FanNation

Players Championship Fantasy Notes

Fantasy News and Recommendations for selected players for this week's Players Championship

Jim Furyk: News: Missed cut last week. Last two years at Players have resulted in top 10 finishes. Putting has been his nemesis so far this year, but has quietly won over one million dollars.
Rec: he's in my lineup this week. A seasoned pro who should do well with Tiger out of the mix. Straight shooter who usually shows up in the big spot. Been waiting on him all year. This could be his week.

To the Nines

What a game is this golf. Coming off my loop today, reminded me of just that reality.

One of my two players was lights out on the front, throwing in bomb after bomb through 8 holes. Par on 9 gives him a 37 (+1) on the front nine of the difficult course where I caddy. 

Number 9 is a short, straight away par 4. The only trouble off the tee is a forced carry of about 150 yards over an environmentally protected area and dead left which is out of bounds. He's had no real difficulty driving the ball up to this point. Mostly been "walking the dog" around the course (short but straight).

Gentlemen Prefer Golf

Of the many tales I've told in this space, most tend to border (or at least attempt to) on humor. But there's one aspect of caddying (and being around golfers) that I haven't shared with you. And that's the gentlemanly potential of the game.

When I greet my players, it's always "hats off" in a show of respect (and it goes both ways). I hear things like, "so nice to see you," good to see you again," how's teaching," and "thank you." Golf has the capacity to bring out the best in human behavior. I wish I could count the number of times I've heard one member in a group invite another to their course, to "have dinner with us" or "give me a call" after a round.  

...and Jerry Kelly made me look like an idiot

Picking up from my last post entitled "Tiger Woods Made Me Look Like a Genius," I'd like to recount a story of the time I caddied for PGA Tour player Jerry Kelly at the Newark Boys and Girls Club Pro Am at Somerset Hills Country Club in New Jersey a few years back.

It was a last minute assignment for me. As one of the more veteren caddies at SHCC, I got to caddy for a tour player every year in this pro am. This year, I was originally going to carry Carl Petterson's bag, but he had to bail out at the last minute. Fuzzy Zoeller, the tournament "host," was able to get Jerry to fill in at the last minute and I got the assignment.

He was a pretty cool guy. A little "edgy," i.e., "I'd rather be home with the kids than here with a bunch of muckety-mucks," but he was a good sport until we got to the 7th hole. On this long, difficult par 4 (the number 1 handicap hole), Kelly pulled his tee shot into the left rough about 140 yards from the green. Facing a tough approach shot, he knocked his 9 iron to about 2 feet when two younger guys approached him and asked, "Hey Jerry, did you hit that a little thin?" To which Jerry, incredulously replied, "I just hit a 9 iron 140 yards stiff, and you want to know if I hit it 'thin?' Welcome to 'effing' New Jersey!" 

Finally, on the back nine, I made the mistake of walking forward to the regular men's tee (while Jerry and the gallery went back to the newly installed pro tees, which I had never seen before). So I'm waiting there looking down the fairway waiting for Jerry to "show up" at the tee when I see coming over my head, his University of Wisconsin badger head cover which he had thrown at me. So I turn around to see where it came from and there's Jerry with the gallery cracking up at me and he announces, "my caddy's killing me!" They started roaring with laughter while I wanted to crawl into a hole. He later apologized and told me that he was just having some fun with me. 

He made it up to me after the round by giving me a nice tip and a dozen Titleist Pro-V1 golf balls.

Tiger Woods Made Me Look Like a Genius

Not my title, but I didn't think the author would mind me taking a little poetic license here because I'm about to plug his terrific golf book entitled the same as this blog post.

Here's the amazon.com link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Woods-Made-Look-Genius/dp/0740704729 

And here's The Gator's review of it:

I read this book some time ago. It's not at all heavy in technique. Instead the author, Don Crosby (Tiger's high school golf coach), mixes anecdotes with helpful and practical advice for improving your game. The best part of the book is the back section which includes a chart for you to track your progress along with tips on how and what to record. I found this to be extremely beneficial as it allowed me to identify and focus on improving the areas which needed attention. He spends a good deal of time talking about the short game (everyone's bugaboo) and how the amateur can find time in our busy days to dedicate to practice without going bananas and negatively impacting other, more important areas of our lives. Highly recommended for all golfers.