As a newbie to this game I find myself in 33rd place overall with 10 transfers left, with 11 weeks to go. I reckon with a decent finish I could make the top 10 - this is my current goal

The problem is I haven't got a clue how to attack the final stretch?

There are 3 events left worth double points and the first problem is the first of these only has 30 starters. It is in 2 weeks and I have 4 starters in my squad but I can't decide if I should reserve 2 transfers to ensure a full team playing that week?

This weekend I only have one player at the moment - again I can't decide if its worth blowing 2or3 transfers to get a few more starters

And obviously there will be a similar problem the weekend of the Ryder Cup when most of the big name players wont be playing

I'm thinking - 2 transfers this week to get a couple more players
2 transfers next week to get a full squad for the double week
2 transfers the week after - as its the Ryder cup and I probably wont have many/any players playing
that leave 2 more transfers for each of the double gameweeks near the end of the season and hope my squad is good enough for the other weeks between now and the end of season
How does that sound?

Anyone care to share some pearls of wisdom?

Defo get 6 playing for the Tour Champs (M Laird will be playing the Dunhill Links and the Timberlake event so may be a good cheapie if you need one?).

Not so sure about using 2 this week.

McD and Jimenez the obvious picks, but they will be tweaking things for the Ryder Cup and may not be focused on winning. Then they will not play for a month, so could be wasted transfers.

Better to save trans for later IMHO, not many people will score highly this week.

I would aim to have 3 transfers left for the final week. You'll probably need to get creative with your 6 for Dubai if you want to make a positive final move, so 3 trans will be a must.

Good luck!

I'll share a few as last season I was in almost the same spot, the only difference being I wasn't in my first season. Happily I'm in this boat too this season

You could start by going back to pages 4 & 5 of the fantasy golf forum and looking over the weekly threads from this time last season - you'll get an idea from the chat in them of what FISOers were doing and what we were looking for.

In it, there is pretty good advice which is basically that you should be aiming to have a full team for the remaining 2x tournaments. Harder than it sounds, as Dubai is a long way off just yet and things can change dramatically. For the Tour Champs you shouldn't be thinking that there is only 30 to choose from - look at it that each golfer has a 2/3 chance of scoring doubled place points.

One problem is that inevitably when playing catch up, you gamble, and they don't pay off. Last year I picked Fernandez-Castano to ride through the Spanish swing, and (IIRC) he promptly withdrew from the second event i.e. too late for me to reverse it as he had played and done bigger all in the first event. Then there was my punt on Michael Sim, who was in red-hot form having won 3 times on the Nationwide Tour and earned "battlefield promotion" to the PGA Tour. He wasn't eligible for the playoffs, but I banked on his getting sponsor invites for the Fall Series events. He played in one and another (the Viking) was completely washed out with no play So that was a disaster, and keeping him in my team stubbornly meant I couldn't afford Mickelson for the HSBC, which he promptly won.

You also need to accept that at the late stage of the season there will be stacks of WDs at the last minute which ruin plans. Have a look at the leaderboard as well - there will still be some guys with virtually no transfers left, and they can reasonably be expected to be overhauled.

Thanks for the advice guys

Looking at the leaderboard, most of the top 10 only have 1or2 playing this week so I'll preserve the transfers for a later date.

Well maybe I'll just have 1 transfer...

Ill be using 3 but annoyed Rumford withdrew - I have plenty left but last time I did I brought in Moore & petterson and they both missed cuts - consequently leaving out Moore when he plays well .

If you do change guys this week then as Shaun has already indicated - there are only a few to go for and then you are really lumbered with them for the rest of the season.

11 weeks - going to be hard to get to the top guys but not impossible

Players event will be critical - I am planning on looking at the top 4 or 5 teams and deliberately picking other players - I will then be clear on where I stand (Probbly about 200th!)

Was a bit bored tonight



A smattering of guys I hadn't previously considered -

Bo Van Pelt 0.9m
J Overton 0.7m
J Day 0.8m

Next week I'll be doing an in depth analysis of the players selected in the Tour Championship. Watch this space

5 transfers or less after the tour event will be really pushing it if not 150 points clear?
Each transfer got to be worth 20 points between now and the end of the season???

Nice piece of work Hotpot.

Great to see Exeter (18th) up there again, and with a wad of transfers, come on Stuart you can do it

But it's Britinus who's leading the FISO pack at the moment in 10th, keep going Bernard!

Mr Green's there too (20th), though only 4 transfers left Matt

As far as previous form is concerned, Tony M in 16th has won it before, and I think Tim T may have too in 3rd.

Marc E in first is also a name I recognise. Anyone else got previous Mr Green?

It will be very difficult to make a run that will overtake all of the top ten, but good luck to all the FISO boys!

Predicted final placings:

1. Kingsmead Swingers Marc Eccles
2. Two Ten for Tim Tim Tidmarsh
3. Do Ants go to Discos Simon Murphy

And before they get upset don't forget about el_pappje in 26th and padmole in 42nd

I'm aiming for 4th

again

Top 2 or nowhere for me - so I will be as radical as possible over the next couple of big events (Got my money back with a weekly win so why not) - TIN CUP - here I come!

Currently in 32nd Shaun, and off to find a box of tissues to mop up my tears.....

