The Fantasy Insider: Verizon Heritage

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Harbour Town is my kind of golf course, short and tight, accuracy trumps distance. The small greens offer subtle challenges. Make the players scramble to save pars. I wish we'd see more layouts like this over the season.

PGATOUR.com Pick 'em

You know the rules - one player in each of the six groups and a wild card selection. Let's get to it.

Cink

Group 1 Pick: Stewart Cink
Other Options: Sean O'Hair, Ryuji Imada, Justin Leonard, J.B. Holmes

Cink hasn't won on tour this year but otherwise he's having an outstanding season; two seconds, two thirds, sixth in FedExCup points. And he's obviously comfortable at Harbour Town; he won this tournament in 2004 and 2000. A check of the stats backs up a Cink selection; he's seventh in greens in regulation, and 33rd in scrambling. I'm sold, write the ticket.

Leonard isn't a bad play, a former Harbour Town champ (2002) with nine checks in 11 starts at the event. He's also having an excellent ball-striking year (12th in GIR).

Holmes has two moderate checks (36, 40) at the stop, but he's not having a great scrambling year, and obviously distance is his game. I'm surprised Imada hasn't done much here (cut, 71), because his game seems to fit what the course demands. O'Hair came in seventh at the Verizon Heritage last year after missing the cut in 2006.

Els

Group 2 Pick: Ernie Els
Other Options: Chad Campbell, D.J. Trahan, Daniel Chopra, Steve Lowery

My arch rival traded for Els this week in my home league, which of course made me immediately nervous. The Big Easy loves the Harbour Town layout and is knocking on the door for a victory; he's been second, seventh, third and tenth over the last four seasons, and he's got three other Top-10 finishes on the form. (Granted, Els didn't come cheap in trade -- said rival had to part with Masters champ Trevor Immelman.) Skip over Els this week at your own risk; he's the clear pick from this pool.

Campbell is 18th in GIR, which should play here, but he's got an ordinary track record at the Verizon Heritage (cut, 36, 32, 18, 58). Trahan has two missed cuts in four starts and hasn't done much this season since his early victory. Chopra ran 25th three years back but since then it's been a pair of checkless starts. Lowery hasn't done a lot in his last 10 visits: four missed cuts, just one finish inside the Top 30.

Furyk

Group 3 Pick: Jim Furyk
Other Options: Brandt Snedeker, Jeff Quinney, Bart Bryant, Steve Marino

Furyk is hard to look past in this spot, on a tight course that plays to his strengths. Look past his missed cut here last year as he was in the hunt the previous four starts (second, second, tenth, 15th). When you've got a horse for the course, don't get cute with your selection.

Snedeker isn't a bad play -- he ran 16th last year, and he looks decent in all the key areas (ball striking, putting, scrambling). It will be interesting to see how he rebounds to the emotional hit of the near-miss at Augusta, but I wouldn't hesitate to use him in most formats this week.

Bryant offers some sleeper value; he's 15th in scrambling, 23rd in GIR, and he's done well in two of his last three starts at the Verizon Heritage (21, 13). Quinney's lone start here was a missed cut, while Marino is making his tournament debut.

Austin

Group 4 Pick: Woody Austin
Other Options: Steve Flesch, Robert Allenby, John Senden, Peter Lonard

I've always been an Austin fan, but his stock went up with the classy way he handled his messy finish at the Zurich Classic. Austin has a few missed cuts at this track, but when he makes the weekend, we normally see some good numbers go up (17-32-32-2-19-15-4). I'm on board.

Flesch has a similar resume to Austin; he's done some trunk slamming at Harbour Town, but he's also finished in the Top 10 a couple of times. Perhaps he can push off from last week's strong showing at the Masters. I've always felt that Flesch had enough ability to be a consistent Top 40 player; maybe a shot of confidence is all he needs.

Lonard won here in 2005 but his other three starts have been mediocre (36, 59, cut). Perhaps his fine play in New Orleans will carry over. Allenby has five starts here and nothing better than 75th. I can't figure that out, but I'm not bucking the trend.

Mayfair

Group 5 Pick: Billy Mayfair
Other Options: Mark Calcavecchia, Stephen Ames, Nathan Green, Brian Gay

You know Mayfair will hit it straight, and you know he'll hit a lot of greens. Can he make enough putts to be in the hunt Sunday? I'll give the vet the benefit of the doubt, as he's finished in the Top 5 at Harbour Town three times this decade.

Ames is another fit for the course; driving distance is the only weakness in his game, and that's negated here. Otherwise, he's solid in every category you look, and he's been in the Top 10 in two of his last three starts at the Verizon Heritage.

Calc has pulled six checks in his last seven visits but only one of them was inside the Top 20. Gay struggled with his early starts here but he's come around nicely over the last two years (16th last year, ninth in 2006). I'd feel better about picking him if he were hitting more greens this season; he's currently 168th in GIR. Green has two ordinary showings (44, 52) in two starts here.

Baddeley

Group 6 Pick: Aaron Baddeley
Other Options: John Mallinger, Cliff Kresge, Ben Crane, Nicholas Thompson

Baddeley was the first winner under the Verizon Heritage umbrella in 2006, and he finished a solid tenth last season. He's having a funny year around the greens -- his putting remains stellar as always, but he's just 166th in scrambling. His recovery shots when he misses the green this week will determine how far he goes.

Crane has four straight checks here, including a pair inside the Top 25, so he's not a bad play. Kresge ran 16th in 2006 but he's also missed two cuts in his four Harbour Town starts. Mallinger can scramble and putt just fine, which will be needed because he's 186th in GIR. He didn't make the Verizon Heritage cut in 2007. Thompson is making his debut here, and he'll quickly see that his length won't help the cause.

Rest of the Field: Justin Rose is a name that you always have to respect, he's seventh in scrambling, and he finished seventh at Harbour Town three years back. He hasn't done much since, however (71, 47) . . . Boo Weekley has been pretty solid for the last three weeks, and oh yeah, he's the defending champ at the Verizon Heritage. Putting is the only weakness on his stat form, but everything else looks in place . . . Zach Johnson is flying under the radar a little bit, but don't sleep on him. He hasn't missed a cut this year and he's been in the Top 20 in two of his last three events. He finished sixth here last season . . . I'll generally make up reasons to use Fred Funk on my fantasy team, but there's no need to fudge the numbers here. He's cashed 15 straight checks at Harbour Town, including five straight finishes in the Top 30, and he's crafty when he misses the green (29th in scrambling) . . . Carl Petterson looks like another fit for the track, and he's been in the Top 10 in two of his last four Verizon Heritage starts . . . Dudley Hart has 10 checks in his last 11 turns here, albeit none of them have come in the Top 10 . . . Scott Verplank has eight straight checks at this stop, including four finishes of 11th or better. It's obviously a course that suits his eye; his ordinary distance off the tee isn't a factor, and he's usually going to hit a lot of greens and putt well...Davis Love's track record at Harbour Town can't be ignored - he's won this event five times, and he was second as recently as 2005. That established, he's also been outside the Top 30 in three of his last four starts here, and he's still shaking the rust off a bit from his fall ankle surgery, so we can't play him as confidently as we would have earlier in the decade.