FanDuel PGA: Top Picks – The 2019 Valspar Championship

Welcome to this edition of FanDuel PGA Picks from FantasyCPR.com. Here you will find players to target for this weeks Valspar Championship, taking place in Palm Harbor, 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 Players Championship Recap:

G – Dustin Johnson – $12,300 – (105.8)
G – Webb Simpson – $10,300 – (82.3)
G – Francesco Molinari – $10,100 – (63.6)
G – Charles Howell – $9,600 – (77.3)
G – Lucas Glover – $9,200 – (17.6)
G – Matt Wallace – $8,500 – (70.2)

                                                       (416.8)

It was a much better week overall as it was back to the green on FanDuel. The sample lineup which I stressed was a cash focused lineup was good in cash games, as I finished somewhere in the 30’s in my 100-man contests. It took until Sunday to get there, but only having the one missed cut in Glover and avoiding other chalk bombs turned out to be much more important.

It looks like it is time to go on another hot streak, as I feel like I have a good grasp on roster construction this week. I will be back to my full load, which means maxing out the lob wedge, while still focusing in on a solid cash lineup. I had a solid GPP squad that hit 603 with McIlroy and FantasyCPR favorite Jhonny Vegas last week, so all in all, it was a solid turnaround after two rough weeks.

FanDuel PGA: Top Tier Picks: ($11,000+)

Dustin Johnson – $12,600 – (Cash/GPP)

The easiest way to say it is don’t get cute here. This is the world’s number one player who is in a league of his own in this field. Yes, it has been a hot minute since DJ has played Copperhead, and the last time he did he missed the cut, but that bothers me none.

I started my cash lineups here, and after finalizing my player pool just a few minutes ago, I realized there is a very good chance I will be 100% Johnson this week. He has three straight top-tens, including his win in Mexico, and is the clear-cut favorite this week.

Sergio Garcia – $11,300 – (Cash)

So we only have four golfers in this price range total this week, and while I originally considered having shares of all of them, the one that stands out most other than DJ, and is a cash priority in my opinion, is Garcia. Sergio has been playing well, and he has played well at Copperhead before.

Jon Rahm is just too good of a golfer to let what happened Sunday start a negative trend, but I can’t say I am 100% certain he will bounce back right away. I feel that Garcia is the safer pick this week with his track record here and his recent play, and that is a complete shift in a normal PGA DFS dynamic for me. This feels opposite this week, but Garcia is cash play, and Rahm is shaping up to be an under owned, potentially difference making GPP play.

***Also Consider: Jon Rahm – $11,700 – (GPP)***

FanDuel PGA: Mid Tier Picks: ($10,000 – $11,000)

Gary Woodland – $10,600 – (GPP)

There really is not a whole lot to like in this price tier in my opinion this week, and while I originally had Woodland queued up as a cash play, I realized that really may not be the best option at this price. It was a long time ago when he won here in 2011, and in the last couple of years the results here at Copperhead have not been very good.

Woodland did grab another top-ten here in 2014, but in the four years since then, he has missed two cuts, and his best finish was a T-42 in 2015. Now when you look at the recent history here and couple that with the fact that the last couple times out Woodland couldn’t crack the top-25, and this is another solid, possibly low ownership GPP play. Woodland is just too good to be held down for long, and in a weaker field, he could easily find himself in contention on Sunday.

Jim Furyk – $10,000 – (Cash)

I was happy to see that when pricing came out across the industry, the ageless Jim Furyk went up in salary accordingly for the most part. It sounds like some people are already saying to jump off now as the regression will obviously happen, but how can you fade Furyk after what he did at Sawgrass? On top of that, Furyk has won here at Copperhead, and has three additional top-tens to boot, including a T-7 last year.

So fade? Um no.. I think I’ll hit the lock button instead. This field is easily the weakest we have seen in a month or so, and it is hard to argue that Furyk is not dialed in. His solo second at the Players gave him three top-15’s in his last four events, and I think he has one more week of this before the inevitable slide begins.

