PGA DFS Core Plays: Bermuda Championship
Top-ranked grinder, Notorious, breaks down his favorite daily fantasy golf plays at various salary ranges for the coming week’s golf tournament. Who should you be building around? Find out below.
Bermuda Championship
Last week’s Zozo Championship looked like a two-man race between Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm, but Patrick Cantlay had other ideas on Sunday. He shot seven-under par and ended up winning by a single shot. It’s nice to see him playing well again and believe it or not, he’s turning into a bentgrass specialist. The core plays from last week finishes as follows: Daniel Berger (T17), Matthew Fitzpatrick (T26), Patrick Reed (T14), and Cameron Smith (T4). It was a fairly good week for the picks, although you likely needed Rahm, Thomas, or Cantlay to cash in contests with so much of the chalk finishing high up on the leaderboard.
This week we head to Bermuda for the Bermuda Championship. This event made its debut on the PGA Tour last season, so we only have one year of course history to work with. The PGA Grand Slam of Golf was held here from 2009-2014, but that was essentially an exhibition match between the major winners each year. Port Royal Golf Course is a Par 71 that measures 6,828 yards. It should come as no surprise that a course in Bermuda features bermudagrass fairways and greens. The greens themselves are average in size and weren’t overly difficult for the field last season.
If you are looking for comparable courses, a few golfers mentioned the Plantation Course (Sentry Tournament of Champions). With this being right on the water, any coastal course makes sense as a comp. I see a little bit of El Camaleon Golf Club (Mayakoba Golf Classic) here, DataGolf mentioned Siverado Resort and Spa (Safeway Open) as a similar venue, and Boo Weekley said it plays a little like Harbour Town (RBC Heritage). If we compare averages of the top 10 finishers from last year’s Bermuda Championship to the field averages, accuracy was more important than driving distance and hitting greens was essential.
With this being a shorter course where hitting fairways is crucial, it’s no surprise that Brendon Todd won here in 2019. There were a few bombers on top of the leaderboard as well and it’s worth noting that the field averaged well over 300 yards off the tee. Overall, I’m not putting too much stock into course fit this week. Hitting fairways is a bonus, putting is a bonus, a good track record on bermuda is a bonus, and a good track record at coastal courses is a bonus. If the current forecast holds, it is going to be awfully windy on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.