Fantasy Golf Picks

Last Week

Aaron Baddeley took a big step toward playing for the Presidents Cup in his homeland of Australia by defeating the deep field of the Northern Trust Open. He held off a resurgent Vijay Singh, who now has a pair of top-three finishes in his last three starts. Kevin Na finished third, bouncing back from missing three consecutive cuts.

It was a good week of picks for yours truly. At age 51, Fred Couples nearly put the finishing touches in a storybook ending, but slowed in the final two rounds and fell to T7. If not for back problems, Boom Boom’s 15 career wins would surely be higher and likely contain more than just one major.

Paul Casey and J.B. Holmes each had a round over par but finished T12. Defending champ Steve Stricker, my Must Start, was well off his game. Outside of a sizzling round of 65 in Round 3, Stricker was a combined four strokes over par for the tournament. With three rounds of par, Steve Marino coasted to a share of 35th. After a layover been starts, Luke Donald opened with a 68, but melted down the following round with an 8-over 79 to miss the cut.

This Week

With many of the world’s best playing in the Accenture Match Play Championship event, this week’s field figures to be one of the softest of the season. Be sure you fill out your bracket right away by clicking here. The winner gets a stylish Shlink Lincoln Sports baseball cap!

Aaron Baddeley

He’s never competed in this event, but Baddeley is coming off the aforemtioned victory at Riviera and a T6 at Pebble Beach. A year ago he finished second on Tour in putting average and 11th in both putts per round and eagles. In addition to an excellent short game, Baddeley has done a much better job of hitting greens so far this season. Everything appears to be falling into place for Baddeley to take full advantage of a field this is, well, pretty bad.

David Toms

In his lone Mayakoba start back in 2009, Toms finished with a share of sixth. While he’s struggled early this season, missing two of three cuts, Tom has been able to prey on light competition before. During the Fall Tour Series, Toms finished T11th and T3 in two events. When he’s on top of things, Toms accurate with the driver and good with the putter. That is good enough to compete this week.

Brian Gay – Must Start

With three starts south of the border, Gay owns a victory from 2008 and a T20 in 2009. In those eight combined rounds, he did not exceed par and posted an average score of 67.6. Gay currently ranks first on Tour in driving accuracy, second in birdies and fifth in putting. Prior to missing the cut at Pebble Beach, Gay had posted three top-20 finishes, including a T5. Gay needs to be in the starting lineup of any format.

Spencer Levin

After missing two cuts to start the Fall Tour Series, Levin finished things nicely with a pair of top-five finishes. That momentum has carried him into 2011 with three top 20s in six starts and only one missed cut. At Pebble, Levin finished T4, which he followed up with a T12 last week. A year ago, Levin finished T28 at Mayakoba without one round over par. Expect an even better performance this time around.

Richard S. Johnson

One of a handful of players that has competed in this event all four years it has been active, Johnson has yet to go over par in any of the 11 rounds he’s competed in. He missed the cut at one under during the inaugural event and withdrew after an opening round of par in 2009. Last year, Johnson finished T4 thanks to round of 65 on Sunday. The former pro skateboarder and reigning Nordea Scandinavian Masters winner could grind his way near the top of the leaderboard once again.

J.J. Henry

In 2009, Henry finished as the runner-up at Mayakoba with four sub-70 rounds. Last year, he finished T48 after a 3-over on Sunday cost him nearly 20 spots on the leaderboard. Henry comes in with a T15 at Pebble and a T9 at Riviera. However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing as he posted a round of 74 if each of those events.

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