PGA DFS Picks: Showdown Spotlight Round 3 of the BMW Championship

This column is a quick-hitter article to give you the stats you need to make informed PGA DFS picks for your DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy lineups and give you a couple of recommendations for The BMW Championship. On a typical showdown contest, DraftKings will offer upwards of $50,000 to first for rounds 2 and 3 showdown and sometimes up to $100,000 for the final-round contests. They also provide weekend-long contests that have been offering $25,000 to first for most weekends. Lastly, FanDuel has also tried to get into the weekend-long and final round contests, offering $10,000 and $5,000 to first.

Previous Round Commentary

Much of the same in round two, and for those of you that aren’t watching each and every week, these scores might be a huge surprise to you. For me, I love it. Having to work for each and every birdie, and having to focus on every shot, is not of we often see. Maybe four times a year, if we are lucky. If you are looking at an even-par winning score, or worse, you’d have to go back two summers to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where one over par won. Brooks Koepka was the winner there. Luckily for me, he’s not in this field.

Three under 67 is the low score of the week, incredibly, and it’s only been shot by one person, Hideki Matsuyama, who wasn’t able to back up that stellar play in round one, and now sits at even par after a 73. No one in the field has shot back to back rounds under par, but we did have two bogey-free rounds on the day, Louis Oosthuizen and Corey Conners. That’s a perfect segway into our previous round statistical review.

Previous Round Stat Review

The total number of birdies made today was: for reference, just Scottie Scheffler and Dustin Johnson recorded 25 birdies themselves last week in round two. Over the first two rounds, there were 301 birdies and 538 bogeys, the most significant differential I have seen in some time. Round twos scoring average was 73.72 even harder than Thursdays 72.75!

BOB Leaders in Round 2

Brendon Todd (6)
Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau (5)
Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Kevin Kisner, Xander Schauffele (4)

Least # of Bogeys thru 2 Rounds:

Correy Conners (3)
Louis Oosthuizen, Russell Henley (4)
Xander Schauffele, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin (5)

For the full list of stats, click here

Strokes Gained Ball Striking vs. Putting

It’s absolutely no surprise to see Corey Conners leading the way here, gaining five more strokes ball-striking than with his putter on average the first two rounds, with Bubba Watson coming in as the only other golfer having a four-stroke differential. Kevin Streelman, Danny Lee, and Matthew Wolff round out the top 5 here.

Strokes Gained Ball Striking Round by Round Differential

Corey Conners leads again, as round one wasn’t great for him ball-striking wise, but round two certainly was gaining five more strokes on the day. Max Homa, Maverick McNealy and Kevin Kisner all gained at least three 2/3rds more strokes today ball-striking than the did in round one. Matthew Wolff, Kevin Streeleman, and Scottie Scheffler were all also at least three strokes better in the second round than in the first.

PGA DFS Slate Preview

Lock Tim: 8:10 EST

PGA DFS Contest Preview

DraftKings

DraftKings is offering $50,000 to first and $150,000 guaranteed for tomorrow’s slate.
DraftKings is also offering $20,000 to first and $60,000 guaranteed for the weekend-long slate.

FanDuel:

Fanduel is offering $4,000 to first and 20,000 guaranteed for the weekend-long slate.

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

Top 10 Breakdown and PGA DFS Picks

The two-day scoring average of X allows anyone at +1 or better to be inside the top 10 heading into the weekend, and just two shots back of Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy. The two stars that have really struggled since the restart, both are in position for their best finish in the last 11 weeks. But, a late surge from Dustin Johnson has the hottest golfer in the field right behind them. A perfect time to be peaking with big money on the line these next two weeks. I’ll be in on both of them each of the next two days. Louis Oosthuizen also put in a bogey-free day, as we mentioned above, and will be a big part of my lineups going forward, as he needs a big-time finish, maybe even a win, to get himself into next week.

Also finding themselves in another tournament is fairway finder Brendon Todd, who had one of two 68s on the day, the low round. That after an opening-round 73, Todd has put himself in a position to win again. Tony Finau is bouncing back nicely after his missed cut last week, as is Billy Horschel. Adam Scott in only his third start back since the restart also played to an under-par round today and is undoubtedly to be the most rested out of everyone competing. Hideki Matsuyama, Jim Herman, and one of the latest rounds on the course Bubba Watson round out the golfers inside the top 10, with Herman being the biggest surprise this week. Scratch that, Herman made a late bogey and is in a tie for 11th, and Watson’s late bogey moved Kevin Kisner and Mackenzie Hughes up inside the top 10.

Louis Oosthuizen ($8,000)

Back to back good rounds for Louis, as these are the types of conditions where his rock steady game from all four facets really shines. He’s steady off the tee, consistent with his irons, and has a darn good short game when it’s on, and it seems to be working for him thru the first two rounds. I’ll stack the two leaders with him in my aggressive late builds tomorrow.

Stud or Value Pick Outside of Top 10

Bryson DeChambeau ($9,800)

Birdies are so crucial in showdown formats this week with so few out there, but you can certainly rely on Bryson for at least a couple. With plenty of big names up at the top, he shouldn’t be over 20% owned for tomorrow’s round three or weekend-long slate. I think it’s a good time to buy here and hope for the good round tomorrow instead of Sunday.

Sneaky Pick Outside of Top 10

Corey Conners ($7,100)

A day after really struggling with his putter, Conners bounced back to the tune of a bogey-free round. That’s exceptional on a course that played 2.72 over par on average for the day. His stats say that he struggled again with it (the putter). He lost another 1.5 strokes. On the contrary, however, but he gained 5.33 tee to green, and 5.18 with his ball-striking. That’s a great sign for a guy that relies on it for good play, and should be a quality player to hang around that four or five over mark, which should end up in the top 10 by Sunday afternoon.

Lineup Fill-Ins

Dustin Johnson ($10,500)

Kevin Kisner ($8,200)

Maverick McNealy ($6,100)

Lanto Griffin ($6,500)

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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].