Matt Kuchar defends against the first full-field event of the season.

2019-2020 One and Done

Event	Golfer	Place	$$
The Greenbrier	Scottie Scheffler	T7	235,625
CIMB Classic	Sungjae Im	P2	719,400
Safeway Open	Byeong-Hun An	MC	0
Shriners Hospitals for Children	Scott Piercy	MC	0
Houston Open	Henrik Stenson	MC	0
CJ CUP AT NINE BRIDGES	Marc Leishman	T43	31,785
ZOZO Championship	Hideki Matsuyama	2nd	1,053,000
WGC-HSBC Champions	Xander Schauffele	2nd	1,095,000
Bermuda Championship	Denny McCarthy	T15	51,750
OHL Mayakoba Classic	Russell Knox	T33	36,810
The RSM Classic	Harris English	MC	0
Sentry TOC	Rickie Fowler	T5	285,000
Total Events: 12	Top 10: 5	MC: 4	3,508,370

Welcome aboard!

Oh come all ye faithful or something like that.

Big shout out to my man Rob Bolton for pointing the new folks in my direction.

I have only two rules here:

Have fun and accept reality.

That’s it.

Fantasy golf is hard.

I’ll do my best to give you angles I think are pertinent each week but I don’t have a crystal ball.

So please save the question for “who do you like in the Masters, etc.” for that week. If DJ falls down the stairs again and hurts his back, how would any of us known that ahead of time? Remember when McIlroy broke his ankle playing soccer and missed a couple of majors? Yeah, shit happens so we all need to be flexible.

Rob has a weekly column for MAJOR QUALIFIERS that I suggest you bookmark for future reference.

Now, for my other “issue”!

As you can see above, my OAD season with A340 Spotter began with the TOUR season in September.

Luckily for all, I’ve joined a 2020 season with my man Gino Pilato so I’ll need to be current in that season as well.

If you’re looking for a weekly game other than OAD find Joe Book on Twitter as he has something brewing as well.

Essentially I’ll be writing two columns a week: One for Spotter’s league and one for you 2020 players.

Thankfully there won’t be too much crossover and both should read similarly as the heat from the first part of the season, for my money, has subsided.

And into 2020 we go!

LAST WEEK – Sentry TOC

THE PICK

(Bold = Top 10 finishes)

Rickie Fowler – T5

Glad that’s done. I was worried after the pineapple outfit debuted in the practice round but I made it through! As is normal with Fowler, there was a dud weekend round (74 Saturday) but he produced one of the five rounds in the 60s on Sunday for a very solid paycheck. And I don’t have to worry about him cashing again this year. I’d just like to congratulate Rickie on his grand slam in advance!

 

Safety Dance:

Jon Rahm: 10th. Nothing bothers him. Not even marriage.

Justin Thomas: WIN. He’s now won three times in his last seven events.

Xander Schauffele: P2. Almost joined the club of defenders. Almost.

 

Spicy:

Dustin Johnson: T7. I don’t want to say I have this event figured it out but it sure looks that way.

Patrick Reed: P2. Lost in the playoff after firing his second 66 (co-low of the week) in four rounds.

Gary Woodland: T7. No signs of slowing down!

I wrote this last week: Yes, I haven’t strayed far from the chalk. Good observation!

 

3AM at the Blackjack Table:

Ryan Palmer – T17, Keith Mitchell – T32, Matthew Wolff – T11

 

This Week – Sony Open

Full-field event of 144 ups the ante and degree of difficulty. My theory this week doesn’t stray too far from the angle last week of finding veteran studs who can handle the breeze.

This used to be IMPOSSIBLE to handicap so most gamers just plugged in Charles Howell III and took their chances. It was a pretty good suggestion.

The weather this week will cut the fat. Can’t fake it four rounds in the wind so find guys who have shown over time they’re in the fight and embrace these conditions.

Get Horsed for Coursed HERE.

