Go Big Easy, Go !

Well done Gordon on winning the Winter Leg of the Fantasy Golf. The only thing you get for this is bragging rights. Well may be we'll get you a Leg of Lamb :-)

But no one took out the skin, as I was the only one not to have Els on the team. And this also turned out to be the 50-60 points of difference between me & you guys this week. Oh well, we all seem to have a shocker every now & then. This week the skinny moves to $24, the overall to $104 and we all owe $65 (plus Tony of course needs to put $132 down at Lucky & Peps).

Now I am not even going to ask if the Big Easy has his mojo back as he is the only multiple winner on tour this year. I am just so happy to see the big fella winning again - he's one of my favourites.  He respects the game & he respects the King. Yes indeed. The Big Easy is certainly a role model for youngsters. Ernie has won the last two events he has entered - the Doral & The Bay Hill. The thing here is that they are both very difficult courses and that is a very good sign. It's only 2 weeks to the Masters and people are starting to ask if Ernie can pull that off. And you have to say he seems to have a red hot chance based on these recent confidence boosters.

But there is another sweet swinging old timer who could also figure and get in the Big Easy's way. Freddy "Boom Boom" Couples is playing very well at the moment, taking another title off the good ol' boys over on the Seniors Tour. I know that isn't quite the same level, but Boom Boom knows his way around Augusta extremely well and always seems to rise for this tournament, regardless of how he is playing at the time. How good would it be to see these two old war horses duking it out on the back 9 in Atlanta come Sunday? (note - these guys were Lynx club stablemates back in the day - remember them?)

This week we move over to Texas for the Shell Houston Open, a grand old event that dates back to 1922. Hats off to the sponsor Shell, for keeping the original name of the tournament in the title, rather than completely taking it over.

This week may take some research on your behalf to put the right Fantasy Team together. But seeing as I am such a generous soul, I'll put you on the right track. In the last 10 years, this event has been won by Vijay Singh 3 times, Stuart Appleby twice, Robert Allenby & Adam Scott once each, Paul Casey last year and Johnson Wagner the year before that.

What does all that tell you? Texas differs from the rest of the USA in quite a few ways and their golf courses are no exception. Whilst most Tour courses are lush, green, heavily watered layouts, that reward the high plop & stop fade, Texas plays a little like something closer to home.

Texas is windy & dry and so it courses play very much like our best tracks in Australia - e.g. hard & fast. Youngsters in Texas grow up with a strong grip, a draw as their stock shot and a low ball flight. Sound familiar? Vijay cut his teeth on the Australasian Tour, Paul Casey learnt his craft on the Scottish Links and Johnson Wagner comes from Texas. Over the years, Australians have won this event 10 times and include Graham Marsh, Bruce Crampton and Bruce Devlin as past champions, so it's no surprise that we have figured heavily in the winners circle lately. In fact Joe Kirkwood, the Australian Open specialist, won this event back to back in it's 2nd & 3rd year.

So apart from the Aussie names already mentioned, look for Geoff Ogilvy and some other younger Aussies as well as the local Texans, as well as any Europeans who have a low ball flight and have proved themselves at the old courses in Scotland.

We swing into the new Spring leg this week and it's only 10 sleeps to The Masters - ooh I just had a premature :-(

Good Luck All!

The LRFG!