Fantasy Golf: Hot Topics

November 4, 2008 9:59am CST

~ Hot Topics of the Week ~
The Finish Line
We made it.

The end of the season is here. It is November and turning cold in most towns, but the PGA is going to squeeze one more competitive week out of the calendar and give these professionals one more shot to earn. There are names you will recognize, commodities you have used for fantasy leagues this season that will be fighting to earn a secured spot on the Tour next season. There are others that simply want to put a positive exclamation point on the end of the experience.

For fantasy owners, the feeling is the same. If you are still focused on this season, you are fortunate to be enjoying a great fantasy season. If you are focused on '09, you are one of many hoping to find a lesson or two that will give you an edge next year.

We've hit the books and studied the courses and pondered the potential for hundreds of golfers this season, and we've had a ton of fun along the way. The year without Tiger may not have provided the casual fan with the source of exhilaration needed to tune to the tourney of the week, but for the fantasy enthusiast, this has been one of the more challenging and one of the more rewarding seasons in recent memory.

We've watched the rise of Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan, Boo Weekley, and a plethora of others.

We've watched the struggles of Lefty, the resurgence of Vijay, and the arrival of Padraig.

We've witnessed a rebirth for Freddie, what may finally be the bottom of the barrel for Big John, and the continued frustrations for Sergio.

And I don't know about you, but I've enjoyed every last minute of it. And regardless of our feelings about it all, the end is here and the small-yet-tortuous break from the links is ready to haunt us all ... but we get one last hurrah. Enjoy this last tourney my friends. The finish line for this season lies dead ahead, and so does the start of the next.

~ Hot Hands ~

Chris Stroud
As the season draws to a close, it is rather difficult to point to a golfer with little-to-no hope of finding a spot in the top 125 on the final Money Leaders list (a list that will guarantee full playing status for next season) and suggest they are the hot hand worthy of your attention in the final week of the '08 season. Many will be hoping to find one last boost to challenge for a league championship, others will be seeking a reliable set of clubs to insure the championship is secured, and others are simply hoping to end on a positive note. All are likely to look at Chris Stroud and his 11 cuts made in 28 PGA starts and wonder how they can put that name in the roster for this final week.

Review recent finishes and the picture becomes a bit clearer. The start of the Fall Series brought the typical troubles we have come to expect from this struggling young duffer, taking a T-56 at the Viking Classic and filing for early withdrawal during his second round at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. However, in the four tourneys since, Stroud has shined, finishing among the top 30 in each and every event the PGA has offered.

He started with a surge on his home turf, finishing T-6 at the Valero Texas Open on a course he's played often and knows well. He carried that momentum forward and has done well, finishing T-24 at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals Open, T-29 at the Frys.com Open, and T-27 at the Ginn sur Mer Classic last week.

It's not a deep pool of comfort, but Stroud may be hitting his stride. He's playing fantastic golf and is as consistent as any golfer on the course over recent weeks. There is reason to believe it's more than a flash and could be the beginning of a beneficial relationship for fantasy owners to enjoy.


~ Cold Feet ~

Daniel Chopra

Chopra has enjoyed strong surges at various points of his career, and it seemed a major breakthrough enticed by significant swing changes last season had put him on the path to PGA stardom. There have been flashes this season of that strength, but it appears Chopra is struggling to end on a positive note.

The season started with a win at the first tourney on the schedule, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and rare was the fall to the dredges of missed cuts in the weeks that followed. Granted, the ability to rise and compete for a win didn't come around too often, but Chopra became a weekend regular and was pushing for improved rounds along the way.

However, as we close the season and the Fall Series winds down, Chopra is failing to create positive momentum for next year. Over his last 11 starts, including three made in Europe and one on the Asian Tour, Chopra has suffered a damaging six missed cuts. As we witnessed during the regular season, there are peaks, such as the T-14 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, the T-8 at the SAS Masters, and the T-15 at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Open. There are also valleys, like the missed cut at the Barclays Scottish Open, the missed cut at the PGA Championship, consecutive missed cuts in the opening playoff tourneys for the FedEx Cup playoffs (putting a quick end to that experience), and consecutive missed cuts in each of his last two PGA starts (Frys.com Open, Ginn sur Mer Classic).

There is no reason to believe Chopra deserves a roster spot in this last tourney of the season and only time will tell if he can get back on track for '09.


PGA Money Leaders
PLAYER/ EVENTS/ EARNINGS
Vijay Singh: 23, $6,601,094
Tiger Woods: 6, $5,775,000
Phil Mickelson: 21, $5,188,875
Sergio Garcia: 19, $4,858,224
Kenny Perry: 26, $4,663,794
Anthony Kim: 22, $4,656,265
Camilo Villegas: 22, $4,422,641
Padraig Harrington: 15, $4,313,551
Stewart Cink: 22, $3,963,661
Justin Leonard: 23, $3,844,542


PGA Bubble Watch: Top 125 Money Leaders
RANK/ PLAYER/ EVENTS/ EARNINGS
115 - Richard S. Johnson: 20, $874,615
116 - Bo Van Pelt: 31, $870,329
117 - Angel Cabrera: 17, $868,182
118 - Davis Love III: 22, $867,237
119 - Jason Bohn: 14, $866,786
120 - Brad Adamonis: 28, $862,413
121 - Tim Petrovic: 31, $856,611
122 - Nick Watney: 26, $855,863
123 - Michael Allen: 27, $847,863
124 - Shane Bertsch: 28, $841,248
125 - Jeff Overton: 31, $840,809
126 - Martin Laird: 28, $803,072
127 - Charles Warren: 28, $800,694
128 - David Toms: 20, $799,114
129 - Patrick Sheehan: 34, $795,329
130 - Mark Calcavecchia: 25, $784,810


President's Cup Standings (US only)
PLAYER/ POINT
Tiger Woods: 8,817,667
Phil Mickelson: 6,809,025
Justin Leonard: 5,215,187
Anthony Kim: 4,788,166
Kenny Perry: 4,751,077
Stewart Cink: 4,500,996
Steve Stricker: 4,493,304
Jim Furyk: 3,811,449
Chad Campbell: 3,153,330
Sean O'Hair: 2.890,504


PGA Scoring Average (Adjusted)
PLAYER/ ROUNDS/ AVG
Sergio Garcia: 72 69.12
Phil Mickelson: 80 69.17
Padraig Harrington: 52 69.28
Anthony Kim: 81 69.28
Camilo Villegas: 79 69.49
Vijay Singh: 82 69.58
Robert Allenby: 104 69.67
Jim Furyk: 95 69.69
Stuart Appleby: 87 69.73
Justin Leonard: 101 69.77


PGA Top-10 Finishes
PLAYER/ EVENTS/ TOP 10
Robert Allenby: 27 9
Jim Furyk: 26 9
Anthony Kim: 22 8
Justin Leonard: 25 8
Phil Mickelson: 21 8
Vijay Singh: 23 8
Mike Weir: 26 8
Stephen Ames: 23 7
Stuart Appleby: 23 7
Chad Campbell: 28 7
Stewart Cink: 22 7
Kenny Perry: 26 7
Camilo Villegas: 22 7


PGA Consecutive Cuts Made
PLAYER/ TOTAL
Tiger Woods: 29
Robert Allenby: 26
Phil Mickelson: 18
Anthony Kim: 15
Stuart Appleby: 13
Sergio Garcia: 13
Mark Wilson: 13
Briny Baird: 12
Ken Duke: 12
Jim Furyk: 12
Justin Leonard: 12
Robert Karlsson: 10
Craig Lile: 10
D.A. Points: 10