Daily Fantasy Golf: PGA FantasyDraft Targets – 2019 WGC-Mexico Championship
What can I say I am a little crazy about writing about golf this time of year! I am back again with something new from FantasyCPR, and this time we will cover Daily Fantasy Golf for the contests available from our friends at Fantasy Draft!
Since I decided to morph the old DRAFT article into a more universal power rankings piece this week, in addition to the standard FanDuel picks I do weekly, (which are on fire by the way) I will now provide the golfers I am targeting for contests on Fantasy Draft as well.
The infamous Picks and Pivots NBA and MLB articles here from site expert Brian Tulloch and FantasyCPR center around Fantasy Draft, and they really do have a unique platform, and offer a different DFS experience. If you still are not a part of the fun on Fantasy Draft, sign up here!
Now that you are signed up, our friends at Fantasy Draft have decided to host a freeroll for all of our FantasyCPR readers! They have been kind enough to do regular NBA freerolls multiple times a week for Picks and Pivots, and they have extended that offer to PGA as well! Therefore, I present to you, the Picks and “Divots” freeroll from Fantasy Draft and FantasyCPR!
This is my third PGA article this week, so be sure to check out my FanDuel article, as well as the new power rankings that were published on Monday. You will find some course and event history information on the power rankings page if you are looking for that. Here, we will get right to the targets.
If you are new to Fantasy Draft be sure to check out the unique roster construction. Instead of picking six golfers as you do on most DFS sites, you pick seven, and your lowest golfers score is dropped. Strategy depends and varies week-to-week, but on a week like this with no cut, there are many different ways to attack. With that said, let’s dig in.
Daily Fantasy Golf: PGA Fantasy Draft Top Plays – WGC-Mexico
Justin Thomas – $18,000
Let’s start the whole plays part of this article first by saying kudos to Fantasy Draft for making roster construction really difficult. If you want to roster two golfers over $17K, you will likely have to roster at least two under $13K as well, and probably three. I am going to write up JT for my fanduel article, so I will save the stats for later.
Instead, let’s think about this. Thomas is $18K, Dustin Johnson is $500 less at $17.5K. Thomas is obviously knocking on the door and the win is coming soon, but DJ for that much less can go a long way. With no-cut this week however, I will be paying down even lower for my top pick this week, and trying to keep it as balanced as possible.
If I decide to go the multiple lineup route this week, I will make some exposure to JT work, but if I am just sticking to one lineup, I am not comfortable paying up this high.
Jon Rahm – $16,800
Comparatively speaking, not only am I still really high on Rahm this week, this is quite the discount to the three golfers with higher salaries. Rahm was among the many that struggled with fatigue and wind at the Genesis Open last week, as an even par round of 71 led to a T-9 finish, and another top-10, marking six straight for the young Spainiard.
Just like JT, Rahm is playing phenomenal golf, and it just feels like another win is on the horizon. With five straight weeks over 130 FDP, (Fantasy Draft Points) it is hard to argue his form is among the best in the game. Rahm came close to winning here in 2017 with a T-3 finish, and is easily another safe bet for another top-ten considering the run he is on.
Tony Finau – $15,400
Finau was finally putting it all together there early in last weeks Genesis Open. He fired an opening round 66 and followed that with a 68, but then fell victim to the slow play and heavy winds on Sunday. For a solid day or so, it seemed like Finau was on his way to returning to the top-five at the very least, but back-to-back 72’s on parts of Saturday and all of Sunday led to a T-15 finish.
If there is one key thing to think about this golf course other than the elevation, it is said to have some pretty small greens. Finau has been one of the best in the game around the greens, and he is yet another golfer who you have to think it just won’t be long until they put it all together for four rounds. There are a ton of solid plays in this price range on Fantasy Draft, but my belief on Finau was that he should have been a little closer to $16K
***Others in Play: Rickie Fowler $16,400 – Marc Leishman $15,400***
Daily Fantasy Golf: PGA Fantasy Draft Value Plays – WGC-Mexico
Tommy Fleetwood – $14,900
Another mediocre week and lackluster finish has the world’s number 14 ranked golfer has him priced under $15K. Fleetwood is just too good of a golfer to have finished out of the top-25 his last two events, and my guess is maybe getting out of the cold, rain and wind of “sunny” California will help him as much as everyone else.
