The First Cut: A Guide to Masters Week at Augusta l PGA DFS l DraftKings & FanDuel

A year, 7 months and 7 days, that’s how long it’s been since we’ve got to say, “It’s Masters Week.” It is my favorite week of the golfing year, providing an incredible spectacle year in and year out. It is the reason why I love to golf so much and made all that much better by Tiger Woods‘ dominance and history. This year, even in the midst of a pandemic, the middle of the NFL season, and a crazy election, we get the most guaranteed dollars ever by DFS sites for fantasy golf and PGA DFS Contests. Exciting is an understatement, at least from my eyes.

[AUGUSTA]

If you are a frequent patron of this article, thank you for reading, and much of this won’t change. However, since we have most if not all of the data already available much of my content will be out earlier this week.

If this is your first time reading, you might be wondering what is everything? Here at Awesemo.com, we try and do our best to provide actionable content throughout the week. In terms of our written free content, we cover all the important topics that go into constructing the most optimal PGA DFS lineup, including:

  • Course, Tournament & Field info via the First Cut (this article)
  • 11 weeks of Recent Form & five years of Course History via the Fit & Form Article (click here)
  • Strokes Gained analysis via the Strokes Gained Article (click here)
  • Ownership via the Against the Grain Article (coming soon)

As I just mentioned, a lot of this data is already readily available to us now, so I’ve gotten a jump start on the info for the week. Check out all the recent form and course history now! Strokes gained will be out by Monday afternoon. Be sure to check back throughout the week with updates and additions! Want an early look at ownership, the rest my model has to offer, plus access to the rest of our great Awesemo+ features?! Check out this promo below.

The Masters PGA DFS Analysis for Fantasy Golf on DraftKings & FanDuel

The Tournament & Format

A trip down Magnolia may seem odd in November. Still, with moderate expected temperatures in the mid-70s, and a bit of rain in the forecast, the course is likely going to play pretty similarly to April. In fact, some of the first bit of content coming out of the course this week is from Ian Poulter, who withdrew this week. It’s pretty obvious that he did that to head to Augusta early, and here’s the content he gave us:

The annual tradition since 1934 was in jeopardy of missing its first competition since World War II. But, the talking heads of The Masters’ committee put their heads together and found a spot to put on the greatest show golf has to offer. There won’t be fans, which is a bit of a disappointment, but we get the golf.

Not only do we get the golf, but we are also likely to see the best coverage of the tournament we’ve ever seen. Already announced, the tournament has introduced its tournament feed option where you can add your favorite players to it and see every single one of their shots as it happens. Incredible. Plus, College Gameday will be broadcasting live from Augusta National’s 12th hole on Saturday morning for all you college football fans. That should be fun for all involved.

The Masters Course: Augusta National Golf Course

It’s been three straight weeks where the tour has played a course that either we had very little to no data on. In fact, one of the weeks, we even had the PGA Tour tweet out the wrong scorecard. Well, this week, we get the absolute polar opposite of all that. Not only do we have data, but we’ve got seventy to eighty years of it if we want. From Tea Olive to Holly, each hole has a name, and who can forget about Golden Bell & Azalea. Each hole has its own write and flyover from many years of media coverage. Anything you want to know, you can find out this week. Throughout the week, I’ll link any content I find interesting just below this paragraph!

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Course Facts & Figures

Par and Yardage 

  • Par 72: 7,400 yards

Course Difficulty

  • While the course can fluctuate on a year to year basis, it typically is one of the toughest 10 courses all year. In the 2019 showing, it ranked 16th with the scoring average coming in just under par, while the 2018 showing, it was 7th hardest with the scoring average coming in just over par.

Hole Dispersion:

  • Four Par 3’s: 240,180,155, 170
  • 10 Par 4’s: 445,350,495,450,460,495,505,440,440,465
  • Four Par 5’s: 575,570,510,530

Grass Types & Hazards

  • Grass Type: Poa/bentgrass
  • Average Green: 6400 sq. ft
  • Water Hazards:  6
  • Bunkers: 44
  • Rough Length: very minimal rough about 1.5 inches of ryegrass in the secondary cut.

Facts and Figures

  • Off the Tee: While The Masters tournament committee doesn’t release official strokes gained data, at least not to plebs like me, the eye test can certainly tell us that you have to be good off the tee to win here. Here is an interesting look at the top five finishers at Augusta over the last bit.

  •  Off the Tee Cont: In terms of driving accuracy and distance, it ranked 8th easiest, with just over 67% of the fairways hit, and 17th easiest with the average drive climbing north of 296 yards.
  • Approach to the Green: Even with one of the top 10 easiest fairways to hit, the greens, on the other hand, were not easy to hit. Just shy of 65% of the greens were hit in regulation last year.
  • Around the Green: We know how hard the green complexes around Augusta National are, as it ranked one of the top 10 toughest in terms of scrambling average as golfers got up and down about 55% of the time.
  • On the Green: Coupling off of the hard green complexes to hit and get up and down from also present a tough time once you are on them as well, ranking 11th hardest last year in terms of overall putting average.

Designer 

  • Alister MacKenzie

The Masters Fantasy Golf & PGA DFS Sweatsheet

The Masters Fantasy Golf

To become a Masters Champion, you have to play well on the par 5s. There are no two ways about it. The same goes for DraftKings scoring here this week, with over 50% of the scoring coming from those four holes alone. Only the third hole and the 16th hole got above 5% in terms of total DraftKings scoring other than the par 5s.

Player Preview

Typically I’d have a little graphic here telling you who’s playing, but there isn’t anyone inside the world’s top 50 golfers that aren’t here playing this week EXCEPT Daniel Berger and Viktor Hovland. These two guys did not qualify for the event prior to the March deadline. They’ll be watching from the couches this weekend.


Previous Winners for The Masters

  • 2019: Tiger Woods (-13)
  • 2018: Patrick Reed (-15)
  • 2017: Sergio Garcia  (-9)
  • 2016: Danny Willett (-5)
  • 2015: Jordan Spieth (-18) 

Statistical Comparison for PGA DFS Picks

Driving Accuracy vs. Driving Distance

The fairways being easy to hit certainly helped out golfers like Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, who struggle off the tee at times. So even though the top 5 percentage of golfers are strong off the tee, you don’t necessarily need to be great off the tee to win the tournament. Since these fairways are so much easier to hit than normal, I’d definitely lean distance here this week.


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Author
Jason established his roots in the littlest state that could...Rhode Island. But after 29 years of bitter cold, and only being able to play golf 4 months a year, upended those roots and moved to Florida. Now four years later, Jason is a husband to Sarah and father of two boys, James & Myles. A dog and more specifically Lab lover (Bella), he dedicates his time to serve as the lead of PGA content at Awesemo.com. In the time he is not diving into the PGA stats and covering this week's current tournament, you can find him researching and trading stocks, on the golf course, at Disney World, on a hike, or somewhere in between. Want to chat? Have a question about Golf/Stocks or anything else? Hop on twitter and give him a message @dfsgolfer23. You can also contact Jason by emailing [email protected].

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