The (British) Open Championship 2018 (DBR Fantasy Contest!)

[Tripping William]

The UK may as well remain in the spotlight, post-Wimbledon and World Cup. Now the golf world’s eyes turn to Britain and, specifically, Scotland’s Carnoustie. Tommy Armour won there. Ben Hogan won there. Gary Player and Tom Watson won there. But this course will forevermore be known for who lost there, in 1999: Frenchman (!) Jean Van De Velde’s triple-bogey on the 72nd hole to surrender a 3-shot lead. He would ultimately lose in a playoff to Paul Lawrie. It was perhaps the classic counterpoint to Payne Stewart’s iconic winning putt at Pinehurst a month earlier.

Heaven only know what the Barry Burn will give us this year. Let the discussion commence.

Wednesday deadline for the contest again?

[sagegrouse]

The UK may as well remain in the spotlight, post-Wimbledon and World Cup. Now the golf world’s eyes turn to Britain and, specifically, Scotland’s Carnoustie. Tommy Armour won there. Ben Hogan won there. Gary Player and Tom Watson won there. But this course will forevermore be known for who lost there, in 1999: Frenchman (!) Jean Van De Velde’s triple-bogey on the 72nd hole to surrender a 3-shot lead. He would ultimately lose in a playoff to Paul Lawrie. It was perhaps the classic counterpoint to Payne Stewart’s iconic winning putt at Pinehurst a month earlier.

Heaven only know what the Barry Burn will give us this year. Let the discussion commence.

Wednesday deadline for the contest again?

I was about to say that the only nobility within 100 miles of the golf course would be hereditary dukes, as our main men, Kevin Streelman and Ryan Blaum, did not qualify. BUT NO!!! Julian Suri, who plays on the Euro tour, is in the field:

Julian SURI -USA

Came through Final Qualifying for his debut in the championship last year, but will be at Carnoustie thanks to his joint second place at the recent HNA French Open, part of The Open Qualifying Series with three places on offer.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I was about to say that the only nobility within 100 miles of the golf course would be hereditary dukes, as our main men, Kevin Streelman and Ryan Blaum, did not qualify. BUT NO!!! Julian Suri, who plays on the Euro tour, is in the field:

Go Julian! LGD GTHc!

[Rich]

Wednesday deadline for the contest again?

Can someone please post the rules again and a link to the latest standings we should use to pick our team?

[mr. synellinden]

Here are the rules:

1. You have thirty OWGR "points" to spend on picking a team.
2. You can pick any player in the field - it's not a draft, so in theory you could have the exact same team as someone else.
3. You can pick up to 10 players, not more.
4. Each player's "cost" is their OWGR points total rounded down. So, Dustin Johnson "costs" 9; Justin Thomas - 8; Bubba Watson - 5; etc.
5. Anyone whose OWGR points is less than 2, costs 2. In other words, no player in the field costs less than 2.
6. Your final score is based on a total of the money won by all the players on your team. If one of your players misses the cut, you get 0 for that player.
7. As a tiebreaker, you also pick the winning score relative to par (e.g., -12).

11 pm ET Wednesday deadline for submitting picks.

http://www.owgr.com/ranking

[JasonEvans]

Here are the rules:

1. You have thirty OWGR "points" to spend on picking a team.
2. You can pick any player in the field - it's not a draft, so in theory you could have the exact same team as someone else.
3. You can pick up to 10 players, not more.
4. Each player's "cost" is their OWGR points total rounded down. So, Dustin Johnson "costs" 9; Justin Thomas - 8; Bubba Watson - 5; etc.
5. Anyone whose OWGR points is less than 2, costs 2. In other words, no player in the field costs less than 2.
6. Your final score is based on a total of the money won by all the players on your team. If one of your players misses the cut, you get 0 for that player.
7. As a tiebreaker, you also pick the winning score relative to par (e.g., -12).

11 pm ET Wednesday deadline for submitting picks.

http://www.owgr.com/ranking

As a recap, here is how we did the first two Majors (mad props to mr. synellinden for tallying the results after each tourney)

Masters:

mkirsh - 3,453,450
Bob Green - 2,723,875
Troublemaker - 2,501,975
Tripping William - 2,401,163
DukieCB - 2,282,225
dudog84 - 1,944,250
mr. synellinden - 1,676,813
jacone21 - 1,538,846
Mal - 1,199,551
Rasputin - 1,129,063
Jason Evans - 1,083,088
gotoguy - 1,074,975
cato - 864,051
killerleft - 546,865

US Open:

CDu: 3,273,952
tbyers11: 2,866,135
Jason Evans: 2,729,844
dball: 2,468,739
Rogue: 1,375,200
rsvman: 1,289,144
Rich: 1,240,181
Mr. Synellinden: 1,167,573
mkirsh: 1,111,030
killerleft: 1,036,606
Bob Green: 963,266
Tripping William: 953,385
cato: 935,314
CameronB&B: 881,851
Mal: 819,087
HereBeforeCoachK: 484,310
Rasputin: 122,387

I have created an online spreadsheet to track where we are in terms of cumulative standings. Obviously, this favors those of us who have participated in both contests thus far, but if you skipped one that is on you.

