2015 Honda Classic fantasy golf picks

The PGA TOUR -- and Rory McIlroy -- return to Palm Beach Gardens for the 2015 Honda Classic. Home to The Bear Trap, this course always delivers an exciting tournament, making this week's fantasy golf picks that much more important. Let's take a look at our roster for the week.  

Rory McIlroy makes his 2015 PGA TOUR season debut, and it couldn't come at a better time for fair-weather golf fans. Despite an exciting finish at last week's Northern Trust Open -- where James Hahn captured his first TOUR win -- we can't help but notice a "lull" in golf fan attitudes as of late. Tiger's missing, Phil's hurt, and other big-time names just aren't winning golf tournaments yet. We need Rory.

Dustin Johnson, on the other hand, has been playing well despite having been "off" for six months. He finished runner-up last week -- losing to Hahn in a playoff -- and usually plays well at Palm Beach Gardens. He's 2-for-3 in terms of top-10 tournament finishes so far, and don't be surprised if he continues that trend at the Honda.

Sergio Garcia was also a pleasant surprise last week, despite falling victim to his own mental snafu tendencies on Sunday. It's tough to start him over Rory in the A-Bracket, though, but he'll make a solid bench player if something unexpected happens to the Ulsterman.

Patrick Reed and Nick Watney are safe picks this week as both guys have played very well in 2015. Reed has been off for the last two weeks but already has a win in Hawaii while Watney continues his strong play.

Fantasy Golf Picks: Farmers Insurance Open

Last week was a rough one for my fantasy golf team. I fell out of first position and almost out of the Top-10 thanks to me not paying attention and making some pretty rough picks overall. Oh well; you live and learn. Redemption is around the corner for me this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, however, as defending champion Bubba Watson makes his way onto my roster again along with runner-up Phil Mickelson. Click the link to read more about my fantasy golf picks for the 2012 Farmers Insurance Open. A List

Starter: Phil Mickelson; Bench: Nick Watney

As mentioned above, Lefty finished second in the 2011 event just behind eventual winner Bubba Watson. Mickelson started his 2012 season last week at the Humana Challenge and played...well, like it was his first tournament of the season. Never count him out on the West Coast. The same goes for Nick Watney, who has had a stellar track record at this event (four Top-10's in seven tries).

B List

Starters: Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler; Bench: Gary Woodland, Ryan Moore

Bubba and Rickie were sure things this week for me, and for obvious reasons. Watson is the defending champion and loves to hit the ball all over the damn place on both Torrey Pines courses. Fowler ended 2011 on a bit of a hotstreak and looks to continue that trend in his first event of 2012. Fowler will also be trying his new clubs at Torrey, so I'm interested to see how he performs. Woodland and Moore are gambles; however, both have played well in California in the past and tend to play better towards the bookend events of the season.

C List

Starter: Sang-Moon Bae; Bench: John Mallinger

I wouldn't be surprised if the eventual winner of this year's tournament comes from the C List player roster. Bae is having a great start to his rookie season on TOUR, who finished T30 at the Sony and T14 last week at the Humana. Mallinger is also having a fine season to this point and almost won the Humana out of nowhere. While he might not win the tournament, he'll definitely be a strong contender throughout the week.