Kikakee Tees and Show & Dough Share Title In New Orleans

On the PGA Tour there is nothing like a good fight to the finish over the back nine on Sunday. Leaders holding onto a tenuous 1 hole advantage while challengers surge forward with 10, 20, 30 foot birdie bombs culminating in a final putt on 18 for the win. These are the tournaments that make golf a truly great game. And last week, the Zurich Classic had none of these. Weather delayed rounds and stop-starting through the entire week gave viewers a special glimpse into the unfortunate phrase "you can't control the weather." The TPC Louisiana was soaked by the time they were finally able to resume round 3 on MONDAY as the tournament had now been shortened to 54 holes, completely axing the 4th round from the event. A not-too-often seen situation in golf - one akin to the shortened game in baseball going a minimum 6 innings - the tournament organizers had to pull the plug on the waterlogged field's hopes for a 4th round. And so as the leaders came up 18 with a chance to win there were no big names left for the announcers to crow about. Brian Stuard, Ben An, and Jamie Lovemark (the biggest name left) all had a chance to win. Lovemark would lose his 1 shot advantage as Stuard and An both birdied to tie on the final hole. They went back to play 18 again in a playoff and after Lovemark made massive mental mistakes it would be Stuard who knocked in a birdie putt to win his first Tour event. 

It was somewhat more exciting on the Fantasy Tour but no one knew it as scores were un-updated through most of the week. By the time anyone knew where they stood the next round had already started and subsequently been suspended. It was extremely difficult to determine who would make the cut and who to sub when. To everyone's surprise the first round leader was the monumental dark horse Marlowe Dubuisson who had zero Top 10s entering the tournament. Then, to no one's surprise, Michelson quickly snatched the 2nd round lead for herself in her typical Top-10-finish style. But as Saturday turned to Sunday and Sunday to Monday she must have lost her mental edge as the door was opened to the challengers. Two in particular made the most of it. Kikakee Tees saw his chance and rushed forward, leading his troops sopping wet into battle. Just then, a shot went across Kikakee's bow as another pulled along side. Every looked and to their surprise there was Show & Dough, striding up 18, guns blazing, dawning her newly minted Green Jacket. Kikakee and The Show traded blows until they'd both run out of cannonade and sailed into 18 still in a dead heat. They both flew Lovemark's flag and were assured his bonus points. Kikakee's hand was forced with Missed Cuts and had little choice in the final round squad but The Show made a brilliant sub - going to Kirk - to charge up the leaderboard and walk in tandem with Kikakee across the finish line. It was a tie - and therefore a shared win. This win marks a momentous occasion for both teams as Kikakee is now a multi-tournament winner this season and The Show has broken her career record for single season victories with her 3rd. The Show has now won 2 of the last 4 tournaments and is on a tear. Kikakee is continually climbing in the ranks. Despite the anticlimactic cool down at the Zurich Classic the Fantasy Tour is just heating up. Congrats to Kikakee Tees and Show & Dough.

3rd Place

Lucky number 17. At least that's what Marlowe Dubuisson is saying after it took her 17 weeks to claim a Top 10. But she didn't stop there as she entered the spotlight in a big way. Contending the whole way through she clawed her way to the top of the leaderboard and hung around the whole week. She kept her head clear despite the constant weather delays and stayed loose on the range. Once the thunderstorms passed she went back out to finish what she'd started and won her first paycheck of the season - $3.oo. She can eat tonight. 

Notables

4th - The fantasy press had called for the rise of Hogan's Heros just a couple weeks back and he seems to be rising to the occasion. Hogan's is on a bit of tear at the moment as he's now snagged 3 consecutive Top 10s and has 4 of the last 5 as well. He's almost gotten himself back inside the top 10 teams overall and sits just 1 spot back in 11th. He's inching closer and closer to his first Top 3 of the season and this was his highest finish so far. The press is still calling for Hogan's to be a favorite entering The Players and it looks like he's hitting his stride just in time. We'll see how he does at Quail Hollow this week as his last warm up before the big test at TPC Sawgrass. 

5th - Michelson continues her torrid pace of Top 10s and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. She's figured something out and whatever it is it seems to be working. She's got 13 Top 10s so far and is doing what Gophers did last year by starting to pull away from the field. Apart from leading the season she's just 9 points back from the Spring lead as well. Unless she starts running out of starts with her big guns (which is unlikely) look for Michelson to continue her hot hand. 

6th - Whiny Little Pitch has been making headway as of late and now she looks to maintain he status. She broke into the Top 10 again for the 3rd week in a row after winning with a Sunday charge last week. This showing from Whiny is reminiscent of her early days on Fantasy Tour as she hit the ground running in her first Segment. She's a streaky player though and is hoping to ride this hot hot hand out a bit longer. She's currently in 7th place overall and 6th place in the Spring Segment. Could this finally be the Segment that Whiny gets a title? Too early to tell but if she keeps this pace up there's no doubt she'll be in striking position come late June. 

