DFS Alerts
Jason Kokrak is no longer in the field
Jason Kokrak has just withdrawn from this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge. Kokrak will be replaced in the field by Robert Castro. As one of the hottest players on tour, the news of Kokrak not playing this week will surely affect many in the DFS community. Please make sure to remove him from your roster builds.
As reported by: Rob Bolton Twitter
Francesco Molinari set to make his Colonial debut
The new condensed PGA Tour schedule will present a few challenges to players as they have to adjust to playing a major event for five straight months. For players like Francesco Molinari, who typically split time between The PGA and European Tours, this means spending more time on American soil at this point of the season. Without a doubt, the addition of Molinari to this year’s Charles Schwab field is a result of the new schedule. Having emerged as one of the better players in the game over the last 18 months, Molinari should find Colonial to his liking. With a game built around accuracy, Molinari is a natural course fit this week. Currently ranked inside the top 15 in this field in strokes gained off the tee and strokes gained approach Molinari has a great chance to compete for a win this week.
As reported by: PGA Expert Rankings Doug Ghim looks to make the most of a sponsors invite
Almost a year to this day, Doug Ghim took home The Ben Hogan Award at a ceremony held at Colonial Country Club. The prestigious Hogan Award is given to the nations top golfer. Ghim is only the second Texas Longhorn to win this award. Now playing in his rookie season as a professional, Ghim will have to earn his card through the Web.com Tour. Currently ranked just inside the top 50 in the points race, Ghim will need a strong finish to his season in order to guarantee a 2019 Tour card. With a handful of PGA starts under his belt, including a T12 at the Byron Nelson two weeks ago, Ghim enters this week looking to build on what for the most part has been a successful start to his professional debut. Not the longest of hitters on tour, Ghim should find a course like Colonial to his liking.
A Fine GPP Option
After a poor performance at the PGA Championship that resulted in a missed cut, nobody is going to be considering DeChambeau as an elite option at Colonial. This is especially true when you consider the fact that he missed the cut in his first two visits here. However, he still ranks above field average in both ball striking (43rd on Tour) and strokes gained on approach (69th on Tour). He made the cut here a year ago and now has some experience at the course, and I love the potential ownership angle. Fire up DeChambeau as a great contrarian option.
Reasonable Salary, Winning Upside
When you factor in salary, Grillo is definitely one of my favorite options this week. He absolutely loves this golf course, and his finishes have gotten better each of the three times he has teed it up here (55th, 24th, 3rd). He ranks 11th on Tour in strokes gained on approach, and it all comes down to whether or not he can hold his own with the flat stick. Despite his up and down season, he still has just one missed cut in 14 starts, and his results are trending in the right direction. The tee to green ability has never been in doubt with Grillo, and the form is trending positively. There’s winning upside here. I’m on board in all formats.
Quietly Lurking
The PGA Tour veteran gets almost no fanfare these days, but Snedeker is lurking. He seems as healthy as he has been in several years, and he quietly found his way to a top 20 finish at Bethpage Black last week. In addition, Snedeker has made the cut and finished inside the top 50 in each of the last five editions of this event. I’m willing to give his underwhelming stats a pass, and he also tends to play better when weather conditions make things difficult, as the wind could certainly do this week. The ownership will not be massive with Snedeker, and I love the appeal in GPP formats.
The Accurate Hitter Is A Great Option
If distance off the tee doesn’t matter and approach play is the name of the game, Jim Furyk has to enter the conversation. The good news is that his price is massively depressed right now, as we were paying far more than this for him about two months ago. He has missed his last two cuts, but he was on a run of four straight top 25’s before that, and Bethpage Black was just a nightmare setup for his game. I’m not holding that one against him at all. Furyk still ranks 13th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach this year, he leads the Tour in driving accruacy, and he has plenty of experience on this golf course. I like him as a sneaky top 15 contender in this event.
Ten Minutes to roster lock, no major news to report
Ten minutes until roster lock and there is no major news to report. Justin Thomas made headlines with an early week withdrawal, so if for some reason he is still in your builds please remove him. Good luck this week. ResultsDB will be up and running within 15 minutes of roster lock. Make sure to check out how your lineups stack up against the field.
Byeong-Hun An responds to injury questions via social media
Not many tour players will respond to questions of health via social media platforms, but late Wednesday evening Byeong-Hun An did just that. After pulling out of the Wells Fargo Championship during Sunday’s final round there was a bit of uncertainty to An’s health status ahead of the year’s second major. Via his twitter page, An states that while he is not quite 100% in terms of distance he should be fine this week and is ready to go. Already considered a dart throw for the week due to his injury, a healthy An could be a steal in his price range. Having gone 11 for 12 in cuts made this year including 4 top 25 or better finishes, An is known for a great tee to green game that has the ability to shine on a hard course like Bethpage Black. By no means is he a safe bet, the willingness by An to post on social media about his health gives us some hope that he is in fact healthy.
