The Farmers Insurance Open plays on two courses for the first two rounds.  Golfers will finish on the host South Course for rounds three and four.  The following are the scoring averages for the two courses of the 2012 Farmers Insurance Open:

Round 1 Scoring Averages:

Torrey Pines – North Course:  69.24 (easiest)

Torrey Pines – South Course:  72.85 (hardest)

The following are the scoring averages for the three courses of the 2012 Humana Challenge:

Round 1 Scoring Averages:

La Quinta CC:  69.94 (hardest)

PGA West Nicklaus Private Course:  68.88 (easiest)

PGA West Arnold Palmer Private Course:  69.54

Round 2 Scoring Averages:

La Quinta CC:  69.28 (hardest)

PGA West Nicklaus Private Course:  68.47 (easiest)

PGA West Arnold Palmer Private Course:  69.10

Round 3 Scoring Averages (heavy winds):

La Quinta CC:  72.79 (hardest)

PGA West Nicklaus Private Course:  70.29 (easiest)

PGA West Arnold Palmer Private Course:  71.54

Fantasy Golf Picks

I’m giving myself points for picking winners.  Hopefully my picks can help you win your fantasy golf league this season.  My goal is to get to 111 points for the season, or the equivlant of picking a Top 3 finisher or better each week, based on the point scale below:

Winner = 10 points

2nd Place = 5 points

3rd Place = 3 points

Top 10 = 1 point

Leaderboard

Please post your picks along with me and we will be keeping score all season long.  Winner will receive a prize to be determined.  Just post your picks below in the comments section.

Last Week:  A big WHIFF.  Choi (T38) and Stricker (T38) looked good early but both shot over par in the final round to fall down the leaderboard.  Steve Marino was awful, missing the cut by a mile.  A big fat ZERO for me but still with 3 points on the young season. 

This Week:  It’s a new format for the once Bob Hope Classic.  Gone is the five round over four courses marathon with celebrities every day.  Now it’s just your good ole four rounds on three courses sprint ala Pebble Beach.  And unfortunately for golf fans, you’ll still have celebrities trying to golf with the pros.  It wouldn’t be so bad if they actaully showed professional golfers during the TV telecast.  But I digress.

This year the three courses in play will be:

Palmer Private

Nicklaus Private (easiest)

La Quinta (hardest)

Check here for info on how these courses scored last year.  The coures all play pretty similar, though the Private courses play about a stoke less on average.  Of course wind and weather can always make these courses easier or more difficult depending on the day.  That said you want to select your lineup this week based on where golfers are playing the first three days.  Odds are playing golfers on the easier courses will result in better scoring, so select accordingly. 

2012 Humana Challenge Pairings

With that in mind, here’s my prognostication for this week:

Bill Haas

Starting on La Quinta in round 1, I’ll probably hold him out of the starting lineup until day two.  Haas is money here, finishing 2nd last year and winning in 2010.  Removing one course and one day from the tournament should only help as he knows these courses well.   Finishing only T20 two weeks ago at Kapalua, he only managed one round under 60 (69 in R4).  It’s early though and I’m expecting big things from Haasy this week.

Phil Mickelson

If you’re one of the three regulars of this blog, you know that Phil is my favorite golfer.  For that reason I probably over pick him during the year and I’m pretty sure I’ve picked him for his first start all of the five plus years of this blog.  That trend continues.  Lefty had a “down” year by Lefty standards in 2011, with only one win and just seven Top 10s.  He is definitely on the twilight of his career but should still win a handful of majors and a West Coast swing tournament here and there.  Favored this week, how can you not start him?  He’s the biggest name in the field.  Having not played since November (T33 Singapore Open) it’s any one’s guess how his golf game will fare.  This will be his first start in this event (due to the tournament changes I’m sure) since 2007 and he has won this event twice with four career Top 10s.  Go get Phil!

Kevin Na

I’ve got a feeling Na is in for a breakthrough in 2012.  Though he missed the cut last week, he did finish just outside the Top 10 in the season opener (and two eagles back to back is not bad).  Na led the PGA Tour in Putts Per Round in 2011 and if he can continue that trend will better his T15 in Top 10s from last year.  With two Top 10’s here over the last two season’s, this is (bob hopefully) a na-brainer.

Please post your picks along with me and we will be keeping score all season long.  Winner will receive a prize to be determined.  Just post your picks below in the comments section.

Fantasy Golf Picks

I’m giving myself points for picking winners.  Hopefully my picks can help you win your fantasy golf league this season.  My goal is to get to 111 points for the season, or the equivlant of picking a Top 3 finisher or better each week, based on the point scale below:

Winner = 10 points

2nd Place = 5 points

3rd Place = 3 points

Top 10 = 1 point

Leaderboard

Please post your picks along with me and we will be keeping score all season long.  Winner will receive a prize to be determined.  Just post your picks below in the comments section.

Last Week:

All in all not a bad week.  I got 3 points for Simpson’s 3rd place finish but neither Haas nor Vegas sniffed a Top 10.  That Vegas finished dead last luckily does not count against me.  But most important, the PGA Tour season is now in swing.  And what better way to bring in the new year than a Steve Stricker “hang-on” win.  Seems Stricky is always getting out to big leads, only to lose them, only to win in the end. 

This Week:

Mark Wilson defends in the first full field event of the new season.  We also get our first look at 2012 rookies and Q-school grads.  And weather permitting, should be lots of birdies in the forecast.  Being the second tournament of the season I would suggest to play it safe this week (in most Fantasy Golf formats).   

Steve Stricker

Speaking of Stricky, it’s Stricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, it’s Stricky.  Stricky, Stricky Stricky Stricky.  (Weird side thought, why aren’t their rap songs about golfers?  Or are there?)  This could be the year for Steve.  Already a win under his belt, he looks to be on his way to a stellar 2012 campaign.  Will he get that pesky major win out the way?  We’ll have to wait til April to get an idea but til then don’t miss Strick in your lineup.  Coming off a win this is a no brainer pick, as he has four Top 10’s in his last five starts at the Sony.  He should be all but a lock for another Top 10 and dare I say it, two wins to start the year?  That would be Stricky.

K.J. Choi

Quietly Choi goes on about his business.  With seven Top 10’s in 2011 to go with a win at the Players, Choi is already off to a great start in 2012.  Finishing T5 last week, K.J. is another solid pick, having won here in 2008 and three career Top 10s.  He did miss the cut last year but coming off a Top 10 I don’t foresee that happening this time around.  Choi is streaky (look at his run in spring of 2011) so pick him when he’s hot.

Steve Marino

You wouldn’t know Steve Marino if he wasn’t Dan Marino’s brother (which he’s not) so why mention him here?  How about three Top 10’s here in four starts with a T2 in 2011.  Marino got off to a good start last season before being chewed up by the summer majors and never recoving.  Still with two 2nd place finishes he secured his card for 2012 with ease, 39th on the Money List.   Won’t be picking Mr. Marino a lot during the season unless he gets hot, but this a great place to gain points on the field.

Please post your picks along with me and we will be keeping score all season long.  Winner will receive a prize to be determined.  Just post your picks below in the comments section.