The PGA Tour gets back in action this week at Kapalua Golf Club in Hawaii. This Coore/Crenshaw design always yields birdies galore. The pictures of the palm trees swaying and the blue Pacific Ocean always fill up your television screen and mainlanders stuck in the snow and cold weather, dream of warmer climes.
Only players who won a PGA Tour event in 2013-14 are invited this week. Even though Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer decided not to attend, there is still a quality field of 34 players in Hawaii this week.
Here are five players that should offer good value for your Fantasy Golf league.
5. Hideki Matsuyama will concentrate solely on the PGA Tour in 2015. He is just 22 years old and qualified for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions by winning the Memorial at Muirfield Village last year.
He is off to a strong start this season, making every cut in four events. He finished in third place at the Frys.com and T-10 in Las Vegas.
This is his first appearance at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, but will certainly not be his last.
4. Ryan Moore is coming off one of his best seasons on the PGA Tour. He had one win, seven top-10 finishes and ended the year at No. 39 in the FedEx Cup.
He collected his second consecutive CIMB Classic victory in November and was T-28 at the WGC-HSBC Championship in his only other start this season.
Moore is a solid player and should find Kapalua a good fit for his controlled style of play.
3. Chris Kirk burst onto the world golf scene last year and even made a run for the Ryder Cup team. I’ll bet he’s glad he missed out on that honor.
He won twice last season and earned $4.8 million to finish runner-up in the FedEx Cup race.
Kirk made the cut in both of this starts this season and posted a T-4 in his defense at the McGladrey Classic in October.
He has the length to do well at Kapalua.
2. Matt Kuchar is an experienced veteran who has been here before and has always finished high up the leaderboard at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
He is long enough for Kapalua and his precision iron play should fit the course well.
He posted Top 25 finishes at both the Frys.com and the McGladrey Classic in his only two official starts this season.
The consistent Kuchar is always a solid pick for your fantasy team.
1. Bubba Watson loves this golf course. He can swing for the fences and his length gives him birdie opportunities by the bunches.
The winds can be tricky for the long hitters on the island, but Bubba can work the ball like no one else and loves to show off his ball striking abilities.
Kapalua should give him plenty of opportunity to show off his pink driver and bomb some fairway woods.
With a win already this year at the WGC-HSBC Championship in China, he is No. 4 in both the FedEx Cup and in the World Golf Ranking.
If he can get his putter to work, Bubba has to be the odds on favorite to win this week in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.