With this tournament held in Asia, there are fewer stats than typically available in a PGA Tour event held stateside. While some old-school stats have been kept, where and what the golfers are doing on a shot-by-shot basis is an absolute mystery. Scores for the golfers that have teed off first have been terrible, especially those that tee off on the back nine. As best we can, let us get into some DFS golf strategy for the final two rounds, starting with PGA DFS DraftKings Showdown picks for the ZOZO Championship Round 3.
PGA DFS Showdown Picks: ZOZO Championship Round 3
Round 1 & 2 Recap
Hideki Matsuyama is playing with a sense of pride this week and leads going into the weekend. With no Tiger Woods in the picture this year, Matsuyama is the lead candidate to take home the trophy in his home country. Cameron Tringale has put together a solid campaign, especially with his irons, hitting 78% of his greens through two rounds. Matsuyama, on the other hand, though he says his ball striking is not in form, hit 88% of his greens through two rounds.
With conditions being difficult for the first 36 holes, the leaderboard is tight. Twenty golfers are within 6 of the lead, with only one unknown first-round leader: Hiroshi Iwata.
Notables
Collin Morikawa fell victim to the conditions on Thursday morning, starting the day 3 over through four holes before finishing his day with a couple of birdies. That momentum carried over into Friday, when he shot 68 on the day to get himself back into the mix. He will need to take it low on Saturday and hope Matsuyama misses everything to have a chance to win come Sunday. Xander Schauffele had it going for a bit Thursday but finished the round poorly, and then he fell victim to the conditions on Friday morning, starting his day 4 over through just three holes. He never recovered, shooting 74.
Joaquin Niemann has not had too much difficulty with this rough, hitting only 42% of his fairways but 75% of his greens. The same stat line goes for Erik van Rooyen as well. Niemann’s putter has been a bit better, however. Mackenzie Hughes, Brendan Steele and Maverick McNealy have all hit at least 72% of their greens in regulation over the first two rounds.
Round 2 Stat Recap
Driving Accuracy
Average position of 29.6
- Yuki Inamori
- Ryosuke Kinoshita
- James Hahn
- Mackenzie Hughes
- Ryutaro Nagano
Greens in Regulation
Average position of 13.5
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Cameron Tringale
- Maverick McNealy
- Joaquin Niemann
- Erik van Rooyen
- Mackenzie Hughes
Putts Per Green in Regulation
Average position of 15.5
- Wyndham Clark
- Jhonattan Vegas
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Pat Perez
- Matt Wallace
Round 3 ZOZO Championship DraftKings Slate Preview
- Lock Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Grand Prize: DraftKings offers $10,000 to first place and $40,000 guaranteed for the third-round slate.
PGA DFS DraftKings Showdown Picks
The weather conditions were toughest on the back nine in the early morning hours, and that will not bode well for Rickie Fowler, who is the first golfer off on the back nine today. He will tee off at 8:38 local time with Kramer Hickok and Tomoharu Otsuki. All of the golfers listed below tee off in the latter part of the morning on the front nine, except for Satoshi Kodaira, who tees off at 8:49 on the front nine.
- Erik van Rooyen ($8,500): Van Rooyen not been affected much by missing the fairway this week, having one of the worst percentages of fairways hit all week. But that has not stopped him from finding greens 75% of the time. He is a very streaky putter, and the first two rounds have not been good, but he is certainly good enough to find it at least once a tournament. At this salary, it is a good time to play that good putting day today.
- Lanto Griffin ($7,700): A grinder through and through, Griffin has made only four bogeys this week. Only Tringale, Matsuyama and Alex Noren have fewer. He has not hit many fairways or greens in regulation, but with his short game getting hot, he should stay in the mix well into the weekend. Start any type of lineup build using van Rooyen and Griffin as the first two in the lineup allows for a two-stud or balanced build.
- Mackenzie Hughes ($7,900): Through two rounds no one besides Hughes has hit 75% or more of their fairways and greens. Known as one of the best putters in the field, Hughes has not been able to get the flat stick going through the first two rounds. But with the ball striking in form, even if that regresses, there is plenty of room for improvement with the short game. He should not be too highly owned either and could end up as a pivotal play if his putter warms up in Round 3.
- Satoshi Kodaira ($6,900): Sitting in a tie for 30th, Kodaira likely will not be all that highly owned. If not for a triple bogey on Thursday, he would likely be one of the most popular plays of the slate. Take advantage of the scorecard digging and see that he is doing everything above averagely in terms of fairways, greens and putts per green in regulation.
Thanks for reading to the end of this article! If you appreciate this free content and want to see more of it every day, you can help us out by sharing this article on social media!
[PGAPAGE]
