Fantasy Golf: Hot Topics

September 2, 2008 9:13am CDT

- Stand up and Singh
Many of us watched as Vijay Singh wrapped his hands around the trophy of last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship, Singh’s second consecutive victory, and realized he was in the midst of a performance that would rank as one of the best of the season. However, with the completion of that final round came a realization that Singh was breaking records, setting personal levels of excellence at a new high, and was strengthening his case as the best golfer not named Tiger on the planet.

If you watched, you know Vijay’s work with the putter was the story of the round. Much was made of his struggles to putt early in the season and few of us will forget the four-putt horror lived at The Masters (a situation any golfer, at any level of the game, can sympathize with). However, the last few weeks have allowed Singh to reverse fortunes and become one of the most deadly blade men on The Tour. The 35-footer made on the 13th hole at the TPC Boston might have ranked as the highlight of the week, but he followed by draining a 60-foot putt on the very next hole, and that may rank as one of the top highlights of the season.

One table of statistical measure put forth by the PGA following the victory supporting Singh as the Tour’s best golfer in the moment was one displayed in their Live Notes column that unfolds during the course of the round. In the first three rounds of play, Singh has needed 28, 29, and 32 putts to complete those rounds (respectively), and in those tourneys his top combined putting distance was 58 feet, 10 inches (Round 2 on Saturday). On Monday, Singh needed just 23 putts to finish, but his single-day putting distance was larger than those first three days combined (174 feet, 7 inches). Few have been as accurate over recent seasons, and only one has been as accurate from as long on such a weighted stage (guess who).

A couple of weeks ago we reviewed top golfer-venue connections we have seen take form over this season, and the win at Deutsche Bank reminds us that Vijay vs. TPC courses may be the best of them all. His first TPC victory came in 1995 at the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, and he has won seven more since. Only Phil Mickelson has found a higher level of TPC success, touting 11 victories on those courses.

The PGA also reports Singh either set or tied each of these following Deutsche Bank records in this win…

- Lowest 72-hole score (22-under par)
- Largest victory margin (five strokes)
- Low start by winner (7-under 64)
- Lowest final round by winner (8-under 63)

No matter how you cut it, Singh’s win and continued domination of the 2008 FedEx Cup proves he is in the midst of what may be his crowning PGA achievement, and there is little reason to believe he will slow in the week ahead.


~ Hot Hands ~

- Hunter Mahan Some of the headlines Mahan has garnered of late may not suggest his play has been entirely positive, but more than anything, his questionable comments regarding the Ryder Cup structure and the system used to determine those teams has allowed the golf community to scrutinize his game and place on the Tour as one of the best young golfers on the links. Those criticisms fail to recognize that while Mahan may be speaking for a vision of change, he is playing to earn full consideration for a spot on that team.

Check out Mahan’s more recent finishes. In fact, go back to the US Open at Torrey Pines, the last set of links Tiger Woods hit, and review Mahan’s resume. Coming into that Open, Mahan had been struggling for consistency, suffering two consecutive missed cuts after an early withdrawal from THE PLAYERS. He had managed just one top-20 finish over eight starts and was well on his way to joining an ever-growing list of young duffers that fail to meet expectation.

However, since a positive outing at Torrey Pines, finishing T18, Mahan has been as reliable as any golfer on the Tour. He finished in a tie for 2nd place at the Travelers Championship, followed by a T12 at the AT&T National. At the Open Championship he proved unworthy of tall respect on the links-style course and missed the cut, but he followed with another strong T10 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, one of the best non-major fields of the season.

From there, the wheels came off a bit, missing the cut at the PGA Championship, but once again he has rebounded nicely, posting a strong weekend to move up to T31 at The Barclays followed by a rising performance at the Deutsche Bank Championship this last week, finishing T15 among a final leaderboard that any would be honored to be a part of.

If he can keep the putter straight and he continues to improve, Mahan could be worthy of high regard for the remaining weeks of the season. The losses at the majors may keep him off the Ryder Cup team, but he will earn consideration and has set the groundwork for improved progress in the seasons that lie ahead.


~ Cold Feet ~

- Kenny Perry He was the talk of the Tour for so long, taking multiple wins in a campaign of resurgence and making a serious bid to join the Ryder Cup team and work among the elite of the game. Perry was flashing a strong sense of accomplishment on the courses that served as host venues for those PGA tourneys falling in between majors, and while his ability to compete with consistency was worthy of rave review, the questions of quality failed to vanish.

The desire to question his value was made worse by a decision to skip all but one major of season. To make matters worse, Perry’s performance at that major, part of a string of horrific finishes, has put him squarely in the role of fantasy goat for those that took the gamble in tournaments with elite fields.

Start with the consecutive wins at the Buick Open (remember, no Tiger there this year) and the John Deere Classic, two outstanding golf performances that showed Perry was better than most and was more than capable of working at a high level. He followed that with a T6 at the US Bank Championship (played while the bulk of the quality golfers around the world were at the Open Championship) and suddenly the world clamored for Perry step it up and do it against the best in the world.

He tried and he failed, starting with the T66 performance at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, one of the best non-major fields of the season. After a rest, Perry tried again at the PGA Championship, his only major start of the season, and he pulled out before carding a finish of consequence, filing for early withdrawal as the missed cut loomed. Following another rest, Perry hit the field for the first of the four playoff tourneys for the FedEx Cup and once again found struggle on the links, finishing a disappointing T48 at The Barclays. That was followed by yet failing effort at last week’s horrific T80 at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Perry’s regular-season success, earned almost exclusively against fields that would fail to rank among the more competitive of the season, has earned him rank among the top of the FedEx field, thus he continues to move on and will be in the field at the BMW. Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe he will serve you well as a fantasy commodity.


- FedEx Cup Standings with Points Awarded to Start Playoffs
RANK PLAYER POINTS
1 Vijay Singh 120,500
2 Sergio Garcia 108,275
3 Mike Weir 106,965
4 Justin Leonard 105,388
5 Jim Furyk 104,230
6 Kevin Sutherland 104,065
7 Anthony Kim 104,019
8 Phil Mickelson 103,951
9 Kenny Perry 103,714
10 Ben Curtis 103,264


- PGA Money Leaders
PLAYER EVENTS EARNINGS
Vijay Singh 21 $6,452,531
Tiger Woods 6 $5,775,000
Phil Mickelson 19 $4,674,375
Kenny Perry 24 $4,522,230
Padraig Harrington 14 $4,297,731
Sergio Garcia 17 $4,014,724
Anthony Kim 20 $3,840,765
Stewart Cink 20 $3,828,071
Justin Leonard 22 $3,559,502
Geoff Ogilvy 19 $2,832,499


- Official World Golf Rankings
PLAYER EVENTS AVG PTS
Tiger Woods 40 17.33
Phil Mickelson 45 9.53
Vijay Singh 60 7.73
Padraig Harrington 54 7.70
Sergio Garcia 52 6.86
Henrik Stenson 49 5.48
Ernie Els 57 5.35
Steve Stricker 46 5.06
Stewart Cink 50 5.12
Geoff Ogilvy 47 5.06


- World Money List
PLAYER EVENTS EARNINGS
Vijay Singh 22 $6,452,531
Tiger Woods 7 $5,775,000
Phil Mickelson 20 $4,674,375
Kenny Perry 24 $4,522,230
Padraig Harrington 19 $4,297,731
Sergio Garcia 20 $4,014,724
Anthony Kim 21 $3,840,765
Stewart Cink 20 $3,828,071
Justin Leonard 22 $3,559,502
Henrik Stenson 18 $2,832,499