DFS Alerts
Stephan Jaeger looks to build on a positive course history
This week more than most will be a battle to make sense of the wide variety of incomplete information that a lesser-known PGA Tour event offers. Lost in the struggle of trying to find players worth trusting, is the fact that the Web.com Tour played a tournament at this course in the previous two seasons. One such player with a bit of success at this course is PGA Tour rookie Stephan Jaeger. Fueled by 6 top 25 finishes including two wins, Jaeger was able to finish inside the top six in the year-end Web.com Tour standings last season. One of Jaeger’s top 25 finishes came at last year’s Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship where he fired a second round 62 on his way to an 11th place finish. With only one top 25 finish in his twelve starts this season, Jaeger heads into this week with the advantage of having fond memories at this venue. Like many other players in this week’s field, Jaeger will look to take advantage of this great opportunity to gain points and improve his standing in this year’s FedEx Cup race. Reasonably priced across the industry, Jaeger makes for a great play in almost any format for the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.
As reported by: DraftKings PGA Value Rankings
Keith Mitchell stands out as value play worth rostering this week
Web.com Tour success is often a good indicator of player’s ability to potentially perform well at the next level. With 10 top 25 or better finishes in 22 starts on the 2017 Web.com Tour, Mitchell finished 26th in final money standings. It’s not uncommon for PGA Tour rookies to struggle a bit at the start of the season, and Mitchell certainly has not played the type of golf displayed last year on The Web.com Tour. After starting the season with four straight missed cut, Mitchell has now made six out of his last seven cuts including a top 25 at The Sony Open. The combination of the promise Mitchell showcased during the 2017 Web.com season and the overall lack of clear-cut talent in this week’s field has this PGA tour rookie trending as a popular value play for Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Mitchell clearly has the motivation to play well this week and should be considered a solid option in most formats for this week’s watered-down version of a PGA Tournament.
As reported by: Pga Value Breakdown Tony Romo to make his PGA Tour debut
Ex Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS announcer Tony Romo will make his PGA debut at this week’s Corales Championship. Romo will join the Steph Curry as the second well-known sports star to get an invitation to compete with the best players in the world in the last few months. Curry shot two rounds of 74 to miss the cut at The Ellie Mae Classic last August. Much like Curry, we can expect Romo to struggle on golf’s biggest stage and he should not be in play even as a deep GPP sleeper this week. Romo who still lives in the north Dallas area played in one local professional event this spring where he failed to break 80. While his celebrity status is a nice addition to an event that will struggle to draw marquee names, we should not expect much out of Romo this week.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership WGC Match Play rosters lock in 45 minutes
The WGC Championship will get underway in about 45 minutes and as of now, there is no major injury news to report. If you are making last-minute roster edits this morning please take the time to make sure that your lineups follow a couple of the following rules. In order to maximize points don’t pick golfers from the same pool as you will want a chance to get all six of your picks into the sweet sixteen. Under that same idea, you should also try to avoid picking players that could potentially play each other in the round of sixteen giving you the best chance to get six players through to the quarterfinals. In order to do that you should only pick one player from the bigger bracketed group. For example, you should only pick one player from pools two and fifteen since the winners will face each other in the sweet 16. I would also recommend trying to have 3 players from each side of the bracket in order to give yourself the best chance to have two players reach the final match. Good luck this week grinders.
