Last Week

Steve Stricker drained clutch birdies down the stretch to three-peat at the John Deere Classic. He’s not highlighted in Open Championship picks below but Stricker warrants heavy consideration in any format, particularly best ball games.

My selections from last week included the Stricker, the Must Start slam dunk, and hit a pair of sleepers in Charles Howell III (T5) and Bryce Molder (T30). Jason Day (T68) was a big dud while Louis Oosthuizen (just as disappointing) and Vaughn Taylor (not surprising) missed the cut.

This Week’s Fantasy Golf Picks

Luke Donald – Must Start

The World No. 1 is coming off a Scottish Open win and has finished outside of the top-10 only once in his last dozen world events played. On Tour, Donald ranks third in scoring and fourth in strokes gained – putting as well as birdies. In the last two British Opens, Donald has finished 11th and fifth.

Lee Westwood

The former World No. 1 finished T14th in the Scottish Open and hasn’t landed outside of the top-15 in any of his last seven world events played. Westwood was the runner-up in last year’s British after finishing with a share of third in 2009. On the European Tour, he’s 11th in scoring. Another real Must Start, Westwood is selection 1A.

Retief Goosen

After a roller coaster start to the season, Goosen has been far steadier since the month of May finishing 23rd or better in six world events played. On the Euro Tour, he’s first in putts per round and seventh in scoring. Since 1997, Goosen has eight top-10s and 14 British Open starts. Goosen finished sixth last year and T5 in 2009.

Webb Simpson

If you are up for rolling out a first timer, take Simpson for a spin following his four straight top-15 finishes. Simpson currently ranks fifth in scoring, sixth in birdies, 18th in total driving and first in All-Around Ranking. Simpson is nice value in salary cap games thanks to a quiet 2010 and never competing in this event.

Jeff Overton

If he’s able to carry the momentum from a second consecutive top-three finish in the AT&T National, Overton could be a great value. Last year, Overton finished 11th in the British after a third-place result in the AT&T. Another under the radar selection.

Fredrik Jacobson

The last noticeable finish for Jacobson in the British was a T6 in 2003, when it was last hosted at Royal St George’s Golf Club. After finishing T14th in the U.S. Open Championship, Jacobson won the Travelers Championship and is clearly on a roll. On Tour, he ranks eighth in scoring and 11th in strokes gained – putting.

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Fantasy Golf Picks

While Erik Planer works on the new Rotoff Fantasy Sports site, I’ll be the guest expert for the next four PGA Tour events. In addition to leading the Beat the Expert Leaderboard for much of the season, I’ve been covering various fantasy sports for the last two years. I’m currently in the 95th percentile in the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf game and finished in the 92nd percentile last year. As I hold down the fort, the BTE game will continue to roll on. Here’s the point scale:

Winner = 10 points

2nd Place = 5 points

3rd Place = 3 points

Top 10 = 1 point

Think you can pick better?  Leave a comment with your 5 picks for the 2010 British Open.  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.

Four players picked up 10 or more points by picking Steve Stricker in last week’s John Deere Classic. My concerns over Stricker’s health since returning from a clavicle injury steered me wrong and have relegated me to second place. No time is better than a major to rack up some more points.

Beat the Expert Leaderboard

Last Week:

In the first round of the John Deere Classic, Paul Goydos shot a 12-under 59  to become just the fourth player in PGA Tour history to accomplish the feat. Stricker was right on his heels with a first round 60 and would led by seven strokes with 17 hole remaining on Sunday. Goydos moved within two strokes at one point but hit the water on 18 to extinguish his hopes of preventing Stricker’s second straight win at TPC Deere Run.

Vaughn Taylor finished sixth to give him three straight finishes of 11th or better. He won’t be at St. Andrews but will head to the Reno-Tahoe Open where he’s a two-time winner.

My top pick, Zach Johnson, shot all his rounds in the high 60s but finished T21. His eight bogeys and one double bogey kept him from ever challenging.

