Bunker Mentality

Fantasy Golf: Have a gander at Goose

Wed Mar 17 01:03PM Wow - talk about the mother of all distractions.

For the players lining up at this week's Transitions Championship in Tampa Bay, Florida, the only topic of conversation will be Tiger Woods's return to professional golf.

But if anybody can pull themselves away from the latest Tiger-related news and speculation long enough to watch the golf, they may well see Retief Goosen defend his title at the Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead course.

The Goose is famed for his unflappable nature - despite almost blowing the US Open once by three-putting the final green from 12 feet - and after watching his compatriot Ernie Els do the business last week there's every reason to think that he can shine no matter what the off-course distractions might hold.

Goosen is our top pick in the B-list this week, with ever-dependable Geoff Ogilvy alongside him. KJ Choi - who played beautifully in Malaysia two weeks ago - is on the bench alongside in-form Dustin Johnson.

Luke Donald has been looking like a tournament winner once again this season, and the tricky par-71 course might play to his strengths. He has no track record either way at the course, but, well, we've just got a feeling about this pick so he gets the nod in the A-list. And reserve Steve Stricker - who is in top form and tied for fourth last year - is a hell of a good safety net.

In the C-list we plump for the evergreen Tom Lehman, who might be older than Methuselah but is playing consistently well this season and came close to glory in this event 12 months ago with a T8 finish. Ian Poulter is on the bench despite blowing hot and cold since that WGC Match Play triumph.

The current Road to Ireland group leaders are:

Group 1: Sidgolfer -  1,535 points

Group 2: On the Jet2 Ireland - 1,539

Group 3: tigers9iron - 1,551

Group 4: Killarney GC - 1,573

Group 5: FC GYTO Chubsters - 1,575

Group 6: tigersUSdbillionBJ's - 1,621

Remember, the player who tops the Road to Ireland standings for each group at the end of the season will be put in a draw to win our great prize which includes:

- 3 nights bed and breakfast at the Dundrum House Hotel in Tipperary for 2 people
- 2 rounds of golf at Dundrum House Golf Resort for 2 people
- Return flights to Cork from a selection of UK airports

The prize is donated by the fabulous Dundrum House Hotel as part of the new Club Choice Ireland golf alliance! Visit Club Choice Ireland for more details or e-mail for more information.

If you missed the deadline you can still join, and remember all group leaders at the end of the year will be eligible for the overall prize. Just CLICK HERE and enter the Group 6 id: 11786 and password: bunkermentality.

The deadline to select or edit your active round 1 players for this tournament is 10:00 GMT on Thursday.

There are more research tools here to help you pick the right squad, while this week's experts selections are in the table below.

THE EXPERTS	A LIST	B LIST	C LIST
Bunker Mentality Eurosport	Luke Donald Steve Stricker	Retief Goosen Geoff Ogilvy KJ Choi Dustin Johnson	Tom Lehman Ian Poulter
Greg Vara RotoWire.com	Steve Stricker Vijay Singh	Padraig Harrington Stewart Cink Charles Howell III Retief Goosen	Ian Poulter Justin Rose
Erik Planer Yahoo! Sports	Vijay Singh Jason Dufner	Geoff Ogilvy Charles Howell III Sean O'Hair Padraig Harrington	Ian Poulter Justin Rose
Matt Romig Yahoo! Sports	Anthony Kim Steve Stricker	Camilo Villegas Geoff Ogilvy Alvaro Quiros Retief Goosen	Mike Weir Paul Casey
Michael Arkush Yahoo! Sports	Luke Donald Steve Stricker	Jim Furyk Geoff Ogilvy Retief Goosen Dustin Johnson	Ryuji Imada Ian Poulter

For full terms and conditions of the competition - CLICK HERE

• Email
• Share:
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Stumbleupon
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine