The Approach is back until next September with a FREE weekly peek into Awesemo’s top grades and values for the coming slate on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and SuperDraft. Two weeks in and we already have a picked winner under our belt. This week, the PGA Tour stays in California for the final leg of the West Coast swing with the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club. This is a stacked field with three golfers at the top that stand out from the rest, but which of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas should you put in your lineups? Well, probably all three. The following PGA DFS picks are based of Awesemo’s grade and value rankings, which are derived directly from his projections.
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Last Week Review
Canadian Nick Taylor continued the trend of obscure golfers taking home top honors at Pebble Beach last week with a 19-under, four-shot victory. It was a course history kind of week, as Kevin Streelman, Phil Mickelson and Jason Day all finished top-five. Our picks from the last two weeks:
- Patrick Cantlay: Tied-11th
- Russell Knox: Missed Cut
- Aaron Wise: Tied-62nd
Waste Management
- Webb Simpson: First
- Byeong Hun An: Tied-Ninth
- Scottie Scheffler: Missed Cut
The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club
It’s only February, but after this week the West Coast swing is over and the Tour moves south to Mexico and Florida. We’re getting a stacked field with nine of the top-10 golfers in the world in attendance. Course stats:
- Par 71, 7,300 yards
- Poa/Bentgrass mix
- Fast greens
High Range PGA DFS Picks
The Big Three: Grade: A+, Value: C
It is such a cop-out, but there’s almost no way to choose between Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm this week up at the top. Each one has strung together what seems like an endless run of top-five/10 finishes of late (McIlroy: third, first, third, first; Thomas: third, MC, first, fifth); Rahm: ninth, second, 10th, second), to go along with a trio of top-10s here last year. All three grade out as solid values this week in Awesemo’s projections, despite their top-end price points.
Usually I’d let ownership decide a tiebreaker like this, but on every site, there is a maximum of 5% between the most-owned option (McIlroy) and the least (Rahm). I’d recommend getting exposure to all three rather than going all-in on just one or two.
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Mid Range PGA DFS Picks
Justin Rose: Grades: A, Values: A
With just one tournament under his belt since the Hero World Challenge in December, Justin Rose’s price has dropped into the mid-tier, likely reflective of his win odds, which stand at an inflated 40-1. Without recent form to go on, this is simply a bet on long-term skill and taking value, as well as relying on some solid course history (fourth and 16th in his last two appearances at Riviera). This mid-range is chalk full of strong value plays though, so feel free to mix and match and adjust according to ownership. Rose ranked eighth in the field in weighted scoring average last season.
The stats:
- Eighth in Long-Term Birdie or Better
- Second in LT DFS scoring
- Seventh in LT Par-4 scoring (400-500 yards), 10 holes
Honorable mention: Paul Casey
Low-Range PGA DFS Picks
Erik van Rooyen; Grades: C, Values: A, B
Depending on how ownership shakes down this week, it’s going to be tough to get into this range because there’s so much value to be found just by paying up a few hundred dollars for far better golfers. If you need some savings, though, Erik van Rooyen isn’t a bad option. The problem is we don’t have a lot of data to go on with van Rooyen, given that he plays most of his golf over on the Euro Tour and the stats we do have aren’t all that impressive (58th in shots gained vs. field average, 45th in scoring average on the Euro Tour). Of course, the season is still early and the sample sizes are small. Over his last six tournaments on the PGA Tour, van Rooyen ranks seventh in ball striking and 15th in DFS scoring. He grades out as Awesemo’s fifth-highest value on the slate and takes the top spot in Awesemo’s premium leverage scores.
Honorable mention: Lanto Griffin
Need more golf content? Not a problem, our team of Jason Rouslin, and Ben Rasa have you covered with free articles on course history, form, betting picks and MORE. Just head over to the Awesemo PGA home page.
