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Fantasy Golf Podcast: You have to pick Tiger Woods to win at Bay Hill this week. . . right?
David Cannon
Last week's predictions were a mixed bag for yours truly. I picked Tiger Woods and Justin Rose to play well at the Valspar Championship (golf clap!), but I also basically declared Paul Casey would never win again (Whoops!). In any event, I wasn't in the office on Tuesday for this week's podcast discussing the Arnold Palmer Invitational, because like Sergio Garcia, I'm on baby watch. But Joel Beall, Stephen Hennessey and Chris Powers did so well I might lose my spot when I return. Anyway, please have a listen:
And if you're more old school and would rather just read my normal weekly fantasy golf picks, here's my fab foursome at Bay Hill:
Justin Rose: We've reached the point where a T-5 is considered a disappointment for this guy. Like Woods, Rose wasn't ever able to get it going on Sunday, but he's a threat to win every week, especially at a place where he's finished outside of the top 15 just once in his past six trips.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat: After picking up a six-shot win on the Asian Development Tour over the weekend (that doesn't seem fair to the guys on that tour), Aphibarnrat climbed to a career-high 31st in the Official World Golf Ranking. And he's finished T-6 in both his previous starts at the API. But he had his real career highlight so far at Bay Hill on Tuesday:
We're hoping he still has it on when he gets to the first tee on Thursday.
Sam Burns: Sadly, Burns' late stumble at Innisbrook cost him wrapping up his PGA Tour card (he needed a T-3 for a special temporary membership), but the good news is he's got another chance this week. The 21-year-old LSU product is rolling, especially on the greens where he currently ranks second in strokes gained putting on tour.
Tiger Woods: After a close call at the Valspar, Woods has been made the overwhelming favorite this week by Vegas. Just like old times, eh? Well, actually, Woods would have been a straight-up bet against the field in his heyday, but 6-to-1 odds is pretty solid. And so is the stat from Golf Channel's Justin Ray that noted a win on Sunday would mean Woods would take the exact number of days (1,687) to end his winless drought as Phil Mickelson did a couple weeks ago in Mexico. I wasn't going to pick Woods again because the entire world is picking him, but it just seems meant to be. Woods has won EIGHT times at Bay Hill, including his last trip in 2013. With all due respect to Marc Leishman, Tiger is the true defending champ until someone beats him here.
Just missed: Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman.
Knockout/One-and-done pick: Tiger Woods. Lock it up. On second thought, what I meant to say is that he's never winning again. . . EVER. . . Did you hear that, golf gods?
And here's the podcast link again, if you want to hear the guys jabber: