Fantasy Golf Picks: Deutsche Bank Championship 2014

Fantasy golf owners get an extra day to get their lineups set as the PGA Tour heads to the second stop in the FedEx Cup playoffs as the top 100 tee it up at TPC Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship.  Because of Labor Day Weekend, this week is the only PGA event that schedules a Monday finish with the first round taking place on Friday instead of the typical Thursday start.  This weekend usually provides some interesting golf for another reason as well, TPC Boston is a birdie-maker’s haven and usually turns into an all out racetrack coming down the stretch with almost every hole representing a birdie chance and some pars feeling like bogies.  Last year, Henrik Stenson won the event with a -22, so get ready for plenty of red numbers to help celebrate the end of summer.

In our Summer segment on Yahoo!’s fantasy golf game, there are only three events left before the end of the season.  Right now, Harbour Dogs leads the segment looking for the back-to-back segment wins.  Not surprisingly, the Dogs are also out front in the overall standings.  The team putting on the pressure in the segment is Chipins who won last week with an impressive 230 and currently is in second for the summer. My entry fell just short of 200 last week thanks to solid weeks from Jason Day and Matt Kuchar.  Here’s who I’ll have on my roster for this week’s birdie-fest in Boston:

A-List

Rickie Fowler: Fowler has put up five straight top ten in impressive events.  He will look to keep his streak going and get his first win of the season at TPC Boston where he had made three straight cuts before missing it last season.  Since he was in the midst of his swing reconstruction at that point, I’m still comfortable rolling with him this week based on his current form.

Matt Kuchar: Kuchar appears to be fine after a back injury forced him out of the PGA Championship.  He surged to a t5 last week and is always around the leaderboard.  He has 11 top ten’s this season on tour, and he finished t4 at last year’s Deutsche Bank Championship.  Look for him to be around the leaderboard again on Sunday.

B-List

Jason Day: Last week at the Barclays, after a rough round one (72), Day put the pressure on shooting a 64-68-68 on his way to a co-runner-up finish.  He was coming off a top 15 at the PGA Championship and looks like he’s back in good form after losing much of this season to injury.  He also has a good history at the Deutsche with made cuts in all six trips to the event and a pair of top three’s.

Jordan Spieth: Spieth has had a quiet summer, but he closed with a 67 last Sunday to move into a t22 finish at the Barclays. He had a string of five straight top-20’s before a rough PGA Championship where he missed the cut.  Last year, Spieth finished t4 in his first tournament at TPC Boston.

Hunter Mahan: Mahan has been known as a strong finisher to the PGA season, and his game looks to be rounding into form once again at the right time.  Last week’s Barclays win was a culmination of three straight top 15’s which started at the Bridgestone and the PGA Championship.  When he gets his putter rolling, Mahan can string together plenty of birdies which will be what’s needed in Boston this week. Since missing the cut at this event in 2007, he’s made six in a row with three top 15 finishes including a t13 last year.

Graham DeLaet: My dark horse of the B-List, I’m going with DeLaet even though he missed the cut last week.  It was a tale of two rounds for the Canadian who actually bounced back with a solid 67 but couldn’t recover from an opening 78 at Ridgewood.  He finished alone in third last year at TPC Boston. Quick note: I don’t have any Rory McIlroy starts left, but if you still have some, he’s a great pick on the B-list as well.

C-List

Kevin Na: Na finished in the top ten last week at the Barclays and has been in the top 25 in five of his last eight events since finishing as runner up at the Memorial. He has made the cut in three of his last four trips to the Deutsche highlighted by a t11 in 2009.

Charl Schwartzel: Schwartzel is three-for-three in made cuts the last three years at TPC Boston with a pair of top 25’s. He’s been steady this season on tour even though he hasn’t put up a top three finish yet.  He finished t30 last week giving him top-30 finishes in 11 of his 16 events on the PGA Tour this season.  The C-list is full of high-risk options, but I’m going with Shcwartzel since he’s a solid player and has been fairly consistent as of late.