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Fantasy Golf: Better pick at Doral: The Big 3 or the "next" 3s?

March 02, 2016

Golf's Big 3 will get most of the attention at this week's WGC-Cadillac Championship and rightly so. The trio of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day have combined to win five of the past seven major championships and they'll play together the first two rounds. But what about the "next" 3s? Nos. 4-9 are also grouped on Thursday and Friday at Doral, and they may be the better, safer choices. After all, Spieth and McIlroy are coming off missed cuts, and Day's been bending Tiger Woods' ear for advice. Throw in the fact that McIlroy is switching to a left-hand low putting stroke, and we don't particularly like any of their chances of winning. Heck, we give tournament host Donald Trump a better shot at winning the Republican presidential nomination. Oh, right. So that's not saying much these days. . . In any matter, here's who we're taking on our PGA Tour Fantasy Golf team this week:

Adam Scott: We told you to ride him at the Honda and we see no reason not to say the same thing this week. A much-less confident Aussie finished T-4 at Doral last year. Now he's coming off a runner-up and his first win since switching back from the long putter. Looking sharp, Adam.

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Sam Greenwood/Getty Images, Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Rickie Fowler: Not sure what happened on the weekend at PGA National, but a T-6 is still a T-6. Throw in everything else he's done this year and he's still been the world's hottest player not named Adam Scott. Fowler hasn't been great in this event, but he has an eighth-place finish and a T-12 in five appearances. Fowler and Scott also rank No. 2 and No. 3 (behind only Kevin Kisner) in PGA Tour Fantasy Golf averages points.

Bubba Watson: A winner at Riviera two weeks ago, Watson has never won this WGC event, but he's finished in the top three in three of the past four years.

Dustin Johnson: We conclude our foursome taken from the "next" 3s with the defending champ at Doral. In addition to last year's win, DJ has a T-4 (2014) and a solo second (2011) in this event.

__ Bench:__ Why stop with just those four? We've got Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose waiting in the wings.

And for those of you playing other fantasy golf formats:

Yahoo! lineup: Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen (starters); Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Graeme McDowell (bench).

Knockout/One-and-done pick: Dustin Johnson.

Previously used: Tony Finau (Frys.com), Sergio Garcia (Riviera), Bill Haas (Farmers), Kevin Kisner (RSM - winner!), Russell Knox (Honda), Anirban Lahiri (CIMB), Graeme McDowell (Hyundai), Kevin Na (Phoenix), Ryan Palmer (CareerBuilders), Patrick Reed (HSBC), Patrick Rodgers (Shriners), Brandt Snedeker (Pebble), Brendan Steele (OHL), Justin Thomas (Sony).