FanDuel PGA: Top Picks – The 2019 Players Championship
Welcome to this edition of FanDuel PGA Picks from FantasyCPR.com. Here you will find players to target for this weeks PLAYERS Championship, taking place at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
In this article, I will present to you some Fantasy Golf players to consider from each price tier for FanDuel PGA. Some plays will be geared toward cash games, and some for GPP tournaments. 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 $11K up to the top salary, two targets from the $10K-$11K range, and two from the $9-10K range. After that will come my top value plays from the $8-9K range, along with a couple of GPP flyers to consider for tournament play.
Last but certainly not least, I will end the article the ever popular sample lineup we like to do here at FantasyCPR. Before we get to all that, let’s check out how things fared with last week’s sample lineup!
FanDuel PGA: The 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational Recap:
G – Rory McIlroy – $12,200 – (94.4)
G – Justin Rose – $12,100 – (45.7)
G – Rafa Cabrera-Bello – $9,900 – (101.4)
G – Brian Gay – $9,000 – (25.7)
G – Nate Lashley – $8,500 – (17.9)
G – Danny Lee – $8,300 – (20.6)
(305.7)
Well nothing short of a disaster once again. Obviously Rose is the biggest disappointment here, even though having three missed cuts will not do anyone any good either. Rose shot +3 to finish +5 and nowhere close to paying off his price tag, while guys like Nate Lashley and Danny Lee faltered down the stretch on Friday and just missed the cut after bad holes late.
Back to the drawing board again this week, and we have easily the best field of the year thus far at the Players Championship, and pricing looks pretty soft. There are so many different ways to go and this is such a tough venue that this is indeed the week to scale it back a tiny bit.
I likely will not go crazy in tournament play this week, and will instead hone in on constructing the safest cash game team possible this week. I hate losing my cash games more than anything, and two weeks in a row of it will come to end this week.
FanDuel PGA: Top Tier Picks: ($11,000+)
Dustin Johnson – $12,300 – (Cash)
Freshly rested and coming off of another win in Mexico, I see no reason whatsoever to not play DJ in cash games this week. While I always look at course history and recent form to finalize my player pool, I really couldn’t help but focus in on how dominant Johnson was at Chapultepec, while almost everybody else struggled with the elevation.
McIlroy came kind of close at the WGC-Mexico finishing a solo second, and still five strokes behind DJ, but the wave of golfers that finished T-3 were ten strokes back. That kind of dominance is the only thing that held Rory back from that elusive first victory of 2019. Again, pricing is relatively soft with the stellar field in play, so even though my attack is to go safe and balanced, I can still get it done with DJ.
Rory McIlroy – $11,800 – (GPP)
Well I mentioned I was scaling it back, so I am going to skip the lob wedge 25-max for just the second time this year. My plan is just to do the 5-max flop shot instead, and minimize my player pool. I figure this should make it a little easier, considering I want to play almost everybody. One player I will not completely fade right now if making multiple lineups however, is Rory McIlroy.
Rory has been playing in the final group just about every Sunday, but has not been able to seal the deal as of yet in 2019. His last five tournaments have resulted in T-6 or better, and with DJ in the field bringing out the best in him like he did in Mexico, I think McIlroy is right there near the top again this week. With some solid value this week, I will likely make one team with both Johnson and McIlroy for GPP play.
***Also Consider: Jon Rahm $11,300 – Tiger Woods $11,100***
FanDuel PGA: Mid Tier Picks: ($10,000 – $11,000)
Sergio Garcia – $10,900 – (GPP)
For a guy who has played here basically every year, to have not missed a cut at a difficult course like this is pretty impressive. Garcia came close to capturing Players Championship titles in 2014 and 2015 with back-to-back top fives including a runner-up in 2015. However, his best finish in the last three years at Sawgrass was his T-30 in 2017.
Recent form for Garcia is up to par as of late though despite the not so great recent course history, and just the experience he has on the field alone makes him an interesting, possibly low owned pivot away from maybe Tommy Fleetwood or Tiger Woods. With his T-9 at the Honda Classic two weeks ago, Garcia now has back-to-back top-10’s coming into TPC Sawgrass, and I will likely have a share this week.
Francesco Molinari – $10,100 – (Cash)
Even though I had absolutely zero stake in Molinari last week on FanDuel, watching his final round 64 which led to a victory at Bay Hill last week did help me along in some contests over on PlayDraft, so it was at least kind of enjoyable to say the least. That along with the fact the guy just seems easy to cheer for had me as happy as I could be, considering it was a horrible weekend DFS wise everywhere but PlayDraft.
