Fanatasy Golf League Update: Shanks in front, going to the whip

We’re officially coming down the back stretch now and I’ve got one hand on the first place prize with a lead of over $896K in earnings. Just one problem, though. The team in second place has the potential to fly past me this week at the WGC-HSBC Champions event in China. Here’s the breakdown:

Team Darth Vader (the second place guys) is comprised of Tiger Woods (1/2), Phil Mickelson (1/3), Lee Westwood and Paul Casey. Ouch! All four of them have played extremely well at this venue before. It could have been worse as they also have Angel Cabrera, but he pulled out of the tournament earlier in the week. Thank God. Coming from this week’s $7 million purse, first prize will be about $1.2 million, second about $750K and third about $450K. With my lead, fractions of Woods and Mickelson’s earnings aren’t the primary concern. No, that would be the in-form Lee Westwood. While Paul Casey is still shaking off the rust of a three-month layoff due to injury, Westwood has been playing world class golf, winning just a few weeks ago in Spain. I can only hope he has jet lag lasting throughout the weekend. The good news is that none of them are playing next week at the final PGA Tour event in Disney World.

Team Luke Skywalker (your boy Shanks) is made up of Henrik Stenson, Matt Kuchar and Pat Perez. Stenson always seems to run hot and cold but normally plays well in China. Kuchar is now perhaps playing as well as Westwood, having won just a month ago in Pennsylvania. And Perez is also trying to capture his pre-injury form from earlier this year. I don’t know if any of my guys - which include Dustin Johnson and Hunter Mahan - will be playing at Disney.

In addition to all of this, my secret weapon IS playing in Japan this week. Jiyai Shin has justified my draft day faith by winning three times so far in 2009 and leading the money list with three events to go. (If she were American, you’d rarely hear of anyone else.) I just might need her to win one more time if things don’t go my way in China.