The Fantasy Insider: PODS Championship
By Scott Pianowski, The Fantasy Insider
If you like to see the best players in the world tested, as I do, you'll enjoy four days in Tampa Bay at the PODS Championship. The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook can be a tricky layout, demanding patience, good decisions, and precise ball striking. Par is a decent score on any hole, and if you're not in the right place off the tee, don't even think of going into an attack mode. Keep those themes in mind as we grab a few fantasy plays in Week 10.
PGATOUR.com Pick 'em
You need one player in each of the six groups and a wild-card selection. We had a decent showing here last week, with five players grabbing points including Luke Donald (second).
Group 1 Pick: J.B. Holmes
Other options: Steve Stricker, D.J. Trahan, Daniel Chopra, Steve Lowery
Holmes has yet to miss a cut this year, he was eighth at the PODS Championship last season, and I expect a strong statement from the young star after his near-miss against Tiger Woods two weeks ago. Holmes has all the shots in his bag and can contend in this spot.
Lowery is an interesting sleeper pick, with an interesting hit-or-miss record at the event (67, 3, cut, 40, 6). Stricker, surprisingly, has yet to see the weekend in two Tampa Bay starts. Chopra's game has been slumping a bit since his strong push-off in Hawaii, and Trahan has just one decent check since his win at the Bop Hope Chrysler Classic.
Group 2 Pick: Ernie Els
Other options: Stewart Cink, Jeff Quinney, Ryuji Imada, Steve Marino
Els has proven he can negotiate this course (sixth in 2006), and obviously he's in fine form off the strong win at The Honda Classic last week. Back-to-back wins can never be expected, but I feel confident we'll see four decent rounds from The Big Easy again this week.
Cink made the top 20 in his last two runs at the PODS Championship, and he's one of those guys you feel comfortable using at any time. Quinney is another rock-solid play, off five decent cashes including the second-place finish at the Northern Trust Open. Imada and Marino both missed the cut here last year.
Group 3 Pick: Robert Allenby
Other Options: Boo Weekley, Stuart Appleby, Nathan Green, Brian Gay
Allenby has two missed cuts on his PODS resume, on the heels of his sixth-place check in 2004. But he's been hitting the ball so purely this season and I think it's only a matter of time before he breaks through with another victory.
If you select your team strictly on tournament history, Gay's record makes a strong statement (he was fourth here in 2007, and ninth the prior season). Green finished 12th at the PODS Championship last year but he's generally not near the top of the ball-striking stats. Appleby hasn't cracked the top 25 yet in four Tampa Bay stops, and Weekley didn't see the weekend last season.
Group 4 Pick: Kenny Perry
Other Options: Stephen Ames, John Mallinger, Kevin Na, Steve Elkington
When you think about horses for this course, Perry is one of the first names that jumps to mind, a reliable ball striker who's been steady at this event (19, 8, 17, 27). His game is in fine form in 2008 as well, with three top-20 finishes including a third at the Bob Hope.
Ames also has four straight cashes at the PODS, though he really contended just once in that time. Mallinger and Elkington missed the cut here last year, and Na has struggled in his last three starts over the track (cut, cut, 57).
Group 5 Pick: Chad Campbell
Other Options: Jerry Kelly, Mark Calcavecchia, Ben Crane, Dustin Johnson
I don't blame anyone for dialing up Calc in this spot; he's the defending champ, and he's hit the ball very well his last three starts this year. But Campbell's game also fits the test at Innisbrook, and he's grabbed some heavy checks here before (19th in 2006, second in 2005, fourth in 2003). He's never been the best putter around, but he's got the iron game to make another run.
Crane hasn't done better than 25th in five visits here and Kelly has missed the cut in his last two starts at the PODS Championship. Johnson has shown plenty of game in his rookie year, but it's hard to dial up a first-time starter in this deep a field.
Group 6 Pick: Joe Durant
Other Options: Kevin Sutherland, Dudley Hart, Matt Jones, Charles Warren
I didn't have much trouble coming up with Durant here; he's grabbed six checks in a row with his reliable ball striking (three finishes inside the Top 20), he's a Florida native, and he's got a couple of fourth-place runs at the PODS Championship. I'm sold, sign me up.
As for the rest of the pool, there's not a lot of PODS experience to get behind. Sutherland hasn't played the weekend in two starts, Hart hasn't done better than 40th in four trips, Warren missed the cut the last two years and Jones is making his Innisbrook debut.
Rest of the Field: Justin Rose has a good chance any week he tees it up, and he's fared well over this track (25, 20, 30) . . . Scott Verplank has answered the call in every stroke-play event this year (18, 22, 5), and he's 15th on the ball-striking chart. He's always welcome on my roster . . . Charles Howell is another reliable iron player and he's got three decent finishes in Tampa Bay, including a sixth last year . . . Hunter Mahan hasn't figured out the Copperhead Course yet (just one round in the 60s out of 12), but it's always risky to play against this sort of talent . . . Carl Pettersson is another horse for the course (win in 2005, 8th in 2004), but I can't figure why he missed the weekend in his last two stops . . . Paul Casey's talent can't be denied, but he's making his first start at the PODS Championship . . . Retief Goosen won here in 2003 and his iron play used to be as good as anyone's, but it's hard to start him with any confidence based on recent results. I need to see a strong showing first . . . Pat Perez is a dangerous player if he gets off to a good start here -- his three checks at the PODS Championship have all been healthy ones (14, 17, 7).
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