On Sunday, we were shown some fireworks of a different kind as the Fantasy Tour rolled into Week 2. The leaderboard was jammed with big names all weekend but no one could hold onto the slippery lead. Tomte, Kikkakee Tees, Show & Dough, Baby Draw, BevGin&Tonic - they all had a share at one point but as things shaped up over the weekend it would be an old favorite who emerged from the pack. Jose Maria Oblazabong (formerly known as Hogan's Heros) was having a nice little Saturday for himself as he took the lead by day's end. He had the right guys and strode into Sunday with a full head of steam and a slim lead. Jose Maria was winless in his last 38 starts - dating all the way back to 2015 Deutsche Bank. His 2016 season was abysmal and the chip on his shoulder had become more of a plank in that period. He only subbed once at the halfway point and knew he had the team to get it done - he just had to close. But from deep in the pack came another contender who would give Jose Maria a run for his money. Newcomer Driving Miss Daisy was charging hard. One of the only contenders with Justin Rose on her squad, she captured the maximum bonus points (35), accruing 75 final round points - a massive tally for the final round. But she would come up just short by 2 points as Jose Maria sprinted to the finish and captured his first tournament victory in over a year and a half. It is a triumphant return to the winner's circle for Jose Maria and perhaps one of many this season if he can return to his 2015 form. Time will tell but for now, congratulations Jose Maria Oblazabong.
Runner-Up
In only her 2nd career fantasy golf tournament Driving Miss Daisy nearly captured what would have been a major come-from-behind victory. She had the squad to do it as well with all three top finishes which garnered her 35 total bonus points. Unfortunately she didn't get Thomas in the action soon enough as she may have taken the title for herself with a few more early round points. But it's a dangerous game to second guess a strategy that gets you a 2nd place finish. Miss Daisy is solidly on the earnings leaderboard with $5 in the fantasy bank and she'll look to add to it as the season rolls on.
Third Place
It's no surprise that the veteran Kikakee Tees captured his first Top 3 of the season in such a quick manner. With a pedigree of 2 solid seasons in his pocket he's looking to build on that success and rise to even higher heights. It's a bitter sweet finish though as he lead the field after both round 1 and 2. He stuck with his roster most of the way through and it was a missed 20 point round from Kisner on his bench that caused him to stumble. Somehow he also decided to leave Speith on the bench for the final round, foregoing any chance at bonus points should he make the charge he did to finish in the Top 3. Still, he had a solid week which puts him right in the hunt for the Winter Segment. It's way too early to start making predictions but getting off to a good start crucial for any Segment hunters out there.
Notables:
It was a 3 way tie for 4th between Tomte, BevGin&Tonic and Baby Draw as all three veterans were counting on Speith and Thomas to be the main horses. All three shared the lead after round 1 but only Tomte would maintain that lead into the weekend before ultimately falling off the pace. Baby Draw seems not to have lost a step since his big finish last season and is picking up right where he left off. Tomte has shown much improvement over her season last year already but there are many miles to go before she can sleep. For BevGin&Tonic, the story is more nuanced as the 3rd year veteran has had mixed results in all three campaigns. He's a two-time winner on Fantasy Tour but hasn't quite broken through yet. A Top 10 in the second week is a good place to start though.
Kings Deer comes in at 7th place in the season's 2nd event and continues his trend of starting out hot. Just a year ago he charged out of the gates and held a spot within the Top 10 for 9 weeks. But then things took a turn and he began to plummet down the leaderboard and never recovered. Clearly the King has the skill to pull off some high finishes but it has yet to be seen if he can maintain his performance throughout the course of a full season. Hunting season is open so let's see if the King's aim is still sharp.
Show and Dough starts the season out on quite the roller coaster ride. After week 1 she found herself nearly at the bottom of the pack following a rough start. But she had a nice bounce back in week 2 with a standalone 8th place finish and her first Top 10 of the young season. The Show has high hopes this year of making a run for the Jackson Cup but her history of mainly being a periodic contender will need to be overcome first. She's got her first defense coming up in April and it's none other than the Masters. She's got a few months to prep and sharpen the game so look for The Show to stack up some high finishes before then.
