DFS Alerts
Great Mid-Range Upside
Howell is perhaps my favorite GPP play of the week. He was off his game a week ago at Quail Hollow and at the RBC Heritage the week before that, but that only provides an opportunity for some DFS players to jump ship. That won’t be me, as Howell is quite frankly mis-priced at this level when you compare his talent to the field. We can attribute his recent slide to somewhat of a hangover after he made the cut at The Masters. Howell finished 9th here at Trinity Forest a year ago, and he grades out as one of my favorite options thanks to a top 25 ranking in both strokes gained around the green and total driving. Don’t be surprised if he breaks out of his recent slump in a big way.
Top Option In A Weak Field
Matsuyama has quietly been playing consistent golf of late with nary a missed cut in 12 starts this season, and nine of his last ten starts have resulted in top 35’s. While he hasn’t been finding the winner’s circle, he’s not that far away, and a weak field like this one could be the recipe Matsuyama needs to get the winning momentum rolling heading into the PGA Championship. His tee to green game should suit him well here, and he does have a year of experience at Trinity Forest with a 16th place finish under his belt from 2018. That experience from last year combined with a top 15 ranking in strokes gained around he green gives Matsuyama the nod over Brooks Koepka as my favorite play on the board — but it’s close. They are clearly the top two options teeing it up this week.
A pair of former Texas Longhorns look to make the most of a sponsors invite
A pair of former college standouts at The University of Texas will look to take advantage of a friendly invite to play in this week’s Byron Nelson. Like many other successful former collegiate standouts before them, Doug Ghim and Scottie Scheffler are looking to play their way onto the PGA Tour via the Web.com Tour. Both players will take a week off from that tour to play in this week’s PGA Tour event. Fueled by a handful of top finishes, Scheffler is having a better season than Ghim, but both players are considered by many to have the game needed to make it at the next level. Due to his strong play this season Scheffler is priced significantly higher than Ghim on both FanDuel and DraftKings, thus making him harder to fit into rosters builds for the week. With a handful of starts on the PGA Tour under their belt, both players have enough experience to play well this week. Scheffler grew up in the Dallas area and will have plenty of local support for the week.
As reported by: SportsDay.com Other tagged players: Scottie Scheffler
Final spots for this week's Byron Nelson are up for grabs
The last four spots in this year’s Byron Nelson have been filled via an open qualifier on Monday morning. Mini tour player and Mckinney Texas resident Derek Oland looks to be in a good spot to make his first PGA Tour start via an impressive round of 66. A handful of PGA Tour veterans are in contention for a spot in this week’s field including Steve Allan, Roland Thatcher, Zack Fischer, and Spencer Levin. The four additional players should have prices added in the next day.
As reported by: NTPGA BLUE GOLF Other tagged players: Roland Thatcher, Zack Fischer, Spencer Levin Ten Minutes to roster lock, no major news to report
Ten minutes until roster lock and there is no major news to report. Notable withdrawals this week include Stewart Cink and Chirs Kirk, so please make sure to remove those players from any rosters. 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.
Other tagged players: Stewart Cink Weather update for The Wells Fargo Championship
Kevin Roth’s weather report for The Wells Fargo Championship is up in the main forum. For the most part, we can look to use weather in terms of a tiebreaker for the week, as there does not appear to be a strong edge in either tee time wave. According to Roth, we can expect very little wind for everyone on Thursday creating ideal conditions for golf. Friday the weather will start the same as Thursday, but as the wind increases to 5 or 10 mph range later in the day the chance for rain also increases. Overall it looks to be a great two days of weather to start off the week. Again weather should not play much into your roster choices this week, but if you are close between two players then perhaps you can use the tee time draw as a tiebreaker.
As reported by: Kevin Roth Weather Report Paul Casey on track to play
Earlier today a bit of buzz was generated about the status of Paul Casey this week. The Englishman had the red q beside his name on DraftKings for a few hours this afternoon. With no apparent news to match this injury status, there was some confusion about the actual availability of Casey to play. The news of Casey playing in the Pro-Am on Wednesday pointed more to him being healthy and less likely that the questionable tag was ever a real thing. According to a tweet from The DK Cx Team, the questionable designation has been removed and at this point, it appears the news was more of a computer error than an actual injury. Unless other news comes out, Casey is on track to play this week.
