It’s that time again!  March Madness in the middle of February.  Shlink Lincoln Sports is proud to annouce the 1st annual Rotoff Golf Match Play Challenge. 

Download the 2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Bracket below:

http://rotoff.shlinklincolnsports.com/2010-wgc-accenture-match-play-championship-bracket.xls

Save the excel sheet to your computer.  Fill in all the winners and enter your information on the Championship+ tab*.  Save your bracket and  email to

admin @ shlinklincolnsports dot com

Points will be awarded based on the following scale:

1st Round Winner:  1 Point

2nd Round Winner:  2 Points

3rd Round Winner:  4 Points

4th Round Winner:  8 Points

5th Round Winner:  16 Points

6th Round Winner (Champion):  32 Points

Bonus points will also be awarded for upsets in the 1st Round based on the difference in seeds.  For example if you pick a 16 over a 1 seed you would get 15 bonus points (16-1).  Bonus points will be awarded for the 1st round only for all correct upset seed picks.

2010 Rotoff Golf Match Play Challenge

Leaderboard

(teams listed alphabetically.  colums are sortable, click on “Rank” or “Total Points”)

Name = No more possible points

Congrats to our winner Shane Nelson who won a Shlink Lincoln Sports Baseball Cap ($25 value). 

*See Match Play Bracket for official rules.

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:  16 Points

2009 Fantasy Golf Preview Weekly Average:  2.3 Points

Last week: 

Allenby flirted with the Top 10 at Riviera but that was about it.  Weir made the cut but was never in contention and Glover shot 73 & 74 to miss the cut.  The drought continues.

This week:

Match Play is a crap shoot, but one of the best non-major tournaments of the year.  My general feeling going into tomorrow is that Tiger will struggle some but still manage to win a few matches.  But because they are playing on a brand new course it is a little more difficult to bring in past performance.  The Ritz-Carlton GC in Tucson plays very long and it’s going to be the putter that will determines who moves on.  For the sake of Match Play I will pick one golfer from each bracket that I think has a shot to get to the Final Four.  View the bracket here.

1. Camilo Villegas (Bobby Jones Bracket)

Camilo is coming off a T3 finish at the Buick Invitational and is the #3 seed in the Bobby Jones Bracket.  This is also the same bracket that Tiger resides in.  Tiger should have no trouble getting past #64 Brendan Jones, but could struggle in round 2 against either Goosen or Tim Clark, both of whom are playing great golf through the West Coast swing.  Villegas plays Pampling in round 1 and has a relativley easier draw in through round 3 (excluding Ogilvy).  Tiger will struggle and Villegas will come out of the Bobby Jones bracket.

2. Luke Donald (Ben Hogan Bracket)

Donald has two Top 10s in his last two starts and has a great track record in this event, finishing no worse then T17 (winning the first two rounds) since 2005.  Donald has a great draw this year with a struggling Vijay and Ernie on his side of the bracket through the first two rounds.  Dustin Johnson could pose a threat and Phil will too but ultimately I think Donald survives to make the Final Four.

3. Adam Scott (Gary Player Bracket)

Scott hasn’t played since the Sony Open (T2 finish) and could be rusty.  Looking at the top players in this bracket Scott seems the only one that jumps out at me as the #5 seed.  It’s simply a hunch.  Take it or leave it.

4. Henrik Stenson (Sam Snead Bracket)

In the last two years Stenson has a 3rd place finish and a win and as a #2 seed this year should cruise again.  #1 Harrington has looked average at best so far this year and #3 Kim has never played in this event before.  Furyk and Love III could make some noise but with his clutch experience here, look for Stenson to continue his dominance in the desert.

WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship
The Gallery at Dove Mountain – Tucson, Arizona

Preview

It’s March Madness in February. Can Tiger keep his streak alive? If Tiger loses will the “media” find a way to make WGC events not count in the streak? It’s a win/win for Mr. Woods. Lose and we can still say his “PGA” tour event streak is intact. Win and the streak goes to 8.

That said, Tiger has not fared well in this event over the last few years. Tiger lost to Chad Campbell in the 3rd round in 06, and got knocked out in the 2nd round by Nick O’Hern in 05. Tiger did win this event in 04 and 03.

Last year Geoff Ogilvy beat Davis Love III 3 and 2 in the championship round for the Match Play tourny win. Ogilvy has a decent draw this season as a #3 seed in the Snead bracket, with looming matches against Goosen and Scott if the high seeds prevail.

Fed Ex point leader Charles Howell III is hot and could make some noise this week, though it’ll be tough for him to advance as a #12 seed and possible looming match with last week’s playoff opponent Mickelson. It will be interesting to see how Phil rebounds from a disappointing 2nd place finish at the Nissan Open, though Match Play is not the best format for bouncing back.

Trying to pick the winner will be as easy as picking the winner of the NCAA Tournament (registration opens soon). And even though I am terrible at picking winners in the NCAA (Go Ducks!) I will put myself out on the line and give you my Match Play final four:

Jones Bracket Winner = Tiger Woods

Hogan Bracket Winner = Sergio Garcia

Player Bracket Winner = Davis Love III

Snead Bracket Winner = Paul Casey

Winner = (drumroll please…………………) Davis Love III

(I could change it but I won’t. Much like my NCAA tourny brackets, my winner out in the first round! So much for being an expert )

This is going to fun to watch.

WGC-Accenture Match Play Bracket