Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- The Masters
Hello friends, and welcome to Augusta National with me as always is my good friend Sir Nick Faldo, on the course we have Ian Baker-Finch, etc. This year we have Sergio as the defending champion, a task like no other. Tiger Woods was the last to successfully defend his title in 2002, prior to that it was Nick Faldo in 1990. Sergio’s good, but he’s not Tiger or Faldo good. Another task to keep an eye on this year/week is the dreaded first timer curse. Fuzzy Zoeller was the last player to win in his debut and that was in 1979… Needless to say a lot of people will get wrapped up in trying to put together lineups that feature players who have played here before, and made the cut last year as those are currently trends that have led to “finding the winner”, but in all actuality, it should be a pretty common theme considering the course is very difficult, especially if you’ve never played here before. The top tier players usually all come back the following year as they typically win one of the 40 events on Tour throughout the year and this is a top tier event. I’d say it’s the most predictable of all the majors as the cream generally rises to the top at Augusta and it’s usually someone who’s won either on the PGA Tour or European Tour within the same calendar year. As far as roster construction goes this week, it’s obviously a stars and scrubs week with the soft pricing, but you could also make an argument for balanced lineups as long as you see your six players finishing in the Top 10 with one of them winning. Me personally, I will be taking one or two players at the top and mixing in the mega values down in the low $7,000 and lower for my lineup as I think there is a ton of value that is underpriced this week.
TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND
o The Course
• Augusta National Golf Club
• Par 72
• 7,400 yards
• Bentgrass greens
o Location: Augusta, GA
o Corollary Courses/Performances: Nothing too strong, Arnold Palmer has some similarities, but nothing conclusive. The winners of the Abu Dhabi event on the Euro Tour the last two years have won The Masters (Willett & Sergio), but I think that’s sheer coincidence (Haotong Li won it this year if you’re wondering).
o Cutline: Top 50 and ties AND anyone within 10 strokes of the lead (if the Top 50 is outside of 10 strokes, then that’s who will make the cut – Example: Leader is -10 through 36 holes, Player X is -2 but is in 50th place and Player Y is Even but in 52nd place. Player Y will not make the cut).
o Past Champions:
• 2017: Sergio Garcia -9 in a playoff over Justin Rose
• 2016: Danny Willett -5 over Jordan Spieth & Lee Westwood
• 2015: Jordan Spieth -18 over Phil Mickelson & Justin Rose
• 2014: Bubba Watson -8 over Jonas Blixt & Jordan Spieth
• 2013: Adam Scott -9 in a playoff over Angel Cabrera
KEY STATS TO TARGET
o Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, Birdie Or Better, P5 Scoring, Scrambling
o Important – SG: P, P4 Scoring 450-500, 3-putt avoidance
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