Fantasy Insider: TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola

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First and foremost, thank you as always for your loyalty as a reader. However, while Yahoo!'s game ends with THE TOUR Championship, all fantasy formats will remain in focus for the remainder of the year. Starting with a special peek at the Fall Series next week, I will be sharing a series of features that will be designed to keep you in touch until Draft Day 2012. This will include a fresh list of Major Qualifiers, recaps and projections for Nationwide Tour and q-school graduates and fantasy perspectives on all of the golfers included in the popular "Top 100" that runs throughout December. The offseason content will culminate with my full-membership fantasy projections for next year.

Meanwhile, in the penultimate tournament in the Matchups game on Facebook, I went 3-1-0 at the BMW Championship. (Steve Stricker's withdrawal voided his contest with Luke Donald.) It boosted my overall record to 32-20-3 for 71 points. (I'm tied for 11th place overall, but I'm ineligible for prizes.) kschwab14 stands alone at the top with 79 points, one clear of Big Daddy Smith in second place. Chris Gher sits in third with 77.

Unless all five of GarrySmits' picks are different than mine and he goes undefeated this week, I'll clinch the victory in the Notables. He's in second place but 12 points adrift. Therefore, my next goal is to finish atop the Playoff Leaders where I share fifth place with 20 points, four back of macdaly.

My picks for THE TOUR Championship:

• Webb Simpson over Vijay Singh
• Luke Donald over Dustin Johnson
• Justin Rose over Geoff Ogilvy
• Jason Day over Matt Kuchar
• Phil Mickelson over Bubba Watson

The PGATOUR.com staff also publishes its picks, which you can review here. Producers Chris Dunham holds a 71-69 lead on fellow producer, John Schwarb. The duo shares three of the five picks this week. And unless someone makes a change, Schwarb will shut out Managing Editor Mike McAllister, who's in third place with 65 points, as both picked the same five guys.

Power Rankings Distribution for Yahoo! (rank)

Group A ... Luke Donald (1); Nick Watney (4); K.J. Choi (7); Matt Kuchar (8)

Group B ... Webb Simpson (3); Justin Rose (5); John Senden (10)

Group C ... Adam Scott (2); Jason Day (6); Chez Reavie (9)

With only 20 golfers remaining after the 10 in Monday's Power Rankings, I've ranked the rest of the field below.

Golfer (Yahoo! Group)

11. David Toms (B) ... Top 15s in five of his six appearances at East Lake, including a T13 in his last in 2009. Third on TOUR in greens hit and sixth in bogey avoidance. Coming off a T10 at the BMW, his seventh top 10 of the year.

12. Geoff Ogilvy (A) ... Arrives on the heels of a mammoth week in Illinois where he finished third at the BMW and played his way onto the International squad for the President's Cup, which will be held at Royal Melbourne, a course on which he lives. Ranked inside the top 20 in fairways and GIR at Cog Hill, but was even better on the greens, finishing fourth in putting. Four top 20s in as many starts at East Lake, but zero top 10s.

13. Phil Mickelson (A) ... The only two-time champion in the 24-year history of this event, and both titles occurred at East Lake (2000, 2009). Failed to break par in any round at Cog Hill, but gamers already know that even his most recent experience provides zero insight for his next appearance. A sensible defense mechanism at worst in Yahoo!'s Group A this week.

14. Y.E. Yang (B) ... Finished T12 at the BMW for his eighth top 20 in just 17 starts this season. Finished 18th in his only previous appearance at East Lake in 2009. Despite cachet as a major champion, he wields an underrated greenside game.

15. Gary Woodland (C) ... Relentless fantasy investment. His T16 at the BMW was his 13th top 25 of the year and fourth consecutive. A first-timer at East Lake, he's 14th on TOUR in greens in regulation and T47 in bogey avoidance. Riding a streak of six straight starts during which he's been par or lower in each of the first two rounds. His actual scoring average for those 12 rounds is 68.58.

16. Aaron Baddeley (C) ... Closed out a T22 at the BMW with a five-birdie 67 for this only under-par round of the tournament. Since the Travelers in June, he's posted top 25s in every other start, and should rack up another one this week in the 30-man field. He's 71st in greens hit and 43rd in bogey avoidance. The Aussie is also still motivated to catch Greg Norman's eye as a captain's pick for The President's Cup.

17. Steve Stricker (B) ... Impossible to know how his neck will hold up. It forced him to withdraw after two rounds of last week's BMW. Perhaps more concerning is that he needed 63 putts at Cog Hill (he hit 24 greens). Placed sixth here in 2009. Perfect bench material in the Yahoo! game.

