Fantasy Golf: Hot Topics

May 19, 2009 12:33pm CDT

~ Hot Topic of the Week ~
- Drive By

We've hit another critical point in the PGA season, where the Tour's second major tourney, the U.S. Open, lies in full view of our stance on the schedule today as the professional duffers of the world prepare to descend on the links at the TPC Four Seasons. Several of the world's best are looking at this tourney as a prime opportunity to get their games in shape for Bethpage Black, and fantasy owners should be doing the same.

With this in mind, we'll bring another offering of facts, figures, and observations from the world of the links... a drive by on the PGA.

- Mike Vitti has the honor of studying data that flows from the ShotLinks system for the PGA (a system of information collected via mapping technologies such as GPS and robotic total stations during the events of the PGA). We'll steal this first one from him. Ian Poulter has converted nearly 75% of the up-and-down scrambling opportunities he's seen this season. In layman's turns...even when things go wrong, he's making good and converting for par at an alarming rate.

- The biggest mover on the Official World Golf Rankings thus far this season? That would be Mr. Paul Casey, or as we like to call him, the covert American (he bought a home in Arizona a couple of years ago, so while he hides behind his English heritage, he's much more American than you might guess). He has added 193.94 points this season (easily ranked 1st among the top 50 on the list) while losing just 46.45. The equation for success hasn't been difficult to identify. Casey may have just six PGA starts this season - failing to add a single Euro Tour start in between - and he has been astounding in terms of his consistency: 2nd place at the WGC Match Play Championship, win at the Houston Open, T20 at The Masters, T11 at the Verizon Heritage, T14 at THE PLAYERS.

- And the worst season thus far according to the WGR? That would be Vijay Singh, adding just 22.84 points while losing 125.44. Of course, if you remove the injury woes (a fair consideration), you'd hand the award to Sergio Garcia, earning just 39.11 points this season while losing 126.95. Sergio pulled top-10 finishes in his first two starts of the season on the Euro Tour and hasn't got a whiff of the top 10 since: T33 in match play, T13 at the Honda Classic, T31 at the CA Championship, T77 at the Houston Open, T38 at The Masters, an awkward missed cut at Quail Hollow, and T22 at THE PLAYERS.

- The most surprising golfer this season? That has to be Charley Hoffman, touting 21 consecutive cuts made with eight stops made in the top 20 over his 12 starts this season.

- In case you missed it, Phil Mickelson has registered five top-10 finishes over his last seven PGA starts (four of 'em coming in the top 5).

- It wasn't that long ago that we grabbed the wheel of the Rory McIlroy bandwagon and we were driving straight towards the center of the phenom universe. Turns out we might have missed a turn along the way. McIlroy's last three starts: T58 at the Verizon Heritage, missed cut at THE PLAYERS, and T50 at the 3 Irish Open.

- Remember above, when we gave Casey our vote as the hottest rising star on the Tour this season? He's No. 7 on the current PGA Money Leaders list with two top-10 finishes over six PGA starts. The guy at No. 8 has registered five top 10s in the same number of starts, matching Casey in the win column with one victory, all while we sit and wonder why he's off his game and when will he get back in form.

That would be Tiger Woods.


~ Hot Hand ~

- Brian Davis
While our eyes are focused on the story that is Tiger Woods, the English are invading the PGA Tour en mass with young buck Paul Casey leading the way, but Davis is lurking in that same group launching bombs from overseas.

He opened the season in the hole, suffering a T45 finish at the Sony Open followed by three consecutive missed cuts. After a brief moment of glory (T17 at the Northern Trust), he fell again with T49 at the Mayakoba and two more missed cuts. After another fall at the Arnold Palmer Invitation (T70), we wrote him off.

He has made six starts on the Tour since, suffering just one missed cut made, which was easy to swallow with a T14 at the Houston Open, T19 at the Zurich Classic, T38 at Quail Hollow (an outstanding value for a top-tier field on a challenging course), and most recently, back-to-back 5th-place finishes at THE PLAYERS and the Texas Open.

His scores at La Cantera last week say it all: 65-67-69-66. He's putting, he's hitting his spots, and he's cashing checks.


