Daily Fantasy Golf Tips
Before you make the most of this article’s insights to improve your fantasy golf picks for the 2020 Northern Trust, I encourage you to check out FantasyData’s PGA Optimizer to supplement the builds for your daily fantasy lineups. All the best this week!
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Tournament purse: The purse is set at $9.5M for this year’s tournament with the winner getting $1.71M in prize money and earning himself a whopping 1,500 FedEx Cup points, triple the usual amount of 500.
Course and key stats: This year’s tournament will be played at TPC Boston for the very first time – the track is 7,342 yards in length, is a par 71, and the greens are bentgrass. Some of the key stats to focus on this week are Recent Form, Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Strokes Gained: Approach, and Birdies or Better Gained.
The field: We have a loaded field featuring the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings, and this week will see a huge upgrade from last week’s event. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A. The top 65 players plus ties will make the cut to play rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend, typical of what we see week to week on the PGA Tour.
Notable storylines: Players will need to be inside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings at the conclusion of this tournament in order to qualify for next week’s BMW Championship. This is just year number two where we only have three playoff events, and this first playoff tourney is the only one that involves a cut line. Woods will be playing a tournament on this track for the 11th time in his sensational career, he won back in 2006 at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Betting strategy this week: I would recommend going with a combination of balanced and stars and scrubs lineups for this week. You can be a bit more aggressive than normal as the field is roughly 30 players less than an average tournament on the PGA Tour, so don’t be shy to pull the trigger on players who offer high-risk high-reward prospects.
Best of luck for locking up some 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. 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. Note: Past year’s results below for player writeups stem from former PGA Tour events including the Dell Technologies Championship (2017 and 2018) and the Deutsche Bank Championship (2003 to 2016) – both of which were played at TPC Boston.
The $10K+ Range
Bryson DeChambeau (Salary: DraftKings – $11.1K) – Bombs away from DeChambeau! The long-ball hitter won the 2018 edition of the Dell Technologies Championship and has been dynamite for most of the season pulling down 10 top 10’s, he has a win and is coming off a 4th at the PGA Championship. He was also T30 on this course in 2017 in his rookie debut on it, and I see no reason why he’s not in the mix to win on Sunday afternoon this week.
Dustin Johnson (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – Johnson has returned to form as he’s coming off a runner up at the PGA Championship, was T12 in his start prior at a WGC event, and won 5 starts ago at the Travelers Championship. He was T7 on this track in 2018, T18 in 2017, T8 in 2016, and 2015 saw him earn a T44. When he’s motivated and in the mood to play elite golf he’s one of the world’s best, and I believe we will see that version of DJ this week.
Collin Morikawa (Salary: DraftKings – $10.2K) – Wow, just wow! Morikawa had a huge breakthrough victory in his last start when he won the PGA Championship in just his second major. He has two wins in his last four starts, 6 top 10’s on the season, and has just missed one cut in 18 starts. He will be seeing this course for the first time in his career but he’s the total package and should have a solid finish come Sunday.
The $9K Range
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – The analysts keep predicting him to win – he hasn’t yet this season but he does have 7 top 10’s, has finished no worse than 20th over his last five starts, and only has a single missed cut in 16 starts. He hasn’t lit this track up just yet but was T49 in 2018 and T53 in 2017. He’s a much more polished player now though and I expect to see a top 10 finish out of him this week, plus he has the ability to contend.
Jason Day (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – Day has really turned on the jets since playing at his home course at Muirfield Village as he now has 4 straight top 7’s including a T4 at the PGA Championship just two weeks ago. He had a T25 at TPC Boston in 2017, a T15 in 2016, a T12 in 2015, and in 2014 he finished T7. He has a pretty good course history at TPC Boston and I can see another top 10 coming for him this week.
Patrick Reed (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K) – Reed has three top 13’s in his last 4 starts, 8 top 10’s on the season, and looked very sharp last week with a 64 to close out the Wyndham Championship with a T9. In 2018 he pulled down a T35, was T6 in 2017, locked up a T5 in 2016, and secured a T4 in 2015. He’s playing some fantastic golf these days, and I see no reason why that doesn’t continue this week.
The $8K Range
Daniel Berger (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – I love me some Berger and this week is no exception despite a loaded field. He has 7 top 13’s over his last 8 starts, one of which was a win. 2018 saw him earn a T35, he was T61 in 2017, T41 in 2016, and took home a T12 in 2015. I really like him at any price pretty much, but to get him sub $9K is a steal in my books – elite results at a reasonable price.
Paul Casey (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – Casey had a runner up finish at the PGA Championship two starts ago and his game is ready for the playoffs despite having just one top 10 on the season. He was T21 at TPC Boston in 2018, T4 in 2017, and was the sole runner up in 2016. I don’t expect him to win but a top 20 is very realistic for one of England’s finest players.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $8.8K) – Finau has been flying high over his last four starts having three top 8’s during that span including a T4 at the PGA Championship two weeks ago. He has a decent track record at this course including a T4 in 2018, a T65 in 2017, and he earned a T24 in 2016.
The $7K Range
Billy Horschel (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – The former FedEx Cup winner is heating up at just the right time as he was runner up last week at the Wyndham Championship and has three other top 25’s over his last four starts. He had a runner up finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2014 so he can play superb golf on this track, and I like Billy-Ho at his price tag this week.
Matthew Wolff (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – He only has two top 10’s this season but one of them came two weeks ago at the PGA Championship when he finished 4th thanks to his best round coming in round 4 when he went low shooting a 65. He’s a very impressive ball striker and his unique golf swing is super entertaining to watch. He’s new to this course but you can trust in his game and he could really breakthrough this week with a big victory.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – English has 5 top 10’s on the season and over his past five starts he has finished no worse than 23rd. In 2016 he locked up a T41 finish and he was T12 in 2015. I wouldn’t be surprised to see his 6th consecutive top 25 come this week.
The $6K Range
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – The world’s best putter is gearing up for his second playoff appearance – McCarthy missed the cut last year at THE NORTHERN TRUST but I don’t expect history to repeat itself this year. He had his best finish in quite some time last week finishing T9 as he rocketed up the leaderboard on Sunday with a 63. He has made five straight cuts, has 4 top 10’s, and missed just 5 cuts in 22 starts.
Mark Hubbard (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – Hubbard has just one missed cut in his last 8 starts and looked good last week when he earned a T15 finish. He hasn’t seen this course before, but don’t let that deter you from adding him to your lineups this week – he’s a sound value play.
Henrik Norlander (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – Norlander has been striking the ball very well since late June and has six straight made cuts since including a T6 at The Memorial when the field was fairly stacked. He’s a newbie to the playoffs and to this course as well, but for just $6.6K I like the value that the Swedish player brings to the table this week.
Recapping my 15 pick’s finishes from last week’s Wyndham Championship
The $10K+ Range
- Brooks Koepka – Missed the cut
- Webb Simpson – T3
- Paul Casey – T31
The $9K Range
- Justin Rose – Missed the cut
- Harris English – T23
- Billy Horschel – 2nd
The $8K Range
- Si Woo Kim – T3
- Brandt Snedeker – T42
- Brendon Todd – Missed the cut
The $7K Range
- Dylan Frittelli – T20
- J.T. Poston – Missed the cut
- Scott Stallings – T42
The $6K Range
- Pat Perez – Withdrew
- Adam Schenk – T51
- Denny McCarthy – T9
