200	T25	T32	DNP	T2	T3
Wyndham Clark	$8,100	13th	T54	MC	T18	DNP
J.T. Poston	$8,000	T25	MC	T37	T7	MC
Taylor Pendrith	$8,000	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,900	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Rose	$7,900	T33	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Riley	$7,800	T59	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$7,800	T6	MC	T48	MC	MC
Keith Mitchell	$7,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T69
Rickie Fowler	$7,800	DNP	T21	T10	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,700	T40	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Rodgers	$7,700	T40	MC	T64	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$7,600	T63	T37	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$7,600	DNP	DNP	T48	T51	T11
Joel Dahmen	$7,600	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	MC
Ty Detry	$7,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$7,500	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brendon Todd	$7,500	MC	DNP	T37	DNP	DNP
Chris Kirk	$7,500	MC	T16	DNP	MC	MC
Sebastian Munoz	$7,500	MC	DNP	T21	MC	DNP
Brendan Steele	$7,400	MC	T21	T43	T57	T20
Dean Burmeister	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lee Hodges	$7,400	T3	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Will Gordon	$7,400	DNP	T64	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$7,300	T59	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
David Lipsky	$7,300	T14	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Stephen Jaeger	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	MC
Taylor Moore	$7,300	T67	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Callum Tarren	$7,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jhonattan Vegas	$7,200	MC	DNP	T55	69th	T11
Luke List	$7,200	T22	T21	MC	MC	MC
Martin Laird	$7,200	DNP	T47	MC	MC	MC
Ben An	$7,100	DNP	T8	MC	DNP	DNP
Greyson Sigg	$7,100	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mathew NeSmith	$7,100	MC	MC	T17	DNP	DNP
Nate Lashley	$7,100	MC	MC	W/D	T12	T29
Russell Knox	$7,100	MC	T16	T37	T18	T29
Beau Hossler	$7,000	DNP	MC	MC	MC	T20
Danny Willett	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Mark Hubbard	$7,000	DNP	MC	T43	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$7,000	T33	T47	MC	T40	T20
Adam Long	$6,900	MC	69th	MC	1st	DNP
Michael Thompson	$6,900	MC	T5	MC	T9	DNP
Patton Kizzire	$6,900	T22	53rd	MC	MC	T42
Troy Merritt	$6,900	MC	MC	T68	DNP	MC
Doug Ghim	$6,800	T59	T5	MC	DNP	DNP
Stewart Cink	$6,800	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	T20
Erik Van Rooyen	$6,700	DNP	T56	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,700	T33	MC	MC	T12	T29
Aaron Baddeley	$6,600	DNP	MC	MC	T18	DNP
Chez Reavie	$6,600	MC	MC	MC	T28	T36
Andrew Landry	$6,500	MC	T64	1st	T28	2nd

Email the Fantasy Golf Report here.