Week #18 ~ Fantasy Golf ~ The Players Championship, May 8-11, 2014

Top Picks

Matt's Picks: Matt Kuchar, Jim Furyk, Jordan Spieth
Chuck's Picks: Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Jim Furyk
Jeremy's Picks:  Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia
Drew's Picks: Matt Kuchar, Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell
Cathy's Picks:  Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson

Dark Horses (dark horse criteria= outside top 50 on OWGR as of The Masters)

Matt's Picks: Rory Sabbatini, Kevin Chappel, Martin Kaymer
Chuck's Picks: Francesco Molinari, Seung-Yol Noh, Jeff Overton
Jeremy's Picks: KJ Choi, Ryan Palmer, Pat Perez
Drew's Picks: Kevin Stadler, JB Holmes, Will McKenzie
Cathy's Picks: Erik Compton, Ernie Els, Kenny Perry

Read here to see why we picked who we did!

Matt's Picks:
Matt Kuchar
Matt Kuchar won this event in 2012 and hasn't missed a cut since 2008. He has four top twenty-five finishes in nine starts at TPC Sawgrass. Kuchar has finished T5 or better in his previous four starts, including a win at RBC Heritage in his last event. He currently ranks 20th in birdie average and leads the Tour in scoring average. 

Jim Furyk
This will be Furyk's 19th start in THE PLAYERS Championship. He owns eight top twenty-five finishes, three top tens, and a third place finish in 2006. Furyk comes into this week in great form. He finished last week in the runner-up position at the Wells Fargo Championship and had four straight top twenty finishes before that.  

Jordan Spieth
Spieth currently ranks 23rd in putting, 14th in scoring average, and 13th in birdie average. He has three top fifteens in his last four starts, including a runner-up finish in his first start at Augusta. This will be Spieth's first trip to THE PLAYERS Championship, but he has proven that he doesn't need experience at a course to succeed. 

Rory Sabbatini
Sabbatini is on a bit of a hot streak coming into this week. He finished the RBC Heritage in a tie for 9th, placed T17 at Zurich, and ended last week in a tie for 8th. Sabbatini hasn't had the best of luck at TPC Sawgrass, but has earned paycheck in three of his last four visits including a T26 finish in 2011. 

Kevin Chappell
Chappell had his best start of 2014 last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. After three rounds in the 70's, Chappell fired a final round 68 and T11. Chappell has made the cut in two of his three trips to TPC Sawgrass. Last year, Chappell was sitting in 3rd place heading to Saturday, but fell into a tie for 68th after struggling over the weekend. 

Martin Kaymer
Kaymer has earned a paycheck in every trip to THE PLAYERS Championship.  He finished T19 in 2011 and T15 in 2012.  Kaymer has made cuts in his previous three starts and has earned top twenty-five finishes in his last two starts.

Chuck's Picks:
Adam Scott – Former champion here with a slew of other top finishes. Current form is great and should have no problem contending this week.

Henrik Stenson – Another former champion who has a chance to dominate this course if he gets the flat stick going. Pick him with confidence.

Jim Furyk – Knows this course better than anybody in the field. Great finish last week at Quail Hollow should give him some momentum.

Francesco Molinari – Playing well as of late and does have a 9th here to his credit. No missed cuts on U.S. soil this year and admittedly loves the Stadium course.

Seung-Yol Noh – Already a winner once this year and a great ball striker. Should find this tee to green course right up his alley

Jeff Overton – Been playing great the last two weeks so I’m rolling with the hot hand. Putter can be a bit clumsy at times but showing signs of improvement

Jeremy's Picks:
Matt Kuchar - Gotta love the way Kuchar has been playing.
 
Phil Mickelson - As a former champion he obviously has the ability to win here.  What I like about him this week is that he is beginning to get into form for the US Open.
 
Sergio Garcia - This is a place that Sergio always seems to play pretty well.
 
Dark Horse
 
KJ Choi - Winner here a couple years ago, he has the ability to surprise.
 
Ryan Palmer - Has had many good rounds this year as shown by Yahoo Fantasy stats, tought to leave him out of your lineup.
 
Pat Perez - He has had a great year thus far and is worthy of a dark horse selection.

Drew's Picks:
Matt Kuchar:
Matt won here in 2012, and right now is the hottest golfer on the planet.  He had two weeks rest since his win at the Heritage, see a top 5 coming his way.

Jim Furyk:
Jim's last four starts have resulted in a 6th, 14th, 7th, and a 2nd. That makes him probably the 2nd hottest golfer on the planet! He says last week he figured out something amiss with his alignment before the final round, fixed it, and shot a 65!   I hope he remembers what worked.

Graeme McDowell:
Graeme says this tight course "fits his eye."  He's 15th in Driving Accuracy and second in SGP.  His last win was at Harbour Town, another tight Pete Dye course.


DarkHorses:

Kevin Stadler:
Kevin's stats are what drew me to him this week.  8th in Total Driving and Ball Striking, T2 for Par 3 Scoring, and a respectable 34th in Par 5 scoring.  All that stuff is important this week.  Plus, now that he has a win under his big belt, he might handle the pressureof being near the top of the leaderboard better.

J.B. Holmes:
Yes, I realize he got a very emotional win last week, and that usually results in a letdown the following week.  But he does have 4 top 20's here, including 2 top 10's.  I think he'll continue his good playing.

Will Mackenzie:
Just a hunch here.  Will ranks 5th in Par 3 scoring, 23rd in Par 5's.  All the rest of his stats are in the ballpark for at least a top 20.  Let's see what happens.

Cathy's Picks:
Matt Kuchar - well, besides my heart, Kuchar's stats are sending signals that he's a great pick - and he's a former winner here.

Adam Scott - I just have a gut feeling he's going to put it all together for a good finish this week.

Bubba Watson - this was a tough pick, since I had Steve Stricker in this slot before deciding that Watson may let his creativity take over and make some great shots this week.

Dark Horses:
Erik Compton - I'd love to see a great Top 10 finish for Compton this week - he's been stringing together some great rounds for the past month or so.

Ernie Els - well, just a plain ol' heart pick for me.

Kenny Perry - I've been reading about how the Seniors are due to make a splash on the regular tour so why not KP and why not this week!