PGA DFS Core Plays: BMW Championship
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS picks at various salary ranges for this week’s tournament. Who should you be building lineups around? Find out below!
While everyone is focusing on the start of football, we still have two more playoff events in the PGA TOUR season. The BMW Championship has one of the smallest fields that we have seen all season. Only the top 50 in the FedExCup standings will tee it up this week. Most of the exemptions are rewarded to those who have made it this far, but there is still plenty on the line for those lucky 30 who make it to East Lake.
The BMW Championship typically rotates courses in the Midwest, but that’s not the case this year. The event will be held at Castle Pines Golf Club, which is in Colorado. This will certainly be a unique test for PGA TOUR golfers, as the course is 6,400 feet in elevation. The course is a Par 72 that measures a whopping 8,130 yards. This will officially be the longest course in PGA TOUR history. But with the elevation, the course will actually play closer to 7,400 yards.
Noto’s PGA Model Download & Video for the BMW Championship
Castle Pines features narrow fairways (26-30 yards) and thick rough (4”). Golfers will have a variety of tee shots, as there are doglegs, elevation changes (both uphill and downhill), and blind shots. The greens here are fairly small (5,600 square feet) and feature a mix of bentgrass and poa annua. They are expected to run around 13 on the stimpmeter, which is certainly on the faster side when it comes to the PGA TOUR. Water hazards are in play on 10 of the 18 holes, so golfers won’t want to stray too far offline.
While we have details about the course, it’s anyone’s guess as to how it is going to play this week. Given the small field and the fact that there’s not a ton of attention on the event, we could see a lot of groupthink when it comes to course fit. This could lead to a handful of golfers being very chalky. The way I see it, the new course and the elevation bring more variables into play. The more variance in an event, the more I want to fade the chalk. I plan to be more contrarian than usual with my player pool.
As always, I will be lurking in the RotoGrinders Discord if anyone has any questions throughout the week.
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PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Core Plays for the BMW Championship
Field Size:
- 50 golfers
Cut Rule:
- No cut this week
Weather Forecasts
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Castle Pines Golf Club
- Location: Castle Rock, Colorado
- Designer: Jack Nicklaus
- Par 72 — 8,130 yards
- Green type: bentgrass / poa annua
- Green size: 5,600 square feet
- Fairway width: 28 yards
- Holes with water hazards: 10
- Stimpmeter: 13
Event and Course Notes
- Second playoff event, which means only 50 golfers in the field and a no-cut format
- First time we’ve seen Castle Pines Golf Club on the PGA TOUR since 2006
- Course is a record 8,130 yards but will play closer to 7,400 yards with the elevation
- The course has added over 500 yards to the scorecard since 2006
- The fairways here are quite narrow and the rough is going to be thick (4”)
- Quite the mix of tee shots — doglegs, blind shots, and elevation changes
- Tiered greens that will be fast and feature a mix of bentgrass and poa annua
- Unique strategy for DFS this week, as we could see a lot of groupthink regarding course fit. The added variance of this being a new course naturally makes me want to lean more contrarian in tournaments.
What to Look For
- Recent form
- Strokes gained approach
- Birdie or better percentage
- Strokes gained tee to green
- Strokes gained putting (emphasis on bent/poa)
Core Plays
Xander Schauffele
DraftKings: $11,100 / pOWN%: 21%
FanDuel: $12,600 / pOWN%: 30%
Total Driving: 3
Strokes Gained Approach: 2
Strokes Gained Around the Green: 5
Strokes Gained Putting: 2
Birdie or Better %: 5
Bogey Avoidance: 2
Schauffele rates out as the top play in my model this week. The last time that happened, he won The Open Championship. While I have no issue targeting Scottie Scheffler in any format, I view Schauffele as having a similar floor at a significantly cheaper price point. He’s finished in the top 10 in 14 of his last 19 events. He nearly pulled off a big comeback last week in Memphis and has to be excited about his chances next week, as East Lake Golf Club is one of his favorite courses. He’s the most complete player on TOUR, he’s in amazing form, and his price isn’t as prohibitive as Scheffler’s.
Conviction Plays
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