The Corales Puntacana Championship
Preview for the Corales Puntacana Championship: There’s a bigger golf event happening this week on the PGA Tour, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but these types of events are hard to predict and write about from a strategy perspective, so I elected to feature the Dominican Republic tournament instead. This event has only been live on the PGA Tour since 2018, and it’s your typical alternate tournament with a less-than-average field on tap. The record here is a three-way tie between Brice Garnett, Graeme McDowell, and Hudson Swafford – each shooting a -18 between 2018 to 2020 respectively. Winners of the Corales Puntacana Championship over its five-year run include Chad Ramey in 2022, Joel Dahmen in 2021, Hudson Swafford in 2020, Graeme McDowell in 2019, and Brice Garnett in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is a paltry $3.8M, the winner collects $684K and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Corales Puntacana Resort is a lengthy 7,666 yards in length, is a par 72, and the greens are paspalum. The winner’s score here ranges from -12 to -18, and you can likely expect the winner to finish around -17 or -18 given four out of the five winners here scored either a -17 or a -18. Some core key stats to focus on this week, in order, include driving accuracy percentage, driving distance, strokes gained: putting, strokes gained: around the green, and strokes gained: tee to green.
The field: We have a 120-player field this week, and the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 will advance to play rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend. We have a fairly weak field that is “headlined” by Chad Ramey, Taylor Pendrith, Wyndham Clark, Joel Dahmen, and some other half-decent golfers. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a D.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Corales Puntacana Championship. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the Corales Puntacana Championship this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Wyndham Clark, Ben Martin, Dylan Wu, Stephan Jaeger, Thomas Detry, Tyler Duncan, Matt Wallace, Ryan Gerard, Nicolai Hojgaard, and Sam Stevens.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Wyndham Clark, Joel Dahmen, Patrick Rodgers, Dylan Wu, Stephan Jaeger, Ryan Gerard, Ben Martin, Taylor Pendrith, Jhonattan Vegas, and Matt Wallace.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 6 rounds) at this event since 2018? Joel Dahmen (13 rounds), Ben Martin (12 rounds), Kramer Hickok (12 rounds), Chris Stroud (6 rounds), Cameron Percy (12 rounds), Greyson Sigg (8 rounds), Jhonattan Vegas (14 rounds), Kelly Kraft (16 rounds), Thomas Detry (16 rounds), and Charley Hoffman (8 rounds).
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some tasty data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Wyndham Clark (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – You know the field is quite weak when Clark is the most expensive DK player! He’s on a solid run with eleven consecutive cuts made, three of those are top 10’s including last week’s 5th at the Valspar Championship, and he has four other top 29’s during that span. If he plays how he did last week gaining strokes across the board and 6.64 ball striking, then he should contend this week. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T22.
Stephan Jaeger (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – Jaeger is a consistently strong ball striker and is fairly good around the green – it’s just his putting holding him back as he has lost strokes in this stat category in seven straight events. I can see him bettering his T26 from four years ago, and he can pop with his flat stick, so if that happens this week then he’s certainly capable of winning. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T48, 2019 – T26, and 2018 – T54.
Ben Martin (Salary: DraftKings – $9.4K) – I like good ball strikers and Martin fits the bill as he has gained at least 1.88 strokes in seven out of his last eight starts. He finished T5 three starts ago and T13 four starts ago, and has made four cut lines in a row. His results keep improving here and if that happens again this week, we’ll know he won or finished solo 2nd. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T2, 2021 – T9, and 2020 – T52.
Erik van Rooyen (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – I like that van Rooyen has two top 10’s over his last five starts including finishing T10 last week on the back of crisp ball striking. He has a bad case of the yips on the greens, but even despite losing strokes to the field last week in this stat category, he still had a top 10. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
Michael Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $8.1K) – Kim is on a decent little run right now with two top 11’s in his last four starts including a 5th two starts ago at the Puerto Rico Open which has a comparable strength of field to this week. He has missed the cut here in his two last starts, but he’s in much, much better form than in 2021 and 2020, so don’t let that turn you off from rostering him. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – cut, 2020 – cut, and 2018 – T43.
Dylan Wu (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – Not a bad mid-tier play this week given Wu has made five cuts in a row including at The Players Championship where he finished T35. He had a T10 four starts ago, and seems like a good bet to make the cut this week while offering some level of upside. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – 56th.
Ryan Gerard (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – Gerard had a tough week last week, but still made the cut, and prior to the Valspar Championship he had a T11 at the Puerto Rico Open and a 4th at The Honda Classic gaining 8.66 strokes ball striking. He also had a T3 on the Korn Ferry Tour prior to The Honda Classic, so Ryan seems to have decent top 10 potential. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
MJ Daffue (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – He’s not taking the PGA Tour by storm by any means, but Daffue has quietly made four straight cut lines and has two top 21’s in his last four starts including a T19 last week thanks to solid off the tee play and putting. Don’t be overweight on MJ, but consider him for one of your lineups. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – cut.
Cody Gribble (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Gribble is on a mini heater right now with back-to-back T7’s at the Puerto Rico Open and last week’s Valspar Championship where he gained 11.62 strokes between ball striking and putting. If he tees up another T7 this week that would be huge given he’s only $500 removed from being in the $6K range. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
Jason Dufner (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – He’s a bit all over the place but he gained an impressive 8.57 strokes on approach last week to finish T36, and that gives him two top 36’s over his last four starts. He also had a top 30 here a year ago, so he’s worth considering for a stars and scrubs lineup or two. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T28.
Trevor Werbylo (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – You may have never heard the name Werbylo before, but he has made six cut lines in a row and is coming off his best finish – a T27 last week. It’s possible he will pull down another top 30 this week, and that would be perfectly fine given his low salary number. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
Chad Ramey (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – Last year’s winner is back to defend his title and is coming off consecutive T27’s via a sizzling short game as he has gained more than 18 strokes in the stat category. Can he go 2 for 2 at this event? Likely not, but he could be a decent addition to some of your balanced and hybrid lineups this week. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won.
Cameron Percy (Salary: DraftKings – $8.3K) – Percy has really torched this event over his last two looks here, and does have two top 16’s over his last three events played, so he’s worth a look again this week, especially if his putter stays hot. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4, 2020 – T8, and 2018 – T54.
Jhonattan Vegas (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – Vegas has a fairly solid record at this tournament including his top 5 here last year, and is one of the better ball strikers in the field. He has missed his last two cut lines, but if he can tame his short game, then he will do just fine in his mediocre field. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4, 2021 – T18, 2020 – cut, and 2019 – T26.
Kramer Hickok (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – He has finished anywhere from T14 to T45 over his last four starts, and offers promise this week given his nice-looking track record in the Dominican Republic. He popped in the ball striking category three and four starts ago and popped with his putter over his last two starts, so if he can find a way to put it all together this week, then there’s hope for a top 10. Corales Puntacana Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T13, 2020 – T21, 2019 – T10.
