The 45th Time's the Charm as GrampaLevs Wins Career First at Valspar

The Valspar Championship last week was a bit uncharacteristic as far as fantasy tournaments go with scores being significantly lower than average. The field was perhaps one of the weakest so far this season which allowed for some rogue picks by several teams. The favorite pick of the week was of course Henrik Stenson but other than his first round 7-under he would not be a contender. Weaker tournament fields tend to level out the competition in fantasy land as rogue picks are more rewarded than usual since they're not competing against the cream of the crop. And it was just a matter of time before last week's winner finally broke through for his first career win. Adam Hadwin had been playing some good golf (and some bad) as of late and holds the record for this season's lowest round with a 59. He had the 54 hole lead entering Sunday and just needed to close - perhaps the hardest thing to do for a first time winner. And despite some final round drama between Hadwin and now-talk-of-the-town Patrick Cantlay it would be a 1 shot difference that gave Hadwin his first career PGA Tour victory. 

Only two teams had Hadwin at the Valspar - Show & Dough and GrampaLevs. The tournament was the lowest scoring event since Pebble Beach last year when only 5 teams scored more than 100 points. The Snake Pit bit hard last week with only 10 teams scoring 100 points or more in the 2nd lowest scoring event in league history. But there seems to be something about low scoring events that brings out the best in GrampaLevs. The 2nd year veteran hasn't made quite the splash he'd hoped for in the early going of his fantasy career. In his rookie season last year he managed only 2 Top 3s and finished without a win to his name. But at Pebble Beach last year, the lowest scoring event all-time, he played his heart out, missing the victory by only 2 points. But last week at the Valspar he would avenge this defeat by making sure he closed things out right. With Adam Hadwin on his roster he was the only team in the Top 10 getting bonus points. And despite a closely packed leaderboard entering Sunday it wasn't even close in the end as GrampaLevs outpaced the field by 22 points to get his first career fantasy tour win. And even though it's the Valspar - it's a big win. Congrats GrampaLevs.  

Runner-Up - $5

Freeside Links has been punching his time card week in and week out - grinding for that big fantasy payout.  He's 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and he has barely a speck of athletic ability. But he's hung in there with the best fantasy golf players in the land for 4 years. And he's gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Hard Knocks and a green jacket. In this life, he doesn't have to prove nothin' to nobody but himself. And after what he's been through, if he hasn't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen. Now go on back out there Freeside and win one for the Gipper. 

Third Place

MR. SLUMAN is heating up. His Winter Segment was somewhat streaky with both a win in week 3 and then a 29th place finish in week 7. He's collected some solid stats throughout the season's opening segment and could be considered among the league's elite. His overall rank isn't quite up to snuff though as he's just got himself back in the Top 10 again after finding himself on the outside looking in for several weeks. As members of the same clan, SLUMAN and GrampaLevs have found themselves in this position one other time with both finishing inside the Top 3. At last year's WGC Bridgestone Invitational it was SLUMAN who had the upper hand and won the tournament while GrampaLevs came in second. It was only a matter of time before the tide turned though. 

Race For The Winter Segment Championship

With one week to go in the Winter Segment only 7 points separates the top two contenders

With one more snowstorm set to bury the Northeast the fantasy golf world is just about to say goodbye to winter. One tournament remains in the opening segment and the tension could not be thicker. Entering the Valspar last week, Short Strokes was riding high on a 25 points spread over second place Jose Maria Oblazabong. But in one fell swoop Oblazabong has cut that lead to nearly nothing as just 7 points separates him from Short Strokes. Strokes is a seasoned vet and knows how to close but if one thing is for sure it's that closing out a metaphorical 54 hole lead on the fantasy tour isn't easy. Strokes will stride into Bay Hill with a lot of pressure and needs to hold off Oblazabong with a solid performance if he wants to win his first segment championship. Oblazabong needs to field a well thought out roster and outscore Strokes by 8 points to capture his first segment title. It all comes down to Arnie's Place at Bay Hill. It'll be the first time the King himself won't be there watching over the boys but it's time for a new tale to be told - Short Strokes and Jose Maria Oblazabong are set to write their own history in the Winter's final showdown. 

Notables

Papa Pilgrim returns to the Top 10 for the first time in 4 weeks with a solid 4th place finishin Palm Harbor. He's been meticulously charting his course through the waters of fantasy golf, looking for the right time to strike. His status as the 11th ranked team right now is slightly below his average for the Segment but he's been unable to climb above 8th place overall. But getting Top 10s is certainly a step in the right direction for the Pilgrim. It won't be long before he gets back inside the mark though and as the season progresses it'll be no surprise to see Papa fighting for a top 5 position. 

Jose Maria Oblazabong had perhaps one of the most crucial rounds of his young career. In a season when so much is on the line - endorsements, contracts, TV spots, his fan base - he needed to keep himself in the Winter Segment Race with a good week. And he delivered. Starting the week 25 points back of Short Strokes he had to make up ground if he was going to have a chance in the segment's final week at Bay Hill. He outpaced Short Strokes by 8 points and is now just 7 points off the lead. The final week of the Winter is sure to be a dramatic finish as the two are nearly neck and neck. Oblazabong captured his 6th Top 10 with this 5th place finish and holds down 2nd place overall. 

Talkeetna98 has been quietly having a solid season so far but he has't obtained the accolades he's after quite yet. With only 1 Top 3 he's got to be thinking about changing up the strategy but with his current rank of 7th place overall he's certainly doing something right. He's got to feel good entering Bay Hill where he finished runner-up last year so clearly there's something he likes about this course. Maybe the its the Bermuda greens the unique bunkering but Talkeetna98 knows Bay Hill. His T6 at Innisbrook is his 5th Top 10 of the season. 

It was a bittersweet week for That's Wet as he came so close to ending his winless drought that now extends 80 weeks. His last win came in the 2nd week of 2015 in Hawaii and he's had several opportunities to get back into the winner's circle but has been stymied each time. He started the Valspar in great form - leading after both the 1st and 2nd rounds. But then the wheels came off - going a combined +10 from his roster over the next two rounds. It was not meant to be last week but That's Wet is getting closer and has got one of the best streaks going at the moment - 3 Top 10s in a row and 5 in the last 6 weeks. It shouldn't be too much longer before That's Wet is back on top. 

THIS WEEK it's yet another edition of the Arnold Palmer Invitational as the pros will head to Bay Hill to both honor the King and try to win a golf tournament. Many story lines focus around the players who've decided not to pack the clubs and head down to Orlando for the week but just like the Olympics people have different priorities that take precedent over golf. The defending champ this week is Halve Ouimet - a one-time star on the minor league fantasy golf racket (in 2014 when there were only 11 people in the league) but the wins haven't come as easy for him since. Much of the attention will be on the duel between Strokes and Oblazabong in the Segment's final event.  There's still plenty of firepower to chose from in the field this week and points are still crucial for season standing. The Winter Segment comes to an end at Bay Hill and a new segment champ will be crowned. There's plenty of fantasy golf to be played between now and then though so buckle up. 

Final Leaderboard of the Valspar Championship