Fantasy Golf: Travelers Championship

After the excitement of the finish to the U.S. Open last week we return to normal PGA Tour action in Connecticut for the Travelers Championship. The field, as you'd expect is not as laden with star names as the U.S. Open was, but it is made even weaker when a number of big names have travelled to Germany for this weeks BMW International Open.

One big name that does tee up at River Highlands is Bubba Watson. He won here in 2010 and is currently the most selected player in Yahoo Fantasy Golf on 46%. In the AVIS PGA Fantasy game Watson has been selected by a massive 71% of players. Other big names are popular too; Sergio Garcia is the second most selected in AVIS at 61%, and he is the third most selected in Yahoo, behind Brandt Snedeker (42%) on 39%.

Some people might be thinking, but Bubba missed the cut last weekend, how can you rely on him here? And while I agree Watson can be unpredictable at times, an extra few days rest is never a bad thing. Plus if you look at this event from 2007, since it has been played the week after the U.S. Open, no winner has come from any player who finished in the Top 10 the previous week. A strange stat that will surely be bested someday.

With that in mind, it's best to have a team of inform players, a few big names and a few outsiders. As usual the recommendations list is broken down in three sections according to Yahoo Fantasy Golf groupings. Also this is the last tournament of the Spring section in Yahoo, so good luck to all those in contention at the top of the leaderboards. As always Official PGA Fantasy Golf lets you choose any four golfers and only takes their final finishing position into account. While AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf lets you choose six golfers, four of which score you points each day. Picks for AVIS are given at the bottom of the post. You can only use any golfer three times in AVIS, so you really have to have faith in your selections ability to perform in Connecticut this week.

Group A
Sergio Garcia
Matt Jones
Bubba Watson
Seung-yul Noh

Group B
Zach Johnson
Brandt Snedeker
Billy Horschel
Patrick Rodgers
Nick Watney
Graham DeLaet

Group C
Kevin Na
Patrick Reed
Brendon DeJonge
Branden Grace
John Peterson
Jason Bohn
Justin Thomas
Jim Herman
Sean O'Hair
Chez Reavie
Russell Knox
Morgan Hoffman
Jerry Kelly

Fantasy Golf: U.S. Open

It's the second Major of the year this week as we try and claw back some of last weekends lost momentum. A couple of missed cuts and two withdrawals played havoc with our point scoring ability at the St. Jude Classic last time out. This week at Chambers Bay in Washington we have a ton of the worlds biggest names to choose from, as well as a host of little known amateurs.

Big names such as six-time U.S. Open runner-up Phil Mickelson. Phil is the most selected golfer in Yahoo Fantasy Golf (Group B) at 50%, and the fourth most selected in AVIS PGA Fantasy at 51%. Jordan Spieth is the most selected in AVIS on a whopping 65%. You can only select a golfer three times in that game, so this could well be the last throw of the dice with regards to Spieth for many players. He is the second most selected (Group B) in Yahoo on 47%.

Next up is Rory McIlroy, 58% AVIS, 46% Yahoo. Rory has been very hot and cold lately. His stretch on the European Tour was pretty much a disaster as he missed the cut at both the BMW and the Irish Open. Chambers Bay plays a lot like a British Links course, so the last two winners of The Open Championship, Rory and Phil, should have all the assets in their game to do well here.

Selections as always are divided up by groupings according to Yahoo Fantasy Golf. AVIS picks are shown at the bottom of the post. While in Official PGA Fantasy Golf you can select any combination of four golfers, and their finishing position determines your points.

Group A
Rory McIlroy
Jim Furyk
Luke Donald

Group B
Phil Mickelson
Brandt Snedeker
Dustin Johnson
Jimmy Walker
Justin Rose
Marc Leishman
Billy Horschel
Jordan Spieth
Hideki Matsuyama
Rickie Fowler

Group C
Ryan Moore
Branden Grace
Tony Finau
Francesco Molinari

AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf: Phil Mickelson, Brandt Snedeker, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler - Jimmy Walker, Rory McIlroy.

Fantasy Golf: FedEx St. Jude Classic

A successful week last time out for the Notebook as six of the top seven were mentioned (the winner David Lingmerth eluded us!). 164 points in Yahoo Fantasy Golf saw a rather healthy green arrow when the playoff had finished; and in Official PGA Fantasy a final position of joint 5th with 663pts was earned.

The U.S. Open is on the horizon and there are many players teeing up in Tennessee for the St. Jude Classic who will be hoping to gain a last gasp qualification spot. Players such as Harris English, Russell Knox and Padraig Harrington have yet to cement their place for the Major on June 18th.

