Tight at the top with six events left

THERE HASN’T been that much toing and froing over the last number of weeks as the Fantasy League season enters the finishing straight.

But with only six of the 21 tournaments remaining, the leaderboard could be set for a little bit of a shuffle before it all concludes with the Johnny Walker Championship at Gleneagles on August 23rd and the €15,000 winning prize is handed out.

Team selection from now on in (and of course carefully managing the transfers) will become critical as to how things pan out – especially given that there are two events where triple points are on offer starting with today’s British Open and then the USPGA Championship at Kiawah Island in three weeks time.

On top of that double points are on offer for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, which comes in between the two Major championships, so Bryan Crowleys Gullane team and those in the upper reaches of the leaderboard will have to be on guard in the closing weeks.

Going into today’s third major of the season Crowley holds a 26-point advantage over John Paul Scallon and the Major Rollers at the top of the leaderboard, with Kieron Hyland and The Guns of Alvaro ensuring the top three remain the same after week 15 of competition.

In fourth is Gavin Kennedy and his Burger Delights team as they swap places with Aideen Flynn’s Living Dolls, while Darren Jordan and Jerry Brady also trade positions.

But with only 69 points between first and fifth place, and with 10th place just 121 back, there is plenty of room for change in the leaderboard should someone from the chasing pack kickstart the comeback with a triple-pointing win in the British Open and perhaps a few other high finishers in Lancashire this week.

Then again you don’t always need a tournament winner to claim the weekly spoils of various golfing merchandise. Joyce Farren and her The Shamrocks team were winners after the Scottish Open, 105 points thanks mainly to runner-up Francesco Molinari and tied third Marc Warren gave the Baldoyle, north Dublin resident a two-point winning margin to move her up to 1,489 position overall.

Weekly runner-up Páraic Kelly with his Back Nine Foursomes team didn’t have Scottish Open winner Jeev Milkha Singh either, but Molinari, Warren and Alexander Noren helped him to second place, three points back of Farren on 102.

However, Timmy Kenna was one of only 114 people who did have the Indian on their team and he benefitted from the 37 points Singh earned his Spicer GC team as they claimed third spot for the week on 97 points. Good luck this week to each of the 11,950 competing teams, hope you’ve made a winning selection.