RotoGrinders Subscriber Wins DraftKings Open Championship Milly Maker
It was an exciting weekend in July for RotoGrinders subscriber BeardyMcFaddy (hardrada on DraftKings), who took down the DraftKings Milly Maker for The Open Championship. He was kind enough to take time out of his day to discuss the details. This is the 2nd (!!) RotoGrinders subscriber to win a Milly Maker during this PGA season. To read the interview with pittsburghpaymentpln, who won the Milly Maker earlier in the year for the PGA Championship, you can click here.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where you are from, your job, family, etc.
I grew up in New Hampshire and currently split time between NH and NYC, where my 8-year-old attends school. I work as a product manager on a team that builds/analyzes marketing data (for companies that market to other companies).
How/when did you get started playing DFS?
I started around the time DraftKings launched.
How long have you been a RotoGrinders subscriber? What is your favorite part of the product?
Since the site launched, I believe. What I love about RG, which has a particularly interesting history, is reading the different contributors, their predictions, and the strategies that underpin them. That said, I take all advice with a grain of salt. Ranting at golfers and failed DFS advice is a baptism for the pursuit and never dissipates entirely. Now, the analytic tools do the heavy lifting. But most of my enjoyment before the contest is reading content.
Do you use LineupHQ and/or SimLabs when building lineups? If so, can you elaborate a little bit on your process?
LineupHQ is a core tool for me. For The Open, I also played with outputs from SimLabs.
I read a lot of content, but the touchstone is using RG to get an angle on my player pool selection. For The Open, I expanded to 40 golfers. Typically, I am at 30. I use a standard tiered approach, selecting golfers based on the price bands. A triangle structure, where the lower the price band, the more golfers are selected. I have been locking in Scheffler all year, so I had him at 90% and no one below 5%. I used LineupHQ to build 15 files of 10 entries – locking in a couple of golfers per file, drawing from the 40 golfers in the pool. I manually review all teams generated from LineupHQ and iterate them. I check to make sure that my process has outputted some low-owned golfers.
Tell us about your sweat on that Sunday. Was there a specific shot or hole that comes to mind? At what point did you believe you actually had a realistic shot at taking down the Milly Maker?
I was in Vegas to celebrate a friend’s 10th wedding anniversary. At the end of Day 2, I had only passed 16 out of 150 entries with all six players making the cut — not good. After Round 3, I was in 1st place in the Milly. It was an excellent “moment in time,” but I was sure that no one who had led on Day 3 had ever won the contest.
So, I went out and celebrated with my friends.
The Open was insane – the most volatile major that I can remember. I figured I would make money on the tournament, but nothing substantial. Horschel was a key player and could have easily shot a +9 on Day 4.
I woke up the following day and checked ESPN. The leaderboard had changed (of course), but I noticed my golfers were still near the top. I then checked DK, and I was still in 1st place, but by a much larger margin. I only had six player holes remaining left. I also had a different team that placed 3rd in the $200 single-entry contest. It was weird. I am usually deep into the tension and excitement of the contest, but it happened while I was sleeping. When it sunk in, it felt like Johnny Drama winning a Golden Globe – fictional but still incredibly satisfying.
Do you have any suggestions for casual players who are trying to make better DFS lineups?
SimLabs seems like one of the best tools, and I will lean more on that in the future. Also, reading all the RG content is a big help.
How does winning this tournament change your life moving forward? Do you have any big purchases planned?
I will play a couple of small-field Milly Maker contests during football season. Some money for the kids and family, some friends. There are no big purchases planned – I am grateful for the money.
I am not a good DFS player, as 90% of my play is in the Milly Makers, which is not a good formula for winning (I’ve had some close calls). I guess I am a lucky player. I will take it.
For more PGA DFS content and access to all of our data and tools, head to the PGA Content Schedule. To sweat your lineups and bets with us, go to our RotoGrinders Discord and find the golf channel!
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