We’ve got you covered for this week’s British Open, with the most extensive, free coverage in the entire PGA DFS industry. Jason Rouslin will be previewing every single player in the 156-man field, in addition to our usual weekly Fantasy Golf content. His First Cut, breaking down the course is already available. Stay tuned for Nolan Kelly’s The Approach, which gives out FREE Awesemo grades and values, as well as Ben Rasa’s Above the Cut for Premium members.
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Don’t forget to check out the PGA DFS Strategy Show with Ben Rasa and Timothy Frank!
British Open Player Previews: Chapter One
“The toughest test in golf” is finally here, and this year brings us one of the best golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach. This one, anyone, can play, as long as you’re willing to fork over the money. I’ll have a full preview of the course coming on Sunday, but for now, we turn our attention to the players.
Format and Qualifications
156 Players
- 110 Exempt Golfers
- Seven Exemptions get you into The Open Championship: (Note 6-8 are combined into one category)
- Previous winner under the age of 60
- Winners of a few select tournaments- Majors get a five-year exemption, The Players and BMW PGA Championship gets three years, and the Japan Open, the Senior Open and The Argentine Open all get one.
- Top 10 and ties from previous year’s Open Championship
- Top 50 in the OWGR from eight weeks before the Open
- Top Finishes on select golf tours:
- top 30 Race to Dubai
- top 30 FedEx cup
- top 2 Japan Golf Tour
- Top 1 PGA Australasia
- Top 1 Sunshine Tour
- Top 5 in Race to Dubai not already exempt has to be in the top 20
- Top 5 in the FedEx cup not previously exempt has to be in the top 20
- Top 1 Japan Golf tour not already exempt has to be in the top 2.
- All Amateur Champion titles including:
- Amateur Champion
- U.S Amateur Champ
- European Am Champ
- Asia-Pacific Am Champ
- Mark H. McCormack Medal
- Seven Exemptions get you into The Open Championship: (Note 6-8 are combined into one category)
- 46 Non-Exempt Golfers
- The Open has what’s called the “Open Championship qualifying series,” which if you watched golf last weekend you likely heard the announcers talk about. A total of 34 golfers come from the Open Qualifying Series. Here is the breakdown of the events and the number of spots given to each tournament.
- A Total of 12 more golfers come from local qualifying sites, similar to the U.S. Open.
In these series of articles well cover the 46 golfers that had to play their way in via qualifying. I’ll go site-by-site, and do about 15 a day for the next three days! Hope you enjoy it!
Qualifying Sites
Emirates Australian Open, South African Open, SMBC Singapore OpenÂ
*DraftKings salary listed first then FanDuel
*FECPL= FedEx Cup Points List
*RTD= Race to Dubai
1. Abraham Ancer ($7,200/$8,600)
Current Status
Currently, #60 on the FedEx Cup Points list *(FECPL)
Recent Form
19-8-19
Open Championship Form
- 2019- MC
Commentary
The twenty-eight-year-old born in McAllen, Texas, but from Mexico, Abraham was the winner of the Aussie Open. It was his first international win and set him up for a good season on the PGA Tour and quite possibly a spot on the President’s Cup team for the international squad. He’s in the middle of a pleasant season, ranking 60th in the FECPL highlighted by two top-fives at the Shriners Open and CIMB Classic. If he brings his short game to Northern Ireland this week, then his ball striking is undoubtedly good enough to get him inside the top 20 come Sunday.
He also just played rather well at the Irish Open just two weeks ago.
2. Dimitri Papadatos ($6,100/$7,000)
Current Status
Currently #174 on the Race to Dubai Standings
Recent Form
MC-MC-MC
Open Championship Form
- N/A
Commentary
Only having made six cuts this whole year, the young 28-year-old from New Zealand needs a big start this week to help out his standings. If not, he’ll have to head back to the Challenge Tour, or the Euro Tour’s equivalent tour to the Korn Ferry Tour (Formerly Web.com). In his starts this year he’s hit around 61% of his greens and only 56% of his fairways.
He made his way here by finishing second at the Aussie Open.
