DFS Alerts
Rounding into Form at the Right Time
It’s hard not to like Stenson this week. He has made six straight cuts on tour, finishing inside the top 30 each time with three top six finishes. During that stretch, he has gained 37 strokes tee to green and that doesn’t even include the Masters where we didn’t have ShotLink data. Stenson has three top 30 finishes in his last five U.S. Opens and he has a great track record on links-style courses. If we want a golfer that hits it long and straight and it good with his long irons, there are few on tour that are better at that combination than Stenson. After burning so many DFS players over the last few years, he’s finally back in our good graces.
Fairways-and-Greens Machine
He’s yet to really shine in the big events but his game matches up well for the majors and he’s trending nicely at the moment. The Argentine has gained 3.5 or more strokes on approach in four of his last five starts. That’s in the elite category. After a putting slump in 2017, Grillo has refound his putting stroke this season, gaining stroked with the flat stick in 10 of his 12 ShotLink events. Top-tier approach play with confident putting is the recipe for top 10s.
Biased or not, Give me all the Tiger
I’m generally very good at avoiding bias plays in DFS, but Tiger is my one exception. I’ve had shares of Tiger in every week that he has played this season. Earlier in the year, he was overpriced and if he had any other name, he would have been an easy fade. However, he seems to be getting better and better with each and every start. It seems like one of his clubs lets him down each week. The last time we saw Tiger he gained 11 strokes on approaches and five around the green. He lost eight strokes putting. If he would have been even with the field, he would have won the Memorial. I love that his tee to green game is so strong and he was seen playing a practice round at Shinnecock Hills with Steve Stricker, who has been known to fix Tiger’s putting woes in the past. Tiger is a grinder and I love that type of mentality on difficult golf courses.
Cash Game Lock
If I could only choose two golfer to win this week, I would pick DJ and Rose (with JT being a close third). Rose has been in great form for months. He’s long off the tee, he’s great with his long irons, and he’s ranked second in this field in both birdie or better percentage and par four scoring. He’s my third ranked golfer this week, yet he’s the seventh most expensive on both DraftKings and FantasyDraft. He has a good track record at the U.S. Open (win in 2013) and he likes links-style golf. Form and fit are certainly on his side. The only knock on Rose this week is his ownership. We currently have him projected to be the second-highest owned golfer of the week.
Form, Fit, and a Great Track Record at the U.S. Open
DJ ran away from the field at the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week and he did it in epic fashion, holing out his approach shot on 18 to win by four strokes. When we think of a U.S. Open style of player, DJ fits the mold as well as anyone. He hits it longer than anyone and he hits it straight. His irons were on fire last week and he can score on both the par fours and the par fives. Throughout his career, he’s been his best at putting when he’s on poa annua greens. Everything is lining up for DJ’s second major. I expect him to be very popular on FanDuel, but the balanced approach is awfully intriguing on DraftKings, which should help keep him from being the uber chalk at a price of $11,700.
Off-the-Radar Aussie
It’s slim pickings in the deep value range this week but Jones provides a bit of upside. At the Byron Nelson he was recently T3 thru 54 holes (another links-style layout at Trinity Forest). He continued with that steady play, setting himself up at T19 at the midpoint last week in Memphis before a weekend tumble. If you like the driving distance angle this week then Jones has beat the field average in driving distance in each of his last 25 starts. Jones should be reserved for GPPs only but he does provide a nice option in extreme Stars n Scrubs lineups. He will be very low owned, likely under 2% in all contests.
Form, Fit, and a Great Track Record at the U.S. Open
DJ ran away from the field at the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week and he did it in epic fashion, holing out his approach shot on 18 to win by four strokes. When we think of a U.S. Open style of player, DJ fits the mold as well as anyone. He hits it longer than anyone and he hits it straight. His irons were on fire last week and he can score on both the par fours and the par fives. Throughout his career, he’s been his best at putting when he’s on poa annua greens. Everything is lining up for DJ’s second major. I expect him to be very popular on FanDuel, but the balanced approach is awfully intriguing on DraftKings, which should help keep him from being the uber chalk at a price of $11,700.
Adam Scott makes a caddie switch prior to U.S. Open
Adam Scott needed last-minute heroics to qualify for his 67th straight major. The one-time former number one player in the world qualified for this week’s U.S. Open via a 36 sectional qualifier a week ago Monday. In a bit of a surprise move, Scott announced today that his full-time caddie David Clark is no longer on the bag as they decided to go separate ways after the qualifier last week. Scott will instead use local Shinnecock caddie Lenny Bummolo for the U.S. Open. Scott has used Bummolo on several occasions over the past five years when playing Shinnecock and feels comfortable with the move for this week. No long-term solution has been announced for Scott in terms of his caddie moving forward, but for this week it’s worth noting that Scott will trust his game with a caddie that knows this course very well.
As reported by: The Golf Channel
A Risk/Reward GPP Option
Snedeker is my YOLO GPP play of the week. He hasn’t flashed much (if any) form this season, but people would have started to pay attention if he would have won in Memphis last week. The fact that he finished sixth is almost perfect in my opinion in that it shows improving form, but it will also keep the masses away from him. Snedeker’s veteran presence and patience on the golf course should play dividends at Shinnecock Hills, and I love him as an under the radar tournament option. His stats this year don’t jump off the page, but I like the positive trends and the fact that he does rank 19th on Tour in scrambling. This is your sub-5% sleeper of the week.
A Tip of the Cap
The science kid has finally figured it out. He has made his last seven cuts on Tour, and FOUR of those have gone for top five finishes. That’s some impressive upside from a young golfer, and he won’t be at a disadvantage having never seen this course before — as he will be in the same boat as most of the field. Bryson should be able to pick up on the nuances more quickly than some other golfers, and his statistical profile is eye-popping with top 20 ranks in both total driving and strokes gained approach as well as an above average rank in scrambling. There’s not much to dislike here, and he still comes in with an mid-level price tag. Yes, please.
One of the Top Overall Plays on the Board
If safety and upside are what you seek with your high-end selections, give Rose a long look. His price tag is MUCH cheaper on DraftKings than it should be, but I will consider him for tournaments on all sites. On DK, I think you can play him in any format. Rose profiles as the best statistical play on the board with solid ranks in total driving (5th), strokes gained on approach (27th), and scrambling (18th). That grades him as the #1 overall play for me, and he isn’t priced like that except on FanDuel. Don’t overthink this one and get some exposure to Rose. It would surprise me greatly if he finished outside the top 20 given his 2018 form, and he could very much win this thing.
A Fantastic GPP Option
The narrative is out there that Fowler always chokes in big spots, and that will certainly be the case in the U.S. Open, right? He has a decent history on links-style courses and finished fifth in last year’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills. He is also coming off a top ten finish in his last start on Tour, so the quietly converging trends are there. He ranks inside the top ten on Tour in scrambling and won’t be intimidated by a challenging layout like Shinnecock Hills, and he also comes a bit cheaper than the other stud plays. I’ll gladly be overweight against the field in tournaments here.
Paul Casey returns to PGA Tour after injury
In somewhat of a surprise, Paul Casey withdrew from the Players Championship last month with a back injury. In order to rest, Casey opted to skip The Players Championship in order to start getting treatment on his back. The Englishman played well in his return to competitive golf a few weeks later at The BMW PGA Championship and will now turn his sites on playing at Shinnecock Hills. In the middle of having one of his best seasons on Tour, Casey will look to take the next step in his career by winning his first major. Playing in his 57th major championship this week, Casey has a very respectable 18 top 25 or better finishes including 9 top tens. Known for his ability to hit both accurate and long golf shot’s Casey is the type of player that should fair well at this week’s U.S. Open venue. Priced down in this very strong field, Casey stands out as a top player in the RotoGrinders DraftKings Projection Tool this week. Looking to quickly get back into the awesome form displayed earlier in the season, Casey at $8,000 makes sense for a wide variety of roster builds for the second major of the year.
As reported by: Rotogrinders Projections Tool Dustin Johnson reclaims the number one spot in the world
With a very dominant performance at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic Dustin Johnson moved back into the number one spot in the official world golf rankings. Former number ranked golfer Justin Thomas spent a total of one month in the top position prior to Johnson’s win. Preparing for a major championship by playing the week before will always be a topic of hot debate, and Johnson will now have the daunting task of trying to become the first golfer to win both the U.S. Open and the tournament the week prior. Early week course fit buzz leans towards favoring long hitters, and Johnson is perhaps the longest and straightest driver of the golf ball on the tour. Early U.S. Open projections are live and Johnson is already trending towards being one of the more popular players for the week. Johnson has emerged as the type of golfer who could very well contend this week, and it appears that early DFS buzz is more about his potential and less about the hard task of winning two weeks in a row.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Ten minutes to roster lock and no major news to report
In what has been an overall hectic week in terms of players withdrawals, it appears to be very quiet in terms of news this morning. All of the players tagged in this update are no longer in the field, so if you set your lineups early in the week please remove these players. Good luck this week grinders, as always if any late news breaks we will provide the updates needed. coming soon.
Other tagged players: Keegan Bradley, Lucas Glover, Will MacKenzie, Patrick Rodgers, Ollie Schniederjans, Russell Knox, Patton Kizzire