shlinklincoln January 3rd, 2008
On December 23rd my Rotoff Golf league met for the 1st annual Rotoff Golf Draft Auction. This was my first time participating in an Auction format for any fantasy sport. It was a lot of fun, a little intense and there were a lot of different strategies in play. I highly recommend moving your fantasy golf league to a Draft Auction (DA) format if you are not using it already.
My strategy going into the DA was simple, don’t let anyone steal players for cheap. I also wanted to build my team around Phil but as you will see preventing “steals” prevented me from nabbing Lefty. Other then Phil I knew I wanted to get some young golfers with a lot of up side.
As the last place team from 2007 I had first nomination honors. I nominated Luke Donald and the DA was under way. In the early going I bid on Harrington and Weekley, both who I would win for decent prices (18 and 19 units respectively). Not that I didn’t want either player but my main goal in bidding them was to not let them go for cheap. But that’s the risk you take in auctions.
Because of my early bidding I was limited when Phil came up for nomination. I could tell as the bidding started for Phil that Gonzalez was determined to get Phil no matter the cost. When he was bid up to 39 I just could not risk going any higher. That would leave me with 25 or so units for 7 golfers. I decided to forego Phil for depth. In looking back I’m glad I did.
The real fun and intensity started when Tiger was nominated. Somewhere around the 20th nomination, Tiger was already up to 50 units almost right out of the gate. And it seemed that just about everybody got in on the bidding. Even I bid on Tiger at 55 units with no intention to win him, as I knew he would go for much higher. In the end Tiger went to Chuey (18 Hoes) for a whopping 69 units! At that point 18 Hoes had already won Wetterich for 20 units, leaving him 11 units for 8 golfers. In 18 Hoes’ own words:
“I had one strategy coming into the draft, and that was winning. I’m a winner, and I knew if I wanted to continue to be a winner there was only one player that would help me succeed. Tiger Woods. Who do you think is going to win the most Majors this year? Tiger. Who do you think is going to win the most Tournys this year? Tiger. Tiger + 18 Hoes = Money. You can take that to the bank!”
Kinzler had a much different strategy, waiting long into the DA before bidding his first golfer (Ogilvy for 22 units). This allowed him to grab a lot of great bargins near the end of the draft, namely Els for 11, Goosen for 5 and Immelman for 7. Kinzler put together one of the deepest teams in the league.
Overall I was happy with my depth as well. I was able to get Snedeker (young player with lots of upside) for 16 units and Justin Rose for 9. John Senden for 2 units could be a potential steal. Here is my full DA in order of auction:
1. Harrington 18
2. Weekley 19
3. Duke 12
4. Snedeker 16
5. Pettersson 11
6. Van Pelt 9
7. Mark Wilson 2
8. Justin Rose 9
9. Roland Thatcher 2
10. John Senden 2
I think I can compete for the SLS Cup this season and hopefully compete for a major or two.
You can view the complete DA results from the Draft link at the top of the page.
Who do you think has the best team?
