Print this page  |  Close Window

By Brett Avery
PGATOUR.COM Contributor

PGATOUR.com: Fantasy Central | Complete 2007 Stats

Not that they're the cure to the common cold or anything, but for whatever they're worth The Fantasy Insider offers up 17 players to put up on the dartboard when picking Salary Cap Cup teams for this week's AT&T National.

The PGA TOUR event's inaugural installment at Congressional C.C., hosted by Tiger Woods and a replacement for The INTERNATIONAL, comes nearly a decade to the week after Ernie Els won his second U.S. Open there by a shot over Colin Montgomerie.

Lucas Glover is always a threat to throw a 68 at the leaderboard in any given round. (WireImage)

It's also a bye week in League Championship, so don't freak out when you take the first look at your team for this week and see a dozen red "Not in field" commands staring back. Give the players on your rosters a bucket of oats and get 'em psyched for the final push to THE TOUR Championship.

In the meantime, it's Week 26 for Salary Cap Cup and yet another chance to divine five special guys who will propel you upward in the standings. Which is why TFI's offering of 17 names is a bit of underwhelming overkill.

It's improbable that the 1997 Open results will have any sort of bearing on this week's tournament. Heck, those results are so ancient two guys who made the cut are now better known in some circles as announcers: Nick Faldo and Frank Nobilo.

But for what it's worth, TFI skimmed through the 84 guys who made the cut and circled the names of the guys in this week's field as of the Monday night research and selection session:

Jeff Maggert (solo fourth on a closing 74), Olin Browne (tied fifth), Jim Furyk (tied fifth), Billy Andrade (tied 13th), Davis Love III (tied 16th), Tiger Woods (tied 19th after an opening 74), Paul Azinger (tied 28th and another fine announcer in his own right), Justin Leonard (tied 36th), Steve Stricker (tied 36th after sharing second following 18 holes), Stuart Appleby (tied 36th), John Cook (tied 36th), Phil Mickelson (tied 43rd), Fred Funk (the former University of Maryland golf coach tied for 43rd), Jesper Parnevik (tied 48th), Lee Janzen (tied 52nd), Brad Faxon (tied 65th) and Vijay Singh (tied 77th on a pair of 77s).

Jeff Maggert has missed two straight cuts, but his reputation for accuracy should make him a threat at Congressional. (WireImage)

TFI was about two-thirds through the list and wondering whether this nutty idea was worth a full column, even in a bye week, when that Singh scoring line stopped him cold.

Singh shot 71-76-77-77, tied for 77th both of the last two rounds and made $5,275 (winner Els pocketed $465,000).

By the weekend you'll be sick of stories about Saturday being July 7, 2007, or 07-07-07.

A few days early, TFI will get in his licks on this theme, too. Seven's lucky all the way around this week and it's a solid enough sign to convince TFI he should throw Singh into the mix of his Salary Cap Cup lineup, even if Singh has been slacking it a bit this season.

Enjoy the telecasts from Congressional and Independence Day.

P.S.: Although you're probably not going to do much roster maintenance during a bye week punctuated with a holiday, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a gander at the available players in your League Championship league. There might be a choice name or two ripe for the swiping while everyone else is sunning on the beach.

Rotisserie results for Expert League at the Buick Open: 49.5 points (fourth, 11.5 points behind Steve Alexander). Second in fairways and scoring, third in putting. Overall: 61.0 points (first, 1.5 points ahead of Christian Peterson of fanball.com).

Says something about how much the Expert League is struggling this season when TFI can have two guys miss the cut, a tie for 20th and a tie for 34th and still take fourth on the week. Good job by Alexander, who until a few weeks ago was last overall. Just goes to show the value of plugging away each week and trying to reformulate your lineup.

Match-play results for Public League 3359 at the Buick Open: TFI 11, koach's 7. Overall: 14-8-2 (first in West Division by three games). Once again TFI gets luckier than ... well, lucky. He builds a 5-3 lead by Friday night but Eric Axley misses the cut (and TFI has no sub to fill the slot) so he's going to forfeit a point each of the last two days. Unfortunately, koach has two guys miss the cut and no backups. Game over.

Salary Cap Cup results for the Buick Open: The main lineup of Jim Furyk (848 FedExCup points, tied fifth), Sean O'Hair (170 points, tied 27th), Steven Marino (554 points, tied 10th), Will MacKenzie (0 points, missed cut) and Eric Axley (0 points, missed cut) earned 1,822 points and placed 9,676th.

Through Week 26 it totaled 5,314 points and ranked 12,282nd. For the season it totaled 63,219 points and ranked 4,277th overall. Mr. Furyk, please go up to the blackboard and write 100 times, "Shooting weekend rounds of 71-70 at Warwick Hills G&CC is not the way to remain the world's No. 2 player." Then clean the erasers and empty the trash.

The "Hey, buddy" backup lineup of Bo Van Pelt (0 points, missed cut), Kenny Perry (554 points, tied 10th), Billy Mayfair (0 points, did not start), Mathew Goggin (0 points, missed cut) and B.J. Staten (0 points, missed cut) earned 804 points and placed 20,451st. Through Week 26 it totaled 5,997 points and ranked 9,666th.

For the season it totaled 58,345 points and ranked 6,355th overall. This squad performed so poorly there's no way they can learn from writing [[italics]] anything [[end italics] on the board 100 times. But they do need to stay after class to practice.

Week 26 winner: Troy's Duffers 7,726 points.

Segment 3 leader: ingrid 18,938 points.

Overall:The Big Stick 102,198 points.

Salary Cap Cup lineup for the AT&T National: Main lineup, Tiger Woods $300,000, Vijay Singh $287,000, Lucas Glover $218,750, Stephen Marino $118,000, Justin Leonard $75,000. Total: $998,750. "Hey, buddy" backup lineup, Jim Furyk $293,500, Geoff Ogilvy $283,750, Tom Pernice Jr. $199,250, Fredrik Jacobson $140,750, Jesper Parnevik $79,000. Total: $996,250. Tiebreakers: 272, 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 you're competing in the rotisserie or match-play format.