PGA DFS Tournament Breakdown: Masters
Long-time grinder, stlcardinals84, breaks down his top PGA DFS tournament picks in various price ranges on DraftKings and FanDuel for the Masters. Which golfers should you be targeting to try and take down the big DFS tournaments? Find out below!
We have arrived at the first full week of April, which means only one thing…it’s Masters week! With MLB also in full swing and the NBA/NHL playoffs around the corner, there’s never been a better time to be a DFS player. Let’s all win some money here this month, and this golf tournament would be a great place to start that endeavor with all of the big prize pools that are up for grabs.
As usual, the first major of the season contains a somewhat limited field. We have a field of 91 golfers assembled for this tournament, which is in the ballpark of the usual field size. Given the pageantry around this event, we all know about Augusta National Golf Club. This layout will test every aspect of a golfer’s game. From trees to hazards to speedy, difficult greens to narrow landing areas, every weakness will be exposed by this course.
I am much more inclined to value course history at Augusta, though current form is also a major factor. I’m not going to blindly turn to course history at the expense of every statistical measure, but experience has a lot of value here. How will the LIV golfers fare this year? Are Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa healthy? What is wrong with Scottie Scheffler right now? There are plenty of fun storylines to follow.
As for the types of golfers to target for DFS, when all-around ability comes into play, it’s easy to look at Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Ball Striking as key metrics. However, one’s short game and Bogey Avoidance can be mixed in on this difficult course. Driving Distance and Par 5 Scoring are also key, as the par 5s are by far the easiest scoring holes on this course, and length is a huge benefit on a course that doesn’t have massive amounts of rough.
Thanks to the smaller field, it’s worth noting that the cut rule at the Masters is that the top 50 and ties make the weekend. In addition, there are also some amateurs, past champions, and older golfers in the mix, and many of those players are already unlikely to make the cut. I say this to emphasize that the majority of the good golfers will likely make the cut. Getting all 6 of your golfers to the weekend is paramount in a tournament where a good majority of players will survive to play 4 days.
Let’s move along to some of my favorite tournament picks!
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Tournament Breakdown for the Masters
Jon Rahm
DraftKings: $10,000
FanDuel: $11,900
It’s easy for us to forget about the LIV Tour golfers these days, because their tour is not highly publicized, doesn’t air on major television outlets, and good performances are often dismissed because of the weaker fields. However, it’s impossible to completely ignore what Rahm is doing right now. He’s largely dominating the LIV circuit, as he has finished inside the top 5 in every single event that has been played this year. He has a win, a 5th-place finish, and a trio of runner-ups. That’s hard to accomplish even in “easier” events. His Strokes Gained data compared to the rest of the golfers is phenomenal, even when adjusting for field strength. We know he’s long enough off the tee. We know he loves playing in the majors. We know he is a past Masters champion and has made the cut all 9 times he has played at Augusta. With question marks surrounding a lot of the other top golfers that regularly play on the PGA TOUR, Rahm is my favorite starting point for rosters.
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