By Brett Avery Right off the bat, the screaming reminder: Entry deadline for this week’s 90-hole Bob Hope Chrysler Classic is WEDNESDAY morning! Don’t blow the deadline. The Fantasy Insider has found a way to win in the head-to-head format of League Championship Fantasy. His opposing team owner needs to neglect his lineup. TFI’s six players totaled 155 points at the Sony Open in Hawaii, not a bad start for someone who had to grab Pat Perez on waivers just to field six players. In fact, they earned a 155-113 victory, which seems pretty cushy. When you realize that TFI’s opponent, Destin, has six players in the field but only three of them active, TFI got away with one: Destin could have won by 173-155 but didn’t activate Mark Calcavecchia (34 points), Jason Gore and Justin Rose (13 each). As is the case with the Salary Cap Cup competition (the rechristened TOUR Fantasy), the computer will use last week’s lineup in League Championship Fantasy if you don’t set one before the deadline. Thanks to the vagaries of automated drafts, which this league used, only three of Destin’s players in the Sony Open in Hawaii appeared among his first six picks. So TFI got away with one. His other lineup didn’t fare as well. The Expert League draft went fairly smoothly on the eve of the Sony Open’s first round. The competitors, with team names and affiliations: • The Fantasy Insider (tf_insider2), CBS SportsLine.com and PGATOUR.com • Nick Abisi (theruns), rotoworld.com • Steve Alexander (Dr. A’s Ho Train), rotoworld.com • Roger Rotter (FOXsports.com), foxsports.com • Jason Sobel (Putting For Bogey), espn.com • Greg Vara (Handy), rotowire.com • Mike Vitti (Pro Vitti-1X), PGATOUR.com • Brian Wacker (The Van Buren Boys), golfdigest.com TFI drafted fifth and came away with six players off his pre-draft pecking order of 15 players. TFI also got a bonus in the 10th round with one guy off his list of players to watch from the pre-draft column. Pretty happy with that! The lineup, in order of selection with each player’s pre-draft ranking: • Sergio Garcia, sixth • Kenny Perry, ninth • Geoff Ogilvy, 45th • Shigeki Maruyama, 29th • Brandt Jobe, 42nd • Joe Ogilvie, 57th • Bo Van Pelt, 75th • Ryan Palmer, 76th • Daniel Chopra, 134th • Camilo Villegas, 181st It’s difficult to believe this league will be anything but competitive. At one point during Saturday’s round, three teams were tied for the lead at 56 points and two more were at 55.5 points. TFI had seven players available and placed fifth with 45.5 points, leading in eagles (four) and co-leading 300-plus drives (19) but taking a beating on earnings ($56,214) and stroke average (71.0). Vitti won the week with 65.5 points followed by Dr. A (63) and Sobel (53). Don’t expect TFI to do anywhere near as well this week. He has only four players competing in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic -- Chopra, Jobe, J. Ogilvie and R. Palmer -- and isn’t about to drop players just to get to a full roster.
Which brings us to This Week’s Brilliant Question:
Searching for two weeks This is my first stab at fantasy golf. How can I find out who is scheduled to play in upcoming tournaments? — Corey, BearCubs Ah, a moment please TFI must recompose Haiku chokes him up There are two parts to your answer, Corey, and which one applies depends on timing. The first part: The deadline for committing to a regular TOUR event is 5 p.m. the previous Friday or an hour after the Friday round’s completion. In the case of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, players had until after 11 p.m. Eastern time on January 13 because of the prime-time competition at the Sony Open in Hawaii. By about 5:20 p.m. each Friday the competitions staff at TOUR HQ posts the field for the following week (any end-of-round commitments are updated). The Hope field can be found at the Hope’s official website, under the “tournaments” tab at PGATOUR.com. That list will be updated with WDs until the first round begins. The pairings are also kept current with field changes once they are posted. The second part: What you (and everyone else) really wants to know is which of your guys will play at next week’s Buick Invitational, or in Phoenix the following week at the FBR Open, or even the week before Valentine’s Day at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The answer to that is a bit trickier. The PGA TOUR’s first official word on a field comes with that 5 p.m. Friday release of names. Prior to that, anything said about a field likely comes from local organizers, who may tout verbal commitments by top players to goose ticket sales. Warning: Those unofficial commitments can change before the Friday deadline. Want to see what a local tournament is saying about its field? Try going to ajr.org, the site of the American Journalism Review, and click on the “newspaper” and “daily” tabs to find links to some of the country’s most prominent papers. (Be aware that some newspaper sites will ask you to register as a user). Most golf writers have several pieces a week leading up to events they cover and may drop mentions of who is in (and isn’t). Another possibility is a player’s own official website. A good percentage of players now have them and a growing number blog about their exploits. Again, any schedule mentions are subject to change, although a player saying he’s in is pretty solid sourcing. Finally, before we get into last week’s results and this week’s picks, a correction. Last week’s answer to the Brilliant Question wasn’t so brilliant. In his fifth rule for waiving players, TFI was incorrect when he said that a competitor’s reserves were up for grabs to other players. Those 10 players on your roster are yours to keep for as long as you want. Let’s just chalk it up to TFI wanting to make sure you were paying attention. Rotisserie results for Sony Open in Hawaii: 47.5 points (fifth). One-putts 121 (fifth), birdies 55 (fifth), bounce back 14 (tied second), 300+ drives 19 (first), eagles four (first), fairways 119 (tied third), greens 218 (fifth), money $56,214 (seventh), scoring 71.0 (tied seventh), sand saves 69 (tied fourth). Synopsis: Statistically a solid team but the money and scoring numbers were pathetic. Better luck next time … except not this week. Rotisserie lineup for Bob Hope Chrysler Classic: Daniel Chopra, Brandt Jobe, Joe Ogilvie, Ryan Palmer, Bo Van Pelt, Camilo Villegas. Note that the last two aren’t in the field but are active just to reach six players. Memo to Sergio Garcia, Shigeki Maruyama, Geoff Ogilvy and Kenny Perry: C’mon guys, let’s play! H2H results for Sony Open in Hawaii:TFI 155, Destin 113. Drivers: Kenny Perry 17, Chad Campbell 58. Short game: Carlos Franco 29, Pat Perez 2. Putters: Jesper Parnevik 30, Tim Petrovic 9. Reserves: None competed. Record: 1-0. Synopsis: TFI squeaks one out thanks to his opponent’s lineup snafu. H2H lineup for Bob Hope Chrysler Classic: Drivers, Chad Campbell and Justin Leonard. Short game, Carlos Franco and Pat Perez. Putters: Jesper Parnevik and Tim Petrovic. Reserves: Chris DiMarco, Mark Hensby, Craig Parry, Kenny Perry. Salary Cap Cup: The Sony Open in Hawaii main lineup of Vijay Singh ($183,600), Charles Howell III ($11,696), Jerry Kelly ($98,600), Pat Perez ($0) and Chris Riley ($30,243) totaled $324,139. Through Week 2 the team totals $1,393,139 and ranks 9,102nd. The “Hey, buddy” lineup of Jim Furyk ($258,950, including $100K second-round bonus), Justin Rose ($0), Tim Petrovic ($0), Robert Gamez ($40,362) and Paul Azinger ($10,914) totaled $310,226. Through Week 2 the team totals $1,217,226 and ranks 10,904th. Salary Cap Cup lineups for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic: Main lineup, Phil Mickelson ($300,000), Justin Leonard ($277,250), Jerry Kelly ($225,250), Bill Haas ($75,000), Chris Riley ($75,000). “Hey, buddy” lineup, Tim Clark ($293,500), Chad Campbell ($280,500), Mark Calcavecchia ($235,000), Robert Gamez ($111,500), Bill Haas ($75,000). Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please remember to include your team and league names and whether you’re playing a rotisserie or H2H league. |
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