Here are the cumulative standings through 2 of the 4 majors.

mkirsh - 4,564,480
Jason Evans - 3,812,932
Bob Green - 3,687,141
Tripping William - 3,354,548
CDu: 3,273,952
tbyers11: 2,866,135
mr. synellinden - 2,844,386
Troublemaker - 2,501,975
dball: 2,468,739
DukieCB - 2,282,225
Mal - 2,018,638
dudog84 - 1,944,250
cato - 1,799,365
killerleft - 1,583,471
jacone21 - 1,538,846
Rogue: 1,375,200
rsvman: 1,289,144
Rasputin - 1,251,450
Rich: 1,240,181
gotoguy - 1,074,975
CameronB&B: 881,851
HereBeforeCoachK: 484,310

-Jason "mkirsh... I'm coming for ya!!" Evans

[CDu]

My picks:
McIlroy (6)
Fleetwood (5)
Noren (5)
Stenson (4)
Carbrera-Bello (3)
Schauffele (3)
Woods (2)
Zach Johnson (2)

Winning score: -13

[mr. synellinden]

Molinari 5
Woods 2
Fleetwood 5
Cantlay 3
Finau 3
Stenson 4
Thomas 8

Winning score -10

[curtis325]

I'm going to war with:
Fowler (6)
Fleetwood (5)
Stenson (4)
Sergio (4)
Leishman (4)
Kuchar (3)
Schwartzel (2)
Tiger (2)

Score: -12

[killerleft]

I'm expecting these gents to upgrade me to superbly mediocre overall:

Justin Thomas (8)
Jordan Spieth (7)
Tommy Fleetwood (5)
Francesco Molinari (5)
Matt Kuchar (3)
Matthew Fitzpatrick (2)

Champion Golfer finishes at (-8)

[JasonEvans]

Rose 8
Fleetwood 5
Molinari 5
Garcia 4
Poulter 3
Grace 3
Woods 2

Winning score: 9-under

[JasonEvans]

Justin Spieth (7)

Who?

[killerleft]

Who?

Lol, thanks! Corrected.

[Rich]

Justin Rose - 8
Rickie Fowler - 6
Tommy Fleetwood - 5
Frankie Molinari - 5
Henrik Stenson - 4
Matthew Fitzpatrick - 2

Winning score: -6

[rasputin]

Rose 8
Rahm 7
McIlroy 6
Matsuyama 5
DeChambeau 4

Winning score: -8

[Bob Green]

Team Green consists of:

Dustin Johnson (9)
Rickie Fowler (6)
Tommy Fleetwood (5)
Francesco Molinari (5)
Charley Hoffman (3)
Luke List (2)

Winning score: -8

[House P]

I am a casual golf fan. Other than watching major tournaments, my exposure to professional golf is pretty much limited to occasionally having the TV tuned to a PGA event while I take a Sunday afternoon nap on the couch.

So, without any real insight, I decided to pick a team based on two factors:

1. Home Field Advantage: I will only choose players from the British Isles.
2. Quantity Over Quality: I will choose enough low ranked players to ensure that my fantasy team has 10 golfers.

Using those guidelines, here's my team.

- Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 6 pts
- Tommy Fleetwood (England) 5 pts
- Tyrrell Hatton (England) 3 pts
- Ian Poulter (England) 3 pts
- Matthew Fitzpatrick (England) 2 pts
- Ross Fisher (England) 2 pts
- Russell Knox (Scotland) 2 pts
- Eddie Pepperell (England) 2 pts
- Matt Wallace (England) 2 pts
- Paul Dunne (Ireland) 2 pts

Winning score: -6

It probably doesn't bode well that 30% of my team qualified for the Open based on Exemption #7 (Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 30 of the 2018 Race to Dubai), Exemption #33 (Open Qualifying Series France-HNA Open de France 2018), or Exemption #37 (Open Qualifying Series Scotland-Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open 2018).

Oh well, at least my team stands a better chance than it would have if I went with my original plan of picking 10 guys from Scotland. In that case my team would have prominently featured Sam Locke, a 19 year old who is currently working part time as a barista at the Paul Lawrie Golf Academy.

[mkirsh]

Rose (8)
Fowler (6)
Fleetwood (5)
Molinari (5)
Leishman (4)
Knox (2)
Total (30)

Winning score: -4

Also, although the '99 Open has been poured over a thousand times, I really enjoyed this oral history of the final hole (though I'm always a sucker for the oral history format). It tries to let Van de Velde off the hook a little but still a good accounting of the event.

https://www.golfchannel.com/article/...18-and-beyond/

[rsvman]

What the heck, I'll take another stab.

Koepka 8
Fowler 6
Fleetwood 5
Reed 5
Finau 3
Kuchar 3

Winning score 7 under par.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Brooks Koepka 8
Rory McIlroy 6
Jason Day 6
Marc Leishman 4
Sergio Garcia 4
Tiger Woods 2

Winning score -7