FanBall Write Up
By Christian Peterson
Senior Editor
May 15, 2007
In years past, many of the world's best players made the trek to Duluth, GA for the BellSouth Classic, which used to be situated the week before the Masters, and whose conditions were a reasonable facsimile of Augusta National. Now, the event has a new sponsor and far less cachet the week after one of the biggest tournaments of the year. A handful of regulars will play this week rather than taking time off, but fantasy owners will have to dig deep into their bag of tricks after two straight weeks of being able to simply plug in the top-rated players on their rosters.
The Favorites
With the usual suspects like Phil Mickelson and Jose Maria Olazabal choosing to take the week off, we're left with a pretty sparse crowd from which to choose. Masters champ Zach Johnson has to be at the top of the list based on his 2004 win and 2006 runner-up at TPC Sugarloaf. Johnson will get fierce competition from native Georgian Stewart Cink, who lives at TPC Sugarloaf and traditionally plays very well at this event. He is also coming off two straight top-five finishes. It's tough to know what to think of Chris DiMarco. His impressive performance at Sawgrass was sullied by a couple of gaffes on the 72nd hole, but it gives hope that he has finally rediscovered his game. DiMarco has also fared well at this event, so this could be a good litmus test to see if he truly is back on the right track. David Toms has also been struggling lately, but he's a big name who can't be overlooked. Same goes for Henrik Stenson, who is the highest ranked player in the field, but who missed the cut in his only previous trip to Duluth.
The Best of the Rest
What should we expect of Rory Sabbatini? Perhaps the most unpredictable player on TOUR, Sabbatini was on fire before fading badly over the weekend at Sawgrass. He has performed very poorly at TPC Sugarloaf in the past, but he's proven over the past several weeks that momentum can be more powerful than historical results. Others to watch this week include Charles Howell III, who is quickly fading from fantasy consciousness, and Jeff Quinney, who's looking to start another hot streak after an impressive performance at the Players Championship.
Who's Hot?
Stewart Cink: With two straight top-five finishes, Cink is starting to heat up.
Jose Coceres: Coceres is about as unlikely a fantasy impact player as we could have imagined, but with three top-five finishes in six events, he's making it impossible to ignore him.
Who's Not?
Mark Hensby: A former runner-up at this event, Hensby has just one top-25 finish in 11 tries this season.
Steve Flesch: The lefty has a stellar track record at TPC Sugarloaf, but he has just one top-25 finish in 13 tournaments this year.
Player Trends
It's not a fool-proof indicator of future success, but golfers who fare well at a particular venue tend to do so time and again. With that in mind, we provide a list of players who have notable trends at this week's event (most recent results are listed first).
The Good
Zach Johnson (T2, T26, Win, T17)
Steve Flesch (T10, T38, Cut, T8, T19, T10, T36, T3)
Stewart Cink (six top 10s in his last 10 appearances)
David Toms (T15, Cut, T28, T12, T17, T15, T10)
J.J. Henry (T4, T26, Cut, T9)
The Bad
Matt Kuchar (T75, Cut, Cut, 22, Cut, T36)
Billy Andrade (Just two top 10s in 18 attempts)
Paul Azinger (WD, Cut, Cut, T49, Cut)
Brad Faxon (T39, T69, T63, Cut, Cut)
J.P. Hayes (Cut, Cut, Cut, T30, Cut)
The Ugly
Rory Sabbatini (Cut, Cut, T56, Cut, Cut, Cut, T3)
Weekly Rankings
1. Zach Johnson
2. Stewart Cink
3. Henrik Stenson
4. Rory Sabbatini
5. Chris DiMarco
No top-10s in the last two years, but 2005 was a chaotic, weather-shortened event and 24th last year was pretty good considering his form at the time.
