DFS Alerts
Fifteen minutes to roster lock and no major news to report
With a little over fifteen minutes until the roster lock of the year, it’s quiet on the news front. Outside of the potential for windy weather the first two days, there is no news to report ahead of the first round. Good luck this week grinders, as always if any late news breaks we will provide the updates needed. Golf ownership numbers will be up and running within five minutes of roster lock. Make sure to check out Results DB to see how your percentages stack up vs the field.
Kevin Na, Paul Casey and Francesco Molinari have all made equipment changes to start the year
Over the next few weeks, there will plenty of buzz about players making equipment changes during the offseason. The biggest news yet to date is that Justin Rose has dropped TaylorMade and opted to join a little known Japanese company that excels in high quality forged clubs. In addition to adding Rose, Honma Golf appears to have Paul Casey on board as he was spotted with a new set of irons in his bag. Nothing official on Casey signing with the company but with Nike no longer in the golf club market it will only be a matter of time before he makes a switch. Calloway Golf is also making news this week as they have signed Kevin Na to an equipment deal. British Open champion and current equipment free agent Francesco Molinari has been spotted with Calloway irons and an Odessy putter in his bag this week, but nothing official has been announced by either party. With the state of both club fitting and club manufacturing, the impact of such switches has very little impact when you factor in that players have time to implement new equipment.
As reported by: PGA TOUR Other tagged players: Paul Casey, Francesco Molinari Brandt Snedeker is a great source of value to start the season
Playing in his sixth Sentry Tournament of Champions Brandt Snedeker prepares to start off his 13th season on a positive note. Looking to improve on a pair of top 3 finishes, Snedeker has both the experience and game needed to play well this week. In what is shaping up to be a windy start to the tournament, Snedeker and his solid short game thrive in difficult conditions. Evident by his win at the 2016 Farmer Open, Snedeker has both the game and the mindset to battle windy conditions. Reasonably priced across the industry the addition of Snedeker to your roster builds provides a safe floor as well as a decent ceiling.
As reported by: Pga Value Breakdown Billy Horschel continues to gain steam
If you have not done so yet take the time to check out our projected ownership feature. All of our premium golf offerings are free this week and projected ownership is a great way to get a feel for what players are trending in terms of popularity. Fresh off one a strong finish to the 2018 season, Billy Horschel is a player gaining a ton of interest in the first event of the season. As one of the biggest gainers in projected ownership, Horschel is a great source of value for any format this week. Playing in this event for the 4th time and priced down due to the level of talent in the field, Horschel makes sense in what is shaping up to be a stars and scrubs roster building week. The greens at Kapalua are some of the biggest on tour, and Horschel grew up putting on this style of Bermuda so he should feel right at home in terms of figuring out the putting surfaces this week.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Weather update for The Sentry Tournament of Champioins
Kevin Roth’s weather report for the first event of the calendar year is up and even though this is a limited field event we can use this to our advantage. If you are new to DFS golf a normal full-field event features two different tee time waves. Golfers will play either early or late on the first two days, and there are times that weather can benefit one tee time wave over another. With only 34 golfers in this week’s field we can’t really look to gain an edge in avoiding weather, but instead, we can look to see if the forecast helps up to narrow down player options for the week. This week it looks like the forecast will call for a bit of wind the first two days. According to Roth, we can expect sustained winds of 20mph both days with a chance for gust near 30mph. With such strong winds, you should look to try and target players who play well in the wind. Marc Leishman is one such player gaining traction as the week progresses. Like many other fellow Australian born players Leishman thrives in windy conditions largely due to his ability to hit pure golf shots. While many people think that ball flight is the sole key to playing well into the wind, the ability to hit solid shots carries more weight when it’s windy due to the fact that spin from the wind effects the ball less when hit solid. As you are preparing for the first event of the season there is an edge to be gained by picking players who you feel have the best chance to perform in the wind.
As reported by: Kevin Roth Weather Report Kevin Tway to make Sentry Of Champions debut
Long regarded as one of the better young players yet to win on the PGA Tour, Kevin Tway was able to shed that title with a win to start off the wraparound season. The son of a successful PGA Tour player, Tway has all of the tools needed to compete with the best players in the world. Priced down due to the talent in this field Tway stands out as a great GPP option to start the season. With a guaranteed four rounds of golf, Tway makes sense in a ton of stars and scrubs type of builds. Driving distance and the ability to make birdies are skill sets we look at when handicapping Kapalua and Tway excels in both of these categories. Currently ranked in the 3rd position in the FedEx Cup race, no cut limited field events like the Tournament of Champions represent a great way for Tway to keep the pedal down on momentum gained in the fall.
As reported by: PGA GPP Breakdown Gary Woodland to debut new clubs to start the season
In what figures to be the first of many players to make equipment changes during the offseason, Gary Woodland was spotted yesterday wearing a Wilson Golf hat during his practice round at Kapalua. Rumors of the switch started last season as Woodland sported a few prototype irons during The Hero World Challange. The terms of Woodland’s deal are not known yet, but with the logo on his hat and the irons in his bag, Woodland has officially moved off The Titleist irons he used last season. Playing in his 3rd Sentry Tournament of Champions, Woodland is gaining steam as a popular source of value for the week. Woodland continued his hot play from 2018 by going 4 for 4 in made cuts during the wraparound season including a second place finish at The CJ Cup in October. Reasonably priced around the industry Woodland has both the game and the upside needed to crush his value for the week. Equipment changes in the offseason are not usually a big deal as the players have plenty of time to adjust to the new clubs.