I am basically all in on Fleetwood this week, as he is under priced everywhere, but that is only because the level of competition is elite. He has played well here the last two years at Club de Golf Chapultepec, and nearly won this event in 2017. He finished runner-up losing by a stroke, and followed that with a T-14 last year.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello – $14,300
The theme for me here this week on Fantasy Draft, is that I think I found four or five golfers that allow you to put together a solid lineup based on their pricing, without having to go to low at the bottom. One of these golfers would be Cabrera-Bello, as $14,300 seems just a hair too low. I also will call this the boom or bust range, because there is a handful of golfers who could easily win, or it could go entirely the other way.
We have Charles Howell at this price who is playing solid golf, and of course Matt Kuchar comes in as a bargain at $14.2. Even further down the line, Cameron Smith could be a solid play at $13.9. For me however, it comes down to who is safe, yet still has the ability to sneak up in the top-five. With Rafa finishing T-3 here at the WGC-Mexico last year, I think this one will be the chalky one this week, but I am 100% on board.
Tyrell Hatton – $13,900
More chalk here without a doubt, because with the small course history sample size, everyone and their mother now knows that Hatton has managed to find the top-ten at the WGC-Mexico in back-to-back years. In fact, along with his solo tenth place finish here in 2017, he was the golfer that tied with our last target Cabrera-Bello for third place last year.
On top of the solid history here at Club de Golf Chapultepec, Hatton is also in pretty solid form, but looking to bounce back off of a missed cut at The Genesis Open last week. He had three consecutive top-25’s prior to the missed-cut, and I have little reason to believe he doesn’t succeed here in Mexico once again.
***More Solid Values: Charles Howell $14,300 – Byeong Hun An $13,500***
Daily Fantasy Golf: PGA Fantasy Draft GPP Punt Plays – WGC-Mexico
Kevin Kisner – $12,700
We are going to need some punt plays on Fantasy Draft. It’s pretty ugly under $12K, but there are a handful of names between 12 and 13K that could turn out OK. It was a tough call in this range with Branden Grace being only $200 more, but a missed cut last week at the Genesis Open has me cautious.
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Kisner on the other hand, has made five straight cuts, and has been solid here at the WGC-Mexico. He finished 11th in 2017, and followed that with a decent 29th place finish here last year. A top-25 finish is probably not likely, but four decent rounds would be great at this price.
Eddie Pepperell – $11,800
You almost have to play one guy under $12K this week, and with no-cut, you really have to be careful. Granted, your worst score is dropped, but if you can find a gem down here then all the better. My one play down here this week is the 28-year-old Englishman Eddie Pepperell, who is not only a treat on the Twitter machine, is a pretty solid golfer as well. (Seriously he is a rare non-boring golf Twitter follow ha!)
Pepperell primarily plays on the European Tour, and missed the cut in his last action at the Saudi International. He is currently the world’s 40th ranked golfer, and his last win came just last October at the British Masters. If you have a few extra bucks I don’t mind punting with Chez Reavie as his priced has really dropped along with his form, and the superior controlled ball-striking of Danny Willett could play out well here in Mexico as well.
***Other Low Salary Punt Plays: Branden Grace $12,900 – Chez Reavie $12,400 – Danny Willett $12,200***
Daily Fantasy Golf: PGA Fantasy Draft Sample Lineup – WGC-Mexico
The line-up below is meant to be illustrative only to further back-up the logic laid out in previous slides. It is not an optimal line-up. It is in fact, just a “Sample Lineup.”
G – Jon Rahm – $16,800
G – Tony Finau – $15,400
G – Tommy Fleetwood – $14,900
G – Rafa Cabrera-Bello – $14,300
G – Tyrell Hatton – $13,900
G – Kevin Kisner – $12,700
G – Eddie Pepperell – $11,800
Next. FanDuel PGA DFS Slate Breakdown - WGC Mexico. dark
Thank you for checking out this Daily Fantasy Golf article from FantasyCPR, covering Fantasy Draft “Picks and Divots” (Thanks Brian!) Be sure to enter the freeroll and test your skills against this weeks sample lineup, as you also have your chance at winning tickets to real money contests as well. Give me a follow on Twitter with the link at the top of the page and let me know if you win that freeroll!!