Every week of the year the PGA Tour plays on a new course. There are some examples in other DFS Sports of environments impacting performance, such as Coors Field in Baseball; Golf, however, offers an entirely unique environment each and every week. This article will break down the week’s PGA course and attempt to find what skill sets are needed for success. This article will then combine the course breakdown with the DFS Army Domination Station & VIP Research Station and give a few players to target in both Cash Game and GPP formats. For more updates throughout the week follow me on twitter @_bschnarr
Before I begin a quick congratulation to DFSARMY member Wildcatwr and DFSARMY contributor UW81 for winning NFL King of the Beach tickets this weekend.
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Last weeks recap:
Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood finished in the top half of the field on both FanDuel and DraftKings but came up a little short of what we wanted given his salary.
Matt Kuchar
Kuchar was in contention throughout the week and looking like a lock for a top ten leading into the final round. Unfortunately, in surprising fashion Kuchar faltered down the stretch and went 6 over on day 4. Despite tumbling down the leaderboard Kuchar did enough in the first three days to finish in the top half for fantasy points on both DraftKings and FanDuel.
Justin Rose
Rose led scoring on both FanDuel and DraftKings formats for the week. After an improbable comeback due to a DJ collapse, Rose was able to squeak out the victory. If you rostered Rose on FanDuel the victory was probably not quite as sweet given his high ownership, on DraftKings it is an entirely different story as Rose and his sub 5% ownership gave you a real opportunity to differentiate your team while starting with the best score on the board.
Peter Uihlein
My favourite value play of the week came through with the ninth best fantasy performance of the week and was only outscored by one player with a lower salary on FanDuel. Uihlein is quietly showing North American fans his world golf ranking is legitimate.
Course Preview
The tour has finished up its Asian swing and is back on the west coast this weekend. The Shriners Hospital for Children Open will be taking place at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas Nevada. TPC Summerlin is a par 7,235-yard par 71. The course plays shorter than this as the Summerlin is over 2,700 feet above sea level, allowing the ball to travel further. In terms of the field, the event is a downgrade from the WGC-HSBC Championship. Tony Finau and Charley Hoffman headline a field that is missing top end talent.
In terms of the course, TPC Summerlin has played out as a birdie fest in recent years with the winner routinely shooting -20 par or better. The tournament has seen some really interesting trends in terms of players finishes. For example, Kevin Na has a win and a T2 here in the last six years, he also has missed the cut twice, withdrawn once and finished T22 the other year. Scores have been all over the place from year to year, I’m sure this has nothing to do with the event being held in Vegas.
For key stats I will be looking for Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, the event is a birdie fest and finding guys who can get themselves in a position to score will be critical for the week. I will also heavily be weighting birdie or better %. Off of the tee, I will be leaning driving distance but we have seen some shorter hitters find success here at TPC Summerlin. I will be using our DFS Army VIP Spreadsheet to form my conclusions; the stats are venue adjusted which gives you a much better indication of who is actually gaining and losing strokes in all of the key categories.
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Picks!
Webb Simpson – DK: $11000 FD: $9600
Webb stayed away from the Asian swing but was looking awfully good to end the season in America finishing T17 or better in five of his last six starts. The putter is often an issue for Webb but I like him in any format where he has an opportunity to continually stick his approaches and negate the importance of his putter. A former winner here, Webb has shown he can go low at this event. Priced below Finau and above Ryan Moore and Patrick Cantlay, I could see Webb with the lowest ownership of the top end players (check back on Slack later in the week as we break this down further).
Patrick Cantlay – Cash – DK: $9700 FD: $9100
Every DFS player’s favourite golfer is surprisingly cheap on both websites. With great recent form and a cheap price tag, you can expect Cantlay to be the mega-chalk of the week. This is for good reason, as Cantlay shows no signs of slowing down as he ascends up the World Golf Rankings. One small concern would be the travel back from the WGC-HSBC but I still feel as if Cantlay is cash safe.
Smylie Kaufman – DK: $8200 FD: $5900
A winner here two years ago, Kaufman is coming into the event with a top-five finish and fits the statistics I am weighting highly this week. After an off year, last season Kaufman is trying to get back to winning and join his good buddies Jordan, Justin, and Rickie as a serious threat on the PGA Tour. Specifically, on FanDuel, Kaufman is CHEAP and gives great value for the potential he provides.
Chesson Hadley – FanDuel Value – DK: $10100 FD: $6300
Speaking of FanDuel value, Chesson Hadley sees perhaps the most significant price discrepancy from one site to another. At $10,100 on DraftKings Hadley is priced appropriately given his recent play. In his last six events across the WEB.com and PGA, Tour Hadley has a win, four top threes, five top tens and a T46. Despite this, Hadley is only $6300 on FanDuel.