The Shriners Children’s Open
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 Shriners Children’s Open. Check out our PGA Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
The Shriners Children’s Open
Preview for the Shriners Children’s Open: This event, originally known as the Panasonic Las Vegas Pro-Celebrity Classic, has been played since 1983 when Fuzzy Zoeller won by four strokes. Shriners has been the lead sponsor of this tournament since 2008, and TPC Summerlin is the venue. The record at this event is held by both Stuart Appleby and Andrew Magee who both shot a -31, in 2003 and 1991 respectively. Over the last half-decade, winners of the Shriners Children’s Open (2021) and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (2017-2020) include Sungjae Im in 2021, Martin Laird in 2020, Kevin Na in 2019, Bryson DeChambeau in 2018, and Patrick Cantlay in 2017.
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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: TPC Summerlin is 7,255, is a par 71, and the huge greens are bentgrass. The winning score at this tournament over the last five years ranges from -9 to -24. Some key stats to factor in this week, in order, are strokes gained: putting, strokes gained: around the green, strokes gained: approach, driving distance, and driving accuracy.
The field: We have another 144-player field on tap this week, and the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 will move onto rounds 3 and 4. Some notable players who are competing this week include Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, and other decent talent. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C+.
Three questions that are relevant to the Shriners Children’s Open this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Patrick Cantlay, Dean Burmester, Aaron Wise, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Max Homa, Kurt Kitayama, Emiliano Grillo, Thomas Detry, and Taylor Montgomery.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Patrick Cantlay, Dean Burmester, Aaron Wise, Andrew Putnam, Stephan Jaeger, Taylor Moore, Tom Kim, Cameron Davis, Dylan Frittelli, and Keith Mitchell
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total here (4 rounds minimum) since 2017? Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im, Harry Hall, Hayden Buckley, Justin Suh, Adam Hadwin, Matthew NeSmith, Chad Ramey, K.H. Lee, and Matt Wallace.
DraftKings lineup construction strategy this week: This week is a lot the same as last week in terms of field size and field quality, so I’ll be going in the hybrid direction again to score a good combination of talent near the top and depth with upside. Take a look at projected ownership on Wednesday and pivot where you can, plus leave a good $300+ on the table in your GPP contests.
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 High Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $11.1K) – Cantlay has been an absolute force at this event with a win, two runner-ups, and a T8 since 2017. He has also been outstanding recently as well with five top 8’s over his last six starts including winning the BMW Championship late last season. His stats and everything else aligns this week, get him into your lineups and pay the piper! Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T8, 2019 – 2nd, 2018 – 2nd, and 2017 – Won.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – He’s on a nice heater with three co-runner-ups over his last five starts and has finished no worse than T15 during this stretch. Im is the defending champ and has finished inside the top 15 in each of his three appearances since 2018. I also like that he plays a complete game, so he can beat you in all types of ways. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Won, 2020 – T13, and 2018 – T15.
Taylor Montgomery (Salary: DraftKings – $9.5K) – This guy is extremely impressive with six straight top 9’s between the Korn Ferry Tour (KFT) and PGA Tour, and has gained more than 17 strokes putting over his last two on the PGA Tour – so if the key stats tell us anything this week, putters thrive here so Montgomery should be well-positioned. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Dean Burmester (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – Burmester has three top 5’s over his last five starts (two came on the KFT), and in his two starts prior he had a T11 at the Open Championship, and a T10 at the Genesis Scottish Open. If his flat stick remains hot this week as it was last week when he gained 6.09 on the greens at the Sanderson Farms Championship, then he could be in contention. Short game really counts this week and he gained 9.10 strokes last week, so if his wedges and putter stay intact, watch out. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Thomas Detry (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – Over his last three starts, Detry had a T5 at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour, a T12 at the Fortinet Championship, and had a T9 last week in Mississippi. He has pretty much gained strokes across the board in all three of those starts, and offers excellent mid-tier value this week. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Adam Hadwin (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – I’m not overly impressed with Hadwin’s recent performance, but he has been solid at this venue with two top 6’s over the last three years. For last year’s T6 he came in with a cut, cut, and a T45, so don’t let recent form scare you off too much. You may not want him to be in a high percentage of your core lineups, but sprinkle him in here and there in case he pops again. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T6, 2020 – T34, and 2019 – T4.
Taylor Moore (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – You got to like that Moore has made the cut in ten straight events played, had two top 6’s five and six starts ago, and is coming off a T24 last week where he gained 4.80 strokes on approach and 3.01 around the green. He finished inside the top 25 last year, and I expect more of the same this time around also. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T24 and 2017 – Cut.
Matthew NeSmith (Salary: DraftKings – $7.5K) – NeSmith has taken care of business on this track including a T8 two years ago thanks to gaining 5.02 strokes ball-striking and 3.46 putting. He has also gained strokes in all of the major stat categories at this venue except for a loss off the tee last year, a small around the green loss in 2020, and a microscopic loss on approach in 2019. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T14, 2020 – T8, and 2019 – T18.
Andrew Putnam (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – He hasn’t been outstanding lately but has been solid and did put up a T5 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship four starts ago in the first leg of the playoffs and followed that up with a T23 at the BMW Championship in the second leg. He’s sound on approach, around the green, and with his putter, and consistently gains strokes with his short game. He has had two top 18’s here since 2019, and seems like a good player to use in all types of lineup builds. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T11, 2020 – T58, 2019 – T18, and 2017 – Cut.
Tom Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – If you want a strong ball-striker who’s also quite good with the short game, then Kim is your man. He won the Wyndham Championship four starts ago, had a 7th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic five starts ago, and had a T13 in the first playoff event last season. I’ll be regularly rostering this young talented player until further notice, and I’d recommend that you do the same. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Emiliano Grillo (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – He was in contention to win last week and settled for a T5, and has three top 5’s over his last seven starts including two T2’s. His off the tee game and putter have been his two main weapons for a while now, but the rest of his stats look decent also. He hasn’t torched this place by any means in four career starts, but his floor isn’t bad and offers respectable upside. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T47, 2020 – T34, and 2019 – Cut.
Tom Hoge (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K) – Hoge has three top 12’s in his last five starts including a T4 at the 3M Open, a 10th at the Tour Championship, and a T12 at the Fortinet Championship thanks to great ball-striking and putting. He has three top 24’s here over his last four starts at the event, and regularly gains strokes on approach – 5 out of 6 six career starts he has gained anywhere from 0.35 to 5.41. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T14, 2020 – T24, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T7.
Stephan Jaeger (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – This gentleman has finished anywhere from 5th to T46 over his last five starts, and it’s his short game that has been carrying him with five straight gains including last week’s 6.55. He had a T20 here five years ago, so he’s capable of putting up a nice start and I expect him to finish in the 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s this week. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T20.
Russell Knox (Salary: DraftKings – $7.1K) – Aside from his dreadful off the tee game, Knox’s play has been good over his last six starts and three of them have gone for top 25’s over his last four. He has struggled here over the last few years, but did put together a 3rd in 2014. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T48, and 2017 – Cut.
Dylan Frittelli (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – It’s always hard to predict what Frittelli is going to do on any given week (hello 5th place finish at the 2021 Open Championship), but he has two top 20’s over his last three starts – both times he gained strokes across the board including last week’s T13. He doesn’t offer big upside but is fully capable of top 20’s, and for a $6K guy, that’s more than good enough. Shriners Children’s Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2020 – T34, and 2019 – Cut.
