PGA DFS Core Plays - DraftKings & FanDuel: The Honda Classic
Top-ranked DFS player, 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.
The Honda Classic
For the first time in what felt like years, I managed to get all six of my golfers in my main lineup through the cut. I didn’t win any tournaments, but it felt nice to not sweat the cash line on Sunday. I got a few messages from members having big weeks, so congratulations to anyone that had a profitable Genesis Open. We now turn our attention to the Florida swing. If you are a fan of water hazards and difficult golf courses, the next few events will be right up your alley.
PGA National has played as the toughest Par 70 course on tour in six of the last nine seasons (excluding majors). It measures 7,125 yards and will test all aspects of the game. Off the tee, golfers will see very narrow fairways with many forced layups. Even though driving distance is much lower here on average, the fairways are still difficult for the field to hit. This is due to the fact that they are 29 yards wide on average and the fact that this course is exposed to the elements.
The greens here are average in size and feature bermudagrass. They are tough to hit on average and when you do miss the greens, scrambling is far from easy. Essentially, everything tee to green on this course is tougher than tour average — hitting fairways, hitting greens, and getting up and down. The greens themselves aren’t particularly difficult, but do favor those that have experience on bermuda courses.
As is the case with most Florida courses, there are hazards galore. In fact, water is in play on 15 of the 18 holes. You will also hear the term ‘Bear Trap’ over and over again this week. This is one of the toughest three-hole stretches on the PGA Tour. If your golfers can get through holes 15, 16, and 17 with a score of even par or one-over par, you should consider it a win.
I don’t have a particularly strong course fit this week. I’m looking for golfers that aren’t too wild off the tee, that are very good with their irons, that don’t bleed strokes around the green, that have experience in Florida, and that can putt on bermuda. This certainly narrows down the list some, but it’s not like there is one specific skillset needed to play well at PGA National.
With this course being right on the water and with there being very few trees on the property, wind will be a big factor this week. As always, I have included the Windfinder link to the closest wind tower. We could see a significant tee time advantage if one afternoon ends up being more windy than the other. I highly recommend checking the wind forecast a few times times before lock.
Want to create your own projections and use them to build lineups? Check out the downloadable and customizable model:
Noto’s PGA DFS Model Breakdown Video and Download Link
Field Size:
- 144 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties
Key Statistics for the Week
- Strokes Gained Approach
- Bogey Avoidance
- Strokes Gained Putting (Emphasis on Bermuda)
- Strokes Gained Around the Green
- Experience in Florida
Weather Forecasts
Hole Yardage Specialists (based on holes at PGA National)
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Sungjae Im
- Jhonattan Vegas
- Daniel Berger
- Shane Lowry