It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, he had everything before him, he had nothing before him. Within the world of tournament golf there will always be times when the goings get rough. There will be times of plenty as well as times of famine; long swaths of time when the spoils of war pour in from the four corners of the globe, followed then by periods of utter despondency. Winning on Fantasy Tour is no guarantee. Many a fantasy golfer has sank into the pit of despair, watching what seems like eons go by before they are allowed to return to their lofty perch on the heights of Champions Mountain. In the world of men (and women) one such hero waited 13 long years between trophy hoists. Mr. Tommy Armour III ended his 13 year winless streak in 2003 by winning the Valero Texas Open. He probably thought it would never come. In the world of fantasy golf time moves at a different pace - much like dog years - as a Segment can sometimes feel like a lifetime. The date was June 30, 2014 - exactly one year ago in golf weeks. Papa Pilgrim pulled off what would be his last win for a long time to come at the AT&T National. But after 33 tournaments played and lost the waiting has finally ended. In fantasy golf - where a year is akin to an Armour-esqe streak nearing 13 years - such a winless drought can push one to the edge. But last week at the Travelers Championship Papa stepped back from the edge long enough to put a Sunday charge into the works and walk away with his first win of the Season and first championship in 365 days.
The big names in the field were Bubba, Brandt, Sergio, Na, Reed and Keegan. The favorite of them all of course being Mr. Watson. After a two hole playoff with Paul Casey, Bubba would reign supreme yet again in Hartford and many a team would harvest bonus points from his winning performance. In a week where there was more on the line than just a single tournament many teams knew they had to make the subs count. Strangers would jump out to an early lead with solid rounds from all 3 groups. He would hold at the top alone for one more round but Tour Ball and Papa were putting together charges of their own. Papa would make a brilliant sub in the 3rd - putting in the out-of-nowhere pick of David Toms - to get him in a tie for first with Strangers. Tour Ball was still surging with the likes of DeLaet and Zach but also with the help of another unlikely character - Jon Curran. As Sunday rolled around and a playoff was in the works the winner on the real course would determine the winner on the fantasy course. If Casey won then the victory would have been shared by Bev and Hogan's. But on the anniversary of his last win fate would have a different plan for Papa. As a final Bubba birdie sank into the hole it signaled the end of a year long drought for the Pilgrim and he was propelled to the win by just 4 points. He goes into the Summer Segment with a full head of steam as the killer instinct is back. Congrats Papa Pilgrim.
Spring Segment Champion: Hogan's Heros
Travelers Championship
Top 10
| 24. Travelers Championship | |
| Pos | Name |
| 1 | Papa Pilgrim |
| 2 | Tour Ball |
| T3 | Hogan's Heros |
| T3 | Strangers |
| T3 | BevGin&Tonic |
| 6 | T-Off-Killah |
| T7 | The Gophers |
| T7 | Night Putting |
| 9 | Eat My Grind |
| T10 | Whiny Little Pitch |
| T10 | Better Than Most |
Notable Trends
Close But No Cigar
Now that the Spring Segment is officially in the books we are at the 2/3 mark of the Season. It's been 25 weeks since the season kicked off in Hawaii and we've had 24 tournaments with 17 winners. That leaves exactly half, 17 teams, without wins. Of those teams the most glaring standout is T-Off-Killah. With 13 Top 10s and 4 Top 3s he's the front runner for tough luck finishers as he's come as close as you can - multiple times - only to come away empty handed. There's also Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray who has 12 Top 10s and 3 Top 3s but has $0 in season earnings. After a solid Winter he went quiet during the Spring and only collected 1 Top 3. But both of these teams are due and are itching to get the monkey off their back with a Summer Segment win. Other teams who've come close but haven't broken through yet are Show and Dough - who has 4 Top 3s with her most recent being a runner up at the US Open - and Whiny Little Pitch - who has 4 Top 3s (2 of them runner up) but keeps coming up short when she's got the chance. Remember these four names as they're going to show up quite a bit over the Summer.
