Daily Fantasy Golf Tips
This is the first big full-field PGA Tour tournament of 2020 with Tiger Woods set to make his first start of the year, plus there are many other world-class players that will be heading to La Jolla, California, to play this week’s Farmers Insurance Open. The players will be competing for $7.5M in prize money at the Farmers Insurance Open, with the winner taking home the $1.35M top prize and also receiving 500 valuable FedEx Cup points.
We will be again seeing a full 156-player field this week, where the top 65 players plus ties will make the cut and get to play round 3 and round 4 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Recent winners at this tournament include Justin Rose in 2019, Jason Day in 2018, Jon Rahm in 2017, Brandt Snedeker in 2016, and Jason Day won for the first time here in 2015 – rounding out the last five years of champions at this high-caliber tournament.
Torrey Pines Golf Course – the South Course and North Course are the traditional host tracks for this event. Every player plays both the South and North Course in the first two rounds, and then the South Course is played by every player who makes the cut on the weekend. The South Course is a whopping 7,698-yard, par 72, and the greens are Poa Annua. The North Course is much shorter at 7,258 yards, is also a par 72, and also features Poa Annua greens. The winning score has ranged from -6 to -21 over the past five years, so depending on the weather and course conditions, the scores can fluctuate widely from year to year. Some of the key player stats to research this week are Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Strokes Gained: Approach, Birdies or Better Gained, Strokes Gained: Par 5s, Proximity Gained 175+ Yards.
Onto what you really want to know about, the 15 selections for this week, my top 10 players to pay up 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 – $9,700, FanDuel – $10,800) – His top 10 streak continued last week with a 10th at The American Express. Fowler had a 6th in 2013, a 13th in 2012, a 20th in 2011, and a 5th in 2010, but in recent years his performance at this event hasn’t been good at all. I think he will nix the recent trend and return to having a good finish as he did in 2013 and prior – he’s too good not to and his form is spectacular right now.
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $11,300, FanDuel – $12,000) – Rahm has a runner up and a 10th so far this season but those were both in small fields. Either way, he’s a mega-talent who won here in 2017, was 5th last year, and earned a 29th in 2018. I see no reason why he doesn’t have another top 5 finish this year and could win this event again.
Tiger Woods (Salary: DraftKings – $10,800, FanDuel – $11,700) – The 8-time winner of the Farmers Insurance Open returns this year and is coming in with momentum as he won in his first start of the season at The ZOZO Championship and had a 4th in his most recent start at the Hero World Challenge. Tiger is officially back among the elite golfers in the world and should be considered a threat to win every time he tees it up.
Justin Rose (Salary: DraftKings – $10,300, FanDuel – $11,300) – The defending champ has only two starts so far this season – Rose has a 28th and a 5th to date. He was 8th in 2018, 4th in 2017, and has other decent finishes at this tournament as well.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $9,100, FanDuel – $10,400) – Im just keeps rolling along with 3 top 10’s this season and hasn’t missed a cut in what seems like forever. He finished 10th last week by playing consistent golf after starting out with a 66 in round 1. He was 52nd here last year in his tournament debut, and one would have to think that he will better that result significantly this week.
Jason Day (Salary: DraftKings – $9,000, FanDuel – $10,200) – Day hasn’t been his usual self over the last two or three years but still plays very well for the most part. He’s coming off a rare missed cut in his last start and has a 22nd and a 31st this season. With two wins at this event in the last 5 years, he’s certainly a player to keep an eye on and comes in at a pretty decent price for a recent two-time winner.
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $8,800, FanDuel – $10,000) – Scheffler will win on the PGA Tour, it’s just a matter of when it happens. He has two 3rd’s in his last four starts, 4 top 10’s this season, and is 8 for 8 since opening the season with a 7th at The Greenbrier. He is making his rookie debut, but as we have seen on other courses that he wasn’t familiar with – he scores well and finishes even better.
Brandt Snedeker (Salary: DraftKings – $8,400, FanDuel – $10,000) – Sneds has won this tournament, much like Day, two times, once in 2016 and also in 2012. Although he doesn’t have a top 10 finish yet this season, he is 4 for 4 and is coming off his best start of the season where he took home a 12th just two weeks ago at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He’s a great cash game or GPP play this week with his soft pricing.
Gary woodland (Salary: DraftKings – $9,500, FanDuel – $10,700) – Woodland is playing out of his mind this season so far with a 3rd, a 5th, and two 7th’s over his past four starts. He was 9th here last year, 12th in 2018, 20th in 2017, 18th in 2016, 10th in 2014, has other made cut finishes, and could be due to win again soon.
5 Solid Value Picks ($7,500 or less on DraftKings)
Cameron Tringale (Salary: DraftKings – $7,100, FanDuel – $8,700) – So far so good, Tringale is 7 for 7 this season thus far and 6 of those finishes were inside the top 44. He was 4th here in 2012 and although his other finishes were never really impressive at Torrey Pines, he’s a good bet to make the cut and has some decent upside for a top 30 result.
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $7,100, FanDuel – $8,900) – McCarthy just keeps trucking along with all 8 made cuts this season and three of those are top 9’s. He will be looking to avenge two missed cuts at this event, and I believe this week he gets over the hump.
Carlos Ortiz (Salary: DraftKings – $6,900, FanDuel – $8,800) – Since missing the cut in his first start of the season, Ortiz has made 7 straight cuts and has a 2nd and two 4th’s during that timespan. He’s 1 for 2 in made cuts at this event and I think he adds another made cut to his resume this week with likely his best finish coming at this tournament.
Talor Gooch (Salary: DraftKings – $7,200, FanDuel – $8,900) – I may sound like a broken record, but much like Ortiz, Gooch has made 7 cuts in a row after missing a cut in his first start of the season. He’s coming off a 17th last week, he earned an impressive 3rd here last year and was 51st in 2018. He’s a great value play this week with some upside to again finish top 10.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $7,400, FanDuel – $9,200) – English already has four top 6’s this season and has only missed one cut. He took home a 48th last week, no thanks to his 74 in round 4 but round 3 yielded a dazzling 64. He was 8th here in 2018, 14th in 2017, 31st in 2016, and was runner up in 2015. I expect another good result this week and he comes in at a good price both on DK and on FD.
Make your lineups sparkle until they look like money, and all the best with successful contest results on Sunday!
Recapping my 15 pick’s finishes from last week’s The American Express
My Top-End Picks
- Rickie Fowler – T10th
- Paul Casey – T21st
- Sungjae Im – T10th
- Tony Finau – T14th
- Byeong Hun An – Missed the cut
- Charles Howell III – Missed the cut
- Scottie Scheffler – 3rd
- Alex Noren – T14th
- Francesco Molinari – Missed the cut
- Cameron Champ – T21st
My Value Picks
- Brendan Steele – T43rd
- Carlos Ortiz – T48th
- Cameron Tringale – T43rd
- Brian Stuard – 72nd
- Bo Hoag – Withdrew
