:ATTENTION:
The annual fantasy-league-wide golf tournament will be held on Saturday, Sept 26 at Cranberry Valley in Harwich on Cape Cod. It will be followed by a BBQ in Chatham at the home of Josh (Papa Pilgrim) and Jen (Tomte) Coffey. All are welcome regardless of skill level but spots are limited so RSVP to reserve a spot.
- 18 hole scramble
- Cash prize to winning team
- Jackson Cup Trophy presentation
- Season money winnings handed out
- BBQ following tournament
- More details to be sent out to attendees
Make sure to RSVP to save your spot
And now back to your regularly scheduled program....
The temperature continued to sizzle on the Fantasy Tour last week as the Fedex Cup Playoffs kicked off with The Barclays at New Jersey's Plainfield Country Club. The fourth to last installment of the fantasy season had everyone's attention and not just because the big names were in attendance. Kikakee Tees jumped out to an early lead of 66 points after Thursday's opening round with Eagles right on his tail. It was not to be their week though as both would fade away and miss the Top 10. All eyes were on the Summer Segment race as Night Putting is attempting to do something never done before in league history by successfully defending his Summer Segment Championship. On the other side of the track the Season race still had some drama to offer as Hogan's was attempting to sprint the last mile of this grueling 36 week marathon to catch The Gophers. But the spotlight wasn't on one of the leaders or even one of the contenders last week. Instead, it would be a champion from Segments past who would once again rise to the occasion and snatch another victory from the hands of his competitors.
After etching his name onto the trophies at The Players Championship and The Memorial,
2 Footer battled his way through Plainfield's unexpected test in an attempt to claim his third season championship. He made the right picks on Wednesday night and got the most out of Day, Zach and Bubba from the get-go. His only miss was Lingmerth but he wasn't the only team taken in by the Swede's siren call. He was quick to fix his error though as he quickly sent David packing after Thursday. An adjustment in the 3rd to put Rose into the action and quickly back out again ensured that Day would be around to give him the 8 under final round points and bonus to go with it on Sunday. Final round play was tense for the two time champ. With Whiny Little Pitch at his side he made a final Sunday push as Tomte and The Gophers began to pull along side by making charges of their own. You could cut the tension with a knife and in a post round interview 2 Footer stated, "I don't know who had it worse - me or Jason Day." With the gravitas of what a win on Fantasy Tour means it was clear to all that 2 Footer had more on the line. His steely poise prompted him forward and his stellar performance rewarded him handsomely. 2 Footer collected just enough 4th round points and 25 bonus points to edge out Gophers by just 7 points and capture his 3rd championship. With this win 2 Footer now has a slash line of 12/4/3 and is 5th in earnings on Fantasy Tour this year - a stat that will surely propel his caddie to the top money earning caddies on Fantasy Tour. Congrats 2 Footer.
It would only be a matter of time before league heavyweight The Gophers made his way back to the Top 3. It had been 7 long weeks since the league leader had snagged such a finish and by all accounts he was in a significant drought. His season rival was sneaking up behind him and he wasn't doing much to stop him - that is until The Barclays. Gophers made only 2 subs all week with both coming in the 2nd round. It would be all he needed to rack up the points as his 2nd place finish marks his 6th Top 3 and 24th Top 10 of the Season (1st in that category). But more importantly Gophers was able to stretch his Season lead on Hogan's to a daunting 101 points with just 3 weeks to go. The Winter Segment champ gained 29 points on Hogan's and all but cemented his name onto the Jackson Cup. Barring a complete meltdown or an epic Hogan's charge beyond comprehension The Gophers might be able to rest on his laurels and cruise to the Season Championship.
While the Season race seems to be a foregone conclusion the Segment race is anything but as
Tomte is on a run for the ages and certainly on the hottest streak of her young professional career. She's been climbing the standings since early July and has been pouring it on for the past 7 weeks. In that time period she has gone 7 for 7 in Top 10s with 4 Tops 3s (2 runner up) and 1 win! With this 3rd place finish at The Barclays she finds herself just 16 points back from Night Putting and in a contest that is anybody's game at the moment. She is currently in 3rd place, 1 point behind The Gophers, with That's Wet and Hogan's Heros less than 10 points behind her. It will be a knock-down-drag-out finish as these teams battle for the Summer Segment but no one is hotter than Tomte at the moment and she's positioned herself for a late Summer coup. She now has a slash line of 15/6/2 and is 2nd in total bonus points for the Summer with 140 (just 5 points behind Gophers).
Stat Trends
Top 10 Bonus Point
Earners for Summer
| Team | BP | Winners |
| The Gophers | 145 | 4 |
| Tomte | 140 | 5 |
| Night Putting | 135 | 4 |
| Hogan's Heros | 110 | 3 |
| Chubbs Peterson | 105 | 3 |
| Freeside Links | 105 | 3 |
| Talkeetna98 | 105 | 3 |
| Kikakee Tees | 100 | 2 |
| That's Wet! | 100 | 3 |
| Dr. Vijay's | 100 | 2 |
| Better Than Most | 100 | 3 |
It's no surprise that the top 3 Summer Segment bonus point earners are the top 3 teams in the race for the Segment Championship. Slightly out of order but bunched very tightly, The Gophers, Night Putting and Tomte have separated themselves from the field in bonus point collection this Summer. They are also the teams with the highest number of tournament winners picked with Tomte leading that category by 1.
