09-21-16

Plenty of acronyms rocking in that title!

The TOUR Championship wraps up the 2015-16 PGA TOUR season and our final One-and-Done stop of the year.

Until the new season starts in three weeks.

Then we’ll start over and do it all again!

 

One left in the OAD leaves most of our hands tied behind our backs but remember one thing:

YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF.

Nobody forced you to burn Dustin Johnson at Riviera or Jason Day at Augusta.

Nobody forced you to play Jordan Spieth at Oakmont or Rory McIlroy at Royal Troon.

IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT.

Before next season starts, I’m going to rate EVERYONE in the top 100 in the OWGR and list their best course forms to give you and me a better shot at cracking the code in 2016-17. Don’t forget that we’ll need a bit of luck as well and they don’t sell that over-the-counter.

Fachts:

• The only player to win the FEC twice is Tiger Woods. Only Jordan Spieth, Brandt Snedeker and Phil Mickelson have a chance to join him this week
• The only players that have defended their FEC titles at East Lake are Woods, Snedeker and Spieth.
• Nobody has successfully defended their FEC championship since the invention in 2007.
• Nobody has ever won TTC or a FEC event as their first victory.

History Lessons:

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

• Tiger Woods, 3
• Dustin Johnson, 3
• Rory McIlroy, 3*
• Vijay Singh, 2*
• Camilo Villegas, 2*
• Steve Stricker, 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.

There has been a multiple winner in the last FOUR YEARS IN A ROW. Patrick Reed, Johnson and McIlroy can add this distinction if they win this week.

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

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. Reed now has five wins and McIlroy and DJ both have 12. #StudsOnly

 

2015-16 season

Season total: $5,812,329; 45 events

• Wins: 2 (Matsuyama, Hoffman)
• Seconds: 0
• Thirds: 1
• Top 10s: 9
• Top 25s: 17
• MC: 8 (Mickelson, FIO; Oosthuizen, SHO; Chappell, Colonial; Casey, Memorial; Woodland, FESJC; Hearn, RBC Canadian; McGirt, Wyndham; Justin Thomas, DBC)

 

 Last week: Emiliano Grillo, T-32; $46,021

 

Thermometer:

–CLOSED– and doesn’t register to Knox for some reason.

 

Keys this Week:

• Nothing to save it for
• Mental toughness
• Whole bag is in play so that suggests premium players

 

My Finalists:

 

Jordan Spieth-defending champ boys and girls.

Russell Knox-missed multiple chances on him.

Charl Schwartzel-never one of my favorites so it’s not surprised he’s still here.

Kevin Kisner-never caught enough fire in 2016 to register; DFL here last year in his first try doesn’t inspire either.

Kevin Na-So much for “Nappy Factor” as he just keeps banging out solid finish after solid finish; NO history here of success.

Si Woo Kim-He’s obviously fearless and completely under the radar.

Roberto Castro-THE outsider this week.

Jhonattan Vegas-Not sure there are enough putts in that putter.

 

My Choice: Jordan Spieth

Close Second: Russell Knox

Just Missed: Roberto Castro

Stratagem: If you’re winning and have three premium players left, you’re doing it wrong but yet got it right. If you’re trailing and are in the same predicament well it’s hardly a mystery of why that’s the case.

Leaders: Most of you have planned for this moment for almost 12 months so it should be your crowning moment, congratulations. If you’re torn on your final pick, no sweat, you’re probably not going to go wrong with a choice of premium players. In my opinion, there are only about seven guys who can win this week and if you have two or three of them to choose from, bully for you. My only advice would be stay away from guys who can struggle with the putter as we saw where that got Rory supporters last week.

Chasers: Stay up all night to get lucky. Time to get the voodoo dolls and black cats out and to work. If you’re trailing by a million, you’re going to need a win so find somebody that’s done that recently and can handle tough courses. Unfortunately, most of those guys are in the top 5 or so and should have been burned long ago. If you did save two big boys accidentally or just in case, check out my preview if you need to split hairs.

 

 QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

• What do I do if I don’t have any big guns left?

 

ANSWER OF THE WEEK:

• PANIC!!!
• Nah, not really. Sports are the best reality television going so it’s okay to dream a little dream before Dustin Johnson shoots 60 on Thursday and wins by 10. I’d take a guy with experience at East Lake and who doesn’t mind a grind on a tough course. Guys who haven’t proven their mettle on tough tracks are unlike to figure that out this week so I’d use majors performance as a bit of a guide. I’m not sure how many people would have burned Roberto Castro before this week but he would be the obvious bail out.

 

 

If you’re wondering where I burned all my skill players, here you go:

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
DBC	Justin Thomas	MC	$0
BMW	Emiliano Grillo	T-32	$46,021

Good luck chops!

You’ll need it!