7th - That's Wet has had an interesting season so far and has some impressive stats to crow about. He's tied for 2nd in Top 3s overall with 4 to his name with an additional 8 Top 10s tacked on. Most of this damage was done in the Winter Segment as he's cooled off just a smidge. He's only got 2 Top 10s so far this Spring as we approach the halfway point this week in Charlotte. That's Wet has the high finishes to put him inside the top 10 in the standings but it's been the other starts that have hurt him. When he's on he's on but when he's off - look out. He'll look to tighten things up this week at the Wells Fargo Championship.

8th - The veteran Tomte seems to be a bit sporadic as of late as she's been all over the standings in the past 10 weeks. She's been on quite the roller coaster ride in this time period as she's nearly alternated every single week by getting a Top 10 and then missing it, getting a Top 10 and missing it. Tomte has a reputation on Fantasy Tour for being a brash player - often going with her gut despite the pundits and drafting on instinct alone. She knows her stuff though and it's been enough to keep her in the running even in her off weeks. She's currently in 12th place overall and hovering around that top 10 position each week. She hasn't made a trip back to the Top 3 since week 1 where she finished runner up. It can't be long before Tomte goes on one of her classic hot streaks. 

T9 - King's Deer has been all over the place and it's been hard to put a beat on him so far this year. He started the season very strong going Top 10-Top 3 in his first two starts. But he's been streaky since then and hasn't put together a meaningful push since those opening weeks. The King did place at The Masters - T8th - but before that hadn't been seen since week 7 at the Northern Trust Open where he finished T4. Any time you finish in the Top 10 then it's a good sign though. His Spring Segment chances are dim but he's still looking to push through to get that first career victory. 

T9 - Gophers fortunes have started to rise in the past 7 weeks as he's snagged an impressive 6 Top 10s and 2 Top 3s in that stretch. A nice little change of pace from the middle of the Winter Segment which was a below average performance by his standards. Gophers has risen in the standings considerably as he was all the way back in 30th place in week 8 and now holds down the 9th place position just 11 weeks later. But perhaps more importantly for Gophers he's back in the lead for a Segment as he leads the Spring by 4 points. Gophers could be just hitting his stride and he's got 7 more weeks to hold onto his reacquired form. 

THIS WEEK is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC. As if the press needed any more reason to get behind Hogan's Heros rise in the ranks he's also the defending champ this week. Last year he battled Freeside Links to win it by 8 points for his second title of the 2015 season. It's a bit different this year as he enters still looking for his first Top 3. Perhaps good vibes will lift him up this week. The Spring Segment is nearly halfway over as we enter the midway week at Quail Hollow. This will be the last time the pros see this course in its current form because on Monday it's getting torn up and redesigned in order to host the 2017 PGA Championship. The boys definitely want to take full advantage of the scoring conditions this week as it'll never play easier than it is right now (at least until they redesign it again). 

Wells Fargo Power Rankings
1. Hogan's Heros
2. Gophers
3. Show & Dough
4. Whiny Little Pitch
5. Michelson
6. Kikakee Tees
7. Short Strokes
8. Talkeetna98
9. Baby Draw
10. Tomte

Last Weeks Results
Pos	Zurich Classic of New Orleans	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Total
1	Show and Dough	36	38	64	-	138
1	Kikakee Tees	42	34	62	-	138
3	Marlowe Dubuisson	44	30	56	-	130
4	Hogan's Heros	40	24	60	-	124
5	Michelson	34	44	44	-	122
6	Whiny Little Pitch	40	30	48	-	118
7	That's Wet!	34	36	44	-	114
8	Tomte	38	24	50	-	112
9	Kings Deer	42	26	42	-	110
9	Gophers	40	24	46	-	110
11	IN YOUR LIFE!	30	38	38	-	106
12	Halve Ouimet	40	18	44	-	102
12	DaHoffa	40	24	38	-	102
12	BevGin&Tonic	36	26	40	-	102
15	Taylormade	24	34	42	-	100
16	Papa Pilgrim	42	16	40	-	98
16	Night Putting	32	26	40	-	98
18	Mother Rabbit	38	20	38	-	96
18	Freeside Links	36	24	36	-	96
20	GrampaLevs	42	14	38	-	94
21	TIGER WOULD PUTT!!	42	22	28	-	92
21	Talkeetna98	26	40	26	-	92
21	Short Strokes	36	30	26	-	92
21	Eat My Grind	28	32	32	-	92
25	Tourball	26	34	28	-	88
25	Jowls	40	22	26	-	88
25	Haney's Got a Gun	32	20	36	-	88
25	Chubbs 'Part Time' Peterson	36	20	32	-	88
25	Baby Draw^3	42	14	32	-	88
30	Rug Munchers	38	26	20	-	84
31	Mastersway	40	16	24	-	80
31	2 footer	32	12	36	-	80
33	Where Eagles Dare	20	40	16	-	76
34	4 Hitting 5	14	20	16	-	50
35	BurningTime	10	12	16	-	38
36	Salad Thongs	8	2	0	-	10
37	Swing Easy When It's Breezy	0	0	0	-	0