Fantasy Golf: The Memorial Preview

Not that anyone cares about the one and done picks which are likely on the verge of extinction thanks to all of the ways we can gamble on golf these days . . . but I do. For reasons that I have never been able to workout with my lengthy roster of therapists, acupuncturists and strangers on neighboring bar stools, I take an immense amount of pride in my one pick per week and I suffer mightily when they fail to the point where I can barely watch. Suffice it to say, 2025 has been a rough year.

Furthermore, compounding the problem of picking Rory McIlroy at Quail Hollow instead of either Augusta or Sawgrass is the fact that I have now painted myself into a bit of a corner with only two majors left and both Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau available - neither of whom I like at the British Open. And because I can't use Bryson anywhere but a major, that makes him my U.S. Open pick by default (excuse me . . . "BLECH" . . . ok I'm back). Not that he's a bad pick at Oakmont by any means but the thought of rooting for him . . . (sorry, excuse me again) . . . let's just stop talking about it.   

GOLF ANALYSIS

With all of that being said, I'm going with Scottie this week. Muirfield is the perfect ball-strikers course for him as evidenced by his win last year and 3rd place finishes the two times he played it before that. Also, Tiger won five times here so there is precedent for dominance by the undisputed best player in the world which is what Scottie is right now and clearly intends to be until further notice. 

I actually feel cautiously optimistic about the rest of the picks. Maybe my current epic run of golfing failure, both in fantasy and reality, has pushed me to the point of believing that it has to get better because it can't get much worse. (I'm not ready to talk about the round I played on Monday . . . way, way too soon). Maybe it's the merciful rain currently falling outside that means I don't have to play today. Or maybe it's just foolish optimism. 

Whatever it is, I feel big weeks coming for Hideki Matsuyama, Max Homa and Bud Cauley. I'm even deviating from my traditional Sungjae Im/Denny McCarthy strategies to shake things up. (If you don't see that I likely just guaranteed McCarthy his first win, then welcome to the FGR experience).  

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Collin Morikawa	+1600
Top 5	Hideki Matsuyama	+550
Top 10	J.T. Poston	+360
Top 10	Max Homa	+450
Top 20	Bud Cauley	+220

One and Done Pick: Scottie Scheffler 

That's either a game face for the FGR
or a WTF face. Hoping for the former.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Hideki Matsuyama

Sleeper Pick: Bud Cauley 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Scottie Scheffler	$13,300
Collin Morikawa	$9,900
Corey Conners	$9,100
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,000
Si Woo Kim	$8,300
Matt Fitzpatrick	$8,000
J.T. Poston	$7,600
Max Homa	$7,500
Byeong Hun An	$7,100
Bud Cauley	$6,800

Email the Fantasy Golf Report here.

This week's HPC is dedicated to the Cornell lacrosse squad which broke a championship drought stretching back to 1977 with its win on Monday over Maryland. I will always be a Terp at heart having spent my whole life in this godforsaken state and attending one of its institutions of higher learning but this was a much-deserved win for the Big Red. Also, it may have boosted the value of my Rusty Red swag so there's that. 

IT'S SOMETIMES SUNNY IN ITHACA

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

The Im and McCarthy omissions were noted above but I'm also ignoring two-time winner Patrick Cantlay because it's my website so I can do whatever stupid shit I want. 

	DK Price	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Scottie Scheffler	$13,300	1st	3rd	DNP	3rd	T22
Xander Schauffele	$10,900	T8	T24	T18	T11	T13
Justin Thomas	$10,100	T33	MC	DNP	T42	T18
Collin Morikawa	$9,900	2nd	W/D	MC	2nd	T48
Patrick Cantlay	$9,500	MC	T30	T3	1st	T32
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,400	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Ludvig Aberg	$9,300	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$9,100	T20	MC	T13	T53	T22
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,000	T8	T16	DQ	T62	MC
Viktor Hovland	$8,900	T15	1st	T51	T47	T48
Sepp Straka	$8,800	T5	T16	T45	MC	61st
Shane Lowry	$8,700	49th	T16	T32	T6	MC
Daniel Berger	$8,600	DNP	DNP	T5	DNP	MC
Jordan Spieth	$8,500	MC	T5	T18	T18	T13
Russell Henley	$8,400	T27	T16	DNP	MC	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$8,300	T15	4th	T13	T9	T18
Tony Finau	$8,200	T8	DNP	DNP	T32	8th
Sungjae Im	$8,100	T8	T41	T10	MC	MC
Matt Fitzpatrick	$8,000	T5	T9	MC	MC	3rd
Keegan Bradley	$8,000	T43	T30	T37	MC	T68
Sam Burns	$7,900	T15	T16	DNP	T50	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$7,900	T39	2nd	T5	MC	T58
Harris English	$7,800	MC	T52	MC	DNP	T13
Ben Griffin	$7,800	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	MC
Maverick McNealy	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Robert MacIntyre	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
J.T. Poston	$7,600	T22	T38	T37	DNP	MC
Aaron Rai	$7,600	DNP	MC	T26	DNP	DNP
Max Homa	$7,500	T22	DNP	T5	T6	MC
J.J. Spaun	$7,500	DNP	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$7,400	T22	T52	MC	T13	MC
Min Woo Lee	$7,400	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$7,300	T22	MC	DNP	DNP	MC
Taylor Pendrith	$7,300	T33	T60	DNP	DNP	MC
Wyndham Clark	$7,200	MC	T12	T37	MC	MC
Adam Scott	$7,200	DNP	T9	T67	T16	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$7,100	T22	T24	DNP	MC	DNP
Brian Harman	$7,100	T33	MC	T18	DNP	MC
Andrew Novak	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Stephan Jaeger	$7,000	MC	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$7,000	MC	T9	T64	T11	MC
Davis Thompson	$7,000	T27	T56	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sahith Theegala	$6,900	T12	T58	T5	T32	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$6,900	4th	T38	DNP	T37	T18
Justin Rose	$6,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Mackenzie Hughes	$6,800	MC	MC	T37	MC	T6
Bud Cauley	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T44
Michael Kim	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Young	$6,700	T50	MC	T60	DNP	DNP
Ryan Gerard	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Greyserman	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$6,600	T41	T48	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Stevens	$6,600	DNP	T41	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eric Cole	$6,600	T45	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,500	MC	MC	T60	T37	T38
Nick Taylor	$6,500	T27	DNP	DNP	T42	MC
Ryan Fox	$6,500	DNP	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$6,400	T45	65th	MC	MC	MC
Matti Schmid	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$6,300	T39	T30	DNP	DNP	MC
Cam Davis	$6,300	T50	MC	T53	MC	DNP
Matt Kuchar	$6,300	T33	62nd	T45	DNP	T32
Chris Kirk	$6,200	MC	MC	T53	T26	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,200	3rd	MC	T18	MC	T54
Jhonatten Vegas	$6,200	DNP	DNP	T37	DNP	DNP
Joe Highsmith	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Campbell	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matthieu Pavon	$6,100	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Dunlap	$6,000	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brandt Snedeker	$6,000	MC	T41	T60	DNP	DNP
Harry Higgs	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	T68	MC