The Masters: PGA DraftKings DFS Picks

The time has finally arrived for the first major of the year: The Masters. We will have plenty of new Fantasy Golfers this week as a result. Which is why DraftKings has its biggest field of the year in the $4M Fantasy Golf Millionaire, a contest featuring 235,000+ entries.

With The Masters being such a big deal on DraftKings, they release the pricing a few weeks before the tournament. The pricing would be much different if they would have waited until this week, or even the week before. It went live before the finish of the WGC Dell Match Play, which is why we see very soft pricing with some of the players that had success in Austin.

In fact, the pricing overall is soft on DraftKings. With so many tournaments and GPP’s, DraftKings gives everyone an opportunity to be unique with their build. That being said, don’t feel obligated to spend all $50,000. If you are playing in a large-field tournament, don’t be afraid to leave anywhere from $300-$800 on the table.

Corey Conners punched the very last ticket with his win at the Valero Texas Open. He is the 87th, and final golfer in the field at The Masters. I’m pretty sure they showed his wife as much as they showed him near the end.

She unintentionally stole the spotlight and we saw her reaction to just about every shot. All jokes aside, that was a huge win for Conners moving forward in his career. He gained his PGA Tour card for the next two years and has been lifter from conditional status. Believe it or not, Conners had a sub-70 round at The Masters back in 2015 as an amateur.

In a much smaller field, the top-50 golfers and ties will advance to the weekend. So nearly 60% of golfers will make the cut. You can basically cross out 15-20 players in the field when we take into account the previous champions and amateurs.

This week’s approach on DraftKings in terms of roster construction should be different than others. You need to roster six players that you believe have a chance to win, or finish high. Making the cut is just not enough this week

So what should we be looking for when searching for a winner at The Masters? Recent form. Players that find themselves near the top at The Masters have been in good form. Take a look at how the previous Masters Champions fared heading into their win at Augusta:

Patrick Reed (2018): three consecutive top-10’s.

Sergio Garcia (2017): 4/4 with two top-15 finishes.

Danny Willett (2016): 3/3 with a T3 at the WGC Cadillac Championship.

Jordan Spieth (2015): 6/6 with four top-5’s, including a win and back to back 2nd’s.

Bubba Watson (2014): 4/4 with a win and two T2’s (prior to his WD at the API).

Adam Scott (2013): 5/5 with two finishes T6 or better.

Bubba Watson (2012): 7/7 all of which inside the top-20, including four top-5’s.

Charl Schwartzel (2011): 5/5 with two top-20’s.

Phil Mickelson (2010): 7/7 with three finishes inside the top-20.

See a trend? Each of the previous winners, including Patrick Reed last season, were in great form. Some had missed cuts earlier in the season, but rode a hot streak leading up to The Masters. Interpret that list as you will, but put an emphasis on recent form.

In terms of other key stats, I will be looking at Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Ball Striking, One Putt Percentage and Proximity to the Hole. As always, course history has a huge impact at The Masters. We see players year in and year out succeed at Augusta National, so I will be weighing course history heavily this week when building my lineups on DraftKings.

When looking for a spot to pivot in these large field tournaments, this is the range you’re going to want to hammer. With everyone giving a ton of exposure to the $10k+ range, it’ll be hard for them to pair them with a player from this range.

I mean sure, you can start your teams with McIlroy and Fowler, but then you’re left with just over $7,100 for your last four spots.It would be a unique build, but won’t be very popular.

If you plan on fading McIlroy and DJ for whatever reason, a unique build would be rostering two players from this range. Rickie Fowler should garner some ownership at $9,700 on DraftKings based off of name value and his solo second last year at The Masters.

He is one of the few players in this field who teed it up last week at Valero. He has played the week prior to The Masters in the past, including last year, and this has not had an effect.

Tommy Fleetwood is worth a look at $9,200 but should be fairly popular. He is fourth on tour in SG: Off the Tee and top-20 in the field when looking at Ball Striking. Fleetwood made the cut last year in his second attempt at The Masters with a T17. Fleetwood’s form is there as well, going 7/7 so far this year heading into this week with back-to-back top-5’s.

Paul Casey ($9,000) is a nice value in this range as well. He’s got a good course history at The Masters with four straight top-15’s, three of which were inside the top-6. Casey played well at the WGC Dell Match Play making it out of his group but failing to make it to the quarterfinal.

Don’t force yourself to have exposure in this range. There are better plays in the next range.

A range that features just 10 players should not be this intriguing, but it is. Last year’s winner, Patrick Reed rounds out this range at a flat $8,000. He hasn’t had a top-10 since the WGC HSBC back in October. His ownership will be minimal.

Jordan Spieth $8,900

Throw form out the window, this is all about course history. We know what Spieth can do at the Masters as his past results almost look fake. He is 5/5 with a win back in 2015, and three additional finishes inside of the top-3. That alone has me dying to put Spieth into my lineups, and I’m not sure many people are willing to do so.

For large-field tournaments, this could be a spot to differentiate. Even with Spieth’s strong course history, I think many people are still weary to roster him. The current form has been less than impressive and it is the worst version of Jordan Spieth we have seen heading into Augusta. The public can fade Spieth, but I am onboard.

Even given his recent form, Spieth has the fifth best odds to win The Masters on Bovada at 18-1. That number is the same as Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, who are up in the $10k+ range. His experience at Augusta will prevail this week. At just $8,900, I am more than willing to fire up some Spieth.

Francesco Molinari $8,600

Another player from this range who may not be as popular as some would think is Francesco Molinari. His course history at Augusta doesn’t jump off the page, but this is the best form he has ever been in. Molinari is the 7th ranked player in the world and is priced on DraftKings as the 17th most expensive player.

The form is there as Molinari has yet to miss a cut and has a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month. He is one player whose price would be higher if they had released them following the WGC Dell Match Play, where he finished second. Take advantage of this pricing being released early and roll with Molinari this week at the Masters.

Scanning through the player pool from $7,000-$7,900, keep in mind that last years champion, Patrick Reed, was in this range just a year ago. Reed was vastly overlooked down here at just $7,700 and ended up sealing the deal.

The top of this range is going to be fairly popular this week on DraftKings. I would assume Matt Kuchar, and Sergio Garcia are going to carry a decent amount of ownership. Both Kuchar and Garcia are nice values down here coming off of a good outing in match play.

Ian Poulter $7,600

The final player into last years Masters finds his way into field for a second consecutive year. Poulter has made four straight cuts here at Augusta with two finishes inside the top-20. He comes into this week riding 13 straight cuts made worldwide. Poulter is 8/8 this year, with half of these finishes coming inside of the top-6.

He is currently seventh in this field when looking at Ball Striking. I think Poulter is in a nice spot priced just Below Sergio Garcia. I wouldn’t expect many people to be on Poulter this week due to where he is priced. He can be used in any format.

Charles Howell III $7,000

CH3 is one of my favorite values this week at just $7,000. Not having any recent course history could keep him off of many peoples radar. Howell’s last start at Augusta was back in 2012 where he finished in a tie for 19th. His results early in his career are nothing to go crazy about either.

Howell also comes into the week with the type of form we are looking for. He is 8/8 so far this year with five finishes inside of the top-15. Howell has actually not finished outside of the top-35 in that span.

Howell ranks second on the PGA Tour in Ball Striking, behind just Gary Woodland At the bottom of this range, it is not easy to find this type of form. CH3 is a nice option in tournaments who should not carry too much ownership.

Do not get too creative down in this range. We talked about how you can fade about  15-20 players at the bottom here, so that makes this range very small.

There are plenty of previous Masters winners down in this range from $6,000-$6,200 and every one of them can be ignored. There is absolutely no reason to dip down under the $6,200 range. I don’t even want you to scroll down that far, just cut it off!

Near the top of this range we find the WGC Dell Match Play winner: Kevin Kisner ($6,700). He is a prime example of the soft pricing due to an early release. Kisner has the same odds as players in the mid-$7,000 range and is really a nice value down here.

Just don’t expect to be “sneaky” and roster him as everyone else will be doing the same. If you do want to play Kisner, I would suggest you only use him in cash games.

Lucas Bjerregaard $6,400

Following the WGC Dell Match Play event where Lucas Bjerregaard made it into the final four, we would have expected him to come into this week carrying a high ownership percentage. A I’ve said previously, the DraftKings pricing was released before the conclusion of the WGC Dell Match Play. Therefore, we see Bjerregaard priced just $400 above the bare minimum.

We were off Bjerregaard last week at the Valero Texas Open figuring that he would be burnt out. That turned out to be a good call. Rostering Bjerregaard this week at just $6,400 provides you with a player who has flashed form recently and gives salary relief if you plan on paying up at the top. I will have Bjerregaard in a majority of my lineups as he makes his debut at Augusta.

Alternate Option: Emiliano Grillo ($6,600) is a nice option down in this range. He didn’t play last year, but was 2/2 in his prior attempts with his best finish being a T17 back in 2016. The form worries me a bit as he has failed to crack the top-20 yet this year. However, at $6,600 Grillo should be a safe bet to make the cut.

Leaker of the Week: Ian Woosnam $6,000

There are multiple leakers in the field this week, but lets pick on Ian Woosnam. The 1991 Masters Champion has made one cut at Augusta in his last 17 tries. He has missed 10 straight cuts at The Masters with his best score being +5. Have to give the guy credit though, because he continues to tee it up every single year. I think Woosnam is due for another +20 round this year.