PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings Showdown The Open Championship Round 2

The British Open has started, and some huge names are atop the leaderboard after Round 1, making it all the more compelling. PGA DFS Showdown contests also keep interest, as the biggest Showdown prize pools always come during major championship. It is not different this week, with DraftKings offering a $50,000 to first place for just the second round.

Tomorrow is the longest day in the golfing calendar, starting at 1:45 a.m. on the East Coast and not ending until 3:45 p.m. With every golfer starting off of the first hole and playing in threesomes, the tournament is able to take advantage of the long daylight hours.

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Be sure to check out British Open Round 2 Awesemo’s expert PGA DFS Showdown projections and ownership.

PGA DFS Showdown Picks: British Open Round 2

Previous Round Recap

Morning Wave

The action started little ways into the day, as Brooks Koepka was one of the earliest star golfers out there. He had a mediocre start, shooting a 1-under 69, but he would show that the course did not really have teeth. The wind was not blowing all that hard, and gettable pin locations were able to be exploited in Round 1 by the golfers in the morning. Louis Oosthuizen and Jordan Spieth continue their major dominance, getting to the top leaderboard after Round 1. Brian Harman, who started the day with three straight birdies, shot 5 under after closing with a birdie. Playing with Harman, Mackenzie Hughes and Dylan Frittelli brought the threesome to a combined 13 under, as each of them shot 66. With Harman draining those early birdie putts, it gave the other playing mates confidence as well. All nine players ended the day at 4 under or better.

Notables

Stewart Cink, a former British Open Champion, continued his incredible season with a 4-under 66. Other hot golfers like Jon Rahm struggled, but a closing birdie has him just 7 back heading into the second day. He will get to stare down Oosthuizen and try and pick up a few shots on Friday. The reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry completed their threesome of Rahm and Oosthuizen and shot a 1-over 71 in the opening round of his title defense. Scottie Scheffler and Sergio Garcia, also playing together, had solid opening rounds, as Scheffler looks to continue his good performances in majors. In contrast, Garcia looks to get back on track after struggling since his maiden major win.

Afternoon Wave

We will split the field in half in terms of looking at the morning and afternoon waves. Only two golfers from Match 20 on finished inside the top five today: Webb Simpson and Benjamin Hebert. They will have the best chance to eclipse Oosthuizen in the morning, as they will tee off before 9:00 a.m. local time.

It was quite noticeable from the start that the wind was much more of a factor in the afternoon as the sun started to set. It would take quite a while for a golfer to reach 3 under in the wave, let alone 4 under, as Keith Mitchell was the first to do so. In his first British Open round Collin Morikawa looked very steady, going out shooting 67 in the toughest conditions. He looks comfortable on the slower greens and has seemed to fix his ball-striking issue in Round 1.

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Round 2 Cut Prediction

The scoring average for the day was just shy of 71, coming in at 70.92. However, with tee times flipping and most scores being better than +1 in the morning, the cut should trend towards +3 tomorrow. Sixty-seven golfers are between even and 2 over, which gives that guess a bit more validity.

Round 1 Stat Recap

Strokes gained statistics are not available for the British Open, but some baseline stats are. While these are not nearly as predictive as strokes gained, they can at least provide a look at where golfers perform well and where they are not.

The average score of golfers ranking in the top 10 of each stat are as follows.

Driving Accuracy: 69.5
Greens in Regulation: 68.5
Putts Per Green: 69.72

Getting on these greens in regulation is vital to success here this week, as the greenside bunkers and run-offs are one of the only defenses of the course.

Driving Accuracy (56% was the field average)

Brad Kennedy
Ian Poulter
Jaco Ahlers

Xander Schauffele projects as the fourth highest on the slate, with 36.76 points. Click here to view the full field.

Greens in Regulation (64% was the field average)

Brandt Snedeker
Brian Harman
Chan Kim

Putts Per Green

Brendon Todd
Jonathan Thomson
Byeong Hun An

Awesemo's Top Golfer Tool is an Ace Since golf performances are largely uncorrelated between one golfer and the next, aside from weather impacts, a good way to view a PGA DFS lineup is as a parlay, where you have to hit all 6 picks to hit. The Awesemo Top Golfer Tool gives you the probabilities that each golfer will finish top 6, as well as their 25%, 50%,and 75% results as a benchmark for how you can expect each golfer to perform at the tournament.

PGA DFS Showdown Picks: Slate Preview

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DraftKings

DraftKings is offering $50,000 to first place and $200,000 guaranteed for the second-round slate.

The British Open PGA DFS Picks

Today the wind was blowing very early in the morning, but as the sun rose from the clouds, the wind died down with it. Conditions were almost ideal from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and the same weather pattern seems to be in favor tomorrow. The focus should be on golfers who played well today and tee off at 8:30 local time a.m. tomorrow.

PGA DFS Picks for Round 2 of The British Open

Collin Morikawa ($8,900): While it may be counterintuitive with Morikawa to play him after a good putting day, he only hit 50% of his fairways and only 72.2% of his greens in regulation, and that should improve tomorrow morning. The slower greens seem to help Morikawa’s putting woes, and he also seems comfortable around the greens. The Scottish Open was a great preview for him to get used to the conditions, and it paid off in Round 1.
Tommy Fleetwood ($8,200): Driving accuracy mattered very little this week, as Fleetwood ranked in the bottom five in that category today. He still was able to hit 72.2% of his greens and get hot with the putter in Round 1. After one day he will become more familiar with the lines off the tee, and the fairways will come. If the fairways come and the short game stays hot, Fleetwood will be in the mix come Sunday yet again.
Corey Conners ($7,600): Conners’ ball striking has returned, as his approach game was featured on the coverage quite a few times. He and Morikawa’s games are good mirrors of each other and seemed to play well today

Sneaky Pick for the Round 2 Showdown

Francesco Molinari ($7,100): Molinari, true to his typical form, matched Koepka in Round 1, shooting a 2-under 68. He has not been seen doing anything outside of majors recently, but his iron play seems to have found something. He hit 15 of 18 greens in Round 1 while only hitting 50% of his fairways, which did not affect his play all that much. His short game can transcend into world class at times, which makes him all the more comfortable a play at these value prices.

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Author

Jason Rouslin

Jason established his roots in the littlest state that could...Rhode Island. But after 29 years of bitter cold, and only being able to play golf 4 months a year, upended those roots and moved to Florida. Now four years later, Jason is a husband to Sarah and father of two boys, James & Myles. A dog and more specifically Lab lover (Bella), he dedicates his time to serve as the lead of PGA content at Awesemo.com. In the time he is not diving into the PGA stats and covering this week's current tournament, you can find him researching and trading stocks, on the golf course, at Disney World, on a hike, or somewhere in between. Want to chat? Have a question about Golf/Stocks or anything else? Hop on twitter and give him a message @dfsgolfer23. You can also contact Jason by emailing [email protected].