Fantasy Golf: The 3M Open Preview

Nothing remotely compares to the Masters hangover. The sense of foreboding and woe for golf fans when that final putt drops is unrivaled in sports. It's the equivalent of a Sunday morning after a three day golf bender that you refused to let die with dignity by cracking a bottle of wine late on Saturday night. You couldn't even taste it after the barrage of bourbon and Bud Lights but somehow it made sense at the time (or so I've heard). 

However, now that the British Open is the last major of the season, it evokes similar feelings of misery which are compounded by the fact that it's followed by the 3M Open, the Wyndham Championship and a three tournament money grab playoff that has set a new sports standard of "who gives a fuck" by dethroning the NBA All-Star Game. Only modern golf could create an event where they convene thirty of the best players in the world, reschedule it so it's not up against the NFL and still have no one watch it [insert Gordon Gekko line here]. 

I was going to open this week writing about Scottie Scheffler's existential press conference before the British Open but that got way too deep way too fast for the 3M Open Preview so we'll save it for another day. Or I'll just think about it nonstop for three weeks and then abandon it like the John Feinstein tribute. We shall see.   

GOLF ANALYSIS

Having Maverick McNealy and Chris Gotterup as your second and third favorites automatically triggers a reference to the Tringale Rule. If you're new to the FGR, you can probably figure-out roughly what it is without clicking on the link but my favorite part about it is that word of its existence apparently reached Cameron Tringale who took some shit for it. I learned this through a friend who's brother in-law played in college with a future tour player but I never heard directly from Tringale about it. Then again, since he left for LIV, no one's heard from Tringale about anything (burn).    

What we do have this week is a pretty solid second tier and, if you're going to offer my Tony Finau at 35 to 1 on a course where he's won before a week after he actually played a couple good rounds at a major, I will accept. I firmly believe that this week's winner is coming-out of that Fowler-Greyserman-Finau-Im quartet to the point that I'm going to trifecta the shit out of them in a bunch of doomed parlays. 

You also need to factor Cam Davis into your plans. He's super streaky and currently playing like garbage but this course is clearly his happy place with top 20's in four of the last five years. Along with Finau, he's the only guy to play each of the last five years and not miss a cut. I'd like to say that's the kind of keen insight you can't find anywhere else but I found it somewhere else so I would be lying.   

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Tony Finau	+3500
Top 5	Max Greyserman	+550
Top 10	Sungjae Im	+400
Top 10	Emiliano Grillo	+400
Top 20	Cam Davis	+360

One and Done Pick: Tony Finau

Time for the Big Cat to ROAR!!!
Or something. I mean really who
fucking cares at this point?

Other Guy I'd Pick: Rickie Fowler

Sleeper Pick: Cam Davis

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Rickie Fowler	$9,500
Max Greyserman	$9,300
Tony Finau	$9,100
Sungjae Im	$9,000
Keith Mitchell	$8,600
Emiliano Grillo	$8,400
Cameron Champ	$7,900
Sahith Theegala	$7,500
Cam Davis	$7,100
Max McGreavy	$6,900

Email the Fantasy Golf Report here.

We haven't done a memorial in a while as we've been trying to focus more on the positives like gagging golf tournaments and basketball games. Anyway, we lost Michael Madsen a few weeks ago and while he is most famous for playing homicidal maniacs in Quentin Tarantino movies, I'll fondly remember him as an underachieving prima donna with an attitude well before his time in The Natural.

THE BUMP BAILEY MEMORIAL

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

We can't pick Cashmere Keith Mitchell and then fail to call him out by nickname so now we've done that. The enigmatic Cameron Champ is also worth a look as a past champion who has decided to be good at golf again lately.  

	DK Price	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Sam Burns	$10,500	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	T32
Maverick McNealy	$10,300	T3	DNP	T49	T16	DNP
Chris Gotterup	$10,000	T59	DNP	T31	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$9,800	DNP	DNP	T38	MC	MC
Rickie Fowler	$9,500	DNP	DNP	T38	T34	DNP
Taylor Pendrith	$9,400	5th	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Greyserman	$9,300	2nd	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$9,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T46
Tony Finau	$9,100	T12	T7	1st	T28	T3
Sungjae Im	$9,000	DNP	MC	T2	DNP	DNP
Jake Knapp	$8,900	W/D	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Thompson	$8,800	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$8,700	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$8,600	T46	T5	DNP	5th	MC
Michael Thorbjornsen	$8,500	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$8,400	T24	T10	T2	MC	T3
Max Homa	$8,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T3
Adam Scott	$8,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Luke Clanton	$8,100	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$8,000	T64	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Yu	$8,000	T73	T37	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Young	$7,900	T71	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Haotong Li	$7,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Champ	$7,900	T12	DNP	T16	1st	DNP
Rico Hoey	$7,800	T67	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$7,800	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lee Hodges	$7,700	MC	1st	T16	DNP	DNP
Jesper Svensson	$7,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Pierscon Coody	$7,600	T72	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Wallace	$7,600	T24	T43	T26	DNP	DNP
Sahith Theegala	$7,500	T6	MC	MC	DNP	MC
Sam Stevens	$7,500	T64	T10	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Fishburn	$7,500	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman	$7,500	T19	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jhonatten Vegas	$7,400	1st	DNP	DNP	T2	MC
Alex Noren	$7,400	DNP	T13	DNP	DNP	T3
Taylor Moore	$7,400	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Kim	$7,400	DNP	DNP	T26	DNP	DNP
Doug Ghim	$7,300	T24	T27	T16	MC	T18
Thor Olesen	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matti Schmid	$7,300	T12	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Roy	$7,300	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Erik Van Rooyen	$7,200	MC	MC	DNP	T58	MC
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,200	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt McCarty	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Mark Hubbard	$7,200	DNP	MC	DNP	T16	DNP
Cam Davis	$7,100	T19	T10	T16	T28	T12
Mackenzie Hughes	$7,100	T19	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP
Beau Hossler	$7,100	MC	T13	MC	T49	MC
Austin Eckroat	$7,100	MC	MC	DNP	T16	DNP
Gary Woodland	$7,100	T37	MC	DNP	T11	DNP
Victor Perez	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$7,000	MC	T20	T4	MC	T46
Patrick Rodgers	$7,000	T37	T37	DNP	T39	T32
Andrew Putnam	$7,000	T19	DNP	T11	MC	MC
Eric Cole	$7,000	DNP	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryo Hisatune	$7,000	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Riley	$6,900	T46	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Sam Ryder	$6,900	MC	T7	MC	T25	MC
Ricky Castillo	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max McGreavy	$6,900	DNP	T30	MC	DNP	DNP
Thriston Lawrence	$6,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Seamus Power	$6,800	T37	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joe Highsmith	$6,700	T44	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,600	MC	MC	T38	T6	DNP
Joel Dahmen	$6,500	MC	MC	DNP	T67	DNP