Fantasy Golf: USPGA Championship preview

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After a thrilling finale to the WGC event at Firestone, there’s no let-up in the Today’s Golfer Fantasy Golf game, in association with Your Golf Travel, as we arrive at the final Major of the season, the USPGA Championship, with triple points on offer.

The host this week is Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, which can be stretched to a monstrous 7,676 yards and is best-remembered as the venue of the 1991 Ryder Cup, dubbed ‘the War by the Shore’.

The par 72 Pete Dye-designed track will be the longest course in Major history if it plays to its full length but there are numerous tee option on every hole so the organisers could switch things up a bit depending on the weather.

Whatever happens, it will play long with holes 6-13 expected to be into the wind, so distance off the tee is a definite advantage. The fairways are reasonably wide although the penalties for missing them can be lost balls.

The greens are a unique grass that not many of the field will be overly familiar with and will likely run at a relatively slow 11.5 on the Stimpmeter, which should favour the European Tour players.

With so much on offer this week as the Ryder Cup race also draws to an exciting climax, there are plenty of players with numerous incentives to do well and it could boil down to avoiding mistakes and holing putts when under pressure.

Here is TG’s six-man team for the USPGA Championship:

Tiger Woods, $4.5m
He saved his week at Firestone with an encouraging bogey-free 66 on Sunday to finish inside the top 10. He ranks first on the PGA Tour in ball striking and adjusted scoring and 13th in greens in regulation. He will have to take more drivers off the tee than at Lytham but it’s his putting that is likely to determine his week.

Bubba Watson, $2.6m
The Masters champion leads the Tour in distance off the tee and greens in regulation and lost to Martin Kaymer in a USPGA Championship play-off at Whistling Straits, another Pete Dye design – two years ago. Finished T19 last week.

Louis Oosthuizen, $2.6m
The sweet-swinging South African is coming into form very nicely off the back of T24-T19-4 finishes. He ranked inside the top 10 in distance, fairways hit and greens at Firestone. He knows how to win a Major and could benefit if the wind picks up.

Bo Van Pelt, $2.2m
Amongst all the young Americans coming to the fore this season, the 37-year-old has quietly been enjoying a very good year. He has top 20s in six of his last eight starts on North American soil, including a T7 at the Canadian Open and a T8 at the Bridgestone Invitational in his last two starts.

Jason Dufner, $1.9m
The PGA Tour Player of the Year candidate isn’t the greatest putter but he does stand fifth in bogey avoidance and 20th in scrambling on Tour. The PGA Championship runner-up last year has two wins, a second, a T4 and 7th at Firestone in his last seven starts.

Scott Piercy, $0.9m
He followed up a win at the Canadian Open with a T19 last week that showed he could mix it with the big boys. He’s T12 in driving distance and 5th in GIR from fairways bunkers so should recover well if and when he finds the numerous sandy parts of the Ocean Course.

> You can see a full list of all the golfers playing this week and their prices by clicking here. You have until 12.20pm on Thursday 9th August to select your team.

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