03-22-17

I’m starting to wonder if I should continue this column.

I remembered that plenty of you are using it as a FADE DEVICE.

Good point. I’ll carry on…

One-and-done

Each week I painfully writhe and wretch trying to figure out the proper strategy to find a player that will hit the top 10. Wins are great but aren’t likely, so I’m satisfied with having a chance to hit the big money. Missed cuts are absolutely the death in this game, but even the surest of things don’t always happen in the reality world of fantasy golf. Remember, fade or follow, it’s up to you.

 

Gamers who are new to OAD must remember that the most lucrative purses, the majors, WGC events, THE PLAYERS and FedExCup Playoffs, are down the road and you’ll need to save some big boys for these events, all 12 of them.

 

 

Last Season: Il Disastro

Season total: $5,978,929; 47 events

• Wins: 2 (Matsuyama, Hoffman)
• Seconds: 0
• Thirds: 1
• Top 10s: 9
• Top 25s: 18
• MC: 8 (Mickelson, FIO; Oosthuizen, SHO; Chappell, Colonial; Casey, Memorial; Woodland, FESJC; Hearn, RBC Canadian; McGirt, Wyndham; Justin Thomas, DBC)

 

2016-17 season: Brand New Day

 

Season total: $1,650,713; 18 events

• Wins:
• Seconds: 1
• Thirds:
• Top 10s: 4
• Top 25s: 6
• MCs (4): Grayson Murray (Safeway Open); Patton Kizzire (SFC); Jamie Lovemark (CB Challenge); Jimmy Walker (FIO); Charl Schwartzel (Genesis); Russell Knox (Honda); Henrik Stenson (API).

 

Event	Golfer	Place	Money
Safeway Open	Grayson Murray	MC	$0
CIMB Classic	Hideki Matsuyama	T-2	$756,000
WGC-HSBC Champions	Martin Kaymer	T-40	$62,000
Sanderson Farms	Patton Kizzire	MC	$0
Shriners	Chris Kirk	T-61	$14,190
OHL Mayakoba	Emiliano Grillo	T-10	$175,000
RSM Classic	Russell Henley	T-10	$150,000
SBS TOC	Brandt Snedeker	T-14	$122,000
Sony Open	Charles Howell, III	T-8	$180,000
CB Challenge	Jamie Lovemark	MC	$0
Farmers Insurance	Jimmy Walker	MC	$0
WMPO	Brendan Steele	T-16	$90,952
AT&T Pebble Beach	Phil Mickelson	65th	$15,120
Genesis Open	Charl Schwartzel	MC	$0
Honda Classic	Russell Knox	MC	$0
WGC-MC	Justin Rose	T-38	$64,000
Valspar	Bill Haas	T-41	$21,451
Arnold Palmer	Henrik Stenson	MC	$0

 

Thermometer:

I couldn’t even make a cut with a guy who was in form and had rattled off too many top 10’s in a row to count at Bay Hill.

The Grateful Dead once played a song called “Don’t Quit Your Day Job”, usually as an encore.

After a few times of playing it, the band dropper the song at the request of their fans.

I know the feeling.

Rubbish.

 

If you ignored Stenson last week, you were in decent shape as second choice Molinari was T-7. My outlier, Lovemark, hit the top 25 while gut-shot extraordinaire Tyrell Hatton hit the top 10 again. I wish I would just put him in! Hell, even rank outsider HV3 had it rollin’ until late on Sunday!

 

Keys this Week:

With massive greens, it won’t hurt to have a putter in the lineup.

With 7,500-plus yards at sea level, it won’t hurt to have a bomber that can putt in the lineup.

The last four winners are first-timers on Tour so tearing up this resort course doesn’t take much experience.

With rain in the forecast all week/weekend at 50% or better I better find a grinder/mudder.

 

My Weekly Finalists:

I explain in more details in my preview what I’m looking for on the course.

 

Graham DeLaet: He’ll have the power to eat up the wet course and the resort greens should be right up his alley.

Graeme McDowell: He’s won in nasty conditions before and his class should stand out in this field.

Luke List: If the angle is wet and long, find a guy who can shrink the course even more.

Peter Uihlein: His recent form suggests bigger and better things. I’m not waiting.

Scott Brown: He’s the absolute course horse but I’m not hugely confident of him in weather.

 

My Choice: Luke List

Close Second: Graeme McDowell

Outlier: Brandon Hagy

Gut Shot: Robert Garrigus

Rank Outsider: Trey Mullinax

 

 

QUESTION(S) OF THE WEEK:

 

No DeLaet?

Consider this a present to all of you. I stink. He has twins. I’m not doing him like that. As Bubba would say, “#UrWelcome”.

 

Good luck!