Fantasy Golf: The FedEx St. Jude Championship Preview

Generally a tour caddie gets paid 5% of a player's winnings and that usually goes-up to 10% for a win. When a caddie gleefully hugs his boss after a win, there is no doubt that it comes from a place of shared joy but you'd be kidding yourself if you don't think it also comes from the payday which ranges from about $100K - $400K depending on the tournament. To give that some context, Davis Riley's caddie he showed-up at the Charles Schwab Challenge with about $17,650 in his pocket for five months worth of work. That week he made $163,800. Kind of a game changer, especially if you're into exotic pursuits like paying your mortgage and buying food.  

Cut to November of 2018 and Matt Kuchar (who currently stands 12th in career earnings with $59,932,212) finds himself in need of a substitute caddie for the Mayakoba Classic so he hired local jock David Giral Ortiz and apparently some type of compensation was arranged but the details on that are more than a bit sketchy. Kooooch, as people used to affectionally call him, went on to the win the tournament which earned him $1,296,000. He then paid Ortiz $5,000 for his services.

At some point someone realized that maybe that wasn't the best P.R. move so they offered Ortiz another $15,000 but he told them to fuck off. He wanted $50,000 which was less than half of what a tour caddie would've been paid. Kuchar and his team refused until the story hit social media. Then some small amount of shame and a major dose of sponsor pressure facilitated the $50,000 payment and the story went away but the truth about Kuchar had been revealed and solidified. He's a dick.

A year later when he was back in Mexico to defend his title he told ESPN writer Bob Harig how "that was a tough thing on me and my family." He went so far as to invoke the disappointment that his grandmother expressed in him. Hey dipshit, Mee Maw speaks for all of us. 

TWEET OF THE WEEK

The reason I bring it up is that our boy was back at it on Sunday when he was playing in the final group as darkness began to fall. He was standing on the 18th tee tied for 12th and out of any playoff contention. In what appeared to be an effort to finish the round, he hit his tee shot into the trees while the group in front of him was still in the fairway and Aaron Rai was about to hit his second shot. His two playing partners then waited for the fairway to clear (as is customary) before hitting their tee shots. One of those players was Max Greyserman who had just blown a four shot lead but was just one shot back at that point. I'm sure he was psyched that Kuch chose that particular moment to start doing weird shit. 

The players in the final group were given the option to stop and finish on Monday but Greyserman and the third member, Chad Ramey, decided to finish their rounds you know, so everyone could go home because the tournament was over. But not Matt for whom it was suddenly getting dark, too dark to see (yes that's a song lyric challenge). He decided to mark his ball and postpone the official completion of the tournament until Monday so ONE GUY could come back and hit an iron, a chip and a putt. As is always the case, when given the opportunity, the dick is gonna go with the dick move. 

Matt Kuchar opening Twitter back at the rental house tn pic.twitter.com/P4Tqz60KgM

— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) August 12, 2024

GOLF ANALYSIS

I actually made-up about $8K of ground on the leader of my one and done pool despite Sungjae Im's listless T41 but the son of a bitch who was in 4th place picked Aaron Rai and leap-frogged into the top spot. He doesn't even have a real goddamn team name. It's just his stupid last name. Anyway, now I'm $320K out of the lead with two tournaments to play. (We don't count the Tour Championship because it's stupid). 

Obviously at this point in the season my options have dwindled so my three main prospects are Corey Conners, Russell Henley and Billy Horschel with some passing consideration also paid to Hideki Matsuyama and Aaron Rai. Conners, Henley and Horschel all come into the week playing solid golf and they've each showed an affinity for a golf course that can generously be described as less than spectacular.   

As of now, I'm settling on Henley because, using NFL draft speak, it feels like he has the most upside potential. He's risen to 14th in the World Golf Rankings and is coming-off back to back top tens in majors. I need a win and he feels like the guy who can deliver it.  

If I could pick anyone, it would be Collin Morikawa. He's been the forgotten man this year and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he took down the FedEx Cup as a preview for a big 2025. 

Beyond that, Davis Thompson and Akshay Bhatia are ridiculously good values for guys who have won tournaments and been solid all year. And Justin Thomas is worth a flyer on this course even though he seems to have fallen back into "what the fuck is wrong with Justin Thomas?!?!" mode.  

One and Done Pick: Russell Henley

COME ON RUSSELL. LET'S
JUST DO THE DAMN THING!!!

