Date: September 20-23, 2007
Location: Atunyote G.C. at Turning Stone ? Verona, NY
2006 Champion: N/A
2007 Purse: $6.0 million ($1,080,000 to the winner)
The FedEx Cup has been hoisted, but that doesn't mean the PGA TOUR season has ground to a halt. In yet another new twist to the 2007 season, the schedule continues on with seven more tournaments that have been labeled the Fall Series. There's no $10 million check at stake in the final two months, but for those who haven't already fattened their wallets there's still some huge paychecks to be made and, most importantly, position to be jockeyed for as the pros battle to improve their spot on the money list. The top 125 players earn their PGA TOUR cards for next year, and there remain incentives to finish inside the top 30 and/or top 70 to gain entry into certain exclusive events in the 2008 season.
For all intents and purposes, the fantasy golf season ended last week as well. For that reason, we'll be ramping down our fantasy golf coverage throughout the remainder of the Fall Series. But there are at least a handful of hard core fantasy hackers out there who will continue through the bitter end, and for them we'll continue to provide a tournament preview article highlighting everything they'll need to know to set their lineups on a weekly basis.
The Favorites
You won't see much of the big guns throughout the remainder of the season, but this week's field actually isn't that bad ? perhaps the fact that the Turning Stone features the largest purse in the Fall Series has something to do with it. Though this event is a new one, Atunyote was actually the site of last year's B.C. Open, so we have a little bit of history to go on. 2006 Champion John Rollins is teeing it up after a mediocre 25th-place finish last week at the TOUR Championship. He hasn't registered a top 10 since the first weekend in July, however, so it's tough to envision him repeating. Shigeki Maruyama was starting to play better before being eliminated from the FedEx Cup playoffs in week one, and he carded a third place finish at this golf course a year ago. Robert Allenby could be dangerous this week. He seemed to recapture some of his early season mojo with two top-11 finishes in the final three FedEx Cup events and should be considered one of the favorites this week. Steve Flesch also comes into this week with a bit of momentum with a win and two other top-15 finishes in his last six events. Nathan Green's late-season run wasn't enough to punch a ticket to the TOUR Championship, but with four top-25 finishes in his last five events, he could be dangerous. Other big names teeing it up this week include Sean O'Hair, Carl Pettersson, Stuart Appleby, Henrik Stenson, and Chad Campbell.
Sleepers
Anders Hansen is a well-known name on the European Tour, but it's taken him a long time to get comfortable in his first full season on the U.S. PGA Tour. He snuck into the FedEx Cup playoffs with three straight top-25 finishes before bowing out after one week, and could make some noise this week. Ditto Nationwide Tour stalwart Nick Flanagan, who earned the coveted "battlefield promotion" after winning his third Nationwide event in August. You'll remember Jason Gore's magical run a couple of season ago after receiving a similar promotion.
The Field
It wouldn't do fantasy golfers much good to play their top draft pick when he doesn't plan on teeing it up, which is why fantasy owners have to be very cognizant of who is playing each week. As a courtesy, we've provided this link to the official field as provided by PGATOUR.com.
Turning Stone Resort Championship official field.
Note: It's a good idea to check this list for the official field of players again on Wednesday, as it is not unusual for golfers to drop out of tournaments in the days leading up the first round.
Player Trends
The Turning Stone Resort Championship is a new event, so there isn't any history to go on (except for last year's B.C. Open, which by pure coincidence had to be moved to Atunyote G.C. because of other issues), but to the extent that we can we'll continue to provide player trends for Fall Series events that have a previous history.
Weekly Rankings
1. Robert Allenby
2. Nathan Green
3. Carl Pettersson
4. Anders Hansen
5. Stuart Appleby
6. Ryan Moore
7. Henrik Stenson
8. John Rollins
9. Steve Flesch
10. Sean O'Hair
Leaderboards
B.C. Open (2006 Top 20)
Player Scores Total To Par Earnings
Win John Rollins 67-70-68-64 269 -19 $540,000
2 Bob May 73-66-67-64 270 -18 $324,000
3 Shigeki Maruyama 68-71-67-65 271 -17 $204,000
T-4 David Branshaw 71-64-68-69 272 -16 $132,000
T-4 Omar Uresti 67-71-70-64 272 -16 $132,000
T-6 Gabriel Hjertstedt 67-67-68-71 273 -15 $91,750
T-6 Daisuke Maruyama 67-67-71-68 273 -15 $91,750
T-6 Matt Gogel 67-71-67-68 273 -15 $91,750
T-6 Larry Mize 69-69-67-68 273 -15 $91,750
T-6 Scott Gutschewski 67-71-68-67 273 -15 $91,750
T-6 Nicholas Thompson 69-70-70-64 273 -15 $91,750
T-12 Paul Stankowski 72-69-66-67 274 -14 $63,000
T-12 Ryuji Imada 67-70-71-66 274 -14 $63,000
T-12 Jason Bohn 66-72-70-66 274 -14 $63,000
T-15 Mark Brooks 65-72-66-72 275 -13 $53,500
T-15 D.J. Trahan 69-68-71-67 275 -13 $53,500
T-17 Scott Gump 67-67-69-73 276 -12 $45,000
T-17 Arjun Atwal 68-72-69-67 276 -12 $45,000
T-17 Skip Kendall 69-69-72-66 276 -12 $45,000
T-20 Mathias Gronberg 68-68-70-71 277 -11 $35,950
T-20 Shane Bertsch 70-67-69-71 277 -11 $35,950
T-20 Michael Bradley 68-68-74-67 277 -11 $35,950
