08-30-2016

With only three events remaining, the time for splitting hairs is NOW!

Will Jim Furyk or Justin Rose make the final at East Lake?

Where’s Danny Willett?

Do you? YOU? Feel like I do?

I hope not.

Fantasy Golf is hard.

I’m here to help. If not, play that record and wonder “how does he play the guitar with his MOUTH??!?!?!”

Whatever.

Only this week and two more to go!

Time to dump the big names and hope they do werk.

 

Fachts:

• The only player to win the FEC twice is Tiger Woods so history says a new, fresh face should hold the trophy again this season.
• The only players that have defended their FEC titles at East Lake are Woods and Snedeker. Spieth will join that very small club in a few weeks as he sits No. 5 entering the Playoffs.
• Nobody has successfully defended their FEC championship since the invention in 2007.
• Jim Furyk checks in at No. 84.
• Justin Roes checks in at No. 45.
• Danny Willett was No. 86 but he’s elected to stay in Europe and defend his Crans-sur-Sierre title in Switzerland. He’s eliminated.

History Lessons:

Since the advent of the FEC Playoffs in 2007, there have been a few fellas win multiple events.

• Tiger Woods, 3
• Vijay Singh, 2*
• Camilo Villegas, 2*
• Steve Stricker, 2
• Dustin Johnson, 2
• Rory McIlroy, 2*
• Henrik Stenson, 2*
• Billy Horschel, 2*
• Jason Day, 2*

*same season

Only Woods, Stricker and Johnson have won titles over multiple years.

Only DJ was won titles in CONSECUTIVE years. Fowler came close last week!

There has been a multiple winner in the last FOUR YEARS IN A ROW. Patrick Reed has this market cornered after one event.

Only two of the four went on to win the $10 million (Stenson, Horschel).

Reed looks to join Vijay Singh as the only winners of the first two events of the Playoffs.

The list of winners contains very few surprises outside of Slocum, Hoffman and maybe a young Villegas. Everyone else who’s won one of these events has been a multiple winner on Tour.

Don’t forget, the last two events of the Playoffs are NO-CUT EVENTS.

 

2015-16 season

Season total: $5,774,308; 43 events

• Wins: 2
• Seconds: 0
• Thirds: 1
• Top 10s: 9
• Top 25s: 17
• MC: 7 (Mickelson, FIO; Oosthuizen, SHO; Chappell, Colonial; Casey, Memorial; Woodland, FESJC; Hearn, RBC Canadian; McGirt, Wyndham)

 

Last week: Justin Rose, T-31; $45,220

 

Thermometer:

Anybody know the words to Taps?

Blimey.

Gone, but not forgotten:

