Gophers Cements Dominance by Claiming Second Title of the Winter at WGC

When benchmarks are used as the measure of a successful performance one can only say of The Gophers that his fantasy status looms large. Just one year ago the league was dominated by then hot shot but now greatly diminished Better Than Most who won here at the WGC and clinched his 3rd title of the Winter. And although he contended through the rest of the season he would win neither Season nor Segment again. The Gophers seems to be off to a similar start as his early season dominance has left much of the field in the dirt. Making only one sub all week he nearly went on autopilot as he rode Bubba and DJ to victory. His performance has been Tiger-esque (circa 2004) as of late and he is certainly setting the bar fairly high to begin the season. He becomes the first season champion to win a tournament after leading each round and continues his hot hand in picking winners. His Dustin Johnson pick marks his 7th through 9 weeks. He also stands at the top in bonus points at 185 while the league average lingers well below at 101. His league leading 8th top 10 is 3 more than the next team and he leads the Segment by 168 points. His Winter Segment title is all but assured (barring a Van de Velde-esque collapse). What will prove to be an even harder challenge for Gophers however will be maintaining this torrid pace and effectively preventing becoming Tiger-esque (circa now). Congratulations to The Gophers.

Last week's WGC runner-up T-Off-Killah was in it until the very last. He went out on Sunday with high hopes of bringing home his first season title and one of those big cardboard checks. This was not to be however as his difference maker Patrick Reed would have had to shoot a 1 under 71 to get the points necessary to overtake the front runner. Reed couldn't muster the strength to get under par and fell back in the end giving Gophers a bit of breathing room. The 6 point margin of victory was a nail biter though and T-Off will have to wait just a bit longer to take that big check to the bank. This marks his impressive 5th top 10 and 2nd top 3 this season. At this rate his inaugural victory can't be that far off.

It comes as no surprise that in a field of the world's best golfers another one of the league's best teams would round out the top 3. Talkeetna98 demonstrated his mastery of the game by picking his 4th winner of the season in Dustin Johnson (getting him into the action at the 11th hour) and chalked up his 15oth bonus point of the season. A 5th top 10 and 3rd top 3 puts Talkeetna98 in 6th place overall and just 26 points out of 2nd for the Segment. 

Notables:

Hoping for 4 way run at the top spot last week was Better Than Most, Papa Pilgrim, Tomte and Chubbs Peterson who all got together to watch the final round on Sunday - coming from distances greater than Michael Phelps 2014 Pro-Am putt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4GgbWKcMVQ. Most left disappointed. However the young upstart and namesake of our League trophy the Jackson Cup - only 4 months old -  soaked it all in and took special note of putting speeds on 18 as he hopes to capture a victory (both fantasy and real) at Doral one day.

The current hot shot of the league appears to be veteran Baby Draw Part Two. He snagged his 5th top 10 of the season and did so to continue his current hot streak as he now has 4 top 10s in a row. He moved up one spot in the standings to 8th and looks to continue this onslaught at the Valspar Championship this week where he is the defending champ. 

Whiny Little Pitch has been pouring in 30 footers ever since she joined the league 3 weeks ago and is now a perfect 3 for 3 in top tens. She took home the 10th spot at the WGC, edging out Night Putting by just 1 point to continue the streak, and will be under the microscope this week as she competes with Baby Draw to see who will continue their streak. While her accuracy outside of 30 feet has been spot on she hopes one of those pesky 2 footers won't prove to be her undoing as she looks for her 4th top 10 in a row. 

Tomte proved last week that making moves and missing low rounds doesn't have to be a fantasy death knell. Despite making poor substitutions on shaky advice she still managed to grind out another top 10 - her 4th of the season. She moved up 3 spots to 15th overall and seems to be eyeing the top 10. Only time will tell and in less than 3 weeks the Winter Segment will be in the books. 

It has been quite the journey for veteran Hill Baas to make his way into the top 10 circle but after 9 long weeks he finally made it. Early reports indicate that he spent countless hours on the range and even longer on PGATour.com fine tuning the roster that would get him there. He made 3 subs all week, all coming in the 3rd round, and he never looked back. He'll now look forward and hopes to ride this wave of confidence into Palm Harbor, FL for this week's tournament.

Newcomer Rug Munchers made a statement with his 2nd top 10 in a row in only his 3rd start this Winter. After barely missing out on the win the previous week he didn't let it get to him and followed up with another stellar performance. Although not in contention for the Winter he is already looking ahead to the Spring Segment where he'll look to be a contender.

It was a tough week for Where Eagles Dare as he just couldn't catch a break with his roster substitutions. He was the only team to snag J.B. Holmes but missed out on his record setting first round 62 which sent The Donald into crisis mode. He would also miss out on Ryan Moore's excellent first round as well as Scott's 20 point second round. Untimely subs would cost Eagles a chance at his first top ten of the season. Undeterred he'll look to rebound this week on the Florida peninsula's west coast. 

Although the field at this week's Valspar Championship at Innisbrook's Copperhead Course won't be as star studded as the WGC there is sure to be a couple stars in the fantasy world butting heads. Last year's winner and defending champion Baby Draw edged out Talkeetna98 by just 2 points in a come from behind win for the ages. Both are top 10 big shots this year and only 9 points separates them in the standings. Can The Baby successfully defend his title or will Talkeetna98 get his revenge? Either way we're still looking for Darth Fader to get his first top 10 of the season and I'm going on record that this is his week.