PGA DFS Core Plays: The Open 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 around? Find out below.
It’s a bittersweet week, as we have arrived at the year’s final major. After this, we won’t have another major for nine months. Sorry, I shouldn’t be bringing the mood down. The Open Championship is one of the best events of the year and in my opinion, it rivals the Masters in terms of my favorites. Royal Liverpool Golf Club is in fantastic shape and as always, I recommend watching the fly-over of each hole to get a good feel for the course and what type of golfers it might favor.
This course has hosted many Open Championships, the most recent being in 2006 and 2014. Those events were won by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who are two golfers that you might have heard of before. Tiger famously only hit one driver the week that he won and Rory talked about hitting his 2-iron more often than his driver the week that he won. Hitting fairways here is paramount and we’ll get to the reasons why here shortly.
The course will play as a Par 71 that measures 7,383 yards. It features a new 17th hole this time around, which will be a very short par three. The fairways are 32 yards wide on average and the greens are 6,500 square feet on average. The fairways and rough are fescue, while the greens are a mix of bentgrass and fescue. This is a true links setup that features knee-high fescue, deep pot bunkers, and internal out of bounds.
The reason why hitting fairways is important is three-fold — if you stray more than a few yards off the fairway, you will have to take your chances with a lie in the deep fescue. The pot bunkers are strategically placed in the fairway and will essentially serve as a half-shot penalty. And then we have internal out of bounds in play on six of the 18 holes. These are so much more penal than usual hazards, as golfers have to go back and play the shot from the same spot (but with two added strokes).
This is one of the flattest courses on the Open Championship rota, especially when it comes to the greens. We typically see big mounds surrounding the greens that help funnel balls toward the hole. That’s not the case at Hoylake. The greens are slightly elevated and everything slopes away from the green. The last time they held the Open here, Phil Mickelson said that good shots stay on line and bad shots get repelled farther away from the hole.
Field Breakdown Video & Model Download Link for The Open Championship
Now, let’s talk about what to look for this week. Hitting fairways is going to be crucial, but we can’t really trust driving accuracy, as many will opt to club-down on a lot of the holes. A player like McIlroy might not be extremely accurate with his driver, but he can hit his 2-iron as far as many hit their driver and he’s much more accurate with that club. It’s a tough balance, but targeting good total drivers and golfers that can be strategic makes a lot of sense.
Iron play is always important and I do think we’ll see a lot of birdies this week. The course is green and there is rain in the forecast throughout the tournament. Big numbers will be made as well, so perhaps focusing on bogey avoidance is the right move. Golfers will need to putt well, but these greens are different than we see on the PGA Tour. They are likely going to be around 10 on the stimpmeter, which could help the bad putters. Experience on links and experience in windy and rainy conditions is a huge plus.
Let’s get into the picks and the bets!
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Core Plays for The Open Championship
Field Size:
- 156 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties move on after the first two rounds
Weather Forecasts
- Kevin Roth’s Forecast (link coming soon)
- Windfinder
- Weather Channel
Golf Course
- Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake)
- Course style: seaside links
- Par 71 — 7,383 yards
- Designer: Harry Colt
- Fairway width: 32 yards wide
- Green size: 6,500 square feet
- Fairways and rough: fescue
- Green type: bentgrass and fescue
- Water hazards: none
Course Notes
- The last two Opens here were won by Rory McIlroy (2014) and Tiger Woods (2006)
- Generally one of the easiest courses on the Open rota
- Relatively flat course with out of bounds in play on six holes
- Not much room between the fairways and the tall fescue
- Hitting fairways will be of extreme importance
- Plenty of deep bunkering
- Very flat greens
What to Look For
- Links experience
- Open Championship experience
- Recent form
- Strokes gained approach
- Total driving or fairways hit
- Birdie or better %
- Strokes gained putting
Core Plays
Scottie Scheffler
DK: $12,500 — FD: $12,100
