Fantasy Golf 2012: The Sony Open in Hawaii Preview

Welcome to Week 2 of Fantasy Golf. If you missed last week's opening article that covered the basics of fantasy golf, you can check it out right here. That being said, we can jump right in.

This week, we stay in Hawaii for the Sony Open. The tournament is played at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Mark Wilson is the defending champion.

We're in for a trickier task (say that five times fast) than we were last week, due to the size of the field. This is the first PGA event of the season that features a full field of competitors. The good news is that we have many more options to choose from. The bad news is that we have many more options to choose from.

Waialae is a course that favors golfers who play under control. That means we are looking for players who hit a high number of fairways and greens in regulation. Because the course can play tough and long, we also want to place a premium on the short game, which includes putting and scrambling.

Because it is early in the season, we want to try to stick with golfers who have been playing recently and/or have a good history in this particular event or on this course. You're always trying to select players that you feel could win the tournament.

You're not going to win many fantasy golf formats by just hitting a bunch of top-20 players most weeks. You need winners more than Mike Singletary or Charlie Sheen.

So who do I think could be "winning" The Sony Open in Hawaii?

Yahoo! Weekly Lineup Game

Group A

STEVE STRICKER (Starting)—I'm not usually the guy to start the favorite without a reason. Here are Stricker's previous finishes in the Sony Open: ninth, third, 23rd, fourth and fourth. He finished second in strokes gained, putting (.769), third in total putting (53.1) and second in Scrambling (64.93 percent). And oh yeah, he won last week.

ZACH JOHNSON (Bench)—Johnson hits the marks you are looking for here. He won this event in 2009. He finished eighth last season in driving accuracy (71.06 percent), 11th in strokes gained—putting (.573), fourth in scrambling (63.98 percent) and 19th in total putting (106.3).

Group B

DAVID TOMS (Starting)—Selecting Toms in Week 1 didn't go so great for me. But he did shoot 71 in the final round. In 2011, he finished 18th in strokes gained—putting (.503) and 25th in scrambling (61.21 percent). Not to mention sixth in driving accuracy (71.85 percent) and greens in regulation (70.20 percent). He also finished second at the Sony in 2009.

STEVE MARINO (Starting)—Marino has an excellent history at the Sony, finishing second, seventh and fourth in his last three appearances. His statistics aren't a great fit here, but his history here is so strong that he's worth starting.

CHAD CAMPBELL (Bench)—Another player with an excellent history at the Sony, Campbell has finished 13th, eighth and 10th in his last three appearances. In 2011, Campbell finished fourth on the PGA Tour in Greens in Regulation (71.13 percent) which should help him quite a bit here.

BRINY BAIRD (Bench)—Baird is a bit of a sleeper pick here. He finished 12th and 23rd in his previous two appearances in the Sony. Statistically, he's an excellent fit here. In 2011, he finished 17th in driving accuracy percentage (68.74 percent) and 15th in greens in regulation rate (69.14 percent). He also finished a very respectable 46th in scrambling (60.00 percent).

Group C

BRIAN GAY (Starting)—Gay has quite a decent history at The Sony Open, finishing 13th, 25th and third there the past three seasons. More importantly, Gay showed an excellent combination of accuracy and short-game excellence in 2011. He finished fourth in driving accuracy percentage (72.77 percent), 17th in strokes gained—putting (.509), seventh in scrambling (63.78 percent) and 12th in total putting (92.6).

JERRY KELLY (Bench)—Kelly has an excellent history here, finishing ninth last year, 23rd in 2009 and third in 2008. He had to withdraw in 2010. In 2011, Kelly finished third on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy (73.30 percent) as well as 14th in scrambling (62.55 percent) and 38th in total putting (138.9).

Easy enough, right? Now, who do you pick in your Weekly/Survivor/Eliminator/Earnings League?

All of the players listed above could be viable options. In addition, I would consider the following players: Kevin Na, Charles Howell III, Mark Wilson, Bud Cauley and John Senden.

The obvious picks would be Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson. But both players are elite fantasy golfers, and they will provide greater value later in the season. The winner will take home less than $1 million here, making it one of the smaller purses on tour.

David Toms could possibly be an option, but his uneven performance last week makes me nervous about using him in a one-and-done format right now.

For me, it comes down to Steve Marino, Chad Campbell and Brian Gay. All of these players are good enough that I will probably use them at some point, but none are really elite fantasy golfers.

I am going to use Steve Marino almost because of his less than impressive statistics. That makes him tough to trust anywhere. So if you are going to use Marino, it needs to be somewhere that he has an excellent track record. And judging by his finishes, The Sony Open is his favorite event.

ALREADY USED: Bryce Molder

Do you have any questions?

You probably should. Please use the comments feature below if you have anything to ask or anything to add to the discussion. If you have a lineup or roster question, please be as specific as possible regarding the setup of your league.

Good luck to all this week, I'm sure you wish you were golfing in Hawaii, too.

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