Fantasy Golf: The Genesis Scottish Open Preview

We have no real unifying topic this week so let's check-in on the current state of the FGR's golf game. As some may recall, back in March I spent the equivalent of a small midwestern town's annual parade budget on a set of irons more suited to my current age, swing speed and rapidly diminishing interest in practice. They were promised to dramatically improve my ball-striking, lower my scores and boosts my testosterone or at least that's how I chose to hear the sales pitch. I think Doug Flutie was there. 

At the time of purchase, my index was 5.2 so a dramatic improvement for me would be to tick that down into the mid 4's. Sorry if that sounds like bragging but I can't tell the story without the facts. If 5.2 is an index you'd like to achieve, then take some lessons, buy a new putter, drink a glass of milk, have a sandwich . . . do some fucking thing. Anyway, through six rounds, here's what I had to show for my investment:

Thank you to the GHIN app for the perfect graphic representation of that middling stretch which I then followed with an 84, albeit on a day when I was questioning my love of the game more than a hungover assistant pro giving a junior clinic. I therefore still had a shred of optimism left going into my next round but when a solid start devolved into a front nine 42, the SteelFiber shaft on my 6-iron seemed destined for bifurcation. 

And then "it" happened and every golfer knows exactly what I'm talking about. I hit a good iron shot (par), then a smart iron shot (par), followed by another good iron shot (par). But then it really happened when I hit a shitty iron shot to six feet, made the putt and remembered the actual sales pitch . . . "these clubs will make your bad shots better." 

And with that I saw the light. Less trying. It's all about NOT trying to hit good shots. And as someone who visualizes every golf shot ending in a Shakespearean tragedy, that approach is perfect for me. 

I finished that nine even par. And then I backed that up with a 72 (on a par 70) which immediately dropped my index from 5.6 to 5.0. It all makes sense now. Keegan Bradley. Rickie Fowler. Not trying equals less caring which translates into more winning. Who knew?    

TWEET OF THE WEEK

I'm a big fan of the No Laying Up crew but there are currently a handful of clown car passenger politicians in America who will earn you a well-deserved mocking if you even remotely try to legitimize them. And they managed to find one of the biggest buffoons of that bunch to opine on the LIV/PGA merger. 

I'll save you the two minutes because so far it does not appear that anyone has made it worthwhile for Senator Cheese Curd to have a strong opinion on the deal but the PIF has yet to run into any obstacle in this process that it hasn't found the resources to navigate. If you know what I mean. And I think you do.     

Someone qualified like George Santos wasn't available? At least he's a former U.S. Amateur champion.

— Ronny Elliott (@FantasyGolfRep) July 10, 2023

GOLF ANALYSIS

Well we rode the dream of a trifecta deep into Sunday afternoon as Adam Schenk started the final day one shot out of the lead only to stop for gas and have the five year old in the passenger seat shift the car into neutral as his dad and the attendant watched it start to slowly roll backwards out of the gas station (yes that was me . . . it was a different time). He shot 36 on a front nine that yielded a 28 and a 29 to Sepp Straka and Ludvig Aberg respectively. Schenk did recover with a strong back nine which means that the FGR is still on a ridiculous run of 1st, 1st and T4. Oh yeah. They caught the car before I backed it into traffic. Don't tell mom.

Now we head to Scotland for two weeks of early morning golf which, as you get older and start randomly waking-up at 4:45 a.m. anyway, becomes more appealing than west coast golf. It's technically a PGA Tour event but feels less like one than even the Canadian Open so it feels like a ripe opportunity for Tommy Fleetwood to finally get his first win. It doesn't hurt that he finished T4 here last year and runner-up in 2020.

It's either going to be him or Matt Fitzpatrick (oh look who's getting all cocky). Really no one else seems to make sense and that includes defending champion Xander Schauffele who I still have available and I'm not using next week either because he owns the Tour Championship. I guess you could go with Patrick Cantlay if that's your ZZZZZzzzzz . . .

