Fantasy Golf: The Open Championship

 

The 144th Open Championship begins this week at St. Andrews in Scotland. A lot of former winners will be teeing up, Mickelson, Oosthuizen, etc. But last years winner, Rory McIlroy, is injured and absent. So this week most eyes will be on Jordan Spieth to see can he complete a hat trick of Majors, after he won the Masters and the U.S. Open earlier in the year. Spieth is fresh off another win on the U.S. PGA Tour too, but will having to cross the Atlantic during the week have an impact on his chances? The last five winners of The Open all went to Scotland early and participated in the Scottish Open the week before.

 

A quick scan of the most selected players shows Spieth occupying most peoples thinking. He is in 85% of teams in AVIS PGA Fantasy and 56% in Yahoo. Next up in Yahoo is Dustin Johnson on 42% of teams. In AVIS he is the third most popular on 53%, behind 68% Rickie Fowler.

 

Timing is playing havoc with my blog posting this week. So no more beating around the bush, let's have a look at this weeks picks.

 

Group A

Henrik Stenson

Victor Dubuisson

Tommy Fleetwood

 

Group B

Martin Kaymer

Paul Casey

Hideki Matsuyama

Rickie Fowler

Brandt Snedeker

Jordan Spieth

Dustin Johnson

Bernd Wiesberger

Matt Kuchar

Phil Mickelson

 

Group C

Charl Schwartzel

Louis oosthuizen

Branden Grace

Patrick Reed

Raphael Jacquelin

 

AVIS PGA Fantasy: Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer, Dustin Johnson, Victor Dubuisson; Jordan Spieth, Charl Schwartzel.

 

On a side note, the Notebook will be taking a break for the next two weeks. See you all in August.

Fantasy Golf: John Deere Classic

The big golf news this week is that Rory McIlroy has injured himself and won't be able to defend his Open title next week. Does this leave the door wide open for Jordan Spieth to complete a Major hattrick? Will this distract Spieth this weekend at TPC Deere Run? A lot of big names are already in Scotland warming up for St Andrews with a run at the Scottish Open. Will Spieth be rewarded for staying in Illinois?

This week is also the last of this segment in AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf, so if you were holding back your last use of any golfer (for example, Spieth), now is the time to throw him in, as all players will be reset next week. With this in mind, players such as Speith will be popular this week, 59% AVIS, 35% Yahoo.

Spieth is not the most selected player in either game though. In AVIS, 66% of teams are going with Zach Johnson. Johnson was a winner here in 2012. The most popular player in Yahoo is Kevin Kisner from Group B at 47%. People are obviously hoping Kisner can go one better than the playoff loss from last weekend.

Yahoo Fantasy Golf could have some wildly differing scores this week too. Group A only has four golfers to choose from; Harris English, Steve Stricker, Sueng-yul Noh and Kevin Stadler. Choosing the wrong player before someone who ends up being competitive this weekend could set you back in the rankings. This is only Stadler's third event this season so he's tough to recommend. Stricker is a three time winner here and should probably be one of your two picks. He hasn't registered a top ten in a year though, so you are going on his course know-how rather than on any form to speak of.

Without further delay, here are this weeks picks.... Good luck everyone.

Group A
Harris English
Steve Stricker

Group B
Kevin Kisner
Brian Harman
Jordan Spieth
Zach Johnson

Group C
Jason Bohn
Tony Finau
Justin Thomas
Ryan Moore
Adam Hadwin
Boo Weekley
Chez Reavie
Johnson Wagner
Steven Bowditch
Scott Brown
Jerry Kelly
Shawn Stefani

AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf: Kevin Kisner, Harris English, Jordan Spieth, Jason Bohn; Tony Finau, Justin Thomas.

Fantasy Golf: The Greenbrier Classic

A quick post here as the tournament is about to start.
The Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia often throws up some surprise winners (Ted Potter Jr anyone?) and some low scores. Stuart Appleby shot a 59 in the final round to win the tournament in 2010.
A quick scan of the most selected golfers shows Bubba Watson coming out in front. He is in 54% of teams in Yahoo Fantasy Golf and 60% in AVIS PGA Fantasy. Holmes, Reed and Casey make up the next three spots in AVIS, while it's Casey, Reed and DeLaet in Yahoo.
This week the Group C list of players will be rather long. But I feel Tour rookie Tony Finau will make his way onto many teams. He's in solid form and knows that a good finish will grant him entry to the Open Championship. The C group can be a tough one to pick from as there are a lot of golfers to choose, but when selections go wrong it can set you back big time. Last week at the Travelers Championship both our C selections missed the cut (Na and Reed) so I'm just a bit hesitant to select them again.
So without further waffle, here are this weeks selections. As always, players are divided into Yahoo A, B & C groupings. This is the first tournament in the twelve week summer section of that game. While AVIS picks are given at the bottom, and Official PGA allows you to select any four golfers. Good Luck.

Group A
Webb Simpson
Seung-yul Noh
Bubba Watson
Bill Haas

Group B
Paul Casey
Kevin Kisner
Chris Stroud
George McNeil

Group C
Tony Finau
Chad Campbell
Charlie Beljan
Jhonatton Vegas
Jim Renner
Bo Van Pelt
Adam Hadwin
Jon Curran
Sam Bowditch
Chez Reavie
Andres Romero
Cameron Percy
Jason Gore

AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf: Webb Simpson, Paul Casey, Charlie Beljan, Chad Campbell; Tony Finau, Jhonatton Vegas.