Fantasy Golf: The Tour Championship Preview

Last Thursday morning before I drove my daughter's surfboard, a chair and a shoddy bookshelf (that would later fall apart in the elevator) down to North Carolina for her freshman year of college, I went to the doctor who is in charge of my deteriorating knee so that he could give me an update on the status of said deterioration. He wasted no time in delivering his assessment when he entered the room and, much to my surprise, he had good news for me as apparently I've accumulated enough miles on it to get a new one. Sweet. 

As is the case with most major life decisions, my first instinct was to immediately buy some time in the hopes that the problem would just go away. I therefore had them shoot me up so I'd at least be able to walk after surviving nearly eight hours of the modern hellscape that is the Mid-Atlantic highway system and the endless parade of shiftless morons who drive on it. To help pass the time, I tried to think of words you'd rather hear less than "knee" when filling-in the blank for . . . "hey, you're getting a new__________." 

I came up with the following top five in some particular order:

5. Mother In-Law

4. Tesla

3. Hangnail 

2. Tuition Bill 

1. Cellmate   

I have since done some research and apparently there are limited options in my situation with the two alternatives to surgery being: (1) Continued suffering, or (2) They shoot me which would certainly get some votes from people who've had to deal with me over the last six months and likely a few from further back than that (define "a few"). I actually wouldn't blame them as I'm sure spending time with a younger version of Larry David if he was in chronic pain with three kids and a real job has had its moments. Maybe they could do it as I'm getting out of the car after driving home from work. That would be somewhat poetic.       

GOLF ANALYSIS

I was correctly called-out last week for reusing Cameron Young before the end of the season but, in my defense, I kind of stopped giving a shit after the British Open. However, in the interest of journalistic integrity (or something), I will refocus this week and finish strong on the heels of what was a not awful set of picks for the BMW Championship. 

As a sign of my commitment, you will find not one but two Historical Performance Charts below. The first has the actual results from the last five Tour Championships and the second has the results after removing the impact of arguably the most hair-brained scoring system in the history of professional sports including pickleball. It's fascinating that when you compare the two charts, the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy just really aren't that great at golf. Please don't come at me. It's science. 

What it also shows is that Viktor Hovland has an affinity for East Lake Golf Club which has always been a ball-strikers Shangri La and I somehow managed to avoid picking him so far this year so he's my main guy with Rory getting the "Other Guy" spot. I mean we all know that Scottie is going to win but I recommended him last week so to mix it up, Rory gets the nod. 

The Tour Championship is the one event over just about all others where past performance can dictate future success. It helps that only five players in this year's field have played it each of the last five years but there's also something about the course that tends to reward experience over most others. In that way it's kind of like Augusta's awkward little brother who only gets to come along because Augusta is so cool.   

To that end, the recommendations this week are stocked with players who've got some top ten finishes or at least experience playing the course. The one exception is Harry Hall who we expect to continue showing-up like a character in a Guy Ritchie show and keep wrecking shit. 

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Viktor Hovland	+2800
Top 5	Collin Morikawa	+330
Top 10	Harry Hall	+185
Top 10	Akshay Bhatia	+200
Top 20	Sungjae Im	-175

One and Done Pick: Viktor Hovland

No matter the state of his game, Vik
is quite comfortable at Augusta Light.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Rory McIlroy

Sleeper Pick: Sungjae Im 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Rory McIlroy	$11,300
Russell Henley	$9,600
Viktor Hovland	$9,400
Justin Thomas	$9,100
Collin Morikawa	$8,300
Sepp Straka	$7,600
Harry Hall	$7,000
Akshay Bhatia	$6,700
Shane Lowry	$6,400
Sungjae Im	$6,200

Email the Fantasy Golf Report here.

As we sit here on our third consecutive dreary August day that makes it feel like we're living in a Cormac McCarthy novel set in Baltimore (bleak on bleak), we commemorate nearing the end of a truly miserable summer during which the weather alternated between oppressive heat and torrential downpours. I'm surprised the local greenskeepers haven't revolted. 

THE JOHN DEERE UPRISING

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART(S) 

This first chart has the goofy results . . . 

	DK Price	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Scottie Scheffler	$13,900	1st	T6	T2	T22	5th
Rory McIlroy	$11,300	T9	4th	1st	T14	T8
Ludvig Aberg	$10,100	16th	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,900	T20	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$9,600	T4	T14	DNP	DNP	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,400	T12	1st	T15	T5	T20
Justin Thomas	$9,100	T12	DNP	T7	4th	T2
Patrick Cantlay	$8,700	T17	5th	T7	1st	DNP
Sam Burns	$8,500	T12	T9	24th	T18	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$8,300	2nd	T6	T21	T26	6th
J.J. Spaun	$8,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Young	$7,900	DNP	DNP	19th	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,600	T27	T14	T7	DNP	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$7,500	T9	DNP	T11	T26	T15
Robert Macintyre	$7,400	T17	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$7,300	T21	T9	DNP	DNP	DNP
Maverick McNealy	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$7,100	DNP	26th	26th	T22	DNP
Harry Hall	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	T18	T12
Justin Rose	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$6,700	26th	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chris Gotterup	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$6,500	DNP	T23	T21	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$6,400	T9	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$6,300	DNP	25th	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sungjae Im	$6,200	7th	24th	T2	T20	T11
Jacob Bridgeman	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Andrew Novak	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

. . . and here is how they would've finished without the handicaps. 

	DK Price	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Scottie Scheffler	$13,900	3rd	T21	T13	T17	2nd
Rory McIlroy	$11,300	12th	T11	1st	14th	T7
Ludvig Aberg	$10,100	T19	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,900	T16	T9	DNP	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$9,600	4th	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,400	T8	1st	15th	T4	T14
Justin Thomas	$9,100	7th	DNP	4th	T4	T3
Patrick Cantlay	$8,700	T19	T6	T16	T4	DNP
Sam Burns	$8,500	T13	T4	T25	T17	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$8,300	1st	T4	T19	28th	T7
J.J. Spaun	$8,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Young	$7,900	DNP	DNP	T19	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,600	T27	T6	T6	DNP	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$7,500	T16	DNP	T9	T26	T17
Robert Macintyre	$7,400	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$7,300	T27	T11	DNP	DNP	DNP
Maverick McNealy	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$7,100	DNP	T26	T25	T17	DNP
Harry Hall	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	T17	13th
Justin Rose	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$6,700	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chris Gotterup	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$6,500	DNP	25th	T19	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$6,400	T8	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$6,300	DNP	T21	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sungjae Im	$6,200	6th	T21	2nd	23rd	12th
Jacob Bridgeman	$6,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Andrew Novak	$6,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP