Goldmania

On Sunday, August 10th, Dan Goldman clinched the third competition of the 2008-09 ALACS season by winning the PGA Majors Game despite a thrilling Sunday run from Kyle “Hot Karl” Davis and his pony for the PGA Championship, Sergio Garcia. Final standings for the PGA Majors Game can be found here.

Goldman finished the four major championships with a cumulative score of 157.357 points; Davis finished with 142.567 points, with a 3rd-place finish from Sergio netting him 35 points. Had Sergio finished first, his effort would’ve been worth 50 points…and it would’ve given Kyle Davis a 0.210 point victory in the PGA Majors Game. Given Goldman’s commanding lead going into the final major, it was as exciting a finish as dedicated PGA Majors Game-followers could’ve hoped for.

FINAL STANDINGS – PGA MAJORS GAME
1. Dan Goldman, 157.357 ($105)
2. Kyle Davis, 142.567 ($50)
3. Brandon Seroyer, 136.682 ($24)
4. Mike Duin, 119.895 ($10)
5. Logan Morrison, 107.33
6. Mike Lazar, 107.137
7. Sean Stokke, 104.767
8. Mike Mary, 95.262
9. Alex Rosenbloom, 92.347
10. Joe Simich, 90.289
11. Andy Popp, 84.84
12. Teddy Bergeron, 77.925
13. Jordan Spektor, 67.887
14. Mike Rennard, 65.405
15. Joe Nelson, 58.427
16. Chris Platt, 57
17. Tim Hokit, 55.437
18. Steve Duin, 42.952
19. Bobby Weinberger, 33.122
20. Andrew Blood, 25.122
21. Conor McAvoy, 6.25

Goldman’s victory moved him into 3rd place in the ALACS Standings – a frightening prospect to every other ALACS participant, given that Goldman is currently neck-and-neck with PBA Commissioner Fred Schreyer for 1st place in Fantasy MLB and is the two-time defending champion of Fantasy NBA.

Target Acquired

Ladies and Gentlemen of the ALACS: Meet Public Enemy #1 (at least for this weekend). The profile you're staring at is that of two-time Fantasy NBA defending champion Dan Goldman, who also happens to have an overwhelming lead in the PGA Majors Game. The rest of the ALACS will need a lot of help to overtake Goldman this weekend.

Follow the ALACS competition live here: PGA Majors Game Standings and Scores.

Punished by Padraig

The first Tiger-less major in ALACS history ended without suspense on Sunday when Padraig Harrington captured golf’s oldest trophy for the second consecutive year, winning the British Open by four strokes. Through the lens of the ALACS, the biggest story was an e-mail sent out from the Commissioner’s Office on Wednesday, July 16th - a day before the British began – to five ALACS’ers who’d selected Harrington.

Gentlemen,
In the spirit of fair competition and not penalizing people who submitted their golfers early, I wanted to make you guys aware of this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/britishopen08/news/story?id=3491525 [article details a wrist injury sustained by Harrington in the days leading up to the open]

Each of the people receiving this e-mail has selected Harrington for the British. I wanted to let you know that you are free to change that selection (if you'd like to; I haven't made up my mind yet) as long as you get me your replacement by 9 PM tonight.

Six ALACS participants – Steve Duin, Chris Platt, Mike Marty, Dan Goldman, Brandon Seroyer, and The Commish himself – had selected Harrington as their Tier 2 golfer for the British, but after reading that Harrington was giving himself only a 50% chance to make it through the first round, everyone but Dan and Brandon switched Padraig out of their foursome. Numerous media outlets reported hearing anguished cries and wails of frustration reverberating through the walls of the Commissioner’s Office when Harrington sealed the deal on Sunday morning.

Harrington’s win blew the PGA Majors Game Standings wide open. The 50-point boost gave Dan Goldman what may be an insurmountable lead; his total score of 152.107 points gives him more than a 33-point lead over ALA veteran Brandon Seroyer, who moved into second with Harrington’s victory. Logan Morrison also made a major charge up the standings, moving into 4th place on the strength of Ian Poulter’s second place finish.


As might be expected as the 2008 PGA season progresses and more and more golfers are removed from the tiered ALACS selection pool, average scores for ALACS foursomes have dropped with each major. This does not bode well for anyone not named Dan Goldman. Even for those close behind Goldman in the standings, it will take a small miracle to make up the points necessary to provide a boost into first place.


Next Up: The PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club, August 7th – 10th.

British Open Live ALACS Scoring

Updated standings for the third Major of the ALACS PGA Majors Game, the British Open, will be available throughout the weekend at the following link:

ALACS PGA Majors Game -- British Open Standings

Round 1 Analysis from Guest Blogger Mike Lazar:

"Looking at the damage after day 1 - some interesting observations (or maybe just my musings as I take a break from a hectic work day...):

1 - Tier 1 scores, ignoring Adam Scott for the moment, did not perform as well as you might expect. Of course, in a British Open, with terrible weather, and Tiger being out of the tournament that might not be so unexpected. Phil and Ernie's high ball flight killed them today, and I don't know how Ernie managed to go triple - bogey - double at one point, but that's the Open.

2 - Tier 2 scores are pretty much exactly where they should be. With the exception of Vijay and Ogilvy, these guys all played well enough to stay in contention (just what a bunch of guys who are top 15 in the world should do in bad weather)

3 - Tier 3 scores are also spot on. Just a bit behind tier 2, but all in all, no one shot themselves totally out of it, and all the guys are in position to make the cut.

4 - Tier 4 provided some surprises. Besides Mahan, Casey, and Leonard, these guys are all right in it (and even leading in the case of McDowell). I don't know if this means that we are getting better at predicting this stuff over the couse of the season, or that the Open is just so messed up that "tiers" don't apply."

British Open Golfers Due Wednesday

Submissions for the third PGA Major of the year -- the British Open at Royal Birkdale -- are due at 9 PM PST on Wednesday, July 16th. Golfers will tee off at 6:30 AM UK time, which is at 10:30 Wednesday night if you live on the west (best?) coast.

Current standings can be found here: PGA Majors Game Standings.

Tiger's 2008 Season: Extinct

BREAKING: Tiger Woods has announced that he will have surgery on his left knee, ending a 2008 season in which he played in six tournaments. In those six tournaments, Tiger made six cuts, won four times, and made $5,775,000. Tiger will miss the last two majors of the year -- the British Open and the PGA Championship -- leaving eight unlucky ALACS'ers in the dust. Tiger will also miss the Ryder Cup in September.

"This is Probably the Greatest Tournament I've Ever Had"

Tiger Woods won his first major of the year Monday when he prevailed over Rocco Mediate in an 18-hole playoff, rewarding the four ALACS’ers who chose to use the world’s best golfer for the US Open. Thanks to Tiger and a 4th place finish from Tier 4 golfer Robert Karlsson, Mike Lazar rang up the highest single-tournament score yet in the PGA Majors Game, posting 74.167 points for the Open. That score vaulted Lazar into second place with a total score of 86.292 points, just 0.375 behind still-leader Dan Goldman, who sits atop the standings with 86.667 points.

If you’re looking to draw anything meaningful from the performance of your foursome in yesterday’s major, I might come to the following conclusion: outside of Tiger, no one is reliable in these tournaments (a conclusion you assuredly came to yourself if you watched Phil Mickelson’s Kevin Costner-esque performance on the 13th hole on Saturday). In fact, not only have no other golfers proved dependable – but not even the tiers of golfers have demonstrated any sort of collective consistency. Consider the following:


Tiger has averaged 45 points per major; the collective tiers have averaged no fewer than 3.88 points and no more than 4.98 points. Further, Tier 4 golfers (golfers ranked 27+ in the pre-Masters World Golf Rankings) have outperformed Tier 2 golfers (ranked #7-14).

For those of you who haven’t yet used Tiger and have saved him for either the British Open or the PGA Championship? Anything short of a 2nd place finish would all but demolish your hopes of winning our PGA Majors Game – a prospect made much more interesting by the fact that Tiger stated, at the conclusion of the Open today, that he wasn’t sure whether he’d play in the British Open next month. Of course, if you’re still in relative contention and have not yet used Tiger, you’re sitting pretty…assuming, of course, that he continues this run of greatness.

(note: I can't get the order reversed for some reason, but it's better to be at the bottom of this chart with Teddy, not at the top with Chores McAvoy)

Next up: The British Open at Royal Birkdale, July 17th-20th.

US Open Scorecard

PGA Majors Game Particpants:
I'll be updating the ALACS US Open Scorecard frequently throughout the tournament. Refresh it for updates.

US Open Golfers Due Wednesday Night

Just a reminder that the 108th US Open Championship at Torrey Pines -- the second event of the ALACS PGA Majors Game -- begins bright and early Thursday morning. Get your golfers to the Commish by Wednesday night.

Standings can be found here: PGA Majors Game Standings.