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 on DraftKings and FanDuel in both Cash Game and GPP formats. For more updates throughout the week follow me on twitter @_bschnarr
DFS Army Pricing – Use code PGA for 10% off membership!
U.S. Open Recap
Dustin Johnson – 3rd
I wrote up D.J. as a must play within your core of players this week. Because of so many option up top we saw DJ come in at right around 20% ownership in GPP’s. Although that is a little below what I expected I decided earlier in the week I wanted to be within 5-10% over the field on DJ. As a result, I was right at 33% in GPP’s and although he failed to win his finish helped propel many of my teams into the money.
Justin Rose – T10
A big part of the reason we saw Dustin at 20% ownership was because of Rose leading the way at over 30% across GPP’s. Because of his price, I expected Rose to either be highest owned or 2nd behind DJ for the week. In cash Rose was a lock for me but in GPP’s I wanted to be right around field average and pivot in other spots. I locked in Rose at 25%.
Jordan Spieth – MC
I wrote up Spieth as the expected lowest salary of anyone over $9000 on DraftKings for the week and made the case for playing him in GPP’s because of the ownership. Although Rory beat him out for lowest owned stud Spieth got the last laugh by outscoring rory 25 to 20.5 in DraftKings points. Personally, I played Spieth in 18% of lineups as I wanted to be double the field in ownership, although his missed cut hurt many of those teams were still salvageable for the week.
Hideki Matsuyama – T16
I felt given the price-tag and expected ownership that Hideki was a great GPP play. I mean, would anyone really be surprised if he won this week given what we have seen out of him in the past? Although Hideki was no where near winning he made a surge on Sunday that saw him finish with the 14th most DraftKings points for the week. I was heavily overweight with Hideki in 25% of my line-ups for the week.
Paul Casey – T16
Casey was another guy I expected huge ownership of across GPP’s and cash games. Personally, Casey was a cash game lock for me and a player I wanted to be overweight on in GPP’s. 30% ownership certainly helped propel many of my teams into the money for the week.
Personal cash game team (1-0)
Because I am no longer giving picks this article and am instead highlighting interesting plays upon first look I wanted to start sharing my cash game line-up within this article and tracking the results. Although I, or any other staff do not give out line-ups we teach members the fundamentals and thought process behind line-ups such as these.
DFS Army Pricing – Use code PGA for 10% off membership!
Travelers Championship Preview
Although it pales in comparison to my home and native lands Canadian Open, the Travelers Championship offers a great field following the conclusion of a major championship. Many of the top players in the world including; Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and defending champion Jordan Spieth will be playing this week. The event takes place in Cromwell Conneticut and the TPC River Highlands, a 6,841 yard par 70. A Pete Dye designed course, features eight par fours measuring between 400-450 yards. Finding players who can gain strokes approaching the green will be crucial to any success this week.
I will be relying on our DFS Research Station to key in on players who have been gaining strokes recently approaching the green.
Another important stat for me this week will be par four scoring, especially in the 400-450 yard range. However, with a par 70 there are 2 less par fives and 2 more par fours. It will be critical to take advantage of these par fives but with only 2 of them much more emphasis should be put on par four scoring for the week.
There will be a few more stats that I look at this week and weight more than usual, I will be saving those for members and discussing in our slack chat later in the week.
DFS Army Pricing – Use code PGA for 10% off membership!
DFS Snake Draft and Dream Team notes can be found in Slack Chat here
Interesting Plays
Jordan Spieth – DK: $10600 FD: $11500
Is it really a writeup if I don’t include Jordan Spieth at this point? The defending champ at this event is looking for a repeat. Spieth was right on the cutline at the U.S. Open and the missed cut really does not concern me as I thought he looked pretty good overall at the U.S. Open except for a few blow up holes. I think it will come down to ownership this week for me. Although he is coming off of a missed cut I would think Spieth will see an uptick in ownership with a few less big names to contend with and a win here last year. I will likely be on Spieth and will discuss later in the week in our SlackChat.
Paul Casey – DK: $9600 FD: $11200
$9600 is still too cheap to me for Casey and will be all over him in cash games. Casey showed no signs of injury in his return last week and has finished T5, T17 and 2nd in his last three starts. I expect Casey to be one of the highest owned players yet again this week.
Xander Schauffele – DK: $8600 FD: $9600
I think with Bubba right above him and Harman/Cantlay right below Xander could be a great low-owned GPP play for the week. In his last four events Xander has finished T6, MC,MC, T2 and if the missed cuts are going to scare people off I like taking my chances on a player who can rack up birdies.
Emiliano Grillo – DK: $7700 FD: $10200
Grillo’s price makes absolutely no sense on DraftKings, which is sure to make him one of the highest owned players of the week. Although he has not necessarily been dominant on Pete Dye courses you would think his game would translate well and despite the missed cut at the U.S. Open Grillo is coming in with great form. I will very likely have Grillo in cash game lineups but am unsure what I will be doing in GPP’s.
Chesson Hadley – DK $7300 FD: $9500
Hadley is the other player that sticks out like a sore thumb when looking at his DraftKings salary. Hadley has traditionally fared very well on Pete Dye courses and is coming into the event playing very well (again, except for the U.S. Open missed cut). Hadley is a lock for me and a guy I don’t want to fade in GPP’s.
With three writers, there are lots of opinions being given out to VIP members later in the week closer to lock. I will be going over all of these plays and my thoughts for cash later in the week on our company SlackChat.
Other DFS Army PGA Golf Tools and Articles
DFS Army VIP Members also have access to our PGA Cheatsheet!
DFS Army VIP Members also have access to our DFS Army Domination Station Lineup Optimizer!
DFS Army VIP Members also have access to our Euro Tour Cheatsheet!
Be sure to sign up to our DFS Army VIP Membership in order to utilize our custom Domination Station projections, PGA spreadsheets and access to chat with Taco, myself and many other proven winners. Use Coupon Code “PGA” to receive 10% all of this PGA content as well as content for MLB, NBA, NFL and every other DFS sport your heart desires