The Loop

Fantasy Fix: Will Dustin Johnson make it a hat trick at Pebble Beach?

February 11, 2015

Is there anything more satisfying than correctly predicting a PGA Tour winner? OK, so maybe placing a big bet on that hunch or actually winning a PGA Tour event would be better, but you get the point. Picking a PGA Tour winner from a field of 156 these days is less common than winning the Powerball, so allow me this rare opportunity to bask in the glow of being right about Jason Day winning at Torrey Pines. (I picked Jason Day! Woo!) But alas, that glow only lasts until the next event. Who am I tabbing for success this week at Pebble Beach? A look at my weekly Yahoo! fantasy lineup:

Starters -- (A-List): J.B. Holmes. Coming off a T-2, "Just Bunt," as I dubbed him after last week's layup on the 72nd hole at Torrey, also finished T-2 at Pebble in 2010. Bad results here the past three years, including a final-round 78 last year, are worrisome, but with the A-List group only having five options this week, the pickings are slim.

(B-List): Jason Day. J-Day! My man! Way to come through for me last week. Expecting back-to-back wins is a bit much, but there's no reason to take him out of the lineup -- although, you can't go wrong with defending champ Jimmy Walker, either. Day has finished sixth in this event twice in five starts. And again, he's No. 1 in my book right now.

(B-List): Dustin Johnson. DJ missed the cut in his first event back from his "leave of absence" from the PGA Tour, but with that out of the way, now he returns to a tournament where he's dominated to the tune of two wins and three other top-seven finishes, including a T-2 last year. This is also a rare time where you can pick the new father as somewhat of a darkhorse.

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(C-List): Patrick Reed. We'll keep the big names rolling with the class of the C-List group. Take out a Saturday 75 last year and Reed has a sub-69 scoring average in his seven other rounds at this event.

Bench/Backups: Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker, Brandt Snedeker and Kevin Na.

Knockout/One-and-done pick: Dustin Johnson. Like last week's pick of Day, we're going with a big name again. And why not? The lowest-ranked winner on tour in 2015 so far has been Bill Haas. The stars have come to play and with Johnson having a "great" pro-am pairing with future father-in-law Wayne Gretzky -- with whom he spent much of his time away from tour playing golf -- there's no reason to think DJ can't make it a hat trick at Pebble Beach.

Previously used: Jason Day (Farmers -- WINNER!), Charles Howell III (Sony), Geoff Ogilvy (Hyundai), Ryan Palmer (Humana), Brendan Steele (Phoenix).