The Fantasy Insider: The Open Championship

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It's British Open week, so set an early alarm or don't bother sleeping at all -- when this unique gem of a major comes calling, it demands your attention for 72 hours. Sleep deprivation might affect your ability to handicap the field, but that's where I come in. Let's get right to it.

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Last week: We're not going to brag about having winner Steve Stricker, given that he was a consensus pick throughout the land and we missed out on his second-round 61. Still, 128 points for the week were enough to keep us in the 96th percentile for the year, and seven of our eight picks at the John Deere Classic made the cut. Not a Hall of Fame week, but not a flush away, either.

Fantasy game basics: We're picking eight players every week from three separate pools: two players from the A-List, four players from the B-List, and two players from the C-List.

From round to round, you'll "start" four of those players (one of your A players, two from B, one from C), making daily changes as you see fit. If your guys play well that day or for the week, you score well.

The eight players you pick at the beginning of the week are the only ones you can use and switch up during a particular tournament; the next week, you'll re-evaluate and refresh your group of eight.

You're allowed to use any player up to 10 starts for the year, and anything from 1-4 rounds in a given event counts as a single "start." As always, choose carefully, and have a long-term plan in addition to your short-term goals.

A-List Selections

TIGER WOODS (Round 1 starter): I've still got three Tiger cards to play here and there's no way I'm skipping him for a major. He was in fine form at his own party (winning at the AT&T National), and Tiger probably doesn't like being one major victory behind his tennis buddy Roger Federer. If you want to cook up a reason to be cute and skip Woods this week, that's your business; this is one spot where I'm not swimming against the tide. SERGIO GARCIA: His best chance to break through at a major comes at the Open Championship -- Garcia has six top-10s in his last eight starts, including a sole second two years ago. Sergio's year-long putting slump is a concern, sure, but he always seems to putt better on the European side of the pond, and he's got the creativity needed to succeed on this sort of layout. OTHER A-LIST OPTIONS: Geoff Ogilvy has missed the weekend in four of his six British Open starts, though he played very well in the other two outings (5, T16). He was in the hunt at last week's Scottish Open (T13), which should help his confidence heading into Turnberry ... Ernie Els also finished T13 last week at the Scottish Open, and he's forever been a force at the British Open, even in his down years. The Big Easy has 17 straight checks at this major, including a win and six other top 10s this decade. Bottom line, this guy knows links golf inside and out, and you have to give him a lot of consideration in this spot ... Padraig Harrington hasn't carded a top 10 on the PGA TOUR play this year, and he's missed an astounding 7-of-13 cuts. It would be foolish to discount a two-time defending champ out of hand, but how can we feel good about Paddy's game right now? ... Paul Casey was one of the hottest players around during April and May, but he's slipped a bit in recent weeks (missing two cuts after a T63 at the Memorial) and that makes me hesitant to dial him up. He didn't have any deep runs at the Open Championship until last year's T7 at Royal Birkdale ... Kenny Perry had a decent little run going at the British Open in the middle of the decade (T8, T16, T11), but he missed the cut in 2006 and didn't make the trip the last two years. The best part of Perry's game has never been on or around the greens, however, and I'm concerned that he might have some difficulty adjusting to the different style of play that's coming this week ... Anthony Kim doesn't have a lot of experience on this type of layout but that didn't keep him from a T7 run at Royal Birkdale last year (his best career finish in a major). He's been trending upward during his last three events (T16, T11, then a sole third at AT&T National) and I expect Kim to be prominent in our PGA Championship plans next month ... The British Open used to be a thorn in the side of Jim Furyk -- he missed the cut five years running from 2001-05 -- but he's figured things out of late, running T5, T12 and fourth the last three years. Furyk doesn't bomb the ball off the tee and it hasn't been his best year with the irons, but never count out a player with his experience, toughness and guts -- especially on the greens.

