PGA Ownership Report: Puerto Rico Open

Here’s the data for this week’s $3 Birdie at the Puerto Rico Open!

Name Ownership
Luke List 28.5%
Peter Uihlein 28.0%
J.J. Spaun 23.8%
Graham DeLaet 22.7%
Graeme McDowell 22.5%

Full field ownerships (for the $3, the $33, and cash games) can be found here!

And we have a co-ownerships matrix that shows who the highest owned pairs of golfers were in this week’s $3 Birdie:

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The Puerto Rico Open! Welcome to the terrordome! That is to say, the field this week is NOT for the feint of heart. I think everyone had some interesting decisions to make as there’s really NOBODY here who could be considered “rock solid” unless they were being compared to … the rest of this field! Let’s see where everyone ended up.

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Luke List (28% GPP, 56% Cash) – This was the guy who I, and many other pundits, had pegged as the consensus chalk going in. And it panned out. But I think in the $3 many of us expected him over 30%, maybe even over 35%. It’s interesting because we got that number in the $33. Some people would say “oh there’s more sharp players in the $33” but I think this effect is more due to DFS players being keen on the idea of wanting a lower ownership to win the REALLY big $3 contests, and what we see is a compensation. Many may have kept to their List lineups for the $33 but for a $3 lottery decided to take a chance a fading. Isn’t it ironic we’re sitting here talking about fading Luke List?

Harold Varner III (22% GPP, 48% Cash) – Along with List, Varner made up the other half of the equation for this week’s “highest owned duo”. They were the highest owned combination on a single team in the $3, and took the two highest owned slots in the $33 and in cash games. If you like List, who crushes the ball and struggles on the greens, how could you not like Varner, who has a very similar M.O. ? That was the theme this week anyway – long course, slow fairways, and even slower greens. Dial up the bombers! It’s Varner’s time to shine. Again in the $3 GPP we see Varner taking a dip, I have to suspect because DFS fans also know how fragile he can be, it’s not like we’re fading a multiple-major-winner here or something … pretty easy to take a shot elsewhere for the small-money tournaments. As of this writing though I think everyone wishes they had a little more of him!

Wesley Bryan (21% GPP, 13% Cash) – Bryan has been a fan favorite for weeks now in DFS, and I definitely had him pegged as chalk this week. Perhaps it was easier to roser him on FanDuel where he was not the most expensive golfer and many playing on both sites may have taken that route. His ownership numbers are not LOW but I think a lot of people expected him to be more in the high 20s in GPP. That’s a very palatable ownership for Bryan fans and I don’t think anyone is complaining about him being too popular given his upside. Again we see the trend of nobody wanting to build their cash game lineups with the most expensive golfer, even though everyone was less expensive than normal this week, at the top.

Scott Brown (12% GPP, 4% Cash) – This one I was REALLY interested in coming in. I didn’t touch him – full disclosure. But it’s PURELY a course history play, and I always like looking at these in a bubble. My rationale is, he’s shown NOTHING as of late, and the course history was OBVIOUSLY factored into his salary, so I didn’t see the edge in taking him. I didn’t know who would agree with me, though. 12% didn’t! And I think they’re pretty happy both with that ownership and his early-Thursday performance. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out – if he continues to do well, another feather in the cap of course history buffs!

Seamus Power (17% GPP, 48% Cash) – Last but not least. A week late for St. Paddy’s Day, the 30-year-old rookie from Ireland really got a bandwagon going this week! I saw he was being mentioned enough, so the 17% GPP doesn’t TOTALLY surprise me although it’s still very strong. But 48% in cash games is staggering to me. I like the angle of him hitting it long, etc., I just didn’t think people would go for the unknown quantity in cash. But then again there aren’t necessarily six “known” quantities to choose from when building lineups here! All in all I like the play. Maybe a little wishful thinking on my part that everyone else didn’t pick up on it, too!

Good luck everyone. Two weeks until we’re doing this for The Masters. I can’t wait!

About the Author

hokie2009
Sean O'Donnell (hokie2009)

Sean O’Donnell is a proud Hokie (Virginia Tech class of 2009, electrical engineering) as well as a Grateful Dead enthusiast. A fantasy baseball player since age 12, he has flirted with DFS in the past, but only this season stumbled onto the dearth of information that exists pertaining to daily fantasy golf and made a commitment to analyzing PGA tournament data on a weekly basis. When he’s not scouring the web for obscure PGA data, he works as a consultant for small businesses involved in research grants with the federal government.