2022 Honda Classic – DFS Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for The Honda Classic, and check out our PGA Lineup Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS lineups. All the best this week!
The Honda Classic
Preview for The Honda Classic: This event was born in 1972 when it was originally named Jackie Gleason’s Inverrary Classic, but we have seen Honda be a title sponsor here since 1982. The record at this event and on this course specifically is held by Camilo Villegas who shot a -13 in 2010. Winners of The Honda Classic over the last five years include Matt Jones in 2021, Sungjae Im in 2020, Keith Mitchell in 2019, Justin Thomas in 2018, and Rickie Fowler in 2017.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is set at $8M, the winner collects $1.44M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: PGA National – Champion Course is 7,125 yards in length, is a par 70, and the greens are Bermudagrass and average a hefty 7,000 square feet. The winning score here over the last decade ranges from -6 to -12 and is largely considered to be one of the more challenging courses on the PGA Tour circuit thanks to the difficult Bear Trap which are holes 15 to 17 and feature lots of water to deal with. Some core key stats to pay attention to this week are, in order, driving distance, strokes gained: putting, strokes gained: approach, strokes gained: around the green, and strokes gained: off the tee.
The field: We will have an almost-full field of 144 players in action this week, just 12 off the max number we see on the PGA Tour, and the top 65 players plus ties after round 2 will play the two-weekend rounds. Last week’s field at The Genesis Invitational was much stronger than this week’s, of course, but we still have some talent here including Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood, Billy Horschel, Louis Oosthuizen, and others. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C.
Three questions I have about The Honda Classic:
1. Look for wind players? It looks like it could be a tad breezy in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, throughout the week, so you may want to look to golfers who can tame the wind. Wind stats are hard to quantify but players who grew up or have lots of experience on European courses, coastal courses, Texas tracks, and other areas that tend to garner higher than average winds might be extra valuable this week. We won’t see massive winds but we will see wind gusts get up to around 20 MPH on all four days.
2. Will we see a new winner here this week? There has only been one repeat winner here since 1999 and that was Padraig Harrington, so there’s a very high chance that a new champion is crowned, especially considering we don’t have past champions in Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas and other great previous winners such as those in action this week.
3. What will the cut line look like? We typically see the cut line number be over par here on this challenging track, so you may want to look into players who are good at avoiding bogeys and have nice-looking water hazard avoidance stats.
DraftKings lineup construction strategy this week: We have a fairly sizable field this week and there’s a cut line to navigate after round 2 on Friday, so you will want to do your best to have complete lineups where all players are more than capable of making the cut and can score well. My core lineups will be hybrid builds, but I’ll have some stars and scrub configurations as well to swing for the fences in large GPP contests. Check-in on the projected ownership on Wednesday, leave at least $300 on the table for each lineup if you can for originality reasons, and look for quality low-cost pivot plays where available.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are my 15 DFS golf picks which feature my top 3 players from each tier 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.
The $10K+ Range
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $11.0K) – He’s almost always a great player to use in DFS since he consistently performs, and he has been performing quite well for a while now with four top 9’s in his last eight starts including winning the Shriners Children’s Open last October. His bread and butter is off the tee and around the green, and his other stats are pretty decent as of late too, especially his putting as he has gained 7.66 strokes combined over his last two tournaments played. He won here two years ago and is considered the favorite to win this week, as well. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T8, 2020 – Won, and 2019 – T51.
Louis Oosthuizen (Salary: DraftKings – $10.8K) – I was cautiously optimistic with Oosthuizen two weeks ago since he hadn’t played professionally in almost three months, and he did quite well with a T14 and gained strokes in all major stat categories. If he plays the exact same way this week, then he should be in contention to win come Sunday evening. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2020 – Cut, 2018 – T24, and 2017 – T21.
Daniel Berger (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – He just wasn’t himself two weeks ago at the Phoenix Open as he missed his first cut line since last year’s Masters, but I think the Florida native will be ready to go this week in his home State. Prior to his most recent start, he has five straight top 26’s including a T5 at the Tournament of Champions, and he has four top 8’s in his last nine starts. Berger put up a top 5 two years ago here, and has a pretty good record overall. If you are a bit hesitant with Daniel and his ailing back this week, then you can certainly pivot to last week’s winner, Joaquin Niemann, as he has been on fire, but he could withdraw or not be on his A-game this week after just cashing in over $2M dollars. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T4, 2019 – T36, 2018 – T29, and 2017 – Cut.
The $9K Range
Tommy Fleetwood (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – I’m not usually on Fleetwood any time he plays on the PGA Tour, but he has been outstanding here with two top 4’s in two starts since 2018, and he’s coming off a T8 at the Saudi International. He seems to play well overseas and not so well on the PGA Tour, but this is a course that he seems to have figured out extremely well. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T3 and 2018 – T4.
