The Loop

Fantasy Fix: Will Jordan Spieth bounce back in Texas?

May 14, 2014

After a wild finish at the Players, the PGA Tour heads to Dallas for the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Who do we like to begin the season's second Texas Swing? Our weekly fantasy lineup:

Starters -- (A-List): Gary Woodland. Kuchar is obviously the safer choice (when is he not?), but we've almost used up all his starts already so he stays on the bench. Woodland hasn't finished worse than a T-26 in the past two months and he's coming off a T-11 at the Players.

(B-List): Martin Kaymer. So this is where Martin was flying when that photo of him in the Jacksonville airport the day after he won the Players was taken! The German doesn't play many non-major-Players-WGC events in the U.S., so you might as well ride him while he's hot. He also finished T-5 at last year's Nelson in his first time playing TPC Four Seasons-Las Colinas.

(B-List): Jordan Spieth. It would be hard to imagine most players throwing themselves back into contention after coming up short in a big event, but Spieth isn't most players. He followed up his close call at the Masters with a T-12 at Hilton Head and after failing to close at TPC Sawgrass he returns to his hometown event where he contended as a 16-year-old. You know, way back in 2010.

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(C-List): Ryan Palmer. Again, Walker is the safer pick, but we'll conserve and put him on the bench. Instead, we'll start Palmer, a Texas native, who lost in a playoff here in 2011 to Keegan Bradley. Palmer hasn't won since 2010, but he has two runner-ups in 2014.

Bench/Backups: Matt Kuchar, Keegan Bradley, Martin Flores, Jimmy Walker.

Knockout/One-and-done pick: Gary Woodland. The long hitter has been close to a breakthrough all year, including last week at TPC Sawgrass. It's a bit of a gamble considering his best finish here was a T-24 in 2012, but he has final rounds of 81 and 79 bringing him down two of the past three years. We're more focused on the four consecutive rounds in the 60s Woodland shot in this event until a disastrous Sunday last year. Gary, let's see more of that, please.

Previously used: Keegan Bradley (Doral), Tim Clark (Sony), Graham DeLaet (Phoenix), Luke Donald (Valspar), Rickie Fowler (Honda Classic), Jim Furyk (Heritage), Bill Haas (Farmers), Billy Horschel (Zurich), Charles Howell III (Humana), Freddie Jacobson (Valero), Dustin Johnson (Northern Trust), Martin Laird (Kapalua), Graeme McDowell (Bay Hill), Adam Scott (Masters), Jordan Spieth (Houston), Henrik Stenson (Players), Jimmy Walker (Pebble -- winner!).