Last Week

An impressive performance at the U.S. Open Championship assisted veteran Fredrik Jacobson in his first win on Tour at the Travelers Championship. The Swede is now the eighth player this season to score their first career victory. Because of his flair and style, Jacobson has been a personal favorite of mine to watch for a little while. Now after years of sporting some slick hairdos, Jacobson is now finding success with a buzzed look. Grattis!

My weekly picks all cashed in and were never in danger of missing the cut. My Must Start, Nick Watney, Bo Van Pelt and Webb Simpson all finished with a T13. Zach Johnson and Brandt Snedeker were among several players to earn of a share of 24th with defending champ Bubba Watson finished T38.

This Week’s Fantasy Golf Picks

With the 2011 U.S. Open being hosted at Congressional Country Club outside of the nation’s capital, the AT&T National was played at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia last year and will host the Tiger Woods-hosted event once more.

Nick Watney – Must Start

With three finishes of 13th or better over his last four starts, Watney’s solid play continues to roll on. A year ago at Aronimink, he opened with a share of the lead thanks to a 4-under 66 before finishing with a split of seventh. Watney grades fourth in scoring, ninth in total driving, 11th in birdies, 13th in greens in regulation and sixth in All-Around Ranking.

Ryan Moore

Coming off a share of second place last week at the Travelers Championship, Moore is heading to a course where he was very successful at a year ago. He finished as the runner-up here a year ago aided by a Sunday-best round of 65. Among the top amateur players of all-time, Moore currently ranks 10th in strokes gained – putting, 29th in birdies and 36th in All-Around.

Bo Van Pelt

With four consecutive top-15 finishes, Van Pelt is looking like a very safe pick this week. A year ago, he finished T11 at Aronimink after entering Sunday with a share of seventh. Van Pelt sits sixth in total driving, eighth in eagles and seventh in All-Around.

J.B. Holmes

After tearing off three straight finishes of 11th or better, Holmes has since finished outside of top-50 in his last two starts. However, the Kentucky native finished fifth at Aronimink last year with rankings of third in both driving distance and greens hit. This season, Holmes is first in driving distance, eighth in birdies, 27th in scoring and 23rd in All-Around.

Lucas Glover

Although Glover has missed two of his last three cuts, there are several reasons to tab him this week. While finishing T25th in this event a year ago, his underling numbers were far more impressive. Glover recorded rankings of T2 in birdies, T3 in fairways, T10 in greens and 11th in driving distance. Glover’s only issue was shooting 7-over on the par 3 holes. This season, he’s seventh in strokes gained – putting, 18th in birdies, 30th in All-Around and won earlier this season in the Wells Fargo Championship.

John Merrick

A year ago at Aronimink, Merrick entered Sunday inside the top-10 before going 1-over par to finish T16. Despite sharing names with the Elephant Man, this UCLA product is an attractive sleeper selection this week. In addition to two top-11 finishes already this month, Merrick is seventh in total driving, 12th in scoring, 19th in driving accuracy, 25th in strokes gained – putting and 27th in All-Around.

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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

2010 Fantasy Golf Picks Total:  40 Points

2010 Fantasy Golf Picks Weekly Average:  1.60 Points

Think you can pick better?  Leave a comment with your 5 picks for the 2010 AT&T National.  If you Beat The Expert in any week you will win a FREE 2010 Rotoff Golf Draft Kit (a $9.99 value) with one possible Grand Prize winner at the end of the FedEx Cup season.  See here for official BTE rules.

A few props are in order.  First to our first back to back weekly winner of the season, Joe Book gets it done again.  With 4 total points at the U.S. Open (Ernie Els 3rd, Phil Mickelson T4) Mr. Book gets his fourth weekly win and stays within shouting distance of our BTE leaders.  And just out ahead of Joey Books is Craig who ends the 3peat bid with last week’s weekly win.  Not only did C. Giles select a 2nd place Scott Verplank but also got a point for Retief Goosen for a nice 6 point week.  Golf claps for you both.

And don’t look now but we have a new familiar #1.  Which means it’s time for a new poll.

Beat the Expert Leaderboard

Last (Two) Weeks:

We haven’t talked since the U.S. Open ended with a thud.  After amazing 66s from both Phil and Tiger Woods the perfect stage was set.  Taking nothing away from Graeme McDowell who played inspired golf all week, but by the back 9 on Sunday there wasn’t much drama left.  After Phil’s 1st hole birdie and Dustin Johnson’s 2nd hole collapse we appeared to be headed for an epic showdown between Tiger, Phil and Ernie. 

But the crappy greens of Pebble Beach prevented birdies from dropping.  Have you ever seen worse looking greens in a major?  All in all it’s hard to complain about the 2010 U.S. Open, as Pebble Beach is such an amazing backdrop for national championship golf.  But by the 14th hole of the final group it felt like a Sopranos ending.  I half expected Johnny Miller to get in a “Don’t Stop Believin” before it was all over, but that would have been much too clever. 

I did manage to get 1 point for Phil’s T4 finish.  Lee Westwood wasn’t terrible in finishing T28 but provided no points.  Ditto Stewart Cink.  Sleeper Mike Weir looked great thru the first round but never after that while Heath Slocum missed the cut.

