Fantasy Golf Picks: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational 2014

There are a pair of PGA events this week, but most of the big names and fantasy attention will be in Akron, Ohio for the annual WGC Bridgestone Invitational.  If cuts have been killing you, this is the tournament for you since there is no cut in this event and all players will be playing all four rounds barring injury.  Since everyone plays the whole tournament, it’s a good chance to take some risks, but with such an incredibly strong field there are a lot of good picks to go around.

Last week, the field wasn’t nearly as strong at the RBC Canadian Open where Tim Clark got the win with a late charge to edge Jim Furyk and keep the veteran’s season of near misses rolling without a win.  Furyk was one of my picks who were pretty solid last week with four finishing in the top ten.  In our FanSided group, Chipins took over the Summer segment lead while Harbour Dogs maintains the overall scoring lead. The week’s win goes to “Brew Crew” who moved into the top ten of the summer with a solid 198.

Here are my picks for this week’s trip to Firestone where many of the top players in the world have good histories despite a difficult par-70.

A-List

Adam Scott: Scott won here in 2011 and has four top ten’s in his last four tournaments including a win at Colonial and top ten’s in both the U.S. and British Opens.  He’s the top-ranked player in the world and should be in contention on a course he knows so well.

Rickie Fowler: Fowler has come on after an extremely rocky start to the season and has been playing well lately.  He didn’t tee it up in Montreal last week but finished as co-runner up in both the Open Championship and the U.S. Open in his last two starts. He’s close to breaking through and has the game to get the win here if he can put four solid rounds together. He came close in 2011 finishing tied for second in that tournament as well.

B-List

Justin Rose: Rose has been a fixture at the Firestone finishing in the top 20 in three of his last four trips to Akron.  Rose won the Quicken Loans at the end of June and followed that with a win in the Scottish Open before finishing t23 at Hoylake. His form and history indicate he should be in for another good week.

Steve Stricker: Stricker has played a limited schedule this season but will be making his eighth straight trip to the Bridgestone.  He’s taken the last two weeks off after a t11 at the John Deere Classic and will be looking for his sixth straight top 15 at this event.  Both Stricker and Rose are good picks, but one of the reasons I’m starting them over my next two picks is that I have more starts for them before the season is over.  My plan is to start with them and then insert McIlroy or Furyk if they’re in contention for bonus points heading into the weekend.

Rory McIlroy: Rory is unbeatable when he’s on his game as he demonstrated two weeks ago at Royal Liverpool.  In his last five tournaments at Firestone, he’s been in the top ten three times and has put together a very nice season this year with seven top 10’s in 11 PGA events.

Jim Furyk: Furyk has three runner-up finishes in his last seven starts after finishing second to Tim Clark last week.  He has been in the top 20 in ten of his last eleven starts and continues to contend without quite breaking through.  Last year, he finished in the top ten at Firestone too, so expect another good finish from Furyk this week.

C-List

Brendon Todd: Todd doesn’t have the track record of some of the other selections I’ve made here, but he’s playing well and should be ready to attack Firestone. He finished t39 in his first Open Championship but before that racked up six straight top 20 finishes.  In fact, his last five non-Majors have been top 10’s since his breakthrough win at the HP Byron Nelson.

Charl Schwartzel: Schwartzel finished t43 last week in Canada but was in the top ten at Hoylake two weeks ago.  Last year, he finished t21 at the Bridgestone for his second straight top-25 at this event. There isn’t a ton of depth on the C-list this week, but Schwartzel looks like a solid option based on his Open Championship finish.