PLAYERS Championship Fantasy Preview

I hope you read last week’s column when we said Derek Ernst, David Lynn, Robert Karlsson, and Vaughn Taylor would all finish in the Top 10. You don’t remember reading that? Go back and check again. Just joshin’ with you, nobody could have predicted Ernst would win last week. Pretty crazy week, I will chalk it up to the unpredictable greens and weather conditions.

Speaking of weather, it has become an issue in nearly every tournament lately. I have some good news for you this week; The Forecast for the PLAYERS this weekend calls for weather in the 80s, wind around 10 mph, and only a 30% chance of rain on Sunday. That’s a big improvement, but the weather geeks have been wrong once or twice before. Now that we can forget about the weather, lets focus on the PLAYERS Championship. The “5th Major” is played at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. This is a ball-strikers course, they play it every year but nobody has seemed to master it. K.J. Choi won it in 2011 only to follow it up with a 122nd finish the next year. Tim Clark won it in 2010, then withdrew after one round the following year. Henrik Stenson won in 2009, only to miss the cut and finish 71st when trying to defend his title. This doesn’t bode well for Matt Kuchar, who will try to defend his title this year.

Group A

Sergio Garcia: El Nino is playing as good of golf as ever, and has five Top 25 finishes here in the last 8 years. The only possible setback is his tweaked back, which happened over the weekend last week at Wells Fargo. He played through the pain, and is set to play this week, so things should be good. That’s why the personal trainers get paid the big bucks.

Rory McIlroy: Rory is playing pretty darn good for someone who is supposedly slumping. His last three tournaments include a 2nd, 25th, and 10th place finish. He’s missed the cut in his three attempts at Sawgrass but course history isn’t to be trusted here. He’s playing well and should be determined to finally defeat this course.

Tiger Woods: Tiger is the best golfer in the world again, but that doesn’t make this course any easier for him. He has struggled in the past, only one Top 20 finish since 2008, and that was an 8th place finish in 2009. He’s always one of the favorites, but this is probably a good week to conserve him if your fantasy site gives you a limited number of starts.

Group B

Jimmy Walker: Jimmy Walker is playing like a golfer possessed. Walker hasn’t always been this good so I like his chances on a course that he actually had some success on back when he sucked. He finished 35th here last year and 26th back in 2010. Now he is Top 10 in nearly every PGA Stat category. Might as well ride him to victory while he’s hot.

Peter Hanson: This course hasn’t found a true master yet, but Peter Hanson is trying to earn that role. He’s only played here twice but finished Top 20 both times. He’s got five Top 25s in seven tournaments this year, might as well make that 6 for 8. I’m not counting tournaments he withdrew from, or MatchPlay, by the way. Make sure you check on his injury status before plugging him in.

Ben Crane: Crane is a true horse for the course. He’s got three Top 10 finishes at Sawgrass, but he’s been rather mediocre for about a year now. Quite a risk, but it might pay off if you need a deep sleeper.

Group C

Henrik Stenson: This course must resemble the courses back in Sweden because there is a lot of Swedish success here. Stenson kind of owns this course, finishing Top 25 in five of his seven PLAYERS starts, including a win back in 2009. Stenson appears to be back in form, as well, considering he is #1 on tour in Greens in Regulation.

Charl Schwartzel: He’s kind of forgotten since he hasn’t played in a while, but he’s still one of the hottest golfers this year. He hasn’t finished outside of the Top 25 this year. Not even once, unless you’re counting Match Play, which nobody is. Hot, hot, hot. Don’t forget about him.

Keepers

Sleepers

Top 15 for the 2013 PLAYERS Championship

1. Luke Donald
2. Jimmy Walker
3. Sergio Garcia
4. Phil Mickelson
5. Adam Scott
6. Lee Westwood
7. Tiger Woods
8. Jim Furyk
9. Zach Johnson
10. Henrik Stenson
11. Charl Schwartzel
12. Steve Stricker
13. Jason Dufner
14. Peter Hanson
15. Matt Kuchar

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