Welcome to the second installment of Aces, Eagles, and Birdies. There is going to be a slight adjustment to the format from here on out…nothing major. Rather than setting our own tiers based on world ranking we will follow the tier system set up in Yahoo (which is the same for PGA Tour.com) in order for our picks to be more relevant for a larger fantasy golf fan base. Aces in our segment will be the A list tier golfers at Yahoo, Eagles will be B list, and Birdies C list. We will still offer our expert winner and one and done/survivor league picks. If you want to see the tiers each week just sign up for a free account. If you want better odds of winning cash and prizes you should also check out Matt’s site at buzzfantasyleagues.com. He’s got various fantasy golf formats and as far as I can tell the best customizable golf leagues on the net. I haven’t been paid for plugging either site:)
The results for the expert fantasy golf picks from here on out will be totaled from week to week based on the Yahoo tier format. Although they do allow round to round changes in the Yahoo format…our picks will have to remain static here. Matt kicked my butt in week one. I wish I would have went with a couple of my backups:(
Congrats to Jonathan Byrd (my back up for Mediate) who won in a playoff over Robert Garrigus with McDowell (my back up for Els) finishing 3rd. Ogilvy withdrew because of getting 12 stitches in his finger (don’t ask). Z Johnson played through a ripped off toenail (don’t ask). Villegas was DQ’d for a bizarre rule violation called in by a fan (don’t ask). This week we move on to the Sony Open in Hawaii. Dustin Johnson withdrew so don’t pick him…apparently “something suddenly came up”. Not sure…Marcia Brady or Natalie Gulbis maybe??
Sony Open in Hawaii
January 13 – 16, 2011
Waialae C.C.
Honolulu, Ha.
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,068
Purse: $5.5 million with $990,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Ryan Palmer
Rex’s Aces (A List Yahoo/PGA Tour.com)
January 13 – 16, 2011
Waialae C.C.
Honolulu, Ha.
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,068
Purse: $5.5 million with $990,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Ryan Palmer
Rex’s Aces (A List Yahoo/PGA Tour.com)
Jonathan Byrd. I would file J-Byrd under “who’s smokin’ hot”! He has won his last two events going back to his last event in 2010 (The Timberlake Shriners) in October. I have also come to learn that 8 of the last 12 winners at Sony have played the week before at Hyundai. His record isn’t great at Sony but then again he’s never been this hot. This week I am giving one star for being hot, one for playing last week, and one for a good record at the event. Two stars **
Ernie Els. Els is the only back to back champ in the last 20 years at Waialae…and he did that in ’03-’04. He also has 5 top 5’s in 7 attempts. He looked unstoppable in round 2 last week with a blistering 64 so maybe he can figure out what he was doing right and duplicate it for 4 rounds this week. He finished T-17 last week…ehh…so so. Since he won his last event in South Africa we can still call him hot. Three Stars ***
Matt’s Aces
Ernie Els. Els is a two time winner of this event, and has finished in the top ten five times. He is coming off a tied for 17th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, which was a bit of a disappointment. On the bright side, Els had a great second round last week, scoring a 64 with no bogeys. One important stat to note about this tournament is that 8 out of the last 12 winners have competed the week prior at the Tournament of Champions. I like Els this week.
Jonathan Byrd. Jonathan Byrd is coming off two straight wins at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions. I’m surprised at this point that I am picking Byrd as one of my Aces, but I don’t know how I can’t pick him. He golfed extremely well from start to finish last week. Plus he should be well rested as he has been in Hawaii for the past week. I think Byrd’s accuracy stats will carry him to another strong finish this week.
Rex’s Eagles (B List)
Steve Stricker. Steve was laser like with the irons last week as usual…just couldn’t drop enough putts to come away with the win. He also has 5 top 10’s in this event with 3 top 5’s in his last 4 appearances. With many of the world’s top ranked golfers not playing this is a perfect situation to use Stricker. Three stars ***
Carl Pettersson. Carl also played well last week tying Stricker for 4th place. He’s got 2 top 10’s in 6 tries at Sony so there must be something about Hawaii that suits his style. He kinda fits all three categories…who’s hot…who played last week…and who has a decent record at this event. Three stars ***
Tim Clark & Justin Rose. Other than the two above there aren’t a lot of golfers that stand out in the B list as MUST starts (Allenby being the closest) so i am going to continue with the strategy of using golfers that played last week. Sometimes I will have a general theme to my picks and this is one of them. Neither of them embarrassed themselves at Hyundai and neither of them have a bad record at Sony. They played last week. One star *
Matt’s Eagles
Steve Stricker. This is the second straight week Stricker has made my list of picks. Stricker golfed extremely well last week, but couldn’t get anything going in the final round. He still finished 4th in that tournament. Stricker finished third in this event last year, only behind Ryan Palmer and Robert Allenby. If Stricker can get his putter working this week, he has a very good chance at winning this event.
Carl Pettersson. Pettersson is coming off of a great week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He performed well in this event last year and finished tied for fifth. Pettersson has 3 top twenty-five finishes at Waialae in his last six trips here. I’m expecting Petterson to make it two straight years with a top ten finish in this event.
John Senden. I like Senden in this event for a couple of reasons. First is his performance at the end of 2010. He finished last season with six top fifteen finishes in 8 events. The second reason I like Senden is his accuracy. He finished last season first in greens in regulations percentage. Last year Palmer won this event and Allenby took second. The key stat that jumps out at me in their success is greens in regulation. Palmer and Allenby finished third and first in GIR last season in this event.
Robert Allenby. I wanted to pick one Aussie in this event since Australians have such success in Hawaii. Since I have decided to pick an Aussie, which better one to pick than the guy who finished second in this event last year. Allenby is coming off a very successful year where he finished 18th on the final money list. He finished the PGA Tour season strong with a T17th place finish in the Tour Championship, and a T3rd in The McGladrey Classic.
Rex’s Birdies (C List)
Robert Garrigus. Robert is another guy I would file under “who’s smokin’ hot”! He has a 1st and a playoff loss 2nd place finish in his last two events dating back to last year where he won the Children’s Miracle Network event in November. I would say his confidence is booming right now. His record isn’t great at Sony but this is a momentum pick. Two stars **.
Ryan Palmer. As Matt pointed out last week Palmer won this event last year. And guess what? He played last week:) He didn’t play too bad finishing T-15 after a slow start. Palmer is really starting to come into his own on tour and I expect a pretty good year from him. Since he played last week I like him over Howell III. Two stars **.
Matt’s Birdies
Charles Howell III. I really like Howell III in this tournament. He has finished in the top five 5 times in nine career starts here. He obviously feels very comfortable on this course. Howell III finished in fourth place at the Sony Open in 2009, and tied for fifth last year. I expect him to perform well again this season.
Wen-Chong Liang. Liang is my flyer this week. Liang has two career starts in this event. In 2008 he finished T48th, and last year he improved to T25th. Liang is extremely talented and is currently ranked 68th in the world. In 2010 he won 2 tournaments and had 9 top ten finishes between the various tours he played. Look for Liang to make some noise in this event.
Winner
Rex…Steve Stricker
Matt…Steve Stricker
Survivor Pool/One and Done
Rex…Steve Stricker
Matt…Charles Howell
Year to date totals for our experts:
Winners…Rex (0), Matt (0)
Cuts Made in a row (survivor pools)…Rex (1), Matt (1)
Top 3’s…Rex (0), Matt (0)
Top 10’s…Rex (1), Matt (3)
Earnings (one and done)…Rex ($57,000), Matt ($201,500)
Thanks for visiting TSHQ!
(Fantasy golf picks contributing experts)
Rex Mescher. The Sports Headquarters golf blogger. Former owner and operator of a fantasy golf website. Involved with different fantasy leagues and formats for over 10 years now.
Matt Schroeder. Founder of BuzzFantasyLeagues.com. An online provider of fantasy golf products and services. Buzz Fantasy Leagues offer public leagues, private leagues, challenge games, and a fantasy golf draft kit.
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