The Fortinet Championship DFS Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Fortinet Championship. Check out our PGA Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
The Fortinet Championship
Preview for the Fortinet Championship: Welcome to the first event of the 2022-2023 PGA Tour campaign – very exciting! This event has been played since 2007 when Mike Weir won the Fry’s Electronics Open, and we have seen this same Silverado course in Napa, California, used since 2014. The record at this tournament came two years ago when Stewart Cink shot a -21 to beat Harry Higgs by two strokes. Over the last five years, winners of the Fortinet Championship include Max Homa in 2021, Stewart Cink in 2020, Cameron Champ in 2019, Kevin Tway in 2018, and Brendan Steele in 2017.
Get in the money with more consistency in your PGA DFS contests and other sports leagues, too including the NFL, by utilizing insightful player projections.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $8M, the winner collects $1.44M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Silverado Resort and Spa (North) is 7,166 yards in length, is a par 72, and the greens are a combination of bentgrass and poa annua. The winning score at this tournament over the last five years ranges from -14 to -21, so expect something in the teens to take the victory this week. Some key stats to pay attention to this week are, in order, driving distance, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: putting, driving accuracy percentage, and strokes gained: approach.
The field: The field is pretty much what you would expect for a season opener for the PGA Tour, but there are some decent players in action including Corey Conners, Max Homa, Hideki Matsuyama, Webb Simpson, and others. We get a full 156-player field this week with the top 65 golfers plus ties advancing to round 3 and round 4 on the weekend. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C.
Three questions that are relevant to the Fortinet Championship this week:
1. Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Corey Conners, Ben Griffin, Taylor Moore, Cameron Davis, Emiliano Grillo, Lee Hodges, Dean Burmester, Trey Mullinax, Brendan Steele, and Troy Merritt.
2. Which 10 players have been the longest off the tee blocks over the last 24 rounds? This week’s most important stat to being successful on this track is driving distance, the longest hitters recently are Joseph Bramlett, Chris Gotterup, Brandon Matthews, Brandon Hagy, Cameron Davis, Taylor Pendrith, Callum Tarren, Matthias Schmid, Ben Griffin, and Thomas Detry.
3. Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total here since 2017? Stewart Cink, John Augenstein, Harry Higgs, Chez Reavie, David Lipsky, Doc Redman, Brendan Steele, Ryan Moore, Hideki Matsuyama, and Brandt Snedeker.
DraftKings lineup construction strategy this week: With a big field, a cut line this week to deal with, and not such a strong collection of players, I recommend going with hybrid builds for GPPs and cash games, as well. Take a look at projected ownership and pivot where it’s easy to, but don’t obsess about going contrarian this week. You may also want to leave at least $300 on the table to help build original lineups in the large GPPs.
My 15-player format below: Note that I have five players in each of the three categories below, and that they of course don’t need to be exclusively used for stars and scrubs, balanced, and hybrid lineups. Mix and match as you wish! This new format doesn’t pigeonhole me to find 3 players in each price range ($10K+, $9K, $8K, $7K, and $6K), but rather, gives me more freedom to select more of the golfers that I really like.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are 15 DFS golf picks that feature golfers who are ideal to use in stars and scrubs, balanced, and hybrid lineups on DraftKings (DK), 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 also add in some tasty pieces of data.
5 Elite and Value Players Priced $6,000-$11,000+ That Will Be In My Stars and Scrubs Lineups
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $10.3K) – Conners has it all working for him except for his short game which is his Achilles heel. His ball-striking is amazing and when he pops with his putter or his around the green game – watch out as it often means a top 10. He had a T5 two starts ago at the BMW Championship gaining 8.82 strokes ball-striking and regularly finishes in the teens and 20’s, and also has that sneaky top 5 upside. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – T13, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T30.
Sahith Theegala (Salary: DraftKings – $10.0K) – He was able to make it to the Tour Championship last season, had two top 15’s in the first two legs of the playoffs, and finished T2 at the Travelers Championship in late June. He can’t seem to put a complete tournament together, but is usually sharp off the tee and with his short game. He had a T14 here two years ago and could certainly find his way into the top 10 this week. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T47 and 2020 – T14.
