PGA DFS: Showdown Spotlight Picks for Tokyo Olympics Golf Round 2 | DraftKings & FanDuel

Beautiful sunny skies met with a perfectly maintained course to start Round 1 of the Olympics. Only 13 of the 60 golfers shot over par, many teeing off in the latter part of the morning. Round 2 DFS golf contests are big once again, with DraftKings offering $20,000 to first. Let’s dive into some PGA DFS picks for Showdown and Single-Game contests on DraftKings and FanDuel.

Be sure to check out The Olympics Awesemo’s expert PGA DFS Showdown projections and ownership.

PGA DFS Showdown Picks: The Olympics Round 2

Previous Round Recap

Those who were first out took advantage of softer greens, as Sepp Straka and Thomas Pieters set the pace. Straka and Pieters had the first tee time, and their totals of 63 and 65, respectively, showed scores would be low throughout the day. The average score was about 1.5 under par, around 69.5. Carlos Ortiz continued the trend of early golfers playing well, shooting 65 and to tie with Pieters. Jazz Janewattananond also sprung to form, making a ton of putts while also getting hot with his approaches.

Jhonattan Vegas battled his jetlag and posted a solid opening-round 66. Sebastian Munoz also got to that number, along with Paul Casey, Alex Noren and Anirban Lahiri.

Notables

Xander Schauffele’s late bogey pushed him out of the top 10 after Round 1, but he leads the big names. Viktor Hovland got to 5 under at one point before falling back to 3 under. Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa came in at 2 under. After 18 straight pars to open up his Olympic Games, Justin Thomas had only one word to describe his opening round:

JT perfectly summed up his opening round 71 at the Olympics. 😂 pic.twitter.com/EsbTojo5KD

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) July 29, 2021

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Round 1 Stat Recap

The Olympics site has a shot tracker on a desktop/laptop but not available via phone. There is a full slate of statistics, including strokes gained; click here to see them all.

Strokes Gained Tee to Green

Average Place: 3.2

1. Thomas Pieters (3)
2. Sepp Straka (1)
3. Jhonattan Vegas (5)
4. Jazz Janewattananond (2)
5. Joachim B. Hansen (5)

Strokes Gained Ball Striking

Average Place: 3.2

1. Thomas Pieters (3)
2. Sepp Straka (1)
3. Joachim B Hansen (5)
4. Jhonattan Vegas (5)
5. Jazz Janewattananond (2)

Strokes Gained Off the Tee

Average Place: 23.8

1. Thomas Pieters (3)
2. Hurly Long (31)
3. Ryan Fox (31)
4. Xander Schauffele (12)
5. Rikuya Hoshino (42)

Strokes Gained on the Approach

Average Place: 3.2

1. Thomas Pieters
2. Joachim B. Hansen
3. Sepp Straka
4. Jhonattan Vegas
5. Jazz Janewattananond

Strokes Gained Around the Green

Average Place: 22.2

1. Patrick Reed (20)
2. Rory Sabbatini (20)
3. Hideki Matsuyama (20)
4. Sungjae Im (31)
5. Abraham Ancer (20)

Strokes Gained Putting

Average Place: 9.8

1. Carlos Ortiz (3)
2. Thomas Detry (31)
3. Jazz Janewattananond (2)
4. Henrik Norlander (12)
5. Sepp Straka (1)

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The Olympics PGA DFS Picks

It is pretty clear that the golf course is a second-shot course. With few areas to use length as an advantage, golfers that get hot with the irons and putter are the ones atop the leaderboard. While those that did both yesterdays are scattered in the top 10, below are listed a few golfers that had their irons going in Round 1 but could not quite get the greens down.

Lastly, Thomas may have made 18 straight pars and lost 2.8 strokes putting in the process, but it is clearly affecting his mental state, as he only matched the field on his irons in Round 1. Maybe trying to hit it too close is hurting him, but with how talented he is, the goals is to catch him on good putting days. He will be among the top five scores of the day when he does. For now, if he fits into lineups, great. If not, try again for Round 3.

PGA DFS Picks for Round 2 of The Olympics

• Viktor Hovland ($10,500): He will have the first tee-off among the stars in Round 2 and the fourth tee time overall. Many of the best scores came from the first five tee times yesterday. Hovland has the second-highest price on the slate, which could bring down his ownership as gamers try and build a more balanced lineup. The pick is for him to be one of the top scorers of the day, so it is a bit risky.
• Mackenzie Hughes ($7,800): One of the best putters on tour, Hughes had one of the highest discrepancies between his approach play and putter in Round 1, really struggling with the flat stick. He is too talented to have that happen again in Round 2, and if his irons stay hot, he will jump the leaderboard today.
• Sebastian Munoz ($7,600): If every event was no-cut, Munoz would be an elite player. He gets so hot with the putter, but the volatility is as high as it is in anyone in the game of golf. There are no worries about missing the cut this week, so fire away.

Sneaky Pick for the Round 2 Showdown

• Ryan Fox ($7,000): There is always at least one golfer that performs so well tee to green but just absolutely blows up with the putter. In Round 1 that was Fox. He was sixth in the field in strokes gained tee to green after Round 1, gaining close to 3 1/2 strokes, but he lost all that and a bit more with the putter. It cannot be that bad two days in a row, can it?

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