Golf Unfiltered Podcast 70: Diving Deeper into the TaylorMade Golf Sale
Tony Covey from MyGolfSpy.com and the Secret Tour Pro's Assistant share their inside knowledge of the pending TaylorMade Golf sale.
Tony Covey from MyGolfSpy.com and the Secret Tour Pro's assistant join me tonight to share their inside knowledge on the sale of TaylorMade Golf. We discuss why the Adidas Group is selling off its golf brands, who might be buying them, and where the biggest PGA Tour players under their sponsorship could be headed. Follow Tony on Twitter at @GolfSpyT
Follow the Secret Tour Pro on Twitter at @SecretTourPro
2015 Honda Classic fantasy golf picks
Rory McIlroy makes his return at this week's 2015 Honda Classic. See who else made our fantasy golf picks roster for the week.
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: 2015 Northern Trust Open
Here are our fantasy golf picks for this week's 2015 Northern Trust Open, where Bubba Watson is the defending champion.
The stars are out at the 2015 Northern Trust Open as many of the biggest names on the PGA TOUR return to Riviera Country Club. These are the weeks that make choosing your fantasy golf picks even more fun, so let's get right into it.
This will be the first PGA TOUR start for Sergio Garcia in 2015, making him a tempting start this week. I highly anticipate Garcia to have a great season -- possibly to the tune of finally winning his first major championship -- so what better way to get started than at Riviera. Bubba Watson is the defending champion, having held off Dustin Johnson by two-shots in 2014. Bubba hasn't played especially well as of yet, but there are a limited number of courses like Riviera that suit his game this well (Augusta National and Kapalua being the others).
Brandt Snedeker was last week's winner at Pebble Beach, making him a solid "hot-hand" start at the Northern Trust. Nick Watney was also in the mix throughout the final two rounds last week, and Jordan Spieth is bound to break out of his slump at some point. Spieth showed flashes of good play at Pebble, earning himself about 10 minutes of television time during the final round. He'll also be part of a marquee group that includes Garcia and Fred Couples. Hunter Mahan is a decent sleeper pick as he's played relatively well at Riviera in the past.
Justin Thomas is going to be the surprise player of the year, plain and simple. He's got two top-10s in four starts this season (three since November 2014), and with the exception of missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks ago he has played well enough to accumulate more than $600,000 this year. Thomas is going to win a tournament this year, guaranteed.
Fantasy Golf 2014: The Players Championship
Come for the TPC at Sawgrass, stay for the chance to see Sergio Garcia lose 17 golf balls!
The PGA Tour returns to Ponte Verde Beach, Fla. for the 2014 The Players Championship. There is no way I can write that previous sentence without sounding like a grammar douchebag. Note to tournament namer people: never start off the name of your golf tournament with the word "The." It gives me fits.
Anyway, Tiger Woods is the defending champion at this event, but he's at home beating his children at putt-putt golf and nursing a back injury. As the video above reminds all of us, Sergio Garcia was in the hunt before screwing the "perro" on Sawgrass' 17th green in epic fail fashion. Since that time he has played very well in both Europe and the US, making him a safe fantasy golf pick this week.
Adam Scott has been Steady Eddie for most of the year, averaging 45 Yahoo fantasy golf points per tournament. He also has yet to miss the cut in six tries. Jim Furyk made a run last week at Quail Hollow and has played well at Sawgrass in the past. Phil Mickelson also recorded a strong showing last week, and we all know Lefty is good for one or two tournaments a year.
What do you think of my fantasy golf picks this week? Leave your comments below or hit me up on Twitter at @chicagoduffer.
Top Five Golf Villains of 2013
Golf isn't always a game of green, lavish fairways and chivalrous competition among friends, especially at the professional level. As with any other sport, golf has its villains, annoyances and otherwise unfavorable personas. This was especially evident in some of the biggest news stories of 2013. Here is a list of the top five golf villains from 2013. If you think we've missed any, be sure to leave your suggestion in the comment section below.
Does anyone actually know who Vijay is suing these days? Is it the PGA Tour? Is it just Tim Finchem? Or is it the entire animal kingdom? Singh made headlines in 2013 for admitting his use of Deer Antler Spray, a topical product that contains a substance banned by the PGA Tour. While he was quietly serving a suspension (because we all know that's what happened and you're incredibly naive if you think otherwise), Singh was formulating a plan to slap... someone... with a lawsuit.
Whether it was his obsessive desire to protect Old Man Par at the US Open at Merion -- making many golf holes impossibly difficult -- or issuing a ban on the anchored putting stroke (along with the R&A), USGA head honcho Mike Davis lost a few friends this season. Of course, only a small percentage of amateur and professional golfers actually use an anchored stroke, but let's not let facts get in the way of a good ol' fashioned finger-pointing.
Yeesh. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. Shortly after making racially insensitive comments about Tiger Woods during a press conference, Garcia went ahead and completely screwed the pooch at the 2013 Players Championship. Garcia would ultimately issue a public apology to Woods, but the damage had been done.
Sticking with the theme of "I should have kept my mouth shut", the Golf Channel analyst and Golf.com contributor stirred the proverbial pot when he gave Tiger Woods an 'F' in the writer's year-end report card. Chamblee also instantly made the word "cavalier" 1000 percent more popular as he slyly insinuated Woods was a cheater on the golf course.
Have you noticed a trend in the last two villain categories? Tiger was at the heart of matter for both Garcia and Chamblee, albeit of no fault of his own. However, Woods still had a rough year in the eyes of the PGA Tour Rules Committee, incurring penalties on three separate occasions, including at the 2013 Masters. Woods will forever be a polarizing figure in golf, and he certainly did not help his cause this season. There has been no other golfer mentioned in more heated debates than Woods this year, so he has rightfully earned this list's top spot.