As reported by: Pga Value Breakdown Rory McIlroy set to make Sentry Tournament of Champions debut
Having split his time between the PGA TOUR and European Tour in recent seasons, Rory McIlroy is now at a point in his career where he will focus more on playing in America. McIlroy recently revealed that he is tired of starting his PGA Tour season in February and being already so far behind in the FedEx Cup race. Now married and a bit settled down, McIlroy and his wife live in America and at this point in his career he wants to do less of the travel and concentrate more on starting the season in the U.S. While McIlroy will still play his fair share of events on The European Tour, we can look for him to play quite a bit in the states to start the 2019 season. This means that McIlroy will start his 2019 season at the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time in his career. While a player of his caliber will always garnish a decent amount of ownership, McIlroy is a bit lower in terms of projected ownership than other big named players this week. A trend to exploit early in the season is McIlroy’s commitment to playing in the U.S, as he has hopes of getting a fast start to the season. Currently projected to have almost half the ownership of fellow European Tour player Jon Rahm, Mcllroy makes for an interesting pivot in all formats for the week.
As reported by: DraftKings Projected Ownership Golf is back and projections are live
It’s a brand new year and the PGA Tour is back in action this week after a month layoff. The tour will start with two events in Hawaii before moving to its famed west coast swing, and this week we get a small field of 34 players to springboard the golf season. Many of the premium golf offerings are free this week including our projections model. Sitting near the top of the projections model in terms of Pt/$/K is everyone’s favorite golfer Keegan Bradley. If you have played DFS golf for an extended period of time you know the frustrations of rostering a player like Bradley. However, the 2018 season was a different one for Bradley. For starters, this PGA Tour veteran played well enough to make it back to his first Tournament of Champions in the last six years. The normally erratic Bradley found answers with his putter leading to a season in which he made 23 of 27 cuts including a win and 7 top 25 or better finishes. Priced down due to the strong quality of players in this week’s field, Bradley stands out as strong play in our model for the week. If you are one of those players late to jump on the Keegan bandwagon due to the fear of a missed cut, this no-cut event makes for a great spot to sprinkle in Bradley into your lineups to start of the season.
As reported by: Rotogrinders Projections Tool A Nice Value Option
While I certainly don’t expect Kevin Tway to win this tournament, it would not surprise me in the slightest if Tway ends up as a top five play on a points per dollar basis. He’s a bomber who doesn’t mind letting it fly off the tee, and he should feel comfortable around the spacious confines of Kapalua. He ranked second during the fall swing and 13th in the 2017-2018 season in driving distance, which puts him among the better options in this field. If you need a salary saver to fit in the likes of Dustin Johnson or Justin Thomas at the top, Tway is a great value option in GPP formats. Remember, the “stars and scrubs” build is more viable in an event where there is no cut after the second round, as all golfers get a guaranteed four rounds of play.
Growing With Experience
It has been fun to watch Aaron Wise grow as a golfer on the PGA Tour. He is quickly developing remarkable consistency, and his statistics during the fall swing were very impressive and included a rank of 21st in driving distance and 1st in birdie or better percentage. That birdie making ability is absolutely what we want to see for this event, and he has top 16 finishes in five of the six events he has played since the start of September. Don’t be surprised to see him priced in the $9,000 range on DK and the $10,500 range on FD before too long, so take advantage of the discount while you still can. The value price makes him viable even though he is a first timer at this event, and I like his point scoring potential. Even if he doesn’t win, he could pay off his salary tag with a solid top 15 finish.
A Budding Star
The young bomber is a great fit in a no-cut tournament with extremely wide fairways and four reachable par fives. If you need a high upside pick at modest ownership in a GPP, give Champ a long look. Champ led the PGA Tour in driving distance during the fall swing at 328.2 yards per drive, and he is shaping up to be a budding star on Tour. A lot of DFS players will quickly gloss over him for this event because the price tag isn’t exactly a discount (especially on DK) and he isn’t quite a household name yet, but I am thankful for that. Champ would have been massively chalky as a complete punt-priced play. He’s a fine mid-range option, especially in tournaments.
Always Motivated
I am generally not a huge fan of Reed because he never pops statistically, but I like him as an option on a resort course that feels like an “exhibition” for many other golfers. You know this is not an exhibition for Patrick Reed. He plays to win any time he shows up at a golf course, and he has finishes of 6th, 2nd, and 1st in his last three trips to Kapalua. The last time he teed it up, he finished 2nd in a strong field over in Europe at the DP World Tour Championship. The combination of motivation, form, and course history has me on Reed this week. Trust me — this is not something you will see from me very often. If you are reading this for the first time, don’t expect to see him as a fixture in this space. It won’t surprise me at all if he burns me, so prepare for some venting in next week’s article if Reed stinks up the place.
Familiarity on Bermuda
Horschel is an incredibly streaky golfer. He basically struggled for the entire first half of last season and then really turned it on toward the end of summer and into the fall. He grew up in Florida, so he is very comfortable on bermuda greens. That should come into handy this week, especially since three-putts are a common occurrence on these large, undulating greens. Statistically, Horschel stands out compared to the other golfers in his price range. He is ranked ninth in this field in strokes gained off the tee, eighth in strokes gained approach, and 11th in par five scoring. He has played here three times in the last five seasons, posting finishes of sixth, T22, and T11.
World Class Golfer
This is a price play more than anything else. Over the years, Casey has been a DFS favorite because he rarely misses cuts and he posts an incredible number of top ten finishes. His consistency makes him a strong option in cash games and after years of being a punch line about not winning, he broke through and won on the PGA Tour last season. The combination of a high floor and a high ceiling makes him a difficult fade at this price point. Even though we haven’t seen Casey golf competitively in quite some time, he’s a steal at this price. He’s the 14th ranked golfer in the world, yet this week, he’s the 14th most expensive golfer on DraftKings and the 12th most expensive on FanDuel.