Yeah, I'm playing Henrik Stenson this week

I couldn't believe my eyes last night when I saw a "naked golfer"... well almost naked.

It was Henrik Stenson. As the story goes, his ball buried in some mud and he didn't want to get his clothes dirty, so he stripped... right on the course. Fanny (his caddie) was doing her best to gather his clothes and get some towels ready.




He ended up bogeying the hole, but still gained some points for me.

Oh, and yeah... he's pretty good eye candy!

Time to update my progress...

So far so good.

With the scoring method this year (on each round rather than FedEx Points), I'm holding my own.

Through last week's tournament, I was in the 94th percentile.

Of course it's still early in the season. We're just now settling into the "Florida Swing".

Mercedes-Benz Championship this week

After one of the shortest breaks in all professional sports, the PGA Tour is underway again in Hawaii with the Mercedes-Benz Championship. This limited-field, no-cut, tournament is always a favorite. To qualify, all you have to do is win a PGA Tour event during the regular season.

This is also the unveiling of the new PGA Tour Fantasy Golf/Yahoo! Sports marriage. You get a whole new way of doing things, which I believe will be better than last year. I just wasn't a fan of tying the Fedex Points to the Fantasy golf game.

So, basically, you pick two golfers from the "A" list (those are the super-stars), four golfers from the "B" list (these are the guys who play well day in and day out, and sometimes even win), and two golfers from the "C" list (these are rookies, foreign "unkowns", and "over the hill" guys). Once you've selected your roster, then you pick half of the roster as your team, 1-A, 2-B, 1-C player. You may also adjust your team throughout the tournament.

I like this format, as you can adjust according to the 36 hole-cut, or DQ's, or WD's. Also, if you've picked a guy who isn't doing as well as one of your bench guys, you can make a change at the end of a round.

Scoring is "per round" basis with the lowest round golfer receiving 20 points and each stroke behind receiving 2 points less. Additionally, the tournament winner gets 20 points, second place gets 10 points and third place gets 5 points.

You can only "start" a golfer in a maximum of 10 tournaments. There is no reset at the start of the next "season segment" (total of three segments).

So, who did I select?

Hey, I can't give away all my secrets... Get signed up on Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf. Then go to private groups type in ID#5452 pw is entrecard.

2009 Fantasy Golf Season Starts Now!

Here we go again... new partners, new format... Hopefully a better game overall.

Got a hankering to play PGA Tour Fantasy Golf? Are you a member of Entrecard? Join me at the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf. Once you do that, you may join my private group by leaving a comment here on this blog. I'll send you the group ID and password via the Entrecard messaging system.

It looks like this could be a fun year. Tiger is on track to return for The Masters. Before that, there's the always "rough and tumble" western swing where sometimes the weather wins, and sometimes the golfers win. One thing for sure, there's no real dynasty.

Now, just to be clear, in order to play Yahoo! Fantasy Golf you must have a Yahoo! ID and you must be at least 18 years old, and a resident of the USA (50 states or Wash DC). These rules are in place to make sure you're eligible to win one of their many prizes, including a "PGA Tour Experience".

Most Loyal Advertiser Link Love!

Quite some time ago, I instituted an "Advertiser Loyalty Program" for folks who belong to Entrecard, an advertising community for bloggers.

Here's the deal on my "Advertiser Loyalty Program".

Every time you purchase a 24-hr ad spot from me, I enter you into a pool of that month's advertiser. That means, at least, you have a 1 in 31 chance of winning at least 60 EC from me. I have five blogs, so you are welcome to advertise across all five and compete for each of the pools.

I also keep track of how many times you advertise with me. See that "Most Loyal Advertisers" in my Blogroll? Each of those bloggers have advertised at least 10 times with me. They may have advertised two times on each blog, or 10 times in just one blog. Either way, they all earned a permanent link for their efforts.

I also have a "big pool" made up of all the advertisers. I set aside 25% of the credits I receive from advertising, and when that totals 500, I go to a random number generator and select a winner, awarding them all 500 EC.

Who's been winning? That's where the link love comes in... Be sure to check out these folks. They each received at least 60 EC from this blog.

May Winner:

AnyApples

June Winner:

Wii Golf . net

July Winner:

Just 4 Families

August Winner:

This Just In Fantasy Football

If you'd like to get in on the action, join me at Entrecard. It's where bloggers really have come together to create a program that works.

Bet'cha wonder where I've been...

Life has been rather busy for the past few months. Now, that doesn't mean I've dropped out of the PGA Tour Fantasy Golf League. No, I'm still playing, just haven't had time to post.

