As we head into the offseason before peaking again at The Masters, the PGA DFS contests offered might be a tad lower than normal. This week it’s the CJ Cup as we dig in and find the best against-the-grain plays for the slate.
Awesemo’s Top 10 Projected Golfers:
PGA DFS Player Focus
This week features 144 players with the top 65 and ties making the cut.
$12,000-$9,500
- 9 Golfers
- Total ownership of around 131
Having one of the top-priced golfers withdraw definitely throws a wrench into the early content this week. Luckily for this article, everything that is going to happen has happened, so we can most accurately predict ownership. Both Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau were projected above 10% this week, with Johnson creeping towards 20. That ownership will shift throughout this area, seen by all four of Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy close to 20%.
Tyrrell Hatton, coming off of a win in Europe, will also carry some ownership, as will Patrick Cantlay. Collin Morikawa will be an interesting topic this week, coming off of missed cut. Still, he and Matthew Wolff, whose price is close to nosebleed level, likely won’t be that too highly owned.
That leaves one guy: Brooks Koepka.
Top Against-the-Grain Plays
So how much of Koepka’s story are we going to believe? He got a platelet-rich plasma injection in his left knee and cortisone in his hip. If that’s enough for you to play him at 5-7% ownership, then so be it.
Nos. 11-32 Priced Golfers ($9,400-$7,500)
- 20 Golfers
- Total ownership 210%
It’s not often we see a golfer go from one of the lowest-owned, top-end golfers to one of the highest. I’m speaking about Sungjae Im, but in retrospect, he likely won’t be that much more owned than Matthew Fitzpatrick. There are 10 other golfers that will all be owned in the same range as Im and Fitzpatrick, between 12 and 15%. It’s even likely that Abraham Ancer, coming in off a top 10 last week, will get in that range, maybe even higher.
After him, though, it’s pretty clear the remaining golfers priced in this range will be lower owned. All three of Jason Day, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler seem like they are searching for their games, while Gary Woodland has injury problems. Kevin Kisner hasn’t played for a few weeks and seems to have at least some type of peak back at the Wyndham. That leaves Sergio Garcia and Shane Lowry, both of whom have shown a bit of form recently.
Top Against-the-Grain Plays
Garcia and Lowry both make for intriguing GPP options. I think Ancer would as well, but I’m quite a bit short on his projection, same as Woodland’s. I can’t imagine it gets below 5%.
The Rest ($7,400 and Below)
- 49 Golfers
- Total ownership of 263%
There are 49 golfers left we haven’t chatted about and plenty of ownership to come along with them. Matt Kuchar finally showed a bit of life last week, having a good Sunday and finishing inside the top 35. That’s not something to get too excited about, but it’s better than what it has been for Kuchar. Brian Harman will be a big target this week as well, coming in around 10%. Others like Billy Horschel, Jason Kokrak, Dylan Frittelli, Ryan Palmer, Adam Long, Lanto Griffin, Corey Conners, Ian Poulter and Russell Henley are likely to come in around 10% as well.
This next batch of golfers should be owned between 5-10% and include J.T. Poston, Talor Gooch, Cameron Champ, Si Woo Kim and Kevin Streelman.
That still leaves a ton of golfers that will be under 5%, including:
- Harry Higgs
- Tom Hoge
- Andrew Landry
- Tom Kim
- Cameron Smith
- Carlos Ortiz
- Tyler Duncan
I can find a reason to play each of those guys above, although I don’t know how many will actually get in my main lineup — probably one, maybe two, but they all provide great GPP options when trying to diversify your lineup.
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