The Loop

Fantasy Fix: Why this is a huge week for Webb Simpson in Greensboro

August 13, 2014

Well, we saved Rory McIlroy for the PGA Championship and we told you to take him. You're welcome. OK, so he may have been the most obvious choice in nearly a decade, but a win is a win. This week may not be a major, but it will seem like one to many golfers battling for their livelihoods. The top 125 in the FedEx Cup points list after the Wyndham Championship will qualify for the playoffs and earn tour cards for next season (as will the top 125 on the money list by week's end). Oh yeah, and there are some other big names trying to play their way onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team by impressing captain Tom Watson. Maybe the Wyndham Championship should borrow the "This is major" slogan from the PGA. In any matter, here's our weekly Yahoo! fantasy lineup:

Starters -- (A-List): Patrick Reed. Already on Watson's squad, Reed returns to the site of his first PGA Tour title last year. After picking up two more wins early in 2014, he slumped until a recent T-4 at Firestone.

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(B-List): Webb Simpson. After Simpson (above) began his season with a win in Las Vegas, he has played inconsistently, so much so that he wasn't able to lock up a Ryder Cup spot. A win in Greensboro, where he won in 2011, would almost certainly get him back on the team.

(B-List): Bill Haas. Another American having a disappointing season and needing a big week at Sedgefield CC to represent the Red, White and Blue in Scotland next month. He has shot in the 60s in seven of eight rounds here and has two top 10s in his last five trips to Greensboro.

(C-List): Brooks Koepka. Could he be this year's Patrick Reed? Koepka seems ripe for a breakthrough PGA Tour win coming off a T-15 at Valhalla just a couple months after a T-4 at the U.S. Open.

Bench/Backups: Brandt Snedeker, Brendon de Jonge, Hideki Matsuyama, Retief Goosen.

Knockout/One-and-done pick: Webb Simpson. The Raleigh native seems to love playing in his home state and a strong performance would make life a lot easier for Watson, who has seen his potential team hit by a wave of bad news of late. In addition to his win here in 2011, Simpson has finished no worse than T-22 the past four years in this event, firing a 63 in three of those years.

Previously used: Keegan Bradley (Doral), Tim Clark (Sony), Jason Day (Congressional), Graham DeLaet (Phoenix), Luke Donald (Valspar), Jason Dufner (Bridgestone), Rickie Fowler (Honda Classic), Jim Furyk (Heritage), Sergio Garcia (British Open), Bill Haas (Farmers), Charley Hoffman (Travelers), Billy Horschel (Zurich), Charles Howell III (Humana), Freddie Jacobson (Valero), Dustin Johnson (Northern Trust), Zach Johnson (Colonial), Matt Kuchar (U.S. Open), Martin Laird (Kapalua), Hunter Mahan (Canadian), Graeme McDowell (Bay Hill), Rory McIlroy (PGA Championship -- WINNER!), Ryan Palmer (Memphis), Justin Rose (Memorial), Adam Scott (Masters), Jordan Spieth (Houston), Henrik Stenson (Players), Jimmy Walker (Pebble -- WINNER!), Gary Woodland (Nelson).