PGA DFS Golf: 2018 CIMB Classic Fanduel Targets

Welcome to this edition of PGA DFS Golf Fanduel Targets from FantasyCPR.com. Here you will find players to target for this weekend’s action, geared for cash games and tournament plays on Fanduel.

In this article, I will present to you some PGA DFS Golf players to consider for Fanduel, for this weeks CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur’s west course, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These players will be broken down into three price tiers. Some plays will be geared toward cash games, and some for GPP. Some of course will also technically qualify as both. As we break each play down, I will be sure to specify which type of contests I am targeting that player in. I will give two players to target from the $10K-$13K, two targets from the $9K-$10K range, and two from the $8-9K range. Also don’t forget about those Bonus GPP Flyers at the very end. Before we get to this week’s targets, let’s see how last week’s targets fared.

Last Week:

Overall last week Fanduel was pretty much a dud for me on a personal level, as my GPP’s all missed cash with too many missed cuts. My cash team was interesting to say the least, and helped me to not have a complete disaster of a weekend. I was right on the bubble of the cash lines in the large field 50/50’s, despite having 6/6 make the cut. As I sat near 80th place out of 100 after two rounds, I thought no big deal, with all six golfers making the cut this shouldn’t be an issue. It was close though however, and one 51/100 by .1 FDP was the difference for a complete cash sweep.

Misses:

There were a few misses last week, so lets get those out of the way . My course horse and one of my top cash locks Brendan Steele started out like I thought he would, with an opening round -5. It was average at best after that, and a disappointing +3 on Sunday led to a T56 finish. Other than that, the most notable bad miss was GPP play in the low tier Ollie Schniederjans. Ollie was the only MC out of the six top recommendations, and he will need to turn things around quickly to garner any DFS consideration any time soon.

I should also mention my GPP target in the low tier Abraham Ancer withdrew from action at the Safeway Open literally about two hours after last weeks article was published. I can’t stress enough how important it is to follow me on Twitter if you want the latest updates. I always tweet out these articles once they are published, and if anything like this comes up after the fact, I will update there.

Last week, after the news Ancer had withdrawn, I quote tweeted the article saying use Harold Varner III or Luke List as a replacement. List finished -13 and T4, and Varner finished -9 and T13. Pretty bad to write up a guy who withdraws, but I hope someone saw the tweets, and adjusted accordingly! I personally moved Varner into my cash lineup, and he pretty much saved it.

Hits:

Well Cantlay was good and we needed him to be as the second most expensive golfer in the field, and the overall favorite to win. He finished at -8 and T-17th, at roughly 50% ownership. Speaking of ownership, it was a pretty chalky week in those cash games. Chez Reavie and Steele, who was mentioned in the misses, were both around 35-40% owned. Reavie finished 20 spots higher at -6 and T-33, so he was actually decent at his $9,700 salary.

Truthfully I was fine going in to Sunday, but bad rounds from Steele and Andrew Landry kind of derailed the situation. Not to mention Joaquin Niemann, who apparently MDF’d which I didn’t realize was even a thing in this event, so I apologize for that. Niemann ended up even at T-83, but a +3 on Saturday kept him from playing Sunday. It didn’t matter much however, as he was the chalkiest of all at up to 67% in my 50/50’s. All in all, these fields where you really have to dissect the mid-tier are tough. No matter what stats you have, it all comes down to how that golfer feels that day really. All we can do is get you close. With that, lets move on to this weeks CIMB Classic targets.

***This weeks CIMB Classic is a no-cut, 78 player event. All participants will play all four rounds assuming there are no withdrawals during play.***

PGA DFS Golf Top Tier Targets: ($10,000 – $13,000)

Justin Thomas – $13,000 – (Cash/GPP)

If you don’t start every lineup right here this week you are doing it wrong. The only logical argument here is the high GPP ownership fade. While I get that argument and favor it most of the time, this is not one of those situations. As far as just overall talent goes, Thomas is in a class of own for this one.

A two-time champion here at TPC Kuala Lumpur in 2015 and 2016, I am not going out on a limb at all when I say I think Thomas wins by at least two strokes here. I will be surprised if he doesn’t. They say this course went through some changes this year, including new greens, but course history should remain a factor. Thomas finished an incredible -26 when he won in 2015, setting a 72-hole record. He followed that with a -23 performance for the back-to-back in 2016. He comes in with four top-10’s in his last six tournaments, and is the clear-cut top option in all formats.