As reported by: Byeong-Hun An Twitter Weather update for The PGA Championship
For the second straight week, it looks like there could be a potential edge to be gained in stacking tee times due to weather. Last week’s Byron Nelson saw a 36 hole split of 2.49 shots in favor of the early Thursday/ late Friday wave. It’s worth noting that 2.02 of that edge occurred in Thursday’s round making Friday almost an even split. With the eventual winner coming out of the late Thursday/ early Friday wave it’s worth taking stock in the fact that even though weather provided a clear advantage on Thursday the weather was not bad enough to completely eliminate one side of the draw. That being said we can look to use the forecast again this week. Rain and wind will be the two biggest factors in play for the week. With wet and cold weather already having an impact on the first few days of prep work, the reports of how long and hard Bethpage Black will play are growing larger by the minute. Thursday could start with early showers that should hopefully move out before the first tee times. The early morning draw will face cooler temperatures with the wind blowing steady near 10mph throughout the day. Friday morning golfers will face similar conditions to Thursday late with winds between 5 and 10mph. With a chance of isolated storms moving through the area on Friday, afternoon golfers could see wind gust near 20mph at times. For now, it appears the late/ early has a better draw, but as we saw last week you can have players from the worst draw still play well. Stacking tee time waves can be a something you look to do in GPP’s for the week, but with only a small predicted edge to be had the use of weather in roster choices might be better served as a tie-breaking method in a close call situation.
As reported by: Kevin Roth Weather Report Sergio Garcia enters this week searching for answers in major championships
The weight of the best player in the world to have never won a major championship is something that Sergio Garcia carried with him for a long time. With his 2017 Masters win, Garcia was able to finally shed that label. Many in the golf world thought that such a win would propel Garcia to perhaps contend and challenge for more major wins in the future. Unfortunately for Garcia that has not been the case, entering this week, he has missed six consecutive cuts in majors. Still, a very talented player, Garcia comes into this week at a great discount and has the skill set needed to play well at Bethpage Black. With a 4th and a 10th place finish at the two previous majors held at Bethpage Black, Garcia plays the style of golf needed to succeed this week. Total driving will be key this week, and Garcia is both accurate and long off the tee. Always known as an elite ball striker, Garica hits his long irons as well as anyone in the game, and it appears that even the longest of hitters will have plenty of long approaches this week. Priced down due to his poor recent play in Major Championships, the talent and course history that Garcia brings to the table makes him a great value option this week.
As reported by: Pga Value Breakdown Marc Leishman appears on track to play this week
Within in an hour of roster lock last week, Marc Leishman sent shock waves to many DFS players by announcing that he would not play in The Byron Nelson due to a sore back. Leishman said his back flared up a bit on Monday night and he had hoped that it would be ready to go by Thursday. The combination of the timing of his news and the lack of information regarding his injury made his choice to withdraw look very bad to many in the community. With The PGA Championship, only a week away and with a tournament forecasted to have a ton of rain, Leishman and his sore back made the right choice to rest up for this very important week. Leishman seems on track to play this week, and as expected his projected ownership is very low. For a tournament like the Millionaire Maker, Leishman is the type of low owned roster spot that could make a difference by weeks’ end. Leishman is the only player in this field to have played in the last 12 major championships without missing a cut. WIth four top 20 or better finishes during this time, Leishman has the talent to pay off his price for the year’s second major. Again we don’t know the true status of Leishman, but if he is healthy and ready to go then the allure of a player of his caliber at this low ownership makes sense in terms of a game theory play for the week.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Julian Suri prepares to make his 2019 PGA Tour Debut
Like some other American golfers before him, Julian Suri has chosen to take the path less traveled in hopes of making it on the PGA Tour. Suri a former standout at Duke who turned pro some five years ago currently plays the majority of his golf on The European Tour. During the 2016 season, Suri went through all three stages of European qualifying school, but in the end, missed earning his card by one shot. A win in May of 2017 on the challenge tour was soon followed by his first European Tour later that summer propelling Suri to full-time status on The European Tour. Playing in his 4th career major and looking to improve on a very respectable T19 at last year’s PGA, Suri is a value player worth looking at this week. Still searching for his chance to make a name in America, Suri has stats that line up well for Bethpage Black. Priced well below many other players of similar talent, a made cut and a top 20 or better finish would mean a big week for those who choose to take a chance on Suri.
As reported by: PGA GPP Breakdown Webb Simpson working behind the scenes to gain distance
PGA Tour players make numerous changes throughout each and every season. From equipment modifications to even small swing changes the nature of this game promotes players looking to gain every edge possible. More times than not the general public hears very little about these types of changes. One such player looking to improve a weak spot in his game is a former major champion, Webb Simpson. Looking to gain distance in order to compete in what is becoming more and more of a bombers game Simpson sought out the advice of long drive legend Art Sellinger. The two worked together prior to Quail Hollow with hopes of figuring out how to gain a few extra yards off the tee. According to Simpson, the changes are not really in his overall technique but instead, the focus is on trying to figure out how to get the extra yards when needed. Much like last year’s Open Champion Francesco Molinari, a few extra yards off the tee could go a long way for a player of Simpson’s caliber.
As reported by: read.nxtbook.com Scott Piercy looks to keep up his strong play ahead of the year's second major
The early release of pricing for a major championship usually creates a few obvious spots to attack. Fresh off a bogey-free tournament and a second place finish at last week’s Byron Nelson Scott Piercy should end up being one of the higher owned value options this week. In addition to his runner up finish at The Nelson, Piercy posted a third-place finish at The RBC and a 13th place finish at the two-man event in New Orleans. Priced down due to both the talent in this field and a less than desirable record in major championships, a red hot Piercy stands out as the top play in our model for The PGA Championship.
As reported by: Rotogrinders Projections Tool