Because It's All About That Bonus, 'Bout That Bonus
It's no surprise that as you look into the overall bonus points (BP) ranking it actually mirrors the Season standings fairly closely. The Gophers (1st) has been a mainstay since day one and has been making it rain with his league leading season earnings. He's ranked 1st in Overall Bonus Points (OBP) with 380 and 1st in Winners Picked (WP) with 13. Kikakee Tees (6th) follows close behind as he's ranked 2nd in OBP and 2nd in WP. There is an interesting trend in OBP accumulation though if we look at Talkeetna98 and his 280 OBP. He has picked the same number of winners as Kikakee and only one less than Gophers but he trails both of them in the OBP by a good stretch. This of course is due to the lack of 2nd and 3rd place finishers he's picked each week. Gophers has 120 bonus points from non-winners which means he averages 5 Non-Winner Bonus Points/week (NWBP/Wk). Kikakee averages 3.9 NWBP/Wk while Talkeetna98 averages only 2 NWBP/Wk. Interestingly enough, Better Than Most - who is ranked dead last in winners picked all season (3) - has the highest NWBP/week, along with Hogan's Heros (9 winner picks), with 5.83. This statistic is the "Grinder Finder" as it clearly distinguishes those who rely more heavily on a winner's bonus points from those who rely more on their entire points total for any given week. BevGin&Tonic & Tomte are two of the best examples for this category as they are in 20th and 17th place respectively in the standings with very few winner picks but are both ranked in the Top 10 for NWBP/Wk.
Non-Winner Bonus Points/Week (NWBP/Wk)
| Season | Non-Winner BP/Wk | ||||
| Team | Bonus Points | Winner Picks | Season | Winter | Spring |
| Hogan's Heros | 320 | 9 | 5.83 | 5.83 | 5.83 |
| Better Than Most | 200 | 3 | 5.83 | 7.08 | 4.58 |
| Where Eagles Dare | 295 | 8 | 5.63 | 5.42 | 5.83 |
| T-Off-Killah | 330 | 10 | 5.42 | 7.08 | 3.75 |
| The Gophers | 380 | 13 | 5.00 | 5.42 | 4.58 |
| Baby Draw Part 2 | 320 | 10 | 5.00 | 5.83 | 4.17 |
| BevGin&Tonic | 240 | 6 | 5.00 | 3.75 | 6.25 |
| Tomte | 190 | 4 | 4.58 | 6.25 | 2.92 |
| Show and Dough | 285 | 9 | 4.38 | 2.92 | 5.83 |
| Jowls | 285 | 9 | 4.38 | 6.25 | 2.50 |
| Freeside Links | 225 | 6 | 4.38 | 5.00 | 3.75 |
| Brookline (Golf) Ballers | 225 | 6 | 4.38 | 5.00 | 3.75 |
| 2 Footer | 280 | 9 | 4.17 | 6.25 | 2.08 |
| Strangers | 240 | 7 | 4.17 | 5.83 | 2.50 |
| Kikakee Tees | 335 | 12 | 3.96 | 4.58 | 3.33 |
| That's Wet! | 255 | 8 | 3.96 | 4.58 | 3.33 |
| Whiny Little Pitch | 265 | 9 | 3.54 | 2.92 | 4.17 |
| Danny Noonan | 225 | 7 | 3.54 | 4.17 | 2.92 |
| Geeteeo | 165 | 4 | 3.54 | 4.17 | 2.92 |
| Papa Pilgrim | 220 | 7 | 3.33 | 4.17 | 2.50 |
| Rebels | 200 | 6 | 3.33 | 3.75 | 2.92 |
| Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray | 235 | 8 | 3.13 | 4.58 | 1.67 |
| Chubbs Peterson | 250 | 9 | 2.92 | 3.33 | 2.50 |
| Larry Philpot | 170 | 5 | 2.92 | 3.75 | 2.08 |
| Ratrick Peed | 170 | 5 | 2.92 | 4.17 | 1.67 |
| Tour Ball | 170 | 5 | 2.92 | 4.17 | 1.67 |
| Eat My Grind | 205 | 7 | 2.71 | 1.25 | 4.17 |
| Big Easy | 165 | 5 | 2.71 | 4.58 | 0.83 |
| Night Putting | 145 | 4 | 2.71 | 2.92 | 2.50 |
| Darth Fader | 140 | 4 | 2.50 | 5.00 | 0.00 |
| Talkeetna98 | 290 | 12 | 2.08 | 0.83 | 3.33 |
| Shanks fa Nuffin | 115 | 4 | 1.46 | 0.83 | 2.08 |
| Rug Munchers | 145 | 6 | 1.04 | 0.42 | 1.67 |
| Carl Spackler | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
The Final Segment
