Fantasy Golf: Hot Topics

September 9, 2008 9:30am CDT

International warfare ... kind of ...
With the upcoming Ryder Cup being billed as the battle for national pride and golf supremacy, fans may be taking this week - void of PGA action - to wonder why the PGA, Tour sponsors, and other international contingents don't push for something more.

Consider this list of names: Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Richard Green, Rod Pampling, Nick O'Hern, Brendan Jones, Peter Lonard, John Senden, and Mathew Goggin. Those are all golfers ranked among the top 100 in the world, and they are all left out of the Ryder Cup mix because they hail from Australia.

The intrigue of Europe versus the States is certainly worthy of its own special event, and there are more than enough golfers to fill that battle with elite soldiers. According to the most recent World Golf Rankings, seven of the top 20 players come from the United States, with six donning flags of European countries. However, it seems difficult to comprehend why Australia, producing a group as respectable as those listed above, would not be included in the mix.

Take a step further. Last week's winner of the BMW Championship, Camilo Villegas, hails from Columbia. The winner of the two tourneys prior, Vijay Singh, comes from Fiji. Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Rory Sabbatini, Retief Goosen, and Tim Clark all call South Africa home. K.J Choi hails from Korea. Mike Weir and Stephen Ames are our brothers to the north, residing in Canada. Andres Romero and Angel Cabrera fly the flag of Argentina outside their homes.

Of the world's top 50 players, 17 players are left out of the Ryder Cup picture simply because they claim the wrong homeland. That's 34 percent of the elite golfers left out of the potential field, and because of that I find it difficult to view the Ryder Cup as a tournament worthy of respect on the same level as any of the majors, World Golf Championship events, or events associated with the FedEx Cup.

It would be wonderful to see an event that harnesses the true star power of his game to conclude the season. We will be analyzing PGA tourneys into the late weeks of November, and this is an event of great prestige and the idea is more than worthy of such grandeur and respect, but it could be so much more.

Next week at Fanball, we will focus our articles and efforts on the Ryder Cup as we take this bye week from PGA action to address the Tour's secondary offering, the Viking Classic (we normally focus our efforts only on the top event of the week, but with the Tour giving us an unusual break this season and allowing us this open week, we will seize the opportunity to present as much coverage as possible). The Viking is likely to carry a less-than-admirable field (the official list of participants won't be announced until Saturday, September 13th), however, we have a good idea on who may or may not be attending and thus can assist your fantasy efforts should you find need to employ the Viking Classic in your plans.

Next week, we'll hit you with the Ryder Cup ... and it's too bad so many of our favorite fantasy targets will be at home watching like us.


~ Hot Hands ~

Chad Campbell When the captains sat down with the press and announced their final rosters for this year's Ryder Cup competition, it is fair to suggest the vast majority of those listening were shocked to hear Chad Campbell's name coming out of Paul Azinger's mouth. The captain of Team USA had made a rather astounding decision to go with a golfer that had, for all intents and purposes, fallen well out of thoughts when the topic turned to Ryder Cup candidates. There wasn't a single golf analyst, writer, or reporter that mentioned Campbell's name among those worthy of consideration, and thus we must ask how he got to this point.

For Azinger, there are more than a few simple but crucial elements that needed to be considered. First of all, successful putters are important, and Campbell fits the bill, averaging just 1.759 putts per hole, 21st on Tour. He also hits 67.8 percent of greens in regulation, 15th on Tour, and strokes to 66.3 percent of fairways off the tee, 51st on Tour. Campbell is accurate and finds success with nearly every club in the bag.

Second, the guy needed to be playing well coming in, and Campbell fits that bill rather well. Not that there aren't concerns and slips along the way, but for the bulk of his recent weeks on the Tour, Campbell has been a force of reckoning.

Consider this: From the end of March to the beginning of June, Campbell made eight starts, and he missed the cut in all but two. He finished tied for 10th at The Players and second at the Shell Houston Open, but the rest brought the worst possible end you can have as a member of the field. Since then, Campbell has carded nine Tour starts and has missed just one cut. Along that span, he has filed five top-20 finishes, including three finishes among the top 10. Only one other blemish sits in that span, a withdrawal at last week's BMW Championship ... he skipped out after starting his first round to head home for the birth of his first child.

We can overlook the birth of the baby and focus on the outstanding finishes laced coming into the FedEx. The guy has been on fire and has been in contention for top leader board positions with regularity. That got Campbell the final spot on Team USA and he gets our vote of confidence as well.


~ Cold Feet ~
Woody Austin On the flip side of that Ryder Cup coin comes Austin, considered by many as a favorite to earn one of the four spots on the roster filled at the captain's discretion, but he left without a spot on the team while wondering what went wrong.

You could start with the swing stats if you prefer. Austin fails to achieve consistent success in areas labeled as definitive concerns for this team as they approach Valhalla. His only number of note would be greens in regulation (66.5 percent, 25th on Tour), but that number alone won't get the job done. He is respectable in terms of accuracy off the tee (64.3 percent, 83rd on Tour), but his other numbers all fail to instill confidence. The guy is really struggling with the putter, averaging 1.817 putts per green (169th on Tour), which surely played a role in the decision.

However, it is hard to ignore the recent string of failure Austin has endured, for that may have been the most detrimental factor in deciding to leave him off Team USA. Coming out of June, it appeared Austin was on track to shine, finishing T2 at the Buick Open followed by a T9 finish at the John Deere Classic. The final majors of the season were in full focus and a surge would provide the lift needed to get Paul Azinger's attention.

Since then, Austin has fallen. He finished T39 at the Open Championship, failing to compete at yet another major. He followed with a T52 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, posting four average rounds while others were going low. That was followed by a missed cut at the PGA Championship, carding two horrific rounds of 79, and then another missed cut at The Barclays to start the FedEx Cup playoffs. His regular-season performance got him to the second stage of the playoff, but his T40 finish at the Deutsche Bank failed to give indication of a pending rise. That proved true this last week with a T63 at the BMW Championship.

His ride in the FedEx is done, and he lost a shot at a Ryder Cup spot along the way, earning Austin the dubious honor as our Cold Feet winner of the week.


FedEx Cup Standings with Points Awarded to Start Playoffs
RANK PLAYER POINTS
1 Vijay Singh 122,651
2 Camilo Villegas 112,050
3 Sergio Garcia 110,900
4 Jim Furyk 109,130
5 Mike Weir 109,068
6 Anthony Kim 108,919
7 Justin Leonard 108,138
8 K.J. Choi 106,846
9 Phil Mickelson 106,701
10 Ben Curtis 106,202


PGA Money Leaders
PLAYER EVENTS EARNINGS
Vijay Singh 22 $6,473,694
Tiger Woods 6 $5,775,000
Phil Mickelson 20 $4,779,375
Kenny Perry 25 $4,543,394
Padraig Harrington 15 $4,313,551
Anthony Kim 21 $4,246,765
Sergio Garcia 18 $4,102,224
Stewart Cink 21 $3,843,261
Justin Leonard 23 $3,664,502
Jim Furyk 25 $3,217,714


Official World Golf Rankings
PLAYER EVENTS AVG PTS
Tiger Woods 40 17.01
Phil Mickelson 45 9.29
Vijay Singh 60 7.67
Padraig Harrington 54 7.49
Sergio Garcia 52 6.86
Henrik Stenson 49 5.40
Ernie Els 57 5.34
Steve Stricker 46 5.16
Jim Furyk 54 5.11
Stewart Cink 50 4.93