As reported by: DraftKings Cx Team Twitter Phil Mickelson is a horse for this course
It’s been quite a year for future Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson. In addition to his big win in “The Match” vs Tiger Woods, Mickelson has returned to the winner circle twice since March of last year. Playing in his 16th Wells Fargo, Mickelson has his sights on adding this event to the long list of titles in his resume. Despite not having a win at this event, Lefty has quite an impressive record at the course. Mickelson is 14 for 14 in cuts made at Quail Hollow including 10 top ten or better finishes. With 8 of those top 10’s coming inside the top five or better, Mickelson has been close to winning this event on several occasions.
Priced reasonably around the industry Mickelson has both the current form and course history we are looking for in all formats this week.
Smylie Kaufman is no longer in the field
Smylie Kaufman has pulled out of The Wells Fargo Championship and will be replaced by Tyrone Van Aswegen. Due to the timing of this move, Van Aswegen will probably not be in this week’s pricing pool.
As reported by: Rob Bolton Twitter Other tagged players: Tyrone Van Aswegen Jason Kokrak continues to ride the hot hand
Having not missed a cut in almost a year, Jason Kokrak is playing not only the best golf of his career, but he is also playing some of the most consistent golf of anyone on Tour. This run by Kokrak reminds of Charley Hoffman’s 2017 season. Much like Hoffman before him, Kokrak was often thought of as just a boom or bust type option where his game fits the course. Hoffman was able to post 14 top 25 or better finishes that season and those that chose to wait for him to cool off ended up very disappointed. With 9 top 25 or better finishes, this season and a game trending in the right direction Kokrak is player that should be a popular fit in all roster formats. Much like we have seen in previous events this season, Kokrak playing his best golf does not need good course history to be a roster consideration.
As reported by: PGA Cash Breakdown Chesson Hadley looks to bounce back from a couple of poor starts
Carolinas native Chesson Hadley enters this week’s Wells Fargo Championship with hopes of finding his game on a course where he has played well in the past. Despite a poor first showing at Quail Hollow Hadley has managed to gain almost 14 shots tee to green in his last four starts at Quail Hollow. With three top 20 or better showings in his four tries at Quail Hollow Hadley has a game that seems to play well at this venue. Entering this week on back to back missed cuts, Hadley stands out as a value worth taking a shot on due to his decrease in price.
As reported by: Pga Value Breakdown Additional players have been added to the pricing pool
All of the early week field movement has been accounted for and both FanDuel and DraftKings have added the new players to the pricing pools. Martin Piller and Derek Fathauer are two players that stand out the most in this group as they have plenty of experience on The PGA Tour. All of the players above have projections in our model for the week and are available in LineupHQ.
As reported by: Rotogrinders Projections Tool Other tagged players: Chip McDaniel, Derek Fathauer, Matthew Short, Nathan Stamey Great Bounce Back Opportunity
Benny An burned me (and many others) at the RBC Heritage. It looked like he was going to make a move toward the cut line on Friday before hitting two straight drives out of bounds. Despite losing five strokes off the tee in that tournament, he’s still ranked eighth in this field in strokes gained off the tee. He’s also ranked in the top 10 in strokes gained approach, proximity, par four scoring, and strokes gained around the green. I doubt one missed cut will be enough to lower ownership, but I’m still willing to play a chalky An. He’s one good putting week away from contending.
Why Hop Off the Bandwagon Now?
I write Kokrak up every week and I say the same thing every time. For those that have been waiting for him to fall off, they have been waiting for months and months. He hasn’t missed a cut since last summer and he continues to burn everyone that has faded him in DFS. He has four top 10 finishes in his last six events on tour and is one of the best statistical fits for the course. In this field, he’s ranked seventh or better in strokes gained approach, proximity, birdie or better percentage, and bogey avoidance. He doesn’t have the best course history, but this is the best golf that he’s ever played in his career.
Mediocre Form but a Fantastic Fit
Woodland hasn’t been in the best of form recently, but he’s a perfect fit for this course. He’s ranked second in this field in strokes gained off the tee and first in birdie or better percentage. That’s a lethal combination, especially when you are very good with your irons. His price is reasonable across the industry and like Finau, he fits the balanced build that I was talking about. Woodland has made the cut here in four of the last five years, posting top 25 finishes every time that he’s made the cut. While he’s not a good putter, he’s above-average around the green. At a course where short putts are hard for everyone, it may actually help the poor putters.