The playoff trend continued at the Sony Open as we're now two-for-two in tournaments requiring more than 72 holes to determine a winner. Brendan Steele is without a doubt kicking himself after he coughed up his sizable Sunday lead and allowing Cameron Smith to take him to task on the first playoff hole in Honolulu. Cameron dug deep and pulled out the win for his compatriots in Australia who are in desperate need of some good news (or just some rain) so hopefully his win serves as even the smallest of salves.
In the First Timers League the contest wasn't even close to entering a playoff (mainly because we don't have playoffs - 1st place ties are possible) as Freeside Links was in the driver seat on Sunday, taking charge of the leaderboard and pulling away from the field as he made the turn. And as Steele coughed up his lead Freeside held tight as his experience in high pressure situations proved invaluable. With the convincing win at the Sony Freeside chalks his name up on the big board with a $20 payday and ticks off his 9th career fantasy title. The 4 time major champion has his eye on bigger game however so in the meantime consider this a warm up win for Freeside.
Top 3 Finishers
The 2014 season champ didn't have to wait long to make an appearance inside the Top 3 as Vegas Vito snuck into 2nd place in the final accounting after picking up key bonus points. Vegas has been a good bet over the years on securing a high finish as the 7th year veteran has finished inside the Top 3 in 14.9% of his tournaments (T5 all time). After several years of not being in contention for the Cup Vegas looks like he's ready to return to form.
Now in his 6th season, DaHoffa begins his season on a strong note with his first appearance inside the Top 3 with a 3rd place finish at Sony. He's been a perennial favorite due to his solid performance throughout his career but he hasn't finished above 8th place since 2016 when he took home 4th overall. He's a 12.6% career Top 3 finisher which ranks 7th all-time. He's got the stuff to break through but statistics don't win championships. He'll need to up his game even further if he wants his name on the Cup.
Notables - Top 10
The big change in this week's Top 10 compared to last week's is that it's almost made up of an entirely new cast of characters. A changing of the guard if you will as only three teams are 2-for-2 so far. Where Eagles Dare snagged the 4th place position and looks to avail himself of his prior years' ghosts. Finishing consistently in the middle-to-bottom of the pack in seasons past he needs a consistent winter segment to put the train back on the tracks.
Green Jacket thought he could taste victory at the Sony but it was in much the same way that Cypher thought he could taste the steak in the Matrix - it wasn't real. But clearly he's got gumption so look for Green Jacket to go higher than his 5th place finish and soon.
Halve Ouimet is a perfect 2 for 2 in Top 10s with his T7 finish last week and he will try to keep the streak alive in California this week. Over his career Halve has a 42.9% Top 10 finish rate so clearly he's putting viable rosters out there each week. But with a winning percentage of just 2.9% something is clearly missing.
Second year veteran Bob E. makes his first appearance inside the Top 10 with a T7 finish. Following up on his stellar rookie season in 2019 the Nashville native will have a tough task to outperform his inaugural year as he'll need to top 4th overall and earn more than $65. A task that the second year pro is more than up to.
Sixth year veteran Tourball (T9) is coming off his best season to date and the savvy vet looks primed for another run up the leaderboard. He'll try to keep the trend going in the right direction and will need to top his last year's 10th place finish to do it but it's a good sign that his first Top 10 tournament finish didn't have to wait too long.
Rookie Nick Hoffman had the lead for a brief moment last week but leads are a slippery asset in this line of work. He'd end up falling back but with his T9 finish he's now a perfect 2 for 2 in Top 10s and, for the moment, has the season lead! How long the rookie can hold it though will be a big test.
Navigating the First Timers Blog/Recap Homepage
For those of you who enjoy reading the recaps and might even be looking for a little more insight on the league here's a few useful tips for you to track how the season is progressing, look at the schedule and payouts ahead and see how big your fantasy bank account is getting. At the top of this page on the right you'll see the needed links.
- Season Earnings is where you can see a list and rankings of every dollar paid out and to who. You don't want to be absent from this leaderboard by season's end.
- Schedule & Payouts is where you can see the full season schedule and associated payouts. With over $1,400 being handed out it might be a good idea to start planning how much you'd like to take home. The champions of each tournament are also listed here.
- Team Stats is a brief look at how many Top 10s, 3s and wins each team in the league has accumulated as well as an insight into how each team is progressing segment to segment.
- League Members & Dues is where you can see a full list of the teams in the league as well as the manager behind the name. It's also where you can see whether or not you've paid you dues yet just in case you forget.
Additional links will take you on a walk down memory lane with former Jackson Cup Champs and pictures from two of the past season-end golf tournaments hosted for the league. Hope to see you all at this year's tournament in the fall (details to come later this summer).
This Week....
The Tour says Aloha to Hawaii (it also means goodbye) and heads over to the mainland to begin the first leg of it's West Coast Swing. The American Express in La Quinta, CA is next up on the rota which will provide some good desert golf. Phil makes his first appearance and many will inevitably include him on their roster. The tournament will be played on three courses, each with different challenges. Take note of where your players are playing each day and sub (or don't) accordingly. The CUT will be made following Saturday's round.
Show & Dough is the defending champ this week and she'll look to put up a vigorous defense. Apart from her victory here last year she's only had one other Top 3 finish in 4 prior years. The Show will look to pull out all the stops to become one of the few teams in the league who've successfully defended their titles.
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