BMW Championship-Fantasy Golf Picks
The PGA Tour has its shortest week of the season as a Monday finish saw Rory McIlroy catch and beat Louis Oosthuizen and hold off a Tiger Woods charge to claim another win on tour this year and probably secure the PGA Tour player of the year.
I had McIlroy on my team last week with most entries in our group. I had a nice scoring week at 204, but that pales in comparison’s to “Not at the Table Carlos!” who took the week with 245 from McIlroy, Woods, Oosthuizen, and Adam Scott. TXRunner leads the Summer segment while Ty Webb took the overall season lead. Out group has been very competitive and lots of fun all season; it’s been a lot of fun to watch the owners manage their teams very well.
This week the PGA Tour heads to Crooked Stick, another Pete and Alice Dye designed course, on the outskirts of Indianapolis. The last three years the event has been held at Cog Hill, so past performance in this event is less important than current form. Another factor to consider is that this is an event with no cut, so there’s no risk of having no players allowing owners to take a little bit of a risk with a few of their picks. At Crooked stick, driving distance and a solid short game will be key to attack the smaller greens and get birdies in bunches.
Considering those facts, here’s my team for the BMW:
A-List
Steve Stricker: Stricker hasn’t won a tournament in this year’s playoffs yet and he always seems to pull one out. He’s got the ability to go low in a hurry and he’s my pick to win the event this week.
Keegan Bradley: Bradley is another big-name who has the ability to get way under par. He won at Bridgestone and finished t3 at the PGA Championship before struggling and missing the cut at The Barclays. He barely made the cut last week but shot a 63 Sunday and a 69 Monday to get into the top 15. He could be getting on a roll at just the right time to take the BMW.
B-List
Rory McIlroy: If you have two or more Rory starts left, he has to be in your lineup the way he’s playing. I have two so he’ll start for me this week coming off his Deutsche victory. I’ve got exactly two left so he’ll be starting both weeks left in the game barring some unforeseen circumstance.
Dustin Johnson: DJ is officially on the Ryder Cup team and will look to celebrate with another great finish this week. The last two playoff events he’s been t3 and t4. I have two Johnson starts left and I’ll use him, Rory, and Tiger the next two weeks.
Tiger Woods: I have two Tiger starts left and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he gets another win in the next two weeks. He’s been in the top 12 in four of his last five tournaments since missing the cut at the Greenbrier. It would be his fourth win of the year and set up the continuing storyline of him vs Rory going forward. Tiger’s game looked good finishing 3rd last week.
Brandt Snedeker: Snedeker is the other hot golfer in group B coming off of 2nd and 6th in the first two playoff events. If his putter gets going, Snedeker can be uncatchable.
C-List
John Senden: I’m starting Senden as my sleeper pick of the week coming off a solo 12th last week which was his fifth top 20 in his last seven tournaments. He has the short game to contend at Cog Hill and could win if it’s not a “big-name” champion.
Jason Dufner: Dufner struggled a bit after the cut at TPC Boston but still finished t18 after a week off. He’ll be a popular pick, but a solid one if you have the starts left in his breakout season.