Weekly Recap: Welcome to Vaughn Taylor’s New World

Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Vaughn Taylor. One of those golfers is not like the other.

Only one of them had not won in more than a decade. Only one of them had food poisoning last week and had to withdraw from a tournament in, of all places, Colombia. Only one of them traveled with a lighter carry-on bag to avoid excess baggage fees. Only one of them is turning 40 soon and faced an uncertain future for his wife and young son. And only one of them didn't know he was playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am until three days before the tournament started.

Welcome to Vaughn Taylor's world. Welcome to a world without private jets. Welcome to the other side of professional golf.

While six golfers in the top in the world highlighted an unusually strong field at famed Pebble Beach, Taylor got into the field only as an alternate, on Monday. While those six golfers, plus six more in the OWGR's top 25, were thinking of victory, Taylor was thinking of, more like hoping for, somehow, simply finishing in the top 10, which would allow him to play the following week at Riviera.

Taylor, the world's 447th best golfer, shot 65 on Sunday to improbably win Pebble Beach by one stroke, to win $1.26 million and to win playing privileges on the PGA Tour for the next two-plus years.

Welcome to Vaughn Taylor's new and vastly improved world. And, welcome to playing today's fantasy golf, when there's more depth in pro golf than ever before.

Taylor was owned by 0.09 percent of gamers playing on PGATour.com, according to fantasy writer Rob Bolton; by 0.25 percent at Yahoo; and by two percent at DraftKings (and it was only that much likely because they needed someone to fit into their remaining balance to fill a sixth and final slot).

You can win daily fantasy without picking the winner. You'll have a hard time winning if one of your guys doesn't make the cut. I entered a free, 100-entrant game on DraftKings, and none of the top 10 had Taylor (well, two of them had Nick Taylor). Seven of the 10 had six guys get at least an MDF, including the top four. I wasn't in the top 10; I had one guy MC.

Just a few tips to keep in mind the next time you are filling out your lineup. Of course, Vaughn Taylor's tip on how to avoid airline baggage feels could be more helpful.

MONDAY TAKEAWAY

Vaughn Taylor
Taylor, who turns 40 on March 9, moved to No. 100 from that far-away 447th position (heck, that was even lower than Tiger Woods, who this week dropped to 444). Is Taylor an option going forward? Probably not. More likely, he's just the latest example of a guy catching lightning in a bottle. Good luck figuring out beforehand the next guy to catch lightning in a bottle.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson missed a five-footer for birdie on 18 that would've forced a playoff. He thought he would make it, so did most of us; Taylor couldn't bear to look. Of course, Mickelson was the overnight leader and shouldn't have been in that position; he should've won. But he's getting closer, after being winless since 2013. Mickelson now has a runner-up, a T3 and a T11 in four 2016 starts and, even with all the Phil-bashing in this space, it now seems he's headed for his best year since 2013. Mickelson is up to No. 20 in the world, back to roughly where he was this time last year.

Jonas Blixt
Blixt finished outright third, his best showing since a T2 at the 2014 Masters. The Swede has largely struggled since that near major win, and even has missed six of 10 cuts this season. But he also tied for sixth two weeks before Pebble, so perhaps Blixt has righted some wrongs. He certainly bears watching and consideration.

Freddie Jacobson,
Jacobson had been in funk similar to his less-accomplished countryman, Blixt. But look at this: With his T4 on Sunday, Jacobson now has three T5s in his past four starts. Long considered one of the sport's top putters, the Swede is 33rd this season in strokes gained: putting – but significantly better than that during his four-event surge.

Hiroshi Iwata
In his first full season on tour, the Japanese star is still finding his footing. After missing four of seven cuts to start the season, Iwata has a T18 and, at Pebble, a T4. He even had the lead on the back nine on Sunday. Iwata is in the field this week at Riviera … so why not?

Justin Rose
Rose is never included in the Big 3, 4 or even 5 or 6 (and not just because he's No. 7 in the world). The Englishman isn't flashy. He played the AT&T for the first time, lured by pro-am partner Justin Timberlake, and notched a T6. It was only Rose's second start in 2016, after missing the cut at the Farmers. It would hardly be a surprise for him to repeat a fantastic 2014-15 in which he won once, had three seconds and one third, with three top-6s in majors.

Jason Day
Even though Day surely is in all conversations concerning the Big 3 or 4, he's been a bit of a forgotten member of the club, having taken much of the offseason off (imagine that) for the birth of his second child. So he's still looking for reps. After missing the cut at the Farmers with a case of the flu, Day tied for 11th at Pebble, and that was with a poor Sunday. That moved him back to No. 2 in the world, overtaking Rory McIlroy. Day is skipping Riviera, no doubt maddening his owners. That could be a concern this season: Sure, Day will be in all the big events, but just how much will he play overall?

Kevin Streelman
Streelman has always been an interesting option for gamers – not one of the tour's best by any measure, but surely a quality golfer. He tied for 17th at Pebble, his fourth top-25 already this season. Just two weeks ago, he was in the title mix at Torrey Pines. Streelman's good play has moved him back into the top 100 in the OWGR, at 96, after finishing 2015 at 147.

Jordan Spieth
Finally, a mention of the world's No. 1 golfer! (You know, outside of the first two words of the column.) Spieth, who said he was fully rested from his whirlwind tour of the world, was never in the hunt, and needed a closing 66 to surge up the leaderboard for a backdoor top 25 (T21). Even though Spieth has a chance to win every time out, that's not happening. Even Tiger, in his prime, won less than one time out of every three starts, and Spieth won't come close to that (see: Vaughn Taylor winning). The wins will come for Spieth; it's just really tough on gamers to figure when they will.

Jason Gore and Colt Knost
These two are linked by more than just (um, how can we say this gently?) a nonathletic physique. Gore is listed at 6 feet, 245 pounds while Knost is 5-9, 215. These guys make cuts and, as we discussed earlier, that's invaluable. Gore is eight for eight and Knost is nine for nine after their T51s at Pebble. Gore has only one top-25 ,but Knost has three, all in succession before this past week.