Week Four of our fantasy picks and can you believe it’s Valentine’s Day already? We probably should have mentioned that last night to remind all of you to go out and buy something fast! Despite the terrible weather lately Spring is fast approaching and us unfortunate cold-weather dwellers can almost start polishing the clubs up. Luckily we have fantasy golf to keep us occupied for a little while longer.
Last week was the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. As usual there was some good golf played by the pro’s and some good fun had by the am’s. My four picks performed quite well and it looks like I might actually know what I’m doing when it comes to this fantasy golf thing. Don’t be fooled by one lucky week though. My fourth pick was the winner of the 2006 Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Arron Oberholser. This is the second time in three weeks I have picked the tournament winner as one of my four favorites. My first pick Tim Clark played steady golf all week and finished in a tie for 12 while my third pick Joe Ogilvie finished with a solid T14. My other pick was Jesper Parnevik who struggled and missed the cut but all in all a pretty good showing I think.
But now we must turn our attention ahead to this weekend’s event; The Nissan Open at the Riviera Country Club. Riviera is another of the great American courses along the West Coast Swing. The tight, tree-lined fairways make this one of the last true shotmaker’s golf courses. Any given hole can present a number of different options for these players, making it one of the more interesting events to watch. The field is also as strong as it has been for any event thus far in 2006.
It’s pretty tough to not take Tiger Woods as the first pick in this event. Although he has never won here he has also never finished worse than 18th as a professional. Add to that the fact that he has won his last two events and its hard not to like his chances. Tiger hasn’t been driving the ball great which could hurt him on this golf course but I’m pretty confident he will find a way to stay near the top of the leaderboard all week.
I picked Tim Clark last week and I am going to pick him again this week. He is on a roll right now but, then again, he always seems to be on a roll. Clark as always is hitting a lot of fairways and greens and he is coming off a strong showing last week. He hasn’t missed a cut yet this year and has had some success in the past at this event.
Brian Davis is a player to watch for this week. He has put together a couple good weeks of golf and finished third in this event last year in the rain. He hits a lot of fairways which as an asset on this golf course more than almost any other on the Tour. Davis is also a good putter which should prove handy at Riviera.
There are a number of players I considered taking as my fourth pick. Adam Scott as the defending champ is an appealing pick but he hasn’t played enough golf yet this year. Chad Campbell also seems like a sensible choice but he has struggled since his win a few weeks ago. Mike Weir won this tournament twice in a row but he is streaky and it is hard to say how he will come back from a disappointing finish last week. There are too many good choices to list so I will just jump to my final pick.
Ernie Els. Okay, I know, he is a pretty obvious choice but I think Els will play really well this week. He has come back strong from his knee surgery and looks like he could be ready to jump back to the number two ranking he held in 2004. Ernie has something to prove and he has won this event before in a strong field. I am looking for big things from him this week.
Hope you all enjoy the Nissan Open this week and Happy Valentine’s Day to you.