K.J. Choi missed his first cut in 15 events this season. It was his first time in the John Deere Classic but this result still comes at a big surprise.

Chad Campbell ended his streak of eight straight rounds of sub-70 play at the John Deere with an opening round even 71. He rebounded with a 67 and two rounds of 68 to finish T34.

This week:

As the third major of the year, the Open Championship (aka the British Open) rotates between nine historic courses in Scotland and England. But every five years it comes back home to the Old Course at St. Andrews. The birth place of golf is both loved and hated, often in unison. The nuances of a links course can easily frustrate those unfamiliar with them. The difficult to locate fairways, the thick rough, the hidden pot bunkers, the wind coming off the bay and the revamped No. 17 Road Hole are all standing in the way of the field from hoisting the Claret Jug.

1.  Tiger Woods

Despite the personal turmoil and the nagging reporters that have greeted him in Scotland, Woods is at the best possible site to get that first win of the season. He’s won the Open Championship three times, twice at St. Andrews (‘05, ‘00). While Woods has struggled at times in limited starts this year, his best finishes have come at majors; T4 at both The Masters and the U.S. Open. Also, Woods is going with a new putter this week in hopes of fixing his short game. The comfort from a course he’s been so successful at and the spotlight of playing in another major should allow Tiger to rise to the occasion.

2. Ernie Els

With 12 Top 10s and eight Top Fives in 18 career starts at the Open Championship, Els is among the safest plays this week. At Opens held at St. Andrews, Els finished T11 in ‘95, T2 in ‘00 and T34 in ‘05. Els has two wins this season on the PGA Tour and has finished third in two of his last three starts, the most recent being the U.S. Open. He’s struggled on the European Tour, missing two straight cuts, but is using the extra time to get extra work in at St. Andrews.

3. Padraig Harrington

He’s a two-time winner of the Open Championship but Harrington is still a risky pick. Harrington’s wins came in ‘07 and ‘08 but were not at St. Andrews. Although he does have success there. In ‘02 and ‘06, the Irishman won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which holds two rounds (including the final round) at St. Andrews. Despite some inconsistent play, Harrington has four Top 10 finishes in 13 PGA Tour events this year.

Sleepers (outside World Top 50):  Simon Dyson (Won the ‘09 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, shot a 66 in both rounds at St. Andrews), Chris Wood (T3 in ‘09 Open Championship, T5 in ‘08)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SITE!!!

Standard calcutta format (i.e. not parimutuel):

• Deadline: The calcutta ends Wednesday July 14th at 5:00 PM Eastern.

• Payment: Josh LaFountain AKA “Wurgler” will be handling the collection of money and prize payouts. Accepted payment methods are Money Order, Certified/Cashiers Checks, and PayPal. We will post the information after the bidding closes. Please contact Josh if you have any questions regarding payment. Payment instructions will be given after Auction’s close.

NOTE:
a) No partial payments if you split a golfer!!! It’s too much of a hassle for us to keep track of. The person who actually won the bid is responsible for the entire amount.

b) Be able to make your payment within 24 hours of the end of the bidding. If this is not possible, have someone else bid for you who can.

c) A small administrative fee (3%) will be deducted from the total prize pool.

Please remember the One Hour Rule:

• The One Hour Rule: This rule is put into place to squash any attempts to sandbag bids at the last minute.

If a bid is placed in the last hour of the Calcutta (i.e. between 4:00 and 4:00 PM on Wednesday July 14th) then an additional one hour of bidding time (from the time of said bid) will be added for the player being bid upon.

This will continue to happen as long as the bidding for the player continues.

Example: If someone bids on Tiger Woods at 4:26 PM on the 14th, Tiger’s deadline will be extended until 5:26 PM. If someone then bid again on Tiger, at say 5:02 PM, then his deadline would be further extended to 6:02 PM.