B-List Selections

HUNTER MAHAN (Round 1 starter): In a sense it's a little surprising that Mahan hasn't completely broken out into the superstar class, but he seems awfully close to me. He's very quietly grabbed six top-20 cashes in majors over the last three seasons (including a T10 and a T6 this year), and he's missed just one cut this year. You're not going to find an obvious flaw on his stat sheet -- he's hitting it long (294 yards a pop), he's hitting it straight, he's been strong with his irons (15th in GIR) and he's been putting well (32nd). If there's a case against Mahan in this spot, I don't see it. ADAM SCOTT (Round 1 starter): Yep, it's time to take him off the restricted list and get him into play. Scott's game showed improvement at the U.S. Open, he finished tied for fourth at the Scottish Open last week, and this has generally been his best major (T16, T27 and T8 finishes the last three seasons). The comeback has started, and the major announcement to the world comes this week. RORY McILROY: The precocious Northern Irishman has been a factor in majors this year (T20 at the Masters, T10 at the U.S. Open) so this is no time to hold his tender age or lack of experience against him. I'd feel better about McIlroy had he shown something at the Scottish Open last week (T46), and you also wonder if this major brings more expectations and pressure to McIlroy, but anyone who can drive and putt like this fearless kid has a chance to make noise at Turnberry. ANGEL CABRERA: There's a lot to be learned from Cabrera's approach on the course -- he plays quickly, he plays confidently, and he plays with a certain joie de vivre that's impossible to miss. He's become the sneaky sleeper in majors over the last three years (winning at Augusta this year and at Oakmont for the U.S. Open two years ago) and he prepped solidly at last week's Scottish Open (T20). OTHER B-LIST OPTIONS: Steve Stricker didn't have much of a British Open track record until recently -- he's bagged a couple of top 10s over the last two years. But the drain of winning last week at the John Deere Classic, and then traveling abroad, has me a little leery in this spot ... I wanted to pick Lee Westwood in this spot, seeing his fine play at the Scottish Open last week (T8) and noting his solid record in majors over the last couple of years. But Westwood has to play his first 36 holes with Tiger Woods (makes me a little trigger-shy on the Englishman), and at the end of the day I don't trust Westwood's putter enough to put him in play this week ... Perhaps the whirlwind summer of Lucas Glover caught up to him a little last week at the John Deere Classic (T66), and I could see another off-performance here. He's playing for the fifth straight week, he didn't have a lot of time to adjust to the time difference, and he's still trying to figure out how to compete at the Open Championship (T78, T27, MC the last three seasons). I need a little more to get him onto my roster ... Tim Clark hasn't done a lot in five British Open starts (just two checks, nothing in the top 20), and he missed the cut at last week's Scottish Open. This doesn't look like the ideal set up for him to finally break through and win that long-overdue first event ... Sean O'Hair has made four straight cuts at the Open Championship, including a couple of top-15 finishes, so the different style of play here shouldn't throw him off. I have two reasons for skipping past O'Hair this week: his Sunday scoring has been an issue over his recent starts, and I've already used up eight of my 10 O'Hair plays for the season. That said, I'm expecting a four-round showing from him, as usual ... The British Open hasn't been Zach Johnson's best major (MC, MC, MC, T20, T51), and he's another player facing a quick adjustment period after playing in last week's John Deere Classic (where Johnson finished tied for second). I'm also running low on Johnson starts as well, so this is a no-brainer to me. I'll wait for a better spot ... I have no idea what we'll see from David Duval this week, but I'm certainly going to be pulling for the story. Duval's run at the U.S. Open was one of the five best stories of the year in my mind, and don't forget that his one major title came at the British Open in 2001.

C-List Selections

IAN POULTER (Round 1 starter): Honestly, I made this pick back in 2008 -- after seeing Poulter's stirring second-place run at Royal Birkdale, followed by his inspired Ryder Cup play, I knew I'd be strongly considering him all through 2009 and using him aggressively in majors. He's not an automatic pick by any means -- this might be the deepest C-List pool of the season -- but I'm sticking to my gut and honoring the promise I silently made last season. Poulter has the game and the nerve to win at a star-studded event. ROSS FISHER: He's made his mark during the majors this year (T30 at Augusta, solo fifth at the U.S. Open) and he was in the hunt at the Scottish Open, tying for eighth. Fisher has the ball-striking you'll need to make a run at Turnberry, and if his putting looks sharp in the early rounds, we'll have a four-round story on our hands. OTHER C-LIST OPTIONS: Henrik Stenson has finished in the top 10 in three of the last four majors and that doesn't include his runaway victory at The PLAYERS Championship. I'd be more sold on a Stenson play if I trusted his putter a little bit more, but he's not afraid of elite fields and he's already bagged a bunch of impressive victories on each tour ... Martin Kaymer's record in majors leaves a lot to be desired (four cuts missed in six starts), but he's coming into this event off two straight European Tour wins (Open de France two weeks back, then last week's Scottish Open). Kaymer's iron play and putting stroke have always been first-rate, and now he enters a major with a head of steam, so watch out ... Retief Goosen's game adapts nicely to links golf; he's made the cut in 12-of-13 Open Championship starts, including six top-10 finishes. He played 54 holes of superb golf at the Scottish Open last week before faltering on Sunday and settling for a T6 finish. I'm expecting another strong week from Goosen ... The Open Championship has generally been the toughest major for Luke Donald -- he's yet to crack the top 30 at this event. Sharpness could also be a factor; he didn't make the cut at the U.S. Open and he wasn't a factor at the BMW International (T51).