Fantasy Golf: The Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview

A morbid sense of curiosity about the current state of LIV Golf that didn't extend far enough for me to actually watch them play did, however, lead me to click on their website for the first time following the opening "event" of the season. Here is what I learned:

• Charles Howell, III, who's claim to fame on the PGA Tour was not winning, won by four shots. Good for Chucky Triple Sticks who was always a favorite of the FGR. 
• Dustin Johnson who was the #1 ranked player in the world as recently as July of 2021 lost by 20 shots after carding what appears from his seven bogeys and a double to have been a somewhat uninspired final round 78.  
• LIV's rampant pillaging of the PGA Tour's best continues unchecked with the recent acquisitions of Brendan Steele, Dean Burmester and Danny Lee. I mean that's like holding-up a bank to steal two staplers and the coffee pot.  

The next LIV event is at some course called the Gallery Club in Tuscon Arizona and for $18,000 you can still buy a full group in the pro am. It would stretch the FGR budget but I haven't ruled it out. You get to play with two different pros and, if they could guarantee me Patrick Reed and the Tweet of the Week star, I don't know. Pretty damn tempting.   

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Frankly Twitter kind of sucked this week so I'm going with my own and I will say that, despite my recommendation that you watch this video with the sound off, I would also advise you to watch it with the sound on because the buffoonery of Bryson DeChambeau is really the gift that keeps on giving.

I would encourage you to watch this with the sound off and imagine Bryson is justifying their trashing of the Lambda Lambda Lambda frat house. https://t.co/OvOfJnp91I

— Ronny Elliott (@FantasyGolfRep) February 27, 2023

GOLF ANALYSIS

Everything is telling me to pull the trigger on Rory this week. I mean it's either gonna happen here, The Players or the British Open at Royal Liverpool where he won it in 2014. And you know that I am nothing if not a sentimental fool so I have to believe that the Claret Jug is his this year after it was so mercilessly ripped from his grasp at St. Andrews. 

The other logical pick is defending champion Scottie Scheffler but he's finished top ten in six of his last ten majors including a win at the Masters and a T2 the U.S. Open just last year. How do you not save him for Augusta? Or Oak Hill? (Note that I applied similar logic last year only to watch him miss the cut at Southern Hills so proceed accordingly). 

I've already used Jon Rahm (and most likely so have you) so in my somewhat expert opinion, that leaves three viable options . . . Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton. Not to keep getting caught-up in saving guys for majors but Max is probably the best California golfer on the planet right now and the U.S. Open is in Los Angeles. Fuck it. Let's pencil Fitzpatrick in at The Players while we're at it which leaves Hatton who won here in 2020 and tied for 2nd last year. Also, he's a huge FGR favorite for obvious reasons and this is the best spot for him.

Inarguably the best nickname in golf right now is "Cashmere" Keith Mitchell who has been on a roll lately and went T5-T6 at Bay Hill a few years ago. He's a lock in the middle tier. Rickie Fowler doesn't inspire quite the same level of confidence but his recent run of T11-T10-T20 feels like a real resurgence. 

And speaking of resurgence, Zach Johnson has made every cut in 2023 and he's been on an upward trend through a T12 at the Honda Classic. He's also made eleven straight cuts at this tournament. No really I checked all the way back to 2010. (Ronny we've talked about this). I KNOW!!!

One and Done Pick: Tyrell Hatton

Misguided though it may be, we are going
to now operate under the assumption that
players are fired-up to be the FGR pick.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Max Homa

Sleeper Pick: Zach Johnson

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Rory McIlroy	$10,600
Max Homa	$9,700
Viktor Hovland	$9,000
Matt Fitzpatrick	$8,800
Tyrell Hatton	$8,300
Keith Mitchell	$8,000
Rickie Fowler	$7,700
Tommy Fleetwood	$7,500
Byeong Hun An	$7,000
Zach Johnson	$6,500

This week's chart honors perhaps my favorite moment from Full Swing to date when Collin Morikawa stares down his sponsor's fashion guy who has just proposed a shirt/pant combo that would make Duffy Waldorf cringe. When pressed for why he did not approve, Morikawa did not blink and said, "I don't think it's my style . . . I think it's your style." Legendary.

                                  THE ADDIDAS PUKE GREEN PANTS

                                 HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

All kinds of good stuff in here this week but that Horschel - Conners - Kirk cluster really catches the eye. Good chance I regret excluding the whole lot of them from my top ten.