Brandt Snedeker – $10,700 – (Cash)

You have to feel bad for a guy like Sneds, who looked like he was about to capture a victory last week, then struggled to a final round 74. It was still good enough to T-2, and a collapse like that while still finishing second has to sting. I am all about riding an excellent golfer when they have a finish like this, especially in cash games. Now Snedeker hasn’t played this event since 2011 so he will be new here, but hear me out. He has been playing some great golf of late, and should be a low-owned pivot off of some chalk this week. Paul Casey at just $200 more, and Safeway Open winner Kevin Tway at $700 less will probably be more attractive to some, but I think Snedeker is actually the safest out of that group.

***Also Consider: Xander Schauffele $11,800 – (GPP), Paul Casey $10,900 – (Cash), Kevin Tway $10,000 – (Cash)***

PGA DFS Golf: Mid Tier Targets: ($9,000 – $10,000)

Cameron Smith – $9,700 – (Cash)

The top experts in the field seem to agree that in a weaker field, Cameron Smith is a golfer to target this weekend. A red-hot finish to the end of the season in the FedEx Cup Playoffs has a little to do with that, as Smith carded back-to-back third place finishes at the Northern Trust and Dell Technologies Championships in late August. He stayed in solid form, making a cut but not finishing well at the BMW Championship. That was followed with a top-20 at the TOUR Championship three weeks ago.

Smith has played well here at the CIMB Classic as well, with two top five finishes in three tries. I have a feeling this is another chalky one in cash this week, but a top ten finish looks likely here, so I am not fading it. If you need to pay down a little, Kyle Stanley is the pivot that has the safest floor in my opinion.

Kevin Na – $9,400 – (GPP)

Not really someone I target much, Na looks to be in a good spot to contend this weekend. He is Kevin Na however, so saying he is cash safe is simply not true. The fact that he could easily win here however, makes him a viable GPP threat, with likely sub 10% ownership. Na was actually pretty consistent last season, missing just five cuts in 25 events, including just one since his victory at the Military Tribute at The Greenbrier.

In his last five events to end the season, Na missed the one cut we just mentioned, and the other four events were top-25’s. As far as course history goes, Na was better here three years ago when he managed back-to-back top three’s. However, Na finished 19th in 2016, and slipped to 44th last season.

***Also Consider: Thomas Pieters $9,700 – (GPP), Kyle Stanley $9,300 – (Cash)***

PGA DFS Golf Low Tier Targets: ($8,000 – $9,000)

Stewart Cink – $8,700 – (Cash)

I have been writing golf articles for almost a year, and playing PGA DFS for as long as it has been around. If there is one thing you will notice about me, is that I love me some Stewart Cink below $9K, and especially when the field is lacking star power. Cink has been around forever, but for those that don’t know anything about him, he is simply a cut-maker. That doesn’t mean much this weekend however, as this is a no-cut event, but Cink is a model of consistency perfect for cash games at this price.

He didn’t make it past the Dell Technologies Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but recently notched a T-4 at the PGA Championship in August. I think some time off should have helped Cink to find that game again. With four rounds guaranteed, I’ll take my chances here. We need to spend down somewhere to fit Justin Thomas, and this is a great spot.

Peter Uihlein – $8,600 – (GPP)

Our last target of the week for this weeks CIMB Classic is Peter Uihlein. Coming off of a missed cut at last weeks Safeway Open, he is likely to be far of off the radar of the masses. That type of angle can usually make for some GPP noise if the golfer can perform. You just hope this recency bias comes in to play. Uihlein is one of the best in the field at scoring on Par 5’s, and there are four of them to take advantage of. The 29-year-old American born golfer plays mostly on the European Tour, and it is possible he could be more in his comfort zone this week. He finished T-10th here last year, and that familiarity and solid play at this course make him viable for tournaments.

***Bonus GPP Flyers: Chez Reavie – $8,300, Sam Ryder – $7,800***

That is all for this weeks PGA DFS Golf Fanduel Targets for the 2018 CIMB Classic. If you have any questions, give me a follow on Twitter at @JuanBondDFS. You can also leave a question right here in the comments, and I will do my best to respond before lock Thursday morning. Thank you for reading, and may your golf tilt be minimal this weekend!