DFS Golf Picks for The RSM Classic
Digest information from this article to improve your fantasy golf picks for The 2020 RSM Classic, and check out FantasyData’s PGA Optimizer to make better player selections for your daily fantasy lineups. Best of luck this week!
Recap from last week: What an incredible Masters we witnessed last week! Even though we aren’t used to seeing Augusta in November it sure was a treat to see it, and especially waiting 19 long months post 2019 Masters. The play was very high caliber every round with loads of eagles and birdies to take in, and it was fun watching incredibly tough shots out of the pine straw, behind unforgiving trees, and other challenging elements for the golfers to deal with. The 2020 edition sure didn’t disappoint one bit and I’m already looking forward to the 2021 edition in just 5 months from now, in April 2021, and here’s hoping the patrons can return to make their vocal impact once again. Massive congrats to Dustin Johnson for winning this unique Masters by 5 strokes at -20, a tournament record – it was his second major win and his first of what could be several green jackets in the future.
Preview for The RSM Classic: It’s a bit hard to get back up for a new week of golf after coming off such a high at the Masters but the RSM Classic this week should be enjoyable. The PGA Tour remains in Georgia this week but will shift from Augusta to St. Simons Island for an event that has been played since 2010 under the original name – McGladrey Classic that has since gone on to become the RSM Classic, five years ago. The tournament is played on two courses which is a rarity on the PGA Tour, and it makes for a slightly more challenging week from a fantasy perspective since there are 36 different holes to take into account versus the typical 18. The past 5 winners of the RSM Classic include 2019 – Tyler Duncan, 2018 – Charles Howell III, 2017 – Austin Cook, 2016 – MacKenzie Hughes, and 2015 – Kevin Kisner.
Increase your PGA DFS contest wins: Enhance your probability to win more PGA DFS contests using these helpful data tools and analytics.
Tournament purse: The purse for this year’s event is set at $6.6M, the winner gets $1.188M in prize money and earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: This year’s RSM Classic will again be played at the Sea Island Golf Club on the Seaside Course and the Plantation Course. Seaside and Plantation will be played for the first two rounds for all players, and the weekend will see Seaside being played for both rounds – it’s 7,005 yards in length, a par 70, and the greens are composed of Bermuda grass. The Plantation course is 7,060 yards in length, is a par 72, and also has Bermuda greens. Some of the key stats to take into account this week for both courses are Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Par 4s – 400-450 Yards, Proximity Gained 150-175 Yards, Birdies or Better Gained, and Fairways Gained.
The field: The field size is 156 players, and the top 65 players plus ties will get the opportunity to play rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend. On a scale ranging from A to D, the field strength is a C+/B-. The highest-ranked player in the field is Webb Simpson who’s currently 6th on the Official World Golf Rankings list, followed by Tyrrell Hatton at 10, Tommy Fleetwood is 16th, Sungjae Im moved up to the 18 spot from 25 after his huge runner-up performance at the Masters last week, and Louis Oosthuizen rounds out the top 20 players we will see at the RSM Classic this year.
Notable storylines: There are a few local residents but none have won this tournament just yet. A couple of the local pros include Harris English and Brian Harman, and I like both of them as DFS plays this week. 5 out of 10 of the winners here have been first-time winners on the PGA Tour, including Tyler Duncan last year.
Some bold predictions:
- Webb Simpson plays solid from Thursday to Sunday to win the tournament by two strokes.
- Joaquin Niemann returns from COVID-19 and should keep his strong performance going – I see a top 20 with upside for the young Chile player.
- Jason Day gets a sore back and pulls out of the tournament after a weak round one. Okay, maybe not such a bold prediction for the band-aid boy.
Betting strategy this week: We are again back to a normal type of cut line after having two non-cut events and the Masters which had over 60% of the field play on the weekend, so there will be more of a focus on getting 5 or 6 players into the weekend in this larger field setup. I tend to like using a balanced approach for most tournaments but I do sprinkle in stars and scrubs configurations in GPP contests where I have several lineups. I like using a hybrid approach between the two of them too so I get players in the $9K, $8K, $7K, and $6K ranges on single DK lineups.
All the best for earning some contest wins this week – here are my 15 DFS golf picks which feature my top 3 players from each tier on DraftKings (DK) in no particular order, plus I include player salaries for DK and FanDuel 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
Webb Simpson (Salary: DraftKings – $11.2K, FanDuel – $12.0K) – The clear-cut best player in the field is back at it again this year to try and get the win at this venue after coming so close the last two years. Simpson had two wins last season, has 4 top 10’s in his last 7 starts, and is coming off a T10 at the Masters, so he’s in great shape leading into this week. He’s my pick to win and is worth the big price tags this week. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – Runner up, 2018 – 3rd, and 2016 – T36.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $11.0K, FanDuel – $11.6K) – Im held his own to stay near the top of the Masters’ leaderboard all four rounds and earned himself a T2 when all was said and done tying Cameron Smith. That was his first top 10 since the Wyndham Championship back in August and I think he keeps the strong play going this week for another top 10. He had a win last season, has only missed 5 cuts in his last 33 starts, and 8 of those are top 10’s. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2018 – T37.
Russell Henley (Salary: DraftKings – $10.1K, FanDuel – $11.4K) – Henley has been a player I’ve been leaning on over the past three months as he has 4 top 9’s, and all top 29’s in his last 7 starts. He’s top 10 in approach, tee to green, strokes gained: total, so far this season, and I think he’s close to picking up his 4th win on the PGA Tour. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – Missed the cut, 2018 – Missed the cut, 2016 – T10, and 2015 – T6.