The Summer Segment is upon us and it is the time of year when the tournaments get a little more competitive as the stakes are higher and teams start to run out of starts for individual players. It's a new start for those who have been on vacation this past Spring. Geeteeo, Danny Noonan, Shanks fa Nuffin and Darth Fader have apparently been sipping Mai Tais on the beach and have been watching 'Lost' as they were nowhere to be found this past Segment. Hopefully they'll come back refreshed and ready for a renewed charge as the home stretch rolls around. The four big tournaments this Segment are the Open Championship, WGC, PGA Championship and the Tour Championship. Everyone's been using Jordan Spieth like he's going out of style and he might not be available come playoff time for many teams. Hogan's revved his engines pretty ferociously over the Spring and burnt up almost all his starts with Spieth and DJ. It'll be tough to put a charge together without both of them going forward. For Jowls, perhaps he took the opposite strategy as he has roughly 5 starts left with both DJ and Spieth - using them sparingly over the Spring. But his cautiousness did not pay off as he began the Spring in 10th overall but dropped one position by the end. He also dropped in NWBP/Wk after averaging 6.25 in the Winter but then only 2.50 in the Spring (a change of -3.75 NWBP/Wk). Perhaps he'll have to retool his drafting techniques going forward. This change in Non-Winner Bonus Points per week will now be labeled in it's own stat category: Strokes Gained: NWBP. Show and Dough was the most improved team in this stat for the Spring as she carded an increase of 2.92 NWBP/Wk over the Winter. That resulted in a major payoff as she went from 20th in the Winter to 5th in the Spring.
Overall Bonus Points
|
Strokes
Gained: NWBP
|
Strokes
Gained: Overall Bonus Points (OBP)
|
Strokes
Gained: Overall Spring Bonus (SBP)
|
|
Team
|
Season
|
Winter
to Spring
|
Season
|
Spring
|
The Gophers
|
380
|
-0.83
|
6.42
|
3.96
|
Kikakee Tees
|
335
|
-1.25
|
4.55
|
2.71
|
T-Off-Killah
|
330
|
-3.33
|
4.34
|
1.46
|
Hogan's Heros
|
320
|
0.00
|
3.92
|
5.21
|
Baby Draw Part 2
|
320
|
-1.67
|
3.92
|
0.21
|
Where Eagles Dare
|
295
|
0.42
|
2.88
|
6.88
|
Talkeetna98
|
290
|
2.50
|
2.67
|
6.04
|
Jowls
|
285
|
-3.75
|
2.46
|
0.21
|
Show and Dough
|
285
|
2.92
|
2.46
|
5.21
|
2 Footer
|
280
|
-4.17
|
2.25
|
1.46
|
Whiny Little Pitch
|
265
|
1.25
|
1.63
|
8.54
|
That's Wet!
|
255
|
-1.25
|
1.21
|
-0.63
|
Chubbs Peterson
|
250
|
-0.83
|
1.00
|
0.21
|
Strangers
|
240
|
-3.33
|
0.59
|
0.21
|
BevGin&Tonic
|
240
|
2.50
|
0.59
|
3.96
|
Dr. Vijay's
|
235
|
-2.92
|
0.38
|
1.04
|
Freeside Links
|
225
|
-1.25
|
-0.04
|
1.46
|
Brookline Ballers
|
225
|
-1.25
|
-0.04
|
-0.21
|
Danny Noonan
|
225
|
-1.25
|
-0.04
|
-1.04
|
Papa Pilgrim
|
220
|
-1.67
|
-0.25
|
0.21
|
Eat My Grind
|
205
|
2.92
|
-0.87
|
0.21
|
Rebels
|
200
|
-0.83
|
-1.08
|
0.63
|
Better Than Most
|
200
|
-2.50
|
-1.08
|
-1.04
|
Tomte
|
190
|
-3.33
|
-1.50
|
-2.71
|
Tour Ball
|
170
|
-2.50
|
-2.33
|
-3.96
|
Larry Philpot
|
170
|
-1.67
|
-2.33
|
-3.54
|
Ratrick Peed
|
170
|
-2.50
|
-2.33
|
-3.96
|
Big Easy
|
165
|
-3.75
|
-2.54
|
-6.46
|
Geeteeo
|
165
|
-1.25
|
-2.54
|
-2.71
|
Rug Munchers
|
145
|
1.25
|
-3.37
|
-0.63
|
Night Putting
|
145
|
-0.42
|
-3.37
|
-3.13
|
Darth Fader
|
140
|
-5.00
|
-3.58
|
-8.96
|
Shanks fa Nuffin
|
115
|
1.25
|
-4.62
|
-1.88
|
Carl Spackler
|
0
|
0.00
|
-9.41
|
-8.96
|
Season Championship
The Season leaderboard has Gophers firmly planted on top with an 88 point lead over Hogan's Heros. Hogan's made up significant ground with his solid Spring performance and it'll be the two Segment Champions leading the pack as the Summer kicks off. That's Wet was right on Gophers' tail for most of the Spring but a careless week caused him to drop several spots on the leaderboard and now he's 180 points back of the lead. Talkeetna98 and Baby Draw are also in the hunt for the Season Championship as both are around 170 points back. That's a lot of ground to make up in just 12 weeks but crazier things have happened.
