Fantasy Golf: The Cognizant Classic Preview

I had the opportunity to go see Nate Bargatze last week and, as you would expect, I have thoughts. As a preliminary matter, I will say that there are few things more cathartic than being in a room full of people who are laughing. If you've never been to your local comedy club, do yourself a favor and go, even if it has a ridiculous off-putting name like Magooby's Joke House. And please don't forget to tip your waitresses and try the veal. Thanks I'll be here all week.

Back to the show:

• Nate performed at Capital One Arena which was built to host NBA games, monster truck rallies and Disney on Ice . . . not comedy shows. The stage was in the middle of the floor and we had great seats but that still means you spend roughly 75% of the show looking at the back or side of a guy meandering in a circle. Inevitably you start watching the overhead screen so when he breaks into the bit about "books" that you just watched him do on SNL, it's basically just craning your neck to watch a TV in the sky in a room full of 20,000 people. Very intimate. 

• There was a host who was great and then three additional warm-up acts (which was two too many) who all attempted to bring a southern flavor which apparently means finding every conceivable way to make fun of the south for being racist. I guess they think they're being self-deprecating and appealing by doing it in a southern accent. Kind of like when I make fun of country club douche bags . . . (wait a minute).

• Nate seemed tired. Maybe it's a product of doing the same act day after day for months on end in front of an amorphous mob of people who he just had to hear laughing at a guy making Joe Biden is old jokes ('HOW OLD IS HE?!?"). Even Kenny Bania winced at that one. I'm sure at some point Nate's like "you people will pretty much laugh at anything so what's the point?" I'd watch that bit.   

TWEET OF THE WEEK

So in case you missed it, Talor Gooch opened his mouth again which is always a gift to this website. His latest gem went as follows: "If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [career] grand slam [at Augusta] without some of the best players in the world, there's just going to be an asterisk." Suffice it to say this unleashed a torrent of humor on social media, some good . . . most bad, but maybe the best response came from someone who knows how to manipulate a Wikipedia page. 

Whoever did this to Talor Gooch's Wikipedia page, I can't. 😂 pic.twitter.com/W2QnsC5kKe

— Kevin Casey (@KevinCaseyGC) February 27, 2024

GOLF ANALYSIS

The Cognizant Classic f/k/a The Honda Classic is a quintessential middle class PGA Tour event. Since they started playing The Champion Course at PGA National in 2007, winners have ranged from Rory McIlroy (2012), Justin Thomas (2018) and Adam Scott (2016) to Michael Thompson (2013), Rory Sabbatini (2011) and Matt Jones (2021). That folks is what we here at the FGR like to call the gamut.

Rory is back as the prohibitive favorite over a decent field that includes solid former champions like Chris Kirk, Russell Henley and Sungjae Im. However, none of the top guys are coming-in on anything that could be described as a tear and this event has a tendency to stack the top five of the leaderboard with a bunch randos so we're going to take the opportunity to think outside the box by picking Eric Cole. (We thought this was a unique perspective until everyone else showed-up wearing the same outfit). 

There is what appears to be a ton of value this week thanks to Rory throwing things out of whack. Cole and Russell Henley are both +2500 to win. Billy Horschel and Lee Hodges at +1000 to finish top ten got our attention as did Dylan Wu at +500 to finish top twenty. And anytime you can get Homeless Hubbs for $7,500 on DraftKings, you gotta build a team around him. 

    

One and Done Pick: Eric Cole

Welcome to the FGR Eric. Your look of
circumspection is welcome and warranted.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Byeong Hun An

Sleeper Pick: Lee Hodges

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Russell Henley	$10,200
Eric Cole	$9,900
Chris Kirk	$9,400
Sepp Straka	$8,600
Beau Hossler	$8,300
Luke List	$8,100
Mark Hubbard	$7,500
Billy Horschel	$7,000
Lee Hodges	$6,500
Dylan Wu	$6,100

I've got nothing for this week's chart. Frankly, it's a weird wet and humid February morning here in lovely downtown Towson and I'm one minor life obstacle away from throwing this computer through the window so let's wrap it up before that happens.

                             HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

	DK Price	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Rory McIlroy	$12,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Young	$10,700	DNP	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Fitzpatrick	$10,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$10,200	DNP	DNP	T3	T8	T20
Tom Kim	$10,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eric Cole	$9,900	2nd	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
J.T. Poston	$9,800	T63	T42	MC	T35	T36
Sungjae Im	$9,700	T42	MC	T8	1st	T51
Min Woo Lee	$9,600	T26	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$9,500	T21	DNP	MC	T4	T36
Chris Kirk	$9,400	1st	T7	T25	MC	MC
Shane Lowry	$9,300	T5	2nd	T36	T21	DNP
Daniel Berger	$9,200	DNP	4th	DNP	T4	T36
Corey Conners	$9,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$9,000	DNP	T9	T53	MC	1st
Denny McCarthy	$8,900	MC	T30	T3	MC	MC
Stephan Jaeger	$8,800	T14	T48	DNP	DNP	T78
Matthieu Pavon	$8,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$8,600	T5	1st	T33	T27	MC
Rasmus Hojgaard	$8,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jake Knapp	$8,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Beau Hossler	$8,300	DNP	T16	T60	T38	DNP
Alex Noren	$8,200	DNP	T5	T46	DNP	MC
Luke List	$8,100	DNP	DNP	MC	MC	MC
Justin Rose	$8,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Tom Hoge	$7,900	DNP	DNP	MC	MC	MC
Taylor Pendrith	$7,800	T42	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Svensson	$7,700	T49	T9	DNP	DNP	T59
Thor Olesen	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brendon Todd	$7,600	DNP	T48	DNP	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,600	T42	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mark Hubbard	$7,500	T42	15th	T46	T11	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$7,500	DNP	T42	T65	MC	T2
Erik Van Rooyen	$7,400	MC	DNP	T60	MC	DNP
Ryan Fox	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryo Hisatune	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Montgomery	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Schenk	$7,200	T42	MC	T36	MC	T30
Matt Wallace	$7,200	T29	DNP	MC	MC	T20
Lucas Glover	$7,100	DNP	T30	T19	MC	T4
Maverick McNealy	$7,100	DNP	DNP	MC	T11	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,000	T42	T16	DNP	T42	T16
Doug Ghim	$7,000	DNP	MC	MC	MC	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$6,900	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$6,900	W/D	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$6,800	T21	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Thompson	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Suh	$6,800	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$6,700	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Carson Young	$6,700	T29	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chesson Hadley	$6,700	T29	DNP	MC	MC	T20
Brandon Wu	$6,600	T14	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Jhonattan Vegas	$6,600	T21	T42	T30	T27	T16
Gary Woodland	$6,500	DNP	T5	DNP	T8	T36
Lee Hodges	$6,500	T14	T9	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Kuchar	$6,300	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Hardy	$6,200	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Champ	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Dylan Wu	$6,100	T10	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tyler Duncan	$6,100	3rd	DNP	MC	MC	T71
Nick Dunlap	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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