DraftKings PGA: 2019 Masters Picks and Analysis

DraftKings PGA: 2019 Masters Picks and Analysis

Welcome to the early DraftKings pricing for the 1st major of the year: The 2019 Masters, an event like no other. Every top PGA pro will be vying for a piece of the $11,000,000 purse. Everybody who is anybody will be in the field this week, so the tournament is truly up for grabs. For a list of course horses, read this.

Augusta National is synonymous with The Masters. The course is a uniquely challenging tract. It is long, the greens are lightning, and the views are majestic. The course appears to favor the bomber, but there are plenty of accurate golfers who have found success at Augusta National. One thing I do know, there are some golfers that seem to play well at Augusta National every year despite current form.

Patrick Reed is the defending champion, after superbly striking his irons and seemingly completing every up and down opportunity from around the green. The leader-board was abundant with top tier talent on Sunday afternoon. Reed, Fowler, Spieth, Rahm, McIlroy, Stenson, Watson, Finau, and Dustin Johnson all finished inside the top 10 (within 6 strokes of Reed).

Reed shot a final round 71, holding off a surging Rickie Fowler by 1 stroke. Sergio Garcia won the event in 2017, Danny Willett in 2016, and Jordan Spieth in 2015.

The course is set in Augusta, Georgia, with the typical pine straw and azeleas. The fairways are overseeded bermuda and the greens are bentgrass. The par-72 course sits at 7,435 yards. There were no renovations, so the course should play similar to last year.

Key Stats

Approach Gained

Ball striking Gained

Bentgrass Gained

Par-5 Gained

Opportunities Gained

Augusta National Gained

As always, you should be building your own models. FantasyNational.com and FutureOfFantasy.com are great tools to use.

2019 Masters – Picks

$11,600 Rory McIlroy

Rory is playing as good of golf as anyone in the field. He ranks 1st In my model, and is first or second in the field in just about all of my key stats, including strokes gained and DK scoring over the last 12 and 36 rounds. McIlroy’s history at this course is spectacular (see Course Horses), with 9/10 made cuts and 5 straight top 10 finishes at Augusta National.

He is the highest priced golfer in the field for a reason. McIlroy is searching for his first green jacket, a feat that would complete his career grand slam. Rory will likely garner around 20% ownership this week due to his form. The price tag is hefty, but I cannot fade Rory this week. The 2019 Masters could possibly be his for the taking.

$9,000 Paul Casey

Casey shows up for Masters week. The PGA veteran has 4 consecutive top-15 finishes here. He has been playing really solid golf, coming off of a win at The Valspar Championship. Casey ranks 6th in Par-5 scoring and top-20 in approach, ball-striking and putting on bentgrass.

Casey is a notoriously poor putter of the golf ball, but his flat-stick seems to show up at this event. I will be overweight on Casey, who may be under-valued compared to his fellow 9K golfers.

$8,700 Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama is striking the ball pure, but is struggling mightily with his putter. Hideki is a world class player, I am banking that he uses the off week to shore up his negative putting splits.

Hideki ranks 1st in approach gained, 2nd in ball-striking gained, and 5th in opportunities gained over his last 36 rounds. The numbers are similarly impressive over his last 12 rounds as well. Hideki has a T9, T11, T7, 5 in his last 4 Masters. He will likely be popular at this price-tag.

2019 Masters – Values

$7,700 Sergio Garcia

Sergio Garcia is a glass case of emotion. The last thing in our minds will be his missed 6 inch “conceded” putt against Kuchar at the match play. Couple that with footage of his 5 consecutive water-balls at 15 from 2018, and I think his ownership will be depressed.

Hotheadedness aside, he is striking the ball superbly (top-20 in SG:APP and SG:BS over his last 12 and 36 rounds), loves this course (won in 2017 and even named his daughter Azalea), and is playing great golf this year (6/6 made cuts this year with 3 top-10’s).

I will be massively overweight on Sergio, and this is coming from a guy that was burned in fantasy at the 2018 Masters by Sergio.

$7,600 Henrik Stenson

Stenson was playing really poor golf just two months ago. Things change quickly. In March, Stenson played in 4 events finishing with 3 top-25’s and a missed cut at The Players.

Over his last 12 rounds, Stenson ranks 4th in approach gained. His ball striking has returned to top form, and I expect him to be ready for Augusta National next week. Stenson has made 6 of his last 7 cuts at Augusta National and broke into the top-10 for the first time last year with a T5.

$7,600 Ian Poulter

Looking at Ian Poulter’s skill-set, it wouldn’t appear that he would be a solid fit for Augusta National. For some apparent reason he lines up really well for this course.

Poulter has played the event 13 times and boasts 12/13 made cuts, 3 top 10’s, and 7 top 25’s. Poulter is having a really solid year (4 top-10’s in 9 PGA Tour events), and is trending in the right direction ranking top-15 in the field in SG:DK, SG:TOT, and SG:SG.

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.