- FedExCup Points: 50,000
- Purse: $7.0 million
- Winning Share: $1,260,000
- Yards: 6,839
The Fantasy Insider
PGATOUR.com Contributor
A few weeks back, someone in fantasy HQ was briefing The Fantasy Insider on the game planned for the FedExCup playoffs, The Playoff Challenge. That's one of the beauties of being TFI -- getting a jump on things coming down the pipeline.
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This staff member was running through the basics of the game's rules and came to the juncture where he described how each contestant is able to select two players from among the top 15 in points heading into the playoffs, then one among those 16th to 30th, and one from 31st and lower.
"Because so many people will pick Tiger," he said, matter-of-fact, in describing the two-for-one at the top.
That really says something about fantasy golf in this era and the role Tiger Woods plays in golf in general: default pick.
TFI admits it: Any time Woods plays on the PGA TOUR, he's in TFI's main lineup for Salary Cap Cup and his weekly favorite for the expert selections compiled from PGATOUR.com contributors.
In fact, a few weeks back for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational all eight experts took the guy to win. All eight! You'd think someone would have the imagination to take any other guy in the field.
But you would be sadly mistaken.
So if the experts lurch around in a herd mentality, playing CYA with their weekly pick and getting creative only with their sleeper predictions, why would you not take Woods as part of your two-for-one for The Playoff Challenge?
By not taking Woods, you're baldly stating that there are at least two guys among the 14 others in the top 15 who will score more points than Woods in the next four weeks.
OK, so he's sitting out The Barclays this week. Big deal. He's still likely to rack up so many points that he'll blow away everyone else at the top.
Besides, what players are you going to take in Woods' place?
Vijay Singh? His last two starts are a tie for 56th and a missed cut.
Jim Furyk? A DNS (did not start) and missed cut thanks to that icky back thing.
Phil Mickelson? Hasn't had a top 30 finish since THE PLAYERS Championship.
No, if you want to go out on the proverbial limb as the ultimate contrarian, TFI's has two suggestions: Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan.
Stricker's logged six top 10s this year, a mark bettered by only five players (Woods with nine, Furyk and Scott Verplank with eight, Robert Allenby and David Toms with seven).
Stricker goes in cycles, hot as blazes and then a few cool starts, then back to blazing. The fact that he tied for 41st in the limited-field World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and tied for 23rd at the PGA Championship (after an opening 77) should be viewed as positive indicators.
Mahan has amassed one of the best runs of the season since the Stanford St. Jude Championship in early June. In his last eight starts his worst is a tie for 22nd at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and he's cracked the top eight on four occasions, including a Travelers Championship win and tie for sixth in the British Open.
Are either of them going to overtake Woods in the point standings the next four weeks? Um, no. Either of them would need to win this week at Westchester Country Club just to get close to Woods' 100,000 FedExCup adjusted point total. Then they'd have to outplay him over the last three weeks.
And we all know how Woods gets when someone promises a big, shiny prize and lots of cash on a table for an awards ceremony.
But if HQ is going to give us a two-for-one, we might as well use that second pick wisely.
Further down the list, TFI's taking Ernie Els in the 16th-to-30th slot. It's been a long journey for Els since last year's leg injury. His tie for fourth in the British Open and solo third in the PGA Championship show he's finally fit. And, like Stricker, he was weighed down by a 77 during the Bridgestone Invitational and tied for 22nd.
Psychologically, Els needs big finishes now more than anyone else in the 16th-to-30th pool. He's a top five player who finds himself 19th in points, partly because of his limited U.S. schedule but partly because he had a lot of clunker starts in the first six months of the year (one missed cut and four other finishes outside the top 30).
The last guy on TFI's lineup is No. 43, Carl Pettersson, who is coming off a solo fifth at the Wyndham Championship. Remember the first third of the season, a complete bust with three straight missed cuts during the West Coast Swing and another in Florida?
He's churned out some acceptable finishes since then, including solo fifths at the John Deere Championship and last week. And over his last five TOUR Sundays his scoring average is 69.0. That's a reassuring sign when it comes to the intensity of the playoffs.
Don't forget: The four-week playoff run is a Salary Cap Cup segment all its own. And there are two weeks remaining before the League Championship playoffs in the match-play format. Good luck!
Three players TFI might pick up/trade for to get onto his roster this week:
--Ernie Els. Needs those big playoff finishes to move up the food chain and preserve his reputation, which has taken a beating this year in the prolonged recovery from last year¹s leg injury. He was a back-to-back winner at Westchester Country Club in 1996-97 and returns after a two-year absence. A tough setup suits his game.
