We have come upon the bittersweet portion of the PGA Tour schedule, at least for people like me in Northeast Ohio. The Tour arrives in Hawaii. As the snow continues to fall outside my window, we will watch the pros tee it up in paradise, creating feelings of jealousy and a burning impatience for winter’s end and a spring thaw.
Kapalua Resort in Kapalua, Hawaii hosts the 2015 Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The 7,411 yard course is a par 73. Zach Johnson is the defending champion. This tournament typically ranks very high in total number of three-putts due to the large size of the greens.
After the holidays, it’s difficult to make picks since there are no current trends to follow. Although, as I sit in 5th place in the 3 Jack Almanac league, you could make a case that apparently every week is difficult for me to pick. Nevertheless,
This Week’s Fantasy Golf Picks
I’m not necessarily sure playing well during the fall stretch of the season carries over into the winter since we don’t know what the pros do during a long layoff, but I’m taking a player who was hot before the break. Sang-Moon Bae is currently 2nd in the FedEx Cup standings with a couple top 10’s already including his win at the Frys.com Open. He’s long off the tee, averaging 303 yards. A hot putter this week coupled with his length could get me serious points.
Speaking of length off the tee, Bubba Watson has plenty. The size of the greens scare me since Watson’s strength is not his putter. Plus, there’s always the chance he throws a temper tantrum and mails the tournament in. While it’s good television viewing, not so good for fantasy golf. However, here’s the shocking stat of the week: despite his reputation, Bubba actually finished 12th last season in 3 Putt Avoidance. That will prove helpful this week and could translate to major fantasy points.
Decent length (averaging 298 yards driving distance), top 50 Strokes Gained Putting last season (44th to be exact), and seems to be a pretty cool guy. It feels like a Charley Hoffman kind of week. If we’re picking blind after a layoff, that’s enough analysis for me. Also, Charley probably isn’t a guy that will be picked 10 times this season so he has value here (if he plays well).
Another tool to use when a tournament field is collectively going in cold is course preference. Who are the guys that play well on that course consistently? Who are the guys that really like the tournament? Geoff Ogilvy has won this tourney twice in back-to-back years (’09-’10). If he hadn’t cut his hand on coral, he might have had a chance to be a three-time champ. Geoff obviously likes the course and I’m counting on him being very happy to get a chance to play here again.
Good luck this week!
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