As reported by: PGA GPP Breakdown Patrick Rodgers gaining steam in a weak field event
Formally known as the Puerto Rico Open, this week’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship will feature players not normally known for having the spotlight in terms of DFS pricing. With players such as Neal Lancaster and Brett Wetterich gaining entry via withdrawals, it’s easy to see why this field is a bit weaker than your normal PGA Tour event. Even though the field is a bit weak, DFS pricing demands that the best players in the field receive the highest prices. Coming off his second top ten finish of the year at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, Patrick Rodgers finds himself in the unusual position of being the fifth highest priced player in the DraftKings pricing pool this week. While often regarded as a very talented player, the 25-year-old Rodgers is still searching for his first PGA Tour victory. In a normal week, Rodgers would usually rank in the sub 8k price range, but due to the lack of talent in this week’s field, the price increase has done very little to impact his projected ownership. Currently projected to be one of the more popular golfers on the week, the decision on whether to roster Rodgers or not offers up an interesting dilemma. While an argument could be made that Rodgers is a talented player who should perform well on this course, his lack of ability to close and win tournaments makes him a viable fade at projected high ownership. Using projected ownership levels is a great way to start thinking about game theory, and the quality of players in this week’s field makes for an even better spot to take a risk on potentially fading a high owned unproven player. While a Rodgers win would certainly not surprise anyone who follows the PGA tour, a top 35 or even a missed cut are still very viable options in his range of outcomes for the week. Forced into both a high price and a growing ownership number, the idea of fading a player like Rodgers is something worth exploring for this week’s event.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Kevin Tway looks to make the most of a great opportunity
Tournaments that run opposite of big events like the WGC Match Play Championship offers professional golfers from all walks of life a chance to gain ground on perhaps the most competitive tour in the world. For Kevin Tway this week could not have come at a better time. This former collegiate standout and son of a successful PGA tour player posted six top 25 or better finishes in his debut season last year earning him enough points to finish inside the top 70 in the year-end FedEx Cup race. Unfortunately for Tway, the 2018 season has not started as he would like and he could very much use this week to get his season back on track. With a skill set that should carry over well to Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Tway finds himself near the top of our RotoGrinders Draftkings projections in terms of Pt/$/K. With plenty of length off the tee, Tway should feast on the par 5’s this week and could be in a great spot to really perform well vs a watered down field. This week is all about opportunity and for a young player like Tway, it’s almost a must to play well. With full status and plenty of FedEx Cup points available, players like Tway will have plenty of motivation to play well even if the event lacks the star power of a normal PGA Tour event.
As reported by: Rotogrinders Projections Tool Alex Cejka has withdrawn from Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship
Alex Cejka has added himself to the long list of players not playing in this weeks Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Cejka will be replaced in the field by Neal Lancaster.
As reported by: Rob Bolton Twitter DraftKings to feature new golf format this week
DraftKings will offer a new golf format for this week’s WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Championship. With adjustments made to accommodate the unique nature of match play golf, DFS points will accumulate for holes won and not for score as it relates to par. Points will also be awarded to the winner of each match, with extra points available for those players who win a match by a greater margin. The new format should prove to be a fun product, and while it might be hard to predict the possible points gained on holes won or lost, we can look to gain an edge by trying to handicap which players we feel like have the best chance to make it out of each pool. The field of 64 has been divided into 16 separate four-person groups known as pools that will compete in a round-robin format over the first three rounds. Winners of each pool will advance to the round of sixteen, where they will compete in a win or go home format until only one golfer remains. With pools and tee times now set for the first three days of play, we can begin to apply a couple of simple angles when making pics for this week. First and foremost you should avoid picking more than one player from any pool. Much like avoiding a pitcher vs a batter, you can maximize points by not taking players facing each other in the first three rounds. Secondly, there should be an edge to gain by looking back at past match play records for players. As we have seen in previous Ryder Cup events certain players tend to thrive in a match play environment. Like we have seen in the NCCA Tournament this last weekend seeding is not always a determining factor in deciding the winner. Golfers are closer in talent than rankings would have us to believe, so when in doubt try to lean on players who you feel like can excel in this format. Over a 72 hole tournament we often get the best golfer emerge as the champion, but as we have seen in previous WGC Match Play events anyone of these golfers can win a match when it’s just 18 holes.
As reported by: PGA TOUR PGA rosters lock in 15 minutes, and no major news to report
The first round of The 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational is set to start in less than 15 minutes. As of now, we have no additional news in terms of injuries or withdrawals. In case you missed news from earlier in the week. J.J. Spaun, Chris Stroud, and Vaughn Taylor are all no longer in the field due to injury. Both Kevin Na and Kyle Stanley are planning to return to action after pulling out of last week’s Valspar Championship. Good luck this week grinders, as always if any late news breaks we will provide the updates needed.
