Greenbrier Classic-Fantasy Golf Picks-PGA Tour
Tiger Woods became the first three-time winner on tour this year by taking the AT&T National last week again serving as a gracious host and taking the prize for himself at the end of the week. He’s playing well and is one of the best golfers on the tour although he’s not dominant Tiger like we’ve seen in the past and the big “Majors” question still has yet to be answered (stay tuned for British Open coverage in two weeks).
This week Tiger will once again going to dominate the coverage (and maybe the course) as the Tour shifts to the Greenbrier Classic which is spending it’s third year of existence at The Old White TPC near the West Virginia-Virginia border. The course is a long par-70 and last year it was rookie Scott Stallings who emerged victorious in a playoff over Bill Haas and Bob Estes. None of those three are on my roster for the week, but you can see my picks below.
Before we get to the picks though, let’s look back at last week in our uber-competetive FantasyCPR group. We had a tie atop the scoring with 215 points for both “Tyme to WIN Webb” and TXRunner in last week’s tournament. Those same two teams are 1-2 in our summer segment with Webb just four points in front. Overall, Webb is 100 points behind our leader XXX MTCUP XXX who has over 4,000 points on the season.
Remember when making picks for this week that the tournament has only been around for two years so there’s not a lot of history to examine. Current form is always important, and putting will be at a premium as usual. With all that being said, Here’s who I like this week at the Greenbrier:
A-List
Webb Simpson – The US Open Champ honored his commitment at the Travelers the week after his major win and had a strong showing (t29). After a week off, Simpson will return to the Greenbrier where he finished t9 after leading after day 2.
Steve Stricker – I’ve got eight starts left for Stricker who always seems to close the season strong. He hasn’t played here before but has the shot-making ability to contend anywhere he tees it up. This is his first start since a t15 at the US Open.
B-List
Dustin Johnson – DJ is one of my personal favorites and since I’ve got six starts left and this course requires length, he’s a natural pick for me. He wont he St. Jude four weeks ago in his first start there and will make his first start in this tournament this week. After missing the cut at the US Open, he finished t44 last week.
Brendon de Jonge – Last week de Jonge was in the mix before shooting 77 on Sunday. He finished t11 after a t8 at the Travelers the week before. Not only does his recent form look good, but he has two top fives at this event in the last two years. It couldn’t set up much better than this for de Jonge to get his first win on Tour.
Tiger Woods – Tiger is too hot right now not to roster. I have just four Tiger starts left so I’m starting him on the bench to see how the week starts before plugging him in. If possible, I’ll save my starts for where Tiger has more of track record.
Jimmy Walker – Speaking of track record, Walker has back to back t4 at this event finishing just a shot out of last year’s playoff. He’s made six out of seven cuts and had a pair of top tens earlier this season.
C-List
Seung-yul Noh – If a rookie is going to win this event for the second consecutive year, Noh may be the best bet. He’s been red hot making nine cuts in a row and finishing t4 last week at AT&T National. He also has two other top tens in his last six starts and looks to have the tools to stick around on tour a long, long time.
Pat Perez – Perez provides some experience to go with Noh’s youth. Perez has made five cuts in a row including two top 25’s. He finished in the top 10 two years ago the only time he’s played the Greenbrier.