PGA DFS Core Plays - DraftKings & FanDuel: Farmers Insurance Open
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS plays at various salary ranges for the coming week’s golf tournament. Who should you be building around? Find out below.
Farmers Insurance Open
While I wouldn’t call last week a complete failure, it was my first losing main slate of the year. The decision to play Patrick Cantlay over Jon Rahm was costly and Cameron Davis really disappointed. Jason Day, Andrew Putnam, Adam Hadwin, and Cam Young were all solid selections, but none of them were able to crack the top 10 (which was needed for the bets). We’ve been at this long enough to know that bad weeks are going to happen in golf betting/DFS. We dust ourselves off and look forward to the Farmers Insurance Open.
If you didn’t like the three-course rotation last week, perhaps you will like the two-course rotation this week. Torrey Pines will host the event with the South Course being played for three of the four rounds. This is a true test of golf, as it’s a Par 72 that stretches to nearly 7,800 yards. This course hosted the 2021 U.S. Open and is routinely one of the top five most difficult courses on the PGA Tour. The fairways are hard to hit, the greens are hard to hit, the scrambling success rate is low, and the three-putt percentage is high. Essentially, all aspects of a golfer’s game will be tested at the South Course.
The North Course will only be played for one of the four rounds and is a polar opposite of the South Course. While it is a Par 72, it is just under 7,300 yards. We don’t have any ShotLink data for the course, but it routinely plays as one of the 10 easiest courses on tour. The winning score of the event is usually somewhere in the mid-teens (depending on weather) and a large portion of that winning score is accumulated on the one round from the North Course. Scoring and length are not the only differences, as the North Course features bentgrass greens while the South Course has very tricky poa annua greens.
There are 156 golfers in the field this week and there will be a cut after the first two rounds. I’m focusing most of my attention on golfers that fit well with the South Course, as it will be played for the majority of the rounds. Driving distance isn’t a must, but it is certainly a premium this week. Additionally, long iron play will be critical to success. Most of the approach shots will come from 150-225 yards, so this won’t be a wedge fest like we have seen from other events this year. Birdies are always important for DFS scoring, but this screams bogey avoidance to me. Limit mistakes, hit greens, and make as many pars as possible.
One final angle that I wanted to bring up is the weather. The forecast could always change, but we are expecting very little wind for three of the four rounds. However, there are potential 30+ MPH gusts for the second round. This brings up an interesting debate. Do golfers playing the easy course in the wind or in the calm conditions have more of an edge? On the one hand, playing the North Course in little wind will lead to some very low scores. On the other hand, playing the South Course in 30 MPH gusts could lead to some huge blowups. I’m not sure which wave will have an edge, but I do think one will come out on top. I love the idea of building course stacks on both sides in tournaments.
Oh… and lineups lock on Wednesday! Make sure to set your lineup early in the week just in case you forget about the day early start time.
Model Video & Download Link for the Sony Open
Tournament Info
Field Size:
- 156 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties move on after the first two rounds
Weather Forecasts
Core Plays
Will Zalatoris
DK: $9,700 — FD: $11,100
SG: OTT — 5
SG: APP — 2
Bogey Avoid — 4
SG: ATG — 57
SG: Putting — 74
Noto’s Rating — 93.3