Jeff’s Hardcore Core- Fort Worth Invitational

Another excellent week for The Hardcore Core and another outright win for the Crystal Ball article!!!  There were so many members of FGI that crushed it this week, we could barely fit all the shout-outs into the podcast.  That is one of those things I consider a “good problem” From killing it in DFS to hitting outright winners, it has truly been a magical couple of months.  I am not a high stakes gambler by any means but between Reed, Bjork, Landry, Simpson, and now Wise the last month or so, I have won over $20k on outright winners alone. FGI member Blair Bushey is up close to $40k betting outrights this season.

The AT&T Byron Nelson was certainly an interesting event being played at Trinity Forest, which was the first time.  Having watched all four days, I believe we were accurate in our assessment of comparing it to Open Championship courses and other links courses.  Jordan Spieth was even quoted as saying it reminded him of Royal Birkdale.  Make notes in your research for future years to continue to use the same type of comparable courses.  I will say that it also reminded me a bit of Erin Hills, home of the U.S Open last year.  Zach and I were fortunate enough to attend the US Open and walk that course last year and it was similar in that the fairways were a mile wide and guys rarely, if ever got into serious trouble.  Yes, the native grass was long and troublesome, but nobody was ever in it to have to deal with it.  In future years, I would even give more of a bump to bombers than I did this year.  There were some reachable greens and the long hitters were able to capitalize. A very large share of guys at the top of the leaderboard are long hitters, so be sure to note that for next year.

As for the individuals in my core that fueled all the Team FGI success look no further than Wise, Leishman, Grace, Mitchell, Na, Walker, Scott, and Howell.  Eight guys who finished in the Top 10.  My biggest regret was not owning more of Wise last week.  I only had 10% exposure to him and I did not have him in my main core, mainly because of his price.  That was a mistake.  I mentioned him in my column as someone who I was placing an outright on, but I should have had at least 25% exposure.  My second biggest regret is not owning J.J Spaun.  He is another member of my Crystal Ball article and he has been dealing with injuries most of the season and not played well.  Two weeks ago he finished T26 at Valero, which was a sign that maybe he has gotten more healthy and I should have had some exposure and been in front of the curve.  I still think we have an opportunity to own him coming up with not insane ownership.  Other guys who were good for us were Sabbatini, Wagner, Stefani, and even Andrew Putnam.  The Spieth fade turned out to be advantageous to us as well as his ownership was high, as I predicted.  I also steered clear of Hossler because of his ownership and that worked out as well.

The misses were few, but there were some and like always they tend to find themselves on really good lineups otherwise.  Snedeker hurt several really great teams for me, as well as Marin Laird.  Grayson Murray’s withdrawal took down a few more really good teams of mine.  It is uncanny how you can have such few grenades in your core and still they find a way to hurt you.  That is one of the many maddening things about GPPs.  Congratulations to all of you that had big weeks and if you had a decent but not a big week, stay patient.  GPPs are not easy to crack, but if you are building solid cores and giving yourself a chance most weeks, then it is only a matter of time before you hit one.

Onto the Fort Worth Invitaitonal!

Jeff’s Strategy & Hardcore Core- Fort Worth Invitational
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