The action out on Hilton Head Island at Harbour Town Golf Links is underway. A young rookie set the pace early, as Cameron Young bounces back from his first Masters’ tournament, where he missed the cut and shot a stellar 8-under 63. A whole host of big names is right behind him, setting up for a fun rest of the week. We’ll cover some stats from Round 1 and go into our PGA DFS picks for Round 2.
PGA DFS Golf Picks Today: The RBC Heritage Round 2
Round 1 Recap
Morning Wave
Young was the first group out in the morning, as the trend of golfers that end up shooting one of the lowest scores of the day comes out of that first tee time. Noticeably the wind and weather were perfect. But, towards the end of the morning wave and start of the afternoon wave, the wind kicked up; it slowly died down as the day went along, however, as scoring was pretty equal between the waves.
While Young was the only one to get to 6 under or better, there was a hand full of 5 under from this wave, including some of the event’s big names. In Round 1, Patrick Cantlay found form again, gaining strokes in all four categories, while Corey Conners rode a hole-in-one on the seventh hole to his 5 under. Shane Lowry continued his hot form as well, as his irons are as hot as ever right now, gaining another 2.75 strokes in Round 1. Mito Pereira and Graeme McDowell also shot 5 under on the morning round.
Other rounds finishing in the top 10 for the day coming from the morning wave were shot by Tyrrell Hatton and Denny McCarthy.
Afternoon Wave
With winds freshening at the beginning of the round, it was always going to be tough to catch Young in the afternoon, but Joaquin Niemann came close, shooting another solid Round-1 score, just as he did last week, with a 6-under 65 on Day 1. Sepp Straka continued his solid 2022 campaign as well, chipping in multiple times on the day, en route to a 65 on Day 1. They were the only ones from the wave to get to 5 under or better, as a handful shot 4-under 67 on Day 1: Harold Varner, Bill Haas, Patton Kizzire, Brian Gay and Chad Ramey.
The Masters Round 1 Stat Recap
Strokes Gained Off the Tee
- Tyler Duncan
- Jim Herman
- Joseph Bramlett
- Chris Kirk
- Erik van Rooyen
Strokes Gained Approach
- Corey Conners
- Cameron Young
- Brian Stuard
- Patton Kizzire
- Matthew NeSmith
Strokes Gained Around the Green
- Wesley Bryan
- Sepp Straka
- Harry Higgs
- Cameron Davis
- Mackenzie Hughes
Strokes Gained Putting
- Hudson Swafford
- Pat Perez
- Bill Haas
- Scott Brown
- Justin Thomas
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The same weather pattern we saw on Thursday should remain for Friday, with the morning wave having a slight advantage over the afternoon.
Joaquin Niemann ($8,900)
For the second straight week, Niemann finds himself at the top of the leaderboard, or near it, after the first round. While round two last week at The Masters didn’t go as planned, he has backed up solid first rounds plenty of times in his career, most recently at the Genesis Invitational, where he went wire to wire. His performance today, gaining at least a stroke in all four categories, would indicate that he will stay there throughout the rest of the week. Priced down from his weeklong salary, Niemann will likely be highly owned in the second-round slate, but deservedly so. Look to Sungjae Im ($9,100), who shot bogey-free today but also only had one birdie, he will be much less owned in the second round.
Harold Varner III ($8,300)
Outside of Saturday’s grueling round at Augusta, Varner hung around at his first Masters. He carried that momentum into this week, gaining almost four strokes ball-striking in Round 1, including 2.7 on the approach. His putter was cool in Round 1, not ice cold, though, only losing 0.59 strokes, leaving room for a bounce-back opportunity tomorrow morning. Varner has great success at this event, coming in second last year, so all signs are pointing forward for Varner this week.
Sepp Straka ($7,400)
The solid year continues for the Austrian, who parlayed two chip-in birdies to an opening-round 66. He wasn’t heavily targeted in the week-long, so not many gamers will be on him for Round 2, but he should see a bump from the 5% he was owned in week-long. We can’t expect him to chip in twice each round, and he did lose with both his irons and his driver, so this is a bit of a gamble here, given his statistical output for Round 1.
Chad Ramey ($6,900)
If you are a patron of the Live Before Lock show with Ben Rasa and myself, I spoke about Ramey and the perfect setup for him here this week. Coming from the Korn Ferry Tour this past year, Ramey ranked in the top 5 in both greens in regulation and driving accuracy. This course rewards golfers that beat the averages in those stats. Add on top of that a recent win at an alternate field event and Ramey should settle in nicely to his PGA Tour career.
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