DFS Alerts
Henrik Stenson set to make his 2019 PGA Debut
Henrik Stenson has only played five rounds of competitive golf in the last six months. Looking to bounce back from three consecutive missed cuts on The European Tour, Stenson is set to make his 2019 PGA Debut at this week’s WGC Mexico Championship. Stenson has yet to play Club de Golf Chapultepec as he has opted to skip the last two WGC Mexico Championships. Priced down on DraftKings due to poor recent form, Stenson has the skill set you want to target this week. Still an elite ball striker, Stenson should find this week’s venue to his liking. In terms of ownership, Stenson is still somewhat low in comparison to his talent and in a week where there is no cut, his price on DraftKings screams value. Still considered to be a top player in the world, Stenson is one of the few players in his price range that has the ability to win and could easily crush his price with a top ten or better finish. The recent form could keep his ownership numbers down and it’s worth keeping an eye on where Stenson ends up in terms of projected ownership prior to lock.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership
Andrew Putnam is no longer in the field
Andrew Putnam has decided to take a pass on the WGC Mexico event. No injury news has been released at this time, but you would have to expect that a player in Putnam’s position would want to play in any big event available to him. Ryan Fox has taken his spot in the field, but will not be in DFS pricing pools.
As reported by: Rob Bolton Twitter Top Option In The Field
The high price tag might start to scare some people away, but Justin Thomas is absolutely LOCKED in right now. He currently leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained from tee to green and strokes gained on approach for the 2018-2019 season. He has finished 3rd and 2nd in his last two starts, and he has been throwing darts with reckless abandon. The putter went cold Sunday at Riviera, or else he would have had a victory. Expect another great week in Mexico, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that he has placed inside the top five in each of the first two editions of this event at Chapultepec.
Solid Course Fit
Shhhhh. Woodland is quietly sneaking into the field this week in Mexico, and we haven’t see him tee it up in a few weeks. That could be a good thing, as he should be rested and ready to go after not having to deal with the messy February weather and rain delays out in California. The short game is a bit of a worry with him, but Woodland does rank 6th on Tour in strokes gained on approach this year. He has always been a great ball striker, and the price tag reflects a major discount. His 35-to-1 Vegas odds are in the same realm as guys like Paul Casey, but Woodland checks in at a reasonable DFS discount. I will very much be overweight on Woodland in my multi-entry builds this week.
Great Price Tag
The price tags are remarkably cheap on Grillo this week, and he will likely be one of the chalkier value options. Still, I don’t mind eating some chalk in a GPP lineup when it’s a clear value, and that’s what we get with Grillo. He has not missed a cut in his eight starts this season. Despite the fact that this is a no cut week, it shows that Grillo is playing well and with some level of consistency. He currently ranks fifth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach, and he has a lot more upside than a lot of the other golfers in this price range. Don’t overthink this one.
Pushing The Chips All In
I’m going all in here. Li has been in dynamic form overseas with finishes of 12th and 2nd in his last two starts on the European Tour, and we have seen him pop in big time events before. Those two European Tour performances were in some stronger field events, and remember that he finished 3rd at the Open Championship back in 2017. There’s pedigree and upside with Li. He’s a top talent that will almost undoubtedly go under-owned since we haven’t seen him stateside in a long time. Don’t be surprised if he is in the mix here, and my bold call in our “Expert Survey” is that Li breaks through with a big victory in a WGC event.
Sneaky Good Form
I really hope that Garcia doesn’t become the sneaky chalk this week. We all expected him to be low owned last week, yet his ownership was around 15% in most tournaments. Despite shooting four over his in his round at the Genesis Open, he bounced back and made the cut on the number. He gained five strokes on his approaches and has historically been a good putter on poa. He has played this event in each of the last two years, posting finishes of T7 and T12. If you look at his form on the PGA Tour, it’s not great, but he was in tremendous form overseas before his DQ in Saudi Arabia.
