PGA DFS Tournament Breakdown: WM Phoenix Open
Long-time grinder, stlcardinals84, breaks down his top PGA DFS tournament picks in various price ranges on DraftKings and FanDuel for the WM Phoenix Open. Which golfers should you be targeting to try and take down the big DFS tournaments? Find out below!
Welcome back, PGA Grinders! As an appetizer before the big football game on Sunday night, we have a fun golf event in the desert this week with the always popular Waste Management Phoenix Open on the calendar. As usual, TPC Scottsdale will play the role of host. We have just the one course on the docket this week for the first time in a few weeks, which means we will have shot-by-shot data from the PGA TOUR for the full tournament. That’s always a plus for those who like distractions during their Thursdays and Fridays.
TPC Scottsdale is a short Par 71 layout by today’s standards, but it isn’t a tight, tree-lined course like many of the other shorter courses that play host to PGA TOUR events. This course is a bit open, and it does allow players to be aggressive with the driver. This is a first and second shot golf course, with the tee-to-green ball strikers being at a tremendous advantage. The greens are large, and an elite short game is not a prerequisite for success. Many underwhelming putters have had success here. As such, I will be looking almost exclusively at tee to green statistics for this event, with birdie or better percentage, total driving, and ball striking being the primary ones that stand out. We also have an extra par 4 this week with the par 71 layout, so par 4 scoring gets an extra bump as well. While one of the par 4 holes (hole 17) is drivable, the others all measure between 410 and 495 yards from the tips. This will also place an emphasis on the 150-175 yard approach range.
Let’s move along to some of my favorite GPP options for this week!
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Tournament Breakdown for the WM Phoenix Open
Xander Schauffele
DraftKings: $10,500
FanDuel: $11,800
Scottie Scheffler is playing this week, which means we have a very tough decision to make at the top of the board. Scheffler’s price keeps rising, as he is all the way up to $14,500 on DK and over $15,000 on FD. That is a huge premium to the point where he almost needs to win to be optimal. Of course, he could very well do that. He won in his last start and has 2 wins at this venue in the past. However, he is expensive and will be massively popular, and I just can’t endorse that as a GPP cornerstone. I prefer the pivot to Schauffele, especially since his missed cut last week will likely lower his ownership quite a bit. It was his first missed cut in his last SEVENTY-THREE starts, and he hasn’t missed multiple cuts in a row since May of 2018. He’s going to be fine. Schauffele has some strong course history in his own right. While he hasn’t played at TPC Scottsdale the past 2 years, he had a 10th-3rd-2nd run in the 3 prior years, and I’ll gladly take that. Look to him as a GPP starting point.
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