Daily Fantasy Golf Tips
Congratulations to Marc Leishman for winning last week’s Farmers Insurance Open. I was lucky to have him on one of my lineups and won a 951 lineup 25-cent GPP so thanks to him Rahm and Snedeker for coming up big time last week for me! This week sees a good-sized field of players with lots of big names on tap to compete in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The players will be competing for the $7.3M in prize money, with the winner snagging the $1.314M top prize and getting 500 valuable FedEx Cup points.
This week features a 132-player field, where the top 65 players plus ties will make the cut after round 2 and get the honor of playing rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend. Recent winners at this tournament include Rickie Fowler in 2019, Gary Woodland in 2018, Hideki Matsuyama in both 2017 and 2016, and Brooks Koepka in 2015 – rounding out the last five years of champions at this quality tournament where big-name winners are commonplace, at least in the past few years.
TPC Scottsdale – The Stadium Course is the usual course for this event, and this year is no different. The track is a 7,261-yard, par 71, and the greens are TiffDwarf Grass which is quite unique on the PGA Tour as is the par-3 16th hole which has stands surrounding the hole where thousands of fans cheer and jeer the players depending on the proximity to the hole of their tee shot. The winning score tends to hover around the mid to high teens so the course isn’t overly difficult, it played exactly average last season, in fact. Some of the key player stats to research this week are Strokes Gained: Approach, Opportunities Gained, Birdies or Better Gained, Strokes Gained: Par 5s, and Proximity Gained 150-175 yards.
Let’s get to the valuable intelligence you want – the 15 selections for this week, my top 10 players to pay heavily 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 the High Price Tag This Week
Rickie Fowler (Salary: DraftKings – $10,500, FanDuel – $11,500) – Fowler is coming off of a rare missed cut last week at the Farmers Insurance Open, but I smell a nice rebound this week as the defending champ had extra time on the weekend to practice in his bid to defend his title this week. Last year he finished 66th at the Farmers and then won here, so a similar situation could play out again this year after finishing 80th last week. He was 11th in 2018, 4th in 2017, and 2nd in 2016, so he has an impressive track record at this event.
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $11,400, FanDuel – $12,100) – Rahm locked up another runner up finish last week – making it two on the season out of three starts, the other finish was a 10th. He was 10th here last year, 11th in 2018, 16th in 2017, and 5th in 2015, so another top 5 is likely coming this week and a victory sure isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Justin Thomas (Salary: DraftKings – $11,200, FanDuel – $11,900) – Thomas couldn’t find his game in So Cal last week and as a result, missed the cut to finish 82nd. That’s very unlike him and it comes after winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions – his second win of the season. Much like Fowler, I expect a big bounce back this week in Arizona and why not as he was 3rd here last year, 17th in 2018, and 17th in 2015.
Webb Simpson (Salary: DraftKings – $10,300, FanDuel – $11,700) – Simpson is off to arguably his best start to the season of his career posting four top 10’s in as many starts, one of those was a runner up finish, and in his last start he finished 3rd at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He was 20th here last year, was runner up in 2017, 14th in 2016, 10th in 2014, 8th in 2012, and 8th in 2011. I would be surprised if he falls outside of the top 10 this week, his golf game is just too strong at the moment.
Hideki Matsuyama (Salary: DraftKings – $10,100, FanDuel – $11,300) – The 2017 and 2016 winner here is coming off his second-worst finish of the season with a 45th last week but he will surely be ready for lots of birdies this week in more comfortable surroundings. Matsuyama was 15th here last year, 2nd in 2015, 4th in 2014, and those two wins cap off an extremely impressive resume at this event.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $9,600, FanDuel – $10,800) – Finau had a bad start to the season but in his last three events, he has gone 10th, 14th, and was 6th last week – his best finish of the season in 7 starts. He was 22nd here in 2015 and has somehow missed the cut since, but I don’t see that happening again this week and should have a solid finish on Sunday.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $8,800, FanDuel – $10,500) – Look up consistency in the dictionary and you should see a picture of Im as he just keeps finishing strong. Every one of his finishes this season have been top 50’s out of his 9 starts and he has three top 10’s. He was 7th here last year in what was his first start at the Phoenix Open – expect something similar this week with upside.
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $9,900, FanDuel – $11,400) – Schauffele went 10th, 2nd, 10th, 2nd before missing the cut last week. Nobody saw that coming but that’s OK as every elite pro slips every once in a while. He was 10th here last year and 17th in 2018, and I expect his result to improve once again this year.
Bubba Watson (Salary: DraftKings – $9,000, FanDuel – $10,600) – I haven’t put Watson in my top 10 in a long time but I think he deserves a look this week as his finishes have improved in each of his past five starts, and he’s coming off his best finish of the season with a 6th last week. He earned a 4th last year, 40th in 2018, 14th in 2016, runner up in 2015 and in 2014, 15th in 2013, 5th in 2012, and has other good finishes here as well.
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $8,500, FanDuel – $9,900) – Scheffler was rolling right along this season with 8 straight made cuts and 4 top 10’s before he was derailed last week to miss the cut. He is making his tournament debut this week and I expect a sound showing from the young stud who should see a win at some point this season.
5 Solid Value Picks ($7,500 or less on DraftKings)
Vaughn Taylor (Salary: DraftKings – $7,500, FanDuel – $8,900) – Taylor has made 7 straight cuts and has three top 12’s in his last four starts, one of which was a runner up finish. He was 11th here in 2018 and 7th in 2010, I like him to keep the streak alive this week and he offers some good potential to finish top 20.
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $7,200, FanDuel – $8,600) – McCarthy has made all of his 9 cuts this season and has 3 top 10’s to boot. He was 33rd here last year as a rookie after two straight missed cuts before and after the event so this course seems to agree with him. Expect him to make another cut this week with a decent chance at finishing top 30.
Talor Gooch (Salary: DraftKings – $7,000, FanDuel – $8,200) – Gooch has made 8 straight cuts. He missed the cut here last year in his rookie debut but I see his streak continuing this week and should finish top 40.
Cameron Tringale (Salary: DraftKings – $6,900, FanDuel – $7,700) – Tringale has zero top 10’s this season but he’s a rock-solid cut making machine as he’s a perfect 8 for 8 in that category. He hasn’t been too great at this event but did have a 12th in 2014 and a 43rd in 2013. Don’t expect a top 20 this week but do expect another made cut – which is key in a value pick.
Brian Stuard (Salary: DraftKings – $6,600, FanDuel – $7,700) – Stuard comes in at a solid value this week as he has made 9 cuts in a row and has two top 10 finishes. He’s also 6 for 6 at this event and has had a 16th and a 10th during that timespan.
Refine and tweak your lineups as needed until contest lock time on Thursday morning, and best of luck for successful finishes on Sunday!
Recapping my 15 pick’s finishes from last week’s Farmers Insurance Open
My High-Priced Picks
- Rickie Fowler – Missed the cut
- Rory McIlroy – T3rd
- Jon Rahm – 2nd
- Tiger Woods – T9th
- Justin Rose – Missed the cut
- Sungjae Im – T36th
- Jason Day – T16th
- Scottie Scheffler – Missed the cut
- Brandt Snedeker – T3rd
- Gary Woodland – Missed the cut
My Value Picks
- Cameron Tringale – T49th
- Denny McCarthy – T64th
- Carlos Ortiz – Missed the cut
- Talor Gooch – T36th
- Harris English – T71st
