Week #4 - Fantasy Golf - Farmer's Insurance Open - Torrey Pines (South) - January 23-26, 2014

Field for Farmer's Insurance Open - PGA Tour

Top Picks
Matt's Picks:  Tiger Woods, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker
Jeremy's Picks:  Tiger Woods, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson
Drew's Picks: Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Bubba Watson
Cathy's Picks:  Tiger Woods, Graham DeLaet, Phil Mickelson
Chuck's Picks: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bill Haas

Dark Horses
Matt's Picks:  Brendon Todd, Matt Every, Brian Stuard
Jeremy's Picks:  Brendon de Jonge, Luke Guthrie, Justin Leonard
Drew's Picks: Brian Stuard, Charles Howell III, Brendon de Jonge
Cathy's Picks:  Brian Stuard, Gary Woodland, Ben Crane
Chuck's Picks: Brian Stuard, Charles Howell III, Marc Leishmann

Read below on why we picked who we did!

Matt's Picks:
Tiger Woods - This will be Tiger's first official event this season on the PGA Tour. Last season on Tour, Tiger earned five victories (including this event) and earned money in all sixteen starts. He led the Tour in all-around ranking, was 2nd in scoring average, and 3rd in birdie average. Tiger has dominated this event in the past. In thirteen starts here, Tiger has seven victories, a runner-up, a third place finish, and three other top tens. 

Bill Haas - In nine trips to this event, Haas has only missed one cut and owns six top twenty-fives. In the last three years, Bill Haas has finished T9, T4, and T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open. Haas has played in four events on Tour this season, earning four paychecks and four top twenty-fives. His most recent start resulted in a tie for 6th last weekend at the Humana Challenge.

Brandt Snedeker - Sneds has played this event better than any other professional over the last four years. He placed runner-up here last year, won the event in 2012, placed T9 in 2011, and finished runner-up in 2010. In the Hyundai Tournament Of Champions, Snedeker finished tied for 11th. Last weekend he finished T58 at the Humana, but did post a round of 64 on Friday.
Dark Horses:
Brendon Todd - I am big on Brendon Todd this season, as I think he is going to have a great year.  He has started out the 2013-2014 season by making six consecutive cuts and already scoring four top twenty finishes.  Todd is coming off a T6 performance at the Humana Challenge.  He has entered this event two times in his career with his best finish being a T76 in 2012.  
 Matt Every - Every is five for five on the season and already owns three top fifteen finishes.  He finished tied for 8th at the Sony Open and placed T13 at last week's Humana Challenge.  Every's results at The Farmers event have been anything but stellar, but he has made two of three cuts and placed T15 in 2010.
Brian Stuard - Stuard was on my dark horse list last week and I'm continuing to roll with him this week.  He has three consecutive top tens and doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  He is coming off a 5th place finish at the Humana Challenge.  Stuard missed the cut in this event in 2010 but finished T39 in last season's event.

Jeremy's Picks:
Tiger Woods - Hard not to take a player that has won at Torrey Pines 8 times overall, including this tournament 7 times.
 
Brandt Snedeker - He has two T2's and a win here in the past 4 years.  He should be considered one of your top choices.
 
Phil Mickleson - He is playing in his hometown and has had good results before here.  The reason to take  him has more to do with how he finished the tournament in Abu Dhabi this past weekend.

Dark Horses:
Brendon de Jonge - A birdie making machine who finished in the top 15 last year.  With a strong finish at the Humana look for him to continue his solid play.
 
Luke Guthrie - He had a solid showing at the Humana and a great couple of rounds to open the Farmers last year.  With more experience he should be able to improve his weekend play.
 
Justin Leonard - He has been playing excellent golf the last few weeks and because of that he takes my 3rd dark horse spot.

Drew's Picks:
Phil Mickelson: Phil finished with a T2 last week in Abu Dhabi, against a strong field.  He was playing "Phil Golf", and double hit a right handed, backward 4-iron out of some bushes, resulting in a penalty.  Without that, he very well could have won.  I thing 2014 is going to be a very good year for Phil.  When he starts a season well, he usually keeps it going for a while. 
Jason Day:  Jason Day ended 2013 by winning the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, Australia, a week after he lost 8 family members in the Philippine Typhoon.  He tied for 9th here last year, with a 66 in the closing round. Day also is prone to quick starts to his season, and seems to have the tools to win this week.
Bubba Watson:
Watching Bubba hit shots when he is playing well is a treat!  His length and creativity on the course should work well for him this week.  He won here in 2011, and has a T7 and T4 earlier.  He's rededicated himself, putting, accuracy and GIR all on an upward trend.


Dark Horses: 
Brian Stuard:
Stuard has a 2nd, 5th, and a 5th in his last three starts.  He's 6th in Par 5 and 7th in Par 4 performance, and 27th in Total Driving. A momentum play, I think he can keep his fine play going for another week.
Charles Howell III:
CHIII has 5 top 10's here in 11 tries.  His game has improved in length, accuracy off the tee, and putting.  Another hot momentum play, with 4 top 10's in his last 6 starts.
Brendon de Jonge:
Hmmm, I did it!  Cathy and I picked Brendon de Jonge again and again in Kerplookee, with overall disappointing results.  Sometimes it was her choice, sometimes mine. I finally remembered what Albert Einstein had to say about insanity:   “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”  Well, I'm on the "Birdie Man's" bus again!  Temporary insanity?
 

Cathy's Picks:
Tiger Woods - It doesn't take much research to figure out that Tiger has had more than a little bit of success at Torrey Pines.  He's had 6 other wins at this events besides his win in 2013, and he's never missed a cut here.   While not always on my top picks list, Tiger seems like guaranteed point getter this week.


Graham DeLaet - Drew spotted DeLaet a few years ago when he could have been a dark horse, but now at 35 on the OWGR (12/1/13) he's considered a top pick.  He's recently had a few top 10's and had a T9 at Torrey last year. 


Phil Mickelson - While I could call this my heart pick of the week, Phil has to be on a lot of people's rosters this week.  I just have a feeling this might be a great weekend to watch golf.  


Dark Horses:
Brian Stuard - I'll be honest, I really didn't know who Brian was until the past few weeks when his name was hovering near the top of the leader board.   Stuard turned pro in 2005 and played on developmental tours and the web.com Tour until getting his card in 2013.  I'm using the "going with the hot guy" theory on this one.

Gary Woodland - while not the best history at this course, I'm hoping his length will combine with a hot putter to put him in contention this week.

Ben Crane - a T9 last week and a win at Torrey in 2010 makes me hopeful that Crane can channel both good play and good memories to have a good finish this week.

Chuck's Picks:
Tiger Woods – Pretty much a no brainer! Eldrick has won this tournament 7 times and I see no reason he can’t make it 8. He should be in 100% of all fantasy golf lineups this week.

Phil Mickelson – Fresh off a 2nd place finish in Dubai, Phil should have plenty of confidence teeing it up at the comfortable surroundings of Torrey Pines.  Lefty has already won this tournament 3 times.

Bill Haas – Three top tens at this event in the past three years. Obviously likes this venue and comes in hot after finishing 6th at the Humana last week.

Dark Horses:
Brian Stuard – Results from his last three tournaments are 2nd, 5th, and 6th. Has made over a million dollars during that span and I would be surprised if he doesn’t put himself in contention again this week.

Charles Howell III – 9th place finish here last year and already has four top tens this season. Chuckie likes this course and should be in position to make a run on Sunday.

Marc Leishman – Finished 5th at the Sony a couple weeks ago. No stranger to this course he finished 2nd in 2010 and 9th in 2011.