Baby Draw Finally Breaks Through at Arnie's Place

Perhaps its only a matter of time before a team who has put in their dues finally breaks into the winner's circle. One could say that if you put enough time on the fantasy range and putting green you'll eventually hoist the champion's fantasy trophy. The winners on the Fantasy Tour so far this season have certainly honed their game as top 3 finishes have been accumulating for them. Looking at the standings there appears to be a line of demarcation that separates those who have captured victory from those who are still trying to storm the proverbial gates. Among the league's current top 10 teams there are 6 winners. Of those 6 winners 4 of them have 3 top 3 finishes. The other two teams have 2. The entire rest of the league, that's 24 teams, only has 2 teams with multiple top 3s (#23 TourBall(2) and #24 Chubbs Peterson(2)). So it would appear that in order get your ducks in a row and obtain that elusive first win you've gotta put in your dues and top 3 finishes is a big due to be paid. (And speaking of dues anyone who hasn't paid needs to get that check in the mail). 

For Baby Draw Part Two, putting in his dues is putting it lightly. He entered the week at Arnie's Place on a 5 week top 10 tear and was by far the hottest team in the league. He went toe to toe all week with fellow top 10er Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray, both without a win and both desperate to hoist something before the Winter comes to an end. As the dust settled after Friday and Saturday's rounds each of them looked up to see that they were tied for the lead. An unavoidable result when both are fielding the exact same rosters of Stenson, Day, Poulter and Na. And so the ultimate fantasy dilemma is faced. To sub or not to sub. If The Doctor subs and misses a low round he's cost himself the tournament. If The Baby subs and misses he's done himself in. Both could keep their rosters and finished tied for the lead and share the victory since there are no tie-breakers or crying in fantasy golf. A safe bet... if you don't mind sharing. But The Baby would have none of it. There would be no shared victory. It would be all or nothing. The Baby would make that fateful decision and take it upon himself to win or lose the tournament with one substitution. He went with Fowler in the 4th - putting Poulter on the bench who would go on to shoot even par. A 1 under 71 was all he needed from Fowler to pose with Arnie on the 18th green. He got a 3 under 69. For the The Baby, a team who stands by his strategy of minimal substitutions, it would turn out to be a final round substitution that got him his first win of the season. He crossed that line of demarcation from 2 top 3s to 3 top 3s and moved up the leaderboard to 4th overall. He keeps the streak going with 6 top 10s and can end the Winter on a high note as he finally gets to hoist his trophy. Congrats Baby Draw.

Another league heavy weight pushed his way towards the top last week as That's Wet is reclaiming a bit of his early season dominance. He's never been ousted from the overall top 10 but he lost his mojo somewhat around week 5 and went 5 weeks without finishing inside the top 10. But he seems to have returned to form now with his second top 3 in a row - his highest finish since winning back at the Sony Open in week 2. He made a good call to change horses mid stream and went with Berger all the way to the finish. It would be enough for him to catch and pass The Doctor for second but only by the slimmest of margins. It would be the final round from Berger that gave him 6 more 4th round points thanTthe Doctor and enough to put him 2 points ahead in total. This is That's Wet's 3rd top 3 and 6th top 10 this Winter and he'll need a solid performance in the final week of the segment to keep T-Off-Killah at bay and out of second place where he now stands.

The Doctor put up a valiant effort at Bay Hill but came up just short of his first win by a mere 2 points. His fateful decision to stick with his guns got him far but not far enough. He was faced with the same choice The Baby had but decided to stay the course. Had he subbed in Zach Johnson for the final round he would have won by 4 points. Alas, it was not his week. But The Doctor now has 2 top 3s and is right on that line of demarcation. If history is any indicator one would assume that is next top 3 finish will be his first win. He'll have one more chance in the Segment to notch that win but history also indicates that no one on the Fantasy Tour this year has won after finishing in the top 3 the previous week. The Doctor could write a little history of his own.

Notables:

The Wünderkind Chubbs Peterson gets his first Top 10 that isn't a win! After claiming victory at both the Hyundai TOC and the Northern Trust Open he went dormant for a while. He clawed his way through Bay Hill though to snag a T9 and gets his 3rd Top 10 of the season. His 24th place in the standings is less than enviable though. 

Ratrick Peed (formerly Hill Baas) has been moving up the leaderboard and followed up his win at the Valspar with another Top 10 at Bay Hill. He'll battle it out with Talkeetna98 for the 10th spot in the final week as he stands just 21 points back. 

The familiar faces of T-Off-Killah, The Gophers, Strangers and Hogan's Heros were all in the Top 10 at Bay Hill as they all keep up the pace for the season points total. It'll be a drawn out battle of attrition as there are sure to be same teams who come up lame over the course of the season. Only the strong survive. Who will surpass and who will fade away?

The Swedes stick together as Tomte rides Stenson all the way to her 5th Top 10 of the season. She is the only team outside of the top 10 to have 5 Big 10 finishes and has been creeping her way up the leaderboard since mid February. She's put together a pretty convincing resume so far and looks to pad it a bit more with a championship that she hopes isn't too far off.

Defending league-champ Strangers seems to be returning to form a bit as he got his first Top 10 finish in 5 weeks. He'll also look to sneak into the standings' top ten before the Winter ends has he's just about 30 points back from Talkeetna98. 

Last week after the Valspar it looked like Where Eagles Dare had finally turned the corner and at Bay Hill he was on a tear - looking to get his 2nd Top 10 in a row. One wrong move in the final round though would cost him. He took out Day and put in Ishikawa and that would cost him 14 points and a Top 10 finish. But it was a solid finish for Eagles as he looks towards the Spring Segment and hopes to continue this recent surge.   

The streak had to come to an end at some point for Whiny Little Pitch and so it ends at 4. She was going for her 5th Top 10 in a row but it was not to be as she would come up short by just 16 points. The Spring Segment is where Whiny will look to start to contend for real. 

Leading into the final week of the Segment The Gophers has stood firm and now has a 95 point lead and looks to take the Segment Title with an exclamation point. Baring an empty roster or a charge of epic proportions from That's Wet it seems The Gophers will take his first title and $50 in earnings. Positions within the top 10 though are still up for grabs as only 80 points separates 2nd from 6th. Plenty of room for Papa to pounce, Kikakee to claw, Baby to boom or Killah to...well... kill. The Winter comes to an end in San Antonio with the Valero Texas Open. Talkeetna98 is the defending champ here where last year he out dueled Show & Dough by just 2 points. Can Talkeetna98 pull an Every at Bay Hill and defend at TPC San Antonio? Everyone wants to show up to see if they can claim one more piece of the Winter Segment pie.