Daily Fantasy Golf Tips
Before you digest this article to improve your fantasy golf picks for the 2020 3M Open, I advise you to take advantage of FantasyData’s PGA Optimizer to enhance the builds for your daily fantasy lineups. Good luck this week!
It was a tough week last week for many fantasy golf users as a few of the world’s best golfers missed the cut – Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey, Daniel Berger, Bryson DeChambeau, Webb Simpson, and Hideki Matsuyama were just some of the big names who didn’t get to play the weekend and ruined many DFS lineups. Congrats to Jon Rahm who stepped up big time last week to secure his first win of the season with a three-stroke victory over Ryan Palmer. The PGA Tour moves on from Muirfield Village after spending the past two weeks there to head to Blaine, Minnesota, for the 3M Open. This will be just the 2nd installment of the 3M Open – last year’s champ was Matthew Wolff who scored a low -21 to beat Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa by a single stroke.
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Tournament purse: This is a smaller-scale tournament on the PGA Tour and as a result, the purse is “only” $6.6M with the winner getting just under $1.2M in prize money and earning himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: This event will be played at the TPC Twin Cities course in Blaine, MN – the track is 7,481 yards, is a par 71, and the greens consist of bentgrass. Some of the key stats to focus on this week are Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, Strokes Gained: Approach, Birdies or Better Gained, Strokes Gained: Par 5s, and Proximity Gained from 175+ Yards.
The field: Scoring was tough last week but this week will see a lot more birdies and eagles despite the field strength being much weaker than the major-caliber one we witnessed at The Memorial Tournament a week ago due to the course playing much easier – expect the cut line to be a score somewhere between -3 to -5. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank this field strength at a C, the weakest one we have seen since the PGA Tour rebooted itself. We will see 156 players in the field this year for the 3M Open, the same as last year, and as per usual, we will see the top-scoring 65 players plus ties make the cut to play the weekend for the final two rounds.
Betting strategy this week: I tend to construct my lineups using a more balanced approach when tournament fields are less deep like this week is. I would recommend staying in the $7K to $9K range and avoiding the upper and lower tiers to improve your odds of getting 6 player lineups into the weekend. For your non-core lineups though, don’t be shy to use a stars and scrubs approach to deploy a high-risk high-reward strategy.
Best of luck for securing some significant contest wins this week – here are my 15 picks which feature my top 3 players from each tier on DraftKings (DK) in no particular order, plus I include player salaries for DK as well. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performance at this event over the last 5 years (when available), and add in some helpful pieces of information as well.
The $10K+ Range
Paul Casey (Salary: DraftKings – $10.1K) – Casey is another elite player who missed the cut last week, albeit just by a single stroke and he hadn’t played professionally in a few months so let’s just chalk it up as rust and expect a much better turnout this time around. It was also his first missed cut of the season in 9 starts and he does have 4 top 25’s thus far. He’s an excellent tee to green player and I expect a top finish for him this week if he can get his putter going.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $10.9K) – Finau played some superb golf last week, well until round 4 that is when he shot a 6 over par and cost himself a top 3 finish. He’s 11 for 14 this season, has 4 top 10’s, 6 top 25’s, and finished T23 here last year. I expect a top 10 finish for him this week.
The $9K Range
Lucas Glover (Salary: DraftKings – $9.4K) – Glover is playing very good and consistent golf since the PGA Tour has come back – he has finished in the range of 20th to 38th in 5 events. He finished T7 here last year and he seems like a good place to start when building cash or GPP lineups this week.
Matthew Wolff (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – Wolff is the only champ of the 3M Open and he will look to keep that statement true this week. He’s coming off a 22nd last week at The Memorial, was runner up three starts ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and is 11 for 16 overall this season.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $9K) – English is a sound bet this season as he only has two missed cuts in 14 starts, has 5 top 10’s, and has 5 top 17’s over his last 6 starts. He missed the cut here last year by a couple of strokes, but expect him to flourish this year as he’s much better this season and the field is weaker than a year ago.
The $8K Range
Henrik Norlander (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – Norlander was a popular value play last week and he came through with a 6th. He has four straight made cuts, has 3 top 10’s this season, and I think the Swede will keep the momentum going this week in Minnesota.
Sam Burns (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – Burns only has one missed cut in his last 7 tournaments played and is coming off his second-best finish of the season with a 17th at the Workday Charity Open. He was T7 here last year and could very well improve on that finish this year.
Doc Redman (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – I expect Redman to be highly owned this week and he should be as before his missed cut last week he had made 9 of 10 cuts prior. He lost 6 strokes last week on the greens, so if he can get his putting working again then he will do quite well this week. He went 21st-11th-21st before his start last week and I expect an even better result than those this week. Despite shooting a -3 in round 2, he was still a cut here last year but don’t let that scare you off from investing in him this year.
The $7K Range
Sepp Straka (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – Straka has really turned his season around over his last few starts – he has only missed the cut once in his last 4 tournaments and has an 8th and a 14th during that time. He missed the cut here last year but that course experience should prove valuable to him this week.
Scott Stallings (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – Stallings enters this week with five straight cuts made and was 6th three starts ago at the Travelers Championship. He’s 12 for 16 on the season and made the cut here last year but did get an MDF after round 3. You can bank on him playing all four rounds this year and has top 20 upside.
Richy Werenski (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Much like Stallings above, Werenski has also made five straight cuts and was T46 here in 2019. His best round came in round 4 with a -6, proving that he can manage this course at its toughest just fine and I see a top 40 for him this year.
The $6K Range
Jason Dufner (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – Dufner isn’t lighting the PGA Tour on fire by any means, but he does have 9 made cuts over his last 10 tournaments and is a safe bet to make another cut this week. He was T66 here last year and is one of the only $6K players that I actually trust to make the cut this week.
Stewart Cink (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – Cink has only two missed cuts this season in 13 starts and seems like a great value play at just $6.6K. Don’t expect a top 10 finish out of old man Cink this week, but he could net you a top 30 and make a positive impact on your lineups.
Seamus Power (Salary: DraftKings – $6.5K) – If I could only use two golfers in the $6K range I would as it’s hurting this week. Power has made 5 of his last 6 cuts though and is coming off a season-best 12th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. If you are building a few GPP lineups this week then you might want to look at Power to power one of them.
Recapping my 15 pick’s finishes from last week’s Memorial Tournament
The $10K+ Range
- Justin Thomas – T18th
- Bryson DeChambeau – Missed the cut – it shouldn’t be possible for someone who can rip it 400+ yards.
- Collin Morikawa – T48th
The $9K Range
- Viktor Hovland – T48th
- Webb Simpson – Missed a rare cut
- Patrick Cantlay – T32nd
The $8K Range
- Rickie Fowler – Missed the cut
- Gary Woodland – T5th
- Daniel Berger – Missed the cut after several top 10’s in a row.
The $7K Range
- Ian Poulter – Missed the cut after finishing T5th the week prior on the same track.
- Joaquin Niemann – Missed the cut
- Kevin Streelman – T54th
The $6K Range
- Nick Taylor – Missed the cut
- Henrik Norlander – T6th
- Troy Merritt – Missed the cut
