DFS Golf Picks & Expert Rankings This Week: 2022 Genesis Open

The West Coast swing is already at end as we come to the seventh calendar event of the PGA season. The 2022 Genesis Invitational remains an elite 120-man invitational event, and has become one of the most popular stops among the elite crowd. Tiger Woods is now the official host of this event and the Invitational status it now has means more money is available for players at this stop as well. As such, we should not be shocked that all of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Rankings are in attendance and will be looking to add this prestigious event to their trophy case. That said, there will be tons of stars to choose from in fantasy golf this week. Mixing and matching the right studs into DraftKings and FanDuel lineups will likely be what makes or breaks our PGA fantasy picks this week.

Riviera is a classic venue that has been propped up by some recent renovations to keep it capable of giving the most elite players in the world a proper test. Taking a look at some DFS golf stats, the venue plays around 7,322 yards and has a par 71, which puts it up there in terms of total yardage. Riviera challenges players both off the tee and on approach, throwing in some uniqueness with some challenging par 5’s and one of the best short par 4’s in the world at hole 10. We often get some of the lowest scrambling and Greens in Regulation percentages from the field at this venue and strong tee-to-green games almost always win out. Tony Finua and Max Homa ranked first and third in Tee to Green stats for the event last year. Even with good weather forecast for this year the fast greens and thick rough will likely keep the leaders on Sunday hovering around 10 to 15 under par.

DFS Golf Rankings & Expert Fantasy Golf Picks: 2022 Genesis Invitational

Riviera Country Club Golf Links Stats and Info

Long iron approaches at Riviera are common, and the most popular basket of approaches will fall from 150 to 175 and 175 to 200 yards this week.
Riviera is a tough driving venue, and driving accuracy numbers here are often 10 to 12% lower than tour averages.
The rough at Riviera can also be similar to Torrey Pines and makes for some of the lower greens-in-regulation percentages on Tour from the field.

Putting Splits

The greens at Riviera are Poa-based but will be a change from the smooth fast surfaces in Phoenix last week. The greens at Riviera are fast but with much more slope, and three-putts are still far more prevalent at this venue compared to the average tour stop. Here is a more general look at some of the best and worst Poa putters in the field, relative to their strokes gained on other surfaces. Use caution with these in your fantasy golf picks; they are not the be-all, end-all, but they make for a nice tiebreaker.

Positive Poa Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Patrick Rodgers: +28 strokes on Poa, +8 on all other surfaces
Maverick McNealy: +24 on Poa, +10 on all other surfaces
Adam Scott: +28 on Poa, +16 on all other surfaces

*+ equals total strokes gained | – equals strokes lost

Negative Poa Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Paul Casey: -14 on Poa, +1.0 on all other surfaces
Alex Noren: -4 on Poa, +26 on all other surfaces
Abraham Ancer: +8 on Poa, +24 on all other surfaces

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DFS Golf Picks & Fantasy Golf Rankings for DraftKings & FanDuel

Rory McIlroy: Grades: A, Values: B

Much like last year at this time, it again appears as if golf fans are getting an undervalued Rory McIlroy for this event. McIlroy’s decision to start the season over on the European Tour likely has something to do with his lower salary this week in DFS but he is not someone to necessarily be worried about this week either. Two of the last three seasons at this event has seen McIlroy end up within the top-five and he comes in not far removed from a win (in the fall at the CJ Cup in Vegas) and a third-place finish three weeks ago at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.

In the projections this week McIlroy ranks out fourth on Awesemo in the DFS Golf projections but there are less than two points separating him and second-ranked Patrick Cantlay. Rory also ranks first in SG: Tee to Green stats on venues with Poa putting surfaces over the last 50-rounds and has been his usual robotic self off the tee of late, gaining +2.0 strokes or more off the tee in four of his last five starts. McIlroy is a fine anchor play for this tougher field and a great way to get some true upside in your lineup at very affordable prices on the traditional DFS sites this week.

