Daily Fantasy Golf Tips
It’s rare to have a week off from PGA Tour golf, but we did last week as the players made their way back from China at the WGC-HSBC Champions event to North America to be rested enough to play in this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Rory McIlroy won two weeks ago at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, but we, unfortunately, won’t see him playing this week.
We will see a full field for the first time in a few weeks, so the top 65 players plus ties after round two will get to play the 36 holes on the weekend. Recent past winners at this event include Matt Kuchar in 2018, Patton Kizzire in 2017, Pat Perez in 2016, Graemae McDowell in 2015, Charley Hoffman in 2014, and Harris English in 2013 wraps up the last five years of winners.
El Camaleon Golf Club is the host track for this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic event – it’s just under 7,000 yards in length, a par 71, and the slower than average greens are Paspalum which is a bit different grass than most of the other courses on the PGA have. Some of the key stats to take into consideration this week are Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Strokes Gained: Approach, Birdies or Better Gained, Strokes Gained: Par 5s, and Bogeys Avoided.
Let’s get to my picks for this week – my top 10 players to pay a high price for are included and 5 value picks (all 15 players are in no particular order), plus I include player salaries for both DraftKings and FanDuel.
10 Players Who Are Worth Paying Up For This Week
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $10,600, FanDuel – $11,500) – He was recently named by captain Tiger Woods to represent Team USA in his first Presidents Cup next month, and Finau will get a chance this week to again prove his worth. He’s the top-ranked golfer at this event this year being 14th in the world, has a 9th so far this season in three events, and he was 16th last year and had a 7th in 2014. Look for another top 10 this week with the potential to lift the trophy on Sunday.
Abraham Ancer (Salary: DraftKings – $9,200, FanDuel – $10,900) – He should be extra motivated to do well this week being that the tournament is in his native country of Mexico. Ancer is coming off his best week of the season so far after taking home 4th in China at the WGC-HSBC Champions event a couple of weeks ago, he had a 21st last year, was 9th in 2017, and had a 55th in 2016.
Matt Kuchar (Salary: DraftKings – $11,400, FanDuel – $11,800) – Kuchar is the defending champ of this tournament after shooting 64-64-65-69 in last year’s event. He’s making his season debut this week and should come out of the gate hot on Thursday in an attempt to become a two-time winner at this event.
Billy Horschel (Salary: DraftKings – $10,200, FanDuel – $11,300) – Had a 6th two starts ago at the ZOZO Championship and is coming off a 24th at the WGC-HSBC Champions just 15 days ago. Horschel had a 21st at this course last year, and looks poised to better that result this year.
Lantos Griffin (Salary: DraftKings – $9,000, FanDuel – $10,300) – Already has a win this season after taking home 1st at the Houston Open mid last month. In 6 starts this season his worst finish is 18th so he has consistently produced solid results so far. He had a 61st place finish in his only start at this event which came two years ago in 2017, but he will crush that finish this week.
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $8,400, FanDuel – $10,100) – What a start to his season going 31st, 18th, 9th, 9th, and 15th in his opening five events. Had a 41st here last year and a 68th in 2017, so that valuable course experience will help him to finish much better than that this year.
Danny Lee (Salary: DraftKings – $8,300, FanDuel – $9,800) – Has played some really strong golf over his last two starts going 10th and 2nd. Add to it that he was runner up here last year, 25th in 2017, and 3rd in 2014, and you have a good foundation for success this week.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $8,000, FanDuel – $9,900) – After a mediocre last season, he is making up for lost time and money by playing some outstanding fall golf this season. Has a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th, and a 33rd so far since September. He won this tournament six years ago in 2013 and could have the trophy on his mind again heading into the tournament this year.
Jason Day (Salary: DraftKings – $11,000, FanDuel – $11,600) – Hasn’t caught fire yet, but does have a 31st and a 22nd in his only two starts of the 2019-2020 season. He doesn’t have experience on this course, but his elite skill plays anywhere and in a weaker than average field he should have a strong finish after round four on Sunday.
5 Good Value Pickups
Cameron Tringale (Salary: DraftKings – $7,400, FanDuel – $9,000) – Has finished anywhere from 13th to 44th so far this season, he had a 25th place finish in 2017, was 46th in 2016, and I expect another top 25 finish for him this week.
Xinjun Zhang (Salary: DraftKings – $7,300, FanDuel – $8,900) – Zhang has only missed the cut once this season in 6 starts – has a 4th, a 7th, and a 16th, and is coming off a 38th at the WGC-HSBC Champions in his native country of China. He had a 20th in 2017 in what was his only appearance at this tournament and his golf game is much more polished now versus two years ago.
Nick Taylor (Salary: DraftKings – $7,200, FanDuel – $8,500) – The Canadian has played some sound golf this season and his results of a 10th, a 24th, and a 29th in four starts are evidence of that. Taylor was 15th here in 2016 and should see a similar result again this week.
Adam Long (Salary: DraftKings – $6,600, FanDuel – $8,500) – Long has yet to miss a cut this season through five tournaments played and does have a 14th and two 23rds to his name during that time span. His inexperience on this track shouldn’t affect him making his sixth straight cut, and could see another top 30 result.
Bo Hoag (Salary: DraftKings – $6,400, FanDuel – $7,700) – He has made five straight cuts and is coming off his best start where he earned an 11th at the Bermuda Championship with a score of 64 coming in both round one and round three. He may be a rookie this week at this event, but that shouldn’t make you shy to pull the trigger on him for at least one of your lineups.
Construct your lineups to win, and all the best with getting some of your lineups into cash positions this week!
Recapping my 15 pick’s finishes from two weeks ago at the WGC-HSBC Champions
My Top Picks
- Rory McIlroy – Won the tournament
- Tommy Fleetwood – T53rd
- Sungjae Im – T11th
- Hideki Matsuyama – T11th
- Patrick Reed – T8th
- Xander Schauffele – 2nd
- Justin Rose – T28th
- Byeong Hun An – T14th
- Billy Horschel – T24th
- Paul Casey – T38th
My Value Picks
- Adam Hadwin – T46th
- J.T. Poston – T24th
- Mike Lorenzo-Vera – T38th
- Kevin Tway – T60th
- Xinjun Zhang – T38th