Top 25 Non-Winner Bonus Point Averages
(2nd and 3rd place bonus point averages/team)
(Ranked by Summer Segment )
Based on this metric The Gophers continues to show why he's numero uno in The First Timers League. He leads the Summer in NWBP/Wk with 7.22 points on average from his 2nd and 3rd place finishers. Kikakee Tees and Dr. Vijay's are tied for 2nd in this category with 6.67 points/week followed by a three way tie for 3rd between Jowls, 2 Footer and Night Putting with 6.11 points/week. Hogan's is the Season leader for this category with 5.76 NWBP/week followed by The Gophers (5.61) and outlier Better Than Most (5.45)
Race to the Summer Segment Championship
It's shaping up to be one of the tightest Segment races we've had so far. With 5 teams inside of 25 points any week could see a change of the guard. But at this point it's Night Putting's championship to lose as he's held the lead for the majority of the summer and all without winning a single tournament this Summer. Last year's Spring Segment Champion Buddy The Bull (now Papa Pilgrim) made the improbable happen when he snatched the Segment lead from Strangers in the 11th hour as he charged past him in the Segment's last tournament. Tomte, The Gophers, Hogan's Heros and That's Wet all have the same thing in mind as they begin to amass their troops for a 3 week campaign that will either leave them disseminated and strewn about the gory battlefields of the Fedex Cup Playoffs OR highly decorated and rightfully crowned as the Summer Segment Champion.
Notables Performances
Strangers has put together quite the Summer performance as the defending Season Champ is sending a message to the league stating that the champ still has some fight left in him yet. Despite being out of contention for the Season and Summer Championship he's made huge strides by going 8 for 9 in Summer Segment Top 10s. He is currently in 6th for the Summer and would usually be in the running for the Segment with those stats but he has yet to convert a Top 10 into a Top 3 (.000 Top 3 Conversion Rate). This 4th place finish at The Barclays marks his 14th Top 10 on the Season with 4 top 3s and 1 win.
In a rare appearance one of the league's white whales showed up last week and was in contention for the lead heading into the weekend. Danny Noonan, who was last spotted in the Top 10 with a T5 at the Shell Houston Open in week 13, did it again by carding another T5 at The Barclays. His roster has been on autopilot for quite some time now and the stars aligned last week to put his players in contention. It's just his 3rd Top 3 of the Season with nothing else to show for it but at least he's got a decent team name.
Another rare beast appeared on the radar last week as Rebels snagged his 6th Top 10 with a T5 at Plainfield. It's been an unsuccessful season for Rebels so far with only 2 Top 10s to show for it but a 17th position on the leaderboard isn't terrible when all is considered.
T-Off-Killah found his way back into the good graces of the Top 10 after a 9 week hiatus. The once highly respected Killah has fallen off the wagon late in the Season after starting the Winter off with a bang. The grinder has fallen on hard times with missed rosters and unfortunate withdraws. He is still hunting down that elusive championship to keep him warm throughout the upcoming New England winter and he'll have just 3 more chances to pull it off.
Top 10 Finishers
| 33. The Barclays | |
| Pos | Name |
| 1 | 2 Footer |
| 2 | The Gophers |
| 3 | Tomte |
| 4 | Strangers |
| T5 | Danny Noonan |
| T5 | Rebels |
| 7 | T-Off-Killah |
| 8 | Night Putting |
| 9 | Brookline Ballers |
| 10 | Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray |
Now here's a situation you don't see everyday. Segment leader Night Putting came in 8th at The Barclays for his 5th Top 10 of the Summer. He's got just 1 Top 3 among those finishes and zero wins this Segment and Season. To my knowledge a team has never won a Segment without garnering at least one victory within those 12 weeks. Needless to say it's an incredible feat that Night Putting is leading and all with just 1 Top 3! He's lost some ground as of late but still has a narrow lead. He'll have to keep the point totals high over the next 3 weeks if he wants to hold his place at the top and become the first ever defending Segment champ to successfully defend.
Continuing the trend of rare appearances on the Top 10 last week was Brookline (Golf) Ballers as he gathered up his 3rd Top 10 on the Season. It's been a rough Season for Ballers as he's not been able to get much going when his roster is updated. He had a strong showing at The Masters with a 3rd place finish which shows you what he's capable of but it turned out to be an anomaly overall. If Brookline updates his roster you might just see another strong performance in the final 3 weeks.
Dr. Vijay's Antler Spray has quietly had a nice little summer for himself. The perpetual contender and Season ranked 7th place team has racked up 7 Top 10s, 2 Top 3s and 1 win and currently sits in 6th place for the Segment. Unfortunately he's just outside the line of contention for the Summer Segment as he sits 48 points behind the leader. It's not an insurmountable number but not a practical one with just 3 weeks to go. But it's not out of the realm of possibility for the Doctor to charge out of the pack so keep an eye on Vijay's at the Deutsche Bank this week.
The Fedex Cup Playoffs roll on this week with the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston in Norton, MA. Defending champs Show & Dough and Better Than Most are still looking for their first win and what better place to do it than in their backyard. Time will tell if those who still have starts with Spieth left were at all scared away by his MC last week. Most teams are on their last start with Dustin or Spieth so expect to see a lot of Jason Day, Bubba Watson, McIlroy, Rose and Stenson. Some big questions still remain: Can Night Putting win a Segment without winning a tournament? Will Where Eagles Dare finally breakthrough now that he's close to home? Can T-Off-Killah throw off the ghost of disappointments past? Will Tomte or The Gophers take over the Segment lead? Why is there only one word for Thesauraus? All these questions and more as the Deutsche Bank rolls into Boston.
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