PGA Tour Fantasy Golf: The 2012 HP Byron Nelson Championship Preview

This week we are in Irving, Texas for the HP Byron Nelson Championship. The tournament will be played on TPC Four Seasons Resort. Keegan Bradley is the defending champion. The winner will take home $1,170,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points.

TPC Four Seasons has played as a tough track for the past few seasons. On this course, players who can avoid bogeys (and worse) are probably better players than golfers who might have more birdies, but make more crucial mistakes. This is a good spot for a player who hits a ton of fairways and has been putting well. A good track record here would be nice, but it's not critical.

This isn't one of the deeper fields you will find this season, so you're not going to have as many options as you might like. Again, go with a steadier performer as opposed to a boom-or-bust type of golfer.

Yahoo! Weekly Lineup Game

Group A

Adam Scott (Starting)

Scott is amongst the best golfers in the world, but we've only seen him play five times so far this season. He hasn't finished worse than T17 in any stroke-play event this season, including a T15 at the Players Championship last weekend. He hits a ton of greens (fifth on Tour in GIR) which will help him here.

Keegan Bradley (Bench)

This is the perfect spot to go with the defending champion on your bench. Bradley has struggled recently with two missed cuts prior to a decent finish at the Players last weekend. He is long off of the tee (16th) and is still 32nd on Tour in GIR. If he gets it together, he could win again.

Also worth using: Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar.

Group B

Ernie Els (Starting)

Els is the type of grizzled vet (and I mean that in the best way possible) who could thrive here. He has been up and down as of late—his last three finishes have been missed cut, second and missed cut. But prior to that, Els had three straight finishes of T12 or better. He ranks 29th on tour in GIR, which should be an asset here.

D.A. Points (Starting)

Points has been a bit more inconsistent than I would care for this season, but he's coming off of a second-place finish in his last event. He ranks in the top 40 on tour in both driving accuracy and GIR. Without a ton of steadier options in Group B, he will have to do.

Jason Day (Bench)

Day is the type of "boom or bust" player who I hesitate to start here. He's very inaccurate, ranking outside of the top 150 on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy and GIR. But he has four top-20 finishes this season in seven starts and he finished fifth here last season.

Ryan Palmer (Bench)

Palmer is the definition of erratic, with five missed cuts and six top-32 finishes so far this season. He finished second here last season, so that can only help him. He has been putting excellently in 2012, as he ranks 17th on tour in strokes gained-putting. He can also bomb it off of the tee, as he ranks 12th in driving distance. If he gets it going, he might very well get subbed in for points this week.

Also worth using: Brian Davis and John Rollins.

Group C

Jason Dufner (Starting)

Dufner didn't quite follow up his victory at the Zurich Classic like he would have hoped, finishing T68 at the Players Championship last week. But prior to that victory, he had six straight finishes of T33 or better. He is another extremely accurate golfer, ranking 10th on tour in driving accuracy and 26th in GIR.

Louis Oosthuizen (Bench)

Despite a missed cut at the Players Championship last week, Oosthuizen has been playing well. Prior to last week, his previous two finishes were third and second. He is very accurate, ranking 37th on tour in driving accuracy and 15th in GIR.

Also worth using: Carl Pettersson.

Picks for The Golf Channel Fantasy Challenge

Group One: Matt Kuchar

Group Two: John Rollins

Group Three: Boo Weekley

Group Four: Briny Baird

Who to choose in your Weekly Survivor/Eliminator/Earnings League?

There's a decent pot here, so if you're inclined to go with one of your elite players, go ahead. I don't think I want to use a Group A player here. If I did it, would probably be Keegan Bradley. I'm more inclined to with Ernie Els, Jason Dufner or Louis Oosthuizen.

While I think Els could play very well, I'm not sure that I see him winning. I'm more inclined to go with one of my other options. Given that I already decided to start Dufner over Oosthuizen (it was about as close as it can get), I am going to go with Jason Dufner this week.

Already Used

Bryce Molder, Steve Marino, Bill Haas, D.A. Points, Martin Laird, Hunter Mahan, K.J. Choi, Rory McIlroy, Jarrod Lyle, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Charl Schwartzel, John Senden, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald, Bo Van Pelt, Fredrik Jacobson, Charles Howell III, Jim Furyk and .

Note: Pay attention to your league rules/format. For instance, I am in an Earnings League that has two seasons. One is from the beginning of the year until the U.S. Open, and the other is everything after the Open until the end of the season. In such a format, there are only five events left in season one, so if this applies to you, now is the time to use your best golfers.

Good luck to all this week. If you have any comments or questions, please use the comments feature or reach out to me on Twitter.

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