PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings Showdown U.S. Open Round 2

Among the many lures of San Diego and the surrounding region is the “marine layer” seen in the early mornings. Today it affected play for 90 minutes, giving the round no chance to finish in its entirety on Thursday. With that, there will be an extra hour or so to prepare for Round 2 PGA DFS U.S. Open contests, which offers an opportunity to win $50,000. Even FanDuel is trying to get into the showdown slate, albeit with not their best effort.

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

PGA DFS Showdown Picks: U.S. Open Round 2

Previous Round Recap

Morning Wave

After the delay, the greens seemed to keep the morning dew for a bit and were quite receptive. But that lasted no more than two hours before Torrey Pines started to show its teeth. Russell Henley took advantage of those easy greens, birdieing his first hole and finishing the day as the low round of the wave. He gained about seven strokes against the field average, and almost all of those strokes came from his putter and approach game, so maybe distance doesn’t matter as much as assumed.

Francesco Molinari and Rafa Cabrera Bello continue that theme; both got incredibly hot with their short games in Round 1, gaining a combined 9.5 strokes. Some might say that’s unsustainable. The big hitters come next, with pre-tournament favorites Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele looking to be in fine form with a pair of 69s. Koepka’s putter woke up, and Schauffele leads the field tee to green, while his putter was rather cold. Unbelievably, there is another Molinari in the top 10 as well after Round 1, as Eduardo Molinari joined Francesco as the only pair of brothers to birdie the first hole of the U.S. Open.

Notables

A couple of other solid rounds came from this morning wave, again taking advantage of slightly softer conditions. One of those was Matthew Wolff, a guy with a ton of talent and an erratic game. That style of play was on full display today, with his eight birdies leading the field but also two doubles and three other bogeys, all en route to a 1-under 70. It was good to see that he gained strokes ball striking, gaining over four on the day. Patrick Rodgers, Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Adam Hadwin round out the under-par rounds for the morning wave.

Afternoon Wave

With over 50 golfers still to finish their round, data for the day will be a bit incomplete and could change a bit before we tee off for Round 2. The largest amount of golf any one group has to play is five holes, which should be about an hour and a half. That means the tournament is trending toward a Saturday morning cut, a nice way to have to sweat that overnight.

Most thought Henley’s 4-under 67 would not be caught, and it still might not be, but Louis Oosthuizen will have a chance to beat him. Oosthuizen, using steady to play and a hot putter, is putting himself in the mix yet again. His playing partner, Patrick Cantlay, hasn’t holed as many birdie putts as Oosthuizen but is bogey-free through 16. Jon Rahm looked as good as ever and fired a solid 2-under 69, and he gives himself a chance to set a pace heading into the weekend.

Other big names like Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson finished their last hole in the dark, with McIlroy sneaking in a birdie to get to under par. Johnson couldn’t birdie the par-5 18th and shot even for the day. Bryson DeChambeau was able to birdie two of his last five holes to shoot a 2-over 73.

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Round 2 Cut Prediction

That 2-over 73 is about three-quarters of a stroke better than the average but is currently the cut line, with 61 golfers at +2 or better. There are 16 golfers at either even, +1 or +2 still on the course, so it’s reasonable to expect +2 will be around a tie for 58th after Round 1 is done. In total, there are 38 golfers that shot between 73 and 75 today, and with conditions not expected to be any easier for Round 2, 4 or +5 should be in play for the cut line tomorrow. Anyone sitting at those numbers now will likely make the weekend with an under-par round on Friday.

Round 1 Stat Recap

Although stats are a bit incomplete, here are the top three in each strokes gained category.

Strokes Gained Tee to Green

Hideki Matsuyama
Xander Schauffele
Matthew Fitzpatrick

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

Gary Woodland
Wilco Nienaber
Bryson DeChambeau
Jon Rahm

Strokes Gained Approach

Hideki Matsuyama
Abraham Ancer
Greyson Sigg

Strokes Gained Around the Green

Matt Jones
Harris English
Matt Kuchar

Strokes Gained Putting

Taylor Montgomery
Patrick Rodgers
Scottie Scheffler

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PGA DFS Showdown Picks: Slate Preview

Lock Time

10:45 a.m. EST

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DraftKings

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

The U.S. Open PGA DFS Picks

With so many big names hanging around the first page of the leaderboard, it should make lineup-making enjoyable for Round 2. It’s pretty clear that the morning wave has a slight advantage with softer conditions in the morning.

PGA DFS Picks for Round 2 of The U.S. Open

Patrick Cantlay ($8,500): Bogey-free through 16 holes, with two scoreable holes reaming on the front side, Cantlay is in great shape to get himself into the top five by day’s end. Playing with Oosthuizen, he will try to put pressure on him and keep him within sight. If he does that on Friday, he should be on the first page of the leaderboard of the round is complete.
Hideki Matsuyama ($8,200): Given his price for Round 2, Matsuyama is a more obvious play than Rahm ($10,500) given the huge salary difference. Matsuyama got the major championship monkey off his back and looks to be back in prime shape yet again. When his irons start to fire, he rivals Collin Morikawa. In fact, he was Morikawa before Morikawa became who he is: The best iron player in the world.
Robert MacIntyre ($7,200): MacIntyre is yet to miss a cut at a major and looks to be in good form to continue that steak here this week, as he put together a quality opening round. His irons were on fire, gaining almost three strokes on the day, with his putter the only thing not coming along for the ride. The round his putter clicks this week could get him pretty close to the round of the day.

Sneaky Pick for the Round 2 Showdown

Matthew Wolff ($6,600) Sometimes, if not buying in early, the train will leave the station before there’s another chance to buy. For Wolff, seeing how he gained over a stroke and half off the tee and another two-plus with his irons, that’s a great sign that he hasn’t been just sitting around playing video games the last three months. He has all the talent in the world and the game for this event, so at a depressed salary, it is worth riding the hot streak into the weekend.

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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].