Besides that... I'm not in love with the way we're playing this year. You see, I'm more of a "handicapper" than a "pick the winner" type player. I love to analyze the stats and pick players to win certain skills categories. This year, it's all about picking who will finish highest on Sunday.

With that said, let's just say I'm mediocre at best. Heck, my best weeks have been when I've "thrown darts" at the selection process.

At least the powers that be have broken this whole thing into several segments.

I finished segment 1 (The West Coast Swing) in 2855 place with 35,980 points. Here's what I can report regarding the last 8 weeks of that segment.

Phil Mickleson did have that breakout week... and he was on my team! However the other five guys really let me down. Only Rory Sabbatini and Charles Howell III even made the cut, and they finished way down the leaderboard. The rest of my team, Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker, and Charles Warren all got early starts on the next week.

Week 8 there are no results available... wasn't that a match-play week? Guess I didn't sign up for that game this year. They've got me so confused...

On week 9 I returned to less than mediocre as only 4 of my guys made the cut, and then didn't play particularly well, except Robert Allenby, who earned 1033 points. Joe Durant, Charlie Wi, and Boo Weekly played on the weekend, while Mark Wilson and Bill Hass headed to the next tournament site.

Week 10 was even more disappointing. This was the Pods Championship, where I had dismal results. Three guys made the cut. Robert Allenby, Mark Calcaveccia, and Steven Ames got to play on the weekend, but weren't the least bit impressive. Ernie Els, JB Holmes, and Dudley Hart moved ahead to the next tournament as they all failed to make the cut.

Finally... my MAN is playing... Tiger Woods! He didn't disappoint either as he swept the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This time, the supporting cast played much better, providing me a total of 5459 points. Only one problem... all those points were overshadowed by everyone else who had a lot more points. For the week, I was in 7281 place. See what I mean?

Ok, here's the supporting cast... Brandt Snedeker, Chad Campbell, Steve Marino, and Kenny Perry. Only Luke Donald failed to make the cut.

At the World Golf Championship, I actually had points on all six guys (that's the first time this year). Too bad Tiger Woods didn't win again. Oh well, my team (including Tiger) was Vijay Singh, Aaron Baddeley, Brandt Snedeker, Ernie Els, and Charles Howell III.

My team tanked at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans... C'mon guys, you're supposed to party AFTER the tournament ends. Mark Calcaveccia, Kevin Sutherland and Joe Durant barely made the cut and all stumbled home at the end of the pack. Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink, and Steve Marino couldn't get out of there fast enough. Would you believe a total of 251 points for the whole weekend?

By now, I'm throwing darts at the line up to see if I can do any better.

I get better results at the Shell Houston Open. My darts told me to select Chad Campbell, Steve Stricker, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, John Mallinger, and Dudley Hart. Only the last two guys took a hike eariy.

I'll be back with results of the Southern Swing, a nine week sprint.

Used to be the Nissan, now it's Northern Trust Open

But, it's still at the famed Riviera.

Once again, I'm going with veterans who have done well here for the most part.

Phil... you're getting a second chance from me. I really believe you're fighting mad now, and fully embarrassed. That's usually an indication you're ready to bust loose... ya think?

Rory Sabbatini has won in the past, and he's playing with tons of confidence.

Charles Warren hits the ball long and straight... now, can he putt on the tricky greens? I sure hope so.

Jim Furyk likes this course, and I expect steady play from him.

Charles Howell III won here last year and has it in him to repeat the performance. This course fits his eye well.

Brandt Snedeker stays on my lineup as I really believe he'll soon have another breakout. He's too good to keep off the list.

Which way did they go? Surely they weren't playing in the same tournament.

Phil!!! What were you thinking... an 11 on ONE hole? I picked you to win... and you didn't even make the cut.

And Briny Baird... how come you were listed to play, but never showed up? I can't win when you don't play.

To the rest of you... thanks for not much. Yeah, you gave me a few points, but that doesn't cut the mustard.

Now, I don't want to hear your excuses... wind on the first two days, crazies on the 15th hole, the amateurs, the slow play... Hey, you signed up to play, and you've all played before.

Do I sound a little unhappy? Well, yeah I am.

Jim Furyk was my top point producer with 364. Mark Wilson came along with 118 and Brandt Snedeker limped in at the very bottom of the players on Sunday generating 58 points. What a bunch of losers! I really had a lot of faith in y'all.

So, where does this carnage leave me? Somewhere at the bottom of the pack. I lost more rank than I had in points, dropping 979 places to 2844. My opponent is now at 250 having gained another 113 places.