My what a different Masters than I was expecting. Clearly, my picks — the likes of Tiger, Phil, and Bubba — struggled. But what I can appreciate is that even though I expected a couple of the seven guys I picked at The Augusta Challenge at Fantasy Draft to struggle, I did not think they all would.
When a player like Phil Mickelson has a +7, it makes me feel a little pride at being little worse than a bogie player myself. For, sometimes I actually am a bogie player, but for sure sometimes I am so far from it that words like “par” exist only in a parallel universe. But, when a golfer like Phil has the same relative issues, it is at least sort of reassuring.
I really like the format at Fantasy Draft. For the Augusta Challenge, we simply selected a seven-man squad without salaries or a cap. They tossed the lowest score from your totals, kind of like in college when you had a professor who dumped your lowest test score (unfortunately, sometimes they dropped the top, too!).
For this week, I am simply playing a $1 50/50 with 80 slots, so sign up and see if you can beat me!
The PGA moves to the Harbour Town Golf Links, where the course is located within the Sea Pines Resort on 
HIlton Head Island. Harbour Town registers at 7,099 yards (I like that Fantasy Draft lists the distance on the draft page) with a par of 71. The course holds just three fives, but the longest is a lengthy 588 yards, and there are four threes, but the shortest is 174 and the longest 200 yards.
That means the fours are long, with just two holes — #9 at 313, and #13 at 373 — registering at less than 400 yards, so the big hitters, coupled with the players who are good from 75-100 yards, are of interest.
But last Saturday I was at a Giants game, and I spoke with Trent Tessler who was a top 10 amateur in Northern California, and we talked a little DFS and the Masters. Trent noted that players get into a groove at specific times of the year, often around time when they might play a particularly familiar course.
It took me back to the late 70’s, when I was first playing Strat-O-Matic baseball and scouring through numbers and understanding OBP and WHIP. I played the game with the Kansas City Royals, and after a couple of years I noticed Dennis Leonard, the pitcher, would be slow to get started, but deadly come the stretch run. Sure enough, if you look it up, Leonard was 14-18, 4.07 over his career in April, and 35-25, 3.23 over September.
It was from there I first learned or understood being hot at a certain time of a sports season, so everything Trent said rang true. So, I am adding that variable–that may be a common point of analysis in golf– in as I am still learning the field and courses. But, this wrinkle can help us assess who might be hot a given tourney.
By the way, the weather looks to start mild and sunny in the low 70’s, then chill with a chance of showers on Sunday.
That said, let’s see what I derived this week.
Marc Leishman ($15,600): Leishman finished ninth at a tough Masters, has made nine of 10 cuts, and has five top 10s this season, averaging 124.20 points per contest. The Aussie ranks #28 in putting and is in the zone, so he’s the hot hand.
Brian Harman ($15,200): Harman ranks #5 in Greens in Regulation, and has made 10 of 11 cuts this season, with a ridiculous seven top 10s. And, he was red-hot to begin the season when the bulk of those top finishes were recorded. So, bearing in mind what Trent said, I should dismiss the guy. But he also got hot just a year ago, winning the Wells Fargo Open. Harman ranks #72 putting and 56th from 75 yards out.
Ian Poulter ($14,900): Poulter has made six of eight cuts with a pair of top 10s, one of which was a win at Houston, enough to earn a ticket to Augusta. He finished 44th at the Masters, so, again, let’s see what a hot hand can do. He ranks #91 putting when putting and #112 from 75 yards out.
Luke List ($14,800): List is definitely a big hitter, ranking third in distance with an average poke of 315.8 yards. He’s #100 when putting and an equally decent #103 from 75 yards out. List has made 11 of 14 cuts with a troika of top 10s.
Kevin Chappell ($14,500): This could be like drafting Leonys Martin in baseball over and over hoping he will be something someday, for Chappell was my value pick for the Masters. He does rank #107 with the putter and #143 at 75 yards out. He’s also made eight of 10 cuts, scored three top 10s, and is averaging 114.6 points per weekend. And again, he won the Valero last April, a tourney just a couple of weeks out.
Si Woo Kim ($12,700): Kim, like Harman, won with the coming of the spring last year (The Players) so I’m cashing in a little on that and his three top 10s. He’s made 10 cuts in 13 tries, although his time with a putter (#178) and lob wedge (#199) could use some work.
Nick Watney ($12,000): The real value pick here, Watney ranks #19 in proximity to the green and has made seven cuts in a row, so hoping to cash in on eight for eight. Watney ranks #67 hitting the green from 75 and is #188 when putting.
