Somehow or other, my guys came through last week and I finished in the money at the Wells Fargo. In fact, we wound up #11 out of 400, for which I feel pretty good. So let’s see if we can keep the trend going as we move to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida for The Players Championship, held at TPC Sawgrass.
Designed by Pete Dye, TPC Sawgrass logs in at 7,215 yards for The Players, with the requisite par 72 and four each of threes and fives. Hole nine holds the distance at 583 yards, with #17 a dangerous but accessible 137.
2017 champ Si Woo Kim is defending his title, and I did look at last year’s top finishers, but also the short game on a course with some tactical challenges.
Sign up to play against me at FantasyDraft, a format I really like — they drop the low score from your seven-man roster ($100 K cap) for the weekend. For this week, I am simply playing a $1 50/50 with 114 slots, so sign up and see if you can beat me!
As for the weather, a mild wind (5 mph) will haunt the first couple of days at TPC Sawgrass, while a little overcast, clearing for the final round.
As for my top six picks (remember, at FantasyDraft you pick seven and the low score is dropped), here you go.
Jason Day ($16,800): He’s eight-for-eight making the cut, has three top 10s with a pair of wins including the Wells Fargo last week and is averaging 122.87 points per weekend. How can you not go with the hot hand?
Henrik Stenson ($15,500): Stenson leads the tour at Greens in Regulation at 72.2%, with six cuts and four top 10s, and on a tight course that is a good prescription.
Phil Mickelson ($15,100): So hard to not like Phil no matter where the tourney or what the course. He can putt, we all know, and he did win at TPC Sawgrass 2007. Mickelson has six top 10s, 10 of 11 cuts made, and is averaging a monster 143.18 FFPT.
Hideki Matsuyama ($14,800): Matsuyama has been chilling since the Masters, but this time of year tends to be good for him. He has a pair of top 10s and at this point starts to point towards value pick. He has made seven of eight cuts and is a generally a steady hand.
Brian Harman ($13,500): Again, the time of year Harman gets hot — at least he was last year — and he was hot to start the season. With 12 cuts made over 13 tries, Harman leads the tour with seven top 10s and is averaging 122.07 points per week.
Pat Perez ($12,600): Ranking #4 (71.45%) at Greens in Regulation, Perez is another steady player, with nine of 11 cuts and four top 10s and a win with a 108.18 average.
