Fantasy Crystal Ball: Mercedes Benz Championship

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 2:08 PM EST Comment 13 comments

Be sure to check out our sponsors for 2009 Fantasy Golf - 14Stix.com and GolfStakes.com!

Each week of the season, I'll be offering up some advice for Yahoo! Fantasy Golf players in our league or any league. I may not necessarily take the advice in how I pick my teams, but I want to provide some guidance for new players. With that in mind, let's look into the ole crystal ball.

Daniel Chopra is the defending champion of this year's Benz event. He won in a playoff over Steve Stricker. Players that break through in this event have a tendency to remain near the top of the leaderboard in future years. Take a look at Stewart Appleby and Vijay Singh. They have fantastic records in this event. I would guess Chopra would do well, too. And he's a B-list player.

With Vijay's injury and imminent surgery, I would be scared to keep him on the team this week. He may withdraw if his knee hurts too much on the hilly Kapalua terrain.

Ernie Els has a great track record in Hawaii and showed some signs of life in the off season. Consider him.

Take a look at Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas this week. But, do so with caution. Neither has never played at Kapalua as a pro. Kapalua's wide fairways make the course a bomber's paradise. They both had hot putters at the end of 2008. If they can keep it up on Kapalua's very tricky greens, then they will do well.

As for B-team picks, I like Adam Scott and Boo. Scott has a runner-up finish here. I'm just plain biased toward Weekley. I pray that Boo wears a Hawaiian print shirt on course with his camo undershirt.

You don't have many choices this week on the C team. There are on three players in that pool that are in the field. Pick two and hold your breath there.

Good luck this week!

0 recs | Comment 13 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

don't forget...

…this is the third year of Ernie Els’ three year plan to overtake Tiger Woods. So far, it’s working to perfection – he got Tiger to injure his left leg and knee to limit his season – and his game was starting to round into shape at the end of ‘08. CLEARLY, he plans to win every tournament he starts this year. It’s all a part of the master plan ! :-D

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jan 7, 2009 2:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ernie has Tiger

just where he wants him. Injured.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 2:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Why Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas?

They have never played in the tournament. So it is impossible to know if they will like or dislike the course. I do believe in horses for courses.

I know why Ryan picked them. They are the two highest money winners in 2008 who are playing this week who aren’t playing with a bum knee or are named Kenny Perry. I defended Kenny last year, and gave him a knucklehead award too in 2006 for this golf tournament by the way. Is everyone sure he’s playing in Kapalua this week? 3 years ago he was supposed to have said he may not come back in the future.

Perry did manage a 3rd place finish here once. That’s more than CV and AK. Besides Tom Weiskopf never won the TOC or at Kapalua which takes Kim out of the picture. Pencil him again when we get to San Diego. KJ was 2nd here the year Els ran away from the field and has an 8th also in four tries.

Justin Leonard has 4 top 8 finishes in 6 tries at Kapalua.

by Bill Jempty on Jan 7, 2009 3:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

My reasons for AK and CV

I’m going with them because they had a hot hand last year. Also, they had some great short game touch toward the end of the season. That’s very critical at the tough Kapalua greens. They also hit the hell out of the ball. That’s part of why Appleby owned this event for so long.

Leonard’s on my team this week, actually. Good call with the tidbit. But don’t give away your picks so easily! :)

I thought about KJ, but backed off. I didn’t like what I saw at Tiger’s Chevron event, though he fared ok.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 3:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There a lot of tournaments left

So you turn up blowing AK and CV fast. Especially if Tiger is out till March or April.

To be honest I need to see another season at least before marking these players as stars. Sort of like my skepticism about Suzann Pettersen on the LPGA.

by Bill Jempty on Jan 7, 2009 4:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I won't call them stars yet

By any means. A couple of wins a star does not make.

But, my strategy is to play better/hot hand players in majors, WGCs, and ultra limited field events. That way, I don’t feel like I’m plugging in the Parker McLaughlins of the world in needlessly. Besides, I won’t touch these guys again until February.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 4:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Strategery

But wouldn’t using a Parker McLachlin-type here be smart as you know he won’t miss the cut? :-) And then maybe use the real big guns on tough tracks, majors, invitationals where you figure they will be good for at least a T-25? Just my $.02.

by hawkeyedc on Jan 7, 2009 7:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Also a decent strategy

I’m definitely not espousing to have the answer on this one. Since you can’t miss the cut here, you’re in good shape with whoever you pick.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 7:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

A-List

How is Parker McLaughlin on the A-List in the Fantasy League? He finished 85th on the Money List. Surely the top 100 isn’t the A-List…

He is a Hawaii resident…maybe he’d be a good dark horse – but he’s not cracking my starting lineup.

Doug Albers
www.14STIX.com
Limitless Deals on Golf Gear.
One Deal at a Time.
Get Hooked.

by 14STIX on Jan 7, 2009 3:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Some bizarre choices

Sometimes. Fred Couples was a C-list player last year. It made for some easy points.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 3:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Once the tournament starts...

Do we get to see who everyone picked? or not until the end of the event?

by red tees on Jan 7, 2009 3:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

If I remember right

from last year, you can see once the event begins.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 7, 2009 3:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What did I tell you ?

Watch out for Ernie Els !! Now – if I had signed up for the league and picked him – he would have fallen off a cliff or something.

There was some really good golf played yesterday. Ryuji Imada putting up 7 birdies in a row – Geoff Ogilvy getting out of some terrible spots to save par – Ernie looks solid – AK wasn’t consistent but just needs to shake off some rust – Camilo Villegas was good from tee to green, but his putter was horrible. I’ll be interested to see if Johnson Wagner can get some consistancy to go with that big game he has.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jan 9, 2009 9:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs