Fantasy Golf: The Scottish Open Preview

Thanks to the Davis Thompson win which I, and I alone, predicted, that's $2.5M+ in earnings over the past three weeks as I continue to claw my way back up the leaderboard after the U.S. Open debacle. Fittingly the Tour now moves to Scotland which was the home of legendary runner Eric Liddell who was immortalized in Chariots of Fire (one of the five greatest sports movies of all-time)* after he declined to run the 100M on the Sabbath during the 1924 Olympics and then stuck it to everyone by winning the 400M. 

In one epic scene from a movie that had too many to count, Liddell gets knocked down by a Frenchman only to get back-up and run him down D.K. Metcalf style. I feel similarly inspired this season. As he would later say explain when the fullness of his faith was being questioned, "I believe God made me for a purpose . . . but he also made me good at picking golfers. And when I do, I feel his pleasure." Weird that he didn't make it about running but that's the quote.  

TWEET OF THE WEEK

This tweet definitely speaks for me and I'm guessing for many of my fellow Americans who have literally spent thousands of hours and dollars to watch our kids play soccer. I was pretty sure that we had a good run in the World Cup back in the 90's and it turns-out that, not only did we make it out of the group stage, we then played eventual champion Brazil pretty tough before losing 1-0. Now we can't even beat the isthmus of Panama which is basically more of a neighborhood cut through than a country and has a smaller population than Kentucky.  

There really isn't any mystery about why we're not getting better. Our player development approach consists of taking a game that the great players learn by playing for fun and turning it into yet another opportunity for American parents to micromanage and live vicariously through yelling. Lots and lots of yelling. About a sport they don't understand as evidenced by the oohs and ahhs when a ball is kicked very far. Unfortunately, it has been declared verboten for me to continue saying "stop cheering for turnovers" so I now I just stand off by myself, seething and muttering.       

I just want the USMNT 🇺🇸 to get a good coach so I can know if the players actually suck or not.

— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) July 3, 2024

GOLF ANALYSIS

Some of the picks seem are so obvious this week that I'm sensing a trap. With no Scottie Scheffler in the equation, Rory McIroy and Xander Schauffele are a coin-flip for the top spot and then you have a slew of fine prospects that extend from the favorites down through some of the longer shots. 

Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Kim are the obvious picks from the second level based on past performance and current form but you would get little more than a half-hearted argument from me if you took a strong stance on behalf of Aaron Rai, Robert MacIntyre or even Thomas Detry. They've all either won this thing or finished runner-up and have demonstrated the ability to contend if not win over the last few weeks.

To be honest, it's been so fucking hot around here lately that you could take a strong stance in favor of something as ridiculous as Coldplay or Pickleball and I wouldn't put up much of a fight. In an act of total defiance, I carried my bag for 18 holes in the middle of a 95 degree day last week because fuck him that's why. Not exactly sure who I'm so angry at these days but it felt really good to stick it to him and suffer some minor heat stroke in the process.  

One and Done Pick: Tommy Fleetwood 

I will be rooting for Fairway Jesus
as hard as I will be rooting against 
his country's insufferable soccer team.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Tom Kim

Sleeper Pick: Matthieu Pavon

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Xander Schauffele	$11,700
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,900
Tom Kim	$9,500
Corey Conners	$8,900
Aaron Rai	$8,300
Robert MacIntyre	$7,800
Byeong Hun An	$7,600
C. Bezuidnehout	$7,500
Thomas Detry	$7,200
Matthieu Pavon	$6,900

At some point in the late 80's I got ahold of a copy of Martin Mull's The History of White People in America was like "holy shit other people out there actually think this way too?" Suffice it to say the man spoke to me. 

And of course he contributed to one of the most iconic scenes of that decade's rich movie history . . . "yeah 220, 221, whatever it takes." RIP Marty and thanks for adding yet another douchebag "Ron" to the almost limitless movie inventory of them.

                                   THE RON RICHARDSON MEMORIAL

                                  HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

For those who don't choose to waste time and mental resources keeping-up with how golf tours try to get golfers to come play their tournaments, I'll tell you that in 2022 the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour started co-sanctioning this event to improve the field. So now we've replaced a bunch of random Italian guys you've never heard of with the likes of Wyndham Clark, Denny McCarthy and Harris English (speaking of white people). It's evolved in much the same as television did when Mad Men took over for The Sopranos.

	DK Price	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Rory McIlroy	$11,900	1st	DNP	MC	DNP	T34
Xander Schauffele	$11,700	T42	1st	T10	DNP	DNP
Ludvig Aberg	$10,500	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$10,300	DNP	MC	T71	DNP	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,900	T6	T4	T26	2nd	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,700	T25	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Kim	$9,500	T6	3rd	DNP	DNP	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,400	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Min Woo Lee	$9,200	T35	MC	1st	T30	DNP
Matt Fitzpatrick	$9,000	MC	T6	T2	T42	T14
Corey Conners	$8,900	T19	T61	MC	DNP	DNP
Justin Thomas	$8,800	T60	MC	T8	DNP	T9
Brian Harman	$8,600	T12	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sungjae Im	$8,500	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$8,300	MC	MC	T35	1st	MC
Sahith Theegala	$8,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$8,100	T25	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$8,000	MC	T10	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Thompson	$7,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Robert Macintyre	$7,800	2nd	MC	T18	T14	MC
Max Homa	$7,700	T12	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$7,600	T3	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,600	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,500	MC	T16	T44	MC	T34
Si Woo Kim	$7,500	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	MC
Alex Noren	$7,400	MC	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott	$7,300	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$7,300	MC	T36	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,200	T65	MC	T54	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$7,200	T42	T10	T2	T30	T43
Ryan Fox	$7,100	T12	T47	T44	MC	MC
Tom Hoge	$7,100	T19	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Erik Van Rooyen	$7,000	T68	MC	DNP	T6	T14
Matthieu Pavon	$6,900	MC	T36	T12	55th	MC
Will Zalatoris	$6,900	DNP	MC	T26	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$6,800	DNP	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nicolai Hojgaard	$6,800	T6	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rasmus Hojgaard	$6,800	MC	T10	MC	T48	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$6,700	T54	2nd	MC	DNP	T43
Matt Wallace	$6,700	T42	MC	T26	T30	T14
B. Wiesberger	$6,600	DNP	DNP	T26	T48	1st
Ben Griffin	$6,600	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$6,500	T65	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Justin Rose	$6,500	MC	T69	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eric Cole	$6,400	T60	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$6,400	T42	T47	DNP	DNP	MC
Seamus Power	$6,400	W/D	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cam Davis	$6,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,200	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brendon Todd	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mackenzie Hughes	$6,100	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Andrew Putnam	$6,000	T42	DNP	DNP	DNP	T4
Nick Taylor	$5,900	T19	T55	DNP	DNP	DNP

Footnote

* And wouldn't you like to know the other four. One day my friends. One day.

Email the Fantasy Golf Report here.