The Loop

Fantasy Fix: Why we're banking on Billy Horschel in the Bayou

April 22, 2015

Thanks a lot, Jim Furyk. The week before the Masters, we went out on a limb and said your four-and-a-half year winless streak would end in San Antonio. But no, you had to wait until the week after the Masters to win. At least, we tabbed him as a starter at Hilton Head and there's always a next week to make a prophetic prediction on the PGA Tour. Here's a look at who is in our Yahoo! lineup for the Zurich Classic:

(Editor's note: Beginning at the Players, we will be partnering with the PGA Tour's Fantasy Golf League. For more information and to sign up, click here.)

Starters -- (A-List): Harris English. English had two top-three finishes in his first four starts of 2015, but he's been relatively quiet since. Still, he's finished out of the top 30 just twice in nine events this year and he was T-6 in his last trip to New Orleans.

(B-List): Justin Rose. One of three top-10 players in a relatively weak field, Rose is a logical choice, especially after his T-2 at the Masters. We're only staying away from the other two since we've already used them a bunch.

(B-List): Billy Horschel. In his four trips to New Orleans, Horschel has finished T-26, MC, WIN, MC. Obviously, we're focusing on that win and hoping this is the week the defending FedEx Cup champ gets things rolling again. And other than Furyk this past week, he's probably given us the best winning-putt reaction of the past five years.

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(C-List): Keegan Bradley. Similar to Horschel, Bradley has two decent finishes and two missed cuts in this event. We're banking on him playing more like his T-8 here last year based on him coming off solid performances in Houston (T-5) and Augusta (T-22). Wearing those Air Jordans, he's also probably got the best chance of anyone in the field of running (or jumping) away from one of TPC Louisiana's gators.

Bench/Backups: Seung-yul Noh, Jason Day, Nick Watney, Sean O'Hair.

Knockout/One-and-done pick: Billy Horschel. Horschel hasn't looked like the guy who won the final two events of the 2013-14 season, but he showed glimpses of that last month with a solo third in San Antonio. Horschel's putting and greens in regulation stats have stayed about the same this year, but his strokes gained tee to green has dropped from 46th to 119th. He has showed substantial improvement in that category in his last two Shot Link-measured events, though, and again, is a former winner of this tournament. A Horschel victory wouldn't be quite as sweet as predicting a Furyk win, but we'd take it.

Previously used: Keegan Bradley (Bay Hill), Paul Casey (Honda), Jason Day (Famers -- WINNER!), Luke Donald (Valspar), Jamie Donaldson (Doral), Jim Furyk (Valero), Bill Haas (Riviera), Charles Howell III (Sony), Dustin Johnson (Pebble), Matt Kuchar (Heritage), Geoff Ogilvy (Hyundai), Louis Oosthuizen (Houston), Ryan Palmer (Humana), Brendan Steele (Phoenix).