J.J. Spaun is the reason I’m back interested in OUTLAW TOUR DFS, along with a cool $50,000 to first on DraftKings for tomorrow’s first round of the GCU Championship. In this article, I’ll break down the recent form of the field, some stats provided by the outlaw tour, a brief breakdown of the course and my picks for tomorrow’s slate.
Don’t forget to check out Awesemo’s FREE projections.
The History of Mini-Tours
I’m going to leave these first two sections for any new-comers that might not have seen my last bit of content on the Outlaw Tour.
First, let’s define mini-tours, at least to the best of my knowledge. Many sports have their “secondary” leagues, or even in some cases like baseball, third, fourth and fifth leagues. Well, in golf, the PGA Tour and European Tour sit equal atop the food chain. Then comes the Challenge Tour (Euro PGA) and the Korn Ferry Tour (PGA). Then there are the Latin America Tour and the Mackenzie Tour. But professional golf doesn’t stop there.
Since all of those tours total equal around, let’s just say for argument’s sake, 1,000 golfers, there are plenty of other professional golfers in the world that can’t play on any of them. Thus comes a market for the “mini-tours.” These tours are comprised of all types of golfers, as entry fees into them don’t typically get over $1,000 and really anyone that wants to can enter.
There are actual “formed tours” in Arizona, Florida, California and a few other stops. Even Maine has its own Maine Open where the winner pocketed $7,000 for his efforts. For all you poker gurus, that’s all this is — just a bunch of guys getting together to play golf for money. Anyone can do this that has deemed themselves a “professional” to the USGA, and even if you are not a “pro,” you can still enter the tournament as an amateur but cannot receive a monetary price.
The Outlaw Tour
Now I’ll shift my focus to the Outlaw Tour since we’ve set the stage for what exactly this tour is. It is based solely out of the Scottsdale/Phoenix Area. It’s a 22-event season, starting in September and ending in three weeks. So while this is nice to get back in the game, unless DraftKings picks up the Florida mini-tours, we’ll be back on the bench again until June.
The tour started in 2017 and paid out just shy of $10,000 to the guy who led the money list. Yes, whoever wins first tomorrow for the DraftKings contest will likely, barring any ties, earn way more than the golfer that wins this tournament.
Grand Canyon Univesity (GCU) Championship at Grand Canyon Univesity GC
A 7,200-yard par 71 course, just outside of Phoenix, one would think it’s a desert course. Well, in fact, the course has quite a helpful website for all those interested. From the short videos of each hole provided, it seems like the course sets up more like Copperhead at Innisbrook in Florida than it does in Arizona. Still, golfers should have the nice dry air and elevation to help the ball go a bit further.
Recent Form
Since we’ve been following the tour for almost a month now, I’ve compiled enough data to put together a few sheets to help us along the way, here is the recent form sheet I put together. Google Sheet Link:
A few notes
- Nicolo Galletti has been on fire the last three weeks, playing all three weeks and finishing inside the top three in each of them.
- Derek Bayley is working on three straight fifth-place finishes.
- Nick Mason is the only other golfer other than the first two that have at least three straight starts coming inside the top 10.
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Outlaw Tour Stats/Cheatsheet
A few notes
- Jon Trasamar seems to be the best value on the board when looking purely at scoring. His odds to win, not so much.
- Colton Yates is a name I’ve seen on a few of these lists now and he is reasonably priced.
- Eric Lilleboe has been a favorite these last few slates. He sits in the mid-tier in terms of birdies per round, averaging just under five.
GCU Championship Picks
I mentioned J.J. Spaun off the top, but he’s not the only recognizable golfer playing in the field this week. A few other names you might recognize are the odds-on favorites to win, and that’s China’s Dylan Wu and Scotland’s Calum Hill. Wu had a great start to the Korn Ferry season when it was playing, and Hill was looking to get his feet underneath him on the European tour.
J.J Spaun ($10,000, 13/1, 31.0 Projection)
The last time we saw Spaun compete in a tourney was way back at the Genesis Invitational in February. He had taken a couple of weeks off after that as an injury flared up, but it seems that has passed. Now, he has just over a month and a half to get his game in form, as he’ll need a strong finish to retain his PGA Tour card for next year. In terms of pedigree, he clearly has the most out of anyone in the field, but Hill and Wu may soon battle for that. For what it’s worth, I like Hill and Wu just as much as Spaun but felt like writing about Spaun instead.
Nick Mason ($9,200, 19/1, 29.8 Projection)
With over six birdies on average per round, plus some really good recent form, this mid-30s grinder has been chasing the PGA Tour for some time now. He made it to the second stage of qualifying school for the Korn Ferry Tour but failed in his attempt to gain status on that tour. Still, recent form is good, and if you don’t want to pay up for Spaun, Hill or Wu, then he could be a good first guy on the squad.
Colton Yates ($8,600/26/1, 29.4 Projection)
Yates has had a good few weeks, coming in third and ninth in the last two outings and averaging quite a few birdies over them. He ranks second in the field in birdie average per start at six, and should provide good value for the second guy in your lineup. A mid-20s kid from Scottsdale, Yates has yet to break through on any tour better than this.
HoTae Kim ($6,300/ 400/1, 23.8 Projection)Â
The young 23-year-old from the area has only played in one event this year, and he made 11 birdies in 36 holes. I know it’s a pretty far reach and he ended up missing the cut, but we don’t have to worry about that in showdown slates. If you want to stack two of Hill, Wu and Spaun, then you are going to need someone cheap. Kim provides that.
Lineup Fill-Ins
Alistair Docherty ($7,900)
Ryan Porch ($7,700)
Kyle Slattery ($7,600)
Matt Marshall ($7,500)
Parting Thoughts
It looks like we should get a couple of periscopes on the course tomorrow, so be sure to check out the Outlaw Tour Twitter page.
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