LATE WITHDRAWALS/INJURIES (as of Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET): Padraig Harrington (wrist, might WD from Open Championship), Ben Crane (WD from Milwaukee), Steve Lowery (WD from Milwaukee), Matt Goggin (WD from Milwaukee).
While I would love to dwell on Kenny Perry's victory last week at the John Deere Classic, it wasn't exactly a stretch of a pick -- as indicated by the 8,984 of you who selected him for your lineup -- and I have some 'major' tournament to preview or something.
At least the veteran made it interesting at the end there by doing a fine impression of me chipping. It was like he was saying to himself, "I'm going to make these Fantasy clowns like Ross Devonport sweat a bit here. That damn Brit was yelling 'GET IN THE WATER!!' when I lost in that playoff to Ryuji Imada at the AT&T Classic, so it will feel good to get him back by skulling a couple like a weekend hacker."
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| Kenny Perry is choosing to play Milwaukee, which makes him an obvious pick. (Getty Images) | |
Yeah, so despite his chipping debacle, Perry is apparently pretty good. He has now won three of his last five events, and although he didn't scorch TPC Deere Run statistically (he only finished in the top 10 of one category -- total putts), he did just enough to take home the title.
But the planet's hottest golfer isn't going to try and win over $1.5 million at Royal Birkdale this week. Instead, he's going to friggin' Milwaukee to try and win $720,000! (I hope he goes 0-and-forever at the Ryder Cup now just for this.)
Other interesting finishers in Illinois included my boy Willie Mac(Kenzie), who picked up his first top-10 since last year's Wyndham with a T4; Jay Williamson, who lost in the playoff to Perry for his first top-25 since the Sony Open back in January to earn himself a spot at the Open Championship, and Chad Campbell, who now has nine top-25s in 19 starts this season and is sneakily having himself a decent campaign.
Speaking of decent, outside of Perry I was pretty much anything but last week. My nice three-week run of having four of my nine picks in the top-25 came to a crashing halt last week as only Perry and Jeff Overton managed to come through for me. Also, Ryan Palmer finished second from last. So much for that tour birdie average lead, chump.
OK, so as most of you know, we have two tournaments this week -- the Open Championship and the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. The deal is, you can pick players from either tournament to fill out your five-man lineup, but you need to remember the Open has a massive purse that is twice that of the one in Milwaukee.
So, my suggestion this week would be to stick Perry in your lineup at $244,750 along with a decent $75,000 guy from Milwaukee (Briny Baird or Fred Funk, maybe), and then fill the other three spots with Birkdale guys at an average price of $226,750.
With that out of the way, let's take a look at the two host courses this week: Brown Deer Park Golf Course and Royal Birkdale.
Brown Deer Park is a 6,759-yard, par-70 that features plenty of trees, some nasty rough and five par-3s for some reason. A look back at the past 10 USBCIM's tells me that this course requires accuracy, especially with the irons, and you'll need to sink plenty of putts if you want to contend as birdies will be aplenty. Distance is far from a premium on this short layout, so don't worry about that.
As for Birkdale, the course in Southport, England will host the Open Championship for a ninth time this week. Previous winners have been Mark O'Meara, Ian Baker-Finch, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson (on two separate occasions).
Skill stats are pretty much impossible to come by for the Open Championship, so you basically have to go by what people who have seen/played the course are saying about what it will take to succeed this weekend.
Apparently, thanks to the wet spring in England this year, the course is especially green and features thick, gnarly rough, according to the New York Times. So, hitting fairways will be more of a premium than ever. While the layout isn't that long, the ball won't be rolling as much, so players will still have to pull the driver out quite a bit if they want to have short irons into the greens.
Of course, like all Open Championships, the wind will play a massive factor at the par-70, 7,175-yard course. If the breeze picks up, those guys who are used to playing links courses in conditions like that will thrive. There is rain expected on Thursday and Friday with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s, and the wind is only expected to be consistently in the 16-17 mph range, which means it will definitely be a factor.
To wrap things up regarding Birkdale, I would suggest leaning towards good ball strikers who have their putters in decent working order right now and have plenty of experience playing links-style courses.