Regardless, that kind of determination is exactly why Molinari will not go ignored this week. He was probably going to win anyways, but the way he sank a very difficult putt on 18 left little doubt that he is still one of the best in the world when he is on top of his game. There is a very solid chance he will be the highest owned player in cash games this week, and this price is too good to pass on so it makes perfect sense. I am just trying my best not to over think this one.
***Also Consider: Tommy Fleetwood $10,600 – Webb Simpson $10,300***
FanDuel PGA: Low Tier Picks: ($9,000 – $10,000)
Charles Howell – $9,600 – (Cash)
Once again we see a loaded price range here, as plenty of golfers below $10K this week could very well be right in the mix on Sunday. But since I am taking a conservative cash game approach this week, I am going to opt to give you two names of guys you should be able to plug-in and expect a top-20 finish from.
The first will be good old “Chucky Three Sticks” as he looks to continue the recent stretch he is on. Howell has worked his way up to the 46th ranked golfer in the world, up 12 spots from last year, and he has been red-hot since his win at the RSM Classic back in November. Howell has top-20 finishes in his last four events, and he finished T-17 here at the Players Championship last year, shooting 10-under par.
Lucas Glover – $9,200 – (Cash)
Another veteran golfer here on a heater, and an even better heater at that. Speaking of working their way up the OWGR rankings, since the end of 2018, Glover has moved up an incredible 55 spots without even capturing a victory.
Since his missed cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open when everyone undoubtedly thought his solid stretch was over, he has bounced back even more focused it seems with three straight top-10’s now. It has been noted in plenty of my articles over the course of this season, but Glover is now 8-for-9 making cuts since the Safeway Open back in October, and his worst finish is a T-17.
***Also Consider: Rafa Cabrera-Bello $9,800 – Ian Poulter $9,800***
FanDuel PGA: Top Value Picks: (Below $9,000)
Byeong-Hun An – $8,700 – (GPP)
Benny An is going to be a popular one in all formats, as any player that will rank out so well on everyone’s models will likely garner a lot of attention. An has been one of the best in all of the stats considered useful this week, and any time you can get this talent under $9K you have to think about putting him in your lineup. We say this about everyone, but if he can putt he should be right in it once again.
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Consistency is key, and An has not missed a cut in five straight, which leads me to think he is pretty dependable this week. In that span, he has notched three top-20’s, and is coming into TPC Sawgrass off of a T-10 at Bay Hill last weekend. An shot 8-under here last year, and T-30th.
Matt Wallace – $8,500 – (Cash)
Wallace will stay stateside as he continues to play well on this side of the pond, as he is coming off of a T-6 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week. He T-33 in Mexico, then followed that up with a T-20 at Honda Classic. The three-time winner last season on the European Tour seems to be liking Florida enough to at least stick around for his first Players Championship, and with the way he performed last week, this massive price drop is just outright silly.
Wallace at this price helps me roster my top pick as far as safe goes in Dustin Johnson, so I am all about it. These European Tour players that get a ton of action in windy conditions are at an advantage once again, and Wallace is the cheapest of the bunch in this price range. He continues to climb in the OWGR rankings as well, and is now the 35th ranked player in the world.
***Bonus GPP Flyers: Matthew Fitzpatrick $8,600 – Jhonattan Vegas $8,100***
FanDuel PGA: The 2019 Players Championship – Sample Lineup
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 – Dustin Johnson – $12,300
G – Webb Simpson – $10,300
G – Francesco Molinari – $10,100
G – Charles Howell – $9,600
G – Lucas Glover – $9,200
G – Matt Wallace – $8,500
Again, it feels like there are a million ways to go this week, but for me it comes down to this. I do not want to deal with any missed cuts like the disaster last week. Aside from DJ at the top, and maybe McIlroy considering how he has started 2019, does anyone else feel like a sure thing this week?
With Wallace being my “worst” guy in this set, combined with the steadiness of Glover and Howell this season, this combination of six golfers feels like my best chance to finish in the top 50 out of 100 this week, and that is my sole focus.
That is all for this weeks FanDuel PGA Picks for the 2019 Players Championship. If you have any questions, give me a follow on Twitter with the link at the top of the article.
Next. PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Players Championship. dark
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!