Neither this week’s BMW Championship nor the TOUR Championship on Sept. 20-23 will feature cuts, so the strategy is simple. If you’re front-running, stymie your competition with chalk. Just be sure to position yourself properly with six worthy defensemen at East Lake. If you’re chasing, you’re forced to reach outside the box for the proverbial contrarian investments. My roster in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO is both chalky and loaded with ball-striking talents who might go overlooked in my little league. If Kyle Stanley in particular prevails or even contends, it’d be a bit like catching lightning in a bottle even though we see him coming. With no TOUR action next week, this column goes on hiatus until the week of the Playoffs finale. It’s why you’ll find two weeks of birthdays at the bottom. The Power Rankings for the TOUR Championship will slot all 30 qualifiers, so the Fantasy Insider will be abridged. Sleepers returns with the Safeway Open on Tuesday, Oct. 2. I’ll have a full-field Power Rankings for the Ryder Cup after the FedExCup champion is crowned. All of my weekly staples will turn over for the 2018-19 season right around then as well. They include the Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions and Rookie Ranking. And after eliminating comments from my full-membership fantasy ranking due to the absence of a break in between seasons a year ago, they will return for this year’s annual monster. I’ll tweet everything as it publishes. Remember, while you don’t have to register for Twitter to read my tweets that aren’t replies, you’ll find the same on the FANTASY page. Scroll to ROB BOLTON TWITTERFEED at your leisure. PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO My roster for the BMW Championship (in alphabetical order): Jason Day Bryson DeChambeau Hideki Matsuyama Francesco Molinari Justin Rose Kyle Stanley You’ll find my starters in Expert Picks. Others to consider for each category (in alphabetical order): Scoring: Tony Finau; Tommy Fleetwood; Dustin Johnson; Brooks Koepka; Marc Leishman; Rory McIlroy; Phil Mickelson; Cameron Smith; Jordan Spieth; Justin Thomas Driving: Keegan Bradley; Rafa Cabrera Bello; Patrick Cantlay; Paul Casey; Tommy Fleetwood; Emiliano Grillo; Billy Horschel; Adam Scott Approach: Keegan Bradley; Rafa Cabrera Bello; Dustin Johnson; Andrew Landry; Louis Oosthuizen; Chez Reavie; Jordan Spieth Short: Emiliano Grillo; Billy Horschel; Dustin Johnson; Phil Mickelson; Cameron Smith; Justin Thomas Power Rankings Wild Card Bubba Watson … En route to a T7 at TPC Boston, he led the field in strokes gained: off-the-tee, strokes gained: tee-to-green and par-5 scoring. He also checked up at second in distance of all drives and T10 in proximity. That confidence with his longest clubs should carry over to Aronimink where it figures to matter even more given the foreign putting surfaces. Draws Marc Leishman … The defending champion is one of the seven in the field who competed in both editions of the Quicken Loans National. He placed T7 in 2010, but Aronimink is a different track this time around. Nevertheless, his consistency week to week and potential to make noise is enough reason to trot him out there most weeks. The results and the stats aren’t necessarily glossy, but every fantasy team needs reliable depth. Emiliano Grillo … With respective rounds of 72 and 70 bracketing his T7 at the Dell Technologies Championship, he was the only golfer who finished inside the top 10 with fewer than three sub-70s, but the aggregate of the execution is why he deserves another strong look at Aronimink. He’s doing just fine in the Playoffs overall, but he’s excelling in proximity to the hole, ranking third. Billy Horschel … The bright side of his mid-tournament withdrawal at TPC Boston is that a sinus infection doesn’t hamper the golf swing. Assuming he’s turned the corner, expect him to resume pounding the leaderboard as he has for months. He checks all of the boxes analytically, too. Abraham Ancer (DFS) Keegan Bradley (all) Brain Gay (DFS) Kevin Kisner (DFS) Jason Kokrak (DFS) Louis Oosthuizen (all) Patrick Reed (SERVPRO) Brandt Snedeker (DFS) Gary Woodland (DFS) Fades Tiger Woods … This is relative to his form, nothing else. Pure and simple, he’s been putting poorly. In the Playoffs alone, he’s 97th in strokes gained: putting and T102 in birdies-or-better percentage with the putter. The good news is that he’s been grinding well (sixth in scrambling), but all that’s allowed is a T40 at Ridgewood and T24 at TPC Boston. Now, if you believe that he sets up as a contrarian against your competition, sleep well knowing that he’s 17th in the Playoffs in strokes gained: tee-to-green and eighth in his trademark strokes gained: approach-the-green. With sizable targets unfamiliar to the field, any reconnection with his putter could ignite a special weekend. Jon Rahm … This is a rare spot for him. As I’ve described before, his game is slump-proof, but he’s opened the Playoffs by going MC-T43 and hasn’t done a good job of managing his game after the tee ball. Perhaps the Ryder Cup is in the back of his mind – it’ll be the first time he’s representing Europe in the biennial competition – but he still wants to ramp into it with better feels. Webb Simpson … Held the 36-hole lead at the Dell Technologies Championship, but shot 76-74 post-cut to finish T49. That triggers the alarm on how he hits the ground running at Aronimink even though he competed in both editions of the Quicken Loans National when it was contested there. Henrik Stenson … If his left elbow is feeling better, he didn’t play like it at TPC Boston where he ranked T5 in greens hit but 73rd (of 76) in strokes gained: putting. The T69 was his fourth finish of T35 or worse in his last five starts. Pat Perez … Still in the field as of Tuesday afternoon. He withdrew during the Dell Technologies Championship when his wife went into labor with their first child. Currently 34th in the FedExCup standings. Chesson Hadley Brian Harman Charles Howell III Si Woo Kim Patton Kizzire Alex Noren Xander Schauffele Brendan Steele Returning to Competition Rickie Fowler … By sitting out the first two events of the Playoffs, he’s slid from 17th to 22nd to 26th in points. Therefore, he needs to log four rounds with some form to get to East Lake. However, you’re advised to let him go it alone what with the oblique injury that has prevented him from competing until now. Use this as a testing ground just in case he qualifies for the finale. We’ll reassess in two weeks if he does. Notable WDs Daniel Berger … He did well to climb from his opening position of 89th to 65th in the FedExCup standings after two events, but his decision not to play the BMW Championship could be an indication that he’s still bothered by a sore wrist. Gets at least one month off now to rest. Power Rankings Recap – Dell Technologies Championship Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Justin Thomas T24 2 Brooks Koepka T12 3 Dustin Johnson T7 4 Jason Day MC 5 Tony Finau T4 6 Bryson DeChambeau Win 7 Patrick Cantlay T24 8 Adam Scott T49 9 Rory McIlroy T12 10 Jordan Spieth T12 11 Phil Mickelson T12 12 Justin Rose 2nd 13 Billy Horschel WD 14 Patrick Reed T35 15 Tommy Fleetwood T24 16 Jon Rahm T43 17 Hideki Matsuyama T4 18 Gary Woodland T24 19 Paul Casey T21 20 Kevin Na MC Wild Card Marc Leishman T21 Sleepers Recap – Dell Technologies Championship Golfer Result Kevin Chappell T35 Joel Dahmen MC Branden Grace T43 Russell Knox T43 Jamie Lovemark 76th Birthdays among active golfers on the PGA TOUR September 4 … none September 5 … none September 6 … Brice Garnett (35) September 7 … none September 8 … none September 9 … Hudson Swafford (31) September 10 … none September 11 … none September 12 … Ã�ngel Cabrera (49) September 13 … none September 14 … Will Claxton (37); Tony Finau (29); Emiliano Grillo (26) September 15 … Kevin Na (35) September 16 … Bryson DeChambeau (25) September 17 … Byeong Hun An (27)
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