DFS Alerts
Patrick Reed continues to gain steam despite a poor public image
There is not a player in this week’s field with more baggage than Patrick Reed. With drama from Reed’s bunker incident at The Hero World Challange spilling over into an ugly caddy spectator altercation at The Presidents Cup, team Patrick Reed has become a public relations nightmare. The good thing about this type of drama in terms of course performance is that Reed seems to almost feed off this type of emotion. Already a bit of a loner, Reed will just go about his job and continue to play his game. As a past winner of this event, Reed is one of the biggest projected ownership gainers of the week. Reed has gained almost 16 shots tee to green in his last four starts at The Plantation Course and enters this week as one of the better course history golfers on the board. Social media post show his caddie in Hawai this week, so it appears that Team Reed will be in full force for the first event of the 2020 calendar year.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership
Chez Reavie to debut new equipment this week
Playing in only his second-ever Tournament of Champions, Chez Reavie will look to put new equipment in play this week. Coming off one of his best PGA Tour seasons to date the choice to make any changes is a bit of a surprise. Reavie had been a long time Taylor Made staffer, so the choice to move over to upstart PXG is not a change you would have expected to see. With the use of products like Trackman, club switches are a bit smoother for players in today’s game, but it’s worth noting that Reavie will debut a full bag of new clubs this week. After a slow start to the wraparound season, Reavie will look to use this limited field week to gain much needed FedEx Cup points.
As reported by: PXG Instagram Ryan Palmer set to return to The Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time in eight years
Playing in this week’s field via a win at the only team event on the PGA Tour ( Zurich Classic), Ryan Palmer will look to build on what was a very successful 2019 season. In addition to his win, Palmer posted 8 top 25 or better finishes last season narrowly missing out on playing in his fourth Tour Championship. Taking advantage of the wrap around season Palmer enters this week with two top 15 or better finishes in the 2020 season, and is a good place to grab a ton of valuable FedEx Cup points in this limited-field event. Two important things to work through this week in terms of course fit are wind and putting surface ( Bermuda greens). As a native of Texas, Palmer is well versed in both of those conditions. Historically we look to target birdie makers in this non-cut format, and with prowess to do just that Palmer stands out as one of the better point per dollar golfers in our projection model this week.
As reported by: Rotogrinders Projections Tool Loves Bermuda Greens
This pick hinges on his ownership. If Poston becomes the chalk in his price range, I will pivot to Chez Reavie. I expect my first three plays to be popular, so I have to create leverage on the field with the rest of my lineup. Poston is one of the best Bermuda putters on tour and his ball striking really improved last season. In fact, over the last 50 rounds, he’s ranked 17th in this field in greens in regulation and fifth in birdie or better percentage. He’s never played here before, but he’s in good form, he’s cheap, and he provides upside.
Good Form, Good Course Fit, Safety Plus Upside
We haven’t seen Casey in a PGA Tour event for months, but he hasn’t had the time off. In fact, he’s played quite a bit over on the European Tour and even picked up a win at the Porsche European Open. He has followed the win up with three top 20 finishes in his last five events. We often put him in the Charles Howell category of having a lot of good finishes without winning, but he now has three wins worldwide in the last two seasons. He’s great off the tee, solid with his irons, and good around the greens. His putting is hit or miss, but like Cantlay, his game translates well at any course. He doesn’t have any amazing finishes at this event, but he’s a great bet to finish in the top 10 and again, he brings more win equity to the table than most people realize.
Chalk I'm Willing to Eat Given the Form
Woodland will surely be popular this week, as he comes into the event in as good of form as anyone. During the swing season, he has racked up finishes of third, fifth, and seventh. If not for a poor start to his final round at the Hero World Challenge, he would have won the event. We know he’s a golfer whose form comes and goes, so we should take advantage when he’s playing well. He’s one of the best total drivers on tour, he’s great with his woods and the stinger he can hit off the tee, and his short game has drastically improved. He nearly won this event last season before Xander Schauffele caught fire in the final round. It was an epic Sunday that came down to the final hole. He’s clearly a good fit for the course, he has the form, and his price is more than reasonable.
Winning Upside at a Cheaper Price Point than the Other Studs
Cantlay didn’t play all that well at the Hero World Challenge, but a lot of it had to do with his final hole in his first round. He hit it in the water twice and ended up carding an eight on the finishing par four. At the Presidents Cup, he played quite well and showed more emotion than we’ve ever seen come out of him. He’s a great fit for any course really, but it doesn’t hurt that he’s ranked first in this field in birdie or better percentage and we are expecting the winning score to be at least 20-under par. He’s improved on and around the greens and is arguably as talented as any golfer in the field. He’s cheaper than Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, and Dustin Johnson, yet he has as high of a floor as any of them. He’s not only a great play, but the savings help with the rest of your roster.