Plays Well in Strong Fields
Cantlay is ranked first in this field in strokes gained approach, which should be a huge advantage at a course that favors precision over distance. He played here last season and posted a mediocre finish of T30. The price is reasonable for a golfer with a high floor and a high ceiling. Given how stacked the field is this week, I like the look of the balanced lineup a bit more than the stars and scrubs approach.
Top 25 Machine
Casey nearly won at Pebble Beach and backed it up with a T25 at last week’s Genesis Open despite losing five strokes putting. Ideally, we want to target good iron players and good putters this week, but that doesn’t mean that Casey can’t surprise us with a good putting week. It happens all the time. As soon as these elite ball strikers put together a good week on the greens, they find themselves in contention (J.B. Holmes last week). Casey is a very safe play for cash games, as he is one of the most consistent golfers on tour. He has played this event each of the last two years, posting finishes of T12 and T16.
No Problems on Poa
Finau hasn’t been in the best of form recently. He missed the cut at the Waste Management Open and then posted mediocre finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and last week’s Genesis Open. To complicate matters, he gained eight strokes putting in those last two events. When it comes to Finau, I typically like to target him after a strong tee to green week. Now, with all of that said, he’s still ranked in the top ten in this field in strokes gained tee to green, strokes gained approach, and birdie or better percentage. He’s guaranteed to play all four rounds, which means we should be targeting scorers. I’ll take four rounds of Finau at this price point any week of the year.
X-MAN
For the longest time, I was content with fading Xander and missing out on the weeks where he had high finishes. His inconsistency was tough to stomach and he never really popped in my golf model. That’s no longer the case, as he is playing the best golf of his career. He hasn’t missed the cut in any of his last 11 events and has posted six top ten finishes during that stretch. He’s ranked third in the field in approach, seventh in putting (on poa grass), and third in bogey avoidance. After shooting three over par in his first round at the Genesis Open, he bounced back to make the cut and eventually posted a T15. This course is a great fit for his game and he has a knack of showing up in quality fields.
Ten minutes until roster lock; make sure you have removed James Hahn from your builds
Good morning grinders, please make sure you have removed James Hahn from any of your roster builds. We got the rare pre-lock news this morning that Hahn will not play due to a bad elbow. Besides the Hahn news, there is no other player news to report and we will have ResultsDB up and ready to view five minutes after lock. Good luck this week.
James Hahn has withdrawn from the Genesis Open
James Hahn has withdrawn from the Genesis Open with an elbow injury. The news came down some 40 minutes prior to roster lock so please remove him from your roster builds.
As reported by: PGA TOUR Weather update for The Genesis Open
Kevin Roth’s weather report for The Genesis Open is up in the main forum. According to Roth, we can expect some rain on Thursday, but due to the timing of the rain, it will be hard to really see a clear edge in terms of picking a tee time wave. If the current model holds true rain and wind should move through the area between 10 to 11 local time. If the weather turns out to be a big factor you can look to reserve a few of your GPP lineups to stack players from each side of the draw.
As reported by: Kevin Roth Weather Report Marc Leishman flying under the radar
Over the next 10 weeks, The PGA Tour schedule will really start to intensify in nature. With the addition of The Players Championship in March, there will be plenty of big named players making stops stateside more often than before. Even though Marc Leishman is a regular player on tour, this newly implemented tour schedule will create some unique pricing for some events this season. More competition in events means players like Leishman could go overlooked. Leishman is in the price range of some really strong golfers and our early ownership numbers have this multiple tour winner getting lost in the shuffle in terms of popularity for the week. With back to back missed cuts at this event it will be easy for most to cross Leishman off their list for the week. Leishman is a great iron player and has the skill needed to thrive at Rivera. He has played this event for the last nine years and has three top 15 or better finishes during that time. The combination of upside and low projected ownership makes Leishman a sneaky GPP option for The Genesis Open.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership