Fantasy Golf stats round-up: week two

Our weekly fantasy golf stats column - who's hot and who's not?

Fantasy Golf stats
Jim Furyk earned 400 fantasy points for his win at the RBC Heritage
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Check out our weekly fantasy golf stats column after victories for Jim Furyk and Kiradech Aphibarnrat

Fantasy Golf stats column: week two

Another week of the golfing season has come and gone, with Jim Furyk claiming his first victory since 2010 at the RBC Heritage and Kiradech Aphibarnrat coming through a play-off at the inaugural Shenzhen International.

Below, we take a look at the best-performing players from the previous week's action and look at who's making strides on the overall leaderboard.

PGA Tour

Unsurprisingly, many people kept Masters champion Jordan Spieth in their teams, despite his obvious fatigue ahead of the RBC Heritage.

He didn't disappoint, though, and the most popular player in the America M-Z category finished in a tie for 11th to secure 150 points for those with him in their team.

But it was Furyk who amassed 400 points this week for his play-off triumph, and the top-two teams in Golf Monthly fantasy league, Vins and The Black Cats, used the Spieth/Furyk combination to great effect as they smashed through the 4,000 point mark.

The only other team north of that figure - Sportsbob's scramblers - employed the services of Matt Kuchar, who earned 270 points for his fifth-place finish.

Elsewhere, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen (the most-selected African player) were common choices with the latter notching a top-seven, while Ian Poulter followed on from his strong Masters showing to record a second-consecutive top-20, earning 50 points in the process.

At the other end of the spectrum, Zach Johnson - a past champion at Harbour Town and an in-form player with attributes perfectly suited to the course - let many down by comfortably missing the cut.

Patrick Reed, Ernie Els and Jonas Blixt were other popular, high-profile names to miss the cut.

European Tour

On the European Tour, Bubba Watson rallied with a final-round 65 to end up in a tie for 29th - only good enough for a five-point haul.

Many of the biggest names in the field ended up losing points, with Robert Karlsson, Peter Hanson, Nicolas Colsaerts and Edoardo Molinari all missing the cut.

At the top of the leaderboard, Alvaro Quiros (T15) registered 80 points - his first contribution of the fantasy season - while David Howell and Peter Uihlein continued their recent solid form (290 points apiece).

The 400-point winner, Aphibarnrat, wasn't a popular choice, however. With the burly Thai not featuring in the Masters, many chose to keep Hideki Matsuyama, Thongchai Jaidee or Sangmoon Bae in their teams instead of spending a transfer in the Asian category.

In fact, none of the top-10 teams in the overall standings feature the two-time European Tour champion.

Who's hot and who's not

Last week, McDowell, Poulter and Z Johnson were the three most popular players in terms of transfers, with the former two vindicating their managers' faith.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson were the three most-sacked players, presumably owing to their playing schedules.

Top players in each category last week

America A-L - Jim Furyk - 400 points American M-Z - Peter Uihlein - 290 points Great Britain - Tommy Fleetwood - 340 points Ireland - Michael Hoey - 10 points Scandinavia - Lucas Bjerregaard - 80 points Rest of Europe - Marco Crespi - 290 points Asia - Kiradech Aphibarnrat - 400 points Africa - Branden Grace/Louis Oosthuizen - 230 points Australasia - Wade Ormsby - 150 points South America - Emilliano Grillo - 150 points

Head to the fantasy section of the Golf Monthly website each week to read our fantasy tipster's column.

If you're not signed up and want the chance to win great weekly and monthly prizes, create your team here.

We'll also reveal the weekly bonus transfer code in this column. This week, it's 'RoryMc1lroy'.  Input the code via your team page to get an additional transfer. Must be done before midnight on Wednesday.

Also sign up to our weekly newsletter to get a reminder of the code.

Nick Bonfield
Content Editor

Nick Bonfield joined Golf Monthly in 2012 after graduating from Exeter University and earning an NCTJ-accredited journalism diploma from News Associates in Wimbledon. He is responsible for managing production of the magazine, sub-editing, commissioning and feature writing. Most of his online work is opinion-based and typically centres around the Majors and significant events in the global golfing calendar. Nick has been an avid golf fan since the age of ten and became obsessed with the professional game after watching Mike Weir and Shaun Micheel win The Masters and PGA Championship respectively in 2003. In his time with Golf Monthly, he's interviewed the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Billy Horschel and has ghost-written columns for Westwood, Wayne Riley, Matthew Southgate, Chris Wood and Eddie Pepperell. Nick is a 12-handicap golfer and his favourite courses include Old Head, Sunningdale New, Penha Longha, Valderrama and Bearwood Lakes. If you have a feature pitch for Nick, please email nick.bonfield@futurenet.com with 'Pitch' in the subject line. Nick is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade M1 Fairway wood: TaylorMade RBZ Stage 2 Hybrid: Ping Crossover Irons (4-9): Nike Vapor Speed Wedges: Cleveland CBX Full Face, 56˚, Titleist Vokey SM4, 60˚ Putter: testing in progress! Ball: TaylorMade TP5x