PGA DFS Picks: Showdown Spotlight Round 4 of the CJ Cup

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 CJ Cup. 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

It was Shadow Creek Golf Course and Russell Henley that stole the show on Saturday, as Xander Schauffele’s bad play brought the entire field back in it. His four-shot lead was erased quickly, and now Henley holds a three-shot lead after three days. A couple of golfers shot 80s on the day, and a few others were in the high 70s, pushing the scoring average back above par like it was on Thursday.

Bubba Watson had the low round of the day, going 7-under 65 with eight birdies and just a lone bogey. He sits six back but isn’t out of the question if he posts another 65 or better tomorrow. Four others came in at 66: Lanto Griffin, Rory McIlroy, Ryan Palmer and Jason Day.

Stat Review

Birdie or Better Leaders Through Round 3

Rickie Fowler (20)
Rory McIlroy (19)
Jason Kokrak, Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman (17)

Strokes Gained Ball-Striking vs. Putting

Watson has continually gotten better in each round of the tournament with his ball striking and finally found a bit of a putting stroke in round 3, matching the field in the category. Still, he’s averaging over four strokes more ball striking, the only golfer in the field to do so. Day, Cameron Champ, Harry Higgs and Marc Leishman round out the top five in the category and have gained at least 2.5 more strokes ball striking than with their putter.

Click here to see all the stats from round 3

Strokes Gained Ball-Striking Round by Round Differential

Paul Casey must have had a great night in one way or the other. He gained a total of seven more strokes ball striking in round 3 versus his round 2 performance. Palmer also gained over 5.5 strokes more, while Scottie Scheffler, Sebastian Munoz and McIlroy were all just about four strokes better in round 3 than in round 2.

PGA DFS Slate Preview

Lock Time

12:25 p.m. EST

Contest Preview

DraftKings

DraftKings is offering $25,000 to first and $100,000 guaranteed for the final-round slate

FanDuel

FanDuel is offering $1,000 to first and $5,000 guaranteed for the final-round slate

General PGA DFS Slate Strategy:

The warm temperatures and little rain have continued to harden out the course a bit, as the greens were playing even firmer than in the previous rounds. The fairways are no different, so short hitters have the distance nullified by the equalizer of firm fairways. Once again, I remind everyone that finishing points are allocated to players for the final-round slate.

Top 10

Bubba Watson ($8,400)

Each day there’s been an improvement in some part of Watson’s game, and we saw what happens when it all comes together for him. Now, does that mean we are chasing, and the best round of his tourney came yesterday? Maybe, but I’d like to believe we will get one more good round out of Watson, who gained at least a half a stroke in each of the first three rounds with his irons. It all comes down to his putting, and he seemed to have found his stroke today.

Stud or Value Pick Outside the Top 10

Brooks Koepka ($8,800)

I’ll be the first to admit, if others haven’t already, that Koepka actually does look much healthier than he did before his month-long break. He’s been able to jump right back in and gain with his irons each day, and not just gaining, but gaining handily — at least 0.93 in each of the three days. His off-tee game had been lacking the first two days, but that turned today, as he gained over 1.4. That’s a great sign for Koepka as he looks to charge up the leaderboard on Sunday.

Sneaky Pick Outside the Top 10

Kevin Kisner ($6,800)

Kisner has now gained strokes tee to green in back-to-back rounds. On Saturday he gained 3.01, including 1.5 with his approaches. He also found his putting stroke, which for one of the best putters on the PGA Tour is a great sign. We are going to need a few low-owned guys tomorrow, and since he played pretty poorly the first two rounds, Kisner seems like a good streaming option for that.

PGA DFS Lineup Fill-Ins

Keegan Bradley ($6,400)

Joaquin Niemann ($8,900)

Viktor Hovland ($8,300)

Jordan Spieth ($6,600)

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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].