RotoWire Staff/Expert League Results

Scottie Scheffler topped this year's RotoWire annual staff/expert golf league that includes the full season of PGA Tour events as the league invested more than usual in the elite golfers.

RotoWire held its annual staff golf league draft Thursday, Jan. 18. The 15-team league typically drafts before the Sony Open but began a week later due to scheduling conflicts (we were able to include The American Express/former Bob Hope Desert Classic). Although the season is already underway, the results may be a good guide for those who have a golf league and spend a fixed budget on golfers. [Such as being somewhat of a proxy for the season-long Underdog Fantasy best ball contests that start with the WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 8 and end with the British Open on July 21].

Our rules base winners on total earnings in PGA Tournaments from The American Express to the final FedExCup event (we skipped The Sentry and Sony Open in Hawaii), excluding alternate-field events. We also use only a fraction of the TOUR Championship event money since it's massive relative to the other tournaments.

Our format also includes bonus points for the four majors. As a result, some European and LIV players may be ranked higher than your league. If a European or LIV golfer plays in just the four majors and WGC tournaments, he'll still have a lot of value in our league. LIV golfers in particular posed an issue for the league. How much do you pay for one of the top players in the world who may play in only a few majors and no other PGA Tour events? Last year there was also serious risk that a golfer selected could move to the LIV tournament during the PGA Tour season. That is still a risk but seems to have subsided among the drafters.

Our league had 15 members, a budget of $100 per team and each team starts five golfers per week with a total roster of nine golfers. The league has been around since 2000 and was once featured in the New York Times.

The top golfers went for more than recent seasons, which was surprising since none appear to be as dominant as peak Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy or Jordan Spieth. Scheffler went for $69, which is up significantly from our top golfer last year, McIlroy at $55. In 2022, Jon Rahm was the top golfer at $58. Three golfers went for $60 or more, which was a change since no golfer had gone for more than $60 since 2020 (Justin Thomas for $64). The spending remained top heavy from there as there were 18 players with a cost more than $30, duplicating the 2023 draft.

I went into the draft willing to pay a max of $60 for Rory McIlroy as the anchor for my team. It may not have been a wise decision to pass on him at just $61, but I found solace in rostering Patrick Cantlay for just $48. He went fifth overall in our draft, but is typically a top-three value in most rankings. With that cost savings I decided to splurge on some players I expect to make significant improvements in Byeong Hun An ($18) and Akshay Bhatia ($12). However, I got overzealous and was left in dollar days too early. My team likely lacks enough depth.

Among the golfers the league was higher on than projections were Min Woo Lee, who went for $25, the 20th most expensive golfer compared to the 28th ranked golfer in RotoWire's preseason projections. Cameron Young was another top riser in the league at $42. He was the 7th most expensive golfer in our draft. However, he was ranked just 19th in RotoWire's preseason projections. My spending on An ($18) was the biggest overspend, as he's 66th in the RotoWire projections. Still, I like his upside since he likely would have ranked higher except for his suspension late last year and with his strong second-place finish at the Sony Open.

Denny McCarthy was just $14 (35th overall) even though he's ranked 22nd in the RotoWire projections. Beau Hossler went for $2 when he was ranked 65th in the RotoWire projections, though that may have been more a byproduct of the end game. Mac Meissner at $6 was an overbid bid with Josh Ross otherwise leaving money on the table as his last player. Adam Hadwin ($9) with four top-20s in his last six events, and Andrew Putnam ($5) with two top-10s in his last four events, were also likely good values.

LIV players Jon Rahm ($6) and Brooks Koepka ($3) still commanded more than the minimum due to their spot in the majors, but they'll be hard to hold on the roster in between. I'll have a similar issue with Bryson DeChambeau at least I only paid $1.

While these dollar values may not exactly fit your league's rules, this should be a good benchmark for your draft preparation.

Here are the participants:

Greg Vara - RotoWire golf writer
Len Hochberg - RotoWire golf writer
Kevin O'Brien - RotoWire golf editor
Jeff Ritter - Managing Director of SI Golf
Jeff Erickson - RotoWire senior editor
Peter Schoenke - RotoWire president (and worst real golfer in league)
Tim Schuler - RotoWire COO (and the league's best actual golfer)
Scott Pianowski - Yahoo! fantasy writer 
Ryan Pohle - RotoWire DFS Product Specialist and golf writer
Scott Jenstad - RotoWire baseball writer and high-stakes champ (and league's defending champ)
Mike Regan & Daryl Shevin - friend and former RotoWire staff contributor, respectively
Josh Ross - former RotoWire staff contributor 
Justin Green - former RotoWire staff contributor
James Ybiernas - former RotoWire staff contributor
Adam Schefter (ESPN Senior NFL Insider) & Kyle Soppe (Fantasy/betting analyst at Pro Football Network )