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By Brett Avery
The Fantasy Insider
PGATOUR.COM Contributor

The plane was still coming to a stop on the runway when the woman across the aisle, in that agitated New York state of mind, whipped out a cell phone and called home.

At the other end was either a nanny, a neighborhood friend who had allowed an extended sleepover or a cringing spouse trying at all costs to avoid the wrath of Khan.

The woman blazed through a checklist of questions, grilling on everything from diet to the day's timetable to behavior. Then the demand came to put the child on the line.

"Do you have homework? [Pause] Have you finished it? [Pause] You'd better have it finished by the time the driver drops me off because homework is the only way you learn."

The one thing she didn't convey to either party in the conversation was a sense of affection or devotion -- doubly strange considering this week includes St. Valentine's Day.

So before The Fantasy Insider asks whether you finished your supper or played nicely with others while he was covering the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for this site, allow him convey this in no uncertain terms:

He loves you.

Yes, even those of you who flamed him for panning Phil Mickelson in last week's column.

The woman's comment about homework struck TFI because he'd spent the last hour or so of the flight from San Francisco pondering how to say what was on his mind without sounding all high and mighty.

Because, people, we need to have a conversation about your roster. And as delicately as he can, TFI will say the following:

It's time to do some homework.

Let's see a show of hands: How many of you have made at least one roster change in the first six weeks of the League Championship season?

OK, for the moment we'll let you slide.

Everyone else, please answer one question: Why?

There are many possible answers and TFI won't take the time to dissect them. But the bottom line is that if you're not making roster moves you're not actually playing fantasy golf. You're playing a form of hold 'em, or maybe draft-and-hope.

Perhaps it's the 12-player roster. You can salt away guys without worrying as much as with last year's 10-man roster about not having enough active players. Heck, you'd pretty much need a lineup of corpses to not find at least four guys in any given tournament (although TFI strongly advises having at least six each week in match play).

What TFI wants you to do is click on the "Team" tab and then click on Week 1. Write down every player and note which ones played, were active but not selected, missed the cut or withdrew and skipped the tournament. Go ahead and chart each of the season's first five weeks. Should take about four minutes.

Now, total up the number of times each guy actually made your starting four.

TFI has two zeroes in his rotisserie Expert League lineup: Tim Clark, who hasn't competed anywhere in the world since last year's Chrysler Championship but ranks No. 32 in the world, and Scott Gutschewski, No. 339 in the world and the owner of three missed cuts this season.

TFI also has two zeroes in his match-play Public League 3359 roster: Ernie Els and Nick O'Hern, both world top 16 players who make their U.S. season debuts this week in the Nissan Open.

So the first thing TFI asks himself is the same blunt question you should ask: "Why hang onto anyone that hasn't made the starting lineup?"

Clark, Els and O'Hern stay. But Gutschewski is a goner, off the roster this week.

The one-time starters bring a few more names under close examination: Steve Stricker and Ryan Palmer in rotisserie and Jonathan Byrd in match play. TFI will decide their fate in the next few days.

Here's the thing: Do that homework. Dig through your lineup, figure out who isn't pulling his weight and ditch him. This is especially true in the match-play format, where you can have eight actives per tournament (four starters and four subs for anyone missing the cut).

If you don't cut those non-contributors now, you'll look at the roster in May and realize there's a guy who has played twice. Or once. Or, horror of horrors, hasn't left the bench.

While you're pruning this week keep in mind that the 64 players in next week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship have a bye week because the stats aren't computed in that event. The inaugural Mayakoba Golf Classic in Cancun, Mexico, is the week's only stroke-play event so it'll determine your lineup and results.

If you have at least a half-dozen players outside the World Ranking top 64 -- and almost everyone in your league should -- then you're probably safe to drop a laggard. If you want to be doubly cautious, though, wait until the Mayakoba field is posted at PGATOUR.com. If you've got enough guys then, queue up your waiver requests.

Utilize those waiver capabilities and you'll be a lot happier about your place in the standings.

You'll probably love your lineups a lot more, too.

Three players TFI might pick up/trade for to get onto his roster this week:

--Adam Scott. Five weeks off since that Mercedes-Benz Championship runner-up finish, not a bad life, huh? Touting him while understanding that three of his four missed cuts around the world in the past two years came after at least one week off. Still, he's too tempting with last year's second and 2005 win at Riviera CC.

