Tour News
Fantasy Cheat Sheet: Zurich Classic of New Orleans
It can sometimes be hard to sit on a golfer week after week, burning through starts with the hope they finally come through.
Matt Kuchar has been that guy for me. Zach Johnson is itching close. What do you do when you have to weigh the costs of long-term strategy with short-term dividends? It’s one of the toughest elements in fantasy golf.
From a personal standpoint, I’m happy Kuchar finally got the win he should have had weeks ago. In some ways, it’s funny it came down to two notorious non-finishers to win the RBC Heritage. Luke Donald did, in fact, do his best at giving away strokes and were it not for Kuchar’s excellent bunker chip-in to win, we would have been watching a playoff.
From a gaming standpoint, Donald was a no-brainer with plenty of starts left, but Snedeker got a nod over Kuchar. And what Kuchar displayed was hot recent play can sometimes trump course history (I said last week: “Anytime a golfer is playing that consistent and they have the talent Kuchar has, a win could be coming at any moment.”).
Of course, ideally, you’d find a combination of both. With the next PGA Tour stop being the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, that will be a tall order because the field has plenty of golfers with sturdy games in recent weeks and a mixed bag of play through the years at TPC Louisiana.
It’s an easy course, one which doesn’t require the precision of last week’s tee shots, but does call for aggressiveness in attacking pins. Billy Horschel did this extremely effectively last year en route to his first Tour victory, which he’d been building to for weeks.
Odds are it could be anyone who walks out of The Big East this week as victor, so let’s take the best look we can at what’s in store down on the bayou in this week’s edition of Risk, Reward, Ruin.
RISK
This could be an infuriating week for gamers. There are very few clear-cut picks and even they have history of missed cuts at this event. One thing I noticed among past winners is they all seemed to hang around the top 25 on previous year’s leaderboards. Jason Dufner is probably the best example of contend, contend, contend, then win, as he did in 2012. But it doesn’t mean you can’t win coming off a missed cut, because Horschel ventured that route.
One thing I am going for this week is guys who have a tendency to be a bit cavalier when eyeballing a flagstick from several hundred yards out. You can shoot numbers here and it can pay off, or it just won’t, which will be your risk if the golfer can’t get his distance control.
Charley Hoffman
Always capable of shooting a low number, Hoffman has been mixing in high rounds with his low ones the past five weeks, but he still sits as an attractive option with just one missed cut in 13 starts. He is 6 for 8 in New Orleans with a missed cut last year. In most instances, he’s shot low rounds and also scored poorly. In 2009, he played extremely well to score a T19 but was hurt by a third-round 77 to mar his week. I still like him enough to put him on my roster, I’m just not sure which round will be best to play him.
Kevin Stadler
Stadler is playing the best golf of his career, evidenced by his first Tour victory, which came several weeks back at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He has two other top-10s, the last which came in an impressive debut showing at the Masters. Stadler followed that up with a T38 at the RBC Heritage and has just one missed cut on the year. He tied for eighth last year at the Zurich Classic and reached 13-under par for the tournament. Stadler is 4 for 7 in made cuts his career at tht tournament with his best result being last year.
Graham DeLaet
DeLaet played so well last year I think people are missing out on the incredible success he’s had this year, too, which has arguably been better. First, there was a run of five straight weeks where he scored top-10s, including back-to-back T2 finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Yeah, he missed the cut at the Masters, but who didn’t? His opening-round 80 was followed up with a 72. In the weeks before, he had a T19 at the Shell Houston Open and another top 10 at the Valspar Championship. People have been clamoring about when he’ll pick up his first Tour victory and this is as good a chance as any. DeLaet reached 7-under par (T47) last year, and the year before posted a T4 that saw him hit 16-under. He currently sits third in GIR.
Jeff Overton
This is my big-time sleeper pick because Overton’s season success doesn’t necessarily make you want to jump out and pick him, even though he has two top-10s. But I’m convinced he’s going to have a really good tournament based on the success Overton has had at TPC Louisiana. A T42 last year and a T18 in 2012 are notable since the solo second he posted in 2010, when he shot 67-69-70-66 to reach 16-under. Overton is 6 for 8 at the Zurich Classic and he also has a T13 with the missed cut coming in his first two years. He fits the trend of first time winners in New Orleans.
Russell Knox
Strong play since a playoff loss in The Honda Classic, Knox put up a T9 at the RBC Heritage and can score good numbers if the course doesn’t set up as difficult, which TPC Louisiana doesn’t. He finished T30 in his only appearance in 2012, which was aided by a second-round 64 and an opening 64. Know currently sits 27th in hitting greens in regulation, which is really the only significant statistic needed for this week.
REWARD
As mentioned, this is a week where the tournament is wide open and even the field’s best golfers have blemishes. Depending on your position in your league, it’s a good week to mix up the golfers you’ll roster this week. That said, these appear to be the five best to hit TPC Louisiana, whether they pan out or not.
Justin Rose
Perhaps the only sure thing this week, Rose has had a win in each of the past four years and is looking to continue his positive trend. TPC Louisiana sets up well for his game. He tied for 15th last year, following a T10 in 2012. Rose is 6 for 8 at this event with a T5 in ’04, and he also has two top-10s this year. Rose is not the lowest scorer, but he is consistent with his sub-par rounds.
Rickie Fowler
Since a nice run through the Accenture Match Play Championship, Fowler has been slowly reaching a boil. Now with a solo sixth at the Shell Houston Open and a T5 at The Masters, Fowler looks confident at a course where he finished T10 in ’12. Overall, he’s 3 for 3 at TPC Louisiana. Statistically, he doesn’t do anything exceptional, but he doesn’t shoot himself in the foot either.
