Shane Ryan of Grantland.com organized an auction fantasy draft between myself, Kyle Porter, Adam Sarson, Stephanie Wei, and Robert Stewart from @Hole19Golf. Spanning three countries and seven hours of time zones, we were each given $50 to spend however we wanted. Here were the rules:
- We followed a specific bidding order, and alternated who opened the bid.
- The players were ranked in order of world ranking (Rory first, etc.)
- When it was your turn, you either bid on the player available, or you were out for that player. You continue going until you’re the only one left standing at the last price you bid.
- You can have as many or as few players as you want.
- Wins are worth 3 points, ties are worth 1, and losses are worth -1.
Here are the results:
And the prices:
My first takeaway was that this was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and a lot harder than it looks. My strategy was to try to obtain as many players as possible. I think the team that has the most matches played will win this bet. I tried to let the others spend their money, and my hope is I would clean up on the middle market guys, and hopefully get six players. It didn’t work out quite the way that I had planned, but I don’t hate my team. Some reactions:
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- Shane Ryan better be picking the US to win. He’s got 5 US players. He’s all in on the Phil/Keegan pairing, as well as the Bubba/Webb pairing.
- Jim Furyk is a steal at $10 considering the form he’s in, but his Ryder Cup history is iffy at best.
- We were running out of the money by the time Ian Poulter came along, so getting him for $11 was a steal.
- Stewart took 3 of the first 7 players off the board, and didn’t have enough money to make another pick.
- The gchat conversation over which this was held will never be shared, ever.
How would you rank the five teams above given the format? Here are my power rankings:
1.) Team Ryan
2.) Team Solomon
3.) Team Wei
4.) Team Porter
5.) Team Stewart
6.) Team Sarson (sorry bro)