Rory McIlroy looking to rebound from poor recent form
At the start of this season, there was no way you convince anyone that Tiger Woods would have almost six times the ownership of Rory McIlroy. With only a few hundred in salary separating these two giants in the game of golf for this weeks event it’s pretty amazing to think that McIlroy would draw much less fanfare than Woods. The DFS mindset will often focus on the most recent form and less on the long-term outlook of a player. With Woods playing some great golf and McIlroy struggling to find his form, this week could be a great spot to add in a few shares this former number one player in the world. While it’s easy to just look at recent play when making roster choices for the upcoming week, there are very few players that have the ability to win out of nowhere, and McIlroy certainly has the talent to make that happen this week. McIlroy will make his 4th appearance at Bay Hill where he will look to build on the momentum gained in previous years. In addition to his two top fifteen finishes, McIlroy is 26 under par over his last 12 rounds at Bay Hill. When you look at the discrepancy in ownership combined with his ability to win out of nowhere, McIlroy makes for a great GPP play for The 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
As reported by: PGA GPP Breakdown Kevin Na returns after mysterious withdrawal
Already known as a player that most people love to hate, Kevin Na did very little to improve on that reputation at last week’s Valspar Championship. With a withdrawal after lineups locked, Na left about 11% of DFS world fuming mad as he did not even attempt to play in last week’s tournament. Via his Instagram account Na later revealed that he is battling neck issues, and that he was not quite ready to play, but that he should be ready for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. As expected Na is trending towards a very low ownership number this week, but could be the ultimate GPP play due to the fact that he has a good track record at this event. In addition to his 3 top ten’s in six cuts made, Na is 28 under par over his last 22 rounds at Bay Hill. The fact that Na remains a serious threat to not finish the tournament due to potential injury also makes him an interesting GPP play. At his predicted low ownership, Na could very easily play well enough this week to offer leverage from other popular players in the same price range. Again the threat of injury is real, but if you like to live on the edge then Na is the type of pick worthy of a look in large field GPP’s.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Vaughn Taylor is no longer in the field
For the second straight week, Vaughn Taylor has withdrawn from a PGA Tournament. Taylor withdrew this morning from The Arnold Palmer Invitational and will be replaced by Taylor Duncan. One would have to assume that Taylor is battling some sort of nagging injury and should be considered a risky play in the next event he enters. Duncan will not be available in DFS pricing pools this week.
As reported by: Rob Bolton Twitter Kevin Kisner has GPP upside this week
Kevin Kisner is the type of player who simply does not play well on the west coast swing. This Georgia Bulldog alumni grew up playing golf in the south and has a much better track record on Bermuda greens. With two recent missed cuts Kisner comes into this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at a bit of a discount on DraftKings. Still ranked inside the top 40 in the world, Kisner has the type of talent and track record that demands a bit more respect than the $7,100 price tag placed on him this week. Even though he has struggled some this year, Kisner still has three top 30 finishes in 2018 and should have a good feel for Bay Hill this week. Kisner made 19 birdies in route to a T2 at last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and feels a bit too cheap for the upside he brings to the table this week. At $7,100 it does not take much to pay off a salary, and if Kisner can come close to the performance from last year’s event then he would quickly become a great GPP option for The 2018 Arnold Plamer Invitational.
As reported by: PGA GPP Breakdown Adam Scott gaining confidence amongst our experts
Adam Scott heads into this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational with a bit of momentum. Still ranked outside the top 50 in the world, Scott needed to play well the last two weeks to ensure his spot in the WGC Match Play. After missing the first WGC event of the season, it would have been easy for Scott to fall out of the top 64. Back to back top, 20 finishes his last two starts not only have Scott in the WGC Matchplay, but his solid play has gained the attention of our experts this week as he is the overall number one ranked player in the PGA value rankings. This former number one player in the world will tee it up in his first Arnold Palmer Invitational in 3 years but does have a bit of decent course history to build on as he prepares to play this week. Scott has made his last three cuts at Bay Hill including a third-place finish in 2014. Good ball strikers are gaining buzz this week, and Scott is always a player who excels on a course that favors accurate golf shots. Scott’s game is progressing in the right direction and $8,700 he makes sense in a wide variety of roster builds.
As reported by: DraftKings PGA Value Rankings Jimmy Walker continues to fly under the radar
With each passing day, Jimmy Walker gains the experience needed to learn how to both live life and play professional golf while dealing with Lyme disease. After starting his 2018 PGA season with three missed cuts Walker has quietly made 4 of his last 5 cut, including a T8 at Pebble Beach earlier this year. This former major champion posted four solid rounds on a tough golf course last week and will make his first appearance at Bay Hill since the 2013 season. Having not eclipsed an ownership number larger than 5% during his last five starts, Walker continues to go largely unnoticed by the DFS community. While his play has not been overwhelming, Walker’s predicted low ownership offers gamers a chance to get a very talented golfer in what could be a great leverage spot. Walker’s return to this event for the first time in five years could point to the fact that he likes where his game is, and that he wants to keep on building on the momentum gained. Nailing a few low owned value plays is never a bad thing, and much like when he won the PGA Championship in 2016, Walker heads into this event with not a ton of interest from the DFS community. When you combine upside that his talent brings with his predicted low ownership, this former number one player in the world makes for a great GPP play this week.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership