Fantasy PGA Preview: The PGA Championship

Gibb Pollard (gibbathy)

Created 6 years ago, Last Updated 6 years ago

After a long grueling season the PGA Tour has it last major for the season. With the playoffs quickly approaching, the field for this major will be the strongest of the season. In fact if it remains with no top withdrawals it will be one of the strongest fields of any golf tournament ever. Of course here at RotoGrinders we will be giving some plays to help your team.

WGC Bridgestone recap

I didn’t get to watch a lot of the Bridgestone due to other obligations but what I saw was Friday’s clinic from Sergio. How to hit Greens and how to sink putts. After that I figured it was Sergio’s tournament to lose. He didn’t really lose it, but Rory just coming and taking it. So for the second time in as many tournaments for them both, Rory and Sergio finish one-two.

The one thing that has come apparent this past week is that we really don’t know much about these players. It started from learning that not only is Dustin Johnson suspended but this is his third suspension by the PGA Tour. That the PGA Tour does not make suspensions public unless they involve performance enhancing drugs.

Jason Day withdrew due to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV. Just adding to the list of injuries Jason Day has racked up this season. Speaking of injuries I found out that not only Dufner was injured but has been injured since The Masters with bulging discs in his neck. Oh and some guy named Tiger tweaked his back again making him questionable for the PGA Championship.

PGA Championship

Well ladies and gentlemen. The final major of the year. In years past I have not rated the PGA Championship too high but I am finally coming around on it. I think the venue for this year’s event is a pretty sweet looking course and I can’t wait to see the golfers tackle the Jack Nicholas designed Valhalla Golf Club. It has that holes dogleg left and right including a hole that has doglegs left and right. Some of the holes are links-looking and others that are lined with trees.

So far there is only one withdraw and that is of former PGA Championship winner David Toms. Tiger is currently having a practice round and is registered. So as it stands Tiger is a go.

The Course

Valhalla is located in Louisville, Kentucky. The course is 7,458 yards long and is a Par 71. Tiger Woods won this event the last time the tournament was played here at -18. Mark Brooks also beat out Kenny Perry (both in the field) the first time the tournament was played here. The defending PGA Championship winner, Jason Dufner, is also in the field.

The weather will also play a role in this event. Showers and Thunderstorms will be in the cards and on some days where it’s not raining the humidity with be up in the 90’s and on Sunday the fog might roll in for the morning session. I don’t think there will be any advantage to either morning groups or afternoon groups.

Golfers

Since DK has taken over Draftstreet I think they are still trying to find a balance in pricing. When you can comfortably get the two top players on your squad it might be a little too easy. Justin asked me last night if I though Rory is priced about right. I answered yes, but on second thought Rory should be at about 15K, with Scott and a few others 14K-12K range. Those should be the parameters of pricing for DK, 15K to 2-3K for a 50K salary.

Adam Scott

$10,700

Scott makes a great GPP play for a few reasons. Firstly, he has the ability to win it. No longer has the pressure of being the number one player in the world. In fact he admits Rory is the rightful number one player. Another reason is that the casual fantasy golfer will be all over Rory and Sergio. Coming in 1st and 2nd in the last two big events will do that to you. Scott hasn’t been a slouch though. He has not finished outside the top 10 since THE PLAYERS. Rory is the hot hand coming in but Scott has been the solid stud for a longer period of time. Scott came 8th last week at the Bridgestone where he had a first ranked 25.5 putts per round.

Keegan Bradley

$9,100

Phil Mickelson said yesterday “Keegan is looking sharp”. I believe him and so do the stats from last week. 4th in total driving and 3rd in putts per round last week leading him to a 4th place finish. I feel like I am cheating since I wrote about him last week but his price is great at 9.1K. He is easily obtainable and in great form. He is a former PGA Championship winner and really starts to shine at this time of the year. Sometimes the more obvious plays are the best plays.

Hideki Matsuyama

$7,700

I was glowing about Hideki on Grinderslive last night and I am not backing off. He seems a little underpriced and should have a great tournament. He putted well last week and drove the ball solid. He is one of the best on Tour at proximity to the hole from 200 yards or longer. All the PGA players have said in interviews that long irons will be the key this week. If the weather slows the course down Hideki can flag hunt with the best of them. Just look at The Memorial earlier this year.

Gary Woodland

$6,800

Again I wrote about Woodland last week and what I said last week holds true again this week. His price is awesome for a guy who has made 19 consecutive cuts (4th best on Tour). Included in that streak is The Masters, THE PLAYERS, The US Open and the British Open. The length of Valhalla is 58 yards longer than last weeks event at Firestone. Gary came in 19th there. He has always been a big driver off the tee, but his short game has improved this season and I think he will make 20 cuts in a row by the end of the weekend.

Francesco Molinari

$6,600

Molinari has been playing great golf when it counts this season. So far in the 2014 year his finishes at some of the better events are as follows; Dubai Classic (T-13), WGC Cadillac (T-25), Arnold Palmer (T-5), Masters (50th), THE PLAYERS (T-6), BMW PGA Championship (T-7), US Open (23rd) and British Open (15th). Draftkings must have a thing against this Italian player this year to have him priced below such players as Harris English, J.B. Holmes and Ian Poulter. If he can poke his nose into a top 25 finish I would be more than happy considering his price.

Sleeper

David Hearn

$5,000

When you think of Canadian golfers you automatically would be looking at Graham DeLaet. In the last few months David Hearn has been the most consistent of Canadian golfers. He has not had the same opportunities to play in all the bigger events this year but the three biggest events he has played in this season he has finished 32nd at the British Open, 28th at The Memorial and 6th at THE PLAYERS. If you put him on your team, you will have the ability to stack your team.

There you have it folks, just a few plays this week for the PGA Championship.

Good luck to all.

Cheers!

Gibb