The column above goes into greater detail on what I believe it’s going to take to win this week and obviously that influences what I write below:

THE PICK

Marc Leishman (Gino’s game)

I went wind player last week and hit the top five and am hoping to follow suit again this week. Jeff Sherman (@GolfOdds) has set the winning total at 274.5 on a Par-70 track. Leishman has multiple top fives at The Open and hasn’t missed in 10 tries here. He doesn’t blow.

 

Safety Dance:

Charles Howell III (A340 Spotter’s Game): He’s probably in this column every week until Colonial. Sometimes it’s not worth over-thinking.

Justin Thomas: Proven he can go back-to-back in Hawaii already. Some gamers will worry that he’ll never win again this season and will jump on now. They might not be wrong. Name a week JT will NOT be considered!

Matt Kuchar: Another who will show up frequently on coastal, short tracks, and rightfully so. Check out his last five years here.

 

Spicy:

Hideki Matsuyama: The definition of spicy is above and he qualifies this week because his course form is awful. His game should hold up in these conditions.

Brian Stuard: He’s the tortoise and he loves it here. Last year was also T8 at Valero where it always blows as well.

Webb Simpson: I’m not playing him this week because he did not name one of his daughters Sony. He had a little son but did NOT name him Sonny.

 

3AM at the Blackjack Table:

Hudson Swafford, Rory Sabbatini, Corey Conners, Daniel Berger

 

Check out my previous results below if you need a history lesson:

History Channeled:

2018-19

My majors contributions and PLAYERS selection were worse than bad so to still break the $10 million mark with those awful results was encouraging.

Another valuable lesson learned is that the Playoffs are for the big boys. Now, WHICH big boys make this more and more difficult and that’s why it’s enjoyable and maddening all at the same time. Only McIlroy and Woods have won the FedExCup twice so start there.

Event	Golfer	Place	$$
Safeway Open	Brendan Steele	T53	14,610
CIMB Classic	Ryan Moore	T66	12,740
CJ CUP @ 9 BRIDGES	Gary Woodland	2nd	1,026,000
WGC-HSBC Champions	Ian Poulter	21st	93,500
Sanderson Farms	Cameron Davis	MC	0
Shriners	Aaron Wise	T15	101,675
Mayakoba Golf Classic	Charles Howell III	MC	0
The RSM Classic	J.J. Spaun	MC	0
Sentry TOC	Jon Rahm	T8	191,000
Sony Open	Marc Leishman	T3	307,200
60th Desert Classic	Andrew Putnam	T34	29,975
Farmers Insurance	Patrick Cantlay	MC	0
WMPO	Hideki Matsuyama	T15	113,600
AT&T Pebble Beach	Jason Day	T4	334,400
Genesis Open	Justin Thomas	2nd	799,200
WGC-Mexico Champ	Xander Schauffele	T14	128,000
Puerto Rico Open	Graeme McDowell	T42	10,500
The Honda Classic	Adam Scott	MC	0
Arnold Palmer Invitational	Rickie Fowler	T40	35,490
THE PLAYERS Championship	Sergio Garcia	T22	125,000
Valspar Championship	Patrick Reed	MC	0
Corales Punta Cana	Trey Mullinax	T61	6,450
WGC-Match Play	Paul Casey	T9	167,000
Valero Texas Open	Billy Horschel	MC	0
Masters	Rory McIlroy	T21	107,956
RBC Heritage	Matt Kuchar	2nd	745,200
Zurich Classic	Ryan Palmer	WIN	1,051,200
Wells Fargo Championship	Phil Mickelson	MC	0
AT&T Byron Nelson	Keith Mitchell	T59	17,301
PGA Championship	Brooks Koepka	WIN	1,980,000
Charles Schwab Challenge	Jordan Spieth	T8	197,100
Memorial	Tony Finau	MC	0
RBC Canadian Open	Jim Furyk	T27	55,100
U.S. Open	Tiger Woods	T21	117,598
Travelers Championship	Bubba Watson	T54	16,560
Rocket Mortgage Classic	Sungjae Im	T21	68,528
3M Open	Bryson DeChambeau	T2	563,200
John Deere Classic	Collin Morikawa	T4	264,000
The Open Championship	Rafa Cabrera Bello	MC	0
Barbasol Championship	Denny McCarthy	T11	77,000
WGC-FESJI	Dustin Johnson	T20	113,500
Barracuda Championship	Martin Laird	T7	105,437
Wyndham Championship	Webb Simpson	2nd	669,600
THE NORTHERN TRUST	Tommy Fleetwood	T43	27,565
BMW Championship	Brandt Snedeker	T5	351,500
Total Events: 45	Top 10s: 14	MC: 10	$10,024,685

