LIV DFS DraftKings Preview: LIV Golf Invitational Portland
LIV Golf is back for the second leg of their eight-event season—the first event which will be on the PGA Tour’s home turf—following a two-week hiatus since its inaugural event in London earlier this month. That tournament saw Charl Schwartzel claim the individual title with a winning score of just -7, but that was still low enough for him to lead Stingers GC to a runaway win in the team category, as he, Hennie Du Plessis, and Branden Grace all managed to post top-three individual finishes.
Follow along below as RotoGrinders analyst Bob Reeves breaks down the LIV Golf Invitational Portland and gives you a few of his favorite golf DFS picks on DraftKings!
LIV Golf Invitational Portland
Tournament Info
Event Dates:
- Thursday, June 30 – Saturday, July 2
Host Venue:
- Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club
Location:
- North Plains, Oregon
Course:
- 12 holes on Ghost Creek (Nos. 1, 8-18); 6 holes on Witch Hollow (Nos. 2-7)
Par/Yardage:
- 72 / 7,641
Competition:
- 54-hole shotgun event; no cut team and individual competition
Field:
- 12 teams – 48 total players – Each team will have a pre-appointed captain who will select their three open positions. All members of the four-player teams, including the captain, will participate in the three-day tournament.
Top Plays on DraftKings
This week, as we transition to a Par-72 layout at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Oregon, it appears unlikely birdies will be as tough to come by as they were in the previous tournament, especially with three Par 5’s and a few scorable Par 4s on the scorecard. However, with some of these hole yardages, it does appear that distance-off-the-tee may play a larger factor than normal.
Since DraftKings opted to offer only single-round contests for LIV Golf events as a starting point, the ability to take advantage of any scoring holes on these courses will be pivotal for golfers in our lineups with the birdie-or-better centric scoring system of the golf showdown format. Keeping all of this in mind, here are a few golfers to consider at different price tiers for Round 1 of the LIV GOLF Invitational Portland this week.
Bryson DeChambeau – $9,800
Obviously, DeChambeau remains a huge wildcard with how little golf he’s played in the 2022 calendar year, but if anyone can match the upside of Dustin Johnson, for nearly $1K less in salary, it’s Bryson, who ranks 5th in driving distance and 13th in birdie or better percentage on the PGA Tour over the last two seasons.
Matthew Wolff – $8,800
Wolff has had a tumultuous run on the PGA Tour over the last two seasons, but the former phenom looks to be relieved by his move to LIV Golf and, at his best, should still be in the upper echelon of this field in terms of raw golfing talent. Additionally, despite all of his struggles, he still ranks 5th in driving distance on the PGA Tour this season.
Hennie Du Plessis – $8,000
It’ll be interesting to see if Du Plessis gathers any steam around the industry following his second-place finish in London earlier this month, but his stat profile on the DP World Tour should transition perfectly for what we’re hoping the layout at Pumpkin Ridge Golf requires, as he ranks 3rd in stroke average, 6th in birdies per round, and 2nd in Par 5 scoring on the DP World Tour this season.
Peter Uihlein – $7,100
Those of you that have been playing daily fantasy golf for any length of time are probably familiar with the game of Uihlein and probably aren’t surprised to hear that the former European Tour standout saw limited success during his tenure as a PGA Tour member. Even so, he still managed to claim an impressive fourth-place finish in London after shooting -5 over his final two rounds. And in spite of his underwhelming PGA Tour results, he still ranks 19th in driving distance, ideally giving him the ability to create plenty of scoring opportunities this week.
Image Credit: Imagn