Fantasy Golf Picks: Humana Challenge 2015-DraftKings and Yahoo!

The PGA Tour returns to the 48 States for the first time this calendar year after starting things off in Hawaii with the traditional two-week swing through Kapalua and Waialae. This week’s tournament tees off in La Quinta, California with a three-course rotation for the first three rounds using the PGA West’s Nicklaus and Palmer courses and La Quinta Country Club.  After a 54-hole cut, the remaining players finish the weekend on the Palmer Private course at PGA West. When your making your fantasy golf picks, make sure to take into account the rotation and get your golfers active when they’re on the courses with a better chance to go low.

All of the courses are birdie-fests waiting to happen as demonstrated by Patrick Reed’s -28 winning score last year. Can he repeat this year and grab his second win in three weeks? That’s just one of the questions  you’ll be faced with as you fill out your lineup for this week.  As we head into this season, I’m going to start including my lineup for Draft Kings as well since the daily fantasy sports sites are starting to get into the fantasy golf action.  I’ll still divide my picks into the three lists on Yahoo (Details for our group/format posted here), but I’ll also include the players whose salaries fit under the DraftKings cap that are on my roster for the week.

A-List

Webb Simpson: Simpson faded to a t13 last week at the Sony Open with a rough weekend, but he still notched his second top-15 in this wraparound season.  Simpson finished t23 last season at the Humana for his third top-25 in five trips to La Quinta highlighted by a tied for 5th in 2009.

Bill Haas: Haas didn’t tee it up in Hawaii, but his history at La Quinta makes him a good option for this week.  He won the event in 2010 and finished runner-up the following year.  Haas also comes in showing good form on a string of 17 straight made cuts.

B-List

Zach Johnson: Johnson played both legs of the Hawaii swing, and he had moderate success while the flat stick was unkind to him.  Johnson finished in the top ten as the defending champ at Kapalua and comes into this tournament with a good history (three straight top-25’s) at La Quinta.

Brandt Snedeker: Sneds makes his first start of the calendar year coming off consecutive t10’s in the fall series. After struggling through injury, Snedeker will look for a return to form in 2015, and this will be a good place to start since he has a pair of career top-10’s at the event.

Matt Kuchar: Starting Kuch on my bench since I’ve already burned two starts and will probably use all 10 this season.  Kuchar is a consistent threat to win any time he tees it up and comes into this week with five straight top-25’s at the event and top-25’s in his last five tour events.  If I can get away with saving a start, I will, but if he’s in contention, I’ll get him in my lineup quickly.

Ryo Ishikawa: Ishikawa is a bit of a sleeper this week but comes in playing well off of three straight top-30’s in the Fall Series. He finished t25 at last year’s Humana in his second trip to the event, and I think he is poised for a solid year.  He’s a little risky, but I feel like I can take a flier here since my other three fantasy golf picks are fairly solid.

C-List

Patrick Reed: Everyone will have Reed this week as he defends his title at the Humana.  He won two weeks ago at Kapalua and took last week off.  He can get low in a hurry as he proved last year setting the format record for aggregate score.

Rory Sabbatini: Sabbatini is another streaky player who can go low enough to put this event away. He shot a -7 on Sunday to finish t6 last week at Waialae, and he has had success at this event in the past (t38 last year, t14 in 2012)

DraftKings Fantasy Golf Picks

Brian Davis: Davis showed good form last week on his way to a t6 at the Sony Open.  Davis posted a t38 last year at the Humana and also has a t13 in his career in the event from 2011. He’s risky, but he’s a good value option based on solid play last week and history at the event.

Ryo Ishikawa: see above.

Russell Knox: Knox has played six PGA events this season already and has five made cuts and a pair of top-15 finishes including t13 last week. The t13 matches his finish from last year’s Humana which was his first career made cut in two tries at La Quinta.

Matt Kuchar: see above.

Rory Sabbatini: see above

Brandt Snedeker: see above