2014 Fantasy Golf Daily Fix: WGC – Cadillac Championship
Welcome back to The Fantasy Fix’s Daily Fantasy golf picks. We are back for yet another week of play. This week’s Daily Fantasy picks for the Cadillac Championship PGA tournament are below.
We stay in Florida this week as we head to Doral for the World Golf Championship – Cadillac Championship at the Trump National course. The players will get to challenge the Blue Monster – a 7,481 yard par 72 course. We see greens seeded with Bermudagrass again this week.
Just like last week, this course has hosted only since 2007 so any results before 2007 aren’t very useful in determine whom to choose this week. Moreover, the course was overhauled last year in an attempt to toughen the course. So, with little history to go on and changes that have made the course more challenging, we will play it safe this week and look for top notch players who can play on any course.
Luckily for us, we have everyone here this week. As of publication, the top 50 in the World Golf Rankings are all here in Florida this week. There is no shortage of top players from which to choose.
Lastly, this is a no cut event so everyone makes it to the weekend.
Players
There are a couple of injuries to be aware of – Tiger Woods walked off on Sunday with some back issues and these will likely linger this week (and perhaps longer). Louis Oosthuizen is also battling back issues and may end up withdrawing. Justin Rose missed last week with shoulder issues, but should be back this week. Brandon de Jonge has a rib issue as well and Hideki Matsuyama had to depart last week with a wrist injury. Finally, Billy Horschel had some sort of injury (back, ribs, torso – it’s not clear), but he should be back this week.
With a deep and talented field it is not worth taking a risk on any of these injured players.
Let’s look at a few options this week:
I was incorrect last week in shying away from all of the top players and the one I chose (Charl Schwartzel) broke my heart.
Luke Donald – Back to back sixth place finishes in 2011 and 2012 put Donald on this list. He finished 43 rd in 2013, but he’s coming off an eighth place finish last week and looks to be in form. He should be able to handle anything that the course throws at him.
Victor Dubuisson – Dubuisson comes back from his finals at the match play to tee it up in Doral. He’s been one of the hotter players on tour and should continue his roll as he has the shot making ability to keep him out of big trouble.
Sergio Garcia – Garcia is similar to Luke Donald – he finished eighth last week. He finished third last year, but doesn’t have any other great results at Doral over the last few years. He probably won’t win, but he’s a pretty solid guarantee to finish in the top 10.
Chris Kirk – Kirk has been on fire this year (not missing a cut this year) and there is no reason to think he’ll slow down at Doral. He hasn’t played at Doral previously
Matt Kuchar – Kuchar has three top 10s in his four events this season. And he has a third, fifth and eighth place finish in his recent history at Doral. His cut is an anomaly – treat Kuchar as a guarantee this week.
Matteo Manassero – Manassero is one of those European tour players who shows up for a few tournaments a year and flies under the radar. He’s got two top 20s this year and finished 23 rd last year (with a 66 in the final round) at Doral.
Rory McIlroy – Yes, McIlroy choked away a near certain win last week. Yes, he’s had more of these type of performances than you might like to see. Yes, he’s got three top 10s in his last three appearances at Doral. Pay the big money for him this week.
With all of these big boys, you’ll need to find some cheap options and I’ll head back to the European Tour and suggest Jamie Donaldson of Wales, Joost Luiten of the Netherlands or George Coetzee from South Africa (who was in line for a solid finish last year before a final round 80 and has two top five finishes on the Euro Tour this year) to round out your squad.
Good luck this week!