Week #3-Fantasy Golf - Humana Challenge, La Quinta, CA - January 16-19, 2014

Field for Humana Challenge - PGA Tour

Top Picks
Chuck's Picks: Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker
Drew's Picks: Zach Johnson, Webb Simpson, Brian Stuard
Matt's Picks:  Zach Johnson, Harris English, Webb Simpson
Jeremy's Picks:  Keegan Bradely, Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel
Cathy's Picks:  Bill Haas, Webb Simpson, Rickie Fowler

Dark Horses
Chuck's Picks:  Charles Howell III, Retief Goosen, Harris English
Drew's Picks: Gary Woodland, Kevin Na, Harris English
Matt's Picks:  Brain Stuard, Charles Howell III, Robert Garrigus
Jeremy's Picks:  Charles Howell III, Jeff Overton, Harris English
Cathy's Picks:  Harris English, Brendon de Jonge, Freddie Jacobson

Read below to see why we chose our players!

Chuck's Picks:
Billy Horschel -  The self-proclaimed PGA player of the year is not disappointing so far. Finished 6th two weeks ago in Kapalua and was 10th here last year in his first attempt.

Webb Simpson – Not the most experience nor the best track record around these courses. Simply can’t ignore Webb’s three top tens in just as many starts so far this year.

Brandt Snedeker – The highest ranked player in the field this week.  8th and 23rd  are his results in the last two years at this tournament. Make sure Sneds is in your lineup this week!

Dark Horses:
Charles Howell III – Chuckie is the owner of the 72 hole course record at Palmer West and was ever so close to hoisting the hardware last year. Pair that with his hot start this year and you have the recipe for a top contender.
Retief Goosen – The Goose looks loose after carding four rounds in the 60’s which was good for a T8 at the Sony. Goosen is no stranger to this tournament and has knowledge of all three courses in the rotation this week.
Harris English – This pick is simply based on current form. English has already made over $1,500,000 so far this season and has yet to miss a cut. Doesn’t even seem fair to pick him as a dark horse.   

Drew's Picks:
Zach Johnson -  I'm sticking with Zach again this week, after his fine showing in Hawaii.  I'm hoping his outstanding game washes ashore in California like a long distance surfer!  Zach is a birdie machine from inside 150 yards, and that's what you need to win this week on these shorter courses.  

Webb Simpson -  Webb shows up second on my hopefully fine tuned golf predictor model this week, which is set to favor putting and Par 4 performance.  4th, 1st, 7th, and a third in his last four starts.  

Brian Stuard -  I'm going off the radar, and the top 50 OWGR in picking Stuard.  I enjoyed watching him last week, he almost pulled off the win.  4th in Par 4 performance, and a 2nd and 6th this season, another momentum play.

Dark Horses:
Gary Woodland - Gary Woodland has done well in this tournament, and he enjoys the Pro-Am aspect of the week; some of the pros do not.  7th in GIR, if he gets his putter going, he can do very well here.   Kevin Na - Kevin has been playing under a medical extension.  His 8th place finish last week shows me he's back to good health.  He had a 5th here in 2001, and usually plays well in California.  He also wont mind the 6+ hour rounds in the Pro-Am, as he's one of the slowest players on the tour. 
Harris English - Harris English is on a roll, a T11 and a 4th in Hawaii bodes well for success in California.  His putter saw him through the last two tournaments, as stat wise, the rest of his game was nothing to write home about.  What matters is the final score, and Harris put together a successful start to the 2014 season.

Matt's Picks: 
Zach Johnson - Johnson has made his way up to 6th in the world golf rankings. In his last four events (one non-official), Johnson has two victories, a top ten, and a top twenty. He currently ranks 7th in the FedEx rankings, 2nd in driving accuracy, and 5th in all-around. In his last three trips to this event, Johnson owns a top ten and two top twenty-fives.

Harris English -  Harris English has been tearing it up lately. He is coming off a 4th place finish at the Sony Open where he was in the hunt up until the last few holes. English already has a win on the season and has finished T27 or better in his last five starts. English has two starts at the Humana, both resulting in paychecks with his best finish being T19.

Webb Simpson -
Although he missed the cut here last season, Simpson owns a T13 and a T5 finish in this event within the last five years. Simpson leads the Tour in scoring average, ranks 2nd in greens hit, 2nd in strokes gained, and 2nd in birdie average. In three official events this season, Simpson hasn't finished worse than T7.

Dark Horses:
Brian Stuard - Brian Stuard is off to a fast start this season. He already has two top tens and a top fifteen on the season. He sits 8th in the FedEx standings and has almost reached the million dollar mark in earnings. Last season was Stuard's only trip to the Humana Challenge where he finished with a top ten.
Charles Howell III - This is the second week in a row that Chucky Three Sticks has made my list.  Although he got off to a rocky start last week, Howell III ended up with his third straight top ten finish.  He hasn't missed the cut in this event in his last five trips, with his best performance being a T2 last season.
Robert Garrigus - Garrigus has two starts on the season, both resulting in top twenty-fives.  Garrigus ranks 3rd in total driving and 14th in scoring average.  He also has history at this event, making four of five cuts.  Those four paychecks include a runner-up finish in 2012 and three other top twenty finishes.

Jeremy's Picks:

Keegan Bradley - He has been working hard on his short game during the off season.  That could come into play here.
 
Zach Johnson - Playing extremely good golf right now coming off a win and a top 10 the past two weeks.
 
Billy Horschel - Played well finishing 6th at the Hyandai and has good experience on this course with a top 10 finish last year.
 
 
Dark Horses:
Charles Howell III - Howell started out slow last week in the opening round of the Sony but played very well over the last 3 rounds.  Last year's Humana ended with him losing in a playoff.  Look for him to be in contention once again.
Jeff Overton - If Overton could keep his nerves in check he would be a winner on the PGA tour.  He has the game and has played well on these courses in the past.
  Harris English - Playing extremely well even after coming off a disappointing finish last week.  Hard player to keep off your team.

Cathy's Picks:

Bill Haas - Haas has a playoff 2nd place finish here so he knows how to play the courses.  I like his steady temperament and patience when it comes to playing in a pro-am format for 3 days.

Webb Simpson - on occasion I default to the "go with the hot guy" theory, and I'm not sure if there is anyone hotter than Simpson right now in the field.  He's got  range of finishes here, some good, some not, but with a beautiful weather week predicted I think his ball striking consistency will shine.

Rickie Fowler - being #41 on the OWGR makes him a Top Pick and for some reason I'm just liking his chances this week.  He doesn't have much of a history here, but I'm hoping the West Coast Swing will be kind to him.

Dark Horses:
Brendon de Jonge - I blame Drew for this pick!!  But honestly, I'm just not ready to give up on him yet.  He does have a T12 here in 2012 so hopefully he can improve from that this year.
Harris English - I almost put him as a Top Pick this week because similar to Simpson, he's just too hard to overlook with all of his great play as of late.  And I need some Dark Horse points!
Freddie Jacobson - My thoughts on Freddie are that he's probably got a great attitude for this multiple course pro-am format and sometimes players do great after taking a bit of a break.