Daily Fantasy Golf Picks & Expert US Open Lineups DraftKings & Fanduel

The US Open moves back to the West Coast after a stop last year at the East Coast Winged Foot, continuing the USGA’s attempt to balance the schedule. It was just two years ago that the event took place at another classic West Coast venue in Pebble Beach, which was tricked out with thick rough to make it play closer to par. This year the event will be visiting Torrey Pines which will likely require less fiddling. The venue is already long at well over 7,600 yards and will be cut down from a par 72 to a par 71 for this week’s event (much like it was in 2008), which will make finding the right combination of golfers tougher for DraftKings and FanDuel DFS PGA lineups.

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Like Pebble, Torrey Pines also features poa greens, a West Coast tradition that means higher three-putt percentages and more putting volatility. Torrey is a long course, but it also plays closely to some of the more classic design on tour, which means fairways here are anything but easy to hit. While it certainly has favored big hitters like Jon Rahm and Jason Day, it has also brought winners like Patrick Reed and Marc Leishman, who ranked outside the top 50 in driving distance for the weeks of their win. The US Open has tended to cater to big hitters — with the last five winners all being players who regularly rank inside the top 20 in driving distance for the year — but players with good putting splits inside 10 feet and long-iron proximity could end up making some noise here too.

Torrey Pines Stats and Info

Converted par 71, will play at 7,685 yards this week; features poa annua greens and kikuyu rough, two types of grass found on other stops along the West Coast at Riviera and Pebble Beach.
Seaside course that features plenty of doglegs; it typically has some of the lowest driving accuracy on the season and some of the worst three-putt percentages on the year as well. Back nine has plenty of right-to-left tee shots that can get players in trouble if they miss to the left.
Length of the course means plenty of longer approaches, with the busiest bundle of approach shots being longer than 200 yards.

Putting Splits

Torrey Pines is one of the few courses on tour that features pure poa annua on the putting surfaces. As for comparables, it is likely best to look to the West Coast swing and the stops at both Pebble Beach and Riviera, which also have mostly poa on the greens. Recent US Open and PGA stops like Chambers Bay, TPC Harding Park are also good indicators. Use caution with these in your daily fantasy golf picks; they aren’t the be-all, end-all, but they make for a nice tiebreaker.

Negative Poa Annua Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Jason Kokrak: -11 strokes on poa annua, +40 strokes on all other surfaces
Sungjae Im: +5 on poa annua, +28 on all other surfaces
Ian Poulter: +1 on poa annua, +26 on all other surfaces

*+ equals total strokes gained | – equals strokes lost

Positive Poa Annua Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Patrick Rodgers: +34 on poa annua, -1 on all other surfaces
Phil Mickelson: +19 on poa annua, -4 on all other surfaces
Henrik Stenson: +17 on poa annua, -21 on all other surfaces

Check out Awesemo PGA DFS expert Jason Rouslin’s series of quick-hitter US Open videos where he breaks down the top PGA DFS picks, top value plays, sleepers and busts.

US Open Daily Fantasy Golf Picks

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Rory McIlroy: Grades: A+, A+; Values: B, B

Despite being just the sixth-most expensive golfer on DraftKings this week, McIlroy rates well in the Awesemo PGA DFS projections, coming in with the second-highest total points projection. The rating may be a little shocking considering it is such a deep field, but McIlroy has been trending well of late. He has strung together a strong stretch since missing the cut at The Masters, grabbing his first win in over two years at the Wells Fargo in May and an 18th at the Memorial Tournament in his lead-up start.

McIlroy’s desire to out-bomb Bryson DeChambeau undoubtedly led to some swing issues, but he has rectified his approach game of late and has gained at least 4.1 strokes on approach in each of his last three PGA starts. Furthermore, he has become a solid poa player and has better putting and around-the-green numbers on this surface. McIlroy has finished 16th, third and fifth at the Farmers Insurance Open the last three years and has dealt with tough US Open venues better the last two seasons, as he has placed inside the top 10 at each of the last two US Open tournaments. McIlroy rates just under Rahm in Awesemo’s projections but with a much a better value score, making him a great core play to start with on DraftKings and FanDuel.

