Fantasy Golf: The American Express Preview

Everyone usually loves a redemption story (see Chris Kirk) but Grayson Murray's win on Sunday elicited more nausea than anything else for some of us. Eight months sober and a miraculous discovery of faith is a good start but it doesn't offset years of being a creep on and off the course. I'm not going to air the man's dirty laundry here because it's freely available for anyone who might be interested and frankly he's not worth the words but damn dude. Let's just say he makes Patrick Reed look like a cross between Rickie Fowler and Fred Couples. 

Joel Beall of Golf Digest does a pretty good job of acknowledging Murray's turnaround while not letting him off the hook by basically saying "let's wait and see." Judging by the way he completely stiffed Keegan Bradley on the post-playoff handshake, I think I know where this is headed. When a clearly chaffed Bradley went out of his way to track him down at the edge of the green (which makes him a way better man than me), he offered Grayson nothing more than a frigid fist bump and a look that could have said a lot of things but "I'm happy for you" sure as hell wasn't one of them.      

TWEET OF THE WEEK

My fellow galivanting lawyer Clue Heywood got himself caught-up in some New Orleans reverie and woke-up to a bad decision with which I am all too familiar. Only comfort in this situation is that at least you didn't finish it. Or try to brush your teeth with it.  

In retrospect, the “to-go cup rye old fashioned” for the way home last night wasn’t the best of ideas, nor was it a welcome smell this morning. 2 stars. pic.twitter.com/EuiwvgFJPb

— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) January 12, 2024

GOLF ANALYSIS

Not too shabby a week considering the typical randomness of the Sony Open leaderboard. Pick of the week, Byeong Hun An managed to be both a runner-up and a huge disappointment after not even scaring the hole with his four foot birdie putt in overtime. Funny how Grayson had no problem finding him for a handshake after that gift (ok I'll stop . . . for now).  

We've got another tricky one this week. The last five winners here are Jon Rahm, Hudson Swafford, Si Woo Kim, Andrew Landry and Adam Long. Other than their shared profession, I think the only thing those five guys have in common is that none of them have ever been in my kitchen. 

It's too risky to use a guy like Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele. Sungjae Im is intriguing but this feels like a week to get a bit more creative so I'm going with J.T. Poston who screams creativity and has two top tens here over the last five years. He also closed last week with a final round 61 so he's coming-in HOT! Beyond that, we're pretty much just going with guys we'd like to see do well as an antidote to last week (ok, now I'm done). 

One and Done Pick: J.T. Poston

Let's be honest. You don't even know
who J.T. Poston is. I mean this is
a picture of J.J. Spaun. (Or is it?)

Other Guy I'd Pick: Adam Hadwin

Sleeper Pick: Patton Kizzire 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Scottie Scheffler	$11,400
Sungjae Im	$10,100
Rickie Fowler	$9,300
J.T. Poston	$9,100
Eric Cole	$8,800
Adam Hadwin	$8,300
Taylor Montgomery	$8,100
Tom Hoge	$7,600
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,200
Patton Kizzire	$7,000

In hindsight, were there two safer bets in the history of the NFL than: (1) a team from Miami with a fragile quarterback getting a beatdown in -4 degree weather, and (2) Mike McCarthy losing a pressure playoff game at home against the team he used to coach? Nope. 

                                 THE "HOW 'BOUT THEM COWBOYS!!!"

                                  HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

Hard to ignore Patrick Cantlay's record here but, as noted above, I need a week off from people who annoy the shit out of me. Not fully captured below is Adam Hadwin's run from 2016-19 of T6, 2nd, T3 and T2. Also not too shabby. 

	DK Price	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Scottie Scheffler	$11,400	T11	T25	MC	3rd	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$10,900	T3	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$10,800	T26	9th	2nd	DNP	T9
Sungjae Im	$10,100	T18	T11	T12	T10	T12
Tom Kim	$9,900	T6	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Justin Thomas	$9,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$9,600	T18	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP
Min Woo Lee	$9,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$9,400	T11	DNP	MC	T6	T18
Tony Finau	$9,300	T16	T40	4th	T14	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$9,200	T54	MC	T21	T10	DNP
J.T. Poston	$9,100	T6	T25	MC	T37	T7
Chris Kirk	$9,000	T3	MC	T16	DNP	MC
Wyndham Clark	$8,900	T50	13th	T54	MC	T18
Eric Cole	$8,800	T36	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$8,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$8,600	T22	T11	1st	W/D	T40
Cam Davis	$8,400	MC	DNP	DNP	T29	T28
Adam Hadwin	$8,300	T18	T25	T32	DNP	T2
Akshay Bhatia	$8,200	DNP	DNP	MC	MC	DNP
Taylor Montgomery	$8,100	5th	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Andrew Putnam	$8,000	T36	T14	T21	T10	T34
Daniel Berger	$8,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	T29	T12
Stephen Jaeger	$7,900	T36	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Will Zalatoris	$7,900	T36	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$7,800	DNP	MC	T40	T14	DNP
Beau Hossler	$7,800	T50	DNP	MC	MC	MC
Taylor Pendrith	$7,800	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$7,700	MC	T59	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$7,700	T22	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Schenk	$7,600	MC	MC	T37	T14	T67
Davis Thompson	$7,600	2nd	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$7,600	T26	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$7,600	T32	2nd	MC	T6	MC
Erik Van Rooyen	$7,500	T6	DNP	T56	DNP	DNP
Matt Kuchar	$7,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$7,500	MC	T33	T47	MC	T40
Ben Griffin	$7,400	T32	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Suh	$7,400	T54	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
K.H. Lee	$7,400	MC	T63	T32	T21	MC
Matt Wallace	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$7,300	T22	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$7,300	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brandon Wu	$7,300	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,300	T11	T40	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nicolas Lindheim	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Mark Hubbard	$7,200	MC	DNP	MC	T43	DNP
Sam Ryder	$7,200	MC	T49	T47	T29	T40
Chesson Hadley	$7,100	MC	MC	MC	T29	MC
Grayson Murray	$7,100	DNP	DNP	MC	T10	MC
Lee Hodges	$7,100	MC	T3	DNP	DNP	DNP
Michael Kim	$7,100	MC	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Ryan Palmer	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Doug Ghim	$7,000	MC	T59	T5	MC	DNP
Greyson Sigg	$7,000	MC	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patton Kizzire	$7,000	T11	T22	53rd	MC	MC
Cameron Champ	$6,900	DNP	MC	MC	T21	DNP
Carl Yuan	$6,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Maverick McNealy	$6,900	DNP	DNP	71st	T37	DNP
Ryan Moore	$6,900	MC	MC	MC	T6	DNP
Vince Whaley	$6,900	DNP	T40	MC	T29	DNP
Will Gordon	$6,900	MC	DNP	T64	DNP	DNP
Robert Macintyre	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Charley Hoffman	$6,700	MC	DNP	W/D	T61	MC
Mathew NeSmith	$6,700	MC	MC	MC	T17	DNP
Scott Stallings	$6,700	DNP	MC	MC	T55	MC
Seamus Power	$6,700	DNP	T14	DNP	DNP	MC
Adam Long	$6,600	MC	MC	69th	MC	1st
Davis Riley	$6,600	T65	T59	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joel Dahmen	$6,600	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Lanto Griffin	$6,600	DNP	T3	MC	DNP	DNP
Nate Lashley	$6,600	MC	MC	MC	W/D	T12
David Lipsky	$6,400	MC	T14	DNP	DNP	DNP

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