Welcome to the latest edition of Fantasy Fix, where we count ourselves among the minority that actually cares about
the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Yes, that’s right, we’ve reached our first double-dip week,
where the upper echelon of the PGA Tour makes its way to the WGC-Accenture
Match Play Championship event, while others play in a tournament that will
be jockeying for airtime in between a bunch of infomercials on the Golf
Channel. For fantasy golf purposes, however, most formats make Mayakoba the
main event for the week, so that’s where we’ll shift our attention.

But before we bid adieu to the big guns, a couple thoughts on the action in
Arizona in case you can still pick up points in your league for this
match play tournament. Remember, in a one-and-done format, anyone can beat
anyone on any given day, which can lead to some, let’s just say,
less-than-scintillating matchups. I mean, who can forget that 2002 final in
which Kevin Sutherland defeated Scott McCarron? To make things worse, the 1-up margin of victory actually meant viewers were subjected to watching 36 holes between those two.

The point is, in a situation where the worst player in the field is
separated from the best by about one stroke per round, you may as well swing
for the fences. Here are some non-No. 1 seeds (Martin Kaymer is a No. 1
seed?!) that I am predicting to make deep runs: Rory McIlroy, Tim
Clark (duh), Ian Poulter and Charl Schwartzel.

Now back to the important tournament in Mexico, where golfers who miss the
cut can drive about a half hour north to take shots of tequila with spring
breakers in Cancun. Those who manage the hang around will be vying for a $3.6 million purse, so let’s get to it:

STUDS

Mark Wilson: If you knew that this guy was the defending champion at
El Camaleon Golf Club, then there are only three conclusions that can be
made:
1. You are a relative of Wilson (Least likely)
2. You are a fantasy golf fanatic (More likely)
3. You seriously need to get out of the house (Most likely).

In case you don’t fall into any of those categories, I’ll fill you in by
informing you that Wilson held off J.J. Henry by two shots to claim
his second career win on the PGA Tour. OK, so maybe it counted as No. 1.5.

Then there’s Heath Slocum. Despite his David-vs.-Goliath-like
performance last year in winning the Barclays, the first leg of the FedExCup
Playoffs, normally, he would fall under the “Sleepers” category. However,
this week, he’s the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 77, meaning he
gets to walk around like he owns the joint.

And how can you not give David Duval a chance here. I pumped him up
early in the season and like many others, he came through — just a couple
weeks late. Duval certainly looked back in top form this past week at Pebble
Beach, where he nearly came out on top as others around him did their best to
give it away.

His performance marked the first time since the 2001 Buick Challenge that he
posted four rounds in the 60s of a four-round event. At that point, he was
still one of the top-ranked players on the planet. While he still needs a telescope to see the golfer currently perched there, the T-2 did move him from 205th to 104th in the latest edition of the world rankings.

I’m sure D.D. has his eyes on being in the top 64 by this time next year so
he can play in the match play, but for now, take advantage of him
playing against this watered-down field. In fact, taking chalk here does
appear the way to go. Despite never getting top-flight talent, the Mayakoba
has produced fairly recognizable winners all three years its been around in
Wilson, Brian Gay and Fred Funk.

To that point, I’m looking to K.J. Choi (Who has been doing this column
proud since I started pumping him up a few weeks back) and Charles Howell
III. Choi has made the cut in all four of his events thus far and CH3
already has two top-10 finishes to his credit. So, too, does D.J. Trahan,
including one last week, and Kevin Stadler’s T-10 at Riviera shows he’s in
fine form and capable of taking a celebratory dip in Caribbean. Not that
anyone needs to see that.

DUDS

Carlos Franco: You’d think the native of Paraguay would enjoy playing
a little closer to home, but instead, he’s been a complete disaster. On the
bright side, Franco has only missed the cut at this event three times. On
the dark side, the tournament has only been around for three years.

The shot wasn’t heard round the world, but the reverberations are still being felt some two decades later.

From the right rough on the 16th hole at the TPC-Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fl., 26-year-old Mark Calcavecchia “gashed a shot out of the hay” with his Ping Eye 2 8-iron that landed on a peninsula green and sucked back. Calc went on to win the 1987 Honda Classic, and become the poster child for a war on square grooves and trigger a trial that Karsten Manufacturing eventually won against the PGA Tour.

Twenty-two years later, the Eye 2 has reared its ugly clubhead, triggering “Groovegate” and a debate that continues to rage at this week’s Northern Trust Open. Calcavecchia is nowhere in sight, but his presence was felt as Scott McCarron and Phil Mickelson hugged it out after lawsuits were threatened, the tour’s commissioner was huddling with a Solheim in hopes of finding an accord (Tim Finchem and John Solheim replacing Deane Beman and Karsten Solheim); and just for old time’s sake, Fred Couples was contemplating throwing the same Eye 2 in his bag that he used around the same time Calcavecchia was causing such an uproar.

Len Decof, the attorney who represented Karsten, was getting calls. All we need in this flashback is Austin Powers as the narrator, or Calcavecchia coming back at age 49 to remind us that nothing’s really changed.

“I caused the whole groove controversy,” Calcavecchia said from his West Coast home in Phoenix earlier this week. “Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus went crazy and that was the whole start of it. Now [the equipment companies] go through millions of dollars in retooling [irons for tour players], they grandfather in the grooves that [caused the controversy] in the first place.”

Calcavecchia opened the season at the Sony Open with an Eye 2 sand wedge and L wedge that Ping made for him with legal grooves. He swapped out one of his old Beryllium L wedges made in 1987 for the Bob Hope, but the greens were overly receptive at Torrey Pines so he switched back. Both times he missed the cut. “The greens were already soft. The last thing you needed was too much juice,” Calcavecchia said. “You don’t want a boatload of spin. Believe me, if I didn’t use the new grooves, I would have been sucking back balls 50 feet at Torrey Pines.”

Disgusted with his play, Calcavecchia decided to skip the Northern Trust Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Had he played, he would have used the approved wedges — and not because of the accusations that players exercising the Eye 2 loophole were “cheating,” or at the very least, not living up to the spirit of the rules.

The Eye 2, once his trusty weapon, was hard to figure.

“You’d get hellacious juice on one shot,” Calcavecchia said. “You’d jam the next one because you don’t want to be 10 feet short again.”

Calcavecchia knew Mickelson was just being Mickelson, trying to prove a point more than he was gaining a competitive advantage.

“That’s Phil,” Calcavecchia said. “No, he’s not cheating. He’s going along with the rule, whoever made the rule. I don’t think it’s cheating. On the other hand, it’s a stupid rule. You’re still allowed to use the juiciest, squarest grooves ever made, which makes no sense to me.”

At the same time he could relate to what Mickelson was going through before “proving his point” and taking the Eye2 out of his Callaway bag.

“People looked at me like I was straight cheating,” Calcavecchia said. “They made me the bad guy.”