Crucial this week, for Yahoo players, are the two Group A spots. With only eight players to choose from, a slip up in selection could set your team back in relation to a lot of other players. Do you opt for reliability, Webb Simpson and Brooks Koepka have each only missed one cut in nine tournaments played? Or take a chance on Luke Donald or Seung-Yul Noh who miss the cut in half the tournaments they play? Five and seven missed cuts respectively. Maybe mix and match?

Dustin Johnson is the most selected player in Yahoo Fantasy Golf this week at 55%. He won here in 2012 and with four players to choose in the B Group, he's an easy pick to make. Second most selected is Phil Mickelson on 41%, also in Group B. Looking over at AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf, again Dustin Johnson is by far the most selected on a whopping 64%. Ryan Palmer is second on 52%

Let's take a look at this weeks selections. As usual they are divided up by Yahoo grouping, and at the bottom are the six golfers selected for AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf, of which four starters score points for your team each day.

Group A
Webb Simpson
Matt Every
Ryan Palmer

Group B
Dustin Johnson
Billy Horschel
Chesson Hadley
George McNeill
Brian Harman
Graeme McDowell

Group C
Russell Knox
Camilo Villegas
David Toms
Shawn Stefani
John Merrick
Jason Bohn
Jamie Donaldson
Colt Knost
Will Wilcox
Retief Goosen
Roberto Castro
Blayne Barber
Carl Pettersson

AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf: Chesson Hadley, Russell Knox, Dustin Johnson, Billy Horshel - Webb Simpson, George McNeill.

Fantasy Golf: the Memorial Tournament

The PGA Tour swings into Dublin, Ohio and the Jack Niclaus designed Muirfield Village this week. A lot of big names are back in the field, but as last weeks winner Steven Bowditch proved, you can never write off the outsiders. This post is a bit late (sorry) so let's just get straight down to the selections shall we?

A quick look at Yahoo Fantasy Golf shows that Kevin Na and Rickie Fowler are the most selected players. Former winners Rose, Kuchar and Matsuyama are popular selections too. Also, maybe it's time to bring in Tiger Woods from the Fantasy wilderness? He has won here five times, but is he worth taking a chance on this week? We are in week 20 in the Yahoo game, so perhaps consistent players like Spieth are running low on remaining starts. You can only use each player ten times, the same in Official PGA Fantasy Golf. Plus the AVIS game let's you only use each golfer three times, so perhaps Spieth is out of commission for the season for you in that game?

Group A
Bill Haas
Ben Martin
Brooks Koepka
Matt Every
Jim Furyk
Tiger Woods

Group B
Hideki Matsuyama
Justin Rose
Jordan Spieth
Kevin Chappell
Matt Kuchar
Dustin Johnson
Marc Leishman
Daniel Berger
Graham DeLaet

Group C
Russell Henley
Kevin Na
Ryan Moore
Francesco Molinari

AVIS PGA Fantasy Golf selections; Hideki Matsuyama, Bill Haas, Ben Martin, Brooks Koepka - Dustin Johnson, Ryan Moore.

Fantasy Golf: AT&T Byron Nelson Championship

This week the PGA Tour is still in Texas for the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons in Dallas. The tough par 70 course usually throws up an unexpected winner. Last year saw Brendon Todd win by two strokes, and it is still his only PGA Tour win. People still fancy him to do well this time out as he has been selected by over 17% of teams from players in Yahoo Group C.

Jordan Spieth, unsurprisingly, is the most selected player this week with nearly 47% of teams including him. Spieth is in Yahoo Group B. Just behind him is Group A's Ryan Palmer on 41%. Palmer has only three PGA Tour wins, the last being in 2010, but he did lose a play-off to Keegan Bradley at the Byron Nelson in 2011.

Surprisingly I feel is that former winner Rory Sabbatini is not getting much love this week from those ever fickle selectors! He only finds himself in a little over 1% of teams. When Sabbatini won he shot a -19, the lowest winning score at the Four Seasons. Does he make it into the selections for us this week though? Well, read on.... as usual players are listed according to the groupings of Yahoo Fantasy Golf, in PGA Fantasy you can pick any four players. Avis PGA Fantasy Golf selections are given at the bottom. In the AVIS game you select six golfers, four of which score points for you each day.

The weather can often play havoc in this tournament, so it will pay to keep an eye on what's happening each day and adjust your roster accordingly. Weather reports for the area and tee-times will be your friend this week.

Group A
Ryan Palmer
Brooks Koepka
Matt Jones

Group B
Marc Leishman
Gary Woodland
Brandt Snedeker
Dustin Johnson
Daniel Berger

Group C
Russell Henley
John Huh
Rory Sabbatini
Justin Thomas
Keegan Bradley
Jerry Kelly
Danny Lee
Brendan Steele
Tony Finau
Brendon Todd
Charley Hoffmann
Rod Pampling
Morgan Hoffmann
Jim Herman

AVIS Fantasy Golf selections: Brandt Snedeker, Marc Leishman, Russell Henley, Gary Woodland - John Huh, Tony Finau.

Fantasy Golf: Crowne Plaza Invitational

I hope everyone heeded the advice of the Notebook last week and put Rory McIlroy in their respective fantasy squads. He blew everyone away when winning by seven strokes at the Wells Fargo Championship. All the damage was done on a blistering Saturday score of -11. Patrick Rodgers, who finished tied second, actually out scored McIlroy by two shots over the other three days but couldn't hold a candle to him during the third round.

McIlroy is in Wentworth this week for the European Tour so we will be hoping for a closer tournament this week! But who to pick? Jordan Spieth is a popular selection this week, with 39% of Yahoo players choosing him. The Texan will be eager to get back in the swing of things after a couple of quiet weeks, especially with the U.S. Open coming up next month. Fellow Texan Ryan Palmer should also be a popular choice, currently 28% of players have chosen him out of Yahoo Group A. While this Invitational is in Texas, that doesn't mean a local player will win, but it's better to put a few in your team just to be safe!

This weeks selections include the aforementioned Texans, as well as some previous winners, and some long shots. As usual, picks are divided into groups according to Yahoo, and at the bottom of the page you can see the six players selected for the Avis PGA Fantasy game.

Group A
Ryan Palmer
Adam Scott

Group B
Jimmy Walker
Zach Johnson
Jordan Spieth
Kevin Streelman
Kevin Chappell
Paul Casey
Chris Kirk
Ian Poulter
John Senden
Chris Stroud

Group C
David Toms
Russell Knox
Boo Weekley
Kevin Na
Brendon Todd

Avis Fantasy Golf: Ryan Palmer, Jimmy Walker, Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth - David Toms, Kevin Streelman.

Fantasy Golf: Wells Fargo Championship

 

Rickie Fowler surprised most people last week in winning The Players Championship after a three player play-off. Surprised because this is only Fowler's second PGA Tour win. His only other win was in 2012 at the, you guessed it, Wells Fargo Championship. So he should be at the forefront of people's thoughts when it comes to selections this week, but as of today Fowler is only the 24th most selected golfer in Yahoo Fantasy. People are still not convinced by Rickie despite 2014 being his best season on tour with ten top-10s. He is getting more consistent and is surely becoming a sounder option.

 

The Quail Hollow course in North Carolina has traditionally attracted some of the big names on the tour. The roll call of previous winners include, Rory McIlroy, who has one win and one runner-up, Jim Furyk has one win and two second placings, Tiger Woods won here in 2007. This course will also host the PGA Championship in 2017, so a lot of players will hope to test their mettle over the four days on this attack minded course layout. In the past it has rewarded scores with power over accuracy off the tee, so this weeks selections take that into account with a mix of big hitters, in form players and local names.

 

As usual the selections are broken down according to their three groupings in Yahoo Fantasy Golf. Official PGA Fantasy lets you pick any four golfers and you are awarded points only at the end of the tournament. A new game can be played on the Official PGA website and it is run almost like a mix of both the traditional Official game and the Yahoo game. It is sponsored by Avis and in this game you pick six golfers, four of whom score points for you every day based on their performance on each hole. Your two substitute golfers can be swapped in for any upcoming day. Interestingly it seems you will only be allowed use a golfer three times rather than the ten times allowed in both Official and Yahoo games. This will make selections very interesting in future weeks. At the bottom of the page you can see my six selections for the Avis game, the first four names are the golfers that are part of the starting point scoring group.

 

Group A

Rory McIlroy

Bill Haas

Jim Furyk

Webb Simpson

Ben Martin

J.B. Holmes

 

Group B

Phil Mickelson

Daniel Berger

Kevin Kisner

Hideki Matsuyama

Rickie Fowler

 

Group C

Justin Thomas

Jason Kokrak

Sean O'Hair

Patrick Reed

Louis Oosthuizen

D.A. Points

 

AVIS picks: Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger - Jason Kokrak, Bill Haas.