Fantasy Golf Picks: Crown Plaza Invitational 2014

The PGA Tour stays in the Dallas area this week as they shift from last week’s HP Byron Nelson Classic over to “Hogan’s Alley,” the nickname given to Colonial Country Club since Ben Hogan won this event in his hometown five times in his career.  While you can’t grab Hogan for your fantasy team, you will want to stock up with experience since recent history would seem to indicate that this is a venue where experience rules.

Last week, in the other half of the Dallas stop that definitely wasn’t the case, as is typical for the Nelson.  It was Brendon Todd who emerged as the first-time winner at the TPC Four Seasons with some creative shotmaking and holding off a charge from Canadian Mike Weir. In our Yahoo! Group (which you can still join-details here), Thatz What She Said took the win for the week with a solid 195-point performance while Harbour Dogs maintained the lead for the segment and the full season.

Here are the golfers I’m putting on my roster for this week:

A-List

Matt Kuchar: Kuchar is virtually an automatic top-ten these days as he continues his impressive season. Including his win at the Heritage, he’s finished in the top ten in five of his last six and nine of 13 events this season.  Last week, he put up a solid t7 at the Nelson and is coming off a runner-up finish last season at Colonial. Kuchar is a solid play any week he tees it up, so try to save your starts, but I’ve been able to hold on to six to this point giving me one to use here.

Rickie Fowler: As consistent as Kuchar has been, Fowler has been exactly the opposite in an up-and-down season.  He put up consecutive top ten’s in Houston and at the Masters, but missed the cut in New Orleans and picked up an MDF in his last tournament at THE PLAYERS. However, he does have a good history at Colonial with made cuts in each of the last four years and a pair of top 20’s highlighted by a t5 two years ago. Fowler is a risk, but with Kuchar virtually a lock I can roll the dice with this pick and hope to catch the OSU alumnus on a hot streak in Ft. Worth.

B-List

Zach Johnson: Since Ben Hogan won’t be teeing it up this week, go with Johnson who has almost become the modern equivalent.  He’s won the event twice and has top ten’s in his last five appearances at the event.  He owns the tournament record and finished third last year defending his title he won in 2012. If you have Johnson starts, he’s a must own this week.

Jim Furyk: Furyk’s near misses have to pay off sometime, and Colonial has been a very comfortable venue for the veteran in the past. Furyk is coming off back-to-back runner up finishes at THE PLAYERS and the Wells Fargo and took last week off.  In his career, he has seven top ten’s at this venue the most recent of which was a solo fourth in 2012.

Graham DeLaet: Another player who has been knocking on the door all season but hasn’t found the winners circle, DeLaet has a strong week last week but faded on Sunday to share seventh place. Last year, he did the same at Colonial fading to a t22. Some week, he’s going to finally put it together and get his first PGA Tour win, and I think it could be sooner rather than later.

Chris Kirk: Kirk has been in the top 30 in his last four events dating back to the Masters and is coming off a t13 at Sawgrass. Last year, he finished t35 at Colonial to follow up a t5 in 2012 and a t16 in 2011.

C-List

Ryan Palmer: Palmer has quietly put together a very nice season on tour with four top tens in his ten tournaments earning his last one at the Shell Houston Open.  The Texas A&M Alum is a member at Colonial and will be looking for his third straight top 15 finish at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Paul Casey: Casey is coming in off three straight top 20 finishes as he plays at Colonial for the first time since way back in 2010. In that year, he put up his second straight top 15 finish at the event.  He’s a big of a long shot, but the trends indicate he has a good shot this week.