PGA DFS Core Plays: The Genesis 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.
The Genesis Invitational
Ladies and gentlemen, it is Riv week!
I absolutely love Riviera Country Club and if you’ve been following my content for longer than a few months, you know how much I love Tiger Woods. This is his tournament, so we will see a lot of him over the course of the week. On top of that, we have one of the best fields of the entire season and easily the best field that we have seen so far this year. And on top of that, this is one of my favorite stops on the PGA Tour. Riviera is tough, it tests all aspects of a golfer’s game, and it has a different feel than most courses on tour.
Now, let’s get into the specifics. The course is a Par 71 that measures 7,322 yards. You will hear a lot about the kikuya grass in play this week. The general thought is that in the fairways, this grass provides tremendous lies. In the rough, this grass provides some of the trickiest lies golfers will see all season. You may think this puts a premium on accuracy, but these fairways are tough to hit for everyone. Even if you are an accurate driver of the ball, you will find yourself in the rough fairly often this week. With this being a driver-heavy course, distance is preferred over accuracy. Ultimately, using strokes gained off the tee is your best bet.
The greens here are fairly large (7,500 square feet on average), which makes the greens in regulation numbers here over the years even more staggering. These are some of the toughest greens to hit on the PGA Tour. This is thanks to a number of factors — the tricky rough, the tough to hit fairways, the long approach shots, and the firmness of the course. Speaking of that, early reports suggest that the course is a tad firmer than usual. Scrambling will be key this week, but this course provides a unique test around the green. It often comes down to course knowledge more than an ability to gain strokes around the green in your average event.
Once golfers get to the greens, the task of getting the ball in the hole only gets more difficult. These poa annua greens have stumped the best putters in the world over the years. The three-putt percentage here is high and the number of missed putts inside of five feet is enormous. In a perfect world, I want golfers that have distance off the tee, that are good with their long irons, that are capable of getting up and down from anywhere, and that can lag putt with the best of them. Experience at the course certainly doesn’t hurt, as we see very predictive course history here each and every year.
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:
- 120 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties
Key Statistics for the Week
- Strokes Gained Approach
- Strokes Gained Off the Tee
- Strokes Gained Around the Green
- Bogey Avoidance
- Proximity w/Long Irons (150+ Yards)
Weather Forecasts
Hole Yardage Specialists (based on holes at Riviera Country Club)
- Jon Rahm
- Viktor Hovland
- Will Zalatoris
- Xander Schauffele
- Patrick Cantlay