The Stats:

Has gained over four strokes on his approaches in the last three starts.
Has gained over five strokes off the tee in the last two US Open tournaments and has started to heat up with the putter of late, gaining at least 3.3 strokes putting in two of his last three starts.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 13.4%

Xander Schauffele: Grades: A, A; Values: A, B

Schauffele is certain to gain plenty of popularity (he is currently at 23% in the PGA DFS ownership projections) this week as a result of his solid US Open record — he has never finished worse than sixth in four US Open starts — and the fact he enters off a solid start at the Memorial where he finished 11th and gained 5.9 strokes on approach. If that wasn’t enough, he also has a local connection to the course, which is sure to be talked about a ton this week and will likely keep his ownership levels in the top five projected owned throughout the week. Schauffele may be destined to be major championship chalk once again, but at just $9,300 on DraftKings, he is likely not worth fading. He has developed into one of the best all-around players in the world and has posted stronger results on poa and bentgrass surfaces for the most part over his career as well.

Schauffele previously had issues gaining traction at Torrey Pines but broke through to finish second at the Farmers in 2021, where he gained 5.2 strokes on the greens alone. On top of having all the traits of a future major winner, Schauffele comes in with the third-best projected point total of anyone in the field on Awesemo, which makes him a near must-play given his $9,300 salary on DraftKings has him cheaper than eight other golfers. He is a great, balanced target here in a very strong $9,000 range.

The Stats:

Four top-10s at the US Open since 2017; finished third at Pebble Beach in 2019 and second at Torrey Pines in 2021.
Ranks fifth in strokes gained putting and second in DraftKings points gained over the last 50 rounds.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 23%

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Low-Owned PGA DFS GPP Fliers

Sam Burns ($7,700)

Burns is in a price level this week where he is likely to get bypassed by a lot of PGA DFS players due to the number of recognizable names in his tier. He is playing in just his third US Open and was a first-round withdrawal at the PGA Championship as well, which virtually assures he will be under 5% owned here. Despite the small injury issue in May, Burns has been a fantastic popper in daily fantasy golf this season, recording three top-five finishes in his last eight starts. Moreover, he tends to do his best work at longer/tougher golf courses, posting a win at Copperhead and a third at the Riviera, which is a decent comp for this week based on the green and rough type alone.

Burns returned to action at the Memorial Tournament and showed a bit of rust, but he has also gained at least three strokes on approach in four straight starts. He sometimes gets forgotten about when discussing up-and-coming young talent, but his game is big enough to challenge at events like the PGA and US Open long term, and he is at very low sentiment at this US Open. A strong putter on all surfaces, Burns posted a career-best 18th at the Farmers Insurance Open this season and sets up as the proper pivot in his range given his power and the amount of upside he can unleash if his flat stick is clicking.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 4.9%

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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.

Max Homa ($7,300)

Homa might creep over the 5% threshold this week, but he’ll be far from chalk. He has proven that the bigger and tougher the golf course, the better he performs — exemplified by the sixth at Valspar, sixth at Muirfield Village, 10th at Bay Hill and wins at Quail Hollow and Riviera. He has also finished 19th and ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open the last two years and has the type of game to make some noise on a big-boy course like Torrey Pines.

Jimmy Walker ($6,500)

Walker dialed up the DeLorean in his last start and finished sixth at Muirfield Village, one of the toughest stops of the season. He gained 11.8 strokes tee to green (tied with runner-up Collin Morikawa) and 9.3 strokes on his ball-striking alone. Walker has been a fantastic West Coast player over his career and could theoretically just scramble and putt himself to a made cut here given his fondness for this stop. If the tee-to-green game stays hot, he has a good chance to challenge for a top-20 or better.

Patrick Rodgers ($6,500)

Rodgers won his US Open qualifying sectional early last week and then had two strong rounds to open the Palmetto, gaining 4.9 strokes on approach in Rounds 1 and 2 combined. He clearly fatigued on the weekend, but do not discount his uptick there completely, even if it only resulted in a 50th-place finish. He is one of the best poa putters in the field (leads the field in strokes gained putting on poa over the last 50 rounds) and has two top-10 finishes at the Farmers in six career starts.

Join the Awesemo PGA DFS team for the US Open Final Look & Live Before Lock show on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET for an expert breakdown, daily fantasy golf picks, as well as PGA player prop odds, betting picks and predictions.

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