--Stephen Ames. So he's not a native Canadian and probably can't win a debate on a Presidents Cup captain's selection versus Mike Weir on purely patriotic grounds. But he's hands-down a quality candidate who would have done a lot for Gary Player's team with five top-30s in his last six starts. He has something to prove in the playoffs, perhaps more incentive than anyone outside the top 15.
--Justin Rose. This guy can't go much longer without a significant victory, winless since the MasterCard Masters last year on the Australasian Tour. Of course, playing only 13 tournaments this year doesn't give him much quality opportunities, considering most of those fields include Woods, but he's in the top dozen on nine occasions. How about a player outside the U.S. claiming that $10 million deferred compensation?
Three players TFI might waive/drop/trade away to get off his roster this week:
--Singh, Mickelson and Furyk. The first two have had a combined three top 10s since the U.S. Open. The last guy's still looking at that bum back. They're just the reason TFI hates that no-drop list. If your stud goes south, you shouldn't pay the continual price for one bad draft choice in December or January.
Rotisserie results for Expert League at Wyndham Championship: 29.0 points (seventh, 40.5 points behind Brett Angel of fanball.com). Fourth in greens, fifth in eagles. Overall: 57.0 points (second, 10.5 points behind Christian Peterson of fanball.com). In prepping his roster for the playoffs, TFI took the calculated chance of loading up on top players and keeping his fingers crossed that a few guys would play the Wyndham. But the late WDs hit him hard so TFI had only Mathew Goggin in the field. At least he played!
Rotisserie lineup for Expert League at The Barclays: Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy, Steve Stricker, David Toms. Active but not in lineup: Woody Austin, Mark Calcavecchia, K.J. Choi, Ken Duke, Billy Mayfair, Jeff Quinney, Heath Slocum, Bubba Watson. Roster move: Dropped Mathew Goggin, added Billy Mayfair.
Match-play results for Public League 3359 at Wyndham Championship: Massachusetts Eagles 11.5, TFI 6.50. Overall: 16-12-2 (first in West Division by 1 game over Da4 Skinz). Just another uninspired week for the lineup, too many lopsided losses to make a difference. At least the roster's ready for the playoffs.
Match-play lineup for Public League 3359 at The Barclays: Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd. Active but not in lineup: Mark Calcavecchia, Stephen Marino, Nick O¹Hern, Joe Ogilvie, Pat Perez, Nick Watney, Dean Wilson. Not in field: Bernhard Langer. Roster move: Dropped Briny Baird, added Dean Wilson.
Salary Cap Cup results for Wyndham Championship: The main lineup of John Senden (55 FedExCup points, tied 57th), Lucas Glover (261 points, tied 20th), Kevin Sutherland (0 points, missed cut), Bob Estes (174 points, tied 27th) and Marco Dawson (0 points, missed cut) earned 490 points and placed 17,843rd. Through Week 33 it totaled 27,870 points and ranked 6,492nd in Segment 3. For the season it totaled 85,775 points and ranked 3,853rd overall. TFI never got started in this segment, good thing it's over!
The 'Hey, buddy' backup lineup of Carl Pettersson (1,000 points, fifth), Jonathan Byrd (429 points, tied 13th), Vaughn Taylor (174 points, tied 27th), Bill Haas (0 points, missed cut) and Chris Couch (0 points, missed cut) earned 1,603 points and placed 7,770th. Through Week 33 it totaled 18,084 points and ranked 17,933rd in Segment 3. For the season it totaled 70,432 points and ranked 8,812nd overall. Pettersson is the one bright spot in TFI's fantasy games this past weekend. Otherwise, horrid.
Week 33 winner: Supbar 10,245 points (TFI thinks this could be the best performance of the season, 1,700 points ahead of second place!)
Segment 3 leader: BradyBoy 50,460 points.
Overall: The Big Stick 137,613 points.
Salary Cap Cup lineup for The Barclays: Main lineup, Ernie Els $293,500, Justin Rose $257,750, Carl Pettersson $179,750, Hunter Mahan $176,500, Tim Petrovic $75,000. Total: $982,500. 'Hey, buddy' backup lineup, Padraig Harrington $287,000, Steve Stricker $261,000, Anders Hansen $192,750, Jonathan Byrd $144,000, Sean O¹Hair $111,500. Total: $996,250. Tiebreakers: 267, 1.
Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please be sure to include your name, where you're from, the name of your team and, if it relates to League Championship, the name of your league and whether you¹re competing in the rotisserie or match-play format.