My streak of Top 10s continued last week but could have been a whole lot better had Justin Rose not choked away his 2nd win of the season.  But I’ll take another 2 points for his and Ricky Barnes Top 1os.  Hunter Mahan missed the cut.

Good to see Bubba Watson get his first PGA Tour victory.  The banner year of the PGA Tour continues. 

This week:

We’re not in D.C. anymore Toto.  The National takes a two year hiatus from Congressional and moves to PA.  Aronimink Golf Club has not been part of the PGA Tour schedule since the 1962 PGA Championship.  In other words you can throw out event history this week.  It’s all about who is playing well. 

1.  Tiger Woods

What would make this banner year even better?  How about a win by Tiger before the British Open?  Tiger is average in 2010, still a work in progress.  Even though he’s not the dominant Tiger we once knew he still might be the best golfer in the field this week (with apologies to Jim Furyk and Ben Crane).  This is the best spot to play Tiger so far this year, coming off a T4 finish at the U.S. Open and a rather weak field.  He’s got to get at least one win in 2010 right?  

2.  Jim Furyk

Jimmy didn’t play bad at the U.S. Open but it was still a disappointing finish.  He’s been on the brink of golf godness for years but can’t get that second major win.  Being the first one to three wins this season would be huge for his confidence heading into the final two majors.  Look for Furyk to be runner up to Tiger’s win this weekend, which would make for some great must see Sunday golf.

3.  Davis Love III

Davis Love III has enjoyed a bit of a resurgence and is coming off a major Top 10.  Davis has a great streak going right now.  He either misses the cut OR finishes in the Top 20.With three Top 10s on the year it might not be out of the realm of possibilities for him to get a win in 2010.  It’s probably not going to happen this week but if he can make the cut it should be points. 

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Poll:  Just out of my own curiosity as we get ready to launch Rotoff Golf to the public in 2011, I’m curious where everyone plays their Fantasy Golf. 

AimPoint PGA Tour Picks

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.

Winner = 10 points

2nd Place = 5 points

3rd Place = 3 points

Top 10 = 1 point

2009 Fantasy Golf Picks Total:  51 Points

2009 Fantasy Golf Picks Weekly Average:  2.04 Points

Last week: 

Mahan came through with a Top 10, while Kim finished just outside (T11) so just 1 point for me.  VJ shot a 66 on Thursday but came crashing down over the weekend shooting only 70 and 69 on ideal scoring conditions. 

Kenny Perry continues to amaze with his 5th win in thirteen months.  His goal to reach 20 wins doesn’t seem so far fetched now.  Another few wins this summer and odds would be in his favor to get there.  I’d love to see the Vegas line on his quest, though my various web searches have proven unsuccessful.

This week: 

Defending champ Anthony Kim looks to finish better then Tiger for the first time when they both play in the same tournament.  This is the rookie event on the PGA Tour, with just the third playing coming this week.  Don’t expect the low scoring and birdie fest that we saw last weekend.  Only two players have finished double digits under par here in two years. 

This is Tiger’s tournament and will be moving from Congressional in Washington D.C. to Philadelphia next season.  There is a decent field this week and I expect a bit of a major feel as we celebrate July 4th this weekend.  Happy 4th to all!

1. Paul Casey

Casey had a disappointing U.S. Open showing, missing the cut at +10 thru two rounds.  He has yet to play at Congressional but the old school course style suits his sharp iron play.  No longer a stranger to winning in the states, Casey has three wins this calendar year between the PGA and European tours.  Going on a hunch here, but expecting at least a Top 10.

 2. Boo Weekley

Last Thursday Weekley started his first six holes with six straight birdies.  If not for a 71 in round two, Weekley would have taken home his second Top 10 of the season.  He has only missed the cut three times this season, though his Money List standing would say otherwise (60th).  Quite frankly Boo needs a win.  A T12 finish here in 2007 mixed with a 65 last Sunday puts this week as his best opportunity to date to make it happen. 

3. Tiger Woods

Tiger has only played his own event once (2007) and amongst all the responsibilities of running a tournament managed to finish T6.  He has eight straight Top 10 finishes going back to the WGC-CA Championship and comes off a T6 finish at Beth Page two weeks ago.  That he didn’t win means one thing, he’ll be more then focused.  And that is a scary thought.  A Top 10 is guaranteed but I’m banking on an outright win.

AimPoint PGA Tour Picks

Preview

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans. It’s a great day to celebrate our nations history and the vision of our founding fathers. I’m going to make this preview very brief as I’m getting ready to fire up the grill.

Tiger hosts his own tournament this week at the AT&T National. This tour stop is a replacement for the now defunct International. This tournament will have a major feel as most of the top players are in attendance.

AT&T National
Congressional Country Club – Bethesda, Maryland

Don’t have a clue who will win at Congressional, but I have a feeling Kobayashi will win the hotdog eating contest later today. While you’re celebrating today, pour out a little liquor for The International and the stableford scoring system. It was a unique tournament that will be missed.

Happy Independence day everyone!