PGA DFS Core Plays: The Genesis Invitational
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS picks at various price ranges for this week’s tournament. Who should you be building lineups around? Find out below!
The WM Phoenix Open didn’t exactly pan out how I had hoped. For whatever reason, it’s an event that I have had a difficult time predicting over the years. I only ended up with 4 of 6 in my main lineup and only had 2 teams in MME with all 6 golfers through the cut. That wasn’t going to cut it. Congrats to Thomas Detry for picking up his first career PGA TOUR win. He did it in dominant fashion.
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Core Plays for The Genesis Invitational
While I love Riviera Country Club as much as anyone, I’m not disappointed that this event was moved to Torrey Pines. The Farmers Insurance Open was held here a few weeks ago, and I had my best PGA DFS week in a long time. In addition to the good vibes, I love that this is one of the most difficult courses on the PGA TOUR. And unlike at the Farmers, this field isn’t going to have a round on the North Course, which is where most of the scoring takes place at that event.
Noto’s PGA Model Download & Video for The Genesis Invitational
Torrey Pines South Course is a Par 72 that measures nearly 7,800 yards. Driving distance is a premium here for a few reasons — the course is extremely long, the rough is thick and difficult to play out of, and everyone struggles to hit fairways. This all benefits golfers who can bomb it off the tee. The greens here are small (5,000 square feet) and tough to hit on average. This places an emphasis on long iron play and around the green play.
The big story of the week is the weather. It’s expected to rain a bit on Wednesday, and then there’s expected to be an absolute downpour on Thursday. We are going to see a much softer Torrey Pines than we did a few weeks ago. If anything, it’s going to make the course play even longer than usual, which benefits the bombers. It will be easier to hold the greens on approach shots, but I still think around the green play is going to play a big factor given how long the course will play.
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The Genesis Invitational Field Size
- 72 golfers
The Genesis Invitational Cut Rule
- Top 50 and ties
Weather Tools to Help with The Genesis Invitational PGA DFS Picks
- PGA weather report from Chief Meteorologist, Kevin Roth
- Windfinder
- Accuweather
Torrey Pines (South) for The Genesis Invitational
- Location: San Diego, California
- Par & Length: Par 72, 7,765 yards
- Course type: Classical
- Recent winners: Matthieu Pavon -13, Max Homa -13, Luke List -15, Patrick Reed -14, Marc Leishman -15
- Difficulty: 2024 (9th), 2023 (4th), 2022 (15th), 2021 (4th), 2020 (7th)
- Green Type: poa annua
- Green Size: 5,000 Square Feet
- Fairway width: 28 yards
- Missed fairway penalty: average
- Holes with water hazards: 1
- 2024 tournament averages:
- - Driving Accuracy: 55% (TOUR average: 59%)
- - Driving Distance: 292 yards (TOUR average: 293)
- - Greens in Regulation: 65% (TOUR average: 66%)
- 2024 approach shot distributions:
- - 50-75 yards: 4%
- - 75-100 yards: 6%
- - 100-125 yards: 8%
- - 125-150 yards: 10%
- - 150-175 yards: 20%
- - 175-200 yards: 18%
- - 200-225 yards: 10%
- - 225+ yards: 25%
Tournament and Course Notes for The Genesis Invitational
- Due to the fires in Los Angeles, this year’s Genesis Invitational will be held at Torrey Pines (South Course)
- We just saw this course a few weeks ago, so we know what to expect
- Only 72 golfers in the field, but we do have a cut (top 50 and ties)
- The South Course is a beast that measures nearly 7,800 yards
- The fairways are extremely narrow, and the rough is very penal
- The greens are small and difficult to hit on average
- The greens feature bumpy poa annua, which is an acquired taste at best
- This is routinely one of the most difficult courses on the PGA TOUR
- Course history matters more here than most PGA TOUR venues
- Driving distance is a premium here, as is scrambling
What to Look For
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
- Strokes Gained: Long & Difficult Courses
- Driving Distance
- Strokes Gained: California
- Strokes Gained: Around the Green
- Strokes Gained: Strong Fields
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Core Plays
Scottie Scheffler
DraftKings: $12,300 / pOWN%: 50%
FanDuel: $13,200 / pOWN%: 45%
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee: 1
Strokes Gained: Approach: 1
Strokes Gained: Around the Green: 3
Strokes Gained: Putting: 52
Birdie or Better %: 1
Bogey Avoidance: 1
Scheffler climbed up the leaderboard and into the top 5 after his front 9 on Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open. Out of nowhere, he was 5 over par the rest of his round. It was strange, but I’m not concerned in the slightest. He still gained 5 strokes ball striking and 2 strokes putting. Here’s a statistic that might blow your mind: Scheffler has gained strokes putting in 15 of his last 19 events on the PGA TOUR. This week’s course is even more demanding tee to green than last week’s, so I plan to lock him into my main lineup and use 60% or more of him in my MME builds. He’s lost strokes around the green in 3 straight events. That’s not going to last, as he’s 3rd in that statistic over the last 18 months.
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