	DK Price	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Jon Rahm	$11,500	T17	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Scottie Scheffler	$10,900	1st	DNP	T15	DNP	DNP
Rory McIlroy	$10,600	T13	T10	T5	T6	1st
Max Homa	$9,700	T17	T10	T24	DNP	DNP
Justin Thomas	$9,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Colin Morikawa	$9,500	DNP	DNP	T9	DNP	T64
Will Zalatoris	$9,400	T38	T10	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$9,300	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$9,200	DNP	DNP	T24	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$9,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,000	T2	T49	T42	T40	DNP
Sungjae Im	$8,900	T20	T21	3rd	T3	DNP
Matt Fitzpatrick	$8,800	T9	T10	T9	2nd	MC
Cameron Young	$8,700	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$8,600	DNP	T4	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$8,500	DNP	T31	W/D	W/D	T22
Tom Kim	$8,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tyrell Hatton	$8,300	T2	T21	1st	T29	T69
Hideki Matsuyama	$8,200	T20	T18	T56	T33	T49
Sam Burns	$8,100	T9	MC	T36	T54	T49
Keith Mitchell	$8,000	T61	T43	T5	T6	DNP
Sahith Theegala	$7,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$7,900	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,800	T2	MC	T36	T50	T54
Corey Conners	$7,800	T11	3rd	MC	MC	DNP
Chris Kirk	$7,700	T5	T8	DNP	T15	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$7,700	T52	72nd	T18	T40	T14
Adam Scott	$7,600	T26	DNP	MC	DNP	T41
Justin Rose	$7,600	MC	W/D	MC	T63	3rd
Keegan Bradley	$7,600	T11	T10	T42	T46	T26
Adam Hadwin	$7,500	DNP	MC	DNP	T33	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$7,500	T26	W/D	MC	MC	MC
Tommy Fleetwood	$7,500	T20	T10	MC	T3	T26
Wyndham Clark	$7,500	DNP	MC	68th	DNP	DNP
Gary Woodland	$7,400	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Seamus Power	$7,400	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Montgomery	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucase Herbert	$7,300	T7	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Luke List	$7,300	MC	T63	DNP	T10	T7
Min Woo Lee	$7,300	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$7,300	T32	MC	T56	DNP	MC
Tom Hoge	$7,300	T32	MC	T15	DNP	T26
Aaron Wise	$7,200	T17	MC	DNP	T40	T41
Adrian Meronk	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$7,200	DNP	T49	MC	DNP	T36
Brian Harman	$7,200	DNP	DNP	MC	MC	T54
Ty Detry	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Beau Hossler	$7,100	T20	DNP	T24	T58	T66
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,100	T20	7th	T18	DNP	DNP
K.H. Lee	$7,100	T42	MC	T42	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$7,100	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Moore	$7,100	T42	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$7,000	DNP	T43	T56	T10	T14
Harris English	$7,000	DNP	T26	T9	68th	T22
Ryan Fox	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Ryder (Q)	$7,000	T62	DNP	MC	T33	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,000	MC	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Eric Cole	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Francesco Molinari	$6,900	DNP	MC	DNP	1st	T26
J.J. Spaun	$6,900	T52	DNP	DNP	T63	DNP
Justin Suh	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Patrick Rodgers	$6,900	T38	T57	T24	T46	T7
Taylor Pendrith	$6,900	T42	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Svensson	$6,800	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joel Dahmen	$6,800	DNP	MC	T5	MC	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Scott Stallings	$6,800	MC	DNP	DNP	T40	MC
Andrew Putnam	$6,700	MC	T4	MC	DNP	DNP
Brendon Todd	$6,700	60th	T57	T18	DNP	DNP
Cameron Davis	$6,700	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Riley	$6,600	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$6,600	DNP	T21	DQ	DNP	T26
Robby Shelton	$6,600	DNP	MC	T56	DNP	DNP
Hayden Buckley	$6,500	T68	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Kisner	$6,500	MC	T36	MC	T23	MC
Mackenzie Hughes	$6,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Zach Johnson	$6,500	T42	T49	DNP	T40	T26
Charley Hoffman	$6,300	DNP	T10	T13	MC	T14
Stewart Cink	$6,300	DNP	DNP	T47	MC	T58
Webb Simpson	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,100	T74	T66	MC	T10	T49
Troy Merritt	$6,000	T74	DNP	T24	DNP	DNP

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