***Also Consider: Paul Casey – $10,900 – (GPP)***

FanDuel PGA: Low Tier Picks: ($9,000 – $10,000)

Adam Hadwin – $9,800 – (GPP)

Now compared to the mid-tier, this low-tier is absolutely loaded. In fact, my final player pool will be decided somewhere in this price range without a doubt. The 2017 Valspar Champion Hadwin was able to follow that up with a T-12 last year, so the fact that he has played well twice here recently makes him a favorite GPP play of mine.

The recent form really took a hit with the missed cut at the Players Championship, but prior to that he had made nine straight, highlighted by a T-2 at the Desert Classic. My guess is with all of the solid pivot plays around him in this price range, Hadwin will be about 10-15% in tournaments. Just a guess, but people do love to roster past champions.

Russell Knox – $9,000 – (Cash)

Again, there are just tons of good plays in this price range, so along with the others to consider below, I want to give you a few more names, to give you a sense of what my final player pool will look like. But first, let’s talk about Russell Knox. This is price is way too low for a consistent cut-maker, and I feel like he should easily priced up around where my other targets are.

It has been three events now since Knox cracked the top-25, but his nine straight made cuts and three top-20’s in his last seven events tell me the form is still there, and this looks very safe for this price range. I will say it was a tough call here between Knox and Ryan Moore who is $8,900, but I am afraid the Moore steam is solely based on the hole-in-one last week at Sawgrass.

So who else do I like? It looks like I will jump back on Sungjae Im and have a few shares, and I really like what Brandt Snedeker did last week as well. Not having Kokrak in my cash lineup will likely be the big chalk fade for me this week, but I will certainly have GPP shares.

***Also Consider: Bubba Watson $9,900 – Jason Kokrak $9,700***

FanDuel PGA: Top Value Picks: (Below $9,000)

Joaquin Niemann – $8,800 – (GPP)

There is some risk here, but the 20-year-old Chilean product Joaquin Niemann is quietly back to making cuts, and working his way back to relevance. I think Moore at $8,900 will end up chalky like I mentioned before with Knox, but I will go this route instead.

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A poor third round led to a T-46 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but it was his third straight event of making the cut, and this kid will end up in contention on a Sunday really soon. He is definitely more of a GPP play, but he will make my cash lineup this week.

J.T. Poston – $8,300 – (Cash)

I really, really like a couple of GPP flyers this week so don’t miss those below, I will talk about Akshay Bhatia more in detail in my FantasyDraft article which will be out soon, so don’t miss that. But for now, let’s talk about another golfer playing really consistent as of late, and priced just low enough to be the piece that helps you roster Dustin Johnson.

Poston has played the Valspar just once two years ago, and was able to finish in the top-15 with a T-14. On top of that, he is still yet to miss a cut in 2019. A huge third round led to a T-7 at the Desert Classic in January, but since then, Poston seems to hampered by one round every tournament. His worst round last week at the Players was a third round 73, and he was able to quietly sneak into the top-25, with a T-22 finish. This is too cheap for a consistent cut maker, and he will likely be popular in all formats this week.

***Bonus GPP Flyers: Sung Kang $7,900 – Akshay Bhatia $7,000***

FanDuel PGA: The 2019 Valspar 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 – $12,600
G – Sergio Garcia – $11,300
G – Jim Furyk – $10,000
G – Russell Knox – $9,000
G – Joaquin Niemann – $8,800
G – J.T. Poston – $8,300

I have a feeling this will be against the grain once again if you will as far as chalk goes, but this will be my cash lineup. While I think most will take a more balanced approach with the mid-tier range, I am instead putting a premium on DJ and Sergio this week. Poston has been very consistent, and is my favorite low-priced play this week, and Niemann has now made three straight cuts, and the eventual breakout is imminent.

That is all for this weeks FanDuel PGA Picks for the 2019 Valspar Championship. If you have any questions, give me a follow on Twitter with the link at the top of the article.

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!