PGA DFS Picks: Showdown Spotlight, Travelers Final Round

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 Travelers 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 offer 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.

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Previous Round Commentary

A quick turnaround for the players yesterday, as the weather was to wreak havoc in the afternoon. That gave us a two tee start, and no weather edge to take advantage of, with the scoring average coming in just shy of 68.5. Dustin Johnson stepped up his game and proving that maybe it’s not as far out of form as it’s looked this year, but the best always find a way back. But, it was Brendon Todd that stole the show on the day, tying Johnson’s 61 for the low round of the day and leads by two heading into Sunday.

Five golfers are within five shots, much to the contrary of the last couple of weeks, which we saw packed leaderboards. Still, plenty of golfers within a couple of the top 10, which should help diversify the final round lineups.

The Expected Weather

After the Saturday scare, we should get good weather tomorrow.

In Tournament Sweetsheet

Previous Round Stat Review

Birdies Or Better:

Will Gordon (20)
Brendon Todd & Dustin Johnson (19)
Kevin Streelman & Brendan Steele (18)
Patton Kizzire, Ryan Armour, Patrick Cantlay, Harold Varner III

Greens In Regulation:

Brendon Todd, Scott Stallings, Brian Stuard: 87%
Si Woo Kim: 85%
Kevin Na, Jim Furyk: 83%
Six golfers tied at 81%

Strokes Gained Ball Striking vs. Putting

Russell Henley fell apart on the greens today, losing over 5.5 strokes, ending his chance at a dreamlike weekend. But, his ball-striking stayed good, gaining two strokes on the day, and now leads this category. Joaquin Niemann was able to bounce back in round three with the putter, but the previous two rounds still have him ranked second here. Emiliano Grillo, Viktor Hovland and Doc Redman round out the top-5.

Slate Preview

DraftKings is offering $100k to first for tomorrow’s slate! Pretty intense for a one day slate.
FanDuel is trying, at least to be a part of this, offering $5K to first.

Showdown Picks

*Remember finishing points are allocated to players for the final round showdown.*

Top-10 Breakdown

Brendan Todd certainly did a good job of putting some distance between him and the field outside of Dustin Johnson and will stare him down in the last twosome tomorrow. It’s likely the other way around, but still, it’ll be quite an intriguing matchup to watch. Former Travelers Champion Kevin Streelman is the closest guy to these two, but his approach game tailed off in round three. He’ll need a good putter tomorrow to give him a chance to win. Bryson DeChambeau and Abraham Ancer are there again, for the third straight week, but they’ll need something low tomorrow to win.

A few surprising names, including Seung Yul Noh, Patton Kizzire and Scott Stallings, have a chance to change the course of their seasons, and/or careers in Noh’s stance.

Lastly, it’ll be tough to get a low owned stud, in the top-10 tomorrow, like Todd yesterday. I also suspect Dustin will be incredibly high owned, so decide to play the chalk, or fade it…

Pick Inside the Current Top 10

Kevin Na ($8,300)

If there is going to be a sneaky pick in the top-10, it’s him. So, let’s buy on a guy who hasn’t gotten hot with his approaches quite yet, but hasn’t been bad either. He obviously relies on his short game, but he’s also hitting way over 80% of his greens, something you love to see from a good putter.

Stud or Value Pick Outside of Top 10

Viktor Hovland ($9,200)

Again, I’m hoping for a bit of an ownership discount here as his price has risen quite a bit. Plus, you’ve got Johnson, Rahm and McIlroy all up there, so a lot of salary will be committed. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll still be heavily owned, but either he, McIlroy or Rahm won’t be.

Sneaky Pick Outside of Top 10

Brian Stuard ($6,600)

The original “my guy” Brian has been simmering with his irons over the first few rounds and caught fire in round three. He’s always been a good putter, so seeing his irons pick up a notch is certainly important. He won’t be as sneaky as normal because of this, but still, with a lot of focus on Stallings, Kizzire, and more, he’s someone to target to stack a few studs.

Lineup Fill-Ins:

Aaron Wise ($6,400)

Kyle Stanley ($7,000)

Paul Casey ($8,800)

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].