For my picks this week, I'm going with two Birkdale people and one Milwaukee person for each category. Also, don't forget that there will not be a live Fantasy Leaderboard for the Open Championship.
The Beatles ($200,000 and above)
Geoff Ogilvy ($293,500) -- Ogilvy is playing some great golf lately with three straight top-10s and hopefully he isn't too rusty having not played since the U.S. Open. He has apparently been over in the Southport area playing for a couple of weeks at other local courses, so he has obviously been preparing correctly for a chance at a second major title. This will be his sixth trip to the Open Championship, and he has a T9 and a T16 among his three most recent appearances. His poor driving accuracy scares me a little, but the guy just plain knows how to score.
Ernie Els ($287,000) -- I know Ernie hasn't exactly been lighting up the tour this season and doesn't have one round in the 60s in his last 20, but that stat is a little misleading as he has played in all the tough events. Plus, the Big Easy just loves to play in this event. He has 10 top-10 finishes in 17 appearances at the Open, and that's a stat you just can't ignore. He also finished T9 at last week's Scottish Open, but expressed concern about his putting. That's not a good sign, but I think he can do enough to contend this week.
Kenny Perry ($244,750) -- Do I really need to explain why you should pick this guy in Milwaukee this week? No, I didn't think so.
Also consider: Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood
Oasis ($75,001-$199,999)
Scott Verplank ($179,750) -- Verplank ranks eighth in driving accuracy this season on tour and is ninth in putting average. Sounds like a dream combo to me! Verplank has been pretty solid at the Open Championships over the last few years with only two missed cuts in his last nine trips and his best finish is a T7 at Troon back in 2004. He is also playing well lately, going T8, T29 and T17 in his last three events.
Graeme McDowell ($137,500) -- I know winning the Scottish Open the week before the Open Championship is usually the kiss of death, but McDowell is playing superbly right now, as he finished T3 at the European Open and T13 at the Open de France. He is statistically very solid across the board and his best finish in four trips to the Open is a T11.
D.J. Trahan -- Trahan missed the cut at last week’s John Deere, but he had three straight top-25s heading to Illinois and finished T4 in Milwaukee two seasons ago. Nineteenth in ball striking this season and 27th in the all-around ranking, Trahan should have what it takes to challenge Perry in cheese country.
Also consider: Rocco Mediate, Nick O'Hern, Chad Campbell
The Spice Girls ($75,000)
Miguel Angel Jimenez -- Jimenez continues to be a massive bargain at this price, especially as he is currently leading the European Tour's Order of Merit. It's making me wonder if there's something up with our pricing system, but I'll be sure to check that out AFTER this week when he lifts me the Claret Jug!
Soren Hansen -- Hansen heads to Royal Birkdale with three top-10s in his last five starts, but he missed the cut at last week's Scottish Open. His form at the Open has been spotty, with a T8 at Muirfield in 2002 followed by rounds of 80 and 74 the following year at Royal Sandwich. He's a long shot, but I don't see why he couldn't produce a nice top-10 for you at this price.
Briny Baird -- Baird skipped last week's John Deere, but the guy has been basically an automatic top-25 in most tournaments as he has 11 of them in 19 events this season and seven in his last eight. You won't get him at this price very often, so take advantage of him while you can.
Also consider: Tom Lehman, David Howell, Fred Funk
My Golf Challenge Lineup
Ogilvy, Perry, Verplank, McDowell, Jimenez
Last Week
Perry (won) $956,000; Overton (T24) $34,860; Slocum (T41) $14,718; Pat Perez (T66) $8,736; Tim Herron (MC) $0. Total -- $1,014,314 (4,574th). Segment Three -- $4,641,189 (3,944th). Overall -- $16,787,080 (4,536th).
Congrats to 'rond4192', whose lineup of Perry (won), Brad Adamonis (T2), Eric Axley (T4), Aaron Baddeley (T29) and Bubba Watson (T41) was good enough for a total of $1,941,218 and win by $42,018 over 'blackjack'.
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