The Winning Element: PGA DFS Picks, Player Pool & Allocations for The Sony Open

All of my PGA DFS picks, and content is geared toward providing information that will help you with all your DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy golf and wagering decisions in the best way possible. This is the last of my week-long written material for the Sony Open, and now it’s FREE!

I am primarily a GPP PGA DFS player and enjoy making 50 to 150 lineups, so the allocations I give out are likely not exact, but they are my target for the mass-entry GPPs. And so, if this is your first time reading it, let’s go over what you can find in it.

Article Index

  • Key/Legend
  • Last week recap
  • TV schedule and weather update
  • My entire player pool
  • Notes on the chalkiest players
  • #NarrativeStreet

Key/Legend

The following sections define who will play and what recommended allocation you should play them at:

  • Core: We will start with these golfers in every lineup. At least two from my core will be in every one of the lineups.
  • PFs: We all have our guys, and these are mine. They will be in the player pool at a minimum of 20%. I have seven, and they are quite common: Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman, Collin Morikawa, Brian Stuard and, at times, Bryson DeChambeau. 
  • Chalk Zone: These golfers are expected to be the most popular golfers of the week. They are supposed to be widely owned, and so, in a massive GPP, a winning lineup likely won’t have more than one of the guys listed in this area.
  • Alternates: On the PGA Tour, alternates are lucky to get in the field each week. However, it happens all the time due to injuries. In this section, we’ll identify a few lineup alternates that can help fill a lineup and still provide some decent upside.
  • Recommended Allocation: The percentage of time said golfer should be in your lineups, or at least what we are advocating.
  • Projected Ownership: The percentage that the field will have said golfer in their lineups.
  • Variance: The difference between Recommended Allocation and Projected Ownership. A favorable variance gives you leverage.

Last Week’s Recap

The year didn’t start the way I had hoped, as fading Ryan Palmer proved to be the worst decision one could have made last week. Scoring over 120 points at his salary made him a must-own at his ownership, and I had barely any. I was slightly underweight the winner Harris English, which didn’t help my case either but didn’t hurt nearly as much as the Palmer fade. Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im and Collin Morikawa were the bright spots.

PGA DFS Picks for DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy golf

Viewing (Sweat) Schedule

There is no PGA Tour live this week. Here’s all we get:

Thursday-Saturday: 6-10 p.m. (Golf Channel)
Sunday: 7-10:30. Golf Channel

Weather

For the first two days, it looks like perfect temperatures and mild winds.

Fantasy Golf Favorites Summary for the Sony Open

I’ll buy into Morikawa again here this week. I’ll have a bit of Brian Stuard and Brian Harman and just can’t give up on Will Gordon yet.

PGA DFS Picks for the Sony Open

Total Player Pool: 61

Week-Long DFS Contests

DraftKings

  • 1 $444 Pressure Putt
  • 1 $200 Driver
  • $150 Driving Range
  • 1 $100 Long Drive
  • 1 $75 Tee-Off
  • 5 $44 Club Twirl
  • 300-plus GPP Lineups

FanDuel

  • 1 $333
  • 150 GPP lineups

Core Golfers

Joaquin Niemann ($10,400/$10,900)

Before we get to how good this kid is, let’s first mention the best value on the board over on FanDuel. I think he’s almost a must-start in your biggest lineup over there. We’ve seen games translate rather well from Maui to Oahu, especially with the top-end players. I think he’s one of them and is reminiscent of Justin Thomas a few years ago when he went on to win both events, including a 59 in the first round here. Niemann’s form has been simmering for quite a while, and the hiccup with COVID is now well past him. Load him up with mild ownership this week on DraftKings and enjoy the salary difference on FanDuel.

Daniel Berger ($10,000/$11,400) 

Having transformed his game back to the levels when he first broke through, Berger has been one of the most reliable and consistent golfers since June, with only one missed cut, one other finish outside the top 30 and the rest were all inside the top 25. The upside is also there as he’s won and come in the top four multiple times during this span. You can pay $800 more for English, or you can get recent results with Berger that are similar, if slightly worse.

Sungjae Im ($9,800/$11,200)

As good as Niemann and English were last week, if Im could have putt half as good as them, he would have been right there. Having lost eight strokes on the green and finishing 4 back at -21, he would have won by 4 if he had just matched the field. His ball striking looks superb; he just needs to catch a hot week with the putter and he’ll win, maybe by a lot.

Brendon Todd ($8,200/$9,900)

Speaking of getting hot with the putter, Todd is going through another one of those stretches where he just doesn’t miss. His ball striking looks OK, but he will always lose strokes off the tee. His irons, though, were good last week in Maui, and he shouldn’t lose nearly the number of strokes off the tee this week as he did last. That should be able to get him into the top 10.

Sebastian Munoz ($7,800/$9,700)

I am playing off the momentum here, as Munoz matched the likes of Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith in terms of results last week. So, why pay up when it seems Munoz is rather close to their form and certainly not a $1,400 difference? He is an easy overweight for me this week. Munoz is more volatile than the other two, and that is the reason why he’s at such a discount. But if he hits, the upside is very similar.

Gambles of the week

Doug Ghim

A pure-play on recent form, Ghim had found a grove over the last stretch. We’ve been waiting for the talent to break through, and finally, with a nice run of made cuts, Ghim just needs to find the top 10 now to continue his ascent. This week has good course for him, one that should be able to highlight his stellar iron and around-the-green play.

Richy Werenski

I like both Werenski and Thompson this week, so I won’t play too much of either — likely not more than 15%. Each of them will get in a higher-dollar lineup as well, so it’s meant really no difference who I put here.

PGA DFS Chalk Zone: Listed by Salary

Key

O =Overweight
E = Equal Weight
U = Underweight

  1. Webb Simpson (E to U)
  2. Harris English (U)
  3. Cameron Smith (E)
  4. Ryan Palmer (E to U)
  5. Abraham Ancer (E)
  6. Kevin Kisner (E)
  7. Brian Harman (E to U)
  8. Jason Kokrak (E)
  9. Carlos Ortiz (E to O)
  10. Kevin Na (U)
  11. Anirban Lahiri (E to U)

PGA DFS Fringe Players

* Likely to be in a higher-dollar lineup and 15-20% in GPPs. 

  1. Adam Scott
  2. Billy Horschel
  3. Zach Johnson
  4. Matt Kuchar
  5. Sergio Garcia
  6. Lanto Griffin
  7. Erik van Rooyen
  8. Emiliano Grillo
  9. Talor Gooch
  10. J.T. Poston
  11. Cameron Davis
  12. Takumi Kanaya
  13. Michael Thompson

PGA DFS Alternates (10-15% GPPs)

  1. Hideki Matsuyama
  2. Charles Howell III
  3. Marc Leishman
  4. Patton Kizzire
  5. Si Woo Kim
  6. Keegan Bradley
  7. Matthew NeSmith
  8. Tom Hoge
  9. James Hahn
  10. Kyle Stanley
  11. Stewart Cink
  12. C.T. Pan
  13. Brendan Steele
  14. Harry Higgs
  15. Hudson Swafford
  16. Nick Taylor

PGA DFS Holes in One (1-5% GPPs)

  1. Luke List
  2. Ryan Armour
  3. Jimmy Walker
  4. Tyler McCumber
  5. J.J. Spaun
  6. Robby Shelton
  7. Wes Bryan
  8. Kevin Tway
  9. Jonny Vegas
  10. Sepp Straka
  11. Jim Furyk
  12. Brandt Snedeker

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Author
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].

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