The Stats:

Ranks 10th in strokes gained total stats at Riviera despite missing the cut at this event last season
Ranks second in SG: Tee to Green stats over the last 50-rounds and second in DraftKings points gained over that same span

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 13.0% | FanDuel: 12.6%

Paul Casey: Grades: B, Values: B

In a field this deep it is important to remember that you can find some really high-end and high-upside plays far down the field. That is certainly the case when landing on Paul Casey at well under $8,000 on DraftKings this week, a player who has produced time and time again for fantasy purposes over the last five years at these kinds of prices. Casey is coming off a slow start to the season but he has managed three made cuts over in other portions of the world, with his best finish being 12th place at the competitive Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.

The warm-up overseas has become the norm for Casey and other top players, so there is no reason to be docking him points for that this week. He still has one of the most consistent tee-to-green games in the world and ranks fourth in that stat over the last 50-rounds on the PGA. He has played Riviera numerous times, has never missed the cut at this event in seven tries and lost out in a three-man playoff at Riviera in 2015. Casey ranks out with the best points projection on Awesemo of anyone under $8,000 in price this week and the best value score of anyone above $7,500 on DraftKings as well. He is a good value target and a player you should not sleep on when priced this low.

The Stats:

Ranks out third in strokes gained ball-striking stats over the last 50-rounds
Has never missed the cut at Riviera and has missed just one cut in his last sixteen starts, worldwide

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 7.2% | FanDuel: 5.6%

Looking to get more action down on the 2022 Genesis Invitational this week? Check out Ben Rasa’s and Josh Engleman’s expert golf betting picks this week for the Phoenix Open. Subscribe to the OddsShopper YouTube Channel for more PGA bets and predictions.

Low-Owned Daily Fantasy Golf GPP Flier

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

It seems ridiculous that Christiaan Bezuidenhout could ever trend with this kind of low ownership, especially when he is available at barely above $7,000 on DraftKings this week at $7,200. Going back to the end of 2020, Bezuidenhout has now missed exactly one cut (in Houston this fall) over his last 35 professional starts. While some of those starts were in Europe or from the Korn Ferry Tour Finals against weaker fields, many came on the PGA and several came against strong fields in majors.

Bezuidenhout has started the year just fine, cashing two top-20 finishes and four made cuts in four PGA Tour starts, and has shown better consistency in the ball-striking department of late, gaining strokes off the tee in three of his four 2022 starts. A strong 14th place from Pebble Beach is the perfect run-in to his first start at Riviera and he makes for a great value pivot on a week where birdies will be hard to come by and grinders like Bezuidenhout will be cherished in DFS circles.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 6.3%

Top Three Under 5% in DraftKings Fantasy Golf

This section will target three players that should end up under or close to 5% ownership in bigger DraftKings GPPs. These picks are boom/bust players with an almost 100% focus on the upside.

Thomas Pieters

Thomas Pieters may finally be starting to live up to the lofty expectations people placed on him a few years back when he stormed the golf world with a top finish at Augusta and some brilliant Ryder Cup play. He has won twice on the Euro Tour in his last five starts and finished 2nd at Riviera back in 2017. The fact that he is trending with less than 5% ownership seems criminal.

Patrick Rodgers

Patrick Rodgers has shown nothing over his last two starts but he always seems to come to life for this week’s event. He has played lots of golf on the West Coast and ranks sixth in SG: Total stats at this event over the last six years. He has not finished worse than 30th at this event since 2015 and should be available at well under 5% this week due to a couple of poor starts.

Doug Ghim

Doug Ghim comes into this week having made the cut in each of his last eight starts now. His tee-to-green game has been trending in the right direction of late and he is coming off a week in Phoenix where he gained over +6.0 strokes on approach. Ghim has experience playing Riviera as an amateur and should be buoyed by his positive play from last week.

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