Fantasy League: Iskandar Johor Open preview

The Today’s Golfer Fantasy League continues in Asia this week for the European Tour and Asian Tour co-sanctioned Iskandar Johor Open, in Malaysia.

The addition of the event to the European Tour schedule means a strong field has made the trip to challenge defending champion Padraig Harrington.

The tournament is held at Horizon Hills G&CC for a second year; a high-quality venue that has picked up a number of awards since it opened three years ago.

Unfortunately, the week is looking likely to be blighted by the same storms and lightening that saw last week’s Barclays Singapore Open reduced to 54 holes.

The Pro-Am was cancelled due to bad weather – with many fairways and greens under standing water – and the forecast is for storms to continue through until Sunday.

The wet conditions will make the course play long and the potential stop-start nature of the event will be a severe mental test so look for players who can bomb it long and straight and remain focussed whatever weather and starting times are thrown at them.

TG’s six-man Fantasy League team for the Iskandar Johor Open is:

Padraig Harrington, $2.5m
As the defending champion, he’s one of the few main European Tour players who has played the course before and will, of course, have very happy memories. Had show some reasonable form before missing the cut in Singapore last week.

Anthony Kim, $2.0m
It’s been a disappointing season for Kim, but he’s starting to regain the form that made him a vital part of the victorious American Ryder Cup team in 2008. Comes in following back-to-back T3 finishes.

Danny Lee, $0.8m
The New Zealander is showing signs of fulfilling the potential that saw him win on the European Tour as an amateur. He’s earned his PGA Tour card for 2012 with an impressive finish to the Nationwide Tour season and had a top five in Singapore last week.

Joost Luiten, $1.1m
He’s had 13 top-20s this season so he looks like a safe vet for points in a relatively weak field. He’s a very accurate player who hits plenty of greens. His only real weakness is out of sand so will be a contender if he can avoid the bunkers this week.

Louis Oosthuizen, $2.2m
Last year’s Open champion is peaking at the business end of the season. Four top sevens in his last five starts indicate another win is just around the corner.

Richie Ramsay, $0.9m
The former US Amateur champion is 30th in the Race to Dubai. His breakout professional year has been underpinned by ranking 2nd in driving accuracy and 5th in GIR. On a run of T3-3-T13 so expect him to be in contention on Sunday if his putter gets remotely warm.

> You can register for the free Today’s Golfer Fantasy League and pick your team here.