Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Tiger is not everyone's number 1

TIGER Woods has humbled opponents for more than a decade; made a mockery of the world's toughest courses; and forced golf's establishment to rethink the game's equipment, its tournament scheduling, even its dress code.

Less well-known is the mess Woods has made for fantasy golfers.

Though less prominent than the juggernaut of fantasy football, fantasy golf leagues are offered by Yahoo, ESPN, NBC Sports and the Golf Channel, among others.

These leagues usually operate by the same general principles used in other fantasy sports - you draft a "team" composed of the players you think will shoot the lowest scores, win the most tournaments or earn the most prizemoney in the year, then you watch them compete against the various imaginary teams assembled by your dimwit friends.

This week, as many fantasy golf leagues conduct their drafts, a lot of them are having to make up the rules as they go.

Golf keeps resisting their efforts to turn it into a parlour game.

Problem No.1 is Tiger.

He's so much better than anyone else that the fantasy player who selects him nearly always wins.

Despite capturing only one Major title last year, Tiger won seven of the 16 events he entered, finished 15 times in the top 25 and earned $US5million more than anyone else on the USPGA Tour.

To adjust for his dominance, many leagues take the easy way out: they simply declare him off-limits.

Others have tried to punish would-be Tiger owners by switching to an auction format rather than a draft, which forces them to pay a high price for his services, while a few leagues only allow him to be rented by the month.

Another challenge for fantasy golfers is to pick players who actually finish a fair number of tournaments.

Professionals often will decide at the last minute to sit out a tournament - sometimes because they just don't feel like playing...

Source foxsports golf

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