18. Jason Dufner (C) ... The only non-winner in the field. The last to break through for his first PGA TOUR victory in this event was Chad Campbell (at Champions Golf Club in Houston) in 2003. Dufner has shown considerable mettle throughout the year, evidenced by six top 10s, including a T6 at the BMW where he ranked T2 in birdies. Currently 40th in greens hit and T75 in bogey avoidance.

19. Brandt Snedeker (C) ... First trip to East Lake since 2007, when he shared last place in his debut. Sits 108th in greens in regulation and fifth in strokes gained-putting, a very typical ratio for him. Also 26th in bogey avoidance. Could play spoiler if his putter lights up as it did in the first two events of the Playoffs, both resulting in T3s.

20. Bill Haas (B) ... The wheels came off on Sunday at Cog Hill (11 GIR, 34 putts) where he closed with a 78, settling for a share of 16th place. The first-timer at East Lake ranks ninth on TOUR in both greens in regulation and bogey avoidance. If you're going to take the plunge, you might want to sit him in the final round where his scoring average is 71.45. That's 1.25 strokes higher than his overall.

Rob's Yahoo! lineup

STARTERS(In alphabetical order) Group A: Luke Donald; Nick Watney Group B: Justin Rose; Steve Stricker; David Toms; Y.E. Yang Group C: Jason Day; Adam Scott Yahoo! Stats SEASON: 5,310 points (7,516th) SUMMER: 1,736 points (28,335th) ONE-AND-DONE:K.J. Choi 2011 earnings:$4,983,306.64 DUFFER: Fredrik Jacobson 2011 earnings:$1,212,417.00

21. Bo Van Pelt (B) ... En route to a T56 at the BMW Championship, he cited a poor record at Cog Hill, but he had posted top 20 in 2007 and 2009 at the track, the second of which after the redesign. Looking ahead to this week, he placed 24th last year in his debut at East Lake, managing only eight birdies (and an eagle). With a solo seventh at the recent Deutsche Bank and ranked 24th on TOUR in greens in regulation, he deserves a look as a sleeper in all formats.

22. Hunter Mahan (B) ... Still a stud across the board statistically but just hasn't been putting rounds together. A T8 at the Deustche Bank is his only top 10 in his last 11 starts. No top 10s in his last three appearances at East Lake.

23. Mark Wilson (C) ... A poor weekend with his irons at Cog Hill prevented the potential home win. (He shared the 36-hole lead with eventual champion, Justin Rose.) Wilson is a first-timer at East Lake and ranks 64th on TOUR in greens hit and 12th in bogey avoidance.

24. Dustin Johnson (A) ... Has averaged 74.6 over his last five rounds on two par-71 courses. Ranks 123rd in bogey avoidance, worst in this field of 30. Hasn't cracked the top 20 in two appearances at East Lake.

25. Charles Howell III (C) ... The two-time runner-up at East Lake (2002, 2003) has made 12 consecutive cuts but hasn't cracked the top 30 in his last two. He's a lofty 21st in greens hit and fourth in bogey avoidance, so something will give this week.

26. Vijay Singh (B) ... The 2002 champion here has seven top 10s in eight appearances at East Lake; he finished T22 in his last showing in 2008. Since consecutive top fives at the Wyndham and Barclays in August, he's missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank and finished 67th (of 69) at the BMW.

27. Bubba Watson (B) ... Ranked last in greens hit at Cog Hill (35 of 72) and finished T53. Now sixth on TOUR in GIR but remained first in GIR from lies off the fairway. Owns a scoring average of 72.13 in his eight loops at East Lake but shot 69-67 in the middle rounds last year. At 108th on TOUR in bogey avoidance, he's a wildcard if you're going for broke.

28. Keegan Bradley (C) ... The only PGA TOUR rookie in the field, so he's a first-timer at East Lake. Coming off a T16 at the BMW where a double bogey at the 72nd hole cost him a top 10 (had he parred it). Ranks 75th on TOUR in greens hit and 94th in bogey avoidance.

29. Jonathan Byrd (A) ... Since opening the Deutsche Bank with a 67, he's failed to break 70 in his last seven rounds. Averaged a mere 10 greens in regulation per round at Cog Hill en route to a share of 37th place. Finished 23rd in his only previous appearance here in 2007.

30. Fredrik Jacobson (C) ... First-timer sneaks in 29th in FedExCup points. Hasn't posted a top 30 in his last four starts. Ranks 120th in greens in regulation but 29th in bogey avoidance, so his short game is relatively unpressured by wayward irons.

Medic! (Yahoo! Group)

Alex Cejka (C) ... In the field at the Soboba Classic on the Nationwide Tour. Hasn't competed in an official event since the French Open on the European Tour in early July. The reason for his absence is unknown.

Notable WDs (Yahoo! Group)

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Rob Bolton is the freelance fantasy columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.