PGA DFS: Showdown Spotlight Round 2 Picks for the Rocket Mortgage

This column is a quick-hitter article to give you the stats you need to make informed PGA DFS picks for your DraftKings + FanDuel daily fantasy lineups and give you a couple of recommendations for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. On a typical showdown contest, DraftKings will offer upwards of 50K to first for rounds 2 & 3 showdown, and sometimes up to 100K for the final round contests. They also offer weekend-long contests that have been offering 25K to first for most weekends. Lastly, FanDuel has also tried to get into the weekend-long and final round contests, offering 10K & 5K to first.

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Previous Round Commentary

Well, What’s up, Doc!? I guess that’s a bit cliche, but he continued his good run of form, carding an early seven under 65, which held up all day. Scott Stallings was able to match him from the morning wave, while Kevin Kisner found something and was able to lead the afternoon wave shooting 65. Bryson DeChambeau bogeyed 18 and had four on the day but still managed to shot 66, looking bad doing it. Granted, he putted well, but, it wasn’t even his c+ game, and he still is within one of the lead. I still think my bold call of him winning by five is in the cards.

A couple of cool stats for round 1 before we move on to prepping for round 2, Bubba Watson hit every fairway on the day, while Emiliano Grillo hit every green on the day. Pretty cool accomplishments, and maybe a reason to target Bubba tomorrow morning?

The expected Weather:

There’s no change in the expected Weather for tomorrow’s slate, with comfortable temperatures and a small one club- 10MPH wind steadily throughout the day. That could help the cut stay at -3, but I doubt it, and I think we are heading to a -4 cut.

Previous Round Stat Review

Not something you see every round, but 12 golfers were bogey-free on the day. Among them were leader Kevin Kisner, Peter Malnati, Emiliano Grillo, Henrik Norlander, Seung-Yul Noh, Seamus Power and Zach Sucher. But not all of them could find enough bridies to get inside the top 10. Let’s review the bride count for the first round:

J.J. Spaun and Bryson DeChambeau (9)
Doc Redman, Scott Stallings, Matt Wallace (8)
Eight tied at seven, including Rickie Fowler, Chas Seiffert, Maverick McNealy and Brendon Todd.

For the full list of stats, click here!

Strokes Gained Ball Striking vs. Putting

Grayson Murray could not find the bottom of the cup today, losing almost four strokes with his putter, but gaining over a stroke with his ball-striking. Vincent Whaley, whose typically a good putter lost 2.85 strokes today but gained over 2.3 ball striking. Harry Higgs also fits in that category, as he was on fire with his ball-striking gaining 2 3/4 strokes, but lost 2. 1/4 putting. Grillo, Ryan Brehm, Scott Harrington, Tom Hoge, Charl Schwartzel and Harold Varner III are a few other names in this category.

PGA DFS Slate Preview:

DraftKings is offering $50,000 to first contest with $175,000K Gtd. Plenty of other offerings, including the $100 long drive single entry contests offering 5K to first and 30K Gtd. A reasonably solid offering for this tournament.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter for giveaways and promos!

PGA DFS Showdown Picks

Top-10 Breakdown & Pick

Kevin Kisner, after looking dreadful the last three weeks, finally found something here in Detroit on Thursday, gaining everywhere except around the green. Grillo continues a little momentum after making the cut last week, as did Scott Stallings both of whom sit #1 and two in strokes gained tee to green, and ball striking. A couple of surprising names like J.J. Spaun, who was in last for quite a while last week, and Chase Seiffert, who had been playing on the Korn Ferry Tour the last few weeks. Peter Malnati also caught fire with his irons in round one, and he rode that as well as a hot short game to finish with a 66 and is in contention for his first top 10 of the year.

DeChambeau is the only golfer in the top 10 that we’d consider a stud, well I guess Doc Redman could be considered that his week due to his salary. So, I’m sure ownership on DeChambeau will be very high, but I’m sticking with eating the chalk and in parts leveraging over it. Just push my chips to the middle and ride it out. Hey, sometimes pocket aces lose.

Stud or Value Pick Outside of Top 10

Rickie Fowler ($9,000)

There was NO cross-handed/left-hand low putting for Fowler on Monday, as he bounced back to the tune of gaining 2.25 strokes with the flat stick on Thursday. His irons also bounced back, gaining almost a stroke and half, another good sign. He had one bad hole, a double, but was able to bounce back from that quite well, and knocked in 7 birdies in the process. Let’s buy into this comeback before the weekend rounds hit.

Sneaky Pick Outside of Top 10

Tom Lewis ($6,600)

I took a long hard look at Lewis for tournament long contests, to the point where I ended up throwing him the $100 long drive contests. The problem is that’s the only lineup I have Scottie Scheffler in, whose going to need 59 just to make the cut tomorrow. Anyways, what I liked was his ball-striking looked on a few weeks ago in his first start, but struggled mightily on the greens. Well, that seemed to reverse course today on these Donald Ross designed ones, gaining 1.4 on the day, in addition to his 1.46 strokes gained ball striking. I don’t think many people will catch on to him yet, especially since he only went -4 today, so he isn’t close enough to catch the eye. I’m ready to roll with this cheap option tomorrow.

*A Field note. Cameron Champ ($6,000) was added to the player pool for round 2, as expected. However, it wasn’t expected that he’d be min price and something that may not be noticed by the majority of folks. He’s certainly in play tomorrow.

PGA DFS Lineup Fill-Ins:

Mark Hubbard ($7,000)

Viktor Hovland ($9,800)

J.T. Poston ($8,200)

Harold Varner III ($7,800)

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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].