Fifteen minutes to roster lock, no major news to report
Fifteen minutes until roster lock and there is no major news to report. After what seems like forever we get the return of shot tracker this week. ResultsDB will be up and running a few minutes after lock. Good luck this week Grinders!!!
Field update for The RSM Classic
The five new additions to the field have been added to LineupHQ and are available to add to builds. Ricky Barnes and Kyle Reifers are the most experienced of the group and could be considered only as a deep GPP type of play. Barnes and Reifers should have a ton of motivation to improve their reshuffle number in terms of a conditional membership. Tommy Gainey gained entry to the field earlier today but has not been added to the pricing pool.
As reported by: LineupHQ Other tagged players: Kyle Reifers, Henry Chung, Matt Atkins, Cole Miller Matt Kuchar to use a new ball for the second straight week
With so much attention focused on Matt Kuchar’s return to a tournament where he snubbed his caddie in pay, there was very little press about a piece of new equipment that was put into play. Kuchar will use a prototype Bridgestone golf ball for the second straight week as he prepares to play in his 8th RSM Classic. Kuchar joins fellow Bridgestone staffer Bryson DeChambeau as the only two golfers to have put this ball into play. The new ball not only goes a bit farther, but it also seems to have a better feel around the green. With the use of products like Trackman, changes such as a new golf ball are made much more seamless.
As reported by: PGA TOUR Brendon Todd returns to the place where he began to turn around his golf career
By now most know the story of Brendon Todd. The man who missed who once missed 37 of 40 cuts now has back to back wins on the PGA Tour. For Todd that choice to continue with golf took a turn for the better at last year’s RSM Classic. Prior to making it into the event, Todd was close to finalizing a plan to open up a pizza restaurant. Todd shot 61 to Monday qualify for the event and with a made cut he was able to get more starts on Tour due to his past champion status. Todd used those starts to make it through Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school. Playing with a chance for three straight wins, Todd stands out as a very low owned golfer for the week. Momentum is a funny thing and for a change, Todd finds himself on the right side of the equation. While a win this week is even more unlikely than his win last week, Todd is clearly playing with a ton of confidence and could easily find himself in contention again.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Kevin Kisner is a horse for this course
For those that love narrative street, there will be a few golfers to look at this week in terms of playing close to home. While there are quite a few golfers who call the Sea Island area home, there is one golfer who has the record to back up such a narrative. Kevin Kisner lives in the area and is a player who absolutely loves playing this tournament. Kisner has four top tens including a win in his last five starts at The RSM Classic. A deep dive into a bit of course history revels that Kisner has shot 67 or better in 14 of his last 30 rounds at this tournament. Even in his missed cut at the 2017 RSM Classic Kisner shot 2 under par and had a chance to make the cut late on Friday. Priced-down in comparison to other big named golfers, Kisner stands out as a great place to start roster builds for the week.
As reported by: PGA Expert Survey Maverick McNealy looks to finish off the fall season strong
Now a full-time member of the PGA Tour and starting his second season as a professional golfer, Maverick McNealy enters this week looking to gain valuable FedEx Cup points. Looking to improve on his current ranking of 70 in this year’s race McNealy should be able to build on his five straight made cut streak. With a discounted price across the industry, McNealy is a player worth taking a look at this week. This former Standford standout tends to rely on accuracy over distance, so he should find the courses to his liking this week.
As reported by: Pga Value Breakdown David Hearn stands out as a great source of value this week
David Hearn is not the type of player that many in the DFS community typically go out their way to put in a roster build pool. Despite having both decent recent form and great course history to lean on this week Hearn is a player that is carrying a very low projected ownership number. Hoping to ride the momentum gained from a T8 two weeks ago at the Bermuda Championship, Hearn should feel right at home on a course where he has a perfect cut record including 3 straight top 20 or better finishes. Hearn is 34 under par in his last 12 rounds at The RSM Classic. With 8 of those 12 rounds at 68 or better, Hearn is a player that we can look to as a great source of value for the week. Even if you are not quite sold on Hearn in terms of your main build his solid course history combined with low ownership makes this a great spot to attack in both full week GPP’s as well as any of the showdown slates.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Jhonattan Vegas is no longer in the field
Jhonattan Vegas is no longer in the RSM Classic field. He has been replaced by Tommy “ Two Gloves “ Gainey. At this time there is no injury news associated with Vegas, we will add Gainey to LineupHQ once he gets assigned a salary.
As reported by: Rob Bolton Twitter Other tagged players: Tommy Gainey