 

2017-18 Thermometer: FINAL

Event	Golfer	Place	$$
Safeway Open	Tony Finau	2nd	669,600
CIMB Classic	Paul Casey	T7	218,166
CJ CUP @ 9 BRIDGES	Keegan Bradley	T47	23,759
WGC-HSBC Champions	Hideki Matsuyama	T50	51,875
Sanderson Farms	Chesson Hadley	T2	464,400
Shriners	Patrick Cantlay	WIN	1,224,000
OHL Classic	Kevin Chappell	MC	0
The RSM Classic	Charles Howell III	MC	0
Sentry TOC	Kevin Kisner	T17	99,333
Sony Open	Brian Harman	T4	256,266
CareerBuilder Challenge	Jason Dufner	T36	27,189
Farmers Insurance	Jon Rahm	T29	43,872
WMPO	Alex Noren	T21	80,040
-AT&T Pebble Beach	Phil Mickelson	T2	488,400
Genesis Open	Dustin Johnson	T16	111,600
Honda Classic	Graeme McDowell	MC	0
WGC-Mexico	Tommy Fleetwood	T14	126,500
Valspar Championship	Ryan Moore	MC	0
Arnold Palmer	Tyrell Hatton	T69	18,067
WGC-Match Play	Patrick Reed	T9	163,000
Corales Puntacana	Patrick Rodgers	T22	27,850
Houston Open	Luke List	T24	54,162
Masters	Jordan Spieth	3rd	748,000
RBC Heritage	Cameron Smith	T32	35,510
Valero Texas Open	Billy Horschel	T11	136,400
Zurich Classic	Bud Cauley	MC	0
Wells Fargo Championship	Bryson DeChambeau	4th	369,600
THE PLAYERS	Francesco Molinari	MC	0
Ft. Worth Invitational	Adam Scott	T52	16,472
AT&T Byron Nelson	Jimmy Walker	T6	257,950
Memorial	Tiger Woods	T23	76,985
FESJC	Henrik Stenson	T26	50,820
US Open	Justin Rose	T10	270,151
FESJC	Xander Schauffele	MC	0
Quicken Loans National	Kyle Stanley	T32	36,841
A Military Tribute	Bubba Watson	T13	121,632
John Deere Classic	Zach Johnson	T16	81,366
British Open	Rory McIlroy	T2	694,250
RBC Canadian Open	Charley Hoffman	T29	37,743
Barracuda	Martin Laird	T15	51,000
WGC-Bridgestone Invite	Rickie Fowler	T17	104,250
PGA Championship	Brooks Koepka	WIN	1,980,000
Wyndham	Brandt Snedeker	WIN	1,080,000
THE NORTHERN TRUST	Jason Day	T20	101,160
Dell Technologies	Marc Leishman	T21	100,800
BMW Championship	Gary Woodland	T12	189,000
TOUR Championship	Justin Thomas	T7	279,900
Total Events: 47	Top 10s: 15	MC: 7	$10,967,909

 

2015-16 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 total: $6,533,509 45 events

• Wins: 1
• Seconds: 1
• Thirds: 1
• Top 10s: 12
• Top 25s: 20
• MCs (10): Grayson Murray (Safeway Open); Patton Kizzire (SFC); Jamie Lovemark (CB Challenge); Jimmy Walker (FIO); Charl Schwartzel (Genesis); Russell Knox (Honda); Henrik Stenson (API); Thomas Pieters (Zurich); Kevin Kisner (WFC).

Thanks for reading!