Other Guy I'd Pick: Collin Morikawa

Sleeper Pick: Cam Davis 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Collin Morikawa	$10,000
Patrick Cantlay	$9,700
Corey Conners	$9,100
Russell Henley	$9,000
Billy Horschel	$8,500
Justin Thomas	$8,400
Davis Thompson	$7,400
Akshay Bhatia	$7,300
Cam Davis	$6,800
Ben Griffin	$6,600

In addition to being one of golf's true and rare originals, Chi Chi Rodrguez also inspired this epic WKRP in Cincinnati moment. RIP Chi Chi.  

                                 THE CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ MEMORIAL

                                 HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

Note that this is just the third year that TPC Southwind is being used as a FedEx Cup playoff venue. Previous past results below are from the WGC Invitational which was played on this course from 2019-2021. As usual, I'm here to fix what the PGA Tour website gets wrong. 

	DK Price	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Scottie Scheffler	$12,400	T31	MC	14th	T15	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$11,400	T24	T57	T46	T6	T27
Rory McIlroy	$11,100	T3	MC	T12	T47	T4
Ludvig Aberg	$10,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$10,000	T13	T5	T26	T20	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,800	T3	DNP	T46	T35	T4
Patrick Cantlay	$9,700	2nd	T57	T23	T35	T12
Viktor Hovland	$9,500	T13	T20	T36	T59	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,300	T16	DNP	T2	T20	T43
Corey Conners	$9,100	T6	T28	T36	T30	T27
Russell Henley	$9,000	T6	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Kim	$8,900	T24	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$8,800	64th	T5	T34	T65	T27
Sungjae Im	$8,700	T6	12th	T46	T35	DNP
Sahith Theegala	$8,600	T13	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$8,500	DNP	MC	T17	T25	T9
Justin Thomas	$8,400	DNP	T13	T26	1st	T12
Sam Burns	$8,300	T52	T20	T2	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$8,200	T49	T51	T26	DNP	T12
Cameron Young	$8,100	T31	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$8,000	DNP	T46	T23	T6	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$7,900	T66	T28	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$7,800	T66	T5	T57	T6	T4
Jordan Spieth	$7,700	T6	MC	T12	T30	T12
Adam Scott	$7,700	DNP	T5	T36	DNP	T40
Brian Harman	$7,600	T31	T3	T36	DNP	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$7,600	T37	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,500	T52	MC	DNP	T6	T40
Max Homa	$7,500	T6	T42	T51	T52	T61
Sepp Straka	$7,400	63rd	2nd	MC	DNP	DNP
Davis Thompson	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,300	DNP	T64	DNP	T20	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$7,200	T16	T42	65th	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$7,200	DNP	W/D	DNP	DNP	T12
Taylor Pendrith	$7,100	DNP	68th	DNP	DNP	DNP
Robert Macintyre	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$7,000	T43	MC	DNP	T52	T61
Will Zalatoris	$7,000	DNP	1st	T8	DNP	DNP
Min Woo Lee	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$6,900	T61	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Maverick McNealy	$6,900	DNP	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Greyserman	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cam Davis	$6,800	T6	T13	60th	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$6,800	T52	DNP	4th	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$6,800	T43	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eric Cole	$6,700	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matthieu Pavon	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Dunlap	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
J.T. Poston	$6,600	T24	T20	DNP	T30	DNP
Justin Rose	$6,600	T20	MC	T54	DNP	11th
Ben Griffin	$6,600	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$6,500	T66	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP
Stephan Jaeger	$6,500	T20	T46	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jhonatten Vegas	$6,500	DNP	MC	MC	DNP	T38
Taylor Moore	$6,400	5th	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP
Erik Van Rooyen	$6,400	DNP	DNP	7th	DNP	DNP
Victor Perez	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,300	T16	69th	DNP	T72	DNP
Mark Hubbard	$6,300	T66	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$6,200	T20	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chris Kirk	$6,200	T16	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mackenzie Hughes	$6,200	T58	T46	DNP	T44	DNP
Brendon Todd	$6,100	T43	67th	DNP	T15	DNP
Patrick Rodgers	$6,100	T52	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Seamus Power	$6,100	T66	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$6,000	T24	MC	DNP	T35	DNP
Peter Malnati	$6,000	DNP	DNP	T47	DNP	MC
Jake Knapp	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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