2011 Mondays: Fantasy Golf Sony Open Update

It might come as nearly the shock as the Patriots’ collapse on Sunday, that no one in the league of leagues picked Mark Wilson at the SONY Open.  I do know that Wilson can now make plans to head to Hawaii next year, as he is in the Tournament of Champions and the SONY (even better, as defending champion.)  About 15 guys picked Tim Clark, with only a trio having the savvy to select Steve Marino, the three bonus babies.

What made the SONY Open interesting?  Lots.  First, Ricky Barnes and Dustin Johnson withdrew prior to Thursday, making a few inattentive members squeal with anger when their Thursday picks scored them 0 points.  When I say inattentive, I really mean it!  These guys had until about six a.m. on Friday to replace either guy with another. Second, the rain-out on Thursday caused a 36-hole finish on Sunday and an expanded “Made Cut Did Not Finish” list.  In my case, I had Zach Johnson at -2, fresh off a Saturday 66, out of the final two rounds because he missed the MCDNF number by one.  And Third, the 36-hole finish on Sunday meant that you had to pick one lineup for both rounds. Guys came off the 18th hole and headed straight for #19 (and we don’t mean the bar!)

In the end, Tim Clark and Brian Gay had fourth-round 64s…a large number of players couldn’t go lower than 66, meaning that those popular picks lost 4 points from the start. Ernie Els’ final-round 64 secured zero points for the Big Lazy, errr, Easy.  As an “A” player, familiar with the Waialae Country Club course, Els’ 4th-round performance was completely unexpected (see Patriots above.)

Heading to the mainland for the Bob Hope Classic, a five-round event is not too be missed.  73 points behind the leaders, in 15th place out of 48, I need a two-week run of luck and success to get back into the top five and into the hunt.