The $9K Range
Louis Oosthuizen (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K, FanDuel – $11.2K) – I like that Oosthuizen brings upside as he does have top 10’s in 5 of his last 20 events – including a 3rd at the U.S. Open, has only missed two cuts during those 20 starts and is coming off a T23 at the Masters. His solid game plays well all over the world, and I see no reason why he won’t have a top 15 this week.
Sebastian Munoz (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K, FanDuel – $10.6K) – It was looking like Munoz was going to have a top 10 at the Masters but he finished with a 75 on Sunday to settle for a T19 – not bad for a first-timer to Augusta. Since THE NORTHERN TRUST in August, he has 6 top 27’s – 3 of them top 9’s in elite fields and keeps playing strong most every time he tees it up. The Columbia-native had a spectacular finish here last year and I think he will see a similar result this week with the potential to hoist the trophy come Sunday. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – 3rd, 2018 – Missed the cut, and 2016 – Missed the cut.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K, FanDuel – $11.0K) – The Georgia-native has been a top 20 beast over the past two seasons and does have two top 10’s over his last 4 starts, one of which was a 4th at the U.S. Open two months ago. None of his stats really stand out but he’s solid in all of the important categories especially around the green and strokes gained: total. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – Missed the cut, 2018 – T46, 2017 – Missed the cut, 2016 – Missed the cut, and 2015 – T25.
The $8K Range
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K, FanDuel – $10.3K) – Conners earned himself an invite back to the 2021 edition of the Masters with a T10 last week thanks to his -7, 65, on Friday. He now has 4 top 24’s over his last 5 starts including top 10’s in two of his last 3 starts, and the ball striker should see another favorable result this week again. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2018 – T23, and 2017 – T37.
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K, FanDuel – $10.1K) – The local, Brian Harman, hasn’t had a top 10 in a while, but all of his past 9 starts have gone for top 38’s and he was T11 and T12 in two playoff events late last season. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – T14, 2018 – T32, 2017 – T4, 2016 – Missed the cut, and 2015 – Missed the cut.
Doc Redman (Salary: DraftKings – $8.0K, FanDuel – $9.8K) – It’s nice to see Redman discounted a bunch in his DK salary number this week as we were getting used to him at higher numbers, so a flat $8K sounds good to me. He’s been a bit of a boom or bust player lately with two 3rd’s and a 4th over his last 7 starts, two of those were missed cuts and he’s coming off a weak T61 at the Houston Open. He sort of goes bad, good, bad, good, bad, so I guess he’s due for a good finish this week and believe he has win potential on the PGA Tour. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – T23.
The $7K Range
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K, FanDuel – $9.8K) – The sound putter has recently been improving in other areas of his game since getting a new swing coach this past Summer. Results are paying off as he has two top 6’s in his last four starts, he has 6 top 10’s over his last 29 events and has only missed the cut 6 times during that stretch. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – T8, 2018 – T46, and 2017 – Missed the cut.
Cameron Davis (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K, FanDuel – $8.7K) – Davis hits a long ball – 18th on Tour, is currently on a good streak of cuts made with 8 in a row, and half of them are top 29’s with a T6 at the Sanderson Farms Championship early last month. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – Missed the cut.
Talor Gooch (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K, FanDuel – $9.8K) – Gooch has been a bit of a risky play lately but his upside is worth it as he has two top 5’s in his last three starts and that middle one was a T35. Before this great mini-stretch, he missed the cut twice in three starts so be aware that he could burn you and you might want to avoid using him as a core play this week if you can’t handle the risk. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – T23, 2018 – Missed the cut, and 2017 – Missed the cut.
The $6K Range
Patton Kizzire (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K, FanDuel – $7.7K) – Kizzire is another local for this tournament, he has only missed one cut in his last 7 events, and is coming off his best finish during this period of time with a T11 at the Houston Open. He has also made the cut over the last three years at the RSM Classic so that’s a positive as well. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – T68, 2018 – T15, 2017 – T45, 2016 – Missed the cut, and 2015 – Missed the cut.
Michael Gligic (Salary: DraftKings – $6.4K, FanDuel – $8.3K) – Gligic is on a pretty good cuts made performance with just one solo missed cut over his last 9 tournaments and has 5 top 27’s during that stretch. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – Missed the cut.
James Hahn (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K, FanDuel – $7.8K) – Hahn did have 3 straight top 9 finishes before a T50 in his most recent start at the Houston Open two weeks ago – he’s a streaky player so perhaps his good streak is over now but I’m willing to get him another shot this week to see if he can get hot again. RSM Classic finishes over the past 5 years: 2019 – Missed the cut.
Recapping my 15 pick’s finishes from last week’s Masters Tournament
The $10K+ Range
- Bryson Dechambeau – T34
- Justin Thomas – 4th
- Dustin Johnson – Won the tournament
The $9K Range
- Xander Schauffele – T17
- Bubba Watson – 57th
- Patrick Reed – T10
The $8K Range
- Tony Finau – T38
- Matthew Wolff – Missed the cut
- Hideki Matsuyama – T13
The $7K Range
- Lee Westwood – T38
- Louis Oosthuizen – T23
- Scottie Scheffler – T19
The $6K Range
- Sebastian Munoz – T19
- Corey Conners – T10
- Si Woo Kim – T34
