Welcome to Playing the Tips!
Each week this will be the one-stop resource to soak in all the picks from our group of fantasy staffers from Rotoworld.com. We’ll have all of our selections from the GolfChannel.com, Yahoo! Fantasy Golf (coming January of 2015) plus my new expanded feature on my weekly selection for One-and-Done players.
GolfChannel.com Fantasy Golf
CIMB Classic
Glass
Final 2013-14
Season: $24,502,217
Rank: 1,194
2014-15
Season: $642,554
Rank: 4,906
Playing Kuchar over Simpson last week won me the battle but not the war as my total of just over $180 k was thrown out. The American ATM, Charles Howell III MDF; flavor of the week Scott Brown crashed and burned for all of us but Hudson Swafford, the legend of Group 4, continued his excellent 2015 season with T12.
Group 1: Charl Schwartzel
Group 2: Lee Westwood
Group 3: Seung-yul Noh
Group 4: Prom Meesawat
ANALYSIS: Another week, another angle hopefully away from my three competitors as I’m trotting out Schwartzel and his excellent course history this week from the Maybank. It doesn’t hurt that he was T15 last week in Perth to get back into the swing of things. Please take a look at Range Rover to see his course form on this track. Lee Westwood won here in April on 18-under so he’s shown he’s comfortable in this region of the world. Noh won here when he was 18 and was second last week at Kolon in Korea so jet lag isn’t in his future. Meesawat is the long-shot of the bunch but he’s been T28 or better in his last three on this track and was second last week in Macau.
Garica should be the play here but Schwartzel has the overwhelming course form. Matsuyama wouldn’t bother me either after his excellent start (T3, T10) in the States. Group 2 suggests course form over recent form as Moore, Woodland and Choi jump up. Paul Casey is a wonderful dark horse. Group 3 screams out for last week’s P2 Brendon de Jonge but I’m not biting. Anirban Lahiri, David Lipsky or David Lingmerth provides the perfect outsiders. Group 4 is your best guess in a field such as this with NO CUT.
Rob Bolton
Final 2013-14
Season: $21,107,825
Rank: 5,802
2014-15
Season: $384,882
Rank: 12,801
Group 1: Sergio Garcia
Group 2: Lee Westwood
Group 3: Seung-yul Noh
Group 4: Prom Meesawat
ANALYSIS: For the second week in a row we differ on Group 1 and match Groups 2, 3 and 4 so it will come down to Schwartzel v Garcia. The entire bunch has Garcia so I’m on the island again. `
Ryan O’ Sullivan
Final 2013-14
Season: $24,613,036
Rank: 1,108
2014-15
Season: $582,821
Rank: 6,377
Group 1: Sergio Garcia
Group 2: Lee Westwood
Group 3: Kevin Chappell
Group 4: Jeff Overton
ANALYSIS: O had half of his squad MC last week so I expect a major bounce back this time around. He’s gone with Garcia to lead Group 1 and backs him, smartly, with Westwood in Group 2. Americans round out Groups 3 and 4 as the ball-striking Chappell closed with 65 last week and Overton played decently. He’s playing catchup, for now…
Ned Brown
Final 2013-14
Season: $26,869,991
Rank: 244
2014-15
Season: $545,018
Rank: 7,482
Group 1: Sergio Garcia
Group 2: Lee Westwood
Group 3: Seung-yul Noh
Group 4: Cameron Smith
ANALYSIS: Ned matched me with MDF in Group 2, Brown MC in Group 3 and Swafford in Group 4 last week so I gained a few bucks as Kuchar outgained Simpson. This week, we match Groups 2 and 3 so I’ll have to dodge Garcia, again, in Group 1 and Smith in Group 4.
Yahoo! Fantasy Golf
Yahoo! Fantasy Golf will return in the winter of 2015 starting with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Take a look below to see how our boys fared during the 2014 season.
Ned Brown is a long-time contributor for Rotoworld Golf. He’s had documented success in Yahoo!’s game for years. Even if you’re confident in your selections for that game, give his insight a read. He’ll lead us off each week in the Yahoo! game.
“Pure Spin”
Final 2014 Season Rankings
Summer Segment Points: 2,080
Summer Ranking: 13,369
Season Points: 5,775
Season Ranking: 3,515
Ryan O’Sullivan (O)
“The Golf Aficionado”
Summer Segment Points: 2,188
Summer Ranking: 1,859
Season Points: 6,022
Season Ranking: 132
Rob Bolton
“@RobBoltonGolf”
Summer Segment Points: 2,168
Summer Ranking: 3,121
Season Points: 5,811
Season Ranking: 2,557
Glass
“@MikeGlasscott”
Summer Segment Points: 2,157
Summer Ranking: 3,985
Season Points: 5,868
Season Ranking: 1,353
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! I’m going to leave my 2013-14 results up for a few weeks so if you have any questions “mapping” your season, you can learn from my plays from last year.
Those who don’t recall history are condemned to repeat it.
2013-2014
Glass OAD
Results
SEASON TOTAL: $6,283,986; 45 events
Wins: 1; Jimmy Walker (AT&T Pebble)
Seconds: 1; Dustin Johnson (NTO)
Thirds: 1; Sergio Garcia (PLAYERS)
Top 5s: 9
Top 10s: 13
Top 25s: 24
MC: Gary Woodland (Frys.com), Rickie Fowler (FIO), Lee Westwood (WFC), John Senden (FESJC) and Marc Leishman (Greenbrier)
Thermometer: awful, just awful
2014-15 Glass OAD
Frys.com: Brooks Koepka. Let’s get this started off on the right foot. Koepka, playing without any status last year, led on Sunday by three shots at the turn. He finished T3 and learned a valuable lesson. His recent form has been scintillating as he has four top 15s in his last four worldwide starts, including the PGA at Valhalla (T15). He was T9 last week at the Dunhill. Koepka did what was expected and racked up a top 10 for $168,000.
Shriners Open: It came down to Moore, Watney and Piercy for the OAD place this week. Laird was also in the conversation but I’m going with the best putter of the group mentioned above and there’s not a place that Moore HAS TO BE USED later. Sure, he beat Gary Woodland in a playoff last year at CIMB but I don’t use defending champions. #WeakSauce. He shares the tournament record has three top 10s in his last four. More Moore please! ANY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE THREE OTHER THAN MOORE would have been just fine. Moore has wiped me twice in eight events. The good news is I don’t even have to CONSIDER his presence again until October of 2015.
McGladrey Classic: This is the CLASSIC HEDGE MOVE for gamers. I’m going with Kuchar above but Simpson down here to cover my ASSet. Look, save Simpson for Greenbrier, Sedgefield or TPC Boston, but I’m going with a guy who is hot NOW and will find someone else later. HOW COULD THIS GO WRONG, RYAN MOORE??? Nothing like a T41 to back up a MC.
CIMB Classic: I’m loading up on Charl Schwartzel since I can’t play him on the Sunshine TOUR at the Dunhill or Joburg. His course form is overwhelming and in a limited field with limited views of this track, his experience and successes here are huge. He’ll probably WD.
Results
SEASON TOTAL: $187,600; 3 events
Wins: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Seconds: just stop it
Thirds: DARE TO DREAM
Top 5s: sigh
Top 10s: 1
Top 25s: 1
MC: 1, Ryan Moore (Shriners)
Thermometer: Same sh!t, different year.
Coming Wednesday
And the analysis doesn’t end here. Rotoworld’s Rob Bolton and I will be co-hosting a live chat Wednesday at NOON p.m. ET. We will be breaking down the field at the CIMB Classic and answering your questions. Simply return to the golf home page to join in on the chatter.
