Daily Fantasy Golf Picks Expert DraftKings Projections Genesis Invitational

The West Coast swing comes to its conclusion this week and treats us to one of the best tournaments/venue combos of the season in the process. The Genesis Invitational has molted into an elite 120-man field invitational event, and as such it has become a mainstay on the schedule for most of the elite names. This year is no different, as we have eight of the top 10 players in the world golf rankings in attendance, with only Webb Simpson and Tyrrell Hatton skipping this one. So, our daily fantasy golf picks for DraftKings and FanDuel will be sure to have a lot of top-end talent.

Riviera itself is a perfect send-off to the first part of the PGA season. It is a classic venue that has been propped up by some recent renovations to keep it capable of giving the most elite players in the world a proper test. The venue plays around 7,322 yards and as a par 71, which puts it up there in terms of total yardage. Riviera challenges players both off the tee and on approach, throwing in some uniqueness with some challenging par 5’s and one of the best short par 4’s in the world at hole 10. Strong tee-to-green games almost always win out here, and while a hot putter can still help players, the winners are almost entirely among the leaders in greens hit and strokes gained tee to green.

Join AWESEMO+ today!

Use accurate data and advanced tools crafted by the #1 DFS player.

Riviera Country Club Golf Links Stats and Info

Long iron approaches at Riviera are common, and the most popular basket of approaches will fall from 150 to 175 and 175 to 200 yards this week.
Riviera is a tough driving venue, and driving accuracy numbers here are often 10 to 12% lower than tour averages.
The rough here can also be similar to Torrey Pines and makes for lower greens-in-regulation rates.
Winners here have consistently posted bigger splits tee to green and greens in regulation than most other venues.

Putting Splits

The greens at Riviera are poa-based but will be a change from the more bumpy greens the players saw last week at Pebble. The greens are tricky, though, and three-putts here are still far more prevalent compared to the average tour venue. Here’s a more general look at some of the best and worst Poa putters in the field, relative to their strokes gained on other surfaces. Use caution with these in your fantasy golf picks; they aren’t the be-all, end-all, but they make for a nice tiebreaker.

Positive Poa Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

1. Adam Scott: +24 strokes on poa, +13 on all other surfaces
2. Carlos Ortiz: +23 on poa, +4 on all other surfaces
3. Jon Rahm: +20 on poa, +2 on all other surfaces
*+ equals total strokes gained | – equals strokes lost

Negative Poa Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

1. Cameron Davis: -4 on poa, +15 on all other surfaces
2. Justin Thomas: -6 on poa, +12 on all other surfaces
3. Francesco Molinari: -27 on poa, -11 on all other surfaces

Latest PGA DFS Content

Daily Fantasy Golf Picks for DraftKings & FanDuel

Rory McIlroy: Grades: A+ Values: B

McIlroy comes into this week’s event off the back of a 13th at the Waste Management, where he closed the tournament with a final-round 64. Part of the hope here is that the round will have put to bed some of his Sunday demons that have caused him to fall back when in contention on the weekend. McIlroy enters this event playing solidly, but he hasn’t shown that blow-the-doors-off kind of upside we’ve come to know from early in his career. That ability when it all come together certainly seems like it’s still there, though, as he’s been as dominant as ever off the tee in 2021 and has gained 6.2 strokes or more tee to green in his last three PGA starts.

Riviera should set up perfectly for him, and his past results suggest it’s a venue where he will challenge and likely win during his career, as he’s already compiled two top-20s and two top-fives here in four starts. From an Awesemo perspective, I’ll admit that McIlroy is closer to Dustin Johnson than I thought he would be in projections this week, as he rates out with the second-highest projected point total on the slate and a better value score than Johnson. Given the lower ownership compared to the other top players, McIlroy looks like a solid GPP daily fantasy golf pick pivot this week for single-entry and big GPPs.