And we just can't quit Justin Thomas even as he's missed three of his last four cuts and plummeted to 20th in the world. Maybe a couple weeks of cavorting around London with Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler on Rolex's dime and a goofy shot maker's course is what he needs to get back on track. Or maybe he just needs to stop focusing so much on trying to hit good shots. I know I'm onto something. JT, call me. 

One and Done Pick: Tommy Fleetwood

Fairway Jesus shall lead us.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Matt Fitzpatrick

Sleeper Pick: Padraig Harrington 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Patrick Cantlay	$10,200
Matt Fitzpatrick	$9,800
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,400
Justin Thomas	$8,300
Ludvig Aberg	$8,200
Lucas Herbert	$7,700
Thomas Detry	$7,500
Doug Ghim	$7,500
Padraig Harrington	$7,100
Mat Wallace	$6,900

You know who never needs legitimizing? Oliver Platt. I love it every time he walks onto the screen so I hope he's a prominent player in episode 6 of The Bear which I will watch tonight hoping that it lives up to even half the hype (he was . . . and it did).

                                            THE HARRY REX VONNER

                                    HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

This is only the second year for the fully loaded field at The Renaissance Club so the results from 2018-2021 are a wee bit thin but there's still some solid information to be gleaned. Most notably omitted from the above analysis would be 2020 winner Aaron Rai who also has a T9 in 2018 (this is one of those FGR throwaway comments that you should interpret as IGNORE THIS DUMBASS AND PICK AARON RAI!!!).

	DK Price	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Scottie Scheffler	$11,600	MC	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rory McIlroy	$10,900	DNP	MC	DNP	T34	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$10,400	1st	T10	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$10,200	T4	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Fitzpatrick	$9,800	T6	T2	T42	T14	T14
Viktor Hovland	$9,700	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tyrell Hatton	$9,600	T24	T18	DNP	T14	T9
Rickie Fowler	$9,500	T47	DNP	DNP	MC	T6
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,400	T4	T26	2nd	DNP	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$9,300	T10	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$9,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$9,000	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Min Woo Lee	$8,900	MC	1st	T30	DNP	T30
Max Homa	$8,800	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Rose	$8,700	T69	DNP	DNP	DNP	T9
Sungjae Im	$8,600	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Kim	$8,500	3rd	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$8,400	T66	T18	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Thomas	$8,300	MC	T8	DNP	T9	DNP
Ludvig Aberg	$8,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott	$8,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$8,000	T61	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$7,900	T10	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$7,800	MC	T35	1st	MC	T9
Lucas Herbert	$7,700	MC	T4	T4	DNP	T4
Rasmus Hojgaard	$7,700	T10	MC	T48	DNP	T48
Brian Harman	$7,600	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Gary Woodland	$7,600	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sahith Theegala	$7,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Fox	$7,500	T47	T44	MC	MC	T6
Seamus Power	$7,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$7,500	T10	T2	T30	T43	T64
Doug Ghim	$7,500	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$7,400	2nd	MC	DNP	T43	DNP
Eric Cole	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cam Davis	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$7,200	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,200	T16	T44	DNP	T34	T42
Keith Mitchell	$7,200	T36	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
K.H. Lee	$7,100	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$7,100	T55	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Victor Perez	$7,100	MC	T59	T14	T28	T14
Padraig Harrington	$7,100	MC	T18	T9	MC	MC
Brandon Wu	$7,100	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Erik van Rooyen	$7,000	MC	DNP	T6	T14	MC
J.T. Poston	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$6,900	MC	T54	DNP	DNP	DNP
C.T. Pan	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Davis Riley	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Wallace	$6,900	MC	T26	T30	T14	MC
Tom Hoge	$6,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mackenzie Hughes	$6,800	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Montgomery	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eddie Pepperell	$6,800	DNP	MC	T9	T43	2nd
Harry Hall	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Francesco Molinari	$6,500	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP

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