The 2012 PGA Tour season is officially upon us, which means Fantasy Golf is back in action. It may be cold wherever you are (it certainly is here in Boston), but the boys are getting ready to tee it up in sunny, warm Hawaii for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Last year it was Jonathan Byrd who technically went “back-to-back” in winning the season ending tournament of 2009, and the opener of 2010 in Hawaii.
It’s a limited field this week, with only tournament winners from 2011 being invited. That means no Tiger (as if he would have played anyways!) and no Phil (same as Tiger). There are however plenty of newly minted stars from last year in the field this week. Players like Keegan Bradley, Jhonny Vegas, Brendan Steele, and Scott Stallings were all rookie winners on Tour last year and are in the field this week. This tournament also features a no cut format as well.
The Picks
A Group – There’s only a handful of players to choose from in this group, although two of the biggest stars from 2011 headline the group. I’ll be starting Keegan Bradley who obviously won Rookie of the Year, but also had quite a good “silly season” as well winning the PGA Grand Slam in Bermuda, and won the Franklin Templeton Shootout with his buddy Brendan Steele. Webb Simpson gave Luke Donald a serious run for his money as POY last year, and will take the bench to start.
B Group – The long hitters can and will tear up Kapalua. The B group features two of the games longest hitters in Gary Woodland and Bubba Watson. Bubba just shot a 58 on his home course and we’ll see how that translates to his first tournament since firing that. Gary and Bubba both get the start this week with FedEx Cup Champ Bill Haas and David Toms in reserve.
C Group – Returning champ Jonathan Byrd has never finished worse than T15 in four trips to this tournament. Byrd gets the nod with Aaron Baddeley on the bench. Badds played extremely well globally during the off season with three top 10s in four appearances.
Starting Foursome: Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland, Jonathan Byrd
On the Bench: Webb Simpson, Bill Haas, David Toms, Aaron Baddeley
I also wanted to note that I’ve set up a private league in Yahoo! for New England Golf Monthly magazine and will be the commish. There are segment prizes and a grand prize of a golf vacation for 4 people. If you’d like to play, email me at jeff@goodwalkgolf.com and let me know, I’ll send you the invite with all the details.
Good to see you back, Jeff!
Thanks Josh, good to BE back! Took some serious time off from writing during the offseason. But glad the season has started up
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