Fantasy Golf: PGA Championship Picks & Projections
PGA Championship Preview
The final major of the season is upon and with that comes the final major golf tournament on DraftKings. The King of the Course tournament is giving away $100,000 to one talented individual this week so make sure to take your shot at the huge payday. The PGA Championship this season will be held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. This is an extremely long course, it is a Par-71 measuring 7,458 yards.
Current form is extremely important heading into this tournament as each of the last 10 winners of the PGA Championship have finished in the Top 25 in their previous PGA start. In addition to current form, the stats that I will be focusing on this week are ball striking (total driving + greens in regulation), strokes gained putting, and adjusted scoring.
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Picks
Adam Scott: $10,700 – Fading Rory may come back to haunt me, but we haven’t seen a player win 3 tournaments in a row since the glory days of Tiger Woods. All of the spotlight is on Rory and I think Scott comes into this week with little pressure. His $900 discount from Rory is also enticing. Scott has 5 straight Top 10 finishes and has finished in the Top 11 at the PGA Championship in each of the last 3 years. He’s ranked 10th in ball striking, 13th in strokes gained putting, and 3rd in adjusted scoring.
Keegan Bradley: $9,100 – The first half of the season made me a little weary about Keegan in recent weeks, but he’s been as solid as anyone on tour. Keegan has 3 Top 5 finishes in his last 5 events and won this tournament back in 2011. He has all of the stats to perform well on this course as he’s ranked 35th in ball striking, 24th in strokes gained putting, and 17th in adjusted scoring. At this price, he makes a terrific play this week.
Jim Furyk: $9,000 – Speaking of consistency, how about the form that Furyk has shown this season. He has posted 11 Top 20 finishes in his last 12 events. He is extremely accurate off the tee, he’s ranked 2nd in proximity to the hole, 1st in scrambling, and 6th in adjusted scoring. He tends to get overlooked because he often plays the role of bridesmaid, but for $9,000, I would gladly take a 2nd place finish from Furyk.
Other Studs to Consider: Graeme McDowell: $8,500, Charl Schwartzel: $8,300
Hideki Matsuyama: $7,700 – I was hoping that I would be alone in my love for Matsuyama this week, but stlcardinals and gibbathy both had him high on their list of targets as well. Hopefully this is a case of great minds thinking alike. Matsuyama is long off the tee and extremely accurate with his irons. He’s ranked 13th in proximity to the hole overall and 6th in proximity to the hole from over 200 yards (which should really help on the long Par 3’s this week). He’s coming off of strong finishes at the Open Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone. He’s my dark horse to win it all this week.
Ryan Moore: $7,400 – Moore should be one of the most popular plays in the field this week. He’s playing the best golf of his career with Top 12 finishes in 4 straight events including the Open Championship. He has a great track record at the PGA Championship and is too good to pass up at only $7,400. Moore is ranked 15th in ball striking, 63rd in strokes gained putting, and 22nd in adjusted scoring. He should be a lock to stay around for the weekend.
Kevin Na: $5,900 – Na isn’t the longest hitter on tour, but he has had no problem with some of the longer tracks this season. He’s playing some great golf and is by far my favorite play under $6,000. Na is ranked 78th in ball striking, 27th in strokes gained putting, and 15th in adjusted scoring. All of the stats point to another strong finish from Na who has Top 25 finishes in 4 of his last 6 events.
Other Value Plays to Consider: Gary Woodland: $6,800, Chris Kirk: $5,800