• Betting Minimum: Each player will begin with a bet of no less than $10. Bidding increments go up as the bids get higher.

• The Field: There WILL be a Field Bid, however it will not be available until the main bidding period ends at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, July 14th. At that point, all players who have not received a bid, will be included in “The Field”. Bidding will continue as per the One Hour Rule set forth above.

• Prize Structure: Four prizes, split will be 40%, 30%, 20%, and 10% of prize pool.

• Sign Up: You will be required to register before you place a bid. PLEASE, ONLY USE YOUR REAL NAME!!!

• Email Notification: You will (should) receive an email notification indicating that your bet has been accepted. You will (should) also receive an e-mail notification when someone places an Outbid on a player that you had action on. There have been issues in the past with emails, so please don’t rely on them!

Contact info:

Queries about payment:
Josh LaFountain AKA “Wurgler”
Email: azflatx(at)gmail(dot)com
Cell: 214-4six0-8six10

Any other queries:
Ben Zeidenberg: bzeidenberg (at) akanda (dot) com
Cell: 416-560-seven0four4

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SITE!!!

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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.

Winner = 10 points

2nd Place = 5 points

3rd Place = 3 points

Top 10 = 1 point

2009 Fantasy Golf Picks Total:  66 Points

2009 Fantasy Golf Picks Weekly Average:  2.44 Points

Last week: 

I’m heating up just in time for this week’s Open Championship.  Snedeker’s 2nd place finish was good for 5 points and marked my seventh straight week with points.  Perry got off to a great start but shot two rounds over par during the weekend to finish T59.  Dufner shot a 66 on Friday but was never truly in contention, finishing T39. 

Stricker’s win makes yet another golfer with multiple wins on tour this year.  It should be an exciting FedEx cup chase.

This week: 

The Open Championship returns to Turnberry for the first time since 1994.  Tiger will be looking for his first major in 2009, fifteenth in his career.  Among the many storylines this week, the most interesting to me is Padraig Harrington and the disappearance of his golf game.  It’s no secret that Paddy has changed his swing but after a streak of good golf earlier this spring he has missed four of five cuts including the U.S. Open.  That said this is still his event, expect him to play well but not to win.

Now that Tiger is healthy again the age old question arises, “Tiger or the Field?”  While I could easily pick Tiger for the win this week I’m going Field for one reason, Tiger has yet to play this course outside of practice rounds.  All that said I could easily see Tiger winning, but to keep it interesting I’m betting against him this week.

1. Lee Westwood

Westwood is coming off two straight Top 10s on the European Tour, including a T8 at last week’s Barclay’s Scottish Open.  His best finish in the Open is a solo 4th place in 2004 with only four missed cuts in fourteen starts.  While Lee has struggled here the last few years, his game is suited for links golf and an Open win will happen before his career is over.  I’m guessing sooner then later.

 2. Ernie Els

Ernie’s record in the British Open is spectacular, eleven Top 10s in seventeen starts with one win and zero missed cuts.  I’ll say that again, zero missed cuts.  He has been streaky in 2009 but like Westwood is coming off a good finish (T13) at the Scottish Open last weekend.  Two missed cuts in majors this year makes me nervous but Ernie always gets up for this championship.  I’ll take a Top 10 and if he is in contention on Sunday I’ll shake the nerves.

3. Sergio Garcia

You either love him or loathe him and for the first time this year I’m picking Sergio.  It should be noted that before the season began I called for Sergio to win his first major in 2009.  And though Serg has not played consitently good golf all year, he is coming off a T10 at the U.S. Open.  That he is under if not off the radar this week only bodes well.  Sure there are his past failures here that will be mentioned by the media but if Sergio can find a putting stroke this week look out.  I know that’s a big if (so is my not picking Tiger).  But Sergio is due and his six Top 10s in twelve starts should not be overlooked.

Sleepers:  Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas

Happy Open Championship Sunday to all!

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