2022 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play – DFS Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, and check out our PGA Lineup Optimizer to make more educated player selections for your DFS lineups. Best of luck to you for this week and every week!
Preview for the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play: After residing in Florida for the last four weeks, the PGA Tour now moves onto Texas for the next two weeks for this week’s event and for the Valero Texas Open next week. There’s also an alternate event happening this week – the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic for players who don’t qualify for the elite match play tournament. This week the best golfers are in Austin, Texas, for a unique match play setup where players go head to head in battle until there are just two men competing for the championship on Sunday. Typically we see golf tournaments begin on Thursdays, but for match play, five days are needed to get in all of the matches, so everything starts on Wednesday.
There are two phases of this tournament – phase one includes 16 seeded groups of four players in each bracket from Wednesday to Friday, each player plays his opponents in his group for a total of three matches, the winner from each round-robin group moves forward into phase two to play on Saturday. The top 16 do battle Saturday morning, and the quarterfinals take place on Saturday afternoon. The top 4 play in the semifinals on Sunday morning and the matches for 3rd place and for 2nd and 1st are played on Sunday afternoon. The top 4 players in the tournament will have played seven rounds of golf in just five days.
This WGC match play event dates back to 1999 when it was named the WGC – Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship and Jeff Maggert won it over Andrew Magee. The locally-based company, Dell Technologies, has been behind this tournament since 2016, and the event has been played in Austin, Texas, since that year, but the event was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, so this is the sixth installment of its kind. The past five winners of this event include Billy Horschel in 2021, the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Kevin Kisner in 2019, Bubba Watson in 2018, Dustin Johnson in 2017, and Jason Day in 2016.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this year’s event is set at $12M, the winner receives $2.16M and also earns himself 550 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: The Austin Country Club is a short but challenging 7,108-yard track, is a par 71, and the greens are again Bermudagrass and average a small 5,500 square feet. I usually touch on the winning score in this section, but since it’s match play, there is no winning score, just winning players. Some of the key stats you should be looking at for your custom models this week even though they aren’t really that polarizing are strokes gained: putting, driving accuracy, strokes gained: around the green, strokes gained: approach, and strokes gained: tee to green.
The field: We will see the world’s top 64 best golfers in action this week out of the top 69, with the top 16 advancing to Saturday play, and the top 4 from Saturday advancing to Sunday for semi-finals and the medal rounds. Defending champ Billy Horschel, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler who’s the hottest player in the world right now, and on and on for golfers who are set to tee it up in Texas this week – very exciting! On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A+.
Groupings are below
- Group #1 – Jon Rahm, Sebastian Munoz, Patrick Reed, and Cameron Young
- Group #2 – Collin Morikawa, Robert MacIntyre, Jason Kokrak, and Sergio Garcia
- Group #3 – Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, Sepp Straka, and Cameron Tringale
- Group #4 – Patrick Cantlay, Keith Mitchell, Sungjae Im, and Seamus Power
- Group #5 – Scottie Scheffler, Ian Poulter, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Tommy Fleetwood
- Group #6 – Justin Thomas, Luke List, Kevin Kisner, and Marc Leishman
- Group #7 – Xander Schauffele, Takumi Kanaya, Tony Finau, and Lucas Herbert
- Group #8 – Dustin Johnson, Mackenzie Hughes, Max Homa, and Matthew Wolff
- Group #9 – Bryson DeChambeau, Richard Bland, Talor Gooch, and Lee Westwood
- Group #10 – Louis Oosthuizen, Alex Noren, Paul Casey, and Corey Conners
- Group #11 – Jordan Spieth, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, and Justin Rose
- Group #12 – Billy Horschel, Min Woo Lee, Thomas Pieters, and Tom Hoge.
- Group #13 – Tyrrell Hatton, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Daniel Berger, and Si Woo Kim
- Group #14 – Joaquin Niemann, Maverick McNealy, Kevin Na, and Russell Henley
- Group #15 – Abraham Ancer, Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, and Brian Harman
- Group #16 – Brooks Koepka, Erik Van Rooyen, Shane Lowry, and Harold Varner III
Be sure to look at the full bracket on PGATour.com, so you can best build your lineups to ensure as many players as possible have the potential opportunity to go as far as possible before they face off against each other. The PGA Tour also has a bracket challenge, so I’d also recommend filling out a bracket to test your skill and luck.
Three questions I have about the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play:
1. Which group has the easiest winner to predict? It’s very hard to say since these are most of the world’s top players against each other, but the group I like the best is Jon Rahm’s, and I also like Xander Schauffele’s setup as well.
2. Which ten players does my current custom model like the most? Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler, Daniel Berger, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Viktor Hovland, and Joaquin Niemann.
3. Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Billy Horschel, Russell Henley, Tom Hoge, and Patrick Cantlay.
Lineup construction strategy this week: Because this is a match play format, be sure to pay attention to which golfers are in which foursome. Pick each of your 16 winners from those groups and build your lineups accordingly – note that you might not be able to afford all of those players from your projected winner list, so you will likely have to take chances on sleeper picks to round out your $50,000 max salary lineups. Look at your elite 8 and final 4 and try to get as many of those golfers as possible into your lineups. The worst thing you can do is pick two or more players from the same phase 1 group as only one golfer from each will advance. Also, DraftKings points are awarded differently in this format – be sure to read how the scoring works so you understand how your players will accumulate fantasy points. All the best with getting as many of your lineup’s players into the weekend as possible – this is one of the most unpredictable weeks in golf, so you may want to scale back on how much money you wager this week or play the Corales Puntacana Championship tournament on DraftKings if you want a normal tournament setup.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are my 16 DFS golf picks which feature my top player from each grouping 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 performances at the event over the last 5 years, and add in some tasty pieces of information, also.
Group #1
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $11.3K) – (Up against Sebastian Munoz, Patrick Reed, and Cameron Young) This is a no-brainer to me as the world’s top-ranked player has come close to winning here before and could seal the deal this week. He’s up against opponents that are either unproven or inconsistent, especially Reed lately whose ball-striking has been awful for quite some time now. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T5, 2019 – T24, 2018 – T52, and 2017 – Runner-up.
Group #2
Collin Morikawa (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – (Up against Robert MacIntyre, Jason Kokrak, and Sergio Garcia) We haven’t seen the best from Morikawa over his past two starts, but he’s the class of this grouping by a landslide even if Kokrak and Garcia give him some competition. His short game was atrocious last week losing 8.82 strokes to the field, but should rebound in Austin this week. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T56.
Group #3
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $10.3K) – (Up against: Will Zalatoris, Sepp Straka, and Cameron Tringale) I was in hard on Hovland last week and he didn’t bring his A-game, so it makes me wonder if he’s saving it for this week. Zalatoris was hard to pass on and he could certainly take down Hovland, but with three wins in his last tens starts, I can’t pass on Viktor. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T42.
Group #4
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $10.2K) – (Up against Keith Mitchell, Sungjae Im, and Seamus Power) Cantlay should hold his own this week, but then again, anything can happen in match play. With two wins in his last eight starts and a solo 2nd just last month at the Phoenix Open, Cantlay should fare well this week if his strong approach play returns. Im could threaten to take the group, but I think Patrick will take the cake when it’s time to blow out the candles. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T18, 2019 – T24, and 2018 – T17.
Group #5
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $11.0K) – (Up against: Ian Poulter, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Tommy Fleetwood) Scheffler has been on fire as of late with two wins in his last four starts and he finished runner-up to Horschel here last year but could have beaten him if his energy didn’t fade away. Fitzpatrick is a worthy contender in this group and could take down Scottie, but my money is on the Texan in his home state. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – Runner-up
Group #6
Justin Thomas (Salary: DraftKings – $10.7K) – (Up against Luke List, Kevin Kisner, and Marc Leishman) Kisner won here three years ago and was runner-up four years ago, but I really like Thomas and his impressive ball-striking abilities. All four players have a chance, but I believe it will be JT who gets into the sweet sixteen on the weekend. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T42, 2019 – T24, 2018 – 4th, and 2017 – T39.
Group #7
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $9.6K) – (Up against Takumi Kanaya, Tony Finau, and Lucas Herbert) I really like Schauffele’s chances to come out of this group, especially with Finau playing poorly since last Summer. Xander would be a good place to start lineups given his favorable matchups and at a lower price point than some of the other elites who have a tougher group to deal with. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T18, 2019 – T24, and 2018 – T17.
Group #8
Max Homa (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – (Up against: Dustin Johnson, Mackenzie Hughes, and Matthew Wolff) It was hard to not choose Johnson here, but I like what Homa has been cooking lately with four straight top 17’s and it’s his ball-striking that’s leading the way. Any of these players could take the group, especially if Hughes’ finds a hot putter, but I like Homa and his mid-tier price tag to win it. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T18.
Group #9
Talor Gooch (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – (Up against Bryson DeChambeau, Richard Bland, and Lee Westwood) I would normally go with DeChambeau in a group like this, but he has been battling injury and could be quite rusty this week, plus his lack of accuracy off the tee blocks concerns me. Gooch had a T7 two starts ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and I think his solid approach play and short game will shine through this week. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T56.
Group #10
Alex Noren (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – (Up against Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey, and Corey Conners) This is a tough group to predict, but I’m going with Noren who has been solid lately with three top 12’s in his last five starts including a T5 and a T6, and he brings a complete game to the table – at least as of late. He also has a strong record at this event, so he’s my pick to advance but you may want to stay off players from this group since it seems risky and too competitive to me. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2019 – T17, 2018 – 3rd, and 2017 – T5.
Group #11
Jordan Spieth (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – (Up against Adam Scott, Justin Rose, and Keegan Bradley) This was another challenging call to make, but I’m going with Spieth who had a top 10 here last year and had a solo 2nd at Pebble Beach last month. I could see any of the other three players take a run at advancing, much like the group above and you may want to stay off these golfers. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T9, 2019 – T24, 2018 – T17, and 2017 – T30.
Group #12
Billy Horschel (Salary: DraftKings – $8.8K) – (Up against Min Woo Lee, Thomas Pieters, and Tom Hoge) Last year’s champ has been great lately with two top 6’s in his last four starts including a T2 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational not too long ago. Hoge or Pieters could give Horschel a tough run, but I think Billy-Ho will find a way to reach weekend play. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – Won and 2019 – T24.
Group #13
Tyrrell Hatton (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – (Up against Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Daniel Berger, and Si Woo Kim) I went back and forth between Hatton and Berger, but landed on Tyrrell who has the better match play record of the two advancing two times out of the last three editions of this tournament. He also has eight consecutive top 28’s including four top 9’s, so that doesn’t hurt either. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T56, 2019 – T9, 2018 – T9, and 2017 – T17.
Group #14
Joaquin Niemann (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – (Up against Maverick McNealy, Kevin Na, and Russell Henley) I believe this group will come down to Niemann vs Henley, and like Joaquin the most since he just missed out on advancing last year in his first look at this event. Niemann also won just three starts ago at The Genesis Invitational in a strong field and has three top 8’s in his last five starts. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T18.
Group #15
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – (Up against Abraham Ancer, Bubba Watson, and Webb Simpson) At first glance you likely want to go with Ancer or Simpson, but after doing some research it’s hard to pass on Harman who was just outside of the top 4 last year and advanced three years ago also. Plus, he’s coming off a T5 at the Valspar Championship last week, so he should have lots of confidence heading into this week. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T5 and 2018 – T9.
Group #16
Shane Lowry (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – (Up against: Erik Van Rooyen, Brooks Koepka, and Harold Varner III) Lowry is such a fantastic ball-striker who’s been so consistent lately with seven straight top 24’s including a 2nd late last month at The Honda Classic. Koepka will be hard to beat if he’s at his best this week, but I don’t think we will see it – Lowry finally breaks through here this week. WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play finishes over the last four editions: 2021 – T42, 2019 – T24, and 2017 – T51.
