Time for the EDS Byron Nelson. Scott Verplank returns as defending champ to a course that has made some changes. Will he be able to adapt and defend?
Group A
Studs
Rory Sabatini - He played well at this event last year and is playing well this year. Hard to pass him up.
Adam Scott - He has played better than expected this year but still not much to write home about. This is the kind of event that he could win, however, and get all the experts excited again. If he does, be prepared to hear them comparing him to Tiger and Phil for the next few weeks...
Duds
Carl Petterson - Good track record here but not much to show for this season. I just don't see how his performances coming into this week could point to a good finish for him.
Sleeper
Scott Verplank - The defending champ a sleeper? Sure, when he hasn't played well all year. It's possible he could wake up at this event and contend. He certainly has the talent level.
Group B
Studs
Kevin Sutherland - Playing really solid of late. This kind of event suits him well as a lot of the heavy hitters are still licking their Masters wounds. Expect a good finish from him this week.
Chad Campbell - Same story here really. He has played well of late and is on pace to contend this week.
Ryuji Imada - Different story with these next two. Both have cooled off a little but have good finishes at this event last year. I'm betting that his talent combined with the good memories will wake him up this week.
Ken Duke - See above
Justin Leonard - I've already used him 5 times but he is definitely playing well right now. He would be worth a start if I had one to spare. Gotta save some for the second half!
Ian Poulter - Good showing at The Masters and is a consistent player.
Duds
John Senden - Playing well all year but cooling off of late. He was hot and cold last week and couldn't really ever get into contention.
Anthony Kim - Don't expect him to back up his second place finish from a week ago quite this soon.
Sleeper
Tim Wilkinson - I still feel like this guy is going to surprise everyone at some point this season. Maybe this is the week.
Group C
Studs
Troy Matteson - I go on my gut a lot in this game and my gut tells me that Troy is due. Plus he played well here last year. Will my gut have my back? (that's a weird mental picture)
Luke Donald - I'm out of first half starts for him so he'll start on the bench and I hope I don't have to use him, but I have to have him in the lineup given his track record here.
Duds
Trevor Immelman - No way is he down from the mountain yet. Still too early for him to be ready to grind again. I see that Vara disagrees with me greatly on this one. We'll see...
Sleeper
Brian Davis - He is still looking for that first win on tour and this is the kind of week that he could do it. He came close early in the year so I know his game is pretty solid.
Good Luck!
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5 comments:
Shane, I really enjoy your weekly previews and I think you are doing a great job. It is always nice to read somebody else's analysis and see how they rate the players for the week. For this week I currently have Scott and Sabbatini in the A list, Senden, Imada, Campbell, and Kim in the B list, and Donald and Immelman in the C list. I like your picks, but I saw that you listed Senden as a dud, which I have to disagree with. While he has cooled off a bit recently, he looks like he could be ready to start another run. I think he is playing some of the best golf of his career right now and that showed at the Verizon Heritage. His track record was TERRIBLE there prior to this year and he went on to post 3 good rounds there and collect his best finish ever there. He has always been an excellent ball striker but has been horrible with his putter. Well it looks like he might be figuring that out...top 75 in putting this year after being like 180th last year. He hasn't been great at the Byron Nelson but he has only missed the cut once in the past 5 years there. And like I said his track record was terrible this past week and he was able to greatly improve that. Other than that, I agree with most of your pick. However, I decided to go with the flow and pick up Immelman this week. I just don't want to miss out if he comes to play again this week. I mean if you look back at his results in '06, right about this same time he started playing out of this world and was contending in just about every tournament he entered. So, if he is starting one of those streaks, I don't want to miss out. But I expect Donald to be in there all 4 rounds. Well good luck to you, and let me know what you think.
Thanks so much for the kind words and input. I feel like I take a risk sometimes with the players that I pick as both studs and duds, but if I take the safe road every time, then what's the point? I try to pick my duds as players that people might consider that I have questions about. Your assessment of Senden is sound and you very well may be right. I'm just worried about his consistency of late. I just haven't seen him put 4 rounds together. I can see Immelman's track record but I just can't see how he could be down off the mountain enough yet. Good luck and thanks again for the imput and for reading each week.
I read the previews as well as this is my first year in fantasy golf. Holding my own in 4th place of a 12 team league. It's good to have someplace other than Vara and his cronies to compare my lineup and see what someone who's doing well is seeing. Still a little stuck on a second this week in Group C, currently Donald and Merrick. I've got 3 starts out of Donald already and feel like using another one at this point would be pushing it.
Any suggestions on how I should be breaking down the amount of starts used by this point in the season? No one I've used so far this season has more than 3 starts. I've been trying to spread starts around so I can use them later in the season and for tournaments that have weak fields.
Forgot to put my name down on the last post. It's Mike.
Hey Mike, thanks for reading. With the exception of Tiger, I just try to keep it to 5 starts per half. At this point you are doing great if you only have 3 starts for all the good players. Don't be too afraid of the 10 start barrier. It rarely comes into effect for anyone but the most elite players because the rest of the field experiences highs and lows, and a player that is hot for the first half might disappear in the second half.
Don't forget to save some Tiger starts for the FedEx cup. Tiger will be playing 3-4 straight events at the end of the season when most yahoo players will be tapped out on starts for him. I made up a lot of ground last year by saving 3 starts for the end like that.
Shane
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