PGA DFS Picks: This column is a quick-hitter article to give you the stats you need to make informed decisions for your PGA DFS lineups and give you a couple of recommendations. Not a member of Awesemo+? Sign up HERE to get access to Awesemo’s premium projections and rankings for DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and FantasyDraft, as well as Jason Rouslin’s in-tournament models.
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Tournament Update
DraftKings is offering $10,000 to first for the second-round slate.
Friday WeatherÂ
It is a little chilly, but not breezy at all. It should be fine out there.
PGA DFS Round 1 Recap
There is a vast distinction between the two courses and that was on display today to the tune of almost three strokes. The South Course played to a score of 73.62 and the North 70.74. That should surely set up for an interesting cut sweat tomorrow. Only 18 golfers from the South Course currently sit inside the top 71. With an average of close to even par, we can suspect the cut sweat to come down to the wire.
PGA DFS Statistical AnalysisÂ
Split courses give us split statistics, but we’ll do our best to decipher them. On the south course, Bubba Watson and Cameron Percy were both magnificent tee to green, gaining over five strokes for the day. Russel Knox, Maverick McNealy and Jordan Spieth round out the top five. Spieth gained in all four facets of the game yesterday, which is the first time I can say I’ve seen that in a single round in a long, long time.
Two recent plays of mine, Will Gordon and Cam Davis, were very good ball striking, but both were very bad with the putter, gaining five strokes and 4.63 strokes, respectively, more with ball striking. My early tilt, Lanto Griffin, missed six putts inside of 10 feet in his first nine holes. I stopped watching after that.
Switching gears to the North Course, Ryan Brehm hit 16 of 18 greens today, the only player to do so. His putting lacked, however, only making two birdies on the day, but no bogeys. Billy Horschel found a bit of ball-striking form and is tied for second with Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, Cameron Champ, Jason Kokrak, Cameron Tringale and a couple of others with 15 of 18 hit.
For the full list of statistics, click here.
PGA DFS Final Round PicksÂ
Top-10 Pick
Bubba Watson, due to name recognition and playing the easier course, will be the chalk in tomorrow’s slate. I’m OK fading that, even though typically when he’s in form, he stays that way. Sebastian Cappelen is the only other golfer inside the top 10 playing the North Course tomorrow, so with that, I don’t know that I’ll be playing anyone inside the top 10 tomorrow. I’ll give a couple of picks in the next range to make up for it.
PGA DFS Stud or Value Pick outside of Top 10
Jordan Spieth ($8,200)
Take away the name, put in the stats, throw in the fact that said person is playing the easy course tomorrow and this is almost a no-brainer play. Spith still struggled to find fairways today, but he left himself in position when he did to make up for it. There were no big misses at least, except for 17, and that was with a 3 wood. The North Course is much more forgiving and has plenty of scoring chances. He’s a nice salary as well, so you can build out a well-balanced lineup of golfers playing the easier course. I also like Tony Finau ($8,700), who actually gained strokes putting. That is not a misprint.
Russell Knox ($7,500)
Continuing the hot iron play, Knox is a good putting day away from getting inside the top 10 in this event. He gained over three strokes against the other 72 competitors he faced today on the South Course, second to only Cameron Percy. That coupled with a cheap price tag and I’ll gladly scoop up some Knox for my lineups tomorrow.
Sneaky Pick Outside of Top 10
Maverick McNealy ($6,900)
I’m staying on this kid for the whole week. He lost .7 strokes putting, which will turn around, or at least I’m willing to bet on that at these prices. He gained 3.38 tee to green, 2.39 of that coming on his ball striking. That’s a continuation of what McNealy has been doing lately, and I don’t see it randomly stopping anytime soon.
PGA DFS Lineup Fill-InsÂ
Tony Finau ($8,700)
Tom Hoge ($6,700)Â
Zack Sucher ($6,000)