Spring Time Under Achievers
The Spring didn't exactly go as planned for several teams after they'd had a strong Winter. Perhaps they'd hoped to rest on their laurels a bit too much and neglected to put in the work on the roster. Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray finished the Winter in 9th place but fell from grace over the Spring and finished in 14th. His Strokes Gained: NWBP was -2.92 from Winter to Spring and he only managed to accumulate a lone Top 3. His OBP was about the same from Winter to Spring so that means he dropped the ball on substitutions or missed cuts and didn't get as many points from individual rounds. He'll look to rebound with a fresh start in the Summer. T-Off-Killah was on track to have a dismal Spring but thankfully turned things around a bit towards the end. Still, he lost ground overall going from 4th to 7th (at one point going as low as 12th) and finished with -3.33 NWBP/Wk from the Winter to Spring. He's got only one thing on his mind and that's redemption.
Best Turn Around Performances
It was a rough Winter for Where Eagles Dare and 2 Footer but both turned things around in the Spring finishing 7 and 8 spots higher, respectively. 2 Footer actually finished with -4.17 Strokes Gained: NWBP (2nd worst in the league) but did manage to win 2 tournaments which made up for the discrepancy. Where Eagles Dare had probably the best turnaround Segment statistics-wise as he finished with 6.88 Strokes Gained: OBP (2nd best to Whiny Little Pitch at 8.54). His problem seems to be getting solid points from his squad during the tournament. Despite ranking near the top in all the bonus points categories he only had 1 Top 3 in the Spring. Much like real golf it's difficult to put it all together but that's what Eagles will need to do to turn these stats into a win. Whiny Little Pitch of course was another Spring story of note as she entered the Winter late and was at a natural disadvantage. She learned quickly though and put a brilliant Spring performance together and finished in 3rd place for the Spring. She ranked 1st in Strokes Gained: SpBP, 5th in Strokes Gained: NWBP, 1st in Winners Picked and 3rd in Top 3 finishes. If those numbers are repeated it would be no surprise to see a Segment Crown in her future.
The Summer Segment kicks off this week in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia as the Greenbrier Classic rolls through. The party is in full gear with concert performances by Keith Urban, Blake Shelton and other stars who've made fortunes singing terrible music. Talkeetn98 is the defending champ this week and we're still waiting on a successful defense. Everyone starts at zero points once again so stack your rosters and let's begin the Summer Segment.
Season Earnings
| Team Name | Earnings |
| The Gophers | $70.00 |
| Hogan's Heros | $70.00 |
| Freeside Links | $40.00 |
| Jowls | $35.00 |
| Chubbs Peterson | $20.00 |
| 2 Footer | $20.00 |
| Baby Draw Part 2 | $20.00 |
| BevGin&Tonic | $10.00 |
| Ratrick Peed | $10.00 |
| Talkeetna98 | $10.00 |
| That's Wet! | $10.00 |
| The Rug Munchers | $10.00 |
| Tour Ball | $10.00 |
| Papa Pilgrim | $10.00 |
| Kikakee Tees | $5.00 |
| Strangers | $5.00 |
| Tomte | $5.00 |
| Better Than Most | $0.00 |
| Big Easy | $0.00 |
| Brookline Ballers | $0.00 |
| Carl Spackler | $0.00 |
| Danny Noonan | $0.00 |
| Darth Fader | $0.00 |
| Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray | $0.00 |
| Eat My Grind | $0.00 |
| Geeteeo | $0.00 |
| Larry Philpot | $0.00 |
| Night Putting | $0.00 |
| Rebels | $0.00 |
| Shanks fa Nuffin | $0.00 |
| Show and Dough | $0.00 |
| T-Off-Killah | $0.00 |
| Where Eagles Dare | $0.00 |
| Whiny Little Pitch | $0.00 |
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