Brendan Steele Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

As expected there were plenty of big numbers to be had over the first two days of play at PGA National. With plenty of big names playing poorly over the first two days, players like Luke Donald and Brendan Steele find themselves at the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend. Steele was in a similar position earlier this year at the Sony Open but was unable to seal the deal ultimately loosing to Cameron Smith in a playoff. Former number one player in the world Luke Donald finds himself near the lead on the weekend for the first since the 2017 RBC Heritage Classic. As a past champion of this event, Donald does have positive course history to build on, but at this point in his career, it's safe to say that we are not dealing with the same golfer. With a two-round scoring average of 144, PGA National did not yield many low rounds over the first two days of play. With hard course conditions through the weekend, the relative value of par golf really increases. There will be birdies made this weekend, but I would be surprised to see a sub 65 round. Of course, these are the best players in the world, and anything is possible, but your focus this weekend is to target players who understand how to attack this course. Players who fire at pins and miss will make big numbers, so unlike other showdown slates golfers who mix in a ton of pars with an occasional birdie will grade out as good plays. When looking at stats over the first two rounds I like taking shots on guys who have hit the ball well but just have not made any putts. In a birdie fest, this type of play will usually not work, but with par being a good score you can feel a little more comfortable with this type of play. PGA Tour rookie Matthew NeSmith is a player that fits in this type of play nicely. Over the first two rounds, NeSmith has hit 22 of 36 greens, but with almost 2 putts per GIR, he only has one birdie for the week. NeSmith has proven to be a good ball striker early in his career, and with a few more converted birdie opportunities this weekend he could end up being a great source of value.

Entering this week Brendan Steele had not posted a top ten in an individual tournament in some 23 months. Fast forward to Sunday morning and Steele is now in a position to claim his 4th career PGA Tour win. Riding an extremely hot putter, Steele has a 3 shot lead heading into the final round of this year's Sony Open. Priced at $7,800 for the round 4 showdown slate, it will be hard to get away from Steele in most formats. Due to the windy conditions this week, scores have not been overly low in comparison to years past, thus making finish points a bit more important than a normal week on tour. Both Steele and his nearest competitor Cameron Smith head into the final round in a tie for the most birdies through 3 rounds ( 17).

Brendan Steele struggled to play well at any point during the 2019 season. By far his worse season as a professional Steele managed only 3 top 25 or better showings in 22 starts last year. With a handful of weekends off during the 2019 season, Steele finished outside the top 170 in last year's FedEx Cup race. Entering this week on the heels of 3 straight made cuts signs point to Steele playing his way out of this prolonged slump. At last week's event in Vegas, Steele was only a total of .03 shots from gaining strokes on the field tee to green in each round. Steele is a player who relies on great ball striking and timely putting to play well. During his prolonged slump, Steele simply struggled with his ball-striking. With 8 of his last 12 rounds gaining strokes in the ball striking department we can look to target Steele in hopes that he keeps up this current trend. Currently projected at a low ownership number Steele is a person you can target in GPP builds this week.

Two years ago for this tournament, Brendan Steele was the highest priced golfer in the field. After winning this event for two years in a row Steele has really struggled to find any consistent form. Coming off a season in which he failed to crack the top 170 in the season-long FedEx Cup race Steele will look to build on a positive showing at last week's Sanderson Farms. Although his form over the last 12 months has been less than desirable, Steele should have some good vibes heading into this week. In addition to his two wins at Silverado C.C. Steele has gained almost 40 shots tee to green in his last five starts at this event. Flying under the radar in our early-week ownership projections Steele has the positive course history worthy of a strong GPP option for the week. In his last 20 rounds at Silverado C.C. Steele has posted 67 or better 8 times.

Kevin Roth's weather report is up for this week's tour event, and it appears that weather can be eliminated from a roster build perspective this week. It looks like perfect weather on the west coast, which should lead to plenty of great golf. If you are looking to gain an edge in GPP's, you could look at exploring the idea of stacking course draws. Over the first two rounds, golfers will play one round each on both the North and the South courses at Torrey Pines. Historically the south course yields lower scores and 8 out of the last nine winners of this event have started out the week on the South course.

The two time defending champion of The Safeway Open Brendan Steele heads into this week with hopes of improved form. Steele has only made 5 of his last 12 cuts on tour and has not posted a top 15 or better finish since February of last year. Priced up due to his strong course history Steele could make for a very interesting fade in all formats this week. Early ownership numbers have Steele stating to slide in interest, but with a projected ownership number over 20%, it's easy to look the other way at his high price tag for the week. To put things in perspective in terms of his price to actual performance Steele has not seen a price tag over $7,600 since April of last season. The combination of his high price and poor recent form makes for a good spot to jump on the fade train of what appears to be a very popular player for the first event of the wraparound season.