Tiger who? The buzz this week, as it has been for the past few months, and rightfully so, is back on Mr. Rory McIlroy. The new cover-boy of EA Sports “Tiger Woods” golf game is ready to play in his first Arnold Palmer Invitational, and we’re ready to watch him win. It’s tough to say anyone in the field has ‘great’ history here, since over half the names on the trophy since 2000 belong to one man, including 2 of the past 3 years (yea, remember when Tiger was player of the year 18 months ago??) But, as usual the invite list is a who’s-who of the best of the best, so it could certainly be anyone’s week. Good luck!

Feel free to contact us with suggestions on fantasy content and enjoy the weekend!

How it works:

• My Guy: If I’m picking in a one-golfer league, and had to just pick one…he’s the guy.
• Stripes: “Man, I was striping it today” as the big guy (TW) likes to say. Call these guys my “favorites” each week.
• Wildcard: All in the name. Enough said.
• Shank: I hate to even say this word, especially on a golf course, so as you can imagine these are guys to avoid.

My Guy:

Rory McIlroy

• Where better for a reigning #1 to win than Arnie’s place, heck Tiger did it 8 times, can’t be that hard
• Game is priming for the majors and this is a big tournament to win
• Consider this the last big test before the Masters and Rory has passed most of his big tests over the last 8 months

Stripes:

Kevin Na

• Has loved the PGA Tour swing in Florida – top 10s in both events
• Plays well at Bay Hill, finished top 15 or better in four out of his last five trips to Arnie’s tournament

Jason Day

• In great form this year, 9^th place in the FedEx Cup rankings
• Playing wonderful golf – 8^th on PGA Tour in driving distance, 2^nd in GIR percentage, and 1^st in birdies per round which equate to his 1^st place ranking in the all-around statistic

Henrik Stenson

• Just can’t leave him off the list this week
• Has been playing superb golf around the globe
• Perfect record and a few top-10’s at Bay Hill
• Not a player I would ‘save’ for a major, put him in while he’s hot

Wildcard:

Rickie Fowler

• Hard to be a real ‘wildcard’ when you’re ranked inside the top 15 in the world, but his play as of late has had him quickly falling off people’s radar.
• However – with the Masters around the corner, Butch will certainly have Rickie’s game sharpening up
• It’s a top-tier field, with a top-tier host. We saw how Rickie played in big tournaments last year – looking for him to start that streak this year at Bay Hill.

Paul Casey

• Back-to-back top 5’s (one of which was a playoff loss) before he fell victim to the Blue Monster (T38)
• Found something to build on in February, and without having to deal with the length of Doral, look for him to be back in contention this weekend

Shank:

Brandt Snedeker

• Not always easy to pick a Shank from a Palmer invite list, however, this guy has been letting us down since his win back at Pebble
• 0 rounds under 70 in last 12 rounds on tour (that includes 7 rounds at 73 or higher)
• His game is there…somewhere…just not sure he’ll compete in a field this deep