3. Jake McLeod ($6,100/$7,000)
Current Status
Currently #148 on the Race to Dubai Standings
Recent Form
MC-MC-MC
Open Championship Form
- N/A
Commentary
Only one more cut made separates this 25-year old from Queensland Australia, and the New Zealander above, as Jake has made seven on the year. That puts him in an uncomfortable position of 148th on the Race to Dubai standings, so he’ll look to parlay his qualification into The Open into so much needed RTD points.
He made his way here by finishing third at the Aussie Open.
4.Oliver Wilson ($6,400,$7,100)Â
Current Status
Currently #39 on the Race to Dubai Standings
Recent Form
69–19–70
Open Championship Form
- 2018- MC
Commentary
Playing in his second straight open the 39-year-old from England is having himself one of his best seasons in recent memory. He ranks 39th in the RTD standings and the fourth-place finish in Denmark being the highlight of his year. He hasn’t missed a cut since the Volvo China Open, where he got DQ’d after an opening round 68. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to the Super 6 Perth back in February to find a missed cut.
He made his way here by finishing third at the South African Open.
5. Romain Langasque ($6,600/$7,000)
Current Status
Currently #39 on the Race to Dubai Standings
Recent Form
3-MC-MC
Open Championship Form
- 2015-65
Commentary
Coming in hot of his best finish since his runner up finish that got him into this tournament at the South African Open, the 24-year-old from France finds himself in a delightful position ranked 13th in the RTD. His five top-10’s show consistent ability to perform at a high level, but is prone to a missed cut every third week as well, missing four cuts in his last six starts. Statistically, he’s a great putter, ranked 6th amongst the Euro Tour guys competing this week. He’s a stellar iron player, hitting over 72% of his greens this season, while he favors distance over accuracy off the tee, and gains on average of about 3/4 of a stroke off the tee per round.
He made his way here by finishing Second at the South African Open.
6. Jazz Janewattananond ($6,600/$7,400)
Current Status
Currently #79 on the Race to Dubai Standings
Recent Form
26-3-1
Open Championship Form
- 2018- MC
Commentary
Jazz made waves at the PGA Championship, and before falling off Sunday was inside the top-five, and finishing in a T14. The 24-year-old from Thailand is currently playing most of his golf on the Japanese tour, however, if he so chooses, will likely have status on the European Tour next season, just through his limited starts on the regular tours including a Third place at the Maybank Championship.
He secured his spot in the championship by winning the Singapore Open.
7. Yoshinori Fujimoto ($6,200/$7,000)Â
Current Status
Currently #32 on the Japan Golf Tour
Recent Form
19-MC-41
Open Championship Form
- N/A
Commentary
A week he’ll never forget at the Singapore Open, the 29-year-old from Japan was able to secure his spot in the championship by finishing in a tie for second in the Singapore Open, likely his most prominent finish in his entire career. He ranks 32nd on the order of merit for the Japan Golf Tour, so, even though he’s ranked 186th in the world, I don’t have much faith for Fujimoto to be able to go out and compete this week. The Open Championship is a long ways away from the Japanese Golf Tour.
8. Prom Meeswat ($6,400/$7,000)
Current Status
Currently ranked #202 on the RTD Standings.
Recent Form
10-8-19
Open Championship Form
- N/A
Commentary
Much like Yoshinori, Prom who is playing golf wherever he can at this point enjoyed a career-changing week at the Singapore Open. He’s not a young man by any stretch, 34 now and is still playing on Developmental tours in Asia. He’s had a couple of starts on the Euro Tour this year, making both cuts and finishing in the 40s so at least he’s earned a couple of paychecks along the way.
9. Doyeob Mun ($6,000/$7,000)
Current Status
Currently competing on the Korean Golf Tour
Recent Form
20-14-50
Open Championship Form
- N/A
Commentary
The third long shot to make the Open from the Singapore Open was the 27 year old from Korea named Doyeob Mun. He hasn’t had a good stretch of golf on the Korean tour as of late, missing three cuts and only one top 10 in his last nine starts. He’s competed once on the PGA Tour this year at the CJ Cup finishing in 61st.