Fantasy Golf: The Tour Championship Preview

Last week I played golf with my 19 year old son and two of his friends and it's probably the closest I've come to getting my ass kicked during a mugging in a dark alley (not really but for the sake of this story we'll go with it). Because I believe these are still the confidence building years and I interpreted the basketball scene from The Great Santini as more of a "how not to parent" guide, I let my son play as an 18 handicap. This despite the fact that he spends more time at the range than Vijay Singh in his prime and hits it about as far . . . when he hits it. 

One of the other sandbaggers also got the gift of 18 shots but it was the kid who claimed to be a 14 who was the menace. Look, we all know that the 12-16 handicaps can be the most diabolical because they have an uncanny knack of shooting 78's several times a year which is fine except the odds of it are something like 6,000 to 1. While he didn't shoot 78, he did have about 9 pars and a birdie and, under the ridiculous format I agreed to, that was plenty.

Being ever the entitled private school opportunists, the boys proposed that the three of them play me and my usually reliable 6 handicap three against one straight-up. When I started bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey, it was over faster than Tyson-Spinks and twice as ugly. In related news, I've officially hit that tipping point of the season where hitting a golf ball no longer fascinates me. It got so bad that I traded putters with my son and now mine is in a Memphis dorm room. Frankly, we're both looking forward to the time apart.     

TWEET OF THE WEEK

If you asked me to depict my sense of humor in cartoon form . . . 

In a bookstore in upstate New York I flipped open a volume of cartoons rejected as too dark. Landed on this… pic.twitter.com/QejRsWvz4m

— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) August 19, 2023

GOLF ANALYSIS

Let the stupid commence. I mean seriously, are we still doing this shit? Maybe the blessed end to this playoff format will rise from the shit pile of the PGA/LIV mash-up but until then, we'll keep trying to gamble on it.

I usually save Xander Schauffele for this week and the reasons are fairly obvious as the 2017 champion has finished top 5 here the last four years and never worse than a T7. It sucks that he's starting seven shots back but my other options are Lucas Glover and Wyndham Clark so this ain't rocket surgery. 

From a 6-player pick standpoint, the fundamental question is whether anyone can catch Scottie Scheffler and I think the answer is "yes." Last year twelve players would've beaten him without the handicap including Tom Hoge and J.T. Poston. I know that's a big "would've" but I have to believe that someone from the chasing posse of Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa are going to make a move on him. My money is literally on McIlroy and Cantlay. 

From there we just try to identify the best values in light of the starting positions. Guys like Collin Morikawa and Tyrrell Hatton seem obvious while Russell Henley has been on an underrated heater that has made him a dark horse Ryder Cup pick. At least we have that to look forward to after this dog and pony show.

One and Done Pick: Xander Schauffele

Welcome to the new and improved
FGR buddy. Enjoy all the winning.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Rory McIlroy 

Sleeper Pick: Tyrrell Hatton 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Rory McIlroy	$13,000
Patrick Cantlay	$10,800
Xander Schauffele	$10,500
Rickie Fowler	$9,000
Sungjae Im	$8,500
Russell Henley	$8,300
Collin Morikawa	$7,700
Tyrrell Hatton	$6,900
Sam Burns	$6,100
Adam Schenk	$5,200

This week we honor the great Robbie Robertson. I know music documentaries can be a tough sell but, if you want one of the best to throw-on in the background while folding your laundry or shucking corn or whatever the fuck you do, I'd highly recommend The Last Waltz directed by Martin Scorsese. I can assure you that it will move from the background to the foreground pretty quickly. 

                                       THE VIRGIL KANE MEMORIAL

                                 HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

We've got a lot of fresh faces this year and you know someone from that bottom four is going to over-perform. I threw a blind dart and it landed on Adam Schenk. It was either him or Taylor Moore but, at this point, my faith in "Taylors" is still limited to Swift and ham. 

	DK Price	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Scottie Scheffler	$13,400	T2	T22	5th	DNP	DNP
Rory McIlroy	$13,000	1st	T14	T8	1st	T7
Viktor Hovland	$12,500	T15	T5	T20	DNP	DNP
Jon Rahm	$11,600	T15	2nd	4th	T12	T11
Max Homa	$10,900	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$10,800	T7	1st	DNP	T21	T21
Xander Schauffele	$10,500	4th	T5	T2	2nd	T7
Matt Fitzpatrick	$10,000	T15	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$9,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	T29	DNP
Brian Harman	$9,500	T21	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$9,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$9,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	T19	T7
T. Fleetwood	$8,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	T16	T11
Sungjae Im	$8,500	T2	T20	T11	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$8,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$8,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T26
Corey Conners	$7,900	26th	T22	DNP	T26	DNP
Tom Kim	$7,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$7,700	T21	T26	6th	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	18th
Si Woo Kim	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tyrrell Hatton	$6,900	DNP	DNP	7th	DNP	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$6,700	T13	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Moore	$6,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$6,100	24th	T18	DNP	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$5,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$5,400	T7	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Schenk	$5,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$5,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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