PGA DFS Core Plays: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
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.
WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
Before we get into the breakdown of this week’s course, I wanted to recap the Olympics and point out some exciting new golf products we have available for premium members. Xander Schauffele struggled a bit down the stretch, but birdied the 17th hole and made a terrific par on the 18th hole to take home the gold. Rory Sabbatini shot one of the best rounds of golf in recent memory in order to take home silver. And if you were able to stay up late enough, you got to watch an incredible seven-man playoff for the bronze medal. There were some really talented golfers in the playoff, but C.T. Pan was able to walk away with the bronze. Any event without Shot Tracker is bound to leave us wanting more, but I quite enjoyed the event. We got live coverage for the entirety of each round and they actually showed golf shots from the entire field rather than just the leaders. Ultimately, I expect even more of the big names to play in the Olympics the next time around.
Now, onto the new tools here at RotoGrinders. PGASplits101 joined the team and is already bringing some incredible content to the table. We have always felt like we lacked a bit on the data front when it came to golf, but that is no longer the case. The new strokes gained tool has everything you could possibly want when it comes to statistics. I could spend hours going through the data and the best part is that the splits will be different each week based on the course in play. Additionally, my PGA DFS model is now downloadable and customizable. You can adjust the weights any way you like, create your own golfer ratings, and upload them into LineupHQ to build lineups.
This week we turn our attention to the final WGC event of the season. This will be the third edition of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, but TPC Southwind has always been the host course of the St. Jude event, so we have plenty of data to work with. The course is a Par 70 that measures 7,233 yards. The length may not seem daunting on paper, but this is actually one of the longest par-adjusted courses on the PGA Tour. The fairways are difficult to hit, the greens are even more difficult to hit, and there are plenty of water hazards to deal with. The fairways are made of zoysiagrass, while the rough and greens both feature bermudagrass. Hitting the fairway will certainly come in handy, as you can draw tricky lies in the rough. On top of that, these are some of the smallest greens on the PGA Tour.
The winner of this event typically leads the field in strokes gained tee to green and the winner is typically near the top in strokes gained approach. This is one of the few events on tour where you can actually contend without gaining a bunch of strokes putting. While I will still factor in strokes gained putting (with an emphasis on bermuda), this is a green to load up on ball strikers and those that are good around the green. With this being a no-cut event, it also makes sense to load up on birdie makers. Golfers that outscore their finishing position will make all the difference in DFS.
Cut Rule:
- No Cut
Key Statistics for the Week
- Strokes Gained Approach
- Birdie or Better %
- Strokes Gained Off the Tee
- Strokes Gained Around the Green
- Strokes Gained Putting (Bermuda)
Weather Forecasts
Yardage Specialists (based on holes at TPC Southwind)
- Collin Morikawa
- Corey Conners
- Jordan Spieth
- Xander Schauffele
- Abraham Ancer