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- Weeks 18-26 Recaps By: BURNS NOTICE (2026-07-16 05:15:44)
Week 18 - Rai and Shine
A wise being once said “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” I cannot think of more apt advice than that for Aaron Rai. I, like a few others, identified him as one who could take another big step forward in 2026. A sleeper that could win the league for you if he reached peak potential. After all, over the 2 previous years, he’d won a tournament and had just 7 missed cuts! Then, he sucked. Especially on Sundays. He’d earned only 500k through the first half of the season after averaging 4.3 M in 2024 and 2025. A total bust that hadn’t come close to one top ten. And yet there he was, shockingly, holding steady near the top of the leaderboard after 8 holes.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Words of wisdom possibly spoken by his caddie? Aaron Rai peaked at just the right time and never looked back. Jump-started by sinking a 40-foot eagle putt on the 9th, by hole 17 he was 3 shots clear of the field (topping all 22 in contention at the start of the day). He was the best player in the world on the back nine and it wasn’t even close. Congrats to Tripp L Bogeys on the $400 major win. Clearly, the Force is strong in this one. Apologies - well into this thoughtful write up, I realized Jabba the Putt won in Week 21, not this week lol.
Week 19 - Far from dead and Buried
Wyndam Clark looked a shell of himself a year ago. If you recall, he was banned from Oakmont Country Club after destroying some lockers, etc. after missing the cut at the U.S. Open. Through 2023 and 2024, Clark had possibly over-achieved with a whopping 28 million in earnings. He’d barely banked a million well past the mid-point of 2025. He hit rock bottom - it happens to the best of us. There were clear signs the worst may be behind him by season’s end, making him a popular pick for 2026. Similar to Rai though, the first half of 2026 was utterly disappointing. Experts claimed he was close, that his game was in better shape than his finishes. They were absolutely correct. Bradley’s Buried squad rode Clark, Si Woo Kim (having an incredible year), Finau and Jaeger to snatch 1st place and $75. Well done!
Week 20 - Oh Henley! (never gets old - even if the candy bar no longer exists)
Russell Henley was a bad buy in 2026. Nobody expected him to duplicate his 2025 success. However, he can contend in Majors, and if you happen to be the only team willing to overpay for him, then he becomes a decent gamble. If he wins a tournament, you have a good chance of getting your money back. That’s clearly the play Who’s Your Caddy? had in mind and it’s already worked out. The bad news is there’s just one major left at this point, so fingers crossed!
Week 21 - Burns and Gerard get Poston-ized
Things were looking pretty, pretty, pretty good for lil’ ol me after hole 17 on Sunday. I knew Jabba had the team to win the week with Fitz, Xander, Clark Kent, Si Woo Kim, Sungjae Im, Aaron Rai, and most importantly, JT Poston among others. However, I had the big 3 as well plus Sam Burns, Ryan Gerard and Alex Noren. Burns choked a bit on 17 and bogeyed. However, Burns missed par putt gave Gerard a good read and he slammed it home from distance for a birdie. Gerard exploded as if the tournament was won. But alas... no. Jabba the Putt said “Your mind powers will not work on me, boy!” and Poston calmly made par and attacked the 18th. Gerard chose to hit PW from 165 out and, predictably, came up well short of the hole. Poston stuck it 7ft from the pin and we had a playoff. The 2 best putters of the week went at it and Poston came out on top. Congrats to the best team of the 2nd half thus far - you finally got some money to show for it, Steve!
Week 22 - A League-wide Bad Caul
Nobody owned the 1st place finisher Bud Cauley since he had his best year on tour in 2025 and seemed likely he’d fall back to his usual 1.5 M in earnings. I didn’t see any of the tournament, and I gotta say I was shocked to see him victorious. He’s gone through a lot - good for him (bad on us)! Once more, Fitzpatrick didn’t disappoint though and with Hovland finally showing some life many owners had a decent week. Golf Weekend at Bernie’s had the best one of all with Potgeiter, Clark and Horschel sealing the victory. Congrats to Mr. Bernstein, who earned $75 and had a nice little 3-week run to shoot him up the rankings after Week 24. Then Week 25 stopped him cold with a big fat donut!
Week 23 - FORE! The entire world was put on NOTICE
Kinda like Max Homa, I was never convinced that Clark was a truly great player. Until now. In just the last 8 weeks (6 tournaments), Superman Clark Kent has banked over 7 Million dollars! This includes last Sunday’s “meltdown” leading to a 13th place finish. Holding strong against the hecklers at Shinnecock Hills, Clark battled, bent, but did not break with Scheffler ever-present and Burns applying serious pressure. Are you serious, Clark?! (that one never gets old either ;) And we finally got a glimpse of the “old” Tom Kim lol. Your Commish’s Burns Notice squad had all top 3 finishers and finally caught a glimpse of glory once more.
At this point of the season, the money had been as wide-spread as I could have hoped. Other than JP winning back-to-back weeks in the first half no one had run rampant. Even JP won with 2 separate teams. An odd trend has occurred these last few weeks. We have a series of Repeat Offenders. Teams are starting to double-dip! The craziest part is that all three teams earned their second wins with a different #1 player on their squads than their first win.
Week 24 - Repeat Offender #1 - Lancer5 drains our wallets again. Earlier this season it was Morikawa. This time around it’s Hovland. A solid team, no doubt. Others that helped him to victory were Bhatia, Theegala, Finau, Xander and Clark. All of his players in the tournament made the cut - nice! However, it’s not all roses for Joe as his other squad is currently in last place.
Week 25 - Repeat Offender #2 - Who’s Your Daddy? (whoops, I meant Caddy). This time Henley took the week off. It was Gotterup who got ‘er done once again. Plus, Max Homa finished strong on Sunday and proved the no-brainer pick was just that. Homa has already doubled his 2025 earnings. Congrats once more.
Week 26 - Repeat Offender #3 - Dude - Save some for the rest of us! At least it wasn’t a major. Tom Kim is back, now he needs to pick up his speed of play! Huff’s Dude, Where’s My Major also got help from popular rookie John Keefer and is reaping the benefits of betting on Min Woo Lee’s upside. A 1-2-3 weekly finish - always nice. Congrats!
- 1st Half recap By: O FACE!!! (2026-05-26 03:20:45)
Time flies when you come in 2nd - like I did in the PGA Championship... dang. It's been way too long since I sent anything - so let's give teams their due.
The site reflects all money won thus far correctly, but let's cover our 1st-half winners first. Here's how the top 5 stacked up:
First-half 1st: $225 - True Links | JP
First-half 2nd: $175 - Mediocre Men of the PGA | Michael Galvin
First-half 3rd: $125 - Rub of the Green | JP
First-half 4th: $75 - Dew Sweepers | Tony Rooney
First-half 5th: $50 - Bada Bing Bada Boom | Mark Parmenter
First off, let's talk about JP. What a lucky turd! He snagged 2 or the top 3 places in the 1st half of our season. Give us a break! With Si Woo, Coody and Matty Fitz on both teams, Morikawa has been the anchor on one team and Jacobsen the other. Let's see if he can ride high all the way through to the end.
Mediocre Men has been anything but! Currently in first place, Cam Young, Matty Fitz, Xander and rookie Reitan has helped him get there.
Dew Sweepers has a team with the usual suspects - where he scored is choosing Cam Young. Finally, Bada Bing Bada Boom took 5th with Cam Young as well, but he also owns Gotterup and Nic Hojgaard - both having their best seasons on tour.
Congrats guys.
Now let's walk it all the way back to the Players Championship in Week 9. You may recall that I was setting up this "5th Major" asking is someone ready to become truly elite. Well, the answer was YES! Cam Young, showing all of the talent since being a rookie on Tour, stepped up to the formidable 18th tee and held nothing back - ripping a drive that hadn't seen that distance in over a decade! I was a bit disappointed in Fitz. He was ripping drives all week and he played 18 too safe after Young's shot imho. Michael Galvin's Mediocre Men won the first big tourney of the year flaunting with the TOP 4 finishers (Young, Fitz, Xander, MacIntyre), banking almost 11M in one week - a record by far. WOW!
Week 10 - Fitz is a Boss. Well, Matty may have been a little too safe at the Players - Fitzpatrick was locked in a duel with David Lipsky in the final hour at the Valspar Championship and this time delivered the goods, a birdie putt from just inside 15 feet on the final hole for a 3-under 68 and a one-shot victory.
Many of us own Fitz, but Bash Boss owned 3 players that tied for 4th place (including Im) and won the week. Well done.
Week 11 - Oh Nicky you're so fine!
A couple years ago, brother Rasmus was getting all the talk after his great play before coming to the PGA. Now, Nicolai has been the one to show the best here in the USA. Gary Woodland actually won the tournament, and 4 teams owned him, but Dude? Where's my Major? Had the 2nd (Nic Hojgaard) and two 3rd place finishers (Lee and Keefer) to steal the week! Sneaky.
Week 12 - JJ Spurned
JJ Spaun won the Valero, but nobody owned him. This let JP win his first of 2 in a 3 weeks. It was Michael Kim that did the heavy lifting with a 2nd place finish.
Week 13 - The Masters
Turns out you don't need to be a Master prognosticator to win $400. JJ had Rory and a group of players owned by a bunch of us to snag the big money. Turns out Hao-Tong Li was the differnece maker. Some guys have all the luck!
Week 14 - Fitz Magic
Matt Fitzpatrick evidently wasn't done after one victory on tour. He looked shaky for a bit, but outlasted the world number one Scottie Scheffler in a playoff to win the 2026 RBC Heritage. This is the second time Fitzpatrick has won the plaid jacket after taking down Harbour Town back in 2023. This time Si Woo and Morikawa helped JP win the money.
Week 15 - It takes 2 to make a thing go right
Matt Fitzpatrick continued his awesome year by helping his bro get in on the PGA Tour action. Matty was good - but Alex was making shots of his own too. It really was impressive to watch. Again, many owners had Fitz. Not as many had rookie phenom Kris Reitan who finished 3rd. Boom Boom 420 had he and Horschel to earn the weekly win.
Week 16 - Young Gun
Cameron Young proved to be in a class on his own, racing out to a five shot lead by the 36-hole mark on the strength of an opening round 64. Scheffler, Si Woo, and Reitan, all sat 6 strokes behind on Sunday - It was extra impressive given the margin. Another in a class of his own is Andrew Krupke, with his 2nd weekly win of the year and many more in years past.
Si Woo, Noren and Potgieter helped separate him from the pack.
Week 17 - It's all in the numbers
Tyson's Numbermunchers2 team hasn't had the best luck this year. Fleetwood, Hall, Burns and Zalatoris have been disappointing at best. But, it doesn't matter when the stars align and now he has a weekly win under his belt. Kris Reitan won the tourney and the others mentioned (except Zalatoris) did well enough to get a payday. Congrats!
Ok - still a couple weeks behind, but we''llgetcaught up in the next couple weeks. FORE!
- Weeks 4-8 By: BURNS NOTICE (2026-05-26 01:24:14)
Five more weeks have flown by, and the first big tournament is upon us. There’s been some unexpected winners lately that will surely look to stake their claim as one of the new (or old) faces of the PGA with a signature win at The Players added to their list of accomplishments. Let’s review what’s happened over the last month.
Week 4 - Gotter-Up even higher
Last year, with a win at a lower level event in 2024, Chris Gotterup was considered one to watch in 2025. He was mostly invisible through the first half of the year, with 8 cuts before the end of April. Then the proverbial switch flipped. He went on a hot-streak that included a win and 3 other top 10 finishes while missing only 1 more cut (just barely) the rest of the season. He’s arguably already taken his place as a new face of the PGA - but we all know a win here or a Major is the only thing that place him with the world’s best. Bingo Bango Bongo rode him, along with Thorbjornsen and Nic Hojgaard to victory. Congrats on the weekly win, Mark!
Week 5 - Mori-WOWZA!
A few years back - I used that same recap title. He leaped into the spotlight as young and fast as Spieth and Tiger before him. He looked to be the next great one and was on that path in 2021 when he'd already claimed his 2nd Major. This just in... golf is fickle. 2022, 2023, 2024 & 2025 passed without another win - that's more than 4 years! In 2026, Collin has swatted the monkey off his back with a win and 2 top 10s in his last 3 starts. I'll admit, I thought he’d never achieve the same level of greatness he achieved years ago. Good call for Joseph Breen and Lancer5 in week 5 (must have been his lucky number) as Morikawa and Bhatia (more to come) put him on top.
Week 6 - Bridging the Gap
Jacob Bridgeman was a classic bad buy in 2026. He went from earning 760k in a full season in 2024 to 4.4M in 2025. Usually there’s regression in such a disparity. What made him an appealing risk, though, was that he didn’t win a tournament in 2025. Well, not only has he done that, he’s finished in the top 20 in all 6 events this year and forced chumps like me to take notice! So far, he’s the MVP this season - already earning 5.5M. Many of the teams in the Top 10 own Bridegeman, including Week 6’s winner Hit It Fat. Looks like Nate Hit It Big as well - nice job! At 26 years old, the conversations of the next great one will include Bridgeman with another win this weekend.
Week 7 - NNNNNico! Suave!
How’s that blast from the past, lol. With perhaps the most still to prove, 31-year old Nico Echavarria has been on the radar for sometime. He broke through with a win in Puerto Rico in 2023 but experienced cuts almost weekly besides that win. Still, a win is a win and every golfer needs one before any further consideration of greatness. 2024 saw some improvement, and 2025 saw even more consistency - making him a decent consideration coming into this season. After a rough start, Nico didn’t take long to reward those willing to believe in him. It would be a surprise, but a Players victory would go a long way in getting Nico into some conversations. Congrats to D-Web’s Chisolm All Star’s on a solid pick - along with another possible late-bloomer in Smotherman!
Week 8 - We ALL saw this one coming
Akshay Bhatia. What’s not to like about this kid? (besides the long putter if you’re a purist ;) Most already know the story - he competed on Tour at 17 years old, immediately turned pro and skipped college, took his lumps as he grew into an even better player. High expectations have followed him for the last several years. Not much to add here. He’s already shown why he could be considered the greatest threat to Scheffler... Now with 3 PGA Tour wins under his belt, all he needs is to get a bit better off the tee, make cuts more consistently and start finishing 1st in tournaments like The PLAYERS. Thank You Parm's roster has a bunch of possible all-time greats. Well done!
THE TURDS
Many golfers haven't performed up to expectations so far this season... We knew JT was going to miss some time before our season started, so he gets a pass. But Sungjae Im and Will Zalatoris - those two turds had us duped. Both have only played twice so far this year and haven't earned much. Many are getting Burned by Burns with only 2/5 cuts made. Keegan Bradley has been terrible so far as well. Other slow starters include Corey Connors, Brian Harman, Wyndam Clark and even Brooks Koepka - but they all still have time to make things right.
The first big payday is upon us - except for you Morikawa owners! $400 to the #1 team this weekend - Good luck!
- 3 weeks in... By: O FACE!!! (2026-03-11 23:19:07)
And just like that, the season is a few weeks old. I'm going to be honest, I'm still in football mode and haven't tuned into a Sunday afternoon yet (although I did watch Day 2 at the Sony for a long time as I sat here in freezing Minneapolis!)
So far, it's been much easier to identify the Turds vs. the diamonds in the rough...
Week 2 - 'nother one
Scottie Scheffler... or is it DJ Khalid? Because he the best golfer! I thought he may actually be human after the start of the 2025 season. Silly me! He joins Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to have 20 PGA TOUR titles and four majors before turning 30.
Owners have certainly become wiser... as there's 10 teams that own Scottie once again in 2026. Even if that means you have no shot at winning #1 overall... or does it? Time will tell. Maybe rookies like Hao-tong Li and John Keefer plus savvy vets like John Parry, Koepka and Pavon are enough to get it done! Congrats to Andrew Krupke on choosing Austin Smotherman - 1 of only 3 teams to do so. While Scheffler is the true ace player, Smotherman proved to be the Diamond in the Rough and was the main differentiator in earning the #1 spot.
Turds include but aren't limited to: Aberg, Straka and Alex Noren - all very highly ranked yet can't make the cut?
Week 3 - A Rose by a different name still stinks!
Damn! We all know part of the skill to drafting a great team is to be the only guy with a player. There's one team out there with Cantlay. One with Henley. One with English too... Old Justin Rose was there for all of us to take... but none of us did. A bad buy, right?1 And he likely will be a factor in the Majors - and will be no shock if he wins one this year. Oh well, Jimmy D was happy to see Rose win so his guys that have started hot could clean up once more. Congrats (again) Galena13#2, on another weekly win in the books.
Diamonds in the Rough: Jim Defalco picked a bunch - Si Woo Kim, Pierceson Coody, Sam Stevens and Jake Knapp have been tearing it up with Gotterup too!
Turds: Also on Jim Defalco's winning team - Aberg
Brennan DQed for an unacceptable reason. Xander choked a bit down the stretch to miss cut by 1. Marco Penge may be the next Coody? Let's hope not!
I've got most all money in - so, looks like the pot will indeed be $9,020. Good luck in Week 4!
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