Maverick McNealy (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – His main weapon is his flat stick, and it has led to three top 16’s in his last seven starts. He also had two top 32’s in the first two playoff events last season, so he has a decent floor and can pop at times. Let’s also not forget that he was only one stroke back of Max Homa last year who won with a score of -19. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – 2nd, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T52, 2018 – T63, and 2017 – T52.
John Augenstein (Salary: DraftKings – $6.0K) – If you’re looking to go hard with stars and scrubs lineups, then take a look at min-priced Augenstein who went off for a T6 last year – gaining strokes across the board including 6.17 on approach. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T6.
Cameron Percy (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – We last saw Percy earn a T8 at the Wyndham Championship about a month ago thanks to gaining 9.26 strokes ball-striking. He has a pretty decent record at this tournament including a top 10 three years ago and three top 26’s in four tries. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T64, 2020 – T23, and 2019 – T7.
5 Well-Rounded Players Priced $7,500-$9,000 That Will Be In My Balanced Lineups
Brendan Steele (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – Steele is a regular at this tournament and won in both 2016 and 2017, so he can perform at a high level here in his home area. He had a decent run from March to August with three top 13’s including a 9th at the PGA Championship, and has three top 32’s over his last five starts. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T42, 2020 – T29, 2019 – T60, 2018 – T53, and 2017 – Won.
Trey Mullinax (Salary: DraftKings – $8.3K) – He has been playing some excellent golf since mid-July with a win at the Barbasol Championship, a T5 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, a T12 at the BMW Championship, a T21 at the Open Championship, and has five straight top 37’s. He hasn’t found success just yet at this event, but I believe he will do well this year with his game in fantastic shape across the board right now. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – Cut.
Andrew Putnam (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – I don’t like to draft short-game specialists too much and Putnam falls into this category, but he has also gained strokes ball-striking in five out of his last six measured events. He has four straight top 27’s including a T5 in the first leg of last season’s playoffs, and seems to keep finishing 30-something at this tournament, so he’s relatively safe and has respectable upside. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T30, 2020 – T36, and 2017 – T30.
Troy Merritt (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – Merritt has been sort of hit or miss at this event over the years, but his hits are worth the risk in my opinion, and he has made five straight cut lines including finishing T14 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in late July. He has gained over 25 strokes ball-striking between his last five starts, and if he keeps that up he should have another fine finish this week. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T16, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – Cut, 2018 – T4, and 2017 – T69.
Taylor Montgomery (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – You may not know the name yet, but he’s certainly well known on the Korn Ferry Tour as he has four straight top 9’s and has put up nine of them so far in 2022. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
5 Solid Players Priced $6,900-$9,900 That Will Be In My Hybrid Lineups
Taylor Pendrith (Salary: DraftKings – $9.8K) – I’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Pendrith’s since his stats are quite attractive plus he had a T8 at the BMW Championship in his most recent start, and has six top 13’s in his last seven starts. He can only build off of his T36 from last year and has big-time upside in my humble opinion. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T36.
Cameron Davis (Salary: DraftKings – $9.6K) – He hits a long ball and has been good since April with four top 8’s, and six consecutive top 35’s thanks to several weapons in his bag. He has done well at this event, he just needs to find his short game to get inside the top 10 as his ball-striking has been solid. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T36, 2019 – Cut, and 2018 – T17.
Chez Reavie (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – He consistently performs well at this venue, he won the Barracuda Championship five starts ago, had a T8 at the Travelers Championship in late June, and has only missed one cut line in his last eight starts. His approach game and ball-striking are strong, but he has lost strokes with his short game in five straight measured starts. The good news on the short game front though, is that he has gained strokes in the category 4/6 times since 2016, and has finished no lower than T33 here since 2015 while playing every year. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T28, 2020 – T3, 2019 – T33, 2018 – T33, and 2017 – T13.
Taylor Moore (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – He started playing a complete game in June, has two top 6’s in his last four starts, and has played weekend golf in eight straight starts. He missed the cut here last year but is worlds better now and got that course experience a year ago, so play him with confidence as he has winning upside. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut.
Stephan Jaeger (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – He has been rolling along nicely as of late with three top 22’s in his last five starts including a 5th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and he had a T6 at the Wells Fargo Championship back in May. He plays a well-rounded game now that his putter has been a plus for him over his last three starts, and is a sneaky good play to finish top 20 this week. Fortinet Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T30.