Event	Golfer	Place	Money
Frys.com	Brooks Koepka	T-41	$21,000
Shriners	Scott Piercy	T-25	$44,832
CIMB	Anirban Lahiri	T-21	$78,400
WGC-HSBC Champions	Adam Scott	T-70	$42,000
Sanderson Farms	Patrick Rodgers	T-20	$41,356
OHL Mayakoba	Patton Kizzire	T-58	$13,764
RSM	Brendon de Jonge	T-33	$27,049
HTOC	Brandt Snedeker	T-3	$381,000
Sony	Kevin Kisner	T-5	$220,400
CB Challenge	Ryan Palmer	T-17	$75,897
Farmers	Phil Mickelson	MC	$0
Waste Management	Hideki Matsuyama	WIN	$1,170,000
AT&T Pebble Beach	Jimmy Walker	T-11	$143,500
NTO	Dustin Johnson	4th	$326,400
Honda	Luke Donald	T-61	$13,115
WGC-Cadillac Champ	Henrik Stenson	T-28	$79,428
Valspar	Danny Willett	T-22	$52,959
Arnold Palmer	Scott Brown	T-27	$41,934
WGC-Dell Match Play	Rickie Fowler	T-53	$63,000
Puerto Rico Open	Graham DeLaet	T-11	$66,000
Shell Houston Open	Louis Oosthuizen	MC	$0
Masters	Bubba Watson	T-37	$50,250
RBC Heritage	Matt Kuchar	T-9	$147,500
Valero Texas Open	Charley Hoffman	WIN	$1,116,000
Zurich Classic	Daniel Berger	T-20	$64,909
Wells Fargo	J.B. Holmes	T-53	$16,589
THE PLAYERS	Rory McIlroy	T-12	212,625
AT&T Byron Nelson	Jason Dufner	T-24	54,020
Colonial	Kevin Chappell	MC	$0
Memorial	Paul Casey	MC	$0
FESJC	Gary Woodland	MC	$0
U.S. Open	Jason Day	T-8	$247,806
Quicken Loans	Patrick Reed	T-39	$28,290
Barracuda	Jon Rahm	MDF	$6,420
WGC-BI	Shane Lowry	T-36	$73,500
Barbasol	Kyle Reifers	T-35	$15,808
The Open	Sergio Garcia	T-5	$310,797
RBC Canadian Open	David Hearn	MC	$0
PGA Championship	Branden Grace	T-4	$405,000
Travelers	Ryan Moore	T-17	$83,490
John Deere Classic	Zach Johnson	T-34	$24,240
Wyndham	William McGirt	MC	$0
The Barclays	Justin Rose	T-31	$45,220

 

Keys this Week:

• Experience in these parts
• Fairways and greens
• Splitting the right hairs

 

My Finalists:

listed by OWGR position; FedExCup Points in parentheses

 

3.) Jordan Spieth (5)

25.) Emiliano Grillo (6)

20.) Russell Knox (7)

22.) Jim Furyk (84)

26.) Charl Schwartzel (32)

29.) Scott Piercy (31)

31.) Justin Thomas (8)

32.) Kevin Kisner (12)

33.) Kevin Na (14)

35.) Bill Haas (36)

 

My Choice: Justin Thomas

Close Second: Jim Furyk

Just Missed: Russell Knox

Stratagem: There’s aren’t very many phonies that win in the FEC Playoffs and Patrick Reed surely isn’t one of those! Day, Scott, Fowler and even Spieth all cracked the top 10 last week. I think those of you in the lead are here for a reason and need to trust your set-up coming down the stretch. For gamers left holding Fowler he’s the most interesting option this week. Day, Scott and Stenson are all no-brainers this week that should keep the chasers just far enough behind.

For the desperate, Grillo reeks of exactly what you need but I have my worries. Jim Furyk has always been a very consistent option and having his back up against the wall poses an interesting option this week. He needs a very solid finish to jump into the top 70 and this track makes more sense than Bethpage. There will be 30 players at East Lake regardless of your OAD selection. If you are trailing by a significant margin at the moment, I wouldn’t even care about next week or East Lake. Now > then.

 

QUESTION(S) OF THE WEEK:

• What are you doing???
• Where’s Grillo???
• Will Knox be angry and want REVENGE?!?!?

 

ANSWER(S) OF THE WEEK:

• With the choices I have left, I’m running out a guy who has hit the top 10 twice in his last three starts. One of those included at 62 in this part of the world at Travelers, another TPC layout.
• Furyk has no choice but to fire this week if he wants another shot at Crooked Stick or BMW and especially the Ryder Cup.
• I’ve left Grillo out, rightly or wrongly, as I feel he’ll be a better option at Crooked Stick (only one previous Tour event this century so no inherent advantage for anyone) or even a difficult East Lake.
• He should be but not really. He’s won twice this year. He’s heading to East Lake. It’s not like he played himself OUT of the Euro squad for the Ryder Cup! I like Knox this week because he’s played really well the last two years here but just hasn’t put four rounds together.

Added Feature:

 

Good luck chops!

As always, the picks are subject to change based on tee times or weather forecasts. Reach out on Twitter for any updates.