PGA DFS Core Plays: Safeway Open
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.
Safeway Open Preview
We had a rather uneventful finish to the regular season, as Dustin Johnson walked away with the FedEx Cup title. We had a bunched leaderboard after the first two rounds, but DJ’s 64 on Sunday gave him a big enough finish that he could coast to the finish line. I don’t know about you, but I was hoping for a little more umph in that fist pump. I haven’t seen many people win $15 million, but that was certainly the least excited I’ve ever seen someone accomplish the feat. While the 2019-20 season is technically wrapped up, we do have two majors to look forward to over the next couple of months.
Before the U.S. Open, we have the Safeway Open. The events are very similar in that they are both professional golf tournaments. That’s where the similarities end, as we can expect a birdie-fest this week in Napa Valley. It’s early in the week, but the forecast calls for perfect weather — wind in the single digits with temps in the mid to high 80s. The winner has scored between 14-under and 18-under in each of the last five years and could approach the 20-under mark given the crazy scoring we have seen since the restart.
The course itself is a Par 72 that measures just over 7,300 yards. Golfers will want to take advantage of the four par fives and hold on for dear life on the par threes that play at an average of 213 yards. When we look at historical data from this event, driving distance is a bit higher than tour average (which suggests this is a driver-friendly course). The fairways themselves are tough to hit, while the greens are easier to hit than tour average (which suggests the rough is easy to play out of). If you do miss greens, scrambling isn’t overly difficult. The greens themselves have a mix of bent and poa grass, but I’ll side with poa in the putting splits given the fact that the event is in California.