Fantasy Golf: The Cognizant Classic Preview

It's going to be a light post as a week of clean living has led to me being sick as a dog on writing night. Seven days of quality exercise and sleep along with abstinence from all shades of wine and this is the reward I get. Suffice it to say I won't be making that mistake again as I intend to start drowning these symptoms in Merlot tonight.

GOLF ANALYSIS 

Unfortunately the Cognizant Classic has evolved into the tournament only a mother could love and even in that case it would be Jan Brady (the notoriously sixth favorite kid on a TV show with six kids . . . at least until Oliver showed-up and made it weird). This year's field started with a Tringale Rule field rating of somewhere between "Sucks" and "Unwatchable." Then Ben Griffin, Jacob Bridgeman and Adam Scott all bailed leaving us with Shane Lowry, Brooks Koepka and a bunch of guys who could hang out at a Golf Galaxy on Black Friday without getting a single autograph request. 

As much as it pains me to say it, sometimes the obvious pick is the right pick. Especially when you're coming-off a bit of a dismal week when you made the mistake of thinking you had this whole golf wagering thing figured out. So Shane Lowry it is followed by a solid threesome of Ryan Gerard, Keith Mitchell and Michael Thorbjornsen. Then it starts to thin quickly with Alex Smalley and Chris Kirk before you get to the inevitable Doug Ghim and Lee Hodges picks because sooner or later one of those guys is going to reward me for my undying and unfounded loyalty. Dammit.

We are intrigued by the prospects of Tom Kim who has plummeted from 11th to 116th in the world after looking like an absolute can't miss when he finished T8 at the 2023 U.S. Open and then runner-up at the British. He's now appears to have found at least some form having made eight cuts in a row. His last two finishes were T34 and T35 which are not much to look at upon first glance but those were decent showings against strong fields and then you consider what he's up against this week and . . . 

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Shane Lowry	+1900
Top 5	M. Thorbjornsen	+460
Top 10	Alex Smalley	+320
Top 10	Tom Kim	+495
Top 20	Lee Hodges	+290

One and Done Pick: Shane Lowry

Lowry seems to love playing this track
almost as much as he loves playing in
front of the fine people of Long Island.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Michael Thorbjornsen

Sleeper Pick: Lee Hodges

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Shane Lowry	$9,900
Ryan Gerard	$9,700
Keith Mitchell	$9,300
M. Thorbjornsen	$9,200
Alex Smalley	$8,300
Chris Kirk	$7,900
Doug Ghim	$7,400
Tom Kim	$7,400
Lee Hodges	$7,100
Erik Van Rooyen	$6,600

We're going to drop in a quick book review to hopefully save someone out there a few hours of their life. Dan Jenkins is inarguably one of the best golf columnists of all-time. With that being said, his novel Dead Solid Perfect might be worse than this week's field. My one word review would be "Schlocky". I should have known from the testimonial on the cover - "Dan Jenkins is a comic genius" . . . provided by Don Imus. So it's not like they didn't warn me.  

THE "IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?"

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

We don't track these things at the FGR but this chart is most certainly in the running for most DNP's in a non first year event. I'll tell you that you haven't truly lived until you've spent time tracking Chad Ramey's performance at a particular golf tournament over a five year span. 

	DK Price	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Ben Griffin (Out)	$10,500	T4	MC	T21	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman (Out)	$10,200	T2	T28	DNP	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$9,900	T11	T4	T5	2nd	T36
Ryan Gerard	$9,700	T25	DNP	4th	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott (Out)	$9,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T13
Rasmus Hojgaard	$9,500	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$9,300	T42	T9	DNP	T9	T53
M. Thorbjornsen	$9,200	T39	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
R. Neergaard-Petersen	$9,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brooks Koepka	$9,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	T16	DNP
Daniel Berger	$8,900	T25	MC	DNP	4th	DNP
Aaron Rai	$8,800	DNP	DNP	MC	T66	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$8,700	T42	MC	T42	T25	DNP
Davis Thompson	$8,600	MC	T47	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thor Olesen	$8,500	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Will Zalatoris	$8,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$8,300	T18	MC	DNP	T55	DNP
Max McGreevy	$8,200	T4	DNP	MC	MC	DNP
Hao-Tong Li	$8,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mac Meissner	$8,000	MC	T53	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chris Kirk	$7,900	T56	T28	1st	T7	T25
Max Homa	$7,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
John Keefer	$7,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jordan Smith	$7,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Rodgers (Out)	$7,700	T18	DNP	DNP	T64	MC
Kristoffer Reitan	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Seamus Power	$7,600	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rico Hoey	$7,600	T25	T56	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sami Valimaki	$7,600	T48	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mackenzie Hughes	$7,500	MC	DNP	DNP	T48	T36
Ricky Castillo	$7,500	T56	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Stephan Jaeger	$7,500	DNP	MC	T14	T48	DNP
Nicco Echavarria	$7,400	MC	T21	MC	DNP	DNP
Doug Ghim	$7,400	T11	T16	DNP	MC	MC
Matt Wallace	$7,400	MC	MC	T29	DNP	MC
Tom Kim	$7,400	DNP	T62	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eric Cole	$7,300	MC	MC	2nd	DNP	DNP
Sam Ryder	$7,300	T48	T21	DNP	T9	T8
Garrick Higgo	$7,300	DNP	T16	T29	T66	DNP
Kevin Yu	$7,300	DNP	T9	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$7,200	MC	1st	MC	DNP	DNP
Emiliano Grillo	$7,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kris Ventura	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Daniel Brown	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Michael Brennan	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,100	T25	T9	T42	T16	DNP
Lee Hodges	$7,100	DNP	MC	T14	T9	DNP
David Ford	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Roy	$7,100	MC	DNP	T29	DNP	DNP
Vince Whaley	$7,100	T32	DNP	DNP	MC	T36
Gary Woodland	$7,000	MC	MC	DNP	T5	DNP
Joel Dahmen	$7,000	T32	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Kuchar	$7,000	T56	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Jesper Svensson	$7,000	T32	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Moore	$6,900	T42	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Beau Hossler	$6,900	T32	T28	DNP	T16	T60
Steven Fisk	$6,900	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Zecheng Dou	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chad Ramey	$6,900	MC	T35	MC	MC	DNP
Andrew Putnam	$6,800	T11	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T8
Matti Schmid	$6,700	T18	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Webb Simpson	$6,700	DNP	DNP	T74	DNP	DNP
Luke Clanton	$6,600	T18	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Erik Van Rooyen	$6,600	T9	T2	MC	DNP	T60
Davis Riley	$6,600	T48	T62	T29	T48	DNP
Patrick Fishburn	$6,500	T48	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joe Highsmith	$6,300	1st	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
K.H. Lee	$6,200	MC	T4	DNP	DNP	MC

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