The Stats:

Second in strokes gained off the tee over the last 50 rounds, and second in birdies gained over the last 24 rounds.
Has gained 9.0 strokes or more tee to green at Riviera in each of his last two starts at this event and never finished outside the top 20 in any of his four starts at Riviera.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 17.8%| FanDuel: 23.8%

Viktor Hovland: Grades: B, Values: B

There is little doubt that Hovland stuck out immediately as a one of the best potential values at well under $9,000 on DraftKings. He has been playing fantastic golf since late last season, when he grabbed his second win of 2020 at the Mayakoba Classic. Since that win, Hovland has also showcased more consistency, finishing second his last time out on the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines. He started Sunday in the final group and gained 5.4 strokes on his approaches and 4.1 strokes on the poa greens. Since then, Hovland has also landed a sixth playing overseas and comes in off a week of rest.

The lack of pro experience at Riviera may draw a few people off him, but it likely shouldn’t worry us too much given Hovland’s current form. The Awesemo projections certainly agree with that take too, as Hovland has the highest projected point total for anyone under $9,000 by 4.0 points and has the second-best value score in the model of anyone over $8,000 on DraftKings this week. Hovland is a terrific daily fantasy golf pick that you shouldn’t mind taking here, even if the ownership projection gets a little high this week.

The Stats:

Has gained over a stroke tee to green in his last six PGA starts.
Fifth in par-4 efficiency from 450 to 500 yards and gained +.4 strokes on his approaches at Torrey Pines.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 21.5%| FanDuel: 12.6%

Join AWESEMO+ today!

Use accurate data and advanced tools crafted by the #1 DFS player.

Low-Owned PGA DFS GPP Flier

Jordan Spieth

The narrative surrounding Spieth this week is back to slightly negative, as the perception out there is that his off-tee game is likely not going to be as good a fit for Riviera as the last two venues he has played on. That is at least partly true, but while his lack of control off the tee may hurt him a touch here, he faced off with a similar challenge at TPC Scottsdale — which also plays as a long par 71 with hard-to-hit fairways — and made out just fine. Spieth also looked much more confident off the tee last week at Pebble and gained strokes off the tee for the week there. He has also finished inside the top 20 in driving distance in his last two starts, so his power is likely being underappreciated a little by the DFS community.

Spieth’s confidence is slowly building everywhere, and he s gained 12 strokes combined on his approaches over his last two starts and managed to grab a third-place finish last week despite finishing just 42nd in strokes gained putting. Despite the great run, there does seem to be room for improvement here. With his ownership back well below 10%, he makes for a strong GPP pivot for me, as the safe play will be to target those with better long-term tee-to-green and off-tee numbers.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 7.5%

DraftKings Top Three Under Five

I am targeting three players here that I ultimately think will end up under (or close) to 5% ownership in bigger DraftKings GPPs. We’re searching for boom/bust players here with an almost 100% focus on upside.

Branden Grace ($6,700)

Grace made our GPP targets last week as well and came through with a decent 34th-place finish, compiling 17 birdies and 68.5 DraftKings points. It was a little bit mediocre of a week, but he is heating up with his putter and gained +.2 strokes on the poa greens last week, a vast improvement over the 4.8 he lost at the Sony Open. He has had two solid finishes at Riviera against two missed cuts and feels like a decent target under $6,800, as his ownership is projected under 2%.

Luke List ($7,300)

List is playing some decent golf and is eighth in strokes gained off the tee and 20th in strokes gained tee to green over the last 50 rounds. List regressed a bit at the Waste Management but is driving the ball beautifully at the moment and should rebound here on this stiffer test. He has finished top 30 at Riviera in four of five visits to the course.

Doc Redman ($6,600)

Redman has a solid history at Riviera from his amateur days, as he won a big event here with a dramatic eagle in the playoffs. He’s coming into this event off a few missed cuts, but his overall play hasn’t been that bad — he missed the cut on the number in his last two outings. He’s gained strokes ball striking in each of his last two outings as well and still ranks ninth in strokes gained on approach over the last 50 rounds in this field.

Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more great Awesemo content.

Looking for more Genesis Invitational daily fantasy golf picks and PGA DFS content? We have loads of daily fantasy golf picks articles, data, DraftKings and FanDuel cheat sheets and more on the Awesemo PGA home page. Just click HERE.