Fantasy golf takes action from green to screen

Chuck Foxx says he sees it more and more every year — people hanging around the Harbour Town Golf Links clubhouse, restaurant and bar with their faces buried in their phones.

While a great many of those folks are sending emails or scrolling through Instagram, quite a few are also playing fantasy golf.

Foxx, working behind the bar at Links Grill on Friday morning, said he regularly sees patrons following the action of their fantasy golfers rather than the real-life action on the course just outside.

Each fantasy golf league has slightly different rules and scoring systems, but the basics are the same: Players draft several golfers before a tournament or before a round. Participants rack up points based on the performance of the golfers they picked. The player with the best performing team of golfers at the end of the day or tournament wins.

Whether you’re playing on one of the many fantasy websites or in a pool with a group of friends, winning can sometimes mean big bucks.

David Williams said Friday that he is in a fantasy league with a group of buddies. Each player kicks in $20 and the winner takes home a cool $1,800.

With a nice payday like that on the line, Williams said he “tends to check (his) phone a lot during tournaments” to keep an eye on how his team is doing.

Janice Williams, David’s wife, said, “My husband is into all things fantasy. He’s always going to draft parties.”

“It’s kind of like ‘man-land,’ ” she joked.

Halsey Schreier and Tyler Macolly, both involved in multiple fantasy golf leagues, were watching the action from Harbour Town’s 16th fairway Friday.

During tournaments, Schreier said he is “very compulsive” about checking his phone to see how his players are doing.

Schreier was keeping a close eye on Luke Donald, a key member of his fantasy squad.

Macolly said he checks his lineup “once every hour or so.”

If one of his players is doing well on Sunday during the final round of tournament, Macolly said he will refresh the browser on his phone almost constantly to monitor his team.

While fantasy golf can be fun and occasionally lucrative for the players, not everyone is a fan of the extra attention people are paying to their phones.

Foxx said constant phone scrolling — whether it be through texts or fantasy golf standings — “slows down table service” at the course’s bars and restaurant.

“When people are on their phones all the time, they are slower to order and tables turn over slower,” he said.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Fantasy golf takes action from green to screen."