This column is a quick-hitter article to give you the stats you need to make informed PGA DFS picks for your DraftKings + FanDuel daily fantasy lineups and give you a couple of recommendations for the second round of the Zozo 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 Recap
A scoring average somewhere close to 68 was one of the lowest rounds to par I’ve seen in quite some time. Birdies, eagles streaks, and course records all happened during today’s second round. The latter, shot by Richy Werenksi, who had a scoring change, give him that NBC had reported an incorrect score for him, likely to talk about the other record holder, Tiger Woods. Speaking of Tiger, he bounced back in round three after a dreadful opening round with a six-under 66.
Six others shot under 65 today, including Werenski’s 61. Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed & Talor Gooch all went out in eight under 63, while Viktor Hovland & Shugo Imahaira shot 64. Also shooting 64 and showing little to no signs of COVID rust is Tony Finau. It’s good to see him back and what seems to be healthy.
Justin Thomas set’s the pace heading into the weekend, with back to back 65s, as overnight leader Sebastian Munoz stumbled out of the gates today. He did recover by the end of the day shooting 70 in round two.
Stat Review
Birdie or Better Leaders Through Round 2Â
- Sebastian Munoz (17)
- Dylan Frittelli, Lanto Griffin (16)
- Richy Weresnski, Patrick Reed, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler (15)
Strokes Gained Ball Striking vs. Putting
The overnight leader in this category Carlos Ortiz was able to bounce back from his terrible day putting in round one and match the field, and it led to a seven-under 65. He still leads it, but only slightly now. Joaquin Niemann struggling on the greens this week, losing over a stroke in each of the first two rounds.  Jon Rahm, Brian Harman & Scottie Scheffler round out the top 5 in this category.
Strokes Gained Ball Striking Differential
Tiger Woods couldn’t get any worse after his round 1 performance, but he did gain eight more strokes ball striking in round 2 than he did in round one. Brad Kennedy had a seven-shot differential while Richy Werensk & Adam Hadwin gained just over six more strokes.
Click here to see all the stats from round 2
PGA DFS Slate Preview
Lock Time
12:50 EST
Contest Preview
DraftKings
- DraftKings is offering $25,000 to first and $100,000 guaranteed for the third-round slate
- DK is offering $5,000 to first and $25,000 guaranteed for the weekend-long slate
FanDuel
- FanDuel is offering $2,000 to first and $10,00 guaranteed for the weekend-long slate
General Strategy and PGA DFS Picks
With a course playing this easy, this soft, on top of having five par 5s, you are bound to get some extremely low scores. Two golfers have yet to make a bogey in each of the first two rounds, Abraham Ancer & Patrick Cantlay, and just seven golfers were over par in round 2. This means you need to nail 4/6 golfers just to have a chance to cash in gpps, and your other two can’t be anything worse than a 70. The margin of error in events like this is quite thin, so keep that in mind.
Top 10
Patrick Cantlay ($8,800)
His ownership dipped, and so did his price, but Cantlay seems like his game is trending in the absolute right direction. Not a great week last week, but a good Sunday, and he’s followed that up by going bogey-free thru the first 36. His irons had been off, and in round two, the rest of his game saved him, but in round one, he gained over two strokes, so they aren’t far behind. His price is reasonable as well, so load him up for round 3!
Stud or Value Pick Outside the Top 10
Viktor Hovland ($8,100)
This guy can not get out of his own way in round one. Two weeks in a row, he inexplicably didn’t play well. Well, he bounced back in round two again and shot eight-under 64. That got him right back into the thick of it, and his ball-striking continues to impress. Paired up with Cantlay & the next guy on this list sets up for a well-balanced line that should be able to include at least two stars.
Sneaky Pick Outside the Top 10
Jordan Spieth ($6,700)
BOGEY FREE 66!! Boy, that’ll get the fan juices flowing. He gained over a stroke on his approaches in round two for the first time in really long, and only, yes, only a half a shot off the tee. His putting though, it’s still not great! He lost a quarter of a stroke on the day. Imagine if that get’s hot over the weekend, 64 could be in play. Or at least it could have been today had it cooperated.
Lineup Fill-Ins
Ryan Palmer ($6,700)
Collin Morikawa ($9,100)
Abraham Ancer ($8,400)
Takumi Kanaya ($6,300)
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