The Loop

Fantasy Fix: Luke Donald -- and his love of Tampa -- leads our weekly picks

March 11, 2015

With a win, a T-2 and a T-4 in his last four starts, Dustin Johnson has become the most startable player in fantasy golf. But he's taking a much-deserved break this week to celebrate with his braggart baby son, meaning we'll have to turn elsewhere for this week's Valspar Championship at Innisbrook's Copperhead Course. Who do we think will make it out of "The Snake Pit" the least scathed? A look at our weekly Yahoo! fantasy golf lineup:

Starters -- (A-List): Luke Donald. No one has a better recent track record at this event. In his last four trips to Tampa, Donald has gone T-6, win, T-4, T-4. How do you not play him?

(B-List): Jordan Spieth. The 2013 playing of this event was arguably the most important tournament of Spieth's pro career. The 19-year-old Texan finished T-7 to earn enough money to grant him temporary PGA Tour membership and earn him unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the year. After finishing T-20 last year, the grizzled vet returns as a top-10 player in the world.

(B-List): Brandt Snedeker. More than the two top 10s he has in this event, we just like how Snedeker is playing. He's cooled off in two starts since his win at Pebble Beach, but the Copperhead Course sets up a lot better for him than Riviera and Doral.

(C-List): Boo Weekley. Our favorite hydroblaster finished runner-up here in 2013 and we're hoping for similar success in avoiding Innisbrook's water hazards. He wasn't in the field at Doral, but finished T-6 last week in Puerto Rico.

Bench/Backups: Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Gary Woodland, and Sang-Moon Bae.

Knockout/One-and-done pick: Luke Donald. Aside from his terrific track record here, Donald showed good form with a T-7 at the Honda two weeks ago. It's been three years since his last PGA Tour victory, but returning to the site of that probably gives him his best chance of ending that drought. C'mon, Luke. We want to see your daughters wearing "My daddy golfs better than your daddy" t-shirts come Monday.

Previously used: Paul Casey (Honda), Jason Day (Famers -- WINNER!), Jamie Donaldson (Doral), Bill Haas (Riviera), Charles Howell III (Sony), Dustin Johnson (Pebble), Geoff Ogilvy (Hyundai), Ryan Palmer (Humana), Brendan Steele (Phoenix).