~ Cold Feet ~

- Anthony Kim
While it is fair to note that the rank as a player of concern is as attached to value as it is to the performance on the Tour, the recent numbers posted by Kim present tremendous worries for any owner tied to his bag as we enter the Byron Nelson.

Opening with a 2nd-place finish at the Mercedes-Benz was outstanding, but only two finishes - T17 at the Match Play Championship and T20 at The Masters (the biggest stages seen thus far) - have ranked among the positive for fantasy owners touting Kim on the roster. T58 at the CA Championships was extremely painful, shooting 75 on Sunday. T47 at Quail Hollow three weeks ago showed a definitive step backwards as the putter went awry, shooting 78 on Saturday.

Then... missed cut, shooting 82 on Friday, at TE HE PLAYERS, followed by T71 at the Texas Open, shooting 73 on Sunday.

Now he's playing his fourth consecutive week, and if he fails to play to his talents once again, the grind to darker days will loom ahead.


Official World Golf Rankings
RANK PLAYER PTS.AVG.
1 Tiger Woods 9.64
2 Phil Mickelson 8.36
3 Sergio Garcia 6.67
4 Henrik Stenson 6.33
5 Geoff Ogilvy 6.28
6 Kenny Perry 5.75
7 Paul Casey 5.64
8 Padraig Harrington 5.19
9 Vijay Singh 5.16
10 Camilo Villegas 4.86
11 Robert Karlsson 4.50
12 Sean O'Hair 4.48
13 Steve Stricker 4.39
14 Jim Furyk 4.32
15 Anthony Kim 4.01
16 Lee Westwood 3.86
17 Ernie Els 3.77
18 Ian Poulter 3.74
19 Zach Johnson 3.65
20 Rory McIlroy 3.61
21 Angel Cabrera 3.48
22 Mike Weir 3.44
23 Retief Goosen 3.34
24 Luke Donald 3.30
25 Martin Kaymer 3.24


- PGA Money Leaders

PLACE PLAYER MONEY
1 Phil Mickelson $3,238,635
2 Geoff Ogilvy $3,155,529
3 Zach Johnson $3,130,921
4 Sean O'Hair $2,963,842
5 Kenny Perry $2,705,259
6 Nick Watney $2,497,253
7 Paul Casey $2,299,950
8 Tiger Woods $2,166,813
9 Steve Stricker $1,960,236
10 Retief Goosen $1,755,992
11 Dustin Johnson $1,701,970
12 Kevin Na $1,695,869
13 Angel Cabrera $1,690,695
14 Brian Gay $1,690,375
15 Ian Poulter $1,658,718
16 David Toms $1,490,155
17 Charley Hoffman $1,464,700
18 Pat Perez $1,428,201
19 Jerry Kelly $1,425,130
20 John Rollins $1,412,313
21 Charles Howell III $1,392,779
22 Y.E. Yang $1,347,698
23 Jim Furyk $1,338,403
24 Mike Weir $1,266,585
25 Lucas Glover $1,254,513


- FedEx Cup Point Standings

PLAYER FEDEX POINT
Zach Johnson 1,525
Geoff Ogilvy 1,431
Phil Mickelson 1,377
Sean O'Hair 1,336
Kenny Perry 1,272
Nick Watney 1,236
Paul Casey 1,024
Steve Stricker 956
Tiger Woods 949
Brian Gay 927
Retief Goosen 897
Dustin Johnson 833
Charley Hoffman 804
Pat Perez 791
Charles Howell III 772
Angel Cabrera 772
Kevin Na 761
David Toms 741
John Rollins 714
Lucas Glover 703
Y.E. Yang 690
Jerry Kelly 689
Luke Donald 682
Ian Poulter 648
Mike Weir 628


Bryan Douglass is an Associate Editor for Fanball.com, providing analysis and commentary for the NFL, NBA, and PGA neighborhoods of the world's preeminent sports community. He also serves as the Denver Broncos Correspondent (BroncosStable.com) and Denver Nuggets Correspondent (DunkingNuggets.com) for the Fanball Blog Network. You can also find his work syndicated at RotoTimes.com, TheGolfChannel.com, and Comcast.net. He appears on The Statsman Show on Wednesday evenings to discuss the NBA and can also be found trolling the forums at RotoJunkie.com. You can contact Bryan via email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Digg.