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
By virtue of posting a lackluster 36-hole score, Jon Rahm was one of the first tee times out today. Right from the get-go, he didn’t disappoint, going birdie/eagle on the first two and 6 under through six. He wound up finishing the day at 9 under, the round of the day. He shared that score with Russell Henley, who continues his impressive run of form.
There were plenty of other low ones out there today, even though the scoring average wasn’t as low as Friday at just north of 68. Cameron Champ and Joel Dahmen shot 65, while first-round leader Sebastian Munoz found form again, shooting 66.
The leaders were about to catch Rahm late in the day, as Justin Thomas birdied 16 and 17 while making a four on 18 to take the lead by 1. Lanto Griffin played well again but was eclipsed late by Thomas, and he sits tied with Rahm just 1 back. A Thomas/Rahm Sunday Showdown sounds like good TV, even with football going on. It’ll be nice to utilize all the TVs tomorrow.
Stat Review
Birdie or Better Leaders Through Round 2Â
- Sebastian Munoz (25)
- Scottie Scheffler, Ryan Palmer, Patrick Reed, Rory McIlroy, Lanto Griffin (22)
- Dylan Frittelli, Justin Thomas, Kevin Na, Harris English (21)
Strokes Gained Ball Striking vs. Putting
Two popular young international stars, Joaquin Niemann and Sungjae Im, cannot get their putter going this week. Im has lost in all three days, including 2.79 today, while Niemann bounced back and beat the field marginally today, though he is still not keeping pace with his ball striking. Each of them gaining over 3.5 ball striking. Scheffler seems to the healthy again but is still searching for a putting stroke. If he had matched the field over the first three days, he’d be just one back. Henley and Chan Kim round out the top five.
Others like Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Paul Casey and Carlos Ortiz have all gained on average of two more strokes ball-striking than putting.
Strokes Gained Ball Striking Differential
Danny Lee, Shaun Norris, Kim and Henley all improved their ball striking by at least six strokes in round two versus round three. Champ is one of the only golfers to have gotten better in each of the rounds, gaining 1.82 strokes today. Ryan Palmer is another who gained over three today.
Click here to see all the stats from round 3
PGA DFS Slate Preview
Lock Time
12:50 p.m. EST
Contest Preview
DraftKings
- DraftKings is offering $20,000 to first and $80,000 guaranteed for the final-round slate
FanDuel
- FanDuel is offering $1,000 to first and $5,000 guaranteed
General Strategy and PGA DFS Picks
*Final Round Showdown Disclaimer — Finishing points are allocated to players for the final round showdown slate.
Two of the top-three-priced golfers in the field sit one-two in the tournament, which certainly will create a big ownership bubble up top. A lineup with both of them could end up being the winning one, but I’m going to split them in most of my lines. Golfers that are 6 or 7 back from the lead and 3 shots outside the current top 10 to have their ownership drop quite significantly, so instead of the last two picks, I’ll rank my top 10 for the slate.
Top 10
Patrick Cantlay ($8,900)
I suppose that he’ll be paired with Rahm and Thomas quite a bit tomorrow, so if your looking for a lower owned golfer in the top 10, I think it might actually be Webb Simpson. He’s 4 back of Thomas, 3 back of Rahm and is still priced up there at $9,700. I like Cantlay and his price more, but Simpson’s supposed lower ownership is intriguing.
Top 10 outside the Top 15:
- Cameron Champ ($6,600): He’s gotten better each day and can easily get to all five of these par 5’s in two. At this price, there is no reason not to have him in your lines for tomorrow.
- Rory McIlroy ($9,200): While he’s not in contention to win, he does have the 22 birdies and only sits 4 back of a top 10. If he goes out and shoots 64 tomorrow, I think he’ll be in the winning GPP lineup.
- Sungjae Im ($7,800): It sounds weird to say we are searching for his putter heating up rather than expecting it to happen, but he’s been cold with it for some time. Maybe tomorrow’s the day.
- Kevin Na ($7,300): The putter is working again, and when that happens, it’s hard to bet against him.
- Carlos Ortiz ($6,400): His best may be behind him, but at times the ball striking this week has looked good, and the putter has gotten better.
- Takumi Kanaya ($6,300): What a top 10 would mean for Kanaya, who is just getting his pro career started. He’s just 4 back of it right now.
- Satoshi Kodaira ($6,200): Non-existent since his win at the RBC Heritage, Kodaira has a chance to get his footing back.
- Xander Schauffele ($10,000): He can’t avoid the big numbers, with two triples on the week.
- Russell Henley ($7,500): The form sparked back up today and shows that maybe Friday was just an outlier.
- Viktor Hovland ($8,200): Can we get one round with a hot putter, please?
Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more great Awesemo content.
Looking for more PGA DFS picks content? We have loads of articles, data, cheatsheets, and more on the Awesemo PGA home page. Just click HERE.
