PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings Showdown Rocket Mortgage Round 2

On Thursday, the questionable summertime weather produced a delay with some storms in and around the golf course. Nevertheless, the PGA DFS action is just getting started as Showdown contests take center stage. Bryson DeChambeau and the rest of the field will continue to take advantage of soft conditions and make some noise on a golf course that is prime for scoring.

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PGA DFS Showdown Picks: Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2

Previous Round Recap

Morning Wave

It didn’t take long for the birdies to start flowing, as members in the first groups were able to take advantage on the first few holes. The play would go on for about four and half hours, with the first groups just finishing before the horn blew to suspend play. When they came to a halt, Brandon Hagy and Davis Thompson were tied for the lead at seven-under. Eventually, Thompson would best Hagy by shooting a course-record 63 to go nine-under and grabbing a two-stroke lead heading into Friday. The average score for the wave was just shy of 70, over two strokes under par.

Notables

Seamus Power continued his great form, shooting 66 in Round 1 while gaining strokes in all four facets of his game. Jason Day found a way to get done by crawling around the golf course, shooting a five-under 67. Also carrying momentum from last week was Kevin Kisner, who gained strokes across the board in Round 1 en route to a five-under 67. Hank Lebioda also carried the momentum forward from last week but did so with just his putter and iron game, gaining over four strokes in those two facets. Matthew Wolff and Si Woo Kim are a few of the other big names that played well on Thursday. Both guys were incredibly hot with their irons, gaining over three strokes on the day.

Afternoon Wave

For those that went all-in on DeChambeau, it was quite the rocky start. He dropped two bogeys in his first three holes after learning of a caddy firing/quitting after tee-off. Normally that shouldn’t affect play all that much, but Bryson is a big head case. We all know that. It didn’t get all that much better as his approach game from under 90 yards was horrific today.

The bright spot for the afternoon wave was Joaquin Niemann, who looked lost on the green last week at The Travelers. He must have found something over these last three days prior to today because almost everything went down, gaining well over three strokes. Troy Merritt would continue his run of good form, gaining almost four strokes on the day to shoot a 67.

There are 28 golfers still on the course, with the most holes remaining for a group being four.

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Round 2 Cut Prediction

After the storms rolled through, it came with a spot wind and pushed the scoring average up to 1.7-under par for the day. However, with 50 or so golfers between -3 and -1, I suspect the cut will easily get to -4 or -5.

Round 1 Stat Recap

Although stats are a bit incomplete, here are the top three golfers in each strokes-gained category at the end of the day.

Strokes Gained Tee to Green

Patrick Rodgers
Seamus Power
Talor Gooch

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

Strokes Gained Off the Tee

Chris Kirk
Davis Thompson
Matthew Wolff
Tom Lewis

Strokes Gained Approach

Grayson Murray
Davis Thompson
Hideki Matsuyama
Si Woo Kim
Chris Kirk

Strokes Gained Around the Green

Ted Potter Jr
Tyler Duncan
Roger Sloan

Strokes Gained Putting

Joaquin Niemann
Troy Meritt
Patton Kizzire

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PGA DFS Showdown Picks: Slate Preview

Lock Time

8 a.m. EST

Fantasy Golf Contest Preview

DraftKings

DraftKings is offering $20,000 to first place and $70,000 guaranteed for the second-round slate.

Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA DFS Picks

The scoring was noticeably easier in the morning, by almost half a shot. I suspect that will condense a bit tomorrow. Regardless, I’ll be looking for a few golfers that struck the ball well in Round 1 but couldn’t make anything on the day.

PGA DFS Picks for Round 2 of The Rocket Mortgage Classic

Jason Kokrak ($9,400) Coming into the week ranked inside the Top-5 in strokes-gained putting on the year, Kokrak really struggled on the greens today. A few short misses, a few three-putts, and that was enough to spoil his solid day of ball-striking. Kokrak did gain just about four shots on the day. I’m not sure if he’ll do that again tomorrow, but the course should be in good enough shape to make a move up the leaderboard.
Doug Ghim ($7,800): While I do like Ghim quite a bit for tomorrow’s round, there are a few other golfers in his price range that I’d rather play tomorrow- Maverick McNealy and Lucas Glover are among the list. Through 16 holes, Ghim hasn’t recorded a shot around the green. Crazy enough, it’s one of the first times I’ve seen a no record for the stat. Nevertheless, Ghim did hit his irons well, gaining almost two strokes in Round 1. He’s one of 28 golfers still left on the course, so he could wind up getting some better looks around the green.
Kramer Hickok ($7,200) It may be against conventional wisdom to go out and roster a golfer that did most of his work on the greens in Round 1. For Kramer, though, he’s got the momentum and solid putting touch going for him, Hickok will be on full display again tomorrow morning paired up with Dechambeau. Hickok will need his irons to return to form if he wants to put together another solid round. It’s hard to rely on almost two strokes putting per round to beat the field.

Sneaky Pick for the Round 2 Showdown

Beau Hossler ($7,100) No need to hop off the train now as the Hossler locomotive continues to churn. He’s working on back-to-back Top-20s for the first time in forever. Now, after a great start to the first round, Hossler has a chance to make it three straight this week. He is one of the golfers left on the course, with a 36-footer for birdie on 17. Beau will be able to have a warm-up hole in before he starts his second round.

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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].