We knew it wouldn't be long before the reigning Jackson Cup Champion took his spot at the top of the leaderboard. Last year, Short Strokes set the pace for Top 10 finishes with 20 which meant he snagged one nearly ever 3 weeks. He's started out strong and has placed himself once again back at the top with a 9th place finish at the Sony Open and leads the field after 2 weeks. But it doesn't mean anything this early in the year and Short Strokes will have quite a bit of work to do if he wants to keep his title as the competition seems more primed than ever. The test will come in the early going for Short Strokes strategy - a time when the golfers aren't quite up to form and the tournaments are relatively small. But so far - so good.
Rounding out the Top 10 are a pair of fantasy gamers - one looking for that long sought after success on the fantasy course. The other, looking to keep raising the bar on her performance in search of even more accolades. Taylormade and Whiny Little Pitch snuck into the Top 10 with a T10 finish at Waialae and for Whiny it was her second Top 10 in the opening 2 weeks. Taylormade is looking for a big breakthrough win and perhaps a streak to then ride while Whiny has her eye on big titles such as a Segment Championship or perhaps even the Jackson Cup.
THIS WEEK is the boys head back to the mainland for the Career Builder Challenge in La Quinta, CA. The Stadium Course plays host this week and the defending champ honors, for the 2nd week in a row, goes to 2 Footer who won his second in a row here one year ago. The field is sure to through a few more curve balls at you as some big name players take a break while others join the fray. Many middle-tier players will also be starting their calendar year off this week so there might be a few rogue picks in there hoping to surprise the league. And with no dropped scores this year the moto "ever week counts" is even more crucial.
| Pos | Sony Open | Rnd 1 | Rnd 2 | Rnd 3 | Rnd 4 | Total | |
| 1 | Jose Maria Oblazabong | 38 | 46 | 32 | 67 | 183 | |
| 2 | Driving Miss Daisy | 24 | 50 | 32 | 75 | 181 | |
| 3 | Kikakee Tees | 40 | 50 | 22 | 60 | 172 | |
| 4 | Tomte | 40 | 44 | 26 | 61 | 171 | |
| 4 | BevGin&Tonic | 40 | 44 | 24 | 63 | 171 | |
| 4 | Baby Draw^Cuatro | 40 | 36 | 30 | 65 | 171 | |
| 7 | Kings Deer | 40 | 28 | 32 | 61 | 161 | |
| 8 | Show and Dough | 40 | 44 | 24 | 48 | 156 | |
| 9 | Short Strokes | 32 | 38 | 20 | 63 | 153 | |
| 10 | Taylor made | 38 | 44 | 22 | 46 | 150 | |
| 10 | Whiny Little Pitch | 36 | 42 | 22 | 50 | 150 | |
| 12 | 2 Footer | 8 | 48 | 34 | 59 | 149 | |
| 13 | RUG MUNCHERS | 38 | 26 | 28 | 53 | 145 | |
| 14 | Halve Ouimet | 16 | 46 | 22 | 52 | 136 | |
| 15 | The Four Skins | 24 | 38 | 20 | 53 | 135 | |
| 16 | Gophers | 30 | 36 | 20 | 47 | 133 | |
| 17 | Niblick 18 | 10 | 42 | 24 | 52 | 128 | |
| 18 | That's Wet | 32 | 38 | 20 | 35 | 125 | |
| 18 | Talkeetna98 | 16 | 34 | 30 | 45 | 125 | |
| 20 | Putting from the rough | 34 | 30 | 18 | 38 | 120 | |
| 21 | Papa Pilgrim | 8 | 34 | 26 | 50 | 118 | |
| 22 | Freeside Links | 30 | 32 | 14 | 40 | 116 | |
| 23 | Flipping the Birdie | 22 | 36 | 24 | 29 | 111 | |
| 24 | MR. SLUMAN | 14 | 38 | 28 | 22 | 102 | |
| 25 | DaHoffa | 6 | 34 | 22 | 33 | 95 | |
| 26 | Mastersway | 26 | 26 | 22 | 16 | 90 | |
| 27 | Where Eagles Dare | 2 | 30 | 20 | 33 | 85 | |
| 28 | Eat My Grind | 12 | 34 | 18 | 10 | 74 | |
| 29 | Marlowe Dubuisson | 16 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 71 | |
| 30 | Tourball | 6 | 22 | 12 | 12 | 52 | |
| 31 | night putting | 2 | 32 | 6 | 10 | 50 | |
| 32 | GrampaLevs | 6 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 32 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment