DraftKings PGA: 2018 Tour Championship
The FedEx Cup moves from Philly to Atlanta for the Tour Championship and some more DraftKings PGA action. The FedEx Cup playoffs will be decided, and a champion will be crowned! Bryson DeChambeau enters the tournament with the top seed after winning The Northern Trust and the Dell Technologies! Keegan Bradley surprised everyone on a rain-soaked Monday to win the BMW and earn a spot in the Tour Championship. We are down to the final 30 in the FedEx Cup, and realistically only 5 golfers can win the $10Million grand prize. Here are your updated FedEx Cup standings courtesy of pgatour.com:
| RANK | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Bryson DeChambeau | 5,789 |
| 2 | Justin Rose | 4,391 |
| 3 | Tony Finau | 3,479 |
| 4 | Dustin Johnson | 3,425 |
| 5 | Justin Thomas | 3,327 |
| 6 | Keegan Bradley | 2,979 |
| 7 | Brooks Koepka | 2,723 |
| 8 | Bubba Watson | 2,481 |
| 9 | Billy Horschel | 2,260 |
| 10 | Cameron Smith | 2,247 |
| 11 | Webb Simpson | 2,228 |
| 12 | Jason Day | 2,071 |
| 13 | Francesco Molinari | 1,992 |
| 14 | Phil Mickelson | 1,990 |
| 15 | Patrick Reed | 1,933 |
| 16 | Patrick Cantlay | 1,861 |
| 17 | Rory McIlroy | 1,813 |
| 18 | Xander Schauffele | 1,759 |
| 19 | Tommy Fleetwood | 1,734 |
| 20 | Tiger Woods | 1,722 |
| 21 | Aaron Wise | 1,702 |
| 22 | Kevin Na | 1,629 |
| 23 | Rickie Fowler | 1,612 |
| 24 | Jon Rahm | 1,610 |
| 25 | Kyle Stanley | 1,564 |
| 26 | Paul Casey | 1,499 |
| 27 | Hideki Matsuyama | 1,491 |
| 28 | Gary Woodland | 1,448 |
| 29 | Marc Leishman | 1,444 |
| 30 | Patton Kizzire | 1,432 |
East Lake Golf Club has hosted the Tour Championship for a long time, so there is a lot of historical data that you can research if you are into that sort of thing. Xander Schauffele shot a 13-under to win this tournament in 2017, fending off a charging Justin Thomas. Other golfers in this field who have won at East Lake before include: Rory McIlroy (2016), Billy Horschel (2014), Phil Mickelson (2009) and Tiger Woods (2007). The 7,307 yard par-70 is long, narrow, and undulating. The Donald Ross designed course plays extremely difficult if you are missing the narrow fairways, as trees line the course and the Bermuda rough is extremely thick. Accuracy off-the-tee and on approach are the two stats that I will be targeting this week.
Key Stats
The keys stats that I am focusing on this week for the Tour Championship DraftKings PGA GPP contests:
Approach Gained
Fairways Gained
Tee-To-Green Gained
Scoring Gained
As always, you should be building your own models. FantasyNational.com and FutureOfFantasy.com are great tools to use.
2018 Tour Championship – Picks
$10,700 Rory McIlroy – 17th in FedEx Cup
Rory is my favorite play! He mashes off the tee, the approaches are trending, and he is playing the best golf he has played since he was the number 1 golfer in the world. Since his missed cut at the US Open, Rory has finished T12 or better in 6/7 events. He won this tournament in 2016, so the course suits his eye. My only concern is that a win does not clinch him the $10 million, but does Rory really need the cash?
$9,500 Tiger Woods – 20th in FedEx Cup
Tiger scares me off the tee, but that is why he has a week to prepare for this thing! He is so close to a victory. His irons are vintage 90’s Tiger, but the driver and putter are lagging behind. Tiger uses the bye week better than anyone else, so lets hope all the kinks are worked out. He has had a lot of success on this course, so it must fit his eye (although that was when the driver was a lethal weapon).
$8,600 Tony Finau – 3rd in FedEx Cup
Finau finished 7th in his first trip to East Lake last year. He has not won yet, but that does not bother me. He is playing incredible, he has Rider Cup (America!) swag, and this course was tailor-made for Finau. He crushes the ball off the tee, his approaches are solid, and he is serviceable on the greens when he has no shot at winning the tournament. Finau has shined at all four majors this year, and I see another bright showing at the Tour Championship.
2018 Tour Championship – Values
$7,300 Billy Horschel – 9th in FedEx Cup
As far as values, there are much better values on this slate. However, Horschel deserves a play due to his superb form. The guy is doing everything right, and is a near-perfect course fit. He drives the ball straight, his approaches are trending, and he is putting with so much confidence. His 64 on Monday put him one shot from a playoff at the BMW, so his September started about as hot as his August went. Horschel has played at East Lake twice before for the Tour Championship and finished T7 and 1st. Not too shabby.
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$6,500 Bubba Watson – 8th in FedEx Cup
Bubba is about as up and down as the average golfer, however his ups are victories and his downs are the same missed cut as everyone else. Luckily for us, this is a no-cut event. Bubba played really solid at the Dell Technologies and BMW Championship, carding 6/8 rounds in the 60’s on his way to a T7 and T16, respectively. His course history is decent, boasting a 4 top-10’s in his last 5 attempts
$6,100 Kyle Stanley – 25th in FedEx Cup
Stanley is a riskier play than another golfer at this price-tag that I am targeting, but I love his upside and course fit. Stanley hits every fairway, his approaches are good, and he can even putt. He does everything decent, but does not excel at any one thing. So when he is on he shows why he has 2 career victories and two 2nds this year. Stanley finished 20th in his first trip to East Lake. This kid is headed for big things in 2018-19 no matter what happens at the Tour Championship.
Check out more articles by the author and make sure to follow @Mystery_Main for up-to-date injuries, withdrawals, and ownership projections up until the tournament. Also, follow @FantasyCPR for your daily fantasy fix.