--Billy Mayfair. Chastened by panning him for the FBR Open due to his lengthy convalescence for cancer (he placed fifth), TFI jumps in this time with both feet. This guy usually blazes through the West Coast but this year's truncated schedule applies pressure to perform beyond expectations. The 1998 winner was top 12 here the last two years.

--Kevin Sutherland. All week at Pebble Beach he sounded so enthusiastic about his game. All he needed to get into Mickelson's head Sunday was to connect on a few birdie putts on the front nine. He was playing like this two years ago, when he tied for seventh at Riviera, and 1998, when he tied for 15th. Gotta love that California comfort zone.

Three players TFI might waive/drop/trade away to get off his roster this week:

--John Daly. TFI promised himself he wouldn't slam this guy until he missed three straight cuts. After that stellar 77 in the third round at Poppy Hills, where he bogeyed six of the front nine's first seven holes, the curfew is lifted. For the first of what will obviously be many times this year, TFI gives forthright advice: Dump him. Now.

--Todd Hamilton. The only reason he hasn't gone 4-for-4 in missed cuts is that he scraped through to the weekend at the Buick Invitational before blowing up (80-76). His scoring average (73.49) ranks 175th on TOUR ahead of five guys (Ben Curtis, Michael Bradley, D.J. Trahan, Bryce Molder and Wes Short Jr.) and he's 176th in greens and 144th in scrambling. Ouch!

--Phil Mickelson. This one's for all those folks who wrote TFI Sunday night and Monday, berating him for trashing the guy before Pebble Beach. (By Mickelson's own admission his putting didn't come around until Wednesday, after a few short-game triage sessions.) But this one's especially for the writers who said they gladly take the opposite of TFI's choices and laugh all the way to first place. Here's the 64,000 FedExCup points question: Is TFI dissing this guy again or giving all of his detractors a head fake?

Rotisserie results for Expert League at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: 55.0 points (second). First in 300+ drives, tied for first in birdies, second in FedExCup points and tied for second in sand saves. TFI led early but Greg Vara of Rotowire.com scored an astounding 65.5 points and led four of the 10 categories with Mickelson leading the way. Overall: 56.5 points (three points behind Vara).

Rotisserie lineup for Expert League at Nissan Open: K.J. Choi, Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy, Kevin Sutherland. Competing but not in lineup: Anders Hansen, Ryan Palmer, David Toms, Bubba Watson. Alternate: Cameron Beckman. Not in field: Tim Clark, Scott Gutschewski, Steve Stricker.

Match-play results for Public League 3359 at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: TFI 13.5, Danny G's Bad Boys 4.5. Record: 3-2 (three-way tie for first in West Division).

Match-play lineup for Public League 3359 at Nissan Open: Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Nick O'Hern, Craig Barlow. Reserves: Troy Matteson, Jonathan Byrd, Zach Johnson, Anders Hansen. Competing but not in lineup: Daniel Chopra. Not in field: Andrew Buckle, Mark Calcavecchia, Davis Love III.

Salary Cap Cup results for AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: The main lineup of Luke Donald (0 FedExCup points, missed cut), Mike Weir (0 points, missed cut), Daniel Chopra (530 points, tied 11th), Nick Watney (95 points, tied 42nd) and Craig Barlow (76 points, tied 44th) earned 801 points and placed 18,510th. Through Week 6 it totaled 21,693 points and ranked 846th.

The "Hey, buddy" backup lineup of Vijay Singh (530 points, tied 11th), Padraig Harrington (152 points, tied 30th), Charley Hoffman (60 points, tied 50th), Joe Ogilvie (0 points, missed cut) and Robert Garrigus (0 points, missed cut) earned 742 points and placed 18,989th. Through Week 6 it totaled 9,186 points and ranked 14,715.

Week 6 winner: homergomers5 14,236.

Segment 1 leader: Go Pokes Go 35,027.

Salary Cap Cup lineup for Nissan Open: Main lineup, Adam Scott $296,750, Ernie Els, $290,250, K.J. Choi $244,750, Kevin Sutherland $75,000, Nick Watney $75,000. Total: $981.750. "Hey, buddy" backup lineup, Phil Mickelson $293,500, Luke Donald $280,500, Dean Wilson $160,250, Troy Matteson $140,750, Billy Mayfair $105,000. Total: $980,000. Tiebreakers: 269, 1.

Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please be sure to include your name, where you're from, the name of your team and, if it relates to League Championship, the name of your league and whether you're competing in the rotisserie or match-play format.

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