Billy Horschel (Salary: DraftKings – $9.6K) – Horschel has a good combination of making cuts and typically finishing in the 30’s or better, he won eight starts ago at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour, and has been very good lately with a T11 at the Farmers Insurance Open two starts ago and a T6 two weeks ago at the Phoenix Open. I like strong approach players which is something that Billy isn’t, but the vet plays to his short game strengths and is rewarded as a result. He has a good record at this venue too with three top 16’s in his last five starts here, one was a T4 and another one was a T8. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T42, 2019 – T16, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T4.
Keith Mitchell (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – I would normally laugh if I saw Mitchell in the $9K’s, but not this week since he won here three years ago, and has four top 12’s in his last five starts including a T10 two weeks ago where he gained 6.85 strokes ball-striking. He’s a good option if you’re building hybrid lineups this week since he’s playing very well now and has won here before, so he knows what it takes to excel on this track. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T53, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – Won, and 2018 – Cut.
The $8K Range
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – With two runner-ups in his last eight starts including a T2 last week at The Genesis Invitational in a star-studded field and three other top 29’s during that span, Young has the potential to thrive on the PGA Tour sooner rather than later. Over his last three starts, he has gained 9.87, 3.63, and 6.86 in the ball-striking category and has been putting the lights out too. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: None.
Jhonattan Vegas (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – Vegas is a player that I have used a lot in DFS over the last few years and I’m back on him again this week since he has nice looking finishes at this tournament with four top 30’s in the last five years including his T4 in 2017 where he gained 8.71 strokes ball-striking. He has done well lately too including earning a T8 earlier this month at the Saudi International where he gained 9.91 strokes total. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T30, 2020 – T27, 2019 – T16, 2018 – T72, and 2017 – T4.
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – He went through a tough stretch of play where his off the tee and approach play was hurting, but he has flipped the switch over his last three starts with a T3 at The American Express three starts ago, and he’s coming off a T14 at the Phoenix Open where he gained strokes across the board except for a small 0.53 loss in the putting department. He doesn’t have a sparkling record at this event but did have a T11 in 2015 when his ball-striking and putting were in fine form. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T47, 2019 – Cut, 2018 – T33, and 2017 – T48.
The $7K Range
Sam Ryder (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – He has only missed playing the weekend once over his last five starts and he has back-to-back top 26’s at the Phoenix Open where he gained strokes across the board and at The Genesis Invitational last week where he rode a hot putter. Ryder has been good at this tournament including finishing T8 last year with outstanding play throughout his bag, and his strokes gained approach numbers look very attractive with a gain of 3.22 two years ago and 5.01 last year. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T8 and 2020 – T53.
Sepp Straka (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Straka has now made five consecutive cut lines and has two top 16’s in his last three starts including last week’s T15 at The Genesis Invitational where he pretty much gained strokes across all of the major stat categories except for a paltry 0.02 loss off the tee. He has been good here over the last two years averaging a T30, and I believe he will do something similar again this week. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T33, 2020 – T27, and 2019 – Cut.
Taylor Moore (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – He was quite successful on the Korn Ferry Tour last season and is starting to find his way on the PGA Tour with five top 24’s in his last eight starts and he’s fairly well balanced throughout his bag. He showed that he can play with the big boys as he landed a T21 at The Genesis Invitational last week thanks to playing well off the tee and making putts as he gained 2.89 strokes on the greens. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: None.
The $6K Range
Harry Higgs (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – He has ugly ball-striking numbers but is good around the green and awesome on the greens, but for some reason, he has been outstanding at this event on approach as he gained 8.06 strokes last year en route to a T19. He is 3/4 in his last four starts, and he seems like a good value play as he should make the cut this week and has top 20 potential. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T19 and 2020 – T58.
Mark Hubbard (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – Hubbard is 3/4 here since 2016 including a T11 here two years ago thanks to being solid on approach, around the greens, and putting. He had a T6 last week on the Korn Ferry Tour and was 4/6 prior to that on the PGA Tour including a T33 at Pebble Beach earlier this month. He should play all four rounds this week and is a scrub player to consider for your stars and scrubs and hybrid lineups. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T46, 2020 – T11, and 2017 – Cut.
Satoshi Kodaira (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – He has made three straight cut lines on the PGA Tour including a T12 at the Sony Open thanks to solid approach and short game play, and that’s exactly how he earned a T36 here last year as he gained 6.15 on approach and 2.60 on the greens. Kodaira might be worth a look for one of your GPP lineups, but don’t pepper him into too many, and do your best to stay out of the $6K range as much as possible since the talent overall is quite weak. The Honda Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T36, 2020 – Cut, and 2019 – Cut.