Nice work with the spreadsheet Hotpot by the way. Similar situation to you and decided to use 1 transfer to bring in Jiminez this week (9 now left). I think 2nd is still catchable, but I reckon 1st is away and gone for the vast majority of us FISO boys. Close by 25 points per week and we're off to Florida or Vegas! I can but live in hope....

Good luck all.

Now you're upsetting me Chris .

My runner-up place last year got me a long weekend in Portugal with 2 rounds of golf, whereas this year it's a week in Florida with 4 rounds of golf at Sawgrass

Still, not complaining, this time next week I'll be sitting in a bar by the marina, contemplating a round on Vilamoura's Old Course

And forgetting to set your teams up

Ha! Have a good one Shaun - I'm sure it will help you to recharge your batteries for a shot at the title next year.

Hope you enjoy your break in the sun, and think about us all sat here in the freezing cold UK as you take yet another sip from your sangira.

It's no coincidence I'm going next week

Hopefully won't be any drop-outs from the Tour Champs, so my OFL teams will be fine. Most of the other comps are finished or I'm well out of contention anyway

Was carefully planned so that I was back for the Ryder Cup too

Have since found out that my daughter needs delivering to Warwick Uni on the Saturday of Ryder Cup week and my carefully planned Fri off to watch every shot of the first day will now be amidst the chaos of Uni packing

It's no coincidence I'm going next week

Hopefully won't be any drop-outs from the Tour Champs, so my OFL teams will be fine. Most of the other comps are finished or I'm well out of contention anyway

Hope you'll be near a computer Shaun...still need your input for the Timbuktu team. Still in with a chance of 4 ball in sunny Scotland, not quite the same as Sawgrass I know

Back on tactics, and proving my point/fears......

Tano Goya a WD after 9 holes in Austria. 5.36% teams own him.

Here it is Hotpots in depth guide to this weeks golf

The chart below shows which of this weeks Tour players are in the squads of the teams occupying the top 30 positions in the overall leaderboard (the list was just only just compiled but is obviously subject to change! ).

Surprisingly, there are 9 golfers not in any squad and another 6 only selected once Anyone looking to take a gamble or two could do worse than bring in a couple of these players then get out the prayer mat.

I'm still not sure how much I shoul dallow the chart to influence my transfers this week



Good Luck

Tricky....with last week's low scoring, I've fallen 2 pts out the top 30, but if I was included you would (currently) have an entry in the Mahan column and a 2nd Zach J.

As for the absence of Villegas & Ogilvy, they are there largely by virtue of early-season performances and are not in great form, so the leaders would be unlikely to punt a precious transfer for possibly only one certain event.

I think you have enough time left not to gamble everything now on the unpopular picks. You need some differentiation but it needs to be well thought out.

Looks like I need a Tim CLark win then - tempted to bring in Watney (G8t!)

No-one in the top 30 with Ogilvy, 7 with Casey & 15 Donald

Best round points for all of the above. Anyone gamble on Geoff ???

RUBBISH - had choice of adding Kuchar or Donald. Added Kuchar as committed to an event in 2 weeks time :0(

Really tough greens though so lots will still happen - is Mickleson really that good or just a little lucky???

Moore / Clark / Hoffman / Goosen needed to finish top 10 - best round points by the bucket please!

Maintaining Shaun yahoo team this week - day one had 4 guys under par on bench and 4 players over par in starting line up. Not a week to be from Merseyside ;0)

I've got a team with Ogilvy in - in 1385th

Other than that, a couple of Casey/Donald pairings for 2x BRs. Thing about this event is, with only 30 people, the leaderboard can shift so rapidly. I can't imagine Kuchar being as loose today as he was yesterday.

Thanks for support Shaun, not easy making a run even if you're in 10th. Double pointers we all have very similar teams and the singles just don't give one enough points.

Up one place to 9th
Can't really afford to make any more transfers until the next double pointer, have deJong this week though, should be good for a couple of points, that's just jinxed him getting any.

I've included the top36 in this weeks xls, anyone outside of this has no chance

A couple of real tortoise huggers in there!

Looks like being a quiet week -

Got a few dilemma's this week.

Best team 115th overall, 2nd in cash league - 0 playing, 7 transfers remaining - I'm thinking get 2 players in.

Next best 500thish overall - 1 playing, 13 transfers left - get 3 in, 4 players looks like being a lot this week

Finally, TFG team, 1500th overall - 0 playing, 4 transfers left - hold on to the transfers ?

Would appreciate the wsdom of the forum

I'd give up on the TFG if I where you

I was thinking of using one of my 7 transfers this week My thinking was 6 transfers would be enough to last me until the end - 2 for each of the doulble weeks, just in case they are needed and 2 spare. Most of the weeks remaining have 2 events so should be easier to get a full squad out?

But when I looked on oddschecker this weeks event is so wide open (20to1 the field) I just don't think its worth a punt with only 7 transfers left.

I'd say 3 from your team with 13 left is fine as it still leaves 10 for the last 8 weeks. I'd sit tight with the other teams.

gl

Personally, I'd only consider making a change this week if either:

a) You have plenty (i.e. 10 or more) transfers available

b) You're looking at the bigger picture - i.e. you're bringing in a cheap player with a view to further specific changes later on, or you think that someone will do well during the remainder of the year.

Making a change just to add a bit more interest to the Viking Classic is a bit wasteful, in my opinion.