Patrick Reed
Since his second win of the year at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Reed has turned in T52, MC and T48 finishes. Not necessarily banking on course history here with an MC last year and a T24 in ’12. This is about Reed’s mindset of being an elite player on Tour and a willingness to attack at all moments. I love that here and if you do have a Tiger-like killer instinct, it should be on full display in this field. It’s put up or shut up time.
Keegan Bradley
Namewise, the former PGA Championship winner has that “it” factor you’d like this week. With a couple top-10s, including a solo second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, this year, Bradley has moments of brilliance, but also head-scratching results too. He missed the cut in Augusta and has missed the cut his last two years here. Risk or Ruin? Not quite. Bradley can score here, he’s just been hurt by bad rounds equally. His debut year he finished T24 and shot 68 on the final day. We’re at a point where he’s due for a win, and Bradley is highly competitive and his mistakes hopefully won’t be too severe.
Ryan Palmer
Two second-place finishes this year and a T7 in his last start in Houston, matched with his T4 in ’12 in New Orleans, in which he shot a course record 64, makes Palmer a heavy favorite this week. He tied for 32nd last year and overall is 6 for 7 with a T12 in ’04. Palmer ranks 15th on Tour in GIR and one of the best statistically across other categories as well. He should have a strong week.
RUIN
When trying to gauge who will play poorly for a tournament, it is always in relation to what you think the golfer could do in relation to how they have played lately. Many times someone will appear to be a smart play, but then they run into a tournament that doesn’t suit their eye or perhaps they feel like they can get too aggressive on, which leads to cockiness and subsequent bad rounds. None of the five below will jump out in a bad way, but your expectation of how they will perform could be skewed.
Rory Sabbatini
By all intents and purposes, Sabbatini looks like a strong play this week. He performed well with a top-10 at the RBC Heritage and has tied for second at the Zurich Classic (’09), but he’s either in the top 10 or he’s down at the moment. The lack of an in-between is a scary proposition in fantasy golf, where a missed cut could really hurt your week. Sabbatini missed the cut in his last two starts and followed up his highest finish with a tie for 53rd.
Daniel Summerhays
One nice tie for second at the Valero Texas Open isn’t enough to convince me Summerhays can put together a combination of solid rounds. He missed the cut the following week in Houston and hasn’t played since. He’s also missed the cut in two of three tries in New Orleans, and his best finish is a T30. Summerhays is doing a lot of good things statistically, but he’s struggling to finish out rounds after quality opening nine holes.
Nick Watney
A returning champion, albeit from seven years ago, he has two other top-20s since, but this year has just making it through cutlines and doing little else. He’s missed the cut twice at TPC Louisiana since he won as well, so hardly a sure thing for a former winner. Watney’s not too bad at hitting GIR, but his putting stroke has been off, which would suggest he’s just not going to add up the strokes needed to make a charge to the top.
Ben Crane
Goofy and laid back attitude isn’t a good fit when you’ve got to find a way to be aggressive. Crane has two MC’s in the last three weeks and hasn’t hit the 60s in his last 14 rounds. Crane has missed the cut 6 of 7 times he’s played in New Orleans, and he’s among the worst on Tour in hitting GIR.
Will MacKenzie
MacKenzie is definitely having one of his strongest years in a long time, but he’s missed his last four cuts at this event. I love the solo-second at the Valero Texas Open, which was his third top-6 in recent weeks, but MacKenzie missed the cut at Harbour Town, which is surprising since he has done well at hitting GIR. Maybe that means he’s off a touch now and could misfire this week, too.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @bricmiller if you want to discuss the Zurich Classic of New Orleans or sort through fantasy dilemmas you may have. Good luck!
This week’s picks
Yahoo!
Group A: R. Fowler (S), P. Reed
Group B: J. Rose (S), K. Bradley (S), J. Kokrak, G. DeLaet
Group C: R. Palmer (S), C. Hoffman
(Last week: 170 points; Spring segment: 489; Spring rank: 9,794; Season points: 2,482; Full Season rank: 1,618 – 98th percentile)
PGATour.com
J. Rose, P. Reed, R. Fowler, K. Bradley
(Last week: 151 points; Season: 4,192; Rank: 4,559)
Golf Channel
Group 1: J. Rose
Group 2: K. Stadler
Group 3: J. Overton
Group 4: H. Swafford
(Last week: $86,710; Season: $7,994,689; Mulligan: $86,710; Rank: 8,368 of 36,488)
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Phil Mickelson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Matt Dobyns – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Lucas Herbert – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jason Dufner – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Daly – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Taylor Gooch – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dean Burmester – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dustin Johnson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
- Super Stroke grip – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tiger Woods – 2024 PGA Championship
- Michael Block’s new TaylorMade “Proto” 7-iron, from address – 2024 PGA Championship
- Odyssey putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- LIKE10
- LEGIT1
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
- LIKE14
- LEGIT2
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
- LIKE12
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
LET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Report: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Gary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Whats in the Bag3 days ago
Tiger Woods WITB 2024 (May)
-
19th Hole1 day ago
Brandel Chamblee says this is the primary reason why Rory McIlroy hasn’t won a major in 10 years
-
Equipment1 week ago
Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship
-
Whats in the Bag3 weeks ago
Team McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
Whats in the Bag1 week ago
Keegan Bradley WITB 2024 (May)
Brian Miller
Apr 22, 2014 at 6:50 pm
Jason Kokrak no longer in field after late withdrawal. Matt Every getting the bench spot for Yahoo B.